Cream-Filled Egg

Believe it...I really did make it myself.
What's more: it only took minutes to create.

This is just a piece of what's going to be finally published around the middle of April - a new e-zine that my partner and I are producing. I'm so excited about all that we're going to be able to share with you recipe-wise. But, there's more than that too...

Just another reason I haven't been blogging as much. All my time and effort has been put into our e-zine.

Oh, and this great big hive I've got on my body. All the small hives have come together to form the largest hive in the history of the world. It's taking all my energy to scratch it now.

March Madness

I don't really know what all this "March Madness" is about, but at our house is just means things have gone plain crazy.

We got some bad news today that the Shaohannah's Hope adoption grant we applied for was denied. Too many applicants not enough money. And two days ago, we found out that the timing belt in Bill's car is gone, so it will cost more money than his car is worth to fix it. Ahh, and the dreaded rash that sent me to the expensive ER on Sunday has come back with a fury today (it's really angry!) so I need to go back to the doctor this afternoon. Thank God for insurance.

With all the financial strains on everybody right now, obviously not just us, I just want to remind myself and you that God is with us. My favorite verses that have been our life verses since Sam was created in my womb have been:

Isaiah 43:4 -7

This is what the Lord, our Creator, says to his people:

"Since you were precious in My sight,
You have been honored,
And I have loved you;
Therefore I will give men for you,
And people for your life.
Fear not, for I am with you;
I will bring your descendants from the east,
And gather you from the west;
I will say to the north, 'Give them up!'
And to the south, 'Do not keep them back!'
Bring My sons from afar,
And My daughters from the ends of the earth--
Everyone who is called by My name,
Whom I have created for My glory;
I have formed him, yes, I have made him."

I don't know what any of our futures hold, but these words have spoken to my heart time and time again. Today, they are reminding me of the calling God put in my life to adopt a little girl from China. My descendants will come from the east, my daughters from the ends of the earth...And, most importantly of all, I shouldn't fear because He is with me.

No matter what the financial blow your family has been dealt, God will see you through this time. Somehow He will create families despite the difficulties and carry us through.

Here is my descendant from the east, my son from afar, the one who God created for His glory and whom God formed...All greased up after eating one of our favorite dishes, dry-glass potatoes. Don't mind the bad haircut. He doesn't.

Jump Rope for Heart

Our ten year-old nephew, Nicholas, is raising support for the American Heart Association by jump roping. Here's what he said about it:

Hi! I am participating in the Jump Rope for Heart event at my school. I will begin jumping rope next week and will continue until the end of the month. Will you please donate to help me with my goals and the goals of the American Heart Association?

Your donation to the American Heart Association is tax deductible. If you make an online donation, you will receive a confirmation email for your tax deduction.

I have to turn in all of my donations by Tuesday, March 31, 2009.

Thank you for supporting The American Heart Association's Jump Rope for Heart program.

I am jumping in memory of my great-grandfather, Vic McDonald. He had heart disease his entire life and recently passed away because of it and I am jumping in honor of my cousin Sam who has a heart condition. I want to try to help as many people as I can by doing my part in finding cures for heart disease.

Click here to see his website. (That's not his picture on the site.)

This is obviously a subject close to our hearts and we are thrilled that he is jumping in memory of Bill's grandfather and in honor of our little Sam. AMA does a lot of great work towards researching heart disease. While much of it is for adult heart issues, there is a small portion that goes towards congenital heart defects. If you have some money to spare, please donate to a good cause. Also, if you want to donate less than $25, post a comment (I won't publish it) with your email address so I can let you know where to send the check (made out to AHA).

Blessings.

Baby Stellan

You've probably seen these posts all over the internet, but I'd like to post it here too.

There's a baby boy named Stellan who needs our prayers. He's in tachycardia and has been for almost 24 hours. He comes in and out of it with irregular rhythms and blood pressure fluctuations. Please visit their blog to get more details. http://www.mycharmingkids.net/

Let's pray for him. His story reminds me some of Sam's story.

Whirlind

Well, we've had a whirlwind of a weekend. Bill got back yesterday after being gone just over two weeks in India and Indonesia.

Sam and I drove down to Charlotte to meet him, because, well, we couldn't stand to be apart a moment longer. We went to Ikea and then to Bill's favorite restaurant (Chili's) to celebrate his homecoming and our reunion.

Last week I was diagnosed with a sinus infection, which I think I mentioned here. I was given some antibiotics to take and finished them up about three or four days ago. Yesterday morning I noticed I was scratching myself in my sleep and when I woke up and checked my torso out, I had red splotches all over. The itching and rash grew steadily worse until I finally called the doctor on-call. He said to take some Claritan at 2pm and Zyrtac at bedtime and that it was probably an allergic reaction to the antibiotics.

I kept Bill up all night long with my scratching. I feel terrible about it, especially because he's jet lagging and he didn't need someone scratching themselves incessantly keeping him awake - he needed a nice restful sleep.

The rash and itching was progressively getting worse today and I checked back with the on-call doc who said to take some Benadryl. I took two and all it did was make me drowsy. So I was sleepy AND scratching myself all over.

In the end, the doctor told me to go to the ER. So, we spent about an hour there (surprisingly little time and we saw the doc within minutes of arriving). I am officially allergic to Cephalosporins and they prescribed an epi pen in case something happens in the next few days. All from one little antibiotic, I'm now on Prednisone, Zantac, Zyrtec, another type of antihistamine.

At least it's not Sam who's keeping us hopping. Hey, I want attention too, you know!

Outtake

It took a lot of effort to get that one story just right...

Sam and the Three Little Pigs

The latest news around our house is how the Big Bad Wolf blew the Three Little Pigs houses down. I had to get Sam going a bit in this video, because he was so enthralled with looking at himself, but I think it's a good representation of how he tells the story in general.

Oh, and pay no attention to the haggard lady in the background. She's just really tired these days. (Actually, I just finished a good run, hence the crazy wind-blown hair. I have no excuse for the circles under my eyes though.)

St. Patrick's Day

We watched this yesterday in the car ride home from Gastonia. I loved listening to it, but watching it is fun too. Great story. It's from Veggie Tales.

OUCH!!

We just got back from our trip to see the pediatric urologist. Poor Sam. The doctor was asking a few questions about Brugada Syndrome, but wasn't interested enough in my opinion. I guess it's because he had other things in mind for Sam instead of performing surgery.

He pulled apart the opening with his fingers and no anesthetic or instruments. Man can that kid cry. Apparently, his meatal stenosis wasn't bad enough to warrant surgery, thank God. But, it did warrant a pretty rough visit. So, I have instructions on how to care for him over the next few days and the doctor threw in a few more instructions for good measure. One of which was to not allow Sam to go more than two hours between urinating. So, we'll make sure to take him really often.

Thanks for everyone's prayers! This was an option I didn't even foresee and I really am happy with it. We don't have to go back for any follow-up visits and everything else looks great.

Cardiology and Urology Appointments

Many of you have noticed that I've been MIA for a little over a week. I have had such a full schedule that I haven't had time for blogging during the day and I've been so exhausted at night that I'm just curling up in a ball and falling asleep.

I've been feeling pretty bad. The doctor diagnosed me with a sinus infection last week, but even after antibiotics, I'm just achy and exhausted every day. This afternoon I fell asleep in a rocking chair with Sam playing happily at my feet. I just don't know what's wrong with me!

On a similar note, Sam has already had his cardiologist visit and has a urology visit tomorrow in Gastonia. The cardiologist said Sam is very healthy and has had no events since our last interrogation (3 months ago). This was very good news. We have another appointment in three months.

Tomorrow, at his urology appointment, we will learn exactly how they plan to deal with his meatal stenosis. Dr. Buck, Sam's cardiologist, gave me some tips and good advice to share with this new member of our doctoring family.

So, please keep us in mind as we journey away from home. I'll probably make my own appointment for later this week too. Gotta figure out why I'm so exhausted all the time! And, no, I'm not pregnant, for those of you who are wondering.

Lost

I had all these great photos of Sam in the foot-deep snow we had a couple days ago. But, we lost all of them due to a new piece of hardware corrupting all the files. I'm so bummed.

I have no idea how to get my photos onto the computer now, because Bill re-installed Windows and we realized only too late that our software for uploading the photos is in our storage unit - in CHINA.

In other news, Sam has a cardiology appointment next Thursday in Greensboro and then a pediatric urology appointment on the 16th in Gastonia. The one in Gastonia will be a consultation and then they'll let us know what the plan is.

No news on the adoption front yet either.

"The Caress"

Earlier today Sam and I were reading his book "365 Days of Baby Einstein." It contains all kinds of cultural learning tools, including paintings. Sam and I both love this book.

We checked out "The Caress" by Mary Cassatt, painted in 1902 and I asked him all the accompanying questions:

• Point to the baby's belly button. Can you find your own belly button?
• Look at the girl kissing the baby. Do you think she's the baby's older sister?
• What do you think these girls are named?

To which he responded:

The little girl's name is Lilly Baye (a little girl we played with in playgroup this morning). The baby is Madi (a friend from church who is his age). The woman - well, she's Joanna, our next door neighbor.

Joanna, if you're reading this, I want you to know how much Sam loves you. He obviously sees you as a loving and caring woman who is beautiful inside and out. He's right, you know.

I wish I could see everyone through Sam's eyes.

Innocence

We finally had a sunny day yesterday, so I took Sam out to blow bubbles.



He refuses to go outside without his Thomas jacket on. Yes, Nan, if you are reading this, it used to be one of your boy's jackets. Can you believe it resides in the mountains now?
Just in case you were wondering, this is what it looks like just before he pees in his pants. He was having too much fun to go inside. I told him to stop, so he did, then I let him finish in the yard, without his pants on. He never let go of his rock and stick. What a boy.

Last night Bill was telling Sam that he was rough and tumble and such a boy, to which Sam replied, "No, Daddy! I'm cuuuute - I'm a girl."

Needless to say, I was accused of teaching him all the wrong things during the day. What can I say? I think the problem is that Bill is teaching him only girls are cute and boys are rough and tumble. It can work both ways, you know...

My job today is to teach him that he's cute AND a boy. Later, I'll teach him that he's rough and tumble and cute and I guess, eventually, I'll have to lose the "cute" all together.

Ahh, the joys of parenting! I love it!

Breakfast Casserole

I don't know about you, but around here things have gotten mighty stressful. It seems like the majority of my friends are facing difficult times as well. Just yesterday, we had a playgroup over here and every one of us was struggling with something life-changing.

So, when the going gets tough at my house, the "tough" gets cooking. Another friend of mine, who suffered a great loss just last week, recently shared her recipe for breakfast casserole with me.

You know me, I can't ever just let a recipe stand on its own. I had to tweak it and add my own flare to it, but it turned out beautifully.

I made my own breakfast sausage where I was supposed to add "browned ground meat." Here's the recipe for that (it tastes better with ground pork, but I use ground turkey to be a bit healthier).

Breakfast Sausage:

2 t sage
2 t salt
1 t black pepper
1/4 t marjoram
1 T brown sugar
1/8 t crushed red pepper flakes (I usually double that)
1 pinch ground cloves
2 lbs ground turkey (or pork)

In a small bowl combine the spices. Place pork in a large bowl and add the spices. Mix well with your hands and form into patties (or just brown it, as per the recipe below). Saute patties in large skillet over medium heat about 5 minutes per side or until internal pork temperature reaches 160F (70C).

Breakfast Casserole

• Wipe down inside of crock pot with cooking oil
• place 1/2 bag of frozen shredded hash brown inside (separated kind, not already formed)
• in a separate bowl, lightly beat 7 eggs with some milk, salt and pepper
• stir in 2 handfuls of shredded cheese into eggs
• stir browned ground meat (can be leftovers from dinner too!) into egg mixture
• Pour over hash browns
• Turn on low and cook 6-8 hours (i.e. overnight)

My wonderful neighbor had her husband bring over 6 dozen eggs last week. To my GREAT delight, there was a turkey egg in the mix, as well as many Americauna eggs (they are blue/green and long). You should have seen Sam and I jumping for joy when we found the turkey egg! I love turkey eggs, but only because Joanna introduced me to them. They make the best pastry crusts, and taste great all on their own (very bold flavor). However, Sam wanted to include it in our casserole, so I added it to the mix.

He greatly enjoys mixing eggs. We prepared this casserole after dinner last night, and it turned out to be a great way to wind down the evening for him. He's a very task-oriented child, so once I gave him this task, he didn't stop until he was satisfied that all the eggs were mixed properly.

Meanwhile, I browned the sausage in my cast-iron skillet. Turkey seems to take a little longer to cook than beef or pork does. I don't know what the science is behind it, but it could be because it sticks together more than the other meats. I actually ended up using my brand new pastry blender to separate the meat into smaller bites.

This morning, I toasted an English muffin that I had frozen and thawed overnight and served the casserole over it. The results were delicious.

As we say to Sam all the time, "Try it, you'll like it!"

Meatal Stenosis

Sam likes to keep us hopping here. I was just telling a friend about how the last three weeks have seemed to be filled with me putting out "fires" here and there. Just as the adoption "crisis" was winding up, we got an email about our storage unit in China. The lease is running out in March and I needed to get money to the appropriate people, or at least tell them where to get the money. That's still not fully resolved, but we hope that the new lease won't increase the cost too much. In the midst of all of this, we're refinancing our home, which has taken a lot of logistical work to get done. Believe me, we're getting a good deal, but it is very detailed work. We close tomorrow and I suppose that means a new "fire" needed to start raging.

Sam has a new diagnosis as of this morning: meatal stenosis. Apparently, (stop reading if you are squeamish or get embarrassed easily), he got a small infection on the tip of his penis. As it started to heal itself, it began to close the opening to his urethra. The pediatrician said that in normal boys this is just an "annoyance" that can be taken care of easily. The tip is swabbed with a numbing agent, then injected with anesthesia, then the urologist will crush the tip and then use scissors to cut the opening back open.

The pediatrician said this usually takes less than two minutes. But, in Sam's case, things are never so easy. He cannot have normal anesthesia because of his arrhythmia. Therefore, his pedi needs to consult with his cardiologist who needs to locate a pediatric urologist who can handle this case. We still don't know exactly HOW it's going to be handled either. But, I will let you know as I do.

This is a common problem in boys who are circumcised. But, it's the ONLY problem in boys who are circumcised, so the doctor told me. He said boys who are uncircumcised don't have this issue, but have many many more issues.

So, please pray for Sam and his doctors. This will be a great learning experience for all of us, as it will show us on a small-scale how we will handle future anesthesia related issues with Sam. If we return overseas, this will be a great learning experience.

Restructuring

I decided to restructure my blog just a little bit. I know that it's still snowing here in the mountains, but I'm really hoping for some changing of seasons soon. So, I thought if I changed my blog, it might at least feel like Spring while we're online.

The above photo is of my Great Aunt Joyce, who lives in South Carolina. She has always been like a grandmother to me, since my real grandmother, her younger sister, died when I was just two. She's done a great job of loving me and keeping up with me, as well as convincing her wonderful church to love us too. I thought the photo was appropriate since it shows Sam being loved on by family.

I've also added a "donate" button by PayPal on the left. We have had lots of people ask if they can help with the adoption, and I thought this might be an easy way to contribute. BUT, we also have something in the works for a real product that my friend and I are going to market and sell here. I will have more details on that to come.


For now, enjoy an after-bath smile taken a few minutes ago. I know he needs a haircut, but I LOVE the shaggy look. He was warming up in front of the monitor heater.

Fingerprinting Again...

We got back last night from our little trip to Charlotte to do our immigration fingerprinting. The appointment went really well and the folks at the office were very nice. They are clearly not the same folks who set up the appointment via email.

Thanks to everyone who prayed for us about this. Now we just sit and wait for a call that we've been matched, which is sort of what we were doing before anyway. The fingerprinting renewal issue came up while we were waiting.

We are hopeful that we'll be matched in March, but maybe it will be more like April. Our agency didn't have anyone matched early this month and I'm thinking it must have been related to the Chinese New Year. Once we are matched with our little girl (no, we don't know her yet), we will travel 5-8 weeks later to pick her up. During that time I'm sure we'll be scrambling to get clothes, bedding and everything else together. But, until then, we're not doing anything prematurely. We just wait.

Anyone else have a story about waiting they'd like to share with us? God can speak to us through waiting in so many ways.

Appointment Set

We finally have confirmation that we've got an appointment at 8am in Charlotte for our fingerprints to be renewed. Wow. I'll breathe a sigh of relief when they are officially done.

We'll spend the night in Charlotte and maybe even go to the new Ikea that is opening there after the appointment. I saw on the news today that people are already camping out to be the first in. It's below freezing, so I'm not sure where their motivation comes from.

Sam had some blood in his urine on Saturday night. We saw the doc yesterday and we are hoping some topical medicine will help heal him. If he's not better by next Monday, we may be looking at a surgical procedure to fix the problem. I'm hopeful that it's not going to come to that, he already seems to be getting better.

I keep forgetting to mention that my great Aunt Lou introduced me to an amazing product called Nok-out. It gets rid of odors in clothes and around the house. She gave me a free sample of it at Thanksgiving and Bill promptly used it on our diaper pale.

You are not going to believe me, but it completely took the smell away. We are now using Sam's diaper pale as a garbage can and we don't have to evacuate his room every time we open it up. It is amazing stuff. You can go here to see what it's all about. I don't normally endorse products on here, but this one is amazing and I really stand behind it. Check it out.

It's environmentally safe and safe to use around children too. That's great for us, since we make all our own cleaning products in this household.

Senator

Wow, thanks for all the emails, comments and phone calls we've gotten in the last few days. We are overwhelmed with everyone's support and friendship.

The fingerprinting issue still has not been resolved, but it appears they are going to try to "move mountains" to get it done in the appropriate time. Apparently all appointments are made electronically and there is no way to manually change them. Believe me, when all is said and done and we actually have these fingerprint renewals registered in the system, my senator is going to get an ear full. I cannot believe how parents adopting are treated. I am hesitant to contact my senator right now, because I don't want to hurt our chances of them actually moving those mountains, but...well, I have a lot to say when we're done.

One of the commenters, Leslie, suggested looking back at some journals to remind ourselves of our motivation and calling to adopt. I think she is spot on in suggesting this. I haven't ever heard of any international adopter who hasn't gone through some difficulties, especially with red tape, but it still feels like we're the first ones to do this - as though we're re-inventing the wheel or something.

But, there are hundreds and thousands of adopters out there who have gone through so much more than we have endured, waited longer, and have received their child in the end. What a blessing that God has called us to walk this path, to grow us in His wisdom and knowledge and to encourage us with friends like you, who aren't afraid to speak up when God shares something.

On a less heavy note, Sam is doing great. We're on our way to the pedi this morning for another Synagis shot. This is his monthly shot to prevent RSV (estimated at ~$1000-5000 per shot!). Thank goodness for a low co-pay! He's doing great with his potty training, although we did have a mishap at a friend's house the other day.

One of the best ways for a little boy to use a "big" potty (like at a friend's house or a restaurant) is to face him backwards on it. It's brilliant! A woman at our church told me about how she used to do this with her son when he was little. So, while we were at our friend's house, I had Sam backwards on the potty, but when I lifted him up to get him off the potty, he dipped his foot in the water! It was gross. Other than that, we're really enjoying the freedom of big boy undies and the simplicity of going potty anywhere without having to worry about whether or not there is a changing station. Yeah for Sam!!

Fingerprinting

I have been overwhelmed this last week with the items on our plate. The heaviest item is a fingerprinting issue we've been having.

We need to get our fingerprints "renewed" because they expire on March 20th. This is all for the adoption. This is also the third time we'll have to have renewed them - they apparently expire every 18 months.

I cannot go into the details too much, but let's just say the immigration office in Charlotte is being extremely uncooperative. Here it is, one week later, and they have assigned us a time that is unacceptable, nay, impossible, for us to keep.

We have had issues at every step of this adoption process. We still firmly believe that God has called us to adopt and are not going to give up because of a small hindrance, or a hundred small OR large hindrances, but it is beginning to be difficult to bear it all.

Pray for us that we would give this all to the Lord. We know that He will provide all that we need, and even work out a tiny appointment "glitch," but I really need His assurance right now that it will happen.

If you have some encouraging words for us, please email us or leave it in the comments, but please, do not post anything that says we should give up. I have heard enough of that - we are NOT going to give up just because the road is not easy. We know more than ever that this is what the Lord wants for us to pursue and we know that there is a little girl out there who is waiting for her family to come get her.

I am sorry to complain or whine about this, but I need some prayers right now. My heart is aching that my own government is making it difficult for us to bring an orphan into our home and love her forever.