What Every Chef Should Have...

A mandolin slicer.

Yes, my friends, you must have one. Quick, thin slices.

(That is carrot on the blade--don't worry.)

But make sure you also have some of these...

...on hand. Pun intended.

Oops. (Again.)

(Big sunglasses make everything better, though, don't you think?)

Hairy Mondays

Have you ever wondered how much extra cleaning a dog is worth?

I sweep my house daily (with this).

I vacuum my house every Monday (with this).

This Dyson (still goin' strong!) is full of the contents of ONLY the living room space seen in the background. Ew. Babies aren't dirtier than THIS, are they? ;)

If You Can't Beat 'Em, Try to Change Their Minds...

I'll be the first one to say that Christmas is my favorite holiday.
I'm no Scrooge.
However, I think we have some hurry-sickness in today's Ameircan culture that is displaying itself in the form of skipping holidays. No, it's not Christmas-time, Target--Thanksgiving comes first. And while some people may hate that holiday because getting stuff isn't involved and it seems kind of boring, it happens to still exist. We don't decorate for Christmas in our house until Thanksgiving has passed. And that's the way it is. (And we could all do a little better looking forward to the holiday that celebrates being grateful, don't you think?)

But this leads me to my larger beef with Christmas. I won't even get started with the more serious sicknesses America has linked with this holiday. I'll let the video speak for itself...



What do you think about this? I'm 100% on board--who's with me?
(For more information on the Advent Conspiracy, visit their website here.)

Halloweenie

Wow, tough crowd this week, eh?

(At this very moment the BlogPatrol ticker says there have been 999 visitors since I've started counting earlier this month. Who will be #1,000? The suspense is killing me!)

An acquaintance-friend of mine stated earlier this week that she doesn't like Halloween. I felt a surge of relief at this confession. Because I don't either.

I don't know what happened. I love all things autumn, I love candy, I love pumpkins (to look at and eat), I love the color orange (thanks to my Alma Mater--War Eagle!).

I do not like being scared, though. I do not like creepy things. I do not like eyeballs. Or spiders. Or severed hands. I do not like haunted houses or corn mazes. I REALLY do not like people with chainsaws. Perhaps this is the source?

Something has changed over the years, as I truly loved my childhood Halloweens. We had a big box of costumes that my mother would pull down out of the attic. It had this musty smell, and that is what Halloween "smells like" to me. We pulled out the face paints and the accessories. We all had our favorites. I remember being a Black Cat for several years in a row--I loved that costume. Don't worry...I changed it up each year with a different variation. First, straight up Black Cat. Next, Rich Black Cat. After that, Rich AND Famous Black Cat. (This is achieved by putting sparkles on your face and wearing a boa around your neck.) Well, you get the picture. (It didn't help that upstate New York always snowed on Halloween, meaning we had to wear our big fat snow coats over our costumes...Rich & Famous Fat Black Cat.)

We did not buy many costumes--most were handmade by mom. The best kind! One of the costumes my mother made that all of us wore around age 3 was a Clown Suit. It was made out of solid bright orange polyester and orange & white striped polyester. I found out years later that it had originally been a pant-suit my grandmother had made for my mom when she was in college. I wonder how Grandma felt about that when she saw the pictures of the recycled creation. Good thing we were cute kids--I'm sure that made it better.

Then there was the year that my mom made matching costumes for all of her children. We went Trick-or-Treating as...The California Raisins. We had sheets that had been dyed purple and puckered up to look like raisins. We had oversized white gloves with big cotton balls stuffed in the finger tips. Adorable. And we all pouted the whole evening because we thought it was lame.

Speaking of lame, someone should have told my 7th-grade self that the Poodle Skirt Grandma made for me was JUST for Halloween. Because I wore it to school in January. Just for fun. My mom asked during breakfast if there was some kind of theme day at school? Nope. Didn't I want to change into pants, because it's awfully cold outside? Nope. Okaaaay. (Thanks a lot, Mom.) It took half of homeroom to figure out I'd made a huge fashion faux pas. I hid in the bathroom for the rest of the day.

Speaking of lame AND hiding...that's what I'll be doing this Saturday. Turning off all the lights and hiding in the back of my house. I apologize in advance to the two teenagers and random weird adult who will knock on my door in search of candy. I am a Halloweenie.

The Great Blog Makeover of 2009

My friend Brooke recently joked about when my blog banner was going to change from pictures dog-children to human-children. (Don't worry, we plan on calling our human-children just "our children" like everyone else.) Perhaps you have been wondering the same thing too, my bloggie friends.

So ta daaaa--here's the new (temporary) blog banner. As you've probably noticed, not much has changed about this blog since the announcement of our adoption. (Thus, my subject line was really just a hoax to get you here...muhawhahaha!) I will probably add a time-line soon for you to refer to, but other than that...this is it! I do have favorite adoption websites and blogs of adoptive families that I peek at now and then, but I'll keep 'em to myself for now.

Don't fret reader-friends--Your Mom's Blog will remain changing but unchanging, the theme of my current mindset! (And please excuse the unorganized disarray--the sidebars will be back-to-normal soon!)

For the creatively-written, charming story of the blog banner picture, click here.

And speaking of dog-children, I would be remiss without relaying how this transition is affecting them. And that is: not much. Except that the vet recommended Moses not be allowed on the couch any longer so that he will know "who's boss." While Moses does know who is boss (Nick? Me? I'll let you wonder about that...), the introduction of Baby Faris is sure to confuse him, as he will naturally assume Baby is #5 on the totem pole. But alas, Baby will be #3 and also allowed on the couch, which is what will hopefully sink into Moses' lion-sized head. Owens, as always, is happy to show his humble submission to all family members. Thus, the displacement of Moses from his couch-throne has meant that he has displaced Owens from his bed. Sweet Owens, good thing that new rug is nice and thick. :)

The Necessity of Idealism

So, I am going to be a mom.
Nick is going to be a dad.

Together, we are mentally making that transition into thinking of ourselves as parents. Which is hard, because usually there is outward, physical change (that everyone can see). But for us, it is inward--emotional & mental. (I am batting around the idea of taking pictures of our growing stack of paperwork as opposed to the traditional growing-belly pics. At least there's something to show, eh?) Nonetheless..we feel...expectant. :)

I recently posted about our time-line and shared some thoughts about why we chose international adoption. I followed up with the fact that I know that those feelings/beliefs are idealistic. Which leads me to this post...and we're going deeeeep. (So if you prefer lighter topics such as fall recipes and my love for grey pumpkins, your time is coming my friend.) :)

There is a constant tension that I feel in regards to our adoption...

* On one hand: Excitement. We're going to be parents! We're going to have a baby in our family soon! We are doing a good thing for the world! We have joy that God has called us (Nick & me) to do this and that we are honoring Him. Our family will be a strong Biblical picture of how God adopts each one of us as His sons and daughters and brings us into His family.

(Note: Ok, here is the part where I need to say something for fear of being misunderstood: Let it stand for the record that I do NOT think that families that are NOT formed through adoption are unBiblical or not honoring God. Please hear that and know that I celebrate the way God brings ALL kinds of families together--not just mine!)

* On the other hand: Grief. This is the hard reality that we face. Adoption ALWAYS includes loss. Adoption is NOT the ideal. Something very painful will happen in our child's life that will cause our adoption of him or her to become a reality. Every Mother's & Father's Days that pass, a part of me will think of our child's birthparents. Every birthday, part of me will honor the two people that brought life to our child. And our child will feel that loss, no matter how hard we try to be wonderful parents to him/her.

The definition of idealism: "the cherishing or pursuit of high or noble principles, purposes, goals, etc."

Nick and I, at many times in this process, are clinging to idealism. We are cherishing and pursuing principles, purposes, and goals that we believe reflect the heart of God. But reality says that the only reason idealism is necessary is because we live in a very dark and broken world. In an ideal world, there would not be disease, poverty, hunger, death. In an ideal world, our child would be able to grow up and thrive in their birthfamily. A true ideal situation means that we aren't even part of this equation. And that can be painful...realizing our family is being created because of something that is broken.

You might remember a kind-of-strange post I wrote regarding Mother's Day--it came from wrestling with these feelings. This experience of sitting in my church on a Sunday morning while the "mothers" were asked to stand. Anticipating the day in the next year or two that I would stand among the mothers. And even more, wondering whether the birthmother of my child was standing now. And would she stand in the future?

Here are just a few phrases you will never hear me say because of their implications of reality:
* "God has chosen a child just for us." (God chose for our child to be "orphaned?")
* "Ugh, it's excruciating how long this wait-time is." (Couldn't there be more orphans in the world so I can have one sooner?)
* (To our child) "Mommy & Daddy wanted a baby, and God found you across the world and brought you to us." (More like, God brought us to you!)

This is why we have a necessity for idealism. Because knowing the world is broken can make you want to get into your bed and pull the covers up to your chin. But believing that things can change...things can be made new...that "the Lord puts the lonely in families" (Ps 68:6)...that sometimes just because something is difficult doesn't mean it isn't right...that beauty can come from ashes...This is what we cling to. This is our hope.

John F. Kennedy once said, "I'm an idealist without illusions." And that is how I see it. We have no illusions that this is the best scenario or even that this will be easy (for anyone involved). But we have to believe that this is the right thing...that the new ideal for a child without a family to provide care is for him/her is to become a part of ours...that God can do a new thing.

“An optimist is a person who sees only the lights in the picture, whereas a pessimist sees only the shadows. An idealist, however, is one who sees the light and the shadows, but in addition sees something else: the possibility of changing the picture, of making the lights prevail over the shadows.” (Unknown)

Good Charlotte (Trip)

So apparently Columbus Day weekend is a very popular travel weekend? Who knew?

We had planned for several months to travel to Charlotte, NC to visit our dear friends, the Nasmyths. Ibby is my best friend from high school and I really love his wife Erin and now their new baby girl, Olivia--this year's trip kicked off an annual family vacation we'll take together for mostly the ultimate purpose of making our kids be friends with each other. :) Olivia was just 6 months old for this vacation, so we chose to go to her instead of making her drive her parents to a different location.

Sad reality: Sometimes great vacations mean you have so much fun relaxing that you forget to take pictures--so here's the most recent pic I have of the four adults, taken the 2008 10-yr Reunion.

We had some crazy flight delays, resulting in missed connections and flying standby on the next flight out of Atlanta to Charlotte. However, we did luck out with two $10 meal vouchers for our inconvenience...which we spent on Ben & Jerry's in the Atlanta airport. (Pumpkin Cheesecake and Coffee ice cream flavors go together WONDERFULLY by the way, in case you had any doubts!) I did find it funny that you could spend your voucher on $10 worth of food or ONE drink. (I'm guessing that's alcoholic--but still, that's an expensive drink!) While standing in line at the customer service desk for the vouchers I overheard the AirTran lady tell someone else, "Sir, it IS a holiday weekend after all..." I know Christopher Columbus would be so proud to know his holiday is such a big deal!

Our weekend in Charlotte was filled with doting on Olivia, eating delicious food, and having great conversations & catch-up. (I have been craving the Banana-Walnut French Toast at Blu Basil every day since I ate it, as well as Ibby & Erin's Curried Chicken w/ Apples and Sweet Potatoes. Is it a sign that you love food too much when the memories you take from a vacation are centered around what you ate?)

As mentioned above, we were neglectful in taking pics, so here is one Nick took right before we left. As you can tell, Olivia and I are BFF now.

So the trip back...is really the main story of the blog post. Delays, delays, delays. Our flight out of Charlotte was delayed. Our connecting flight out of Atlanta was cancelled and they booked us on the later (delayed) flight. We spent the rest of our meal vouchers & time eating/hanging at (appropriately) Atlanta Bread Company with my mom, who came down to to visit us for a couple hours. When the flight time came, we went to the gate only to find the plane was overbooked. We were first in line to volunteer giving up our seats because of the sweet deal we got out of it:

• 2 round-trip flight vouchers...EACH!!!
• Upgrade to business class on our flight the next day, because we didn't need a hotel voucher
• 24-hours to hang out with my parents (& extra midterm-study-time for Nick)

We were so excited about our travel-savvyness and the inconvenience was FAR outweighed by the compensation. We basically got a buy one vacation, get two free deal!

We're headed to the beach in the spring for our 4th anniversary, using a gift certificate to a B&B from my employer (how nice are they?!) and 2 of our vouchers will save us an 8-9 hour drive. Sweet.

So...where should we go to use the other two vouchers? Ideas?