Tomatoes, Bugs and Wearing Dresses Only

I stepped outside to gather what is left of our garden's tomatoes. Oh how we appreciated and enjoyed them this summer. I am so sorry to see them go. One of the favorite types of tomatoes were the "Yellow Pear" heirloom tomatoes from Bonnie Plants. Oh, were they wonderful! These were small tear shaped tomatoes that were almost irresistible! They didn't last long on our dinner table but thankfully we had a lot of them and there were newly ripened ones every day.
I have a small bowlful for our salad tonight and there MIGHT be a few more coming on yet.

I walked to another plant and discovered that one big pretty tomato had been chewed in half by something! The day before yesterday I had discovered one just like it! I couldn't figure out what it was...it was too high up to have been a rabbit or squirrel. I thought possibly it could have been a deer? I have seen deer in the surrounding area but never in our neighborhood. THEN, I thought, "What a beautiful leaf that is on my tomato plant!" and reached to touch it! EWWWWWWWWW!!!!!! It was NOT a leaf but a big caterpillar! (It was still kind of pretty, but I preferred it to be a beautiful leaf! ) The mystery is solved. I can't believe how much a critter like that can EAT! Yuck.

My dear Blog friend "Persuaded" talked today about a huge spider in her house. For some reason it reminded me of a time that my good friend Vicki and I had a garage sale. She had already gone home to get her kids after school and I said I would load up what was left of hers into her cardboard boxes and take them to her in a few days. So, that's what I did...then I loaded them in my little Escort station wagon. I was really worn out so I decided that I would just deal with getting them to her in a day or so.
The next day, I went out to my car and to my horror, THERE WERE HUNDREDS OF BABY PRAYING MANTIS HATCHED IN MY CAR!!!! It's kind of funny now, years later, but it was really pretty yucky at the time! I certainly didn't go anywhere in my car for a while!
I rolled down the windows and opened the back hatch to let the little critters go!

Someone told me once that bugs can get into your house by way of cardboard boxes and even paper grocery bags! YUCK!!!!!!

I've been struggling for some time now about my clothing. I am not sure about wearing pants. I don't feel like any other lady is wrong to wear pants...my daughters do...and I do sometimes.
It's a real struggle for me, though, to know what is the right thing to do and wear. I really feel torn sometimes. There are so many things in my life that I do wrong that makes me feel that if I can do something that God wants me to do, I feel like I should. I just don't know.
I do know that when I wear dresses or skirts I feel much more like my husband's WIFE. I feel more submissive to him and feel sweeter. Does that make sense?
At one point in my life, I went to a church whose minister asked the ladies to wear dresses only. I tried to but I didn't believe in it. Now, years later, I feel led to make that change. I don't want to be a "Holier than Thou" person...or one who is trying to "earn salvation" but I honestly am trying to find out what God wants for my life.
It's really hard for me. I have been wearing skirts and dresses (mostly) for about eighteen months or so but upon occaision I wear pants. I have one pair of jeans that are about to fall apart. I don't know if I will buy any more of them.
I have been wearing some capris this summer...which I feel is distinctly feminine...but I much prefer my split skirts to them. I'd gladly give them up if I had more split skirts. I have a pattern now and I made my daughter some for church camp so I know that I can do it!
I think that I have a problem with this because no one else that I am close to wears only skirts. I feel like I am the only one out there...although I know I am not. I do prefer wearing skirts! But I think if I were skinnier, I'd enjoy it more. I do hate to look frumpy and chubby. I want my husband to think I look nice.
(My going on a diet is a good thing! I've lost about 11 or 12 pounds! WooHoo!)
I'd love to hear from anyone who has some suggestions...or some answers for me!
Thanks! Blessings to you all!
Beth

God and Our New Toys

I was driving down a beautiful tree lined road yesterday listening to our local Christian radio station. I don't really remember exactly what the preacher was saying but what he said lead me to another thought that had nothing to do with his teachings. (Maybe that's why I can't remember what it was he was speaking about...I just went off on my own little bunny trail by myself. I have been known to do that...a lot!)
So, this thought of mine was this: Sometimes God withholds GOOD things from us, his immature children, because He knows we can't handle them.
Sounds strange, doesn't it, to think that we couldn't handle the good things God could give us.
I have said before that I am much closer to God in times of need...when I FEEL as if I need to trust in Him to provide our daily needs, food, home, vehicle, etc.
Of course, the reality is, even in times of plenty, I STILL need to trust in Him for those things.

I have always been amazed when I read about the Israelites and their kings, when God blessed them and gave them power and wealth, THAT was when they felt as if they didn't need God quite as much. They started turning away from God, trusting in themselves - in their own abilities. I always think, when reading about them, "Don't you remember when God did ...this or that? Remember when He killed your enemies? Remember when He provided manna AFTER taking you out of Egypt? Remember,.....(Hey, BETH, REMEMBER?)"
Remember when He made your sick little ones well again? Remember when He provided the needed money for your house at the last minute? Remember protecting you when you were in an accident? Remember....all those times you DON'T remember?
Maybe God withholds some good things we pray for because He doesn't want us to forget. Maybe...or certainly...He knows our weakness and our tendency to think we don't need Him quite as much as we did...He IS, after all, a jealous God.
Maybe if He gave us the good things we want, the better paying job, the car that doesn't break down, a HOUSEPAYMENT THAT IS MANAGEABLE, we will forget that it was GOD that gave them to us...out of love...to His children that will forget.
He, our heavenly Father, wants to hold us close, loving and protecting us. We are like my precious little granddaughter. I just want to hold her and squeeze her and love on her. She just wiggles away and wants to get down and play with the new toy on the floor.
Maybe we ARE like her. Maybe God knows that we won't want to stay as close if he gives us that new toy we are asking for. Maybe that "new toy" is simply to have an easier time with finances or maybe it is health. Whatever it is, He doesn't want it to rob Himself OR US of the relationship we have with Him when we are trusting in Him for our every need.
I speak out of personal experience. Sometimes I think about how close and dear my relationship with my Savior was at one time. When did that change? I know that He didn't' move away from me.
Sometimes...and this is such a scary thought...I think I would have been better off without that new "toy" that God provided for me...perhaps if things were a little more difficult than they are now...as they were then, I would more often realize my need for Him.
Forgive me Lord for my "spoiled brat" behavior. Thank you for your provision in the past and your continued provision now. Please help me to have a more tender, grateful heart.

Sick Trinket Kitty, Gardening, and CLEANING!!

Poor little Trinket Kitty is under the weather. We think she may have a urinary tract infection. She keeps trying to go potty and when she does, it's not much. Yeah, I know, TMI...

So anyway, I took her to the vet's today. I have been putting off going to the Dr. myself because, well, I hate it, and secondly, the cost! But Trinket, on the other hand, went to her Dr.!

I can't believe how much it can cost to have her go to the vet's! It was just over $140!!!

Hopefully, the vet can determine if that is what is going on and she can feel better soon!

Yesterday I gathered the remainder of our green beans and pulled up the plants...readying our little beds for spring planting. I shelled out the older beans...some that the bugs had gotten to very badly...and removed the seeds to dry and plant for next year.
Rebecca is doing a science project for her homeschool science class and she has decided to do a compost. The rest of the bean plants will go in that compost so maybe I will feel that none of the money I spent trying to grow green beans will really have been wasted!

I have begun a monumental task of trying to clear out and clean up our master bedroom. I honestly think that should be a place of "refuge"...not a place of "refuse"...as it seems to be right now! I'm cleaning out one of the closets currently. That is usually our "gift" closet...where we store all our gift wrap, ribbons, boxes AND presents! I have been able to get a fair amount of Christmas shopping done already and I am trying to sort them, put them in plastic grocery bags, and label them for whatever child they should go to. When y0u have eight children and three children-in-laws as well as grandchildren, it takes up some space! I have a few large Rubbermaid storage containers that they are going into and must, out of necessity, be stacked in a corner in our room. At least it's going to be organized which is better than what it has been!

So, off I go, to the "war zone" which is what our bedroom looks like right now! Last night, I had so many things stacked around our room and my husband kept asking me what he could do to help. ( I think he wanted to go to bed...) I kept telling him "Don't touch anything! They're in stacks!! HEY...... YOU'RE TOUCHING SOMETHING!!!!!" So, finally I finished up putting the stacks in the right places and most are in containers. The rest of the mess may go to the Goodwill store!! Oh, goodness....I HOPE I DON'T BUY THEM BACK.....................

I'm a Hoarder

Yep, I admit it. I'm a hoarder. Has anyone ever seen the show on tv called "Hoarders?" (or something like that...) When I am at work on the weekends, the tv in the living room in the home of the disabled adults is on 24/7. I'm not really sure why. The one guy who is usually IN the living room is deaf and is considered to have profound mental retardation. He's a dear little man and I am loving finding ways for him to communicate with me! I want to take him home with me sometimes! (That was all free...has nothing to do with my topic...) But he doesn't watch tv. But it is ON all the time. So I, who usually has an aversion to tv watching...have begun to watch some tv.
I found the show called Hoarders. It's pretty gross. These people are incredible. They hoard EVERYTHING, trash, rotted food, ANIMALS...
I am not that bad.
However, yesterday I did some shopping in Kohls Department store. Today, I shopped in our closet.
We have three closets in our bedroom. Most of them were completely full when my sweet hubby and I married 2 1/2 years ago. I am NOT the only hoarder in this house.
This afternoon I was searching for a white shirt for my youngest daughter to wear to a costume birthday party on Saturday. Roger said she could wear one of his. So I looked behind the door and LOW AND BEHOLD, there were my missing clothes! My clothes are supposed to be on one side of the closet and my husband is supposed to have the end and the other side of the closet. Evidently, at some point, I have taken over part of his side and didn't remember it. I have been looking for one gray "split skirt" all summer long!
I gasped with excitement when I found the clothes that I have been looking for!
Now that's just awful.
It's pretty bad that I couldn't find the missing clothes because....well, I had HUNG THEM UP!
Don't get me wrong, the rest of the house is NOT that bad! I did put a picture of my favorite room of our house on my blog...it usually looks pretty much like that most of the time..our bathrooms are reasonably clean...our kitchen is almost always clean...but our bedroom is just overly crowded and a mess.
It's not "dirty" (at least I don't think it is...) it's just messy.
I'm gonna have to do something about it. I just don't quite know where to start.
Maybe with an "earth mover"...or at least a big snow shovel.

I'm going to be "single" for most of the weekend since my husband has gone on a men's retreat with our church. I'm so glad for him...although I will miss him greatly...he needs to bond with some guys from our church.
I was thinking about what I could do that would be fun and refreshing for ME this weekend but I have to work long 12 hour days at my part time job on Friday and Saturday. Today is the only day that I have "off" and I decided to take a nap. My husband worked yesterday from 8a.m. til close to 12:30 this morning and I couldn't possibly sleep until he got home. He crawled into bed at around 2:30 and then the alarm went off at 5a.m. Yawn....I was really sleepy.
I got my step son off to school and got my girls up for homeschooling and then I took a nap!!! I wish I had that time back but I will be so tired tomorrow and Saturday if I don't sleep a little today.
By the way, in case anyone wonders, I don't homeschool my step son. It was my intention to do so but often he doesn't cooperate with me about those kinds of things so my husband decided that it would be too difficult on everyone else to do that. (even though I feel guilty about it...)Right now he needs me to be a nice "step mom" if possible, and not a demanding teacher...
Perhaps that is something that we can do in the future. Maybe some maturity will help him. The doctor does have him on some medication that is supposed to help....
Anyway, so the girls are busy with their schoolwork and we are planning to go to trumpet lessons, the fabric store and then a girls' night out to eat! (if we can think of somewhere cheap that we can still stay on our diets!! I've lost 10 pounds!!!!) Then the girls will go to their dad's for the weekend. So it will just be me and the dog and cats. My oldest daughter will be home as well but since she is in college and also works, she is in and out. Since I work crazy hours on Friday and Saturday, Gideon will be spending the time with his married sister, her husband and their beautiful little baby girl!
I'm going to spend Friday night with "Monk". I watch VERY little tv but I do love that show.
I think I'm going to treat myself to takeout Friday night and then curl up on the couch with Monk....oh...I guess I mean I'm going to curl up and WATCH "Monk"...I'm going to curl up WITH Trinket kitty.....no one else........until my hubby gets home!!

I'm getting pretty excited about our newest addition to our family...a baby boy that is due to be born to my older son and his pretty wife in January. They're thinking about names. I've been buying some things at Goodwill and the Salvation Army and washing them for him.

I did some Christmas and Birthday shopping yesterday. Christmas IS just around the corner, you know! (99 days, I think????)

Well, Jennie needs the computer back to get her schooling done and I need a yogurt. (and a dingdong, but I'm going to pass on the dingdong, I guess....)
Have a blessed day!

Diet Diet Diet

My dear husband went to the doctor the other day because he just wasn't feeling his best. He knew he had high triglycerides but had no idea that they were that high. Well, now the whole family is on a diet. We could all stand to slim down and now we (well, Roger and I) are motivated.
We kind of got a head start two weeks ago or so and started eating smaller portions. Then we went on our little vacation and ate basically only what I brought to cook. (except for one meal)
I am so happy to say that Roger has already lost 9 pounds and I have lost 8 or 9! WooHoo!!

I know that we will feel much better as we lose weight. We both feel pretty sluggish usually so I am sure that after losing 50 or 60 pounds we will feel much better!

We're trying to cut back on breads (OH I LOVE MY HOMEMADE BREAD!!) and carbs. Good grief, I live on carbs...maybe that's why I'm chubby??? I also love to bake for our family but I am realizing that I am hurting them (and myself) when I'm trying to show them love that way. I need to cut back quite a bit.

We're eating lots more veggies and my hubby is eating more lean meat...I'm not a real fan of meat...

He's having a hard time letting go of his chocolate, though. So am I...and I know where the DingDongs are hidden...I haven't had one yet!! Yesterday it was a real temptation and today as well but I'm so excited about this weight loss that I feel encouraged!

I also want to be super supportive of my husband. It took so many years for me to find him...or I should say, for the Lord to give him to me...I want him to be healthy and not lose him to a heart attack or stroke.

I am confident that I will emotionally feel better as well as I lose weight. I have a very hard time believing that I'm "good enough" for my husband to love me as he tells me over and over that he does. I know that much of that stems from my being chubby...goodness, I'm not just chubby, I'm overweight!

So if anyone has any good recipes to tell me or has any yummy veggies that you know about that are unique, please let me know!
I'll try to keep an update on our weight loss!
Have a blessed day!

National Lampoon's Family Vacation...Beth and Roger Style!!

Well, we got back late late Tuesday night from our mini vacation to beautiful southern Indiana and Holiday World. (Holiday World is a wonderful amusement park in Santa Claus, Indiana.)

We decided to camp so that we could take our new (to us) little camper along with us. We have been assured over and over again that "camping is the most inexpensive way to take a vacation." Hmmm....

We could have flown to Europe.

First, we purchased our camper...
Next, we "fixed up" my old van...a 1997 Ford Econoline Van that hadn't been driven in a year. It wouldn't start and had 4 flat tires.

We had to purchase and have a hitch put on the trailer plus other things that I don't understand how they work exactly. I just know that they were expensive and it took multiple trips to get them done.

Next, we had to license and insure the trailer...and the van since it has been sitting in our driveway for the past year.

We also had to pay sales tax on the trailer. YIKES!!

Then there was all the "incidentals" that you have to purchase when you have a mini home away from home...chemicals for the tanks, special toilet paper, electrical cords, water hoses, etc......

So, our plan was to leave fairly early on Sunday morning. We really hated to miss church and tried to figure a way around that but couldn't come up with a plan. (Saturday was spent by me working 12 hours away from home and Roger trying to get us ready as well as helping his daughter and son in law move...) We intended to leave at 10 a.m. to drive to our camp site. At 12:30, we pulled out with our old van and our camper attached. We got no more than 15 feet when we heard a terrible noise coming from the trailer.

We (and when I say we, I suppose I should say "I"...) forgot to push the steps of the trailer back up under the trailer. The steps caught on the tire of the car in the driveway and ripped the steps halfway off...

Roger wasn't happy.

He was a very good sport, however, and didn't even blame me. I thought all along that it was his fault but then I realized that I was the one who needed back into the trailer just moments before we took off and I asked for him to pull the steps down for me. I didn't remember...or even think to push them back into place!!
He simply took the steps all the way off the trailer and got a little step ladder to use on our trip.

Once again, we were on our way....and by then, it was raining....

We had to stop at Walmart, of course...and then to the trailer supply store to return something and hours after we had planned to leave, we were once again, on our way.

We got to southern Indiana fairly late. By that time, the rain had stopped and we were thinking it would be a nice night after all. We were thinking about hot dogs cooked over the fire and S'mores for desserts! Just as we found the park, it started drizzling. By the time we were backing into our site, it was officially raining,...again.

We microwaved our hot dogs and played boggle and some kind of card game the kids came up with. Keep in mind that our trailer is a very small thing...one double bed and a bench that folds down to make another bed. The kids decided to sleep in the van since the back of it also folds down to make a bed. We made it an early night.

Sometime in the middle of the night, a terrible storm came through. We were quite comfortable in the trailer but we were so worried about our kids in the van. We knew that they were as safe as we were...and that was kind of questionable...but we were worried about them being afraid. As soon as the storm eased up, Roger went out to check on them. Rebecca was sleeping through it and Gideon was doing ok!
Around dawn, another storm went through, this one just as bad if not worse than the first one!
Roger rolled over, laughed a little and said, "Do you want to go to the amusement park today?"

I laughed.
Finally, we were able to get some sleep and around 10 a.m., we woke to fairly sunny skies and we hurried and had pancakes for breakfast and DID actually go to the amusement park.

We had to move our camper first to another campground closer to the park since we couldn't get both nights at the same place...they were booked up due to the holiday weekend. I must say that my dear hubby did an awesome job manuevering our camper in and out of the sites. I am impressed! He has never done that before and I am proud of him!

Finally, we went to the park and I was talked into riding rides. My intention was just to get into an inner tube and float down the "lazy river", which is my kind of excitement! I was talked into going on the Liberty Launch...which is this crazy thing that takes you way up in the air and then drops you down a million miles an hour...or close to it.
I bowed out of the roller coasters and so did Rebecca. We rode the Turkey Whirl (also known by us as the Turky Hurl....yuck!) a few times and the guys did the roller coasters. We had lunch in the "Thanksgiving" area of Holiday World and in the interest of saving money, each had the children's plate! (It was HUGE! We had chicken and dumplings and all the fixings! Roger had turkey, I think....)
Finally, we went to the water part of the amusement park and rode the huge water slides. I was terrified, having ridden them before and hated every minute of it! However, Roger and I were on the tube together and just hearing him yell and shout was worth having to go on the ride. It was hysterical! He ended up having to ride the side backwards like I did the first time and I thoroughly enjoyed teasing him about it afterwards!(I kept telling him he screamed like a girl...which wasn't exactly true...he just screamed like a regular man....!!!!)
We went to the "wave" pool which makes you feel like you are in the surf. It was getting kind of cold and Roger started not feeling very well. We left after the kids spent quite a bit of time in it.
The "Lazy River" was next and we floated down it twice.
Finally, we sat down for a while and the kids went on another ride close by. I got my poor sick hubby a drink and pretty soon, we both got to experience his lunch all over again. This time it wasn't quite as appetizing as it was when he first had it.
I felt so sorry for him but in the same time, it was kind of funny. He was teasing me most of the time about making me ride the scary rides and there he was, sick as a dog!
He soon felt better and we shopped a little bit and got some things for each of our sets of kids to take home to them.
We had a wonderful little cookout back at the campsite and even got to ride our bikes a little bit until Rebecca's bike broke. I gave her mine and walked hers back to the camper.
We sat around and sang songs, talked and Roger told us the story of Esther in the Bible. I gave a kind of devotion about football!! Believe it or not!! Evidently, there is a rule about "not piling on" when someone has been tackled. I used that as an example for the kids. When someone is having a difficult day or is in trouble with a parent, no one else is allowed to "pile on" him or her. I'd been waiting to talk to them about it after hearing it on our Christian radio station.

The next day, we left to go home a little after noon. We went to the boyhood home of Abe Lincoln and saw where his cabin once stood. They built a replica of it nearby and we enjoyed that greatly.
We drove and drove and went to a monastary and to a Christian store.
We ate our food that I had prepared at the picnic table there. It was yummy!
Finally it was time to head the many hours home. Roger decided we needed gas in our big gas guzzler. As we got off the interstate, there was a road that went to the left and to the right. To the right, it had a sign that said gas so we turned that way. Finally, we came upon this little....well....shack of a gas station. Roger manuvered the van and got out to get the gas. The pump wouldn't work! He went to the little store which had a big "OPEN" sign flashing in the window.
He came back...it had closed 30 minutes ago.
Across the street there was an even worse looking gas station. After much work, he was able to angle the van and trailer in front of the first pump. It didn't have a hose...
At the second pump there was a huge barrel with tomatoes growing in them. On the door of the gas station there was a sign that indicated that there was an out house out back...
An old man came over and told Roger that there was another gas station down the road with better prices so, believe it or not, after all that work and manuvering, Roger decided that he would go to the next town! (11 miles away.........)
Well, we DID make it to the next town...up and down all those big hills of Southern Indiana, my poor old van's engine whining and complaining all the way. Sometimes we weren't sure if we were going to make it but we DID!
We actually had a great time. Roger pointed out the factory where White Castles are made and of course, I had to take a picture!
We finally go home late Tuesday night and as we were rearranging the cars (six of them) in our driveway and onto the street to back the camper into the drive, a policeman pulled up! We thought maybe we were making too much noise! However, he was just trying to catch some guy who is known to speed up and down our street at that time of the night! Whew!!

We're planning one or two more camping trips this fall. I am not sure why.....

Adoption, Step families and the flu!

I've been battling the flu lately. I am feeling better but I am just soooo very very tired! I had planned to get so much done this week and all I really accomplished was really scrubbing the floors in the kitchen, entry and hallway and cleaning up one bathroom. I did get to babysit my son's little boy, Dylan,5 years old, and later, my hubby's granddaughter, Seraphina, 9 months, who is in every way MY grandbaby as well, yesterday! I took Dylan to the park and he met a little boy about his age. They played and played and played! The park was just packed with mommies and their little ones. There was about 5 or 6 beautiful Asian children there with Caucasian mommies. I boldly...or not so boldly...asked one of the mommies it if was an adoption support group. She said, "Yes, it is!" I told her I thought it was a beautiful thing and we talked for a while. (She thought Dylan was mine and was shocked when I told her I was the GRANDMA! Kind of a nice ego boost for this chubby Grammy!!)
Adoption has been on my heart and mind for so many years, since I was a little girl. I keep praying about it. I wish God would just take away the desire if it isn't something He has for us to do. I just can't imagine anything better that I could do with the rest of my life than to give love to a couple of children who otherwise wouldn't have a family of their own.
I started out last year...or maybe it was two years ago...reading about orphans in Africa, especially Ethiopia. My heart would just break for them and I would cry and cry. My husband finally asked me to please stop going to those websites. I tried to obey him but every once in a while, I still read about them.
Then I started thinking about orphans in THIS country as well. Little children who may never hear about the love of God. Precious little ones that don't have someone to tuck them in at night and a place to feel safe, secured and deeply deeply loved.
I don't care what color or race of a child I might get. I realize that there are cultural differences and we would have to try soooo hard to include those things in their lives and to ask for help from other people.
The other day, I was working with an African American lady and I mentioned "John Denver". She just gave me a blank stare. She had no idea who he was! Then I realized how much of her culture that I don't know. Would it be fair to the child to raise him or her in a culture different than his or hers? Then I realized that just as there are differences in our white culture, lower class, upper class, the huge middle class, there is the same thing in African American or Hispanic cultures! You can't be everything to everybody...we would just have to try our very very best and expose the children to as much of their ethnic group as possible. I am friends with African Americans and they are so VERY similar to the way we live. When I am with them, I don't think about them being different than us. We are just friends and we have the same VALUES! I think that's what we get hung up on. People are people. There are different kinds of people with different kinds of values...I did not say that there are different races with different values. Not at all! People are people and people have different values. There are white people with values so different than mine that I want to say, "WHO ARE YOU AND WHERE DID YOU COME FROM?"
I understand the argument that people say that people should raise children of their own race. I'm just not saying that I agree with it. There are so many children in this world...in this country...that need homes-Christian homes that will nurture and love them. All children deserve to be loved. I can't imagine growing up without the secure knowledge that my parents loved me and that I was safe.
That's what I want to do. I want to change a child's life forever by giving him or her all the love that he or she could handle. I want to change MY life forever.
This is something we're praying about...and waiting for. We already have had a huge task of trying to combine this family. Sometimes I think we are expecting perfection. It is nearly impossible to expect a group of older kids who weren't raised together to suddenly feel like everyone is one big family. I think maybe what we do have is pretty good. I honestly think it is unreasonable to expect them to immediately think of each other as brother and sisters instead of step-brothers and step-sisters. I think everyone is trying to include each other but they still had the majority if not ALL of their growing up years with their own core families. Sometimes I just think we expect too much.
Wow...well, there you go. I honestly don't know what made me write all that today. It's just been on my heart and I thought I'd share it. If you think about it, keep us in your prayers.
Have a lovely day!