It is All For Him



The past two weeks have been tough.  I mean really tough. 

It started when our two year old came down coughing on a Tuesday.  Jack was doing okay, but by Friday, Ethan was coughing so hard that he was crying and didn't want to go to school.  He is the kind of kid who is so tough that when he sliced open his foot playing barefoot basketball at the neighbors (we did have a discussion later about how this is not a good idea) he had to be carried home and left a trail of blood behind and he never once cried.  He never complains so when something is this bad for him, we listen. 

Why We Should Read the Bible First



Before I start, I want to admit that I am totally guilty of this so I'm including myself in this question:

Why is it easier to read a book, blog, magazine articles, or devotional than it is to turn to scripture when we are looking for spiritual nourishment?

I Am, Too!

 



I have a dear friend, Jennifer Hendrick Davies, whom I'm incredibly proud of!  Jennifer and I met a long time ago in junior high and we have been friends since.  She is such an amazing woman of God and has been like a sister to me, encouraging me and just being there despite the fact that we are on opposite coasts!  Given all this, I am so excited to share that she has written a book!

Foster Parenting: The Birth Parent Challenge

I've had something on my chest for a long time.  A really long time.  And I was once guilty of it too.

Judgment of people whose kids are in foster care.

I used to think, "Seriously?  How could you let stuff get that bad that someone had to come take your kids for their safety?  Don't you even care?"

I was wrong.  They do care.  They care tremendously and most of the time are deeply ashamed to be in this situation.  Most birth parents of foster kids love their kids intensely and want them back.

The problem is that we tend to look at the situation as an outsider; we see it at face value and don't look deeper.  It is easier to think they are radically different than accept that we might be in the same situation if our circumstances were different.

In The Jungle Part 2

When I did our baby's nursery with the glow in the dark starry night mural on the ceiling, I was inspired to revamp the rest of it.  I've had the jungle theme since our now eight year old was a baby, but I really became inspired when my kids told started singing the "In the Jungle, the mighty Jungle" song.  I wrote about the ceiling mural and how to do it here in the first post about the nursery, but I still didn't show the whole finished product.  I was absolutely thrilled with how it turned out!

 

 

Obviously, this isn't a crib anymore.  Jackson figured out how to pull himself up and flip his feet over the rails so we transitioned him to a toddler bed.  I was so sad though!  It is just a tangible reminder that he isn't a baby anymore!  Anyways, I found the letters spell his name at A.C. Moore and painted them with the undiluted paint from doing the wash for the ceiling mural.  I loved this bedding from Target, but sadly they don't have it anymore.  They do have some other cute jungle themed sets that are pretty inexpensive.  We had quite a few stuffed animals that fit the theme so I set those out to decorate with.  Jack Jack loves his giraffe from my mom, although they occasionally are on the outs and Giraffe has apparently committed some travesty according to my two year old and is not allowed to be on the bed.  Two year old problems...

One of my kids' favorite songs is "In the Jungle" which is basically what inspired our nursery so it seemed like the logical choice to use that for some word wall art: