Yeah for Rifton!

Rifton read my post about needing a handle for our dynamic stander and sent us one that is technically for another piece of equipment but that they thought would work with her stander.  We got it today and so far, it seems like it will work great!  We have it on right now and I took a few pictures so you could see it (ignore the Halloween decorations... haven't gotten around to getting those down yet!!). 

We plan to test it out today so I will come back and update everyone on how it works.  It was very easy to install, though, so I was excited about that!  I've also been very pleased with Rifton's customer service. 

I took this picture of Madi earlier today (before the handle came).  She wanted to go out for a stroll in her stander, and for some reason, insisted on a helmet :).  It was cute!

Why I've Been M.I.A and an Un-Update on the Adoption

I've been in a bit of a funk lately.  I've sat down multiple times to write this post, and it just hasn't happened.  Tonight, though, I'm going to get it all out :).

On the 27th of October I got an e-mail from Wacap.  They decided to send Ramya for surgery to correct her renal reflux.  When they took her in, though, she had a UTI so they were not able to set a surgery date.  Instead, they were keeping her in the hospital until her UTI cleared up and were doing the surgery after that.  Our agency was told...

“We had problems getting a date for the surgery as her urinary tract infection had to be addressed and treated prior to the surgery. She is still in hospital and is convalescing well. I will send you the discharge summary as soon as we get it."

We still have not gotten a discharge summary, so I am not even sure if she has had the surgery yet or not, or if she is still sitting in the hospital waiting.  It breaks my heart thinking of her just sitting there, in pain, scared, and all alone.  It makes me want to cry.  Actually, I won't lie, I have cried.  I'm having a hard time thinking about it.  I just really want to get her home so that I can be there with her and for her, and be the one making the decisions for her. 

We have also had some delays with our dossier paperwork.  We had it all filled out and went to get our apostilles from the secretary of state.  More than half of our paperwork was missing some of the verbiage needed to get the apostilles, though, and it had to be fixed.  We went to the bank to talk to the guy who did most of it, and of course, he was on vacation.  We waited until he got back and just couldn't get him in the office.  I finally wrote all the correct verbage down myself, convinced that they would reject it, and sent David downtown (about a 30 minute drive) to try and get the apostilles.  Thankfully they gave it to him on all but two pages, which were our passports.  I had written the verbiage for written documents, not photos, on them, so they had to be fixed.  David drove back to the house, got our passports, and rushed back to get them corrected.  After getting those stamped he brought them home for me (I've got a good man :)).  We went to Staples that night to copy all the pages.  It took quite a while because they had stapled the apsotilles on the front of each of our documents, so we had to scan, turn, scan, turn, scan, turn, well, you get the picture.  It took a while.  97 pages later we were finished.  We got home and I opened my mail to find more paperwork.  I stayed up to work on it that night, so that it would be ready to mail with our Dossier.

The next morning we had my mom come over to take some family pictures of us in semi-formal attire.  The photos will be send to India along with our dossier.  I packaged up both sets of paperwork (the dossier and the new paperwork) and drove it to the post office to get it off to our adoption agency.  I sent it priority with a delivery confirmation in hopes of getting it there quickly and safely!

Today after the baby I watch left, I hopped on the computer to check my e-mail.  Let's just say I wasn't too happy.  There was an e-mail from our agency that basically said that CARA, the organization that oversees adoptions in India, is postponing all new paperwork/adoptions until the beginning of the year.  They were originally going to still work on special needs adoptions, but now they may even be halting those. 

Unfortunately this morning we received news from two orphanages that they had just received from CARA a circular advising that CARA will now not be processing cases of children with special needs prior to January 2012. 

I wasn't able to get ahold of our agency, as they were already closed for the day, so I'm not sure if Ramya's orphanage is one of the two in India that got word that adoptions are postponed.  I'm absolutely heartbroken and saddened that our adoption may, once again, be halted.  It's just not fair.  Our agency is going to write letter and fight it, and I will absolutely write one too if they will let me, but i feel so hopeless.  I know God has a plan, but this waiting is rough.  Right now, I'm praying for a miracle!!

We just payed a nice big adoption bill and I"ll post our fees so far, just in case anyone is interested.  We're going to start up some fundraising.  If you are local and have any goodies you don't want any more, send them our way!  Big, small, we'll take it all!  We'll be having a big garage sale in December for a fundraiser.  My friend Amanda is also hosting a thirty-one fundraiser.  There are great bags, lunch boxes, organizers, and other great stuff, all that can get personalized, that the company sells.  10%-15% of all sales goes towards our adoption.  You can check out more information here (http://www.aworthyjourney.com/2011/10/ready-for-some-christmas-shopping-join.html).  A few people have asked me to put a chip-in button on our blog so they can chip in towards the adoption.  I'm not ignoring this request, I promise, I just want to wait to see if there is a way to make donations tax deductible first :).
 
That's really it for now.  Please be praying that we can get approved in India quickly, without any more delays, so that we can be one step closer to bringing Ramya home.  Most importantly, please be praying for Ramya and that God's hand will protect her. 
 
 
Adoption Fees Paid:
 
Oasis Adoption Application Fee $75
Fingerprints $35
Court Fee for Fingerprints $62
Learning Partners Classes $149
Dr. Luberto- Physicals $65
Homestudy Fee $1,250
Birth Certificate Certified Copies $60
Apostilles Round 1 $36
Apostilles Round 2 $69
Apostilles Round 3 $6
First Round of Wacap Fees $6,050
 
Total So Far: $7,857.00
 
 

Gluten-Free Dairy-Free (GFCF) Delicious Crepes (and a Regular Recipe too ;)

My aunt and uncle gave me a crepe maker they were no longer using.  Of course, I HAD to try it out ASAP.  I am addicted to kitchen appliances, so I was very excited for my new toy!  I modified the recipe (found in the "Tibos Crepes from around the world" book) to fit our dietary needs.  I wasn't sure what to expect, but man, they were yummy!!   Here's the recipe and photos:

Ingredients (makes 15 crepes)

• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1 tablespoon buckwheat flour (I used ground flax seeds, not flour)
• 1 tablespoon melted butter or oil (I used olive)
• 1/3 cup water
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract (make sure to use gluten-free)
• 2 eggs
• 1 3/4 cup all-purpose flour (for gluten-free, I used 1/3 cup tapioca flour (gives it a good consistency), 1/2 sorghum flour, and 1 cup brown rice flour.  You could use any gluten free flour blend you like, though)
• 2 1/4 cups low-fat milk (I used unsweetened coconut milk)
• Skip this if you are making regular, but use this if you are doing gluten-free......  1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar (not sure why I use this, but if I don't, things don't turn out right, and if I do, they do, so I use it!!)
• Skip this if you are making regular, but use this if you are doing gluten-free...... 1 teaspoon xanathan gum
• Fillings

In a bowl mix together the sugar, buckwheat flour (or ground flax seeds), melted butter or oil, water, salt, vanilla, and eggs.  Then, alternate adding the flour and milk, mixing well after each addition.

Follow your crepe maker directions for spreading and turning the crepes.  Cook each side for about 1 minute.



Fillings are fun, and you can vary your crepes a lot by changing it up.  We like powdered sugar, peanut butter (well, cashew butter) and jelly (these are GREAT to make in advance and put in the fridge to grab on the go or for a fast lunch), egg with veggies (cheese would be yummy too if you can eat it), honey, fruit, jelly, and so on.  Enjoy!

Not sure why this photo looks green in the middle.  It wasn't. Maybe it's steam.

Got Acorn Squash?

We get our organic produce through bountiful baskets to save money.  One week I got 3 acorn squash and I wanted to try something new with them.  I ran across a recipe for apple and acorn squash pie, yum, yum!!!  I had to modify it to make it gluten and dairy free, so I will post both the original and the modified recipes for you.  Try it, you will like it!

First off, if you are making your dessert dairy-free, make your sweetened condensed milk before you start your pie.  I found the recipe at www.godairyfree.com.


Dairy-Free Sweetened Condensed Milk (Makes 1 Cup):

• 3 cups coconut milk (or soy or rice but we used coconut and it was reallllly yummy!)
• 1/2 cup evaporated can sugar (or plain white if that's what you have)
• Vanilla Extract (make sure this is gluten-free if you need it to be)
• Salt

Add the milk and sugar to a sauce pan.  Cook over medium-low heat, stirring constantly (or just often, like me ;)), until the volume is reduced to 1 cup (this will take a long time!).  Add a few drops of vanilla to taste, and a pinch of salt.  Cool before using.  May be stored in the refrigerator.


Acorn Squash Pie Recipe (from www.thefreshdish.com)

• 2 whole acorn squash
• 4 tablespoons butter (we use a vegan butter so that there is no dairy)
• 1 cup evaporated milk (I just used the sweetened condensed milk recipe since that's what I could fine and it came out really yummy!)
• 3 eggs
• 1 cup sugar (if you are using the dairy-free sweetened condense milk, reduce this to 3/4 or 1/2 cup)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp. nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp. cardamom (skipped this)
• 1/4 tsp. cloves
• A pinch of salt
• 1 granny smith or Macintosh apple

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees.  Cut acorn squash in half lengthwise and scoop out seeds with a spoon.  Put 1 teaspoon of butter in each half.  Place cut side up (I've always done it down, but it's better up I've decided :)) in a baking dish with 2 cups of water and bake the squash for 1 hour until it is tender when you poke it with a fork.

Scoop the squash out of its skin and puree it in a blender or food processor (I used a blender but also blended in my condensed milk to make it creamy and blend easier).  Puree until very smooth.  In a bowl, combine the squash, eggs, evaporated milk (or dairy free condensed) sugar, vanilla extract and spices together than mix until combined well.

Peel and cut the apple in to 1/4 inch slices.  Arrange the slices into a circle around the bottom of a well-buttered glass pie dish OR use a crust and just put the apple straight in to the crust.  I did not use a crust but it would have been very yummy and pumpkin pie-ish.  Pour the filling over the apples until it almost reaches the top of the dish.  Bake for 1 hour or until a knife comes out clean.

Let the pie cook for about 20 minutes before cutting and sering.  You can eat it cold or hot.  Topping it with ice cream or whipped cream would be very yummy too!  ENJOY!

Ready for some Christmas shopping? Join us for a fundraiser!!!

Like personalized bags, lunch boxes, organizers, and more? 

My friend, Amanda, sells Thirty-One and is having a fundraiser sale for our adoption.  We get 10%-15% of sales towards our adoption fees!  We will also earn free items that we can raffle off for an additional fundraiser :).  There are also monthly specials that you can get as well!

The "party" opens now and closes on November 12th.  All orders must be in by the 12th.

To browse and purchase go to http://www.mythirtyone.com/amandamcmahon/ ,  then click on "my events" and then "Jamie's fundraiser for Ramya".

HAPPY SHOPPING!

If I won the lottery

My mom and I like to talk about what we would do if we won the lottery.  It's a silly thing to talk about considering we don't play, but we have fun with it anyhow. 

This weekend the kids, Kyla (the teenager living with us for a bit), and I tagged along with David to a work conference he had in Vegas.  The only cost for the kids, Kyla, and I to go was what we ate in food, so hey, why not?!?!?  Anyhow, while we were there I got a really good look at how some people, who are blessed beyond comprehension with money, choose to spend it.  I have to say, I was very disappointed. 

Timothy Sykes, the guy putting on the conference, had a big blowout party one night for the guys attending his conference.  He hired a bunch of women to the party and mingle with the guys that were attending the conference.  He rented a huge studio, got tons of booze, and paid each of those women an insane amount of money to be there that night.  He spent $25,000 total.  That is more than half of the adoption fees we are trying to raise blown in one night!  

One day, David and I shared an elevator with a man that David called the $60 million dollar man.  I thought he was joking.  Nope, apparently the man had just sold his business for $60 million dollars!!  One of the nights he was in Vegas he went to a club and threw hundred dollar bills in the air so it would rain money on the people at the club.  He literally threw his money away!  I was teasing David and told him I should have asked the million dollar man for some adoption money. David says that our adoption will mean more because we will have to work for it. I'm pretty sure he's right ;). 

After seeing all this I started thinking about my mom and my conversations about what we would do if we won the lottery (though first we'd have to start playing ;)).  My story goes like this...

First I'd buy a big house (stop shaking your head, it's for a good reason, I swear ;)).  Next I'd adopt lots of kiddos to fill the house with.  I'd hire people to cook for me, people to clean for me, people to help me home school, and I'd spend my days playing on the floor with the kiddos, taking them places they have never been before, and loving on them.  David, of course, would be working his dream job, trading the stock market with his own money.  He'd be loving on the kids a lot too, though.  He's great at that.  Of course, we'd take some awesome vacations (with all the kids in tow) and I'd probably get a pedicure every now and then, but I like to think that we would use our money wisely and not just (literally) throw it away.

I know we will never win the lottery and we will never be millionaires, but I also know our life is amazing just the way it is and that we are blessed beyond measure.  We can't wait to bring home Ramya and include her in the next chapter of our story; one that will never include millions of dollars, but one that will always more amazing than any life money could buy!

Save the Date and Your Unwanted Stuff!

Live in Phoenix?

Have lots of unwanted stuff you want to get rid of?

Looking for an easy way to help us raise money for our adoption?

Well, I have the perfect event for you!

Mark your calendar for:

Saturday, December 2nd and 3rd

We will be having another fundraiser garage sale at our house.  I know it's late in the year, but better late than never!  We will probably have another in March as well.

How can you help?  Great question!

1)   We want your unwanted stuff! Clothes, electronics, exercise equipment, old movies, toys, household items, etc... We want it all!  Anything we can sell at our sale, on craigslist, or on e-bay that you don't want, send our way!  All the money will go towards our adoption.

2)  Volunteer a couple days here and there some time before the sale to help us price and organize, or to play with two cute children while I price and organize. 

3)  Help me run the sale the day of, so either December 2nd or 3rd, or both!

4)  Bring me coffee when I'm a walking zombie and come prepared with a smile and a joke to keep me motivated!

Thanks so much for all of your support!!!!