Blood for Mom

"For the life of the flesh is in the blood; and I have given it to you..." - Leviticus 17:11

Ben & Kristin giving blood on 1/2/12

Our Father in Heaven has blessed my mom with a long awaited miracle. Through a church group, my mom met a man willing to donate her his kidney out of the goodness of his heart and wanting nothing in return. He turned out to be a 100% match to my mother on blood type, antibodies, and everything! This is truly a miracle of God! The transplant board approved the donation, and my mother will be receiving her long awaited kidney transplant from a healthy live donor on January 9th! That's right, only 3 more days now! I am so excited for her. To me, she is the world's greatest mother. No one deserves this more than her. I love you mom!

On the 2nd, I was able to go to the local blood bank and donate blood that would be designated specifically for my mom during her surgery on Monday. Ben came along to see if he could as well. Unfortunately, he turned out to be the wrong blood type to donate to my mom. So he decided to donate to the general population. Besides me, a few friends of my mom who happen to be the same blood type have also donated blood for her.

Donating blood is a powerful thing. If I'm remembering this correctly, you can save up to 3 lives with one donation. I encourage anyone who is healthy enough to donate to do so. The blood bank really is always in need, it's not just some scam. Besides, it's an important cause. Not even the friends of mine who are absolutely terrified of needles regret donating blood. Give blood. Save lives.

Best blood I've ever given. I love you mom!

Christmas 2011

"For unto you is born this in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord...Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men." - Luke 2:11 & 14

Our Christmas this year was a very low-key affair. It was us, my parents, and my grandmother. We had delicious food, including bacon wrapped sirloin smoked over applewood. Creamed spinach, my famous bacon & cheddar biscuits, and my Christmas dessert staple: Panettone bread pudding. I actually had 4 different requests to make it this year, and numerous recipe inquiries. Santa Clause also treated us pretty good this year, including a MacBook Pro under the tree just for me. :)

We went to Christmas Eve services at my mom's congregation down in Sarasota. It was a beautiful program. We lit a candle in remembrance of our deceased baby. I don't know if that was appropriate, but it felt right to me. Afterwards we went to a Japanese steakhouse and watched our dinner get prepared in front of us. Quite a show. I think the last time I'd see something like that was when I was a kid.

Besides dinner, the rest of Christmas was spent watching movies (such as "The Nativity Story") and reading scriptures to keep in touch with the true meaning of Christmas. It is a day to celebrate the birth of our Lord and Savior. I understand that many people celebrate the holiday without the religious aspect to it, and I respect your wishes. I would hope though that those who are Christians continue to remember the true meaning of Christmas and take the time to focus on the birth of Christ. After all, it is Christmas!

We hope everyone had a very merry Christmas, and wish that all of you have a safe and prosperous New Year!

There is no foot too small that it cannot leave an imprint on the world.

Mackenzie Angel Sandrowitz

With us in the womb for 8 weeks.

May 2011 - July 2011

Original Due Date: February 24, 2012

"Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? Yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee. Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands; thy walls are continually before me." - Isaiah 49:15-16

The summer of 2011 brought us the most exciting news we had ever received since we became husband & wife. We found out that we were expecting our first child. It was a blissful, exciting month for the both of us. We were over the moon to become parents. However, our excitement was soon cut short. During a routine ultrasound, we discovered that our baby in the womb had died at 8 weeks gestational age. I had not had any symptoms or bleeding that one would expect would make it obvious that I was having a miscarriage. Our deceased little angel decided to stay inside my body. When I was 14 weeks pregnant and no signs of miscarrying naturally, my doctor decided it was necessary to have a D&C procedure. After numerous complications including a post-op infection, I can report that my body has made a full recovery from the miscarriage.

Emotionally, this was a painful loss that stabbed me deep in the heart. Just a few weeks earlier, I had seen our baby alive & well over an ultrasound. Then to see an ultrasound of my beautiful baby now deceased hurt so bad.

I don't completely understand our Heavenly Father's reasoning for wanting to take our baby away. It was probably the most painful death I have ever experienced. I have never cried so much in my life.

Why am I sharing this with everyone? Because I believe every child's life is worth celebrating. No foot is too small to leave an imprint on the world. Even though our baby is not here with us to physically hold, we know we have a child waiting for us in Heaven. He or she is just as much our child as will be all future pregnancies. In time, Heavenly Father will bless us with a baby perfect enough to enter this world.

We love our little angel baby. We are thankful for the short time we got to spend with our little bean. Thank you for what short time you've spent with us, my baby. Mommy & daddy love you very much. We will always miss you and look forward to being reunited in Heaven.

Happy (Belated) Thanksgiving!

"And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body; and be ye thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him."

- Colossians 3:15-17

We had a great Thanksgiving! We spent the holiday with my parents at their home in Bradenton. We made a delicious Thanksgiving dinner. This year, we smoked a turkey breast with bacon over applewood. I have to say, it is by far the best tasting turkey I've ever had! Ben and my parents will also back up that statement. :) We also roasted a chicken, since my dad is not the biggest fan of turkey. We also made homemade mash potatos, marshmallowed sweet potatos, green bean casserole (w/ Cream of Chicken soup instead of Cream of Mushroom, yum!), the best stuffing ever (it was cooked in the smoked turkey), crossiants, and gravy. For dessert, we had pumpkin pie and apple pie. It was quite the feast!

Since Thanksgiving is a time to reflect on what you're thankful for, I'll do that quickly. I am thankful for the wonderful, loving, and supportive parents that our Father in Heaven has blessed me with. Not only do they make me feel blessed to be their daughter, but they give the same love and support to my husband, treating Ben like he were their own son. I'm so thankful for the relationship we have with them. I am also VERY thankful to have my wonderful husband! Ben & I have been together for nearly 3 years now, and even though things haven't also been easy, he has enriched my life immensely. I love you hus-Ben! ;)

I hope the rest of you had a wonderful Thanksgiving, and are looking forward to the holiday season as much as I am!

Back to Try Again

"I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well." - Psalms 139:14

Hello again! We have decided to give having a family blog another try. Getting use to updating on a regular basis was hard to do, though we were determined to eventually get the hang of it. However, a year ago we had an uncalled for reaction to a blog post. It had nothing to do with what was posted, but rather the family member in question that reacted was just looking for an excuse to point out the fact that they don't approve of me or my marriage to Ben. This reaction also included an expressed desire to cause me physical harm. In that moment, if everything I was going to say in this blog was going to be twisted to make me seem like an awful person, I wasn't going to continue.

A year has passed since then, and I have come to accept that I am never going to make these people happy. And I don't want to. When I first got engaged and married to Ben, I really did want to have a good relationship with my in-laws. Unless I completely changed everything that makes me who I am, it was never going to happen. (Ben- if she does then she wouldn't be the one I fell in love with and married). However, I don't care. I am me. My husband, my parents, my family, and my friends all love me for who I am. I've never had to change for them. It may sound cliche, but being yourself is all you should have to do to impress someone.

Much has happened in a year. Some good, some bad. Way too much to include in one post. We'll be making an effort to set aside the time to update on what's being on in our lives this past year, and what is going on in the present, and coming up in the future.

Take care for now.

Scotcheroos

Pretty much since we've been together, we've tried to make it a tradition to try one new recipe a week. As it appears to be getting popular for people to do recipe blogs, I figured it would be a great idea to include our "New Recipe a Week" tradition in our family blog as much as possible. Given the only cameras we have right now are our iPhones, the pictures won't be so great until we decide to invest in a good digital camera.

The first recipe to be featured here is a simple one, but a good one. For Chanukah this past year, Ben got me a cookbook of different Rice Krispies Treats recipes. They're one of my favorite junkfoods, and I try to make it as healthy as possible since I can't get enough. Ben is also a fan, just I'm a little more obsessed. ;) We decided to do one of the more creative recipes from the cookbook this week.

Scotcheroos

Ingredients:

1 cup light corn syrup

1 cup sugar (or in our case, Splenda)

1 cup peanut butter

6 cups Rice Krispies

1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

1 cup butterscotch chips

Directions:

Over medium heat, put the corn syrup and sugar into a 3-quart saucepan. Stir frequently until the sugar dissolves and the mixture starts boiling. Take off the heat and add the peanut butter, and mix until the ingredients are well incorporated. Then add the cereal to the mix and stir until it's well coated. Spray a 13x9x2-inch pan with cooking spray, and press the mixture into the pan as smooth as possible, then set aside while you melt the chips.

Melt the chocolate and butterscotch chips together in a saucepan over low heat, and stir often so it doesn't sit and burn. Spread evenly over the mixture and let it stand until the chocolate/butterscotch hardens and cools. Cut into 2x1 inch bars, or however you'd like to cut it up. Like I said, simple, yet very tasty. :)

The next recipe we are planning on trying is going to be out of one of Giada De Laurentiis' cookbooks. I also plan on posting recipes I've done already, that have become favorites to make. Enjoy!

- Kristin

Wedding Photos

We've been married an entire weekend now. We wonder when it begins to set in.

I've put photos from our wedding on our new Flickr account, which you can visit at:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/bksandrow/