Friday, December 10, 2010

A Tradition Continues

Mrs. Beaver:

We made Christmas cookies today!

Now to most people baking cookies may seem like a given this time of year. But when you've added three children to the family less than three weeks ago, and you don't speak the same language, even what would usually be the "norm" can seem insurmountable. However, God showered us with His grace, and we shared many laughs. All but one batch of the cookies even turned out!


 Daria was amazed at all the ingredients the cookie-making process was going to take.




Alexander and Speedy put their muscles to work stirred up a giant bowl of Monster Cookies.






Little Oksansa wasn't there for the whole production because she and Tessa ran to Wal-Mart to get the ingredients we inevitably lacked. Tessa said Oksansa was as good as gold her first time in the massive store. Part way through the trip, Oksana did start to say that she wanted me. Anyone who has adopted older children knows that its' a great sign that bonding is beginning when you're wanted like that. Thank you, Lord!


Tatiana and Natasha tackled our traditional truffles. I wish I'd thought to get a photo of them; they turned out beautifully, just like in the picture below.






An important part of our traditional Christmas cookie making morning is to make "Tiger Butter," which really is a marbled candy made of chocolate and peanut butter. Tiger Butter tastes a lot like a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup. Yum!

Lissie showed Daria the basics and Daria quickly showed herself to be an artiste at the marbling!


I'm grateful to God that despite the huge change to our family, He granted us the grace to be able to continue an important and FUN tradition! I really wasn't sure we'd be able to manage the chaos of twelve children, several different recipes being made simultaneously, two languages and a tired mom overseeing it all!

9 comments:

Drew said...

Congratulations to everyone.
Those cookies look so good I can almost taste them. :)

-Andrew

Natalie said...

Alexander looks so happy! I would love the tiger butter recipe!!!!

Corrie said...

Sometimes it takes a good type of chaos like cookie baking to take your mind off of the other stuff going on for a season and to pull in those that might be struggling with life changes. Now they can see that there is a lot of fun in this new family of theirs!
So thankful for this time that you had as a family and that you are taking time to document your adjustments as a new family of 1 4!
Have a wonderfully blessed Christmas! Corrie

Tony and Dawn said...

The smiles tell a story all of their own.. God bless -

Our Family said...

Corrie,

Thanks for your recent comments!

You do such a good job of grounding me and helping me to fix my eyes on Christ. You a wise woman and a wise mom. Thanks for encouraging me, friend!

Have a wonderfully blessed Christmas, too! Denise

Our Family said...

Tony and Dawn,

With you in the midst of a Russian adoption, we'd love to know more. Do you have a blog? Here's our eamil address: 11reynolds4him@cableone.net.

MacMeister said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
MacMeister said...

Wow, those cookies look so good! What a great family bonding time :-)

MacMeister said...

And I just noticed that Alexander is wearing a WeightWatchers apron . . . :lol: