Random Blogging

After spending two months in WA, we are back! I am happy to be in our own home again and looking forward to getting Lane on a schedule for school. Our time up there was great, lots of time with family and friends, which was awesome! But we were busy, it's time now to settle into a routine again. I've been seeing my life this year in chapters. Sounds weird but I keep thinking of the next chapter in my life. I felt like being in WA would be a chapter for me, one of healing and being around family. Now that I am back we are starting a new chapter, one I am really looking forward to. Lane going back to school will be good for all of us, he needs the routine and I need the time at home to myself before the baby comes. I feel like with every "chapter" God has continued to work in me. I can't believe the difference in me from the time I found out I was pregnant until now. My mind, my fears, have calmed down a lot, not fully, but every little bit helps. I feel ready to do things I didn't know if I'd be ready to do. I feel a bit more like me, and a little normalcy in all of this goes a long way. I am different, I've accepted that, not only have I had to grieve the death of my child, I have also had to grieve my old self and how our family once was. The new isn't bad, but it's different, forever changed.

Here are some pictures that I didn't get to share while I was up there.

Siblings: in birth order from youngest to oldest, there's me smack dab in the middle, not a bad place to be. These girls and guys are my faves!
My 24 week picture. Although I am now almost 27 weeks. :)

Love this picture of Lane on the 4th of July. This was the first year he got to enjoy fire crackers. We've always watched the big one's but we aren't allowed to light them off ourselves in S. California, so this was a highlight! We got to watch the show out at my aunt and uncle's in Sandy Point. The sunset was awesome as you can see.

And in honor of another new chapter, I wanted to post a recipe. Taking pictures of food and posting a recipe reminds me of "me." The bakery at the grocery store I was staying near by had some wonderful macaroons that had chocolate all over the bottom of them. I saw this recipe on Mennonite Girls Can Cook (linked on my blog) and had to make the chocolate version for myself.

Coconut Macaroons

3 cups angel flaked coconut

1/2 cup flour

1/4 tsp salt

1 can sweetened condensed milk

2 tsp vanilla

Some semisweet chocolate chips for melting. I probably melted a 1/2 cup and added a little shortening to it (less than 1 tsp).

Preheat oven to 325. Combine coconut, flour and salt. Stir in milk and vanilla. Drop 1 Tbsp full onto greased baking pan. Bake for 18 min or until golden.

Once cooled, spread melted chocolate all over the bottom and sit upside down to harden.