It's a BOY!

We received the phone call today from our social worker, Leah.

"Are you sitting down?" she asked.

"Do I need to?"

"YES! You have a referral for a little boy!"

I about died on the spot. Honestly. I am just so humbled and constantly amazed at how good God is to us. If you look back a couple of posts, you will see my rambling on about how I was feeling the urge to nest. That I felt God was blessing our desire to go special needs. And my, how He has blessed us!

I understand that I cannot officially post photos of our little man until we have our letter of acceptance, so I will give a brief idea of our boy:

His special need is cleft lip/cleft palate. The lip was repaired in China when he was 7 months old. The doctors there did a terrific job. His palate will be taken care of once we get him home with us.

He is almost 2 years old. He is shy, but likes to play with toy cars. (what boy doesn't?)

Miss Scarlett, upon telling her that she was about to be a big sister, was a little surprised that she wasn't getting a little sister, but readily accepted the idea of getting to hold a baby brother. She will be a wonderful big sister.

So our family of three is about to become a family of four. What bliss...

A Recurring Theme - Resolution Time?

I am beginning to see a recurring theme in my posts. More often than not, I am obsessing over clutter, my body, my mind and my relationship with the Lord. It is enough to make me crazy. Not literally, but you know what I mean.

So I started thinking: What if I made some New Year's resolutions to help get me on the right track. The trick is, this time, I am going to start them today.

Here they are, in no particular order:

• Fill one box a week with stuff to take to Goodwill. I don't need it; they can use it.
• Commit to an exercise regimen. Not a "I'm gonna wear a bikini by summer one", just one to help get me healthier. Three to five days a week should help.
• Meal plan for two weeks at a time. Try to get enough meals for 30 days so that we don't get burned out on stuff and have more variety.
• Set our family up on a cleaning schedule. We can all pitch in and clean - not just me!
• Work on my writing. I dream of someday writing a book. In the meantime, I need to polish my craft.
• Read in the Bible every day. I have a Chronological Bible that is set up for a year.
• Take a Bible study.
• Play more with Scarlett - she won't be small forever!
• Learn to say "No" more often. I tend to have a problem with that.

However, I draw the line at wearing a big, red hat and joining any clubs...

Nesting Frustration

For some time now I've had the desire to nest. Maybe it is the time of year, or maybe it is the feeling of urgency to ready the home for another child. Whatever the reason, I am becoming frustrated in my efforts to create the restful, warm, cozy home I so desire.

In my mind, my home is clutter-free. The larder is full of all manner of goodies - both homemade and store bought. My family gathers around playing board games, working jigsaw puzzles or watching Christmas movies. My house is peaceful and virtually perfect.

I know that this is unrealistic, but every time I seem to set myself up for the unattainable. If only I could be a stay-at-home mom, I say to my husband. If only I could have an hour each day to clean. If only.

Then I get a gentle prod from my Father telling me to just be still. Be still. Because He is the perfect nest in the middle of the storm. And you know what? He is!

So while the dervish or the holidays whirl around me, I will continue to nestle into Him. My house my not be perfect, but my Nest is.

Could this be the group?

Scuttlebutt is that there is a new "Camp" going on in China that our adoption agency is sole participant in. The agency says that their social workers are in China now working with 50-60 special needs children readying them for adoption by waiting parents.

Could this finally be the group our child is in? I dare not get my hopes up too high, but I admit I am allowing myself a little giddiness over the possibility. We just turned in our paperwork to switch to special needs before Thanksgiving. On top of that, we were given a surprise grant (more on this later) for a special needs child. It seems like God is giving his blessing on us. Is this His way of saying, "Yes, My children, this is it! THIS is what you were supposed to do."?

I pray it is so. For now, we continue to Wait for Mei-Mei or Di-Di.

Pecan Pies and Air Guitar

There is nothing quite like cooking with your six year old daughter. Especially when she is a better cook than you. Miss Scarlett and I decided to make our pecan pies tonight for tomorrow's Thanksgiving dinner. I was pleasantly surprised how competent she was at measuring dry goods and liquids. She cracked eggs into a bowl like a professional chef. Where did she learn all this? Not from me, that is for sure!

While we waited for the pies to do their thing in the oven, Scarlett started singing "We Will Rock You" by Queen. She changed the words a little bit, but I could tell it was that song. So I told her I had the CD. Her eyes grew large. "Really?" she squealed. "Yup." I dug out the CD and played the song.

Right where the guitar takes off on its riff, I did some pretty awesome air guitar, if I do say so myself. Scarlett jumped right in with a mean drum beat. We were unstoppable. We were QUEEN! At least for about 2 minutes - then the song was over.

I wonder if I can find Bohemian Rhapsody?

Puzzle Time!

One of my fondest memories as a little girl was sitting by my Pappaw in the living room. He had this large brown recliner that had "crackly" skin. The chair, not Pappaw. Anyway, he always was working on a jigsaw puzzle. He had cut down an old piece of paneling that he used for a board, and laid it across both arms of the chair. His Pepsi cola (glass bottles only) was on the side table within easy reach.

Pappaw always had a puzzle going in the fall and winter months. Spring and summer days were spent working in the garden, yard and flower beds. Sometimes he'd be in the basement (which he had dug out by hand!) working on some sort of project. But when the darkness came early, he brought up that panel board and started working on a Big Ben puzzle.

I was taught early on the proper way to work a puzzle. First, you lay out all the pieces, making sure that they are all face up. As you lay them out, you start to separate the edge pieces from the inside pieces. If you found two pieces (or more) stuck together, you were honor-bound to detach them. Cheating was a no-no.

Once you had all the pieces laid out and separated, you could begin on the perimeter. Corners were always a good starting place. In time, you worked your way into the middle to the last piece, hopefully not having lost any pieces.

Time goes on, but a good family tradition still remains. Hubby, Miss Scarlett and I revel in searching out really fun puzzles to work each fall and winter. We bought our first puzzles of the season just the other night: One Hundred Cats and a Fish and One Hundred Chickens and a Worm. We are still on the lookout for One Hundred Dogs and a Cat.

We don't have a big piece of paneling that we set our puzzles on. We instead use a folding table in what used to be our dining room. We drag kitchen chairs in, make a batch of homemade cookies to nibble and start working our puzzle - making sure all the while that we are laying them face up and separating the edges from the inners!

If you have a favorite family pastime or tradition, I'd love to hear about it!

Food for Thought

So I just finished reading Julie/Julia. You know, about how Julie Powell went through Julia Child's cookbook, "Mastering the Art of French Cooking". Anyway, being the repressed foodie that I am, I admit that I was enthralled with the notion of cooking one's way through ANY type of cookbook, even if it is a French one. (Why couldn't it have been Italian?).

It got me thinking. What is it that is so intriguing, inspiring, and (dare I say) almost sensual about cooking? You use all of your senses. (I can hear you say, "Yeah, but not sound! You don't use sound for cooking! Wrong! You always listen for the popcorn to stop popping. So there!) Touch, smell, sight and taste all play into preparing food - not matter how simple or advanced the recipe.

I started dragging out a bunch of our cookbooks last night and started reading the recipes. So far, I have not felt the desire to begin cooking my way through any of them. But I am considering trying my hand at some of the more challenging dishes.

And they will probably be Italian.