Looks like we may have a new house guest

We had the meeting with S today and it went fantastic! She seems like a really sweet girl that is hurting badly right now, it is SO obvious. She cried through the whole meeting on and off and we shared with her what we wanted to do. Her aunt and Tracy had already told her about it all and she drove out here with her decision already made as long as she felt comfortable. We told her our expectations and she asked a few questions but said that she knew it was time to leave where she's at now and start over. I just pray that we can help her and lead her to Christ! She is passionate about music (and amazingly gifted I hear) and wants to actually use that at church! WOW! Another HUGE leap for us... she has a puppy... and the cutest one ever. I think God knew that we would second guess it because her dog is a chocolate lab/charpe(sp?) mix and we have always wanted a choco lab. He is 3 months old and the cutest thing EVER! We found out just an hour before our meeting with her that she had a dog and were not very happy about it at all. It has taken us a long time to get a cat because they aren't much maintenance and don't make a mess. We thought we'd start slow but God pushed it all on us, didn't He?
So she is going to let us know for sure as soon as she can and said she would be ready in a week. There is a lot to do to get the room prepared for her so we better start working! God is an amazing God in how He orchestrated this all and I can't wait to see what He is going to do in S's life and ours too! Most of all, pray for us, this will not be all roses I'm sure...

update

So we have been waiting for the last 3 days for S to show up at her aunts house. Each day she has said she was on her way but then didn't show up. Last night Tracy told the aunt that we couldn't keep planning to meet with her each day and just to let us know if she ever came to her house and then we would go from there. Tracy found S's myspace account yesterday and wrote a little to her about how she wants to be there for her and help her and her baby, that God has a plan for her life etc. Tracy got a text last night at 1 am saying that S was finally here at her aunts house. The plan is to have Tracy go to the aunt's house and meet with S, talk to her and tell her how we (our church) can help her. If she decides that this is something she may want to do Tracy will bring her to our house to meet Jonah and I and see our house.
I don't know how to have you all pray. Maybe that S is receptive to what Tracy has to say. That God would soften her heart to hear and understand that there are those that want to help her. She has a bad past and I'm sure she has been let down time and time again by those closest to her, trusting probably isn't easy for her. We also may not have a meeting at all if she doesn't want to, who knows what will happen but S can still use the prayers for now.

The following pictures are a mish mosh. I took the first 2 but the rest are all Jonah. As you can tell (and I have hundreds more if you don't believe me) he loves playing with his camera and creating crazy things. So enjoy!

 

My 2 amazing Liberians

 

My handsome boys

 

Saying goodbye to Dadddy at the station

 

More nonsense

 

Sarah getting ready for Daddy to pray for her and go to sleep.

 

Daddy's veiw of Isaiah laying in bed.

 

What Daddy does when he is bored...

 

Na'alehu being scary

 

Isaiah wearing Daddy's cowboy boots or as he says it "bowboy boo". They were SO big on him that he could even move.

Some good news

The reason S never showed up today is that she has been searching and asking all her friends for money to get the abortion. Praise God she didn't get enough! There have been so many people on their knees today praying against the devil and his schemes and that God would intervene and it seems that he did, for now anyways.
S's aunt begged her to come and talk to Tracy and I tomorrow and it sounds like she is not as excited about the idea as I had been led to believe. She said that she would call her aunt in the morning and the aunt said that if she hadn't called by 9 she would go get her and bring her back just so that she could listen to what we have to say. I don't know what kind of help we will be able to be to someone that doesn't want it though. God needs to soften her heart and prepare her for what we have to say and the help we are offering her. I'm sure she doesn't believe anyone would want to help her without alterior motives and the devil is telling her SO many lies to keep her away. Could you keep this whole sitation up in prayer? That God would intervene and show S His love and mercy!

A no go today

So the meeting with S never happened today because she never did show up at her aunts house last night like she said she would. Her aunt can't get ahold of her and no one knows where she is. My heart is heavy for this young woman, the devil is going to try his very best to destroy the life within her and convince her that she doesn't need our help. He doesn't want her in a Christian home! My biggest fear is that she found the money for the abortion and will be taking her babies life tomorrow. Please pray against this if you would! Pray that she will go to her aunts house and that we can all meet and talk about options. I want her to know that there are those that care, that are willing to help...I could go on and on.

Prayers

Today I am meeting with S, the young woman that is pregnant, along with my friend. Please pray that the meeting will go well and that she would be receptive to God as we all talk. She has told her aunt that if she can get $400 by Thursday she is going to have an abortion but wanted to meet and talk about living with us too. Who knows what God has in store with all this but He is so good.
Jonah and I had many reservations about this whole thing (and rightly so I think), moreso Jonah than I. However, this morning as we talked Jonah told me that he felt God's peace after reading the chapter in Matthew that talks about feeding the hungry, giving drink to the thirsty etc. and that if we do these things it were as if we did them to me (Jesus). That was all it took. If it were Jesus, we would do it right? No matter the circumstances that surrounded it or the discomfort it might cause? I know people think we are crazy and insane, I don't even know what I'm going to tell my family. Usually, I tell my mom everything that is in my head but this is something that I haven't shared for the last week as I wasn't sure what would happen with it. We shall see...

Need prayers for direction

A situation has presented itself over the last week that Jonah and I can't ignore. There is a young woman who just found out she is pregnant, was going to abort but convinced that she shouldn't by my friend and pastor's wife. Long story short this young woman needs encouragement, a home and some direction in her life and most of all GOD! We are considering letting her live with us till she is on her feet and help her any way we can. I won't go into any other details but we need prayer, this girl needs prayer and her baby needs prayer too! Right now we are just waiting to hear if this girl wants the help we (and many others) are offering or not.

*Aside* We are not getting into this so that we can adopt her baby at all, we just want to be there for one of God's hurting daughter's and show her His love. Prayerfully we will be able to do just that.

A visit to the dentist

Today we all (yes all 7 of us) went to the dentist. Judah, of course, didn't have his teeth checked because he is just a baby but the rest of us went right on in there. For Isaiah and Malakai it was a first time thing and they LOVED it! For never having dental care Isaiah's teeth were very healthy just with lots of tartar that she scraped and scraped but NO cavities! All the others got by with no cavities except for Sarah who has 2 new ones (and we won't even talk about Jonah and I). I was so releived that the kids enjoyed themselves seeing that Jonah and I are scared to death of going to the dentist. Honestly, I would rather go to the doctor for shots than get my teeth cleaned and have x-rays. I ALWAYS gag on the stupid things they put in your mouth for the x-rays. I hate it! I will say I have a bad past with dentists growing up as my mouth was super tiny (thanks dad) and my teeth were just shoved in there so I had numerous teeth removed over the years (think double digits) so that I would have enough room for my beautiful smile.

Just some random thoughts/things

#1 My #1 girl (Sarah) was watching me finish up dinner tonight. Since it is just the kids and I we don't go all out and save those meals for the 4 nights daddy is home. Anyways, I was making grilled cheese with mayo and pickles just like my Daddy does (Mmmm). Sarah says, "Mom you know when you watch a movie and the character is getting their nails done?" "OK?" "Well, why do they put pickles on their eyes?" I couldn't even answer I was laughing so hard. I mean, she has the right veggie, I guess, but I'm sure it would hurt something awful to have all that vinegar running in your eyes!

#2 It has taken us 4 months to get our 1 month post placement meeting scheduled (don't even ask) and we finally had it on Monday. Since the boys are awaiting their next immunizations and haven't been to the docs for a month she needed to know how much the boys have grown. Well, Isaiah has grown 2 inches (although I don't know how accurate that is cause of what I used) and gained 2 pounds. That is so great because the best part is his stomach is starting to look somewhat normal. Judah grew just 1/2 in. but is finally up to 20 lbs. at 17 months! I cannot wait till the day when he hits the mark to turn that car seat around and I'm sure he can't either. (although he does have 3 very funny looking faces to keep him entertained looking back at him).

#3 Judah is finally able to wear a handful of 12 mo. shorts without them falling off his bum. He is still in size 2 diapers but I can tell that we will need to start with 3's sometime before Christmas.

#4 Yesterday I watched a friends 2 kids that just moved in across the street who are 3 and 10 mo. so I had 7 kids 6 who were under 4. (Got that?) It was a great time, not hard at all and made me all that more set that I can handle more kids. Of course it was just for a few hours to give her some time to unpack but it wasn't as hard as many people would think. I'm telling you, the more kids, the more fun!

#5 Referring to #4, my heart yearns for a baby girl. Who knows if that one will ever come true?

#6 Oh, I almost forgot! Last weekend I went to a FamilyLife's Hope for Orphan's conference to learn how to start an orphan ministry in your church. It was AMAZING! I think that may also be why having a baby girl in the house made me yearn for one. You can't spend the whole day hearing about all the children in the world who need a loving home and not think about it. I went with the children's director at our church (who has adopted from China) and we came away with some great ideas. It looks like this may be something I will be heading up with her OK and support. God knows I am passionate about orphans but many people aren't and I want to do the best I can to get the church fired up about it somehow. I'll keep you posted on this in the future.

#7 Sarah started guitar lessons yesterday and is having so much fun with it. All she wanted to do today was practice and I must say I did let her skate some of her work to do so. I'm amazed at what a marked improvement she has made just in a day. It's fun to watch her so excited about it too!

#8 Good night!

Busy, busy, busy

I'll post when I can, it's been too long!

Back to Mommy mode

I went and picked the kids up this morning and brought them home. We have spent the day with a LONG nap for the tired triplets and baby (after no nap yesterday) and then spent time reconnecting before going to see Daddy at work. It's nice to have the kids home, it really is. I just love them so much and even that much more when I have missed them for a few days. They all had a great time at Sea World and have been talking about it all day today non stop. Especially about the sharks, they loved those sharks!
Tonight Alana has been having some trouble with sleeping, not sure why, but has been awake since I put her down (it's now 9:37) and keeps crying off and on. This last time I went in there I asked her what was the matter and she told me she was sad. Couldn't tell me what she was sad about and then changed it to her throat hurt and then her knees hurt and finally that she just couldn't fall to sleep. So I asked her what her favorite thing in the whole wide world was(so she could close her eyes and think about it till she fell asleep) and she told me, "You are Mommy". OK, if that doesn't melt your heart, what will?
Say a prayer for Jonah tonight if anyone is reading this. He is on a fire nearby doing stucture protection and I always worry about him when he's on a fire. I know he is in God's hand but we had one fire that was too close of a call for me to be comfortable with it anymore. thanks!

ETA: Jonah is off the fire and fine this morning. Thank God! Now just praying he gets to come home tomorrow and not get forced to work.

2 1/2 days off!

So right now it is 7:40 am and I am sitting in my bathrobe at the computer (obviously) with my iced coffee after having spent some time with my Lord reading His word. There are no voices telling me they are hungry or have to go potty or want their milk. Nothing at all. Peace. Wow, it is so foreign to me, seriously.

Today the kids are being taken to Sea World with their Grammie and Grumpy (my parents) and I will pick them up tomorrow afternoon. Jonah and I dropped them off yeasterday morning and then got a WHOLE day to ourselves. So what did we do for our day long date? We went to Disneyland. We have season passes but haven't been without children since we were dating. It is a whole different experience. We actually got to ride TOGETHER! What a concept that is! The best part of our day is that we didn't talk hardly at all. I know that sounds strange but our everyday lives are a constant cacophony of talking about adoption, missions, orphans, selling our house, the housing market, building a house and Liberia. So we just rested our tongues about those things and talked about the people we saw and minor things that didn't take too much thought. It was actually really nice.

Some fun stories from the day... Some of you may know that I am approaching my big 3-0 birthday and not really liking it that much. I don't complain about it but I am not looking forward to being in my 30's. I mean I only have 5 children! I'm not ready to be a 30 year old with 5 kids. I know that doesn't make sense, it's just my crazy mind. So anyways, back to the story. There is a ride at California Adventure that shoots you up into the sky super fast. It is a very fun ride, especially when your sweet husband tells you that someone just fell out due to a malfunctioning mechanism last weekend. Gotta love him, right? So I am sitting there waiting for the rest of the people to get aboard when I notice the guy who is working there's name tag (got that?) says that he is from the city over from where I grew up, hence high school rivals. So I ask him if he went to D high school and he says yes, so I tell him I went to W high school. He literally took my saftey latch off and told me to get out. Of course he was just kidding. But then he asked what class and before I could answer guessed the class of 2004, hahahaha. I was laughing so hard I could hardly stand it. When I told him 1995 he said there is no way and blah, blah, blah, he made me feel really good. Big smile on my face. Of course. Made - my - day.

So next story. For the last 8 or so months we have gone to Disneyland about once or twice a month with the kids before the boys came home. Every time Splash Mountain was closed for renovation. So today it was open and we decided to go on it. First thing we noticed was the boats were different, we each had our own seat, no uncomfortable holding yourself up away from the person your riding with. Don't ask me how I got the VERY front. I mean, there was only a few inches of boat in front of me. Now, before I go further I want to say that even though it's name says other wise Splash Mountain is NOT a ride you go on to get super wet. I have been on the ride probably over 50 times and have only gotten mildly wet and sometimes not at all. I'm sure you now know where I am going with this. Yes, we got soaked. I am not talking kinda soaked, I am talking soaked through to my underwear and bra. NOTHING was NOT soaked. There are 3 somewhat large drops throughout the ride with the last one being something like 50 feet. Well, the first one came and all was fine until there was a backsplash that came completely over the boat and got my right side all wet (along with Jonah's too and a few more people back from the front). Suffice it to say, I was NOT looking forward to the next drop but was praying that the last one was just a fluke. Nope, this time it got my hair wet too and because I was stupid enough to try to duck and cover also got my whole back too. Yippee! Just what I came here for! As you can imagine whilst climbing the last big climb to the big drop I was just shaking my head in disbelief over the whole thing (while still thinking maybe it was just another fluke and I wouldn't get too wet this time). Of course the speed of dropping 50 feet can create a big push of water, which equates to a big back splash too. It was awful. Soaked jeans, underwear, etc. for the rest of the day. It took the next 7 hours to dry sufficiently that I wasn't uncomfortable when I was walking. Poor Jonah was wearing shoes (I was wearing slippers) and socks and his right foot squeaked for quite a while. ***Word of warning*** If you want to go on Splash Mountain make sure you are prepared to get SUPER wet! Now I will say that not everyone getting off behind us was very wet so I'm not sure what made us "special".

So Jonah went to work this morning and I get a day all to myself. If you know me at all this is something that I crave often, alone time. I do get a good dose of it daily while the kids are napping and can't complain but today I am doing the unimaginable. I am going shopping without a kid in tow! I have some shopping money to buy the kids some stuff they need for winter, not enough to buy it all but at least some of it. I LOVE to go shopping! But only for my kids and only in small doses. I am exstatic this year that Alana doesn't need anything because she is finally able to wear Sarah's old clothes from when she first came home. Also, Judah is wearing all of Kai's old things too. Sarah has a lot of stuff that still fits her from last year but it's the 2 big boys that need a lot of stuff so it is they I will be shopping for today. Fun, fun!
Wow, long post! Must not have any distractions today, huh?

3 Months

Wow, time has flown by. Today marks exactly 3 months since the boys came home to be a part of the Winger family. It was such a time of unknowns and adjustment and after only 3 months it seems like that time is so far gone! We are so blessed to have these 2 little boys as our sons and thank God every day for them and the sacrifice it represents on the part of their birthmom. What a difficult thing to have to do, a completely selfless act of love.
Isaiah has been grieving his birthmom hard the last few weeks but I have also seen the healing take place too. If you think of it, say a prayer for my little boy who has lost so much in his short little life. I can only hope I can help him understand how much his birthmom loved him and cared for him enough to make sure he stayed alive.

Don't know what to title it...

Today has been a good day. For some unknown reason Sarah actually finished her schoolwork in record time and had some free time after her silent reading and I had just woken from my little nap (hey, 20 minutes is all folks, I needed it!). The littles were still asleep from their nap and so Sarah and I sat down on the couch. I blurted out, "So, let's talk!" You know that those 3 little words render an 8 year old absolutely speechless? She looked at me like I had a bugger stuck on my forehead (maybe I did, hm). So I asked her what she wanted to talk about to which she shrugged her shoulders (I mean come on mom! Who wants to talk to you?). Finally after a minute of me waiting for her to finally answer I think I'll ask a safe question that changes yearly (we ask it on their birthday's on video) "What do you want to be when you grow up?" Sarah's answer? A missionary. I was so shocked to hear her say that although I would love for each of my children to have that on their heart. This is how the rest of our convestaion went:
Me: Really?
S: Yup
Me: Where do you want to be a missionary?
S: Africa
Me: Where in Africa?
S: Liberia
Me: Why Liberia?
S: Because it looks like the people there need help and to know the love of Jesus (ah, isn't she so sweet?)
Me: What do you want to do there?
S: Be a pastor
Me: Do you know what a pastor does?
S: Shares about Jesus to people who don't know him.
Me: Well, usually a pastor preaches in a church which does share about Jesus though too.
S: Oh, well I just want to tell people about God.
Me: There's lots of other things you can do as a missionary too while you share the gospel.

I then go on to tell her about Mercy Ships and that she can be a doctor, nurse, teacher etc. and still share the Word.

S: But mom, how do you know God wants you to go?

Then we opened up our Bibles to Matthew and read the Great Commission and talked about it a little.
It was a very sweet time as I was able to see a little more of my daughters heart. She is truly concerned for the lost and it shows all the time in her concern for members of our extended family not being saved. She prays for them all the time and tells me how sad she is that so and so won't be in heaven with us.

Extreme

So in the last week and a half we have had a tornado touch down in our town with some damage(extremely rare), hurricane force winds (also extremely rare), torrential down pour and minor flooding, and a 4.7 earthquake. Crazy huh? Makes me feel like theres something coming but trying not to syke myself out about it. It's very strange because we live in Southern California. The only thing that we are supposed to have are earthquakes, not all the other stuff too.
There are so many other things I could blog about but I am kinda in a funk. Have been for the last week or so. Not feelin' to hot, bored with the same ole same ole and wanting to be content with where I am at now. I know that I will never be here again and I don't want it to go too quickly but at the same time, having triplets (meaning the 3 preschoolers) and a 1 year old is overwhelming at times. Not so much that I get flustered but I am so tired of getting told a million times a day "I'm thirsty", " I'm hungry", " I need to go potty", "Isaiah hit me", "Kai pushed me" and I could go on and on. I am NOT complaining, it just gets old day after day. The same routine over and over again even though we have a VERY strict schedule and the kids know what time they are going to get a snack and drink. Sigh, I know this too shall pass.
Believe me when I say I can whine all I want but when it comes down to it, I wouldn't want it any other way. I waited and dreamed for too long for these kids! they are still a blessing, even when they are seriously annoying! :)

EARTHQUAKE!

About 40 minutes ago there was a 4.7 magnitude earthquake just 9 miles WNW of my house. Getting 5 kids to do what you say when they are rocking and rolling and trying to figure out why mom is freaking is VERY hard. Everything is fine, my nerves got a little shock since Jonah is at work. I've been through plenty of earthquakes before, just none while I've had kids; it's different. So, we had a very serious discussion on what to do if they ever felt another earthquake and where our meeting spot would be. I pray that they don't have nightmares or problems tonight. When I was a kid earthquakes scared the living daylights out of me and I HAD to sleep on the floor in my parents room for a week before I was OK in my own room. I can't wait to move out of So Cal, who knows if that'll ever happen though!