Diaper Cream Mishap

In other news, here is a picture of my son Joby. This is what I walked in on when he was supposed to be sleeping.

Do you notice his frown? This is because he knows he is in big trouble. He had used an entire jar of diaper cream and smeared it all over his head and carpet. Oh and in case you are a mom and you keep your diaper cream within your little curious toddlers reach, Dawn dish soap gets it out! You learn so much when you have kids!

Malachi

This was sent to me in an email a long time ago. It is good stuff!

Malachi 3:3 says: "He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver." This verse puzzled some women in a Bible study and they wondered what this statement meant about the character and nature of God. One of the women offered to find out the process of refining silver and get back to the group at their next Bible Study. That week, the woman called a silversmith and made an appointment to watch him at work. She didn't mention anything about the reason for her interest beyond her curiosity about the process of refining silver. As she watched the silversmith, he held a piece of silver over the fire and let it heat up. He explained that in refining silver, one needed to hold the silver in the middle of the fire where the flames were hottest as to burn away all the impurities. The woman thought about God holding us in such a hot spot;then she thought again about the verse that says: "He sits as a refiner and purifier of silver." She asked the silversmith if it was true that he had to sit there in front of the fire the whole time the silver was being refined. The man answered that yes, he not only had to sit there holding the silver, but he had to keep his eyes on the silver the entire time it was in the fire. If the silver was left a moment too long in the flames, it would be destroyed. The woman was silent for a moment. Then she asked the silversmith, "How do you know when the silver is fully refined?" He smiled at her and answered, "Oh, that's easy -- when I see my image in it" If today you are feeling the heat of the fire, remember that God has his eye on you and will keep watching you until He sees His image in you.

I wouldn't normally copy an email in my blog but it had a good message. And now I dont have to think of anything to write. You guys are rejoicing right now aren't you?

Spaghetti & Meatballs

These are the BEST meatballs in the world!

There are a lot of things I am eminently not qualified to comment on, this however is not one of them. I can guarantee you that when you make these you will love me even more than you do now. You are going to want to bring me cookies, cakes, chocolates, flowers (I like wildflowers and milk chocolate, in case you are writing this down)
Ok so lets get this show on the road!

You will need:
4 slices of bread
¼ cup Parmesan (the powder)
¼ cup of water
2 eggs
2 cloves garlic
½ tsp. salt
¼ tsp. pepper
1 tbs. Parsley
1 lb. hamburger meat

In a bowl tear the bread into small pieces, like so.

(Please try to ignore my photography skills)

Add the Parmesan, water, eggs, salt, pepper, and parsley. Than add 2 cloves of crushed garlic. (warning: I am in love with garlic, it is in almost all my main dishes-it must be fresh, and it must be crushed. This is mandatory)



Stir it all up with a fork until it looks like this


Then add in the meat. Note: You can use beef, or beef/pork or if you want to be healthy (which I would not advise) then you can use ground turkey. I just use beef.
Stir it all up again, till it looks like this


Then make into balls. I make mine golf ball size, but you can make them bigger or smaller depending on your preference.


Once this is done heat up a skillet or large pan to med/high or 350. I use an electric skillet. These babies are the best, I use it to cook a lot of things. A worthy investment. Brown the meatballs on all sides.


The meatballs wont be completely cooked through, but thats ok bc they will simmer for awhile.
Once this is done start on the sauce.

The sauce recipe is as follows
1 Jar Ragu Traditional. You can make your own sauce if you are super ambitious, but since I am not ambitious at all, I choose the jar. This one is the BEST, you can use Prego or Newman’s or some specialty sauce but this particular one is the only one I can endorse. I have tried others and they have just left me disappointed. Disappointed and alone. It was very traumatic, I would like to forget all about it.

Yummy!


Ok moving on, you will need
Another 2 cloves garlic crushed
¼ cup Parmesan (the powder)
1 tsp. Italian seasoning
1 tsp. Oregano

Mix the above and set aside

Chop some green onions,add the green onions to the meatballs to cook them a little (you can add as many green onions as you want) I forgot to take a picture of this step, so you are on your own.

After they have cooked for a few minutes add the sauce mixture to the skillet. Stir gently to cover meatballs . Cover and let simmer a few hours or less. You can really cook it as long as you want. Or as little as you want.

mmmmmmmmmm! There are not words.

Ok I forgot to plate it and take a picture, instead I scarfed it down. I don't have a lot of patience. I did get a picture of the meatball I tried while the rest were simmering. Check it.....

On top of spaghetti all covered with cheese, I lost my poor meatball when somebody sneezed. Ahhh good times. Enjoy!

WAITLIST!!

Yay! We are on the waitlist for our adoption! This means we are done with the paperwork and on to officially waiting for our baby girl! I am so pumped to be done with the paperwork! Gladney is saying the wait for a referral for a toddler is about 6 months. We shall see, I am kinda expecting it to take longer than that. I am hoping February is our month! No matter, God has the perfect child for our family already picked out for us. We already love her so much!

The BEST Chocolate Chip Cookies

I am going to start posting recipes to the blog! They are awesome ones that I love. To begin, I am going to share my chocolate chip cookie recipe! I have had a lot of people ask me for this recipe so it seems fitting to start with it. They are pure deliciousness. I could marry these cookies, take them out and show them a good time. They are better than your momma's. and my momma's. It's true, I wouldn't lie to you, at least not about this. When I post recipes I plan on taking pictures of the steps in making the recipe as well, like pioneer woman ,whom I love. But since cookies are easy to make and because I didn't think of this until after I made them, I will not be showing pictures of the cookies except in their final stages. Here is the finished product.


See how glorious? oooh boy!

Ok so grab a bowl and a fork and lets do this! (I do not use a mixer to make cookies, it tends to over whip them, but you do what you want. I am not the boss of you, I wouldn't want that job.)

1 stick of butter(not margarine). By the way none of my recipes contain margarine. Butter is the only way to go. It is the only way, ok? Butter makes the world a better place. Margarine only wishes it could be as cool, but it is an impostor and therefore has no place in my kitchen. This brings me to my second point which is none of my recipes are for dieters. Ok!

Put the room temperature stick of butter in the bowl and add:
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar

cream together then add

1 egg
1/2 tsp vanilla (Again I go for the pure vanilla bc like I said before I didn't like impostors like imitation vanilla.)

mix completely again and then add

1 1/2 cups of flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. baking soda

mix completely then add

1 cup chocolate chips (I usually add a little more) Whats the harm?

once done cover and chill for a couple of hours or in your freezer for awhile or overnight. (I usually chill mine overnight bc it makes them turn out perfect every time) I can not stress this point enough folks, dough needs to be chilled, it's too soft after you make it to go straight in the oven. This is how cookies turn out flat. That and they don't have enough flour in them. If you notice this recipe is a lot like the toll house recipe but it has more flour and more sugar. Sugar helps the cookies have a little crunch on the edge and flour makes them denser. This recipe makes about 15 cookies. Double it if you want to use a whole bag of chips. I usually don't double mine bc we like fresh cookies right out the oven and don't need a lot of leftovers. Once the cookies are chilled preheat oven to 375 and ball the cookies into the size of a golf ball and place on pan (this may seem big but they turn out smaller than you think). i cook them 10 to 12 minutes. This will vary just cook until a little brown around the edges and a little on the top. do not overcook! They should have a little crust but mostly chewy and gooey and wonderfulness. If you make them let me know what you think!!

My Better Half

So I have told you about my three little darlings. So I figured I need to move on to my sweetie.

Mmmmm, where to begin…….Well he is a wonderful, outgoing, passionate, loveable man.

But who is he really?

-Well for starters he likes to rile up the kids when he gets home, get them good and crazy before bedtime. He has a little child inside him, the doctors say if they remove it, he’ll die.

-He drinks from the tap, no ice. (this is a wierd phenomenon to me)

-He loves chocolate covered peanuts and movie theatre popcorn

-He scares easy. (this one is particularly fun bc I get to jump out and scare him a lot)

-He loves sports more than me :) (Im only a little kidding)

-He wears his dress socks with his gym shorts

-He cannot dress himself. It’s similar to dressing a child. There are times in the morning where he will wake me up just to see if something matches (If you know me, you probably know how much I value my sleep, I’ve killed people for less). Sometimes I contemplate setting his clothing out for him the evening before so as to fend off any bickering about the fact that brown shirts don’t go with black pants or that striped pants and plaid shirts clash in the early morning hours.

-He texts me important information, the kind you generally prefer to hear in person or by phone or in my case not at all. Two weeks ago he texted me that he was in a car accident. What the huh?
Then just last week he texted me that he smashed his brand new iphone in the car door. (Don’t even ask) Ok so both of these things fall into the bad news category…..what’s next?

“I quit my job today.”

“I ran over the dog………sorry.”

Texting should only be used for non serious stuff. Here are some examples that I use and you should too.

“Who is #23 and why are they inspecting my jeans?”

“If people from Poland are called poles, why aren’t people from Holland called Holes?”

“I don’t feel like you take me seriously.”

“Why don’t you ever text me back?”

“I wished I liked chicken salad”

“I had to take out the trash today bc you forgot, you're lucky I didn’t get hurt.”

All this to say-He really is my BETTER half. I'm better for knowing him.

The wait is over

I know you guys have been waiting for this day. I just know it.

Our Africa shirts are in!!

I'm waiting for you to quit jumping up and down. Jeez. You guys embarass me.

So here they are!

great huh?


huh?


Are ya'll still there? I didnt mean what I said about you embarassing me. That was out of line.


These shirts are 100% premium cotton, lighweight, 100% meant for you. They are guaranteed to make you feel fabulous. The brown one is organic for the hippie inside you. The gray one is not organic for the rebel inside you. Some people feel like they need both colors, I am ok with this. The front of the shirt has the words forever, family, love, and zehlahlum which is amharic for "forever". The back has the verse "I will not leave you as orphans- I will come to you" John 14:1. I designed it on imagechef.com. I am not very creative, I wouldn't have been able to come up with this completely on my own. I feel like I can be honest with you about this.

I have s,m,l,xl all mens sizes. There is a paypal button on the right, I think you will have to email sizes you want and how many, bc it is just a donate button. My email is carriecbutler@gmail.com.

I think that pretty much sums it up.
Try not to overload the system with your purchases. alright?

Things I don't do well

Let me preface this by saying these are in no particular order, I don’t know why I feel like I need to tell you this.

Ok, so lets begin.

Running-
I wish I could run, but I can’t. I actually wish I enjoyed it, so that I could do these fun half marathons. But it is not one of my gifts, to put it mildly. I mean there could be a angry flock of goats chasing me and I would not be able to do anything about it. (I know what your thinking “goats don’t run in flocks” but I’m pretty sure they do. And I’m pretty sure I’ve seen them in NW Arkansas glaring at me.)

Singing-
Ok I think it is awesome for those out there that can sing. I mean I am like 90% happy for you guys and only like 10% jealous. A complete lack of talent and motivation have kept me from performing at many concerts. To date, there is not a music video that features me. I’ve put some thought into this and have found ways to correct this, despite my lack of musical ability. I have noticed that there are some songs where the singing stops and someone talks. This falls solidly within my skill set. I can certainly talk. So I feel like I am well on my way, If you were curious. This is why I am 10% happy for those who can belt it out and only like 90% jealous.

Putting gas in the car-
I wish I could explain this one to you, I know my husband wishes I could explain this one to him. There is no good explanation. It seems physically impossible, so I just wait until it has fumes left and then let Ben borrow it. This is how I get things done in my world.

Flying in planes-
It makes me physically ill to think about these death traps. Not only do I feel like I am going to throw up the entire time, but I also feel like we are going to crash into a large mountain, bird, other plane, etc. I also feel weird having that close proximity to strangers. I feel obligated to get to know this person since we’ll be touching for the next several hours. Unlucky chap, all he wanted was to sleep and get his bag of peanuts.

I don’t do a lot of other things well either but this is neither the time nor the place.

I want you to know that I only tell you things that are vitally important- this way you don’t waste your time. Your time is important to me.

Joby

Ahhh Joby....this one keeps me on my toes. But he is so sweet too. And just look at him, so stinkin cute! With that being said I could literally right a post about him daily about all the trouble he gets himself into. Sometimes it is so bad, I just have to laugh.................to keep from crying. Like the time he poured children's tylenol all over our carpet. He must of heard about the recall and was just concerned for our safety. Or like the many times he gets a hold of a marker/pen/crayon and marks on the walls and pretty furniture. He is so smart, he can get through almost anything meant to be childproof. Just yesterday he poured out a big bottle of shampoo onto the floor. I didnt know this until I walked into my bathroom and slipped. I tried to use him to break the fall, but he ran off. (don't judge me, self preservation is a strong instinct)
He also has no regard for his own personal safety. When we get around a pool, he often times just jumps into the deep end before I am even in there. and yes, I have had to jump in with my clothes on before. He was just smiling at me like "mom isnt this fun!" I could go on and on about his daily antics. Just as I write this I am looking at him and you can tell he is thinking about what he could do next to stir things up a bit. He definately keeps life interesting!

Jacob

This child will melt your heart. He lights up the room with his huge smile! We call him lover boy bc he likes to hug and cuddle all the time with everybody. He is a very calm boy for the most part. But very happy. He has been through a lot in his short life, for those of you who did not know us a few years ago, watch the video, it will fill you in.

Jacob means to: supplant” or “overcome” He is very appropriately named. He is a strong little boy who is going to have an amazing story to tell of God’s miracles and His provision.

The video hasnt been updated since he had surgery. His surgery went well but he still has to go in to be checked every 6 months for his heart. At any time he could have to have another surgery. Jacob's next appointment is in a few weeks. Please pray his heart is healthy and that God would continue to heal him daily!

Ryan

Apparently it is unforgivable that I have not posted pictures yet on my blog. So here is one of my beautiful, darling girl. She is an angel child, a rule follower (she often gets on to me for not following the rules). She is also at a very inquisitive age. She asks me questions daily, and I have to think up an answer. I say this bc in most cases I don’t have a correct answer.

Some examples:

Ryan: Mom, why is the sky blue?
Me: because it’s God’s favorite color

Ryan: Where does rain come from?
Me: the ceiling

Ryan: Why do you and Daddy like to go out?
Me: Because you people are exhausting
Ryan: Huh?
Me: I mean because I like to spend time with Daddy

Ryan: Why are you taking pictures of me?
Me: Because I am a blogger now, and that is the rules. Now pipe down.

Silly Rules

Ok those of you who have adopted or are adopting probably can relate. I have had it up to here (I am reaching for the ceiling) with all the silly rules of adoption. I mean you could forget to sign your full name to a document and you may not get a child. Or dont even get me started on notaries. and dates. and who needs original documents and who needs a copy. and if you use a copy be sure to add another paper that states this is in fact a copy of the original. and so on and so on. It is comical really, silliness often is. the fact is that you may not be approved to adopt a baby if you pick your nose, or maybe you dont wash your hands after every time you pee, , or maybe you like to inhale large amounts of chocolate, or maybe you let your kids play with the dead mouse in the garage just to keep them enertained....



wait what?


ok im not proud of that last one :)


Im just teasing by the way, I only let them play with it for a second.
no really I didnt
really

Announcement

For those of you who read my blog (jaimi), you already know this but for those who don't, here is the latest......
are you ready for it?

You don't seem ready maybe i should wait......

I like to be annoying, you'll figure this out the more you read, actually it may make you want to stop reading all together. I wouldn't blame you for that. you got better things to do than read an annoying girls blog.
(sheez will she just say it already?)

ok.

We are adopting again!!!!! YAY! We are so excited! We will be going through Gladney this time. We want a little ethiopian girl this time! We are so Thrilled! Elated! Pumped! Delighted! Wowed!

(man she's annoying, now she's trying to show off her vast vocabulary)
(I don't think I am coming back to this blog site)
(ever)

Oh well I'll just make my husband read it.
Really torture him.
Its what I do.......
What can I say.

Love is Loud

So I decide to start blogging because I have got a lot to say.
Look, do you know what would happen if I don’t get it out?
I don’t know either.

I chose Love is Loud for my blog name because it is loud!
It should be loud! Loud because it has God’s power in it.
Love is different from other sounds, it can be heard over noises that bury everything else.
It can be heard over war, anger, and hate.
It can be heard over the mess of our lives, even when its just a whisper.

P.S. I don’t really have a lot to say