Big news for a Big girl!

I'm sitting here with tears of joy in my eyes. I know this seems silly, but it's a great milestone for us. I just got off the phone with Mark's Mom. Hope went potty in the potty chair just now. YEAH HOPIE!!! What a big girl!! We've had the potty chair out (both at our house and at Mark's Mom and Dad's house) for months now, just to get her used to it. She loves sitting on it, but she won't use it for what it's supposed to be used for. Well, today she did. I can't believe I wasn't there for her first time on the potty. I'm feeling a little guilty about that. Now we'll see if we can continue with the potty training. What a big girl we have. It makes me happy and sad all at the same time. I have to say that even though I'm mostly OK with just having Hope, I kinda feel empty about only having one child. I'm sure once Hope is out of diapers I'll be OK with not going back to diapers again though:)

One last note: Our niece Bethany turns 10 today. She's an amazing young lady. So fun to be with. Such a joy. And such a miracle! On December 30th or 31st (I don't remember the exact date), 2006, she and her brother were playing on the zip line they had in their back yard. For some reason, Bethany went faster than normal (we're still not sure how that happened) and she ended up plowing into the tree at the end of the zip line. It totally knocked her out. She is truly a walking miracle. She should have died that day. She suffered a skull fracture and also had a broken cheek. Doctors told Mark's sister (Cheryl) and her husband (Mark)that most kids that come to the ER with those kinds of injuries leave the hospital on a gurnee...headed to the morgue. Well, not only did she live through the whole thing (she only spent one night in the hospital), she didn't need any recontructive surgery!! The last thing I heard, though, was that her last MRI indicated there was blood pooling in the nasal cavity. I'm not sure what exactly that means, but hopefully it's something that can be corrected easily. At any rate, HAPPY BIRTHDAY, BETHANY!! I'll post a picture of Bethany sometime in the next few days so you can see how beautiful she is!