"After months of eager anticipation, the day finally arrives. You pack your bags and off you go. Several hours later, the plane lands. The flight attendant comes in and says, 'Welcome to Holland.' 'Holland?!?', you say. 'What do you mean Holland? I signed up for Italy. I'm supposed to be in Italy. All my life I've dreamed of going to Italy.'
"But there has been a change in the flight plan. They've landed in Holland and there you must stay. The important thing is that they haven't taken you to a horrible, disgusting, filthy place full of pestilence, famine and disease. It's just a different place.
"So you must go out and buy new guide books and learn a whole new language. And you will meet a whole new group of people you never would have met. It's just a different place. It's slower-paced than Italy, less flashy than Italy. But after you've been there for a while and you catch your breath, you look around and you begin to notice that Holland has windmills. Holland has tulips. Holland even has Rembrandt's.
"But everyone you know is busy coming and going from Italy, and they're all talking about what a wonderful time they had there. And for the rest of your life you will say, 'Yes, that's where I was supposed to go. That's what I had planned.'
"But if you spend your life mourning the fact that you didn't go to Italy, you may never be free to enjoy the very special, the very lovely things about Holland"
I don't have to look past this sweet face to see the beauty in Holland. She is perfect in every way because she was fearfully and wonderfully made by a perfect creator. Our journey through "Holland" has not and will not be easy. The Lord did not promise that. He did, however, promise to go with us - to never leave or forsake us. He has promised good plans for Marlee - plans to prosper her and not to harm her. Most of all, he has promised that he loves her with a steadfast, unending, and unchanging love. We rest in that love and anticipate The Lord moving in and through Marlee's life. We thank him for our good and perfect gift!
