Feeling encourged... Finally

    Adoption really is a journey. We have been waiting a long time to hear something, Anything about our adoption. On Wed. evening I was reading in a devotional book, that a friend has lent me, It's called Ending your Day Right by Joyce Meyer. Here is what it said, "Oct. 12 The Favorable Time, He who observes the wind (and waits for all conditions to be favorable) will not sow, and he who regards the clouds will not reap. Ecclesiastes 1 1:4

     When the Lord asks His people to do something, there is a temptation to wait for "a convenient season" (Acts 24:25 KJV) There is always the tendency to hold back until it won't be so difficult. The problem is that in order to accomplish something for God, you have to be willing to leave your comfort zone and take on new responsibility.

     God expects you to do something that will produce good fruit. If you do not use the gifts and talents that He has given you, then you are not responsible over what He has entrusted to you. You need to be a person who is unafraid of responsibility and change. It is in the times of challenge that you build your strength. If you only do what is easy, you will always remain weak and ineffective. The time to move forward is now!" I photocopied this and put it into my adoption notebook. The I went on to read in my bible, Acts 1:7 It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority.

     So then on Thursday we got an email that our social worker in South Africa has been approved to start doing international adoptions!! In case you don't know when we started this journey she was allowed to do adoptions then South Africa passed some new laws so adoptions have been on hold for over a year. But now she is ready to getting going again. This is exciting. I know that it will take time for her to get things moving and I still need to be patient and there are lots of families to be matched but wow it finally feels like something is happening.

     Yesterday we had a Parent's Night Out - Adoption Fundraiser where we watched children from 5:30-9 and parents enjoyed some alone time. This was a busy night and would not have worked out with out the help of our family. It was a lot of fun and we really feel blessed to have such great family, friends and community support. Thank-you very much everyone! Please continue to pray for our adoption process, Love Dilly

Pickle Fest and Salsa making are under way.

      T. and I made pickles! This is usually something that my Mom, Sister and I have done together for the past 3 years. We pick a day and make pickles ALL DAY. We make cases and cases of these delicious homemade pickles. We make so many that your hands are sore from scrubbing cucumbers. Your fingers smell from peeling garlic. Your feet hurt from standing all day. Your eyes BURN from that brine. The house smells good at first like dill pickles but then after awhile it is very strong.
 
     Last year my mom wasn't able to join us because she was away. So my sister and I tried to carry on the tradition without our expert leader. I must say we did okay. Most of the jars worked. We could have planned out the day a little better. We did make a few trips to the store for more supplies and we had a shortage of dill. But for the most part we did well. My sister and I figure out how many jars we all get and how many jars we are able to eat a month so that we may enjoy them the whole year long. This year I have some jars left over because we misplaced a case in our storage room. So now we are eating dill pickles everyday because we can!!

      This year my Sister is 8 months pregnant and my Mom is away so I roped my husband into helping me. It was our intention to only do a few jars but one thing lead to another and soon enough we had a mini pickle fest happening. The brine has burning our eyes and our feet were tired. We pickled cucumbers, and hot beans. We did good working in the kitchen together.

       Then when we are finished I was informed that next weekend my Mom and Sister are coming for pickle fest. So I guess we will be doing more! Which is fine with me because that just means more to eat and more to share : )

       A few days before we canned some homemade salsa together. He cut the tomatoes because the juices hurt my hands and I chopped the peppers. Sometimes we use a food processor but sometimes we like the hand chopped texture. This is our second year making salsa together. We enjoy making it and the salsa tastes so much better than store bought that it is worth it.

      I need to find some easy canning uses for the sour cherries and apples in our backyard. I'm not sure what to do with them? The next tradition that I want to have is Perogy Fest. Yum Yum! I will let you know if this happens?
-Dilly