I frequently get asked "how's the adoption going" or "what's new with the adoption?". It's cool to see how many people are interested in (and supportive of!!) our adoption progress, that's been very encouraging. What's frustrating, though, is how seldom I actually have any new or exciting news to share! However -- rest assured, that when I do -- YOU, faithful blog followers, will be the very first to know! And because I want to keep you all hooked to following the blog (partially to feed my pathetic ego -- but also so that when there is big news, people hear of it) I feel like I should post something at least weekly -- but I'm kind of at a loss of what to say this week, because literally, nothing has happened.

It was one of those weeks where I felt just absolutely wrung out, and run down. Busy every single minute it felt like, yet I'm a bit hard pressed to say exactly what it was I was so busy with. I did wrap up the latest session of Christianity Explored, so that was certainly a part of the week. For those of you who don't know what Christianity Explored is -- it's this really awesome event our church does (it was actually started by a church in London) where people who are curious about Christianity can come and eat a meal and discuss it in a non-threatening environment (they don't have to sing or pray or be able to find obscure verses in Habbakuk.) My role in this production has been to cook the meal each week -- and I've absolutely loved it! I was given free reign to plan the meals, get the ingredients, and gather a team of people to help me in the kitchen so we can have a meal for 40-50 people ready at 6:30 on Wednesdays. And I have to admit, I've spent a lot more time thinking about the food and hospitality part of it than about the content of the event, even though the content, not the food, is the part that's a big deal. But anyway, I've done this now for 3 or 4 sessions (10 week sessions) and it has really been a great chance to sort of try my hand at something I've always wanted to do, and it's gone pretty well. It also gave me a great chance to sort of refine some of my recipes, as well as plan out full menus (you know, what goes with what) which is really coming in handy as I work on my cookbook.

And I have been working on my book! It's been great fun -- I never realized I had so much to say about food! Originally, I thought it would just sort of be a collection of recipes, but it's grown to be much more than that, already. Each recipe, as I've entered in into the document, has a memory or association or at the very least some special instructions or ideas. So it's not just the recipe itself, but the story of that recipe. It's kind of become a no-holds-barred trip down memory lane, replete with all my personal opinions and dumb biases. Sort of a window into my soul, if you will. Some of the opinions are ugly -- yes, it's true. I share my deep hatred of such terrible things as loaf bread and cold cereal and don't even get me started on poor quality vanilla extract! -- that's right, I don't hold anything back. They don't call me the saucy broad for nothing!

I've also been working on this Family to Family sale thing. And by "working on" I mean thinking about and stressing out about it. I don't know anything about hosting sales! I don't know how to advertise stuff! I don't know how to get people to donate stuff! I definitely don't know how to organize a huge pile of stuff (hopefully) into a neatly categorized and labeled buying-frenzy-display! But -- I didn't know how to organize an awesome fundraising party, and that worked out, right? And I didn't think I would have enough recipes or opinions about food to write a cookbook, and it's going great! I really didn't think I could rally together the stamina to complete not one, not two, but three international adoptions. So surely I can do a sale too! Right? (this would be an appropriate time to give me a pep talk. yes, I am needy.)

But lest you think there is absolutely nothing new under the sun, allow me to intoduce you to an exciting new product put out by my publisher -- Gut Check Press. (did you catch that, kids? My publisher. That's right, I. Have. A. Publisher!!) This book, called Kinda Christianity is not only going to give you something to do while you wait for my book, it's going to keep you up at night laughing! So get yourself on over to Amazon, and buy the booky!