Rachel's Blatherings

Jamaican Banana Bread

Mmmmmmmm! This stuff is gooooooood! And I don't like bananas. Or, banana bread. The additional flavors of rum and lime and coconut make this a knock-out! Especially the lime--the bright zing is wonderful.

Jamaican Banana Bread, from the All-New Complete Cooking Light Cookbook

Bread:

2 T butter, softened

2 T (1 oz) block-style 1/3-less-fat cream cheese, softened

1 c granulated sugar

1 lg egg

2 c all-purpose flour

2 t baking powder

1/2 t baking soda

1/8 t salt

1 c mashed ripe banana (about 2 bananas)

1/2 c fat-free milk

2 T dark rum or 1/4 t imitation rum extract

1/2 t grated lime rind (less than 1 lime)

2 t lime juice (less than 1 lime)

1 t vanilla extract

1/4 c chopped pecans, toasted

1/4 c flaked sweetened coconut

Cooking spray

Topping:

1/4 c packed brown sugar

2 t butter

2 t lime juice

2 t dark rum or 1/8 t imitation rum extract

2 T chopped pecans, toasted

2 T flaked sweetened coconut

Preheat oven to 375º.

Beat 2 T butter and cream cheese with a mixer at medium speed. Add granulated sugar, beating well. Add egg; beat well.

Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.

Comine banana and next 5 ingredients. Add flour mixture to creamed mixture alternately with banana mixture, beginning and ending with flour mixture. Mix after each addition. Stir in 1/4 c pecans and 1/4 c coconut.

Pour batter into an 8x4-inch loaf pan coated with cooking spray. Bake at 375º for 1 hour or until done. Cool in pan 10 minutes; then, remove from pan. Cool loaf lightly on a wire rack.

Meanwhile, prepare topping. Combine brown sugar, butter, lime juice, and rum (extract) in a saucepan; bring to a simmer. Cook 1 minute, stirring constantly. Remove from heat. Stir in pecans and coconut. Spoon over loaf.

200 calories per slice (if you cut 16 slices!), but oh-so-nummy!

Look-Alikes?

If you've been following long, or if you know me in real life, you know that I have a twin sister. I just received some photos from my cousin's wedding which, to me, prove we look nothing alike. Okay, well, we look like sisters, of course. But not identical twins. Here we are with our other cousin, our genetic half-sibling since our moms have identical genes (this is not the cousin who was getting married).

See what I mean? You can totally see differences. Here's another look at Sadie and me, from a group photo.

My mom and her sister, however--that's a different story. No doubt there. They're identical! Mom's on the left, behind Sadie. Her twin is on the right, in the buff jacket.

Here's the picture I cut those out of. Bride's family, mom's and dad's sides, all mixed in helter-skelter. So, the bride's mother, to her right (your left of the bride) is my mom and aunt's older sister. The bride's dad is behind her mom. Their (my mom's and her sisters') only other sibling is their brother, in the top left (red mustache). His kids are the ones in the front row with the red hair! His wife is on the left end of the front row, in the black dress with pearls. Their daughter, in the dark pink dress, was our flower girl!

So, there you have it. Conclusive proof: my mom is an identical twin, but I am not.

One Flesh

Our eighth wedding anniversary is coming up in eleven days. Being away from A for the week (while the kiddinkies and I visited my parents, see previous post) reinforced for me the one-flesh concept.

(In this photo, we are ringing the church bell to let the whole world know!)

When we got married, we wrote our own vows. Mine were:
I, Rachel, choose you, Aaron, to be my husband.
I give myself wholly to you and I receive you fully into my life.
I will love and cherish you every day I am alive.
I will live in grace toward you in all circumstances.
I will honor you in word and deed, when we are alone and before others.
I will uphold you by my full and contributing partnership with you, and by submitting to you out of reverence for Christ.
I will comfort and encourage you in difficult times.
And, I will celebrate with you in times of joy.
I will live with you in such a way that, with the help and grace of God, we may glorify Him more together than we could alone.
This is the covenant I make with you today and for as long as we both shall live.

This week away from A, I realized how true the second to last sentence is becoming. Somehow, as we devote ourselves to one another year after year, day after day, we're becoming one flesh, better together than alone.

A friend of mine saw A at a dinner party while I was gone. She said he looked lost without me. Boy, was I feeling lost without him. It's not that I can't function on my own. Nor that I do things very differently when we're apart. But, when we're together, it's something extraordinary. I'm just better when he's around. I'm more myself. And more like him. It's like I feed off of his goodness. His character suppliments mine, making me better. I'm so secure in his love for me, I'm free to be better than I am on my own.

And, isn't it like that with God? Just being in His presence makes me better than I am without Him. Looking into His eyes gives me strength. Being with Him is extraordinary. And, His character somehow rubs off on me and makes me better than I am without Him.

Thank you, thank you, thank you, Jesus, for giving me a man who surpasses every dream I had for a husband (except the tall part, but being the same height is better than I'd guessed!). I love how you reveal yourself to me through him in sometimes surprising ways. I love him and I love you more and more and more!

Chicago

The kiddinkidinks and I just got back from a week in Chicago to visit my folks. My mom just had her knee replaced a week before we arrived, so we came to help her heal! It was also nice that my dad had all his kids (except the one-in-law) with him for Father's Day.

Friday we rode the train into the city to go to the Shedd Aquarium. I had brilliantly planned my trip to coincide with "free week" at the aquarium (actually, I used Orbitz's fare finder gidget that allowed me to find the cheapest 7-day trip within a 30-day window--you can tell it how long you want to be gone. Pretty cool!). A lady on the train told us that her family had waited 1 1/2 hours the day before to get into the Aq. When we got there, there were people on every square inch of concrete around the place! It was amazing. There was also a beautiful storm front boiling over the city, headed right toward us. So, we went next door to see the pirates at the Field Museum. I didn't have my camera, but my sissy had hers.

Here she is with a pirate and the kiddinkies! He looks a little too serious for this crowd!

In the basement of the museum is a "family center." There was a section where the kids (and adults) could wear animal costumes and learn about their lives. Here's Robin-Pea flying onto the scene!

I think they were sleeping, with their "legs" all tucked in, but they look a little like roadkill!

Happy Skunk Dance!

And the fox ran away with the skunk!

One last skunk shot.

After riding the train back to Joliet, we headed back to the city by car (yeah, not necessarily efficient, but the kids wanted to ride the train!) to go to my sister's Chicago Women in Trades picnic. It was funny, as always, to see the reactions of people who had forgotten I existed and/or had never seen me before. I still don't think we look that much a like, but I guess your expectations dictate what you see. I offended one poor woman when I didn't respond to her when she said, "Hi Sarah." I didn't even hear her! Guess I'm out of practice!

The kiddinkidinks had a good time playing with the balloons. In fact, I think they had hours of fun with them! The biggest "kid" in this picture is my sister's fiance--he's great with them.

Tuesday we went to Legoland, just me and the kiddinkies. We had a good time, though I was a little frightened at first. We had a 2.5 hour block to be there and we cruised through the first couple of exhibits in no time flat. But, once we got to the interactive play areas, they were easily occupied. These pics were taken with my camera phone, so I apologize for the quality.

Out in front, this man was lounging. My kids crawled all over him. He didn't seem to mind.

Here's Pea. Busy building something!

And, Punk at work.

Outside the "4D" movie theater, the kids built tall towers while waiting for the movie to begin.

Apparently this lion eats Punkins.

We didn't expect to see President Obama at Legoland. But there he was. :)

It's good to be home, but some reprogramming is in order. Changing the routine is so hard on all of us (well, except Pea--she takes almost everything in her stride!).

EEEEEEEEWWWWWWWW!!!!!!!

So, I'm chatting with a friend on facebook when my kiddinkidinks start buzzing about a spider.

"There's a spider!"

"It's not moving."

"Maybe it's dead."

"No, it's NOT!"

Then, of course, Punk scampers off to find his spider book, so as to identify the specific enemy we're dealing with here.

"Is it that one? No. Does this one match? No. Does THIS one match? No. Mommy? What kind of spider do YOU think it is?"

Now, I used to be very brave about such things as spiders. But, now that I have a knight-in-shining-armor to deal with the unpleasantries of life (like dishes, garbage, and of course critters of all unappealing ilks), I've gone soft. I have no bravery left in me. And my stomach is the weakest of all.

But, I got up to see what I could do. And found this.

It's HUGE, but just in case that photo didn't have enough detail for you, I took this one too.

Uuuugh! As in uggggly! So, I went to get the broom. I chased it and swatted at it and screamed at it. Meanwhile, Pea giggled and giggled and giggled! I slightly disabled it, but, like all bad guys, it was darn hard to kill. Despite the white goo bursting from it's belly, it kept struggling for life. I had to do something. I had to bring in the big guns. So, I lifted the nearest, semi-heavy weapon, and brought it to bear upon the struggling, oozing arachnid.

And, now, my job is done. I did the hard part. Now Aaron will have to clean it up.

Splash Park Fun!

Yesterday morning I took the kiddinkidinks to the local zero-depth water park. It's not far from home and they had a really fun time.

Baby Doll Picnic

I was drilling the kiddinkidinks for birthday wish lists the other day. Teasing, I asked Punk if he wanted some new baby dolls. "Yes! Legoes, robots, a hook and eyepatch (for playing pirates), and baby dolls!" The next day he said, "Mom, did you already write to Papa and GG and Grandma and Grandpa and tell them I want baby dolls for my birthday?" "Yes, I did." "Oh. Well,... can you write them again and tell them I DON'T want baby dolls. I want Power Rangers instead!"

Meet Harbie (left) and Joba ("JOE-bah," right). I stumbled on them having a picnic together the other day. Punk and Pea did this all themselves--or should I say Jake and Fila ("FEE-lah")? Those are the names they use when they are playing cooks. :)

Later I got to feed grand-baby-dolls Harbie and Caima with bottles. While I discovered it's virtually impossible to feed twin dolls (let alone real babies) at the same time, I also found that I actually kinda like the name Caima ("KAY-mah"); maybe I'll really have a granddaughter with that name some day!

Round Two Timeline

9/24/08 Home study update home visit
10/15/08 Dossier sent to AOHG
10/15/08 I600A application sent to USCIS
10/30/08 First heard about possible domestic private adoption
11/18/08 Last spoke with contact about possible domestic adoption; expected to hear back about meeting with birthmother
12/3/08 Withdrew application from AOHG
1/6/09 Found out another family had been chosen for possible domestic adoption
1/21/09 USCIS fingerprinting appointment
1/8/09 Received USCIS fingerprinting appointment notice
4/11/09 Sent Pre-Application to Covenant Care Adoptions
6/8/09 Social worker visit to update home study