If you are like me and want to feed your kids a cool snack in the summer; a snack that doesn't consist of sugary popsicles and juice drinks; a snack that is quick and easy and doesn't require you to turn on your oven, because, let's face it, when the mercury in your thermostat reaches the ungodly temperature of 100 degrees, who wants their house to feel like, ironically, an oven.

Not me. No thank you.

So here is a quick (and by quick I mean less than 10 minutes), easy and relatively healthy recipe for you and your little ones to enjoy.

Oh, and just a little disclaimer here - you might find that the recipe is a bit vague. I generally like to cook with these two principles in mind:
Eyeball it, then taste it.

Oh, and occasionally this one:
Throw it out and try it again.

Fruit Smoothie

2 1/2 - 3 Cups frozen fruit (I use a mix of strawberries, pineapple, peaches and mango)
1/2 Cup milk
1 1/2 Cups yogurt - whatever is in your fridge should work - but please, for the love of everything that is full of fat and flavor and clings to your thighs, don't use non-fat yogurt!
1 - 2 Tbsp. white sugar
1 Cup crushed ice (you might want to add more, I usually do).

Throw all the ingredients into your blender and blend until smooth.

Now pour it into cups and drink up, or use a spoon, it doesn't matter to me.



It's super easy, super fast and super de-lish! (and yes, Adam, I know you will cringe at my use of this word, but that's why I do it).

Yesterday, Adam and I took the boys to Stanley, Idaho to play in the fresh mountain air and take a dip in the deep blue waters of Redfish Lake, which sits at the base of the Sawtooth Mountain Range.



These jagged, snow capped mountain peaks rise over 10,000 feet high in all their majesty. Just the sheer beauty of the Sawtooth Mountains is enough to take your breath away....but, as we found out during our late June dip, so is stepping into the lake filled by the recent snow-melt.

Aaaaiiieeee!

Just like that, a thousand needles are poking into your skin. I mean, this water is so cold that it can only be rivaled by the frigid waters of the Oregon Coast. If you have ever been there, you know what I'm talking about. As I stepped into Redfish Lake yesterday, cringing all the while, I was suddenly taken back to my childhood, during one of our many camping trips to the Oregon coast. The weather was chilly (which is normal on the coast during the summer)the wind was whipping the sand around, blowing it painfully against my bare legs, and the water, oh the water, was so cold. There was no relief, and yet I played, because there was something intoxicating about running from the waves as they came crashing to the shore and slowly spread up the beach, and then chasing them as they receded back into the ocean, before the next wave would start me running away again.

I saw that same child-like awe yesterday as Isaiah and Caleb waded through the frigid water just so they could climb onto the dock.



Then in an effort to warm up, they would brave the water again, walk onto the shore and warm themselves on the hot sand.



Regardless of how cold the water was, how blue their lips turned and how hard their teeth chattered, they were going to seize the opportunity to play on the dock, roll in the sand, touch the fresh water and just 'be'.

How much better can it get?

My name is Anna.

Anna Banana.

You can rest assured that if your name starts and ends with the letter A, and includes one or two N's squeezed in between, it will surely be followed with banana. It goes with the territory.

I have learned not to fight it, just let it be.

That's not to say, though, that I have always enjoyed being called Anna Banana, especially when it came to other kids (my brothers in particular) just trying to pester me. And because my name means grace, any sense of the word was rendered useless while I placed my hands on my hips and glared at the offender, saying "that's my name, don't wear it out".

Now if you are like most kids, that statement would be taken as an open invitation to try it. At which time they would be met with my second warning, "if you say it again, I'll punch you in the face".

And shortly thereafter, I would be sent to my room.

Now, if you were a fly on the wall during my growing up years, you would have seen me in my room quite often for things pertaining to 'unladylike behavior'.

But in my defense, he spit on me first.

I often wonder what it was like for my mom to have 3 boys and 1 girl; a girl who hated wearing dresses and, for that matter, anything 'girly'. I would much rather wrestle and play football than have a tea party any day. That's not to say my mom didn't try, but I think she gave up when, for the hundredth time, I threw a fit about having to wear a dress to Sunday school because it just wasn't cool.

Even though I have grown up (at least by my age, not necessarily by my maturity), you will still be hard pressed to see me wear a dress. But this time it isn't because I don't like them, but rather, because they are not practical. Here's why - I still like to wrestle and play football, and on summer nights you can hear me yelling along with all the kids in our neighborhood....

Apples. Peaches. Pumpkin Pie. If you're not ready holler I!

And who would want to wear a dress for that?

Oh, and speaking of dresses, it seems that I am in need of one. It can't be any old dress either, because contrary to popular belief, I do own a few. But this dress needs to be suitable for our court hearing while in Russia. And just in case you are wondering, no, you haven't missed anything. We do not have a court date set. We haven't even received a referral yet (which is an update I will post another day). It's just that I want to have as much taken care of as possible, because once we receive a referral, there will be many other priorities we will need to focus on.

Either way, I need to get off this computer. I do want to clarify though, that I am okay with you calling me Anna Banana. After all, my blog title includes that very name. Just don't be surprised is you hear a faint voice saying:

I'm rubber you're glue. Anything you say bounces off me and sticks to you....

I was on the phone with my dad this morning trying to find a weekend, between both of our schedules, to have them come out for a visit. This is nothing new. We have already been through this twice already, but each time we set a date, something comes up and we find ourselves flipping through the calendar pages again, trying to find another open weekend.

Luckily we ended up finding a date that works, and as I grabbed my calendar and rummaged through our junk drawer, tossing aside the pens in search of a more useful writing tool, I said "I'll pencil that in". Then my dad and I both laughed and he said, "that's just about all I use nowadays".

So this is what my life has come to....penciling.

I actually like the idea of pencils, they are somewhat noncommittal. And given the phase of life that I am in right now, it is fitting. I mean, as a mother I can't tell you how many times we have canceled our plans due to an illness or just plain "toddler attitude". And now that I am getting out of the unreliable, often frustrating stage of toddler-hood,I am finding myself in the new unreliable, often frustrating stage of adoption. But I am finding that if I go into it knowing that at any moment things will change, sometimes for better and sometimes for worse, I am not nearly as thrown by it as I might otherwise be.

I think a fitting term for that would be mental penciling.

That's what's so great about pencils. If you need to make a change, it isn't set in stone. There are no black X's through the calendar that need to be made, no squiggly lines to disrupt the otherwise organized flow of the pages. Just flip your pencil over and erase.

Case in point:

As I was writing this blog, Caleb ran inside to show me his face. Apparently he and his friend were playing very quietly (which is always a red flag with boys), and when they came out, this is what Caleb looked like....



So, using Caleb as a great example, you can see how using a pencil would be much less messy. :)

I don't think I have anything else to say on this subject. But I will leave you with this one piece of advice: If you are about to enter parenthood, adoption or just life in general...be sure to bring a pencil.

Anna

Let me first start off by saying that I love camping...er, I mean I used to love camping.

When I was young, everything about camping was a dream come true, whether it be sleeping in a tent, playing endlessly in the forest or throwing rocks into the lake and then finishing off the day with half burned, sticky, gooey marshmallows. It was magical.

And then I grew up....

That magic that I spoke of when I was a child has now been replaced by a devious sort, leaving me to wonder who put that rock under my sleeping bag, causing me to wake up with a kink in my back. And yes, the marshmallows are still delicious, but there is an added stress when they are all over your four year old's face and hair, because, when you go to grab the wipes to clean it off, you realize that the wipes have "magically" walked away, never to be seen again.

This makes me wonder, do elves and gnomes really exist? I am sure my boys believe in trolls. And I am willing to bet that if you asked them, they might even say they have seen one wake up next to them while camping, muttering something about a sore back and stupid rock. But that is besides the point.

What I am getting at here is the fact that camping as an adult, and more so as a parent, is a whole different ball game, and something, that as a child, you are oblivious to....especially when it rains.

Yes, we camped in the rain this weekend, and we did it knowingly. There was no denying the weather reports when they said 70% chance of heavy rain with severe thunderstorms, but somehow (and don't ask what got into me), we decided that we would go ahead and try it. After all, what is a little rain, right? I think this is a proper time to add the cliche - famous last words, because that is what it felt like. Especially since we were sleeping in a tent that, historically, has never been good at keeping rain out. And while no one actually died there came a time, while eating our rain soaked dinner on Saturday night, that we decided we had had enough adventure for one weekend. And that's a good thing, because I had a feeling that the troll was going to make an appearance soon.

Needless to say, everything was thrown into the back of the truck, and we made a bee-line straight for home, except, it really wasn't a straight drive home. After all, we were in the mountains and therefore had to follow the curving road, through a torrential downpour, before we could be done with that "memory maker" camping trip.

Truth be told though, as we were winding our way through the mountains and back into the valley, I couldn't help but smile as the first line of the song Way We Were, sung by Barbara Streisand, played over in my head:

Mem'ries, light the corners of my mind......

And that is when I realized that regardless of how much work camping really is; how sleepless the nights are, and how messy the faces become, the memories that we create, make it more than worth it.

Now, if only I could just find a way to bring my own bed camping....

The other day I asked the boys to vacuum out the back seat of the car. After explaining what I wanted them to do, I went inside to get dinner started.

This is how I left them...


30 seconds later...
I realized that I needed to check on them when I heard belly laughs and the words "now try this". I wasn't too sure if I wanted this documented because I never know what I will get with them, but I got my camera anyway, and headed outside.

This is what I found...






Maybe I will rethink that chore next time!

There really isn't a whole lot of news that I have to share, but we have hit a milestone...month seven of our wait has come and gone, and while we still don't have a referral, the anticipation continues to build with each passing month. In many ways I can't believe how quickly time has gone since May of last year, when we threw ourselves into this ever changing, often frustrating process that is adoption. But throughout it all, this process has brought with it a rich time of spiritual growth and change, and that is something that we never would have experienced, and continue to experience, had it all gone smoothly.

That's not to say, though, that we would like to stay in this waiting period for very much longer, because we don't. I think there comes a time when you just want to be on the other side; the side where your child is now safely in your arms, and the paperwork...the endless paperwork...is over. But I have found that there are so many other factors that weigh in here. Like, how do you plan a much needed vacation when you have to save all your time for a trip to Russia that may, or may not, occur anytime soon? And the boys, who have been my saving grace by keeping me too busy to dwell on the adoption, have also caused me heartache when I think of leaving them for several weeks.

It's a funny thing, really, when I think of the pulls on my heart; wanting to meet our daughter in Russia, and yet, stay with our sons here at home; fully enjoying the growth and experience this adoption has brought us, and yet, wanting it to be over.

It's a wonder I haven't become paralyzed in this web of conflicting emotions, but as I sit here contemplating this fact, I can't help but know exactly what keeps me moving forward....hope.

After all, isn't that what we all need?

Jeremiah 29:11
For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.

Let me add a little disclaimer here just in case you think that the title of this post presupposes my gardening abilities, because...well...it doesn't.

When Adam and I first moved into our house, our backyard consisted of dirt and more dirt. Luckily for us, my dad is a landscape architect (and a great one at that), so we asked him to draw up a design for our backyard, leaving enough room for a small garden.

Little did we know, when we built our first 4'x 8' raised bed, that it would become an addiction of sorts. Through much trial and error (and with more still to come), we have been given the opportunity to partake in the cycle of our food, experiencing everything from planting seeds to harvesting their fruit, and it has been very rewarding.

There is nothing quite like eating ultra fresh food; food that 5 minutes prior was still growing and receiving nutrients from the earth. When fruits and vegetables are picked at their peak the flavor and nutritional value simply cannot be matched. But there is so much more to it than just fresh food; it's getting back to nature and, in a way, simplifying our lives.



Just after taking this picture, Caleb and Isaiah ate the entire bowl of fresh broccoli.

Our fast paced, instant gratification seeking society, has become very disconnected from the food process, opting instead for the commercially grown, mass produced counterpart. And while convenience can be a good thing, I fear that the more we force nature to conform to our ever increasing standards, the more we lose sight of its true beauty.

And believe me, if you have ever had the chance to eat a tomato fresh off the vine, it is a beautiful thing.