train ride

These are from a couple of weeks ago when we had a fun train ride and park day with Nana and Grangoat, followed by a yummy Jamaican dinner with Brad & Nova.

ethiopian honey bread

Happy St. Patrick's Day! I'm not really sure why we celebrate it...all I know is that you wear green! So, go wear some green! :-) Today is now a very special day to me because one of my dearest friends, Misty, delivered her two little lucky charms this morning!!! Welcome baby boy Rhett Michael and baby girl Rhys Kate! I am so excited for Tim & Misty and can't wait to meet the babies...the pictures I saw of them are just precious. They are already decked out in Aggie gear - WHOOP!!!

The week's been a little nutty. Here is a break-down of our week:

-Elijah & Judah went to camp with my mom on Saturday.

-We picked up Judah from her in Waco on Monday (He had a blast). Elijah stayed.

-Elijah is coming home today (Yay, I miss him SO much! Although I think he would just live down at camp with my mom if we'd let him :-)

-My car was in the shop while they put in a new radiator. Woohoo. NOT.

-I was not feeling well, so I went to the doctor on Monday where they took a lot of blood work and told me I had insane amounts of fluid in my ears. So I'm on medication for that...still waiting on the blood work.

-I was randomly stung by a bee last night IN MY ROOM. Have not been stung by a bee/wasp in YEARS! It HURT really bad! I have no idea how it even got in there. Ouch, it still hurts this morning. I've been putting toothpaste and ice on it. Of course I didn't sleep good last night thinking there was a bee nest in my bed...lol.

-I have some cute pictures of the boys from a couple of weeks ago to post soon.

-There is no new adoption news. A lot of meetings have been going on this week so we are just praying for some good news soon. Every day I learn to trust God a little bit more with this, which might just be the point. :-)

-In the spirit of thinking about Ethiopia 24/7, Jason made Ethiopian honey bread last night, which I want to share with all of you. It turned out great and tastes really good, so go give it a try!

1 pkt active dry yeast
· 1 egg
· 4 -4½ cups all-purpose flour
· 1 cup lukewarm milk
· ½ cup honey
· ¼ cup lukewarm water
· 6 Tbsp unsalted butter, melted
· 1 Tbsp ground coriander
· 1½ tsp salt
· ½ tsp ground cinnamon
· ¼ tsp ground cloves

To Make the Honey Bread
In a small, shallow bowl, sprinkle the yeast over the lukewarm water.

Let the mixture stand for 2-3 minutes and then stir to dissolve the yeast completely. Set the bowl in a warm, draft-free place for approximately 5 minutes or until the yeast bubbles up and the mixture almost doubles in volume.
Combine the egg, honey, coriander, cinnamon, cloves and salt in a deep bowl. Mix together with a wire whisk or spoon.
Add the yeast mixture, milk and 4 tablespoons of the melted butter. Beat until the ingredients are well blended.

Stir in the flour, ½ a cup at a time, using only as much as is necessary to make a dough that can be gathered into a soft ball.
When the dough becomes too stiff to stir easily, blend in the additional flour with your fingers.

On a lightly floured surface, knead the dough by folding it end to end, then pressing it down and pushing it forward several times with the heel of your hand.
Rub your hands with a little melted butter if the dough sticks to the board or your fingers, but do not use any extra flour lest the dough becomes stiff and hard.
Continue kneading for approximately 5 minutes or until the dough is smooth and elastic.

Shape the dough into a ball and place it in a large, lightly buttered bowl. Drape a kitchen towel over the bowl and set in a warm, draft-free spot for approximately 1 hour or until the dough rises and doubles in bulk.

With a pastry brush, spread the remaining melted butter evenly over the bottom and sides of a 3-quart soufflé dish or other round 3-quart baking dish at least 3 inches deep.

Punch the dough down with a single blow of your fist, and then knead it again for 1-2 minutes.
Shape the dough roughly into a round and place it in the buttered baking dish, pressing it down into the corners so that it covers the bottom of the dish completely.

Return the dough to the warm, draft-free place for approximately 1 hour, or until it has doubled in bulk and risen at least as high as the top rim of the dish.

Pre-heat the oven to 300^o F.

Bake the bread in the middle of the oven for 50-60 minutes, until the top is crusty and light golden brown.
Turn the honey bread out of the pan onto a cake rack to cool.

Serve while still somewhat warm or allow to cool completely.
Traditionally eaten spread with butter and honey.

Mmmmm, it was yummy! Give it a try. We may try to make Ethiopian injera next - it's kind of their staple bread but I've heard it's difficult to make. Guess we better learn!
I also want to share a quote that I recently stumbled across and I love it!
"Sometimes I'd like to ask God why He allows poverty, famine, and injustice in the world when He could do something about it...but I'm afraid God might ask me the same question."
-Anonymous
Have a great weekend and pray about what the "something" is that you can do! I think/pray about this quite frequently. We are all going to be held accountable for "the least of these" one day.

an interesting week

it has been a very interesting week.
everything has felt weird, a little off.
almost as weird as judah eating his lunch while in a box.
but that's just how this week has been.

mainly because of all of the breaking adoption news.
we are still waiting for confirmation of what is actually going on.
the bottom line is that we just don't know yet.
we have heard a lot of rumors and are choosing not to think
one way or another until we hear solid confirmation from our agency.
that could be as early as next week.
please join us in praying this weekend for the orphans of ethiopia.
because all we really want is what's best for them.
there is a big meeting taking place this weekend.
we are praying for this very meeting, that the decision made
will be in favor of the orphans who need forever families.
please join us in praying for this.

at school today, the kids were taught the message: TRUST GOD.
He keeps His word, He keeps His promises.
abraham waited 25 years for his son isaac.
i think i can learn a lot from him about waiting and God's timing.
there are a lot of lessons to be learned through this.
thank you for your prayers and your concern.

waiting on Him

There is nothing new to report on the adoption front.

So many have been asking and praying and we SO appreciate that. Keep up the prayers...we (and all of the families waiting on children from Ethiopia) need them desperately. We have made some sweet adoption friends along this journey and they are experiencing the same emotions we are right now. So many are being affected by all of this. As I get more information on what's going on, I plunge deeper into my pit of self-pity and frustration. The news is discouraging to say the least. All of this is not what we are wanting to hear and experience right now when we are so close.

So we are praying and waiting on Him. God is not bound by time or circumstances and He is SO much bigger than all of this. Trusting in God is not just an abstract concept to me anymore, we are living in it and at times it is so sweet. Having absolutely no control over this situation and having to rely totally on Him, I think is sometimes right where God wants us. Actually, it's probably where He wants us all of the time. Control is just an illusion anyways...He is the only one in control. He knows every detail of what's going on with every single aspect of this situation and He's got this, He's totally got this.

But please keep praying with us...I believe prayer is going to make a huge difference.

In the meantime, some VERY exciting things going on at our church (can't wait to share), and have still been reading The Hole in Our Gospel and cannot recommend it enough! Get your hands on this book as fast as you can! The premise of the book is about what God expects of us as followers...helping the poor is a HUGE part of what He expects. And I'm realizing more and more that it is EXPECTED of us. It is part of being a follower of Jesus, it's not optional, it is part of the gospel...helping the poor and having compassion on the "least of these" was a gigantic part of what Jesus did while He was on earth. Therefore, if we are supposed to imitate Him and be like Him, that is exactly what we should be doing as well. All of this has been making itself clearer and clearer to me over the past few years. I'm realizing it needs to be a bigger part of my life than it is...praying about what that means for our family.

The boys are doing well...I realize I haven't updated about them in a while. Have some cute pictures from my in-laws to post soon when we had a fun train outing with them. Both of their birthdays are fast approaching, Spring Break is next week, Judah continues to enjoy preschool, Elijah is enjoying Boy Scouts and will start soccer soon and we are all enjoying the gradually warmer weather.

Anyways, more soon. Make a difference in the life of an orphan TODAY! I just added a button for Compassion over here --->
We have sponsored a little boy for several years - you can too! It is so easy!

8 months

Today we have reached 8 months on the wait list.

I really can't believe it. We are in that window of time that I have had in my brain for the past year and a half. When we first went on the wait list it was an average 6-8 month wait, now it's more like 8-10 months. But either way, that magical number EIGHT is in both of those!

We need your prayers. This is getting really hard and really emotionally draining at times. We have received (private) information that basically boils down to DELAYS, DELAYS, DELAYS. Nothing pertaining to our particular adoption case, and I am not allowed to discuss any of it on here, but the result is the same - DELAYS, and it is affecting our adoption case as well. Several things need to come to a conclusion and be resolved before we can move forward. We are bummed, to say the least. We are frustrated and discouraged, not at anyone in particular, just at the situation. It feels like it will be 2015 before we bring our daughter home. (That is a gross exaggeration but my brain wants to be dramatic right now :-). Our agency has been wonderful and I know the Ethiopian government is working in the best interest of their children.

We are just so ready, this is the time, we are so close, WE ARE SO CLOSE and yet still seem so far away. There are so many hurdles between us and our baby girl right now. I have to just keep praying and knowing that God has got this figured out. He has already gone before us, He already knows who she is, He has had perfect plans for her from the beginning of time and for us too. Plans to give us hope and a future and not to harm us...keep repeating this over and over in your brain Summer. :-) Don't go crazy with impatience and anxiety. I know it is hard for those of you who have not been through the adoption process before to understand why this is so hard and to understand the emotions that we are going through. Just know that we are anticipating and looking forward to this baby just as much as we did our two boys. It is no different in that regard, it's just a different process to get there...and much longer I might add. In our hearts, we already have a daughter...we are ready to hold her, kiss her, rock her, tell her that we love her and bring her home. The same for our boys as well, especially Elijah. They are expecting a baby sister and are just as excited about it as we are...they are ready too.

Anyways, we really appreciate your prayers right now. That these hurdles would go away SOON, SOON, SOON and that God would continue to give us His peace and His patience and an understanding that this will all happen in His perfect timing, resulting in our being matched with the daughter that He has picked out for our family. We are definitely staying busy in the meantime plus as a result of some discussions as far back as last summer between Jason and I (and in forming new adoptive family friends), a wonderful ministry is in the works at our church that we are super excited about!!! Can't wait to share details about that soon! Please pray that the staff will get behind it with enthusiasm so that we will be able to proceed into something that we are all so passionate about!

Book recommendation...read The Hole in Our Gospel by Richard Stearns. I'm barely into it and WOW - thanks so much for this gift Julia!

Lastly, I have been following this family's blog for some time and they just brought their precious baby boy home. Enjoy this sweet, sweet homecoming video. I know that it will be our turn before we know it...in the meantime, I get so excited for other families when their turn comes.

how to make a pizza & haircuts

So the boys had a blast making their own pizza last night!

We started by getting everything on the table.

We had a little trouble opening the sauce,

but he had fun trying!

Judah liked watching his brother.

Anyways, then you spread the sauce on the pizza crust.

And something else is funny. Isn't he the cutest?!?!

Then you very seriously sprinkle on the cheese.

Add pepperonis,

bell peppers,

and green olives and WALLAH, you have a very yummy pizza!

Don't eat it yet, we have to cook it!

Sorry if you were a fan of their long hair, today we took the boys and whacked it off!

They both looked so big sitting at the barber getting their hair cut. Have a great weekend!

valentine's day

I think we all had a great Valentine's Day this year. The boys both had school parties yesterday and came home with all kinds of goodies!

They are so funny! I kept trying and trying to get a good one of both of them looking at the camera, but the two year old was not cooperating. Shocker. :-)

My mom was in town this past weekend so Jason and I got TWO nights out by ourselves. Happy Valentine's Day to us! She also gave the boys this PRECIOUS storybook for their Valentine's gift.

It recorded her voice reading the book, so every time you turn the page she reads the words on that page. The boys LOVE it! Judah thought it was like a telephone and kept trying to get her attention. :-) Now anytime they want Kaki to read to them, all they have to do is open this book!

i am missing our daughter today. 7 months of waiting. we are so ready for this to be our video...

more snow

a few more inches of snow fell on thursday night
to reveal this in the morning!

needless to say, the boys had a blast in it, and it was beautiful!
they played, had snowball fights, made snow ice cream
and we even attempted to go sledding (no pictures).
that didn't work out too well on a plastic lid, but we tried! :-)

today the snow is melting, the sun is out and we are ready for our normal routine again next week. but we sure did enjoy the break while it lasted!

stir CRAZY

so we are on snow day #3 around here.
elijah was already to have tomorrow off so it looks like monday was the only day of school this week! texas weather is so crazy! it's making us crazy. stir crazy that is.
here is a little of what we've been doing the past few days.

brotherly snuggling on the couch while watching movies.

we have been sporting this crazy hair for the past 3 days.
no need to brush if you can't go anywhere, right?

we've been putting on costumes, playing games and pretending.

and of course we braved the frigid weather to play out in the SNOW!

their little get-ups crack me up.
they look like little marshmallow men. :-)

i think we COULD live in a colder climate.
they all actually really liked playing outside -

including amos here. i wasn't sure how he would react, but he loved it!
we threw his ball and he would slip & slide around chasing it.
he also loved sticking his face in the snow and licking it as you can see.

it was a winter wonderland!
(or a bunch of ice and a little snow, whatever :-)

i can't remember why i took this picture of judah last night at dinner.
he's cute, that's probably why. :-)

i made a strawberry cake with cream cheese icing and at one point he had icing all over his face!
we have had plenty of groceries thanks to jason. he's continued to (slowly) go to work every day and brought home some groceries for me yesterday.

elijah also typed up a letter to the little boy we sponsor through Compassion International.
his name is Jonfer and he's the same age as elijah.
you too can sponsor a child for only $38 a month...check it out!
pretty soon we're going to sponsor a child for judah to keep in touch with.

have a WARM week!
we are expecting more snow tonight and tomorrow, but the weekend looks to be warmer so hopefully that ice will melt then!
here's a video of the boys playing the snow.
sorry i'm so loud, i guess it's because i'm right by the speaker.

here's your chance

I know, two posts in one day. It's pure craziness! :-) Just had to post this asap though. If God has recently (or a long time ago) placed adoption / orphans on your heart, here's your chance to act on that. I got an email from our adoption agency about an Asia Waiting Child Blog they just put together. They want all agency families to spread the word about it so that these precious children can find forever homes. They are from China & Taiwan, some have major or minor special needs and they are precious. Usually a waiting child list means that the adoption process goes quicker than the route we are taking. You are not waiting on a referral but rather have a specific child you are pursuing to adopt. The picture list is password protected but all you have to do is contact the agency to get the password. I told Jason that if we adopt again (wow, I can't believe I'm saying that :-), then I would love to find a child on a waiting list like this. If you are interested or know someone who might be, please check this out and/or spread the word. We need to find these children homes! There is no commitment to obtain the password and look at these children, but I'm warning you that when you see their faces you may lose part of your heart! :-)

asiawaitingchild.wordpress.com

twice the fun & 7 months

we had an extremely busy weekend around here. jason went to a men's retreat with a bunch of guys from our church, the boys were shipped off to nana & grangoat's for the weekend where they got to enjoy the zoo, the park, ice cream and a picnic (ie, i don't think they missed us :-), and i made a trip to brenham with my mom for one of my dearest friends' baby shower.

misty and i met in college at texas a&m and really got to be close friends when we were counselors together at camp of the hills in 1999. she introduced jason and i at church one night and was in our wedding. her & her husband are a big reason we explored mission work in thailand a few years ago. she is just a dear, dear friend...we have remained close over the years even when we don't see each other or talk that often, nothing ever changes between us. she is expecting her first babies in about 4-6 weeks. she is having twins - a boy and a girl!!! i had not seen her in almost a year and a half and i enjoyed our visit SO MUCH! i especially loved feeling her sweet babies kick me. can't wait to meet them! love you misty!

we are enjoying a SNOW DAY around here today! school was canceled and there is snow on the ground so we're off to enjoy it! i'll post pictures soon. also, happy birthday to aunt laur-laur and happy 7 months to our family on the wait list!!! getting closer!!!