Valentine's Day

I have to say that this was the best Valentine's Day by far. We kept it very simple and made dinner together at home. I love cooking with my husband; it's such a sweet time of connecting, talking and laughing together. It's not something we do all the time so I really try and savor it when we do. Plus we get to eat some great food too!
Ben found this wonderful recipe online for Spinach and Mushroom Stuffed Chicken. We made fresh green beans with garlic and lemon and homemade bread to go along with it. For dessert we made an Apple Crosata. It was all so good!! It was the perfect meal to share with my perfect Valentine. I am so thankful for such a wonderful husband and friend, I thank God every day for blessing me with such an amazing man.


Here are some pics of our meal

Wedding Cake / Groom's Cake Tasting Project

I received a call from a bride-to-be that she'd gotten my name from someone and heard great things about my cakes. Yea! She and her fiance wanted to come by for a tasting. Awesome! She wanted to keep things simple and taste a vanilla and an almond wedding cake with buttercream icing. Wonderful! So I baked and baked and even made an amaretto cake as well, just for some variety. They came and tasted. Success! They both liked the cakes and after choosing the almond cake and thinking it over, hired me!

That evening she called back to see if we could do a tasting for a groom's cake as well the following weekend. Yippee! German Chocolate with chocolate buttercream icing. Oh but wait, can we taste the wedding cake again with a lemon filling? Oh and can you make the wedding cake denser and not so light and fluffy?? Well sure, I'm up for the challenge!! So I made my ingredient list and headed out to the supply store.

The next day I started baking. Lemon filling, check. Chocolate buttercream icing, check. German chocolate cake, check. Dense vanilla and almond cake......no check. We are having a snow storm and just when I was going to get these cakes ready to bake, we lost power! I waited about an hour keeping myself busy thinking surely it will come back on and praying my ingredients didn't spoil in the fridge. Finally I called the power company and they said it wouldn't be on until 4pm at the earliest. It was 1:30!

Thankfully my in-laws live right around the corner, and still had power, so I packed everything up in a big box and headed over to use their kitchen to finish the task. I barely made it out of my driveway and had to try a couple of times to get into theirs due to the slippery snow and ice, but I made it.

Now I've never made a dense cake before so I'd researched how to do this online and found a few great tips. Well, let's just say they didn't really turn out so well. The first one was more like a cheesecake and the second, well it tasted like a shortbread cookie! Tired and frustrated, by 6pm I decided to stop for the day. Our power finally came back on at 9:30pm and we headed home for the night.
The next morning I got up early and checked out the snow outside, a foot to be exact. SO beautiful. I got online again for more research and found a few more tips. Braving the freezing cold, snow and ice my wonderful hubby drove me to the store (after a drive through the neighborhood to check out snowmen and the damage the snow caused) to get what I needed and I began again.

Three attempts later, eureka, it worked! A dense cake that actually tasted good. I felt like I'd accomplished something grand! It was quite the process figuring out this dense cake but I'm thankful for the opportunity to learn something new.
So the next morning they came, they tasted and they liked it! There was a nice moment watching their faces light up as they tasted and enjoyed what I'd made. Now I get to make their wedding and groom's cake! I'm so excited, it's gonna be lots of fun!

Court Date #2 - Strike Two!

I suppose you can guess by the title of this post that we did not pass our second court date. The judge has asked for more paperwork from the region of Ethiopia that our little guy's aunt is from. She did appear in court to testify of his relinquishment so at least that part is taken care of. Our next court date is Feb. 23rd.
We are praying again for peace and comfort with whatever God's will is for us and our sweet little boy. We stand firmly on the truth that He promised us a child from Ethiopia and we know without a doubt that He keeps His promises and we WILL be united with our son.
Now we just wait for that day.

Court Date #2

Tonight as we sleep a judge in Ethiopia will be reviewing our case to make our adoption official. We're praying that everything is in place, everyone shows up, there are keys to the file cabinets, the fax machines and copiers have paper and that God's will be done. We are praying that no matter what happens this time that we have our faith and trust firmly grounded in Christ and will continue to trust in Him throughout the remainder of this process.

Last night we got to meet up with an awesome family who just got back from picking up their two little ones in Ethiopia last week. We saw them and couldn't keep our eyes off of them; they were so beautiful and full of life! They took a care package for us when they went and had some wonderful pictures for us. Not only did they have pictures but they had video too! What a blessing to be able to see our little guy moving and interacting with people! He seemed so happy and aware. He would look at whoever was talking to him and just smile. Seeing him reach up and touch their faces was really sweet. I think I've watched it at least 10 times, maybe 20. They also surprised us with his foot print on paper. How amazing to see that foot! He's got big feet! It just makes it all the more real. We started this process with paper, then our first photo, now video and a foot print. Next we'll get to see him up close and in person. I just can't wait!
Thank you so much to the Roots for such an amazing gift, you guys are the best!!

New Year's Getaway

For New Year's this year we wanted to get away for a few days, just the two of us. It will probably be the last time we get to do that for awhile since it's almost time for our little guy's arrival. Not that that's a bad thing of course, in fact, we don't mind at all considering what that means.
We stayed in a cabin in Oklahoma for the weekend out in the middle of nowhere. We didn't know it when we made our reservation but when we got there we found out that the family that owns the cabins and land are a christian family and they made us feel very welcome. They decorated the cabin for Christmas and had even set up a manger scene. They stocked the bookshelf with christian authors and cd's to enjoy and they stressed the fact that they provided this place for people to come and connect with our Creator. It was very sweet. Everything you could need they provided, from cookware to board games and mountain bikes, even skewers for s'mores...which we were upset that we forgot until of course we looked in a drawer and there they were. They saved us! We thought we were gonna have to get inventive and get a twig from a tree.








The cabin was beautiful, I especially loved all of the large windows and the wonderful back deck. It was surrounded by trees so you really got to experience being alone together in the woods and marvel at God's handiwork. A river ran through the property which you could see and hear from the deck. Too bad it was so cold and the water was low or we would have taken the canoe out for a spin.








We went hiking in the trails and had two wonderful trail guides to show us the way! Peter and Sam were so much fun and they stayed with us the entire time. They would lead us on a trail and if we stopped to take a picture or just admire the view, they'd stop and wait for us and then carry on. Peter entertained us with his playful pouncing on sticks. He's quite the character.



After a long day of hiking we came back to the cabin, made dinner and sat by the fire. We had s'mores on the fire for dessert. So much fun!








Our second day there we headed out for a beautiful scenic drive; the Talimena Scenic Drive that goes through Oklahoma and Arkansas. There were lots of places to stop and check out the view along the way. It was so beautiful. We saw huge icicles along the sides of the mountains where the shade keep them frozen in the cold mountain air. The road twisted and turned up through the mountains and though it was a bit hazy that day it was still awesome. We stopped in at Queen Whilamina State Park and took a tour of a very old 9 level vacation house. It was really interesting to see how homes were built back then, such a different way of thinking than today. They built them for efficiency and functionality rather than cosmetics and luxury. I guess priorities have changed over the years.








More hiking along the river and a boat ride on the pond were on the agenda for the evening. Peter sat impatiently along the shore of the pond watching us paddle around until he could absolutely take it no longer. He jumped in the water, swam out to us and hopped right in the boat! We thought we were going over for sure, and the temp was in the 30's that day. He made it in without tipping us but then showered us with water anyway when he shook his coat! It was hilarious! He just stood there in the boat as we paddled around a bit more, content just to be there. We laughed the rest of the night about that adventure!









When it was time to head home we were sad to leave such a wonderful place and look forward to going back again sometime soon. Maybe in the summer when we can get in that canoe ride on the river.