february in our home (and The Thing that happened)

february was a month filled with family visits, more waiting (because of The Thing), and cheese making.

february was a great month of visits from family we love.  besides my mom, until this february we hadn't seen any of our family in over a year (since christmas 2011). at the beginning of the month my cousin came to visit.  can i just say it had to have been more of a vacation for us than for her?  jesus has given her such a servant heart.  she served every minute that she was here: changing diapers, cleaning dishes, rocking fussy babies (without me even having to ask her to do any of these things).  while she was here it rained and both babies were sick, so we didn't even do that many fun things, but she never complained.  her visit was a real refreshment.

a few weeks later alex's step-dad and little brother came to visit, as they were in town for some college visits.  we just got to see them for a day, but it was so much fun.  esther loved seeing her grandpa and uncle.  we all ate delicious indian food while Marvin Sr. (alex's step-dad) spoke to the waiter in Hindi (or some other indian language!).  it was great, another refreshing family visit.

esther smiles for grandpa!

february was a month of waiting for things to progress with baby girl's case.  the first week of the month was a court date where reunification was supposed to happen.  until early january our hearts were prepared for this to happen, and we were even looking forward to the placement of our next child.   but then The Thing happened (i will just call it The Thing because i can't publicly post details about baby girl's life situation), and that all changed.  anyways because of The Thing, the ruling didn't end in reunification, but that is still the goal, just not yet.  next court date will be in august, and we are hoping that maybe it will happen then.

its not just us who feel like this case is dragging.  our social worker is pretty upset about it too.  she has been doing all she can, but things are still going at a snails pace.  she has expressed frustration because she sees so many cases where things shouldn't progress, but are, and situations like ours where things should progress but aren't.

fortunately for us, we know that God is in control of this, which makes it less frustrating.  but its good to know that we aren't the only ones noticing how this case isn't being handled well (but then, what's new in the foster care system?).  the main thing that makes me sad is to know that the more time baby girl spend with us, the more that WE are her parents (in her mind).  and then in a few months she will be ripped away.  at least for us we can anticipate it, but for her it will be confusing.  *sigh*  ...the difficulties of the foster care system...


our roommate will be moving out this week, which will be another change in our home.  this has lead to some deep thought and prayer about our next step with fostering.  now that we have an open bedroom in our house, so we could get another foster child.  but is this the right time?  part of me says a big YES- our heart's desire is to adopt and we have been waiting so long.  we don't want to put it off, and if we have the opportunity to take another child, we should.  plus, in a couple months baby girl will start overnight visits with her mom, and probably weekend long visits thereafter, so she will be spending less time with us.  but part of me says no.  most days are pretty draining for me and too many nights are interrupted to calm down baby girl's crying.  even if we could possibly have another child right now, should we?  we are praying for answers to these questions.  with God's strength and grace we can do anything and we want to take big steps of faith, but we also want to act in wisdom.

the pills contain the enzymes needed to turn the milk into curd for mozzarella

i was a bit slacker on ordering the cheese making kit for my february goal, and since i always opt for super-duper slow shipping, it didn't come til february 27th.  but i did manage to make my first batch of mozzarella by the first few days of march.  it came out to be very soft, much like the mozzarella that is usually served on a caprese salad.  we ate a few pinches while it was cooling down, and then ate the rest on pizza a few days later.  i plan to make another batch in the next couple days.  i am hoping to read a bit more about cheese making, but i was bummed to find that our local library doesn't have any books on the subject.  i'm sure if i poke around a little more on the internet i could find some more resources.  i was encouraged to read this a few days ago: 7 reasons to make your own cheese.

this goal is probably going to go a bit slowly, as cheese making isn't exactly cheap, but it is making me look forward to the future when we hope to own goats and can make all the cheese we want at a low cost.  yum!