I Heart Paula Dean

Have I blogged about Paula Dean yet? If not, that southern phenom deserves at least one blog mention. She has worked miracles in our kitchen using my hands and her brain. Her creation called, "Herb Stuffed Chicken" caused a party in my mouth not seen since New Years Eve 1999 (and his name was...oh just kidding, my mom reads this thing) Anyhow, seriously it was so great. I made it last night and just feasted on the leftovers, savoring every bite. Praise God for chefs around the world who make deliciousness a somewhat easily attainable task for the non-chefs such as yours truly.

Chandra (can't do that cool thing where I make her name light up and it takes you right to her blog, look on my blog list under "Watching them grow") tagged me. I tried starting last night but that's a hard list to come up with! I'll try again but I wanted to thank her for keeping my mind off Tariku for a bit.

One more thing before I do the "8 Things". Last night at about 6:30 we (Families adopting from Ethiopia through our agency) got word that the US Embassy in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia has "requested" that we discontinue any contact with our childrens' birth family. As many of you know, this is one of the reasons Zach and I were excited about Ethiopia...there was a possibility (and it was always just that, there was never any promises our birth family would come to meet us) of meeting Tariku's birth family, or rather any surviving that CHSFS could find. There are also people who have already adopted and were going through CHS's post-adoption process that were remaining in contact with the birth families. CHSFS isn't elaborating why, but I truly trust that they are doing what's best for the children RIGHT NOW and for the families they are representing.

Obviously this is a huge setback. It's been proven that contact with birth family has been an enormous benefit for adopted children as they grow older. CHS has reiterated their beliefs that it is in the best interest OF THE CHILD (who we are most concerned about) that we are able to meet and stay in contact with birth family. However, I know that there are probably reasons unbeknownst to us why this is happening. After seeing many programs/countries fall too easily to unethical practices (i.e. Guatemala, etc) I am ever so thankful Ethiopia is doing everything it can to continue ethical international adoptions. If something has to be "cut off" in order to maintain ethical practices, I am all for that. I realized after thinking about it for awhile and talking it out with Zach, one of the main reasons I wanted to meet birth family was also a bit selfish. I wanted to see what they looked like, would Tariku have his/her eyes, his/her height, etc. I wanted to know details about them, Tariku as a baby, etc. Of course I would go on to share these details with Tariku, but a lot of it would be for me. In the end, I am trusting the organization I chose to keep us informed of any latest news and pray that at some point they will open contact back up so we can get in touch with them once Tariku is home with us.

On to more lighter fare...8 Things

8 Things I'm passionate about:
1. Zach
2. Trysten, Tariku, Dailah
3. My family
4. My friends
5. Body PUMP/ working out
6. Africa
7. God (He really is first, but after I had typed a few, it was too hard to go and fix it)
8. Life

8 Things I want to do before I die:

1. Be married to my husband for record-setting number of years
2. Raise healthy, self-confident, fantastic kids
3. Go to Ethiopia at least 5 times
4. Be on American Gladiators or Amazing Race (with my #1 man)
5. Go on a honeymoon with Zach
6. Start my own business
7. Make a REAL impact in one random persons life
8. Do some extreme sport just to say I did

8 Things I Often say:

1. I Love You
2. Thank You
3. Give me 2 more (I'm a personal trainer for goodness sakes!)
4. Seriously?
5. Mmm. Not so much
6. Stotle, No! (the dog)
7. Zach, Trysten, Tariku, Dailah
8. Hello

TV Shows I recently watched (Like you, Chandra, we don't have cable):

1. Biggest Loser
2. American Gladiators
3. American Idol
4. Amazing Race
5. Ellen Degeneres
6. October Road
7. The news
8. House

8 Songs I could listen to over and over (these will be dancing songs cuz I feel like dancin'):

1. Dangerously in Love, Destiny's Child
2. Christmas music, anything
3. Anything my hubby plays/sings on the guitar
4. Bringing Sexy Back, JT
5. To Make you feel my Love, Garth Brooks
6. Love shack
7. I cant' think of others, it's too early
8.

8 Things that attract me to my best friends

1. humor
2. loyalty
3. honesty
4. passion
5. minds (the way they think)
6. optimism
7. the way they love me
8. trust

8 Things I've learned or been reminded of this past year:

1. I love my husband/ kids sooo much
2. My ability to love ANYONE is not bound by blood
3. Kids don't care if the house is messy or in disarray, they only care if you haven't played with them in 15 minutes
4. If anyone hurts someone I love, mama bear comes out and I'm scared of HER
5. Sometimes (sometimes it's all the time) laughter really is the best medicine
6. if you have a good marriage, everything in life is rosier
7. reading books is a passion of mine that is always there whether i've read the last few days/months or not
8. good friends/family can carry you through ANYTHING

8 People I'm tagging:

1. Leslie
2. Jody
3. Tony (if you have time, you are heading to ET in a few days, afterall)
4. Cousin Amy
5. Cassie
6. Kait (but you must do yours in both Spanish and English)
7. Erica (of course!) :)
8. Barb