Question for fellow Blogger users...

For those of y'all that have blogs with Blogger, have you had problems lately with people commenting on old posts? Some comments are super weird and some are a bunch of links to strange websites. Some of them have been names you can click on and go to a not-so-decent blog and some have been from "anonymous". Thankfully all comments, no matter how old, all come to my inbox so I immediately delete all odd comments from my blog. Still, I'd love to know if I'm the only one experiencing this problem.

Thai-Style Chicken Pumpkin Soup...

I can't even begin to tell y'all how WONDERFULLY DELICIOUS this soup was!!! It was soooo good that I have no picture to show you. It smelled so incredible that I had to get it in bowls as soon as possible so we could eat!! No time for bloggy photography today!!!

This is a picture of the recipe in the magazine. So good! So fresh! All of us LOVED it!! It has all the flavors that our family adores- garlic, ginger, lime, cilantro (I'm a big time cilantro fan!!!!). This definitely will be on our table again soon!!!


Thai-Style Chicken Pumpkin Soup
(from Crock-Pot’s Slow Cooker Recipes “Crocktober 2009 Issue”)

1 T extra virgin olive oil
6 boneless, skinless chicken breasts cut into 1 inch cubes
1 large white onion, thinly sliced (I used a yellow onion)
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 T minced fresh ginger
½ to ¾ t crushed red pepper
2 stalks celery, trimmed and diced
2 carrots, peeled, trimmed and diced
1 can (15 oz) solid pack pumpkin (NOT pumpkin pie filling!!)
½ cup creamy peanut butter
4 cups low-sodium chicken broth
2 cups water
½ cup mango nectar
½ cup fresh lime juice (I used the stuff in a bottle)
3 T rice vinegar
½ cup minced fresh cilantro, divided
½ cup heavy cream
1 T cornstarch
2 to 4 cups hot cooked rice (We used Basmati. Jasmine also recommended)
3 green onions, minced
½ cup roasted unsalted peanuts, coarsely chopped
Lime wedge (optional)

1) Heat oil in large skillet over medium heat. Add chicken and cook, stirring occasionally, about 3 minutes. Add onion, garlic, ginger and red pepper flakes; cook for 1 to 2 minutes or until fragrant. Transfer to crock-pot.
2) Stir in celery, carrots, pumpkin, peanut butter, broth, water, mango nectar and lime juice. Cover; cook on LOW 8 hours or HIGH for 4 hours.
3) Stir in rice vinegar and ¼ cup cilantro. Stir together cream and cornstarch in small bowl. Stir into soup. Turn on HIGH. Simmer, uncovered, 10 minutes or until soup thickens.
4) To serve, put rice in soup bowls. Ladle soup around rice. Sprinkle each bowl with remaining cilantro, green onions and peanuts. Squeeze fresh lime juice over soup, if desired.

Wrong Thyme of the year....

Just what IS this jumbled mess of a dead plant? It's supposed to be the herb thyme. Oh dear. Obviously I've done something wrong. HA!

I had wanted this to grow indoors in my eastern facing kitchen window. Y'all have any ideas about growing thyme indoors? I LOVE this herb!!!

What a happy face...

I snapped this as Elizabeth took her very first bite of a Krispy Kreme doughnut. What a happy face!!!

Adoption update...

I know I mentioned a while back that we are in the process of adopting again. This time we are going to be pursuing a domestic adoption. This means our next child will be born here in the USA.


Today we had our home visit with our caseworker. BOY WAS I NERVOUS!!! But she is such a sweet lady who clearly loves the Lord, it is so easy to talk with her. She visited with us for our official in home meeting and then she even stayed for lunch with us. What fun!!


What's next? Well, our paperwork is all done now and we will be waiting for the official letter from our agency saying our homestudy is complete. Once that happens, our family profile (basically a scrapbook with pictures of our family and basic information about us) will be made available for birthmothers to look at. In this adoption, a birthmother will actually have to choose our family (with China, the huge government agency, CCAA, matches up a child's file with a family file). It could take a few weeks or even a few years. It all depends on whether a birthmother likes our family or not.


We will also be contacting groups about adoption grants. If y'all know of anyone that handles adoption grants, would you mind sharing that with me? We would really appreciate any help we could get!! :)

Anyway, if y'all think about it, please pray for us. We do need funds to cover the adoption and to purchase things for a newborn baby (Elizabeth was 9 1/2 months when we got her, so we don't have any newborn things). If the call came in the next few weeks, we would have to say "no" because we don't have all the money we need.

I can't wait for the day when I will be able to show pictures of our new little one!!!

Flee from these things...

Yep, that's my son! Joshua has a blog up and running and, y'all know how it is, I just HAD to share with you!!!

“But flee from these things, you man of God, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, perseverance and gentleness. Fight the good fight of faith; take hold of the eternal life to which you were called, and you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.” ~ 1 Timothy 6:11-12