Be Careful What You Pray For ...

With the adoption so close to Gotcha Day now, I am trying to prepare myself mentally and physically. One of the things that I have been praying for is that I will be prepared for John and be a really good mom for him. So when I pray, I am praying (pleading) that I will be the mom that John and my other kids need (and want). The funny thing about praying is that Heavenly Father answers my prayers - it just isn't always the way that I might want. For some funny reason I thought that praying for this would bring an added peace and love into our home - a spiritual pat on the back saying, "You are a good mom, and you will be great with John." 

The opposite has occurred as you can imagine. Since I have been praying for this specifically, I have been met with A LOT of tantrums. Go figure. I guess that to be prepared for another toddler to come into our family, a few toddler tantrums are exactly what I need to help get me more prepared. Their has been some contention with the older kids. (Something tells me this won't be the last time we have a little contention in our home.) And our sweet Lincoln still does his cute Lincoln things. He loves figuring out how to escape from our backyard, and he still has a hard time in public. I guess I am sharing all of this because it has been an answer to prayer but a little different than I had expected. 

The answer to my prayer has arrived in this fashion - I LOVE being a mom. I don't necessarily love the tantrums or losing my 11--year old autistic son, or having some contention, but I do LOVE being a mom. I have such amazing kids, and we are really a happy family. We are not perfect by any stretch of the imagination, but we have it pretty good. I know I can handle what I have right now, and I'll be able to handle John to boot. Bring it on, I am so excited!

Here are some snap shots of our fun summer so far. The kids got to go to Grandma Bentley's and pick cherries (even Kate thought she should be able to climb the ladder and "help", they love swinging in the neighbor's yard all together, and swimming at Grandma Kathy's and Pop's house (check out Kate's shoes).

Picking Cherries

We also went on a fun hike by Heber. It was so pretty and the kids had a great time.