Our Adoption Adventure | |
Blueberry and Apple PickingGod gave us an incredible sunrise yesterday morning. I'm a morning person and was the only one awake to see the sky painted in splendor. Later in the morning, we went to our favorite orchard to pick apples. When we arrived the orchard had blueberries available to pick too. Yum.   I told Issac to just "act natural" and I was going to take some pictures of him picking blueberries. He cracks me up because he had this goofy smile pasted on his face the entire time! And then stopped as soon as I was done. Note to self: don't tell a 7 year old to "act natural."The trees were loaded with apples.  We've been going to this orchard for years and have never seen so many apples covering the trees. We picked the Honeycrisp variety. Have you ever had them? They are very sweet and absolutely the best tasting apple. Our fridge is now full of them.Rarely, do we have more than a pint of blueberries and I wasn't sure what to do with them. But I surfed around and found a recipe for blueberry cobbler. We've snacked on the rest. They are so sweet. Can't wait until our blueberry bushes start producing fruit. We've had blue lips, tongues and teeth!  I also made some caramel dip for the apples and Issac helped me make apple sauce. He loves to cook and it's fun to see him be excited about cooking. Delicious. Ok, now I'm off to prepare apples and caramel dip for snack. TrialsI read this in an e-newsletter that I received earlier this week.Romans 8:28 God works all things together for the good of those who love Him. TRIALS If Joseph had not been Egypt's prisoner, he never would have been Egypt's governor. The iron chain about his feet ushered in the gold chain around his neck. The finest china in the world is burned at least three times, some of it more than three times. Dresdan china is always burned three times. Why does it go through that intense fire? Once ought to be enough; twice ought to be enough. No, three times are necessary to burn that china so that the gold and crimson are brought out more beautifully and then fastened there to stay. We are fashioned after the same principle in human life. Our trials are burned into us once, twice, thrice; and by God's grace these beautiful colors are there, and they are there to stay forever. -- Cortland Myers MercyWe received a response email from our coordinator earlier this week. I became impatient and emailed last week, asking if any new case histories have been signed by the Minister. This is a necessary step before the adoption can be finalized by the Judge (I believe or is a necessary step somewhere in the process). Unfortunately, the Minister is not signing case histories though promising the director of our agency he would. He signed some in June but hasn't signed any since then.New adoption laws are being written in Liberia. Sure to be good for the protection of the children, but frustrating for us, caught in the middle, as we wait month after month for movement in our girls' case. This made me so sad. Just the thought of Praising and Bernice living in the orphanage month after month while we wait for a signature has made me deeply grieve. While the care at the orphanage is good, it certainly doesn't replace the loving care of a family, abundant food and medical care. We continually pray for God to give us His mercy with regards to this adoption. A few nights as I was laying in bed, trying to fall asleep, battling a cold, God brought to my mind the story of the persistent widow in Luke 18. She pleaded with the judge for mercy and he finally gave in to her request. Our prayers to God have been "Lord, give us mercy, grant our request." (Mercy in the context of "Alleviation of distress; relief) We also pray that the Minister and the Judge and the officials involved in Praising and Bernice's case to have mercy over our girls and our family. One definition of mercy is "Compassionate treatment of the unfortunate and helpless" another is "Compassionate treatment, especially of those under one's power." We are under the power of the government of our children. This morning, I read an agency update that said that the final public hearing for the new laws was going to be on Monday, Sept 8. After this the laws can be ratified. Please be praying for this hearing. Pray that God would show mercy. Pray that the new laws would be ratified. (I had to look ratify up in wikipedia. Learning new words here...It means the act of giving official sanctions or approval to a formal document). We are not sure of the exact contents of the new laws but our agency has been involved in helping to write the laws and it is said to be good new policies regarding children and international adoption. So that's the update... Please keep our family, Praising and Bernice, and the government of Liberia in your prayers. Bless you. Tomorrow's Drivers This is a scary thought. More Fun!Yesterday we went to our city's Renaissance Fair. It was the first time we had been to this type of event. It was interesting. It was a bit overpriced and the boys didn't seem to get it. But here's some pictures.  The boys playing some games.   A rock wall seems like an odd thing at a Renaissance Fair, doesn't it? They were both game for trying it and got a little scared half way up.  Making leather crafts. Getting ready for jousting. We didn't see them actually joust as the event was later in the day. Here they were practicing.After we made our way to Chick-Fil-A for some free chicken.  You had to wear football apparel. We are ISU Cyclone fans. Don't you just love those hats? State fair treasures. :)Exhausted, we headed home. And what do I do? Pull out a project that I've been working on. Here's me and my nearly finished duvet cover.  Can I have another day off to rest?? Weekend FunIt's been a great weekend and we have another day! Here's some pictures of what we have done so far.On Saturday we went to a favorite state park of ours for a picnic and a hike. Unfortunately, the park was closed to cars due to all the flooding in June but we were still able hike in.   In this park, a stream winds through crossing the road at several places. The boys think it's great to play in the water. A little family picture. It's not straight because the camera was on a rock. It is such a beautiful and peaceful place. Josh and I have good memories of hiking there when we were dating.  This is another picture where the water crosses the road.  After our hike, we had a picnic (I forgot to take a picture) and had a frisbee throwing contest. Jacob was full of fun ideas and planning this weekend. We got home and all took a long afternoon nap. :) A great day. The first thing out of Jacob's mouth Sunday morning was, "What fun things are we going to do today?" After church, we went to play frisbee golf. It was extremely windy so not such a good day, but made for many laughs and missed shots. :)   I think on this hole, Issac did 20 throws! It's a par 4 hole. He's such a good sport and doesn't care on bit! But proudly tells us he got 20. Good counting practice.  Here's me trying to throw it in. I missed.  Here's my cuties. I love them so much.Today, we have a few other things planned. I'll post about it soon. Enjoy your day whatever you are doing. Playing in the Rain It was a cool day today (only 63 degrees) and raining so what a better way to take a break from school than to run outside and play in the rain for a few minutes! Not my idea of fun. But it is for boys. :)  Dancing and trying to keep warm! At the door, the request was made for hot soup for lunch. They were both freezing. Feels more like mid-September than the end of August. Weird weather around here. It really looks like noodlesI told Josh that I blogged about the Strawberry salad ordeal. He asked if I posted pictures.He took some and told me to post them.  Can you see how soggy the pretzels got? Like noodles. Gross. Where did the jello go?The consensus with the salad is that it is not good even with your eyes closed. But if you crush some pretzels up and put them on top, it's a little bit better. Not much. Issac and Jacob did get a little creative with their pretzels on top of their deserts. Inspiring chef, hopefully they will learn from a better chef than their mom! A FlopOn Sunday we went to our church's annual picnic. It was fun--good fellowship, good food and a absolutely perfect day.I tried two dishes that were very good. Strawberry Pretzel Salad and Grape Salad. I searched the recipes on Google. You can find any recipe. The internet is amazing! :) My first attempt was at the Strawberry Pretzel Salad, a layered jello type salad. Josh's mom made something similar when we were dating long ago, but since I'm more into the healthy fare, I haven't tried it. Until now.. The boys helped me this morning by crushing the pretzels. We followed the directions. Whipped up the cream cheese and cool whip. Poured it on. Everything seeming to be fine. Next the jello part...we mixed it up the bright red juice with the strawberries and poured it on top of the pretzels and cream cheese mixture. Unfortunately the directions didn't say to hold off pouring the jello on until it's thickened. Hmmmm...it's not so pretty looking. It should be this lovely layered red and white salad. Mine has all the colors but they are mixed together. Thankfully my boys (big and small) won't care what it looks like as long as it tastes good. I just snuck a small spoon full. Not too great either. The pretzels got mixed in with the jello and are soggy (actually look like little worms) and it sure doesn't look pretty. Frustrating. I hate wasting food and ingredients, but unless it's horrid or rotten, we'll be eating it though we'll might have to keep our eyes closed! :) Here's the boys licking the beaters and yes, it was only 8am!  Josh and I have wondered how we're going to split beaters between 4 children. Mama gets the beaters and the children get spoons and the bowl?? Summer's nearly over, but...It's a hot day today.The request was made to blow up the pool for some afternoon fun. So after a morning of reading, writing and math and learning about spiders, the hot day turned into a much cooler one with the help of the pool.  Man, they need some new swim shorts, every picture looks the same! It will have to wait until next year. :) Personally, I'm so thankful that it's Friday. The past two weeks have exhausted me and I'm looking forward to a weekend of doing nothing. :) What are you up to? { Last Page } { Page 1 of 5 } { Next Page } |
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