Josiah and Halee's school bus bed....
Yes, it's 80 degrees outside and Josiah has a beanie on his head... he just loves wearing them :)There are some things in raising kids that I'm not extremely intimidated about... I don't worry excessively about them getting hurt (I know that inevitably they will and we'll just have to deal with each injury as it occurs :)... I don't worry to much about the extremes like my kids getting stolen or dying suddenly... (the Lord showed me when He took our twins home that my kids belong to Him and that i could totally trust that He has known since before time began all my kids days)
But I have these funny little fears... Like potty training (I wrote about that in a previous email)... We made it through that fear a few months ago with Josiah... Then my next fear to overcome was putting Josiah and Halee in the same room at night. To be honest we have had it quite easy when it comes to the kids going to bed at night and falling asleep easily and stuff like that so i have been really hesitant to disturb the good thing that we had going... So about a month ago we bit the bullet and just went for it... We got the kids a "school bus" bunk bed off craig's list and they both love it!!!! WHY WAS I SO AFRAID???... It has been no big deal... they both made the transition just fine... PRAISE BE TO GOD!! They both stay in their beds until we come get them in the morning and they both love sleeping in the school bus :)
The funny part is that Josiah will be the first to tell you that he is afraid to sleep in the top bunk... So when I asked them who wanted to sleep where, they both quickly said that Halee should sleep on top.. So she does... and she can get up and down the ladder all by herself without any hesitaiton... (She's more or less fearless about most things :)
Josiah on the other hand is the more cautious child... So he can't down by himself...
Until this morning...
This morning he wanted to sit on Halee's bed with her... so I told him that he could go up there only if he was willing to get down by himself... He climbed up to the top... 3 minutes later... "mom, I need help getting down"... i walked into their room and I reminded him of what I had said if he chose to get up there and he said, "me's knows... but me's need your help." I knew inside that he could do it and that he just needed to see that he could do it... so I told him that I would tell him how to get down with my words but that I wouldn't help him with my hands... he started to cry... I encouraged him and told him that he could do all things through Christ who strengthens him and that he needed to turn arround backwards and slide down until he felt his foot hit the top step... He turned around and started to cry harder... I cheered him on and told him that he was doing agreat job and to slide his other foot down to the next step all while holding onto the top... His body started to shake and he was sobbing (but he was totally doing it!!!)... "One more step buddy, then you'll be on the floor"... He slide his foot down again and he found himself at the bottom of the ladder with both feet on the floor... I started clapping and cheering and showing him that he had just climbed down that big ladder all by himself... "You did it buddy, you did it, I'm so proud of you!!!" And within seconds he stopped crying and this huge smiled found it's way across his face, and he started clapping for himself.... then he jumped in my arms and hugged me and said, "Me's so proud of you mommy!!!" He had overcome his fear and he was so proud of himself!!!
Thank you Lord for times of success and accomplishment in our lives.... And thank you for helping Josiah and I overcome some of our little (or not so little :) fears...
