"God redeems something by buying it back through the payment of a ransom. He gave the life of His Son as the ransom to buy us back from the clutches of sin. He has also bought back the rights to our past and all it's failures. If we cooperate, He'll turn every single one of those failures into something useful for His kingdom." -Beth Morre 'Daniel'

a little heaven in your mouth

One of my most favorite parts of the holiday season is baking. I mean, like, from scratch.takes hours.flour everywhere.whole house smellin' good.kinda baking. One of my favorite items to bake is pie. Not just any pie, but sugar cream pie. Not just any sugar cream pie, but my mom's sugar cream pie. Seriously.good. And guess what? It's your lucky day because I'm gonna share not only the pie recipe, but the homemade crust recipe as well. So, grab your favorite apron and let's get started....

Fist- the crust.
1 1/2 Cups all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1/2 Cup shortening (if you want extra flaky and yummy, use plain ol' lard. I get mine at my mom's (she owns it along with her 3 sisters) small town grocery, Hodson's in Converse, Indiana. If you love small town, ol'school hospitality, service with a smile, great product with a whole lot of choices, check Hodson's out. I KNOW they'd love to see you there!)
4 to 5 Tablespoons cold water (needs to be COLD. mom always adds ice to her water)

Stir flour and salt together. Cut in shortening (or lard) until pieces are size of small peas. (I use a fork only because I don't own one of those cool pastry cutters.) Sprinkle in water 1 tablespoon at a time, stirring and kneading until the dough is moldable. You don't want to add too much water because it will make it too sticky and slimy. At this point, you can wrap in plastic wrap and store in fridge until you're ready to use it, ooor, turn out onto a lightly floured surface and start rolling it out. (Makes enough for 1 pie crust)

                                             

Combining Flour and salt.



Cutting in the Lard




After sprinkling in 5 Tablespoons, kneading with my hands, and rolling around in bowl to make it into a ball




Rolling out on floured surface. {make sure you flour your rolling pin too! and don't forget to flip your dough to flour both sides! noting worse when your dough sticks to the counter top!}




mmmmm.... Homemade goodness.


Second-a little heaven on earth: the filling.
1/2 Cup flour
1 3/4 Cups sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 Cups heavy whipping cream
1 teaspoon vanilla
nutmeg

Combine dry ingredients in a large bowl. Set aside. Heat cream enough to where it just starts to boil. Pour cream over dry ingredients and mix well. (I use a whisk) Add vanilla and pour into your delicious, just rolled out pie shell and sprinkle with nutmeg. Bake at 375 degrees for 45 minutes or until set. Let cool completely.

Flour, Sugar, Salt

Mixed well with {almost boiling} whipping cream and vanilla



Sprinkled with Nutmeg




Baked and ready! {is your mouth watering yet?!?}


I love this pie cold! super creamy and the top gets a bit chewy. add a cup of coffee and wheew wee. your taste buds will do a happy dance!

Happy Baking,

A fellow adopter and friend has put together an amazing blog post about places you can holiday shop with a purpose. In her words: "purchase for people you love while showing love to some you've never met." perfect. She has featured our "redeemed" bracelets from MudLove, and I am happy to say we will be taking more orders! We are taking orders from now untill December 1st. Go here to check out colors and the how to order. Also, please please check out Lovelyn's blog and show a little holiday love to others as well.

xo,

Where we are

"So, where are you guys at in the whole adoption process now?"

Been hearing this question a lot lately. My fault. I haven't posted about our journey in quite awhile. Honestly, I'm still processing my trip. working through A LOT of emotions. loving my baby from afar. To be honest, it's been HARD. Experiencing parts of the adoption process with one of my besties, I thought I would maybe have an understanding of what I would be going through. Thought I had some good insight. Thought handling things would be a bit easier. However, nothing prepares you for a journey that is all your own. Emotions are raw. leaving a sweet little love half way across the world feels like leaving a part of yourself. living my life of luxury here knowing what life is like there. makes me sick. But, I'm dealing. day by day. Talking with a therapist helps a whole lot. someone who knows how to take and deal with my crazy. My Father placing His finger on parts of me that need to change. Working in me. my marriage. our family. while we wait. wait. wait.

Wait. That is where we are. We have received our I-171h approval form from the USCIS. We have been filed for Court in Ug. We have been assigned to a Judge. We now wait for our Judge to assign us a court date. Our Judge is on leave till December 15th and most likely will not take our case until after the holidays. We're praying for early next year, but knowing His timing is best. While we wait, I stand confident that my baby is feeling love. Love from friends who are there right now. Love from volunteers. Love from the One who loves him more than I ever can.

So, that's where we are. Waiting. Trying not to wish and waste this time away. Asking the Lord what He will have us do in this wait. and Trusting.

"mommy, my legs are so long because i'm 4 now!"

I have a 4 year old. eesh. How did that happen?! It really has been a blessed 4 years! Trenner brings so much to our lives. ENERGY.joy.laughter.love.excitement.patients.sweet snuggles.tender heartedness.beautiful expression filled eyes.(with his daddy's amazing eyelashes!) and a whole lot of cuteness.

Trenner got a birthday celebration that spanned 3 whole days.and he love each and every minute of it!

Day 1. Birthday celebration with immediate family(and friends we consider family)

Day 2. Trenner Celebrated at school. I don't have pictures because he doesn't allow me to accompany him into school. "It's okay, mom. You can just drop me off. I'll kiss you goodbye in the car."    Really?!?

Day 3. His actual birthday. November 15th.



Thanks for the Spiderman suit Dr. Rich and Miss Brenda!





Trenner wanted homemade Cinnamon rolls.





and they were delicious!



He chose to go bowling for his final celebration. He also wanted to take Aunt Ali along. They had a blast!



Ali celebrating





Daddy getting in on the action. I think Ali almost beat him... ;)



No, she didn't fall. Every time she rolled the ball she would do crazy moves to get the ball to do what she wanted. it worked every time!



You don't get much cuter than a 4 year old's bowling shoes.



More of Ali's crazy moves! seriously.funny.



4 whole years of fun. Thanks you, my love!

Tiny Prints came through!

It's that time of year again. The time when we search desperately for the perfect family photo, to attach to the perfect Christmas card, to send to anyone and everyone who might like to see just how cute our family is. For me, it's a love/hate relationship. I love to be able to send cards to family and friends to let them know we think of them often. I hate looking for cards. There are a bazillion to choose from, and really, most of them are quite cheesy. But today, thank goodness, I found Tiny Prints! (cue the choir!) Holy cuteness! and NOT cheesy!! I could spend hours looking through the cards, only because I can't decide which is perfect enough. Not too busy, a little old school, quiet colors, classy. And guess what?! I found it! Drum roll please....



I love the colors! just perfect!
I love the font! Seriously cute!
I love the size of pictures. Perfect to show off my 2 loves and my hunky man and I.
I love that it says "Merry Christmas". Super important to me that it doesn't just say "Happy Holidays"
It's just Perfect!

Your perfect Christmas card awaits you, too. Take a look at all the lovely christmas cards here. Please, give yourself ample time, though,'cause I'm telling ya, you'll love em all!!

What a talented man...

For any of you who have been in my home, you have seen the wonderful works of my very talented father in law. He has built many custom furniture pieces for us. Lucky for you, he's now starting his own business, Wooden Dreams. His motto is "If you can dream it, I can build it", and when he says that, he means it. All of the furniture pieces he's built for us have come from only a picture or ideas that we came up with on our own. His craftsmanship is wonderful and boy oh boy, does he work fast! So thankful to have him around, and thankful I now get to share him with you! Please go to the blog my talented sister in law, Beth, set up for him to check out some of his handy work. I know he would love to hear from you to help make some of your furniture dreams become a reality.

"For when You did awesome things that we did not expect, You came down, and the mountains trembled before you. Since ancient times no one has heard, no ear has perceived, no eye has seen any God besides you, who acts on behalf of those who wait for Him."

-Isaiah 64:3-4

resting.waiting. 

Tomorrow is Orphan Sunday. Praying that many hearts are opened to the orphan. Praying for His perfect timing. Praying for the day we can say our son is an orphan no more.

Last night, husband and I went on a little date to watch his cousins play in Section Finals at Western. We went with Mike, (Trey's dad) and Chip. (Trey's brother) On the way we stopped at a little place I often hear Mike and Chip talk about. Louie's Coney Island. I was a bit weary of the place at first, (thanks to Trey's description of the menu item called 'Bakes') but it ended up being pretty darn good. We met Brady (Trey's brother) and our nephew Maddux at Western. It was a great night for football. No rain. Crisp, cool air. No child to take to the bathroom, take to the concession, or to chase around. (thanks, Mom and Dad!) The game was a great one, but unfortunately Western lost in overtime. Besides the disappointing ending, it was seriously one fun night!

Louie's Coney Island.

The famous 'Bakes'. Not bad if you like a wad of hamburger rolled up like a hot dog. :)

Now these were good! Coney dogs. mmmmm.

Beautiful night for football!

Made me miss coaching cheer a bit. Until I started noticing all the motions that needed fixed. lots.of.work.

Snuggling up to my man for warmth. it got COLD!