One of My Favorite Things...

Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens

Bright copper kettles and warm woolen mittens

Brown paper packages tied up in strings

These are a few of my favorite things....

Who can name that song and the movie that it is from??  If you guessed My Favorite Things from 

The Sound of Music, you guessed right!!  Well, THIS is one of my favorite things!

I absolutely love to read and I bought my nook about a year ago.  It has definitely been one of the best 

things that I have ever bought!  I wasn't so sure how I'd like reading on a screen instead of on real paper

pages, but I have loved it!  It's so much more practical than having a thousand of books lying around.  

Tonight, I was looking for books to download in anticipation of being in a hotel for an extended period 

of time.  I ended up downloading 19 books for FREE!  Score!  I love a good deal, and free is even better!   

A Little Bit of Bragging...

I have to brag a little bit, just because I can.  My brother has opened a restaurant... in addition to practicing law!  What a combination, huh?  He lives in Cheyenne, WY and recently just opened up a restaurant called Morris House Bistro that features lowcountry cuisine.  Yeah, we all know what kind of food THAT is.  Lowcountry food is the good stuff... shrimp and grits, fried green tomatoes, crab cakes, grilled pork chops, and of course the staples of the south- Fried Okra and Macaroni and Cheese Pie!  It's the stuff we in SC grow up on and the stuff that gives South Carolinians lean, thin, model-type figures. Lol.  I'm getting hungry just thinking about it!

THIS menu item is listed as "MamaLee's Macaroni & Cheese".  For those of you who knew my MamaLee, and knew her cooking, you know that this is the BEST macaroni and cheese you will ever have.  She was definitely a great cook.  Somehow, I don't think this will be the last of her recipes to appear on the menu of Morris House Bistro!

Since most of the people who read this blog are here in SC, I know it's not just a quick trip down the road to try a new restaurant, but you can still check out their menu (www.morrishousebistro.com) and  you can "like" them on Facebook!  Just search for Morris House Bistro to see more pictures of the restaurant and the food!  

You Love Me Anyway

Here's a video of one of my favorite songs right now.  It's called You Love Me Anyway by Sidewalk Prophets.  This portion of the song is especially powerful.

I am the thorn in Your crown, but You love me anyway. 

I am the sweat in Your brow, but You love me anyway.

I am the nail in your wrist, but You love me anyway.

I am Judas' kiss, but You love me anyway. 

No matter how "good" we think we are, we're all still sinners.  We all played a part in Jesus' death, and He died BECAUSE of us, because He loves us anyway- in spite of all of our sins.  How great is His love that He loves us anyway?  

Ok- I tried to embed the video into the blog, but it is apparently disabled by Sidewalk Prophets. Click on the link below and it SHOULD take you to youtube.  Also- there's some random 10 second advertisement that you have to watch before the video loads.  It is NOT supported by Sidewalk Prophets.    

Roadtrip to NC- Part 2

So while we were in NC, we had to do something to break up the drive a little bit.  So, on our way home we decided to stop by NC State & UNC's football stadiums.  We got to NC State's first.  Their stadium is not on-campus and it is actually in a big complex where their basketball arena is also.  So, we pulled in and the first thing we saw was a man directing traffic and tons of big orange cones.  This did not look good.  Apparently they were having a concert or some kind of big event and this guy was trying to direct us to the pay-for-parking lot.  No thanks.  We told him we just wanted to turn around, and he was nice enough about it.  So, we were 0-1 in seeing the stadiums at this point.

We drove about 20 more minutes to UNC's campus and decided just to park and walk over to see the stadium.  They were doing work on the inside and somebody must have accidentally left a gate open, which was really lucky for us!   We just walked right on in!  We took a few pictures, and then went on up to the upper deck to check out the view from there.

After a taking a few pictures of Kevin, I told him that I wanted a picture.  So, I handed him the camera and gave him this pose to capture.  I definitely wanted some payback from the night before in Clemson.  Go Tigers! Click HERE to see the post from that night. 

And once we finished there, we headed over to Dean E Smith Center to see where the Tar Heels play basketball.  If you'd asked me the name of where they play BEFORE this day, I wouldn't have had a clue.  But of course, Kevin did.  His dream vacation would be traveling around to see stadiums and stuff like this.

We weren't as lucky here.  The doors were definitely locked, so we couldn't go inside.  So, we opted to take a few quick pictures outside to prove we Kevin had actually been here.

And after all of these stops, we decided it was time to come home... well back to SC anyway.  We were still "homeless" at this point, since our A/C and well pump were both crispy fried by lightening.  It had been a long, and exciting day.

A Name!

She has a name!  You would think that when you're adopting, you'd have boy and girl names picked out well in advance of getting match.  That was not the case with us.  We definitely had a boy name picked out.  That came REALLY easily.  Girl names, not so easy.  We figured we'd have time to decide on a girl name before we got matched, and then it happened!  So we had to pick out a girl name a little bit faster than we expected, which was totally okay with us!  It wasn't easy.  On names I loved, Kevin didn't really care for them.  And the names he liked weren't really my favorite either.  BUT, we found one that we both REALLY like.  It will be nice to be able to refer to her by name! So, the name we have chosen is....

Updates- Nursery & Puzzle

Wow. What a week, and what a weekend.  We have mostly recovered from our lightening strike and have gotten our house pretty much back in order.  Thank goodness!  The past week has been exciting with the news of the adoption and frustrating dealing with the house (insurance adjuster, making millions of phone calls, trying to replace all of the damaged items, etc).  And the most exciting part of this week is realizing that there are just three more weeks til our expectant mom's due date!  Can't believe it.  :) 

I haven't blogged in a while about the nursery or the puzzle and we've got a few updates on that.  On the nursery front, we now have curtains (made by one of my mom's friends), a hamper (liner also made by one of my mom's friends), new lamps, and we have ordered the bedding! YAY!  Here are a few pictures...

Curtains-  I LOVE them!  The fabric on this was picked out before we got matched.  We'll want to put some pink into the room at some point, but still keep it somewhat gender neutral.  

Close up!  The picture doesn't do it justice.  The curtains look blue here, but they're really more teal. 

Hamper

Close up of the fabric.

Before - Lamp bought from Target.  Even the shade came in a box and I had to put it together.  Weird.  It looked a little plain, so here is the after....

Much better.  Still maybe not FINISHED, but better.

This is a very small lamp bought from Target.  We're planning on using it as a nightlight.

If you don't care for decorating stuff, you probably didn't care for any of that.  So, sorry!  I also updated the the Adoption Puzzle page, so if you want to check on the status of that, click HERE .  

Oh and by the way, we think we decided on a name.  I'm sure we'll let you know at some point this week, so stay tuned... :) 

A God Thing

One more great story to share about our adoption.  Let's go all the way back to April 4th, the day that we were "officially" waiting.  Just for fun, Kevin and I decided to throw guesses out there as to when all of this was going to happen.  I can't even remember if we were guessing when we'd get matched, or when the placement would happen, or WHAT.  Kevin said he was going to be very optimistic, and chose some date in May.  Obviously, that one didn't work out.  I decided to still be optimistic and say August 8th.  Our anniversary is August 11th so I thought that would be a GREAT anniversary present, so that is sort of how I came to my date.  At that point, we'd only have been waiting about 4 months and the average wait for our agency is about a year. I knew it probably wasn't going to happen but hey, it was just a guess. 

Anyway, if you read the post on Saturday about how we got matched, you know that when our adoption worker (Jane) first called on Wednesdsay, June 29th, to tell us about these expectant parents, she told us that the due date was late August to early September.  Perfect, we thought.  Plenty of time to prepare, but not too far off.  Then on Friday, July 1st, I called the expectant parent's adoption worker (Erica) to set up a date and time to meet with them.  During the call, Erica gave us a little more background information on the expectant parents, told us the process of how things would happen since it is a NC adoption, and then said "Oh, by the way,  I think I told Jane the wrong due date.  I don't know what I was thinking.  I know when she is due, and it's not the end of August.  Her due date is actually August 8th."  I was shocked and speechless!  Yes, August 8th was my "guess" at the very beginning of this whole journey!  How AMAZING (Kevin's favorite word) is that?  I think my friend J* said it best in a post that she wrote just today....

Mark 11:24 "Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours."


and, I believe I've shared this one before but....


Romans 8:28 "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose."


God is good!