Good friends...

The desire to sift out the fake relationships and incorporate the real is becoming a greater priority. Maybe it has to do with the fact that I don't really care if I'm 'accepted' anymore, comparatively speaking, if its due to a spiritual maturity or if its wanting to set healthy priorities for my children. Probably a little of each of those as well as other factors.

Kyle and I were talking the other day about getting more intentional with the people we spend our time with instead of just 'letting the chips fall where they may'. Over the recent month or so I've been able to meet some women that I'm excited to be around -- some women that I'd love to seek counsel and friendship from as we live our lives together. You know the saying, 'who you spend the majority of your time with now is who you're going to be in three years'... that is shaping so many of Kyle and I's relationships right now and Bellingham is one of those places we'll be frequenting more and more.

The Baron Family lives there.

We have been blessed to see them three out of the last three weekends! When we go up, we camp out in their wonderfully warm and cozy basement -- when they come down, they enjoy our guestroom while all the kids bunk together some place or another... and the adults are able to bring wise counsel to each other. We just 'happen' to talk about the priorities in our life -- it seems to be the common language that we desire to seek obedience to Jesus, build a family who lives to glorify Him and strive to cultivate children who see the importance of Jesus' and their relationship with Him. Its refreshing and humbling... encouraging and thoughtful... its good.

Fall is here.

This last Sunday our family decided to spend the morning at Stocker Farms 'Pumpkin Festival' -- it was wonderful. We hammered nails into wood, pumped ducks down a river-in-a-gutter, caught trout to bring home, used our 'personal restroom' outside the minivan and picked the most beautiful of pumpkins - er, squash...

I love Fall. 

3 Day Potty Training: Take Two

Beginning this last Friday, October 8th, I attempted - once again - the Lora Jensen's 3 Day Potty Training with my youngest, Benjamin. Day 1 was promising as we had only 2 full-blown accidents and 8-10 'spots' on his undies... he had peed 3 times in the toilet, woke up DRY from his nap time and seemed to be responding well to the 'feeling' but not being able to relax enough to pee once he sat down. Day 2 came and went without much progress -- less pees in the potty AND less accidents... but he woke up DRY from his nap! It seemed kind of a wash. Day 3, today, was worse as he didn't seem to connect everything like I thought he might... he had more accidents, he didn't pee on the potty before Noon and he pooped in the bathtub. While elbow deep in the bathtub poop water, sifting out all the toys and tossing them in the trash, I thought to myself, 'I can't do this... this is never going to work but I will not put diapers back on... the last two and a half days will not have been in vain. I will be doing this for awhile... (sigh)'.

Around 4:00pm this evening, Benjamin peed in the potty. I raised my arms in the air, jumped up and down screaming and clapping while in my mind I knew I needed to save some energy for what I believed would be the coming several weeks of potty training...

4:00pm... we called Rebecca on Skype and she cheered. While on the phone, we raced to the bathroom and he went again...

About 30 minutes later, Kyle and the other kids arrived home from running errands and Ben raced in to the bathroom all by himself, put his toys on the ground, pulled down his undies and peed in the potty. We all cheered and spent the next two hours watching a movie together -- no accidents on Ben's part and a lot less skepticism on my part... he had finally gotten it.

Before bedtime, the kids walked into the bathroom, brushed teeth and they ALL went potty 'on demand', if you will! Amazing. Although, Benjamin has yet to poop in the potty, he is potty trained and understands his 'signals'! He will even walk in and do it all himself - WITHOUT ME!

Unbelievable...

Here are pics from today as I ran around in absolute JOY!

thejackandjillsale.com (continued)

The spring sale is bound to be amazing as well -- I cannot wait to get even more involved in this event.

thejackandjillsale.com

The Jack and Jill Sale, October 1-2, 2010 --

The talented Rachel Kalous has done it again. With a heart for her community, she created the first Jack and Jill Sale. The sale is a seasonal consignment event that offers all sorts of opportunities to get involved from shopping the sale to consigning items to volunteering for the event. At the events, you'll experience high-quality items from clothing and shoes to baby equipment and toys; you'll get to peruse a number of vendors' tables from beautifully hand-crafted items (see photo) to photographers.

Following the event, all unsold inventory that has been marked 'donate' is organized and separated for donation to a couple of the Seattle areas largest organizations. From past experience, Rachel has found this to be one of the most inspiring moments for her as she watched truck loads of items be donated to various non-profits in the community.

She's back at it again in a few months - so be sure to look for The Jack and Jill Sale happening in Spring 2011.

(More pics to come)