This evening we were cruising along the country hill roads to a friend’s house for dinner, and I sat in the back with Everley since we didn’t bring her apnea monitor (for longer drives we feel safer keeping her hooked up if she’s slumped or sleeping in the carseat). As the sun was setting behind those blue hued mountains, the low clouds had that slight mauve, lavender gray shade, which always makes me think of my Heidi girl. Her nursery was a woodsy lavender theme (see here: Sneak Peek: Nursery Picks). While staring at the clouds, thinking of Heidi and how much I miss her, I felt a tightening grip on my finger; my girl Everley had taken hold of my finger and would not let go. I suddenly had a flashback to holding Heidi in my arms and feeling her firm grasp of my shirt while nursing, and then I remembered a powerful moment after she was gone of staring at those same mountains with those same clouds and hearing in my mind as if audible, “You’ve got to hold on, Mama.” I knew in that moment, as clearly as I knew it this evening, my children are beautiful works of art just like that serene mountain sunset, and God has intricately painted their purpose into the history of the world, and He is an intuitively good Artist. Everley’s tight grip made me thankful for the days I’ve shared with her and thankful for the days I shared with Heidi and made me anticipate the future beauty of an untainted world with the Master Artist Himself.
