Ode to Abbie,Annie, Willi,Levi and Katy...our dogs

I found this pile of rocks on Mya's dresser the other day. I looked closer and noticed each rock has the name of one of our dogs- Abbie, Annie Willi, Katy and Levi. Abbie, Levi and Annie have all died ( at Christmas time) - one each year for the past year.... I have shared about it on my blog. We feel like our dogs are apart of our family and certainly they are well loved by all the children. I thought it was so sweet that Mya has this little " rock" area in her room to remember some of her favorite , very special and dear to her heart family members. I asked her about it and she said, " Yeah mom I really loved them and miss them."

Fried green tomatoes and Harmony's rice- out of sight....

We had fish last nite that I was cooking while Cate prepared our fried green tomatoes. Catle will only eat a tomato that is green and fried and she loves making them. We are using the last of our garden tomatoes before a frost hits ( hard to believe that will happen with our 90 degree days). I made this rice dish that is our favorite way to eat rice. Our friend, Harmony shared it with us one time and so we just call it Harmony's rice :) Easy to make and very delicious.

Harmony's Rice :

1 cup long grain rice ( not cooked)

1 stick butter

1 can french onion soup

1 can beef consume ( I just use a little more than a cup of beef broth that I make myself)

1 small can mushrooms

Pour all the ingredients in a 13 by 9 pyrex dish , cover with tin foil and bake 1 hr at 350.

For my family I will 6 times this and make it in 2 large pyrex dishes and bake it a little longer. It is literally "out of sight " in no time. No leftovers because it is so yummy!

We have eaten outside a lot this summer/almost fall

The weather here has been so beautiful except we need rain desperately. Even with the temp. in the 70s and 80s there has been little humidity and we have eaten outside a lot . We grill and enjoy eating on the deck. We usually eat late and watch the sun set....We have enjoyed the deck from the beginning when Paul and the kids built it to all the meals and fun times we have had...

Can you make this sound ?

Some of the kids had been reading Robin Hood . We jumped to making the sound you can make when you roll your tongue at the end. We had been talking about knighting someone to honor them and some how jumped to that...Don't ask me how. This is how they sounded... at least the ones who could make the sound. Some of them just could not.

My son, Jacob blessed me today....

Jacob came home with some extra money from the wknd. at Cedar Point... He decided to buy me lunch today. Chinese - one of my favorites. What a sweetheart and he made my day.

The ingenuity of these kids is amazing....to see value in something no one else values

Ever since a few weeks ago when Andrew out grew his jolly jumper he has been not as happy. He loved the movement and jumping but he has gotten so big he was too big weight wise for the jumper. He will whine lots now and has to be taken to the outside swing and trampoline. Since our pools are closed we don't have that either as an option... so last nite Leah was going to solve this problem herself... Now I was totally amazed at her thought and ingenuity in creating this for Andrew... and of course he loves it. We can move it around from room to room... It is just a sheet and a pull up bar. If you have adopted older kids maybe you have seen some of the same traits. The ability to take "trash" and make something useful out of it is something we have seen lots of times with the older kids. They may have started out with some negative histories but we are seeing them use their past tendency to manipulate into a positive create...Some of the things they make or do I can't believe how well it works or helps us. The ability of them to make something out of something of little value in the eyes of others... the ability to change the purpose of something not with much purpose - the ability to see value in something no one else values....

This sounds alot like our walk and journey of adoption.... and we have been blessed by these children and what they can do.... and they have taught us lessons like this... to value and see beyond the "normal" eye sight of most people into the very eyes and soul of God. Honestly I hope the Lord keeps calling us to love these precious orphans way into our "old" age... they have taught me so much.

He is a climber....

Even though Andrew is blind he enjoys climbing and getting his body into funny positions as I have shared before. This day he moved the stools together and then climbed up on top. Abraham was like this... I guess not being able to see has some benefits...heights don't really bother you :)