thankful

oh boy, i'm emotional.  I just got done watching "Facing the Giants"-- a film by the Albany Baptist Church, same church who did the Fireproof movie. It was pretty good. Definitely uplifting and encouraging. It is a good reminder to see that we need to do our best in everything we do. Everything. To me, that means being the best mom I can be, the best wife.. whatever I am doing, do it to the best ability I can, while honoring God. Good movie!

It made me thankful for my two little girls.  I just got done reading a blog from Living Proof Live (by the way, Beth Moore, whose blog I just listed, is going to have a simulcast September 18th, which is viewable at the Warren Covenant Church!  I highly.. HIGHLY recommend going. I think the deadline was today, but I am sure they will not turn away anyone who still wants to go)  Anyway, her daughters write too, and Amanda, her daughter, wrote about going to visit a child she sponsors in Guatemala.  It is so hard to even think that kids, adults, and elderly are living this way. How lucky are we, no, how blessed are we to have what we have. We didn't even ask for it. It was just given to us.  Those who are less fortunate, for example, babies who are malnourished, could not help that they are living in families who cannot support themselves. It was not their choice.  I am thankful for all we have.  So I am emotional about that.

We have made a small leap in the most difficult situation I have come across in parenting: fear of the potty.  I finally just broke down, to some advice I was given a month or two ago-- and prayed with kate and peter, over her potty chair. I asked God to take the fear from her, remove satan's attacks (oh I am mad at him) -- God is not putting these thoughts into my daughters head. I prayed that Kate would have a desire to pee in the potty and that her fear would be gone. and we pray over her room too.. b/c the last month she has been so so fearful of the dark and waking up a couple times during the night -- and it's all just becoming very frustrating. I can honestly tell you that this has been working.  All the bribing I've done for kate... the ice cream, pop, candy, tv, anything she wants.. has never worked before.  I am not saying she has gone on the potty... I mean, she has been -- but she has allowed  us to take the diaper and put it IN the potty, and she will pee on it.  Baby steps.   And that is ok.. b/c we are going in the right direction. In my opinion, she has been potty trained since May.. just in a funny, weird, not so normal way :)  She knows what to do, she is just fearful. And I keep praying DAILY that we can get through it.  Because her diaper is not on her, when she pees, it goes off the diaper and into the potty. So when we remove it, there's lots of potty in the potty chair. And she's ok with it. Right now she just has comfort with her diapers.  Pray for her that she can release that fear! Only God can do it!

Today I got my canning done.. (amen) and the last two days i got the bathrooms cleaned, shower, and oven cleaned. My voice lesson went really good.. and I even decorated the outside for fall. The girls had fun helping me.  So thankful for them.