Laying on the bed, nursing AD, when D’Lo climbs up to join us, crawls over and gives me a BIG kiss on the lips…
“Aaawwww, Baby, I love you sooooo much!”
He looks me straight in the eyes, smiles mischievously and asks:
“And do you yuv my tinky bweth?!”
Before I post tomorrow’s Halloween pics, before I tell anymore funny stories about something D’Lo said, before I share with you Devaney’s new fascination with her French heritage, before I brag about the silly personality developing so quickly in Adarius, before I lol about how DeeDee found and cleaned rocks from the yard to begin her Magic Touch Hot Rock Massage business, before I express the bittersweet emotion I feel every morning that Tony wakes up a little taller than what he was just the night before…
I want to take a moment to thank God for the husband He planned, created, and protected just for me. Thank You, Lord, for having the flawless insight to know that I needed him as much as he needed me.
For the nights that we would cry together, and sometimes because of each other, to be followed by the days that we knew our survival depended on one another…Thank You.
For the five times you used the blending of us to bring forth new life, and for then entrusting us with those lives…Thank You.
For letting me know him as a young man and now a more mature man, and for the hope that I will know him as an old man…Thank You.
For letting us know early on that we could survive any storm, and for bringing us through the storm to see the sunshine…Thank You.
For the pitter-patter of little feet racing to see their Daddy when they hear his keys jingling in the front door after work, and for developing that provider in him…Thank You.
For the way the crook of his beautiful neck smells like it was made just for me, and for the way my skin tickles when I inhale him…Thank You.
For the silly dancing he does in our family room when an old school favorite comes on, and for the way he doesn’t miss a beat as the kids and I jump up to join him…Thank You.
For the continual weaving of blessings in and out of every part of our lives, Lord Jesus, and for the way that weaving binds us closer to each other and closer to You…THANK YOU!
I love you, Mr. Antonio Sparrow 🙂
Playing in our room with D’Lo, throwing a ball back and forth with him…
Daddy: “Poo-Little (that’s what he calls him), what do you want to be when you grow up?”
Little eyes roll up in thought…
D’Lo: “Uuuuuuummmmmmm…”
Daddy: “Do you want to be a (said hopefully)…football player?”
Intense thought still on D’Lo’s little face, aaaand…
D’Lo: “NO, I WANT TO BE A BUG!”
D’Lo, sitting in the bathroom, watching me blow dry my hair and begin my make-up ritual…
“Mama, where you going?”
“Nowhere, Baby.”
“You going nowhere?!”
“That’s right, I’m going nowhere.”
“You going to get Sissy and take her to nowhere?”
“No Baby, I’m staying here.”
“Well…where you going then?”
“Nowhere.”
“Can I go nowhere with you too?”
“Yes, Baby…you can go nowhere too.”
🙂
As their approach made it’s way directly to us, I reached out and gave each one a hug. They were shy (and had probably never been hugged by a white person before). They were smaller than I thought they would and should be, that surprised me. Rex carried in his young hands our boombox that Tony had taken out for them when he visited Mississippi a few months prior. Daniel carried one, single suitcase, small enough to be considered carry-on luggage but apparently big enough to contain both boys worldly (and moldy and stinky) possessions. Both the boombox and the suitcase would soon prove to have been large enough to transport many others from the dirty place they came, as evidenced by the troops of cockroaches that would eventually crawl out to explore our tiny apartment as though it were the last frontier.
The apartment…we were so proud of our little, two bedroom apartment. Even though it was small, it was clean and well put together and I knew it was much more than what they had just come from. I was anxious to make a difference in the lives of my little brothers-in-law, but I was even more excited to prove to the love of my life that I was, indeed, the Bonnie to his Clyde…and so began our family…Tony, Donna, Rex, and Daniel.
