Baby Josephine Claire Higgins

Isn't she beautiful?

My Brother is a Father!

I have no pictures to share yet. My sister, Claire, gave birth last night to a healthy 8 pound baby girl. Her name is Josie Claire Higgins. Looks like Thanksgiving has come a bit early to my brother's home this year.

Waiting...

We had some great success yesterday. No foul words or messes! Praise God to both. Silas even had his first poo in the toilet without putting it in the bathtub. He's doing great with his training and is peeing consistently with and without help. He has even figured out how to pee 5 different times in under 10 minutes.. All of this for the love of fruit leather. That's been the reward of choice since the oreo incident. Louisa was the only other child to figure out she'd be rewarded even for the smallest drop. So, now we are only giving bites of fruit leather if there is a significant amount of pee. I think that by weeks end we'll be in underwear during the day.

Way to go Silas! Hoot! Hoot!

Let's Smile Together, Shall We?

Check out those chubby cheeks!

The Sad, Stinky Story

This post is not for the faint of heart, nor those given to gagging easy, nor for the sinless soul..

or mommy says her first potty mouth word in years! I've confessed and repented to the Lord, but I said a bad word tonight.

It all started when Jake mentioned more than a few times that Silas is ready for potty-training. Haha, the Lord was thinking it was time for some training in patience and humility on my part. I have discovered that the best way to potty train the boys is just to let them run naked. That way when they pee they can see what's up and I can direct them to the toilet and so on and so forth. Today was day 2 of PT for Silas. Let's just say I really didn't want to have a day 2 after day 1, but once I start something I must finish it! Yesterday Silas decided to go number 2 under the dining room table. The only problem is I'd been rewarding him with oreos for his peepee efforts so things weren't as they should have been. By the time I discovered what he had done he had come to me with poo up and down the legs, holding it in his hands and there was a trail of it through the house... it was the worst mess I've seen in years. The kind of mess one screams about when they see because it reminds you of a horror flick. It was so bad that the big boys were dry heaving and running to their rooms and the girls were standing on the couch, the only clean place, squealing with terror. Silas just stood there and cried. This would have all been manageable had I not seen what happened next. It was Salt under the table, where Silas had been. What to do? Should I continue with taking Silas up to the tub or get the dog out. I screeched about the dog and one of the girls released him to the back yard since the boys were hiding. Thankfully I cleaned up the mess and the house was spit spot in a matter of moments.

Then tonight matters went downhill. Silas went to the bathroom upstairs in the toilet which is great. The only problems were a.) I didn't know he was going to the bathroom b.) Salt knew he was going to the bathroom and c.) there had been such a terrific mess in the tub yesterday after I cleaned up the boy that he naturally thought his poo might should be placed by hand of course into the bathtub. Louisa was the fortunate one to happen on the scene and I could tell by the shrieks that ensued that something of terror and horror was happening again. Sure enough it was. I ran up and saw the mess and starting cleaning it up and the boy up.. and I then I said it.. the bad word. I couldn't believe I said it, but I did. "Out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks." Such conviction was poured on my head as God's words rang true. So much for loveliness and grace.. which is what I had prayed for this morning. Thankfully I have another shot tomorrow as Silas still isn't trained..

In case you were wondering where Jake was in all of this, he was studying in the den. When he heard the commotion he came out of the den and heard me exclaim about the dog and the boy's you know what. So, he took Salt downstairs and washed his mouth out with soap. It was the funniest thing I heard all day. Poor Salt.

Jake and the Sourdough Starter

So, here's Jake in the engine and the sourdough starter I told you about. Gross huh? Not as gross as what's been happening in my house the last two days, but that's another sad story.

A Sad Revelation

Back to the ball. The older couple pictured sitting near us, The Flores', are a very sweet couple. Benjamin is a former Marine and something about the brotherhood of Marines draws them to each other, so it didn't take long for Jake and Benjamin to hit it off at church. Elizabeth is an amazing woman and spends her time volunteering at the Pregnancy Resource Center in Santa Cruz. Santa Cruz is an extremely liberal city where anything and everything goes. It's estimated that a mere 4% of people who live there attend church. Therefore the PRC draws a lot of volunteers from the local christian community as it is a great way to reach lost women.

During dinner I spent a good deal of time getting to know Elizabeth better. The men had gone off to smoke cigars and tell war stories, that left the ladies at the table alone to hang out. Elizabeth was inquiring about our family, the size of it mainly and our beliefs about having children. She was sharing with me her first hand experiences, with people who come in to have an abortion, at the PRC. Mind you she didn't share personal information on particular people, but the mind set of people who come in to the center. I was shocked as to what she told me. You see I've had it in my mind that people who get abortions are either very young girls, or those who hate children and live wanton lifestyles. On the contrary, much opposed to my thinking, the majority of people who come into the center choose to have an abortion because it would upset their lifestyle. This is a shocker because, you know what? I have heard countless people in the church choose not to have children or more children because it would upset their lifestyle. ie. They don't have the money to support children, this could be an argument, but the problem is the people who have said this make just as much as Jake does or close to it... clearly that's not a truthful statement. Or They want to wait until they're a little bit older... Hmm, there are all kinds of excuses one could give as to why they don't want to have babies. The fact is the excuse coming out of the mouths of believers are the same as the excuses coming out of the mouths of those who are ready to hop on the abortion table.

This is so sad. God has designed men and women for marriage and the reproduction of themselves for the glory of Him. This is fact.