Blog Stocking

Every once in a while I find my self returning to the same blog over and over again. My computer even knows where to go.. I just start typing and like magic it finishes the words for me! I know you all have sites like that. Well recently it has been a food blog. That is pretty remarkable for me; I don't really like to cook. 

Skinnytaste

Asian-glazed drumsticks

This is what I made last night! It was amazing. I served it over sticky rice, and it was so good, we had it for lunch again today.

Black bean soup

I have already made this soup twice! It is not the kids favorite, but my kids don't like black beans no matter how I fix them. I love it, and could eat it every day for lunch.

Cajun chicken pasta

This one is also a keeper!

I really have not found anything on this site that I have not loved. The recipes are very easy to follow, and the ingredients are not crazy off the wall things. I also love that the calories, fat, fiber, and protein is all listed for each recipe.
Check it out, and have fun cooking!

Fostering

I did a guest post for Sarah over at Life and Grace. She has been doing a series on how to help people in various stages of life. She asked me to write about fostering. She posted it on Wednesday Feb. 20th, and I totally forgot to mention it on my blog. I am terrible at networking! Please hop over and check out Sarah's blog. She is an amazing woman, mother, and friend!

Life and Grace

Elijah's Bed Part 2

My Wonderful husband notched the ladder rungs  for me.

We dismantled the old cabinet for parts, and turned it into a Lego building shelf and a desk.

The desk

We still have to add a little piece of rope to hold up the right corner of the Lego shelf.

This is what it looks like this morning. I have to paint it all out white. I will not paint the rolling storage bin. I want to make it look this one from Serena and Lily. 

Serena and Lily

Some of the fun stuff I found on a shopping trip for new bedding. The poor boy has not had new bedding since he was two! 

Unfortunately for him, I put one of the pillows on the couch and loved it! It will staying in the living room.. Back to the drawing board for the boy!:)

Elijah's Bed

Elijah turns 11 this month! Yikes! They get big fast. 
He has been wanting a loft bed for as long as I can remember. So, for his birthday we decided to build him one.

my inspiration picture

pinterest

We do not have the wood detail..quite the opposite. I have a window right in the way!

I took a deep breath, got over my symmetry issues, ignored the window, took the old bed down, cleared the room, and swept the floor, all by...

Not to bad! And that was the end of my part. The boys took over from there.

More to come tomorrow.. He actually got to sleep on it the first night. It went together pretty fast. We are finishing the underneath desk parts today, and I still have to paint it out.

Snap Shot

It has been so terribly long since I have posted anything!
 I am so sorry..
 I think I have just been overwhelmed with life. 
I woke up this morning and thought that I would give you a little snap-shot of what has been going on. 

We have a new family member with us right now.

 

He is the joy of the family and has brought a lot of wonderful changes!

 This is the permanent new look of the chandelier. We call him "Chandelier Buddy" and without him I'm not sure I would ever get dressed! 

A slipcover in progress!

 I still take a sewing job every now and then to help pay for school stuff, kids clothes, and miscellaneous family nonsense.

Homeschooling is in full swing!

The oldest is driving! Oh, and graduating! yikes!

Keeping the marriage Happy and Healthy!

Some nights we fall in bed and just laugh!  

I truly am so amazed and so grateful for God's love and mercy to my family. I am so blessed to have such a wonderful husband to enjoy all this craziness with!

Monopoly Fun

It has taken 15 years, 9 months, and give or take a few days, but it has finally happened! I can play a game of Monopoly with all 3 of my kids and nobody cries or gives up in the middle.  Yay! I have loved Monopoly since I was a little girl, but honestly, I had given up the dream of my children liking it.

Last week we did a little TV fast, and the kids discovered all sorts of other loves. Hurrah for boredom! If you get bored enough you will begin to use your brain again and find all sorts of fun things to do.

House arrest

Military Housing 

(This is funny if you live in a military town.)

Have a great week!

A change of heart:A change of direction

"I am already working in a ministry; I don't have time to add anything else."


"I can't do that to my family; It will be to painful."


"I don't want to work with their birth-parents; They are difficult."


I am ashamed to say that these are all quotes from me with regard to fostering children. I said these things in my head and out loud over and over again while we were doing our adoption classes and finishing our home study. And then Jesus got to me. He began to ask me questions that were painful..


What if the people I want you to serve are the least among you?


What if I don't want you living "safely"?



What if uncomfortable and hard are good things that will bring you closer to Me?


    "For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in: Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me. Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed thee: or thirsty, and gave thee drink? When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee? Or when saw we thee sick or in prison, and came unto thee? And the King shall answer and say unto thee, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me."
 Matthew 25:35-40


I have such a wonderfully safe life. I have so much. I have a wonderful church and family, but when do I really even come in contact with the "least?"  "I have come to see that the great tragedy in the church is not that rich Christians do not care about the poor but that rich Christians do not know the poor...." Shane Claiborne


I spent a whole morning crying over the things that had thoughtlessly come out of my mouth. I really don't know any poor except the occasional  homeless man that I hand a few dollars to.


A child is abused or neglected every 84 minutes in Virginia.
every 8 days, a child dies from abuse or neglect.


Some of the factors related to abuse/ neglect:
    *Young parents or parents with inadequate knowledge of child development and appropriate parenting skills.
    *Parents who have received inadequate parenting from their own parents.
    *Parents who are depressed or over concerned about their own adequacy.
    * addictions
    *Parents whose attachment to the child is impaired or non-existent.


 Jesus asked me, What if your family gave a child a safe home and then helped in the training of the parent so they could put their family back together?  What if you took the knowledge that your mother gave to you and taught someone who didn't have any? What if you pointed them to the One who is Love and changes lives forever?


We started the foster parent classes this week.


I don't want to preach at anyone. I just want to share the passion that God has given to my family. This will not be easy for us, but I am excited. We get to obey God in a new way.  "Obedience isn't a lack of fear. It's just doing it scared." 
(Jen Hatmaker, 7, an experimental mutiny against excess)


We are keeping our home study with our current adoption agency; we would still like to have another child of our own.
We are working on becoming a foster family. (more background checks, forms, and homestudies: YUCK!) 
I am praying for God to help me to be patient through this process. (We started last September.) It is a little like changing your major in your junior year of college!

"The first question which the priest and the Levite asked was: 'If I stop to help this man, what will happen to me?' But the good Samaritan reversed the question: 'If I do not stop to help this man, what will happen to him?'

Martin Luther King Jr.