I Love Christmas!

I love to bake. I especially love to bake sweet things. The Christmas season gives me a great excuse each year to go all out trying new yummy recipes. This weekend was designated Christmas Baking Weekend. I spent all day (literally) in the kitchen on Saturday. Here is what I made:

• Caramel corn
• Ultimate brownies (brownie on bottom, marshmallow cream in the middle, and chocolate, peanut butter, and rice krispies on top!)
• Gingerbread men (I ran out of steam before these got decorated)
• Buttery oatmeal crisp cookies, half dipped in chocolate
• Turtles
• Peppermint fudge

And Monday was the even more fun part: I took my grandmother to deliver 8 plates of homemade goodies to her friends! That was my Christmas present to her this year, and she loved it!

While I am on the subject of Christmas, I thought I would share a few photos of our home sweet home decorated for the season. I love Christmas decorations!!!!! (Disclaimer: Our house only looked this way for about 3 minutes. As soon as I finished taking the pictures, the clutter and toys and dirty dishes started to accumulate again. :) )

Yes, there are still only two stockings on the mantel. Although I am not the craftiest person in the world, I have made all of our Christmas stockings. Last year I made M's stocking, only to end up not being able to find anyone with one of those fancy sewing machines to embroider her name at the top. Christmas came and went, and of course, it got put on the back burner. I am pleased to say that I found someone to add her name to it, and it should be ready any day.

The piano with the poinsettias I found for 99 cents at Lowe's!

Our kitchen. This is where I spend A LOT of time. We have a cozy, 1500-square-foot house, and we were commenting the other day that we really USE every square inch of it. I am glad for that. By the way, Daniel made our beautiful, cherry kitchen table (as well as most of the furniture in our house.) He is such a talented guy!

Daniel made this writing desk too with walnut from my grandparents backyard. I love my Willow Tree nativity scene.

Merry Christmas!

My Heart is Hurting

The anticipated time for our referral is getting closer, and I am grieving. My heart feels heavy. I know that the referral of a child to us means that a tragedy has taken place. Parents have died. Or a mother feels hopeless about her son's future, powerless to provide for him, and abandons him to an orphanage. Or she becomes terribly ill and can no longer care for him..... That is what's going on on the other side of the world as we excitedly wait for our referral phone call to come.

Things like that are happening all the time in this world, I know. But this time it will be happening to our son. And to the precious woman that I will probably never have the honor to meet, his birthmother.

This is on my mind all of the time: the heartbreak, the poverty, the disease that are the reality of my son's life. My heart is breaking because my boy is losing his first mama right about now. And she is losing him. As the time for our referral is drawing near, tragedy is striking.

I often wonder - are we doing the right thing? What if we just sent the thousands that we have raised for the adoption to help families in Ethiopia instead of spending it all on the adoption of one? How many families might be able to stay together because of the medical care they could receive, the improved nutrition, the opportunity to make a living for their children? All that money would go so far to help so many.

I don't know... But I do know that there are many, many who have already been orphaned or abandoned and need a mommy and daddy. I know that we are called as followers of Christ to "look after orphans in their distress." I know that God has led us down the path that we are walking. I also know that the path doesn't end here, with the adoption of one child. God is teaching us so much through this experience. He is opening our eyes to suffering in the world that we had never before taken the time to learn about. Now it is personal. This is just the beginning of our family's involvement with the people of Ethiopia.

I think the answer is: Do both.

I am thankful for all that God is teaching us on this journey. But oh, my heart hurts for my baby.

Thanksgiving

We had a great time with family over Thanksgiving. Wednesday, Madeline and I got to spend the day with my sister Rachel, her hubby, and baby Abigail. Madeline was so excited to see them, she could hardly contain herself. She just kept dancing around. We took the two girls to have their picture made with Santa, and it was pretty much a bust. Madeline was not a fan. I felt really bad afterward for making her do that.

Baby Abigail and me

We spent Thursday and Friday with Daniel's family in Kentucky. At his parents' house, 21 people gathered from 4 states and Germany (his aunt and uncle are stationed overseas with the Air Force). They are such a fun group, and we always have a great time with them. I love it that Madeline is now old enough to enjoy the holidays. Unfortunately, I couldn't find my camera while we were there, and so we have no pictures from Thanksgiving this year. :(

The T-shirt business has been booming lately. We have had orders coming in from near and far. It is such fun to see this little non-profit "business" grow. It can be a bit time consuming, though. We print them by hand, and then each one has to be heat set individually for 5 minutes. When you are printing 40-50 shirts, that takes a while... But when I got an email with this picture yesterday, it made every bit worth it.

The Dixons' extended family decided to surprise them by all ordering Go Seek Love shirts to wear to their Thanksgiving gathering this year. (This is the family who is now receiving the profits from the T-shirt sales.) They were totally surprised and blessed to feel the support of all of their family. I wish I could have been there to see their faces. I had been looking forward to this surprise so much!

Happy Thanksgiving

Enter his gates with Thanksgiving and his courts with praise;
give thanks to him and praise his name.

For the Lord is good, and his love endures forever;
his faithfulness continues through all generations.

- Psalm 100:4-5

Madeline's handprint on our Thanksgiving card

My Little Singer

20-month-old Madeline is quite the little talker these days. Often I wonder where this big girl came from who seems to have replaced my baby overnight. Her vocabulary has exploded, and she even speaks in sentences now. She's constantly repeating everything we say, even long phrases. She's just like a little parrot. The funniest thing is when she imitates our gestures and inflections. She has us laughing all the time these days. I absolutely love this age.

She LOVES to sing. Her ability to carry a tune impresses me. Her repertoire includes: the ABC's, Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star, Jesus loves Me, The B-I-B-L-E, This Little Light of Mine, The Wheels on the Bus, and of course, Elmo's Song.

Here she is performing a couple of her faves. Love the Pigtails! (The very beginning is cut off of both of the videos...)

For the Love of Lentils

I have gradually become more healthy in my eating habits and cooking over the past several years. I have read a couple of books about nutrition that opened my eyes about the effects of trans-fats, excess sugar, preservatives and chemicals in the foods we eat, etc. Having a child brings a lot of motivation to make better lifestyle choices. I want the very best for Madeline, and I must model the behavior that I want her to adopt someday. I don't want her to eat sweets and drink soda all the time or to live off of fast food. I want her to eat food that nourishes and blesses her body, that gives her energy, strengthens her immunity, and helps her to have a healthy, lean body.

We eat meat for dinner two or three times a week usually. But lately I have been experimenting with more vegetarian cooking. A couple of our favorite recipes that I have discovered recently are made with lentils. I was a skeptic before trying them, but we have found that we love them. You really don't miss the meat in either of these recipes. Really! :)

Lentil Loaf (Think meatloaf without the meat....)

1 can vegetable broth (or chicken)
3/4 cup dried lentils, rinsed
1 & 3/4 cups shredded carrots (I use my food processor)
1 cup finely chopped onion
1 cup chopped fresh mushroom
1 Tbs. olive oil
2 Tbs. minced fresh basil or 2 tsp. dried basil
1 Tbs parsley
1 cup shredded cheese (Italian blend or mozzarella)
1/2 cup cooked brown rice
1 egg
1 egg white
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
Ketchup for top

In a saucepan, bring broth and lentils to a boil. Reduce heat, cover, and simmer for 30 minutes until tender and most of liquid has been absorbed.

Meanwhile, cook brown rice as directed.

Meanwhile, saute onion, carrots, and mushrooms in oil for 10 minutes or until tender. Add basil and parsley; saute 5 minutes longer.

In a large bowl, combine the carrot mixture, cooked lentils, cheese, rice, egg, egg white, garlic powder, salt, and pepper. Mix well.

Transfer to a 9x5 inch loaf pan coated with non-stick cooking spray. Spread ketchup over top if desired. Bake at 350 for 45-50 minutes.

NOTE: I have found that this freezes very well. I triple this recipe and freeze two of them in freezer bags. When you are ready to use it just let it thaw, place in a loaf pan, and bake.


Lentil Taco Filling

3/4 cup dry lentils
3/4 cup dry brown rice
4 cups water
4 beef bouillon cubes
4 tsp. chili powder
1 tsp. cumin
2 tsp. onion powder
1/2 tsp. garlic powder

Dump everything in a medium pot and cook on high until it boils. Cover and simmer for approximately 45 minutes, or until all water is absorbed. Stir every 5-10 minutes. Use just like regular taco filling for soft or hard tacos.

Lord, Help Us to Hurt

Katie is 21 years old and the mother of 14 beautiful Ugandan children. She provides food and medical care for countless others, and she teaches them about Jesus. She teaches me about Jesus too. I have been following her blog for a year now, and I have been challenged tremendously by Katie's passionate love for "the least of these."

Please take a moment to read Katie's last blog post. And take a moment to DO SOMETHING for the children of God who are suffering in this world. Love without action is not really love.