From Texas To China With Love

Well, we officially hit the 1 year mark a few days ago. They day came and went without any ceremonious events. Honestly, it just slipped my mind. If we were close to receiving a referral, perhaps I would have marked the day with a cake or going out to eat.

...to all the moms and waiting moms.

Well, lunch was a success except only mom showed up. My step-dad and grandfather were in a mood and decided to stay home. So, I have a lot of food leftover. So, I had to freeze most of it.

The ice cream turned out great despite of how I originally thought it would turn out. It was really delicious and smooth. No more buying ice cream. Unless it it one of those urgent "time of the month"-"can't wait, have to have it now" moments.

Do you know that saying, don't experiment with cooking when you have company coming over? I didn't head that warning. I slaved away in the kitchen all day to prepare my mother a Mexican luncheon, but don't have much to show for my efforts.

ENCHILADAS
I made beef enchiladas by the boat loads. I tried a new enchilada sauce recipe (bad idea), but it didn't come out the flavor I expected. However, when I put the fixings together, the combination wasn't bad. Since I was going through all the labor of love, I froze half in casserole tins for later I-am-to-tired-to-cook meals.

SALSA

I also made homemade salsa -- my first ever successful batch. Mine always came out watery. This time I used fresh ingredients and cooked them before putting in the blender. Although I think the blender purees too well. It still taste good. I used serranos instead of jalepenos. Man! Get me the waterhose!

QUESO DIP

This was a complete flop. I accidentally covered the pot and walked away from the stove. Although it was on very low heat, it still bubbled over. What a complete mess on the stove and then cleaning the pot was another story. I usually make queso in a slow cooker, by throwing Velveta, Rotel Tomatoes, and a splash of milk a few hours before an event. BUT NO! I had to try a new recipe. What a $5 waste of money. It wasn't the recipe's fault. I turned my back on it while it was simmering.

ICE CREAM

Then I made a blackberry custard so I can put it in out new electric ice cream maker. This is the first time I made ice cream ever. It was also the first time I used my KitchenAid standing mixer. I had to go online to look up how to set up the mixing paddle and bowl. I already had put the milk and sugar over the heat. What wonderful timing to try to figure out how to use an appliance.

Four hours later, the custard is still isn't thickening. Backup plan, homemade peach cobbler. Thank goodness I bought frozen peaches and can make a mean cobbler in no time. YES, we have store bought vanilla ice cream. I bet you my guest are going to want the vanilla. Ha!Ha!

CHARRO BEANS

I've never made this side dish either. Started with dried pinto beans. I sorted out all the bad beans. Put the good beans in a pot of cold water. I am soaking the beans over night so no one gets the toots. Ha!Ha! Tomorrow morning, I'll drain the water and put fresh water in. It takes about three hours to cook.

MEXICAN RICE

No new recipe. I'll cook this dish tomorrow an hour before every shows up.


FLOUR TORTILLAS

Heck, after all the cooking, I didn't have the energy to make them from scratch. I went to our grocery store where they make fresh ones in the bakery. I'll heat them before everyone arrives.

GUACAMOLE

Easy to make. I will let Scott handle making it since he has a good recipe.

MARGARITAS

I bought a whole bunch of limes. Tonight I am making "simple syrup". Normally, I go the easy route, but mom specifically asked for it, so it thought I would go through the effort and make it special.

Man! My back and feet are killing me! The problem with making yummy food from scratch is that you get a reputation for making certain dishes and then people always want that dish. I guess I will call it an evening and go soak in a hot bubble bath.

God has always been good and provided for us. Sometimes the answer we seek isn't always replied to in the way we thought it should be requested.

When Scott and I were starting out in the early 90's, we were broke. He was in university and I was working a full-time job and a part-time job. We had a tough time financially, I made stupid financial decisions and let my car payment slip. The car was repossessed. Not a proud moment in my life. The sad thing is, I only had a year to pay on it. We need a car so I could get to work. I had to quick my full-time job because it wasn't on the bus line and kept the part-time job. No one would loan me money now that I had a repo on my credit report. I asked God for a car (and I saved up cash while I waited for an answer). Eventually a neighbor let Scott take his old truck and make monthly payments on it. It got us around, but Scott and I had opposite schedules. He fixed computers at people's houses. So, I asked God again for a car. A few months later Scott was on a business call and told me honey, the lady has old VW bug she will sell us for $350, how much do you have saved up? Uhh..$350 -- really weird, aye? It worked, but it was beyond old, it was falling apart.

I had to laugh at God's sense of humor. The bug worked, but the floorboards were rusted out and the seats had no cushion on them. Scott took the back seat out because it was so bad. He welded in a piece of metal on the floorboards and backseat area so nothing would fall through. So I had a two seater "minibug" and used the back seat area to haul the dogs and groceries. He then put on slipcovers on the front seats.

Scott and I always bring up the story about a man who ask God for help as flood waters trap him in his house and eventually surrounds the house and ends up on his roof. He is sent help three time and the man's answer is always "God will provide". Then the man drowns and ask God at the pearly gates why he didn't provide and God replies that he sent three people to help.

So, Scott and I are always on the lookout for the unobvious answer to our questions.

As Scott and I come up to our year anniversary of LID, we wonder how much longer we have to wait.

We were disheartened to learn only six days were in the most recent referrals. Although, it is better than last month's two days of referrals.

I as talking to my sister-in-law in the summer of 2006 telling her we were buying a weekend house. She mentioned she thought we were adopting, so why are you buying a weekend house. By then we knew the wait was going to be perhaps longer than 12 months and we had adoption money we could spend on an investment property. She could only respond"Oh. Hmmm...funny how things can change quickly in life".

It is true. When we started the international adoption process, we were coming out of being grieved parents of losing an inutero child. No one could have forseen not carrying through a pregnancy, especially when we announced we were going to try to get pregnant. When we announced we were adopting from China, no one could have foreseen the long wait.

I have to say the weekend house has been the best thing to keep our mind off the adoption although our adoption thoughts are always nearby. Not to mention it has been good for our relationship as well. We have remodeling projects planned for the summer which will require more money to spend. I have been doing some fishing which still isn't my favorite thing to do, but allows me to spend time with Scott. I also picked wild blackberries from our neighbor's field the last few weekends.

My personal opinion now is we will get our referral in May of 2008 (24 months). No one flame e-mail me because it is just an opinion. Although I am wishing for a quicker referral than that time frame.

Been thinking of doing:

Some of the things I have been thinking about doing during the wait is taking some real estate classes and getting my real estate license. Other things I have been thinking about doing picking up sewing again. Not that I was really good at it, but I have been wanting to make some curtains for the weekend house. Scott wants to redo the game room and make it into a home theater room. We have had trouble selling the pool table. Looks like a lot of people are wanting to do what we do. Last but not least, keep my blog up to date. On the three and half hour drive home I have a lot of time to think. Some of my thoughts are positive, others are not.

What I have done or doing:

One thing I have done recently is plant some herbs in containers. Not an earth shattering activity, but I have a black thumb. Meaning, I forget to water the plants. I also had Scott buy me new washer and dryer as well as dishwasher. My old appliances went to my grandfather who moved into a house next to my mom and stepdad. I am also looking for a new job. We had a reorganization and I think my job is in jeopardy because my work load has dropped dramatically. Not a good thing when you are an administrator considering those jobs are the first to go. There are lot of senior administrator jobs available, but not at the pay I am currently getting. At least I see the writing on the wall and I am not in denial about not getting laid off. I can act before the ax falls. God has always taken care of us, but usually the answer I receive is not always the one I expected (I'll probably write a blog entry about it soon).

What I won't be doing:

I won't be shopping for baby clothes or baby furniture right now. We also won't be buying a new vehicle unless Scott's vehicle bites the big Oreo. We will probably do these when we get closer to referral. Besides, Scott and I can't agree on a replacement vehicle. I want a minivan, but he wants a huge truck. However, we are in agreement they both suck up too much gas.

Until later.

I've never picked blackberries before. These were found wild in our neighbor's pasture. It is back breaking work. My first try at this, I was in flip flops, shorts, and short sleeves. I learned that in order to get the good blackberries, I have to wear jeans, boots, and long sleeves.

The picture is from my last trip to the pasture. I think the season is coming to an end because most were shriveled from the heat.

My motto... look (bugs & snakes), listen (for snakes), lean. BUT THEY ARE GOOD and worth the effort.

I have enough to last two or three weekends of cooking. Scott and I washed them, dried them, laid them on cookie sheets, and stuck in the freezer. We then put them plastic seal-o-matic bags to store them in our freezer. I finally get to break in the electric ice cream maker we got for Christmas.

I started this entry on February 2nd and found it in my drafts. I was re-reading it and it made me smile and chuckle.

As I was looking out the window at the bay, I realized that there have been many "first experiences" since we bought the vacation house.

The first time we actually did without cable for a whole week. We only get two channels. One is decent reception, the other you can hear really well, but get snowy reception. We contemplate getting satellite, but can't justify the cost for 10 days of viewing. Besides, the only time we want to watch TV is during bad weather. Isn't that when satellites have problems? Oh, and we only get six radio stations really well. Out there we get Christian, Country, Oldies and Spanish/Tejano. Personally, not my type of music. I lean more toward pop.

The first time I caught a flounder, sheepshead, and black drum. Scott can't wait until I catch a redfish (also known as a red drum). He says if you catch a big one it is like having your line caught on the bumper of a fast moving car. I'll have to take his word on that because I never rode a bike, skates, skateboard holding on to the bumper of car. Since, I wrote this in February, I have caught a "legal size" redfish. It pulled hard, but not like Scott described it. He told me to wait until I catch a redfish that is larger size, then I will know what it like to get hooked on bumper of a car.

The first time I became interested in doing outdoors type activities. Sometimes we drive 40 miles a way to Matagorda Beach and picnic even though it is the middle of winter. We get the whole beach to ourselves. I am starting to have quite a collection of shells. When my mom heard about my collection she said it didn't surprise her since I used to love to go fossil hunting.

The first time I have been able to talk myself out of buying a new car vehicle because I have the buying bug. I instead reason with myself and ask how I can invest the extra money.

The first time family decided our bay house was a better place to have Thanksgiving than having it in Austin. The family is already talking about Thanksgiving and Christmas 2007. Scott's mom is excited to spending the Christmas holiday on the Texas bay.

The first time Scott and his dad spent more than a few hours together. Just as a bonus he got a chance to meet my family as well as one of Scott's cousin who hadn't seen since he was a toddler. Scott and his dad were not on speaking terms until last April. Scott's dad wasn't around while Scott was growing up and then they briefly met when Scott was in his mid-20's. That visit didn't go to well. Anyway, Scott wanted to tell his dad he forgave him so he wouldn't be a hypocrite asking his own children for forgiveness. His dad was difficult to find, but after a few months of internet searching I finally was able to piece together a few slivers of information. To make a long story short, his dad and I got along well. He mentioned to Scott before departing that Scott married a good woman. Perhaps it was because I didn't judge him and asked him to show me how to cook a few of his favorite dishes.

This was the first Christmas in a decade since Scott's mom had all her children under the same roof with her. Not to say we haven't been under the same room, but it was under Scott's half brother's dad. Yeah, Scott still keeps in touch with his ex-step dad. That was because of me too. I told him he should reach out to his ex-step dad so his half brother wouldn't feel so awkward talking about his dad's family. Apparently, Scott and his ex-step dad had falling out when Scott's mom decided to get a divorce. Scott naturally took his mother's side. Scott and his ex-stepdad had a falling out. However, that is water under the bridge and his ex-step dad now calls on a regular basis. Note: I guess family is very important to me. You can't choose your family, so you make the best of it. My motto is don't cast stones at the glass house. We aren't perfect, so we shouldn't judge our family based on their behaviour. Sometimes they don't act in the most appropriate or civil way. I think Scott has benefited quite a bit from my view on "men" kinfolk. The majority of mine are known to be scoundrels, rakes, gamblers, and drunks. You can't make them change their ways. So, I accept them as is. I can't change them if they don't want to change their ways. Scott says I have a good heart because I always try to see the good in people.

The first time I have seen such a variety species of birds. The coast is a winter nesting ground for several birds. It is quite frustrating to see a bird for the first time and not know what it is. I've seen spoonbills who are white, but their feathers are tinged with various shades of light pink because of all the shrimp they eat. Sandhill cranes which are as huge as ostridges. I've also seens loons, kingfisher, ducks, white pelicans, and brown pelicans. All of these from the outside of my window. I can watch them for hours.

The first time I got to see a wild dolphin up close. I was sitting on the dock (of the bay - bad pun) and had the crap scared out of me. I didn't realize there was a dolphin in the area. I was day dreaming and heard a violent commotion in the water. The dolphin was only a few feet from me when it attacked a school of bait fish. I got a close up look at its face, dorsel, and fins. I love watching them swim in the bay. They do it a lot in the fall, but this winter only a few times. The bay where our house is at is an inner bay, so the water level is usually shallow during the winter.

The first time I experienced life in a really tiny town. It is a challenge to do things that I take for granted in Austin. Such as a variety of furniture or appliance stores, having a drugstore open 24 x 7, stores being open on Sunday, being able to buy a good imported beer, high speed internet, having a Lowes or Home Depot down the road, having more than one channel on TV, having city sewage rather than a septic tank. There are trade offs though. It is a sleepy town with a really nice beach close by. The small town used to have a nice man made beach, but the last hurricane washed most of it away. The town is slowly recovering.

The first time seeing what the chemical plant burnoff looks like at night. This totally scared the crap out of both of us. It was about 7:30 pm on a Saturday night when we heard a boom and felt the ground shake. The shake turned into a low rumble. We looked out the window and saw a bright fire glow in the horizon. We almost packed up and left. It was a few hours later when we realized that there was no danger based on how our neighbors were reacting. Umm..they had no reaction. Nobody was looking out there windows. We felt like total morons.