Lovebugs

She is HOME.

My niece,

Amaris Mariam Namulinde

is HOME.

Amaris "Promised by God"

Mariam "Beloved"

Namulinde "I have waited for her"

My sister, brother in law, and new baby niece arrived last night after a 30+ hour trip home from Uganda and were reunited with their three boys.

This picture to me is pure LOVE. Pure JOY. Pure GOD!

While my sister and brother-in-law have been frolicking in Uganda =), I stayed here in Sarasota and kept/spent time with their 3 boys. My FAVORITE thing to do!!! They are my heart and they know it. We stayed busy running around town to the children's museum, pottery painting shop, ice cream, Easter egg hunts, and tons of other fun places. Its been a blast, and I wish I could do it every day...truly my bliss.

If any of you live in southwest Florida, you know that lovebug season has arrived! As the boys and I have been driving around the past two weeks, the lovebug epidemic (and that is not exaggerating!) has been in full effect! SWARMS upon swarms of tiny black fly/bugs connected together by their bottoms flying around, beside, and ON you. Swarming to the point where the boys asked if it was raining outside because the sound and sight of them hitting the van windshield looked like we were driving through a summer rain shower. There is a literal lovebug graveyard on the vans front bumper/hood. Yep. Gross.

So, I'm sitting at a red light. Boys in tow. Watching this cloud of buzzing "love" bugs....no love about them to me!...swirl around the vehicle, and I think

"This must be a small example of what Egypt was like during the plagues to free the Israelites".

Yes. I'm a random weirdo and think things like that.

And then, almost immediately after that thought crossed my mind, my gracious Lord prodded me to consider not the "plague" like image of the lovebugs...but His image in His creation. He reminded me that His love surrounds me at all times...swarming above and beside and even ON me. That there is no where I can go to escape His love. That He is always with me.

*Swoon*

LOVEbugs. My First Loves reminder to me of HIS love for me. Forget rainbows. His love for me has wings....

"And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God's love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow - not even the powers of hell can separate us from God's love. No power in the sky or in the earth below- indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord." Romans 8:38-39 NLT

This week He has shown me His love in such powerful ways...the most beautiful being this....

So....if you live in southwest Florida and find yourself in the midst of a lovebug "storm" don't be alarmed, its just His love note to me.... (and you!)