I found this post in my drafts. I wanted to share it. It is from June of 2012. My heart still overflows….

I had a couple of my kids friends over the other day. They were talking about the camping trip they had been on earlier in the week.

They told me how, while camping, a group of the kids were talking about Tyler.

How cute he is.

How much they love him.

How their day is better because they see Tyler.

How much they love his laughter and how their lives are changed for the better because of  knowing him.

All of this would not be if one special lady had not made a difficult choice for Tyler.

I am humbled daily by the JOY this little boy brings into our lives.

and the lives of so many others.

A good friend was over last night and brought us a bag full of ramps.

(Wild leeks that are a mountain delicacy for a few weeks each year, if you are not familiar with them.)

When we first moved to the mountains, many people told us about ramps, asked us if we liked them, and we somehow made it five springs without trying any. So last night when we were given a bag, I decided to be brave and try them. I read a few google articles, thought about what I had to go with them in my kitchen, and settled on tweaking a recipe from Ree Drummond.

Here is her recipe for Pancetta with leeks. I had read it a while back and decided to make it and liked it okay. I am not a big onion/leek fan, but I am a fan of using what I have on hand and trying new things. My ramp version was different in that I had bacon instead of pancetta, ramps instead of leeks, and macaroni noodles instead of farfalle. I also used the 4C parmesan, instead of the yummy shaved kind, but again, I was really winging it with the gift of ramps at 4 o’clock in the afternoon.

You aren’t getting a lovely picture of the ramps, or the dish. I just wanted to pass along that it was good. I had six non ramp eating kids here and they went back for seconds….that tells me that it was better than awful (or they were starving).  I also wanted to end my blog drought, and thought that blogging about food would be a good way to get back into something I love!

What new foods have you tried lately?

Kym

What a whirlwind week! Last Tuesday I flew into Phoenix, made plans to meet birth mom for a smoothie on Wednesday. I got up, took a shower and got out to a text that birth mom was heading to the hospital! I got ready, my aunt made me a sandwich….and off I went to the hospital!

I got there and she was already nine centimeters and had an epidural. I went in and met her and her sister and friends. She is precious! After we said hello, and talked a few minutes, they checked her and we all left! TIME FOR A BABY!!

We all went into the waiting room. We talked and chatted and it was good! We talked about names for the baby. I told them that about 10 months ago, I was talking to David and Ron and Tyler and told them, “We are going to adopt a girl and her name will be Olivia Rose, we can call her Rosie!” Our birth mom loved the story and it is meaningful to her! So that is her name!!

The doctors had prepared our birth mom for the baby needing feeding tube, or even being on a ventilator. I was prepared to stay for as long as I needed to, depending on the care the baby needed….imagine our complete and total wonder when she got an 8 for her APGAR scores and she did not need either one! God is so good!!

So, two days later birth mom went home and several hours later, I brought Olivia home to my aunts house! We are having a great time!!

This is one of the neat ways God has provided for me! My cousin loaned me his VERY nice vehicle and my aunt and cousins have fed me, bought clothes for Olivia, taken great care of us….

Another way that we have been blessed is by friends through adoption here! One woman has put together an adoption care pack, and brought diapers, bottles, burp clothes, and on and on, all for me to use while I am here! And a different mom gave Olivia a LOT of frozen breast milk! So we literally are being fed and clothed while we are here!!

The day after we got out of the hospital, we met the birth father and we had a great time. The birth parents both signed relinquishments and afterwards we all got together for a time of rejoicing! Then I took baby Olivia home to bed!

The next day, we met at Olive Garden to celebrate this sweet baby and our new family! My Aunt, me, Olivia, the birth mom, birth dad and their adorable one year old daughter!

Monday we went to the Pediatrician. Olivia looks great! We discussed the MRI and talked about things to watch for with schizencephaly. Yes, Olivia does have bilateral schizencephaly. No, we do not know how it will affect her. I am in awe of all she is doing now! And we are in awe of all the ways people have come together for the love of this one little baby girl!

Yesterday, Olivia and I got to meet her birth grandfather! It was great! This little one is so very loved! I also got to Facetime the kids at home and they are so excited to have their little sister! They are ready for us to get home!

Thank you all for PRAYING and SUPPORTING David and I for this little one!!! Please continue to pray for Olivia, for us in making the best decisions for her care, and for her very amazing and wonderful birth family!

Kym

When we said YES to an adoption situation Wednesday afternoon, we knew our lives were changing. We also knew that we had been praying for the last few months as we looked at several different adoption situations that if the answer was no, for God to close that door. We also prayed that if God’s answer was YES, that He would show us the way. That if a babies needs were more than we could do, for the door to close. If, with God’s help, we were the right family for a little one that needed us, that He would walk with us and let us KNOW that we were right where we needed to be.

So, in June when we heard about a baby, we said YES. And God said no.

In July, the day after we came home from our vacation, we heard about 7 babies that needed homes. 7. We talked to one social worker and realized we did not have the funds or our fingerprints! Door number 2 closed!

At the beginning of August we heard about a sweet little baby with kidney issues. We said YES. The birth parents said they wanted to talk to us! We visited on Skype and waited and waited for days. Then God said no.

How do we feel about the no? During the long time of waiting, this is something I wrote:

David and I have been blessed to walk this adoption journey. We have grown closer to God, to each other and to our children. We have been brought to our knees many times. We have been brought to tears many times. We have laughed and been so embraced in love through this time!

During the past month we have been praying for this little baby. We said YES to her around the same time as the baby with kidney issues. We were delighted when this little one had a family. And then they said no.

So we prayed about saying yes again. This time we said no. We did not have all the funds we needed, and we had some things going on at home that needed us. And we rejoiced when this little one had another family! And then they had to say no, too.

So, Wednesday afternoon when the call came, I was shocked. This sweet little one needed a family and we needed to decide, yes or no. We said, YES. And then we waited. As we waited we got a little more information about the rare brain disorder. And we prayed again and again all through the day. When the call came from the adoption agency to make sure we understood that this baby had significant needs, we explained that we knew as much as we could, and while, yes in fact, this diagnosis was a very scary thing, we felt a peace about this BABY. We still don’t have all our funds, but we are working hard on our end to get them, and we have started a youcaring drive to get what we needed for the lawyer!

How do I feel, now, days away from a new baby? Excited down into my toes! I am so blessed! I am reminded of several stories in the Bible. You know those stories we hear all the time growing up, but don’t understand….well I have had a glimpse of the meaning this past few days.

In Matthew Jesus tells several stories about the kingdom of God. He talks about a man finding a treasure in a field and going and selling all he can to buy that treasure. He also talks about a man finding a pearl of great worth. Again the man does everything he can to buy that pearl. How does the man know that there is a treasure in the field? He is willing to risk sifting through the mud. The dirt. I feel like this week we have had a glimpse of the Kingdom of God.

If you would like to help us bring our treasure home, here is the link to our donation page! If you are partnering with us in prayer for this little one, I would love to know in the comments! If you are interested in adoption, I have a lot of links in my posts about our Journey to bring Tyler home! Or leave me a comment! David and I have taken the long way around to bring two of our children home. Has it been worth it? Yes, every minute!

So, when I started to tell you about my experience with the homemade “dirt” toothpaste, I ended up in a sort of philosophical discussion with myself. Today, I am just going to post links and tell you what I like about each of the things I have tried!

I started off with the laundry detergent. Here is the link to the one I have been using now for over a year.  Being Creative to Keep My Sanity  blog has the directions and lots of good comments you may want to read. It works great in my front loader, I do add the oxy clean, and I only use one TABLESPOON per load!! I do not miss having to buy laundry detergent/going without washing because we ran out…or stocking up A LOT because it was on sale and I had a coupon. In the past year for our ten+ people, I am on the third batch. We ran out of the second just a little before the one year mark. So, for a years worth of laundry, it cost us a little over $45.00 + the initial cost of the paint bucket for making and storing it in. I think that is AWESOME!! I also like that it is unscented for the most part, and our clothes seem cleaner.

As I have pinned more on Pinterest (find me here), I started realizing that I could make other stuff. So I took the plunge and ordered about $40.00 worth of supplies from Bulk Apothecary and Ebay and bought a few things from my local health food store. This was well worth the investment for me!

Frugally Sustainable got me thinking about the toothpaste with this blog post. I have not used Stevia, so I left that out. It is not sweet, at first it is weird, and I have to have my toothbrush really wet before I use it or my mouth gets REALLY dry. I have found that keeping it in babyfood jars with a demitasse spoon that will fit into the jar works well for us. We keep one in each bathroom. (Thanks, Jess, for all the babyfood jars!!) Some of my kids really like it. Others hate it. I am not forcing anyone to use it, so I am still buying some commercially made toothpaste. There are lots of different recipes out there, so search and find the one you like! My test came when I went back to the dentist…I did not tell them I was using homemade toothpaste. The woman who cleaned my teeth and the dentist said my teeth looked beautiful as usual! I feel like my teeth feel better. I will continue to use this.

One of the main reasons we started making the toothpaste and also deodorant, is because several people in my family really react to some of the ingredients in commercial products. I avoid soy, and that comes in many sneaky names, but we have been dealing with that for years. The real issue, lately, has been the  triclosan that is in lotions to kill germs. My kids skin breaks out. Davids hands get raw. Who wants that for their family. We stopped using antiperspirant because of the aluminum, and started using just deodorant a while back. However, I realized that triclosan is one of the ingredients in many of the natural deodorants….ARGH!

Enter the homemade deodorant. We make it and also keep it in babyfood jars. It is very easy to make. My first attempt I put it in a taller jar. Since you have to scoop some out, when it got down too low, I could not reach my fingers in. So…make it in smaller portions and save yourself the hassle of finding something to scoop it out with!

You may wonder about now, “All this sounds like such a lot of work?! Why would I want to do this??” Honestly, once you have the ingredients, I have found that making them is great. If I run out, I don’t have to make a trip to the store, because I have the stuff on hand to make more. I don’t have to worry about clipping coupons to save money off of the crazy cost of deodorant, or stock up because it is on sale. For me, the act of making a product and knowing exactly what is in it and knowing how to pronounce the name of the ingredients really outweighs the time involved. (which is less than the time involved in making the trip to the store!)

Crunchy Betty has a great post about some more complicated deodorant here, and I think I will advance to this later, maybe. The comments on her blog give lots of great ideas, too. For now, though, I have been mixing a simple recipe of coconut oil, baking soda and cornstarch. It is great! It smells nice, protects and even when we sweat a LOT, it keeps the odor at bay. I will not go back to commercial deodorant…this is just too easy.

*UPDATE* This summer we were in Oklahoma and Texas, and the homemade deodorant was not enough for me! So, I will say that occasionally there will be times that we will use the commercial stuff! Secret saved us (and everyone around us!)

So, now you know! This is my experience on using these products. I am not telling you to use them, or guaranteeing their effectiveness! If you have tried them, let me know! I would love to know your thoughts on these products as well!

Kym

This summer we have been busy. Busy loving on our kids. Busy visiting Jay for graduation from BASIC training. Busy getting two kids ready to move to two different schools.

And underneath it all….busy preparing our hearts and home to add another Thurman to our family.

Our home study was completed as the kids finished school.

Then Jay left.

We have prayed and played and planned and presented. We have shifted rooms and made room. We are ready.

We have said yes to two situations and prayed through them while the birth families chose the right family for those precious girls. It is a gift to be presented.  It is an opportunity to partner with God on behalf of “the least of these”. Being presented has given us time as a family to come together to pray for others, and prepare for when we are the right family for a little one.

We came home from Jay’s graduation to SEVEN different situations where babies needed families.

SEVEN.

Sometimes we (as a community) forget that every day there are babies born and sweet birth families realizing that they cannot parent. Most of the time, there are many families for each one of those sweet souls.

But sometimes, for many reasons, there are not.

It is for those babies, the ones who wait, that David and the kids and I have done our home study. We do not one even one to wait. We do not want even one to be placed into foster care because there is not a family waiting.

When we adopted Tyler, we had dear friends help us with a garage sale, and many people supported us with prayers and gifts….but we paid the bulk of the adoption fees. I did not want to ask anyone to help us. (I have always had that “I do it myself” mentality!) Since then, we have donated to help others adopt. And you know what? We felt blessed to be a part of their journey. So, in a great leap of faith, we are reaching out to ask others to partner with us to help us adopt.

Yesterday we got a phone call. The one where you have to make a decision, and make it fast. A baby needs a home. Is it yours? We prayed, and said, YES. Today we spoke with this sweet birth mama and she said, YES.

So any day now, we are heading out to bring our little one home!

I have sat at my computer screen the last two days, watching with HOPE for victims of the Moore tornado to be found. My family and I have texted money, and posted links, and prayed and prayed. And cried. I think of the young boy I saw last night on the news, happy to be alive with nothing but the clothes on his body. I can’t get that out of my mind.

While right now the needs are immediate, money for food and water for rescue  workers, places for people to stay, etc…I keep thinking about having everything you own be gone.

I want to help my friends and family in Oklahoma. I want to wrap them in a big quilt and comfort them.

I can sew. Some of you can sew.

I have started a Facebook group, Quilts for Oklahoma,  for people who want to sew a quilt for the people displaced by the Tornado.  If you or someone you know sews, send them a link. My sister’s church in Edmond will collect and distribute the quilts. So, if you are like me and need something tangible to do in addition to sending some money, please join us!

There are many places who will eventually collect clothing and household goods for the victims. I would like these to be new quilts, wrapped up in a clean plastic bag, with a note of encouragement for whoever gets the quilt. They can be lap quilts, kid quilts, or giant bed sized quilts. Please make them HAPPY QUILTS! Thank you!

If you would like to post a picture of your quilt, please do! I would like to pin the pictures on Pinterest as well. If you do not want your quilt pinned, please let me know!

*UPDATE*

A quilt shop in Tulsa, Oklahoma is doing a quilt drive. I think that having all the quilts go to a central location is perfect, so I am sharing the news here and in the Facebook group. Thank you to everyone who wants to help!!

This is from Ellen Medlock of the Ellen Medlock Studio Store in Tulsa, OK.

“I am honored to start a QUILT DRIVE for OKLAHOMA Tornado Families. If you wish to donate a quilt, please send to our shop- and we will make sure it is placed in the right hands!

Ship to:

OK Quilt Drive,
 c/o Ellen Medlock Studio Store, 
10032 S. Sheridan Rd, Suite H-1, 
Tulsa, OK 74133. 

(We will be happy to place any kind of blanket, for that matter!)”

Kym Thurman

It all started long, long ago. I stopped cleaning with the store bought stuff, and started cleaning with mostly vinegar and baking soda. When Baylee came along, I stopped using scented detergent, most perfumes and tried to coupon and recycle. Couponing lasted about six weeks. Recycling involved collecting just aluminum and glass and hauling it to the recycling center. That lasted a little longer. I also tried cloth diapering….for 8 long months. And then life intervened and I got disenchanted with trying so hard to figure out which was better for the environment….and we moved six times, and….

Fast forward twenty years.

We moved to a town that has separate recycling bins. We still have to haul it there, but it is easier, somehow, and so we sort into buckets at home and haul our recycling when we take our trash. Couponing became a way for me to save our family money, especially on personal items-deodorant, tooth paste, shampoo…and help me continue to stay at home. I still cleaned with baking soda and vinegar. And in my stumbling around trying to do the right thing for my family, the environment and save money in the process, I started seeing lots of ideas on Pinterest for making my own laundry detergent, lip gloss and lotions. So I pinned and thought and pinned some more.

To me, several things have to happen before I try a pin. I have to be “in the mood”. I won’t try something just because it would be good for me-if that were true, I would eat a lot more vegetables and a lot less ice cream. It also has to be relevant to me and my family. And I have to compare different pins and ideas and read other peoples comments about the pin. I love blogs, because in addition to the blogger’s experience, you get the reader’s experience in many cases.

My first experiment involved saving a LOT of money on laundry detergent. It took me a while to get started because I had stocked up on detergent for around $3 a bottle, it involved a trip to the hardware store and to a big box store that I was not particularly interested in making the trip across town for. So….once I had my extra large paint bucket and a list of things I needed at the big box store, I started my laundry experiment. I was skeptical that I could buy everything for $20 (not counting the bucket), but I could! I used this recipe from Pinterest, and I have been so pleased! The first thing I noticed was that the “stinky towel syndrome” we had been having, was gone! That alone sealed the deal for me, but I was also impressed that in my family of 8 kids, two adults and various long term college friends here with laundry, my bucket of detergent lasted around SEVEN MONTHS!!!! I did add the oxy clean, and use the oxy clean container to keep a smaller amount on top of the washer. We use 1 TBSP for each load in our front loader. So, in addition to saving money, I saved myself the time and aggravation of clipping those coupons, trying to work the deal at the Pharmacy, and I had cleaner clothes. I was now a lot more interested in seeing what else I could make.

I understand just exactly what may be going through your head right now….Why in the world are you not just buying in bulk, or Why not just spend a little more and get the “all natural” products from the health food store??? Why are you throwing in the towel on convenience?? Don’t you know how hard we women have worked to have all the new convenient stuff??? I was raised in the You Don’t Have to be JUST a MOM, You Can Be ANYTHING You Want To Be Seventies. In elementary school we were encouraged to define what we wanted to be that wasn’t a mom. In Junior High, it was the beginning of the 80’s and we were encouraged to explore, discover, reach for the stars….and by High School, well, being a mom was the furthest thing from my mind, and “Just a mom” was just not an option!

Funny, though, after all the brainwashing and encouraging, That is exactly what I am. JUST A MOM. And, I love it. I love chillin with my kids, helping them grow, hearing about their day, loving them and their dad….NO ONE in school ever told me that I COULD just be a mom. So, when we are looking at all the ways we have “come so far ahead”, sometimes we forget that we lose something in the process. And just like being Just a Mom, some of those simple things are exactly the right things for us.

Well, I haven’t even gotten to tell you about the dirt toothpaste…

That is a blog post for another day.

David and I have been married for 25 years this month. Last year we went for a fabulous weekend in Asheville. We stayed at the Hilton down by the new movie theater. It was amazing.

And then we came home.

To our wonderful kids. And our 1984 foil pink butterfly wallpaper and pink blinds.

sigh

My room made me want to throw rocks at it. I love my house. I love my kids.I really LOVE my husband.

But my room….not so much!

So, this year, I asked David if we could turn our room into the amazing getaway and spend our weekend away at our house!…. With the help of my kids, we set out to redo my room in the weeks leading up to our anniversary. We scraped wall paper. Jay scraped popcorn off the ceiling. We patched holes and smoothed the ceilings rough spots. Finally we were ready to paint. Jay first painted the ceiling while I trimmed the edges. That night when I went to bed, it was so nice. Just having the ceiling done was a vast improvement! My goals for this room were to keep my black and white bedding and to use my same furniture. I also wanted to create a warm, cozy environment that we could relax in, while fitting in with the mountain cabin house we live in. So, after looking at a million colors, asking my friends on Facebook and looking at lots of bedrooms on Pinterest, I chose a warm rich green.

Jay rolled the walls while I trimmed. We got one coat on and decided to wait until the next day for the following coat. Boy was it hard to wait!! I love the color. It is not something I would have just picked out of all the paints, but I am learning that sometimes the room dictates the color. My kitchen is a good example of that. It is painted a warm marble color I would not have chosen, except when I looked at the paint samples with all the other elements of the room, that is the color that the room needed. Same here. I LOVE sea glass and turquoise colors. I especially love them with black and white. But when I looked at them with my room, they were not the right color. Also, one blog I read recently said that to blend your house, colors from one room should reoccur throughout your home. This green shows up in paintings, in the rug downstairs, in my Italian horse cart stick hanging on the wall….I had never really thought about how having colors show up all over the house brings that cohesive look to a home, but it really does. So, I am going to be a little more deliberate with that from now on.

As I was pulling the room together, one thing that bothered me before we redid the room was the clutter David and I had all over our tables beside the bed. We both read, and so books and things we want to look at pile up. Again, on Pinterest, and in the stores, I saw a lot of little chests next to the bed instead of just a table. As I was brainstorming, I remembered that we had several pieces of furniture in other places in the house that would work if they fit. This saved me some money, just by looking at what we had! And in moving them, it really freed up the space where they had been.

Okay, so I know you are looking at the groovy pink blinds and wondering…I had to leave them up till I could find what we wanted. This is the hard part of pulling a room together on a budget. Waiting until you can get what you want. In my looking for nightstands and headboards and curtains…I went to my favorite stores, Goodwill, Salvation Army, The Second Blessing, and Habitat’s RESTORE. While I was looking, I saw these big comfy chairs. I don’t know about you, but one of the things I love in a great hotel room, is a nice chair. I don’t always use the chair, but I like the way they look! In our room before, we had only one rocking chair, and it was usually piled up with stuff. Not very conducive to relaxing or sitting to watch a movie. (I am blogging from one of these chairs now and I can honestly say, I am so glad we got them!) I was not sure about the size or the color (I know I can slip cover them later…) but when I told David about them, he said, GET THEM!! So I called the store and they put them on hold for me! YAY! I don’t know where they came from, to me they remind me of a hotel lobby, but there are many wonderful homes around here that are vacation homes, so they may have come from one of those. I found them at the Habitat store.

Back to the anniversary weekend. We had a blast!! The older kids volunteered to keep the younger ones and give us two days together! We went out to eat at one of our favorite restaurants, The Chefs Table. We came home to our wonderful bedroom! David had stocked the tv cabinet (a dresser I moved from somewhere else in the house) with small bottles of alcohol just for fun…The next day we ate breakfast in Maggie Valley at the Holiday Diner. We had farm fresh eggs and everything was great! Then we drove into Asheville for a day of looking around and shopping and just being together. We loved the time we had just to talk, walk around, go to some of our favorite stores. We tried a new restaurant in Asheville that had big burritos. I can’t remember the name, but it served humanely raised chicken! It was great!!

We found curtain rods at Tuesday Morning and bought some curtains that we ended up taking back. After looking online and in lots of stores, I ended up getting them at Wal-Mart. I love the look. They are a sea-glass blue green that ties in our bathroom to the bed room and I love the way they look with the green walls. It took awhile, but the pink blinds are now gone for good!

For our bathroom, I moved in one of the benches that goes with our dining room. I bought a great “spa bathroom” curtain at Lowes for the shower. At Belks, I found lovely towels in the color I wanted, and I got really nice bath rugs at Wal-Mart that match and are so nice feeling on my feet! We still need to paint the bathroom, but I haven’t decided on a color yet…one thing at a time!

What I learned from doing this is that sometimes the best get-away is the one in your own home. That taking the time to make my everyday environment beautiful is not just a luxury. Having our room nice has lowered my every day stress in ways I did not expect. I used to avoid coming upstairs, because my bedroom was just yuckky. Now, when I need a minute (or an hour) to myself, my room is a great place of retreat. I also learned that rooms can dictate color, and to be flexible in my ideas of what I think something should look like. I learned that small adjustments, such as repositioning the bed and borrowing furniture from other places can pay off in major ways. I learned that speed thrift shopping can yield unexpected treasures, to keep my eye out for things that I can use other places while I am looking for something specific. I was looking for an old door for a headboard, and found two comfy chairs instead. (So, I still don’t have a headboard, but that will come, and the chairs make the room so much nicer!) I also learned that even though I am not one to shop and shop and I am not a fan of Wal-Mart, that nice thing can be found there, if you look.

So, I will leave you with a few pictures of the bathroom…and if you have color suggestions for paint, I would love to hear them!

What projects are you working on? I would love to see them!

]]> http://www.stringbean17.com/25-years-500-and-2-rooms/feed/ 17 http://www.stringbean17.com/mini-corndogs/ http://www.stringbean17.com/mini-corndogs/#respond Tue, 15 Jan 2013 04:05:30 +0000 http://www.stringbean17.com/?p=655

I love the Pinterest idea of making mini corn dogs. I love corn dogs, but since I am allergic to soy, I try to avoid buying them. The first time I made them, they were great! My kids loved them and wanted me to make them all the time. However, getting my mini pans oiled enough to make them come out was kind of a problem!
Then, the other day, my daughter had a genius idea! She said, “Why don’t you trysting them in that new cake ball machine?”
I was skeptical. But I heated it up anyway….WOW!
These were so much easier!! We got so excited, we added some cheese and jalapeños to the batter and made some spicy mini corn dog balls.
Now they are asking for some mini jalapeño poppers, made in the Bella cake ball machine of course!
Well, good for me, these are sooo easy!