We may be the only family alive who has been potty training for 6 months (not really; I know there are others out there!) What a chore this has been. We've been back and forth with this several times. The problem isn't that Ella doesn't know HOW to do this; the problem is that she is STUBBORN! She may not be our biological child, but she is mama's daughter through and through (or so daddy says...haha). Brian figures he'll just move out when she turns 16. He's not sure he can deal with us both at the same time (he's kidding, I think). Anyway, we are trying very hard to potty train "for real" this time. So far, it's going very well. We are determined to see this thing through, and Ella seems to be really ready for it, too.
Being a parent is no joke, I tell you. I guess that's why Dr. James Dobson has written so many books about being a parent. I'm guessing that my parents wish his book about the strong-willed child was out there when I was growing up! All we can do is pray that God will guide us down this path of parenthood and pray that our children will see His love through us. I have really been praying a lot lately about how to bring God to Ella. I really want to make Him real for her and to teach her about His love for us. I've struggled with how to do this until our preacher said something in a sermon a few Sundays ago. He said that we beat ourselves up and worry about how to bring Jesus into new situations at work or to new people we meet along the way. He said that he always used to pray that he could "bring God" into the situations he was faced with in order to witness to those around him until he realized that God was already there. God is everywhere! We don't have to take Him to anyone...He is already there. What He wants to do is to use us to point Him out and to make him real to those around us by the things we do and by the way we live our lives. God is already here; He's in our home waiting to use us in whatever way He chooses. I know we know this, but we forget sometimes that He is around even when we aren't calling on him. Our job, as Ella's parents, is to allow God to use us to SHOW her His love. What a relief it is to know that God is already here doing all of the hard work for us...how amazing!
1 comment:
Lori,
I think you said it great!! This is also a common problem of mine, how do I show people how much God loves and how much he wants us to live our lives for Him. I truly believe caring for and adopting an orphan into our homes as He adopted us, is an unbelievable testamony to His love!!
We are Jeff and Sheri Gilleland, we are also cousins to Michelle and Brett Creach and she has told us about you. We are getting ready to go to get our little one!! visit us at www.kendalhope.com
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