What I drove in today...

Well....we have hoped we would have a snow storm while we were here and today was the day. The snow started about 8:30 and school was let out at 10:15. After I dropped off the kids at home I ran out to my parents and that is where this picture was taken. We are enjoying the day being snowed in although it prevented Mark from flying in as his flight was cancelled....he re-scheduled for tomorrow.

BTW.....Hudson was eating a smoothie in the picture below...notice the flax seed on his lip....He LOVES them!

Wordless Wednesday

While I Was In The Shower.....

......Hudson came to me jabbering with excitement and telling me to "c'mere".....He had gotten my camera and "staged" his cars to take pictures. He ended up using all the memory (which wasn't much) but was SO proud of his pictures. I had to laugh but be assured when I am soon the proud owner of my NEW Nikon I won't be leaving it out where he can get to it!!!

Prayer Request

I know you are faithful to pray. As you know we are in MN for the 2nd semester. Yesterday we heard Madi's homeroom teacher's family was involved in a terrible accident. She lost her husband to a sudden heart attack 2 1/2 years ago. Saturday her parents and sister were on their way here to celebrate her 5oth birthday with her and all three were killed in a head on collision. I can't imagine the pain of losing four family members EVER but especially in such a a small frame of time. I don't the details of her sister's family but I am sure she has children still at home.

If the Lord should bring this across your mind this week please lift up Diane Hoffman and her family. Thank you!!

Thankful Thursday!!!

Last night we celebrated my mom and dad's 48th wedding anniversary. We also celebrated the GOOD news we received Tuesday from my mom's oncologist. Her tumors have shrunk considerably and her tumor marker has also gone down considerably since November. Her oncologist was visibly excited and we know that the prayers of many family and friends contributed to this great news!!! It was a fun night and we wish Mark and my brothers could have been here to celebrate with us! We are truly thankful!!!!!!!!!!!!

Home......

Last Friday night my nephew Jackson (8) came over after school to spend the night. He had been begging to do this since we moved in so a plan was made. The afternoon and evening went well and after coming home from a bb game at around 9:00 he announced....."I want to go home"....Well, this didn't suprise me at all as he quite the homebody but I wasn't about to get out again in the cold weather to drive him home.

What is it about home that draws us continually back to it?

I started thinking about this after I went to bed last Friday and pondered it many times over the last week. What is it about home? This is what I know. It is what is comforting and familiar. It is where we feel the safest. It is where we can just "be", not all prettied up for the world outside and probably the place we are the most authentic. Loved purely by those we live with although they surely see the real "ugly" we are good at hiding from the rest of the world...and.....THEY desire to come home. Wow......

It also got me thinking about what home really is. Living 20plus years away from where I grew up has brought many homesick moments.. Now I am here and miss home in TX (Mark being a big part of that). Hudson calls this house "new house", he refers to our house in TX as "home" and then there is "Grandpa's house". He seems equally excited and happy being in any one of those places....so, as often happens with children around, I have learned through Hudson's eyes, home is where "your people" are and although that sounds cliche...."home is where the heart is"...it is so true. Sure, I miss my house, my things, my closet (as we are going on week 6 of living out of suitcases which will spread into six months....) but those pale in comparison to being among those who know us the best and love us inspite of ourselves..........

And isn't that the heart of God? He loves us inspite of ourselves, in Him we are the safest we can be, where we can be totally authentic and trusting in His love for us. Where He desires us to come free of all the things we use to pretty ourselves up for the outside world and where He longs to just "be" with us. And isn't that what we should desire? To BE in Him?

"Lord, may my deepest desire be You.....my dwelling place, my fortress, my firm foundation,.........my home".

(BTW....just so you don't think I am the mean Aunt Sharon, I knew Abby, Jack's sister, was coming by to drop Jordan off so she took him home)

Happy Birthday Landry!!

There are those rare times in life when you meet someone and instantly connect. That is the way my friendship with Jennifer started and today is her beautiful daughter's fourth birthday. Jenn and her husband had moved back to our area after living in CA. They had visited our church and we heard they had a little girl from China. We hadn't met them yet but decided to have them over for dinner as we were waiting for our referral and were anxious to gain any knowledge we could about China and adoption. They graciously accepted our invitation, having never met us. Well, the rest is history. Jennifer has become one of my very best friends and our kids adore Landry. She and Jay are an amazing couple who love the Lord and have a heart for the things Mark and I do. We look forward to many years of doing life together and watching Miss Landry grow! We miss you guys!!!

Happy Birthday Sweet girl!! We wish we were there to celebrate with you!!!

Miss you friend!!!!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Catch ups..

-A few of you have asked for my Mongolian Beef recipe which is below. It is actually a copy cat of PF Changs....YUM!

-I have been given a couple blog awards and I am really bad about passing those along. Usually those that have been awarded are the same people I would award. Both Leslie and Diana gave me awards and they are definetly two I would award back. I started following Diana's blog when they were waiting on Ruby's referral. As she raises her precious girls in MN and records their lives in her beautiful pictures I often find my days of growing up in MN reflected in her posts. I am looking forward to actually meeting her in person this winter!

Leslie and I became friends after she received her referral for Susannah. I am blessed everytime I visit her blog and marvel at the faithfulness of God!!!!

Obviously our red thread of adoption connected us but their love for the Lord and how they live out their lives keeps me following their families. They truly inspire me and I am grateful for their friendship.

-Finally, Many of you have commented on my statement of 30 degrees being warm. It truly is when you think about -20 degrees...that is a 50 degree difference!!! The whole fish house thing is truly amazing and some of those houses cost more than my vehicle.!!! The men, mostly, can spend hours in these things and it always amazes me to see cars and snowmobiles out on the lake at all hours of the day or night. As Diana said to me "The only way to enjoy the winter is to embrace it and get out in it.". So true!!! My nephews above are good Minnesota boys who know how to do just that!!!!

Mongolian Beef

Ingredients
2 teaspoons vegetable oil
1/2 teaspoon ginger
1 tablespoon garlicchopped
1/2 cup soy sauce
1/2 cup water
3/4 cupdark brown sugar
vegetable oil for frying (about 1 cup)
1 lb flank steak
1/4 cup cornstarch
2 large green onions
Directions
1.Make the sauce by heating 2 tsp of vegetable oil in a medium saucepan over med/low heat.
2.Don't get the oil too hot
3.Add ginger and garlic to the pan and quickly add the soy sauce and water before the garlic scorches.
4.Dissolve the brown sugar in the sauce, then raise the heat to about medium and boil the sauce for 2-3 minutes or until the sauce thickens.
5.Remove it from the heat.
6.Slice the flank steak against the grain into 1/4" thick bite-size slices.
7.Tilt the blade of your knife at about a forty five degree angle to the top of the steak so that you get wider cuts.
8.Dip the steak pieces into the cornstarch to apply a very thin dusting to both sides of each piece of beef.
9.Let the beef sit for about 10 minutes so that the cornstarch sticks.
10.As the beef sits, heat up one cup of oil in a wok (you may also use a skillet for this step as long as the beef will be mostly covered with oil).
11.Heat the oil over medium heat until it's nice and hot, but not smoking.
12.Add the beef to the oil and sauté for just two minutes, or until the beef just begins to darken on the edges.
13.You don't need a thorough cooking here since the beef is going to go back on the heat later.
14.Stir the meat around a little so that it cooks evenly.
15.After a couple minutes, use a large slotted spoon to take the meat out and onto paper towels, then pour the oil out of the wok or skillet.
16.Put the pan back over the heat, dump the meat back into it and simmer for one minute.
17.Add the sauce, cook for one minute while stirring, then add all the green onions.
18.Cook for one more minute, then remove the beef and onions with tongs or a slotted spoon to a serving plate.
19.Leave the excess sauce behind in the pan. (I served this over noodles so I poured the excess sauce over the noodles)

**This recipe serves two

This is what happens on a cold winter day when the few toys we bought with us have been played out, mom is working and we are staying in the house where girls were raised.......Hudson is GREAT at entertaining himself!!! He spent a long time dressing and undressing the barbies. (Not to worry Kari.....I did buy him a new book today and mema bought him a new car on our little shopping trip.) We are going to enjoy the warmer temps (mid to high 30's!!!) this weekend. Hoping to take a walk out on the lake!!

Thankful Thursday and Chinese New Year!!!

It has been quite a while since I have done a Thankful Thursday post. I am SOO enjoying the almost complete halt that my life has come to here in MN. I plan on writing a post JUST about that one of these days but am still processing it all and what it means but...that leads into this post as
-I am SO thankful for the time I have now and the renewing in my families life that is happening because of it.
-The awesome gift that Mark has given us to be able to spend this time close to family. I have so enjoyed the little things that we have been able to do. Yesterday, my niece Abby picked up the kids after school, they went and rented a movie and we all watched it together with much laughter on a cold Wednesday afternoon/evening. I don't think we have ever had a more enjoyable afternoon on a school night. This was after I spent the afternoon at my parents house helping my mom clean some cabinets. Its the little things.........
-The generiousity of friends like Kathy Fehr who is letting us stay in her house this winter. She is the mom of one of my best friends from highschool and lost her husband to cancer 3 years ago. She gets it....
-My kids who I will continually brag about as they have been amazing through all of the changes. May God use it all to build their character!!!

We did have a Chinese New Year Celebration! The girls and I made Mongolian Beef and Lettuce Wraps. My sister and her family came over and instead of filling the red envelopes with $$ I had one for everyone to open and read a fact about Chinese New Year and then a Chinese Proverb. We had fun with it and I had lots of compliements on the meal. Wish Mark would have been here.
That Tuesday I went down to Mnpls. to pick Mark up from the airport and stopped at the Mall of America. To our suprise they were having a Chinese New Year Celebration so Hudson and I took it in. The best part was a Lion Dance done by two men in one of those great customs. I was SOOO mad I didn't have a camera. It was great fun to see all the little Chinese girls.....I think Hudson was the only boy......dressed up in their silkies.

My four AWESOME kids.....

Thankful for......

My brother-in-law Josh, neice Abby and sister, Laura.

The Year of the Ox!!

Is dinner EVER going to be ready??

Cooking away.....

The View from Our Front Window

This is what we wake up to every morning and no....that isn't water..it's ice (notice the fish houses). It was a lovely -14 this morning. I let Jordan drive to school so I didn't have to take Hudson out and I have LOVED not setting foot outside today. I grew up swimming in this lake.....oh, for the days of summer....

Hudson's First Date

Hudson went on a date last Friday with this lovely, young lady, Kerri. She needed to spend a few hours with a toddler for a college class and had met Hudson at a bb game (she is a friend of my neice). Hudson loved her right away so she asked if she could take him to movie. From the look on his face, I think he thinks she is cute!!!

By the way...several of you have commented on Hudson's cute "hair bow" below. I didn't even think about it as you never know what he wil put on his head BUT..it is actually the hem of a pair of the girls' jeans my mom had cut off. He would make a cute girl though wouldn't he?