Bloom Where Your Planted

We are home! Yeah us! Ash and I survived a very long, unplanned, over night trip to Children's in Dallas and I am so happy to be back. We woke early this morning feeling like weeds rather than roses, but on our drive home I realized that even weeds bloom with their own sense of beauty. How happy my sleepy, grumpy self became as I enjoyed mile after mile of gorgeous wildflowers growing along the highway. I'm sure some of them had been purposely planted there for travelers to enjoy(like the bluebonnets), but it became obvious to me that many of them had been "planted" there by the wind, an insect, or a bird. Perhaps "they" never planned on growing along side a highway in east Texas, but there they were doing a beautiful job of blooming just exactly where He had allowed them to be planted. Oh, the wisdom I found in them this morning. I allowed those flowers to teach me a lesson during my drive and I reflected on how wonderfully our lives have been blessed by those who are doing just exactly what those wildflowers were doing. Blooming where they had been planted. My mind began to think of our surgeons, our coordinators, our doctors, our nurses, our therapists, our transplant friends, and many, many others who were doing just exactly what they were called to do. I have no idea if our transplant surgeon dreamed of taking organs in and out of babies when she was a child, but how grateful I am to her that she has allowed herself to bloom where she was planted. Without her willingness to study year after year after year where would my Ashley Kate be today? God had a plan, a purpose, a call on her life and because she is "blooming", He has used her to impact the life of a little girl from east Texas and all those who know her. I am so thankful to all those whose paths God has allowed to cross ours. Each blooming with the talents and skills He provided them with.

When I arrived home from Nebraska I found a surprise growing in my front flower gardens. Actually two surprises by the names of "Jedidiah" and "Goliath". Jedidiah and Goliath are destined to be my Allie's two prized winning cabbages. Thats what I said, cabbages. She has a plan in mind for them. She is attempting to win a thousand dollar scholarship with her two little ones. Actually they need to be big ones. They need to be the largest two cabbages in the state of Texas grown by a third grader. Now, I agree this is a prize worth attaining, and I fully support my Allie's love for anything she can plant in the dirt and love and nurture into something beautiful, but I would not have chosen them to be planted front and center in my flower garden. Perhaps a nice vegetable garden at Graypa's house would have been a more appropriate home, but nonetheless Jedediah and Goliath have no idea they have been planted in a flower garden. They are doing what they have been called to do. They are blooming proudly where they have been planted. She loves them and takes care of them and they continue to grow. Just like Al's cabbages I had no idea my sweet Ashley Kate would be planted in the middle of transplant life, but I am so proud of the way she has decided to bloom. She continues to "bloom" time and time again no matter what circumstances she finds herself in. God has allowed her to be planted on this path and she is beautiful! Just as Ash has been "planted" along this journey I too have been "planted" in a place I never imagined myself to be in. I never knew I could do all that He is teaching me to do. I never dreamed I would be allowed to love such a brave little pickle.

I am so thankful for the drive time I had with my Ashley this morning. I learned that I have been planted just exactly where He wants me to be and even on the days that I wake up feeling like a dandelion rather than a bluebonnet as long as I am willing to open myself up to bloom then I am doing what He called me to do. My goal today is to bloom where I have been planted(just as soon as I take a shower and brush my teeth!). Thanks guys for checking on her. She is doing well today. A little run down and tired, but happy and ready to bloom. Trish