A Few Of My Favorite Things

With yesterday being Valentines Day, I have been thinking about the things that fill my heart with love and joy! It seems I get so bogged down in daily life, that I forget all about the amazing blessings that are right before my very eyes! Blessings both big and small! So, in learning from Maria in The Sound of Music, I will simply remember my favorite things and then I won't feel so bad!

A Few Of My Favorite Things

* I love sleeping babies.

* I love that my daughters are becoming friends.

* I love that Emma told everyone she saw yesterday that Daddy was her Valentime.

* I love that Boss bought me diamonds! How sweet and thoughtful!

* I love that yesterday we sold our old home.

* I love hot baths and good books.

* I love the way that Kate belly laughs.

* I love talking on the phone with good friends who live too far away.

* I love sweet tea!

* I love when I get to see positive changes in the girls that I work with.

* I love living in the country.

* I love seasons.

* And lastly, I love that Valentine's Day, a day to celebrate love, joy, and happiness, falls smack in the middle of the dreariest month of all. What a gift.

Our Home

We have lived in five different homes in five years of marriage. We have lived in an apartment, a brand new home, a home that was one hundred years old, and two homes at two different children's homes. Each of our homes have had wonderful qualities, yet we have never lived in any one place long enough for anywhere to feel like home. From the moment we arrived at this quaint little home on one hundred plus acres, I have felt at home. Our home here is nothing spectacular, but it is home. I can't explain it. The living room is warm and cozy, the kitchen is bright and cheery with plenty of windows and sunshine, the rooms are just the right size, and the basement is perfect for future plans of a movie room. It is just what our little family needs, and I hope that many chapters of our story unfold right here inside these four little walls.

Children Won't Wait

I found this little piece of writing goodness while digging through an old box of papers and had to share. It is a bit lengthy, but has such a good message for us as mama's.

Children Won't Wait

There is a time to anticipate the baby's coming, a time to consult a doctor, and a time to gather a layette. There is a time to wonder at the ways of God, knowing this is the destiny for which I was created; a time to dream of what this child may become, and a time to pray that God will teach me how to train this child which I bear. There is a time to prepare myself that I might nurture her soul. But soon there comes the time for birth. For children won't wait!

There is a time for night feedings, and colic and formulas. There is a time for rocking and a time for walking the floor. A time for patience and self sacrifice, a time to show her that her new world is a world of love, goodness, and dependability. There is a time to ponder what she is - not a pet nor toy, but a little person, an individual, a Soul made in God's image. There is a time to consider my stewardship. I cannot possess her. She is not mine. I have been CHOSEN to care for her, to love her, to enjoy her, and to answer to God. I resolve to do my best for her, for children won't wait!

There is a time to hold her close and tell her the sweetest story ever told; a time to show her God in the earth and in the sky, to teach her about wonder and reverence. There is a time to leave the dishes to swing her in the park, to run a race, and to draw a picture. There is a time to point the way, and to teach her infant lips to pray.To teach her heart to love God's word, for children won't wait!

There is a time to sing instead of grumble, to smile instead of frown. To kiss away the tears and laugh at broken dishes. A time to share with her my best in attitudes - a love of God, a love of family, a love of life. There is a time to answer her questions, all of her questions, because there may come a time when she will not want my answers. There is a time to teach her to obey, to put her toys away, the habit of Bible study, the joy of home, and the peace of prayer, for children won't wait!

There is a time to watch her go to school, to miss her underfoot, and to know that other minds have her attention, but that I will be there when she comes home to listen to the story of her day. There is a time to teach her independence, responsibility, and self-reliance. For too soon, there will be a time to let her go, the apron strings untied. For children won't wait!

There is a time to treasure every fleeting minute of her childhood. Just eighteen precious years to inspire and train her. I will not exchange this birthright for a mess of pottage called social position, or business or professional reputation, or a pay check. An hour of concern today may save years of heartache tomorrow. The house will wait, the dishes will wait, projects will wait, but children won't wait!

There will be a time when there will be no slamming of doors, no toys on the stairs, no quarrels, no fingerprints on the wallpaper. Then may I look back with joy and not regret. There will be a time to concentrate on service outside of my home.On visiting the sick, the discouraged, and to give myself to the least of these. There will be a time to look back and know that these years of motherhood were not wasted. I pray that there will be a time to see her as an upright and honest woman, loving God and serving all.

God, give me the wisdom to see that today is my day with my children. That there is no unimportant moment in their lives. May I know that no other career is so precious, no other work so rewarding. No other task so urgent. May I not defer it, nor neglect it, but by the Spirit accept it gladly, joyously, and by the grace of God realize that the time is short and my time is now, FOR CHILDREN WON'T WAIT!

Frustration

Today I am frustrated. We have only been on the adoption journey for a little over a month, but it is going nowhere! I have spent the past month on the phone, calling agency after agency, trying desperately to find somebody to complete our home study. Everybody tells me the same thing. Let us check with our licensing specialist about your living situation and call you back. Only they never call back. I am currently waiting to hear back from a social worker with Graceworks Lutheran Social Services. She actually has been very helpful, however, she is also checking with her licensing specialist and is going to call me back. Same old story. But at least she is keeping me updated on what she knows. She said she is simply crossing all the T's and dotting the I's, though she is not promising anything. She informed me that licensing specialists are hard to get a hold of because they are always out in the field and are seldom at their desks, but hopefully we will hear something soon.

I wish it were simple. We want a baby and have love to give. There is a baby out there who needs love and a place to call home. A family. Why can't we simply be matched? How great would that be? I know it is not that simple. I am just dreaming! Anyway, I just wanted to share my thoughts. We will not quit trying until every door is closed.

Chocolate

When Kate turned a year old, we switched her over to whole milk. She hated it! So, Boss decided he would make her milk a bit more tasty by adding chocolate syrup to every single bottle he made. Talk about creating a sweet tooth! Now, my Kate doesn't say very much, but she has taught her little self how to say the word chocolate.

Kate is also at the age where she puts her hands where she shouldn't while I am changing her diaper. Last week I was changing a gross one, and before I could stop her, Kate reached down and swiped a finger through the mess. She held her chubby little finger up to her face and with a grin she said, Ummmmm Chocolate! She seriously would have eaten it had I not swiped her finger very quickly with a wipe. Seriously. That is my Kate.