I’d like to ask those of you reading this – and especially those of you who know her personally – to lift up Chickpea as you think of her. Ever since we moved in to our new home, it seems like she has had a hard time adjusting, particularly during bedtime. Never in her entire life have we ever had any major sleeping issues; in fact, bedtime has been one of our easiest parenting tasks. We tell her it’s bedtime, she excitedly asks if she can brush her teeth, we read a couple stories, we pray, we put her in bed, we turn out the lights, and she’s out for at least 12 hours (oftentimes more). In fact, sometimes she asks to go to bed.

But ever since we moved in to our new place, she has been freaking out at both bedtime and naptime. As I write this, she is screaming so much she’s losing her voice – asking Kabob and I for “one more book,” and she has been refusing to calm down without a night light, even for her naps. She sounds scared, quite honestly. It’s like it has suddenly hit her that the past five months of transition was for this, and her normal life just isn’t so normal anymore. Bless her little heart.

She misses her friends a lot, and asks about them all the time. She’s starting to hit and kick, which she has never done before with any severity. She’s definitely not getting enough sleep. Basically, we miss the girl we know and love.

As her parents, it’s hard to know what’s going on. On one hand, we know the two-year-old stage can be a challenge no matter what life is like at the moment, so this could be just her wanting to know (communicating in a very loud voice) her boundaries. It can also be genuine sadness or anger at life being different, and she’s expressing it in the only way she can find. Or – and it makes sense considering where we are – the enemy is trying to discourage the three of us about being here. He is trying to scare Chickpea, and in doing so, is trying to scare us.

We know where our victory lies, and we have no fear of our enemy. “For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” -Romans 8:38-39

Would you lift us up as we head to bed tonight? Please ask for protection from the enemy and from lies, and that all three of us would have peace about our calling, our being here, and our identity and worth.  And please ask that sweet Chickpea would have peace about drifting off to sleep, and that she would know the love surrounding her, both here on earth and in heaven.  Thanks.

posted: 07 March 14
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