"May the God of hope fill you with great joy and peace as you trust in him." Romans 15:13

Tuesday, June 5, 2012

A Most Difficult Writing Assignment

I love to write - you all know that.  It relaxes me.  It centers me.  It brings me peace and clarity.

However this week I have been given a writing assignment that I just can not get right.  It is keeping me up at night.  It is always looming close to the surface of my brain.  Yet no matter how often I think about it, I just can not decide where to start.

The assignment that has brought on this writers block is Joshua Gebeyehu's 2 year post-placement report.  It sounded so simple at first.  Write one page about how Joshua is doing, add a couple of photos, and email it off to our agency.

But how do I capture all that Joshua is and all that he means to us in ONE measly page?

How do I communicate:
our love for him,
his love for us,
his contagious laugh,
his incredible driving skills,
his love for pizza,
and books,
and the guitar,
how strong he has become,
how my heart sings when he kisses my cheek,
how he adores his siblings,
how they adore him,
his love of horses,
and construction equipment,
his growing independence,
his tender, thoughtful heart,
how his eyes sparkle when he tells a joke,
how proud we are that he can jump and jump and jump,
how much we love Ethiopia,
our adoration for his Ethiopian family. . .

How can I explain the absolute, complete treasure Joshua Gebeyehu Chad Dietrich is?

The truth is, I can not. 

We are totally blessed by this child every single day.  It breaks my heart that half a world away there are family members that love him just as much as we do, and while we know the treasure that is Joshua. . .they undoubtedly wonder about their little Gebeyehu.

I am praying tonight that God will give me the words that our son's family needs.  I pray He will give me words for them to hide in their hearts.  The words that will give them confidence and pride and hope and joy and peace throughout the coming year- assuming they will read them at all.  And if they never, ever read my words - I pray that God will grant them that same confidence and pride and hope and joy and peace as only He can.