Oh Christmas Tree:
This is the only place our Christmas tree is safe from little fingers this year.
But I couldn't stop at a teensy one foot-thing. So we put one outside, too.
Adoption Update:
We are home study approved!
Our family profile is in the mail.
Light show:
One of my husband's bosses gave us tickets to an outdoor Christmas light display. It was awesome! Over 3 million lights bedecked a mill, danced across a covered bridge and filled a gorge as a nearby waterfall roared through the night.
Book Review:
I finished War and Peace. Woot woot! I read it on my husband's e-reader. I am usually opposed to electronic books, however I highly recommend using one to help you plow through this tome. It is long and it uses antiquated language. Having a built in dictionary was a big time saver. And when you are reading War and Peace, you can use all the time savers you can get. Almost every time I highlighted a word I wasn't familiar with the definition started with "archaic."
I enjoyed the book and will probably recommend it to my sons once they are adults. I want to be sure they have a rock-solid, healthy view of women before they read Tolstoy's versions of females. Only one character felt "real." The rest were over- sexualized, hyper-spiritualized or mere shadows of people.
It was a fun way to help make history come alive. It certainly helped me keep the dates and facts of European events straight. Tolstoy did a brilliant job of blurring fact and fiction so that the reader feels he/she is privy to Napoleon's thoughts.
Mental/Emotional/Spiritual Status:
I'm all over the board. Having the house and the adoption up in the air is a daily test. Continuing our search for a church family has lead me to dread Sundays. I know that God has me in this place of struggle for a reason. Some days I feel like I'm close to peace and growth and other days I just feel pathetic and like I'm never going to mature. Some days I reach for my Bible and praise music. Other days I reach for internet surfing and chocolate. I vacillate between wanting to have hope for my future and just wanting to give up and live a small, lonely life. I don't think I have found any middle ground yet. Fortunately, I lived a roller coaster existence from about 14 years old to 23 years old. So I'm not throwing up, just a bit dizzy. 
Cookies:
Mama did good. I googled a recipe for vegan chocolate chip cookies and came across this recipe. In addition to giving me a recipe, the blog gave me inspiration to take pictures. Commence drooling.
copyright (c) Elizabeth, Bug's Beef. All rights reserved.
