What's a Mommy to Do?

Kerri has so many cute little faces and expressions, and each one is almost impossible to say no to! (The times I do manage to resist her charm, I'm usually having to fight to hold in my laughter.) I have a feeling it is only going to get worse the older she gets!

Why Adopt?

 I recently read through a sermon from John Piper about adoption. It pretty much sums up why we made our decision to grow our family through adoption. The following is a summary (along with a few thoughts of my own) of the parts of his sermon that really apply to the decisions that we have made. You can find the entire sermon here.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. - Eph 1:3-6

Adoption is part of God's plan and for His glory (Eph 1:5-6). God's rescuing us from our sin was not an afterthought. In the same way, adoption has always been a part of our (God's) plan for our family. We are not adopting because we can't have our own biological children (obviously); instead, we feel that it is something that God has called our family to do. This isn't because we are great and extraordinary people. Andy and I are not adopting because we are wonderful or because we are seeking the praise and approval of others. We are adopting for God's glory; just as our adoption into God's family is for God's glory.

Adoption is through Jesus Christ. "We were not cute little orphans that God was attracted to; we were enemies in rebellion against God" (Rom. 5:6; 5:10). Our adoption into God's family is not based on our being worthy or cute or attractive. "It is based on the free and sovereign grace of God planned before the world and bought for us by the blood of Christ." We love because we have been loved. Following God's example, our adopted son is loved freely without meeting any conditions. We will not wait to love him until he obeys us; we will not wait to love him until he responds to us; we will not wait to love him until he loves us; we love him now - before he even knows us or even realizes that we exist.

"We are adopted by God that we will rejoice that God made much of us." Again, it comes back to God's glory. Every believer knows that without Christ our best is merely filthy rags. We do not accomplish things in our own strength but through His. Similarly, in adopting our son, our aim is not to "take a child's low views of self and replace them with high views of self. Rather our aim is to take a child's low views of God and replace them with high views of God."

Finally, adoption must occur with our eyes wide open. (This really relates to adding children to your family through whatever means because certainly problems with children are not unique to adoption.) We understand that there will be pain but there will also be joy. We know that "the grace of God is sufficient for every new day no matter how difficult. . . . His mercies are new every morning and there will be mercies for every weight and wonder on this new path in our lives."

Nothing Says Happy St. Patrick's Day Like Green Food!

Sibling Rivalry vs. Sibling Love

There's not much that makes my heart happier than seeing or hearing my girls happily getting along, playing nicely with each other, and just being best friends. While this doesn't happen 100% of the time, fortunately they do get along and enjoy each other the majority of the time . . . for now at least. I don't know if this is due to their personalities or their closeness in age or maybe some of my "God gave you to each other" speeches have sunk in (or maybe some of all of it), I just want to do everything on my part to make sure that it lasts!

Have you ever noticed how many people are so eager to share the negatives of parenting with you? It starts from the moment (well, not the moment) ;) you are pregnant with all the "get your sleep now because you'll never get any after the baby comes" comments. All along I've gotten comments from people about how even though children are sometimes so close to each other in the beginning it changes as they get older. I know that there is some truth to this. I've definitely had (sometimes still have) enough sibling rivalry in my own family to know, but I also think that although there will naturally be "fussy times" of disagreements I don't think that it is outside the realm of reality for me to believe that Emma Lee and Kerri can remain best friends as they get older - and for the rest of their lives. Today I volunteered in Emma Lee's preschool class and took Kerri along with me. Emma Lee was so proud of her sister, and it was so sweet. She wanted to include Kerri in everything that she was doing with her friends. She wasn't bothered or put out that her younger sister was there soaking up some extra attention in her class. How do I make this last, especially as they get older and spend more time apart during the day?

So, instead of the negative comments I usually hear, what are some thoughts, advice, suggestions, etc you have for encouraging a loving sibling relationship? What have you learned from in your own life? What are you doing, do you plan on doing, or did you do to help your kids be best friends and stay that way?

It Must Be Spring

My favorite flowers are daffodils. They are so bright and cheery, and I'm always happy to see them because it means winter is over (or almost). Well, it's that time of year again, and I don't think that I've ever been so happy to see them! Coincidentally (or maybe not), my favorite poem is by William Wordsworth entitled "Daffodils." With a little help from picnik, I'm celebrating spring today, even if the calendar does say it's not until March 20th, - you can't argue with the daffodils!

Here's the whole poem, since you probably aren't interested enough to look up the rest of it. ;)

I wander'd lonely as a cloud

That floats on high o'er vales and hills,

When all at once I saw a crowd,

A host, of golden daffodils;

Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

Continuous as the stars that shine

And twinkle on the Milky Way,

They stretch'd in never-ending line

Along the margin of a bay:

Ten thousand saw I at a glance,
Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.

The waves beside them danced; but they

Out-did the sparkling waves in glee:

A poet could not but be gay,

In such a jocund company:

I gazed -- and gazed -- but little thought
What wealth the show to me had brought:

For oft, when on my couch I lie

In vacant or in pensive mood,

They flash upon that inward eye

Which is the bliss of solitude;

And then my heart with pleasure fills,
And dances with the daffodils.

By William Wordsworth (1770-1850).

Look Who's Excited About Reading!

Emma Lee has been able to read for quite some time, but like all beginning readers, it is slowing going at first and takes time and practice. Despite my gentle persuasions to spend more time reading, she wasn't "in the mood" as often as I would like for her to be. I know that there's no rush since she's not even in kindergarten yet, but I really just want to instill a love for reading (on her own) in her as soon as possible. (See why I was an English teacher?) I was struggling with encouraging her to read for fun without forcing it into something she didn't enjoy and look forward to, so together we made a reading chart.

If it is the first time she has read the book, she gets to put two stickers on her chart. After that, she gets to put one more sticker on for each time she reads it again. While she was really excited about getting stickers for her chart, I also decided to add in prizes in hopes that with the extra motivation her initial excitement would continue to last (there are a lot of little squares on that chart!). I bought some dollar store prizes and put them in a special bag. When she fills up a whole row with stickers (14) she gets to choose a prize (without looking!).

Here are pictures of her getting her first prize.

High five for a great job! 

(In order to keep Kerri happy with all of this, she gets to help "be in charge" of it. She went shopping for the prizes with me and gets to keep them all a secret from Emma Lee. She also got to give Emma Lee her prize and make sure she didn't peek!) 

She has done an amazing job and is really "into" reading now. She has been carrying a book around with her everywhere and has even read our bedtime Bible story a couple of times for us!

Enjoy my little bookworm in this video!

(Can you tell I'm just a little excited that she is excited?!)

Make an on-line slideshow at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Favorite Find

Look at this cute cup I bought today. Okay, cup with a pop up straw - nothing special, right?

Well, you  know if you give a little girl a drink she is going to ask for a snack to go along with it.

Ta-da!

This is one of those "why didn't I think of that" genius inventions.
Where did I find it, you ask? The dollar store, you know, for a dollar!

The things I get excited about as a mommy!