Ellie's Burn

Yesterday morning (9/7) I got a frantic phone call from my mom.......'Ellie's been burned you need to come right away!!'
Ellie had stayed the night with my mom and step dad (who we call pops)- Each week she gets her fill of being spoiled and carried in 'the womb' (an over the shoulder baby sling that my mom got 16 years ago when Eli was born- She has carried each of her 7 grand kids in it- Some liking it more than others......both Eli and Ellie have LOVED it) because she (little Ellie) is carrying on the tradition each of my kids have done since a little after birth- Thurs. nights are spent at Nana and Papa's......
My poor mom and pops were beside themselves (I love you both- You did everything perfect and it is not your fault)- I could hear Ellie crying in the back ground and could hear the panic in my mom's voice- 'Mom, what did she burn herself on and did it blister?' Coffee and Yes it blistered............
When I got to their house and saw Elle's burn I knew she would need to go to the doctor but would not need to be rushed to the Emergency room- I also could tell that while it may look somewhat bad it could have been SO MUCH WORSE-
My pop had made his usual coffee and set it by his chair, just out of reach from Ellie- Over the past week Ellie has started crawling on everything- Including the couch- her little leg is just long enough now that she can get it up onto a couch cushion and swing herself up onto the couch- Ellie had managed to get herself up onto their couch and crawl across it to reach his coffee.  She grabbed for it and some spilled down the front of her chest- The worst of the burn is just under her chin on her chest area.....that is where it blistered-
Ellie went to the doctor, who put some Silver dean burn cream on the burn area and then bandaged it up- We will keep applying the cream and keep it bandaged until it heals.
Ellie Marie you were such a brave girl when the doctor was looking at your burn and dressing it- Your daddy took the afternoon off so that he could come with you and mommy to the doctor- Your nana and papa called and checked on you many times......so did your brothers.......so did your aunties.......You are so loved sweetie!!

Hanging with Daddy at the doctors

getting your bandage put on (you were mad that your arms had to be held out)

Headed home

You Just Blink....And An Adoption Prayer Request

It's literally that quick........You just blink and your oldest is starting 11th Grade- Your middle is in their last year of junior high (8th) and your youngest is almost 15 months old-
For you mamma's that feel like your kids are never going to grow up........Just blink :)
Totally changing the subject but staying true to the title of this post.....Adoption Prayer Request.  This past May, for part of Ryan's 13th birthday gift we went back East-  We stayed in the guest house of a Mennonite couple named Dan and Lena Esh.......Dan and Lena raised their children (7 of them) in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania smack dab in the middle of Amish Country on a farm (click on this link and scroll to the bottom of the pictures and you will see the farm)- Several years ago they built a new house on the farm property- Their son Gene, his wife Andrea, and their children took up residence at the original farm house to continue on with the operation.  While we were visiting I was able to meet Andrea very briefly- Lena had told me that Gene and Andrea were getting ready to adopt a baby- Their baby Jena was just born..........Little Jena will need to spend some time in the hospital.......Andrea is a blogger and has posted some blogs about what is going on both with their adoption experience and what is going on with baby Jena......To read their story click HERE- May God Bless and keep this precious family and the birth parents of their Jena....I am sure they would appreciate all of our prayers!

Hope you are having a great 'back to school' week!!

Take 1

Take 2 of trying to get the boy's back to school pic

3rd times a charm :)

14 Months Old

At 14 Months old Ellie is:

• 17 lbs. 13 oz. 
• 28 inches long
• Has 5 teeth, 2 bottoms and 3 uppers
• Walking everywhere (started walking on 8/12)
• Is weaned off of formula and just started drinking 2% milk- From what I've heard, it is recommended that children under 2 drink whole milk- Ellie does not like it at all so we have resorted to 2% for now.
• Eating 3 meals a day plus 3-4/ 6 oz bottles
• Loves Otter Pops- If we allow, she will eat 3-4 in one sitting (she only gets them outside because as they start melting THEY GET EVERYWHERE!)
• Finally started saying 'ma-ma' but will mostly call me 'ma'- She also started saying 'ouch'
• Loves playing with my shoes (Steph) and helping unload the dishwasher :)
• Still wearing 6-9 months clothes
• Takes 1 nap a day usually sleeping for 3 hours
• Wears size 3 diapers
• Does not eat baby food anymore but will eat (only in smaller portions and cut up way smaller than ours) anything we eat.

Welcoming McKenzie......(She's 34 feet and 10,000 lbs.!!)

It's been a year in the talking......do we get a travel trailer or a boat?  We've gone back and forth- Me saying boat and the boys saying travel trailer- Matt has stayed neutral in the whole discussion........that is his way of saying he was fine with either-
I knew what a travel trailer would mean......... CAMPING.......
My boys LOVE to camp/hunt/fish/anything outdoorsy
Matt really likes all the above too-
My friend Deb once gave me a key chain that pretty much sums up my feelings- It read:
I love NOT camping.........

What to do.........hummmm..........
I knew I was out voted (as far as getting a boat) so I started doing research on RV'S- What would be a compromise- Camping for my boys but doing it with the comforts of home.........
 
When the link for this particular 5th Wheel came up I grabbed Matt and went to go see-
He thought it was over the top and would be a pain in the neck to haul around (It's 34 feet long and weighs 10,000 lbs.) but was courteous enough to give me that 'what do you think' look mid way through the showing- double thumbs up babe!! Matt couldn't have cared less if we got it or not- his practical nature was not relishing in the beauty I saw- I could see his brain working the longer we looked at it- The only way he was going to drive away with it was if it could make some sort of sense in his mind-
One of Matt's strengths is his financial business sense..........Matt offered the repo gentleman a ridiculously low price- (it was a bank repo that had sat in the repo gentleman's back lot for so long that the impound fees were close to equal to what the RV was worth- to settle the impound fees the bank signed the RV over to repo gentleman). 

Welcome to the family 1999 McKenzie Monoco- This mamma is happy to have you :)

Below are pictures I copied and pasted from the ad-



A Recipe You Will Not Want To Miss! (Food on my mind)

If you could read my thoughts in order of priority it would go something like this:
God
My Family
Food ties with my Friends (I love you my friends BUT I really love my food too....... :) :)  One of the best ways to spend time with my friends is hanging out eating with them!

My friend Holly, who lives in Maui, once planned a vacation to her neighbor island Honolulu JUST FOR THE FOOD...she had mapped out every good restaurant or bakery and had a plan to hit up each one- I then got her list of 'good food places' and made a trip over to Honolulu myself (I was living on Kauai)- I did get a bit distracted by the Ala Moana Mall but was still able to get some of that great food! (She also taught me that when it comes to food 'Butter makes it better'...so so so true Holly B.......Butta' indeed makes it better)
My sister in law and I once made Matt drive 3 hours out of our way so that we could buy an eclair..It was worth every second in the car (and the 3 hour drive back)
This past spring we took a trip back East- While my words were speaking out 'Our boys will get to see Washington D.C.- my what an educational experience that will be' my heart was shouting 'I'm really going back because I think the Amish families are outstanding cooks and I was to eat up as much of their food as I can'- It was no surprise to me when I came home, stepped on the scale and had gained 5 pounds.....BRING IT BABY!!!
The list could go on but I will spare you the stories......at least in this post- I am sure they will all come out sometime on this blog :)

Last night my boys were swimming with my mom, Matt was working the night shift, and Ellie had gone to bed early- I was sitting on my couch pondering what to do.....DUH.......cook something YUMMY-
I made Matt's family's cinnamon rolls recipe and topped them with butter/orange frosting- O.MY.GOODNESS.......YES PLEASE!
For those that share my love of food this recipe is for you......

In your bread maker on the 'dough' setting combine:
1.5 C warm water
3 TBS Butter
1 egg
1 tsp salt (I usually do 1.5 tsp salt)
1 TBS Sugar
3.5 Cups Flour
I put it in the bread maker in the order I wrote it out- I then add 1 packet of active dry yeast to the top of the flour- I made a bit of a well in the center of the flour (I think it's about 2 tsp of yeast)

When dough cycle is complete take dough out and roll out into large rectangle-
Melt 1/2 C butter and spread over the rolled out dough (the butter will seem thick- while it is cooking and when the cinnamon rolls come out of the oven they will be floating in the butter- the butter is quickly absorbed into the cinnamon roll and when it mixes with the brown sugar mixture makes a  bit of a caramel type bottom)
sprinkle brown sugar and powdered sugar mixed generously over butter
sprinkle cinnamon over that
roll up and slice into 1.5 inch sections

Place in 9x13 GREASED dish
I do not let mine rise but if you choose this option set in a warm place and let rise about 1/2 hr.
Bake 350 for about 30 minutes

While cinnamon rolls are still warm (but not super hot) frost with:

this is more about look then exact measurements-
about 3 C. powdered sugar
about 5 TBS. melted butter
about 3 TBS. frozen orange juice concentrate
Mix with an electric mixer until desired consistency

Hope you had a great Tues.

Steph

p.s. Jessica thank you for coming over and enjoying these with me!
p.s.s. Meagan E. this post is passionately dedicated to your 'Meatless Mon.' :)

 p.s.s.s- so that I do not get any e-mails that someone is alarmed that friends and food ties in my priority list- I am simply being dramatic and my friends really do come above food......at least I think they do :)

Milestones and Memories (Walking and Dry Heaving)

We've had an 'Ellie' milestone this week-
Ellie started walking past Sun. (Aug. 12)- Elle's spent some time with her cousin Claire (my cousin Becca and Luke had their daughter Claire 3 weeks after Ellie was born)- Claire is walking...........I could see it all over my girls face..She was taking in the fact that Claire was making her way around walker-free as Ellie was walking around in her walker- Ellie watched Claire for several minutes and then carried on walking around in her walker- When we got home later that afternoon, Ellie was standing against a foot stool in our living room- Instead of sitting down so that she could crawl around she simply let go and took off for the other side of the room in a bit of a run- She made it a ways and fell- She practiced most of the week and by Thurs. she was a lot steadier on her feet :)
Ellie Marie, you have joined the walking group of girls that was born right around the same time you were.....Lilly, Jayme, and Claire- Next will be Ellie's cousin Linnea' who just turned 1!!

hee hee hee hee!!! Now for the memory..........I am writing this down in my blog because it will give me and my family a good laugh (and we've already laughed a ton over this memory) years from now when we are reading it- 
Sat. night Matt and the boys rented the movie The Hatfield's and McCoys- The movie gets pretty intense with a lot of fighting- Matt and I were laying on the ground and my boys were laying on the couch and in the chair.......Oklie (my Shih Tzu) was laying in between Matt and I all snuggled down- she was closer to Matt than to me and laying by his stomach....During one of the really intense fighting scenes Matt let one rip- It was silent but deadly......right after, Oklie brought her head up and sniffed (the next part is completely true)- right after she sniffed she started dry heaving- From when she brought her head up and sniffed to when she started dry heaving we all smelled what she smelled and figured out really quick why she was dry heaving........I thought she was going to throw up so I jumped up and opened our slider so she could go outside- she ran outside and dry heaved a couple more times.......when she was done she calmly walked back inside and slept on the other side of the room as Matt :) :) :)

Claire and Ellie last Sun.

Precious Claire



Ellie's first walk- Ryan was holding his i pod up for her to walk to- She was able to walk to it, hold it, and walk
it over to Oklie's water dish and drop it in.........the i pod is now one of Ellie's toys because once it hit the water it broke- Sorry bout that Ryno!!

Eli and Elle's :)

Operation Family Restoration!!

This past weekend marked the 4th semi-annual family reunion (every 2 years) with my brothers and sisters. My sister Jodi and I share the same mom (Ellie), My sister Anne Loree's mom is Karen, and my brothers Chris and Levi's mom is Tania.  We all share the same dad Rick........

Our Family Story is Dysfunctionally Common

Divorce

Broken Family

Bitterness

'See I am doing a new thing; now it is starting; will you not take note of it?  I will even make a way in the waste land, and rivers in the dry country' Isaiah 43:19

I first read this verse when I was 30 years old (2005)- Trying to work through the bitterness I had towards my dad-   After reading it I immediately thought of my family....'Heavenly Father could rivers actually reach the dry country of devastation divorce and bitterness had caused'- In the margin of my Bible, I wrote out a prayer begging God to restore my family-

Healing

Hope

Forgiveness



The road has not been easy for any of us- My parents included......It's tough work cutting through dry ground (letting God sift through the bitterness, anger, resentment, baggage and bring His truth into it) so that water can flow (God's truth trumping the ugly with healing and forgiveness). The complete healing of my family came shortly after that prayer in 2005.....none of us perfect, all scarred in our own way- BUT the river has reached our dry country ........

How fitting that this years family pictures were taken with a flowing stream behind us, greenry all around- How fitting that some of the pictures were also taken while we were sitting on a bridge letting the water pass under our feet........

What an amazing reminder that Nothing is impossible with God (Luke 1:37).

 He can indeed restore unto us the years the locust have eaten (Joel 2:25)

and He longs to make beauty from ashes (Isaiah 61:3)

(Thank You Cloudy Day Photography for these pictures)

Left to Right...Jodi, Anne Loree, my dad, me, Levi, Chris

My dad with his grandkids