Protected

I am more than thankful to post that I saw God's hand of protection over my family's life last weekend.  As the sky got darker and darker we knew the storm was imminent.  However, I really didn't expect a tornado to pass through our back yard. When the power went out, we went into the safest place in our house.  The children were petrified.  I tried my best to stay calm and strong for them.  It was hard.  My middle man kept asking if we were gonna die in that bathroom.  And my poor old dog just sat in my lap and shook.  I did all I knew to do.  We talked to Jesus.  We told him we were scared.  And we asked Him to protect us.  As we finished praying, the winds calmed.  I left that bathroom feeling as if I had been in the palm of the maker's hand.  And I am for sure that is exactly where we were.  Thank you Jesus for seeing us through the storm.  I am so thankful to be safely on this side!

 This IS our backyard.

 This is from our backyard. But not our house.  Our neighbor's house.

 This is across the street. These poor people had multiple trees fall on their house.

 This is down the street and around the corner.

 Every house on this street had some type of damage.  And you can see the trees in the back ground were snapped off as it passed over.

 This is in a different neighborhood, but as the crow flies it is only about a mile from us.

This is the closest I have been to tornado action.  No, I am not counting my hurricanes.  Yes, that is plural.  Despite not ever living close to the coast, I have lived through a few hurricanes. The ONLY advantage the tornado has over the hurricane is that it is over quick.

Springtime

Have I mentioned that I am enjoying having a daughter?  She enjoys the finer things in life with her mama.  Especially pink flowers.  No these in the pictures are not pink, but we still love them!  She has even asked for pink flowers for her 3rd birthday next month.

I am pretty sure I was reprimanded by my sweet husband last week.  He asked me: "Do you know our daughter only knows one color?  She knows pink."  My response: "Is there a problem?"  =)  Is there any other color?  He is right though.  I have realized in the past couple of weeks that I have been very successful in teaching her the basics!  Pink is pretty.  And it is even prettier in the form of flowers.  Don't fret though I am working on teaching her that there are other colors.  I think she has a good base for the main color in life...so I can proceed.

When I had my camera out this afternoon taking pictures of my girl and the pretty scenery,  I also captured the following:

These babies belong to a beautiful red cardinal couple.  I tried to capture them too, but we made them so nervous that they wouldn't settle down. They live in a bush outside of my husband's grandmother's back door.  So, I won't get the privilege of watching them each day.  However, my bluebird house has a nest of 5 eggs right now.  So, I am anxiously awaiting their hatching! I do enjoy spring and all that comes with it.

Potty Training 101 Section 2

Today I spent the day potty training.  It was not a thought-out plan.  I just decided this morning that today would be a good day, so I offered and she took me up on it.  At least for a little while.  This was my second attempt with her.  We tried early in the fall and she got spooked, so I totally backed off.  Purposedly waited until after the holidays.  Yes, those holidays that have become a distant memory at this point. 

Here are a few of the things that I dealt with today... Streaking, Soaking, Scared, Stubborn and exhauSted!!

Training a hard-headed, strong-willed, energetic child is a job.  I didn't accomplish ANYTHING else today.  

I will say she had a few sucesses and a few set-backs.  Thankfully the successes outnumbered the set-backs.  She was even thrilled when she saw her big brother's DS game.  She said: "I am a big girl now...I can play this game."  I thought I had her all ready and willing to make the change.  She even told me she didn't need diapers anymore. 

But, things took a turn after naptime.  She begged for a diaper.  And she told me she was "All-done".  I asked her what she was done with?  And she said: "Potty training."  Funny girl. 

We did continue with our training all the way up to bedtime.  Now I am going to bed and pray for the strength to face another day of it.  You know "Rome wasn't built in a day", and neither was a potty-trained 2-year-old!! Does anyone actually know how long it did take to build Rome? 

(yes, she is my third, I should be an old pro at this, but I am NOT!!)

Better than a Rock Star

My middle man and I were having a conversation last night.  We were discussing how much he loves people and how much he enjoys showing that affection.  I was trying to encourage him to continue to love without quite so much demonstration.  His big brother has been a little embarrassed by his demonstrative love at school.  So, here I am trying to help him without smashing his little spirit.  I like that he is social.  I like that he likes people.  And someday it may be a part of what he chooses to do with his life.  So, I told him that. This is how some of our conversation went:  "You know buddy, you may become a preacher one day like your Papa Bob.  It is important to love people in that job"  He responded pretty quickly: "No mom, I wanna be a rock star."  So, I said in response to him: "I think your Papa Bob is better than a rock star.  You know why?  Because it is his job to lead people to Jesus.  He also gets to teach about the best man that ever lived.  I think that is better than a rock star."   I am sure in his 5-year-old mind he might not yet agree with me.  But, I believe some day he will agree.  Papa Bob IS better than a Rock Star.  And that is true even if this little middle man decides to one day become a rocker.

Too Many?

Can you ever have too many babies?  My sweet girl and I will answer that question with a resounding "NO".

She is such a good student!  She has bought into all the babies and pink I have given her over the past two years.  Look how much she has changed since last year!

My sweet babies and I hope you have a wonderful New Year blessed with the presence of Jesus!!

A Day to Remember

Today I was blessed to be with my mama while she met her birth brother for the first time face to face.  It has been almost exactly one year since I discovered my mom's birth family.  She was adopted at 7-days-old.  And knew of her adoption most of her life.  At some point her adoptive parents gave her the adoption papers.  And with these papers came the knowledge of her birth name and her birth-parent's names.  It appeared that they were married, however young.  She also knew she was born in Fayetteville, NC, so we figured that her father was most likely in the service.
 
All of this was speculation until last December.  At that time I found someone with the same name as my mom's birth father on F*ceb00k.   It was a very unique name and I could not let it go.  So, I began to correspond with him a little.  And it became clear to me that this was my first cousin, my birth-grandfather's namesake.  So, I told him that I felt like his grandparents had given my mom up for adoption many many years ago.  He, of course was shocked, but the story fit on his side too.  And I quickly learned that my mom has two full-blooded younger brothers.  It has all been really exciting just knowing more of mama's heritage.  No, we do not have many more answers than we did before, as my grandparents took their secret of a first-born daughter to the grave. But we do have connections. Heritage. Bloodlines. Genetic paths. Similarities that are almost eerie! All the way to my mom and her birth-mom naming one son the same first name and a white dog the same name.  All of those things that are hard to understand or even explain unless you know adoption in a personal way.  Sure, understanding those things comes natural within your own families, but when you don't have knowledge, they simply don't exist.  But, now for my mama they do.

I would like to say that my sweet mama didn't NEED this information.  Because as a teenage girl Jesus took her into his family and completed her. And she became a daughter of the KING.  Who NEEDS earthy genetic knowledge when you are an heir to the banquet table in heaven?     

Despite her assured future with her heavenly father, having a key to her past sure has been a nice gift.  A gift that only Jesus could have provided.  That cousin that I found on the Internet deleted his account within a few months.  So, it was simply a timing thing.  And God planned it all out.  I sure am thankful He did.  And I am also thankful I got to be a witness to it all.

We have ARRIVED!!

Look at this precious girl and her ponytails!!  FINALLY.  I am in love.  Yes, I know you knew that.  But, isn't she just adorable?  And I never did get a good picture of her today.  Bless her she was actually screaming to me: "No take my picture!"  Oh well.  At least she looks cute.  I am working on the "Beauty is as Beauty does", so be patient with us on that one.