Today

Today has been an interesting day for me. Not because of the events per se... just my thoughts. Today I feel half -decent at about a million things. I have so many interests and "hobbies" but Im really only kind-of good at all of them. Jeremy encouraged me to pick one and dedicate myself to it. That seems a little like being terribly hungry, standing before an amazing buffet, and being told to eat only ONE thing. HA! But its true and good wisdom.

I am looking at all of the things I enjoy. Photography, Singing, Playing Guitar/leading worship, Writing, Counseling, Art.... so many things. Oh, not to mention my passion for telling stories! Not just my own, but having OTHERS tell their stories. Is it that we feel too small to memorialize ourselves for our future generations? Specifically, I think of how hard it is to share the heart of Creative Memories with friends and family. Today I realized that people just ARENT as excited as I am about telling their stories! They shove them in the crevices of their minds, in rotting boxes under their beds, in their closets. Nameless, story-less faces. Some even stuck in digital files.

This isn't a plug for my business. Its a true passion of mine. When Mary Ann died... we suddenly had SO many pictures... generations of pictures... and we had no idea who any of them were! They are important people. Ancestors, even. Lost to the memories of those who've passed before us. What a tragedy that I can't share the stories of God's faithfulness to my family all those generations ago with my children. Empty faces. Stories behind their eyes that I will never know. BUT I can start with MY story. God's faithfulness to ME. That my great-great-great grandchildren will read my books (my digital books :) and say, "wow, Great-great-great grandma was cool!" Just kidding. They will say, "Wow, great-great-great grandma and grandpa saw some hard times... just like we are seeing! But look how God showed up. I know He'll do the same for us."

In fact, we are COMMANDED to remember the good times! Rhonda Anderson, Co-Founder of CM, encourages us best with this message.

"Moses says, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are upon your hearts, impress them on your children.” Deut. 6: 5-6

It’s not simply for us to remember, it’s for our children.

In fact Psalm 78:4 says: “We will tell the next generation the praise worthy deeds of the Lord, His power and the wonders He has done.”

These two additional scriptures also talk about the importance of passing on the Lord’s faithfulness to our children:

Isaiah 38:19b LB “Each generation can make known your faithfulness to the next.”

Joel 1:3 NIV “Tell it to your children, and let your children tell it to their children, and their children to the next generation.”

We are admonished to “TELL the next generation the praiseworthy deeds of the Lord.” (Psalm 78:4).

The Word does not say if we have time, if we have money, if we don’t work outside the home, if we have a housecleaner and a supportive spouse. As Christians, we are to remember all the things God is doing in our lives and we are to tell the next generation...

Dr. James Dobson, of Focus on the Family, made a statement years ago that I believe validates the need for [recording our stories]. “If there is anything I feel we have lost as a people in the western world it’s that understanding of who we are, where we’ve been, who our ancestors were, and what our identity is. And that is done through the family structure. Continuity from generation to generation depends on taking the best from the past and passing it along to our children.” (June 22, 2000 broadcast)."

That was long... but probably more for my sake than yours. Wow, what a tangent! But a good one. It helps me remember why Ive chosen to do the things I do.

On that note, I believe I will start teaching Faithbooking. I also want to "start" writing ;0

I dont know...

"Mommy, Cookie!"

Corban decided to take a break from potty-training over the weekend. Why not? Don't we all like breaks from hard work??? Plus, everyone was home... so many people to play with! The Behavior Analyst took the weekend off too...

That said, this morning, Corban finally didnt wake me up. I was so blessed. I thought to myself, "ahh, we're going back to 'normal' and Corban slept in!" I get up, get dressed, open my door... and there is Corban. "Hi Mommy! Cookie!" he says as he holds up a cookie. Question Mark. Closer look... there is chocolate all over his mouth. "Ahhh, man!" I left the cookies from the Benedict fundraiser on my kitchen table last night. Apparently, on his way to waking me up, Corban noticed the chocolate delights (including little brownie things). I'm not sure how much he ate... but he was a little loopy when we left for church.

Has has also begun to say, "ah, man!" just like his mommy. Its really cute. And Im super glad that my language is "clean." Simply put- he wont be learning any vulgar language from me! If "ah man" is the worst of it, then praise the Lord! :)

My only other real blog-worthy incident occurred this evening. I went to Costco to get my pictures and some pizza for dinner. Note to self (and you): Costco closes early on Sundays. NICE. I didn't have a plan B... so as I talked with Jackie and drove home, my thoughts were on what I was planning on feeding my family. Unfortunately, they WERENT on watching my speed and I got pulled over in front of Panda Express (2 blocks from my house). Apparently the speed on Kings Canyon is 40. Not sure why I always think its 50... anyway. We had Panda for dinner. The nicest police man I've ever met (um, except for Joey Alvarez, of course... who, fortunately, has never pulled me over) asked if I knew how fast I was going. I said, "54." He looked at me a little shocked and said, "Most people say '40' when I ask them how fast they were going... but you hit it on the head! Wow, youre really honest." He left to write my ticket (apparently honesty wasn't good enough to get me out of this one!) and said, "wow, its been years since anyone has ever said what they were going." In a small way, I was grateful that this man, doing his duty faithfully, was able to glimpse some of my character even in such a small encounter. Its sad that its so uncommon. Even though it totally sucks that I got a ticket (its normally JEREMY :) I'm hopeful that God can use even this... to teach Jackie that we are responsible for God's laws (and man's laws) even when we dont know what they are... or to show this kind officer that there are still people of integrity out there... or for myself... to keep me humbled and to keep us broke! Fitting after Pastor Scott's great sermon today... ;)

To end on this very special note... I got to take a nap today! During my nap, I had my video monitor on for Corban and Hannah (also napping). As Corban was falling asleep he yelled, "mommy! LOVE YOU! LOVE YOU, MOMMY!!!" He never knew that I heard him but he said it anyway. *swoon* What a treasure!

A Note By Jeremy :)

How does one come into a relationship with the God of the universe? Is it through hard work? Maybe payment? Could it just be a right that we have because we exist? What if it was amazingly through the institution of adoption. Adoption is the means by which we come to know a God who loves us with a love so deep that its hard to fathom. But if you are adopted you may have more insight than first believed.

For centuries Christian's have taught about and known this little secret that the Bible speaks of. Even though the Bible uses the word "adopt" only about four times, it refers to the concept of adoption throughout. Even so much as to make it a central theme.

When Marcy and I prayed and made the decision to open first our hearts then our homes to our oldest foster son, we thought that we were doing something pretty far out there. We knew that as a believing family we were going to give the gift of God's presence and influence to this child. Over time I see that and even more of God's plan unfolding. You see God was working in and through the process. Not only did He bless Marcy and I with a child He blessed our church and our friends with my son. He is a blessing to our first born natural child Corban and to Hannah our natural born daughter. In addition God has given me the hope that someday He will also bless the birth-parents with eventually seeing their bio son someday. Lord willing he will have chosen Jesus and will be a man of God. I have hope that they will see and experience the peace of knowing that their child took the opportunity to become a member of God's Kingdom.

Dennis Rainey points out that Jesus Christ was a adopted. Joseph, who raised Jesus as his own, was not His biological father. I reflect on this man and can learn a great deal from him! He of course was unselfish; willing to rearrange his whole life in obedience to God. Joseph gladly accepted Jesus, providing Him with all the love, encouragement, and guidance that a son needs from a father. What a God thing that this coming December I have been asked to play the part of Joseph in a musical at our church. God is good.

In the same way as Joseph, God chooses us to be His adopted children. He does this not because He has to, but because He wants to! What love that he would choose us to be co-heirs with His natural Son. In adopting us through Christ, He shows the depth of His love. To Marcy and I He is a model to us who are adopting a child as their son or daughter.

I must admit that there have been plenty of times since that first decision that we have second guessed ourselves and God. We have worried about the decision and its consequences. But through it all God has revealed that adoption is not a "second-best" option. It is not for the weird and out there. It is for you, who believe that there is a God who loves and takes action when He sees us poor and destitute; destined to misery and ultimately destruction. Adoption is another and beautiful way that God in His wisdom can choose for us to be parents. In the end whether we are parents of biological or parents by choice through adoption, the fact is that children are not a right -- they are a gift from God:

Jeremiah 1:5 says
"Before I formed you in the womb I knew you,
before you were born I set you apart;
I appointed you as a prophet to the nations."

Romans 8:14-17 says
....because those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, "Abba,Father." The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children. Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.

I look at Moses as well who was adopted by Pharaoh's daughter (Exodus 2:1-10). His adoption was sad. He was a son who could not be protected or cared for by his biological parents. But in the end the adoption was part of God's overall plan for the deliverance of Israel from Egypt.(Rainey)

Lastly the central theme of the Bible is the story about Jesus himself. His adoption story illustrates to us all that there is only one way for us to enter the Kingdom of God -- we must become God's adopted children through Jesus Christ.(Rainey)

For those of us who have believed and accepted the call of God in our lives. Who have accepted the deep love that He has for His created people, He commands that we care for those in need! But as the great Father that He is, He gives us a model of being the first to invent adoption. Anyone who has placed their trust in Christ has been adopted into God's family. Ephesians 1:4-5 tell us: … “In love he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will.”

"Caring for the fatherless is not simply a compassionate and kind act. Caring for the fatherless and adoption are at the very heart of God. Caring for orphans is about obedience … it is about knowing the God whom we serve."(Rainey)

“Vindicate the weak and fatherless; Do justice to the afflicted and destitute.”
—Psalm 82:3

Inspired from the words of Dennis Rainey, author,
God's Heart for the Orphan and host, Family Life Today radio.

Potty Training goes on for third day!

Mmmm, the comfort of my bed. I have it all to myself since Jeremy has left for work.... mmmm. I happen to open my eyes... to find a beautiful little face staring into mine. "Hi Mommy," he whispers. I glance at the clock. "Corban, its not even 7:00. Please go back to your bed for a little while." "Poo poo in the potty." *groan* He knows my weakness. Okay, so I climb out of bed and stumble after my vanished child. He's already in the bathroom. He sat on the potty and.... nothing. In fact, it wasnt until ONE HOUR LATER that he finally pooped... but at least it was in the potty!

We had a great day today! Corban really seems to be getting the hang of it. Statistically... he made it in the toilet 19% of the time! Thats an increase from the first two days! He was only wet 33% of the day and, you can do the math... but dry 62%! He's getting better! Or else I am. Being a behavior analyst not only means I keep data... but I can also see trends. Seeing trends helps me help Corban be more successful. For example, I noticed that he has a bowel movement between 9am-10am each morning. Now I know to be on the lookout during that hour. I also know he seems to wet more often when Im cooking dinner! Its either the yummy smells or the hours between 5-6pm so I know to watch more carefully then, too! :)

Speaking of learning- Corban has caught on to the system very quickly. SO quickly, that when I hung up his new potty chart... he knew just what to do. While I was in another room, he very accurately placed 6 stickers onto their spots perfectly! The only reason I noticed was because he started at the bottom instead of the top AND I'd just posted it. Clever little cheat! :)

Other than that our day was fairly uneventful. We swam. We played. We read LOTS of potty books. We loved on Hannah. It was a good day :)

Corban playing with the matchbox car he'd earned! Its driving on his potty chart's train tracks :)


Showing off his winning smile and cool new car! Ready to earn another one!

One of his completed potty charts :) He gets a sticker every time he is dry (which we check for every 15 minutes) and an additional one if he eliminates in the potty :)

Potty Training part 2

Well, today was hardly as noteworthy as yesterday, and for that I'm sure I'm thankful. The morning began as usual... or as usual has become. Corban woke me up. Darn that door-opening skill!!!

Anyway, I revamped our potty training tactic today. We went to vons and got some Cars pull-ups! I scratched the underwear idea after yesterday. The suggestion to use underwear is a good one... then your kiddo can feel that they are wet. Problem is... I realized that Corban has not quite connected the "im-about-to-pee" feeling with the following action. So no point in him walking around all wet. He loved the Cars pull-up idea and we still called them underwear. He earned enough stickers to get his first match-box car this morning! That was exciting!

From there we tried to stick to the every 15-20 minutes or so checking to see if he was dry or wet (which the nice little cars on the front would inform us of by vanishing when peed on :)

This is where the behavior analyst in me pops out. Two days of statistics to gauge our success :) Yesterday he only peed IN the potty 4% of our attempts. Today, he peed in the potty 14% of our attempts! What great progress! He is beginning to connect all of the concepts and that is fun to see. The flip side is that today he was 48% of the time wet when we checked (52% dry) whereas yesterday he was 43% wet and 57% dry. Either way, at least he is dry more than he is wet!

We were also all around a lot less frustrated... Corban is a very willing party and I just relaxed on the every 15 minutes deal. Its just not totally feasible to spend an entire day at the potty every 15 minutes... when I also have to get groceries, nurse a baby, answer the phone, watch other kids, make meals, etc. I also allow Corban to feel like he is leading the whole thing. After a dry check, I ask him if he wants to try to pee in the potty or put on his "underwear." Most of the time he chooses to sit on the potty. The funniest thing is when he hears the beeper for the timer go off... he races into the bathroom to tear off his clothes!!! Its cute.

On a non-potty related note... He told me his first real story today that I actually understood. Corban said, "Sit on horse. Fall down. Hit Daisy head." So I re-played it back to him in adult English. "So you sat on Daisy (our dog) like she was a horse. You fell off of her. Then you hit her on the head?" Corban nodded and re-stated the whole event but THIS time he even acted it out for me. "Sit on daisy horse (and he straddled a pretend dog). Fall down (he fell down). Hit Daisy head (he hit the air). Well, I talked with him about NOT hitting our animals... and then cracked up. He told me a story that I understood! And it was QUITE like him to try to ride my poor dog....

Until tomorrow!

Another Blog-worthy day

Today was an interesting day.

I decided to potty train Corban. Why not? Well, there are at least 9 reasons why not... the couch, the kitchen floor, the numerous underwear, the carpet...etc. :) Though it wasn't totally successful in the way I hoped, there was progress.

This was my plan. Give him lots of juice. Give him underwear (trainers). Do a wet/dry check every 15 minutes. Sit him on potty every 30 minutes. Use choo-choo train sticker chart with tractor stickers... all working to win a matchbox car. Give one sticker for dry check and two stickers for dry AND pee in the potty.

The reality: 8 pairs of wet underwear. Pee in underwear between the 15 minute checks. He loved the sticker chart! He can now pull down his underwear and get onto the potty all by himself (this is excellent progress!). Watching a movie during potty training is NOT a good idea. Towels on the couch... ineffective. Potty training according to my plan with a 3 month old... not so much.

That was just the training. Now lets talk about the rest of the day. Corban walked in and woke me up at 8am. Fairly easy morning with potty training as we both got the hang of our plan. Ate breakfast. Fed Hannah. THEN came the phone call... wont go into detail, but just dealing with an individual that is a lot like that thorn in the flesh Paul talked about. Having to redirect my thoughts from fury to prayer. THEN came naptime. Seemed okay until it ended and I saw Corban. He had drawn in green marker on both of his arms and on each finger... his neck and a dot on his forehead. Okay. Then he had also drawn on two pages of his favorite NEW book. Fine.

Then he ran to hug me and bit my gut. Interesting new development since he was bit in church a week ago... (note taken) While he sat on timeout for biting me, he peed. Okay. THEN a fly flew into our last fish's fish bowl... the fish died. The last of our 10 walmart fish. Thanks fly. We had a toilet-flushing ceremony, Corban and I... to which Corban said, "bye bye fish died. Love you."

Then I tried to make dinner with a baby that wanted to be held, a two-year-old who wanted to eat NOW, a husband who was late coming home, and two older children who had not done their chores for 2 days (i.e. emptying the dishwasher, taking out the trash, sweeping under the table after dinner). THEN (in the middle of trying to make dinner and nurse Hannah) Corban peed on the kitchen floor... making a nasty almost muddy mess (since the floor hadn't been swept :) okay, wasnt THAT bad... but at that point, all I could do was stare at him in silence. Thats when Jeremy and the other two walked in.

There are Corban and I... eye to eye... he's covered in green marker (still), the floor is wet, he is wet, Hannah is crying, dinner is burning... and the kids want to talk! The aroma of my home was questionable at that very moment. Fortunately, instead of saying anything too dumb, I simply said, "I need a moment." Ah, the life of a mother :)

Today was a HARD day. But you know, at the end of it...I still love my kids, my husband, my Jesus, my friends... I love my home and all that God has blessed me with. Even in the middle of pee everywhere, a messy home, chores not done, marker mania... I will be a better person (someday) for all of this. So here's to tomorrow! And be sure to come back... we'll have day two of this potty training saga manana! :)

So many new firsts... again!

Corban is two!!! (though, he'll say he's 6 :)
My precious baby Hannah :) 3 months old!

The fish that Corban didnt feed!
AND the fish that Corban DID feed... all that stuff on top of the rocks is fish food. See note below :)


Well, Im finally at it. Corban is entertaining Hannah (hopefully not in a painful way) while I take a couple minutes to blog. Today is a blog-worthy day and I hope to have so many more of them!

Today, Corban pooped in the toilet. You heard it folks... one less wasted nasty diaper for me today! He got that "look." If youre a mom, you know the one I mean. I quickly sat him on the potty (taking note that I wasnt too late for once!). I told him to push... he did and KERPLOP! :) YEAY!

On that note, Hannah, though still pooping in her diaper, DID eat her first bites of avocado! After two bites I thought she wasnt interested. Little did I know that the taste was only settling in. She made it apparent that she was quite interested! The kept crying at me till I'd give her another bite. FUN! :) She also rolled over. Jeremy saw her last night... today she was on her back when I'd put her on her tummy! SO MANY FIRSTS!

To end... I must share this story. Today, Corban woke up before I did, left his room, and decided to play. This is a rare occurance. He normally stays in his room to play. As I surveyed the room for possible damage incurred during his unsupervised morning... I found the usual... toys around, paints pulled out (but not opened!), him having a great time. THEN I found the fish. I bought 10 walmart goldfish for his bday party. Only 4 were alive as of this morning. Corban decided to feed them. And boy did he! One of the little bowls was HALF full with fish food. Yep. That fish was NOT hungry. Fish food ALL over the table. Fortunately he couldnt get to the other two bowls. Oddly enough... by the end of today, as I write, THAT over-fed fish is the only survivor of the original 10. Hmmm.... (see pictures! :)