little.page(s).

long ago and far away... this memory is clear as day. i had looked through pictures of my buddy scott's recent trip to africa. in most every picture was this precious girl. i didn't know her at all, but i just knew that this was the girl that scott would spend forever with. it wasn't because of anything they were doing in the pictures, their body language, or the captions. it was a strange feeling. i shared my "secret" with boyfriend-at-the-time, who is one of scott's best friends. soon after scott returned from africa he called boyfriend-at-the-time to catch up on the trip. it just so happened that i was with boyfriend-at-the-time and able to hear the conversation from afar.  i also remember scott confirming that my prediction was right. {i love it when i'm right}. years down the road scott and the precious-girl-in-the-africa-photographs are married, living in china, and parents to the most precious child you've ever seen. i am crazy about this little family- scott and catherine and {baby} noah. 

a "prophetic" image. {haha}.

here is what the new chinese parents had to say about this new, great adventure... 
q: could you guys ever have anticipated what loving noah would be like?
a: of course not. the description that seems to fit best is loving him so much it hurts.

q: what is your most treasured memory of noah's life thus far?
a:it's kind of a general memory. what i'll look back on and treasure the most of right now is the 6 weeks that just the three of us have spent in hong kong. yes, it's been draining and extremely challenging. but these are the days that i have come to the end of myself. and isn't that what it's all about? never have i been so dependent on the Father. for every single day.

q: is there a work of art that best represents your love for noah?
a: seeing this come to life: psalm 139. really just the picture that these words paint in my mind. i pray the image would be forever etched into my mind. that even if i dwell on the far side of the sea [which is how i feel right now], that He will hold me fast. it is so special that He would choose this time to send this squishy little bundle of joy to us, and loving us in that way.  I (scott) would say that for me it has got to be the overarching picture of the Father throughout scripture - it is amazing the way he designed life that He would be the eternal picture of the perfect Father but that he allows me to experience that to some degree.

q: what is the greatest joy of being parents?
a: a small thing is seeing that precious smile, which has made all the tough parts worth it. he decided to flash his first smile to me while scott was away in China for the weekend. sweet thing of the Lord to do. but I (scott, now) would say that one little thing that I will always remember is one afternoon where we couldn't get Noah to go to sleep and so we brought him out to the living room and laid him on the couch next to me and he went right to sleep, meanwhile Cat did the same thing on the other side of me {see image below}.  I found myself just looking down and thinking "what in the world?, who am I that you would be so mindful of me, Lord?" and aside from the joy of experiencing and seeing rebirth, I would say there is little in life that compares.  Also, one thing that I think only husbands can really appreciate is the joy of watching their wives mother - it truly is incredible to see how naturally Cat just does this.

q: tell me what it's like being parents in hong kong...
a:the good: starting our family on our own. without the temptation of looking to our right or left in trying to compare ourselves. it's kind of freeing. even down to the little details of our time at the hospital. typically you would have lots of visitors in the waiting room and tons of friends visiting throughout the day if we were back home. but here in hong kong, we spent the first few hours of his life with just the three of us. it was sweet time.   and the bad: hard not to go stir crazy because you can't just hop in the car and escape. and being without family. we've seen just how much we crave being around them. wanting them to see all of noah's "firsts". especially that little smile.

where there is love {and a precious, first smile}, 

there is art.