New Recipe Sundays

For the past couple of weeks, I've been trying a new recipe for Sunday dinner. My newlywed friend, JWP, gave me the idea. Now, don't get me wrong, I love to cook and usually cook on Sunday's since that is one of two nights that Stephen and I get to eat together. But, I've been told that the typical family has only a handful of foods that they typically cook and eat. So, with the new idea and some hardly ever used cookbooks, I thought now would be great time to start "New Recipe Sunday."

The recipe for last week was Bruschetta Chicken Bake. It was good. It was certainly different than anything I've ever cooked. It was a casserole with stove-top stuffing, tomatoes, and chicken. Stephen and I decided to "put it in rotation"- meaning that I'll cook it again.

But tonight was awesome-- I tried another casserole (I just love to cook casseroles- a whole meal in just one dish- what could be better?!). It was Layered Taco Bake. I am telling you this- I could have eaten the entire thing by myself! The recipe was very easy, which was great considering we spent a few hours in the yard and were contemplating just ordering a pizza. The ingredients were easy- ground beef, taco seasoning, mac and cheese, and salsa. We both gave it two thumbs up and we agreed that it should be put into rotation and more often than the chicken from last week!

If you would like a copy of either recipe, let me know. Or if you have a "must-try" recipe for me, please send it (just remember- nothing with lettuce!!).

In Review...

Maybe I have been working in a professional office for too long, or maybe I am just anxious to get this adoption moving, but what does it mean when someone tells you things are "in review"? When I tell one of my professional contacts that something is in review, it means that I have worked on it and that it my supervisor has the final authority to approve/deny it. However, my term of "in review" is only that way for a couple of days-- at the most.

I have been told for several weeks that our home study is "in review." Granted, we are at the mercy of our social worker and her timeline. She has to have one of her contacts approve the home study before it can be sent to DHR and be approved there. Then on to homeland security.

Everyone keeps telling me to be patient. I am trying, truly I am. But seriously, how much waiting can we do? How long will it be in review this time? Pray for us- out patience is wearing thin. We need something to happen soon so we can be refreshed and up for the next challenge.

Back from Alaska (long post, but lots of pics)

It's been a while since I have blogged. I hope to have some news on the adoption process this week-- I hope we are getting close to having everything done so we can send our package to China. More on that when I actually have something to report.

We took an incredible trip to Alaska! We sailed on the Star Princess from Seattle to Ketchikan to Tracey Arm Fjords to Juneau to Skagway to Victoria then back to Seattle. We've been back for a week, but I have been trying to catch up and get the jet lag out of my system for the entire week. But, now, I have decided that I just had to blog about it (plus, some of you knew about the trip and wanted to see some pictures). So while the blog is primarily about the adoption, I wanted to take some time and show a few pictures from the trip. We took over 300 pictures, but I won't bore you with all of them.

First- a day in Seattle. We went to the Space Needle, the Science Fiction Museum, and to Olympic Park. Here are a few of my favorites:

In case you can't tell, Stephen and I are sitting on a pair of eyeballs!

From our day in Seattle, we went and boarded the cruise ship. It was enormous at 950 feet long and 17 stories high! Our first day was a day at sea. Luckily, our room was on port side, so we had a mountainous scene for most of that day. It was also our first formal night for dinner.

Tuesday was our first day off of the ship since leaving the port. We were in Ketchikan- a small town accessible by only air or sea. It is about 1 mile wide and 7 miles long. We immediately ventured off of the ship and into the town straight to Creek Street. This small street is home to a stream that is known for spawning salmon. We saw thousands of salmon trying to swim upstream. It was an amazing sight!

Then we went back to the ship to find our first excursion tour- a seaplane tour of the Misty Fjords. What is a fjord, you ask? Well, I am glad I can answer than for you. A fjord is a long, narrow, deep inlet of the sea between high cliffs that was formed by the submergence of a glaciated valley. The Misty Fjords is a National Monument created on December 1, 1978 by Jimmy Carter's proclamation. It encompasses more than 2 million areas with waters as deep as 2,000 feet and elevations of 7,499 feet. The Misty Fjords were 99% glacier covered 10,000 years ago. Our pilot covered a lot of information in a short amount of time. We got to see some of the most breath-taking scenes I've ever seen. Our excursion included landing on a lake in the middle of the wilderness. It was the easiest landing of a plane that I have felt. Once on the lake, he shut off the engine and let us get out on the floats and look around. It was quiet and beautiful- God's country. Just about 100 feet from where we landed was a lone American Bald Eagle watching us. It was truly a sight to see.

Of course, no day is complete without a little shopping! Did you know that Alaska is one of the best places in the world to buy jewelry? I bought a piece of Ammolite while I was in Ketchikan. Look it up- it's beautiful and rare!

Wednesday- the cruise ship did some scenic cruising around the Tracey Arm Fjords. It was awfully cold that morning at 6:00 am!

Wednesday afternoon, we ported in Juneau (current home to Sarah Palin!). We got off of the ship and directly on a bus to go to the airport. We watched a safety video and were dressed in "ice boots" at the airport and then loaded into a helicopter. Yes, we saw the Juneau Glacier Ice Fields by helicopter! But it didn't end there! We did the "Pilot's Choice" tour and our pilot picked two places on the glaciers for us to land and get out and walk around. It was incredible-- to say the least. Our first stop was at Herbert Glacier where the ice is approximately 400 feet thick. Granite rock mountains and ice was all you could see for miles. We got out and walked and saw some crevasses up close and personal. Thank goodness for those ice boots!

Our second stop was at the Mendenhall Glacier. It was more mountainous than our first stop, but just as beautiful. It looks like snow, but it actually fine ice. We made a couple of ice balls, but the guys weren't up for a fight!

Thursday we were in Skagway- another small town. We got aboard the White Pass and Yukon Railway and rode the train up to the border of Canada. We disembarked the train and got in a motorcoach that took us into the Yukon Territory and to a town called Carcross for lunch. Carcross is the fifth largest town in the Yukon and has a population of 420. We saw more beautiful and mountainous scenery on the way, and to our bus driver's surprise, we saw a bear on the side of the road eating! What more could we have asked for?! Did you know there was a desert in the Yukon too?

Friday was another day at sea and our second formal night. For some reason, we didn't take any snapshots that night. Oh, well. I guess the guys didn't mind-- they were tired of taking pictures. But don't worry, we took plenty of professional pictures on the ship that night!

On Saturday, our last port was Victoria, British Columbia. It was a cool city, but our excursion was terrible. We did the double-decker tour bus and it was more of a real estate tour than history of the town. We took a couple of pictures that day, including a man-of-war that we saw near the dock where our ship was ported.

All in all, it was a great trip! I want to say "Happy Anniversary" to Stephen- we celebrated our 14th anniversary on the ship. Also, a big "Thank You" to Jo and Brian- you guys are our best friends and we love you!

**Note to fellow bloggers- does anyone know how to correct the spacing around photos?**