I have to say that I love my kitchen.  It has a gas stove top, double ovens, two dishwashers, two fridges and three sinks. It also has a pull out step for little ones, a hanging pot rack and a big window.  It is one of my favorite places to be.  I find it warm and inviting and it is one of the work horses of our home.

The Kitchen is where my kids sit at the bar doing homework while I fix dinner.  It almost always has a dirty dish in the sink, something sticky on the floor and the ice maker spits out one or two more cubes as you walk away.

Sometimes the smoke alarm would go off and I find teenage boys cooking breakfast, dinner, or midnight snacks.  They are quick to offer me a plate while they open the big window to air out the kitchen.

Other times smoke might be pouring out of the microwave because Jack wanted to make popcorn and Annie was happy to help him.  Did I mention the fire extinguisher under the sink?

Today I want to tell you about the fruit basket.

Besides kiddos, there are a few things you will always find in my kitchen.  Today I want to tell you about the fruit basket.  It all started when my boys were young and would come home hungry from school.  They never had to ask me if they could have something from the basket, and I never had to hear I’m hungry, what can I eat?   Besides fruit, treats and surprises were found in the basket from time to time.   Oh yes, I was feeling success in taming the tummies of pre-teen boys.

In preparing to adopt, we read about potential difficulties our adopted children might have, especially with food issues.  As they came home, the fruit basket brought on a whole new level of importance for our children.  My adopted children all but starved to death in their first homes in Russia, before being rescued and taken to orphanages.  We knew when they came home, they would most likely hoard food.  As they came home and they saw the basket they had been told about, the fruit basket was comforting and magical.  There was always something in the basket.  We let the kids know that they could have anything in the basket at any time.  Truthfully, it worked better than we had planned.  When there was something served at  meals they didn’t care for, they told us it was ok, they would just eat from the fruit basket.   We shouldn’t have been surprised, but we were.  One of our daughters was eating up to twenty pounds of apples a week.  TWENTY POUNDS!  I think it was part challenge to see if the magical fruit basket would produce more produce the next day, and part gorging herself while there was food to be had.  In her past life, she never knew what tomorrow would deny.  We had to make some adjustments.

For about a month or two the majority of what was in the “fruit basket” were onions and winter squash.  The basket was still there.  They could eat out of it until a half-hour before a meal, and they still didn’t have to ask.  The fruit basket still proved that there would always be food for tomorrow, but the kids learned that the food served at meal times was better. Today the fruit basket has mostly fruit in it, and is still just as magical and comforting as it ever was.

Of all the things I enjoy about my kitchen, I love working, laughing and learning with my family the most.

Oh, and just in case you were wondering yes, the three sinks each have a spray nozzle and spray just hard enough to have a really great water fight!

Of all the things I enjoy about my kitchen, I love working, laughing, and learning with my family the most.

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