Thankful Thursday

Mark asked me to share that he is thankful that the weekend is almost here. Actually for him, it will be here in a matter of a few hours. Once he gets home, he will be off work until Monday evening. He has been working some extra shifts lately and could use a little well-deserved "down time."

What I am thankful for may sound kind of silly, but that's ok. I'm thankful for chocolate chip pancakes! :) They are an awesome treat! Mark isn't a huge pancake fan so I took advantage of only having myself to cook for tonight and whipped up a batch of buttermilk, choc. chip pancakes. Yummy!

And actually, that leads me to another thing to be thankful for. Growing up, I was influenced by and fortunate to learn from some excellent cooks. I've enjoyed baking and cooking since a young age - even won a few awards over the years. Some of my best childhood memories involve being in the kitchen as my mom, grandmother, and/or great aunts were cooking and baking. My recipe box is full of memories of people I have met over the years who have shared their favorite recipes with me. Cinnamon rolls from a former supervisor... beef and noodles from my dear friend Judy (who owns her own noodle business)... pumpkin bread from my kindergarten teacher... marinara sauce from an Italian family that I was a nanny for... I could probably write a cookbook with recipes and memories. I love trying out new recipes and sharing the results with friends, family, co-workers - for some reason, it lowers my stress level and I am able to bless the lives of those around me just a little bit. So... I am thankful for family members who shared their love of cooking with me (even though my waistline isn't quite so thankful - lol). Maybe I will be able to share this appreciation with our child as well. If not, that's ok - but they will still have to eat my cooking. :)

God doesn't forget our prayers

Sometimes, we forget what we have prayed about - but God remembers. One of my friends is an accomplished photographer, her focus is really nature and animals - but she was kind enough to take some pics at our wedding, too. A couple of years ago, I lost the CD that had all of her pics on it - still had the hard copies, but I felt really bad that I couldn't find the CD. I prayed about it for a while and over time, just came to the conclusion that perhaps the CD had been thrown away by mistake. A couple of weeks ago, a disc showed up out of nowhere (literally) in our closet. It said "Mark and Melanie's wedding." I didn't pay a lot of attention to the disc because I was pretty sure that it was a DVD that Mark's sister Sandy had recorded of the ceremony.

Today, I decided I was going to take a few minutes and look at the CD. When I put it into my computer, I couldn't believe what I was seeing! It was the CD of pictures that D had taken at our wedding.

God may not always answer our prayers in the way that we expect. Sometimes, the answer is "yes" - sometimes, it is "no" - and sometimes, it is "be patient." But, He always hears us when we come to Him.

What a great reminder for those of us who are waiting for God's answer for our lives. Often, I am impatient and want my answer yesterday. I would love to have our little one home in our arms right now. Instead, He is saying "Be patient and trust in Me. I know the plans I have for you." If you want proof, you can see it in the picture below - God's plan brought a wonderful man named Mark into my life and I am so blessed to share each day with him!

Christmas Warrior for Duncan

As you know, I am a huge fan of Reese's Rainbow - an adoption ministry. Each year, they have a program where people can become Christmas warriors for waiting children. The goal is to raise grant money for families to adopt these precious kiddos. Many people would love to adopt internationally, but finances can make it difficult.

I had hoped to select a child to advocate for this year, but after discussing with Mark - I realize that waiting until next year (when school is behind me) will be better. Instead, Mark suggested that we allocate our resources to my friend Sarah's Christmas warrior efforts for an adorable little boy named Duncan who will be institutionalized if he does not find a family soon.

Please visit her blog and consider making a donation to Duncan's grant fund. Sarah is having weekly giveaways and you can win some great prizes. Even if you are not able to help with a financial donation, there are other ways to help Duncan find a family AND earn entries into the drawings. Click here to learn more.

Today I am doing Friendly Friday and Thankful Thursday.

My friend Brad who was my best man, is going to talk to his dad & see if we can use his skid steer up at or cabin for a day or two. It is nice to have good friends like that.

Now for Thankful Thursday.

I was able to work Friday and deliver Christmas candy to some Walmart stores. This would normaly not be a good thing for most people to work one of the weekend days (Friday is one of my weekend days). But it does make for a good payday. It should add a little over $400 to my paycheck.

P.S.

We had dinner with Melanies' mom and dad tonight at Famous Daves. It is always nice to eat at Famous daves.

Mark

Thought for Today

My daily bible verse calendar had a great reminder for me this morning. The verse is Psalms 138:8, "The Lord will work out His plans for my life." Notice it does not say that He will work out my plans for my life. It also doesn't say that I will work out the plans for my life.

I have a tendency to do that - I will pray and ask God for His guidance. But instead of listening for His answer, I take it upon myself to choose MY path. It isn't specific to our adoption, I'm guilty of the control issue often in my life - it is definitely something I need to work on.

God spoke to me early on in our adoption process saying that I needed to trust Him to bring our child home. Sometimes when I get impatient, I need a reminder that His timing may be different than what I think it should be. But God knows the plan for my life and He will work it out - His way.

Adoption Portfolio

I've been hoping to share our adoption portfolio for a while and finally figured out how to link to a pdf file on the blog. You can view it by clicking on the link in the upper left corner of the home page. Enjoy!

Nice Weekend

Each year, Mark buys me a gift certificate to a bed and breakfast as part of my Christmas present. 2 years ago, he took me to a beautiful place in Stillwater, MN. We had the opportunity to see one of the other rooms and I told him that "some day" I wanted to go back and stay in this room. The theme of the room is Agatha Christie and it supposed to look like a train car from Murder on the Orient Express.

For our anniversary, Mark surprised me with reservations to stay in this room Halloween night. Getting away with my hubby was a wonderful treat by itself. The stay at the bed and breakfast was everything I could have hoped for and more. Stopped at an apple farm for Mark's favorite Honeycrisp apples today and had a late lunch at one of my absolute favorite restaurants before heading home.

Finish the weekend off with a Vikings win over the Pack and what more could a gal ask for??

Thanks to my thoughtful husband for taking me on a much needed and appreciated get-a-way!!