Smooth Operator

So way back when we first started this journey, my doctor laid out a big roadmap of where we might be headed and what might be happening. One of the last things he mentioned was exploratory surgery to diagnose or rule out (and treat if necessary) endometriosis. The possibility of endometriosis came up again when I had some lingering pain after the ruptured ovarian cyst, but because the only way to diagnose it was surgery, he wasn't eager to force the issue since I was slowly but surely getting better. But now that we have ruled out and tried pretty much everything else, we're at that point near the end of the road where it's appropriate and necessary.

 I was not expecting it to happen so quickly, but when they called on Friday to get it scheduled, it ended up that Monday was the best option! Well, ok! I tend to stress and worry over stuff anyway so that probably was best. It was enough time for me to process and adjust to the idea of it without having too much time to stress. So yeah, I've pretty much decided that about a 48-72 hour window is what I need to adjust to something that's not a TOTAL shock.

 I had done my reading and research, was with my mom when she had laparoscopic surgery (although not for this), and I DO work in a hospital and have made enough visits to both pre-op and pacu that I feel like I'm reasonably familiar and comfortable with what happens. Heck, I've even been in the OR and seen things that most people outside healthcare don't get to see. Still, I was a little surprised (and not at all happy) when I was told "oh by the way, you're only allowed clear liquids the day before" Especially since I'd been cooking for three days for a little get-together that was going to be, you guessed it, the day before my surgery. So instead of white chicken chili, wine, spinach dip, and salsa I got to have broth, sprite, and gatorade. I have never wanted a Frito so badly in my life!

 The morning of surgery I was instructed to check in at the outpatient surgery center at 6:45. I was honestly surprised at how quickly everything went. They called me back to prep me at about 7:10 and I was rolling back to the OR at 7:35! I was the most nervous about the IV, and while she only had to stick me once, it was kind of nerve-wracking. She asked if I was ok if she didn't numb it first because it was such a tiny vein. She had to dig a little, but she got it and I've never been so relieved to be done with something. It was the longest three minutes of my life! I remember very little after they put "the good stuff" in my IV as they started to roll me out. I have some vague fuzzy memories of moving onto the table but that's about it. When I woke up in recovery, I wasn't quite aware of where I was I just had the feeling I was waking up and needed to go to the bathroom. So what do you do when you feel that every morning? You get up and go! So I started trying to get up and the nurse had to tell me to lay back down. Once I was awake though, I was pretty much ready to go. The first thing I asked for was my glasses because I couldn't see squat! I had to wait until they got me out of recovery and into a discharge room. I asked the nurse what time it was and she told me it was about 9. I was pretty antsy to get up, get something to drink, and get the heck out of there. She kept offering me pain medicine and I kept turning it down. At one point she flat out told me "you're making faces like you're in a lot of pain. I'd really like to give you something." I honestly told her that it was just my throat hurting and asked for something to drink. She got me a diet coke and it was the best thing ever!

They moved me to a "discharge room" and I immediately wanted to get up and go to the bathroom. I was told before surgery that my ticket out was going tinkle, so as soon as I did that I was told I could get dressed and we could go.  The discharge nurse told me she was impressed by how well I was able to walk around on my own and I even managed to get dressed without any help. By 10,  Jeff and I were halfway home home and swinging through the Chick-Fil-A drive-thru to get breakfast!

I'm not a great patient and I don't like being helpless, but all things considered my recovery was pretty easy. Jeff stayed with me and we spent the day in the den watching Harry Potter movies and enjoying the new recliners. He got me Chicken and Dumplings for an early dinner and I took a couple of pain pills but they never made me really sleepy. I wasn't ready to lay flat so I just spent that night in the recliner. The next day I got to finally take a shower and wash all the hospital crud off of me and with the exception of a little bit of soreness/stiffness particularly when I went from sitting to standing I felt pretty good. It was over a week before I was comfortable wearing anything except elastic waist pants but overall it was pretty easy. The most annoying part was having the little strings hanging out of my belly button! I don't like loose strings on my clothes or my stuff. I'm NOT a fan of having them hanging out of my body!

My lower two incisions stayed pretty sore for the whole two weeks between surgery and my post-op appointment. When I went back to have my stitches removed he told me the incision in my belly button was perfect but the lower two were "kind of angry looking" so he gave me some antibiotics, but said he thought they'd heal a lot better without the little "foreign bodies" (stitches) in there and sure enough the residual pain was gone within a day of having the stitches removed. He also talked to me about what he found during the surgery. He had talked to Jeff and given him some pictures on surgery day, but it was nice to hear it all myself. He did find some endometriosis, but it presented as a peritoneal window, which is basically a little hole in the lining around my pelvic organs. He said that, while it's not the most common way of finding endometriosis, it's not an uncommon thing, and they cleaned it all up and are hopeful that it will do the trick!

Now we do more waiting to see what happens!

How You Can Care For Me, Part 2

Remember how, way back when I went really public with all this infertility and adoption stuff I wrote a post about what I needed and how folks could best support me? Remember how I said that if I came up with anything else or if anything changed I'd share it? Well, it's time for some sharing. No, nothing has changed drastically in terms of "what's happening" but I think my attitude about it slowly has. I recognize that my needs are different and so I want to share a more current reflection of where I am.

Recently I saw an article about what you should or shouldn’t say to a person who is trying to get pregnant. It didn’t even specifically mention “infertility” but it was pretty clear that those with more extended “trying” periods were considered the experts in this field. I had a lot of issue with this article. For one thing, I’m not a fan of sweeping generalizations. In the case of this particular article (and several others I have seen) there are several key points that I disagree with strongly. I’m going to own all of this as my own thoughts/feelings and I make no generalizations about how this may or may not apply to others. So rather than critiquing the opinions of others, I’d rather just offer my perspective on how you can best care for and relate to me.

Be real with me. Life is hard. Not having kids is hard, but so is having kids. Not being pregnant is hard, but so is being pregnant. Being stuck in the house all day is hard, but so is going to work every day. While I appreciate being on the receiving end of care, and I crave it more than most people probably know, I also can’t live there. That’s just not who I am or how I’m wired, and I assume that if you know me well enough to care about how you relate to me, you know this about me already. If you need to complain about home or work or kids or anything, go for it. If I can’t deal with it at that point, I’ll be real with you, too, and tell you.

 Don’t exclude me. Like I said before, life is hard. It’s full of sad, difficult things. I probably see more than my share in my line of work. I soak up joy and happiness and celebration wherever I can. Children are living, breathing miracles of joy to me. If you’ve got something to celebrate, let me celebrate with you. I don’t have to be all up in your business, but you don’t have to walk on egg shells around me. I’m not saying you should go out of your way to include me in things you wouldn’t otherwise, but don’t feel that because it’s happy or baby/child related that it’s something to be avoided around me. This whole journey has been and continues to be an incredibly lonely one for me. Please don’t build any more walls to remind me of how different I am.

Give me permission to grieve. I will admit that there have been times when I prayed “God, if you’re not going to give me a baby, can I at least have a miscarriage?” Not because I think the loss of a child is something to be desired, but because that is a much more tangible loss that is more easily understood. There is a lot more sympathy and support for that kind of loss. I absolutely believe that all these things that exist should and they are very valuable. Pregnancy loss is a terrible thing. But it is something that can be grieved publicly. Trying and trying and there just being … nothing… is not something you can publicly grieve. How can you miss something you never had? It’s easier than you think. I often don’t feel that I have permission to grieve publicly, but that doesn’t mean that I’m not grieving. This is often where I feel the loneliest.

Let me be real with you. Ask what’s been going on in my life and in my head and in my heart and really listen to what I have to say. If you know me well enough to recognize when I’m feeding you a load of crap then be willing to call me on it and give me permission to share with you. Don’t try to force it out of me, but give me some safe space to talk about whatever it might be. No guilt or shame, no “should” or “ought”, no mocking or ridicule. It may take a while before I act on it, but simply the knowledge that the space is there and that it is occupied by someone who loves and cares about me is a tremendous gift.

Tell me your story. No, I may not relate to all of it. Heck, I may not relate to most of it. But if there is one thing I have learned through my life and my work it’s that, in pretty much every case, there is SOME point of connection between two souls. Remind me of some of these. Help me remember that there is a community who loves and supports me and there are people who understand. And don’t be afraid of happy endings. Those have always been my favorites!

 

Thank you for caring. Please don't stop. It makes a difference.

100 Wishes Quilt - It's Starting!

So I put out a call quite a while ago asking people to contribute fabric to the 100 wishes quilt. I have gotten several contributions, but not 100. Not even close. Still, the stack of fabric was growing and I just knew that this was a huge undertaking. Plus, all this waiting and helplessness has reached a point of "incredibly difficult" and I felt like I needed to be able to DO something. So I decided to call up my friend, neighbor, and partner in mischief, Mollie, and see if we could go ahead and get started.

Seeing as how I've never sewn much of anything before I figured that what would happen is that I would end up doing lots of cutting and she would do the actual sewing. Oh, how wrong I was! We took a little time to play with my very basic machine and figured out what we needed and got it all set up. She let me practice on a couple of scraps and then before I knew it she was handing me the center square and the first strip and we were off! Amazingly, it wasn't that hard. In fact, I did all the sewing today. Mollie did all the cutting and ironing (which was probably best for everyone!) and in only a couple of hours we had put together basically all the fabric I had! It ended up being about 20 pieces. It definitely went more quickly with two people, and it was also more fun.

I'm super-excited about what I have so far, but I'm also super-excited about what comes next! And that is MORE FABRIC! We are far from 100 so pretty please send something! If I need to come pick it up (and you're in driving distance) I will be happy to! Pick something special/meaningful to you. I've still got some pieces of t-shirts that are going to be worked in and probably some other things, too. It will probably be a little while before I sit down and add some more to it. It really worked very well having a bunch to do at once so I think that's what we'll try to do again. Obviously I don't have a target date, but if you're going to be making a trip to the post office for Christmas stuff, it might be a great time to pop a little bundle of fabric in the mail (just saying!)

All Saints Sunday

For the past seven years, this has been a difficult day for me. For it was on this day seven years ago that my mother died. The specific date was November 5th, which will be on Tuesday this year. But for me, the day I remember is All Saints Sunday. My mom died right about 11am. Everyone was gathered around her bed and we had some sweet special moments there in that space and that moment. But when that moment was over, I had to get out of the house. I couldn't stand to be there when the people from the funeral home came to take her away. I knew I wasn't ready to watch that happen.  So I got dressed. I put on my jeans and my favorite pink sweater and my black ballet flats and I drove to church. My reasoning was that I wanted to tell some people in person that mom had died rather than calling them on the phone or having them hear it from someone else. By the time I got there it was about 11:30 so I knew the service was well underway. We never went to the late service, so I decided the best and easiest thing to do would be to slip into the balcony. I did, and just as I did, the portion of the service began when they were reading the names of all the saints of the church who had died in the last year. As each name was read a bell was rung and a candle was lit. I didn't hear any of those names. I just cried for my mom, who was now with the saints in glory. I couldn't help but think of the line "every time a bell rings an angel gets their wings" and thinking that perhaps, as these bells and all the others all over the world were ringing that maybe my mother was getting her wings. I knew that she was standing and walking without help, that she wasn't hurting or struggling to breathe. I knew that she was loving on her parents and brother and my twin sister and the baby she miscarried. I had all these beautiful comforting images, but still I cried.

 I didn't know what to expect as we prepared for church. I knew that, while still fairly liturgical, this is still a baptist church and I don't know how big a day All Saints Sunday is to them. I had also just returned home from another session of Academy, so all that is still being processed, so I knew that something was going to happen today but I didn't know what it was. All Saints wasn't the focal point of the service, but it was mentioned and there was a very lovely moment in which everyone was invited to share the names of the saints in their own lives. Since Jeff was sitting with the choir I was by myself but it was a very nice little moment to remember momma, daddy, and my twin as well as others. I don't know that I would call it a "healing" moment, but somehow it felt right.

It will be a few more years before November 5th falls on a Sunday again. I'm wondering if that will have a different impact on me. I'm not too worried. I know that there is grace to be found and shared in all these moments and I'm very blessed to be surrounded by what is indeed a great cloud of witnesses!

Walk 153

First of all, let me just say that I know I have been a serious blogging slacker lately. However, in my defense, I haven't really thought there was that much blog-worthy about my life lately. I am planning a few updates in the near future about adoption, Academy, and other important things, so stay tuned.

 Walk153 is a walk to raise both awareness and funds for orphan care and adoption assistance. The "153" is because the latest statistics indicate there are over 153 million orphans in the world. That figure is just staggering to me. Adoption can be a very daunting (and expensive) prospect and so any sort of assistance, either financial or emotional, is greatly appreciated. In addition to supporting general causes, Walk153 is also a way for individual families to raise money for their personal adoption journeys. It's a great resource to have! This year the Birmingham area walk will be on Sunday, November 3rd at Bucaneer Stadium on the campus of Hoover High School, starting at 1:53 pm.

 My friend Mollie told me about this last year when I first told her about our journey with infertility and plans to pursue adoption. Life and scheduling got in the way and I wasn't able to participate last year, but this year Mollie and I have a team. We are calling ourselves Team Chrysalis and would love to have any support anyone would like to give us. Because Jeff and I are not currently pursuing a "costly" adoption option we are not in need of financial assistance at this time and so we are not a family registered to receive designated assistance. However, there are plenty of families who are and also plenty of orphans who need some care and support until they find their forever family. Team Chrysalis is trying to raise $153, which doesn't seem like much, but every little bit helps. If you would like to donate or to come walk with us, you can register or donate through the website - www.walk153.com

 Of course one of the best ways you can support us is to continue to be in prayer for our team as we walk, for Jeff and I as we continue on this adoption journey, for other families who are also on this journey, and for all those sweet little ones who need to find their forever families!

Officially Official

On July 3rd, we got an awesome e-mail telling us that our home study was officially approved by the state! I was honestly shocked at how quickly this came through because of our delays. I was really not expecting our approval to come until closer to the end of the month. Now we are waiting for a match! I submitted an inquiry about one child and in the middle of some e-mails about that (not directed to me but that I was copied on) I found out that a caseworker had requested our profile to consider us for another child! The waiting for this part is so incredibly hard, but I know it'll be worth it.

So yes, not a long update, but a very exciting one!

So Where Are We?

I love how Jeff's and my adoption process has become such a communal, collective event that people are almost always asking "Where are we?" I don't mean that sarcastically either! I really do love how much love and support we've received throughout the process and how emotionally invested so many people have become in our family. Granted, many of these people were emotionally invested in us and our family before, but the way it's being expressed now is extra special to me.

Right now we are waiting. Now I know most of you are thinking "Gee, thanks for the breaking news. Want to tell us something new or useful?" Well, as a matter of fact, I do. Yes, we have been waiting, but we were waiting on our homestudy to be completed and reviewed by the nice folks at APAC. There were a few delays (which I kind of expected) but now that part is done and everything has been sent to Montgomery for final review and approval by the state. We are hoping that we will get our official approval/certification before the end of July. Then the really fun waiting begins when we will be waiting for a match!

So yes, we continue to wait. But we are in fact moving forward. With each day that passes, we get closer to the next step. Keep thinking about and praying for us and our child(ren). Each day brings us one step closer to forever!

100 Wishes Quilt

Several years ago I learned of a tradition from China of making a quilt to welcome a new child into the community. Each member of the community contributes a piece of fabric and with that a wish for the child's life. A scrap of each piece of fabric along with all of the wishes are made into a book to go with the quilt so that the wishes and fabrics can be matched up and the child has an heirloom that can literally wrap them in the love of their community. I thought it was absolutely beautiful and I knew it was something that I wanted to someday do for my child or children, no matter how they joined our family!

Now that we have just about completed our home study, we are ready to really start working on this for our child or children that we want to adopt. If you would like to contribute to our quilt, please choose a fabric that is 100% cotton. It does not need to be new, but if you choose something that is "pre-loved" please wash it before you send it to us. Because we do not know the age, sex, or personality of the child or children, please choose something that is meaningful to you! Also, because we may be adopting a sibling group, please make sure that the piece is at least the size of a fat quarter so that we have enough for multiple quilts. Joann Fabrics has a great selection of fat quarters in all kinds of colors and patterns for 99 cents each, so it doesn't have to be anything fancy or expensive! We will be using a log cabin pattern and the fabric will be cut into strips, so smaller patterns are probably best.

Also make sure you write a note to go with your fabric that we can include in the book. It can be a wish, prayer, poem, song lyrics, scripture, blessing, or anything else you would like it to be. If there is something particularly special or meaningful about the fabric you chose, please include that information in your note. You can hand write it, e-mail it, or send it via facebook message. Please make sure you include the name of who the fabric is from and a description of the fabric so we can make sure everything is matched up correctly! Also whenever you get me the fabric (either by mailing it or handing it to me) please attach a note with your name on the physical piece of fabric. Please also send a picture of yourself and everyone who is contributing the fabric. Digital is preferred. If you get me an actual photo I will do my best to get it back to you, but can't make any promises! If every individual in your family would like to contribute their own piece of fabric, feel free! Please just make sure you have a separate note from each individual, and if you can send individual photos that would be ideal (although I understand if you can't!)

If you would like to contribute a piece of fabric, please let me know. You can leave a comment on this post or let me know some other way. If you need my address to mail the fabric, just let me know. Also, if you know someone who would like to contribute to this, feel free to tell them about this, send them to this post, or let me know. I also have a letter about this that I can send to them (or you, if you'd like to have it!) Even though this is called a "100 wishes quilt" that is just our starting point! The more the merrier!

Once the quilt (or quilts) are done, I will post pictures and details about the whole process, so stay tuned!

Alabaster Fire Department CPR Class

In all of the adoption preparations, we learned that we would also have to take a water safety class along with CPR and First Aid because we have a hot tub. While the water safety still needs to be done, we were able to take CPR on Saturday.

Our local fire department offers CPR classes pretty regularly (I think at least once a month) and it's super cheap - only $5 to cover the cost of getting your certification card. If you need the schedule or more information you can get it here.

Our class only had four people in it which really was wonderful. I got CPR certified almost 10 years ago but thankfully have never had to use it. I also know that the standards change and I was a little nervous about remembering everything and being able to do it right, but the small class size made sure we all got a lot of one-on-one help and supervision.

Our instructor (I didn't get his permission so I won't use his name) was absolutely wonderful. He not only made sure that we got all the information that we needed, but he gave it to us in a way that we could remember it. He also answered all of our questions and made sure we were engaged with all of it. Everything was very conversational and incredibly enjoyable. I know I'm a dork who enjoys learning new things, but classes like this are not normally my "thing." However, this one was really fabulous. You can bet that I'll be doing it again to make sure that my certification stays current from now on. As easy and enjoyable as the whole thing was, I'd be foolish not to keep it up!

It seems silly but the most helpful/applicable (and also most intimidating part) for me was "playing" with the EpiPens. We ALWAYS have campers who have them and I've never personally had to see one used or help use one (or even know of a camper at one of my weeks who needed it while they were at camp). We always get a description of how to use them, but we actually practiced using them on ourselves with the teaching devices (which didn't have needles or medicine.) Even knowing that there was no needle in it, I didn't want to even act like I was stabbing it into my leg and it took a little extra encouragement for me to try it. I'm glad that I finally did because I now feel that, if I do ever need to, I could use one on a camper (or anyone else for that matter!) I probably could have done it before if I had to, but it would have taken me a few seconds to talk myself into it and/or read the instructions and I would have gladly given over the responsibility to someone else! Now I think I could do it without too much trouble, although I would still prefer to do what I do best, which is holding hands and offering words of comfort and encouragement!

I believe the whole crew from one of the stations was there during the start (until they had to go to a call). I think the plan was for them to help out with demonstrations and with the actual practicing with the dummies but they were gone when we got to that part. In spite of that, I was so incredibly overwhelmed by the kindness of all of them and their appreciation of us for taking the class. There really are not words for how much I appreciate them and their interactions with us, however brief they might have been. Maybe I'm just overly sentimental these days, but thinking about them and my experience with them makes me tear up a little! They truly are ministers in their own right with an incredible calling and I am grateful for all that they do!

If you need CPR certification or it's something you are thinking about taking/doing, let them help you out! It's a fabulous experience and I promise you will walk away a better person!

Party Girl

February was the month of parties around here!

First, we threw a surprise party for my step-mom's 60th birthday. I honestly didn't think it would end up being a surprise, but she didn't have a clue, which was really nice. The whole thing was lots of fun. Hubby and I did the cooking for our Mexican fiesta and it was great. My step-mom's best friend and neighbor, Betty, helped us pull it off. My favorite part was the cake. Our friend, Julie, (and the wife of Catherine's cousin Hank) was able to get her fabulous bakery to make a coconut cake with lemon curd filling, which is what Catherine's mom used to make for her birthday. Most of the decorations came from Party City, the invitations were from Walgreens, and we had the party at the family life center at the church. Although it wasn't super-unique or full of DIY cuteness, I was still proud of the whole thing. It was a great success, but we had a lot of food leftover. Still, I loved doing it and would have done it again in a heartbeat!

Next up was Jeff's 30th birthday. I knew that he wanted another surprise party (he had one when he was 16 that wasn't exactly a surprise) so I decided to put together a "beer tasting and barbeque" party for him. I was able to rent out Brother Zeke's BBQ and asked everyone to bring a few beers to taste and share. I got the invitations and tasting note cards from Michelle Purner Designs. I picked the colors and came up with the table settings. I also took some ideas from pinterest and made a centerpiece "cake" from beer cans. I also made little favors for everyone. We got cupcakes from Pastry Art Bake Shoppe and it was a great night. Although he had kind of figured out that SOMETHING was going to happen but didn't know exactly what or when, so it was nice that he was at least sort of surprised! We all had a wonderful time, and it was definitely a success.

Of course, now I have "party fever"! It's been kind of nice having other people asking me for tips and help with parties they are planning and I do have a few projects simmering. I like being "the party girl!"

Academy 34 - Session 3

Another session of the Academy for Spiritual Formation has come and gone. This time I had a new experience of arriving very late on the first day because of our GPS class. I don't like being late. Ever. For anything. I didn't like missing out on the excitement of arrival time. I really didn't like missing our first worship service and my covenant group's first meeting. I got there Monday night around 10:15pm and went straight to bed, but it definitely took me a little while to get my bearings the next day.

As always, the week was wonderful. It was full of lots of laughter and tears. Our lecturers were great and I learned a lot and thought about a lot of things I might not have otherwise. I even wrote a psalm! I may get brave and share it here at some point. Although the week was filled with lots of intense emotions, thankfully my nudgings from the Holy Spirit (and there were plenty of them) were quite gentle. I don't know if it's because God knew that I could only absorb so much or that I'm simply paying closer attention so I don't need to be beaten over the head quite as much.

I did have the chance to share with my entire Academy community about our adoption stuff and I was just absolutely overwhelmed with all the love and support I got from everyone. I truly cannot put into words how much it has meant and continues to mean to have this community in my life, especially right now. I keep trying to express how much it meant to me to have so many people share their own experiences and to get so excited with and for me and to know that Jeff, I, and our future child (or children) are all being wrapped and held in prayer by so many people!

I've also been doing a lot of reflecting on where I stand professionally. Being with this community and in an environment where I get to learn again reminds me of how much I really did love school. I didn't love all the stress and the tests and the classes I had to take because they were required, but I did love the learning and growing. I still love learning and growing. I will probably always love it. I really and truly would be a career student if I thought I could get away with it. At the same time, I've been really hesitant to pursue more education because I'm not sure how it would benefit me in terms of getting a job. It's not necessarily something I "need." Still, the more I think about it the more benefit I think it would be to me to go back to school and perhaps pursue a doctor of ministry. It may or may not directly benefit me in terms of getting me a job, but I feel as though I would be a better person because of it, and that is my goal. I'm not going to do anything immediately, but it's kind of liberating to think about the possibilities. It also helps having support in that vein.

There are lots of changes happening in lots of different areas of my life and I'm so blessed to have this community as a support system. Knowing that this is a time-limited experience and that we're now almost to the halfway point, I'm already starting to grieve for the loss of this community. Maybe it's just grieving the end of this last session, but I also can't help but do a little bit of anticipatory grieving for the time that I know we will be leaving and not all coming back together in another 3 months. But for now, I will choose instead to celebrate this amazing blessing in my life!

The Next Step

I have been a blogging slacker lately, but it's been because there's been nothing to write about really. Remember way back when I first posted about our attempts at becoming parents when I mentioned that, if I still wasn't pregnant by the time I went back to the doctor that we would start pursuing adoption as well? Obviously that time has come and gone, and while I haven't really posted a ton about that we have been looking into what our options might be.

 Although we love the idea of having an infant and going through all of those "firsts" we also are realists about the fact that lots of people who want to adopt want to adopt infants and the waiting lists are pretty long. However, we also know that there are lots of children in the world, and in fact in our own country, who are not infants but are still very much in need of loving parents. After lots of thought, prayer, and discussion we both felt that we were being led towards adoption through the foster care system. Neither of us feel that we have the gifts needed to serve as foster parents, but we recognize the importance of this program and the need of these children whose parents have had their rights terminated to have a permanent home and family that they can count on forever.

Despite the fact that there are lots of children who are waiting, there is still a somewhat involved process for adopting. Although there are moments when I am frustrated with the idea of waiting and want to scream "these babies have been waiting long enough!" I know that every step of the process is important both for them and for us so I have to keep reminding myself of that.

We have completed two of the ten weeks of Group Preparation and Selection (GPS) classes. Although not easy, GPS has already been a good, helpful, informative resource. It has been the source of a lot of good conversations both in and out of class. There have been a wide range of emotions we have both experienced and it has seemed very overwhelming at times. Still, we know it is necessary. There is a lot of paperwork and I mean A LOT. The bulk of it has been completed, but there's still plenty to stay on top of. The people who are teaching our classes have been very great and supportive and I think that by the time it's over we will be close to everyone in the classes with us.

I will say that working together on our autobiographies has been a really great experience for us as a couple. Sharing these stories, some of which we've told each other before and others we are only now sharing, has been an incredibly meaningful and intimate experience. No matter what is the result of this experience, I am thankful for the gifts it has already given me.

There is plenty more still to be done and I'm sure there will be lots of waiting and hoping and praying. But for now, we are taking it one day, one week, one step, one class at a time. And with each "to do" that gets crossed off the list, each class that is completed, and each piece of paper that is handed in, I know we are one step closer to our "forever family."

Friday Five - Leftovers

Today's Friday Five, in the wake of Thanksgiving, is about leftovers. Just this week my brother and I were both lamenting the fact that, now that we don't spend the entire Thanksgiving weekend with our extended family, we no longer get the fabulous sandwiches made from leftover turkey. I'm glad I'm not the only one in my slightly kooky family who misses things like that!

1. What has surprised you in this season of Thanksgiving? - I have been surprised by how bored I have gotten with my down time this week. It's been nice to get to make my own schedule but the appeal of doing nothing wore off after about 2 days!

2. Share a recipe or favorite way to use up all the extra food from a big holiday meal? Honestly, we usually don't have a ton of extras, just enough for a couple of days of sandwiches.

 If we have leftover ham I typically make Ham & Potato Casserole : 1 bag frozen hashbrowns, 1 can cream of chicken soup, 2 c. shredded cheese, 1 small diced onion, 1 melted stick of butter, 1 c. sour cream, and diced leftover ham. I just mix it all together and bake it at 350 for about an hour.

3. We have a Sunday between Thanksgiving and Advent this year. Are you wrapping up Thanksgiving, preaching about Christ the King, or having "leftovers" with someone else doing pulpit supply? Since I'm no longer in a church, I'm doing none of the above. I'll be on-call at the Children's Hospital where I work on Saturday until 8am so whether I even make it to church it all will directly relate to the night I have!

4. Do you give the holidays their due? Or are you tempted to rush past the fall festivities for a love of Christmas? Normally I love doing fall stuff, but this year my fall decorations never even made it out of the attic. We got the last of our decorations up last week (since we weren't hosting anything fall-related) and I've been done with shopping for a little while, so I'm looking forward to really sinking into the enjoyment of Advent and Christmas that I haven't had in several years.

5. Is there some THING, some TASK, or some ONE who gets the leftovers of your attention? The honest answer to this one is probably ME! I tend to throw everything out there for everyone and every thing else, and only take care of myself with whatever is left. This is something I've been actively working on for a while now, but I know I don't always get it right!

Sadly, I don't have any pictures of everyone together yesterday. I got lots of individual pictures of everyone, but we didn't get a whole group. Oh well!

Vacation Re-Cap

 Yes, I'm still here. I went on vacation and came back. I simply haven't felt much like blogging lately. Part of it has been that I'm distracted by other projects. Stay tuned for more on those. But for now, the vacation re-cap.

I enjoyed getting away, but this vacation wasn't as spectacular as I'd hoped or thought it would be. I have said this before, but I really think I enjoy the planning of vacations as much (if not more) than actually taking them. But here's the play by play.

Friday - We left home around 3:15 am. Original plan was about six, but the more Jeff got to thinking about it, the more he wanted to get up and just go. So that's exactly what we did. There was only one point where I wanted to kill him and it was at least two and half hours in. The getting up and getting out was easy since we had loaded the car and put out the stuff for the dogs the night before so all we had to do was get up, get dressed, and get on the road. There was very little traffic the whole time and we got to our hotel about 3pm. We got checked in and promptly took a nap. Then we headed out to get some dinner and do a little exploring. It was definitely one of our better road trip experiences.

Saturday - Slept relatively late (for us!) and ate breakfast at the hotel, then caught the shuttle to the port. We were supposed to be on a slightly later shuttle, but we were up and ready, so we got on an earlier one. When we got to the port, it was easily the easiest check in experience we've ever had. We hardly had to stop from the moment we hit the door. We got straight through security, walked right up to a check-in counter, and breezed easily through everything else and walked right on the boat. Normally there's at least a little bit of waiting to get on the boat, but not this time. It was great. There was a wait to get into our room, but we still "slipped in" earlier than the official open time but it was fine. I was disappointed that we couldn't use the spa until after sail time, but I guess in the grand scheme of things that wasn't such an inconvenience. Overall, it was a nice day.

Sunday - Our first port day, we were in Nassau from 11 am until 5 pm. We got off the boat with Jeff's parents a little after noon and caught a taxi over to Atlantis to walk around. You really couldn't see much without buying a day pass and we weren't there long enough to make it worth that, so we lost a little money in the casino, looked around inside a bit, saw a little bit outside, then headed back to the ship. I'd be willing to go back and spend a week at Atlantis at some point.

Monday - our first sea day was spent largely hanging out. I took a yoga class which was ok, but not great. We went to brunch with Jeff's parents and it was nice. We saw his grandmother and great-uncle and aunt while we were there. We did spend some spa time and also did a little wandering. We went to dinner at the steak house with his parents and grandmother, which was a very nice evening.

Tuesday - Our second port day, we were in St. Thomas. This was probably my favorite port stop. We took the cable car up to Paradise Point and enjoyed a very nice view. We hung out up there and ate a very tasty lunch of grilled wings and frozen drinks. It was over-priced, but tasty. The rain was a welcome break from the heat and we got to see a nice rainbow and several wild iguanas hanging out in trees (which was a new one to me!) We wandered around a few shops near the ship on our way back. The sales people didn't seem to be as obnoxiously pushy either, so it was nice.

Wednesday - Our last port stop, we were in St. Maarten. We docked on the Dutch side and decided to just wander there rather than going over to the French side. We thought about taking a tour or going to Maho Beach to see the planes, but didn't. I was fine with it. It was so hot, it was hard to enjoy it, so I was ready to be back on the boat. We hopped on a golf cart going back and it was the best dollar I've ever spent. It was nice to avoid the lines and be dropped off right at the gangway.

Thursday - Another sea day. Not much to report. We wandered and played games and enjoyed some spa time, but it was a little boring.

Friday - Last sea day. The seas were really rough and I was getting stir crazy. It was time to get off the boat.

Saturday - Got up and off the boat. We would have been off even earlier but we were waiting on his family. Even though we didn't debark with them, we were taking things back for them (since they were flying and we were driving) so we were off only a little before them. We hopped the first shuttle back to the hotel (that dropped us off right at our car) and were on our way. I had convinced Jeff to go to Downtown Disney for a few hours so we headed across Orlando to the Downtown Disney Marketplace. We had a late breakfast at the Earl of Sandwich and it was quite tasty. I was definitely a fan. After several hours of wandering we decided to grab some lunch at the Rainforest Cafe before hitting the road. We were told there would be a 10-15 minute wait for a table or we could eat at the bar, so we opted for the bar. We sat down, were greeted promptly, and ordered our drinks which came immediately. After almost 15 minutes of waiting, there were plenty of people standing around near us but we couldn't get the attention of anyone to order lunch so we just paid for our drinks and left (although I really wanted to just walk out!) We ended up settling on ice cream treats until we got out of town a little ways and then stopping for lunch. We decided to stop for the night in Dothan.

Sunday - We headed towards home with a lunch time pit stop in Montgomery to spend some time with my family, which was great. We finally got home and it was great to be back!

One thing we agreed upon - we're done cruising for a while. It's time to take some land-based vacations. The next one we're planning? DISNEY WORLD!

Mimi's Cafe - Mall of Georgia

Recently Jeff and I decided to take a long weekend and head over to the Atlanta area to visit with some family, take care of some business, and do some sight-seeing. We booked a hotel room across the street from the Mall of Georgia, thinking we were a little closer to town than we were. In addition to some good-natured joking on both our parts, we got the unexpected bonus of discovering Mimi's Cafe around the outside of the mall. We generally try to avoid eating at places where we can eat at home when we travel, so this was a great discovery, especially given how close it was!

Our first visit was for a late dinner on Friday. We didn't get "lunch" until close to 4pm so we really weren't interested in dinner until almost 9. They weren't busy at all, which was great. The atmosphere was casual, but still really nice. It had a New Orleans vibe to it, but it was kind of elegant, not an over-the-top Mardi Gras feel. Our first challenge of the evening came when we were presented with THREE different menus! Two were sort of specials and one was the "regular" menu. Oh, the decisions to be made. Despite all my pickiness, I had no problem coming up with a TON of options that sounded very tasty. Even my not-at-all adventurous husband was considering things like crepes thanks to a few strategically placed photos!

First, we started with an order of the spinach dip. It was very tasty and a little different, although it was a little on the oily side (I assume from some of the cheeses used in it). Still, it was very good and we polished it off quickly. I was really excited about trying a cup of tomato-basil bisque and Jeff got a garden salad with ranch dressing. My soup was great, but SUPER hot. I couldn't even take a bite for a good five minutes! Once it finally cooled enough that I could try it, it was delicious. Jeff tried it and Mr. "I don't like tomato soup" kept trying to sneak "just one more taste" and took full advantage of the two or three tortilla chips we had left from our spinach dip! I thought it was especially tasty with the crusty roll in the bread basket. Jeff really enjoyed his salad as well as a piece of the carrot raisin loaf, also in the "standard" bread basket. There was a third element, a couple of sliced of lemon poppyseed bread. It wasn't too sweet, which was really nice.

For our entrees, we decided on the Chicken Cordon Blue and the Pot Roast with the understanding we would share. Both were served with "seasonal vegetables" (broccoli and carrots) and mashed potatoes with gravy, although the chicken cordon blue came with the gravy on the side while the pot roast came with gravy on top of the meat and potatoes. The mashed potatoes were just ok. They tasted packaged. They definitely needed the gravy, which doesn't impress me much. I can't say much about the broccoli and carrots. Jeff liked them enough to eat most of his, but they weren't especially impressive. The pot roast was super-tender. I didn't use my knife at all because it just fell apart. It was juicy, but didn't have much flavor on its own. Once again, the gravy was almost essential. Normally I'm not a huge fan of brown gravy, but I really liked this. The chicken cordon blue was probably my favorite item of the evening. It wasn't a "typical" cordon blue. Instead, it was two small crispy chicken breasts with ham and swiss sandwiched between them and topped with a fabulous dijon sauce. Super-duper tasty and well prepared. After all that we were quite full but still in the mood for something sweet. For me, the lemon poppyseed bread was perfect at that point in the meal.

The service on that first visit left something to be desired. I don't know what our waitress had against us but she seemed none to pleased to be serving us. I would chalk it up to the fact that it was late and near the end of her shift, but she didn't have the same bad attitude with the tables around us. We sat for a long time before she ever came to take our drink orders, she pretty much just dropped our plates when she brought us our food, and brought our check before we could even inquire about a dessert. I also heard her offer several other tables to-go drinks and didn't offer us one so I wasn't about to ask. Despite that, we couldn't wait to come back.

Our second visit came for lunch the next day. This time, we were joined by some of Jeff's extended family who live around there. Although they came to us and told us to pick where we'd like to eat, they were thrilled when we picked Mimi's because we were informed that was one of their favorite places. When they inquired if we'd ever eaten there before, we admitted that we'd been for dinner the night before but wanted to come back. We came for a late lunch at 1:30, but we figured that would work to our advantage and it did. We had plenty of time to visit and didn't feel rushed at all. We were there for a total of four hours (probably three inside and another just standing outside talking) and no kidding, our waitress went on a break after we were finished with our meal and we were still standing outside when she came back and she was so sweet joking with us that she'd save our table for us in the back so we could come back in for dinner in a little while longer! I do remember her name (Jojo) and she was wonderful!

I couldn't get the fabulous tomato soup out of my head, so that with a grilled cheese seemed like the perfect lunch. The fact that it was 102 degrees outside was totally irrelevant. My sandwich also came with a side choice, and I got the kettle chips. It wasn't quite as good as the fabulous grilled cheese I got from Merchant's in January, but it was still excellent. Jeff's aunt and uncle both got the balsamic spinach salad with soup (one the tomato, one the corn chowder) and his cousin got the chicken dijon, which looked absolutely divine, and a garden salad. Jeff had in his head that he wanted to try the chicken crepes but when it came time to order he wasn't really paying attention to what he was saying and ordered the chicken parmesan with a caesar salad. The salad was good, but he was definitely surprised when his entree arrived. Even though it wasn't what he thought he ordered, it looked and tasted amazing and he didn't leave anything!

So, sadly, Jeff still didn't get to taste his crepes. There are plenty of other things on the menu I'd like to try as well, like quiche or that chicken dijon. We did some necessary digging and found out that there is a Mimi's in Montgomery, which is the closest one to us. Now, that's still a little over an hour away, but much more do-able than Georgia! This was especially good news to Jeff's cousin who will be moving to Montgomery after she gets married in the spring. I forsee a trip south in our not-so-distant future!

3rd Anniversary

Today is my third anniversary. I would love to say that my first three years of marriage have been everything I thought they would be, but that's not true. There are a lot of things that haven't been at all what I would have thought they would be three years ago, but I am so incredibly grateful for all of those little surprises because they have created the path to the place where I am now, and I'm pretty darn happy with that place. The best part about it has been having Jeff by my side for each and every step of this journey!

This past year has been a big one for us! A lot has happened, so let's re-cap shall we?

We discovered Geocaching - while we haven't done a ton of this, it's been fun and we're anticipating many more adventures!

Jeff built me a workbench for all of my craft stuff in the garage so I have a space of my own.

I was hired as a weekend chaplain at Children's of Alabama.

We tried (and fell in love with) Fox Valley Restaurant - If you're ever in the area of Helena, you should check them out. AMAZING.

Jeff got a full-time job as a contract worker with Southern Company! Hip-hip hooray!

I completed my CPE Residency! Double hip-hip hooray!

We went on a 5 day Western Caribbean cruise.

We did some minor renovations to the kitchen and some major renovations to the basement!

We hosted Christmas Day celebrations for my extended family.

I was turned down for commissioning again and made the decision to discontinue as a licensed local pastor.

We took a weekend getaway to Nashville.

I was accepted for the Academy for Spiritual Formation.

We finally "finished" moving in and got the last piece of furniture - a china cabinet!

We hosted Easter celebrations for Jeff's extended family.

We made some updates to the back yard including a shed, flower garden, ceiling fan, and hot tub.

I moved into the empty room upstairs and turned it into my library/meditation space.

We replaced both vehicles - Jeff's truck with an Expedition and my car with a Mazda3

We are planning a 7 day Eastern Caribbean cruise for this fall.


I am really excited about embarking on the adventures of the next year! Thanks for joining us so far!

Mother's Day

This is a picture of me and my Momma from 2004. People say we are a lot alike, both in looks and in personality. I take that as a very high compliment. She was an amazing woman and I was a lucky girl to get to call her mine.

Mother's Day is one day that reminds me what kind of "non-place" I have in the world on this day. The first Sunday I was at my church, one of the members pulled me aside and asked me "Doesn't it make you sad?" and my response to her was a simple "No." My thought process was "Why? Because I'm not a mother? Or because I don't have a mother? Either way, no!"

One thing I really appreciate about my church is that they always honor every woman on Mother's Day and every man on Father's Day. I always acknowledge in the service the role of the people who have mothered us in a variety of ways, not only physically. 

This is one holiday that has gotten a little bit harder as the years have gone by. Not so much because of the death of my mother (although it does remind me of how much I miss her) but also because I don't have children. I'm sort of a "nothing" on this day. I do have my mother-in-law and grandmother-in-law that we celebrate, but it's not the same thing. 

A part of me resents, just a little bit, the assumption that Jeff's family automatically "gets" that holiday and that compromise is not expected or required because there is no "competition" for our time and attention. The truth is, there is a lot of competition for my attention, but it's internal. I actually enjoy the chance to work, especially at the hospital, on Mother's Day because it gives me a little bit of time and space to remember and honor my mother in my own way. 

I saw a nice piece about "the continuum of mothering" so I will close with that food for thought. I found it as a part of this post, but I don't think that is where it originated. I have changed a little bit of it.

To those who gave birth or adopted a child this year - we celebrate with you

To those who lost a child this year - we mourn with you

To those who are in the trenches with little ones every day and wear the badge of food stains - we appreciate you

To those who walk the hard path of infertility, fraught with pokes, prods, tears, and disappointments - we walk with you. Forgive us when we say foolish things, we don't mean to make this harder than it already is.

To those who are foster moms, mentor moms, and spiritual moms - we need you

To those who have warm and close relationships with you - we celebrate with you

To those who have disappointment, heartache, and distance with your children - we sit with you

To those who have lost their mother - we grieve with you

To those who have experienced abuse at the hands of their own mother - we acknowledge your experience

To those who lived through driving tests, medical tests, and the overall testing of motherhood - we are better for having you in our midst

To those who will have emptier nests in the coming year - we grieve and rejoice with you

To those who are expecting new life, both expected and surprising - we anticipate with you.

This Mother's Day we walk with you. Mothering is not for the faint of heart and  we have real warriors in our midst. We remember you.

Trying (unsuccessfully) for Baby Bodeen

So if you've been keeping up with 101 things in 101 weeks, you'll know that in January of 2011 I put down as a goal for the next 101 weeks of my life to be having a child. And if you've been paying close attention you'll notice that not a single word has been mentioned about this one. I've been pretty quiet about it because #1 it's personal and #2 there's been nothing to tell (or so I thought) but I think I'm finally ready to talk about this. It's still personal and it may be too much information for some people, so if you don't want to know you can stop reading here. No judgement, no hurt feelings. I just need to get this out there.

Jeff and I decided, before we were ever married, that we would probably wait about a year before trying to have children. Well, we also determined pretty quickly that the birth control pill I was taking was doing some nasty things to me and my hormones so at my check-up my doctor wrote me a prescription for a new pill, but casually made the comment "well, you're married now, so it's not like it would be the end of the world if you did get pregnant." I knew then that is was also time for a new doctor. Within just a few weeks, Jeff was officially laid off from his job. We knew it was probably coming but it was still hard. We figured it wouldn't last too long. It lasted a lot longer than we ever would have imagined starting out. In the middle of all this the new birth control pill still wasn't fixing the issues I was having (which I now think were mental/emotional as much as they were physical) so I quit it completely. It was one less bill to have to try and come up with the money to pay, and we could just address the reproductive concerns in other ways. In the end, we didn't do a whole lot of active prevention, but we weren't actively trying either.

Our first anniversary came and went and we were hopeful that Jeff would get a job soon, but I was also feeling tugged toward a CPE residency, so late in the summer I applied to start in the fall. The good news was that we had health insurance again. The bad news was that, because it was a 12 month residency there was really no provision for maternity leave. We decided that we would wait to start trying until February of 2011. That way, if I did get pregnant the first try, I could still finish out my residency before I delivered. Yes, I would lose my benefits before the actual delivery but it would at least cover most of my pre-natal care.

So that was the plan. And that was what we did. I started charting my cycles a few months out with a handy iPhone app so we would know when was the best time to "do the baby dance". And even in the middle of my dad dying and CPE getting crazy and Jeff STILL not being able to find a job, we tried. And every month my period would come right on time and I would be crushed. And I would cry. Or my period would be late and I would take a test and it would come out negative and I would be sad but still wait and hope until my period did show up (which it always did) and I would cry even harder. It was easy to blame it on hormones and stress and everything with CPE and everything else in my life, but I hated it.

By the time CPE ended Jeff had a new job. We had new insurance. But I was getting increasingly frustrated with the whole situation. I felt very betrayed by my body. I kept replaying all those high school lectures about how easy it is to get pregnant and it didn't make sense. I felt a lot of shame, like I was a bad woman because I couldn't reproduce like I thought I should be able to. I was barely 26 years old. This was prime time! Or at least I thought it should be.

At the end of October I finally got up the courage and called a new doctor to make an appointment. At this point it had been almost two years since I had seen anyone (yes, I know, I'm bad) and more than anything I needed to know that I wasn't "broken". I am so thankful for my new doctor. I never thought I'd be comfortable seeing a male for "female stuff" but he was wonderful during my first visit. He sat down and explained all the what-ifs and numbers and what is "normal". He drew blood and checked hormone levels and assured me that, from what he could see at that point, everything was working fine. I wasn't broken.

The one "number" that stuck with me was that, after 12 months of unprotected sex (not even active "trying") without a pregnancy, a woman can be diagnosed with infertility. At the point of my appointment I was "sort of" in that gray area already (since we weren't really keeping up with that kind of thing before) but now I have definitely crossed that line. Even though I haven't been back to the doctor to make it official, I know where I am and what I'm dealing with and I feel a lot of shame and loneliness in it. Don't get me wrong, I'm so happy for all of my friends and all of their sweet little miracles. But I'm also very jealous.

My husband has been wonderfully supportive in all of this. I know he hurts right along with me every month that we don't get a positive test result. We have cried together over this several times. There have been moments when we have both felt like failures. We can sometimes make jokes about it, but most of the time we just dream together about our future child. We have talked about how far we are willing to take medical intervention and what we would like our next steps to be. We have decided together that, if nothing has happened by the time I go back for my next check-up with my doctor, in addition to exploring more on the medical end, we will also start actively pursuing adoption.

We have made some decisions about how far we would take medical testing/intervention, and the answer is "not nearly as far as most people." We're not willing to go to as far as exploratory surgery or IVF. I just can't see putting myself through all of that. I respect all the women that do, but I'm just not one of them. If I had an identified physical need for those things, it might be different, but that isn't the case. I do believe that everything happens for a reason and everything that DOESN'T happen also has a reason. I may not know what that reason is, but that doesn't mean it doesn't exist.

On some level I wish things were different. I wish we had gotten pregnant quickly and had an easy, uncomplicated pregnancy and given birth to a healthy baby and we were a sweet, happy family now. But I do appreciate the fruit that has come from this journey. Jeff and I are definitely closer and I think more able to communicate about our feelings. I have had some great experiences I wouldn't have had if I had a child. I am looking forward to the experiences that are yet to come. I'm not sure I would have reached the point in my person growth that I have reached if I were focused on someone else rather than on myself and my stuff, and at the end of the day I feel like my being healthy is the best thing I can do for my family.

I am a firm believer in the idea that everything happens for a reason, and everything that doesn't happen also has a reason. I rarely understand those reasons (especially on the front end) but that doesn't mean they aren't there. I know that someday I will have the child and the family that I am meant to have. And until then, I will keep waiting and hoping, and praying, and preparing as best I can.

Counting Down to Another Dream Vacation

Yes, I know I'm a goober. I can't help it. I get really excited about anything out of the norm, especially when it involves going someplace or doing something new. This vacation really does combine the best of both worlds of things that are known and comfortable with those that are new and exciting. Add to it the fact that this will be one year since our last real vacation, and it makes for a very happy Sandy. Half the fun of a vacation (at least for me) is getting to prepare and anticipate it, so the more time I get for that the better it is!

Known: Cruise on the Carnival Dream leaving out of Port Canaveral and staying in the Cloud 9 Spa; Anytime dining

New: Port stops in Nassau, St. Thomas, and St. Maarten; Cabin with a balcony. Jeff has only ever been to Nassau, so it'll be nice to share something new with him since he has a sort of "been there, done that" attitude toward a lot of cruises (because, let's face it, he has!)

We're still negotiating a few of the particulars like getting ourselves down there. Last time, we flew. It started as necessity but ended up as SUPER convenient. I like flying, but Jeff isn't a huge fan, especially of short flights (and BHM to MCO is only 90 minutes!) Originally I thought we would drive since we have more time, but the more we think about it the more appealing the idea of flying again becomes!

I really am trying to not get too over-the-top excited until after my birthday (which will still give me about 7 weeks of excitement!) but it's hard! This picture is from our last cruise on the Carnival Dream, specifically from a port stop in Cozumel. It was probably one of the best vacations I've ever taken and so it's very easy to look forward to doing it again! If it weren't for the pesky business of paying for it, I would be ready to get on the boat tomorrow!

I've got some great new info/resources about cruising in general, so if it's something you're interested in, stay tuned!

Easter, Part 1

I have been a big slacker about blogging lately. Mostly it's because there isn't a whole heck of a lot going on to blog about. Because of spring break I have been home more and that has meant cooking some more, but nothing really new or innovative. A lot of it has been grilling because the weather has been so fabulous. We got a great box of goodies from Omaha Steaks as a Christmas gift so we're finally getting around to using them. Most of it is really good, but that's another post for another day.

Jeff decided we should offer to host Easter lunch for his family. It's always been a much bigger deal for his family than mine, and the first big family function of his that I attended was an Easter lunch a few months after we started dating. Well, since I have to do church first, the priority has been to do as much make ahead food as possible. Plus, it's really warm and so we don't need a ton of hot, heavy sides. So here is my menu.

Spiced Nuts - This is an attempt at crossing a recipe for some spiced nuts made in the crock pot and my fabulous rosemary cashews. If this works the way I hope it will, I will be able to make gallons of these (and eat them just as quickly!)

Cheese Ball - Inspired by an idea from Pinterest

Pickles & Olives - A tradition with Jeff's family. I have a recipe for citrus marinated olives I got from my former CPE supervisor, and we've still got a very few jars of homemade pickles, but it will be supplemented with some purchased goodies like Wickles.

Ham and Turkey Breast - both from Honey Baked Ham. I'm all for shortcuts, and I really do love their ham. I'm very excited about leftovers!

Hashbrown Casserole - I've made this before.

Green Beans - nothing fancy. We'll probably use some we have frozen from the garden last year. If you don't have any left from a garden, my little trick for making canned green beans not taste like a can is to drain out all the can juice and cook them in a can of chicken stock with a little bit of sliced onion and maybe even a tiny bit of garlic.

Broccoli Salad - I think this is one of those classics that has made the rounds hundreds of times, but the specific recipe I have came from my confirmation mentor, Ms. Jennie.

Congealed Salad - My variation on a recipe from Jeff's grandmother in their family cookbook.

Greek Onions - Another family recipe, this one from Jeff's Aunt Linda, but with a few twists of my own.

Deviled Eggs - Jeff's mother is bringing these! I can make deviled eggs, they're just so time consuming! She wanted to bring something so I let her do this for me!

Macaroni & Cheese - Thanks to my step-mother, Catherine. Hers is always so much better than mine!

Rolls - Sister Schubert's Rolls to be exact. I love that she (and thus, the company) are from Alabama and it brings back lots of happy memories of my family.

Coconut Cream Pies - I'm going the "no bake pie" route again, because I seem to do these well. I'm doing little individual pies and putting a few jelly beans on top so they'll look like tiny bird nests. I'm a sucker for cuteness

Strawberry Cakes - I got a great little mini cake pan from my cousins for Christmas and since I'm not much of a baker I really haven't had a chance to use it yet, but I figured this would be a good opportunity!

Candies - I got a cute little Easter candy mold so I'm going to make some little mints and chocolates.

It does seem like a lot when you look at the big list, but since most items are "mix and chill" it won't be bad. Even the casserole can be put together ahead of time so on Easter all we'll have to do is heat and serve! Once it's over, I'll post specifics about particular recipes, and I'll try to remember to link them back here, but just keep an eye out for them.

Of course there are other, non-food related preparations being made, but I will post more about them later.