Pictures

Our wonderful and very talented photographer has some pictures of Kailey on her website if anyone's interested. Go to www.memorablemomentsphotography.com and scroll down until you see the album marked "Kailey." There are some precious ones of her with her sweet daddy! Thank you, Kristin, for more wonderful memories captured!

She's Here!

As most of you know, Kailey Abigail arrived on Monday, November 13th at 3:11pm. The birth went beautifully and we thoroughly enjoyed realizing our dream of having her at home. It was a tremendous experience of realizing the Lord's grace and strength and I absolutely loved being prayed over by my midwife and constantly reminded by her of God's presence there with us. John was incredible and it was so enjoyable having him take over the main role of coaching and supporting me through the birth instead of his playing backup to the doctors. He was strong, steady and there were moments I hung on to him for dear life! : ) Of course, when he caught his baby girl as she made her entrance into the world, he fell madly in love and I think he's pretty much hooked for life. What a tremendous daddy he is. Kailey weighed in at 8lbs. 7oz. and 21 inches. The midwife thinks my dates were a little off and she was a good two weeks early. Think about those stats in another two weeks! Whew! I'll have a better picture soon but for now this is the best I can find. Her brother hasn't paid a whole lot of attention to her yet but that is slowly changing. He gives her the occasional very sweet kiss or pat and it just melts my heart to see the beginning of their sibling relationship. We couldn't be happier and Thanksgiving is very special this year as we especially thank God for the blessing of the new little life in our family. Thanks to all of you for your prayers for all of us! God is so good!

Waiting

That seems to be the word that best describes my life right now. I feel ready, eager, and excited to meet my baby girl! I'm also extremely anxious to be comfortable again! I was praying the other day and asking God to help me to see what He had for me to learn or how I could grow during these last days of my pregnancy. See, my theory on pain, hardship or discomfort is that I never want to endure it without growing - what a waste of something I could be gaining from! So, as I was praying I felt that He gave me this picture of how He feels about me and all of us. He waits patiently, preparing a place and longing for the day when we will join Him in His home. He knows that the birth itself will be a painful process and require our physical bodies dying but the love and joy that await make that "labor" seem as nothing. Obviously His view of time is very different than what my finite mind understands but to me it was precious thinking of His patience as I live my time here until He can call me home. I know that my imperfect love for my daughter in no way compares to His love for me and it makes me eagerly anticipate what He could have waiting that makes my pink nursery seem like a paper box. He is sharing this time with me, understanding my feelings, and we will both wait for the perfect time that He knows. What a sweet and loving Lord!

Romans 8:18-25

"I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God. We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what he already has? But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently."

Amazing Women

My three beautiful girlfriends who are my accountability group. You don't get much better than that!










My incredible mothers (and the best grandmothers to my children). Sometimes I think of my heritage of godly women and feel huge responsibility in living up to what God has given me in them!


I have been thinking about something a lot for about a week now and it seems that everywhere I go this week I am reminded of it. After a conversation with my accountability group I started thinking about the different women I know and the diverse struggles they have in their lives. Some of them are many years ahead of me and some are younger but already experiencing more than many people do in a lifetime. I look at these women and it is hard to understand how they have the patience, strength, endurance, wisdom, or peace to go through what they are and I pray that occasionally they are also seeing that in me. It is amazing how each one has what they can handle by God's grace. I look and wonder how they do it and they look at others and wonder how they can manage their struggles! God is so good to equip us throughout our lives for the very things that He will be calling us to or carrying us through. I am deeply humbled as I realize just how many women I am around on a weekly basis who have allowed God to create in them a strength that is amazing. I have heroes who are family members, older women, and friends. I can quickly think of women who have endured loneliness, divorce, physical pain, the loss of children, being spiritual widows, financial struggle, childhood wounds, and the list goes on and on. There are also those dealing with the "smaller" day-to-day life things that I look at and feel that I would not be able to handle it with the grace and patience they show. Sunday in our class we talked about spiritual maturity and I thought again of all the ways I see that in these women. And once again last night as I listened to two beautiful women share their stories, I was just overwhelmed by the wealth of wisdom, love, and godliness around me.

Just a quick plug for the RHCC girls here. If any of you have not yet been able to attend the Joy for the Journey meetings, they have been wonderful! Having these women mentor and share with us is uplifting and makes me understand once again how God knows exactly what He's talking about when He tells the older women to teach the younger women! Watch your bulletin for updates on these meetings.

Most of you who read this are these women in my life (the other few not being women!). I hope that each of you know the deep love and admiration I have for you. I hope I am clear with the way your strength and courage inspire and challenge me. I would love to sit here and list out each woman and every way you bless others but this would be never ending. Maybe that's something I'll do eventually is highlight some of those. I am honored to know you and richly blessed any time I can pray with or listen to you. I love you, dear friends!

Things I've Learned From My Toddler

I have become a much wiser person thanks to having a two-year-old son. I thought I would pass on some of these jewels to all of you in case they were things you've ever wondered about.

• Eating is optional and there are far better ways to spend your time until you get really hungry and down two, yes TWO, burritos from Taco Bueno.
  
• There is absolutely no end to toddler energy.
  
• It is possible to have a full bladder for many hours and not let it go simply out of stubborn determination.
• Dirty diapers do not bother everyone and do not hinder playing at all.
  
• Those little foam toe separating things for painting your toenails can be put other places on your body too.
• Anything can be used as a "bat" to hit balls - tennis rackets, golf clubs, and actual bats are preferred, though.
• Mommy's growing pregnant belly makes a great jungle gym.
• You can talk to an unborn child through your mother's belly button.
• If you want great maternity pictures that look like your son is talking to your baby, stick a cookie up your shirt.
• Couch pillows do not serve their best purpose sitting on the couch. They are put to much better use when you use them to bury your dad or make a pile to jump in.
• It sounds much cuter to say your B E D's than your A B C's. It is also far more endearing to readie writie than to read and write.
• Bob the Tomato can be found anywhere, anytime that you can find a circle.
• The church should really show Pooh on that big screen at the front. Each Sunday there is a certain level of disappointment that they still have not figured this out.
• Doing really cute things just like your dad does them will get you a long way with Mom.
• You can have endless fun talking to the recorded lady that comes on when you leave the phone off the hook too long.
• You can hum to the tone of the dial tone and it is also an interesting activity
• It only takes one to have a pizza party if everyone else is in the media room and thought you should go to bed (Tara will attest to the priceless nature of this one)
• All aunts, uncles, and grandparents should live in one house with us so that they never have to go home.
  

These are just a few of the ones I've been learning lately and I'm sure there will be many, many more. Oh, how I love my little guy! We've started lately spreading our arms as wide as we can to tell each other just how much we love each other. That doesn't even come close to expressing what is in my heart for him. Hopefully some day he will have a precious little boy and understand his mommy's heart.

"Punks"

I took John to a pumpkin patch in Flower Mound a few weeks ago for a little guy trip with his buddy Garrett (and their moms and Aunt Caitlin). John loved the "punks" and felt like he had an enormous job to do organizing everything when he saw that huge field of pumpkins. He takes things so seriously! It was extremely difficult to get a picture of John sitting or of Garrett and John in the same shot. These boys are so active! They had a hay maze and all these cute cutouts of different cartoon characters for the kids. He was excited about finding Nemo! They were both excited about running which is one reason I took Aunt Caitlin. Me running right now is just not going to happen. It was fun! Last night I made pumpkin bread and John was very confused how that piece of "cake" had anything to do with his beloved "punks." Some things will remain a mystery for a while longer, I guess.

Vision Trouble

Tonight we had a sad little experience for about an hour. When John woke up from his nap and we were about to head to church for class, he began crying and screaming that his eye hurt. (We still don't know how the foreign substance got in his eye but we think it might have been blue crayon based on other evidence. Don't ask me because I have no clue how that happened. He didn't have a blue crayon when I left him tucked in bed.) First, it can be so nice to have children at the stage where they can tell you what is hurting. That development is a blessing! But, although he kept asking us rather pathetically to help him and seemed sure that we could, he wouldn't let us do what we needed to do to wash his eye out. We knew we just needed to get enough of the liquid in there to wash out whatever was irritating him but he refused to let us put in the solution or to open his eye once we did. He preferred to keep his eyes closed and bury his head on my chest because then it apparently wasn't hurting him as much. Any light seemed to further irritate him. We finally did what all parents must do and held him down against his strongest protests to get it washed out. Immediately he felt better, opened his eye, hugged his dad, and started playing.

As I watched this play out and thought of those yucky things we have to do as parents because we know it will help, I was again reminded of how much like a two-year-old I can be when it comes to God trying to remove things from my eyes. I can choose very painful ways of viewing life, others, and God's ways just because it's more comfortable or familiar to me than opening my eyes for a few quick minutes of discomfort and allowing God to clean them out so that I can see clearly. I want so much to refuse the toddler stage of believing God can do anything but still not allowing Him to do that in me without kicking and screaming. I don't want Him to leave me in my pain and ignorance even when I'm begging Him to do just that. I want to open my eyes wide, let Him do His perfect work, and then see the things that He has for me and for our family. Lord, give me courage to trust You and allow You to work in the eyes of my heart!

Earliest Memory

Okay, it's been a week since I blogged and I'm going to try something new. I love reading other people's comments so I'm going to ask a question and hope for a lot of feedback. As I am building precious memories with my little ones I often wonder when will the ones start happening that he/she will remember. Everyone seems to be different and there seems to be no rhyme or reason to the things that people remember. I think one of my earliest, most vivid memories would be of my third or fourth birthday party. My older brother gave me a yellow "My Little Pony" that had apples on her little rump. I can't quite remember her name but it was a super big deal to me that this gift was especially from him to me. That cements so solidly in my mind how special and important John will be in Kailey's life. His acceptance and approval will play an important, God-given role in who she becomes.

So, what is your earliest memory and how does it (or does it) affect you today? Is it positive, negative, silly, or important? What does it mean to you? I wonder what our children's earliest memories will be. . .

"The Man"

Today our sweet little friend, Hayley, gave me a precious gift. Shelly will tell the story much better since she heard Hayley say it, but I believe the basic conversation was something like this. When Shelly told Hayley this afternoon that they were going to stop by our house for a few minutes, she was very excited about seeing Little John, Courtney and "the man." Shelly thought she must be referring to Big John and didn't think much more about it until they got home afterwards. Then Hayley again said that she had fun at John's house seeing John, Courtney and "the man." Upon asking more questions Shelly finally discovered that "the man" is kind (I believe was the word) and plays with them. He is in Kailey's room which was John's until recently. Apparently Kailey's room is the only place Hayley sees him. I am a firm believer in the special relationship that children share with the Lord and His realm. I have my own story of seeing "the man" in my room as a child and that memory is as vivid today as it was 20 years ago. I also had the tremendous blessing, as Hayley does, of having parents who believed wholeheartedly with me and encouraged my childlike faith. Is it really that odd that the Lord shows Himself to those tiny hearts who ask no questions but calmly accept the presence of His angels as good and right? And how interesting that "the man" is nothing foreign or unusual but someone who seems very normal in Hayley's little world. The more I have thought about this today, the more of a gift it becomes. This week has been a difficult one for me physically as I struggle through these last weeks of pregnancy with strong pregnancy symptoms like in the first trimester except with a third trimester belly and aches and pains to go with it. I have wrestled with the fact that it is difficult for me to care for my babies while carrying them (and this is certainly not a new struggle after my past pregnancy history). Today was as if God put His hand on my growing belly and reminded me that it is not I who is caring for these babies but Him. And there is "the man" waiting in my nursery the moment that Kailey arrives to care for her there. Coincidence that little Hayley's confirmation came this week? I think not. The nursery is also the room where we have prayed every night since moving in this house a year ago for our children. We pray for John, prayed for Kailey to be conceived, and have prayed for her during this pregnancy. Coincidence that "the man" resides in the room where we have spent more hours praying over our children than any other? I think not. And today, while doing something completely unrelated, I "randomly" came across this verse in Luke 10, "At that time Jesus, full of joy through the Holy Spirit, said, "I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. Yes, Father, for this was your good pleasure. " Friends, I have to love a God who has revealed things to our babies because it was His good pleasure. I have to love that He placed a verbal little girl in my life for whom I have prayed since her conception to tell me what God is doing. I have to just love Him because He is so good.

Cupcakes

I don't want to jump the gun on Shelly and show all of Hayley's birthday party, but these cupcake pictures were so cute I had to share them. I love how some icing can totally brighten a child's day. Oh wait, that works on me too! These kids are so adorable, and I love them all!

Hayley, Emma and John actually all sitting down at once! It's amazing what a cupcake will do.

Icing on the face

And the advertisement for Shelly's cupcakes - "More cake?"

Gratefulness

John was gone this past weekend on the Our Father's Children retreat for the teenagers who have graduated from the Royal Family Kids Camp for abused and neglected children. While we were thrilled to share him with those boys, we missed him very much! Little John kept asking me in a tiny, little voice, "Where my daddy?" Needless to say, we were doing a little dance when he walked in the door Sunday evening. It never ceases to amaze me how I can be with him 24/7 and he still gives me butterflies! : ) Saturday night we went over to my parents where my sister was watching Ellie, who is a little friend from church. I was upstairs when her daddy came to pick her up. Due to my pregnant hormones and missing my husband I welled up when I heard her downstairs doing the most excited little "Yeah Daddy!" chant because she could not contain her joy at seeing Danny. It made me start thinking about all the precious, dedicated daddies I know and just how blessed their kids are. It also made me hope that I tell my husband often enough just how glad we are that he walks through that door every night after work. Not after making a stop at the local hangout or even taking a break from responsibilities - he just comes straight from his workload at the office to his "workload" at home. I was convicted, praying that each faithful man feels the incredible weight that his daily sacrifices carry with his family, that no decision to spend time with his babies or make a priority for his family is ever in vain, and that my job is to always show gratefulness! Every time John does something for us he could be making a different choice but he's choosing us, choosing his Lord, and changing our lives. It's always easy to see the difficulty of the job I'm doing and always more challenging to stop and look instead at what others are also working hard for. I have taught countless children over the years that gratefulness is a choice and I have to ask myself if I'm making that choice every day and modeling that for my children so that when I am teaching them that someday, they will recognize it in my life. I can't keep John's job of provider, husband, and father from being hard, but I can certainly make sure it's never thankless. Have you thanked your hubby today?

John's New Room

I have made a big step for this mommy and moved my boy upstairs to his "big boy room." Chelsea finished painting his mural on Sunday and that night he spent his first night in his boat bed. He did great! He is SO excited about his room. It is difficult for pictures to do the mural justice so you will just have to come over. If any of you ever consider doing something like this, I would highly recommend Chelsea who did a fantastic job. She is so talented. I deeply admire artistically talented people because that's a talent I have to admire from a distance since I really do not possess it. Little John points out each thing whenever he goes in his room, especially the pickup truck that Chelsea painted to look just like John's with silhouettes of the guys inside it. He told me that it was he and Daddy going to Sonic for a "cheese" (grilled cheese). He can look up at the plane when he's lying in bed which is also very cool to him.

We also had the nursery painted this week so it is officially very pink and we are in full preparations for Miss Kailey as well! I feel much more ahead of things with him upstairs and her room awaiting her arrival. Her sweet daddy has been working tonight to hang her chandelier with Little John "helping" constantly. He wants to "screw" everything with the screwdriver and climb the ladder. He loves the pink nursery and just refers to it as "pink." He'll want to "go in the pink" or he left his duck "in the pink." It's pretty funny. He makes me laugh with all his funny little ways of saying and doing things right now. Earlier he was looking at my blog with me and started to feed himself the cake in the picture of him eating my birthday cake. His imagination is certainly growing at a rapid rate!

Little John pointing out everything in his mural the first time he saw it all finished.

His "red plane" reminding us of the best reason to "go" anywhere!Another view of the mural, including Daddy's truck headed to SonicSnuggle time with Mommy before he sleeps upstairs for the first time!

Summer Fun

Here are some more summer photos. In case you can't tell, I just got a lot of pictures developed and have to share cute ones of my boy! I had been storing up 35mm rolls for a while now. I promise there will be an end to the madness. 4th of July fun with the Waltons and RidgellsEating Mom's birthday cakeBirthday kisses!Swimming lessons

Popsicles

This summer Little John had his first popsicle and then enjoyed that special treat several times over the course of these hot months. We always strip down to the diaper (at least) because clothing will not survive the drippy, colored mess that results from his slow enjoyment of the melting treat. Of course, the camera came out several times for this so I thought I'd share my favorites as the summer draws to a close.

Critz Family Weekend

We spent last weekend in San Antonio with John's family. It was a wonderful, relaxing weekend for everyone and Little John got to spend lots of quality time with his Nonnie, Poppie, aunts, uncles, and cousin. We stayed at the Hyatt Hill Country and spent most of our time in the lazy river and the pool. Thankfully, our little guy decided that swimming was his favorite thing after a summer of not wanting much to do with the pool. His little swimming lessons payed off and he was kicking, blowing bubbles, and paddling away. Little John did great and we pretty much never heard a peep out of cousin Caden who is always happy and content. Matt and Jamie are such great parents. It was fun for the boys to get some "cousin time" even if they aren't that interested in each other yet! Things have certainly changed since our camping in Lake Tahoe days!

Little John enjoyed making Smores with Nonnie at the poolside bonfire but he didn't care about eating any of it except the chocolate. We also watched a movie on the lawn which he thought was super fun.

Uncle Jordan's girlfriend, Kristen, is one of Little John's current favorite people. He was always asking where she was if she got out of sight for even a few minutes. He liked tetherball even though he didn't quite get the concept and kept letting the ball hit him in the head! He's a tough one!

When we gave John his first ring pop he decided to have Aunt "Mamie" wear it and he would walk up and take licks when he felt the urge. It was pretty funny! It is always a joy to spend time with family and this weekend was no exception. Hopefully we'll make it a tradition and have lots of these memories together. We love our Critz family!

Happy Birthday, Christopher!

My baby brother turned 19 on Monday. That is insane. I vividly remember every part of praying for him to be conceived, waiting for his arrival, the excitement of that day, and then finally my baby brother. As a 7-year-old girl with two brothers, I thought I wanted a girl. . . until he arrived. Then all I wanted was little Christopher David. It was the greatest to have a live baby doll. I remember that I really wanted him to sleep in my room in his crib because I was completely envious that my brothers were sharing a room and I was all alone. I wanted to prove that I could take care of him during the night. I really thought it wasn't fair that my parents hogged him in their room when they already had somebody to share with! Now I know that there was probably nothing they would have liked more than to have put him in there with me. : ) I can never thank my parents enough for stepping out in faith and continuing their family after the all-american 2 or 3 kids had been reached. What would our lives be without Christopher and the two sisters who followed him? Any "sacrifice" that the three of us made in order to have more siblings has been repayed 100-fold. I love watching Christopher grow, mature, and change. I am privileged to be his sister and have him take care of me and look out for me. He is a fantastic uncle and Little John gets so excited about playing with "Tipper." Watching them together brings me so much joy! Thank God for brothers, brave, faith-filled parents, and for the relationship he has given me with Christopher! I love you, "baby" brother!

The Ideal Husband

Five years ago this afternoon I stood at the top of the stairs at Richland Hills Church and waited as Brittany began singing the song for my entrance into the auditorium. I had a quick moment there completely alone to thank God yet again for all He had done to bring me to that day. I was getting married! I remember turning that corner and seeing that sea of people and feeling so, very loved. Most of my focus, though, was on the two men I was walking toward. At the bottom of the stairs was my dad, the man who had fulfilled my childhood dreams and needs for a girl's Prince Charming. A man who had loved me unconditionally, cared for me, protected me, taught me, and helped me to choose the man with whom I would be spending the rest of my life. Once I reached my dad without falling or tripping (hooray!) I could focus less on walking and more on the other people. On every side were people from church, friends from all areas of life, family, and standing on the stage was my man. The one who was now going to be caring for me, supporting me, and living with me. I was barely twenty-one and very much in love, and if I had had any idea just how good life with him was going to be, I think I would have forgotten the heels and train and just run down the aisle. I can still make that walk in slow motion in my head because I was working so hard to soak in every second.

When we got married, I knew John as well as anyone can know someone they haven't lived with. We met as children and I knew him when he wore red suspenders and talked in a high voice, when he played baseball and took math classes, when he couldn't talk to girls even though all the girls wanted to talk to him, when I had braces and glasses and would have had a heart attack if he had sat next to me, when we graduated together and five of us set off on our senior road trip, when he gave me my first kiss and was the first guy to tell me that he loved me. We have 20 years of memories, but the best have definitely been crammed into the last five years. I have watched him grow from the boy I loved into a man of God whom I respect and admire. And just when I would think I couldn't love him any more, something like May 19th, 2004 happens and as I watched him hold our firstborn son, my love for him grew exponentially in a single moment.

Five years later I know that there is absolutely nowhere I would rather be than standing next to John. We have been through things we never expected and have definitely experienced more hard things in these five years than I had in my previous life. But no matter how hard things are coming at us from the outside, we have had five years of peace and oneness inside our relationship. John is a very big guy and when he wraps me in his big bear hug, I feel completely protected. That is a perfect picture of how things work. I can be hurting and lost but never without his love and protection wrapped around me helping to carry the load. What a beautiful picture of God's love he daily shows me. Baby, marrying you was one of the best decisions of my life and I would do it all over again. I love you more than I ever have and look forward to finding out just how much more I can love you in the future. By God's grace, you have made all my little girl dreams come true and way beyond what I could have imagined. Thank you for choosing me to be the privileged girl who gets to spend her life with you!

Praises

I wanted to give you a quick update so you could know how prayers were answered yesterday. We had the visitation Wednesday night and the funeral yesterday afternoon and were comforted and encouraged by all the love that was poured out on us. We celebrated a man who was greatly loved and respected by his family and now is home with our Lord. The service was wonderful and both my dad and his brother were able to make it through what they wanted to say. My nausea took a temporary hiatus from the moment we got in the car and, even with all the driving, my stomach felt better than it has in a while. I certainly needed that for such a physically and emotionally demanding day. Little John was as cooperative as we could have asked, especially since the funeral was right when he would have been napping. Precious church family like Jenni New, Linda Letz, Pam Willingham, Ron & Mary Carroll, the Washburns and several others who were willing to make the long drive out on Wednesday night or Thursday meant so much. My sweet mother and sister-in-law and all of my mom's family were also there surrounding us with love. I love family, both spiritual and physical. Thank you again for your prayers, notes, e-mails, and phone calls. I love you all!

Papa's Ultimate Healing

The fight is over and my Papa is at peace and resting. He went to be with Jesus yesterday afternoon. My dad was there with them and it was peaceful. This is a precious answer to prayer. I am so grateful that all his pain and weakness is over and he is free. I can't tell you how precious the blood of Jesus is to me this morning. I thank God for each person that it covers and my heart cries out for those who have not yet claimed it. Many of my tears are tears of gratitude that we can face this with complete knowledge of my grandfather's decision to choose Jesus.

One of my fun memories of my granddad is that he used to nickname all of his grandchildren. It was his special name for us which we, of course, loved. Mine was Tinks, short for Tinkerbell. I can't help but wonder if he is now sitting there with Benjamin and his four unborn great-grandchildren on his lap, nicknaming them all. I can't wait to hear what he came up with.

Thank you for your continued prayers for us. Mostly we are now praying for my grandmother's peace and comfort. I can't imagine what this is like for her. As for me specifically, I am blessed and doing well. I would ask for your prayers because any abnormal stress or emotion sends my nausea into high gear and today is already proving to be a particularly rough one. Please pray for me in all my pregnancy hormonal state as we go through the coming events of this week. It looks like the funeral may be on Thursday or Friday. Just one more confirmation of how God leads us in the small things because John and I could have been planning a trip this week or weekend for our anniversary and instead had already planned to be here. God is so good!

Delighting in the Small Things

Okay, this is probably of absolutely no interest to anyone else, but I have found tremendous happiness this week in the smallest of things. Last week my mom came over and helped me organize my pantry. This is something I have been intending to do since we moved into this house in November, but still hadn't gotten around to. Things were put where it made sense to quickly shove them during unpacking and the grocery store trips since then. I have deep shelves and nothing was easy to get to which was frustrating. So, it is now beautifully organized and every time I see it (which is incredibly often between a pregnant mom and a growing toddler), it makes me happy. I did find one of my shoes in it the other day but these things will happen as long as Little John is around. So, hooray for organization and on to the next house project.