One of those days ...

Yesterday was one of those days when I am so thankful for God's continual grace, mercy and strength upon me ... for I know that left to myself I would quickly fall into despair and hopelessness!

I was richly encouraged by Spurgeon ...
Then don't you have cause to say, "I love the Lord, because He has heard the voice of my supplication"? For as your prayers have been many, so also have been God's answers to them. He has heard you in the day of trouble, has strengthened you, and helped you, even when you dishonored Him by trembling and doubting at the mercy seat. Remember this, and let it fill your heart with gratitude to God, who has thus graciously heard your poor weak prayers. "Praise the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits."
CHS Morning & Evening 2/6 a.m.

I am convinced that God gave me the children he did to daily sanctify me. Especially my little boy! For any of you who may find some humor in his mischief (myself included now that it's another day!) here are a couple of the more exciting recaps from my day yesterday...

The Best ...
While Justin was supposed to be taking a nap, he got out of bed numerous times which I addressed ... eventually all was quiet that I could tell so I assumed he had finally fallen asleep. So I got busy baking some things for CG snack and cleaning up the basement to get it ready. Fast forward about an hour or so ... I heard him laughing ... now knowing Justin I knew right away that he had not actually fallen asleep because when he does fall asleep he sleeps for a couple of hours and waks up groggy and cranky, not laughing. So I tried to prepare myself for the normal mess of toys ... but boy did I get a nice surprise when I walked in! There was my little boy, sitting on the dresser (with drawers completely emptied of clothes which were scattered all over his room along with every diaper and wipe in his top drawer and of course his books and toys like normal) completely naked ... well all but his socks. He was sitting on his dresser with his legs dangling over the edge having the time of his life. I pretty much took one look at him (in return I got a nice big Justin smile), shut the door and walked out. I needed a couple minutes to collect myself (I didn't know whether to laugh or cry).

Second best ...
Fast forward another hour or so .... I was in the kitchen preparing dinner while the kiddos were in the living room watching Clifford. Or so I thought. Hailey enjoys Clifford (as well as some other shows) ... Justin on the other hand can hardly sit for 5 straight minutes of any show! So anyway, it was a little too quiet in the living room (which usually means Justin is doing something he shouldn't be doing) ... so I called out to Hailey "what is Justin doing?" She responded with "he and Sydney are not out here." So I called back the hallway ... "Justin and Sydney, what are you doing?" When I didn't get a response I figured they ... or HE ... was up to no good. And right I was ... Justin had managed to cover Sydney's hair, hands and face ... parts of the crib and changing table ... and his shirt, face and hands with diaper rash ointment. Based on a previous experience (when Justin was about 18 mos. he covered his toys, clothes, walls, dresser, etc. with a tube of Desitin that he managed to find and open during room time) I knew that getting this stuff off is no easy task ... it's greasy as can be. Needless to say, I was not overjoyed at the prospect of having to clean up the mess.

So there you have it ... two more stories that make it into the Justin Journal. I think I'm going to need a much bigger journal for him than my other children!

I do see much growth in our little guy and for that I am continually thankful ... those kinds of days are much less than they once used to be! And he has gotten much better at actually helping to clean up his room messes! And in the meantime, I'm thankful that God is using him to sanctify me and make me more like Him.

And in case anyone is wondering ... I didn't take any pictures this time ... it was one of those days where I just wasn't seeing the humor at the time! That and there were more important things to tend to like my naked boy and 2 kiddos covered in diaper rash ointment!