Happy Halloween

Wordless Wednesday (Curious Caleb)

The Diaries of a White Mamma- {Hair Edition}

Things

get

stuck

in

my

child's

hair.

Like

puffs

of

cereal.

I did not give him permission to do this!

No really, I did not allow this. Not this early! Sure days away from being 10 months old is too early.....

I walk in his room this morning and I find him standing in his crib! What? Standing? When did that happen? 

I guess I should have expected it, seeing that last week after crawling backwards for months, he crawled forwards, to the furniture and was standing against furniture. 

And just like that my baby turned big. 

I did not give him permission to do so. 

Scrumptious Saturdays and Sundays

A new revelation: I don't hate to cook. I hate not knowing how to cook. Two completely different things! In light of this, I have made a commitment to cook or bake, or simply try making a new recipe every week (for a while). 

I want you to join in on the fun!!! Let's eat, cook and try new things together!

Every Saturday or Sunday, I will be posting new recipes that I tried throughout the week. Some of them may be yours!! 

So.....you can....

1) Leave one of your favorite recipes as a comment to this post 

2) Email me (ttisthechic@yahoo.com) some of your recipes

3) Participate in cooking with me and we can learn and enjoy food together!

I will start us off...... 

This week I made and very very very much enjoyed these cookies. They were amazing. My husband did not believe I made them....that says something folks!

Sometimes all I can do is write down bullet point thoughts for a post.

-The last few weeks have been hard to be a mommy. Maybe this is why all I can do is bullet posts. Sleeping has been rough, and mornings have been crab filled---first by baby and then baby makes mommy crabby. I am feeling like we are at the end of this, it seems to be getting better each day.

-Jon bought me a pink coffee tumbler, and I. LOVE. IT. I have mild addiction with both pink, and coffee tumblers:) He knows me well.

-I made homemade noodles for the first time this week, and not sure if I can ever have packaged noodles again....ok, a bit of an exaggeration, but they were good.

-I realized that I don't hate cooking, I just hate not knowing what to do. So....good ideas and good instructions with cooking = fun. (CANNOT BELIEVE I JUST SAID THAT)

-I want to be a photographer, professionally. I think.

-I want to take photography classes.

-I want to work for an organization and take pictures for them.

-I work better under a strict schedule and routine

-I love being taught scripture and love teaching others about scripture

-I don't like driving

-My baby is crawling all over the place, which means this weekend---full cleaning of the house!

-I haven't exercised in 3 weeks.

It's Time to Say Goodbye

Ouch. Some goodbyes are harder than others....like saying "Goodbye" to Kohl's. I love their clothes and jewelery, but sadly I cannot shop there. Though I love their products, I will not support slavery. Kohl's made the 2010 Sweatshop Hall of Shame List.  Something to be proud of, no? 

Did you know that Michigan is ranked #13 in the US for sex traffiking? 

Do you know that next to illegal drugs, sex traffiking is the highest illegal industry in the world? 

Maybe its time to find this out together. 

As a believer and follower of Jesus, He called us to live differently, to passionately care about and pursue people, to be seekers of justice and mercy. If this is my call, how could I possibly support modern day slavery? 

Here is what I am committed to do (Gulp!) 

1. Not shop at the following stores, or buy the following products: 

-Kohl's 

-Walmart 

-Ambercromie and Fitch 

-Gymboree

-Hanes

-Nestle

-Mars 

-LL Bean

-Pier One 

-Ikea

 

2. I will buy: 

-fair trade coffee 

-fair trade chocolate

-fair trade clothing and jewelry 

-shop at good will stores

3. I will 

-Pray

-Learn

-Give 

-Advocate

-Volunteer 

What will you do? 

I have been lied to!

 That's right folks. All those words of advice you gave me, were lies.

Cruel lies.

Lies that were meant to soothe an aching heart, but lies none the less.

Around this time last year, we were waiting to meet our baby girl. We were waiting to get the phone call to go and pick her up from the hospital. We were excited and completely consumed by pink!

I was looking forward to having my little girly all frilled up for my sister's wedding, to celebrate our first Christmas and continue on with life as a family of three.

Man oh man, how far we have come. I am so glad that God has made us a family of 3. I am so glad that He has allowed us to parent Caleb, it has been a complete joy, each day sweeter than I thought. Even the hard days are sweet and glorious as I put my boy down to sleep.

How I could on and on in my love for Caleb.

But you know what? He is still our 2nd child. We lost our first. We never met her, but in every sense was ours, before we were the poster couple for an adoption gone terribly terribly wrong.

And it still hurts. A lot. There are still tears. There are memories that come back and when they do, it feels like someone has sucker punched me.

Like my sister's wedding Oct. 2. We had so much fun. Let me tell you, my little man was the most handsome one there! He was, I know I am biased, but seriously, he was. He was decked out in his argyle sweater and black pants. He looked so cute!

I missed my little girl, the girl that was supposed to be in the gold dress with red flowers. I wondered what she would look like. I wondered how her hair would have been done, and if she would love dressing up or be the terror child. My girl was with me. I wore my "Noelle Ring," and thought of her often:) (Random: when losing a person in life, I highly recommend getting a memorial ring. I love it! It keeps her memory alive in a way that only I know.)

Or when I walked in to Caleb's room tonight and was surprised to see it green. Wasn't it just pink and purple? How did I miss that?

Or when a friend gave me a bag of hand me down clothes and I wondered why all the clothes were "boy clothes."

No, I am not losing my mind. I promise.

Time does not heal all wounds, it simply distracts us from the pain. 

I am grateful for the distractions and the way that God is bringing healing to us. 

I love fall (and apparently Caleb does too)

Reconsidering Columbus Day

Today, I am reconsidering Columbs Day

I had the flu

Advantages of having the flu for a week:
-I caught up on some sleep
-I was able to watch some tv
-I watched my husband be a rockstar of a dad
-I lost 6 lbs

Disadvantages of having the flu for a week:
-I am SO tired and feel weak
-My house is a disaster
-It is fall break starting today, and I had big plans to scrapbook...but because my house is a disaster, I think my time will be better spent by cleaning, laundry, cleaning, washing all linens, disinfecting anything I breathed on or touched, cleaning....
-BORING diet
-I am so behind in work
-Did I mention I need to clean?

Yah, I better get on that. I really don't have an excuse today. Besides the constant coughing and exhaustion, I feel fine. Just well enough to go empty that dishwasher....

"Are there Asians in the Bible?"

Me: "Do you guys have any more questions on this passage?"

Student D: " I do. Are there Asians in the Bible?"

Me: (Thinking that this has nothing to do about the passage, but will answer anyways). "Well, I don't know if it is specific like, Jack, the Asian. but we do know that Paul and others went, to Asia minor and were heading east to plant churches."

Student D: "Yah, but are there Asians in the Bible?"

Me: "We know that God has a heart for all ethnicities, we see that woven throughout scripture. He has created us, and we can celebrate our different ethnicities...." Conversation goes on, and I am clearly not answering her question.

I decide that I really don't know if there is someplace in the Bible that says: "Jack the Asian." I promised that I will find out. And I found out nothing. Not sure actually.

A few weeks later in Bible Study......


Student D: "I think God is Asian."

Me: " I bet you are right. If we are created in God's image, and you are Asian, there must be some part of God that is Asian."

Student D: "Really, you believe that? Sweet. God is Asian."

Though I don't think God is fully one ethnicity, I do believe that He represents all people, and we are all created in his likeness. I know that he passionately cares for all people of ethnicity and culture and all of us have a place in the kingdom.

I love that I get to wrestle with issues of reconciliation,  multi-ethnicity, and ethnic identity.

Just another reason why I loved my job this week.

All because my sister got married!

Want to know what I have been up to this week?

Check out these photos.