Happy Faithful Day, Phoenix!

Yesterday was Phoenix's developmental birthday ... and what we have chosen to call her "Faithful Day."

God doesn't take remembrance lightly ... the word "remember" is thread so frequently throughout scripture that it seems vital to our spirituality. God established the Passover feast as a vehicle for remembrance, Joshua built an altar of twelve stones to remind generations of how God brought them
over the Jordan, Jesus instituted Communion to aid us in remembering his sacrifice, and Paul was constantly urging the church to remember what God had done and said.

The best part of our call to Remember? We remember God because he first remembered us. He has been faithful to his covenant with us, has engraved us on the palms of His hands, has delivered us from slavery, and remembered us on the cross.

Deuteronomy 6:10-12 warns, "When the Lord your God brings you into the land he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, to give you—a land with large, flourishing cities you did not build, houses filled with all kinds of good things you did not provide, wells you did not dig, and vineyards and olive groves you did not plant—then when you eat and are satisfied,  be careful that you do not forget the Lord, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery."

We have chosen to be very intentional in remembering the ways that God has brought us in to our own little promised land.  One way we do this?

Set reminders in the center of our home! This is our mantle ... complete with the art piece Josh and I gave each other as a wedding present (Sundara Art), a picture from our wedding and our 'remember' jar. It holds trinkets that remind us of they way that God has built metaphorical cities, houses, wells and vineyards in our life. For example, we have a little house charm to remind us of God's providence in finding our house and Phoenix's NICU bill as a reminder of God's provision.
As our kids get older, not only will we make a habit of looking through these trinkets and speaking about what God has done, but they will get to contribute to the jar!

We want to make a big deal of celebrating the work of God in our family ... which brings me back around to Phoenix's faithful day.
I am so grateful for the unique ways that God is adding to our family -- especially because it means that each of our children will have a day to celebrate God's timing in their life! For Phoenix, it's her due date. We obviously expected a certain timeline and experience for her birth, but the Lord had something so different in store. We believe that her early days have set the trajectory for her life ... that she will forever stand in the victory of Christ, sustained by His power and set aflame for Him. And that is worth celebrating. For our next child, his/her faithful day will be the date the adoption is finalized, because we believe that his/her early days will set a trajectory as well!

So what will we practically do on these "faithful days?" Make our child feel special and celebrated, remember the work of God and proclaim big dreams for the future!

Yesterday, we celebrated as a family by mixing up our routine and going out to dinner.
First we stopped a sweet little bookstore in Decatur to get a little present for Phoenix:

Multicultural, indestructible book? Yes please!
 

After dinner, Phoenix got her very own piece of cake (which she almost finished by herself). We tried to take a picture with the cake, but sister couldn't wait ...

It was fun to eat out, explore and celebrate together!
How does your family "remember"?