Saturday Dinner at the Mansfield's

Baked pork chops (seasoned with Italian bread crumbs)
Lima beans (seasoned with bacon)
Squash and onion (cooked in a skillet until almost carmalized, seasoned with salt, pepper, and a tad of sugar)
Jiffy cornbread muffins

Mmm, Mmm, good!

Elianna Update #2

Our first official piece of paperwork for our dossier has been completed! Yay! I had my physical exam last week and the paperwork was signed by my doctor and a notary (thanks Pat White!) today. Now for the next 999 pieces of paperwork . . .

Empty Arms

I wrote the following poem 8 years ago following two years of infertility treatments (fertility drugs, artifical inseminations, surgeries, etc.). I believe that God knew even back then that Elianna would become our little girl. I believe that NOW. Back then I just blamed God for ignoring my pleas. I'm so grateful for our little Elianna. She's not even born, and it will probably be another 15 months or so before I ever meet her, but I know that Elianna has already been chosen by God to be our daughter. I'm glad God didn't give up on me like I once gave up on him. I'm posting this poem to remind me that even though we go through deep, dark valleys in life, God does not ignore us. He has a plan in place and a time table we cannot always understand.



Empty arms that never hold
A babe wrapped warm against the cold

A lullaby that’s never sung
To comfort one so very young

A broken heart that never mends --
A Mom whose child God didn’t send.


Kathy Mansfield
1998

Gamer chick?

My husband and I attended the World Series Video Gaming competition in Louisville this past weekend. Despite the fact that I was the oldest female in the entire place (except for a few moms of teenagers), I enjoyed myself. As I climbed into a really cool racing car hooked up to a computer and large screen monitor for my contribution to the sport of video gaming, an assistant commented that I was the first female all day long to race. The look in his eyes gave away his unspoken comment that I was also the oldest contestant he'd seen as he graciously held my elbow while I tried to squeeze into the way too tiny driver's compartment. He suggested I might want to keep my shoes on in spite of the fact that all the other racers had removed theirs. Since the other racers before me were stinky-footed teenage boys, I was happy to comply. I knew I was out of my league when about half way through the race the assistant walked over and asked, "You did know that the object is to go as fast as possible, didn't you?" I, of course, was just trying to stay on the race track, which I managed to do by slowing to 20 mph on each curve. I didn't come in first place, but I was proud of myself nonetheless. I can now say that I was a World Series Video Gaming contestant. Not too shabby for a graying 39 year old!

We have a middle name!

Last night Rick and I talked about middle names. Rick had the honor of choosing Elianna's first name. (Elianna means "God answers" in modern Hebrew). Well, he also has the honor of choosing her middle name, as well. We thought an Old Testament name would be good to go along with a Hebrew first name, so we proceeded to recall all the female names we could think of from the Bible. When Rick said "Ruth," we both knew immediately that it was the perfect name. Ruth was the daughter-in-law of Naomi. Ruth's famous line spoken to her mother-in-law was, "I will go wherever you go and live wherever you live. Your people will be my people, and your God will be my God" (Ruth 1:16, NLT). What a perfect name for our daughter from China: Elianna Ruth!