...chocolate air...

celebrate.

A nice weekend, spent celebrating some of the joys of life...

My friend Anne's wedding. So happy.

And I got to be there yesterday for the birth of my friend Renae's new son. He is her fifth babe and is utterly perfect.

 

okay, so it's been a while...

Some of you have been quite patient. Others of you have been less-than-subtle in your promptings for me to update the blog. (Kirsten, Jennifer, Karen, Renae... you know who you are. No need to name names.)

I thought I'd take a leaf out of Amanda's book and share ten things that are making me happy lately, in no particular order:

1. The arrival of camping season (and the complete happiness of a little nature-loving boy)

2. Good music running through my head all day

Night Mantra

3. Eating right, walking with a good friend, and being already four pounds closer to my pre-baby weight. (Yes, by "baby"... I am referring to my almost-seven-year-old. Give me a break. The time has come.)

4. This commercial about the power of the wind. Hilarious.

5. This little love, my friend Heidi's newest little one

6. Adorable children's books

7. Digging through and organizing my craft area (nearly done!)

8. The chance to study nature, literally in our own backyard

9. This fabulous blog, which completely inspires me to document the lives of family and friends with warmth and personality. (Look through the archives, seriously. Amazing stuff.)

10. Listening to quality audiobooks with my son (he's loving the Little House series, yea!!), and knowing that I can go to Kiddie Records Weekly and we'll be knee-deep in great recordings from the 40s and 50s. A couple of clicks and you're wading in nostalgia.

avoidance tactics.

Our little friend William visited us today. Is he not the sweetest? He and Zach get along well, and it was interesting to hear Zach "big brother-ing" him today... playing along with his games and gently correcting him when he was doing something he shouldn't.

I really have nothing to report today. I'm afraid that I'm mostly only blogging to put off other things, like cooking dinner. But I think I've dragged it out as much as I can. I'll try to be back tomorrow with something of interest...

news.

I wasn't sure if I was going to blog about this or not, but it turns out that I am. Those of you who know me, or have been visiting my blog for a while, know that we have been working on the adoption process for a couple of years now. Well, right at the beginning of the year we were matched with a baby, due in early April. There is also a five-year-old sister currently in foster care that we have been hoping to adopt as well.

But... it's been a situation filled with confusion and conflicting reports coming to us second-hand. And this weekend we got the news that the baby is not going to be put up for adoption after all, and as the mother is still trying to get custody of the little girl as well, we're stepping back completely. These are apparently not the children who are meant for our family. And it is, well, heartbreaking.

These last six years of waiting for another child have always been accompanied by a dull ache, fairly constant but usually easy to ignore. Because really, our life is quite a happy one. But this new pain has been different, sharper and hitting me in waves of emotion that have made me quite teary.

And yet, miraculously, it is already fading away.

Because we know without a doubt that God has a plan for us, that He knows and loves us, and truly does work all of these experiences together for our good. And I can be sure that there are other happy things in store for us, as there always are.

too fast.

(A slightly whiney, mostly pointless post follows...)

I had big plans to do all sorts of lovely things for family and friends this year for Valentine's Day. And then... it's here already! Three more days. How does it pass so quickly?

I remember last year around this time it seemed like everyone I knew was ready for winter to be done and past. But it seems to me that it just started. If you know me, you'll know that I am not speedy. I'm all about taking my time and being very detailed in everything I do. If things are too rushed, I feel all panicky.

This really has nothing at all to do with my unfinished valentines. I just need to find some ways of slowing down life around here so that it doesn't just pass by unnoticed.

Or maybe I just need a good eight hours of sleep...

reason number four...

...why I love the art of photography. It connects us as people. And that's the most important thing in the world.

This is especially close to my heart today. I was logging on to talk about the connection photographs gave us to our families... to those living, to those who have passed away, and even to those from generations past whom we have not met in this life... and I discovered a message from my mother telling me that my grandmother died today. My photographs call back the memories I have of her, as well as giving me a better understanding of who she is... not just my grandma, not just my father's mother, and not just the elderly woman that I am familiar with... but her. And that is truly an amazing gift. Here she is...

oh, boy.

   

I have three or four friends right now who are pregnant and in need of boy names. And they are all struggling to agree with their husbands on said names. So I thought I'd offer a list for your consideration. The names in blue are the ones I would choose for my own boys, in case anyone is curious about my taste. But I like all these on the list fairly well. (Mike and I have no problem naming babies... we have way more names picked out than we do kids!)

• Asher
• Avery
• Bennett
• Brigham
• Caleb
• Cameron
• Carlin
• Carson
• Carter
• Connor
• Dallin
• Drew
• Elijah
• Emerson
• Evan
• Ezra
• Gideon
• Graham
• Grant
• Grayson
• Hyram
• Isaac
• Isaiah
• Jacob
• Josiah
• Kael
• Keaton
• Landon
• Levi
• Mason
• Michael
• Nolan
• Owen
• Riley
• Rowan
• Ryan
• Sawyer
• Wilson
• Wyatt

Jennifer, Renae, and Collette... I've actually chosen which name I like best for each of your babes, in case you are curious...

Oh, and all you out there, feel free to leave a comment with any names you just love!!

cozy.

Am I the only adult who looks forward to snowy days as much as kids do? We're giddy around here. Well, Mike wasn't quite so chipper as he was shoveling the drive, but still... I feel so cozy on days like this.

Zach wasn't feeling well last night, so we decided to stay in this morning until we could guage how he was doing. So this morning we read wintry books, The Snowy Day and Snowballs, two of my favorites. Then we talked about the collage style of Lois Ehlert, and what she used to create her illustrations. And then we took that a step further and created a little mural. It's about 2-3 feet tall and hangs in the living room. Using crumpled white paper and odd bits we found around the house, Zach made a snow boy and I made a snow girl. I especially love the chicken bone unibrow on Zach's. Very clever.

Finally Daddy came home and it was time to play in the real snow. Happy day!

And also we did something brand-new to me... we made homemade bread!!! It's funny how even though I'd never done it before, it was still so familiar from seeing my mother bake bread as I was growing up. And yum, it's good. And much easier than I expected.

Buttermilk and Honey Bread

3/4	cup warm water
1	tablespoon dry yeast
1	teaspoon sugar
1 1/2	cups warm buttermilk
2	tablespoonsunsalted butter, melted
3	tablespoons honey
1	tablespoon salt
6-6 1/2	cups unbleached white bread flour
1	egg, to glaze

• Lightly spray two small or one large loaf pan with non stick cooking spray or coat with melted butter.
• Set them on a baking sheet and set aside.
• In a kitchen aid mixing bowl, hand whisk the water, yeast and sugar together and let stand for 2 minutes.
• Stir in buttermilk, butter, honey, salt and half the flour.
• Stir with a wooden spoon.
• Fit machine with a dough hook, then kneading, add in more flour as required to make a soft, but firm dough, about 8- 10 minutes.
• Cover lightly with plastic wrap and let rise 45- 90 minutes until doubled in size.
• Gently deflate dough and divide into two or keep as one loaf.
• Shape into oblongs and place in prepared loaf pans.
• Insert loaf pans into a large plastic bag and let rise until doubled in size, about 30-45 minutes.
• Glaze well with a beaten egg.
• (You can also brush loaf with melted butter).
• Preheat oven to 375°F.
• Place breads in oven and bake about 45 minutes until well browned. You may want to cover with foil partway through baking.)
• Turn breads out onto a cooling rack and cool well before slicing.

One more cozy thing. My sister taught me how to do a basic knit this winter, and I actually created something! I made her this scarf for her birthday, and she finally got it only one month late. I think that's pretty good. Here she is modeling...

it's sunday at 5:00.

We come home from church and are hungry. Mike makes a sandwich. Zach heats up some macaroni.

I am eating chocolate chip cookie dough with a spoon.

folksy.

I feel like 2008 has thus far been a complete whirlwind. There has been much happening here, but at the same time, nothing really to blog about, and no brain cells to spare to blog with. Crazy stuff, people.

I thought I'd better make some appearances here, though, to show that we are alive and well. My sister came over the other day, and we decided to start plowing through my recently organized craft supplies and actually make things. And we did. I wish I had a photo of the bird mobile she made. Too cute.

I decided to make my first stab at working with wool felt. So I tossed a couple of 100% wool sweaters in the washer on hot, dried them, and was ready to slice them up and create this little guy:

The whole idea of making a sheep out of wool makes me happy. It's so full-circle, in a silly kind of way. And I have to say, I was really digging the wool felt. It was so very easy to stitch up, and it just felt good to be using recycled, real materials rather than synthetics.

I'm not entirely sure if I like this sheep, and think I will use a different design in the future. But still, in a folk-art sort of way, he's growing on me.