Nursery Additions

I've been trying to be really good about not buying things for the baby/babies until we get our referral, but when I saw these little guys I just couldn't help myself. 


Can you blame me?!

Welcome, Lucy

As I mentioned earlier, the newest little Jones was born last Friday to Joe and Rachel. Here are a few snapshots of the little lady from our visit to the hospital:

I'm sure our little ones are going to be best buds. And if they're anything like their dads, it won't be long until they're out catching frogs and having all kinds of adventures together!

This Past Week...

It's been a big week for us. I'm not going to go into tons of details or post pictures until later, but here are the highlights:

I turned 30 this past week. It was a big birthday, but honestly, with so much going on, I hardly remember even having a birthday. I did get a few special gifts, which I'll share more about later...

Next, 90 stands for the years God has given my grandmother. Her health has really failed this past week, so I went up to Michigan to spend a little time with her before she passes on. Let me tell you, she has exemplified the way a Christian should die: with complete peace and a sweetness of spirit that can only be explained as the grace of God at work in her life. I'll never forget those precious moments with her. 

We reached our "Five Months Waiting" date. Normally, these dates are a pretty big deal. This month, not so much... still, it is nice to be getting a little closer.

18 stands for the day that our sweet little niece, Lucy Jones, was born. She's an absolute doll and we love her already!   

And that all happened within the span of about 3 days. Crazy, huh?

Recently...

Since many of you are reading this blog to stay updated on our adoption, I'll just say upfront that there hasn't been any good news lately. We did move up 3 spaces on the waitlist, but we were also told by our agency that the wait has gone from 4-6 months to 5-8 months. There have been more referrals this past month so it has been encouraging to see that things really are happening, even though it's painfully slow!

In other news, we have had some fun things going on in the past week or so...

First, we got to welcome home some of our dear friends from Ethiopia with their new son! So exciting! Sweet, sweet boy...

After that we got to meet up with some of my friends from high school. Scott and Stacey are also adopting from Ethiopia and we had a great time sharing adoption stories and just catching up.

Then, last week we had the "blizzard" and I got two days off from school. Don also got a day off and we had a ton of fun just hanging out at home together. He also got a lot of exercise shoveling our driveway... we don't have a snowblower yet, but we may look into it since this winter the shoveling has been pretty brutal (or at least it's looked that way as I've watched from the warmth of the house!).

You're Going to Need Some Tissues...

Ethiopian Orphans from Simon Scionka on Vimeo.

$15

... could help to feed one orphan for a month in Ethiopia. Coffee, anyone?

Baby, It's Cold Outside

So, why not warm up with some creamy, cheesey, potato-ey soup?! This is one of Don's favorite recipes, and it's a great winter meal. I usually serve it with beer bread or some other hearty carbohydrate. It makes a big batch, so if your family is small you may want to cut it in half. Enjoy!

Potato Soup


Ingredients:

• 8 medium potatoes- peeled/diced
• 1 carrot- shredded
• ½ tbs. minced onion
• 6 cups water
• Can of cream of chicken soup
• 8 tbsp butter
• 8 tbsp flour
• 1 tsp salt
• ¼ tsp pepper
• 3 cups milk
• 8 oz. cream cheese (softened)

 Directions:

• Cook potatoes and carrot in 6 cups water until tender
• In a saucepan, over medium-low heat, melt together butter, flour, salt, pepper, and milk, stirring/whisking continually (it helps if you add a little bit at a time instead of everything together at once)
• Whip/Beat together cream cheese and soup
• Add the cream cheese/soup mix and the flour/butter/milk mix to the potatoes
• Stir and keep over medium/low heat until fully combined
• Garnish with cheese, bacon, and green onion

A Bit of Encouragement

I have to apologize for the decidely somber tone this blog has taken on in the past weeks. It has felt like the fire has been turned up a few notches again, and many days feel like a battle to keep believing and to keep trusting.

I admit that I've been tempted to try to find some kind of "distraction", something to keep my mind occupied and busy as we continue to wait (redecorate a room, start a new hobby, sign up for a 25k- not that these things are bad, but my desire to find relief in them is bad- who knows, I might end up doing all of these things in the next months- with a better motive).

I had to give myself a stern talking to the other night as I was making dinner and remind myself that if I'm not satisfied now, I'm never going to be satisfied, and that the answer to my "problems" is not going to be found in a hobby or even in a child (as wonderful as that is going to be).

The answer is to drive more deeply into Christ and to find comfort and satisfaction in his love.

So, on that note, I want to turn this somber tone around...

I hope you find as much ENCOURAGEMENT in this quote as I did:

“If you knew that there was one greater than yourself, who knows you better than you can know yourself and loves you better than you can love yourself, who can make you all you ought to be, steadier than your squally nature, able to save you from squandering your glorious life, who searches you beyond the standards of earth . . . one who gathered into himself all great and good things and causes, blending in his beauty all the enduring color of life, who could turn your dreams into visions and make real the things you hoped were true, and if that one had ever done one unmistakable thing to prove, even at the price of blood — his own blood — that you could come to him, and having failed, come again, would you not fall at his feet with the treasure of your years, your powers, service and love? And is there not one such, and does he not call you?”


A. E. Whitham

4 Months

Today marks 4 months waiting.


Trusting in "...him who works all things according to the counsel of his will" (Ephesians 1:11)

Childbirth in Ethiopia

Follow the link to watch a video about childbirth in Ethiopia.  This story aired on the Today Show on Wednesday, December 29th, 2010.


http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/40839682#40839682