Release

If you know Scott, my husband, you may know that he analyzes each new episode of Lost.  I'm along for the ride, but I don't maintain his level of devotion.   I have to admit to being moved by the Losties' rescue from the island this year, and Desmond and Penelope's reunion brought tears to my eyes.  But...

While we were turning in paperwork for an adoption, on February 23, 2002, Ingrid Betancourt was taken hostage in Colombia.  

Anna was born on May 14, 2002.  Ingrid Betancourt had been in captivity for almost three months.

When we traveled to Bogota and held Anna for the first time on August 28, Ingrid Betancourt had been in the jungle for over six months.

It has been a milestone year for Anna.  She learned to rollerblade and ride her bike without training wheels.  She turned six in May.  Monday she lost her first tooth.  And Wednesday Ingrid Betancourt and fourteen other hostages were rescued.  

Anna makes me think about joy.  She is an intense kid who feels deeply.  When she learned to ride her bike without training wheels, she laughed, almost hysterically, as she pedaled furiously down the sidewalk.  When her tooth fell out Monday, I held her as she laughed and laughed as tears streamed down her face. 

Watching Ingrid Betancourt recount her rescue was amazing.  And despite my emotional response to the Lost rescue, this was way more moving.  As it should be.  This is real life.

And it makes me think of C.S. Lewis's description of heaven at the end of the Last Battle.  He paints heaven as a place where things are more deep, more real, and more solid.  Where colors are more vivid.  And the difference between my tiny television-inspired happiness and my real joy at liberation of hostages makes me wonder about heaven. And of course Anna's deep joy in her milestones.  How our joys here are a lovely taste of the immeasurable joy we will have when we are in perfect relationship with God and one another.