The Odd Life of Lili Berry

Though we're soon to leave on a BIG trip to Disneyworld, Dave and I had a date-night Sharing Spree Certificate to use before we left. My sweet husband, however, has been working himself to the bone to prepare for vacation and couldn't get home in time. That left Lili and me to go to a movie alone.

And we were meant to go together.

Never have I taken my youngest daughter to the movies alone, and never could I have planned a better first time. We watched The Odd Life of Timothy Green. Not giving away anything the previews don't reveal, I can say this movie is about a unique kind of adoption, a magical placement. A young boy turns up in a couple's life and he is most definitely meant for them. He also happens to have leaves growing out of his legs.

Yes, it was a heart-warming, meaningful story with great life lessons, so I was already tenderhearted as the movie neared the close, but in the last minute of the movie something happened that had me sobbing at the end.

As the credits were rolling, I lean over to the couple next to me. "This is my adopted daughter and her name is Lili."

The crying woman wipes her cheeks. "Our youngest is adopted too."

Together we marvel at the amazing gift of being given a child to raise and Lili and I trot off to the bathroom. (Yes, I'm pretty sure it was a trot, but it could have been a canter ...) In the stall, I sob again, overwhelmed and in awe that God blessed our family with the gift of Lili. She was not mine. Then she was. The enormity of the whole thing settles on me again.

Lo and behold, the woman comes in the bathroom too, and I ask--once I'm out of the stall-- "How old is your daughter?"

"Six."

I'm still crying. "Lili is six, too."

She leans closer. "What really got me about that movie is that our daughter has a physical difference, too." (I want to protect the family's privacy, so I won't say what she said it was, but it has to do with a hand.)

My heart expands, knowing that God had us in the same theater on the same night watching the same movie so we could meet. "My daughter was severely burned on her hand. Though it's healed amazingly, it still looks different."

And from there I meet her husband and we find out that our lives intersect in many other ways. As we go out the door of Cinetopia, I ask, "What is your daughter's name?"

She answers.

I move from the butter-flavored air into the summer night full of God's love, praising Him for His gift of grace.

Because GRACE is their daughter's middle name.

And that's my daughter's middle name.

And we all can have the gift of Grace.