I went for a walk around our little homestead today in the rain. It wasn't much rain, but a few sprinkles here and there. I love rain, it is so refreshing. I also did a little bit of clean up, and envisioned all the things I want to do to this place. Our fence will hopefully be up by spring and then we will add some friendly farm animals! We will be painting and fixing up the barn as well.

We had a lovely weekend, which started thursday with relatives visiting that day. The new MOPS year began on friday. This may be my last year in MOPS, and I am so excited to see what God will do. Although, I love meeting new people at MOPS, He sat me at a table with 3 of my favorite people! What a blessing.  On sat. a friend came over for tea on the porch, my favorite thing! The girls played around the yard while we chatted. I was able to send her home with a bag full of tomatoes and cucumbers. The weekend ended with my walk in the rain. During my walk , I also went to check out my "pumpkin hill". There I picked some of my mini pumpkins, and looked around to see what else was growing. We will have some large orange pumpkins, white pumpkins, gourds, and mini white pumpkins too! I love it, fall is here!  After my walk, I came inside, and worked on a big pot of homemade tomato soup and BLT's for supper, and fed my little family. This is the life...

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Only 5 months between posts, that's not bad is it???

I have been busy over at my other blog dedicated to our current adoption. We are adopting a little girl from China, and we got our referral on June 25th. We are waiting to travel to get her in a few months.

I have been thinking about homesteading lately. We have been working on the house, finishing up the painting, and we got more chickens. We are hopefully going to have our fence up by next spring. One of my homesteading friends, Tara, came over and our hubbies got a good start on it! Yeah! Thank you Tara!

We have been out harvesting around the little farm. This week we got blackberries and peaches...mmm. Dh made a delicious batch of peach salsa the other day, and I will be making more tomorrow!

More to come...

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I have neglected this blog for awhile, as I started another blog awhile back for the adoption. I have been blogging there as I try to figure out what we will do about our referral. We still have no answers, but our agency is going to give it one final try this week. The problem is, this little one really needs an MRI, and the orphanage has trouble communicating. It is in God's hands, and if it is meant to be, I believe we will hear something within a week.

I returned from Seattle today after a surgery that was desperately needed. This is an amazing story. I have been facing some unknown pain for the last 2 yrs. I have been misdiagnosed several times. I was beginning to believe that whatever I had was an invisible, rare ailment that noone could see. Finally, two weeks ago, I found a wonderful Dr. who found the problem, and he had me come back today for the procedure. It wasn't much fun, but I was willing to do anything to get rid of this pain and discomfort. Praise God!

I am knitting my first scarf!! My daughter and I took a class the other day, and I am so excited!  I am still in the learning phase, but so far I love it!!!

My next goal is to learn more about computers, HTML, and how to fix up my blogs. I have to admit, this one is so much more user friendly than my other one, though.  I am pretty much clueless when it comes to computers.

Have a wonderful day!

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Out of the blue last week we got a call from our adoption agency with a referral of a 7 mo old baby girl in China. I was not expecting this. We are on the list for possibly looking at children with minor special needs, but didn't think we'd be called yet. We were just settling in for the long 2-3 year wait when the phone rang. The child's photos and medical file were emailed to us. After having what we were told was her main issue evaluated by a specialist, I noticed more concerns. I have now had her assessed (by photos and medical report) by many health professionals, and there are concerns. In fact, I am almost sure she has a different, very serious medical condition. Our agency was willing to request an MRI for her, and now we just wait. The orphanage may or may not agree to this. It is heartbreaking, as we would love to adopt this precious baby, but at the same time if our questions remain unanswered, it will be a very difficult decision.

Please pray...

Michelle

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Tagged on my other blog, thought it was time for an update!

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This is what I plan on doing starting January 1st. Click on the link for more info:

http://intent.squarespace.com/journal/2006/8/20/30-days-of-nothing.html

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Our first snowfall of the year began very early this morning and lasted almost all day. It is beautiful! We all get so excited around here when we see the first snow. It is somehow magical to look out and see everything covered in white. Peaceful. 

We decided to bundle up early, and head out to church. We stopped and picked up my son's best friend, and were on our way. After church, the two boys took thier trusty snowshovels and set out to shovel driveways. They made a little cash, then took some time out for sledding.

Later, while Daddy decorated the porch with lights, greenery, wreaths and sleds, Miranda and I decided to make Snow Ice Cream, since the snow was still fresh and fluffy. I decided to try a healthy alternative this year, as I do with almost everything these days. So, here is my revised, healthy, yet yummy snow ice cream recipe:

One freshly scooped bowl of snow

Add a few splashes of rice milk

Add a couple shakes of stevia powder

Add a drop or two of vanilla

Stir, add a bit more of the above to taste

Eat, and enjoy!

This was very yummy, my daughter didn't even miss the sugar, and she cried out for more!

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Tomorrow is the Big day! It is also my birthday! After many, many months of paperchasing for our adoption from China, our dossier is complete! We are FedEx'ing it off in the morning. What a great birthday gift! They weren't kidding when they said this country requires a lot! We have literally been working daily on it since June! We had many documents to send away for certification, and authentication, and waiting for the I171H, etc. I had to have the last form taken in for authentication by a courier. This helped us get to this point. If not, we would still be waiting. My goal is to have a Log in date by the end of December. The log in date means that is what puts us in line for adopting and waiting for our referral, along with the thousands of others! I have to admit, we became very discouraged again. In June when we started most of the paperwork, we were told from Log in date to referral would be 10 months. Now it could be 2-3 years! Crazy. The other night at the dinner table my husband and I were again discussing the possibility of pulling out of China. We were just so discouraged. Our daughter needs a little sister now! Just then something flew by. What? My five year old daughter jumped out of her seat to see what it was. My husband looked down and said he thought it was a ladybug. He reached down and on the floor next to my daughters dining room chair he picked up a ladybug, and brought it up for us all to admire. It was a tiny, baby ladybug! Okay, if this isn't weird, or what? All summer long, I did not even see one ladybug out in my yard, and here in November, there is one flying by us inside the house as we are eating dinner!? I am not one to look for signs, but I knew this was! I have been reading enough China adoption blogs to know that ladybugs are the main theme. Ladybugs are a popular good luck sign in China. The significance of a seeing a ladybug could mean that something signifacant may happen soon, like having a baby, receiving a referral, etc. Hmmm. I told Jeff right then and there that there was no way we would ever talk about switching to another country. It reminded me of the time 6 yrs ago when we were in the process of adopting our son from russia. He was 11 yrs old at the time. We had met him months earlier while on a mission trip there putting on bible summer camps for orphans. I knew he was our son and that we had to go back for him. I was told many times that international adoption doesn't work that way, that there was probably only a very small chance we could ever find a way to adopt him. On one particulary discouraging day I was at work, and I left during my lunch break. I wasn't hungry, but knew I needed to get away for awhile. I had just been told something else about how there was no way to adopt him. I ended up at a movie store. I don't watch movies, but I was wandering around this video store looking at them aimlessly. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw something in big letters. It was the word "KOLYA" on the front of one of the movies. I was shocked, because this is my son's name. I had never heard of this movie before. Of course, I immediately rented it. Again, I am not the kind of person that is out looking for signs from God, but at that moment I knew it was a sign, and I just knew we were going to be able to adopt him. 7 months later he was home with us. :)

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Today I rec'd a letter back from one of the orphans in Liberia, Africa that I am writing. It touched my heart, and I hope more people would consider writing to them. Nathan is about 14 yrs old I believe. Here is what he had to say:

Dear Michelle,

Greeting from Liberia to you in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. How was your day and your family I hope is fine? May the Lord be with you all to the end of this evil world. May the grace of our God keep you from every problem, and protect you and the family. I thank you for the gift you sent me and may God give you more and more than what you sent me. May the Lord Bless you and the family. You are the only one who sent me a letter from the USA of America. I say thank you may God keep us together forever. From 1996 to 2006 this is the first letter I have gotten from anyone. Our country is not in peace, so please pray for us. I dont have much to say, but just to say thank you for what you done for me.

May God keep you people safe and right with Him.

Nathan, Love
I love you all

Psalm 27, Psalm 23

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This is the best recipe book I have yet to lay my hands on! I got it at the Above Rubies retreat I went to in May. It is not only a recipe book, but it is an informational book, and each time I pick it up, I am inspired to whip up something healthful in the kitchen.

Since I have now been eating and cooking differently for a year now, this book lines up with what I am trying to do. It gives simple and easy ideas for creating meals for yourself and your family from nutricious foods like organic produce, nuts, seeds, and  healthy oils. The reason I like it so much is because these are recipes I have never seen before, and they are things I would have never thought of myself.

For optimum health, it is recommended that we eat 85% "alive" raw foods, and 15% cooked healthy foods. I am no where near this yet, but I think it is an important goal to work towards. It is really about taking the natural foods God has provided for us, and that most people don't get enough of, and finding ways of preparing it and eating it as a way of life. This book has helped me so much with that, and I feel like I finally know a little bit about what I am doing in the kitchen, and I feel so good about what I am feeding my family. These recipes are yummy, and life giving!

Tonight I started reading all the different ways of preparing salads and dressings. My mouth was watering so much, that I got up, went into the kitchen and put together a salad of organic greens, chopped tomatoes from my garden, green onion, avocado, and one of the tricks from the book, ground walnuts that I ground up in my coffee grinder, to sprinkle on top. I then blended equal parts olive oil, apple cider vinegar, with  garlic cloves for a healthy dressing.

I will share more, as I try more of the recipes from this book in the future. If this sounds like something you are interested in, you can find more information at www.aboverubies.org.

Here's to your health!

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Today when I awoke, I suddenly realized that this is the best day of my life, ever! There were times when I wondered if I would make it to today, but I did! And because I did I'm going to celebrate! Today I'm going to celebrate what an unbelievable life I have had so far: the accomplishments, the many blessings, and yes, even the hardships because they have served to make me stronger. I will go through this day with my head held high and a happy heart.

~Gregory M Lousig-Nont Ph. D.

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Here is a picture of my 4 yr old ironing with her new ironing board, and child sized iron. It was so cute, and kept her busy for hours. It wasn't really plugged in, but she was sure her sundresses were getting smooth, and unwrinkled and ready to hang in the closet. She just loves this little activity. I got the idea from looking back at one of my old photo albums. There is a picture of me around this age ironing my little heart out as well.

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This week has been such a blessing. I was able to cut my schedule back to working only mondays and wednesdays! I love being at home as much as possible, and the Lord helped me figure out how to scale this back, and it feels so great! I love my job too, so it is a nice balance. Although I had so many plans for the year, the Lord has pruned so much back, and left me right where my heart has really desired to be!

Last night we had our homeschoolers "Country night" get together at Tara's house. It was such a blessing. All the kiddos presented their projects on China. We ate chinese food, and fellowshipped. September's country will be "Russia". We are having such fun with this!

We are adopting from China! We have been hard at work all summer pulling together the massive amounts of paperwork it requires. We are just completing our homestudy, and our dossier is getting authenticated. We have no idea when we will be bringing home our daughter, and I have no idea how old she will be. We qualify for a referral for the youngest child they refer (6-12 mos), but my husband informed me that he is also intersted in a child around 2. The wait time for a referral has increased a lot since we started this process in May. It could be 11 to 16 months after our dossier is logged in, in China. We are open to a special needs child, so that could mean a shorter time frame, but we have no idea what God has planned, so we will wait patiently on Him.

Homeschooling has started and I feel much more clear about it this year! I have a better focus, and my children are much more settled into it, and willing. I am in prayer, and focusing on the Lord, and teaching them who they are in Christ.

I am feeling better and praising God for this! I am going to continue to proactively and consciously eat the way the Bible tells us to eat, and remember to treat His temple with care, and not overindulge as well.

I am looking forward to what the Lord has planned for this year, as fall is always my favorite time of year, and is like a new beginning!

Oh, and I am blog addicted! Besides homestead blogger, I started following blogs from people adopting from China and other countries. It is so fun to read! China adoption blogs especially because the people wait and wait and wait for their referral, having no idea what their child will look like, and then one day they are emailed a picture of their child match and they post it to their blog and all the excitement, and emotions are right there, and you are able to share in their joy with them! Just this week one couple who have a very active and popular blog and who's wait has seemed excruciating, just got thier referral-twins. They were absolutely overjoyed. Their blog had over 500 comments posted that day. I have got to limit my time on the computer, so I have to figure out how to treat this blog addiction.

Brightest Blessings!!!!!!!

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My heart is for the orphans of the world. God gave me this vision approximately 6 years ago. The compassion the Lord placed in my heart prompted me to take action. At that point I asked the Lord to show me what to do. We were quickly made aware of an organization assisting orphans in Eastern Europe. This is where I was being sent. Within six months I was boarding a plane to Moscow, Russia with my husband, and a group of  strangers to participate in a short term mission trip. I wasn't trained, knew no russian, had no clue what to do, but I just knew I was sent and the Lord always equips the called. In faith we stepped on the airplane. As our plane was landing, I looked out my window at a land I had never really thought about, an ancient place, a completely different existence from these United States where I thought the world began and ended. Boy was I in for a shock!

To tell you what happened next would be too long to describe here, but the outcome was that the Lord had totally different plans for us, from what I thought I was doing there. The orphan children touched my heart. My heart was broken for them. It still is. I was forever changed, and still am, and I think about them always. Living and interacting with them in their throw away building that was over 200 years old, rotting away at the seams, was enough to leave an impression on my heart that could never be erased. Seeing the emptiness in their eyes, and the sadness in their faces was overwhelming. Reaching out to them and loving them, then knowing we had to leave them killed me. The shocking part was God showed me that one of them was my son. Although we were told it would never work out that we could adopt him, eight months later we were back in a russian courtroom picking him up. God can always make a way when there seems to be no way. The Lord has shown me His power in amazing ways. I still think about all the children living there.There are approximately a million orphans in russia and even more street kids.  The ones in the orphanages are out on the streets at 16. A huge percentage of them are alcoholics by 14. Many of them don't survive. It is a sad, sad situation. This is where Children's Hope Chest comes in. They are the christian organization that allowed us to participate in the mission trip with them. They focus on helping the teens transition from the orphanages, so that they can learn skills to live independently. They have set up these homes called "Family Centers" where there are loving house parents as role models for some of the children to live in which is so much healthier than living in an orphanage. They also continue to send people out on short term mission trips to love and care for the kids. It is a beautiful ministry. They have always worked in Eastern Europe but I just found out they are branching out into Africa now! Praise God. They need people to sponsor orphans, or just write to them. They don't have anything to call their own, I've witnessed it. So, can you imagine what it would be like for them to recieve a letter addressed specifically to them? They need someone to speak hope and encouragement into their lives.  You can do that by checking out their website at: http://www.hopechest.org/

I also wanted to mention Dalyn's blog and her compassion for the children of Liberia. They also desperately need people to write to them, and show them that there is someone out there who cares. You can do that by contacting Dalyn at dailywalkinfarm@yahoo.com

She will give you the information on a child through the Children Concerned organization, and you can write letters to a child who will be forever changed because of it.

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 In my last entry, I talked about our Siamese cat who was due to have a litter of kittens. I got her due date exactly right, and she had them that night-seven of them, and they are all siamese! They are now two weeks old. It appears that there are four boys and three girls. Here is a picture of them when they were one day old: This is a big litter for Snowflake, the momma, and she is such a good mommy cat. When the daddy cat's were around,  there was one siamese hanging out, and one black cat, so I wasn't sure how these were going to turn out. Siamese kittens are pure white when they are born, with pink ears and pink noses. Within one day, their ears and noses turn gray/black! Very interesting. I love kitty cats. Here is what they look like now, at two weeks of age: 

We won't be keeping any of these. I kept one little girl from her last litter, and she is so sweet. Then I ended up with two more kittens. One of which is a flame point siamese. He is fun, but I have more cats than I can keep up with at this point. Good thing we have a an acre and a half for them to run around on!  I think this will be Snowflake's last litter as well. Bye for now. Meow!!!

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 A few months back I posted that our siamese mix cat had a litter of four siamese kittens, and I stated I would put some pictures of them on. Well, here they are finally! I had to get these on, since she is very pregnant again, and her due date was today, and she still hasn't had them! I think this will be her last litter, and I hope they arrive tomorrow! She looks miserable. She is huge, much bigger than before, so she must have at least 6 in there, since her last litter was 4 and she wasn't nearly as large! These were the sweetest little siamese kittens ever!

 My daughter had too much fun playing with them, dressing them up, and putting them to bed with their little blankies! We were very excited that they were all siamese since her first two litters were basic black and brown tabby cats.

Hopefully I will have more photos tomorrow of the new babies! What color will they be???

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Here is my son, and his rooster, Outlaw. We got 6 baby chicks in April, and 4 of them turned out to be roosters! We were assured that at least 3 of the 4 were females too! I like this picture, thinking of sending it in to Country magazine, or maybe another one that is like it, where the rooster falls asleep on his chest! Since all of these roosters were not very kind to my four year old daughter, and she began to fear for her life anytime she was near the chicken coop, we have now found homes for all but one of the roosters. Outlaw, pictured above,  now resides at my sons best friends house, where he quickly killed one of his new chicks. We still have one rooster, a yellow Auracana, who has yet to display any agressive behaviors towards us, and I picked up a new chicken at the nearby feed and seed store yesterday, who will join the flock when she gets a bit bigger. One of the roosters we got rid of was a feather footed banty. I really liked him, even though he attacked and pecked my daughter and I. We started to let him wander the yard, and every day, he would come up on the porch, and make himself comfortable. My new baby hen is also a feather footed banty, and I hope she is just as tame. Well, I am going to post this now, then come back later with more pictures!

Bye!!!

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I visited a wonderful farmers market this past weekend, and was able to pick up a big organic head of cabbage. I came home and attempted to re create the cabbage soup we had both of the times we were in russia. Here is what I did:

Add 2 32oz. boxes of organic chicken or vegetable broth to a pot.

Add half of a large head of chopped cabbage.

Add half of a chopped onion

Add one small bag of baby carrots

Add 3 cloves of garlic

Add lots of dill, lemon pepper.

Simmer until carrots are tender

Add more dill!

Ladle into bowls and add a dallop of sour cream on top! Serve with bread. This is delicious! And, by the response of my 17 yr old russian son, I think I hit the jackpot! He loved it and had many helpings.

Enjoy!

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I recently started making and drinking kefir for the health benefits, thanks to  Dalyn, who provided me with some grains. I make it using raw goats milk. I began by making smoothies with it, and one day I didn't have much time, so I drank some plain. It was difficult, and I quickly followed it with a big glass of water! I am not used to the taste, and have never even liked yogurt, so I am not eating this stuff because I love it.  My four year old daughter was there when I did this, and wanted to try some too. I tried talking her out of it, but she insisted. To my utter amazement, she gulped down half a glass of plain kefir! She loves it!

I have only been eating really healthy foods for about 10 months. I use mainly whole grains, organic greens, and organic meats. We don't use sugar. I can remember only a few months back when my entire family was somewhat rebelling against these healthful, back the basics foods I was preparing. Now my daughter loves it when I add stevia and cinnamon to something, and she is asking for plain organic yogurt, and plain kefir. Incredible!

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Our farmhouse is partially surrounded by a pear orchard. We enjoy watching it bloom and then produce delicious and beautiful pears each year. Living in Orchard country is much different from where I grew up, but I have grown to really love it. Yakima grows everything from Apples, to apricots, cherries and blueberries. The abundance of produce in this area is so nice. Yesterday my daughter and I needed to go to town for a trip to the store but got sidetracked at a cherry festival that was happening at the cutest little place. This place has been featured in "Country Living" magazine. It was a bright red barn in the middle of a cherry orchard, and their annual festival was happening. We went on a hay ride through the orchard, picked a bucket of cherries and watched a cherry pie eating contest! It was a wonderful country thing to do, just my kind of thing, and my daughter loved it too!

Recently my friend Jamie, who lives in Virginia, told me she was eating an apple, and she noticed that the sticker said Yakima on it. Our apples really do get around! She got to visit here last year, so she knew exactly where it had come from! Jamie, if you are reading this, I hope you are doing well, I miss you! Keep eating those apples!

Today we are off to Lake Chelan. It is a huge lake in Washington state. It is a tourist area, however, our vacation house is on a part of the lake that is very quiet, and we have a private beach we share with a few other homes. It's hot today, so we plan on swimming and boating this afternoon, then I will sneak into town for some shopping later .

Hope all of you are enjoying bright sunshine, and all the joys that summer brings!

Bright blessings to you all!

Michelle

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