Addition to Mr. Monday

Alright, I admit that I wrote my Mr. Monday post on Sunday night... Then I logged in this morning to find something that I really should have included! Lynn over at Spiritually Unequal Marriage is starting a series on how to make your husband your boyfriend. (Please note that even if you aren't in a spiritually unequal marriage, I think everyone can get a ton out of her blog!) This is the second post I have read recently about making your husband your boyfriend, and I'm loving it! So far nothing has been suggested that isn't new to my marriage, but they are things that we do so often that I don't see them for what they are anymore. So here are two really great blog posts that I encourage you to read:
Want a boyfriend? at:



and When was the last time... at:


I highly encourage you to take the journey in making your husband your boyfriend. Even if you already do these things, take extra note of them, and let them make you smile the way they use to!

Best Dad EVER!

Mr. Amazing is an awesome father! He demonstrates this in a million ways every single day, but this week I was able to capture some of those moments while we were out on a hike.

Ella wanted to wear her hood, but her hair was all crazy, so he helped her pull her hair back and put her hood on.

Alexa was sleepy, so he carried her most of the way.

He took the time to find teachable moments, and discussed with the boys what kinds of tracks could be seen on the dirt path. They saw horse, deer, dog, and people prints.

He even posed for a family picture, taken by Ty who's presence is included by way of his shadow. (And yes, my husband is wearing shorts in January. And no it really wasn't that warm. It was in the 60's during the day, but by this point had cooled off quite a bit, hints our jackets.)

Mr. Amazing is the best dad I could ever imagine. I'm so thankful for him! Is your Mr. a great dad? I would love to hear about it!

Confessions of a Christian Mom

I am not perfect.

I'm just not.

Not only am I not perfect, I am far from it.

It's so easy to put on a show for those outside your home. To only want others to see the best of you. But do you know what? I am most encouraged when others let me see their faults. It goes a long way to just know that I'm not the only one who struggles. To know that I'm not the only Christian Mom in the world that doesn't have it all together. So I want to encourage you today to share your faults with others. Let them know how un-perfect you are. You never know who will be encouraged to know they're not alone. Here, I'll go first:

My house isn't clean. In fact, it's rather messy.

I get stressed out rather easily.

Most days, my girls run around the house half naked, because they don't like to wear clothes.

I yell at my children. I don't like to, but they really get to me sometimes.

I often sleep in instead of getting up to have quiet time with the Lord before the kids wake up.

My children argue... with each other, and with me sometimes.

I don't think being a mom is easy.

I do love being a mom, and I love my kids more than words can say. But, I'm not perfect. If you just read this list and are judging me because I'm not perfect, please don't. Instead, would you mind sharing some of your imperfections with me? Leave a comment, or write a post of your own and link up:

Abortion Blackout

I really wanted to share this video with you today. There doesn't appear to be a way to embed it, so just follow the link and click play... please. After you have watched the video, then you will better understand my post.

I can't help but want to ask about my moms friend who went into labor at 4 months and gave birth to twins. Are her twins more alive than a mom who is 4 months pregnant but did not go into preterm labor and her baby was born healthier for it? That doesn't make since. Or since it wasn't full term should the mom who gave birth to the twins have been able to decide a month later that she didn't want them and terminate them?


How can someone say that the baby on the left has more life then then the one on the right (who was actually older)?









Abortion Blackout was founded in 2010 to help educate an online generation about the prevalence and devastating effects abortion has on our society. They believe that increased awareness of abortion realities, education for women experiencing unplanned pregnancies, and distribution of financial resources to pregnancy resource centers across the nation will enable this generation to help end abortion by 2020!!! They have a facebook page and they encourage people to wear black on Friday's to morn the lives that are lost through abortion. While I don't commit to many things like this, this is one thing that I am committing myself to. I hope that you would consider partnering with them as well. (You do not have to donate to sign their pledge... it looks a little miss leading on their site. Just wanted to clarify)

The Pets...

This week for MamaKat's Writer's Workshop I'm responding to prompt #1 If you could change anything about your pet, what would it be? This is kind of a trick question, because if it was my choice we wouldn't have pets... Can I change the fact that they exist? No? I didn't think so.

If I could change anything about my pets (not being the number... because, you know there are...well, a lot), I would make them self sustaining. I often forget to feed them (well then not super annoying ones like the fish and the birds) and I am terrified that I am going to starve them to death some day... The super annoying ones (like the dog and cats) are well, super annoying. They think I should feed them, fill their water dish and let them outside (even if it's 2 in the morning)... I would love it if they could do those things by themselves and not wake me up.

Realistically, I wish they wouldn't sleep in my bed. I am not a pet person, and I really do like my beauty sleep... and for me for it to really qualify as a decent night sleep I need to be able to roll over and have access to at least enough blanket to cover my entire body without having to wake up and shove an animal off of it. 'Deep sigh'

I should note that while I was dating Mr. Amazing, I thought his pets were cute and cuddly... I'm very thankful that we got married before I realized that they are really controlling and annoying... He's worth suffering through being a pet owner, but I have politely told him that we will never get another pet. EVER! (Okay, so maybe when he brought it up I shouted no and grabbed his arm as if pleading for my life... but either way I think we understand each other).

Thankful Thursday

What are you thankful for this week? Write about it and link up over at Spiritually Unequal Marriage.


On this blessed Thankful Thursday I am so thankful that I have been given the opportunity to serve the Lord. My prayer this morning was that God would use me for His glory, and not allow me to be a stumbling block. Being a mom is hard. There are so many opportunities to become a stumbling block to my children. Every choice I make can either point to Christ, or turn them away. They have no doubt that I love God, so it's extremely important what kind of a life I lead in front of them. I must admit that I didn't realize this soon enough. I've always known that leading by example is the best way to do things, it has the best results, and isn't hypocritical. However, it just really clicked yesterday that they are watching everything and all of my actions either point to Christ, or they don't. I want my children to see Christ in the way I speak to them, not just the words, but the tone. I want them to see Christ in the way I serve others, I even want them to see Christ in the breakfast I serve them (not literally of course)! I don't want them to see life as something that just happens, but as a gift from God and an opportunity to serve Him. I am so thankful for this eye opener, and for the opportunity to serve my God and Savior by letting everything I do point to Him.

Blogger Book Review Programs

I got curious today and found out that there are TONS of blogger review programs where you can receive books for free in exchange for writing reviews about them! I'm so excited! I tend to read books faster than they can mail them so I am thinking of signing up for another program (or maybe a few...).


BookSneeze was the first blogging program I heard of where you could get free books. This is the review program for Thomas Nelson. They have some GREAT authors that work for them, but on the other hand they have some very unbiblical books that they push through by other authors.


I have still not received the video I requested from Tyndale... They don't mail their products out until every review product has been requested, then they mail them out at the same time... So if nobody every requests the other copies, I will never get mine. And of course, I can't request something else from them until I have received and reviewed the DVD... How about that.
*Updated to add- while writing this blog post I got an e-mail letting me know that they just shipped my DVD... the one that I requested in November, yeah that one. It should arrive sometime in February...


(click here)
Blogging for Books has become my favorite blogging program thus far. Other than the fact that they can't simply give you the HTML code for their button... They expect you to copy the image URL or download it to your desktop and when you post it in your blog to link it to their site... But other than the button issue, they have some GREAT books and authors.


It appears that LitFuse has books from several different publishers. They e-mail you when a new book comes out and you can choose if you want to review it or not. This is is the start of the list of programs that I just found out about.


Bethany House also does E-mail alerts. You can sign up to receive them by clicking here I do not know if they have a working button for their bloggers or not...


Ligonier Ministries seems to be unique. You may request up to 2 PDF books at a time to review. Once your review is posted and approved they then send you the actual book... Once again, I could not find a working button, it may be available to their bloggers but I do not know. You can click here to get more info.


This program looks like it's handled almost entirely via e-mail. You e-mail them your info and what book you would like, they would then like you to complete the book in a couple of months if possible (this made me giggle). After you have finished it write a 200 word review to post on your blog, the product page at their website and a consumer retail website. Then e-mail them to let them know. Again, I didn't find a working button... so click here.



Visit Creation Conversations

Please note, I am not a member of Creation Conversations... this is the only button they have that works. Any who. This blogger review program has high expectations. You must post a minimum of 5x a month (okay, not so hard), and (this is where it gets me) have a social network audiance of over 1000... Seriously. This can include your facebook and twitter people in the count with your blog followers.

I personally would LOVE to review for Moody Publishers. They don't have a public review program. I have found a few bloggers who review for them, but you must contact them directly to find out information about obtaining review copies.

And in case any of my readers live in Canada, there is a program where Canadians can get free books to review called Penguin Group.

What about you? Do you know of any other review programs for Christians? Who do you review for? Do you like working with them?

Betrayed but reassured

From then on Judas watched for an opportunity to hand him over. ~ Matthew 26:16

Most of my regular readers know that my husband is about to be laid off, we keep learning bits and pieces of the whole story, but no one who knows all the details will out right fill anyone in, everyone else is just kind of sharing what they hear and learn from one source or another. Today we learned from the guy that is the head of the IT department that Quiznos never intended to keep the corporate stores open. The only reason they took them on was to test the new computer system so they could work the bugs out before passing it onto the franchise owners. They needed it some place where they could be in charge of the glitches and have guaranteed feedback. The thought that they played so carelessly with the lives of all the employees that they hired and their families hurts, especially since we are one of those families. Yet I am finding comfort in the most unlikely place. You see, Mr. Amazing was miserable at his last job. Stable? Yes. Happy? No. When Quiznos called and offered him a job it was like a dream come true. We prayed about it, and the details weren't right, so he was prepared to turn it down. But then, they offered him a different position, the perfect job, the very thing we had been praying for. It truly was an answer to prayer. To find out now that the whole time the company had the intention of laying him off with no notice only a year later stings at the very core of my being. How could something that was so clearly from God, be so devastating? This reminds me of a similar (although not really) situation from the Bible.

Jesus called Judas to follow Him, and to be His disciple. God knew that Judas would eventually betray Jesus, but He also knew that it was necessary in the plan of redemption. God took something that from the outside looks like a poor choice and used it to complete His plan. I don't know where God is taking Mr. Amazing from here, but I know He has a plan. God's ways are higher than my ways, and while Quiznos never had our best interest at heart, God did. I totally believe that He ordained Mr. Amazing's taking the job there. While at Quiznos he learned so many valuable things that he can use to help him get a new job. He will walk into it more prepared than he could have previously, and to be honest it gave him the confidence to walk away from the stability of the job before. During this time we are also taking a closer look at our budget. It's hard not knowing when we will get paid again (well, technically he has a minimum of one more pay check and rumor has it he will get at least 2), so we are cutting costs where possible and making a plan...together.

God isn't surprised that Quiznos is laying off Mr. Amazing, He has known it all along. The most reassuring thing to me right now is that this is all part of God's plan for our family. He can take something that seems like it could destroy us and use it to bring Him glory beyond our wildest dreams. I'm so thankful that God is in control!

For more Word-filled Wednesday posts please visit The Internet Cafe:

Happy birthday to me!

Today was my birthday! :) Of course Mr. Amazing made breakfast while attempting to let me sleep in. Then Mr. Amazing and I taught toddlers church (10 children between the ages of 2 and 4 make for a rather intense hour and a half). The boys did the dishes, and Mr. Amazing decorated my cake! This is special because he has never decorated a cake before (He always goes for the pre-made cakes at King Soopers). I think he did a pretty good job! He defiantly gets an 'A' for effort and for being his amazingly sweet self! After cake he took me out to dinner (Red Robins...Yum), and then since there weren't any decent movies in the theaters we went and played pool. (Unfortunately, I forgot my camera :( boo!)

F.Y.I. I am horrid at pool. I use to be rather okay, and maybe even decent, but I haven't played for over 2 years... I was excited if I hit the ball that I was aiming at. Our first game, Mr. Amazing sank the 8 ball on accident half way through. This is an automatic win for me! Woo Hoo! I'm so glad, because we played out the game anyway (wouldn't want to waste or quarters!) and he had all of his balls in the hole while I still had 4 on the table... it took me another 5-10 minutes to get mine all in. Did I mention I'm horrid at pool? The second game I won on my own merit... but he might possibly have let me win. He said he didn't and if he did it wasn't obvious, but after the first game I have to wonder! The third game, I sunk the 8 ball on like the 3rd shot... :( not that it would have mattered as we played out the game and again, I was the only one with balls left on the table. Only 2... but it took forever to get them to go where they belonged. So technically I won 2 out of 3 games :)

I am so blessed to have such an amazing husband! He really does do every thing that he can to make me happy :)

I can't finish this post without including Mr. Amazing's mother. She's wonderful too. :) She sent me the sweetest birthday e-mail, with my new all time favorite birthday blessing! It read as follows:

Happy Birthday to you, Only one will not do, Born Again Means Salvation, We're so Glad you have TWO.

Isn't she great!

On a sadder noted. Mr. Amazing found out that everyone at the corporate office was fired. One of the corporate stores near by found out that they weren't bought out and were just shutting down all together... tomorrow. So he might very possibly not have a job tomorrow morning, we just don't know. But God does! I am so thankful that we have an awesome Savior and aren't going through this time with no hope!

For this wonderful Mr. Monday, I would love to hear the great things that your Mr.'s do for your birthdays! Write a post or leave a comment (please). :)

Do you Sudoku?

Mr. Amazing loves computer games. He is always telling me that he found a new game I would like, and while most of the time he is right, I tend to steer clear of them. Computer games tend to eat up valuable time that could be used for something productive. Most importantly, they generally take up the time that I would be spending in God's Word. So for the most part, I don't play computer games... until this week. My wonderful, fabulous, Mr. Amazing has me hooked on Sudoku. I LOVE math, and it's just like the perfect game! However, after spending hours (okay, days) playing Sudoku, I can feel the distance growing between me and God. I just feel like I'm in a haze. I can't seem to focus on anything, reading is becoming difficult, and to be quite honest, I am dreaming about what number could go in which box! I think there could be a time and a place for games, but I have never been able to find one that works for me.

My question is, do you play computer games? If so, do you set a specific time to do so, or a time limit per day? Do you steer clear of them all together? While I think playing Sudoku is extremely fun, I fail to see any benefit from it. I think it could be a great tool in helping my children with their math skills... but I think for me it is probably just another mind numbing distraction. Any thoughts?

It's a Monkey.

A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones. ~Proverbs 17:22
We received more bad news yesterday. My husbands boss was misinformed. All of the
Quiznos' in Denver have already been sold. My husband could possibly be let go next week. On a day like today I really needed something cheerful to think about. I'm very thankful that it just happens to be Friday which brings the Friday Funnies over at Homesteader's Heart! (You can visit her blog by clicking the button at the bottom of this post.)

Today for my entry I wanted to share one of my families (okay Mommy and Daddy's) favorite silly songs from Veggie tales. To get the full amount of funniness from this video you must picture me and Mr. Amazing singing it walking through Wal-mart at random, and having extremely serious conversations about it at the Zoo while looking at the Zebras, Elephants and Sea Lions...



Now picture us having the following conversation with straight faces:

Honey, isn't that an Ape? No dear, it has a tail, it's monkey. Oh that's right. If it has a tail it's a monkey, if it doesn't have a tail it's an ape. My mistake.

I hope you are enjoying your Friday. For more laughs, hop on over to Kim's blog:

Thankful for you

On this Thankful Thursday we have been prompted by Lynn at Spiritually Unequal Marriage to write our post about who our best online friend is. While I don't normally like ranking the people in my life (it can cause hurt feelings), I will this one time. First you must understand that most of my closest friends are all online friends. Most of my closest online friends I met through the Christian Mommies community that is part of the online network called Circle of Moms. Victoria, Anne, Tam, Kristie, Robin, and Stephanie (along with a few others) have been on my facebook friends list for almost longer than I can remember and I have never met any of them in person (though several of us exchanged Christmas cards this year). I almost got to meet Anne this Christmas, but a snow storm and car trouble got in our way. As she comes to Colorado every year for Christmas we are hoping that God will allow us to get together next year. Back when I was the admin of the Christian Mommies group I asked Anne to be my moderator. Around a year later we asked Victoria to come on to help us out as well. Eventually I handed the community over to Victoria as my migraines were growing in intensity and the medication they put me on effected my ability to think clearly. Through this adventure we have all become very close friends and I am very thankful for them both.

I am thankful for Tam who led an online Bible study for moms on Circle of Moms. She taught me so much about the things we studied and helped guide me to a better understanding of how to not only apply the Bible to my life, but understand it as more than words on a page.

Stephanie is such an inspiration to me. It is so fun watching her faith in Christ and the knowledge of Scripture grow. I am so thankful for her!

Kristie, well she's just Kristie! She's wonderful just for being her and being a servant of Christ, and I am thankful for her friendship. :)

While all of these dear women hold a special place in my heart I must say that over the years Robin and I are the closest. God has brought us through some of the same trials and we are able to help each other through. We share the same views on pretty much everything, we are both bloggers, and stay home moms. She truly is my BFF, and I am thankful that God has brought us together through the internet.

I am very thankful for all of my online friends. My lovely blog readers that encourage me, my facebook friends, my Circle of Moms friends (even the ones that I only communicate with there). God has truly blessed me through my computer. These ladies that I may possibly never meet on this earth have touched my life in ways they will probably never, ever know. God is amazing!

It's always great to encourage others! If you would like to write a post about how thankful you are for your online friends go ahead and link up with us this Thankful Thursday over at Lynn's blog.

Moving forward

“Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland. ~ Isaiah 43:18-19

Our family has just entered into the wilderness. My husband found out that the company he works for is selling all of their stores to franchise owners, which means that the General Managers (such as my husband) will be let go once their store is bought. He only has a job for one to two more months. I am praising God that we found this out, and we aren't just having them tell him one day out of the blue that he no longer has a job. Which is their plan for every other manager that works for them. My husband wasn't suppose to find out, and he isn't suppose to tell anyone.

This news was at first very upsetting to me, but then a friend shared Isaiah 43:18-19 with me. I hadn't yet told her about our news, but the verse just spoke volumes to our situation. Instead of stressing about the former job, we need to focus on where God is taking us from here. Only He knows what the future holds for us, and He will be there with us to carry us through whatever lies ahead.

There is surely a future hope for you, and your hope will not be cut off. ~ Proverbs 23:28

To read more Word-filled Wednesday posts, please visit the Internet Cafe:

Update

I thought I would do a random list of updates...

*My migraines have returned. It started last Wednesday and is actually getting worse. It makes it really, really hard to concentrate, and homeschooling is difficult. We don't know what made my neck stiffen back up, but it did. My chiropractor was amazed at how much it had tensed up in such a short amount of time.

*The boys cooked breakfast this morning. The kids had pancakes.

*Even though I cut back on the number of blogs I'm following, this morning when I logged on there were so many that I struggled to read through them all. I did however, I just didn't leave very many comments... (sorry)

*My house is messy. I don't clean much when my head hurts, which makes me cranky because the messiness stresses me out, which probably makes my headaches even worse...

*Mr. Amazing is still amazing :)

*I'm eating my pancakes with a baby fork, because the dishes are all dirty and I haven't washed them yet... I will probably have the boys do it later. I don't like asking them to do things just because my head hurts, but they wash the dishes once a week even when I feel good, so maybe today will be that day? Maybe...

*I should probably shut my computer down and do something productive, but my head hurts and I don't wanna.

*I hope you are all having a great non-head-achy day :)

Mr. Monday

It's Mr. Monday and I can't tell you how thankful I am for Mr. Amazing! He is... well, Amazing! The girls haven't been sleeping though the night for a while now. They have been trying to climb in bed with us, or wanting to get up at 3am and watch movies. We have been sleep deprived for several months (or years... basically since they were born, but it's been worse lately). So this weekend he decided it needed to end. He camped out on their bedroom floor to keep them in bed. It worked. I wasn't woken up by them at all (the dog on the other hand, is a completely different story...). Mr. Amazing is rather tired though.


Friday after Mr. Amazing got home from work, little Miss Ella requested that Daddy read her her favorite book. So he did. He read it over, and over, and over. Did I mention that it is her favorite? Eventually, all the kids came over to listen to Daddy read. It was adorable! He is an amazing husband and father, I am very blessed that God brought him into my life!

Cutting back

I have been really overwhelmed lately by my lack of time to do the things that I wanted to do. One of the things I have been bothered by is my lack of time to read the blogs that I wanted to read. :( I haven't been to visit several of my favorite blogs lately! I decided that I was following too many blogs (over 60...) so I cut back! My problem is that I accidentally deleted a few that I really liked :( So if I deleted your blog from my list, it was possibly an accident. Or I might just visit you frequently through other means and will still be by without having you on my list. I cut my list by over half (granted I would like to find the ones that were deleted by accident and add them back on...). I really wanted to cut back to 20-25, but it's just so hard to give up on the blogs that I love! We will see if I have time to start reading and following the ones on my list, otherwise, I will have to cut back again :(

I'm not just cutting back on blogs, I also cut back the number of online communities that I was part of, and I am probably (hopefully) going to go through my e-mail and unsubscribe to several lists. Then I'm thinking about going through my facebook friends list? I know others who do it once a year, and I have never really gone through mine to see who all was on it... Just a thought there though. I don't like de-friending people...

But for now, I thought that I would share some of the lovely buttons for the blogs that I am following. They don't all have buttons, but here are some of the ones that do:

Church memories

This morning we were preparing to go to church when the cold symptoms surfaced. Both Alexa and I have runny noses and sneezes. :( Since Mr. Amazing is working this morning there is no going and leaving part of the family at home. So I decided to worship with my old church family online! Osceola Assembly of God is the church where I came to know and love my Savior. This is the church where I was baptized. I was raised in church, but I never really got it until I started attending their church. They were there to support me through the birth of both of my boys, my divorce, and my youngest son's battle with cancer. I am ever so thankful for them, and they hold a very special place in my heart.

They were my church family until I moved from Iowa to Colorado over 5 years ago. I have been back to visit a few times, but the last visit was over a year and a half ago. Since then they have done some changing! They changed their website and their name! Their new name is Life Point Assembly of God (you can check out their new website at Lifepointministries.net). It's still all the same wonderful people though. Back in the day, I was a youth sponsor with their youth group, Front Line Youth (F.L.Y. as it was called back then... now it's FocalPoint), I have so many great memories from my time with them. Pastor Chuck is the pastor there, and he and his family are such a wonderful blessing to everyone they come in contact with.

The list of things that I miss about Iowa is short: My family, Fire Fly's, and Osceola Assembly of God (now LifePoint). I don't think about my church back in Iowa often, but I most certainly miss them. I hope you all have a blessed Sunday and enjoy your time with the Lord today.

Sinfully proud?

At our Women Discipling Women meeting the other night, we watched a video of a sermon by Martha Peace. The topic was 'Hurt Feelings'. It was a really great sermon for oh so many reasons. It helped show us how thinking about our feelings isn't the biblical response. She had a chart that showed what we think vs the biblical response. I didn't write any of her examples down but it was something along the lines of (going to the extreme):

We think: They didn't take my advice, they must think I'm stupid.
Biblical response: They have the freedom to make their own choices. This is not a sin issue, I will pray that their choice works out well for them.

She had several examples (and I'm now wishing I had written them down) like this one. It was such an amazing eye opener. But she also said one thing that is really sticking with me. She said "Overly sensitive = sinfully proud". At first I disagreed with this. You see I am not a proud person. However, I am very shy and rather sensitive. But the more I think about it, the more I see her point. By being shy I am afraid of getting hurt, or putting myself out there. Being shy is all about me.The same thing applies to being sensitive. When I focus on myself and how I feel about the situation, it isn't glorifying God. By being shy and sensitive, I am being self absorbed. Wow! I totally didn't see that before!

So now, I have to step out of my self protective shell, and start living to please God, not myself. Part of declaring Him Lord of my life, is trusting Him. It doesn't matter what others think of me (so there is no reason to be shy), because I don't live to please men, for if I was striving to please men, I wouldn't be a slave of Christ. When I allow others to hurt my feelings it's usually because they are disappointed in me, or something else about me. And again, if I am living to please them, I can not be called a slave of Christ. Does this mean that I will never have my feelings hurt? No, of course not. But it does mean that I need to think biblically about each situation and determine why I am feeling the way I am. Then decide if I really should be hurt by what has happened.

Am I now trying to win the approval of human beings, or of God? Or am I trying to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a servant of Christ. ~ Galatians 1:10

She melted my heart

This week for MamaKat's writer's workshop I am responding to prompt #2: The last time my heart melted was because…

I was waiting for my husband to get home. He was at work, and I had a meeting to go to. Knowing he could be home any minute I put on my coat, gloves and scarf and went out into the cold to warm up the van. I no sooner open the van door than I hear the front door open, I look back towards the house to see my beautiful 3 year old daughter poke her head out and say "I wuv you, mommy." She thought I was leaving without saying good bye. My heart melted. I told her I loved her too, and she went back in the house and shut the door. After starting the van I was able to go back in and give her a great big hug! Having children might be stressful at times, but it is so rewarding!