If I've ever given the impression that Julia is a breeze to parent, rest assure that isn't the case. She has an attitude bigger than her cute little cheeks. I'm amazed that you can add an 8th child to your family as a baby, and she comes assuming that she should run the show! It's kind of humorous because when we added Julia if was because there was a flood of baby girls that came into the orphanage that week that needed families. We thought, seven or eight - what's the difference; we can do it. Well, there's a difference! What Julia has so going for her is that she is so funny and really such a joy, that it more than makes up for the struggles. This is the Julia I just found when I emerged from putting Elijah down for his morning nap.

I asked her where her clothes were as I had personally gotten her dressed this morning. Her reply, "I peed them." I launched into my reminder that Dad isn't going to bring her a fruit leather home from work, due to her accident. She told me, "I know Mom, I don't get it, I peed, I'm so sad."  This is my latest attempt at bribing Julia to be truly potty-trained; she was totally capable over a year ago! Will it make a difference? I don't know.... Julia has a mind of her own! (and excellent fashion sense, why get new clothes out of the drawer when you can create a wrap out of a hand-towel that is fit to wear outside.)

As an example of the moments that she melts my heart -  Yesterday I came home and she came running to the door, yelling, "Mom's home, my best friend, my best friend, Mom." Yah, I'll keep her in spite of the peed clothes on the bathroom floor!

Tori was looking at the cover of The Beginner's Bible with its many cartoon Bible characters. She pointed to Adam and Eve and asked, "are those two the bad guys?" I told her that I wouldn't call them bad guys. She looked closer and said, "yes, that's them; they are the two that snuck into the garden and ate the poisonous apple."

JD and I had a long haul to a doctor appointment with just Tori and Elijah the other day. She talked nonstop for about seven hours! I guess that's normal, but she usually has many other kids to share her jabber with. It was hours of "Mom, mom......" At several points we had to tell her to stop talking long enough that we could finish a thought. She was very entertaining however. When we parked in a parking garage with different animals on each level, she explained to me that the sign showed that there were crabs in the garage walls, hence the crab pictures, and we needed to watch for their claws. On the way home, we ate dinner at a Chinese buffet. When I took her in the bathroom, she exclaimed, "Boy, I've never been in a bathroom like this!" I asked her why as it looked much like 100 bathrooms that I've taken her in before. She said, "because, this is a Chinese bathroom!" 

I love the reasoning of little people!

Aside from Tori's funnies, this last week without phone or internet has been filled with challenges. I often think back to the logic that the good and bad in life run parallel, like railroad tracks, much more than the mountains and valleys that everyone refers to. In fact, often the good and bad are closely intertwined as the model is good that God designed, but tainted with sin. It seems obvious that having nine children would mean that I'm asking for challenges to my day, but somehow I still get disappointed when they occur. I am praying for wisdom in how to precede in a few situations in life. In the meantime, I need to work on maintaining joy as much during four hour standoffs over writing five sentences as punishment -

as I do in making cookies with my helpers!

James 1:2 - Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds.........