zach n kali

We serve a big God. I believe in his perfect timing. But I also believe that he calls us to prayer. And today I am asking you to pray. There are currently an estimated 463,000 children in foster care in the United States (www.childwelfare.gov/pubs/factsheets/foster.cfm). Every 10 seconds a child abuse report is filed in the United States. Every day in America, five children die as a result of child abuse. Over 3.5 million cases of child abuse are reported in the United States each year (http://www.olivecrest.org/site/PageServer?pagename=gen_abt_history_mission_values). It kills me that there are children out there who are hungry, dirty, abused, and neglected, and I am tied up in an inefficient system waiting for a single set of fingerprints to clear. Thanks to the wonderful support of family and friends, our home is ready for a child. I know that we will be certified at the right time, the time when God deems us physically, emotionally, spiritually, and mentally ready to serv...

Many of you will laugh and scoff at me, but I did not want to turn 25. I had teachers when I was in high school who turned 25. At 25, you are no longer in your "early 20s". When you get carded at a restaurant, you want to roll your eyes because 21 seemed so long ago. Plus it's the first one where you get called a part of a century. No one tells you that you are a 5th of a century on your 20th birthday or a 10th of a century when you turn 10. But now I am a quarter of a century. The gloomy weather seems to emphasize this. 24 was an interesting year to say the least. Diagnosis of Celiac disease and fibromyalgia, starting the process of foster parent certification, job stress... But it was also an amazing year of learning who I am and who God is calling me to be. To be cliche, diamonds are not made simply by wishing coal to be valuable and gold is refined through fire. Am I done being refined? Absolutely not. But I enter this next year with a greater sense of ...

Butter Pecan Ice Cream is one of my absolute favorite desserts! Continuing my trend of reinventing some of my favorite desserts as gluten-free cupcakes, I have now made the Gluten Free Butter Pecan Cupcake. Gluten Free Vanilla Pecan Cupcakes: 3 tbsp butter, melted 3 eggs 1/3 cup sugar 1/4 tsp. salt 1/4 tsp. vanilla extract 1/4 cup coconut flour 1/4 tsp. baking powder 1/2 cup chopped pecans Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Mix together butter, eggs, sugar, salt, and vanilla extract. Whisk coconut flour and baking powder into batter until there are no lumps. Fold in chopped pecans. Pour batter into greased muffin cups. Bake at 400 degrees for 15 min. Makes 6 cupcakes. Cool completely before frosting, about 2 hours. Vanilla Buttercream Frosting: (frosts 12 cupcakes) 3 cups powdered sugar 1/3 c. butter, softened 2 tsp. vanilla 3 tbsp. milk Beat powdered sugar and butter in a bowl on low until blended. Add in vanilla and chocolate. Slowly beat in enough milk to make th...

I will never again say that my husband isn't handy. I had no idea when I got married that I was marrying a closet interior designer. Not only does he have a great eye for how to arrange things, he also sees possibility in everything. The newest project is a wine rack. I've been wanting a better place to store wine than the pantry floor and have been browsing the internet for suitable wall hanging wine racks so that we didn't have to find floor or counter space in the … well, we really don't have floor or counter space anywhere. Baby stuff takes up way more room than you every think it will! Our kitchen has an incredibly unique feature that I have grown to love: a roof. Not one that you can see out the window, but one that hangs from the kitchen wall over the dining area. Why? No idea. But it adds much needed character and is a great place to hang Christmas lights. So my incredibly clever husband devised a way to create a $10 hanging wine rack using hooks...

Last Saturday we moved forward again in our certification process. After a set of our fingerprints didn't go through last November, we redid them on Saturday, and as we left UPS, Zach looked at me and said, "All we can do is pray them through". We have finished everything asked of us; now we leave it in God's hands and trust that in his timing, our certification will be complete. What I love about God is that he knows what we need before we know we need it. The past month has been one of frustrated waiting, but little did we know that we would need the time for Zach to adjust to his new job and for me to learn the ropes of my pain rehab program. It is with this in mind that we start off the new month still waiting, but knowing that we are on the right path, and in God's timing, we will bring a new baby into our waiting arms.