Cleaning Toilets Builds Character....

I have been trying hard to teach Gabe (almost 6) and Shelby (almost 4) to play nicely.  When other kids are over they do just fine, but when the two of them are alone they are constantly hitting each other on the head with a matchbox car.  I have tried everything to get them to stop.  I sit next to them as they play and as soon as I leave the room.....WHACK!!!  Well, today it happened again, this time it was Gabe and I had just warned him NOT TO HIT HIS SISTER!  

First I sent him to his room so I could decide the punishment.  As I was walking through his bathroom a light bulb went off in my head.  I brought him into the bathroom, handed him a rag and spray bottle and showed him the dirty toilet. 

I explained to him that when we disobey or hurt someone it is sin.  Sin makes us dirty just like his toilet.  I had him clean off the lid, under the lid, and around the seat....YUCK!!!  He was quite disgusted.   I explained to him that that is how God feels about our sin and wants us to be clean. 

 After we had a sparkling clean toilet I took Gabe to Shelby to say "Sorry."  Then we returned to his room to pray. 

It went like this, "Sorry God for hitting my sister.  Please forgive me.  Thank You for forgiving me.  Thank You for making me clean again."  I gave Gabe a great big hug and wiped away his tears.  Then as I left I reminded him to STAY CLEAN!!!!  I hope it doesn't happen again, but if it does I have 3 more toilets.....come to think of it this example would work with dishes, laundry, trash, etc.

"Have mercy on me, O God,

according to your unfailing love;

according to your great compassion

blot out my transgressions.

Wash away all my iniquity

and cleanse me from my sin."

Psalm 51:1-2

(Oh and by the way, the pictures on this blog are NOT mine.  Our toilet wasn't THAT bad!  And I put some funny and clean potty humor pics below.  Enjoy!)



"Let Freedom Ring!"

Happy Independence Day everyone!  It isn't exactly how I pictured it: long weekend, BBQs, fireworks, parades, and iced tea.  Instead it was more like stuffy head, sleep for 2 days, urgent care, and hot tea!

The kids all came down with a cold this week (one by one) and I got it somewhere between # 2 and #3 and kept it long after #7 was done.  Mine wasn't 24 hrs., it has lasted almost 6 days and now is a sinus infection.  Bummer....I NEVER get sick....well almost never anyway. 


So the family is off enjoying the picnics and fireworks while I sit here disinfecting the house and reflect on what Independence Day means to me.  It of course means our freedom in America from British rule long ago.  It also means we are free as a country as we move through to the future.  I am so thankful for our corporate freedom that so many have bravely fought for and defend still today.  I am also thankful for my individual freedom from God to become the woman He wants me to become.  And feel especially blessed to be given the husband and children that help me get there.  (That husband of mine is one incredible daddy.  Let me tell you something....we make one heck of a team!


Two weeks ago we celebrated "Gotcha Day", a day adoptive families celebrate the finalization of their children's adoption.  We decided to do something completely different from our other family celebrations to make Micah and Mariah's day set apart.  So we went to eat Japanese Hibachi.  I always wanted to take the kids there and the chef did NOT disappoint, but had us all cracking up the entire time.  We were about 2 hours into our 3 hour meal when Shelby inhaled a piece of rice and it stuck in her windpipe.  She coughed and coughed until she dislodged it.   Then, she looked up to me with tears in her eyes and said, "Oh mommy, I think I peed!"  I checked her dress and sure enough she was dripping!  I rushed her to the bathroom where I realized that her resisting me to go potty in between those 2 adult Sprites had just caught up to the both of us.  (And it wasn't pretty!)  She had completely soaked her party dress and usually I would have had 2 changes of clothes for my child but.....you guessed it....I didn't have one this special day. 


I stood there staring at my butt naked child in the bathroom stall.  I had no options.  None!  I paced in circles.....I had NOTHING for her!  I told her to lock the stall door and not to open it and I would be right back.  I summoned her Daddy and somehow in our made-up-secret 'Team Chinlund' sign language communicated to him that Shelby was butt naked in the bathroom and he flew out the door to the nearest Toys R Us to buy her something to wear!  I waited with her until SUPERDADDY returned.  I opened the bag to find not one but two beautiful pink dresses and a package of princess panties! 

As I was getting her dressed I made sure she knew HE was the nicer of her parents, because I might have been tempted to get her something blue and not so cute....but not her Daddy....he is really the sweetest man on the face of this earth! 


We returned from the bathroom, joined our party and finished our dinner.  I was telling this story to a good friend just today and you know what?  It really was a great dinner!  Even with the crazy, unexpected, uhhhhh....glitch.  I thank God for my darling husband Michael.  He helps me to be the best that I can be and together we really are a great team.


(notice the new dress :)


So here is to the fireworks and smores and to all the Superdaddies that are grilling those hot dogs!  ....and God Bless America!!!

Happy 3rd Birthday Sweet Shelby Lyn

We are celebrating Shelby's third birthday today and it has sent me down memory lane! She has filled our life with smiles and joy, tears and tantrums, Princesses and ponies, and laughter from her winning personality. Shelby is quick to call you a "Mr. Potatohead" if you call her a ham, which she very much is! Never the less, her entrance into this world was as attention getting as her smile is today. I went back and found the letter I wrote to put in her birth announcement.....here it is.

"Shelby's story is especially remarkable and I wanted to share fully with our loved ones the journey our family has been on the past few months. Around Valentines Day we knew we were pregnant by the clammy complexion on my face and lack of appetite. Our first 12 weeks were pretty normal, and by now we just expect for me to be super sick! At 16 weeks we breathed a sigh of relief thinking we were past the worst of it...how wrong we were!

I got up one morning to make the kids breakfast and was stunned with blood that ran down my legs. I called immediately and the doctor sent me right up to the hospital. I called Mike at work and tried to prepare him and the girls for the worst. I remember thinking that there was NO WAY a baby could survive with the amount of blood I was losing. To my shock, (and everyone else's as well) all the tests and ultrasound showed a happy and thriving baby. My doctor said she could see the blood pouring from the placenta and she was sure it was an abruption. She prepared us that we would not know if the baby could survive or it the placenta would start unraveling for at least 2 weeks.

I was put on complete bed rest and stayed in bed until the bleeding slowed and finally stopped 6 weeks later. It would occasionally come back for a few days at a time, off and on the rest of the pregnancy. When I was doing well, I felt confident. When I had a bad bleeding day or week I worried that I would lose her. I had weekly appointments, stress tests, and ultrasounds to watch Shelby's progress. Every time to my amazement, she looked great and even seemed to be developing at a faster rate than normal! I spent most of my days in bed praying, for Shelby, everyone and everything I could think of. I had a lot of time to think, wonder, and wait. (It was a time of depending completely on God and looking back on it all now, it was a precious time.)

At 35 weeks and 5 days my doctors decided that she was ready and they didn't want to risk it anymore. They sent me up to the hospital around 2:30pm, broke my water and I was holding her at 8:50pm. My delivery was normal, calm, and a joyous end to a very long journey. All are things we prayed for faithfully and hoped on daily."

So here I am in 2010 and we know now that I have a blood clotting disorder. We think that Shelby's abruption was caused by a clot that burst a vein in the placenta, and because the placenta cannot heal it stayed an opening that bled off and on the entire pregnancy. God used that journey to draw us closer and closer to Him. She is here in all her glory and is a constant reminder to me and all who know her story that miracles really do happen.

Happy Birthday Shelby Lyn.....you are an AMAZING gift!!!!