Sometimes I think that we get it all backwards as wives.  We think that if our husband isn’t taking us out on regular ‘date nights’, buying us flowers, jewelry, etc. etc. etc. that maybe he just doesn’t care about us as much as that ‘other husband who’s married to so-and-so’ loves his wife.

Ahem.  We’ve all had these thoughts right?

But I think we’ve got it all wrong.  Really, any guy with a few bucks in his pocket can pull off gifts and dates, but where love and character really come shining through is during the nitty-gritty of daily life.

Is he willing to get up in the night and help you clean up the sicky mess one of your children just made all over herself and the bed?  Is he willing to crouch by the tub beside you and fish out your many, many tubs of wet legos that you’ve just washed for the first time in…several years?  Is he willing to rub your back for hours and hours on end while you go through back labor (ouch!)

If he is, then trust me, sister – he loves you with the sort of love that counts.  I’ll take help with the legos any day.

(Larry – I love you!)

Yes indeed, we’ve been potty training here in the Bogart home.  Basically, that looks like our youngest running around without any clothes on (or very few) for several weeks while she figures out her urges, learns that peeing on the floor is an uh-oh, and pees on the floor – a lot.

After a few days of wiping the floor down I was ready to give up.  ”She’s just not developmentally ready!” I claimed one night in exasperation.  Our 20 month old wasn’t showing any recognition of her bodily functions, would sit on the potty, run off and pee two-minutes later.

Of course, two days later she’d gone on the potty six times, leading me to conclude that potty training is like labor.  Just when you’re ready to give up something happens.

Of course, we still have lots of pee on the floor.  I think we’re catching around 50% though, so I’m clinging to hope.  Now that we’ve gone this far there’s no turning back!

The weather here has been completely lovely these past few days! Water is flowing, roofs are dripping, and my children have been carousing in the great out-of-doors with rubber boots on! The sun is slowly returning to these northern climes (thank you Jesus!), and we’re looking forward to many warm days to come!

Is it Spring where you live yet? We still have a lot of snow, but it’s finally melting!

Today really seems to be a counting our blessings day here on the blog .  Some of you know that we’ve moved away from our farm for a year or two to work here at Larry’s parents farm.  Some of our animals are still back at the farm, but on Larry’s last back trip home he brought our lovey cat Oscar down with him.

Oscar is such a gift from God!  He is the best cat ever – he’s incredibly gentle and patient with our children (my baby can sit on him and he doesn’t complain is one example amongst many.)  As a result, he’s the only of our five cats that has the status of token house cat.  Finding a cat who retaliates so very, very rarely despite rough handling is just incredible.  I’m afraid I can’t recommend a breed to you to find such a cat though, he’s just your regular run-of-the-mill farm cat!  And we love him.

Everything is running more slowly here than usual.  After emerging from 1.5 weeks of terrible teething times, all five of us have become ill.  Thankfully the worst is all over, but the house is – hmm, let’s just say it’s not at its best at the moment.  Ahem.  Two weeks of consecutive illness and high demands on Mom will do that to a place!  I’m still running at around 50% efficiency, but my energy levels are starting to pick up again.  I see a major family house-cleaning tackle coming up in the near future!

Regarding my previous post – our satellite internet is going to be super-easy to move!  I called them up and no worries – they even cover the first $250 of moving our installation once a year (if needed for a move).  Sweet.  Hopefully our high speed should be back up within a couple of weeks, whoowhoo!  I know that I certainly have a bit of catching up to do!

I’m  about to do some calling around to see if I can get our satellite internet relocated to our new temporary home for the next year or two.  We use Xplornet (generally called HughesNet in the US).  I need to see if I can get our equipment reinstalled so we can get some HIGH SPEED there (only dial-up right now!) Has anyone ever done this?  Did it work out well for you/cost etc.?

Wow, it has been a truly amazing month!  I’ve seen God working in ways I never expected Him to, building change into our lives in ways long-desired that I felt would never come.  Lord, forgive me my unbelief!

Our family is in the midst of some uncertain times, so uncertain changes, and we’re not entirely sure where God is leading us.  I do know one thing though, that He is busy remolding mindsets, hearts and beliefs in order to better position us for His work and purposes.

Very exciting!  Will you pray with us that His will be done in the areas of our livelihood and finances?  We’re not sure where He’s taking us, but we’re glad to be along for the ride!

For those of you who know us in real life and may be wondering where we’ve disappeared to, never fear, we’ve been at Larry’s parents farm doing a bunch of work here.  It actually appears that we may be here for a year or more before heading back to our homestead (I’m hoping we can get regular internet sorted out, I’m on dial-up right now because I picked up our adapter at home yesterday).  We’ll be back at the ranch every two weeks or so to feed the critters and may bring them out here for the summer and next winter.  We’re still sorting it all out.

The girls are excited to have running water , and I love the dishwasher and laundry machines – very exotic for us!  We’re all recovering from our colds (I didn’t get one thanks to 16-20 g of Vitamin C daily!), thanks for your prayers!  Our homeschooling is going well, and I haven’t been so productive in a long time!  Thanks for sticking with us during the awkward transition of spotty internet access .

Well, our family has taken a detour this week! We planned to come pick up the snowblower from Larry’s parents and then leave, but we’ve been recruited to help out here!  There were a few scary days with no internet access – but I’m now hooked up to Larry’s sister’s wireless router – it reaches over here – yay!  God bless her for sharing her connection with me!

I have been doing a lot of playing with the children and reading, working on some copywork books etc.  Now I have a bit of blogging to catch up on!