Okay, so I am a BIT distracted.  I was going over some older posts and realized I never posted the pictures from Claire's birthday party.  The pictures that Sonalee was so WONDERFUL to send to me from her cell phone since I forgot my camera.  So here you go......

Blaine is remarkably better.  His ear still has just a touch of drainage and he's still a bit crabby, but much better by far.  I stayed home from church this morning with the 2 Littles.  I'm not feeling all that well myself and got virtually no sleep last night.  So far I have spent my morning cleaning the kitchen.  Jasmine was a huge help.  She unloaded and re-loaded most of the dishwasher.  She is an amazing child.  She then windexed the front of the dishwasher and stove.  Blaine on the other hand was beside himself that I wouldn't hold him so I got as much done as I could and will just have to finish it later.

Last night Scott and I had a date night.  Instead of leaving Blaine with a sitter since he wasn't feeling well we gave him some ibuprofen, dressed him up, and took him to dinner with us.  He was the hit of the restaurant.  Three different tables of people interacted with him.  It was nice for us because it kept him so busy and distracted socializing that Scott and I were able to actually sit, talk, and enjoy our meal.

  It is such a relaxing rainy Saturday morning.  The babies woke up at 7am (albeit a bit early for me) and we have been moseying along ever since.  I've been working on laundry and mending, and more organizing in our room.  The girls have been doing basic chores downstairs between Hannah Montana and That's So Raven episodes.  Scott and Levi are off at the men's breakfast at church and then will be picking up the new snow skiing gear and signing the twins up for a hunter's safety course.  I love days like this.  Days where there is no rush to do anything.  Days where we really do get things accomplished but at a much slower pace. 

  Poor Blaine has had a horrible ear infection going on this week.  He seemed a bit 'off' last weekend and finally on Tuesday I decided to just take him in and get him checked out.  I had a suspicion he had the beginnings of an ear infection.  He hadn't had a fever but he was tugging on his ear some.   Shortly before his appointment I noticed some drainage.  Sure enough the dr put him on antibiotics.  But.....he wasn't getting better.  Two days later his ear was draining even worse and he was now REALLY crabby.  The dr felt we were on the right course and said keep on keepin' on.  On day 3 however he was even worse.  I took him with me to allergy shots and had my doctor look at him.  Apparently he had had so much fluid build up his ear drum burst.  I called his dr back and finally got a stronger anitibiotic.  Here we are 24 hours later and he is FINALLY getting better. 

   We are cleaning out and cleaning up.  I can't not believe how much our home has transformed over the past 4 days.  I am LOVIN' it.  We aren't done, by a long shot, but much progress has been made.  We have a new caseworker coming tomorrow morning so thankfully the house will be clean when she comes.

For those of you who have never been to our house our bedroom in far from 'done.'  I hated the wallpaper on the walls when we moved in 7 years ago so I tore it down.  That has left us with some bare lathe and plaster on parts of the walls and wall paper backing on other parts.  We also do not have a headboard.   So......last night I was laying on my tummy in bed reading and underlining in my Bible when I had a sudden inspiration.  I decided to write the verses that mean something to me right on the wall over my bed.  I'm diggin' it.  Maybe it will help me to memorize more scripture.  

"Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God's wrath remains on him."

Tonight Jasmine and I were goofing around as I was getting her ready for bed.  I pointed to her nose and asked, "Do you have any boogers in there?"

To which she replied, "No.  I already picked them and I ate them."

Here it is, late on Tuesday night.  We have been home 48 hours.  Those 48 hours have been like a whirlwind.  So much has taken place that it's hard to wrap my brain around it all.  Yesterday and today Blaine had visits with Birthmom.  She seems to have accepted the fact that he will be adopted by us.  I find it so strange to say that.  I can't imagine ever being okay with something like this.  Then I stop and try to simply wrap my brain around her life and her existence.  I can't do it.  This woman has literally lost everything.  It is common place for her to 'lose' her child.  wow.  So far she is continuing with visits.  After each visit I wonder if this will be her last one; if next time she just won't show up.  The couselor as well as the case worker have made it very clear that they are filing to terminate her parental rights next month.   Today the counselor also made it clear that Blaine sees ME as his mommy, not her.  Heart wrenching. 

My heart is aching for those I know that don't know Jesus.  Lately I have been so burdened to pray for people I know that don't know what they are missing in their lives.  There are so many agendas, and platforms, and useless causes.............as Solomon wrote in the book of Ecclesiastes, "Meaningless! Meaningless!  Utterly meaningless!   Everything is meaningless."  At the end of the book he concludes that the only thing in this life that matters at all is that we know God.  For ultimately all we will have will turn to dust and our soul will rise to Him for judgement.   Nothing on this earth matters except for our relationship or lack of one with the God of the universe. 

I often wish I could enter the hearts of those I love that do not follow Jesus so I could understand what makes a person NOT choose Him.  There are so many ways to reject Him.  There's the obvious one of the person who shakes their fist at God and flat out rejects or denies Him.  There's the person who puts their fingers in their ears saying BlahBlahBlah I can't hear you and claims atheism.  And then there is the person who get's the fact that they sin thus offend a holy God and yet feel no need to accept Jesus' sacrificial gift that covers our sin so that we can stand clean before holy God.  They just don't care.  Why?  Why and how can people not care?  I believe I will ask this question until the day I die.  And until that day comes, I will continue to pray that God will open the eyes of my loved ones, and that they will see that Jesus is THE Way, THE Truth, and THE Life and that no one will come to God without Him in their hearts.