Pot Roast

I'd been feeling pretty crappy about my lack of cooking lately and was reminded by some friends to stick to the basics. Crock pot roast and stew are 2 super easy meals that require little prep and get me out of the kitchen ASAP! I cheated and bought a bag of frozen veggies, a package of seasoning, and the roast. Knowing dinner is around 6:00, I found myself dumping everything in the pot around 2:30 and hoping that would be enough time. Carey came home from work and immediately complimented the yummy smell of dinner. I felt pretty good about my semi-homemade meal until after I had already served Carey and the kids their plates. They were happily lapping up ketchup with their roast when I went to dish out my plate. I noticed bits of white stuff floating and didn't think much of it. After all, there's sometimes fat that floats up, right? But then I pulled up a big, stringy piece on my fork and what little confidence I had gained from this cooking success was shattered. In my rush to get everything in the pot on time, I failed to remove that stretch of plastic that sticks to the meat and separates it from the styrofoam. Then the dilemma: do I dare interrupt a meal that my children are actually eating without complaint? They've even managed to smother their veggies in ketchup and stuff them down! Surely whatever BPAs and other chemicals broken down in the cooking process, won't be any worse than the fast food junk we'd have to go pick up, right? So I did the unthinkable and tossed a few pieces of that delicious pot roast onto my plate, lathered on the ketchup, and enjoyed a nice meal with my family.

Don't ever eat my cooking, folks. Just trust me on this one. ;)

I had two sweet ladies comment on my facebook page asking for more on our adoption process and funny things our kids say. So Trish and Tara, this is for you!

Funny things my kids say:

Anytime someone prays, Hayes clasps his hands, bows his head, closes his eyes, and cuts them off mid-sentence with "AMENT". Then again at the end of the sentence, "AMENT". Then again mid-sentence...

Aisley says "meow" all the time. No really, all the time. But it's not in place of NOW, as in Supertroopers. Think of Mr. Rodger's Neighborhood...

Hayes calls cowboy hats "hee-haws"

AGW calls sandwiches "swaniches" for Hayes they are "mamwhiches"

Sadly, that's all I can remember for now. I'll do better at writing it down.


The adoption process:

Still going well. This week we'll get FBI and state fingerprints, a local criminal report, and finish up our profiles. We're gathering all needed medical information on the 4 of us and making sure all pets are up to date with vaccinations. We're currently completing our 60 page individual profiles that ask how each life experience/relative/previous job/whatever influenced us and will affect how we parent our adopted child. We also have a 180 page workbook to complete that takes us through various hypothetical adoption situations so that we might have a small idea of some of the issues to come. It's a lot to take in and is very time consuming, but I'm grateful for the information. I've been surprised at many things I've learned and I'm realizing the need to begin praying over specific issues now. Things like a healthy attachment and normal sleep behavior. Most people think that we're adopting a young child, so she shouldn't have many issues because she's not old enough to remember them. I'm learning that this is completely false. Abandonment as an infant is still traumatic for the child. They're born with instinctual needs and they recognize when that need is lost. Even at a few months old, they learn not to trust others and refuse to bond. There are varying degrees of attachment issues obviously, and we can only pray that the attachment process isn't a lengthy one.

Soon we'll conquer the much dreaded fire and safety inspections. There's some MAJOR need work to be done before these are tackled. Like hiding the live electrical wire hanging from our ceiling and locking up all guns, ammo, cleaning products, and medicine. I've got to place fire detectors in every bedroom and put the extinguisher within easy reach. I also need to dispose of about 12 cans of paint the previous owners left us and probably demolish the garden shed that is crumbling in the backyard. I'm afraid to do this when Carey's gone though, because we've seen opossum, raccoons, and mice run under that thing.

Once all of the paperwork and projects around the house are done, a social worker will meet with us about 4 times to discuss and educate us more on adoption. He'll talk with Aisley and Hayes about what they know and how they feel about a new sibling.

After all of this, he will write it all up, look over the big picture and determine whether or not we are stable enough to continue the adoption process. A yes means we move on in the adoption process. No means God has something else planned for us right now. Things that could provoke a no: not financially stable, mentally stable, or physically able. We'll see how it goes!

10-11-12 SHOP!!!

Hello to all of our friends in Plainview, Tx at 10-11-12 SHOP! Thank you for allowing us to join your shopping party. We hope you have tons of fun together today! :)

God's inspired Word and... the Spice Girls?

The other night Aisley taught a Bible study to our family. It went something like this:

"The Bible is inspired by God so... tell me what ya want, what ya really, really want. I wanna, I wanna, I wanna zigahzig ah."

Sitting beside her was Hayes singing repeatedly:

"zigahzig ah... zigahzig ah... zigahzig ah"

There are no words to follow something as awesome as this.

If you have no idea what I'm talking about, take a look at this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PArTdhNda7k

Never-ending Survival wheel follow up

I spoke too soon. Apparently a key to staying off the survival wheel involves getting up early and planning ahead. This will take some time to master....like years. :)

Never-ending Survival Wheel

Confession: I’m feeling guilty over the fact that it’s 2:00 in the afternoon and I’m in bed under an electric blanket “working”. My kids are napping (aka in-and-out of bed time) and Carey is at work watching mice exhaust themselves on the never ending exercise wheel. This makes me laugh to think of and I can imagine God and His angels watch me doing the same thing every day. I run in circles all day going nowhere and getting nothing done. But God is working on me. Those of you who know me, won’t at all be surprised by confession #2: I’m a slob. Lazy, unorganized, careless, and quite frankly filthy, slob. Now, God is at work in this area and by His grace I soon will be off the never-ending survival wheel. That’s what it’s called around here because things are so crazy-busy that all you can do is hope to survive until things stop spinning. I don’t know what that looks like in your life, but in my life it looks like this: the house is a wreck! Shove everything in a drawer, any drawer, so that it’s out of sight but not gone forever. Because you know, it takes a whole 10 seconds to look at the object and decide whether it’s worth keeping or trashing. Or: No clean clothes! Stuff as much into the washer as possible, do 10 loads of laundry in one day, and then never put them away. Let them stay in 10 laundry baskets in my bedroom for 2 weeks until we’ve worn all of the wrinkled clothes and have to start all over again. The same techniques apply to cooking, cleaning, and crafting. This lifestyle used to work when I was single. Never was it practical or effective, but it worked. Surviving then and surviving as a medical spouse with 2 toddlers, 2 dogs, a cat, and a pending international adoption? Umm, yeah. Not working out so well. There’ve been a few breakdowns in the last 2 weeks. I’ve thrown more temper tantrums than my toddlers combined and fortunately, God is full of patience and mercy. It’s clear to me that this isn’t a coincidence. God is putting all of my avoidances in my face and making me deal with them. Self-discipline. Rebellion. Submission. Pride. I’m on a crash course in life lessons and these are the curriculum. Did you know cleaning out dresser drawers could be so meaningful? It’s ridiculous really, but necessary. How can God give me other responsibilities if I can’t handle running my own home? I’m learning self-discipline by realizing that I’ve worked too dang hard to put this house in order, by-golly, so those dishes will NOT sit in the sink taunting me. And I’ve wrestled 36 tubs of infant clothes, toys, and random crap I stuffed into boxes, so that load of laundry is going where it belongs. I’m even learning that my children can wait 20 seconds longer while I properly put things back where they belong instead of leaving piles on the kitchen counter. These are things that maybe came naturally to you, but where not enforced with me. I naturally resist routine and schedule. For 10 years it’s been because of my ADHD. While I still have that chemical imbalance, I’m recognizing that the majority of my issue is due to a lack of self-discipline and rebellion against submission. Submission to anything that requires me to do anything I don’t feel like doing at the time, such as following through with tasks. This is pretty deep, huh? No kidding, even I’m confused by it!

Here’s what I know: God is using the home study process to help me organize my life, develop self-discipline, and learn to suck it up and submit to doing what I don’t want to do. This goes against 30 years of habits- wait a minute! I thought I had avoided habits, routines, and schedule? My rebellion only led me to a false sense of being a free-spirit. I was actually a slave to destructive habits and routines that kept me on that never-ending survival wheel. I’m getting off the survival wheel now. Goodbye irritability and wasted time. So-long selfishness. Things will stop spinning soon and look a bit more clear. Still busy of course, but not as blurry. Being a slave to the survival wheel meant that I could only see what was right infront of ME. I’m glad to be freed from me and able to see you. We weren’t created as God’s pets running on never-ending survival wheels. He created us to have relationship with Him and His people. You are His people. So…Hello!

Home Study Checklist

I just thought some of you might be curious about our progress. We're working through the 55 item checklist, 7 online courses, and 50 page personal profiles. We also have FBI background checks, state background checks, local criminal record checks, Ohio and Texas child abuse checks, and the dreaded fire inspection and home safety inspection. We're kinda busy ! :)