Sevyn Grace turns one year old today! We have a rich tradition in our home of eating birthday cake for breakfast. Not some kind of breakfasty coffee-cake – no, we eat a full-on cake-cake, smothered in gooey frosting. It’s a fantastic way to celebrate life.

Yesterday our agency delivered a stack of cards Gracie’s birth-mom had written for her. One of them was a birthday card in which she included the candle shown in the photo. She asked that we place it in her cake on her birthday.

Again, I am reminded of how far-reaching adoption is. It is so much larger than hour household. My experience of what “family” is has changed forever. My hopes for our children and for our home have broadened considerably.

What has been most apparent is my own selfishness and laziness. The other night Jaimes I was sitting in the rocking chair with Gracie – just totally dog-tired. Jaimes was entertaining us (as she’s prone to do) by dancing around like a fairy princess while making up a “princess song.” She asked me to do a princess dance. That was the last thing I wanted to do, much less peel myself out of the rocking chair. I went back and forth with her about it for a minute or so and finally conceded to performing an interpretive fairy princess dance.

Not only should I have recognized she needed that attention and interaction from me and jumped right up at her first request, I should be proactively seeking ways to serve my kids. Not only should I gladly entertain their play no matter how silly it makes me feel, I should plan some play of my own. Intentional, imaginative, Christ-focused play.

It’s very easy to make this adoption, at best – all about Gracie, and at worst – all about me. I want to constantly remember that adoption, parenting, and family are about seeing God – not serving myself.