We got the email today that we are now on "the list"! I'm so glad this step is behind us. It took us 9 months to do all the paperwork, I thought would only take us 6 months... God's timing is perfect, and he will lead us to our child.
They didn't tell us what number we are on the list, which I'm okay with, that would just drive me crazy. Last year the wait for boys under 6 months, was 8 1/2 -10 months, so that is what we're expecting. Which unfortunately that puts us to get a referral in the summer, which is bad because we're not allowed to travel in the summer. The agency knows we can't travel in those months. I'm not going to worry about this. Like I said God's timing will be perfect to lead us to the child that is perfect for us.
We thank you for your prayers. I know it's a long time to wait, but this is a huge thing for us. Just think, it's possible that somewhere in Ethiopia there could be a woman pregnant with our sweet baby. I think about this woman often knowing that she is maybe scared or confused. She is about to make a very big decision in her life. I think she must be brave and loving to soon make this decision in her life. Ironically as I'm typing this the movie Juno just came on. Haha, definitely pray for the birthmother in this time. It's a good movie if you've never seen it, though our adoption is a much different situation.
Blessings!
Friday, September 24, 2010
Sunday, September 19, 2010
9-19-10 What's Up
So, here's what's up in our lives this week. The big news from last week is that our dossier was submitted and this time was accepted because all the documents were correct... whew! So, now the documents are in Washington DC and it will take up to 2 weeks for them to be processed. Then we'll be waiting.
I've been thinking a lot about it. It's totally possible that somewhere in Ethiopia there's a woman pregnant with the baby I will someday call mine. For now he is hers, though we will always share him in spirit. I am praying for them both, the Lord knows who she is! CHI sent out a newsletter last week with some pictures of babies already home with their families. They were so beautiful! I kept the newsletter so I can keep remembering to pray. I showed the picture to Elijah and told him his brother would be adopted and maybe look like these babies. He acted excited, but he's still totally clueless. He acts excited when you tell him anything... he's a funny guy!
Here's what we're eating this week. I've been reading more about eating "naturally". I've decided to buy some of my fruits vegetables organic. I've also looked up local farms with grass-fed, organic meat. There are two farms that I might try out soon. One sells pork, chickens and eggs, the other sells beef. I'll keep you posted on that. For this week I have some meat in my freezer I need to get rid of.
This week I shopped at Food-Lion and spent $66, which I was actually bummed about because whenever you spend $75 you get a special ticket and when you get 6 tickets you get a $25 gift card. Then I had to go to Wal-mart to get dog food and dog shampoo (the shampoo need a gross story I will spare you).
Update on last week- the chicken soup was fantastic, we will definitely be doing that again this winter.
Monday- Quiche: I'm going to use this recipe http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Spinach-Quiche/Detail.aspx It got great reviews, so we'll see how we like it. Our family loves quiche in general, yes as a dinner.
Tuesday- Chicken and Biscuit Casserole: I'm using this recipe http://www.kitchenstewardship.com/2010/01/27/once-a-month-cooking-prep-cream-of-casseroles/ Yes, I'm planning on trying to make the canned soup substitute. I'll probably freeze half.
Wednesday- Dinner at church
Thursday- Spaghetti- and I am going to make my own sauce and I'm going to freeze the left overs for another night, or a few other nights.
1 onion, chopped
1 green pepper, chopped
3 garlic cloves, minced
1/4 cup dried parsley
1 stalk celery, chopped
2 Tbls. olive oil
1-2 lbs
2 large cans diced tomatoes (28 oz each)
1 large can tomato sauce (28 oz)
1 tsp dried basil
1/2 tsp oregano
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
Saute onions, green pepper, garlic, parsley and celery in oil until soft. Add meat and cook until pink is gone. Add remaining ingredients. Cover and simmer for several hours, stirring occasionally. Serves 8.
Friday- My plan was to get Salmon filets, but Food Lion did not have good salmon and Wal-mart was remodeling and didn't have any either. I might just pull out the shepherd's pie from the freezer from two weeks ago or we might have leftovers.
Have a great week!
I've been thinking a lot about it. It's totally possible that somewhere in Ethiopia there's a woman pregnant with the baby I will someday call mine. For now he is hers, though we will always share him in spirit. I am praying for them both, the Lord knows who she is! CHI sent out a newsletter last week with some pictures of babies already home with their families. They were so beautiful! I kept the newsletter so I can keep remembering to pray. I showed the picture to Elijah and told him his brother would be adopted and maybe look like these babies. He acted excited, but he's still totally clueless. He acts excited when you tell him anything... he's a funny guy!
Here's what we're eating this week. I've been reading more about eating "naturally". I've decided to buy some of my fruits vegetables organic. I've also looked up local farms with grass-fed, organic meat. There are two farms that I might try out soon. One sells pork, chickens and eggs, the other sells beef. I'll keep you posted on that. For this week I have some meat in my freezer I need to get rid of.
This week I shopped at Food-Lion and spent $66, which I was actually bummed about because whenever you spend $75 you get a special ticket and when you get 6 tickets you get a $25 gift card. Then I had to go to Wal-mart to get dog food and dog shampoo (the shampoo need a gross story I will spare you).
Update on last week- the chicken soup was fantastic, we will definitely be doing that again this winter.
Monday- Quiche: I'm going to use this recipe http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Spinach-Quiche/Detail.aspx It got great reviews, so we'll see how we like it. Our family loves quiche in general, yes as a dinner.
Tuesday- Chicken and Biscuit Casserole: I'm using this recipe http://www.kitchenstewardship.com/2010/01/27/once-a-month-cooking-prep-cream-of-casseroles/ Yes, I'm planning on trying to make the canned soup substitute. I'll probably freeze half.
Wednesday- Dinner at church
Thursday- Spaghetti- and I am going to make my own sauce and I'm going to freeze the left overs for another night, or a few other nights.
1 onion, chopped
1 green pepper, chopped
3 garlic cloves, minced
1/4 cup dried parsley
1 stalk celery, chopped
2 Tbls. olive oil
1-2 lbs
2 large cans diced tomatoes (28 oz each)
1 large can tomato sauce (28 oz)
1 tsp dried basil
1/2 tsp oregano
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
Saute onions, green pepper, garlic, parsley and celery in oil until soft. Add meat and cook until pink is gone. Add remaining ingredients. Cover and simmer for several hours, stirring occasionally. Serves 8.
Friday- My plan was to get Salmon filets, but Food Lion did not have good salmon and Wal-mart was remodeling and didn't have any either. I might just pull out the shepherd's pie from the freezer from two weeks ago or we might have leftovers.
Have a great week!
Monday, September 13, 2010
9.13.10 Menu and Happenings
I just returned from the Women of Faith conference. I met my mom, sister, aunt and cousins, and two great family friends in Philadelphia, PA for the conference there. My aunt lives close to there so we stayed with them. It was great to see my mom and sister and everyone. It's just a great reminder to me of how, at least for me, how important family is. No matter how long it's been since we've seen each other we can always just open up and be ourselves with one another. Plus, they've known me my whole life, so I can really be myself. It was great! The conference itself was great also. The messages were encouraging and hopeful. I wish they had more Biblical content, but I guess they can't go into that too much with a multi-denominational setting. Steve took great care of Elijah while I was gone and even did some chores while I was gone. Life is good!
I just made my menu for the week and went shopping. Here's what the Gourley's will be eatting. This week I looked in my pantry and I'm trying to get rid of a few things, so since I had a lower grocery list I splurged on a few things like cage-free eggs and real maple syrup, yum. Still I only spent $77 (and that even included big boxes of soap and trash bags). This is for four meals, because we're having a group at camp for the weekend, so we'll eat with them for the weekend dinners.
Monday- I didn't get to leave Steve with the chicken last week, so we'll have it tonight. I put the crockpot on high for 5 hours with 1 whole chicken, an onion, a little garlic, pepper, and 4 chopped carrots. I made mashed potatoes as a side dish. I saved the broth and the leftover chicken for tomorrow.
Tuesday- Chicken Soup I'm kind of an "eyeball" cooker, meaning I just eyeball it a lot. I'll use the chicken broth from yesterday and might add some canned low sodium broth if i need more. Then I'll add the chicken leftover from yesterday, carrots, noodles (which will cook while the soup heats up) I bought whole wheat shells, because they didn't have whole wheat egg noodles. Served with homemade bread toast. We'll see how we like it.
Wednesday- Dinner at church
Thursday- This is one of my favorite recipes I've ever found. No-rise Pizza Crust- a homemade pizza crust that doesn't take all day to make
1 packet active dry yeast
1 teaspoon sugar
1 cup warm water
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 1/2 cups bread flour
2 Tablespoons olive or vegetable oil
1 teaspoon salt
Preheat oven to 450. In a bowl or mixer bowl dissolve yeast and sugar in the warm water. Let stand 10 minutes. Meanwhile get ready the other ingredients. Stir in flour, salt and oil. Beat or mix by hand until smooth. Let rest for 5 minutes. Turn dough into a greased pizza sheet. You decide how big and thick you want the crust. Add your favorite ingredients. Bake 12-15 minutes or until done. Let pizza cool 5 minutes before cutting.
Friday- Chicken Alfredo with spinach- so easy, though next i think I'm going to try to make the sauce. The sauce masks the spinach flavor pretty well, so don't be scarred if you don't like spinach. It's extra nutrition.
3 chicken breasts, cut into strips
italian seasoning, maybe a little garlic salt
spaghetti noodles- I use whole wheat
frozen chopped spinach (it comes in blocks or bags, I use half a block or a few handfuls if in a bag)
1 jar alredo sauce
heat a tablespoon of vegetable oil, cook chicken and sprinkle with a little italian seasoning and garlic salt. Meanwhile, boil the noodles, when I think the noodles are about halfway cooked I add the spinach to the noodles then allow to re-boil and cook until the noodles are done, drain. When chicken is done, mix everything together and add as much sauce as you want.
My little extra I made this week was homemade granola bars. I used this recipe: http://www.kitchenstewardship.com/2009/06/16/recipe-connection-homemade-granola-and-granola-bars/
It's at the middle of the page, called Katie's Granola bars. This time with 1/2 cup each of peanut butter, chocolate chips, walnuts, and blueberry craisins as the add ins. They were a little crumbly, but yummy (I think the crumbliness had to do with my butter not being soft enough. I think I'll experiment a little with this next time. I did get like 20 bars out of it and I froze about half of them so they don't go bad.
Enjoy!
I just made my menu for the week and went shopping. Here's what the Gourley's will be eatting. This week I looked in my pantry and I'm trying to get rid of a few things, so since I had a lower grocery list I splurged on a few things like cage-free eggs and real maple syrup, yum. Still I only spent $77 (and that even included big boxes of soap and trash bags). This is for four meals, because we're having a group at camp for the weekend, so we'll eat with them for the weekend dinners.
Monday- I didn't get to leave Steve with the chicken last week, so we'll have it tonight. I put the crockpot on high for 5 hours with 1 whole chicken, an onion, a little garlic, pepper, and 4 chopped carrots. I made mashed potatoes as a side dish. I saved the broth and the leftover chicken for tomorrow.
Tuesday- Chicken Soup I'm kind of an "eyeball" cooker, meaning I just eyeball it a lot. I'll use the chicken broth from yesterday and might add some canned low sodium broth if i need more. Then I'll add the chicken leftover from yesterday, carrots, noodles (which will cook while the soup heats up) I bought whole wheat shells, because they didn't have whole wheat egg noodles. Served with homemade bread toast. We'll see how we like it.
Wednesday- Dinner at church
Thursday- This is one of my favorite recipes I've ever found. No-rise Pizza Crust- a homemade pizza crust that doesn't take all day to make
1 packet active dry yeast
1 teaspoon sugar
1 cup warm water
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 1/2 cups bread flour
2 Tablespoons olive or vegetable oil
1 teaspoon salt
Preheat oven to 450. In a bowl or mixer bowl dissolve yeast and sugar in the warm water. Let stand 10 minutes. Meanwhile get ready the other ingredients. Stir in flour, salt and oil. Beat or mix by hand until smooth. Let rest for 5 minutes. Turn dough into a greased pizza sheet. You decide how big and thick you want the crust. Add your favorite ingredients. Bake 12-15 minutes or until done. Let pizza cool 5 minutes before cutting.
Friday- Chicken Alfredo with spinach- so easy, though next i think I'm going to try to make the sauce. The sauce masks the spinach flavor pretty well, so don't be scarred if you don't like spinach. It's extra nutrition.
3 chicken breasts, cut into strips
italian seasoning, maybe a little garlic salt
spaghetti noodles- I use whole wheat
frozen chopped spinach (it comes in blocks or bags, I use half a block or a few handfuls if in a bag)
1 jar alredo sauce
heat a tablespoon of vegetable oil, cook chicken and sprinkle with a little italian seasoning and garlic salt. Meanwhile, boil the noodles, when I think the noodles are about halfway cooked I add the spinach to the noodles then allow to re-boil and cook until the noodles are done, drain. When chicken is done, mix everything together and add as much sauce as you want.
My little extra I made this week was homemade granola bars. I used this recipe: http://www.kitchenstewardship.com/2009/06/16/recipe-connection-homemade-granola-and-granola-bars/
It's at the middle of the page, called Katie's Granola bars. This time with 1/2 cup each of peanut butter, chocolate chips, walnuts, and blueberry craisins as the add ins. They were a little crumbly, but yummy (I think the crumbliness had to do with my butter not being soft enough. I think I'll experiment a little with this next time. I did get like 20 bars out of it and I froze about half of them so they don't go bad.
Enjoy!
Monday, September 6, 2010
This Weeks Menu
I discovered a new blog this week that I've enjoyed reading called The Passionate Homemaker. She posts her weekly menus for others to get ideas. I plan my menus every Sunday or Monday (or whenever i go to the store for the week). I thought some people might get some good ideas from us. I have a master list of favorite dinner meals so I use those meals a lot, but I also add in new meals when I see good ideas. Here's this week's dinner menu: (for lunches we usually do sandwiches or leftovers with fruit and crackers/chips and salsa.
I spent $60 this week when we went, which I thought was pretty good. This did include a few staples like fruit, eggs and milk. We make bread in our bread maker once a week, which is super delicious and cheap.
Sunday- I made homemade tomato soup with grilled cheese sandwiches- I would share the recipe for the soup, but it was my first time making it and it's not perfected yet. And, as we were sitting down to eat Steve mentions that he's not a huge fan of tomato soup, so this might not be a regular meal.
Monday- Salmon (delicious with just a little Tastefully Simple seasoning salt), rice and broccoli
Tuesday- Turkey burgers on bread, with baked sweet potato fries
Wednesday- Dinner at church (But I'll be cooking this day to prep food for Steve and Elijah because I'll be leaving to go to a Women of Faith conference with my mom and sister for the weekend, YAY!)
Thursday- Steve and Elijah will be having this recipe for Shepherd's Pie. I'm going to freeze half for another night like she suggests. http://www.passionatehomemaking.com/2009/02/shepherds-pie-revised-updated.html
Friday- Crock Pot Chicken-
Whole Chicken, 3-4 carrots, 4-5 small potatoes, 1 clove of garlic, 1/2 an onion, some water, chop all the vegetables and put in the crockpot for 6-8 hours on low or whenever it's done. They'll eat probably 1/2 the chicken and vegetables in this recipe, then I'll make chicken noodle soup with the left overs next week. Since I won't be there I'll pre chop all the veggies and leave Steve with the directions to turn it on.
I also try to make one nice breakfast every week to eat the leftovers throughout the week. This week I made blueberry waffles. Here's that recipe (adapted from Cathy Gourley's waffle recipe):
4 eggs
2 1/2 cups milk
3/4 cup vegetable oil
2 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1 cup all purpose flour
4 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 cup frozen of fresh blueberries, next time I'm going to try also adding some mashed banana.
Mix together wet ingredients- eggs, milk, oil, then mix together dry ingredients. Then mix them all together. Try to get out all the lumps. Then fold in the blueberries. Then use on your favorite waffle maker. We have a belgian waffle maker and it makes 12-14 waffles. I freeze the left overs and then when i want to use them I let them thaw for a few minutes then toast in the toaster oven until nice and hot. YUM! For us, 1 belgian size waffle is enough, sometimes with an egg or sausage on the side for some good protein.
I spent $60 this week when we went, which I thought was pretty good. This did include a few staples like fruit, eggs and milk. We make bread in our bread maker once a week, which is super delicious and cheap.
Sunday- I made homemade tomato soup with grilled cheese sandwiches- I would share the recipe for the soup, but it was my first time making it and it's not perfected yet. And, as we were sitting down to eat Steve mentions that he's not a huge fan of tomato soup, so this might not be a regular meal.
Monday- Salmon (delicious with just a little Tastefully Simple seasoning salt), rice and broccoli
Tuesday- Turkey burgers on bread, with baked sweet potato fries
Wednesday- Dinner at church (But I'll be cooking this day to prep food for Steve and Elijah because I'll be leaving to go to a Women of Faith conference with my mom and sister for the weekend, YAY!)
Thursday- Steve and Elijah will be having this recipe for Shepherd's Pie. I'm going to freeze half for another night like she suggests. http://www.passionatehomemaking.com/2009/02/shepherds-pie-revised-updated.html
Friday- Crock Pot Chicken-
Whole Chicken, 3-4 carrots, 4-5 small potatoes, 1 clove of garlic, 1/2 an onion, some water, chop all the vegetables and put in the crockpot for 6-8 hours on low or whenever it's done. They'll eat probably 1/2 the chicken and vegetables in this recipe, then I'll make chicken noodle soup with the left overs next week. Since I won't be there I'll pre chop all the veggies and leave Steve with the directions to turn it on.
I also try to make one nice breakfast every week to eat the leftovers throughout the week. This week I made blueberry waffles. Here's that recipe (adapted from Cathy Gourley's waffle recipe):
4 eggs
2 1/2 cups milk
3/4 cup vegetable oil
2 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1 cup all purpose flour
4 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 cup frozen of fresh blueberries, next time I'm going to try also adding some mashed banana.
Mix together wet ingredients- eggs, milk, oil, then mix together dry ingredients. Then mix them all together. Try to get out all the lumps. Then fold in the blueberries. Then use on your favorite waffle maker. We have a belgian waffle maker and it makes 12-14 waffles. I freeze the left overs and then when i want to use them I let them thaw for a few minutes then toast in the toaster oven until nice and hot. YUM! For us, 1 belgian size waffle is enough, sometimes with an egg or sausage on the side for some good protein.
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