Tonight I Cry

I have moved so many times in my adult life I can barely count, even 4 times internationally.  And every time (except moving back to the States from the Philippines) I've been happy about the move.  I've been content living in all these places, but the next place always excites me and I'm a "glass is half full" kind of person.  But tonight I have to admit that I don't want to leave San Diego.  This is my home, and this is our kids home.  So tonight I cry.  And I feel blessed that I've lived 36 years and moved upteen times before ever having to cry about a move.  I feel blessed for loving a place so much that it hurts to leave it. 

Potty Train-ed (past tense)????

Nothing could bring me out of my blogging hiatus then the absolute joy of having a child potty trained!!! Samantha has had so many issues related this that it has been an interminable endeavor. She has some serious bladder/digestive problems AND she had (has) terrible fears of toilets and the noises they make. All of those factors have combined to a 4 yr old who is still in diapers!!!

Well, all of that began to change last Wed night (Jan 20th, 2009!!). She was trying desperately to stay awake and was using every trick in the book to get out of bed.  After exhausting everything, she tried the one thing she knew wouldn't get her in serious trouble, "I need to go poopy!!!"  Dan and I didn't even leave the living room because we thought it was a big hoax.  Lo and behold-she pooped in the potty for the first time.  We were in shock! 

So things have not been 100% perfect since Wed, but she has repeated this event, so we feel like this is the real deal!

And then this morning I had the biggest, happiest news ever.  Her diaper was dry this morning for the very first time.  DRY!!!!  DRY DIAPER!!!!  It's so exciting!!!  She even came downstairs naked already saying, "Mom, I don't want my diaper on."

Way to go, Baby Girl!  Pretty soon you'll let go of everything baby about you, but you'll always be my Baby Girl!!

Update:  Later this same day, we were at Timothy's school for a parent's meeting.  Samanatha came to me to tell me her "bottom hurts".  I raced her to the nearest bathroom which was closed, and then we ran to the next closest.  She held it in AND went #2!!!  Such a victory!

Book Review: The Sweet By and By

Such a new and refreshing perspective for anyone who loves a good fiction book!  Set in the comfortable backdrop of Tennessee, we meet Jade weeks before her wedding.  Jade has shut the door on a painful past, and wants to move forward to a happy future with the man she loves. 

Unfortunately, for Jade, weddings are a time that naturally bring up the past.  And what begins as a polite invitation to Jade's estranged mother turns into the uncovering of every painful memory of Jade's past that she has desperately tried to forget.  The book is cleverly written by alternating chapters of past and present.  We gain perspective on a current conversation or incident when the author then takes us back 20-30 years.  Through this travel of time, we start putting together the pieces of Jade's life, and yet there are still twists and turns saved for us until the very end of the book!

Jade's character is smart and likeable, yet vulnerable from her childhood hurts.  As she is forced to deal with her skeletons, we see forgiveness (given and bestowed) transform her from an abandoned child into a woman marked by strength and grace.  I highly recommend this book!  For more reviews go to Thomas Nelson.