Adoption Update

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It’s been awhile since I’ve posted an adoption update, mainly because we have had very little news lately.

The biggest news we received last week is that our home study is complete. Hurray! Our social worker finished it, had us fact check it, and sent it to her agency to get notarized. Our agency now has a copy of the home study and it is being translated.

Once the home study is translated, it will be handed to the orphanage director. He or she will then read the entire thing and decide if we are to be officially matched with the child we want to adopt. This process can take up to six weeks.

Now that the excitement of our home study finalization is over, we wait. And wait. And wait some more. Hopefully the next news we receive is that “she’s yours!”

We were surprised today to be notified that we will be allowed to Skype with our daughter once the dossier is submitted. That won’t happen for a few months yet, but at some point we’ll be able to see our daughter and hear her voice for the first time. I am thrilled about that but also nervous. If we were to “meet” for the first time in person, we could go out to eat or to the zoo or play games. We could do something while getting to know each other. Instead, we’ll be sitting in front of a computer, thousands of miles away! I can’t wait.

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Ming Ming has been pruned!

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I didn’t realize how tall Ming Ming had already grown. He was 8.5 inches tall.

Now he’s only 3.5 inches tall!

I really didn’t like cutting off all of that growth, especially the leaves at the top. I sure hope that Ming Ming is able to continue growing and sprout some new leaves. Once Ming Ming is six inches tall again, I’ll be potting him in soil. I can’t wait!

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Change of plans

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Well, I was going to overhaul my blog design this month but I realized I need to switch projects. My dad’s wedding is on October 19th and I have not yet started their wedding present. Oops.

I’m designing a wall hanging/table runner and really need to get the project started.

Neither my father nor his fiancée read my blog so I’ll be able to post my progress. I’m excited to get started!

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An even bigger challenge

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This week, I was going to start learning about blog design. Unfortunately, life threw a bigger challenge at me on Monday afternoon.

My computer died.

After half a day of trial and error, my husband was able to take a back up of my hard drive. Then he moved the hard drive from my Dell Mini into the Dell Inspiron. Then he uploaded most of my hard drive onto the Mini’s hard drive.

I love how we stumble along with half working computers. My Dell Mini is now just an empty case. My Inspiron has a Mini’s (much smaller) hard drive and no battery.

I am now buried in technological junk mail. I was using Outlook to manage my email, so my gmail was forwarded to Outlook. Unfortunately, I never synced the two and now have 23,000 emails in my Outlook inbox. Hubby synced all of my accounts now so that I can create folders in Outlook, delete or file as necessary, and it will be backed up on Google’s servers. If my Inspiron decides to kill my Mini’s hard drive, at least I’ll have a backed up email account! In the meantime, I have to wade through my 23,000 emails to figure out what should be kept and what needs to be permanently trashed.

The other lovely side effect of the hard drive failure is that I lost my address book, my calendar, and my blog feeds. Now I get to play detective to learn everyone’s phone numbers, email addresses, blog addresses, and birthdays!

I am just grateful that I didn’t lose everything. All of my photos and home videos still exist. My budgets and e-books and other random documents have all been transferred to the replacement hard drive. Fun times!

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Time for a new challenge

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It’s been quite awhile since my last 30 day challenge. Because we’re currently in a Waiting period of the adoption process, now would be a great time to start a new 30 day challenge. It’ll give me something constructive to do, rather than refreshing my email every 15 minutes!

This month, I’ve decided that I’m going to overhaul my blog. The current design, if you can even call it that, is really old and desperately needs redone. So for the next 30 days, my challenge is to learn about blog design and put together something new. I can’t wait to see what I learn!

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A taste of home

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We’re hoping that our daughter will want to embrace both American culture and her own. I’ve read that a lot of older adopted kids reject their home culture but I’m hoping our daughter will want to hold onto hers.

In an effort to help her ease into our family, I’m finding recipes that will hopefully taste somewhat familiar. No forcing her to eat pizza on day 1!

This is my first attempt at a green bean stir fry. The store didn’t have snow peas so I doubled the green beans. Hopefully next time we’ll be able to use both green beans and snow peas. I also think mushrooms would be a good addition.

The recipe called for vegetable broth. Instead of using a can, I found a package of hot pot seasoning and made broth out of that. There was a lot of broth left, so I made ramen today with the broth, peas, and some soba noodles.

Both dishes turned out well! Hopefully our daughter will like at least one of them. Next week I’ll try another new recipe.

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Nightstand!

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What's On Your Nightstand

My bedtime reading is Elizabeth Gaskell’s Wives and Daughters. I’m only on page 48 but I’m really enjoying it.

Parenting the Hurt Child by Gregory C. Keck is my current parenting book. So far it’s one of my favorite parenting books – down to earth, practical advice, and doesn’t scare me away from adopting an older child.

I’m also reading The 40 Most Influential Christians: Who Shaped What We Believe Today (by Daryl Aaron) to review and post about on my blog. I’ve only just started it but can’t wait to learn more about some of the people who have influenced the study of theology.

Happy reading!

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This week’s memory text

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I’m excited to memorize this text. I think it’s extremely applicable to any stage of life.

Thus says the Lord,
‘Stand by the ways and see and ask for the ancient paths,
Where the good way is, and walk in it;
And you will find rest for your souls.’

Jeremiah 6:16, NASB

I want to know where the good way is, to walk in it, and find rest. God is good!

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Thai Green Curry

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Now that I’ve cooked this recipe several times, I thought it’d be a good idea to type it out and share it. My husband and I absolutely love green curry. I make this dish once every two weeks or so and it lasts for several meals. It even reheats well if you store the sauce separately from the rice and tofu!

Rice
1 package extra firm tofu, drained and pressed
2 14 oz cans coconut milk
4 T. green curry paste
2 T. brown sugar
2 T. soy sauce
1/4 t. salt, if needed
fresh lime juice, to taste
1 serrano pepper, seeded and diced
Favorite vegetables
fresh basil, to taste

Cook rice.
Sauté diced tofu in a frying pan.
While the tofu is cooking, combine coconut milk, green curry paste, brown sugar, soy sauce, and salt in a saucepan. Taste and add salt or a touch more of any of the sauce ingredients, if desired. Add lime juice.
Stir in chopped vegetables and serrano pepper. Simmer until vegetables are cooked (6-8 minutes).
Dish up rice in a bowl. Add tofu and sauce. Sprinkle with fresh basil.

Notes:
I use Japanese white rice, the same type of rice that’s used in sushi.
We like 1 tablespoon of lime juice, sometimes more if the lime isn’t very strong.
My favorite vegetables for green curry are broccoli, onion, bell pepper, and canned pineapple.

私たちは食べましょう！ Let’s eat!

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