Could you put some lotion on my back, PLEASE?

In 1987 I had just had my third C-section in 5 years. I had a 5 year old, a two year old and a new born baby and I was tired. No , I was TIRED. My hands were dried and cracked from all the hand washing that goes with a new baby. Before Carl would go to work, he would make three PB and J's, hand me the remote to the tv, the phone, diapers for K , diapers for J and a large glass of juice. I would cry as he left. Kaitlin danced over to me one day with a bottle of lotion and wanted me to put it on her. I didn't think I could do one more thing. I was not happy with her request. I very reluctantly said that I would. I had forgotten what fun it was to put lotion on a chunky 2 year old body. She laughed and I laughed and we had a wonderful time. I was so stunned when I was done to realize that the lotion I had put on her got all over my hands. I realized, to some small extent then, that when we serve we sometimes realize the greater gain.

I say all that to tell you another lotion story...

Marisa is John's girlfriend. Her home life went from rough to bad to abusive. We sought counsel about what we could do. She moved in with us in December. Carl told her the rules and she has followed them joyfully. She is a full time student at a community college. She has a regular job of sitting with a precious older saint who has Alzheimer's and she babysits for lots of folks in our church. She and Kaitlin both wear a size 4. I've talked in previous posts about Kaitlin's walk-on closet, well now I have two girls wearing all those clothes.

She recently left a note on my pillow, thanking me for all we have done for her. Here comes the lotion... Marisa is the sister that Kaitlin never had to share the fixing of hair with and the helping each other get dressed( you should hear all the lauhging that comes from their bathroom), my kitchen has never looked better plus the 10,000 steps she saves me every day. What a blessing she is to me.

Some folks raise the question about what will we do if John and Marisa are no longer together, my answer is we will deal with that when and if that arises. Carl said that our goal is to love on this precious child and if they don't end up together we will have given Marisa a glimmer of what a family is with a mom and dad who love each other.