Cooking....

Early this morning I woke remembering all the things that were not working. Grace's missing mom that has dragged on for weeks, and now the house. My mother-in-law's house that we were so excited to finally close on after seven years is not happening this week after all. I guess when the person who communicated the info to us heard the 6th, he thought it was December, turns out it was January 6th. Now, I have to hold off getting the house ready until after the holidays. So, I laid in my big comfy bed, snoring lab mix curled up next to me and contemplated just pulling the covers over my head until everything gets better. To be honest, I spent my prayer time yesterday asking God why on earth he would choose me to do this adoption thing when I clearly could not handle the wait.  Ok, maybe it was a bit of a pity party or just a reaction to being asked some really ridiculous adoption questions yesterday. My favorite was a woman who asked me if my oldest child was "real." I carefully explained all of my children were real. Is it that she thinks adoption means us parents hit the local Toys R' S and pick out an imitation child and adopt them over the Internet like a Cabbage Patch Doll. Or is it more like Pinnochio?  Do we find a puppet we like and our years of longing for a child magically turn a marionette into a real child. Her ultimate answer was,"well you know what I mean, biological."

I really wanted to start a tirade on the realness of adopted children and God's direction in their lives and ours. I did not though, I walked away. So, that only added to my desire to pull those sheets up tight!  I then heard from a fellow mama. She felt the same. We have been through a lot together. Her Haitian referral died the same week our first referral was claimed by his mom and after months our first adoption was cancelled. Turned out she too was in her jammies, praying for better things. We commiserated and after a good cup of coffee I decided to do what always seems to relax me. I was going to cook an epic meal. This is our first weekend off together, Tim and I, in weeks. His birthday is this week and I thought what a way to kick it off. I pulled out the iPad, and dug through some food network recipes and started to construct my meal. Then, Zachary and I set out to get ready. We ran some errands, played some Christmas music in the car, and ended up at the grocery store. I busied myself picking out the perfect rosemary, fresh thyme and a nice cut of beef  when my phone dinged. Email, much to my surprise it was from my coordinator. It said only this:  CAN YOU BELIEVE GRACE'S MOM IS THERE :).  Yes, complete with smiley face. I had to ask for clarification. She is with our coordinator and will spend the night tomorrow and go to court Monday.

Just like that, it is over. Just like that, my good meal turned into a celebration. I carefully seared a beef tenderloin and baked it while I reduced a red wine sauce with fresh thyme, shallots and celery and cocoa. I carefully diced up some purple potatoes and roasted them with garlic and salt, I threw some flour and yeast into the bread maker and made fresh rosemary bread. It was finished off with green beans and a Cesar salad.  As always, I loved tinkering in the kitchen, but there was something that made it even more special. Tim spent my time cooking practicing his songs for praise team tomorrow. Over and over he tinkered with the same song adding and subtracting things until he had it just the way he wanted it. How fitting that he would play,"it is well, with my soul, it is well." Yes, it certainly is.