Ahhhhhh!!!! WE ARE SO STINKIN EXCITED!!!!

We are so excited about this Blog Post that we hardly know where to start.....so, I guess we'll start from the beginning.

At the end of last week we were told finally that the adoption with Charly was not going to go through. We were heartbroken. We did our best to put our lives in God's hands and trust that He truly does have a plan for our family. We knew that somehow, someday, we would understand.

Tuesday rolled around and Erick decided to post our adoption profile back up on parentprofiles.com. LOL! We totally thought it would be months before we heard from anybody. That night, we checked our email, and lo and behold, NATASHA had written us, as well as two other birthmoms! We were so excited we could hardly stand it. From the beginning I just FELL IN LOVE with NATASHA. She was my FAVORITE, if I'm aloud to have favorites =0) Her email was so SWEET and thought out and we were so IMPRESSED with her! She mentioned that the next day she had a meeting with a social worker to look at some other families and would let us know what she thought after the meeting.

I didn't SLEEP A WINK! All I could do was think about this DARLING girl, and I prayed my GUTS out that she would pick us! Wednesday afternoon she emailed us and told us that SHE HAD! You can imagine how EXCITED we were! Now the fun part, is that NATASHA is due on MARCH 10th! That is just days away! We knew we needed to get things rollin!

Tonight we got to meet her and her ADORABLE MOTHER! We went out to Chinese and had a blast. RENEE, Natasha's mother, is so HILARIOUS! She kept us laughing the whole time telling us the CUTEST LITTLE STORIES of what Natasha was like as a little girl.

One of the things I love most about this INCREDIBLE girl, is how STRONG she is! Natasha has an INNER strength beyond her years and her SWEETNESS just GLOWS! She loves playing sports, especially BASKETBALL and FOOTBALL. She is just so GORGEOUS and her BROWN eyes just MELT you when you look at her. She is so so SWEET! She SURPRISED us and gave us some ULTRASOUND pics of our BABY GIRL! In one of them you can see her PERFECT ADORABLE LITTLE LIPS. So So CUTE!

We had a few TENDER moments together talking about ADOPTION and this precious baby GIRL. We admire Natasha for her STRENGTH, her COURAGE, and her CAPACITY to LOVE so much, that she would choose ADOPTION. We can't wait to spend more time with her and get to know her even more.

Here are a few pics from our amazing night!

A Few Random Pics

First, we have my hunk of a hubs up on our roof. This is him putting up our Christmas Lights, which, sadly enough, just came back down on Monday.

Again, my hunk. Isn't he hansome!?!? We LOVED having snow for Christmas! (In Utah of course)

Awwwww. This is me and Coop. I just love him! I think I am totally obsessed with the kid! He is too much fun!

My two handsomes hangin' out.

Now for debut......the many FACES of Cooper Johnson Lund. Enjoy.

Enjoy Your Turkey! We're Lovin' Our HAM!

...Gratitude...

Today my heart is full of JOY! True JOY! I feel so much GRATITUDE for my FATHER IN HEAVEN, and for my SAVIOR. I wish I could express in more words the MIRACLES that Erick and I have seen in our lives. Today I guess, is just a day I have reflected on those MIRACLES and I know more than ever, that the LORD has a PLAN for our lives, and that our lives are in HIS HANDS when we live righteously. The LORD has answered many of our PRAYERS and in every TENDER and SWEET way, I feel so THANKFUL.

Recipes

Chicken Pot Pie

Ingredients

3 whole (6 split) chicken breasts, bone-in, skin-on

3 tablespoons olive oil

Kosher salt

Freshly ground black pepper

5 cups chicken stock, preferably homemade

2 chicken bouillon cubes

12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter

2 cups yellow onions, chopped (2 onions)

3/4 cup all-purpose flour

1/4 cup heavy cream

2 cups medium-diced carrots, blanched for 2 minutes

1 (10-ounce) package frozen peas (2 cups)

1 1/2 cups frozen small whole onions

1/2 cup minced fresh parsley leaves

For the pastry:

3 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 cup vegetable shortening

1/4 pound cold unsalted butter, diced

1/2 to 2/3 cup ice water

1 egg beaten with 1 tablespoon water, for egg wash

Flaked sea salt and cracked black pepper

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Place the chicken breasts on a baking sheet and rub them with olive oil. Sprinkle generously with salt and pepper. Roast for 35 to 40 minutes, or until cooked through. Set aside until cool enough to handle, then remove the meat from the bones and discard the skin. Cut the chicken into large dice. You will have 4 to 6 cups of cubed chicken.

In a small saucepan, heat the chicken stock and dissolve the bouillon cubes in the stock. In a large pot or Dutch oven, melt the butter and saute the onions over medium-low heat for 10 to 15 minutes, until translucent. Add the flour and cook over low heat, stirring constantly, for 2 minutes. Add the hot chicken stock to the sauce. Simmer over low heat for 1 more minute, stirring, until thick. Add 2 teaspoons salt, 1/2 teaspoon pepper, and heavy cream. Add the cubed chicken, carrots, peas, onions and parsley. Mix well.

For the pastry, mix the flour, salt, and baking powder in the bowl of a food processor fitted with a metal blade. Add the shortening and butter and mix quickly with your fingers until each piece is coated with flour. Pulse 10 times, or until the fat is the size of peas. With the motor running, add the ice water; process only enough to moisten the dough and have it just come together. Dump the dough out onto a floured board and knead quickly into a ball. Wrap the dough in plastic and allow it to rest in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

Divide the filling equally among 4 ovenproof bowls. Divide the dough into quarters and roll each piece into an 8-inch circle. Brush the outside edges of each bowl with the egg wash, then place the dough on top. Trim the circle to 1/2-inch larger than the top of the bowl. Crimp the dough to fold over the side, pressing it to make it stick. Brush the dough with egg wash and make 3 slits in the top. Sprinkle with sea salt and cracked pepper. Place on a baking sheet and bake for 1 hour, or until the top is golden brown and the filling is bubbling hot.

Blueberry Cream Cheese Tarts

Ingredients

2 (8-ounce) packages cream cheese, softened

1 cup sugar

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

2 eggs

12 vanilla wafers

1 (21-ounce) can blueberry filling, or other pie filling

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Place a paper cupcake liner in each cup of a muffin pan.

Beat cream cheese with a handheld electric mixer until fluffy. Add sugar and vanilla, beating well. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Place a vanilla wafer, flat side down, in each muffin cup. Spoon cream cheese mixture over wafers. Bake for 20 minutes. Allow tarts to cool completely. Serve with blueberry filling on top, or pie filling of your choice.

...LIFE....

I LOVE LIFE! Yes, I love the life I live, but I'm talking about LIFE the CEREAL! I am a cereal fanatic! I eat at least two bowls of cereal a day. It makes me happy. My new favorite favorite favorite cereal is LIFE: Maple and Brown Sugar. Give it a try! It rocks!

It's so Mmmmm Mmmmmm GOOD!

...Baking...

I love cooking, baking, and trying fun new recipes. These are two recipes I recently tried and just loved! The Pot Pie was especially fun because of the Holiday Season. Sometimes its just all about the comfort foods!

Blueberry Cream Cheese Tarts

Chicken Pot Pie

YUM!