Author Archives: Abbie

Potty Training Update

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Well, it’s been well over a week since Mr. Liam has been poopy trained (doesn’t that sound funny!?). He’s been in underwear at home since Tuesday and has had no accidents. Even yesterday when we went to the gym and pool and then church in the evening, the only time he had an accident (that’s #1) was naptime. Not bad, eh?

He is doing really well, but he’s not telling us he has to go potty yet, which to me means that he’s not really potty trained yet. I mean he’s not telling us he has to go do #1, #2 is all about telling us and going. With #2, he says he has to go. I go in and help him get situated and leave. He does his business and then announces it and that he needs a wipe and we’re all done. Pretty cool…can’t wait for #1 to be the same way! Still, it’s nice to not have so much to wash (diapers/training pants, etc).

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Adoption Praise!

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This may seem like a small praise, but every little bit counts! I had nursery tonight at church and was talking with my friend, who has nursery with me. She is still in the process of adopting her foster daughter (for those that want to know, they were unable to have children the “old-fashioned way”). I was updating her on our adoption/home study and commented that most of the paperwork that needs to be completed is stuff we’ll need notarized and I also commented about how much stuff that is. She said, “I’m a notary. I can do it for you. For FREE!” Yippee! In comparison to all the costs for the adoption, this is minor, but it’s still an added cost that we are going to be able to avoid. Am I thrilled??? You better believe it! I love how God works out those little things! Now we’ve got to pray for provision through the big things.

And another praise, our adoption agency will be opening up an office on the East Coast in North Carolina (up the road a bit from us but closer than the mid west).

Keep on praying and join us in thanking God for all his big and little provisions thus far!

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Josiah’s First Haircut

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I’ll post on Josiah but first. Doesn’t this hairstyle just fit Liam! Unfortunately, we give him a bath at night and I just don’t have time to do it right in the morning! I think it’s pretty cute though!

Okay, here’s the befores:

And a side view…just turn you head, it’s late and they’re already posted 🙂

Here’s the afters:


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Adoption Update

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Our home study home visit didn’t go today. We had to postpone it due to needing some information from the adoption agency and some other things that we needed to work on before we could meet with our social worker. It was kind of nice not to have to add that stresser to the weekend.

I’ll update when we do meet with her though. And thanks, Mom, for reminding me to update.

Pictures are to come of Josiah’s first haircut and other crazy antics around here!

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An apology and Liam’s Potty Humor

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Apparently, when I posted the video below, the referral links were not very, how shall we say, “Christian.” And that’s putting it mildly. I deeply apologize. I did not even realize it was there until I got a call from my mom-in-law…thanks for letting me know Grandmere. I’ve changed it to a different video post and should only show politicians after the video…umm, that might be a little scarier.

Okay, now to some funny stuff. Liam goes “occasionally” in the potty. #1 that is. #2 is great. No accidents on that end (pun semi-intended) for a week now. He does stand up because he likes to make bubbles.

Now, when he goes #1 in the potty, he studies it for a little bit and announces, “I see Elmo and a toe in the potty.” The other day, he told me he saw a dinosaur and a frog. Then when he flushes it, he has to tell whatever he has seen in his potty bye.

I’m okay with that as long as he doesn’t say, “I see Jesus.” Then we’re back to The Visitation! And that would be really weird.

Which brings me to a little more on The Visitation is a great book by Frank Peretti. Fox Faith has made it into a really good movie but very scary (at least for me). Good book, though.

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Because I Love Absurdity and American History…

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Yep, that’s right, we counted 60 states in the Union! Hmm, I’ve lost ten of them somehow. Or maybe Alaska and Hawaii have now formed one state.

For even more fun…Apparently, Obama’s campaign wanted to use “Joshua Generation” as their faith based outreach. That plan got interrupted when they learned that Homeschool Legal Defense Association owned the rights to that term…oops. So, check out this blog to see some of the suggestions for a new name.

It’s late, we must be off to bed…but, we got really freaked out by watching The Visitation and are trying to find something goofy to take our minds off of it! Good movie, by the way, if you like scary movies (it’s a Christian movie, so no cussing, but lots of demon possession).

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One of Those Days…

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Wow! First off, let me just say how cool, I’ve consistently gotten 50 hits per day over the past two days. Hmmm, I’m wondering if my counter is just counting me a lot of those times??

On to my lovely morning, have any of you mom’s ever had a day where you just wanted to pitch a temper tantrum and yell, “I’m the mommy! I’m in charge! Nananana!”? No? Okay, then just skip over this! Today has been that day (and no, I did not actually do that out loud, although I thought it several times). It took me over an hour to clean three small bathrooms thanks to two kids who argued and fought and yelled while Josiah was trying to nap. They helped clean but I’m only teaching them to clean their bathrooms, which left two bathrooms to clean while two other children fought/yelled/argued.

Next, we headed into Zoe’s room to clean it out. Oh, I forgot to mention that the social worker working on our home study will be doing her home visit on Monday. That visit combined with an upcoming birthday party, has prompted me to do some cleaning (read throwing away) out of several things. The boys’ room is fairly clean because we just are almost, close to, finishing the extra closet. Zoe’s room, hasn’t been sorted since Christmas! That took over an hour, too…mainly because as we were cleaning and straightening the boys came in and took out and played with and left. Lovely, huh?

At some point, Liam decided I needed to hold him right then, which was impossible since I was cleaning. Since he didn’t get his way, I had to move him to time out so I could continue. Ace has visited the outside steps since he thinks that yelling at me to get his way will work (hence, yelling is for outside not inside). Zoe’s been a dear but a little flighty for some reason. And at another time, Josiah just wanted me to hold him too which would have been hard.

Anyway, we’ve successfully cleaned/straightened three bathrooms, the kids play kitchen, and Zoe’s room. That leaves four more rooms to go!

And now, during quiet time, I will work on more lesson plans!

This is my gripe post. I’ll step down and be done with those for the month!

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Josiah’s New Tricks

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Sorry I haven’t post in a couple of days. I’ve been trying to figure out lesson plans on top of trying to figure out Zoe’s phonics (she’s reading on a 3rd grade level but comprehending on about a 1st grade..there’s no way I’m starting out with “I says ‘i'” again…she’d be totally board). And on top of that, trying to figure out new software to put everything in and organize it! Loads of fun!

Anyway, here’s a video of Josiah’s new tricks! He’s quite the show-off!

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Camping on Stone Mountain Day 3

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Mark’s post because I was napping:

Got up, got showered and dressed, and ate. Seems like any other day, doesn’t it? Well, when there are 8 people to get ready and 4 of them basically can’t or won’t fend for themselves and you’re outside (and have been all night) it just gets a lot more….interesting. Thankfully, Josiah and the other kids slept well overnight, so we were pretty much ready to hop up and go. Josiah woke up first, around 6:30, so he was tired pretty quick. We had extra chores this morning because Papa &Grandmere had to pack up all their stuff and be ready to head home after lunch, not to mention the battery in their vehicle was dead because something (trunk light?) had been on for a very long time.

We made it to the Crossroads area and immediately got in line for the SkyHike. This place is basically an ultra-safe ropes course. Each person wears a harness and is attached via rope to a channel above you. The channel allows you to slide your rope with you along each challenge and on the platforms between challenges. Zoe decided she wanted to do it with Abbie and I, so we waited in line for nearly an hour while Papa and Grandmere played with the boys on a smaller course and playground. We would have been able to do it about 2 minutes sooner if the folks in front of us had not kept allowing more kids to “literally” jump the fence and join their party. It made me think of an adaptation of an adage I learned in school…”Failure to prepare for the adventure (i.e., wearing the proper footwear) does not constitute me allowing you to jump ahead of me in line.”

Nevertheless, we suited up and got locked in the channel. There were various spans you had to cross via 2 possible tracks – one was relatively easy and the other more difficult. Zoe did a great job of overcoming her fear and focusing on crossing the 25 foot or so span. Some were just narrow boards to walk on, others were various adaptations of a rope bridge. She got scared a couple of times but with some encouragement and direction made it all the way around the lowest level of the course (12 feet off the ground). Abbie enjoyed it, too, but after trying some of the “hard” obstacles stuck with the easier side for most of the level. I enjoyed watching Zoe do so well and being able to help her and swing along off the ground without fear of falling (because of the harness). >>Abbie note: Zoe also had several people on the ground cheering her on through one part. And a gracious Stone Mtn. worker helped her through the low course which was very sweet

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Camping on Stone Mountain Day 2

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Happy Birthday USA!

Got up, got showered and dressed, and ate. We headed over to Stone Mountain for some of the attractions. We rode the Skylift. Mark had Liam on his pack, I had Josiah in the sling and Ace and Zoe were set with walking. They loved the lift and the mountain. Me??? Well, I survived it and was glad to be on the bottom at the end. It was a hot day. We were blessed that everywhere we went, there was no wait. We got right on the Sky Lift. Got our lunch and headed straight to the Great Barn without any trouble.

The Great Barn was a neat indoor/air conditioned place where the kids could collect foam balls called fruit to get points etc…they could also shoot them at each other, do different activities and go down two four story slides. And they had three little climbing/playing areas for little ones Josiah’s age. He loved it but was really tired. It had a mesh area around it so the littles wouldn’t get hit by balls. Ace and Liam got to go down the slide, but Zoe was busy and missed it. She was also really tired that day and took a good nap when we got back to the campsite.

Then we all slathered up and got our suits on and headed for the pool to cool off. It was wonderful to get wet and cool. The kids all loved it.

After swimming, it was back to the site to enjoy supper, watermelon, s’mores, and sleep. The kids all got to sleep by 10 and were happily close to sleep when the fireworks started across the mountain. They mostly slept through them, although they were pretty loud. All in all, an “uneventful” day…again, the kids loved every single part of the trip. Josiah slept much better, too.

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