Sisters!

I love that my girls have each other. There is nothing quite like a sister can be. There is so much to share with each other, so much that you experience growing up together, so much you have in a sister. Believe it or not, I've told my kids that they can be 'best friends.' Gasp! I know! The very idea of it! But, I know it can happen! I love seeing their relationships grow and develop. I love how much they miss each other when one is away from the other.

Recently, my older daughter got a chance to spend some much needed time with her best friend. She was gone for two whole days. Kara, our five year old, missed her so much. She even had herself a good cry when she first left and spent the next two days counting down the minutes till the return of her beloved older sister was here. It's good to be missed!

One of the most awesome things that I love to hear is when Grace, Kara and Liliana get together in the other room and I hear the giggling girls. It warms my heart to see how Grace will take them and have tea parties, paint their toenails, do crafts with them and all around have fun together. The little ones eat that up like it was candy!

It truly is a blessing to have sisters who are also your friends.

Turning 4

May is a busy month for us. We now have 3 birthday's to celebrate. The first one being our Kara, who is now the big '4'. On the day of her birthday, Bob asked her if she felt any older and she told him she felt like she was 11. Should I be worried??

We asked Miss Kara what kind of cake she wanted and her choice for this year was pink cupcakes with pink frosting. That was fairly simple or so I thought. Have you ever had a 4 year old 'helping' you? The pink cupcakes were a hit with her. However, the next day she asked me when her birthday was. So we talked about how she had cupcakes the day before. She looked at me with a puzzled look and informed me that was not her birthday because we didn't have a round cake. Either she was trying to get a second birthday out of the deal or she really thought she should have a round cake and pink cupcakes. Maybe next year I'll get with it.

One of her prized gifts was a Cinderella polly pocket. It came with Prince Charming, a carriage and a pony. I had thought this was a great gift for her considering the fact that she was asking for a pony for her birthday. Earlier this year, she had been asking for a dragon and a puppy until her brothers informed her that dragons are fire breathing creatures. She decided she didn't want the puppy burnt up so she changed her birthday wish to a puppy and a pony.

She was a bit disappointed in the polly pocket set because the carriage would only hold Cinderella. She asked me why they didn't make it so both her 'guys' could fit. I was wondering that myself. Perhaps, we should send a suggestion to Mattel.

Unfortunately, Cinderella didn't last too long. Her 'boys' (brothers) got to playing too rough with her new present and popped the head off of poor Cinderella upsetting one new four year old. The hilarious thing was that she decided to play with the headless Cinderella until her mama could get to the store to get her a new one. So we have this headless polly pocket toy in our possession which I don't dare throw out until I can get a replacement. We talk about how this is going to get rectified daily. She never forgets and is always willing to remind me....just in case, I forget.

Thrilled to be Three

We recently celebrated little peanut's third birthday. It's hard to believe that she is now such a grown up or so she thinks. This tiny sweet thing has grown into this person who is simply sweet with a side of independence who is not afraid to tell you how things are going to be. How's that for a mixture. She's like Billy Bob's sweet and sassy dressing with a kick. I suppose she has to be. She's number five and she will be heard.

When I sit there and watch how she interacts with the world around her, she simply amazes me. Only God could have created such perfect uniqueness. Each stage is something to cherish. I know that there are some pretty crazy moments but I wouldn't trade it for anything.

She was pretty excited to have her birthday here. For days beforehand, she'd ask if it was time yet for her prizes and cake. We'd have to tell her nope, three more days or nope, two more days and she would drop her head giving us the most precious pouty face. Then the day arrived and the twirling began. She twirled and twirled telling each individual that it was her happy birthday. She even told the little old lady down the street who happened to be walking by our home on an afternoon stroll. Her birthday is something to be celebrated. Her life is precious to me. I always tell my kids that no matter where they are whether they are here with me or off on adventures of their own, I will celebrate the day of their birth because that is the day that our eye's met for the first time and my life was changed forever. A special day, indeed!

Excuses

It is quite comical when putting kids to bed. They always try to stall by throwing out so many excuses. I am quite use to: I need to kiss Brad, Grace, Ryan and Aaron. I need my Daddy. I need my bear. I need a drink and so on.

I was totally not expecting this one.....

As I was putting Kara, who is two, to bed last night. She started her excuse list. It's almost become a routine. As I was answering the endless list, it suddenly dawned on me she threw a new one in there. After she went through her kiss list, she added her need to hug the toilet. She was quite adamant that that was necessary. As I finished tucking her in and praying with her, she left me with her final request....But mommy, I NEED to hug the toilet. She wasn't going to let that one go. I told her maybe we could see about that in the morning, hoping she would forget by then.

Kids are just hysterical and if you are not paying attention, you'll miss those moments.

A Unexpected Reply

I was sitting on Grace's bed giving great encouragement to her on how to organize her things when Kara, our two year old, came to see me. She told me she needed to talk to me. I gently placed her on the bed next to me and asked her what she wanted to talk about. She looked at me with those deep blue eyes and responded with an unexpected reply. Her answer was simply...boys!

The only thought that ran through my head along with the uncontrollable laughter was that I think we are in trouble. She's quite a character.

Just Precious

Recently, my mother in law brought over a beautiful new dress for our little Kara. She loves to wear dresses and loves to dance, sing and sparkle. So the dress was a perfect choice for her. After putting it on, she twirled about and declared that she WAS a princess! I truly think she believes that with all her heart.

One night we sat down to eat dinner. Kara clasped her hands and exclaimed in an excited voice, that is was time to do the 'dear Jesus'.

Many times Miss Kara gets up before I do. She likes to climb into bed with me and let me know that she's up. When I don't respond to her giggles, she grabs my eyelids and yanks them open. She says she needs to see my eyes. It is certainly an eye opening experience.

The most precious prayers that I have ever heard have come from my young children. Kara has especially taken a liking to being the one to pray. She folds her hands and thanks God for our food and then tells Him that she loves Him. I get tears in my eyes every time.

While You Were Sleeping....

Stages. As children grow they enter new stages. They roll over. They crawl. They take their first steps. They talk. We oooo and ahhhh over these stages. We take pictures to remember those moments. Life is beautiful.

Kara has entered the stage of climbing out of her crib. I'm actually surprised that it's taken her this long because she's such climber. She likes to sit in the middle of the kitchen table, she tries to climb the cupboard and I most certainly will not be surprised one day to find her sitting up there, she climbs the back of the couch and loves to sit in our bay window and then there is the fence....I am grateful she hasn't conquered what to do when she gets to the top. Perhaps we should install security camera's so I know at exactly what point she has become AWOL.

Sometime while I was enjoying my sleep during the dark hours of the night, I hear her chirping in her cute little 'I'm playing house' voice, her new word...stupee. (stupee = stupid) She sleeps in the crib that is in my room so there was no escaping it. No! No, tuck me in...stupee and Aaron...stupee, and puppy...stupee were echoing off the walls. I, in my 'For crying out loud, can't you see it's sleepy time' fog somewhere between sleeping and not, pulled the covers over my head in hopes that she will just go back to sleep.

As she continued her chirping, I began to wonder what time it was. It seemed pretty light in my room. Then, I hear ripping sounds and more chirping. With a sigh and a fine!...I muttered to myself that I guess I would just get up and get my day started. I climbed out of bed. What I found when I came to full consciousness was that my little monkey had climbed out of her bed onto the dresser which was next to the crib and was sitting there happy as can be. The light was coming from the ceiling but it most certainly was not daytime. It was 2:38 AM!

Upon more discovery, I found that she had disassembled one of the baby pictures that I had had framed of Ryan which showed me what exactly the ripping sound was coming from. Crud! There goes $24.95 for custom frame and picture from the Kodak Gallery. Guess I'll be replacing that one. Apparently, I had a pen on my dresser which she also discovered and decided to use....on my wall. Crud! I think I'm out of those magic erasers! Crud! She found my glasses. Thank you, God that they were not broken, bent or destroyed! Note to self: Perhaps one should not ignore chirping from two year old during the night.

I swiftly plopped her back in her bed explaining to this beautiful child that she needed to go back to sleep so that she didn't have a cranky momma in the morning. I kissed her cuteness and tucked her in and amazingly enough, she quieted down. Sleep came again....ah, sweet sleep.

What's In Your Backyard?

It was mid-morning, the sun was shining, the kids were playing outside and I was happily sitting at the picnic table enjoying the day. As I was chatting at one of the kids, I realized that Kara had become very, very quiet. You know someone is getting into something at that point.

Grace found her at the back fence. She was picking berries off the branches on the fence. She had some in her little play bucket and the rest were squished in both of her hands. Hmmm....I thought to myself. There are quite a few kinds that poisonous. So I looked in her mouth but I couldn't tell for sure if she had eaten some or not.

I had Grace take her into the bathroom to wash her hands and arms thoroughly while I went to the internet to find out what I could on this mysterious berry plant. I couldn't find the exact match but what I did find is that if she had eaten any, it would cause some abdominal distress like vomiting and diarrhea. So I wasn't too freaked out.

Brad finally woke up from his hibernation period, found out what was going on and immediately 'Googled' it and found what we were trying to find. It happened to be the Deadly Nightshade. When we went to the site, in big, bold, red letters it read "POISON!!!" Apparently, it's a very dangerous viney-weed-like plant which can have FATAL effects on children if only a couple berries are consumed.

Bob called poison control and they told him they couldn't identify the plant over the phone. We needed to take it to a florist for exact identification. We happen to know someone who is a horticulturist and she said that it was definitely the Deadly Nightshade. So off to the emergency room we went.

The doctor was very concerned when I showed him the sample of the plant we took with us. He said that it was indeed what we had thought and that she was going to have to stay for at least four hours so they could monitor Kara's breathing, her heart rate and to watch for convulsions. Now I'm freaking out. I also had to get her to drink that awful charcoal drink. After wrestling with her to get it down, she and I both looked like we had been in a coal mine.

God was merciful to me during our stay.....Kara finally fell asleep in my arms instead of the screaming hysterics that were previous to that. I am sure the other patients were thanking God for His mercy too! We were finally released with the caution to watch her for the next twenty-four hours. (So far..so good!)

After we had eaten dinner, I went to town at pulling all those vines out of the fence. It is growing over the fence from the neighbors yard so it made it somewhat difficult to get all of it. However, I removed all the vines from as far as I could reach. My husband had contacted the neighbor while I was in the hospital with Kara to let them know. We just had no idea that, that weed was so dangerous and there was so much of it along the fence. I filled up our garbage can with it and it was full when I finished.

I guess I should pay more attention to what is growing over the fence from all of our neighbors yard. Just because it's a pretty vine with pretty purple blooms on it, doesn't mean you should let it grow. Lesson learned!

Today, I am grateful for God's protection and His mercy. I am also thankful that my baby girl is just fine and is able to find all kinds of more trouble to discover.

A Marked Adventure

Once upon a day in the land of fairies and squeals, lived a girl named Kara. Kara loved, loved, loved to discover new things and conquer new lands.

One day as she was skipping and twirling along the river (we peasants call it a livingroom), she came upon a lift (chair). Dear Sir, (she squealed) will you help me upon it? Oh, nevermind, I can do it myself, she announced most emphatically.

Up on the lift (chair) she went which lead to new lands undiscovered. With a twitch of her fingers and a sparkle in her eye, she went ahead with this new adventure. As she moved her fingers about in anticipation, they came across a beautiful dark as the deep night sky black Sharpie marker.

A flittering about this little fairy went. In her mind, she had discovered a piece of make-up to be put upon her face making her the most beautiful one in all the land. She was such a precious little one who loved to share her 'treasures'. Who better suited to display her new find than Mr. Bear, of course! (You can't see it in the picture but the bear is wearing her mark of creativity too.)

Addiction

Our two year old is an addict. That seems like such a crazy age to have addiction problems but she does. It's kind of like her coffee fix. She wants it, when she wants it. If you don't move fast enough, she will start hitting your arm repeating the word's "frog", "frog" till you finally give in. Then, she takes your hand and leads you to the computer.

What in the world am I talking about? I'm talking about Youtube.com, of course.

When Barbara and Sharlene were staying with us, Kara was so hysterical most of the time. In order to calm her down, Bob would whisk her away to his office and play some 'youtube' videos just to get her mind off of all that was going on. She fell in love with one in particular.....Crazy Frog. I don't know why but that one just tickles her fancy. Now she wants to watch it over and over.

I need to get her on video to show those crazy frog producers what effect they have on young viewers! She dances to the music and she has the crazy frog 'beep beep' down to a science.

What did we ever do before Youtube? I've just recently seen some music videos to songs that were popular in my teen years. I didn't even know they were out there.....boy, do I feel old now!

Celebrations

We celebrated Kara's 2nd birthday this week. Boy, I can't believe how much she's grown. She loves to talk and she loves to 'go'. Bob always takes the birthday kid out for breakfast. Since she doesn't sit still and most certainly won't make it through a breakfast, he took her out for 'Timbits'. (thanks for the great idea, Lisa!) She loved it! She was so happy to go with Daddy and was so happy to sit in her car seat and eat her cup of donut holes.

We had some family over for the celebration too! She was running around kissing and hugging everyone. She's so precious when she's not screaming, no..no...no.

In the middle of our little party, I happened to glance out the window and saw an ambulance right in front of our house. When I opened the front door, I saw a little old man laying on the ground behind our car. Fortunately, the neighbor's across the street had seen him fall, got him a pillow and a blanket and called 911. He ended up being alright, thank goodness.

It was a bit unsettling that all that was happening in our front yard and we didn't have a clue. There is this older couple that lives down a bit from us, that keeps up on everyone. Not in a nosy sense but in a sincerely caring way for people. They are always out there during the winter, shoveling everyone's driveway, doing what they can for the neighbors. We are really blessed to have them in our neighborhood. They jumped right in and were going to check on him and make sure his family got called. That is the kind of neighbor we want to be.

The neighbor lady came back around later that evening to let us know that the little old man was doing ok and that they had gotten a hold of his family. She thanked me for what I did, for being out there with them. I thought to myself, I really didn't do anything but lend a listening ear and a kind word to him. But I also thought that it was neat that she came back to give us a report and to, in a way, encourage people by thanking them for what they did do. As the lady was leaving, Kara called out to her for a hug. Of course, she got one. Who could resist? However, my thought was why would she want to hug an unfamiliar person and be all cute with her but won't go in her Sunday school class without a screaming meltdown. Another question that goes down in the unsolved mysteries along with, 'why on earth are there wasps'.....again a mystery to me.

Brad told me he was already to go out there and put his new CPR skills into practice but realized the ambulance was already there so maybe he's catch it next time around. So I, being the teacher and mother, decided to quiz him a bit to see if he remembered what to do from his class. He told me that he was to ask him if he needed some help. Then, he proceeded to tell me he needed to turn the man on his side. I quickly let him know that you only turn someone on their side if they happened to be unconscious...which he was not. I think, perhaps, we need a second course on CPR.....maybe a daily DVD.....

Not Again???!!

Guess what today is? Yep, it's Sunday. The day we go to church. It is also the day that burns through my energy faster than Lightening McQueen on the raceway.

Today, I woke up to beautiful sun shining and warm air breezing through my window. What a nice way to wake up. I thought to myself, it's going to be a great day. I came downstairs, made the coffee, and cooked breakfast. We were off to a great start. Off I went to take a shower.

As I was trying to get the kids ready, that is when it hit. The 'I don't like church' and the 'do I have to go', 'Is Brad staying home so I can stay home with him', 'How about Dad, is he staying home' or how about this one....I already learned about God, He doesn't have parents comment from my six year old. Then there was the four year old having a bit of a fit, laying on the floor stomping his feet. I asked him if he was throwing a temper tantrum and he said no, mom. I then proceeded to ask him what all the foot stomping was and his reply.....it's just acting, Mom. Sigh. I am still stumped on this one. I loved going to church when I was a kid. I cannot for the life of me figure out why they give me such a hard time.

They make the classes fun. They have actors that act out Bible stories, they have the traveling musicians and they do crafts. They also have L-O-U-D music. What else is there? I think my kids must be just weird. They'd rather sit with me which I'm mostly ok with.

On this particular day, Kara seemed a bit out of sorts. Bob said maybe one of us should stay home with her because what was going to happen was that she would end up not going in her class and I would spend the whole time chasing her around. I p'shawed that thought and told him she would be alright. Famous last words.....

Bob dropped Kara off at her class or should I say they peeled her from Bob while she was kicking and screaming. Now mostly, we just leave her for a few minutes and she settles down and is fine. However, in the process of our little wildcat flailing her hands and feet to all who came near her, she fell back and whammed her head on the wall. Of course, I couldn't leave her with that happening.

So I stood in the class with the diaper bag and purse in one hand while I have her in the other. Every time I'd even get a notion to put her down the flailing of the arms and legs would go wild. So I thanked the ladies for trying but I would just take my little wildcat and go sit with her in the atrium. Well, that didn't work either because now that she is almost two, sitting in my lap for more than three minutes just isn't going to happen.

So at the end of the atrium is some couches which I thought maybe would be better for her so she wouldn't disturb people too much. That worked for about ten minutes until she discovered the exit. Did you know that if you push the handicap button the doors will open. Yep, they do and she did. Visualize me running down the hall in my not so flat shoes, chasing a two year old who has escaped out of the church. Sigh.

I caught her and brought her back to the couch where she screamed her head off along with her flailing arms and legs and then proceeded to spit in my face. She learned that little trick from Barbara and Sharlene which we haven't been able to break her of yet. At that point, I was sweaty from chasing and fighting with her, my hair was every which way, my heart was pounding and I was about in tears. So I crept back to where Bob was sitting with the other kids and told him I'd be outside.

For the rest of the sermon, I sat in the car with a almost two year old who clearly was ready for a nap. I was rehashing all that Bob had said earlier that morning. Perhaps, I should have just stayed home with her. I certainly didn't hear the message. Thank goodness I can catch it online. I do wonder though.....am I the only mother who has impossible Sundays because I scanned the parking lot and I clearly was the only one out there. I suppose I could start a Sunday morning Bible study for crazed mothers out in the parking lot. Anybody interested????

Don't Let Her Fool You!

I can't believe our baby is going to be two in just a few weeks. How did that happen so fast? She's chatting up a storm and using big words like....Toontown. If you don't know what that it, it's an online video game that my kids play and she goes nuts over. She knows all about it and that comes from her father, I am sure. She stands up in the chair in front of the computer, grabs the mouse and clicks away like a pro. If she senses anyone coming to take her away from it, she screams at the top of her lungs. I think the neighbors can hear her. She really would make a great alarm system. I wonder if State Farm would consider that a discount on my home insurance. Kara, the great theft detection system. Her idea of a theft is taking her computer away from her. Yes, I said her computer. She has declared it as 'mine'.

Our Kara is sweet and loving until you cross her and then she's as sassy as her mother. Poor thing. I think she might even run our house. Being number five in the birth order and her just being her adds an element of fun to our household. Grace and I took her to Target with us the other day. She was talking in a baby-talk kind of tone to everyone we passed. They were all swooning over how incredibly cute she was. She was totally eating it up and laughing so much at herself. It was quite a show.

Inspite of her cuteness, she has her rascally moments. She got a hold of Ryan's Gameboy and took it in the bathroom deciding to see what happens when you run water over it in the sink. In case you are wondering, it wrecks it. It won't work. Nada. No way, no how. Ryan was hot. Thank goodness, his mother having thought this through when she bought it, signed up for the replacement plan. So it got replaced without any trouble and he is back to his happy self.

A couple of days ago, Kara disappeared. She is fascinated with the bathroom. Why...I just don't know. Perhaps its that big tank of water that is so fun to play in. Then it's so fun to add toilet paper to it to see what happens with that. What a mess. I had toilet paper stuck to the walls, sink, shower and let's not forget to mention all that was in the toilet itself. Of course, she just stands there with the biggest grin, proud as can be. I know why God made kids cute....it was for their protection.

Along with the toilet paper experiment, our sweet baby girl also later that day decided to yet again experiment with the toilet. Only it didn't involve toilet paper. Have you ever seen David Letterman's, "Does It Float"? Yes....she decided to play that very game. Let me ask you....do Gameboy's sink or float? The answer to that question is....(drum roll.....).......it sinks. There in the toilet, sunk to the bottom, was Aaron's Gameboy. Only this time, Aaron's Gameboy does not have the replacement plan. It has expired. Guess what I'll be repurchasing soon?

Randomness

I have writer's block. I'd love to write a hysterically funny post right about now but I got nothing. Perhaps it's the dreary weather or perhaps its my dreary state of mind. So here I sit before my screen hoping that something is going to just inspire me. So I guess I could do this: I'll share a couple of random things the kids have done or said....

A couple weeks ago, I purchased some popcorn chicken from Kentucky Fried Chicken. Ryan decided he was full so I told him we could save the rest for the next day. A baggie would do the trick to save those yummy little morsels for later. Well, just the other day I was rummaging through my cupboard looking for something and I came across this baggie with something kind of furry and green in it. I thought to myself, what in the world? Then it dawned on me. Those are Ryan's popcorn chicken he's was trying to save. Ooops....I guess I forgot to make it known that they were to go in the fridge and not the cupboard.

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Our little 22 month old has discovered the world of nakedness. She just loves, loves, loves to take her clothes off and now she's added the removal of the diaper too. She thinks that if she's in need of a diaper change, she can just take off her clothes and her diaper and run around the house stark naked occasionally leaving a little puddle. Who needs a puppy? She also thinks that she should have a clean set of clothes to put on after each diaper change. Oh, she's such a little stinker. The other day when she was done with her nap, off came the clothes and the diaper. When I sent Grace up to get her, I heard squealing. Grace came running down the stairs yelling I can't do it! I asked her what in the world was going on. What I found was a naked baby who had tinkled all over her bed. That's my little pee pot....cute as can be.

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Ryan's been quite caught up in marrying his mother lately. He says when he gets older and taller, he's going to marry me. I told him that I was married to daddy so that kind of wouldn't work. He thought about that for a little bit and then he says to me, well, when you are through with dad, I'll marry you then.

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I was sitting on the couch having a good ol' conversation with my four year old. We were chatting about this and that...whatever came into his cute little head. He was sitting on my lap facing me and loving every moment he had my undivided attention. All of the sudden he decides to look down the inside of my shirt. He looks up with a googly look on his face and he says, "those are beautiful, Mom". I about fell of the couch in shock.

Our Final Decision

A few weeks ago, I posted on having to make a decision on whether or not to continue on with our caring for Barbara and Sharlene. I cannot begin to express to you how much we've agonized over this decision and how many tears I've shed. We've come to the conclusion to let them go.

Our youngest has been hysterical much of the time due to many injuries she's received from the two girls. I don't believe that they have been intended as malicious but are a result of a lack of previous structure, consistency and discipline in their lives leaving them with a lack of understanding of consequences. A 20 month old can't understand why the girls act the way they do. All she knows is that she's been hurt and who did it to her. If it keeps happening over and over again, it leaves trauma in it's wake. Her response is to scream and scream. If I even attempt to hold one of the girls in my lap, Kara responds like I've betrayed her and refuses to have anything to do with me....at least, until she needs something.

We've finally been able to take the girls to counseling. I actually had an appointment for myself only to talk to the counselor. I've not been real impressed. So far she hasn't given me much to work with as far as handling the self-mutilation and the other issues that are present. She did confirm my feelings as far as them needing one on one care which I'm not really able to do since I have five of my own kids. She was recommending a psyche evaluation on them.

We sent in our notice a couple weeks ago to the social worker and have heard nothing from her since. We did finally find out today that she was called out of state on a family emergency. Her supervisor finally had someone call us to let us know that much. In the meantime, I found out that the social worker had canceled the girls' medicaid which is bad since I've been taking them to all these appointments. We called the person that we've been dealing with in our county and he's getting it reinstated effective tomorrow. This cross-county kinship foster care is very frustrating. The different counties just don't communicate with each other.

After talking with him and explaining what's been going on, he was amazed at what we've had to go through. He told us that the social worker was suppose to be setting up all this stuff for us and getting in touch with us. Instead we've been the one's jumping through hoops trying to get everything in order and trying to chase the social worker down to find out when visitation is and such. It's been so frustrating.

Our prayer is that the next home will be one that has the knowledge and capability to help with the special needs of the girls. They deserve to be cared for and loved on and given the chance to live happily. We also pray that it would be a Christian home where they will hear all about how very much Jesus loves them and will heal their hearts and minds.

Growing Up...

Each one of my children has a strong will. With five, I thought my chances of having at least one that would be somewhat easy-going, pliable or even flexible with the flow of life wouldn't be too far fetched. But as I sit here and think about it, they just get stronger and stronger right on down the line. Makes me think that one should seriously consider our next move on adding or not to add another little peanut to our household.

Our youngest has found the love of dressing or undressing herself, putting shoes on and taking them off. She's done this for quite some time but has always been willing to allow help when she gets in a pickle or should I say tangled in the shirt.

She loves to change her clothes fifty times a day and is not at all concerned whether they came from her drawer or from the dirty clothes basket. It doesn't even have to be hers. She loves to put on whatever she finds.

After breakfast the other day, I got her clothes out to put on her. I was met with a very cute pouty face. I can only assume it was because she was not at all happy that I had taken her shirt off and was wanting to help her put the clean one on. So I let her be while I sat and watched.

She finished taking off the rest of her pajama's and began putting on her clothes for the new day. It was all I could do to keep my hands from helping her when she was struggling and struggling to get her shirt on. You know, it's difficult to get your arms in the right holes....and it's even more challenging to get it on so the cute little bunny that is suppose to be on the front is indeed on the front.

Then she went to the pants. She put them on and took them off four times and yet, her cute little legs would only go together in one side of the pants. Visualize a little toddler with her little pink bunny shirt on backwards with her legs in one pant leg trying to walk over to me. She still wouldn't let me help her. Out comes her pointy finger along with the words, no, no, no. She decided that she was fine with the shirt but got frustrated with the whole pants thing. She wasn't going to give in and let me help though. She would just have to do without pants and off she scampered to play.....happy to be so independent.

Pink Shoes

They have the cutest clothing items out there for little girls. It doesn't help me one bit that I think Kara is a beautiful girl. Can you tell I'm prejudice?

We recently went shopping at the mall and what do you think I came across? The most adorable pink shoes that sparkle like the eyes of my 19 month old. She already has two pairs of shoes I told myself.....but I ended up purchasing them anyway because they reminded me of her.

She took to them as quick as a wink and hasn't given much thought to her other shoes. She now brings me these shoes whenever she has an inkling that she might be going bye-bye. I sure wish I could find some for myself.....oh to be a little girl again.

Can we just say....adorable?!!

The Past Year...The Fall, The Flood and A New Baby.

We've had an adventure of a lifetime this past year. We've had a flood, a fall and in the midst of all that, our beautiful little Kara was born. They say that character is born out of trials and that God uses times like these to grow and beautify your relationship with Him. For that I am thankful....thankful that something good can and does come out of ugliness....thankful that God does care about my relationship with Him enough to give me times like these...and thankful that He gave us what we needed through people, prayer and His grace to get through it.

First came the flood......

Thanksgiving day 2005, was a cold and windy day. After all our festivities were done for the day, we sent the kids up to bed. A little bit later, Grace came down the stairs stating the fact that the toilet was broken upstairs. I went up to check on what all the fuss was about finding out that their was no water in the toilet and the shower was not working. I promptly yelled down to Bob for help. Between the two of us, the only answer to our quandary was that the pipes had frozen.

Usually I feel for those people who have to work on a holiday at the Meijer's down the street, but for once, I was very thankful they were there and open for business on this particular holiday. We purchased a space heater which Bob stayed up all night checking on so a fire didn't start. He finally pulled the plug early the following morning since it was getting too hot and didn't seem to be doing any good. He decided to lay down since he was very, very tired. Not soon after that, our early riser, Grace came frantically running in our room to inform us that there was water everywhere! And there was!

We had turned the shower on a trickle just in case the pipes thawed not thinking that the floor drain was frozen also. The inlet pipe had thawed out but the drain had not. Where does water go when the drain is frozen.....everywhere but there! As I went down stairs to get supplies to start cleaning it up...Ha!....I found that it was seeping through the ceiling in the hallway and kitchen. I realized at that moment....there would be no cleaning up....it had reached bigger proportions than any mop could fix. Our next step was to call the catastrophe team in!


The Fall.......

A little over a week later, we had planned on going with our church to Holiday nights at Greenfield Village. We were all packed up and ready to go...we just needed to get the tickets from the table located inside our church. It was a beautiful night...crystal clear with a light dusting of snow starting to fall. As Bob was coming back to the car, I saw him fall. Usually, one can get right back up but he seemed to be having a hard time getting in the upright position. My oldest son, Brad, wanted to go help him but I told him Dad had it under control and just to wait....he'd be fine.

When he finally made it back to the car, his face was as white as the snow that was falling. I thought to myself...that must of hurt! Bob said that his ankle hurt but he would just try to wait a few minutes and then we could go. He tried to stand up on it and almost lost his balance again. I realized then, even though he said we could just go and he would wait in the car while we had fun, that our fun would have to be had in the emergency waiting room. Being pregnancy and very emotional from the ordeal we had previously and were still experiencing, informed the kids with tears running down my cheeks, that we would not be going to Greenfield Village.

Over the next month and a half, a horrible doctor and so much pain, we decided that we needed to see a specialist. Upon his observation, he thought that Bob needed surgery. He had torn the main ligament in his ankle and needed surgery to anchor those back in place. His surgery date was set for April 5th. As I was sitting in the waiting room while Bob was having surgery, having contractions and praying this baby would not come early, I prayed that Bob would heal quickly.

I've never experienced a spouse being in so much pain before. I physically felt ill. The after effects of the surgery were awful. I could hear him in the other room, just praying...please, God, help me...help me....I believe that the pain was so awful that is all that he could pray...over and over again. At that moment, I thought I wasn't going to make it through. I was so overwhelmed with watching him, my pregnancy, trying to maintain life for the kids. The only place to go was on my knees and pray for strength that only God can give. As I was praying one day, I felt a flutter of peace enter into my soul. I cannot explain it....it was ever so soft but yet so strong. I knew then, at that moment, God was reassuring me of His love, His hope....we were going to make it through!

The Baby.....

I was having contractions off and on from January. Not your usual prelabor contractions, but strong, reminding me how awful labor can be, labor pains. By April, the doctor was watching closely....he said the baby could come anytime. I wasn't due till mid May. Every night, I'd wake from contractions. It became my usual routine. Early on the morning of May 2nd, I began those contractions, I thought to myself...I'll just go lay on the couch and wait till they stop. Bob wanted to know if he should call the doctor. I said to him...No, I'm not having this baby tonight. You are still on pain medication and in pain. It's just not time yet. I laid down on the couch and my water broke. I promptly got up and said...perhaps, I am having this baby!

Four and a half hours later, I told the nurse the baby was coming. She checked me and made notes in her chart....obviously not in a hurry. She indicated to me that we had a little bit yet to go. But she would go get the doctor. By the time the doctor and the nurse came back, the baby was laying in the bed using her very healthy lungs to tell everyone she had arrived. The doctor walked in, scratched his head and replied oh, ok....the nurse was in shock. She said that has never happened to her in the 25 years she had worked there. Maybe someone should listen to the patient.....A Mom knows!

It is now August, Kara has arrived, the surgery has come and gone, and my home is finally finished being repaired. God is good! We did make it and now can see God's fingerprints all over our lives...where he held us up and where he carried us. He truly is our sustainer.