Coincidence? I think not.

As a follow-up to yesterday's post on waiting, I wanted to share about another way I've been receiving encouragement in the adoption process.  God has been so faithful.  Looking back over the past several months, every time I have been in a valley, at a low point, doubting, dreading, fearing.....I haven't had to wait long before I find myself being comforted, sustained, motivated, and encouraged.

When I feel like no one is really interested.....a family member offers to do a fundraiser.
When I'm desperate for any good news at all.....a referral for a family in our group.
When I am praying and just wanting to hear from God.....I randomly open my Bible and the very first verses I see are Psalm 27:13-14.

Coincidences?  Some might call them that.  But I know God is sovereign and working even in the little things.  Here's my latest "hug from God" that happened earlier this week....

I had a meeting at church one evening and it went pretty late.  It was after 10 PM by the time I pulled back in the driveway and realized I hadn't checked the mail that day.  I grabbed it, glanced at it (ugh, bills and junk) and put it on the kitchen counter to look at the next day.  I got myself ready for bed and decided to check my email in an attempt to wind down.....mistake.  I found out we had been bumped backwards yet again on the unofficial wait list.  (Can happen when someone ahead of us changes their age request.  No, they aren't big meanies for doing this.  People often expand their age request as the children already in their home get older...it's just a bummer for us).  Anyway, not good news to sleep on.

I woke up the next morning, got myself and the kids ready to head out the door to Bible Study (currently doing Living Beyond Yourself by Beth Moore....sooooo good!), and remembered that stack of mail on the counter. I quickly went through all the bills and junk, and saw a letter I had somehow missed the night before in my post-meeting daze.  I recognized the handwriting right away - it was a letter from dear friends, so of course I opened it immediately.  First I saw two sweet pictures their kids had drawn of our family - including our future kids, drawn so beautifully in preK style, even with brown marker.  The drawings alone were enough to bring a smile to my face and some tears to my eyes.   But when I read the letter from their sweet mama, and out fell a check.....a large check......the only larger donation we've received was from our church on Orphan Sunday.

Wow.

So then the bawl fest began, of course!  (I had always thought pregnancy hormones were rough - they are nothing compared to adoption emotions!)  I was so humbled and grateful that this family (who are not millionaires, by the way) would sacrifice so much to help us.  Then I was again humbled and grateful for the providence of God - who had this little incident planned long ago.  Had I opened the letter the night before, yes it still would have been incredible, but because I didn't see it I had something to "lift me out of the pit" that morning.  Pretty cool.  Thanks, God.  And thanks, friends, for allowing God to use you in that way!!


And now the random totally, totally off topic.....did ya notice....2 posts in 2 days?!  That's pretty much a record as of late.  And it's all due to.....our new computer!  Yee ha!  Although we had dreamed of and seriously contemplated getting a Mac, it became all about the benjamins, and we just couldn't justify spending all of ours on a computer - beautiful and extraordinary as they may be.  Plus, I'm in the middle of reading Radical and almost ready to read 7, and if those aren't convicting, I don't know what is!  So I know all you Mac users are laughing at me now, because once you go Mac you never go back and all, but we ended up getting this computer.  So far it's been great, and for the amount we will use it, we think it will continue to be!

Thoughts on Waiting

Back in June, when we first applied to AWAA's Ethiopia program, we were so so so excited.  (We still are!)  As soon as we were accepted, I worked like a crazy woman to get all of the massive amounts of paperwork and documents ready and sent.  It was such a relief when we received our DTE date ~ now all we would have to do was wait!

Our COMPLETED dossier!

Chuckle.  All we would have to do?  I wasn't necessarily thinking that waiting would be so.stinkin.hard.  I mean, come on.  I have a life after all.  I'm busy with my two homegrown kids and husband to take care of, involved in several church ministries, and my Thirty-one business.  Surely I've got enough to keep me busy.  This time is gonna fly!

I wasn't expecting that I wouldn't be able to not think about my "not-yet-here" kids.  (Yes, that's at least a double negative, possibly more).  Will we be adopting two or one?  Are they born yet?  Do they know the love of a family?  Do they have enough to eat tonight?  What are their names?  How old are they?  What is their first mama going through right now? And, most often - When will they be coming home?

I cherish this point in my life, I really do.  I love the ages and stages of my kids.  I adore my family and the fun we have together.  So don't worry, I'm not wasting away the present by dreaming about the future.  :)  But in all of our moments I am reminded - we are not all together yet.  When my two are running around, laughing and playing, sometimes I think for a moment about the day when there are three or four all laughing together.  Sometimes when we sit down for meal, my mind drifts to a future time when all of our dining room chairs are being used.

So yeah, the waiting is pretty stinky.  Especially in a culture where we really don't have to wait for much of anything.  (Hello?  I use the Keurig to heat up water for Jackson's hot chocolate, because it's quicker than the old-fashioned way of using a microwave.  Tea kettle?  What's that?)  But at the same time, I can choose to rejoice in the waiting. 

Did she just say rejoice?  Yep.  Sure did.  I am so thankful for a Sovereign God who is working for me and for my family, closing some doors and opening others, so one day our family - the one He designed - will be together.

"For since the world began, no ear has heard and no eye has seen a God like you, who works for those who wait for him!" (Isaiah 64:4, NLT) 

"The Lord will work out his plans for my life - for your faithful love, O LORD, endures forever (Psalm 138:8)

"And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them." (Romans 8:28)

And finally, a quote from Andy Stanley that I have recently found encouraging - "Waiting time is not wasted time for anyone in whose heart God has placed a vision.  Difficult time.  Painful time.  Frustrating time.  But not wasted time."

It's very likely we've got a long wait ahead of us - probably longer than we had originally thought.  And it's definite that there will be some difficult, painful, and frustrating times in there.  But we continue to trust in the Lord and rejoice, knowing that His ways are better than ours, and He is at work while we wait!

Marshmallow Hearts

Like the terrible blogger I continue to be, I am finally getting around to posting about a cute activity Jackson & I did for Valentine's Day this year!  Feel free to ignore, since it won't apply for another 51 weeks, or squirrel it away to remember for next year, or even better - pin it so you don't forget!  :)

I found these strawberry heart-shaped marshmallows at the grocery store awhile back, bought them, and promptly forgot about them until the day before Valentine's Day.

I rediscovered them while searching in the pantry for something else completely.  I wracked (racked?) by brain trying to come up with something to do with them, and decided on keeping it simple.  Dip in melted white chocolate chips and then in sprinkles.  Wonderful, festive idea right?  Until I did it and saw what they looked like.

Happy Valentine's Day....here's your.....lump of pink sprinkles??

I tried dipping them in only halfway; same result.  I flipped it over, and lo and behold.....cuteness!  And they fit perfectly in the Valentine's mini-muffin tin liners I found last year at Target's 90% off Valentine's sale.

So....what did we do with all these fancy marshmallow hearts?  We put one on each place at our Valentine's meal (in case you don't remember, our traditional Valentine's meal is a heart-shaped meatloaf or hamloaf, and lots of other heart-shaped or red or pink foods).  We've also been using them in hot chocolate - adorable and tasty!

Make Ahead Smoothies

Awhile ago, on Pinterest I believe, I had seen the idea of making smoothies ahead of time, freezing them in small portions, and keeping them in the freezer at-the-ready.  I was in love with this idea (yay for OAMC!), but somehow didn't pin it, and in the meantime, lost it.  Argh.  After a LOT of searching pinterest and a few of my favorite blogs, I realized I wasn't going to find the original post.  Luckily for me, there were a ton of other great ideas out there.  I looked at a bunch of different ideas and then came up with my own.

Strawberry Freezer Smoothies:

• Freeze yogurt in ice cube trays.  For me, a 32 oz container of yogurt filled 2 ice cube trays.
• Fill resealable baggies with 2 cubes of yogurt and around 3/4 cup of fruit.  (I already had some strawberries frozen, so I used those.  If you are putting fresh fruit in your bags, flash freeze them first so you don't end up with one big clump.  To flash freeze, lay each individual piece of fruit on a cookie sheet & freeze).
• Since the resealable sandwich bags I used aren't freezer bags, I put them all in one gallon sized freezer bag.....no freezer burn & it corrals them all into one place.

• To serve, add milk & honey and blend until it's the texture you like.
• Note:  I froze individual servings because I have one of the Magic Blender knock-offs.  If you are making a regular blender full, just adjust the amounts accordingly.

I also decided to try the Green Monster Smoothies I have been seeing.  I am not a huge vegetable fan (AKA I despise most vegetables) and figure if I can sneak a few in here and there, it will be a huge health benefit!  Now, a bright GREEN (spinach) smoothie isn't exactly hiding anything, but trust me, they taste delicious....not vegetable-y at all!

I made two different green smoothies.  For my first batch, I used the basic ingredients of the recipe at NaturallyElla.  I used what I had on hand - so regular milk instead of almond milk, and no flaxseed.  I whipped up the smoothies and froze them in the ice cube trays.  When I prepare these, I'll need to thaw them out a little first, since I won't be adding anything to them.

I also made up my own (similar) version, this time without the milk so it didn't take up so many of my ice cube trays....I can easily add the milk in the day I make them.  I blended 4 large handfuls of spinach, 2 bananas, and added some canned pineapple on hand that I needed to use up, along with it's juice to make blending easier.  (I did use my large blender for this).  To serve, take 2 or 3 of the frozen spinach cubes, add a few yogurt cubes, some milk & honey, and blend.  There you have it.  A spinach smoothie.  Sounds delightful, doesn't it?  But seriously, folks, they are gooooood!  Take a toddler's word for it.....she LOVED it so much she had two!

So easy, and if your family loves smoothies, having some ready-made packs on hand can be a huge time & money saver (have you ever priced the frozen smoothie packs at the grocery store?!)  I love that you can be creative and throw in whatever fruits you have.....it's impossible to make a bad smoothie or get the recipe wrong!

Bonus:  the strawberry smoothies will be perfect for my kids' Valentine's Day breakfast tomorrow!  (Looking for other quick things to do for Valentine's Day?  Click here!)

And the green spinach smoothie will definitely be on the menu for St. Patrick's Day!
 

Linking to:  Craft-O-Maniac,

Coupon Chief Review

I was recently contacted and asked to review an online coupon source (we're talking coupon codes for online shopping here, not manufacturer's coupons for groceries), Coupon Chief.  I was intrigued, because you know how I love my coupons!!!  I'm also a big fan of shopping online when I can.....I love being able to find what I want and have it shipped directly to my door, all while in my comfy sweatpants sitting in front of my fireplace!  The only downside?  Sometimes it's harder to find the great deals online.  And ohhh, the disappointment when you find what you think is a great deal, and then when you have to add shipping & handling, it ends up being not-so-great!

Enter Coupon Chief!  It is one of the fastest growing coupon sites, with over 250,000 visitors each month.  Their database currently has over 50,000 coupons for over 15,000 stores!

I decided to do a little trial run and tell you about my experience.  Here's some points worth noting:

• Easy to navigate!  The homepage is visually appealing and includes sections for featured stores, popular coupons, and new coupons.  There is also a clickable search to browse by popular tag (computers, electronics, etc).  
• The Search Bar:  Front and center, easy to find, right at the top of the homepage.  You can search for a particular store (Target.com), or for a product (laptop).
• Updated ~ the coupons listed are coded in green (working!), yellow (uknown), or red (not working), so you don't have to waste your time finding deals that may end up in disappointment.  It even shares the success rate percentage!
• Printables too!  There are some printable coupons available for in-store shopping.
• New to online shopping & coupon codes?  There is a How It Works page that even includes a video tutorial!

Now granted, there are other coupon sites.  Some of them I've used before, and typically I've had some level of success.  Want to know what I think puts Coupon Chief ahead of the game?  (Besides all the great stuff I've already mentioned?)  The Pays-To-Share program!  Basically, you sign up for an account, upload coupons, and if someone uses your coupon, you get 2% of the sales!  Sweet!  I don't think anybody's going to get rich from uploading coupons, but it could definitely add to a great deal.

So there you have it, folks!  Add Coupon Chief to your bookmarks, and the next time you are doing some online shopping, check it out....you may score a great deal!  (Or at least pay for that pesky shipping & handling fee!)

Disclaimer:  I was compensated for this review, but all opinions are my own!

Coffee Bar Beginnings

Well, it's far from complete, but I am deeming it "good enough" to show you what it looks like so far.  Sorry in advance for the lighting of all the pictures....here's a picture of my kitchen lights so you can see what I'm working with....

....and I know, I should edit them to make them look better, but you already know the state of my computer.....let's just say I'm not sure it would last through an editing session!

Anyway, back to the coffee bar.  We went to IKEA a few weeks ago, and I passed on a few buffets I liked to save some money and found a table instead.  It works out perfectly!  Here's what it's currently looking like in it's not-yet-finished state.

I love storing things in clear jars.....keeps it fresh and I love the look of it.  On the bottom shelf in the penny-candy jar, I have teabags....

On the top, the jars are filled with coffee (for when I can't find the good deals on K-cups, and so we can keep on buying Just Love Coffee!), mini marshmallows (for the kids' hot chocolate), and sugar cubes (because they are cuter than regular sugar!)...

Still on the to-do list:  a shelf above the table to hold some mugs and maybe a few more jars!  (I would love to have a jar for hot chocolate mix too, but I'm already running out of room!)  And how cute would a little honey pot like this one be?!  And how about a mini-fridge for my creamers??  I kid, I kid!

I'm also needing a Hobby Lobby run for a little project I'm planning.....hint:  Ethiopia is the birthplace of coffee :)

I'm really loving this little coffee station so far.  It's given me so much more room on my kitchen counters, and the shelf below gives some storage for some items I don't have room for in my cabinets!

How do you take your coffee?

Linking to:  Whatever Goes Wednesday @ Someday Crafts