Dear Adoniah, Get Up and Live.

Dear Adoniah,

This morning you didn't want to do anything or go anywhere. Your hair was a mess and you didn't want to change out of your sweatpants. But I made you change into a cute outfit. We put your hair up. We went to a little shop in Indianola. Your eyes lit up for a pretty necklace. I got it for you.

We walked outside to the most beautiful, gentle snow falling softly. As we walked with our brown shopping bag toward the bakery, you said, "Mom, it feels like I'm in a movie!". It did feel like that. It was absolutely random, and special, and it felt like a touch of a restored heaven and Earth.

Maybe someday you'll be sitting in your home, and you'll be sad, and you'll not want to get dressed or fix your hair. Maybe life will seem empty. Maybe it will feel like something is lost. I don't know if you'll remember the chocolate peanut butter cup you picked at the bakery, or the bite of the chocolate mint creme that you had of mine. I don't know if you'll remember picking out that necklace or walking in the snowfall with our brown paper bag.

But I want you to know, those moments are foreshadow of the joy that awaits us. And they are worth pursuing. They are worth getting out of bed for. They are hints of what we will have forever, when this broken world is made new. Get up and live because you were meant for nothing less. Addie, I'll need this reminder too. Nothing is lost. Nothing is gone. We won't stay empty. If it's not good, it's not the end. Make yourself get up and go do random, special things. It'll remind you it's true.