Thankful Jar

We have a new centerpiece on our table. It is our Thankful Jar. The idea is that every night at dinner it will remind us to have a prayer as a family, and each person (who can talk) will have to say something they are thankful for. If someone had a tough day and cannot think of something they are thankful for then they have to pull one from the jar. You might be thinking, "It sounds like a nice idea, but why are you doing this?" First and foremost, Jessica thinks you can only pray after reading a book, and we would like her to learn that you can pray at other times as well. More importantly though, I think it is a great opportunity to emphasize to our children that no matter what there is always something we can be thankful for, and I really want my children to learn to be thankful in all circumstances. Not only does it seem to make you a happier person, but it also seems to make you more content with the things you do have and not so concerned about the things you do not have.


I have also been giving some serious consideration to the purpose of prayer for several years now. It just did not make sense to me that we should ask our "Santa Claus in the sky" or our "Genie in a Bottle" for the desires of our heart and expect to get them because we asked. I have concluded that the purpose of prayer is actually to change us. When we thank God, it reminds us of all the things we have so we don't get hung up on what we do not have. When we tell God about the desires of our heart, it allows us to evaluate what is truly most important, His will not mine. When we share our joys and struggles with Him, it reminds us of who we are, and when we praise Him, it reminds us of who He is: The One who made it all including each of us, "flawed" in just the way He intended. It seemed to me that while all of these different aspects are important, the most developmentally appropriate one for a small child is being thankful; therefore, I created our Thankful Jar and stuffed it partially full with items that we can always be thankful for!

Our Tree Skirt

For the first several years we were married, I artfully draped leftover fabric under our tree as a skirt. Last year however I had a brainstorm! We had received a lovely table topper one year as a Christmas gift, but it just never looked right on our tables. So, last year I took out the scissors, made a cut from one corner to the center, serged the edges, and put it under the tree! I really like how it turned out!! I was going to turn the serged edges under and hem it, but I still haven't gotten around to it yet....maybe next year.....nahh! I would have included a picture of the tree. However, I have had lots of little kids over to the house recently, and I have been letting them redecorate the lower half of the tree (I only put soft or plastic ornaments on the bottom half). On Christmas Eve I intend on setting it right so it will be beautiful when we take pictures Christmas morning!

Front Porch Friday: Single Parent

I have been a single parent for the last couple days, an experience I rarely have. Jessica has been very good, and we have adjusted just fine. However, we are both very excited about having Daddy back!! Between getting ready for Christmas, birthday parties for Jessica's friends, and a baby shower for a friend down the street, it has been super busy!! Amazingly enough, I think it is all going to come together, and I have several new projects that I am looking forward to sharing next week! At some point our office needs to be cleaned out (all of the projects in progress have made quite a mess), and at some point I need to take some pictures of Jessica! Things have been so busy lately, I haven't taken a lot of pictures, and I think the family is beginning to wonder what she looks like these days!! Now off to make some bread....pictures to come later!

Big Rocks

When I was growing up, our preacher always told stories to go along with every sermon he preached. Even as a young child, I would listen to those stories and pick up important lessons. One story was about a teacher who asked a child to place an assortment of items in a large jar: big rocks, small rocks, pebbles, sand, and water. The child tried but kept running out of room. The teacher then told the child, "If you put the big rocks in first then everything else will fit in the cracks left by the big rocks. Every day we are bombarded by heart wrenching stories or what happens when we do not put the big rocks in first: broken families, death of a child, health problems that could have been prevented, mental health problems that could have been small had they been dealt with earlier, etc. There are so many distractions in life that it is easy to become side tracked and forget to put the big rocks in first until the water starts spilling out the top of the jar. May I remember to thankful every day of the year for the "big rocks" in my life and not worry about the "pebbles."

So Tired of Being Homebound

I have been homebound for about a week with Jessica. Although I always test as an introvert and actually enjoy being homebound from time to time, I have reached my limit. I think Jessica has too. Thankfully, we are getting out tomorrow for my doctors appointment and doing a little supply shopping with some friends. That will be a nice change of pace! However, we will still be somewhat homebound over the weekend because David is still contagious. We are trying to keep our outings at a minimum in case Jessica and I are acting as carriers. I will be glad when Hand, Foot, and Mouth leaves my house!!!!!!

Officially Potty Trained (around the house)!!!!!!

All kids have different things they tend to focus more on. With some kids it is very obvious, while other kids are more balanced. Most of Jessica's friends are very verbal. While Jessica falls well within the normal range of known words for her age group, she is much, much more interested in how things work. She could care less what its name is and what it says. She just wants to know what it does! I believe she got this from her father. Although I too enjoyed taking things apart as a child, I also loved to talk (that may have been an understatement)! At any rate, while Jessica does not talk as much as many of her friends, she has learned to do all kinds of things her friends can't do: climbing a wooden ladder to slide down a big slide, opening doors, and our latest potty training! We have been particularly anxious to get her potty trained because she has so much trouble with heat rash (for 6 months out of the year at least)!

Starting at 16 months we set out a potty chair and started encouraging her to sit on it. Jessica loves to be clapped for so of course we had to do lots of clapping any time she sat on her potty. One time she accidentally went to the bathroom on her potty which was exciting for us, but she didn't really make the connection. Then we didn't do anything for a few months. When we came back to it, we would take her to the potty every 15 minutes (which only lasted for a few hours one day). But we continued to encourage her to use it. Eventually this weekend something clicked, and she got it! She hasn't had an accident all week around the house!!! We really didn't spend that much time or effort potty training. We spent a couple hours on 3 different Saturdays, but I think the big thing was making her aware of the potty and nudging her without pushing her.

There has also been no expense in potty training her (Well, except for lots and lots of paper towels!!!). The potty chair is a hand-me down. I thought we would be using candy to encourage her to use the potty, but it turned out to be unnecessary! We also have not bought her training pants or underwear yet. Currently she just runs around the house in a short dress and turtleneck and goes to her potty whenever she needs to. (The awesome part is that I rarely have to ask her if she needs to go potty! She remembers herself!) Later I do plan to get her either some training pants or underwear depending on what we are ready for at that point. However, I am currently happy as a lark to have her potty trained around the house so we can stand to wait on the training pants and underwear a little longer! We will also be taking her potty with us when we travel for Christmas. We will still be using some diapers, but it should make cloth diapering easier while traveling! So "Yeah, Jessica!!!!!" 21 months old and potty trained (around the house)!!!

More Hand, Foot, and Mouth

As it turns out, it looks like David also has Hand, Foot, and Mouth Disease so there is only one illness for me to fight off! It also looks like I am immune to it. It is very rare to see Hand, Foot, and Mouth in an adult; however, my husband has never spent a lot of time around children so he probably never developed the immunity. The bad news is this means he is contagious for about a week; however, I think he may be able to go back to work once he feels better since he works around very few people with children, who are the ones he is the most likely to infect.