Sooooo, my girls still wear diapers to bed.

We have been offering incentives {Halloween candy} if the girls {5 & 3.5} keep their diaper dry all night and if they do this 3 nights in a row, we'll let them Try wearing panties to bed. I mean really, in a life with lots of littles, some "milestones" like a mamma/daddy changing everyone's sheets in the middle of the night just aren't worth it. It'll come.

The incentives have been working!!!! 😀 Both girls have kept them dry and receiving candy in the morning {Before Breakfast- insert shock and awe or discussed with my parenting}. Neither have made it 3 nights in a Row yet but are doing great.

Tonight, Mags let us in on how they've accomplished this:

• After we tuck them in to bed {diapered}, they get up and get new diapers out of the drawer.
• They then make these new diapers into "pull-ups" {forming them & attaching the tabs}.
• Then putting them on over the ones we already put on them.
• In the mornings, they throw away the wet ones and bring the dry ones in exchange for Candy.

GENIUS!!!!

I'm pretty sure they helped even their little brother {2.5} hose us one morning. So thoughtful, they knew he desperately wanted chocolate as well.

#parentingfail #outsmarted #raisinghonestkids

The outcome?

1. No one got beat because they told the truth.
2. In an attempt to buy less diapers, we've now been using double the diapers for nearly a week now.
3. We have no candy for trick-or-treaters {not all the fault of the lil geniuses}

In pregnancy, no one talks about the ugly stuff. Well...except for Jenny McCarthy.

You know, the stuff that makes you feel like you are the only "glowing pregnant" women out there who feels nasty & think something is wrong with how you're doing it?

• Oily skin.
• Swollen feet.
• Extra mucus in y9our face.
• The need for your husbands anti-monkey butt powder
• Hemorrhoids that make you dance in your seat like a toddler during an extra long sermon
• Hair. Not just the extra locks on your head that many have been dreaming of but Hair...everywhere
• The belly button that needs a band-aid to hide its new unattractive outty status but some days that doesn't even help
• Insentient sweat. Man sweat. Soak your shirt not just under the arms but under the boobs, on the back and oh, your pants- crotch
• "Discharge" Wait, I thought this glorious time of pregnancy was free of the evil "period". Maybe...but there's other stuff that apparently lives in there
• Gas. Yeah, tooting in your sleep. Crop dusting the stranger in Wal-Mart who just told you how adorably pregnant you are. Clearing out a gas station with the stench from...
• Constipation. Then there's the other end of that...upset tummy" because you dared to attempt the Mexican food
• Stretching. Not just the marks to come but the constant feeling of being a balloon a small child is trying to overfill with air just to hear it pop.
• Panting like an oversize smoker who needs an inhaler all because you walked to the kitchen for water {lets be honest- Dr Pepper}
• Pimples. Not just on your face. Maybe they should just be called growths...Itchy arm pits.
• Mood swings that are so bizarre to the naked eye but for real to you who are living it
• Terrible circulation
• Dried-out skin

Now that maybe you feel more "normal" about your less-than-glamorous process of growing a human, I'm sure some of you sweethearts are in complete shock that I typed out those truths. Well, somebody needs to say it. As long as we sit around thinking we're the only pregnant person out there dealing with the less-than-desirable aspects the longer we hide, suffer, and feel ashamed.

Here's the kicker. These nasty pregnancy symptoms? They're exactly like SIN. That adorable perfect Christian mom you are always admiring? She deals with her own symptoms such as "discharge", hair, and gas that are her secret sins. Maybe that seemingly perfect role model is the face you're attempting to preserve. As long as you're not confessing the "less than ideal" in your life, the longer you are living with that hidden fear and shame.

That's exactly where satan wants us. In the dark. Living with a secret we think will end us. In that place, we can't be healed if possible. We can't be comforted. We can't be released from or feelings of inadequacy, failure, and basic disgusting feeling.

There is freedom in confession.

What secret symptoms are you hiding that need to be voiced? What is satan holding over your head keeping you in bondage? What fear are you holding on to worrying about the results of...telling someone?

Confess your sin to one another. {James 5:16} Shout your faults from the roof tops. God will be glorified all the more. 2 Corinthians 12:9

A friend once, in the middle of a conversation told me she felt like she was loosing her grip. She felt as though she couldn't hold on much longer and she was gonna lose control.

Now, in this particular conversation, she that leadership should be picking up the slack she felt she was holding alone. But a profound fear came to the surface that most of us deal with at some time: the thought that a single person's grip was significant enough to determine the outcome of something.

She needed control. She feared what it would look like to lose grip and fall. She didn't feel falling was an option.

I'm here to say, some times, choosing to let go and fall is the Only option. The best option. And really, not an option at all.

You Can't Do It. You can't hold your world together. You weren't made to hold your world together. You were made as a tool. One of many tools to be used for the glory of God. You weren't made to hold anything together but to be a simple part of a bigger plan.

Choosing to let go is a brave chose. It's not giving up. It's not quitting. It's not a cop-out. Choosing to let go is choosing to FALL. If you choose to let go, do you know where you're falling? It should be the wisest decision you could ever make; if you trust what you're falling into.

If your trust is in the saving power of Christ then you are falling straight into his arms. He is faithful and just to catch you. I'm not saying you won't hit a few things on the way down depending on the path you chose but each of those bumps and bruises you endure will all be used because you chose to fall out of faith that Christ will catch you. He will be glorified in the fall.

Do you need to Let Go today?

Giving Christ your hopes of an ideal life is trusting His character. Trusting that He will catch you and then guide in the BEST life possible even if it doesn't look like the "American Dream".

Where are you falling if you "lose grip" or CHOOSE to fall today?

Why does God want us to be like "little children"?

When my littles were infants, it was almost fun to try and learn them. Which cry meant what. Learning their cues before the crying began. Learning their routine. Learning likes and dislikes. I was their mamma. It was up to me to learn them so I could best take care of them.

On days that were frustrating and I wasn't on my toes, the incessant crying just made me with they could talk. Wish they could tell me what they needed or wanted. Then they started talking.

I ooded and awed over their silly noises and failed attempts at big words. It was adorable and they began learning words that would help them better communicate to me what they needed. Then the questions started.

You know...the ones that don't really {seemingly} matter. "Why?" about everything! Questioning any sort of authority I had going. Making me question every decision I made. "Why do I need to wear clothes? Why am I asking you not to jump off tables? Why? Why? WHY?" Some times its good to set back and ask yourself why; to make sure there's actually purpose in the norm. Double check you've not just fallen into a tradition of doing things without having a reason. Being about to communicate these things in a way a child can understand it makes you have to really know WHY you're doing what you're doing.

I was unsure I wanted my kids talking any more. I didn't like the feeling of insecurity and my brain was so tired of analyzing every move I made. Then came the harder questions. "Why did Mr Incredible lie to his wife about having a job?" "Where is ____ mommy & daddy?" "Why don't we sacrifice goats anymore?" "If _____ is a bad chose then why does _____ do it?"

In my mind, I'm going, "WHY does God want us to be like children?" Lets be honest, they're annoying some times. Constantly questioning those smarter than them. Never trusting a simple command.  Always wanting to "learn for themselves". God must be so annoyed by us.

Then I remember, God is the perfect father. Forming my view of God based on my failed parenting is way off kilter. He wants to begin our relationship the same as every family does, infancy. He knows us inside and out better than anyone because He made us. Its almost like He enjoys watching US learn ourselves. God wants us to be able to humble ourselves as little children.

The other cool thing about God is that although He wants to begin our relationship in infancy, He doesn't desire us to stay there.

God is not intimidated by our questioning of his authority. He doesn't shy away from the tough questions. He knows everything and the perfect way of explaining things, if we'll listen.

God is ready to parent us through the awkward elementary ages up into strong willed teenagers, forming us to be more and more like Him. He's not a creepy parent who is attempting to create a "mini me" to secure dreams they missed. God is perfect and what parent wouldn't shoot for perfect in their child's life?

We see maturity begin to form in our children when the tough questions come. They're secured us as an authority of sorts in their life. They trust we have answers, even if they're delayed or imperfect. The questioning changes from a snarky "Why?" into a genuine "I really wanna know why you believe this is the best chose for my life so that I may too understand and live in that."

Maturity. That's what God wants. He doesn't want someone who views themselves as mature and therefore needing no guidance and wisdom. God wants us to be needy to begin with. He wants us to lean on Him. God wants us to ask Why. He wants to be the compass of your life, not our "mature knowledge" we think we have of Him.

Doing life together is the best way to train up our children. Talking at them is not how its supposed to work. God knows this and that's exactly how He created it to work. He knows if we are "doing life" with HIM then we won't just know what the text book says; we will See how He works, lives, moves, behaves, and all that comes with that. Growing up with God as our Father will lead to deeper maturity. Not that we will ever stand on our own but that we will know Him so well, that some days, we won't have to ask Why? We will know and we can walk in His ways confidently knowing His will and His pure heart behind why.