summer's ending soon

summer's ending soon.  it's been a beautiful wonderful summer spent with the boys.  we've been swimming, blueberry picking, enjoyed movies and video gaming, been on vacation, and as our big finale - they're each having a friend over to spend the night. c had a classmate over last week.  they had a great time; we went hiking at moss rock and swimming and they had a huge nerf battle.  m is having his best buddy over next week.  having an extra kid over is alot of fun and insights alot more giggles, new giggles, boy giggles about things i can't comprehend why they think are funny, but they do. maybe one day they'll outgrow some of it - until then burps and flatulence will remain hysterical.

chris and i are making progress on the adoption/foster care front.  we go to our class every monday night and we work on the mountain of paperwork throughout the week.  i've told all about my childhood, my prior marriage, and our current marriage.  it's funny to see the answers we fill out separately; we really do complete and compliment one another.  our first of two homestudy visits is on the 9th.  please keep us in your thoughts and prayers.  after the visit we still have medical exams, cpr classes, and background checks to obtain - all of which will be done by the end of august.  it's going to be a very busy month.  we're very excited, but like any expectant parent we're also both very nervous.

i haven't baked anything new in the last week or so.  i was given some homemade strawberry fig jam this week though and i'm really excited about trying it! i love finding people with common interests and sharing treats!

fun with my niece and our first GPS class

The last few days have been busy.  A couple of doubles at the restaurant, dinner and laughter with friends, spending the day with my niece, and our first GPS class on the road to foster/adopt.

First, I harvested my first eggplant from the garden!  It was so pretty AND tasty!  I was really excited about it given that last year I got some small fruits but then the plants died before any were mature enough for harvest.  I made this delicious pasta primarily with fresh ingredients from my garden!  Whole wheat pasta, tomatoes, sweet peppers, eggplant, basil, thyme, oregano, parsley and I had some fresh spinach from the store!  I sauteed all the veggies and mixed it with the pasta.  I topped it all with parmesan.  It was so very delicious, healthy, and very very simple to make.
After a couple days of doubles at work, it was really nice to get together with my college friend, Laura and her fiance, Brion.  We really don't get to see each other very much, but I love this girl! We spent a few hours just us girls at the pool catching up on each others lives and then picked up our guys for dinner our.  The evening was filled with laughter! Chris and Brion realized they have very similar movie tastes; and Laura and I further discovered that we love a couple of geeky guys :)  It was a great evening shared with friends over some authentic Mexican food at Pinches Tacos in Homewood.  I am intrigued by the cactus taco on the menu, but was hesitant on my first trip to try it.  I tried the pork, fish, and vegetarian tacos.  The vegetarian was my fave! Thin sliced eggplant, peppers, and onions, topped with crunchy cabbage and a spicy red sauce. Yum!

Today was spent with my beautiful niece, Phoenix.  I love this child!  She arrived this morning and we started our day making muffins together!  She loves to cook with me and I have so much fun teaching her! Her new phrase today was "It's missing something" which she'd say with a wrinkled forehead while tapping her chin.  Where did she get that?  Afterward we went to the pool and played hard with Uncle Chris and the boys.  She loves her cousins and the boys are both so very good with her.  I am so thankful for Matthew being such a great kid and looking after his baby cousin.

This evening Chris and I attended our first of a 10-week course on foster care and adoption.  I was anxious about the class, but I'm prone to that so it was expected. I'm still excited, but am feeling somewhat overwhelmed with the paperwork.  In addition, we learned that at each meeting we will complete a self-examination of our strengths and weaknesses based on that evenings topics.  Completing that doesn't bother me, however, doing so under time constraint does!  Composition on the fly bothers me... We've also already been informed that next week will be very important and that at least some portion of the class will involve role playing. 

home alone and blueberry deliciousness

Today began with an emergency run to the grocery store for baking supplies!  Out of eggs and sugar - Oh My!  So I loaded up on all the necessaries and came home to get some serious baking done.  The only question really was "what to bake?"

Well, hubby, the boys, and I picked some blueberries at a local farm on July 4th.  Four gallons of blueberries to be exact! So the obvious answer was blueberry something.  Well I had this great idea for a new challenge.  What if I could make some sort of pineapple upside down cake thingie but using blueberries?  Well as it turns out, that's just what happened!

I also made a dozen blueberry muffins because those are always so yummy!  The cake turned out perfectly!  It wasn't very sweet and was very true to those berries!  The recipe I found was really neat and didn't even use granulated sugar; instead, it used honey in both the berry glaze and the batter. 
Fortunately, Not only did I have honey, but I had special honey from our recent trip to Ringgold, GA.  Down the street from the cabin we rented was "Pleasant Valley Pure Honey by Bobby Gordy Apiaries."  It was delicious! Delicious honey and a fantastic cake!

This was a really fun day off with fun baking projects!  I so love baking!!

First post

I have decided I’d like to blog.  In deciding this it became apparent I’m not really sure what to blog about, nor did I know how to title said blog.  After much pondering over the last couple of weeks I have decided that my blog’s title should be “For the Love of…”

Many people find the word love over-used.  At times I have been inclined to agree, but as time has passed I find my perspective has changed.  How could the word “Love” be over-used?  The types of love are so varied and often synonyms just don’t do justice for the emotion to be portrayed.  Besides with so much pain, suffering, hate, and distrust, why not over use the word love? Maybe somehow it could counter-act all the negativity.

Anyways, “For the Love of…” is open ended, because I have so many loves. 

I love my husband, My Christopher, passionately.  We’ve been married for 2.5 years and I fall more in love with him each day.  He’s my best friend and I am thankful every day for the broken road that led us to one another.  We laugh.  We frolic.  We talk.  We were simply meant to be. 

I love my children, Matthew and Christian, completely; they were not born to me, but they are and will always be mine and I strive to be the best step-mom ever J  They have grown so much from the first time we met over 4 years ago.  They are loving, respectful, intelligent and I am so very proud of both of them.  Matthew is ten going on 30.  He loves to read and is very imaginative.  Christian is eight and fortunately he’s very laid back.  He lets Matthew run the show most of the time.  He’s also very imaginative and it shows in his drawing.  They are both all boy and love everything super hero and war. 

Chris and I have begun the journey to adopt as well.  We are very excited about how and when God will expand our family.  We have two great boys and can’t wait until another child enters our home!  We are planning to foster because there are so many children who need a stable home until they can be returned to their biological family.  However, many children are never able to return and to those children we want to offer our constant love and advocacy.  We know this is a hard road, but also know it will be rewarding.  We will help some families that need it along the way and will ultimately expand ours to a beautiful child who needs a mom and dad.

I love my red-lored Amazon, Coop; he’s a member of our family.  Coop is a well-adjusted parrot.  He vacations with us, plays with us, loves baths, and food – including mashed potatoes, steamed carrots, grits, scrambled eggs, and blueberries!  What can I say, the whole family likes food J 

I LOVE food!  I’m a total foodie! We discuss food and recipes often around the house.  We discuss vitamin content, balancing, fresh foods, and so many other topics.  Staples in our house include hummus, fresh fruits and veggies, blueberries (which we picked ourselves from a local farm), and our backyard garden!  I am so excited about the garden! We built it last year.  It’s is a raised garden measuring 24’L x 6’W x 4’D; It is massive!  I LOVE it!  We are growing spaghetti squash, tomatoes, eggplants, and a variety of peppers this year! We’ve already harvested a number of tomatoes and peppers and the eggplants should be ready any time now.  Mmmmm baba ganush soon and eggplant parm –YUMMY!  Matthew loves to cook with me.  Christian mostly likes to enjoy the products of the cooking.  My beautiful niece, Phoenix 2.5yrs old, has also started baking with me when she comes to stay.  Food and Family – I love them J  Cooking with your kids is such a great way to spend time together AND to teach a necessary life skill as well as stress the importance of nutrition.  It’s a win and one of my many loves!

There are many activities I love.  I love reading and playing little puzzles like word games.  As a family I enjoy swimming, hiking, riding bikes around the neighborhood, evening walks, attending church, picnics in the living room and outdoors, and tv/movie time.  We joined the neighborhood pool this year.  It has been well worth it.  The boys and I go every day they’re here.  It’s great exercise as well as being so fun on these hot Alabama summer days!  I’m glad my Sis-in-Law, Lindsey joined too. It’s been nice to spend time together and really get to interact more with my nephew, Cohen, too.

“For the Love of…” life, children, God, family, friends, community.  I hope to share mine and my families love.  I hope this blog shares our mountaintops, our valleys, our trials, and what brings us to those highest highs and through those occasional lows – Love.