Have a happy Sunday full of smiles!

Vacation at the "Blue Dolphin Resort"

We found 2 of these snakes during our clean up project. I learned that it is a ring neck snake found in the EASTERN US. In case you don't know we are very much NOT in the eastern U.S. and I am curious as to how it got here, on our land. Weird.


Our little workers, working hard.


The best worker of them all. That smile was readily available all day. Seems he really likes working outside. Wish he would show as much motivation when he is asked to clean up his toys.


Since we got all our hard work done early Jonah and I decided to go on a "vacation". We are staying at the "Blue Dolphin Resort"(a.k.a. home) and making day trips to many exciting locations. Yesterday we planned a full and exciting day of fun! We took the kids out to breakfast, something we rarely do. They enjoyed their pancakes and biscuits and gravy immensely. Then we were off to the railroad museum and they LOVED it. Since we were already there we walked along the river where Jonah asked me to court him 8 1/2 years ago. They loved hearing the story and seeing where we had dinner that night. Our plan was to then go to a park and have the lunch we packed, however, we couldn't find a park and it had been raining so we ended up eating our lunch in the middle of a movie parking lot. Aren't we exciting? We ended our fun day at an ice cream parlor where each of the kids got to choose their own sundae. They all chose the same thing except for Isaiah who chose an ice cream soda.

Today we are off on another adventure and the kids have no idea where we are going. We will be visiting the Jelly Belly Factory and then on to the Exploratorium in cold and dreary San Francisco. Should be fun! I should have some fun pictures for you from today as, of course, I(or should I say WE and give Jonah some of the responsibility?) forgot the camera. Bummer too, cause there were lots of fun pictures to be had yesterday!

Working hard

Now that the house is done, Jonah has a LONG list of things to do on the property, the first one being fencing. In order to fence he has to clear thick, seriously ginormous, old growth manzanita from along the front of the property line. The manzanita was at least 15 feet tall and, in some stretches of the land, at least 30 feet thick. Jonah thinks that some of them were at least 100 years old.

Being that Jonah is on vacation we decided that this would be a great time to get the front property line cleared and ready to fence. Neither of us thought we would be able to do it in the 10 days that Jonah has off though. Well, we started on it this past Wednesday and today we will finish the job. Beautiful! It has been 4 days of some serious hard work but we have been having SUCH a wonderful time enjoying being together as a family and doing some hard manual labor. Jonah cuts and the kids and I pull it to the fire.

My kids? Oh yes, they have been pulling brush to the burn pile too and let me tell you, they are amazing! It has been awesome to see my kids work alongside Jonah and I and really get to see their work ethic. There are a 2 who need some training in working hard(well, Justus too but he's 2) but Judah? No, my 4 year old is NOT a lazy boy. That boy worked for 4 hours each day without complaining ONCE and without wanting to even stop. His job is to pick up the smaller branches and throw them in a pile near the fire for Mommy to throw in. Judah can't wait to help finish the job again today.

There is something so special about working together as a family on something that is "ours". When the kids see everyone working, and not just the 3 older kids, they are much more positive and willing to work. While we work we are able to watch the beauty around us and this is something which floors me. I LOVE where I live. I LOVE pulling brush, burning it and making our little corner of the world beautiful. 8 years ago I didn't even know that people made "burn piles" to burn their brush and tree litter and even though these last few days have been really hard work(manzanita is very heavy!), being outside and working is such a blessing.

On Saturday, after the hard work was done and the kids had gone inside for showers, I sat down in the dirt for a breather. The sky was sparkling blue and there were these huge billowy white clouds passing by. The wind was blowing hard and it sounded like the ocean waves rolling in as it pushed the tall tree limbs. All I could think was how very lucky I am to live here. Never, in all my days, did I ever think I would love living in the country. EVER. But, here I am, thoroughly loving every minute of it, even the hard manual labor part of it AND the 40 minute drive to "town".

Pictures to follow.

34 weeks and 4 days

Just a little update for you. Isaiah is doing great with his stitches and the cut seems to be healing really well. It hasn't stopped him at all and yesterday he taught himself how to do a front flip on the trampoline. Daddy and I were cutting and burning trees and brush when he showed us. After we praised him for doing so well, we stopped him from doing it again for a few days. All we need is for his stitches to pop open, right?

Today was T's 34 week appointment but she called yesterday because her insurance had changed and they won't see her until it's fixed. So, we wait for the insurance to get fixed to have an appointment. It'll probably be next week.

Wednesday's are T's meetings with our adoption facilitator who does counseling sessions with her. For the first time in 4 months she sounded happy. T has struggled with depression and always sounds negative and down but she was happy and I could hear it in her voice. Lois, our adoption facilitator, had found a transitional home for her to live in. They will help her find a job and get her on her feet and the best part is that she can finally be a mother to her 1 year old son and parent him for the first time in his little life. She is beyond excited about this prospect and is applying for an apartment today. Would you all say a quick prayer that this will happen for her? She really needs something uplifting in her life right now with all that's going on and the hard choices she has had to make.

Another little prayer request for Justus. He has had an allergic reaction just about every other day for the last few weeks. His eczema is acting up and he is just miserable. We aren't sure what the cause is and nothing seems to really work. The kicker is that his daytime allergy med, Zyrtec, was recalled and we can no longer use it. Benadryl works great but it also knocks him out cold within 30 minutes. Great for nighttime, horrible for day. It makes my heart sad to see him so uncomfortable:(

On a good note! Someone had asked if I would be nursing this baby after seeing a previous post with a nursing cover in it. This is a delicate subject that, honestly, I'm a little embarrassed to talk about but I felt I should share in case there were other adoptive moms out there who don't know about adoptive breastfeeding. Yes, ANY woman can nurse their baby. God designed woman's bodies to create breast milk, whether or not they have ever been pregnant, and with a little preparation and work I am able to nurse my babies too.

I have nursed Malakai and Justus and brought my milk in for Judah who benefited from it for 6 whole months even though he never took to nursing. It is the most amazing bonding experience for me with my new baby who, in turn, gets to bond with me in that special way, not to mention the benefits to baby AND mom! After just 3 weeks of preparation I am well on my way and praying for an easy and positive nursing experience with this little blessing! If you have any questions about adoptive nursing just let me know and I can answer them or send you to a website to help. There is a link on the right hand of the page if you are interested in finding out more.

Officially joining the stitch club

When I was a kid one of my brothers or cousins were always getting stitches it seemed. My parents and Aunt and Uncle jokingly called it the "stitch club" and the boys had somewhat of a running competition of who was on top. I joined the stitch club when I was 9 years old and it was a BAD incident. I have nightmares about that time. Thankfully, I was never the holder of the number one stitch club trophy.

Today, at 12:11 p.m., Isaiah was initiated into the stitch club and, in turn, initiated me into the "Mom's stitch club". I never wanted to be a part of this. He is the first of the Winger kids to join and, hopefully, the last. Ironically Isaiah was also the first(and only so far) of my children to join the broken bone club just months after coming home from Liberia.

He was stoic at the hospital despite repeatedly crying on the way there about not wanting to get a shot. When the time came to get the shot (actually got stuck 8 times in the wound) he did SO good. No one had to hold his head down and he sat on his own hands. Although he writhed his legs a bit and moaned he didn't move his head. I was so proud of him. When it was all said and done we went home with 7 stitches and stopped to get the brave boy an ice cream sundae for his braveness.

The doctor who stitched him up did such a good job that you can barely tell with the combo of his dark skin. I wish I would have thought to take a picture of the nasty wound after it happened but I wasn't really thinking about pictures at the time.







Oh, and in case your curious... he did it walking UP the stairs. He must have fallen really hard to cut it so badly.

The best Mother's Day card ever

First off, I am SO blessed by these 6 precious souls who made me a Mommy when I thought I may never get to be called by that name. This morning I was able to sleep in till 8 and was brought coffee and homemade strawberry waffles, with whipped cream, in bed. Nice, very nice. But the best part of today was opening and reading Sarah's card. She is 10 now and becoming more mature every day. Sarah is my right-hand girl who loves to please me and has such a servant's heart. I am so blessed to call her my daughter. Her beginnings were hard and not something nice to talk about but I know that she still misses her birthmom sometimes, or the idea of her anyways.

Even though Jonah had all the kids sign and draw on one particular card, Sarah made one of her own to give to me as well. What she wrote in it was this:

Roses are red, violets are blue, everyone would love to have a mom like you.
Happy Mother's Day Mom, I hope you are having a good Mother's Day. You deserve one. You are a fantastic mom and teacher. I couldn't imagine my life without you. It seems that if you weren't in my life it would be totally blank. I love you so much.

Tears, I tell ya, tears. I am beyond blessed, not only by Sarah but by all of these children I love more than life itself.

50 days to go!

Honestly though, that seems like an eternity to me! Today I got to hold and cuddle a friends precious 5 week old son and the desire and longing for Baby Boy to be here became even stronger! I was able to go to T's doctors appointment on Thurs. and the baby is healthy and, get this, measuring right on schedule. We both thought that was funny since he has been measuring 3 weeks ahead at every other appointment. Maybe we WILL have a late June baby after all. Right about now I'm not trying to make any guesses anymore. He will come when he comes, right?

As we were standing in line to buy T a bus pass for this month I got to watch Baby Boy move and go crazy. It was so amazing. She would push on her belly and he would push back like he was telling her, "Hey! Leave me alone!" She also gave me lots of great things for the baby that were given to her. She was so excited to be able to give me something he would be able to use. She chose an outfit for him that I washed and put in the hospital bag in hopes that it will be his coming home outfit.

7 weeks to go, are you tired of me talking about it yet?

And it's time...

Time to start really preparing for baby by making freezer meals. I would like to prepare enough freezer meals(or buy stuff for crock pot meals) for at least 4 weeks. 6 weeks would be ideal but I figure 30 meals is a good start. Any help you can give me on meals that YOU have tried that would freeze well would be great! Here are some of our criteria...

1) 3 out of 4 meals a week are just the kids and I. Jonah will probably take the first week off, if he can, and then will go back to his normal schedule. So, 3 meals a week can be very simple BUT I don't want to have to cook them, just throw them in the oven or crock and then have them be ready(Sarah and Isaiah will likely be in charge of doing dinner so it needs to be something they can manage).

2) When Jonah is home, he likes more complex or flavorful meals. Beans and rice does NOT cut it for him at all. :)

And, that's about it I guess. Yes, I could spend hours online searching freezer meals but my problem is always that I haven't tried them yet and if someone else has a great recipe then I am rather inclined to trust them!

Thanks for your help!

Is Spring really here?

This gorgeous weather is a bit unnerving after having 4 inches of snow on the ground just 3 days ago. I am having a hard time believing the cold just might be over! I got a little brave and cleaned my kids closets out of their lingering winter clothes in hopes that it may convince the weather to stay nice. It's just about time too as each of my boys only have one pair of pants left without holes in them. Last week that was a bit daunting and scary for me as the mom, knowing I would be doing laundry 24/7 with a busy week coming up and only one pair of appropriate pants for each, which I did and we all got through just fine. Luckily, the weather has gotten a bit warmer and so out came the scissors and each of those holey pants have now become cut-off play shorts perfect for getting dirty. Aren't I the smart one?


This past Friday Jonah and I finished our last home study meeting with the social worker and then she came to our home to meet the kids and do a walk through. She checked to make sure all of our meds and cleaning stuff was locked away that we had a barrier around the wood stove, that our water temp. wasn't over 120 degrees. You know, all those things that would make us good parents;) I am quite relieved that we are done with the meeting part, however, she informed me yesterday that she needed each of the kids to have a physical and a sheet signed off from their doctor. We are still 4 months away from their annual(since insurance only pays for one a year) and, if you've ever had 6 kids, you know how crazy taking so many of them is. The office won't let more than 2 be seen at a time and they must be on separate days. So, that means that we have to plan 3 different days to drive the hour down to take 2 kids at a time. Crazy, isn't it? Oh, and I'm supposed to do this by the end of this week. Hahahaha! Right. And no, there was NOTHING mentioned about this to me or on any of the paperwork we got from the agency that this would be needed. We've also never had to do such a thing for any of our other 6 adoptions. I am praying there will be a miracle because the home study MUST be done before baby comes and we are down to only EIGHT weeks! BUT I am thinking he will be here 2 or 3 weeks before then, closer to his first due date. We'll see.

OK, so baby boy is healthy! I am going with T this Thursday for her next doctors appointment. We will also be sitting down with our facilitator to talk about the hospital plan. This is where we talk about how things will go at the hospital. Things like, who will hold the baby first, how much time does T want with baby before she says goodbye, who will be in the delivery room, etc. I am praying the meeting will go well!

And, here is a look at baby boy from 4 weeks ago at T's ultrasound. Look at those cheeks! Oh my, I can't wait to meet this little guy!

Images have been removed because I'm a dork and didn't realize that T's name was on the ultrasound. I will upload them again once I fix that problem. Thanks for pointing it out!