precious "figs"

On Lucy's 'gotcha day' just over a year ago,

our baby girl came with nothing but
her sweet self and a WM-type plastic
bag filled with little round brown, nut-like things.

We thought that was kind of odd and
asked our guide what they were and she
quickly told us (of course I have forgotten what she
called them) but they have a fig-like center,
with a pit inside and were
apparently something Lucy loved to eat.

Our guide told us that Lucy would know how to
eat them if we just cracked it open.

Sure enough, she ate the fig part...
being careful not to eat the hard pit in the center.

Funny that a 2 year old could have this
mastered....here in our country
we wouldn't dream of give out toddlers something
they could easily choke on.

Anyway, by the end of our trip we still had a
bunch of these silly things left. As I was packing
up for our final flight home, trying to weed out
the stuff we didn't need...
I came to this crumpled up plastic bag,
still loaded with these fruit thingys.

I immediately decided that we could
toss them in the trash because she hadn't eaten
any in a while and they were just taking
up space.

Then my heart sank.

What seemed like trash to me, was all
this little former orphan girl came with.

Her only possession.

I couldn't part with them. I just couldn't.

I stuffed them back in the suitcase and never gave them
another thought...not even what I might eventually do
with them once we were home.

Our flight home was....as many of you know,
dreadful.

Mostly because I just don't sleep well on airplanes.
And with a toddler I was still trying to figure out,
it was even more stressful.

But finally, after about 15 hours of being
on the plane, we were getting ready
to land.

But just before that we had to fill out a form
(as I recall),
declaring what we were bringing back into the
country.

And one of the questions was...
'do you have any produce?'
(or something along those lines)

Innocently I answered, no.

But as I was VERY WEARILY waiting in the
customs line,
I remembered the fig things.

My heart sank, again.

Tears filled my exhausted eyes with just the
thought of
them finding them and making me
throw them away.

I wasn't sure what to do...
do I tell them before they find them and
then they will for sure be gone forever?

Or do I keep my mouth shut?
I kept my mouth shut.

Was that the right thing to do? I don't know.

All I know is that these little figgy things
are so precious to me.
And I believe in my heart that the Lord
kept them hidden that day.

Now they sit on a shelf in our living room
and serve as a reminder
of that day that another orphan found
her forever family.

And once in a while Lucy asked to eat one...
and I usually indulge her.

How can I not?