A Simple Kiss

I am writing tonight because I want to mark a long awaited milestone.  Tonight, for the very first time, Mercy impulsively kissed me.  She has kissed me a thousand times, but not without some sort of prompting.  Whether because I kissed her or because I ask her "can I have a kiss?" or someone else prompting her to "give mommy a kiss."  But tonight she was simply sitting on my lap at the kitchen table and out of the clear blue, no prompting what.so.ever, on her own accord leaned in and planted the sweetest, gentlest kiss right on my cheek.   I don't know if I can even describe what that moment felt like.  It was a wave of emotion.  From shock "did she really just do that?"  to surprise "oh my word she just spontaneously kissed me at her own will!" to overflowing joy because a new victory was won tonight.  It will be 10 months tomorrow that this fragile little girl was hoisted on a plane by two strangers who she barely knew and flown half way around the world to a unfamiliar and foreign land.  Ten months of hard work, hardship, hard times intertwined with easy days, good days and moments like tonight.  Moments where everything stops, including the beat of your heart because it has just skipped a beat as a surge of joy passes through it.  Moments when you remember this kiss from her marks a milestone.  It came with a price.  She let her guard down tonight and allowed her heart to love, spontaneously.  It has taken 10 months of her taking in and testing our love to bring her to a moment where she could lean in a kiss a cheek of someone she is growing to trust and love.  I am so so so thankful I get to be that person!!!!!   Thank you Jesus for a simple kiss, a memory I will cherish for as long as I live.