Let me be the first to say congratulations on deciding to stay at home! It is the most amazing and demanding "job" a person could ever experience. I feel blessed to have been able to be a stay at home mom and in the next week will be starting to homeschool my children. Some days will be tough but remember the toughest days will make us stronger. I have lived life with 2 quotes in mind since having my children...

"Family is life's masterpiece."
"We teach children about life, but they teach us what life is about."

People without children dont know what their missing. The love of your child is an exhilarating feeling and that is why moms can do everything even when they are sick!!! I wish you all the best! It is amazing getting to experience life all over again through your children. That I think is immortality. God bless and have fun!!

I read your last blog but didnt get a chance to respond because we too were experiencing the dreaded mystery rash in our household. You were correct that being a mom does something amazing to our multi-tasking. I have been able to carry conversations with adults and my children at the same time and people look at me in wonder if I am getting it all. When they realize I am they are just looking at me, "like what just hapened." When I worked in daycare parents were amazed that I could remember every child's day, which art pictures were which, and whose bedding belonged to whom. being a mother makes you SUPER HUMAN!! :)

You're right. It is just human nature to ask these questions. I think that it is exploring those questions inside of us that makes a wise person. I also think that is what makes us content and happy with the lives we have. It is through our struggles that we find ourselves and often times God.

I too have experienced through my own life this questioning that you discussed. I have witnessed childrens' suffering and saw my own children struggle with medical issues and the why question will tear us down every time. It isnt up to us to know why. Of all the questions science has answered about life and earth, there is one question that must remain a mystery to us. It is our test of faith. To show God that even though we dont know the answer and though we struggle with how injust it may seem we will try to do what is right with the life he gave us. Why did God take Skylar? That isnt what matters, it is how he touched all of those who were with him when he was here that matters.

I recently read this book, "Man's Search for Meaning" by Viktor E. Frankl. It is an amazing book. In one of his p***ages he states, "Sometimes man may be required to accept fate, to bear his cross." The book is about one man's survival through a concentration camp. It is a spiritual yet psychological book and how we all search for meaning and question why things happen. Sometimes there is no answer to our questions. In one pasage, "It didnt really matter what we expected from life, but rather what life expected from us. We needed to stop asking about the meaning of life, and instead to think of ourselves as those who were being questioned by life-daily and hourly.Our answer must consist, not in talk and meditation, but in right action and in right conduct." We can continue to ask why but it isnt the why that matters, it is the how that does. How can we take what is unjust and wrong and make it right. If we knew he answers to the why questions would it change how we respond? God bless :)

I must say I agree that licensing can be good because it documents the good and the bad of any program, even with some of the most ridiculous rules. I would also have to say it is a shame you steer clear of a daycare choice simply because it is in someone's home. I have been a witness to many programs, home and center, and I myself have seen what happens in all such programs and it isn't about home vs. center... it is about who is caring for the children and who owns the program. I have seen some amazing home programs that care better for the children enrolled there then their parents could ever dream of having for their child.

I just have to say...Why on Earth is she only being charged with one count? She had how many children with her ....6? Why not 6 counts? Any person who has children or has worked with children knows you dont trust one child around a busy street let alone a busy highway and let alone 6 of them...that are not her own children. If one of the children would have ran she would have had to leave the 5 others placing them all in danger. That to everyone who thinks this isnt a big deal is why it is a big deal!

You are wrong. Any person can register to take state aid without being licensed. You fill out a contract and a background check and baddabing youre able to take childcare subsidy. While I will admit there are many home daycares that are no good there are just as many licensed programs, homes and centers, that are just the same. Plus, programs that are licensed have many rights to keep their licenses even after they have had an overwhelming number of noncompliances. I don't condone at all what this woman did but being a licensed program doesnt neccessarily equate to a good program and being unlicensed doesn't mean their bad. Parents have to check out these programs and the places even after they put their kids in a program.

100% agree with you on this and people who are not familiar with how this works have no clue about how this sort of report can make MANY programs look unsuitable for children.

Very well said!

It is disappointing because the information is not correct. When you look up a program you do not know if that info is corrector not so it is pointless. If parents have concerns about their program they should ask to see their records. I know of several programs who offer this info on bulletin boards directly in their lobbies so you can read for yourself. It is not a great service when you are relying on the information to be true and it is not. It isn't just inspections missing but that violations, etc are no correct. I definately agree that the state has a obligation to make this a priority to get posted. Then parents can see the actual inspection forms and everything written on them.