November 27th - Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving to all!

This is my favorite holiday of the year! I love gathering with family and friends for the day and enjoying our many blessings. We are very thankful for our family and dear friends this year and every day. We are also thankful for our many blessings. We are hopeful that next year we will be celebrating our Thanksgiving with our child brought to us through adoption. We long to start holiday traditions with our child.

Due to travel schedules, we are staying in Virginia this Thanskgiving and celebrating with some good friends. This morning we are going to do the local Turkey Trot.

Later, we will be eating lots of good food. I thought I would share with you one of our (well, more my favorite) receipes. Yes, it is a brussel sprout recipe. I never used to be a big fan of brussel sprouts until I tried this recipe. It is delicious!

Brussels Sprouts Poached in Cider with Onions and Apples
1 lb Brussels sprouts2 ea Apples, halved & cored4 tb Olive oil1 ea Yellow bell pepper, chopped1 1/2 c Apple cider1/2 ts Salt1/2 ts Black pepper2 ea Star anise1/4 c Balsamic vinegar

Trim the sprouts & halve. Set aside. Cube the apples & set aside.
Heat oil over low heat in a skillet. When hot, increase heat to medium & add the onion & apple. Saute until the apples are soft & the onions are translucent. Add sprouts & saute, stirring, for 3 to 4 minutes. Add the rest of the ingredients, except the vinegar. Cover, reduce heat, simmer until the sprouts are tender, 10 minutes.
Remove the skillet's contents to a warmed serving dish using a slotted spoon. Discard the anise & keep the dish warm. Return all the liquids to the pan, raise heat to medium-high & cook until the juices are reduced by half. Add vinegar & cook for another 2 to 3 minutes, stirring. Pour over the sprouts & serve immediately

We wish you and your family a very Happy Thanksgiving!

Lots of love and blessings to you all!

Christy and Malcolm

lovingparents@live.com

November 23rd - He is Mighty

I hope this post finds everyone doing well and getting into the holiday spirit.

In follow-up to our last post, we did complete the marathon last weekend (November 15th). It ended up being a very humid, hot (not by my standards though), and windy day. The winds were pounding against us from Mile 20 to Mile 26. Overall, the weather was not ideal marathon weather, but we finished....finally!! I have to say that I never truly hit that point where I felt like I was in the "clear" so to speak. It wasn't until Mile 25 that I knew I was going to finish it running. I did continue to recite songs, verses and motivation phrases through my head as I went along the course. I prayed a lot for our baby to come to us so, that also kept me going - I was on a mission. I do have to share one funny story on my account. At about Mile 13, there was some kids handing out Snickers and Twix bars (probably left over from Halloween, but I didn't care) and I took one of each as my sports beans didn't sound appealing anymore. I ate the Twix bar and decided to hang on to the Snickers bar for a bit down the road. After a few more steps down the road, I dropped the Snickers bar and kept running for a bit more. All of a sudden (you are sometime thinking very coherently at this point or maybe I was), I realized I left good chocolate behind and turned around, ran back about .25 of a mile and picked up the Snickers bar. Several other runners saw me, laughing and stated that I must not have been very concerned about my time. :) All in all, it was a good day.... best part was crossing the finish line, of course!

On the adoption front, this past week I had an awe inspiring moment in my Ladies small group. We were studying just how Mighty God is and that we at times tend to underestimate what he can do. We were sharing times in our lives where he far exceeded our expectations. I realized that we tended to do that with our adoption journey. With that said, our prayer request is that God will bring us our baby by Christmas of this year. We would so appreciate your prayers in this regard. We know he can do Mighty things - far beyond our understanding and imaginations. We also realize that if it doesn't happen .... it is all in his plan and the timing is not right. For now, our prayer is that it will happen by Christmas and that we will be holding our child at Christmas.

Below is the chorus from one of my favorite songs - Mighty to Save - I think it speaks volumes.

My Saviour, He can move the mountains,My God is Mighty to save,He is Mighty to save.Forever, Author of salvation,He rose and conquered the grave,Jesus conquered the grave. Shine your light and let the whole world see,We're singing for the glory of the risen King...Jesus.

We miss you all!! Thank you for your continued thoughts and prayers.

Lots of love,Christy and Malcolm

lovingparents@live.com

November 12th - The Journey

"It is not the goal but the way there that matters, and the harder the way the more worthwhile the journey." - Wilfred Thesiger.

This quote is resonating with us this week as we approach November 15th - the Richmond Marathon! We have been tapering for the last couple of weeks which means less physical training and more mental training. I am filled with nervousness, anxiousness and excitement all at the same time. I also am sad that this journey is about to end. It is these times that I reminded that it is not always about the finish or the end, but the journey. The journey builds our character, strength and endurance to face the tests in life. We can translate our marathon journey to our adoption journey. Even though, the road is hard at times – even most of the time – and the end can be hard to visualize, we will be able to look back and see how our journey including the trials and disappointments have prepared us to be better parents and people. This past week we have had some opportunities to share the fact that ALL children are God’s children – no matter the sex, race and/or physical abilities or lack there of.

For now, we are going to try to relish in the journey. On Saturday at the finish line (Lord willing), I am going to reflect on my marathon journey –after a few slices of pizza (J)- and what it will be like to complete our adoption journey. I know the joy we feeling at the end of the journey will be pale in comparison to completing the marathon.

Also, I have been meaning to give a "shout out" to my dear friend JJ who completed her first 1/2 marathon! Congratulations JJ! I wish we could have been there to see you cross the finish line.

On a food note, our post-marathon meal is going to consist of a big burger, fries and dessert – Rita’s Ice – here we come!!

With the fall upon us, I wanted to share a scrumptious pumpkin dessert recipe with you all. It is so easy and absolutely yummy!! Enjoy.

Pumpkin Crunch Cake

Ingredients:
1 (15 ounce) can pumpkin puree
1 (12 fluid ounce) can evaporated milk
4 eggs
1 1/2 cups white sugar
2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
1 teaspoon salt
1 (18.25 ounce) package yellow cake mix
1 cup chopped pecans
1 cup margarine, melted
1 (8 ounce) container frozen whipped topping, thawed

Directions:
· Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease one 9x13 inch baking pan.
· In a large bowl, combine pumpkin, evaporated milk, eggs, sugar, pumpkin pie spice, and salt. Mix well, and spread into the prepared pan.
· Sprinkle cake mix over the top of the pumpkin mixture, and pat down. Sprinkle chopped pecans evenly over the cake mix, then drizzle with melted margarine.
· Bake for 60 to 80 minutes, or until done. Top with whipped topping when ready to serve.

Thank you all for your continued support and encouragement!

Much love,
Christy and Malcolm
lovingparents@live.com

November 7th - Praise Him in the Storm

I apologize it has been some time since we have written on our blog. The last couple weeks have been filled with several ups and downs with regards to our adoption journey. Yesterday, an opportunity came to a close thus, we are clearly disappointed. However, we are staying hopeful. We are so thankful to have the encouragement and prayers from all of our friends and family. For now, I wanted to post the words to the song - "Praise Him in the Rain" as we are really clinging to these words to get us through this time. This is one of the songs played on our blog.

We will write more later, but wanted to at least update everyone for now. We hope you all are doing well! Please email us if there is anything we can be praying for in our lives. We want to be a support to you all.

Lots of love,
Christy and Malcolm
lovingparents@live.com

Praise You in This Storm
words by Mark Hall/music by Mark Hall and Bernie Herms

I was sure by now,God, that You would have reached downand wiped our tears away,stepped in and saved the day.But once again, I say amenand it’s still rainingas the thunder rollsI barely hear You whisper through the rain,“I’m with you”and as Your mercy fallsI raise my hands and praisethe God who gives and takes away.

Chorus:
And I’ll praise you in this storm and I will lift my hands for You are who You are no matter where I am and every tear I’ve cried
You hold in your handYou never left my side and though my heart is torn I will praise You in this storm
I remember when I stumbled in the wind
You heard my cry to You and raised me up againmy strength is almost gone how can I carry onif I can’t find Youand as the thunder rolls
I barely hear You whisper through the rain“I’m with you”and as Your mercy falls
I raise my hands and praisethe God who gives and takes away

Chorus:
I lift my eyes onto the hills where does my help come from?
My help comes from the Lord, the maker of heaven and earth
I lift my eyes onto the hillswhere does my help come from?
My help comes from the Lord, the maker of heaven and earth
Chorus