Green Smoothies

This fall our family got a new fancy blender in hopes of eating a bit more healthy. We've been making smoothies nearly every day since then using lots of fresh and frozen fruit and our special ingredient SPINACH. If you've never added spinach to your smoothies, you should try it! It really has no taste, and just adds some great nutrition to your breakfast!!


Here's Josh modeling his smoothie mustache (usually they aren't so green, but this was a "green smoothie").

Here's Josh's perfected "picture smile".

First Day of First Grade!!

After what seemed like a really long summer that included swim lessons (ooops, no pics), a family vacation in Ruidoso (ooops, no pics), Kids Kamp (our church's version of VBS, again... no pics), and much playing back and forth between backyards in the neighborhood, the first day of first grade was finally here. The kids were excited and quite nervous as they would be going to a new school.
Even though we had had a fairly good experience at Buckner for kindergarten, the class sizes turned out really big, and a few other things kept it from feeling like a perfect fit for our family. We were thrilled to learn that a smaller school district just east of us was building a brand new school less than ten minutes away. Russ and I went to an informational meeting and came away feeling like this might be just what we were looking for. The district is so much smaller than the one we are in, having only one high school, three middle schools and a handful of elementaries. Thankfully, the district takes out of district kids.

So, as the first day approached and the kids talked about being nervous we reminded them that every single person was going to be a brand new student at this new school. Han got more excited as we did some back to school shopping for clothes. Apparently Hud didn't realize that he'd gotten some new things too, because this is what he put on.

Wouldn't it be nice to occasionally just be unaware of the fashion expectations!!?

I like to get off to a good start with the teachers and send them a little something for their first day too. Maybe you could call this "kissing up to the teacher."

These are fun glass jars that I filled with cute office supply stuff and candy.

Here she is all dressed and ready. And for the second year in a row, it was pouring down rain for the first day of school.

Han's traditional "first day of school" pose.

As you can see, we hooked Hud up with a little more style.

Here's Hud off to Mr. Geilenfeldt's class. He loves Mr. G!!

Han's off to Mrs. Whitehead's class. She's smitten with Mrs. W and I've been told that she's loved by her teacher as well!

A summer Garden

Rusty and the kids planted a raised-bed garden this summer. There were three tomato plants, five green chili plants, a few bell pepper plants, a jalapeno plant and an eggplant.

Hud's tomato plant was called a "Sweet Million," and I bet we got probably 400 grape sized tomatoes off of it. He was quite the caretaker, and very proud of his crop!!

His plant probably grew 7 feet high.

Hannah's plant was the eggplant. It didn't do as well as the tomatoes, but we did get some yummy little eggplants off of it.

To quote from one of my favorite childhood books... tomatoes, eggplants, peppers, jalapenos... "what more could a person want?" I guess we'll see next year!

Kids' Garage Sale

Yes, I am very behind in updating this blog, but I'm going to do my best to catch up because we were recently reading through this blog with the kids, and I was so thankful to have so much of our lives documented!!

So, back to this summer. Hud, Han and their two best friends Nick and Laini (also boy/girl twins) decided to have a garage sale to raise money for Laini to buy a "Pillow P#t." Since Nick and Laini live just a few houses down, these four got together regularly to plan for the big sale. I was impressed by their organization and how they had thought of so many of the details... change, tables, signs, permission from the city. Because they had been so intent on doing this sale, I really wanted to make sure it happened.

A day or so before the sale, I took Han to the town hall to get permission for the sale. I was really hoping we could get the $6 fee waived and sure enough they let Han have permission to have it free. We gathered all the collected paraphernalia and I gave the kids stickers and markers to price the items. Judging by the prices some of the items were quite valuable to the owners, so I coached them on how to let customers know that they were willing to negotiate. The next morning we drove down to the end of our street and put up one of my garage sale signs, "Huge Sale".... a little deceiving, I know, but it was all I had.

The kids had occasional traffic from strangers, and a few friends that I had secretly called to ask them to come by.

Overall, I think the whole experience was really good for the kids. They made a whopping $8! Good thing the city let them have the sale for free!!!

And speaking of garage sales, our profits from our next two (real) family sales are going to be added from the money I made last summer in hopes of saving enough money to take the whole family on our first mission trip to Mexico in summer 2012. We hope to join a team and build a home from scratch in one week with Amor ministries (www.amor.org) If you have anything you'd like to donate this spring for the sale, we'd love to take it off your hands any time!!

Josh and his siblings

Some people probably wonder how the biological children feel when the family adopts. I can only speak from my own experience and from observing our multiple friends who have also adopted.
Hudson and Hannah utterly adore Josh. They frequently tell me that they are so glad "we got him from China!" I recently had to tell Hudson that he should probably lay off those kinds of statements, thinking that Josh might one day not like being reminded that he's adopted and prefer to just be one of the kids in the family.
Hudson has been asking for another "baby," and Hannah wants a big sister. Apparently the kids of adoptive families think that they can special order their next sibling.
This past week Hannah has been begging me to ask Google (she thinks Google is a person) if Josh is the cutest boy in the whole world. She's pretty sure he is!!!

As I was saying....

We are all called to help the orphan.

Meet Pablo Candy Finger, otherwise known as Calvin. He's a five-year-old friend of mine. Click here to read about how he's already raised hundreds of dollars for orphaned and hungry children.

His cards would make perfect Christmas gifts for the artist in your life, or anyone who just loves children's drawings.

November is National Adoption Month!

The timing of this post is actually perfect! I think I'm about to July in catching up on my blog, and on July 21st we celebrated our second anniversary of Gotcha Day with Josh!!!

Here's my sweet, baby boy just moments after he walked into my arms. Boy was he so precious!! I look at those first pics now, and notice that he had a bit of a "deer in headlights" look about him. He was so brave!

Here we are on our first Gotcha anniversary. He really just jumped into our family with both feet and stole all of our hearts that first year. His adjustment was amazingly smooth and easy (except for the first 6 weeks waking up 15-20 times a night).

That brings us to July. Josh is truly an amazing kid. He astounds those around him with his personality, ENERGY, intelligence and athleticism! He's quite gifted at making people smile. I know that God has big things in store for his life and has a great purpose for Josh! Let's just hope we don't kill him before he fulfills it! Ha!
As I mentioned, November is National Adoption Month and if you're around me long enough, you'll quickly learn that I am passionate about the plight of orphans and adoption!! I don't feel like every family is called to adopt, but I am convinced that every believer is mandated to be actively caring for the fatherless and the orphan. I can't ignore what God's Word says about it, and I invite you to see for yourself (word search the Bible for orphan, orphans, fatherless).
I was just catching up on a friend's blog today and learned that God has specifically called them to adopt a teenager out of foster care. This is scary, unknown territory for them as it feels reckless and unsafe. But, God calls us to do those kinds of things sometimes!! Keeping it "safe" in this world may mean loosing out here and in the next!!
I can't help but think, "what if we had not been "reckless" and pursued adoption?" What if we had thought the $25,000 price tag was beyond our ability?.... The Lord wouldn't have moved family and friends to contribute all but $208 dollars to cover the cost!!! (not to mention the fact that we are still benefitting from the >$12,000 tax credit) (By the way, we are humbled by the generosity shown us during our adoption. It would bless us beyond measure to be able to contribute way more than $25,000 towards other's adoptions during our lifetime). What if we'd been too afraid of the process or of taking on a child with "special needs"? We'd never know this amazing and incredible boy that is gifted in so many ways. He is destined for greatness, and I am so in love with my little China boy! We received an unbelievable gift from the Lord when we adopted him!!

Please, as the holidays are here, remember the fatherless. Please find a way to bless them. And, if you have the slightest incling to adopt, pursue it until God either closes the door, or places one of His precious little ones in your arms!!

Come Shop at the Holiday Bazaar!

A friend and I are going to have a booth here. A large portion of our sales goes to orphans and missions! Come check it out!!

Proceeds to benefit Hope Community Church Invites You To:
HoLIDAY BAZAAR
SATURDAY, DECEMBER 4
8 am – 5 pm
Unique and wonderful Christmas Gifts!
Dozens of vendors will be offering a broad range of items!• Jewelry • Ceramics
• Antiques • Salsa and Chili Blend Gift Packs
• Cosmetics • Jams and Jellies
• Ornamental Glass • Girls Accessories
• Banners • Cakes
• Poinsettias • Hand-made baby shoes
AND SO MUCH MORE!

Family Christmas Photos
Have your family’s photo taken in a fabulous Christmas setting!
Just in time to put in your
Christmas cards.

Gift Wrapping – Available ALL WEEK!
We’ll wrap ALL your gifts. Just drop them off and pick them up later.
Beautiful hand-made gift tags add a unique flare under your tree!
Gift-Wrapping Hours: (Sunday, Nov. 28 – Saturday, Dec. 4)
Sun: 3-7 pm Mon-Fri: 6-9 pm Sat: 8 am-5 pm

Holiday Bazaar Cafe
Tasty lunch and dessert items will be on sale. Plan to stay, eat and chat with friends.

SHOP WITHOUT YOUR KIDS
It’s easier to shop without the little guys in tow. All day
Saturday, Dec. 4 we’ll have a special Kids Zone where they can play games, do crafts and tons more fun stuff. We’ll feed them too! You can drop them off, shop all over town, and pick them up when you’re done! All for a donation!

For information about having your own booth at the Hope Holiday Bazaar,
contact Tara Shepherd, 316-706-5517, fish2shep@gmail.com
Hope Community Church • 1831 E. 21st Street • Andover, KS • (next to the Andover Turnpike exit)

EASY Carmel/Kettle Corn

If you want a really yummy snack for movie or game night, try this:

1/4 c. vegetable oil
1/4 c. sugar
several shakes of salt
1/2 c. popcorn

I use a Whirly Pop to make this, but you can use just a big pot on med/high heat (just be sure to keep shaking it), or if you have one of those poppers with the bowl thingy on top like a dome, I'm sure that would work great too.

My Version of Homemade Bread

(photo from http://www.deliacreates.blogspot.com/)

I recently tried THIS bread recipe from a blog I like and loved it!!! It's super easy, seemingly "no fail" and makes 3 loaves at a time!! When I want regular sandwich bread I use 1-1.5 cups of whole wheat flour as part of my total flour. One thing she doesn't mention in her blog is that she uses Fleischman's INSTANT dry yeast. The only place I've seen it is at Sams. Instead of kneading by hand as she does, I divide my dough in 1/2 and let my KitchenAid mixer knead each 1/2 for 5-7 minutes with the bread hook. The author, Delia, did a follow up post to answer questions that came in about her recipe, so if you're going to try it, also read THIS. Oh, and I tried the pumpkin bread she made with the recipe... didn't like it... seemed kinda dry.

My version:

Recently Han and I tried the recipe using only the white flour and when we rolled it out we experimented a bit. On two loaves, I tried to imitate the "white chocolate cherry swirl bread" that Great Harvest Bread Co. makes. I melted some butter and brown sugar to make a thick "syrup" and spread it on the rolled out dough, then we sprinkled some chopped dried cherries and white chocolate chips on top and rolled up the loaves. I'd have to say that I think I came pretty close to Great Harvest's bread. The only thing I will do differently on that one next time is to put less of the buttery/sugary spread on and I'll bake it longer. There was an abundance of the gooey goodness, and the loaf was a bit under baked. But it was still yummy!!

On the 3rd loaf we did the same butter/brown sugar mixture then shook a bunch of cinnamon over it and sprinkled some chopped pecans. Made great cinnamon swirl bread that Han gave "100 thumbs up!"

My Version

I really liked the idea I saw HERE and wanted one for myself. I thought it would make life so much easier to just glance up and see my "week-at-a-glance." I also needed a place to write down my weekly menu, so I made mine big enough for the schedule and the menu (schedule in the middle and menu on the right). Here's my version:

I'm a horrible photographer, so the colors are a bit off, but here's how I did mine, which was a lot easier than the inspiration tutorial. The frame was brown and $2 at a garage sale, I buy up wood (not fake wood) frames with great shapes when I see them at garage sales. This particular frame had a somewhat ugly picture in it, but the frame was cool. I think people look past those finds when they see the pic and it doesn't work for their house.

I had the black spray paint, and cut the back out of a man's old dress shirt ($1 at goodwill) for the background fabric because that was what I had on hand. The fabric has a green stripe in it that matches my kitchen wall color.

So after painting the frame, I wrapped the fabric around the original pic and inserted it in the frame like a picture. I used a permanent black marker and wrote right on the glass to write the days of the week. (Permanent marker can be easily removed from glass with window cleaner.) I used a dry erase marker for our schedule and menu.

This same idea would be great on a wall where you wanted to write notes to yourself and others. This would be neat hanging somewhere with a verse written on it. You can erase it and write something new whenever you want to. I also made an 8x10 size that I hang from the side of my fridge to keep my grocery list on.

Looks like Abby and Josh Best's birthdays are coming up this week... wonder if they'd like one of these for their birthday!?

My Version

Since I do such an incredible job of keeping you up-to-date on this blog (that was a joke) I am going to start a new feature called, "My Version." I read and enjoy way too many crafty blogs. Even if you don't consider yourself crafty, these blogs provide all the creativity and usually tutorials for making so many cool things.

Anyway, when I see something on a blog that I decide to create, I thought it would be fun to show you the blog where I found the idea, and then a pic or two of my version.

We'll start with a fun wreath I saw HERE. Burlap is all the rage right now in home decor. I loved the idea, but not the Halloween theme it had, so here's my version:

I used a different wreath that came from the Dollar Tree. It was more like sticks, and because the burlap was brown, I didn't need to paint it. The fall leaves and "greenery" I used came from an old arrangement that I had tired of.

This idea could easily be used for a fun Christmas wreath, you could still use burlap, or any other fun fabric. I'd probably use pinking sheers if I used regular fabric.

Han's Pee Joke

You Wanna Piece of Me!!!???

This video is sooooo Josh. He's always moving, hard to contain, funny, happy and ornery!!!

PaPaw's Party

We all met up in OKC for two nights to celebrate PaPaw. After the photo shoot, we headed to Cracker Barrel. Really glad we didn't eat before taking all the pics! Those white shirts were a mess after dinner!

Here's Han with her cousin, MiKayla (Susan's girl).
Hud playing a little game of checkers with Gentry (Susan's other girl).

We all chipped in to buy the birthday boy a nice pair of what Hud used to call, "knockers."

Russ and his sweet sister, Susan.

Alaska to Africa

My talented brother and his amazing wife are making iron art to sell this Christmas. They are raising money to support orphans in Africa. Check out their blog, and enter this giveaway.
Make your purchases count for something this Christmas!!!

http://alaskaafrica.blogspot.com/2010/10/giveaway.html

PaPaw's 70th Birthday celebration!

Here are a few of my favorite pics taken during the family photo shoot.