Whirlwind

It's been a bit of a whirlwind here -- and our camera broke, so there have been no post-able photos for the last few entries. We're using a disposable camera so we don't miss anything important, but I can't upload those pictures, unfortunately.

We've been joyfully following along with the three (soon to be four) Dillon families who are in India right now meeting their children for the first time! Congratulations to the families of Mason, Keira and Pala -- your long wait is over! We are also celebrating with the families of Maiya and Alesha, who just received their referrals and saw the first photos of their beautiful little girls. (On a more self-centered note, that also means we've moved up 2 spots on the waiting list!)

The past few weeks have been very busy with normal life, and with more frequent rehearsals for the Christmas show at our church. It's a family affair this year . . . Peter has directed the show for the past 9 years, my brother Matt helped design the set and is working to finish it, Peter's brother Bob loaned his expertise for the medical scenes (it's set in an ER, and he's an ER doctor), and it's my debut as a playwright. I haven't gone to any rehearsals -- I'm waiting to be surprised when I go to the show. :o)

We've also had our share of sadness in the past several weeks. Our dear friend Joel's father passed away after an inspiring battle with cancer. He and his wife Mary Ann were so graceful and strong through the past year, and showed me (and many others) what it's like to be honest about fear and grief, while remaining solid in the knowledge that God is still good during our pain, and that Jerry gets to meet the Savior he's loved and served for many years.

My aunt Yvonne also died unexpectedly last Sunday. She and my uncle Ernie just celebrated 50 years of marriage in September, and they have a grand legacy of caring for others through Habitat for Humanity, tutoring Hmong school children here in our local schools, mission trips to Mexico, and their five children. Two of my cousins shared about their mom at the funeral, and it was so beautiful to hear the everyday ways she loved her kids, and about moments of transforming mercy and tenderness when Yvonne truly lived out the grace of Christ's love.

Please pray for Mary Ann and Ernie and their children as the holidays approach. It will be a hard year for them.

The list!

I'm happy to say that we are officially on the waiting list for Baby #4! Tami, our case worker and the co-director of the India program at Dillon International, e-mailed this morning to make it official.

It's a little goofy that we're so excited to reach this step, since we will be likely be here for quite a while . . . but we are excited, nonetheless! Families are told to expect to wait about 12-18 months, so we still have lots of time before we see the first photo of our next daughter. (By this time next year, we may not be quite as excited about being on the list. Ha!)

Hmmm . . . I'll have to think of something fun to celebrate . . .

Cold weather = crock pot + book

Since we've had our first two frosts, I am dusting off the crock pot and having the urge to sit down with a good book! I want to share an Indian recipe that my family loves, and that I will make for Diwali. It's a lighter version of Chicken Makhani, a.k.a. "Butter Chicken."

Chicken Makhani

2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken thighs or chicken breasts (can be frozen)
1 medium onion, diced
6 garlic cloves, chopped
4 Tbsp. butter
15 cardamom pods (sewn together with needle and thread)*
2 tsp. curry powder
½ tsp. cayenne pepper
2 tsp. garam masala
½ tsp. ground ginger
1 14-oz. can light coconut milk
1 6-oz. can tomato paste
2 Tbsp. lemon juice
1 cup plain yogurt (can be fat-free)
　
Place frozen chicken in 5-quart or larger crockpot. Layer with diced onions and dot with butter, and place cardamom seeds or pods in the middle of the layers. In a medium bowl, mix tomato paste, coconut milk, lemon juice, garlic, curry, cayenne pepper, garam masala, and ginger. Pour the mixture over the chicken. Cover and cook on low for 8-9 hours or high for 4 - 4 ½ hours. 30 minutes before serving, remove and discard cardamom pods. Remove pieces of chicken and shred, then return it to the sauce to stay warm. Stir in plain yogurt 15 minutes before serving.
Serve over brown, jasmine, or basmati rice.

* If you can't find whole cardamom pods, you can empty out a cheap tea bag and fill with the equivalent amount of cardamom seeds. 18-20 seeds = one pod. Just tie the ends of the tea bag with kitchen string and let it steep in the crock pot.

The Indian book recommendation is Motherland by Vineeta Vijayaraghavan. It was in the "young adult" category at our library, and is an excellent, universal examination of family and growing up. The main character is a young woman in high school who goes to live with her uncle, aunt and grandmother in south India for the summer. She grows to understand and have compassion for her family members in a new way.

Because she is an "outsider" in some ways as an American, the book had many insights for me about the culture and tradition of that part of India. It was a great read!

Cozy up and enjoy the crisp weather!

Adoption update

Since our first three children are usually the stars of this blog, I thought it was time to write about Baby #4 for a change. Where are we in our adoption process? Right now, we are waiting for the State of Wisconsin to apostille our documents so we can send off our India dossier and officially join the other families on the waiting list.

We hit a few snags with pulling our documents together -- one notary on a reference letter had forgotten to write when her commission expired, and somehow we didn't see the fine print about our birth certificates. They needed to be issued in the past 12 months, and Peter's was too old.

So, we hopped in the car and drove to another county to get new copies. We made a fun trip of it, just Peter, Anya Rashi and me (the boys were in school). He showed us the school and church he went to, where his parents worked, and the house he grew up in until he moved to our city when he was 15. We made the best of a minor frustration. :o) I was just grateful that he didn't grow up in another state!

But we had hoped to already have our dossier sent in by now, so we feel a bit like we're wading through molasses to get this step finished. We will breathe a big sigh of relief when it's officially out of our hands. It is a little funny to think how eager we are to join the waiting list -- by next autumn, I'm sure the waiting list won't seem nearly as exciting to us!

So, that's where we are. Meanwhile, we have our three to keep us busy. The picture at the top of this post is Anya Rashi, all ready for "school" at the YMCA. She is so proud of her lunch box, which she calls her back pack -- and she is the best reminder that someday, this wait will be over.

6 hours later:

And right now, I just have to add that she's charging through the house with a frisbee balanced on her head, a wooden back scratcher in one hand, hollering "I'm Super French Fry!" And then, "I'm going to India!" This will no doubt convince the authorities to speed up our adoption . . .

Lasts and firsts

The past few weeks have brought many 'lasts' and 'firsts.' We squeezed in a few 'lasts' as we tried to hang onto summer for a few more warm days: our last trip to walk the trails at a local nature center before the leaves change colors, our official last summer trip to our favorite ice cream place, last roasted corn on the grill, and our last trip to the Lake Michigan beach in Milwaukee with Aunt Alicia.

Our 'firsts' included all three children's first days of school! Aaron entered 3rd grade, and Nathan began second grade. Even Anya Rashi is attending "school" at the YMCA while I go to a strength and resistance class. It's one hour, three times a week, and she brings a little lunch box with her snack -- this is by far the most exciting part of the deal for her!

She is doing wonderfully there, and loves the routine. The hour she attends includes story time, snack and arts/crafts. What more could a girl want? She was very proud of herself after her first visit, and beamed as she told me "Mommy, I not cry!"

Our autumn schedule is now in full swing as well, bringing Aaron's first boychoir rehearsals, and Nathan's first Cub Scout field trip to a rehabilitation center for birds of prey. He asked so many questions that I think the presenter was worried he would eventually ask something she didn't know the answer to! We also had our first multi-boy sleepover in the tent . . . which was kind of a misnomer, since not much actual sleep happened . . .

I'm experiencing a 'first' of my own -- a full-length script I wrote was chosen to be produced at our church this Christmas. It's called A Star Over Us, and is a drama about what the first Christmas might look like if it happened today. The first act is set in an emergency room, and the second act happens on the streets of the city outside the hospital.

I'm a kind of shocked that it was chosen, and excited to see what it looks like when it's staged. (Although I do have to say that it feels a little bit strange to think of 3,000+ people watching something I wrote . . .) Mostly, though, it feels like my Christmas came early this year!

Birthdays!

This week I turned 40 and Aaron turned 9. Peter spoiled me completely, with seven days of surprises -- including lunch with my high school best friend, dessert with some of my grown-up pals, a drive to Chicago to spend time with my best college friends, our parents/family having pizza and cake, lunch with some good friends from church, and lunch with two dear former co-workers . . . I joked with him that I would be gaining 40 pounds to celebrate my 40th birthday!

And then came the big surprise: a freebie 2-night jaunt to Seattle, courtesy of our frequent flier miles! Wow!! We love Seattle since we honeymooned there, and we made sure to have dinner at a seafood restaurant where we ate on our 2nd night as a married couple. This time, we stayed with a good college friend and his wife, whom we haven't seen since Peter officiated at their wedding 4 years ago. Peter is so thoughtful: I am a little bit of an introvert, and would've been overwhelmed by a big surprise party . . . so Peter just spread the party out into little groups over an entire week. He knows me so well, and is an amazing man. I am so grateful that God joined our lives together.

On a totally different note, one of the kids' gifts to me was a ShamWow . . . totally cracked me up! Nathan has only seen two infomercials in his life, one for the ShamWow and one for the Little Giant ladder. He must be their target audience or something, because he was completely fished in by them both. (Thankfully, he didn't try to talk Peter into the ladder!)

We celebrated Aaron's birthday today with his friends at a local planetarium. He had a space theme, of course, complete with a rocket cake and activities such as the Moon Rock Relay, building spacecrafts out of marshmallows and toothpicks, and seeing a show in the planetarium. He was so excited all morning, and kept asking what time the party would start. We do a "friend" party every other year for the boys, so it's really a special occasion for them.

This year, Aaron had chosen to ask for pet food for our local humane society, so we will have the fun of delivering bags of dog and cat chow to the shelter tomorrow. Then, tomorrow night we will celebrate with the grandparents. More cake!!

Aaron, we love your character and can't wait to see how you will make an impact on the world as you become a young man. Your love for God, your sweet nature, your consideration for others, your desire to learn, and your great sense of humor . . . these are just a few of the things that make you a remarkable boy. We have been so blessed to be your parents for nine years, and we love you always. Happy birthday!

Milwaukee

We took our last little trip of the summer, to visit Aunt Alicia and do some fun Milwaukee things. If you only think of beer and Harley-Davidson when you hear the word "Milwaukee," you really have to come visit, especially in the summer. There's a gorgeous, long stretch of beach on Lake Michigan, complete with rows of volleyball nets, and all kinds of outdoor recreation. We spent some time watching sailboats out on the lake -- beautiful.

There are also some wonderful museums right on the lake. We visited a new one, which was an instant favorite of Nathan's and Aaron's. It's called Discovery World, and focuses on science and the Great Lakes. During our visit, we also spent a day at the Wisconsin State Fair. In addition to seeing all the animals, and spending lots of time in the DNR Park (that's the Dept. of Natural Resources, not "do not resuscitate"!), the kids also learned how to hook up a milking machine (those are the photos with the plastic cow).

Our other fun game of the day was keeping track of all the different -- and frightening -- food-on-a-stick options!! The winners this year were fried macaroni and cheese on a stick and chocolate-covered bacon on a stick. (I am not making that up!)

The boys, Peter and Aunt Alicia also went to a Brewer game one afternoon while Anya Rashi napped and I had a few rare quiet hours to myself. It was a great way to spend one of the last weeks of summer.

Today we went to the boys' school because the class/teacher lists were posted. Anya Rashi was asking questions about "her" school the entire time . . . she meant Sunday school (where she finally is comfortable), and the YMCA, where I've been exercising for the past four weeks. I hadn't been to Strength and Resistance since Anya Rashi came home, and my back was really starting to let me know it wasn't happy. I've been going in the mornings before Peter leaves for work, but the class time changes when school starts -- so I've brought Anya Rashi to visit the short-term child care a few times. We will see how she does when I'm not there! I'm hoping we will both be pleasantly surprised. :o)