Fostering Friday: How We Keep Our Marriage Strong...

Welcome to Fostering Fridays!
Our hope is that you will be able to get a taste of what it's like to foster
by reading our experiences and thoughts!

We have a large family...as some of you may have guessed.

We have had several ask us how we manage to keep our marriage strong.

Doing foster care and having a large family can cause some stress in a marriage.

But we have found some tools to help us through those times....

Midweek Minute: The Last Pot of Tea!

I fell in love with this tea many years ago. The only place we could find it was when we went to Olive Garden.
Peter found a box of it for me online some time ago and I've been using it sparingly until now....

I have an ear infection and have not been feeling well. So this morning, he made me a pot of tea with the last tea bag to enjoy!
I sure wish I could find this tea again!!

Until next time,

Embrace the crazy in your life!

Heidi

Blast From The Crazy Past: Fish Hatchery Frolic

Welcome to memories...my memories....welcome to a Blast from my Crazy Past!

Road trips ar fun...but even more fun with friends! Enjoy this blog post from 8 years ago, around Spring of 2009...

Wordless Wednesday- March 29

Tuesday Tidings: Picture Day By Geroge

Midweek Minute: Thank you!

I just wanted to say a quick thank you to everyone who has been checking up on me. It was a rough weekend for me and I'm pretty worn out.

So thankful once again for my very helpful family who is so sweet to help me out around the house. I am truly blessed beyond measure!

Thankfully there isn't much happening this week. Well...unless you count Jordyn going in tomorrow to get her wisdom teeth pulled out! She made me promise to take a video of her after surgery to capture anything funny she says. No worries, I will have no problem trying to catpure the silliness of Jordyn waking up from surgery!

All in all, things are going smoothly around here. It's Spring Break, so no school for the kidlets. The boys are enjoying playing endless hours with their toys and the girls are reading for hours on end. A nice relaxing non-schedule. Pretty perfect, if you ask me!

And then, to top off Spring Break, we will end the week with a celebration of our church's anniversary, 75 years in our area! It will be a wonderful weekend full of special speakers and activities. If you are in the area, be sure and come by! Feel free to email me for more information...

Till next time...

Have a blessed day and embrace the craziness in your life!

Heidi

Monday Madness: Websites I Love

Welcome to Monday Madness where I will talk about pretty much anything that comes to mind. From homeschooling to special needs to strange blog posts about silly objects to interviewing a family member...you never know what you might read on Monday Madness! Enjoy!

As I have said before, I am not sponsored by any of these websites. These are five websites that I enjoy or have enjoyed in the past:

Scripture Sunday- 1 John 4:7

Fostering Friday: The Beginning.....

Welcome to Fostering Fridays! Our hope is that you will be able to get a taste of what it's like to foster by reading our experiences and thoughts!

I found this post on an old blog and thought I would share it today as it talks about the beginning of our fostering journey, almost nine years ago. 

When we started, we never knew where it would take us, but God did!

Enjoy the first post I wrote about our first foster son who we also had the 

priviledge of adopting...

Midweek Minute: We Have A Date!

Well....it's happened...

Blast From The Crazy Past: Bugs R Us Field Trip

Welcome to memories...my memories....welcome to a Blast from my Crazy Past!

In Fall of 2016, we had a fun field trip adventure at the park with a man that everyone in the area that everyone calls "The Bug Man".

Wordless Wednesday- March 22

Tuesday Tidings: Books

On Tuesdays you will find guest blogs by my daughters and many other people. Enjoy!

Today's Blog Post comes from Mac...

Books are your maps, you are the hero/heroine.

Monday Madness: Oyakodon

This guest post was written by my husband Peter.

A couple of weeks ago I was browsing the web somewhat mindlessly when I encountered an interesting video on the Great Big Story news website. The video (also available on YouTube here) featured a Japanese restaurant that specializes in the dish oyakodon. The chef in the video explains that the term "oyakodon" roughly translates to "parent and child in the same bowl" referencing the fact that the dish contains both chicken meat as well as eggs.

Being something of a foodie, I decided I must try to reproduce this recipe. Fortunately, YouTube came to my rescue once again with many recipes explaining how to prepare oyakodon. Here is the link to one that I found particularly helpful: (link).

Immediately upon reading the recipe, however, I realized I had one problem. The featured ingredient is a type of fish stock called "dashi" that appears in much of Japanese cooking. Unaunted, however, I forged ahead with a weird mixture of soy sauce and fish sauce. My results actually turned out quite nice, however, the entire dish was overpowered by the flavor of the fish sauce.

Sensing that there was great potential in this recipe, I decided to correct the error of my ways and figure out how to make dashi. Here again, YouTube came to my aid. I found this video to be very instructive in the ingredients and procedure required for making dashi. It is possible to create a version of dashi that uses a powder that relies heavily on MSG. Alternately, the more authentic recipe calls for soaking kelp and fish in water. I really wanted to follow the authentic recipe, but I do not think that my small town has an Asian market. Instead, I turned to Amazon. The required ingredients are kombu kelp and bonito flakes. (I also picked up some hondashi powder.)

Last night I was finally able to make authentic dashi and then use that in oyakodon. The process starts by soaking the kombu kelp in water overnight and then bringing that water just to a boil.

After removing the kelp and the corresponding foam, the bonito flakes go into the water next. In case you are wondering, here is yet another YouTube video explaining what bonito flakes are.

Once the bonito flakes have been strained out of the water, the resulting liquid is dashi. Having made it once, I can tell you that it is probably a bit expensive (the hondashi powder would definitely be a cheaper route to take), but the flavor is well worth the effort!

The next step is to make a sauce that features that dashi stock and then combine the sauce with chicken and onions in a saute pan. Note that I do not own a saute pan. However, one does what one must in these situations.

Finally, some slighly scrambled eggs are poured over the chicken and onion mixture, creating something of an Asian frittatta. At this point, my children kept wandering into the kitchen wondering when dinner would be ready. It seriously smells (and tastes) that good!

If you watched the videos in the link above, you know that the next and final step is to beautifully plate this chicken and egg mixture in a bowl over steamed rice. However, since plating has never been my forte, you get what you get. I'll blame it on not owning a saute pan.

The good news is that my less than stellar plating did not seem to affect the overall taste. I have been told my my children that this is a keeper recipe that should be pulled out again soon. I decided to take action on that suggestion by making myself another serving of oyakodon for breakfast this morning. Yum!

Here is an example of what oyakodon supposed to look like, curtesy of Wikimedia Commons:




Maybe next time I will try using the hondashi powder to see what kind of a difference it makes.

Scripture Sunday: 1 Timothy 4:12

Surprise Saturday: Mud Masks by Doterra

Happy Saturday!

Most people know I'm a "oily gal" and love my essential oils.

 I sell Doterra and love their stuff. 

The girls and I decided to try their mud mask tonight and had a lot of fun...

Saturday Surprise...AGAIN: A New Kind Of Post....

I have been fooling around with the idea of posting videos on my blog for quite a while now. Peter keeps saying I should vlog but I don't like being in front of the camera, so that won't work! However, I thought, how fun would it be to post videos of our fun activities or the antics of my crazy children and animals sometimes instead of just pictures?

At this point, I don't know if I will do it on a regular basis or if it will be just when I happen to have a fun one to share. If you like what you see, be sure and let me know either in the comments of this blog or in the comments of the video if you go to watch it on Youtube!

We love going to the fish hatchery about an hour or so from us. It's a nice drive out in the boonies and we enjoy watching how much fun the kiddos have!

Here is your video for this evening! Enjoy!




Till next time...

Have a blessed day and embrace the craziness in your life!

Heidi

Fostering Friday: How Do You Handle The Pain Of Goodbye

Welcome to Fostering Fridays! Our hope is that you will be able to get a taste of what it's like to foster by reading our experiences and thoughts!

I have had this blog post sitting in my drafts for some time...part of it is that I am still trying to find the answer and part of it is because no matter what, it is painful.

Blast From The Crazy Past: Rinoplasty And Sinus Operation

Welcome to memories...my memories....welcome to a Blast from my Crazy Past!

Nose Surgery???

Wordless Wednesday- March 15

Midweek Minute: This Boy We Share...

Saturday was one of those Special Days....

Monday Madness: Testimony...What Does It Mean?

Welcome to Monday Madness where I will talk about pretty much anything that comes to mind. From homeschooling to special needs to strange blog posts about silly objects to interviewing a family member...you never know what you might read on Monday Madness! Enjoy!

I decided to look up the word "testimony" and this is what I found:

Scripture Sunday: John 14:1

Fostering Friday: What Are Your Questions?

Welcome to Fostering Fridays! Our hope is that you will be able to get a taste of what it's like to foster by reading our experiences and thoughts!

I got to thinking....

Midweek Minute: PRAISE THE LORD!

Welcome to the Midweek Minute

Where I talk about the here and now...

You may remember me talking about some things going on a couple weeks ago...

Blast From The Crazy Past: My Godson...

Welcome to memories...my memories....welcome to a Blast from my Crazy Past!

First, what you will see in this post may be a trigger for some people. 

If you have miscarried, lost an infant at birth or later in life, this post may not be for you...

About three and a half years ago, 

my goddaughter and her boyfriend 

came to me and gave me the news 

that I was going to not only be an auntie, 

but they wanted Peter and I to be the baby's godparents.

Just a few short months later, and way too soon, 

sweet baby Ian was born.

For no particular reason, 

our sweet little boy came into this world early.

He breathed a couple breaths 

and then went straight to Heaven.

I got the call right before church was to start that February morning.

My heart ached as I drove knowing that when I got there, 

I would be helping my goddaughter try to pull together her heart that 

had been shattered apart.

I thought of my babies in Heaven and asked my Saviour, "Why?"

 I walked into the eerily quiet maternity wing and the nurses showed me to the room where my goddaughter and her boyfriend were.

I will never forget her face when she saw me....

All the hopes and dreams that had been placed on the birth of this child had been torn from her and ripped into a million pieces.

I knew that feeling....

I had been there.

Unlike her, I had never held my babies.

As she lifted her tear-streaked eyes to me and held out her baby boy for me to hold....my heart lurched...

He was perfect.

In every way.

There wasn't a single blemish on him.

You could see his mama's nose and his daddy's lips.

I touched his little fingers and kissed his little head.

I read him a Psalm and I prayed with his parents.

My little godson never got to go home,

or have a diaper change...

He never cried or felt pain...

But our lives are forever changed.

Happy Third Birthday, Ian!

NOTE: Written with permission of his parents to celebrate his third birthday in Heaven...

Wordless Wednesday- March 8

Tuesday Tidings: Nothing Lasts Forever

On Tuesdays you will find guest blogs by my daughters and many other people. Enjoy!!


We have a LOT of pets!!!!!
We had more at a time.......but before we get too far into that, let me tell you of the pets
 we do still have.

My pet guinea pig, Anna...

Our black lab, Lady...

Our puppy, Gus...

Our Parakeet, Princess

Our cat, Oscar...


And we used to have a rabbit named Oliver.......

We also had a boy bird named Crazy Olive...

Thay died last month......
We will miss them a lot but like
My blog post is called...
Nothing lasts forever...

Midweek Minute: Thank You For Prayers

Just a quick note to thank everyone for their prayers. I have spent the last few days in quite a lot of pain, but thanks to your prayers, I am doing much better today!

On Thursday I have a follow-up with my Doctor and will get the results of my biopsy. From there, I believe they put in the request for my surgery. So still a couple weeks off, I believe.

For now, have a wonderful day and embrace the crazy in your lives!
Heidi

Monday Madness: This Man I Love...

Welcome to Monday Madness where I will talk about pretty much anything that comes to mind. From homeschooling to special needs to strange blog posts about silly objects to interviewing a family member...you never know what you might read on Monday Madness! Enjoy!

I am so blessed....

Scripture Sunday~ John 3:16

Fostering Friday- What Does Transition Mean?

Welcome to Fostering Fridays! Our hope is that you will be able to get a taste of what it's like to foster by reading our experiences and thoughts!

Transition, what does this mean? When you look up the word transition in the dictionary, you find this:

Blast From The Crazy Past: Those Feet

Welcome to memories...my memories....welcome to a Blast from my Crazy Past!

I love these feet....

Wordless Wednesday- March 1