Fall is in the air!

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Well fall seems to come more quickly here than it did in Louisville. So, we thought that it would be appropriate to kick off the season with apple dumplings. This is my Granny's tried and true recipe. It brings back so many memories, the smells and the sight of fresh made dough and apples. I must say that it makes me miss her terribly. I am thankful that I have this recipe to share with Madison and Max and pass on the tradition. It was also fun passing them out to friends and neighbors. Although, they have threatened to take a petition to have me kicked out of the neighborhood, or addition, as they say here. I thought I was doing something nice but they did not really care for the extra calories. Sorry friends!

Granny, thanks for such a great recipe and such amazing memories. You will never be forgotten.


***Unfortunately, there are no pictures of the finished product. I think we were too interested in eating them. I will try to do better next time.

Weekend with the Carriers and Cars

Our long weekend was originally supposed to be hosting Chris' mom, however, see was not able to make it. Once she informed us that she could not make the trip, I called and tried to convince my sister to come for the weekend. It did not take much convincing, she was determined to come. They arrived late Friday night. On Saturday, we decided to go to a parade that they were having in Auburn, Indiana. The Auburn, Cord, Duesenberg(ACD) parade which displayed a number of old ACD cars. The weather was perfect for the parade. The kids enjoyed getting every car in the parade to honk. Everyone knows that Chris likes to do extreme things. He is always trying to do something crazy for his neices and nephews. This trip it was a 29 inch round pizza. I know that does not sound all that large but when we went to pick it up, they had to take it out the side door. We had to tilt it to get it in the sliding door of my van. Of course, Chris' goal was to see if it could all be eaten. Yikes, we did it! Sunday we went to the auto auction which is in conjunction with the ACD weekend. The boys enjoyed seeing and dreaming about all the muscle cars. We always love getting to spend time with my sister and her family. I already miss her like crazy. I can not wait for our next fun weekend together!

Just to CATCH you up - Almost 8 months of waiting

Seems like more and more people lately keep asking, have you heard anything about the adoption??? I guess most people do not realize that things are very quiet in the adoption world until you actually receive a referral. I wish that I had exciting news to share. Unfortunately, for now we just wait. It is not a bad thing with two other sweet children, I am just soaking up all the time I have with them before two more join our family.
We got news today that was a bit discouraging. Our social worker seems to think that it may not be until January now before we get our referral. Arrgg! We also found out that another couple who had a referral from another agency lost their little girl this week. She became ill and passed away before they could bring her home. This makes my heart ache. It also scares me. I continue to pray for our children that we do not even know yet.
Just a confession, I try to stay busy and enjoy my time but most days on multiple occasions I find myself thinking of sweet little orphan faces from Ethiopia. Will we get a boy and a girl? Two boys or two girls? How old will they be? Can they walk or talk? Are they in diapers? Are they grieving from loss?
I also find myself pondering on the things that I may never get to see. Their first smile. Their first tooth, first step, first word. With your own children you get to experience it all. All of these thoughts make me even more anxious to bring our little ones home and cherish every milestone that we will get to share with them.

But for now, we wait!