On December 27, Shawn and I celebrated our one year anniversary.

Flowers from Shawn, along with breakfast in bed. I'm spoiled rotten.

We enjoyed a lovely dinner at a nice steakhouse downtown, talked about the highs and lows of our first year, and finished the evening with dessert. As soon as we got home, I began feeling a little nauseous, so I got ready for bed and tried to go to sleep, hoping the feeling would wear off. It didn't. To make a long, gruesome story short, I had gotten food poisoning from our anniversary dinner and spent the entire night very sick, losing 6 pounds in the process, and finally falling asleep at 5am the next morning. Not exactly my idea of a happy anniversary.

Celebrating one year, having no idea what the night ahead had in store for us. :)

The next day, a friend from church who had heard I was sick asked if she could stop by with Bio K, which had helped her husband recover from food poisoning. It's a probiotic, and it tasted like a tangy yogurt drink. From what I understand, it works by replacing bad bacteria in your stomach and intestines with 50 billion good bacteria. I took it with high hopes, and within a few hours, began craving food again. I still felt weak for a day or so, but not nauseous or sick to my stomach one bit. A couple days later, I even stomached Chipotle with no problem!

So here's the point of the story (I know you're ready for it). All of this led me to research the benefits of probiotics and made me want to make my own yogurt. I've cut back on dairy by about 90% in recent months, which has helped my stomach quite a bit, but fermented dairy can be beneficial even for those who deal with dairy intolerance. Additionally, yogurt provides protein, calcium, vitamins and minerals. Yogurt with live, active cultures may aid digestion and boost immunity. For those with lactose intolerance, yogurt's fermentation process converts some of the lactose to lactic acid so it's much more tolerable.

So without further ado, let's make some yogurt.

All you need is a half gallon of milk and a half cup of yogurt to act as a starter.

While I wanted completely raw milk, I would've had to go to a dairy farm to find it. Hardly any groceries carry it because it spoils so quickly. I settled for organic whole milk.

This yogurt from Whole Foods was the purest kind available. Just what I was looking for.

Instructions:

1. Turn your crock pot on low and pour in the half-gallon of milk of your choice.

2. Heat on low for 2 hours and 30 minutes.

3. Unplug your crock pot and let it sit with the lid on for 3 hours.

4. After 3 hours, remove 2 cups of warm milk and place in a separate bowl. Mix 1/2 cup of yogurt with the warm milk.

5. Pour the yogurt-milk mixture back into the crock pot and whisk well.

6. Place the lid back on the crock pot and wrap the entire crock pot in a bath towel. (I didn't take a picture of this step... it felt odd.)

7. Let it culture or ferment overnight, 8 to 12 hours.

8. For the best texture, let the yogurt cool in the refrigerator for 8 hours.

What I was left with was a pure, tangy whole milk yogurt. And a LOT of it! For some reason, I thought it would evaporate down, but in reality, I ended up with 64 ounces or 4 pounds of yogurt. It's a little thinner in texture than I'm used to, but still has all the flavor I had hoped for. I mix it with a little agave nectar or honey and a few drops of vanilla and it is delicious!

Give it a try and let me know what you think!

*Original instructions found on nourishingdays.com.

A Vintage New Years.

Shawn and I spent New Year's Eve with Mom and Dad.

First we ate dinner at Opry Mills, then headed over to Dave and Buster's for some games.

Shawn racking up points on free throws.

My cute husband.

Dad is amazing at this!

Harley girl... what a mess!

We then headed to Opryland Hotel to see the Christmas lights.

If you're ever in the Nashville area during Christmas or New Years, this is a must!

The decorations are pretty unbelievable.

Yes, this is inside the hotel. A little river with boats.

Can I have one of these rooms, please?

Our night ended at 10:30pm while watching Romancing the Stone and I looked around and everyone was asleep. Quite the party animals. :)

Happy New Year!

Brought to you by Viet Nam.

Today I spent some time sorting through a cedar chest full of letters and cards, and I was flooded with memories.

I came across the letter my Dad gave me on our first date (I was 12). I found the goodbye letter my best friend Jess wrote through tears and had to write a second copy. I found myself overwhelmed with gratitude for the many incredible people the Lord has placed in my life.

And at just the right time, I found this letter.

This one was in my own handwriting, and was written by Melissa Dix and me during our 2-week trip to Viet Nam. We became so close during that trip and I am so thankful for her (even though I don't get to see her much now). I loved how we would laugh so hard together, and most of the time, it was exactly what we needed.

So this is really for you, Melissa. Probably no one else will understand anyway. :)

Dear Shawn,

We are sitting here at a romantic jazz lounge by the South China Sea. There is tribal music playing in the background, almost no lighting, but plenty of pillows to make it an overall sketchy place. We've gotten to know the cook, host, bus boy, owner, bartender, and manager pretty well because they are the same person. The atmosphere is perfect: Chinese lanterns, beautiful weather, waves crashing on the shore, beds that make big question marks pop in your head when you look at them, puppies whining and pawing at us under the table, and the only two other people in the restaurant just left. The only thing that might possibly improve this situation is if a coconut fell out of a tree onto the grass hut roof. We ate our dinner just now. They ran out of calamari even though we are right next to an ocean. We tried to feed squid brain to the dog to make it go away. It didn't work.

Hope you're enjoying huckleberries and good food with your host families.

Until our next interesting experience in Viet Nam...

Melissa and Whitney

And again, just for you, a few more Viet Nam moments.

Getting manicures/pedicures from a very crowded nail salon.


Beautiful boats on the river.


An odd sight during one of our many bike rides. It's a man. In a pot.


Vietnamese karaoke! We rocked!


What are these outfits called again? I can't believe I forgot! We wore them for our final performance. And yes, I played harmonica. :)


Overlooking Vinh Long.


"What a pity!"


Accomplishing a life goal - sushi in Japan!


Fun (and sometimes scary) bike riding!


The market.

Family photos.

Get ready to see one incredibly beautiful family.

These sweet people have just recently become part of our lives, and we are so happy to know them! We had a fun little photo shoot the other day and I wanted to give them a little preview of the photos.

Thanks for letting us spend some time with your family! We're so thankful for all 9 of you. :)

Living to display the Gospel.

I can't think of a better way to begin the new year than with a perspective check.

For us, it came in the form of this sermon by Francis Chan.

The next time you have 43 minutes of time (hopefully today), I highly recommend listening to this sermon.

Click here to watch the sermon.*

I don't want to give it too much of a preface because it very much speaks for itself. This sermon encapsulates exactly what I think the Christian life should be about. Many of us have simply, sadly, lost sight of it.

After hearing this sermon, Shawn and I are praying about what this means for us specifically. We are passionate about adoption and hope to adopt in the future, but now really isn't the time. We are praying God will show us where to simplify, how to give sacrificially, and how to trust that we cannot "outgive" Him.

I pray it stirs something in your heart as well.

God bless you, friends, on the first day of this new year!

*If you have trouble uploading the sermon, you can go to www.cornerstonesimi.com, then click on "Media" then "Listen to messages" then the sermon is entitled "Living to Display the Gospel" and was given on 3/15/09.