Count Your Blessings

Posted on March 11, 2013 by Christie

Pink-Flower

Blessings come in all different shapes and sizes. Some blessings are so big, so grand, it’s hard to miss them.  These are the ones we most celebrate, the blessings that get the most attention.

While focusing on the big blessing, how easy it is to miss all the little blessings that sweep by in everyday life!

For me, blessings are all the little things that happen every day.

It’s a blessing for me to be able to stay home every day to take care of my family.  It’s having food on our table, clothes on our bodies and a roof over our heads.

It’s a blessing to enjoy a long walk outside in the middle of “winter” because it so happened to be a beautifully bright, sunshiny, not-so-windy day.

What a blessing it is on the days my husband can work from home.  After all, I don’t have to pack a lunch for him that day…and I get to see him all day!

Oh the joy as my little boy wraps his arms around my neck and pats my back. It’s hearing him say, “Mama” for the first time.  It’s even the cry that wakes me up in the middle of the night that reminds me to thank the Lord for the child we prayed for oh-so-long.

It’s a blessing to endure the trials of life: the job loss, health problems, infertility, the ups and downs of adopting (just to name a few).  All these trials have reminded me of God’s promises and strengthened my faith as I waited on the Lord.

As the song says,

“Count your blessings, name them one by one.

Count your blessings see what God has done.”

Have you counted the blessings in your life recenlty, or have you been so busy looking for the big ones that you missed out on all the little ones?

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Three Steps to a Menu Plan

Posted on March 8, 2013 by Christie

 Menu Planning

I love to menu plan. Call me crazy, but it is one of my favorite things to do! My dinner menu is planned at least a week in advance, but quite often I plan for an entire month.

Here are three simple steps of how to menu plan

1.  Know What You Already Have

Before I even begin to plan my menu I check my freezer to see what meat and frozen veggies I have to use.  I make a list (sometimes written, sometimes just a mental list) of how many meals I can get out of the chicken, beef or pork.

Then I take a peak in my refrigerator to see what fresh fruit and veggies must be used right away.

Finally, I look in my pantry to see what staples I already have.

2.  Look Up Recipes

Then I sit down with a pad of paper, a calendar and my computer (usually open to Pinterest) and begin to jot down meal ideas.  On the left portion of my paper I write the name of the recipe; then on the right side I write the ingredients I will need…especially if it’s an item I know will need to be on my grocery list!

3.  Write Down the Plan

Lastly, I assign meals to calendar days.

Oh, I know this last one may make some of you cringe because you don’t want to be tied down to a specific meal on a specific day. I assure you, the plan can still be flexible! It’s better to have a plan than no plan at all.

Next week I will share with you why I love to menu plan.  In the meantime, if you want to get started on your menu plan, click here for a free, printable Meal Planning sheet!

 

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Waiting for the Call

Posted on March 7, 2013 by Christie

phone

Have you ever waited for something (or for someone) for so long that you thought it would never come?

If you have adopted, or know of someone who has, you know that there’s a lot of waiting.  Oh, there’s the mound of paperwork, the seemingly endless courses and books to read, and the hours of home studies.  The waiting, though, is the hardest part.  There’s nothing left to do but wait.

Farid and I started our adoption process in March of 2010.  We were already ready for a baby, but we slowly worked our way through the paperwork and everything that needed to be done.  By January of 2011 we were officially approved, our profile was submitted and the real waiting began.

Every week, every month that passed without getting “the call” was hard.  After all, we were ready to welcome a baby into our home!

A year went by and we were still waiting for “the call”.  I began to doubt.  Farid and I had been married for five years, and God had not yet answered our prayers for a child.  Maybe I wasn’t meant to be a mother.

I cried.  I prayed.  God answered.  In the midst of my turmoil and heartache, I was reading in the Book of Psalms for my devotions.  While I was reading, God gave me this passage:

“I am still confident of this: I will see the goodness of the Lord…Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord.” (Psalm 27:13,14)

I had hope!  God is good, all the time.  His timing is perfect.  I needed to continue to wait on Him.

In the beginning of February of 2012, we met with our caseworker.  She told us that the agency had four birthmothers all due in April that would be looking at our profile.  Oh, were we excited.  How could someone not choose us?

So we waited.

February passed without a call.  I wanted to give up hope.  Yet the verse in Psalm 27 tugged at my heart. “I will see the goodness of the Lord…be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord.”

The call we had waited for came on March 7, 2012.  It was a Wednesday morning and Farid was at work.  Our caseworker called and said, “A birth family has chosen you. Do you want me to share the details?”  I couldn’t say “yes” fast enough!

As our caseworker shared the details with us, I quickly jotted down everything I could so that I could share them with Farid.  It was so hard to keep my composure through that call.  But I hung on by a thread.

After hanging up with our caseworker, I quickly called Farid.  Thankfully, he was able to answer, and I blurted out, “We’ve been chosen!  A birth family chose us!”

“Are you joking?” Farid said.  Joking? Why would I joke about this?  This was the call we had been waiting for!!

Tears streamed down my face as I ended the call with my husband.  For years we had prayed for a baby.  God was answering.  My heart was so full of joy, so very blessed.

Yet at the same time, my heart grieved. My heart was so overwhelmed with gratitude and admiration. A young girl chose life for her baby. Then she made the most loving, sacrificial decision she could ever make and chose to place her baby for adoption.  Out of all the people she could pick, she chose us.

A baby boy was due April 24 and we were chosen to be his parents.  The wait had finally ended!  Or maybe the waiting had just begun.

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Family Devotion Time

Posted on March 6, 2013 by Farid Ali

Devotions

I remember when Christie and I were dating. I came to her house to spend time with her and her family, and it was time for dinner.  I remember her father reading a few verses from the Bible. Then out of no where he began to sing. I don’t remember what the song was.  My first reaction was to laugh, but I had to fight those emotions because nobody was laughing.  Everyone was singing. Finally, the song was over!  We prayed and began to eat.

What was so strange about the ordeal? I realized that this man was leading his family in worship: reading God’s Word, singing praises, and offering prayers of thankfulness.

As a husband, father, and youth minister the area I’m most often convicted in is my responsibility as a man to lead my family in family devotions. It is an area that I fight to be more consistent in, and I’m sure there are other guys out there who struggle with it as well.

My passion is to see more men leading their families in this way. I realized that this process doesn’t have to be complicated. I like to lead ours at the dinner table. It usually starts with reading scripture and asking questions.

Recently, our church has been going through a 40-day spiritual journey. We have been using a simple devotional book, written by my father-in-law, that uses the SOAP method [Scripture, Observation, Application, Prayer]. Instead of writing out the scripture verse, I just read it a couple of times and then my wife and I will discuss some observations and share application.

We usually end our devotion time with Youtube videos of some of our favorite worship songs. This also helps calm our little guy, Gavin, down. He loves it and it is a special time for us.

Over the last few weeks our family devotions have been consistent. I’m afraid I have some challenges ahead with business trips coming up. Thanks to modern technology like Facetime, there’s no reason why I shouldn’t be able to continue our family devotion time while I’m away.

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Today’s the Day

Posted on March 5, 2013 by Christie

Welcome

Over the past couple of years, Farid and I have talked about starting a blog “one day”. That day became reality this January when we started discussing blog names. Before I knew it, Farid had purchased a domain name and we began designing this blog.

Initially, we thought we would start an adoption blog. We could share our personal adoption journey, why we chose adoption, what the process is, how adoption affected our lives. We could answer all the questions people ask us, or the ones they think about and don’t ask.

Then we thought about questions people ask us all the time. How do you menu plan? Can I have the recipe for…? How can I save money grocery shopping? How do you set up your budget? Does the cash envelope system really work?

So today, we invite you into our home as we share about our life. Sit down, relax, enjoy a cup of hot cocoa and feel free to ask us the questions you have. After all, if one person has a question, it’s likely that others have the same one.

In the meantime, we look forward to sharing with you why I love to menu plan, fun menu planning ideas, why having a budget is so important, and a few of my favorite quick freezer meals to have on hand. This Thursday we are excited to share our first adoption story!

We count each day a blessing, even the difficult ones, and we look forward to sharing these blessings with you.

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