Sweet 16.

Sixteen years ago a little 5lb 10oz baby girl made me a mama.  I find myself going back to that day, it doesn't seem that long ago.  My world turned upside down, in a good way.  Her daddy and I had planned and prepped as best we knew how.  I knew being a mom would change me, I just didn't quite expect to have those feelings of fierce protection for this little life so quickly.  I didn't expect that I would give up anything just to make sure my girl was okay.  I understood love in an all new way.  I fell more in love with my husband in that moment as I watched him hold his precious daughter, caring for her and me.  At just 19 and 20 we grew up quick.  Our baby was our main priority.

Yes, David and I were young when we became parents.  You can read all of our Love Story posts to catch up on the back history.  Many said we weren't ready, they were partly right.  Over the years I've come to realize I don't think anyone is ever "ready".  Becoming a parent for the first time is scary and hard.  It takes responsibility to an all new level.  You're signed on to love, nurture, and care for another human being for at least the next 18 years.  I wouldn't change our journey for the world, its our story and I'm so thankful for Gods grace and redemption.  He used a little girl to bring her daddy and I to himself.  In His graciousness He also knew I needed a sweet little babe that didn't cry much, went with the flow, did everything with her parents, and loved just being around people.  

Nichol you changed my world, you've taught me to love deeper, to think the best in others, to live each day to the fullest, to not worry about what others think, to be more confident, and to see life as the exciting God given blessing that it is.  Those are your strengths sweet girl and I'm grateful to have a daughter that challenges me.  Watching you grow in your relationship with the Lord humbles me.  You are my daughter but you are a daughter of the King first. I didn't know the day your Daddy and I dedicated you back to the Lord how hard that would also be.   As I watch you grow up and learn to let go and slowly let you go I know that Jesus loves you more then Daddy or I ever could.  He loves you perfectly.

Sweet girl, my prayer for you this year is that you would grow closer to our King, dig deeper in His word, cling to His truths when times get tough, lean in close when you aren't sure what the future holds, pray more, love bigger, and grasp tightly to Jesus, your rock, deliverer, and gracious Father.  Love others, give more, live radically, and let your light SHINE.

Baby girl.  I LOVE YOU.  I'm so proud of you.  Honored to be your mom.

Trust in the Lord with all your heart,
    and do not lean on your own understanding.
In all your ways acknowledge him,
    and he will make straight your paths. 

Proverbs 3:5-6

This song is my ring tone when Chol calls.  It pretty much sums up what my heart feels even though I know I cannot stop time.

Your little hand's wrapped around my finger 

And it's so quiet in the world tonight 

Your little eyelids flutter cause you're dreaming 

So I tuck you in, turn on your favorite night light 

To you everything's funny, you got nothing to regret 

I'd give all I have, honey 

If you could stay like that 

Oh darling, don't you ever grow up 

Don't you ever grow up, just stay this little 

Oh darling, don't you ever grow up 

Don't you ever grow up, it could stay this simple 

I won't let nobody hurt you, won't let no one break your heart 

And no one will desert you 

Just try to never grow up, never grow up

PC: Jessica Oh

Blog-Post-A-Thon

I saw this new little challenge over on Stacies blog and thought it might be fun.

Want to join me? Click the cutie picture above to read more. Its 30 posts in 30 days, sounds easy enough right? Maybe a bit of a challenge with friends and family arriving over the course of the next two weeks but it will be a picture happy time at least! I have intended to get back into the blog groove but it just hasn't happened. Maybe this will help. ;)

Super busy weekend, bachelorette party, a neighborhood get together with friends, church, and lots of painting/cleaning going on in this house!

I'll leave a few picture randomness........just for fun!

Diva Girl Cinnamon roll making
Pottery Painting

FRO!

Girlies

Mr. Fixit
Sweet Silas Boy - he thought he was pretty funny!

Been Busy!

WOW it feels like the Christmas season hustle and bustle has hit with a vengeance. The stores went from Thanksgiving decor to Christmas everything within hours. The amount of people on the road and in the stores seems to have tripled over night. I was SO behind on my shopping, normally I finish up on Black Friday. This year, not so much. I felt hurried and rushed so I worked on my spreadsheet of gift buying only to discover I wasn't the only nerd who did this and my sister in law did as well. I've had a list plugged into my computer for years and it always worked out well. My sister in law sent me hers to glean ideas and I liked her format a bit better so I tweaked it to take the things I liked on mine and combined them. Thanks Rachel! Now I'm nearly done shopping, I'm finishing a few projects up today and tomorrow and then we're HOME FREE! I love being DONE so I can focus on doing things with friends, the kids, and just focusing on the true meaning of Christmas.

In that effort to be less busy and spend more time attending to the needs of my family, friends that are struggling so badly, and just being open to whatever the Lord has for us I've decided I need to cook more at home. I used to be the best little Susie Homemaker when we were early married, I always made cinnamon rolls, homemade bread, hot meals every night at 6, etc etc. Over the years, several kids later I've slacked. I've been working on getting back to my roots of cooking. My husband loves it when I cook, I really do enjoy cooking, we enjoy cooking together and I want my daughters to know how to cook for their families. It was one of those things I just needed to sit down and plan out a little better so I could be more effective in this area.

So, why all this? Oh just to tell you about the BEST bread recipe EVER! Seriously.

Do you want great bread like this? People in awe that YOU made this?
I was a skeptic. I didn't see how you could possibly make artisan bread like the store. Besides, I haven't made bread in YEARS. I made bread yesterday. You can too. Its SO SO easy. Its almost embarrassingly easy. I made dinner for some friends last night and included this loaf. They were in shock. It was SO good. My husband was impressed. My kids were impressed. Try it. You'll love it. I'm making another batch today (well starting it) and I'm going to add some fresh herbs from my back yard in one loaf and some fresh roasted garlic to the other loaf, then because I'm HOOKED on this recipe I'll make two plain loaves to bake later. So you want to try it too? SURE! Let me help with that. A big THANK YOU to my sister in law Rachel for the recipe. YUMMY! Try it and let me know what you think. :)

NO-KNEAD ARTISAN BREAD
(original recipe came from The Oregonian FoodDay, 3/13/07)

* 3 ¼ c. flour
* 2 t. salt
* ¼ t. instant or rapid-rise yeast
* 1 ½ c. lukewarm water
* Little bit of cornmeal

Bread pan requirements: Use a three to six quart covered casserole dish, round or oblong. A heavy dish works best (cast iron, Corningware (French White 4 qt. oval is what I use), etc. Probably not glass).

1. Combine first three ingredients in a large bowl and then add water and stir well.
Dough will be wet and sticky. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and let sit in a warm location (like 70 degrees-ish) for 12 to 18 hours. You’ll know dough is ready because it will bubble on top.

2. Dump dough onto a floured surface and fold a couple of times until it's in a ball. You don't want to handle it too much. Cover again with plastic wrap and let rest for 15 minutes.

3. Shape into a ball (or oblong roll) and pinch seam. Don’t handle dough too much. Flour a cotton dishcloth (not terrycloth) and sprinkle with cornmeal. Place dough on cornmeal seam-side down and sprinkle top with cornmeal. Cover with cotton cloth and let rise 2 to 3 hours.

4. Preheat oven to 450 degrees. While oven is heating, put pan (without lid) in oven and let both pan and oven heat up for 30 minutes or so. Remove pan (it’s HOT so be careful), pick up cloth, and roll off cloth into pan seam-side up (it kind of goes “ker-plop”). If it’s uneven, just shake pan a bit and it will settle in. Dough will be wet. Put lid on pan and bake for 30 minutes. Remove lid and cook for 10 to 15 minutes more until bread is golden brown.

Take bread out of pan and let it cool on a wire rack. Yum! For variations, add whatever spices or things you want. If it doesn’t work, just email me and we’ll figure it out.

If you want a faster version, you can do two teaspoons of yeast and let it rise for two to five hours instead of overnight. The interior crumb of the bread is a little bit different if you do it that way. I turn mine out and let it rest on a silicone mat because it's much easier to clean up.

For rising, I bought a couple of oblong wicker type baskets from World Market. I just put a cotton cloth in there and flour and cornmeal the cloth real well before putting the dough in there to rise. That keeps it out of my way and out of temptation for small fingered people. After it's done rising, I just flip in into the heated pan to cook.

First Post!

When I first started blogging I kind of thought it would just be about the adoption of our sweet son, a bit of an outlet for me and a way to connect with other families going through the same joys and struggles we were. Who knew we would meet such incredible people and that there would be a BLOG-UNION come August. Since our other blog is adoption dedicated pretty much, we've decided to archive it, eventually put it in book form and update it when the milestones hit. For everything else........the party's here.