Thank you friends and crock pot

Many of you commented on my recent post that included food disasters.  I want to say thank you for all your help and recipes!! I am proud to say I have cooked successfully two nights in a row with my crock pot.  Last night I made spaghetti and tonight I made meatloaf.  I have always loved using the crock pot and I never realized how many things you could make in it.  I came across the this website called crock pot girls.  They have a number of recipes and other people comment and share their recipes.  It really has been useful.  One thing that I like about using the crock pot is that I can get dinner started right after breakfast and I am still in the kitchen area with N while he is working on school.  It really has made the evening much more relaxed for me - I don't feel like I am scrambling to get everything done and ready.  AND the food so far has turned out edible!  Take a look at this meatloaf..... I think they liked it.....

Nathan was so sweet - tonight he said "this is my favorite!" Even Luke ate all of his meat and he really is not a meat man he prefers chicken. So tonight I would have to say score for mommy we didn't have rocks for dinner!!

All talk.....

I cut the boys hair once they get to a certain age and can have the buzz cut.  Ethan however is not of this age yet nor would he sit still long enough for me to cut his hair and he is not a huge fan of the buzzer. So he goes to the barber shop to get his hair cut by Mr. Jerry.  When the time comes for E to get a haircut he talks about going to the barber and how he wants Mr. Jerry to cut his hair and how he gets two suckers after he is all done.  He is really excited about the whole adventure.  He even told me on the way there in the car "I'm not gonna cry."  Let me just let you look at this picture.....

This is reality... this is how he really feels about getting his hair cut. I think when it comes to haircuts - he is all talk!

Day 68 = It's here!!!

See this picture ... I think it might be my new favorite picture!! See what it says ... "You  have been approved to adopt two children from the following Convention country : China" Today the postmaster delivered the long anticipated and awaited I800 approval letter.  David got to be the one to get it out of the mailbox and I wish I could have seen his face when he went through the mail!! I know it must have been one of pure joy!! We have scanned and emailed it to our agency and now we begin another countdown - the countdown to DTC (dossier to China.)  One step closer!!  Praise the Lord!!

Singing Bible Songs

We have been learning the doxology and Ethan has picked it up pretty well!!

Date Night

Thank you CFA for a great date night. Dinner at Figos and red carpet premier for the movie COURAGEOUS. Go see it in your local movie theatre beginning September 30th. "As for me and my house we will serve the Lord."

Sweet Surprises

I have said it before but I am going to say it again - I have the BEST husband in the world!!  There will never be enough words or time for me to truly express myself.  I love him so much and I am so thankful that God graciously gave him to me.  While I know perfection is not something we can attain until eternity here on earth as far as perfect goes he is perfect for me!!!  I have a huge grin on my face right now just thinking about how he knows how to get a good rise out of me,  or the way he can make me laugh at myself.  He knows me and my response to these thoughts it so Praise God.  That really is the only response  - He created David and He knows our needs.  Thank you God for giving this sweet man to me.  

I need to note here a few things before I get on with the "sweet surprise"  - yesterday marked 64 days that we have been waiting for our I800A approval letter.  I have been to the mailbox everyday waiting for Mr. or Mrs. Postman to bring us our letter - so far he/she hasn't.  I have been really emotional this week - Luke starts preschool next week - and I have so enjoyed having all the boys home I'm just not ready to send him off - but I know I have to quit being selfish and do what is in his best interest.  And then we got new pictures of Linnea opening her package and wearing the clothes we bought her and the hairbows I made and I just want to go get her - like YESTERDAY.  Then I was worrying about her foster parents and how they were going to have to give her up and will they ever hear the gospel?  I have been reading "Give Them Grace" by Elyse Fitzpatrick  and I am actually going to quote from my friend Leah's blog because her thoughts are exactly the same ones I had ...."There is much to process and digest in this book. I am humbled and convicted and see so many areas where I do not preach the gospel to myself, let alone to my children." Here is a quote from the book ..."We are commanded [to teach our children God's law] but not to make them good. We are commanded to give them the law so that they will be crushed by it and see their need for a Savior. The law won't make them good. It will make them despair of ever being good, and in that way it will make them open to the love, sacrifice and welcome of their Savior, Jesus Christ.  Sorry to bog you down with those details but they were important.  Now to the reason for this post......

I am not a morning person generally - I actually cannot believe I used to get up at 5:15 am and go to the gym.  So I can get up early it is just not my personal favorite but when you have 3 kiddos sleeping until 7 is a luxury.  I didn't hear DP get up this morning but I heard the kids come in the bedroom and they wanted to go to the playroom so I turned off the alarm and they were heading downstairs I said I would be following shortly - but then I heard daddy ask them where they were going - I told him they were going downstairs and then he told them mommy has to go first.  What??!!  So I said hang on kids I'm coming.  I sat up and see this on my night stand....

A sweet card from my husband.  I know I am in for a treat.....So I open the card.........

I am not sure if you can read it but take note of the color - I did........

DP has noticed my disappointment over the passing of day 64 and no letter so he thought I needed a smile to start my day.  Tonight is date night we are going to eat at Figo one of our favorite authentic Italian restaurants and see the premier of the movie Courageous at the Fox.  He thinks we should go ahead and plan our next date night.  He sends me to the coffee maker for my "next clue." I know I am in for a treat and a scavenger hunt.  Here I go!!

For those of you that don't know the first time DP asked me out he asked me to just go get coffee with him - I asked for a rain check.  I finally conceded the third or fourth time he asked me.  We went to Starbucks at the time I didn't even like coffee - so I ordered a bottled water!!  So we will go to Starbucks and think about some of our favorite memories like in Italy - so now I am heading to the book of Romans for my next clue.

We actually have a few Bibles in house - one being on top of the coffee maker but that wasn't the one - so I headed to the family room to the Bible on top of the coffee table.  Where I turned to the book of Romans - seeing the map of one of my favorite cities we visited in Italy.  I found there a gift card to Figos our favorite authentic Italian restaurant and a note telling me to "head to the couch we used to take naps on..." So I make my way to the playroom.....

This couch has sentimental value.  DP and I used to take Sunday afternoon naps here pre children of course!  I found this cup that can keep your drink hot or cold filled with chocolate which I love!  This note tells me to "head to the piano bench and open it."

There I found this note "Hope this fun little morning adventure brought a smile to your face.  Looking forward to tonight as well as our next date.  I love you LeighAnn. Lots of great memories from this piano bench!! Look under the Tomlin book.

Remember when I told you the green was important to note!!!  AHHHHHH!!! I was and am so excited.  I jumped up and down and gave DP the biggest hug ever!! Tickets to see my favorite broadway musical Wicked.  You can read about my first time seeing it here.  I really didn't think we would get to go this year but that DP is very sneaky and surprising!!

This indeed was a fun little adventure and a great start to the morning.  I am so thankful for you Pruiksma and I love you more than I will ever be able to tell you!! I always tease DP that I have a list of my "top ten" favorite things he has done for me, there are way more than 10 things and he is always doing something for me so I always say I have to add that to the list and then he says what's getting bumped off.  This morning was no exception and this will have to go on the list and the list is going to have to get a new name because I have a lifetime full of things on it!  I found this (picture below) this morning when I was doing laundry - he must have hid the goods in the laundry room.

Life is a special occasion and I am thankful God has given me life here on earth and in eternity.  I will leave you with quote from one of my favorite songs from Wicked and it is just a small expression of how I feel about DP....

"Like a comet pulled from orbit as it passes the sun. Like a stream that meets a boulder halfway through the wood. Who can say if I've been changed for the better. But because I knew you I have been changed for good."

Details...

I just got caught up in my handwritten adoption journey journal.  Yes I am blogging and writing - don't want to forget - and I can't blog about everything but I can write it all down. As I was looking back and writing new entries I was struck by all the connections and how each detail is knit together.  I have had so many as Nat would call them "shut up" moments its crazy!!
Remember the "target lady"??  She does have a name it's Lois.  If you remember it was Lois that told me about Lifeline.  We still keep in touch and they are actually adopting another child from China.  A boy this time - Andrew Nathanael is his name (love the middle name!!)  I was catching up last night on their journey and found out that Andrew is from the same province I was in when I spent time in China.  Not just the same province - the same city!!! Turns out Lois has been there before because she lived there.  Can you guess what - yep - she was living there around the same time I was there.  I cannot get over this!!  Speaking of the "target lady" (Lois) - DP was at work the other day talking to a coworker who was telling him about her brother and sister-in-law who were adopting from China through Lifeline and how they had met a young lady at Target who was beginning the adoption process and she had 3 boys - DP was like um that's my wife - and those are my boys.  The connections that God shows us - are just beyond my comprehension and I feel so blessed!!!!
I was talking to Nat again tonight (side note - please remember to keep praying for both of our families - I really want to be able to travel together) telling her of these connections and I told her I am so thankful for God's kindness in letting me see how he knits all the details together in ways I would not have imagined - and how I always want to consciously be thankful even if a detail doesn't go the way I would have planned it.  After I hung up with her I finished up my journal entry and this verse was at the top of the page it could not have been more perfect - but that is just how God is so I will close my post with it :

"Always be joyful. Always keep on praying. No matter what happens, always be thankful, for this is God's will for you who belong to Christ." I Thessalonians 5:16-18

I do it

"I can do it all by myself."

Teethbrushing Talk

DP and I got to be privy to a conversation between Nathan and his brothers during toothbrushing time tonight.  This is what we heard....

Nathan: "Quit wasting toothpaste. Daddy works hard for this stuff.  Thats why he only takes off Saturday and has to work all week.  What do you want to do? Live in a dirty old van?"

Then we cracked up laughing.  Out of the mouths of babes.....

Last Stop - China

The package for our sweet girl arrived in China and today we got some pictures of her opening it up and trying on some of the clothes we bought her.  I made her all the hairbows you see.  We were told she really liked her sippy cup which had tinkerbell on it, the clothes, and her little backpack.  God is so gracious to us.  We feel so privileged to see our daughter.  Words cannot describe how I was feeling as I looked through these pictures today.  The last picture you will see is Linnea with her foster parents.  This picture really evokes so much emotion in me -again not something I think I can put into words.  The mother is holding up her two fingers not indicating the peace sign but "victory."  This is very common in China especially in pictures - I remembered it as soon as I saw it.  What great memories I have from my time there.  Enjoy these pictures of our precious girl - I know we did!!

she is looking at our photos

checking out her new brothers

loving that sippy cup

she must like to color

she was eating up those raisins

This is my favorite

We are beyond grateful for this family...

Recipe for disaster....

LeighAnn = cooking nightmare.  That is a very accurate statement.  In fact it has become a little joke in my immediate family.  When I cook (with the exception of a few things) it doesn't get all the way done, it is burnt, or it just tastes awful!!  Tonight was no exception.  I used a recipe that had been handed down and seemed rather fool proof.  It was called "no peek chicken"  called for chicken, rice, cream of celery soup, water, onion soup mix, grated cheese, and crushed ritz crackers.  You throw all this into a baking dish and bake at 300 for 3 hours.  Well I followed the directions to a t and baked it for exactly how long it said on what setting it said.  Didn't turn out so well.  I can usually tell when my family doesn't like the meal by their reactions - i.e. DP won't have seconds and the kids well - they speak for themselves.  In fact tonight DP only had one helping and here is what N had to say "it feels like I am eating rocks."  Friends all I could do was laugh.  I might for a few moments have wanted to cry but at this point in my cooking career it has just gotten humorous.  I can do alot of things but cooking is NOT one of them.  And really that is a sad thing.  I love the kitchen.  I love for my family to sit down together at meal time and enjoy one another and the time we have together - because one day these times will be gone!!  I must confess though - when one is horrible in the kitchen these times are not frequent!  So friends I need your help.  I need some recipes and I might even need some cooking classes.  HELP!! Send me your thoughts and ideas or come be my teacher!! The menu for tomorrow night is spaghetti - there is hope for my family - the won't be hungry at  least not tomorrow night :)