Our new favorite snack

Snack time: it's evil, at least around our house. Daily my lovely and messy offspring and I lock in a battle of wills. They want bowls-full and hands-full of animal crackers, goldfish and the like. I want them to snack on yummy good-for-them apples (I even bribe with caramel dip), carrots (with a smidgen of ranch or hummus), yogurt or cheese sticks. And we stand at an impasse. Yes I could just not buy the other things -- but seriously, have you met me? And no those things aren't that bad, but considering my kids other nutritional choices I like to get bang for my buck whenever I can. All this means I'm ever searching for the perfect snack -- one that's healthy and nutritionally positive that also won't my kids gag (have you ever watched one of them try to swallow broccoli??).

Recently this search has pushed me into the organic side of food. I'm jumping on that bandwagon a bit late, I know.

As a side note: I'm still not "into" organic. I have reasons why I purchase organic and reasons why I really dislike the entire label but those are sure to start a firestorm of debate that I frankly don't care to engage in, so I'll leave them out of this particular post.

In venturing to the organic side of things, I happened to stumble on the latest Pearson snack craze. Grammy Sammys and Jammy Sammys. These little gems are perfect snack-sized goodness -- full of whole grains and organic, good-for-you yogurt or fruit spread. I originally found these at Hubbell and Hudson (my fave market...ever) in The Woodlands but I've since found them at my local Babies R Us. Made by Revolution Foods, these snacky-delights, at $3.29 for a 5-pack, are a bit more expensive than a traditional snack. But again -- I'm after a nutritional bang for my buck and these definitely meet that need. In a long line of tried-and-failed nutritious snacks, my Sammy friends are here to stay!

Of babies, kidneys and waiting

These thoughts have been bouncing around in me for a while, unsteady and unsure of their exact formation. So uncertain of them am I that I've been tempted not to share them, to keep them locked away until certainty declared them done. I'm not sure what I was waiting on -- some thought-turkey-timer device to pop or some feelings-oven-timer to ring. But no timer will ring so here we go, just thoughts, perhaps unready but hopefully follow-able.

Waiting seems to be the theme of the last half of 2010. And not always good waiting. Technically I suppose each of the things we've waited on are good but to get them we are waiting for bad.

We're waiting on babies. Our yet to be known but soon to be home babies. December 10th found us with signed license in hand. The license that's now proudly displayed in all it's framed glory declaring we are ready for babies. And now, January 2nd, we are still waiting. We came close once, receiving a call for two little ones. Only to have a call rescinding the placement. And so we wait, with baited breath. My heart jumps into my throat every time the phone rings. I've never been more irritated with solicitors ever. The awkward part of our waiting is knowing that to get our precious ones we are waiting for someone to hurt them or neglect them or to abandon them. In waiting for the good we are also waiting for the bad. As each day passes I grow more and more weary of the wait.

And while we are waiting for new life, my dad waits for a new life too. This summer found Daddy on the transplant list for a kidney. He's been a trooper the last 6 months dealing with dialysis and surgeries and endless doctor appointments. And all the while he waits for a kidney. While a living donor is best the transplant list is often made up of deceased donors. As our family waits for the good news of a new kidney we know that we are possibly waiting for another family to have their worst day. I can't imagine the bone-weariness that my parents must be experiencing as they walk this road.

I've never been too terribly good at waiting. Truthfully I'm not sure if I've ever understood the idea of really waiting. Not waiting on circumstance but waiting on the Lord. See we're told if we wait on the Lord we'll renew our strength. When we wait on circumstance we zap our strength and only when we wait on the Lord will we renew that strength. But that waiting on the Lord requires something of us -- waiting. As we've been waiting in all these things I can't help but think of Abraham and Sarah. Told they'd have a child, they waited and waited and waited. Until Sarah took matters into her own hands, until she forgot to wait on the Lord. What a mess she made! Waiting on the Lord requires a daily communion with Him, a constant communication with Him. Not a tapping of the toe arms crossed conversation each morning but genuine communion. Then will learning and leaning occur. Then will strength be renewed. Then will we mount up with wings as eagles, run and not grow weary, walk and not be faint. I haven't quite figured out waiting on the Lord yet.

With the birth of each of my babies has come a very specific lesson on the character of God and on my relationship with Him. I don't know why I expected our new babies to come with anything less. I suppose this time I'm learning about waiting and His timetables.

Whooo's 1? Grace is 1!

Now that she's almost 13 months old it seems like the perfect time for me to post the obligatory birthday post for Grace. I've been a bit busy of late -- please excuse my tardiness.

We celebrated Grace's first birthday is girly-owl fashion on Saturday, 10/30 (her actual birthday). Somehow we managed to cram in the festivities in between the ending of Jack's football season. Truthfully, when we planned the party we didn't realize we wrote down the wrong "end of season" date; once we realized our error it was too late to change things! Grace had everything owl for her party (I'm borderline obsessed with owls) with plent
y of pink to go with it. I bought her pretty pale pink Piggy Paint for her first "pedicure" -- which consisted of Luke holding her legs at still as possible while I smeared a little paint where toenails will surely be once she gets a bit bigger (she has tiny feet). The entire family feasted on lasagna and meatballs and bowtie pasta as Grace demonstrated her love for Italian food by consuming a rather adult-size portion of lasagna.

Then it was on to the cake! I so wanted a pink cake for Grace but since she has a strawberry intolerance, we had to improvise. I added some pink food coloring to the cake batter and voila! Grace tore into that cake before I was able to get a good picture of it and all it's owl-cuteness. Compared to her brothers, Grace was a champion cake eater. She ate almost half of the cake before we realized it and was AMAZINGLY clean.

After cake and the necessary bath time, Grace opened her presents. She got soooo many clothes and plenty of pink toys (had to help balance some of the boy-ness she's always surrounded with!).At one, Grace is standing independently, walking with assistance, has 6 teeth (4 on top and 2 on bottom -- fortunately it seems her "snaggle tooth" is clearing up on its own!). She is able to climb at break-neck speed and she's learned the subtle art of fake crying (with very real tears!) when she doesn't get her way. Grace is a pro at saying "mama" and "dada" and she's working on "Jack" and "Sam"; she still screams in her very pterodactyl-like way to get our attention. Grace is quite the dancer and loves to clap and sway to just about all music -- which makes our cute little walking song that we sing with all the kids a bit counter-productive! Grace is 20lbs 4oz and is 28.75" long with a head circ of 18.5", putting her right around the 30th percentile in height and weight and over the 90th percentile in head circ.
Happy Birthday Baby Girl!!

Adoption Update

Aren't you guys tired of that title? I am, but I've got nothing else so it'll have to work. Here's the most recent update on the adoption journey.

I finally worked up the courage to contact our Family Home Developer and ask about a specific time table for placement. I say "worked up the courage" not because I'm afraid of the FHD but because I was a little worried about what she'd say. Truthfully I'm not sure there is an answer she could have given that wouldn't make me a little nervous. If she had said the new baby is on the way right now I would have freaked and had she said (which she did) that we're still weeks away I would have been bummed (which I am).

Here is our tentative time line as of this morning (the date in parentheses is the deadline):
*2 weeks to write up home-study (Nov. 18)
*1 week to review home-study and arrange for us to sign our license (Nov. 25) (obviously this is Thanksgiving Day so I'm certain that will move the time line a bit).
*2-3 weeks for the state to assign us a facility number (Dec. 9 is 2 wks, Dec. 16 is 3 wks). (This process had, until recently, been taking 2-3 days rather than 2-3 weeks. Katie, our FHD, is unsure why the delay is so long right now. She's "looking into it" but having a difficult time navigating the red tape at DFPS.).

The time line is a bit lengthier (is that a word? I have no idea and I don't care to think much about it right now) than we originally thought. We thought we'd be placed by Thanksgiving and it's looking more like Christmas. Like I said earlier, I can't lie and say we're not a bit disappointed. We are fully trusting God in every step in this process and so we know that while this delay was "news" to us it is Divinely Provided. Still, we are dealing with the discomfort of our expectations differing from God's reality. And as we settle into the new time line and learn it's rhythms, I know that we could receive an email/phone call that throws us into another "new" so it's really a one-day-at-a-time journey for us.

Just as when this journey began, we ask you continue to pray for all involved in the situation. For our family as we prepare for new; for Luke and I as we face some demons both within and out in our preparations; for the new little one(s) -- theirs is a bad situation and they need protection; for Katie, our FHD -- what a stressful job she must have; for the licensing person at DFPS -- I don't know his/her name but I do know that Katie learned there has been some turnover in that department and there's potential the delay is due in part to that turnover -- pray for easy transition to a new position and speedy hands to get caught up.

Thanks friends! I'll keep you updated as I'm able.

How big is Grace?

Grace's favorite game is "So big." When she was little we'd ask, "how big is Grace?" Then we'd stretch her arms over her head and say, "Sooooo Big!" It would always end in giggles. Once she realized that she got a laugh for it, Grace decided to take matters into her own hands. Now when we ask, "how big is Grace?" she throws her hands in the air and reaches as high as she can. It really is adorable. And on occasion, if she thinks the level of attention being paid to her is insufficient, Grace will preempt the question and stretch her hands in the air hoping for a laugh. The following pictures are captured one night at dinner during such an instance. Excuse the lasagna-covered baby.

SOOO BIG!

Here's one just for Daddy

"What's up Dad?"

A big stretch for the brothers always gets a laugh

Attention garnered, she's so proud of herself.

Playing Tough

I caught these action shots one day when Sam was playing with his friend R. Like all things with Sam, it's "go big or go home."

On the fort working on slide technique

Big Muscles = successful slide atttempt

In which I play a lady of ill-repute

For the October social night, our ABF held a Murder Mystery dinner. Pasta and Pistols was the perfect combination of dress-up fun and dinner fellowship. Everyone was randomly assigned parts; Luke drew the part of Rocco Scarfazzi, an Italian mobster, and I drew Tara Misu, his much younger girlfriend. Cue the awesome 80's garb! As we read the script, it became obvious that Ms. Tara had a less-than-virtuous outlook on life, proving my (church appropriate!) costume to be spot on. In the end, both Rocco and Tara were innocent. Thank goodness for that!

Rocco and Tara

I won best costume at my table. The awesome glasses were my fabulous prize