Dear Diaper Basket

Dear Diaper Basket,

We have been good friends for a long time. A LONG LONG LONG TIME!!! We had that short little 6 months where we had a break from each other...but now, you are ON YOUR WAY OUT!

Don't get me wrong, I have LOVED what you mean! You mean there is a little baby rolling, crawling, or toddling around my house. And that is pretty awesome! You have been emptied and filled back up more than I can count!! 4 years you and I have been working together to keep these little people clean and dry and fresh. But I am glad to say, you are about to lose your job! Our little last person, is using the BIG POTTY, and doing awesome! And that means, only diapers when she sleeps. Although, soon it will only be at night, because her diaper has been clean and dry after nap for almost a week now. I am surprised at this! I did not think this little blondy blue eyed girl would train so fast. She is not two until September, but she is proving me wrong! She seems to have this thing down and seems HAPPY to no longer need your assistance. I am proud of her!

And so old friend, for now I will start to move you slowly into the closet where you will live on the top shelf. I am excited to have it a bit easier in everyday life and A LOT easier on my wallet. And I will pray that maybe...maybe....maybe...I will have to take you down for just ONE more little miracle that may come our way. If not, that is okay too. We have had a good run! A good LONG CRAZY run!!!!

Ben's "Gotcha" day! 2010

IT'S BEN DAY!!!!!!! Today is Ben's "gotcha" day! The day we brought our boy home!!!!

We always celebrate the kids "gotcha" days by a meal out and a toy!

Since tonight is Church, we celebrated last night.

Ben was so excited about Ben day! He kept saying "MOM! Happy Ben DAY!" It was awesome. While the girls were taking their nap,

Ben and I shared some time, talking about when we brought him home.

He asked me "mom, where did you go get me from?" I answered "we went up the mountain and got you!" Ben- "when I was a baby, and God said I was your little boy?" Me " yep! and daddy and I were so so so excited to go get you!" The proud smile on his face was priceless! I will cherish that conversation with my boy!

We had received a gift card (foster parent appreciation gift) to Chili's, and thought what better way than to celebrate the day we got our first child!

The whole night he was proud, happy, and felt special!

With his Fries and Mac and Cheese!!!

And we can't forget the BLUE ICEE!!!!

His little sisters (or as Ben has started calling them "my girls") had a good time too!

For his toy choice our boy chose this air plane! He was so excited!!!

(that is chocolate ice cream on his face!!!)

We sure love you Ben! Happy Ben DAY!!!!!

Questions, Questions,Questions

I am a mother of three awesome kids. 4, 3, and almost 2 years old. Which means that we don't go more than 30 seconds without a question of some sort. Some nights I lay down in bed and my head aches from all the questions.

"Mom, why does daddy have to go to work?" (this one is answered EVERYDAY!), "mom, why you doin dat?", "mom, where is my cup?", "mom can I have some snack", "why do bugs crawl?", "what do bears eat?", "what do giraffes eat?", "why do giraffes eat leaves?" "why Dod give me a belly button?", "mom, why my feet hop yike dis?", "why do cars drive on roads?", "why we take a baf, I not dirty", "mom why we have haiwr?" "why we have ta rub on sun screen?", "why we doe to churwch?", "why does superman never come to our house?".

This is just a taste of what a 15 min time period sounds like in my house. And my youngest barley talks!!!!!!! Dan and I have stopped measuring our road trips in Mile per hour, and now measure it in Questions per mile!

I know that it is a stage and to tell you the truth, even though it drives me nuts sometimes, I love how curious they are and how much they want to learn and soak in! The other day while in the van on the way to gymnastics, my Hannah was shooting off question after question. Mostly about which pedal in the car makes it go and which one makes it stop. She was trying to figure it out and I started thinking. I thought about me, and how I was as a young child of God. Right after I was saved and for years after that, I was FULL of questions and the desire to study and learn learn learn! It was just part of who I was, like it is for my kids right now. And it humbled me. Where have all MY questions gone. I should still be, asking, studying, seeking and finding! I have let the busyness of life, and the stress of this world slow me down in this area of my life. Slow me down to nothing more than a crawl.

I think I can learn a lot from my children, who are constantly asking why and trying to figure things out and learn more! I may have a good foundation, and know quite a bit, but I will NEVER know everything and I am so far from knowing what I should about God, His Love and His Word. He will always have more to teach me. I just need to show up to class more, and ask some questions. "God why should I do this?", "where should I go now?" "what do YOU want me to do for You today"? etc. So I will try to learn this lesson my children have taught me, and get curious, and interested and question, study, seek and find more and more each day!

Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness.