Winter Prep

Preparation #1:  Move Reuben out of the toddler bed to a twin size bed.

 There he is giddily tucked in on the left,

not quite ready to give up his baby quilts,

thus the many layers of quilts.

We checked on him in the night

and found him all the way down here,

feeling the comfort of the footboard.

Preparation #2:  Try bunking the beds to make more space, like for a crib, say.

Reuben quickly climbed on the top,

then did his best to squeeze out some tears when we told him

he would be sleeping on the bottom,

Mr. I Fall Out of Bed Like Every Night.

Yes, this is how it shall be.

No guard rail up there.

We're counting on Peter's natural deep-sleepedness

and training him for college bunk beds.

And the bed didn't come with a railing.

He doesn't seem concerned.

 Preparation #3:  Put up the Christmas decorations.

Blah.

I so don't like clutter.

But my attitude very quickly changed
as I overheard Paul talking to the boys.

As they took items out of the boxes and
decided where to display them,

Paul explained the Christmas and Hannukah stories.

Decorating with a purpose.

I love it.

Peter is setting up the Playmobil nativity.

Being follow-the-directions Lego-minded,
we kind of had to give him permission
to set it up how he liked.
It doesn't have to look just like the box.

The boys did a beautiful job decorating.
What a great way to gear up for celebrating Christ's birth.

Preparation #4:  Process Peter and Reuben's fall pumpkins.

Our friend George scratched Peter and Reuben's names in

two of his homegrown pumpkins

and gave them to us for our front porch fall decor.

Today I finally cut them up,

baked them,

whirred them in the food processor,

drained them in cheesecloth,

and froze the golden pulp in one cup portions.

We enjoyed Pumpkin Sloppy Joes and Pumpkin Soup for dinner.

And now we're set for winter.  Hurrah.

Free Money

I got a fatty check in the mail this week.

Ten dollars and eighty cents.

Put it right in the Adoption Fund.

It came from the people at Ebates.com.

When I buy anything online, I go to Ebates.com first, find the store I want to buy from, then shop away as usual.  Ebates gives me a percentage of my purchase back in cash.

As in $10.80.

Sometimes it's 2% cash back.  Sometimes it's 14%.  It just depends on how the Ebates people are feeling that day.

Lands End is 6% cash back.
Target is 3%.
Barnes & Noble is 8%.

Anyway, I thought you might like to know about it in case you shop online.

Might as well get some free money for all that hard work.

If you are going to sign up, click through this link and we'll both get a $5 bonus.

Happy Shopping!

Yesterday Was Thanksgiving

If yesterday was Thanksgiving, then today is our Day After Christmas, wherein Paul and I sleep in and the boys get up early to play with their new toys.

  

At 2:00pm our curtains are still closed,

signaling to our town that we are not open for business today.

Please come back tomorrow.

 

 When Paul and I did get up,

we made these super tasty biscuit twists

with walnuts, cinnamon, and powdered sugar glaze.

I only make them once a year

because that wonderful crispy flakiness doesn't happen

without a couple sticks of butter.

Ugh, but so yum.

 

 And what's a special holiday brunch

without our newest Lego creations joining us at the table?

And wearing yesterday's clothes

because he fell asleep in the car last night.

Pete's still in pjs.

Just like Christmas, right?

We moved the traditional American ceremony of opening stocking gifts and wrapped presents to Thanksgiving Day instead of on Christmas Day.

{Excuse me, Reuben needs me to fold him an airplane...}

Four years ago we stopped doing presents of any kind for Christmas.  We really wanted to use Christmas as a time to honor and worship Christ.  We felt that the hoopla of presents at Christmas is so distracting from the celebration of Christ that we took that part out.  We use Peter and Reuben's birthdays to focus on celebrating them.

Then last year Peter read through the Little House on the Prairie books and learned about the tradition of hanging up a sock to be filled during the night.  He asked if we could do that.  So we talked about when a good time would be to do that.  Valentine's Day as a way to show love to each other?  Thanksgiving to show we are thankful for each other?  I think since Thanksgiving was coming first, he decided that was to be the day.

Yesterday morning the boys had a giddy time of exploring their stocking treats.

Then we headed south to feast with Paul's family:

his parents,

his brother and girlfriend,

and his sister's family.

We all met at a church to have some family pictures done.

We won't be making copies of this one,

thank you funny Peter.

Reuben with his cousin Samuel.

 The Secret Agents.

When Peter gets together with his cousins

Aidan and Benen

they put on their agent gear

and zip around Nana's house in stealth mode.

You probably can't even see them in this picture.

Just plants.

So we supped and enjoyed the day together.

 Then we drove home in the snow.

With about this much visibility.

Welcome Winter.

And that brings us back to today.

The Day after Christmas.

Snow on the ground.

Legos and K'nex scattered around.

Laziness and leisure.

Let's Sew

Peter declared that it was time for him to make a quilt.

A log cabin quilt.

So we are making a quilt.

 We went through my stash of fabric and he chose these reds and blues.

He was really drawn to my Chinese fabrics,

which are eight of those.

He wanted to cut out Pooh characters for the center square.

 Ironing so we can cut the fabric into two-inch strips.

SEWING!

The part we've been waiting for.

 Love pushing that (race car) pedal.

Pressing the seam out.

Two strips sewn around the center!

This is very exciting.

Notice the bandaid on his right pointer finger.

After nicking me with the rotary cutter,

he got himself.

Yes, sewing is dangerous.

We also learned about the dangers of leaving the iron

flat on the board.

This is good.

Makes sewing adventurous and manly, right?

More pictures to come as we progress.

Feels Good

I'm not pregnant.

(But now that I think about it, today marks exactly nine months since our homestudy was done and our wait to be matched with a baby began.  So, that's neat.  Which might explain...)

But I did wake up with an intense nesting sensation.  I must clean.

Paul and I (he's so great) spent three hours decluttering, which led to a painting project, throwing gobs of stuff out while the boys were distracted by www.armorgames.com, and reorganizing galore.

It felt really good.  Like a boot camp workout.

But in the midst of the fray, Paul went to the post office to mail a package and pick up our mail (no home delivery for us in this here town of a thousand) and now we don't know where our mail is.

So if you see it could you let us know?

Thanks.

He's Home

And the volume just boomed.

Running, wrestling, chasing, squealing.

And comments like:

"Dad, will you fight me?"

and

"Dad, throw stuff at us."


Paul was gone all day, past dinner, at the hospital.

We had a fine, calm day, the boys and I.

It is amazing how Paul excites and riles the boys upon his arrival.


Don't I need to go somewhere?  There must be a group of moms getting together somewhere tonight, dipping into chocolate fondue and talking about their upcoming midwinter vacations on various warm islands.  Moms... Where are you??

It's Like She Knew

Yesterday afternoon I got an email from Nolan's mom asking if I could watch him today, even though she knows it's our protected family day.

But she said, "I just figured if perhaps Paul was going to be gone or something maybe you could make an exception."

Paul and I talked about it and decided we were going to stay in town and not do much and it would be fine for Nolan to join us.

Then the phone rang his morning.  A couple in our church had been in a car accident and are now in a hospital in The City.  Broken vertebrae and spitting up glass.  So Paul declared today a work day, grabbed his laptop, and headed east to spend the day with the family in the hospital.

How did she know "Paul was going to be gone or something?"

So the boys and I are enjoying chocolate chip pumpkin pancakes for breakfast and will make chocolate chip caramel apples in a bit.  I may even sacrifice some of my mint M&Ms to crush and use as a topping.  Doesn't that sound nice?  Then I may attempt to cut into two pumpkins to process into pumpkin puree.  Have you done that?  It's quite a chore.  But I've got time today.

Paul and the Fish

For starters, Peter just discovered my secret stash of Mint M&Ms.  Bummer.  No one is supposed to know they exist but me.  Fortunately, he's not the sneaky one.

If Reuben had seen me getting into the secret supply, he would be on me all day long to share them,

and then

he would get up in the morning before everyone else, climb up on the counter and eat them.  Lots of them.  Then he would come to my bedside and say, "Smell my mouth," and blow on my face.  Yes, similar events have occurred.  Sweet boy.

 Here he is reading the Sunday comics

on the kitchen heater vent -

the warmest place in the house.

Pure innocence.

So onto the fish.

Paul declared he needed a whole fish today.

While we were out and about

we stopped at our fave international market

and Paul picked out a fish.

The fish guy behind the counter cleaned it for him.

My kitchen staff thanks him.

 Here it is,

nice and cooked now.

 Removing the skin.

Reuben wanted to poke it.

"Why?" Paul asked.

"For fun."

 Smothered in a Lebanese tahini sauce that Paul made.

Does this make you think Heathcliff?

Peter likes to read Heathcliff

and the fish skeleton made me think of him.

Good, spontaneous fish by Paul.

While he worked on the fish,

I prepared the Greek Potato Salad

for tomorrow's church lunch.

I am secreting kind of hoping no one eats it because

it is good.

And I want to eat it.

Garlic and feta and dill.

All warmed with the potatoes

and wrapped in creamy yogurt.

Must do yoga now,

after all this food talk.

Crazy-Go-Nuts

Oh my.  I am crazy-go-nuts over this new-to-me cookbook!

 The Meatless Gourmet - Favorite Recipes From Around the World.

Tonight we had the Veggie Rice Fritters from India, Ginger Tomato Soup from China, and Spiced Peaches and Dumplings from Eastern Europe.  So Good.  And filling.  And excellent for our bodies.

So tonight I perused the Middle Eastern section of the book.  In twenty minutes I made a menu and grocery list of eleven dishes!  I love this book.  I could make every dish.

Our church is having its annual Thanksgiving Fellowship Dinner after church.  I joked that we should bring a Turkish dish to every church meal until we leave.  A bit later Paul said we better get on that Turkish dish for this Sunday.  It was a joke.  I thought.  But we're bringing a Greek Potato Salad, served slightly warmed.  Not exactly Turkish, but pretty close.  With feta cheese and plain yogurt.  Yum.

If you want to join us for dinner next week, pick a couple dishes below and I'll prepare them for you and our family.  It's been so long since we've shared a meal.

• Spiced Veggies over Cinnamon Couscous ~ pg. 256
• Spiced Tofu over Noodles~ pg. 255
• Angel Hair Pasta with Feta and Broccoli ~ pg. 254
• Lentils and Couscous ~ pg. 252
• Lentil and Potato Special (my first time using filo dough!) ~ pg. 250
• Greek Peasant Beans ~ pg. 248
• Artichoke Rice Salad ~ pg. 247
• Moroccan Carrot Salad ~ pg. 245
• Roasted Garlic and Butternut Soup ~ pg. 237
• Date Squares ~ pg. 247

For another great cookbook, visit my sister-in-law's post over at Simple Organic.


Nicole mentions the More Is Less Cookbook that was introduced to me while living in China.  Cooking from scratch, including cream of whatever soups.

Okay.  Go cook something!

The Menu

I grabbed a new cookbook on our way out the door to the Immediate Care clinic on Monday.  I used the hour drive to plan this week's dinner menu so I could shop for the groceries while we were out.

After I made my list of six meals I announced that we were having Indian, Indonesian, Chinese, and Japanese dishes this week.  And I hope that's okay with everyone.

I had randomly opened up to the Asian section in The Meatless Gourmet - Favorite Recipes From Around the World.

Here's the complete list for this week:

• Golden Butternut Soup ~  pg.357

          With Samosas ~  pg 354

• Vegetable Rice Fritters ~  pg 356

          With Sweet Banana Raita ~  pg 368

• Delhi Potato and Bean Stew ~  pg 371

• Sweet and Pungent Tofu ~  pg 430

          With Gingered Cabbage and Vegetables ~  pg 422

• Tomato Ginger Soup ~  pg 420

          With Chinese Bean Cakes ~  pg 412

• Indonesian Peanut Soup ~  pg 419

          With Indonesian Corn Fritters ~  pg 414



So far we've had the Sweet and Pungent Tofu (Chinese) and Gingered Cabbage (Japanese).  The tofu dish was nice.  Pungent, really.  The cabbage had a harsh flavor due to the vinegar.  But Peter really liked it.  And I loved using my new food processor to slice and shred all the veggies for it.

Tonight was Golden Butternut Soup and Samosas, both Indian.  Both delicious.  Once the boys saw that I was messing with biscuit dough for the Samosas, they washed up and jumped in.

 The filling for the Samosas was potato, peas, and onion with lots of spices, including curry.

I made biscuit dough, rolled them thin, and cut them in half.

Put a dab of filling on the biscuit semicircle, fold over, and crimp the edges with a fork.

Look at that cute little bandaged hand.

Bake for longer than Paul could stand

-twelve minutes-

and enjoy with the curry-spiced soup.

Our house smells very international when you walk in.

And for your post meal pleasure,

a Roaring Ninja Reuben.

Mondays

The lady behind the desk greeted Paul and asked what he needed.

"Hi.  I need some immediate care."

She snickered and told him to fill out the form.

The doctor numbed his thumb and began the excavation.

He found a good chunky splinter that had been living in Paul's oozing thumb for the last month.

He did need some immediate care.  Probably not immediately immediate, but since someone at church asked for prayer for someone who was struggling with a staph infection, this oozing thumb deal became a bit more urgent.


That was our morning.  The whole family went because it's Family Day.  Mondays are Paul's day off and we try to get out of town together.  Even to the immediate care office.


Due to our rural location, the office was an hour east.  When we go that far we try to think of all the other things we need/can do in that area.  Multitasking.


So with a ginormously bandaged thumb, we went to Target to buy the last goodies for our Operation Christmas Child shoe box, check to see if Peter's new glasses were in (they weren't, so we'll be trekking back there later this week), and get a free cookie from the bakery.


Then next door to Barnes & Noble to spend a gift card and play with their train table.


And a quick lane change to turn into Lowe's to get a new shower handle that broke off this morning.  I love it when my husband says, "I can fix it."  And he did.



Then on to a fabulous park with hiking trails, gazebos, fishing ducks, and a bench in the sunshine.  It felt like summer.  Low seventies today.  And tomorrow.  And the next day.  Must be outside.



Okay, then we thought about our dear Nana and went south to stop at her house.  The boys watched her TV and Paul ate her snacks.  It's a comfy place to be.

Love Mondays.

Two Things

Way back about a year ago, I started this blog to keep The World informed about two things:

• Our current adoption
• Our future move

No adoption news except that we will update our homestudy in February because it will have been a year since it was created and will thus expire.  Our expected date of referral is between August 2011- December 2011.  We will travel to Korea four to six months after that.

In the meantime I can answer your question regarding whether or not I would like a daughter.  Yes, I would like a daughter.  And, yes, I would like another son.  Really, how can I say I want one or the other?  Especially when I am asked in front of my current children.  Because, you know they are going to remember my answer and will bring it up many times in the future...

"Mom are you sad that you got another boy?  You told Soandso that you wanted a girl.  Are you going to make our new brother wear tights and ribbons?"

Three boys will be fantastic.  We don't have nearly enough lightsabers, swords, or Legos in this house.  A girl will be thrilling, too.  And a bit scary.  Okay, my biggest fret about having a girl is having to take her to use public bathrooms.  It is so much easier and cleaner for boys, and I'm unfortunately becoming more and more OCD as I age.  I was just listening to a story about a blind woman and I realized she can't see if the toilet seat is clean before she sits down!  Oh wow.

So that's all my non-news about that.


Now onto our future move...

It may have been unclear - I'm sure it was as we were very focused on the events immediately surrounding us - that Paul and I went to a conference about the work being done in Trky.  Isn't that neat?  There are conferences about everything.

We prayed, and maybe you prayed, in preparation for this possibly monumental week in our lives.  We weren't quite sure what we were going to, but it was exactly what we needed.

The main types of people there were:

• Real deal, authentic believers from T
• Americans who have been working in T for years, decades
• Churches who support workers in T
• And Paul and I, who maybe we think God might have us work in T someday?

All 130 of us got together to hear what God is doing in T.  His love is being made known.  Slowly, slowly.

I can confidently tell you that as soon as this adoption is finalized, we will be moving to T.  But I am really hesitant to make such a declaration.  As if I know the plans God has for us.  But, we have made that our goal and will aim toward it unless otherwise notified.

So what does this mean?  It means we will be praying a ton to stay close to God and be in line with His will.  Practically, it means...

• We, okay, I need to get more serious about learning the T language
• I need to know the Bible more
• And we need to join a sending agency and get this party started

Exciting, yah?

What's that?  You want to make God known in T too?  Oh, that's so great.  It takes all kinds of people to reach the all kinds of people in this world.  Here's that one verse that always gets me:

Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.  How, then, can they call on the one they have not heard of?  And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard?  And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?  And how can they preach unless they are sent?  Romans 10:13-15


Now I must close this post and do some really serious stuff - Peter needs to show me something at Lego.com.

(This video is what it was.  He thinks Jar Jar Binks is pretty hilarious.  There's a cute cool concert scene at the end.  Yoda on drums, Chewy on base.) 




(As is my blog's custom, it only shows the left part of the screen.  Go HERE to see all those little Star Wars Lego guys running around in full screen.)

Will you let us know if you are praying with us?  That would be encouraging.

Eager Learner

This morning, whilst still dark, a little boy stood at my sleeping face.

Him - "Mom?"

Me - "Hmm?"

I opened my eyes and saw Reuben standing there holding his new S and M flashcards.

Me - "Do you want to do a lesson?"

Him - "YES!"

I rolled out of bed, found my teacher's book in the dark, and went to the dining room.  It would have been too bright to turn on the dining room light so we borrowed light from the nearby kitchen.

And then we met the letter A.

And made a pictograph of the boys and girls in our family.

And then I must have changed out of my pajamas because I'm not wearing them anymore.


The desire to learn is not limited by the clock, so it seems.

Pointer School

We went back to scheduled school yesterday.  And Peter asked for it again today!  It was something like this...

Peter - "Mom, I liked having a schedule."

Me - internally to myself I exclaimed in surprise, "What?  Really?  Hallelujah!"

Peter - "Can we do that Pointer School?"

Me - "Pointer School?"

Peter - "Yeah, with all those points."

I realized what he was talking about...

 

 See the Points?

Pointer School

We school where the points are.

9:00-12:00

1:00-2:00

6:00-10:00

It's our lunch break right now

and so far it's been a lovely day.

On schedule even.

I don't imagine we'll do lessons until 10pm,

but we did last night and it worked well.

Except I wanted to go to sleep.

Peter was alive with energy.

This morning while Peter slept,

Rube and I did a reading/phonics lesson

and some math.

 Pattern blocks make math fun.

And we conquered the sounds of M and S.

Okay, time for quiet reading for Pete

and read aloud with Rube.

Rube has picked

Jane and the Dragon,

Madeline,

and

Dance at Grandpa's.

Peter wants to read Star Wars

but got the big veto.

Magic Tree House instead.