Oh the things we can do....

I've decided that with mobility comes the inevitable proclivity towards repetition and destruction (and repetitive destruction).  How have I come to this conclusion you ask?  Let's recap the past 24 hours......


Yesterday was a laundry day, not much unlike any other. Eliaya and Simba like to lay on the clothes while I fold them so the three of us were having just a grand old time. Here's E trying on her clean hat:

While putting clothes away, E scampered into the bathroom and started playing with her bath toys. All good. Then came the silence.... the kind that settles in the pit of your stomach as you just know something outside the realm of expected in happening. Walking into the bathroom, and Eliaya is still playing with her duck.... in the toilet. Blech! I promise, the lid was closed. It's always closed. How this kid managed to hoist it up.... not sure. But the skills of this almost 10 month old are far from limited to such trickery as lid-opening.......

So we cleaned that up, and while I was putting clothes away in the closet, she was playing on the floor a mere 6 feet away. Seems safe, right? Not only did duckie go for a swim.... but E decided it would also be good for him to take a cave tour through our VCR (yes.... we still have, and use, a VCR. Finish laughing..... okay, now to continue). So I excavated the rubber duck, then picked up E and we put clothes away together.....

Fast forward to dinner time.... We've picked up the toy minefield so daddy could walk through, and are in the kitchen cooking. Eliaya chases after Simba back towards the living room. I call her saying "it's time to eat"... and there's nothing... the eery silence again. Mind you, this child normally breaks land-speed records to get to food. I mean, she REALLY loves to eat. So this silence was all the more concerning.

In a matter of seconds, the minefield had been entirely recreated. This kid's really got some skill. We played for a while, the went back to dinner. Oh well if the biscuits were a little on the done side.... we had fun :)

taking our very important call

The last houdini adventure, that I know of.... was this morning. Not wanting E to go to kindergarten still being swaddled to sleep, we've been working on going to sleep (and more importantly staying so) without it. Last night was the best sleep she, and therefore I, have had in a long time. I go in at 7 to get her, she's all smiles standing in her crib waiting to be picked up. Just like normal, we head to the dresser to get changed and dressed for the day. Upon opening her sleep sack, I find a naked baby! Her diaper was crumpled up in the bottom corner and she just giggled and clapped. How she managed this one? Still have no idea..... Anyway, she went straight into the tub for an emergency bath (no diaper meaning a rather messy child) and so another day began.

I say all this in jest, and mostly out of admiration for the amazing, talented (houdini skills are hard to come by you know) and fun baby. I cannot imagine a better blessing. I am so thankful. Yesterday was an awful anniversary in this country, 40 years since abortion was legalized. Becoming a mother has made this atrocity hit so much closer to home. I think about the children, who will fight for them? For their rights? I think about the women and the aftermath they must face as consequence for this choice. I read a very convicting article, here's a snipit: "The ending of abortion cannot be separated from the raising up of an adoption movement. Both concern wanting and loving children, born and unborn—and loving them enough to make them our own sons and daughters if they are left fatherless. In the Father’s house, there are no unwanted children."

I am so thankful to our church in Louisville for the passion for defending the fatherless they showed me. So thankful for a husband who faithfully fathers our daughter. So thankful to be adopted by my Father. So thankful for Christians around the world who are leading the way in living out "pro-life". So thankful for friends who believe children are a blessing, even on Mondays. 

I pray this would stir your heart too. Stir your heart to hug the children in your life, to verbally encourage other parents when they're tempted to see the hardship and not the gift of children, to serve in the church nursery, to really pray about adoption. I will be right there with you.

-the Reeds

ps: growling means happiness.... right?