One Month and this Becomes Forever!!

It's weird, once we received our finalization date I started getting less patient. Before we had a date, I knew we had to wait.  But now that we know that finalization is only a month away, we cannot wait! It's only one more month, but its still one whole month away!  It's so close but yet its so far away.

But what's gonna change in a month?  Not much changes at all day to day.  But so much changes for forever.  People have asked us, so do they know that they're gonna be adopted?  Are you going to tell them they're adopted?  If so, when?  Well, adoption is already become a part of our family vocabulary and that includes the kids. We tell the kids every day that we love them and that we can't wait until we can adopt them.  We tell them that when we adopt them, then we will be their mommy and daddy forever.  They won't live in anyone else's house and they won't have any other mommys and daddys. When we adopt them they will become Behnkes.  When we adopt them we will be family forever.  So although finalization isn't that big of a deal, it really is one of the biggest days of our lives.

So, what have we been up to?  Well, parenting I guess.  What does that mean?  I still have no idea.  Well, over the last month or so our kids got potty trained.  But let me tell you, after a week I thought these kids would be pooping and peeing in their pants until they were in high school.  But, now they are almost pros.  Of course we are still cleaning the bathroom every day because our son doesn't really have good aim.

I also started reading "Fatherhood" by Bill Cosby.  Would I recommend it to all parents?  Not really, but I bought the book at a garage sale for a quarter a couple of years ago and said, "I'm gonna read this when I become a father."  Well, that time is now.  So far it read like a book written by a comedian 30 years ago.  Sometimes I read it and think, "this would be really funny back in the day" and then I laugh.

Let's see, what else.  Well, our kids don't understand this whole going to bed before its dark thing.  So our kids bed time is about 8pm and they don't sleep until 9-9:30pm.  That is trying on mom and dad because the twins have learned that they can climb on the headboard of the bed and jump off onto the mattress like a diving board.  This is not safe at all, especially since we have wood flooring in their rooms. One off balance fall and we'll have our second trip to the emergency room.  Anyway, I cannot wait until winter when its dark at like 5pm and they think its bedtime.

This week will be a couple of firsts for our family.  I am on vacation this week and we will experience our first funeral and our first camping trip.   Nicki's grandma passed away last week.  She was an awesome woman who suffered through dementia towards the end of her life.  We talk to our oldest about where Great Grandma is now and all she knows now is that she no longer lives at the nursing home.  She lives with Jesus now.  Nicki is really good at taking these moments to teach our children about life and life with Christ.  It's amazing.  After the funeral we are heading up north to go camping with our kids and their grandpa and grandma.  It should be fun.  We bought a bigger tent and are going to a camp with no running water or electricity.  We're bringing a little potty so that they don't have to use the outhouse and who knows what time they or the rest of the campground will go to bed or get up in the morning, but I have a feeling it will be when our kids do.

I guess that's all for now.  Thanks for reading.  Sorry for my random post.  I write like I talk.

Nicki's Grandparents only a few years ago. 

Nicki showing her Grandma how a digital camera works back in 2009.