And life moves on...

Hi all,
I am going to try to be better about blogging, mostly for my own personal reasons, basically because it does me good!!! LOL! So, I am glad we are a few weeks farther down the road!

And after coming together and trying to figure out where we go from here, well, we don't have a plan as of yet, but we have some possibilities. That is a start. We are keeping our foster care license, but are not actively seeking to take any more kiddos that are not permanent. Too hard on all of us. We so want to finish the journey with our children, each one of them. We just are not able to emotionally disconnect as maybe we should if we were "professionals" at this. I don't know if that is a good thing or a bad thing. I don't know if I want to be able to do that, or if it means there is something "wrong" with me.

But, we know that we want to continue to expand our family. We are good at parenting. Not so good that other stuff, but good at this, and working through the hard stuff. Chaos does not make us crazy, well not most of the time anyway. And you have to admit that with more kids comes more chaos, though also in some ways much more organization (it is the only way you will survive!!! LOL). But this is what our "calling" is, this is who we are. I know that many folks think we are crazy, but that is OK, what they do would send me to the loony bin (though some swear that is where I live! Again, tongue in cheek!).

So, this last experience really brought us to our knees to try to figure out where we were going in the near term. And that has sent me down the newest quest. I am very busy at Amazon.com. If you don't know me too well, you don't know that I am absolutely book crazy. My two favorite places to go: the library and a bookstore. It could be safely said that I hoard books. I just want to read them all! But, if we want to do another homestudy, or prepare the house for a baby, then there are some things to do! So, I am unloading whatever I can, whatever I inherited that I can bear to part with, whatever I can! I am hoping that not only will I clear out my excess, but that I also will be able to put aside the needed funds!

If you wanted to check out mommyturtle
feel free! I am looking for other ways to raise a bit of extra funds for this purpose, so am being creative! We shall see where God takes this. We have several possible roads we may go down and I am sure God will make it clear. At the moment, I find myself wondering how we would swing it in the short term, but also, I have seen God perform bigger miracles in my recent past. So, to me, that just isn't a good enough reason to not move forward. We serve a big God and he always has a plan.

On to another topic! We are having fun with starters and my kitchen counter that I got pretty much decluttered now has a starter for friendship bread and a starter for injera (Ethiopian flatbread). I am hoping I can get the injera to work as we were all spoiled with wonderful injera brought from San Fransisco last weekend. We ate leftovers most of the week (lots of true Ethiopian food), but the injera didn't make it past day two! When I bake, I bake in such large batches that I should have some to share. Another friend suggested we find a way to sell it to others with a taste for Ethiopian food (most people don't make their own, they either order it online, or go to Milwaukee, Minneapolis or Chicago to get it and freeze it). First I had better make sure I like my recipe and that I can physically make more than these kids of mine can eat! And they eat a lot! But, I love it too, and gladly eat as much as I can when it is warm and fresh. I almost started a sourdough starter too, but decided that this could be suicidal with too much baking to be done in a short time, and time is always short here. So, I'm trying to pace myself, at least a little. We love the friendship bread for breakfast breads and snacks, so I make a ton, and have to admit that I share very little (anyone want a starter?).

So, though this has been a wonderful weekend for me, I am about ready for it to come to a close. We had only one outside event other than church, and dh took our elder daughter to that (the Christmas musical is coming soon, so practices are fast and furious). So, after a long week of running and work and what not, I was HOME!!!!! And would you believe it, the laundry is caught up (that is only momentary you know), the dishes are done (and everyone is nearly done eating so I will have one more round of that yet tonight), and some reorganization was done!!!! The bathroom project is coming along, dh made a house for the barn cats, and I think that covers it! I know I should do more (but lunch for tomorrow is already in the crockpot and bread is rising on the stove to go with lunch tomorrow), so I am looking forward to curling up with a good book, though we may have to go a round or two of Uno before bed - the current passion of everyone. So, I hope you all had a wonderful weekend and can enjoy a restful night! After all, tomorrow starts a new day! (I think I'm ready, no, maybe I will try to sleep in, no, can't. Well, maybe I will just be in denial that it is Monday. Yeah, that will work, if I try hard enough? Can I tell my boss that it is still Sunday? Nope, then I won't get paid, oh, yeah, well, it was a thought. So much for that. I think I better head to bed. Ugh.)
LOL!!!!!
Christy