I found about three really cute summer dresses for Boo recently.  She's a size 2T now.  Unfortunately, the dresses did not come with matching bloomers, and believe me, this girl needs them!  She's constantly climbing, rolling, and running, even in a dress.  I like the bloomers to hide her diaper.

Labels: Boo, sewing

It's time to pick the two winners for my March Pay It Forward Book Exchange. I've used Random.org to find my winners, although considering only 3 people entered this month for my 2 book giveaways, the odds were high for winning! 

And the winners are...

#1 Cynthia with Springmont Cottage who wins a copy of Love You, Mean It by Patricia Carrington, Julia Collins, Claudia Gerbasi, & Ann Haynes.

# 3-Jubilee with Notes of Jubilee who wins Marked (House of Night, Book 1) by P.C. Cast & Kristin Cast.

Congrats, ladies! Sorry Tamy! Cynthia & Jubilee, please email me your mailing addresses so I can send out your book!

And for those of you who didn't enter to win my giveaway, there is 1 additional book still up for grabs this month thanks to PIF giveaways being held by other bloggers! Hurry quick to enter to win!

My next Pay It Forward Book Exchange will begin on Wednesday, 1 April.  I will probably have at least two books up for grabs and one of them will be a brand new novel, Handle With Care by Jodi Picoult, in hardcover.  

Labels: books/reading, giveaways, Pay It Forward

Good Friday to you all!

Today I'm hosting a Favorite Ingredients Friday Mexican Dishes Edition recipe exchange!

Today I'd like to share a recipe that I found on Recipe Zaar. It's delicious!  Enjoy!

Steak Fajitas

Ingredients
3/4 lb top sirloin steak
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon lime juice
1 garlic clove, finely minced
1/2 teaspoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon hot pepper flakes
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 teaspoon salt
8 flour tortillas (8 inch/20 cm)
1-2 onions, approx. 1-2 depending on size
2 small sweet peppers, of your choice (green, red, or yellow)

Toppings
salsa
sour cream
shredded cheese
chopped tomato

Directions
Slice steak into thin strips.

In bowl, mix together 1 tablespoons olive oil, lime juice, garlic, chili powder, cumin, hot pepper flakes, black pepper & salt.

Add beef strips and stir to coat, set aside.

Wrap tortillas in foil and place in 350° oven for 5-10 minutes or until heated through.

Cut onions in half lengthwise and slice into strips, cut your peppers into strips.
6In large non stick skillet over medium high heat, heat remaining tablespoons of olive oil.

Add onions & peppers stirring for 3-4 minutes, until softened; transfer to a bowl and set aside.

Add beef to skillet, cook, stirring for 3-4 minutes or until they lose their red color.

Return onions and peppers to skillet; stir for about one minute.

To serve, spoon a portion of the beef mixture down the centre of each tortilla, top with your desired toppings , fold bottom of tortilla up over filling, fold the sides in, overlapping.

Now, I look forward to seeing your Favorite Ingredients Friday Mexican Dishes Edition recipe! Don't forget to link your specific recipe post link on Mr. Linky so I can see what's cooking at your house!

Oh, and be sure to put the title of your recipe in parenthesis! It makes it so much quicker for everyone to go back and search for recipes.

Labels: Favorite Ingredients Friday, recipe exchange

First of all, thanks for all the lovely well wishes that you all have left me in the comments section of my last post.  I appreciate the support!  No new news to report.  We're still waiting to hear whether or not an appeal is being filed.  I'll let you all know when we know.

Labels: Baby Bug, Boo, foster children, fostering

After nearly 2 days of grueling trial and listening to testimony presented by witnesses, evidence entered into court, and closing arguments, the judge told us we were all excused yesterday afternoon at 4:30 PM.

No verdict or ruling was given. We were simply told we could leave.

The state attorney explained to me outside of the courtroom that the judge had up to 60 days to rule on the case and that he'd send his ruling in minute entries to the lawyers and they would disseminate that information to the involved parties. The CPS worker said she'd call us when she heard.

I left the courthouse more fearful of the outcome than I had been before the contested termination trial began! The lawyer defending Boo's mom did a GREAT job of arguing her side and the state attorney also did a WONDERFUL job of arguing on behalf of Boo having permanency with us. It was a complicated case. I walked out of court truly not knowing which way the judge would rule. My heart was heavy and I felt sick to my stomach. I feared we'd be left hanging, worrying, for the next 2 months!

Last night I felt so discouraged and couldn't sleep a wink. I slept in the guest bed in Boo's room because it comforted me to hear her breathing as she slept.

Not expecting to hear back for several weeks, imagine my surprise when my cell phone rang at 2:33 PM today while I was at work and it was the CPS worker. She was calling to tell me that the judge had ruled for severance of parental rights!!! He ruled in less than 24 hours!! I couldn't believe what I was hearing! It was so unexpected! I thanked her for sharing the news and called Oronzo and we both choked up as we absorbed the news together.

Not long after the CPS worker called me, I got a call from Boo's lawyer. She called to make sure I had heard the news and we ended up spending 45 minutes talking about several things pertaining to Boo and her long-standing case. That's the longest I've ever talked to her since the day Boo was transferred into our home!

What happens next? We wait to see if Boo's mom will appeal (we strongly suspect she will and, oddly enough, I'm actually okay with that) within 30 days and, if so, then we wait another 6-15 months to see if the higher courts overturns this severance ruling. We've been told that it's very rare for that to happen, but we have to prepare ourselves for the reality that it could happen.

In the meantime, we get to proceed with the adoption process, right up to the finalization. That will have to wait until after the appeal ruling.

13 months and 4 days we've waited for this ruling, praying with all of our might, enlisting the aid of our family and friends in prayer, worrying that we'd loose this precious little girl that we've grown to love so dearly. 20 1/2 months of her 25 months of life, Boo has been in the system as a foster child, without permanency, without a family to truly call her own.

If we get past the appeal, all of that will change. We will adopt her in due time and she will LEGALLY become the daughter she already is in our hearts and she will spend the rest of her life as an well-loved part of our immediate and extended family.

Thank, thank you all for your support. I can't tell you how much it means to me! Please, keep those prayers coming. It's not over yet.

I'll keep you posted on the appeals and adoption processes.

Labels: Boo, expanding our family, faith, family, foster children, foster-to-adopt, fostering, leap of faith

So, tomorrow the contested termination trial for Boo's case begins in the afternoon.  I am testifying within the second hour of the trial.

Labels: Boo, expanding our family, faith, family, foster children, foster-to-adopt, fostering, leap of faith

Georgian Green Beans

Ingredients:
2 pounds fresh green beans, trimmed
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 large red onion, quartered and thinly sliced
2 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
1 1/2 teaspoons red wine vinegar
3 tablespoons chicken broth
salt and pepper to taste
3 tablespoons finely chopped cilantro

Directions:
Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to boil. Place green beans in the water, and cook about 3 minutes. Remove from heat, and drain in a colander. Place under cold water until no longer hot. Drain, and pat dry.

Melt 1 tablespoon butter in a medium skillet over medium heat. Stir in the onion and garlic, and saute until onion is tender. Melt remaining butter in the skillet, and mix in the green beans. Stir in the vinegar and broth. Season with salt and pepper. Mix in cilantro. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 15 minutes, or until green beans are tender.

I hope if you try this recipe you'll let me know how it turned out for you! Now I look forward to seeing your Favorite Ingredients Friday Side Dishes recipe!

Don't forget to link your specific recipe post link on Mr. Linky so I can see what's cooking at your house!

Oh, and be sure to put the title of your recipe in parenthesis! It makes it so much quicker for me to go back and search for recipes as I build my weekly menu.

Labels: cooking, Favorite Ingredients Friday, recipe exchange

Later this morning I'll be heading to court.  There's a public hearing for Boo's birth father or "John Doe".

Labels: Boo, foster children, foster-to-adopt, fostering

As I was approaching my 40th birthday, an older co-worker warned me that, “Things start to go to hell in a hand basket after you turn 40.” He said that suddenly you can’t see well, your body starts to have aches and pains, and the medical issues begin. I laughed at him and said, “I feel great, healthy as a horse!”

Well, maybe there was something to his claim because I had a physical this week and my doctor and I were both shocked to discover that my blood pressure was 160/100! It was checked at least 3 times during that visit and she required that I come back the next morning and have it checked again. The next day it was 140/100!

I have never had blood pressure problems in the past. I’ve always been within the normal ranges, if not a bit lower. We’re not sure what’s going on and she’s running blood tests on me and a few other things to determine the cause. In the meantime, she’s put me on a low dose of blood pressure medication that I have to take daily.

I asked her if stress could be the cause. Let me tell you, I have reasons to be stressed! We have Boo’s contested termination trial hearing coming up next week and I’m stressed about the outcome, not to mention having to get up and testify in front of Boo’s mom and her lawyer. My doctor said stress can increase levels slightly, but not that much.

I asked if I’d have to take this medicine for the rest of my life and she said she didn’t know. She’d re-evaluate the situation after test results come back and she said she wants to see me again in a month to follow-up.

So, I went and filled my blood pressure medication prescription at the pharmacy. I even reluctantly bought myself a pill box organizer because, even well before turning forty, I’m forgetful. At least with a pill box organizer, I’ll know if I missed a dose or not.

I had a tough time purchasing that pill box organizer because, for me, it represents a sign of old age. My parents and in-laws use several pill box organizers for their plethora of medications that they take on a daily basis!

((Sigh)) I guess my days of being able to say I’m not on any medication are over. At least I can take some comfort in knowing that I don’t need the jumbo print pill boxes yet.

So, do any of you take daily medications?

Labels: health

A couple of months ago I wrote about how Snuggle Bug was suffering from nightmares about a Bat Child character from a Mercer Mayer book.   Many of you offered suggestions on how to help him get through his fears.  I appreciated those suggestions and tried many of them.

Labels: Bat Child nightmares, Snuggle Bug

Good Friday to you all! It's time for another Favorite Ingredients Friday recipe exchange! I can't wait to see what you all come up with!

Check out my upcoming themed schedule below:

Upcoming 2009 "Themed" Schedule

Labels: cooking, Favorite Ingredients Friday, recipe exchange

I got a call from the Assistant Attorney General's office earlier this week. They wanted my permission to subpoena me to testify in the upcoming contested termination trial for Boo's case.

Labels: Boo, foster children, foster-to-adopt, fostering

It's time for another one of my free Pay It Forward book giveaways! The first two books on my giveaway list were the ones that I should've given away at the end of July but didn't. And I didn't get an August giveaway up either. Sorry for falling off the wagon. I hope you'll all join me this month!

For those who may have missed out, please read about the guidelines right here.

So, I have two books to give away this month:

1) Love You, Mean It by Patricia Carrington, Julia Collins, Claudia Gerbasi, & Ann Haynes.!

From Publishers Weekly

Four young women widowed by the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center were so bereft, so inconsolable, that they ended up forming their own support group, the "Widows Club." True, they found sympathy everywhere—from in-laws, co-workers, friends, grief professionals—but even their dearest intimates couldn't offer the absolutely unconditional acceptance and understanding of a sister sufferer. Collins could weep and tell stories about Tommy for hours, days or years, and Haynes wouldn't find it tiresome. Gerbasi could tell Carrington she'd seen "signs" of Bart—a bird outside her window, a bedside light flickering—and Carrington would understand, because her Caz was also sending messages. None of these women were interested in being "the perfect September 11 widow," working on protest committees, testifying before Congress and organizing fund-raisers. They just wanted to get through a day without dissolving into tears. In interfolded accounts, they each discuss how they met their husbands, how they spent September 11 and all the many ways they grieved. In the end, they each found ways to open themselves to new love, careful to keep the "Boys" and the Widows Club ever dear.

2) Marked (House of Night, Book 1) by P.C. Cast & Kristin Cast.

From School Library Journal

Grade 9 Up—In 16-year-old Zoey Redbird's world, vampyres not only exist but are also tolerated by humans. Those whom the creatures "mark" as special enter the House of Night school where they will either become vampyres themselves, or, if their body rejects the change, die. To Zoey, being marked is truly a blessing, though she's scared at first. She has never fit into the human world and has always felt she is destined for something else. Her grandmother, a descendant of the Cherokee, has always supported her emotionally, and it is she who takes the girl to her new school. But even there the teen stands apart from the others. Her mark from the Goddess Nyx is a special one, showing that her powers are very strong for one so young. At the House of Night, Zoey finds true friendship, loyalty, and romance as well as mistrust and deception. She realizes that all is not right in the vampyre world and that the problems she thought she left behind exist there as well. Readers will identify with many of the characters, especially the protagonist. The story moves quickly (a little too quickly at the end) and purposely leaves many unresolved issues. A good choice for those libraries serving fans of the occult, but be aware that the book contains some suggestive language and sex.—Donna Rosenblum, Floral Park Memorial High School, NY

Labels: books/reading, giveaways, Pay It Forward