Clean bill of health!

I haven't said a lot about it, because it's a mostly a private matter. But Toddler Houdini had some health problems last year, and she had to go through more tests than you can imagine just so her doctors could figure out what was going on. It wasn't a fun time for any of us.

Well, the doctors didn't find any major problems with her, and her problems haven't returned for over a year. Today she had a follow-up appointment with one of the specialists she saw last year. This doctor decided that she was fine, and discharged her. TH doesn't have to go back!


One truth keeps showing up, going through our kids' adoptions, and with this health scare. The truth is: you only have a short time with the people you love. Don't waste it being angry and doing stupid things. I know I've thought a lot about how things could have turned out for her, and I don't want to waste a second of the time we have together.

Her mom and I are just happy and thankful that God has blessed all of us with good health for our precious little girl...

Toddler Houdini turns 3!!!

That's right, Toddler Houdini's 3rd birthday is today. (Yes, just a day after her sister!) We had planned a special birthday tea party for the girls today. But we decided to postpone that after the Mighty Mrs. J's mom died, and we just had birthday breakfast with the immediate family.

TH is up for any kind of social gathering. It's one of the great things about her, how she's outgoing and loves people.


This is from the night we brought TH home. She was so tiny! It's hard to imagine how we could love this little girl so much, when we didn't even know she existed until a couple of days before. But we knew she belonged in our family as soon as we got the phone call saying she had been born...









The best part of the birthday breakfast? J's dad made the pancakes...


















Of course the cake is pretty exciting too. (That's the Mighty Mrs. J's sister on the left.)















And, of course, the gifts. Will these markers end up being used on our walls? Probably...












And my note to TH: You were a surprise to our family. And what a great, wonderful surprise you are! Your fun, outgoing spirit brings joy to everyone around you. Your mommy and daddy are blessed every day by your sweet, gentle, charming ways. We love you!

DisneyGirl turns 5!!!

Today is a special day in the J house. It's DisneyGirl's 5th birthday! We're all exhausted from the mighty Mrs. J being gone a lot the last 2 weeks. (Her mom was in the hospital. She passed away yesterday. Pray for her and the family.) So we decided to just order pizza, and watch a movie together. (Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium, if you're wondering.) (Oh, and Pizza Hut.)


Here she is just before her second birthday, waving from a train in Colorado. (The train isn't moving. We won't let the kids ride on trains alone until they're 7.) She was so excited that day, running around the train museum. She is one kid who is always ready for adventure...








...and here she is tonight, as I brought out her birthday present. She is so much fun, and she is so thankful when she gets something.












Here she is with her present, a big pink scooter. Just like her brother (except that his is red). She drove it around the room for a few minutes until it fell and made a big dent in our floor. I think it's a toy for outside. I'm sure we'll be out riding first thing in the morning.













Here's a note to my sweet girl, who I'm sure will be reading this before too long: DisneyGirl, you are a special, precious gift to your mommy and daddy. Every day, we are thankful that God allows us to live with such a special girl. You have a heart filled with joy, wonder, and imagination, and you fill our days with fun and adventure. Remember: God loves you more than you'll ever know, and we are so happy and proud to have you as our daughter!

Adoption Anniversary Day!

Today is a special day at the J house. 2 years ago today, our little DisneyGirl's adoption became final!

This is her, in a pic from a few months before the special day. It's hard to believe how little she was then, and how much she's grown. In this picture her arms are stretched up so one of us can pick her up. Snuggling is always much more important than taking pictures...


Adoption days are kinda odd. They are such happy occasions, but they take place at the children's court building here in LA. That is one of the most depressing places I've ever been. The amount of human tragedy that goes on their every day is overwhelming. I'm not sure how the lawyers and judges that work there get through it.

Anyway, you have to get to court first thing in the morning, but you don't know when you will actually be called in to see the judge. (The court hearing is really just a formality. All the work that makes the adoption final is done beforehand.) When you're finally called in to the courtroom, the hearing is pretty quick. The judge looks over the paperwork, makes you affirm that you are willingly taking this child as your own family, and then it's over. It happens really quickly, then comes a round of pictures:

Here we are with a couple of family members who could get off work and join us. Also, there's the judge, holding DG, the world's greatest children's lawyer holding Little MacGyver, and our other lawyer, who's also terrific.









There's really only one place to go after you've adopted DisneyGirl. So we headed out to the Magic Kingdom to celebrate. DG got to meet some important people, er, dogs...















Then we had dinner with the princesses at one of the Disney restaurants. Since DG considers herself one of the princesses, she had a great time:




























And this is my wonderful girl, in a more recent picture. (She's graduating from preschool; Little MacGyver graduates from kindergarten.) She is a great blessing. She is so full of energy and life. She is passionate and fun. She's kind and she loves people (and animals). We are blessed to have her in our family...

I think this is what I look like to God...

I took these pics of Toddler Houdini. She's standing in front of the Grizzly River Run at Disney's California Adventure. There's a huge grizzly bear in front of the ride, probably 50 feet tall. TH is tiny, so the contrast between her and the bear is striking. (On her right is the bear's canoe paddle.)






As I looked at the pics last night, it struck me: this is what I look like when I'm mad at God, when I don't see the point of what He's doing. Maybe instead of complaining, I need to spend more time with God doing what TH is doing with the bear in the pic: look up and be amazed at how big He is...

Daddy/daughter day at Disneyland...

One of the reasons I've been scarce here at the Frontier the last couple of weeks is that we've been getting our house in shape. You see, we decided to renew our foster care license, just in case we we jump back into the adoption thing again. In order to have a foster care license, your house needs to be in pretty good shape, and certain safety requirements have to be met. So it took time to get that all together.

We had the licensing inspection yesterday, and we passed. The Mighty Mrs. J took the 2 oldest kids with her to work so they'd be out of the way during the inspection. After the inspector left, Toddler Houdini and I were all alone. So we hopped in the J-mobile, and went to Disneyland!

TH is a lot of fun on outings like this. She's very sociable, so she loves being around groups of people. We started out at California Adventure. She loves this ride where you spin around high in the air. She usually sits next to me, but she decided this time to sit across from me, by herself:

You can't see her hands in this pic because she got scared when the ride started. So I'm holding on to her hands to ease her fears.

She's actually too short to go on most of the rides. So we ended up just walking around DCA for a while.













She loves to pose for pictures, so here are a few. First is her in the doorway on the Main
street of DCA. Next, TH in front of an airplane.






























When DCA closed , we went over to the original Disneyland. We had to ride the carousel, because TH can't go there without seeing the horses.
































We also had to ride the train and go to the Tiki Room. She has such a great personality. Taking her places is a real pleasure (even if she is 2).

I'm at the end here, and there's no real point to this post. (Unlike most of my posts, which have a laser-like focus.) But 1 thing we can all agree on: she sure is cute!

One of the perks of daddyhood...

There are actually a lot of great things about being a dad. I forget most of them when my kids are being loud and annoying (you know, being kid-like). But one of the great things is how they express their love for me. Little MacGyver always tells me I'm the best dad he's ever had. (He's right, by the way.) DisneyGirl says she "really likes me."

And tonight, it was Toddler Houdini's turn. She couldn't find her blankie (her "blankley") at bedtime, so I went on a room-to-room search for it. When I found it, I took it back to her. She said, "Dad, you're the big, best dad!" And she cuddled up with her blankley.

I never get tired of hearing stuff like that...

Here she is, with her big, best dad, and her blankley:

Thoughts on the age of "Abba"

I was listening to this from Wayne Jacobsen last night after we got home from Disney frenzy day. One phrase he used really stuck with me. He talked about his granddaughter being the "age of Abba," about 18 months old. In other words she was at the age where children would use a word like Abba or Dada.

I started thinking about my own little one who's a little older than that, Toddler Houdini is almost 3. But the point is the same. I really love her. We have great times together. We talk, play, do all kinds of things. Every Saturday, while the other kids are at swim lessons, she and I have some alone time. It's one of my favorite times of the week.

She can't do anything for me. She can't give me advice. She can't drive me around. She can't clean the house. Yet she brings unbelievable amounts of joy to my life. Why? Because she is my girl. The joy I have in her isn't because of what she's able to do for me. My joy in her is because of our relationship.

Same thing is true of how I relate to God. Except I'm the child, and He's the loving dad. He gets great joy from me, even though I can't do anything for Him. I'm beginning to believe, I mean really believe) that His delight in me is EXACTLY the same as my delight in Toddler Houdini. Meaning this: He wants me to hang out with Him, play, talk, just enjoy life in His presence. And I know that when I do try to do something for Him, He's there with an armload of paper towels to clean up the mess.

I think I really like this age. I hope my girl keeps a little bit of it in her heart, even as she keeps growing into a beautiful little girl. And I hope that as I get older, I get less "grown-up" in my faith, and have more of that Abba spirit...

"For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption. And by him we cry, "Abba, Father." Romans 8:15

Toddler Houdini makes an appearance...

Well, since I've been posting adorable pics of my adorable kids the last couple of days, here's one more. Toddler Houdini is one terrific daughter. She's got a sweet, fun personality, and she oozes charm.

In fact she might be a bit too charming. Sometimes I think she gets away with stuff because of her cuteness.

Example: TH throws her napkin on the floor (Why? Because she's 2, that's why!) I say, "Pick it up, girl." Her reply? "No thanks!" Then she runs, giggling, out of the room. My first reaction? "Awwwww, how adorable!"

Then I realize: she is completely disobeying me! At that point, I apply a little gentle persuasion, and she does what she should. But I'm sure sometimes she gets away with stuff because I just see the cuteness, not the total disregard of my authority.

But I don't worry about it. Why? Because she's really cute, and cute goes a long way...

DisneyGirl needs to discover Chris Tomlin...

Yesterday, I mentioned that my boy has discovered my iPod. He belts out the Chris Tomlin in the YMCA locker room, and all the way on the drive home.

I'm a little more disturbed by what I heard from DisneyGirl, my oldest daughter, when I came home yesterday. She and the Mighty Mrs. J were dancing around, singing a great old hymn of the faith. You know the one:

Elvira
Elvira
My heart's on fire
For Elvira

As if that wasn't disturbing enough, I then hear DisneyGirl singing the heartfelt lyrics, "Giddy up, oompapa, mow mow." Although, when she sang it, it was more like, "Giddy up, chippy, chippy, waw waw."

I think we need to schedule an intervention for her...

Getting my theology from C.S. Lewis and John Lydon...

Toddler Houdini was a little sick today, so she and I stayed home while the Mighty Mrs. J took the other 2 kids to worship with our peeps. While they were gone TH and I lounged about, watching TV. We especially enjoyed the "History of Rock and Roll" episode on VH1 Classic. The episode we watched was about the punk era (mid-70's to early 80's). (Actually, she watched Little Bear in the living room, while I watched VH1 Classic in the bedroom.)

Mostly I just enjoyed the music and the stories. The part that got me thinking about spiritual things was a film clip that showed the very end of the last concert by John Lydon's group (I won't mention the name of the group, because it's not appropriate for a family blog. Google John Lydon if you don't know his stage name or his first group.)

After the end of their last song, Lydon yells to the crowd, "Ya ever feel like you've been cheated?" Most people thought he was saying that they had cheated the audience. But Lydon said that what he meant was that he and the group had been cheated; that they got into music expecting one thing, but found out the reality was very different, and disappointing. So disappointing they disbanded after being together only 3 years.

The spiritual application? I wonder how many of us are cheating ourselves out the blessings God wants for us. How many of us pursue things that aren't really important in an eternal sense? How many of us harbor doubts about God, thinking He's less great, less good, less loving than He actually is? How many of us see our faith as a duty to be performed, rather than a relationship to be cherished? How many of us build walls between us and other people, keeping them at a distance? All those things, and a hundred more, cheat us out of experiencing the life that God wants for us.

It reminds me of something said during a sermon entitled, "The Weight of Glory."

Indeed, if we consider the unblushing promises of reward and the staggering nature of the rewards promised in the Gospels, it would seem that Our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.

I hope none of us will look back at our lives to discover we were "half-hearted creatures."

A house divided...

Sure, to the outside world we look like a happy family. We love each other, encourage each other, have a great time together. Few people realize, however, that something very sinister threatens to tear this family apart. It seems that a horrible sickness controls 2 members of this once-happy family. The rest of us can only wonder what went so wrong.

This evil that infects 2 of us? I hate to admit this, but the Mighty Mrs. J and Disney Girl are...morning people! Yes, they are from that disgusting group that greet the sunrise with a smile and a song. They can hardly wait for morning to come. Meanwhile, the normal part of the family just hides their heads under their pillows, praying for the madness to end.

But they are kinda cute. Here they are earlier in the year, when we celebrated the finalization of Toddler Houdini's adoption:















It's a difficult path we walk. We appreciate your thoughts and prayers...

They're growing up way too fast...

This has been an exciting several days. My computer monitor died, so I commandeered the Mighty Mrs. J's monitor so I can get some work (and some blogging) done. The new monitor comes today, and it should solve all my problems. (I know some of you are thinking that a team of Harvard-trained psychologists couldn't solve all my problems, but in this case, I'm just talking about my computer.)

But the most exciting happening this week has been Potty Training Frenzy. DisneyGirl has really shown that she's ready to make the leap. We knew she would, when it was time. Well, it's time. That means lots of parades through the house, singing the old favorite, "DisneyGirl went pee-pee, pee-pee in the potty!" We sing and dance until one of us, usually me, passes out from exhaustion.

I think the best part, aside from not having to clean up dirty diapers, is seeing how happy and proud she is of herself. She sees herself as a real big girl. To me, of course, she's still the little 4 pound baby I could hold in the palm of my hand. So I feel happy and sad all at once. I want her to do all the normal , growing-up kinds of things. But I always want her to be my little girl.

I hope that in some way, she always will be...

World's Sweetest Toddler no longer...

I have always referred to my youngest daughter as the World's Sweetest Toddler. And she is. Even though she has her Terrible 2's moments, she is a charming, wonderful little girl. But she has developed a very disturbing habit.

To be blunt, my little darling is a nudist at heart. We can't keep clothes on her, especially at sleeptime. For several weeks now, the Mighty Mrs. J and I have experienced being surprised by our sweet angel wandering down the hallway. And she is naked. Completely naked. The problem is, she's not potty trained. You can imagine the trouble this can cause.

It's not like we haven't tried keep her clothed. We put layers of clothing over her diaper, hoping to discourage her. But she won't be denied her naked freedom. She strips after we put her to bed. Later in the night we find her, sleeping, in her birthday suit.

In light of these developments, I think it's time to change her nickname. For a girl who is this good at escaping the constraints of clothing, only one nickname will do. From now on, she's Toddler Houdini.

No father wants his daughter to be an exhibitionist. I mean, it's cute now. But if this is still going on when she's 17, there's going to be a problem...

p.s.--The pic with this post is a rare look at Toddler Houdini, fully clothed...

UPDATE--This post has gotten a couple of hits from some people with questionable motives. Specifically, it has shown up on searches where people were looking for things like "sweet family little nudists" and "little kids completely naked." I can't think of a legitimate reason to run these searches.

AND FOR WHOEVER IS LAUNCHING THESE SEARCHES:
If you got here because you were looking for naked kid pics on the internet, I can only say one thing--what you're doing is sick and wrong. You have to know that. You only have one hope--turn your life over to Jesus. He is the only one who can break this demonic hold on your life. He will forgive you for everything you've done wrong, give you new life, clear out all the garbage that currently fills your life. Also, get some help from a qualified counselor.

Don't continue down this road. It will only result in ruined lives...

Focus, people, FOCUS!

DisneyGirl is probably the most imaginative girl I know. She's constantly got scenes playing out in her head. Either she's in the dark woods, or in the ocean, or at Disneyland. And she's some character in the movie in her head. I'll call for her, and she'll say, "I'm not DisneyGirl. I'm Baby Deer, Spotted Deer." Or she's Little Doggy Puppy. It's hard to keep up with who she is at any given moment.

I love how creative and passionate she is about her pretend world. The only time it gets annoying is when the Mighty Mrs. J or I want her to do something. She is so far into her world that she never even hears us.

I have a real dilemma. She needs to listen when we call her. But I don't want to ruin her imaginative spirit. I also don't want her to grow up too fast.

I guess I really don't have much of a dilemma at all. She'll have decades to be an adult, and do adult things like come when she's called. She'll only be the world's cutest 4year-old for a short time. I hope that instead of being annoyed, I can just enjoy how inventive and imaginative she is. And I hope she never loses that part of her. Even when she's all growed up....

Froggy is WAY too permissive...

This is DisneyGirl. She is a great kid. She's funny, charming, smart, and imaginative. She also has a knack for finding a way to be completely charming and totally crazy-making at the very same time.

Yesterday, she came into my office during her nap time. She had a small plastic frog in one hand, and a handful of crackers in the other. The crackers were disintegrating in her hand, and she had a trail of crackers all through the house. I asked her why she had gotten up during her nap. Her reply? "Froggy said I could get crackers. He said it was OK." Well, who am I to argue with a 2" plastic frog? I did have to warn Froggy that next time, he needed to ask me before he let DisneyGirl get crackers during nap time.

DisneyGirl has a great imagination. It's one of the great things about her. I wonder how she'll put that to use as she grows up...

Here's another great DisneyGirl story, see the Mighty Mrs. J's blog: http://homeschoolreflections.blogspot.com/2007/02/wormie.html

Time passes quickly...

This is The World's Sweetest Toddler. A little fuzzy, you say? That's because she's always in motion. Honestly, the Mighty Mrs. J took a ton of pics of TWST to put on TWST's adoption notice. (Her adoption just became final 2 weeks ago.) All of them are blurry to some extent. She is constant movement.

It reminds me, though, of something that makes me a little sad. She's not just moving fast in this picture. She's really moving fast through life. When we brought her home, she was a tiny, helpless little bundle of drool and poop. Now, she's a full-blown toddler, rampaging through the house, terrorizing her brother and sister, constantly using her favorite word: "NO!"

Before long, it will be school, and outside interests, and being ashamed of her dorky parents. Then college and work. Then some dirty, filthy, slimy man will come to me and ask if he can marry my precious little girl.

The answer of course will be, "Get your hands off my little girl, scum-boy!" Followed by a warning shot just past his left ear.

Maybe I'm getting ahead of myself. But, time is passing a little too quickly for my comfort...