If you’re gonna be a bear, be a grizzly! I always say that…so we knew that we needed to have a party for the whole family to celebrate our adoption.    We invited many of our family and friends… The highlight (besides the jumpy castle – THANK YOU CHINO RENTALS!!!) was the trail mix bar – letting kids (old and young) create their own snack back of trail mix. We started with either popcorn or granola (or both in some cases) and then had 12 different toppings (including dried fruits, chocolate chips, marshmallows, etc.

I picked up the scoops and bags from PickYourPlum.com about a month ago and the metal buckets from the dollar section in Target.

We also decided to take photobooth style photos for the boys’ adoption album. THAT WAS A HOOT! The graphics are from galler.ee.

It has been a journey for us… a long and grateful journey that is coming to an end and allowing us to be the official parents of 2 more AMAZING little boys. This is the reason that the blog has been neglected… I had a hard time sharing about our family and not being able to share 100%.

Trystan and Breckin have been living with us since July of 2012 and are now officially adopted into our family. I have been asked, with all of the stress and drama that it entails to adopt through Foster Care, would we do it again. And I can simply answer that as “Yes, I would!” There are many things that I would do differently. But, I would all over again to save a child and show them what a true family is.

The court dates can get crazy. The time spent researching and relearning how to be a parent is just as undesirable as stabbing yourself with a fork. But now that this chapter in our life is closing and we can focus on making the best possible life for my new little boys, I can sit back and see that God has given Larry and I patience. And i get to actually share them with my family and friends.

It is a GREAT journey to accomplish and we are so grateful to my children’s birth parents that they, although they don’t know it, the gift that they have given to us is one that I will never forget.

My boys came from a hard life, a hard 4 and 6 years, one where they didn’t know where their next meal was coming from, where they didn’t know if they would be starved or beaten. Now, they can understand that they came from the exception and not the norm. We are a normal loving Christian family, accepting who they are and where they came from. The journey will continue to be rocky, but we are here for the long haul.

A friend of mine passed away this last week, giving life to her child as she slipped into heaven to be his guardian angel. “They passed each other momentarily as they entered their new home.” (Rex Galbraith, brother of Katrina)  Katrina left this world and her husband and 6 children and it makes me look at what God has in store for each of us. In her passing, I have relearned who I am as a mom and know that we never know when we will be called home.

“Your children will become who you are;

so be who you want them to be.”

So, as I reflect on this incredible journey, I see that I will be the best mom that I can be, I will teach each of my children to follow their light, no matter where it takes them and I will say my prayers every day for my family & friends, and my new boys birth family because I am thankful that they had my children and I was gifted them. Now, however there are 7 against two… Lar and I had better watch out!!

Home-made Biscuits!!! Yes, Please.

Ingredients

• 4 cups All Purpose Flour
• 2 Tbs baking powder
• 2 Tsp salt
• 2 Tbs granulated sugar
• 2/3 cup of shortening
• 2 cup of milk or buttermilk

Directions

1. Preheat your oven to 425 degrees
2. In a large bowl mix together all the dry ingredients.
3. Cut in the shortening. until what’s in the bowl resembles coarse meal.
4. Gradually stir in the milk until the dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl. If your dough seems too sticky, add a tablespoon or two more flour. If it’s too dry, add more milk.
5. Turn out the dough onto a floured surface. Knead the dough. You don’t want to over work it. Just until there are no sticky parts. Roll out the dough to about 1/4 inch thickness. Use a round cookie cutter (or the rim of a glass/mug) to punch out the biscuits.

Place the cut outs onto a greased cookie pan. Place in the oven for 13 to 15 minutes, or until the tops and edges start to brown.

Enjoy your food!

Basic Beef Stew

• Beef cut into bite sized cubes (I use the marked down London broil from my local store – you know the last date meat that I thrown in the freezer specifically for soups and stews)
• 4 large carrots
• 4 large potatoes or 8 small red potatoes
• 1 cup thinly sliced celery
• 3 gloves of garlic, pressed
• 1/ red onion chopped
• 8 cups water
• 1 T of fresh rosemarry
• 1T of fresh oregano
• salt and pepper to taste
• optional: 1 can of peas or 1 cup of frozen peas (I use 1 cup of freeze dried peas)

Add all ingredients to a large crockpot and cook for 4-6 hours on high, stirring ever few hours. Make sure that you water covers the potatoes (peas will float)  Serve with salad and loaf of bread.

I absolutely LOVE any meal that I can make in the crock pot or in my solar oven. The “make it and forget it” style cooking is something that I use to keep up with a busy life with 7 kids. This type of cooking allows moms to be moms and spend more time with their kids and have a home-made from scratch meal on the table . This recipe is a favorite in our house. Kids love to pile on the toppings.

Cilantro Lime Chicken

• 6 large chicken breasts
• juice from 3 limes
• 1 bunch fresh cilantro, chopped
• 4 Tomitillos, chopped (optional)
• 1 jalapeno, chopped (optional)
• 2 cans of  corn (undrained)
• 2 minced garlic cloves
• 1 red onion, chopped
• 2 cans of black beans, drained and rinsed