Sunday, September 27, 2009

Favorite Scriptures

This has been my favorite scriptures from D&C (explanation of Doctrine & Covenants) for many years:

D&C 6:36 - Look unto me in every thought; doubt not, fear not.

But this one now ranks right up there (bold & italics added by me):

D&C 105:14 - For behold, I do not require at their hands to fight the battles of Zion; for, as I said in a former commandment, even so will I fulfil—I will fight your battles.

I love that!

That's all. There are my religious thoughts for this Sunday evening :)

Saturday, September 26, 2009

Stephanie

If you are a praying type of person - or you can just send out good thoughts into the world! - please pray for this dear woman and her family.

You can read her most recent post here (and she's in my blogroll). It's been such a long journey and they are just so so close to it being over. It would be a wonderful, wonderful thing if they could fly through this last step!

This is an outline of their journey so far (from the sidebar of her blog):

  • ?? - Travel Home
  • ?? - Visa Approval
  • ?? - Passports
  • ?? - Exit MOI
  • 9/22/09 - (or so) Enter MOI
  • 9/09 - Exit 2nd Legal
  • 8/09 - Enter 2nd Legal
  • 8/28/09 - Exit Parquet
  • 8/8/09 - Enter Parquet
  • 8/7/09 - Exit IBESR
  • 3/4/09 - USCIS Birthparent Interview (Ian)
  • 10/16/08 - USCIS Birthparent Interview (Alec)
  • 9/24/08 - Submitted I-600 & Orphan First in Haiti
  • 7/1/08 - (or so) Entered IBESR
  • 6/4/08 - I-171H approval
  • 5/25/08 - (or so) Entered first legal
  • 5/13/08 - Dossier received in Haiti
  • 4/11/08 - Committed to our boys (Ian & Alec)
  • 4/1/08 - Filed I-600A
  • 2/14/08 - Received referral of twins (referral lost early April)
  • 1/11/08 - Applied to Haiti agency, began dossier preparation
  • 1/10/08 - First conversation with Shiloh's Haiti Adoption Coordinator
  • 1/9/08 - First e-mail from Shiloh Adoptions
  • 1/4/08 - Adoption information requested
It's time for her babies to get to come home! Pray with me?

Sunday, September 20, 2009

Popsicle House

Today Leah wanted to have school. She’s sick and it’s Sunday but she insisted. Silly girl. She really wanted to do a craft and I completely made this up on the fly. It turned out pretty good!
P9200002
First we took this piece of construction paper and I folded it so there were 16 squares, then cut out the corner squares. (I don’t know why that picture is so blurry. My apologies!)
The cut out pieces I folded in half and used them to glue in the corners:
P9200009
Then we just started putting glue on the sticks (just the bottom half) and sticking them on. Leah did one side & I did the other.
P9200011
After they were all on I took another piece of construction paper (that I’d cut to be roughly the right size) and just ran two line of glue on it and set it on there. It stayed just fine.
P9200014
We waited a few minutes and then used rubber cement to put the pieces on the roof. Leah really felt like the roof should be decorated. I thought the rubber cement would be better since the pieces didn’t slide while they dried.
 P9200017
Her gorgeousness:
P9200004
We probably should have glued a door and windows on the front but she was ready to move on to play the promised games!

Monday, September 14, 2009

Gondola

Leah is pulling a square basket this very moment with a leash. The basket contains one of her babies, a stuffed elephant, a wooden back scratcher, and a blanket.

As she is pulling it through my room she says to me:

It's a gondola, mom.

Of course it is.

Seriously? I just never know what she'll say next.

The other day she came out of her room at bedtime and told me "I feel apprehensive." I think that one is from Pink Dinky Doo. They do that "word of the day" thing on the episodes.

She's 3. Apprehensive. Can we just please say "I'm scared." Because I am. Scared sometimes... Of mothering this child. lol

***

Ahhh - she just pulled the back scratcher out and said: This shouldn't be in a gondola.

Of course not.

Friday, September 11, 2009

September 11th


Remembering today.

Monday, September 7, 2009

Blog Thief

This is a quote from the movie "Love Comes Softly" which I haven't seen. I'm stealing this from Connie's blog.

**I searched and noticed I'm very prone to that... stealing from Connie's blog I mean. I'm a thief!**


Clark says this to a woman (who wonders why God lets bad things happen) - Missie is his daughter:

"Missie could fall down and hurt herself, even if I'm walking right there beside her, but that doesn't mean that I allowed it to happen. She knows of a father's unconditional love. I'll pick her up and I'll carry her. I'll try to heal her. I'll cry when she cries and rejoice when she is well. In all the moments of my life, God has been right there beside me. The truth of God's love is not that He allows bad things to happen, it's His promise that He'll be there with us when they do."


***

I love that. A lot.

Saturday, September 5, 2009

Infertility

Woohoo, eh? I haven't written about that topic for some time! But this month it's at the forefront of my mind.

In case you haven't been reading my blog a long time - I have miscarriages. I can get pregnant fairly easily but I can't stay pregnant. That's my infertility story.

I don't know for sure how many miscarriages I've had. I lost count at some point. I know that sounds ridiculous but it's just true. It's a lot.

But it's hard to keep track because there are months like this particular month. This week I just had. Where I am certain because of all the signs at symptoms that I was pregnant and I miscarried but I don't ever take a test. What would be the point? It's incredibly painful. My periods are painful anyway but this is different. And the recovery from it is different. My body takes longer to recover than it takes from a normal period.

Anyway, that was not why I was writing this post but it was necessary to backtrack a little.

When I talk about this to you (anyone) I am fairly nonchalant. I've had a lot of them I say. I'm used to it. I say that too. And I *am* used to it to a certain extent. There is not the damage to my soul like the first miscarriage I had. The first time I knew I was pregnant (3 tests later - I didn't believe it) and then a week later when I lost it. It ripped me apart. That forever changed me.

THAT particular thing doesn't happen now. And sometimes I even get through it feeling relatively emotionally unscathed. (physically is something else). My feelings about wanting to be pregnant are ambivalent - nearly nonexistent. My feelings about wanting to mother more children are separated and looking towards adoption. I really am at a healthy place I think - as far as that goes. (Let's not get carried away. I'm still crazy!)

But sometimes - just every now and then - I grieve again. My heart aches for the babies I haven't born and the losses that have passed through me. A little piece of my heart and soul is torn every time and has to heal. It is painful and exhausting.

So this week - tonight - I'm grieving. It's not been a great week. Drew had to work when it started and he drove me the hour to my mother's house so I wouldn't be alone with Leah. Mom was wonderful and took care of me - and most importantly took care of Leah. I drugged myself and slept a lot. Mom made great food - and if you read this blog at all you know how I love great food!

He came back and got us to bring me back. We're home again now and Drew is at work again. I wish he was here - having the man I love more than anything in the world hold me now sounds wonderfully appealing. I'm having a weepy night (clear from this post). I went and got Leah from her bed and put her in my bed. She's all cuddled against me as I type this.

I love my child with all my heart and very truly would trade nothing I've suffered in waiting for her arrival in my life. Getting to be a mother, mothering this little girl, is a balm to my soul. In the same kind of way having my husband know me and love me is. When we'd been married about three days, we were laying in bed in a little cabin in the mountains on our honeymoon, just talking and I said - laying here with you holding me - it's like I can feel my heart and soul healing just being with you - old aches and pains in my heart just falling away.

That's true of mothering too.

I love my little family!

Friday, September 4, 2009

Wierd Book Room

Weird Book Room on www.abebooks.com

Go check out some of these books - that's some good chuckles. :)

My favorite so far: The Great Pantyhose Crafts Book

Enjoy!

Tuesday, September 1, 2009

Crepes

Remember this post? Swedish Pancakes (and my crepe maker experiment)

Well, I did finally do true crepes! I used Julia Child's recipe (of course. I'm all about Julia Child right now, eh?)

I made her dessert crepes on page 649 with the folded in beaten (until stiff) egg whites variation on pg 650.

Seriously, those were so soft and tender. I had to so carefully flip and pick them up. if you just lifted one with a fork it came apart. Total perfection.

This recipe made a lot so I stacked them with wax paper as they cooled and now I can have them several times! Woohoo!

I also made a Creme Anglaise - light custard sauce (pg 588). It is like the mother of all dessert sauces. Every other sauce builds from this point apparently. It was TO DIE FOR. Smooth and creamy and oh so heavenly. Sprinkled with a little bit of sugar, rolled, and covered in sauce:


I also froze a little bit of the sauce because I read somewhere about trying it like that. And woah. It's just divine.

The substitutions - the crepes are supposed to have orange liqueur in them. I used orange juice concentrate. (they don't taste at all like orange though - it's not much of it). The sauce some liquor was listed as optional or vanilla if you wanted it so I made the easy choice!

I'm excited to eat more of those crepes. SO good! What should I put in them next is the question... I want to stuff them with something. So many choices!