Blink

I have written before about the song entitled "Blink" by Revive.... I will re-post the lyrics here (I encourage you to listen to it).

Teach me to number my days

And count every moment before it slips away

Taking all the colors before they fade to gray

I don't want to miss even just a second more of this

It happens in a blink

It happens in a flash

It happens in the time it took to look back

I try to hold on tight, but there's no stopping time

What is it I've done with my life

It happens in a blink

When it's all said and done

No one remembers how far we have run

The only thing that matters is how we have loved

I don't want to miss even just a second more of this

It happens in a blink

it happens in a flash

it happens in the time it took to look back
I try to hold on tight but there's no stopping time
What is it I've done with my life
It happens in a blink

Slow down, slow down
Before today becomes our yesterday
Slow down, slow down
Before you turn around and it's too late

It happens in a blink
it happens in a flash
it happens in the time it took to look back
I try to hold on tight but there's no stopping time
What is it I've done with my life
It happens in a blink

This song reminds me how fast things change, move and pass before our eyes.... Like the three inches Tedi has grown or the loss of the little Amharic words he would use or the years that continue to pass with JT or coffee dates with friends or Christmases with family.... This song reminds me to be more Deliberate with each experience....and appreciative of each breath, each moment. 

Below are some of the pictures over the last few weeks.  Because I use my blog to not only share about adoption but to record our lives, my life for the future... I don't want these pictures, these moments to disappear in a "blink".  So here are some pictures....the first few are from the last several days with Tedi followed by some pictures of my birthday and of Tedi taken by Elizabeth.  All of these pictures are so special to me.  Accompanying each picture is a quote from one of my favorite website, http://www.storypeople.com/.  I have mentioned this website before and love their words.  I hope you enjoy. (Of note, if you have been trying to post a comment without success, please let me know at nataliehenderson21@yahoo.com.  I apologize and am trying to fix it.)

"this is a special balancing trick that requires a small child to stay completely still (so it's still only theoretical)" 

"I sometimes wake in the early morning & listen to the soft breathing of my children & I think to myself, this is one thing I will never regret & I carry that quiet with me all day long."

"There has never been a day when I have not been proud of you, I said to my son, though some days I'm louder about other stuff so it's easy to miss that."

"Everything changed the day they figured out there was exactly enough time for the important things in their lives."

"Some days I wonder how my kids will turn out, but most of the time I'm just figuring out how to survive them right now."

Standing by the window watching his father go off to run the world.

"someone asked them to be quiet, so it's just a matter of time before all hell breaks loose"

"I didn't listen to her because she was my mother & wouldn't know anything until I was

 much older."

"She turned to me & whispered, don't you just love it when you get so excited you forget to breathe? & the thought of her smiling eyes still makes me laugh."

"feels like some kind of ride but it's turning out just to be life going absolutely perfectly "

"When do you get to be a grown-up? she said. When you can read & write & lie without laughing, I said & her eyes got big & she said she didn't know it was that hard"

"Time stands still best in moments that look suspiciously like ordinary life."

"I always wanted to invent something that would move around & make funny noises & would change the world as we know it & I forgot all about that until we had kids & now I see I came pretty close."

"The most important thing you leave behind is the stuff that turns into treasures when

children find it."

"He wanted to be big so he could do all the fun stuff but small was better when it came to getting out of work."

"There are lives I can imagine without children but none of them have the same

laughter & noise."