Faith, Prayer and a little bit of Funny.

Wow! You guys!

Prayer and faith are real!

I was so stressed and nervous about taking Sister to her doctor's appointment last night and even let the anxiety of what I might face get me down yesterday morning...

BUT...

A little prayer and a lot of faith and all there was was a big meltdown when I told her about the appointment after school that lasted about 30 minutes, and then... voila! She was so good.

What?

For real?

We were even able to go to the store afterwords so she could pick out candy for her Valentines!

So I'm starting today with a better attitude and a more hopeful outlook.

Oh, I'm still overwhelmed by Our Life... you can be sure of that.

So I've decided sometimes I have to go through life like the picture below:

I might have to go through life with my eyes closed, but I am, at least, gonna find a way to laugh about it along the way!

Ha! Ha! Ha!

My mom took this picture of me at her house one night because we were just being goofy... I still laugh every time I see it!

I forgot to tell you yesterday, in my whining mode, that Baby said the funniest/cutest thing.

Let me give you the background for her words so that you'll get it.

So, to my chagrin, Baby is 6 and a half and still not potty trained. She keeps giving me a drop of hope every couple of months by voluntarily peeing on the potty by her own choice. I get all excited thinking we are on our way to a diaper free life... then she reminds me that she is in charge and has NO desire to not be in a diaper all day, but she is starting to talk more and understand more and that leaves room for the understanding of a reward chart.

So, on Wednesday afternoon, when she asked for a Barbie doll for no special reason, I said, "well, it's not Christmas or your birthday so I can't just get you a new toy for no reason. How about if you go potty 10 times then you can earn a Barbie doll?"

She smiled and went and sat on the potty and sat for while trying to make it happen. She succeeded and after our little celebration she followed me into the kitchen to mark her little chart and then she smiled and excitedly asked for her Barbie doll. I had to explain again that she had to have 10 marks on her chart to get her doll. So after she fussed for about an hour about not having a Barbie she decided to go potty again and she did. Then she ran in to watch me put a mark on her potty chart and then asked again, "Barbie?"

Needless to say, it wasn't exactly the prettiest response from Baby that I have seen and it took a while for her to calm down about not having a new Barbie yet.

I thought she had just forgotten about it yesterday until after I had gotten Sister off to school I walked into the kitchen to see a distraught look on Baby's face. She looked up at me, and clear as day, said to me, "I hate my chart."

Ha! Ha!

How cute it she?

I love hearing her talk, but I also love to hear that she has her own opinions and feelings.

Her chart is still hanging on the fridge with 2 marks on it, but hopefully we'll get to 10 marks before she's 10 years old.

*sigh

Now for a little update on Brother's hip. He stayed home all day from school and even stayed home from his class Valentine's Party after school. Poor little guy. It's hard to tell if it's just hyper-sensitivity to pain, the love of the attention he gets for being hurt or if he really can't walk well, but I do think he is hurting... I'm guessing he has a really bad bruise.

Anyway, being the angel that she is, his teacher, Marie, came with her kids to visit Brother and bring him Valentine cards that his classmates had made for him.

I was with Sister at the doctor at this time so I wasn't there, but hearing Brother talk about it all morning reassured me it was the highlight of his week! He even got up and got ready for school today all while limping and whimpering, but as excited as could be to see his friends at school.

Seriously!

We are so blessed.

I wish I could share this video with you that his teacher sent me while Brother was at home missing his party because it is adorable, but, I am just going to at least give you the audio feed. Brother couldn't stop smiling as we watched it twice:

I'm working on happy today and I am succeeding.

Like I always say, "fake it till you make it."

Sometimes that helps.

I just have to share this picture of my little friend, Ranger, keeping me company while I have my bone stimulator machine attached to my foot... he's always there by my side... sometimes annoyingly... but, most of the time welcomed. (smirk)