Wild Ride

When Mike and I found out we were expecting JennaBeth back in the Summer of 2008, it was quite a shock.  We had become real comfortable as a family of four.  Bentley was old enough to do some things on his own and had become good at entertaining himself for longer periods of time throughout each day.  Cecily was getting closer to being a teenager and we knew life would require a little more time and energy with her as we would need to help her navigate some of the transitions she would have coming up in her life.

We were comfortable.

We had routine.

And then comes JennaBeth!  I remember telling people when I was pregnant with her that God must have a sense of humor.  I tried to convince myself that I was going through early menopause!  Mike was 41 and I was 37.  I had a friend who suggested if I was having a little boy that we should name him John Isaac (you know the Isaac Abraham and Sarah had!).

I remember Bentley's reaction at the ultrasound when we found out we were expecting a little girl.  He said, "But I want a little brother!"  He had no idea how this little girl would turn his life up side down, literally!

Now please don't misunderstand.  I'm not complaining!  God blessed us with a precious and spunky little girl.  She just makes us tired.

For example, the other night, Mike had just bathed JennaBeth.  He put she and Bentley in the tub together and bathed her first.  He lotioned her up and put her nighttime diaper and jammies on her and combed her hair.  Within the next minute, we hear Bentley holler from the bathroom, "JennaBeff is in the bathroom in her jammie clothes."  I told him I was coming to get her out of the bathroom and this is what I found...

Yep!  She had climbed back in the bathtub with him fully clothed!

You can not turn your back on this stinker for one second!  She will climb on anything and apparently in anything these days!  She has learned the word "fall" because she does it alot!!  Her big thing to tell you is "I fawl."  That's just how she says it..."fawl" with a long Southern drawl!   I'm so proud she talks like her momma!!!

Another new thing she has learned is how to get in her big sister's bed.  Cecily has a loft bed which requires climbing a ladder to get into it.

Every time she hears her big sister's door open, she is around the corner and down the hall to her room in a flash...

She just climbs in and makes herself at home.  Cecily had not gotten up last Saturday morning and JennaBeth decided to go join her...

Her big sister's bed is not the only one she likes to invade...

She will get into Bentley's and pull those transformer sheets up on her like she is supposed to be there!

Our house certainly is not a boring place to be with JennaBeth around!  She has shall I say "spiced" things up around our place.  She keeps us hopping and maybe that's a good thing...I think.  Maybe being comfortable and having routine is overrated. 

God has taught and is teaching me much about myself and how I can better glorify Him through all my children.  Some days the lessons are tough and I often have to make trips to The Principle's office so to speak.  I'm thankful that in that office I find discipline clothed in love.  What an example for me to follow as a mom!  I'm thankful for God's word in Isaiah 40:11,

"He tends His flock like a Shepherd:  He gathers the lambs in His arms and carries them close to His heart; He gently leads those that have young."

You are writing a gospel,

A chapter a day, 

By deeds that you do,

By words that you say.

Children read what you write,

Whether faithless or true.

Say!  What is the gospel

According to you?

(Author Unknown)

Blessings,