Mother of Seven + 2

4 lb pork roast or chuck roast 1 bottle of your favorite BBQ sauce 2 pkg hamburger buns 1. Place roast in crock pot and cook on low for 8 hours. 2.  Remove roast from crock pot when tender and falls apart.  Shred it removing any fat and discarding extra liquid. 3.  Return to crock pot.  Stir in BBQ sauce and let it cook another hour on low just to heat it back up.

1 (3 lb) bag frozen chicken breasts 2 cans Rotel 1 envelope taco seasoning tortilla shells or taco shells or tortilla chips 1.  Place first 3 ingredients in the crock pot and cook on low for 6-8 hours.  2.  Shred chicken breasts and return to crock pot. 3.  Serve in tortilla shells, taco shells, or on top of tortilla chips for taco salad.  My favorite is as taco salad because I love to use the yummy juices this makes.  Just add your favorite taco salad toppings.  If you are using it for tacos, you will want to use a slotted spoon to drain off excess juice when serving. Serves 6.  I have to double this recipe for our family.

2 lb bag of northern beans or pinto beans a ham hock (or the bone left from your Christmas or Thanksgiving ham) water 1 onion 1 T. cumin 1 t. salt 1. Rinse beans and sort out any bad ones.  Place beans in bottom of the crock pot. 2.  Cover with 2 or 3 inches of water. 3.  Add chopped onion, ham bone, cumin, and salt.  Stir. 4.  Cook on high 6-8 hours.  You may need to check it throughout the day and add water.  (If you will be gone, put extra water in the pot.  You don't want to run out of liquid as the beans soak it up.  There is nothing worse then the smell of burnt beans.)  5.  Remove any bone or fat from the ham bone leaving the meat in the bean soup. 6.  Serve with hot cornbread.

I am using my crock pot a lot these days.  Actually I should say crock pots.  It often takes two crock pots to feed our big family.  With older children having activities to attend and little ones who can make the time frame needed to fix supper much longer, I had to make meal planning a simpler process.  I thought I'd share some of our new favorite recipes with you. Crock Pot Pork Tacos 1 4 lb pork roast 1 (1 1/4 oz.) envelope of your favorite taco seasoning 1 (15 oz.) can refried beans 2 cups shredded cheese (any type you prefer) 2 pkg. tortilla shells (soft taco shells) 1. Place pork in crock pot.  Sprinkle 1/2 the taco seasoning on meat. 2.  Smear refried beans on pork.  Then sprinkle on rest of the taco seasoning. 3.  Cook on low for 8 hours. 4.  When done, shred roast.  Stir in cheese and serve mixture wrapped in soft taco shells. Serves 10-12. This is simple and tastes delicious.  I've actually stretched the...

There are those moments that make all the pain and struggles worthwhile.     I've often looked at my relationship with Troy and wondered what I should have done different.  That first year was so tough.  I stepped back and gave him room to work through his anger.  He rejected me and my love, and I truly thought if I gave him time he would see that I did love him and he could trust me. Maybe I got used to the space.  Perhaps I didn't know when was the right time to start reaching out more.  Honestly, things got to the point where I resented the struggles we faced.  As time went by, I began to think he'd had enough time to heal, and I harbored some anger. This past summer God convicted me of an unforgiving attitude through some words aptly spoken by a friend.  Repentance is healing.  Tears are cleansing.  Forgiveness is freeing. I've been working on changing.  It is hard.  There have been noticeable changes in o...

Soft little arms wrap around my waist Sparkly brown eyes gaze up into mine Through a happy smile Little Girl says, "I'm glad you're my mommy." A beautiful gift-- In four short months we've gone from strangers to mother and daughter. Baby Boy attached quickly I am who he wants for comfort He comes to me for love. We snuggle and cuddle We laugh and giggle we've gone from strangers to mother and son Thanks be to God, the giver of all good things! We have two more blessings to be thankful for this Thanksgiving.

Those three words are hard to say.  I hate admitting it when I am in the wrong.  It's a pride issue.  I finally broke down and bought a book that many adoptive families have recommended to me over the past seven years.  As I've analyzed why I didn't read it sooner, it really boiled down to I thought I was doing fine without it .  There is that pride popping up again. Now as I am reading the book, I keep thinking, "This would have been great to know and understand a few years ago."  I have no one to blame but myself though.  I can make excuses and say, "I was too busy."  However, I've probably read one hundred other books in the past couple years.  Seriously, I have.  I love to read.  I can say, "I didn't have the money to buy it."   Perhaps not, but with some prioritizing I could have found the money.  There was money spent on frivolous items that would have been better spent buying this book. Fear was also a ...