A funny conversation happened with Jenna yesterday as we drove down to my folks house. Since Jenna hadn't napped I explained to her that if she napped the whole drive down she wouldn't have to go to bed early. Five minutes into the drive...

Jenna: Mom, look I am sleeping!
Janell: Jenna, if you are talking to me then you are not sleeping.
Jenna: No, mom, look (points to face). See I am sleeping! (Please note that her eye were open in addition to her talking.)

Then Jenna spent the rest of the drive talking and singing. So much for a few minutes of peace. I have now added a new position to my resume. I am now in Management. I manage chaos everyday in the Cowley household.

So I've been thinking...

Now when I hear these words from Josh my heart usually skips a beat as I am sure those words are followed by his latest and greatest idea. For me it has been a time of reflecting. I have thought a lot lately about blessings and joys, things we should be grateful for but sometime overlook and the hidden blessings in things.

A lot of this has been sparked by a dear friend from college's life which is like a movie. My friend, her husband and their son decided to adopt a child. They accepted the path that was planned for their lives and opened their hearts and family to whichever baby was brought to them. They received a call that a birth mother wanted to meet them, were selected, spent a week loving a little baby girl, prepared for her arrival on Mon 11/2...only to learn the Friday before that the birth mother decided to parent. My heart ached for them. I had a hard time trying to understand the pain, yet realizing that there was a blessing that the birth mom had decided to parent her child. I thought a lot about how I would be feeling...how would I cope? I looked at my little girls and felt more blessed than I ever had before for having them. Then I was reminded about a greater truth...God works in mysterious ways and there is a plan for your life.
I learned that while my friend was grieving her loss over baby girl Emma, there was another baby girl out there waiting to meet her new mommy. My friend and her family were selected again, the birth mother's rights have expired, and they brought home their new baby girl Margaret Grace last Tuesday. What a blessing! For those who know me well and that I look for the silver lining in things, I realize that Baby Emma needed their love while her birth mommy needed time to discover that she did love her baby and needed to be her mom. They nested for a baby girl, so the nursery was ready for this new little baby girl Grace to come home with them. My heart is so happy at this news!


I have also been thinking a lot about family and life. Sometimes things get so hectic. Hectic to the point where we almost lose sight of what is really important. We get bogged down in petty, silly things that we don't see what we have right in front of us...all that we have to be grateful for. So I want to say how blessed I feel. I have a great husband. Neither of us are perfect or always say the right thing, but no matter what I know that I have a partner for life. I have someone who loves me truly and whom I love in return. We have 2 amazing kids. While they wear me out and are making me age at a rapid rate, they are one of the greatest gifts in my life. I have so much to be thankful for and I am. I truly, truly am blessed.

That Sam-I-Am...

I do not like green eggs and ham. Try them, try them and you may. Try them and you may I say!

This morning Jenna and I had green eggs and ham for breakfast to be silly. Josh couldn't get over the color appearance and wouldn't eat them, Peyton also tried her first strawberry mini bagel. Exciting times here at the Cowley house!

I think it is just AWESOME that my little girl is playing with her Barbie dolls and using the old Barbie Corvette I played with as a kid! Now I just need to clean up all of the other old Barbie things I still have and this little girl will be set!

(Sorry the pictures are a little grainy they were taken with my cellphone.)