Sto lat

Sto lat - in Polish it means "100 years" and is sung for birthdays, weddings, and celebrations where best wishes, happiness, or long life are being given.  The general meaning behind the song is that you wish for the person, couple, etc. to live for 100 years because they are an important part of your life.  Equivalent songs in English would be "Happy Birthday To You" or perhaps "For He's A Jolly Good Fellow".

To view a translation of the song, see here and here.

Fully Funded

Yes, we are!!  Fully. Funded.

A couple of months back we decided to send out two more applications to grant agencies.  We decided that they would be the last two we would fill out, partially because we are running out of time to send out applications before travel and also because they are time consuming, and we may or may not be given a grant.  

One of the agencies that we sent a grant application to had a deadline of March 15th.  We only had about two weeks to get our information to the agency for the (then) current grant quarter.  It seemed that everything that could go wrong to get that application in on time, did go wrong.  We needed three personal references but had trouble with getting all of them - one of the folks willing to write one happened to be out of the country during the time we needed the reference.  Mark had problems with his email account, we sent the wrong tax forms the first time, and some of the information I was supposed to send to them, I sent to Mark instead of the agency (long story, but I hit "reply" to a forwarded message from Mark  instead of emailing the information to the agency).  We came very close to giving up instead of pushing to get everything done on time. Two days before the deadline, we got everything finished, and then...we were back to waiting to see if we were given a grant.

Today we got an email from JSC that stated that we have been given a grant!!!!  The grant amount is what we need to be fully funded for our adoption.  Have you ever just said, "Wow!"?   Thank you, thank you, thank you, JSC sponsors for your support.

Two and a half years ago we wondered where the money would come from for this adoption.  We did not have it.  When we asked our Lifeline representative about money, she simply said that we are not the only family who does not have the money we need, but she had never had a family not be able to complete an adoption because they did not have the money.  Through this process we have learned that it is true: if you know you are doing what God wants, when you need it, the money will be there. 

This is our house tonight:

Gulasz (Goulash)

Goulash is a dish that originated in Hungary but is popular in many areas of Europe, including Poland.   Gulasz  (Polish word for goulash) is a stew made from beef with green pepper, onion, tomato (paste), caraway seeds, and paprika as common base ingredients.

While we were in the program to adopt from Hungary, I came across this recipe for Hungarian Goulash that we really like.  I have made it many times over the last several months and love that it is made in my slow cooker. Some of the reviews state that it is too bland, but I think it has a great flavor.  It is not spicy, so if you are hoping for something with a kick you will need to add something else for extra spice.

Because it serves twelve,  I usually half the recipe for our family (for now - that may change as our kiddos get older :D).  I put four carrots in for half a recipe and do not always put in as much bell pepper as is called for because my kiddos are not crazy about green pepper.  Served over egg noodles it is delicious and leftovers mesh the flavors together even more the next day.

Yummy Goulash