Canaan Robert Winger

Officially a Winger. The big kids think it's the coolest thing ever and have been chanting, "Canaan is a Wiiinger" all day today.


We were joined by lots of good friends and family to celebrate.


We are rejoicing that Canaan is legally what we've always known him to be from the day he was born. Ours.

People keep asking

First off, just so you know, I am typing this on my NEW computer. One that holds a charge. One whose screen isn't tipped sideways and falling off. I could go on. It's mine, it's new and I love it. Jonah says it won't last the year.

As Canaan's adoption date draws ever closer people keep asking, "Are you done now?" and "This is it, right?" as if they can subliminally tell me that 7 is too much and THEY think we should be done. It's almost as if they expect me to say, "Of COURSE we are done! We know that 7 is WAY to many kids" or something of that sort.

Here are a few truths for you.

-We are NOT done. Not unless that's what God has for our family. If God chooses not to add another precious life to our family, then I will rejoice in the 7 blessings He has allowed me to parent already.

-I pray He isn't done.

- I pray He has more little one's who need a home with a family like ours.

- I pray that our tent stakes will need to be opened wide even more and stretched to the breaking point yet again(cause there stretched to the max right now).

-I pray He will allow us the finances to build our "big" house so that bedrooms won't be an issue at all when the time comes.

- Yes, Jonah agrees with me 100%.

With all that said, after dealing with the emotions and craziness of adoptions for the last EIGHT years we are really, really, really looking forward to a respite from all the excess "stuff" that comes with adoptions(meaning people, paperwork, etc). We just want to enjoy being a family without feeling like a ball may drop out of nowhere. Jonah and I are looking forward to a break emotionally(and financially) for hopefully more than a few months. We shall see.

Just so you know

My time has been very full lately milking this sweet girl.


Jonah and I are learning how to hand milk and it is very time consuming for us novices.


Tess is learning how to be hand milked too and so it's a learning process for us all.




But when I open the fridge and see this...

it makes the sore hands and time spent milking all worth it.

Tess' milk is the best I have ever tasted. It is slightly sweet and rich and I can't wait to see what it'll be like in the future after she's had another calf and has much more to share.

Buying milk

Yesterday I bought the last gallon of milk I will need to buy for a long time. This is Tess, isn't she so pretty? We will be going to pick her up on Sunday morning and promptly diving into learning how to hand milk come Monday morning. It's a little bit scary to this city girl, honestly, but I know that I will love the rewards of fresh milk that will give me butter, cream, cottage cheese, yogurt, kefir and the list could go on endlessly. My children cannot wait to have fresh milk again(we used to buy some from a friend). I can't wait to stop buying all those dairy products from the store that cost an arm and a leg!

We still have Gretel, who is a feisty girl, but she won't be "in milk" until May and I really don't want to wait that long. Gretel is going to love having another buddy here with her. Right now, Gretel and Stella are the best of friends and it is hilarious to watch them. Gretel will duck her head down and Stella will put her head in between the fence and lick Gretel all over. She even cleans inside her ears and Gretel loves it. It really is quite cute.

Learning all about dairy cattle is amazing and there is SO much to learn! Tess is not bred yet and we will need to get her pregnant soon. Artificial Insemination in cattle is very common and the best way to breed a girl like Tess because she is of a rarer breed(Guernsey). I like the idea of helping the Guernsey breed grow but finding just the perfect sire is stressful and overwhelming. I never would have thought there was so much to breeding an animal. My goodness.

This whole adventure has been amazing for us, really. Now I am trying to find a way to be a Proverbs 31 woman and use these things to make our family a little bit of extra money. Not sure how, since selling raw milk is akin to selling cocaine(you think I'm joking?). No matter what, it's fun!

Challenge

This picture is from TWO years ago of my girl and I can't find another one of just her recently. It seems I need to start taking more "alone" pictures of my big kids!

Sarah has grown up SO much in the last year and we are beginning to really observe her passions and interests. One thing she really loves is cooking. Her favorite shows to watch is Challenge and Iron Chef and she would love nothing more than to go to a cooking class and learn all she can. I have begun teaching her the basic things I know that will give her a good foundation but sometimes she just wants to do it herself.


So, Sunday night I decided to play Challenge with her. I gave her a basket of items that she needed to use to make us dinner. She was giddy with excitement and did so well with it that I decided to do it again last night after she begged and begged. Hey, I'm no fool. When I can have dinner made for me, I jump on it! This may become a trend in our house but I'm not sure if I can keep up with choosing ingredients. I made it pretty easy for her the last 2 nights with things she was comfortable with and could do a few dishes with. Sunday was tomatoes and basil from our garden and olive oil. She made an amazing pasta dish with it and added loads of garlic(which we love), oregano and parsley. Last night was home-baked bread and eggs and she made some yummy cinnamon and sugar french toast topped with homemade pear sauce.

I think this is something I want to do with her once a week because she enjoyed it so much and she learns a lot from it. What other food pairings would be good? Any suggestions?