Trust and a Court Date

In the movie, Adjustment Bureau from 2011, Matt Damon and Emily Blunt try to thwart "the Bureau", really the agents or angels of God who make adjustments to people's lives to help them to stay on the "the plan".  It turns out to be a thriller in which Damon and Blunt frantically try to take control of their plan despite the controlling efforts of God's agents.  How very different from the biblical picture of our loving Father.

Our foster son has a court date today.  It could be and probably is no big deal.  Most likely it will be just a review of his case that won't change much.  Although I cannot discuss the specifics of his case, I was hopeful the judge would decide to move in the direction of us adopting him.  I was looking forward to going to court with my husband and see how this process unfolds.  Our family has been praying for this day.  Last night, our oldest came down with a stomach bug. A really bad one.  It became clear that one of us was going to have to stay home.

Intellectually I know that my presence will not change the outcome, but I want to be there.  Even if it is nothing, I want to be there while strangers discuss our family's future.  We decided that Steve will represent our family while I struggle with being at home with a very sick kiddo.  I find myself with the same struggle that Matt Damon and Emily Blunt were battling in the movie...trying to control the outcome my life.

Puking was definitely not in the plan for today, God!  I had arranged all the childcare weeks ago (which is a miracle with four kids).  Besides Steve and I were going to experience this together and even get a lunch together.  I don't want to be home doing laundry and cleaning up messes!

Luke 12:22 Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom.
But He is a good Father.  It's His good pleasure to give me His kingdom.  It is when I make a plan in my own mind that I think is better than His that unfolds that I am forgetting who He is.  When I remember that He is a good Father and I am His daughter then the result in me is trust.  When I hold onto my plan and fight His the result is fear and then anger.  Because no matter how this court date ends up, I know that He is the one in control and his plan is ultimately so much better than mine.

Trusting is so much better.

All in

One of the questions I am asked as a foster mom is if I can hold part of my heart back with the reality that this little guy might be taken out of our home in the future.
NOPE.
I love with my whole heart, knowing that grief is a possibility.  Just like any foster child he is in our family.  He is loved.  He belongs.
I think he would eventually know the difference if I held back.  He has already had too much rejection in his little life.
How?  So many ask "How, can you do that?".  There is only one thing that would make it possible to love without reservation.  It is the One who does the same to me.  The One who adopted me into His family.
Ephesians 1:5-6:
...he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will,  to the praise of his glorious grace...

He is the one who gives this to me because He loved me first.

When Are We Really Ready?

Since Steve and I started dating, I have felt ready before him.  I was the one that professed my undying love for him first thus thrusting us into a relationship instead of just a friendship.  No wonder he got freaked out.  I was ready to talk about marriage long before him, and kept my nails nicely manicured... just in case.  When we were married, I quickly tried to overturn the "five year plan" baby plan and suddenly just wanted to be a mom.  After each baby, I remember feeling "ready" for the next one pretty much when I stopped nursing one.  So, when Steve was the one that led our family into foster care, I was happily surprised.  It was something I always wanted to do, but so was going to Africa and adopting babies from all over the world.  It was something that I had surrendered to God and trusted Him with.
 
When we said "Good-bye" to Little Man, I was exhausted and ready to wait.  Steve was even more so.  After two wonderful respite opportunities with a precious little guy, I am feeling a little more ready. Steve and I had a chance to talk about that a few days ago and he is not feeling ready. 
So, when are we really ready?
I am convinced that God will move through Steve for this.  I trust God with this.  I am not anxious or forcefully trying to push my desires.  I know that God will lead us together.  I trust Him.  He knows what we need and what is best for all of us. 
I may need to be reminded of this when we are offered a tiny baby and Steve says, "Not yet."

Respite

We agreed to take this little bean for the weekend, and he is an absolute joy.

Although we are not quite ready for a long term placement.  This respite weekend has been a lot of fun, and it reminds me that not all babies cry all day.  What a sweetie!

Pray

Little Man did not last long in the next foster home.  Please pray for a "Forever Family" for our Little Man.

This is the day we said, "Good-bye". 

Grace in Goodbye

So, Good byes are never fun.  Lifetime Goodbyes are the hardest.  Little Man joined another family several weeks ago. He has been missed, thought of, and prayed for since he left.  When the "Good-bye Day" came, we had all his toys and clothes packed up for him.  He had three big boxes full of stuff.  We wanted to send him off well.  He got kisses all morning by all the big kids.   We did our best to make the good bye as positive as possible for him. 
After he left came the tears from the kids.  Hannah especially had no words for how she felt only tears.  Grace explored the implications of him leaving verbally and thoroughly.  Jack wanted hugs and worked out things physically (ei....touching everybody).  After processing the initial "good-bye" together, I took the kids for doughnuts and then to school. Everyone in the family thought that Little Man going to a "forever family" was a good one, but we all miss him.
The time of rest and rejuvenation as a family has been worthwhile.  It is great to process this goodbye together, and I'm sure there are benefits that we still will discover from it.  We still love Little Man and will continue to pray for and love him even though he is not in our home.  And in that way, he is better off than before.

10 ways you can support Foster Families

There were baby dedications at church today.  It was touching to see dads reading scripture and declaring their hopes for their new babies.  It was a joy to watch families promise to lead their children in the way of God and train them in the way they should go.  It struck me that Little Man never had that.  He started his life drug affected, and will probably always struggle under the bad choices his parents made during the first several months of his life.  He didn't get a good start.

I believe his life can be redeemed.  That's why we're foster parents.  Sometimes people don't know how to support foster families. I know it can feel unnatural and temporary.  So here's a list of suggestions that  communicate support and love to foster families that are dealing with the fallout of some other parent's sin.

1.  Throw a baby shower or party for each foster child.  It's not about the presents, but rather celebrating the life of the child when they come to a new family.  If it's an older child, just a present can do the trick.  The stipend foster families receive is helpful, but it doesn't cover all the costs of a child.  Utilities, food, clothing, formula, diapers, wipes, and other staples are all expensive.  So, a shower is very nice.  Plus the new things will go with the foster child wherever they go. 
2.  Bring families meals when they get a new baby or child.  Adding a person to your family is always an adjustment, and it's hard to cook when you're adjusting.
3.  Bring a meal and pray for the family after they say good-bye to a foster child.  It's never easy.
4.  Offer to babysit so the parents can have a date and look each other in the face.  The emotions can take a toll on a marriage if the husband and wife don't keep their priorities straight.
5.  The most important thing you can do is pray for foster parents every day!  Some days are a battle. It's the work of the Holy Spirit in our hearts that produces every positive lasting change.
6.  Don't treat the foster child as a second class member of the family.  While they're in the home, they're just another child and should be regarded as that, temporary or not.
7.  Offer to take the bio kids during the foster child's visitations.  Visitations add another thing on on top of a busy schedule.  If there are bio kids, they would love to do something fun while mom is transporting for visits.
8.  Invite foster parents out to do fun things.  Even though their lives are more complicated and they might say "no", it's still really nice to be invited and pursued by friends.  It communicates that we're valued friends even though our family has changed.
9.  Offer to take pictures of the foster child to give to bio parents of their newly formed family.  I have a photographer friend who continually tries to capture moments of our foster kids for their bio parents.  It's nice to give the bio parents something and to document our ever changing family. Surprisingly, most bio parents really appreciate the gesture.
10. Celebrate with foster families!  Little milestones mean a lot because they may be all we get to share with that child.  So, if a child starts walking, really make a big deal of it. If you get to celebrate a holiday with a foster family, try to make it special - the child may not be there for the next one.

I hope this will encourage you and give you some ideas to support foster families.  It's hard work and can be draining to families, but having the support of good friends makes it easier. Even if you're not ready to become a foster parent, you can have a significant impact in foster kid's lives by supporting foster families.

What Does the Gospel Have to do with everyday struggles?

So, lately it has been a lot.  Little Man has been escalating with his anger responses and screaming most of the time at home.  I am depleted.  Most days I start with prayer and struggle through the day.  Why doesn't God just make it easier?  Does Little Man really have to poop and vomit on top of the screaming?  When I ask these questions and those like them, I am starting from the point that I do not deserve this.  That somehow my life should be better than this. 
It is not the point of the Gospel (good news) in the Bible.  I am a wretched sinner, an enemy of God (Rom. 5:10).  I think the minute I forget that is the minute I am in danger of thinking I deserve better.  I don't deserve better.  In fact I am that screaming hateful angry child to God, my Father, when He has only been loving and gracious to me. 
At Bible Study this week the ladies and I looked at Romans 5:1-5.  It talks about the peace offered to us through Jesus and the grace he offers to us.  So that we can rejoice in our suffering.  That suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope.  So there is purpose in this.  There are benefits to suffering.  If fact that is how we gain hope and that satisfaction, real satisfaction in Jesus that cannot be taken away through circumstance.  It is the daily often moment to moment reminding myself of who I am and what it cost Jesus to redeem me, then I can extend grace to this needy child who has been hurt in his short little life. 
2 Corinthians 8:1-2 talks about a church in a "severe test of affliction" their abundance of joy overflowed....  That is not how I feel.  So the Bible indicates that hard stuff will happen and that reliance on God's grace will enable us to overflow with joy.  How do I rely on His grace when it feels like a struggle to survive?  Ephesians 3:14-18 helps with accessing that grace in the midst of hardship:  "For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith- that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with the fullness of Christ."
I want that.  Why do I forget so easily that I have access to such a deep, deep well of grace and love.  I think it starts with remembering that I am a sinner, redeemed with Christ, and sustained by His grace which is more than enough to fill me when I am depleted.
On a funny note, I made up a "I am a sinner" song to help me remember the Gospel when the screaming is endless. 

Happy Screaming Christmas?

The kids awoke early on Christmas morning.  We enjoyed the delicious treat of Grandma's Recipe Cinnamon Rolls,and having been preparing all month with advent we talked about Jesus. Then the kids went for their stockings.  Little Man did not enjoy the cinnamon roll and was immediately upset that his normal routine was disrupted  by not getting to sleep in longer and not getting his normal breakfast.  He did not know what to think of his stocking but enjoyed pulling things out of it.  When we started opening the gifts he was curious and enjoyed a few minutes of it but then got overwhelmed and frustrated.  He began to cry and got angry and started hitting.  We dealt with that anger and got him calmed down.  I was grateful that we got to go and worship with our church family that morning because it broke it up for Little Man who was already having trouble.  Our family enjoyed the worship with Christmas Carols and seeing our church family and when we got home we ate our "snacky" lunch and then had naptime.  After naptime we all rejoined to open presents and Little Man tolerated is for a few minutes again and then had the same reaction of frustration and tears.  We let him open his presents one at a time when he felt ready.  The rest of the day we ate, played, and had fun together, but Little Man could not calm down.  He continued to be upset and scream.  I guess he couldn't handle the change in routine and the confusion of presents.  It made for an unusual day for our family.

Merry Christmas from the Fullers!

A Dr's Visit and Update on Little Man

I took Little Man to the Dr on Monday for a regular check up.  I expressed some concerns with his behavior.  I mentioned that he was drug exposed and the Dr's whole demeanor changed.  She asked me if people in our home had an anger problem, or if my husband and I fight in front of him.  When I shared that he knew some signs to help him communicate, she asked, "Who taught him those?" 
It didn't dawn on my until the next day that although we have been over his history previously, she probably forgot that he was a foster child and thought I had exposed him to drugs pre-natally. 
One of the things they talk about in foster parent training is that you need to be prepared for people to judge you for the biological parents' baggage. 

As far has how Little Man is doing...... it is day to day.  He screams and cries a lot still.  He has been sick a lot.  He is a pretty angry little guy.  He is tantruming and hitting frequently.  He qualified to receive some services in our home to help us respond to his anger in a way that will help him.  Somedays are exhausting.  What truly amazes me is my biological kids' response to him.  They continue to love him throughout.    They continue to pray that we adopt him.  When Steve and aren't sure about doing one more day with screaming they steadily and willingly love him.  It is God's Grace displayed in my kids.  It is amazing as a parent.  One of the things that Steve and I were concerned about with being a foster family was the effect it would have on our biological children.  So far the effect has been tremendous and overwhelmingly a benefit.  It has softened their hearts to orphans and to God.  It has taught them to love hard people.  It has taught them that being a family is people who are committed to love eachother even when it is not easy.  God's work and grace in their hearts is amazing to me.

A Girl's Day

Last Weekend my girls had birthday money burning a whole in their purses, so we took a Girls Day and went to the Spaghetti Factory for lunch (had a free meal coupon for Gracie's birthday) and then to the American Girl store in Seattle. 

Here she is getting sung to, and her American Girl Doll Molly is in the next seat (unpictured).  All the female servers asked her about Molly and shared int he excitement of going to the AG store.

 Here we are in front of the store about to go in with their dolls in hand.

 We felt a special closeness to Kanani after visiting Hawaii this past summer.

We spent two hours int he store during scavenger hunts and looking at all the expensive dolls and many many accessories.  Let's just say that the girls blew their wad of cash, but we had a great time doing it.  I was a little spent after two hours, but we made such a great memory.  I love these girls!  I do not remember ever having a "girl's day" with both my girls, but it won't be our last!

Visits

Visits are just plain hard for foster kids and families.  They are the last right that parents have and are not taken away until the parental rights are severed or relinquished.  It is weird to feel two opposite feelings at the same time.  I feel excitement for the child knowing that no matter what they will always love their bio parents.  I feel good for the parents to finally see their child that they have missed out on seeing.  I feel protective of the child's heart if the parents doesn't show and if they do for how they interact with them.  Sometimes it is disappointing when the visit does go well since that means that we might have to say "good-bye" soon. It can also make me happy for the parents but protective for the child.  It is a dualistic emotional roller-coaster sometimes.  I want the bio parents to succeed and be re-united with their child and I also want them to fail quickly if they are going to fail so that the least amount of pain would be inflicted on the child.  But nobody really know if a parent is going to get their act together.  We just have to wait and see and endure visits.

Fall

Sorry it's been so long.  Hannah had pneumonia, then I got it and then ANOTHER cold.  Our family has been surviving ever since.  "Let me essplain.  No!  There is too much.  Let me sum up...."  (name that movie)  So, here are some pictures of the things we did manage to get out and do.

Here are the kids enjoying the local Cider Mill.  The sun came out and so did we.

 We did get to a pumpkin patch and do a hay maze and climb on this tractor.

 This shot includes their our good friend as well.

 Gracie being brave with feeding the goat.

 Hannah feeding the baby goat. 

 Jack gettn' in there too!

 This is Gracie's Birthday Party.  She had an American Girl Party and she set up a tea especially for her guests.  (Please ignore the homeschool mess in the background) Gracie dressed up like Kirsten (the pioneer doll) and Hannah was felicity (colonial).  It was sweet fun!  They also decorated their own cupcakes and drank camomile tea.

 And their dolls.

 Then the girls had fun solving a Samantha Mystery.  After that they watched Samantha and had popcorn and went to bed.  Easiest party ever!  What a great bunch of girls!

 Here are the kids earning their keep.  Come fall all the Fuller kids have to rake up the leaves.  With two huge Maple tress in our yard, it's gotta be done.  Gracie is showing off her nails b/c I took her to get her first manicure/pedicure.  She loved it.

 Here she is soaking up the attention at Red Robin as the restaurant sings to her.  She voluntarily wore the hat the entire evening.

 We also celebrated our favorite adopted grandma, Dorothy.

 Here's the Halloween costumes! Little Man was Yoda and he actually kept the hat on all night.  What a trooper.  Although he didn't eat any candy, he enjoyed the people that talked to him.

 Here's the crew:  Hannah is peter pan, Jack is Bobafet, Little man is Yoda, and Gracie is Laura Ingalls.  (That is the WORST picture of me, but the best of my kids.  See how much I love them!)

Whew!  Now I can have a few normal posts.  Happy Fall (to my two readers).  :)

Safe and Loved

So, "Little Man" is quite attached to me.  He cries when I put him down, leave the room, or don't give him what he wants.  He cries a lot.  A mom commented to me yesterday that he loves me a lot.  It doesn't FEEL like love.  It feels more like he doesn't even like me because all I hear is crying.  He is able to play in situations when he knows I am no longer an option.  He plays with a sitter, in the nursery at church, or at the Y's childcare.  He will play with me as long as he's touching me.  I feel like his security blanket in human form.  Did you see how disgusting Linus' blanket is in Peanuts? 
In his one year old head, love equals security, I suppose.  I don't know what he's seen or what triggered this level of clingy-ness.  We bought special sized gates to fit in our larger hallways so that he won't get hurt under toe in the kitchen or swallow small toys or destroy homeschool books in that area.  He does not like our new boundaries.  He stands at his perceived jail bars and screams.  Although they keep him safe, he would rather have me.
I wish I could help him understand that he is safe and loved, minus the screaming.  I know it is a privilege to have a little person's love and to care for them, but it doesn't FEEL that way right now.

Here he is eating cake from his birthday party we had for him not too long ago.  We were the only family that celebrated his life this year with him.  That was an honor.  Even though the crying is hard, I hope it will decrease as he realizes that he is safe and loved.

The Cost of Foster Care

Just as when you are preparing to grow your family through biological ways, parents prepare for the costs that they know of.  They know that they will need all the baby gear and diapers.  They also know that it will cost them sleep and maybe some other inconveniences.  Once the baby is born the new parents soon discover that there are so many other costs to parenthood that they never considered;  their job, body, car, beauty of their house, or whatever other thing they treasured before their baby came.
Foster Care is similar.  Foster Parents prepare with home visits and paperwork in addition to the gear needed for children.  They have the other costs as well.  The parental inconveniences that are good at refining parents of their own selfishness are there too.  But there are other costs as well.  Like other parents, you don't know what child you will welcome into your home.  You can't control the future and do not know how long the child will be in your home.  The difference is that awareness of the reality of those circumstances.  A foster parents welcomes a child that could have biological and emotional problems that come from their previous home. The only difference between that and a biological family that has a child with special needs is the choice.  Foster Parents choose to do this whereas parents with children with special needs do not choose. The Foster Parent also acknowledges that they have no foreknowledge of how long the child will be in their home. This is also the case with biological parents.  Ask a parent who had to bury a child.  The difference is the admittance of a lack of control, and acceptance that grief is a part of that.
Those two differences are huge in people's eyes and prevents people from becoming foster parents.
Choosing to love an unknown child that could have needs beyond what you know is a cost.  Admitting that you do not know and have no control over how long a child will be in your family is a cost.  Loving always has a cost.  They only reason both kinds of parents embrace the cost is the benefits.  Is it worth it?  So many times the cost isn't even considered because the benefits far outweigh the costs.
Are there any benefits to foster care?  There are spiritual benefits.  My adoption in becoming God's child cost my Father in heaven his Son.  Romans 8:14-16  Although Foster Families may not be permanent families it is the same action that God took with welcoming me into His family.  So Steve and I choose to mirror or reflect God's action of welcoming us by choosing to welcome the child that He brings to our family.   In that choice grow closer to Him.  Secondly there is the reality that the foster child will probably move on to another family. I have to completely acknowledge and trust God's sovereignty.  We get to experience and see Him move in very big movements in our family and know that His grace will hold  and sustain us.
  It also changes us.  Just like biological parenting, the inconveniences are ways that we are changed.  We become more patient, loving, giving not because these things are just automatically beamed into us, but because we are grown in painful and annoying ways.  Babying crying is one the ways the God is giving us more patience at the moment.  Sometimes the daily cost seems too much and the benefits sometimes do not seem worth it.  I think I needed to remind myself of the benefits today because I forgot with all this crying and poop.....I mean the tools in which God is changing my heart.

A Few Days Reprieve

 

Little Man is doing a little better.  He still follows me around the house and cries when he wants me to pick him up, but he's overall in a better mood.  A few days without screaming all day is such a relief.  Whatever is triggering this anxiety is getting better.  We are actually able to play and he is such a funny little man!  He loves recyclables, Tupperware, and messing up my laundry.  It has been fun to see this Little Man reemerge. 

Sept. 11, 2001. The Day my world changed

I can't believe its been ten years.  Like most people it seems like it just happened.  For me it was a day of joy amid a world of sorrow.  A week earlier my doctor sat me down and told me how toxic my body was ( I was pre-eclampsic) and the ultrasound showed that our unborn daughter was going to be over ten pounds. Her consideration of those two things was to do a planned C-section.  After recovering from the shock of not having a natural birth, I asked how soon I could get this kid out of my body.  She said Sept. 11, 2001.  It seemed like a good date then.
  My daughter Hannah Rose, was born that day.  I remember before going to the hospital my dad called  (who was on his way to San Luis Obispo, were we lived to enjoy his new granddaughter).  He said, "Turn on the TV, I think something has happened".  I had to be at the hospital at 9am and I think it was around 6am at the time and the scene unraveled before my eyes.  I have never been to NY, and I didn't really know what the twin towers were.  We arrived at the hospital and before getting wheeled into surgery we prayed for those people affected.  Soon my daughter was born.  I remember going in and out of consciousness with the juxtaposition of the horror of the TV and the joy of meeting my daughter for the first time. It was surreal.
Our lives changed that day because we became parents.  These two young people were now in charge of molding a new life.  That is not the only thing that changed that day.  American woke up.  The veil of security and comfort was lifted and the fragility of our lives was realized.  The illusion of control has vanished and now a new found fear and national pride was prevalent.  I still think it was so fitting that she was named Hannah which means "Grace" or blessed by God.  How can God bless on such a day of sadness.  He does.  Really our lives are fragile and God is in control.

"Jesus alone has died and returned from death. Jesus alone knows what awaits us on the other side of death. Jesus alone has defeated death, and declared so saying, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die” (John 11:25-26).
The central event of the Bible and human history is the death of Jesus on the cross for the sins of the world and his resurrection in victory over death. It is through sin that death entered the world. And it is through Jesus’ death that sin and death are defeated, those who are far from God are brought near to God, and those facing death can do so knowing that Jesus tells the truth, that he meets us on the other side of death and that he raises the dead." 
You can find this quote and more on the subject from my pastor:  http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/on-faith/post/the-horror-of-death-and-the-hope-of-resurrection/2011/09/08/gIQAGxIECK_blog.html

Now whenever people ask Hannah he birthday her answer is met with shock because unlike other tragedies in history this one is remembered by the date because of the multiple locations of the attack.  I pray that as she grows physically and in understanding of God's Grace that she can point to the hope of a new life without sin, sorrow, or death.   

Nancy Drew Mystery

The Sock Monkey Disappearance. 

 We wrote a whole story of Mr Fred Meyer and his first sock monkey, "Stitches" that was his first of the sock monkey empire.  the girls followed the case to our neighbors house and looked for clues and found secret letters  from an old friend of the late Mr Meyer in which he demanded his share in the fortune.  The girls figured out that the gardener was his grandson and was responsible for kidnapping "Stitches".  He caught the girls and they escaped from him and found the monkey in his hiding place.  Nancy Drew (Hannah) was given Stitches as a reward for her efforts.

Each girl had a detective kit with a pocket knife, flashlight, pad of paper, pen, and magnifying glass.  They used every item in their kit to solve the case!  Way to go Sleuths!

Happy Birthday Jack!

 Jack had a Sports Party and these are the cupcakes.

 He invited a few friends to enjoy sports, burritos, cupcakes and just plain fun.

 I do not know why Jack loves the idea of having his shirt off. 

A few of the dads that helped as "coaches".  

Here are some of the things that Jack has taught me through these six years:

1.  Boys are different that girls.

2.  Learning can be done while moving.  If fact some learn better that way.

3.  It's okay to pray for your mom to have glow -in -the -dark PJs like you.

4.  A person can have a lot of energy and also love to snuggle.

5.  Kissing on the cheek is not good enough for family members.

6.  Warriors are born that way, and if they have to fight dragons they will need REAL weapons!

7.  Volume Control has to be learned.

8.  Some boys like pretty girls and want to give them things.

9. Tigger can be embodied with all the bouncy joy one body can handle.

10.  Two warnings at school can be a good report.

11.  Close your eyes when your son is climbing.

12.  Running laps is fun and helps some boys concentrate better.  So does bouncing on a big ball.

13.  Little boys punching each other can be okay.

14.  Sometimes your hips just gotta move to music.

15. The stomach can be directly attached to the heart(he still loves Grandma's mashed potatoes).  

16.  Calvin's (from "Calvin and Hobbes" perspective lives on.

17.  A "Jack lock"  was necessary.

18.  Nerf gun wars can be fun!

19.  Talk about bodily functions is hard to keep in the bathroom.

20.  A mother and son have a special bond and I love having Jack as a son!