Goodbye for now

Right now is the perfect time to take a pause in the blogging world. Our house(for now) is built, our little farm has begun, our adoptions are all final and we aren't planning on any more in the immediate future.
I am feeling the need to cut out as many "extras" from my life as I can and blogging is one of those. I will be back periodically, I'm sure, but I will not be blogging regularly.
I promise that if anything "big" happens I will let you know but for now, I'm saying goodbye.

A reminder to mothers

“O dear mothers, you have a very sacred trust reposed in you by God!

He hath in effect said to you, “Take this child and nurse it for Me, and I will give thee thy wages.” You are called to equip the future man of God, that he may be thoroughly furnished unto every good work. If God spares you, you may live to hear that pretty boy speak to thousands, and you will have the sweet reflection in your heart that the quiet teachings of the nursery led the man to love his God and serve Him.

Those who think that a woman detained at home by her little family is doing nothing, think the reverse of what is true. Scarcely can the godly mother quit her home for a place of worship; but dream not that she is lost to the work of the church; far from it, she is doing the best possible service for her Lord.

Mothers, the godly training of your offspring is your first and most pressing duty.”

~Charles Spurgeon

I needed this reminder today. Maybe you did too.

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?

Changes

For a few years I have been waiting for the time when I could really cut out processed foods and make most of the food for my family by hand. Things are going pretty good, we don't eat a ton of processed foods but we do still eat a fair amount. Justus is still having issues with scratching, allergies(he just threw up tonight after dinner) and asthma and I have wanted to do something drastic to help his body heal.

So, I am on a mission to really change the way we do things and I need your help! I am looking for a really good sandwich bread recipe. One that bakes up nice and soft and doesn't fall apart when you cut it. Preferably one that uses whole wheat and maybe some other type of grain flour(not the white stuff).

Also, I need some snack ideas to make. Jonah is NOT a fruit and veggie person and will never reach for them when he is hungry(and with how much he works he needs a lot of snacks). I will be making homemade granola for breakfasts that will be our "quick" thing to eat so granola bars for snacks may work sometimes but I would like some more variety.

My plan is to set aside a day of the week to bake all our snacks, bread and tortilla's for the week and have it easily accessible for Jonah(and the rest of us) to grab and go.

So, pass along your ideas please! If you have blogs that you follow that are all about whole foods, I would love those too! And, if any of you have done the GAPS diet with your kids, will you let me know? I would love to talk to you more in depth about it through e-mail.

Thanks!

180 movie debut

Check it out!

Watch the award winning documentary here!

Pear recipes for Julie:)

Julie is beginning to make home preserved things with her girls and asked if I could share the recipes with her of my pear making things(great phrase, huh?).

The pear sauce I make is one that my mother-in-law taught me when I first moved here and had NO interest in canning. I have made it with her several times and it is really easy. Basically, you peel and core your pears. If you want chunky sauce then cut them in bite sized pieces, otherwise, leave them in quarters. Put the desired amount of pears in a stock pot with a little water on the bottom and cook them on medium/low for about 30 minutes, or until soft and falling apart. If you want chunky sauce get a mashing tool, I use a plastic pasta spoon, and mash away. If you want it smooth, get out your stick blender and blend away. You CAN transfer this into a regular blender too.

Once this is done you are ready for putting the sauce into jars. This is where a good canning book comes in handy if you have NO clue what to do. I process them in a hot water canner for 30 minutes. I do live at 3600 elevation so the time is a little longer. Again, a good canning book would come in handy here. Of course, you could add sugar and spices but I find that the pears are already plenty sweet and we like it plain.

For the pear butter, you use the pear sauce above that is nice a smooth. Pour it in your crockpot to within an inch of the top. I add 2 cups sugar and whatever spices I want. Usually, a little cinnamon, shake of allspice, shake of cloves and a little nutmeg. Don't go overboard on the spices though, usually about 1/2 tsp. is plenty of the cinnamon and nutmeg. The recipe I'm making today is from this website. She has a TON of great information there and some pretty good recipes too.

For snack today I decided to make my kids something special and found this Pear crumble that was really easy and really good. I tripled this recipe and it gave the kids and I some pretty small portions. Next time, I'll be septupaling it(how's that for a word?)

Civil War

This picture has nothing to do with this post at all. I was looking for a picture of my 2 big boys and came upon this picture that I hadn't seen before. That is my mom and dad with Canaan when he was a few weeks old. Look at how small he was!

Back to the story. Last week we watched a History channel special on the civil war. We are also studying the beginnings of our country in school. This past week we have been reading the story of Squanto(very great story, although very sad) and learned that he was captured and made a slave. This led us into talking about human trafficking today with one of the biggest areas just an hour and a half from us.

So, we are done with all that, Malakai is saying how he is going to get big and strong as a man and go arrest all those people taking girls hostage because he is a man and should protect women and girls. Typical Malakai and I encourage him in it.

Then Isaiah turns to Malakai and says( in all seriousness), "And then, will you go fight in the civil war so I won't be a slave?"

I was so proud of my son who retains almost nothing in regards to retelling a story and that he remembered the correct name for the war that was fought to free slaves. I think we need to work on the timeline a little bit more though.

Baby's first cut

This could just be the cutest baby in the world. Actually, I'm pretty certain of it.



Canaan's hair was getting so long and unruly that I could barely manage it unless I was putting it in twists or cornrows every week. That's at least 2 hours of my time that I could be doing something else that needed to be done. Not to mention 2 hours of trying to get a one-year-old to sit still.



Jonah did not want his hair cut but Jonah isn't the one who combs out a one year olds hair every day. I am. I tried to keep Jonah happy by keeping it somewhat "long". I guess we'll see when he sees this post;) Honey, I sure do love you!



I didn't want to lose his long hair and shave it, I just wanted it to be more manageable for me to comb out every day.



What do you think? Is he cute or what?


He wanted to say hi to all you adoring blog fans in the camera.

ETA: Yes, these are all after pictures. Didn't even occur to me to take before one's! I cut off a good 2 inches though)when his curls are pulled out.

The happenin's

We've been busy around here! Fall is just around the corner and, with it, lots of work for me with canning some yummy tomatoes, pears and apples. Last week we spent the day at Apple Hill and I picked up 50 pounds of pears for $11.95.

Two days after I bought the pears my mother-in-law called to ask if we could help harvest their pears. She sent us home with 3 boxes of pears(about 70 pounds or so). Good thing they will take a week or so to ripen or else I would be swimming in pears with no sign of relief from all the work!





Yesterday, I was able to can 5 quarts of pear sauce in between home schooling the kids and other chores that had to be done. I also made fresh tomato sauce with zucchini and basil from our garden and it was OH so good! We had that over pasta for dinner and it could never compare to my homemade tomato sauce made with store bought canned sauce.





This morning I set things up a little better so that I could peel and core pears while watching the kids do their school work and give them direction. Canaan worked hitting tupperware with spoons on the floor at my feet. It worked great. My kitchen is a disaster(as you can see in the pictures) but I have a crock full of pear sauce being made into pear butter and another pot on the stove ready to make another batch of pear sauce.

This whole "homemaking" thing sure is fun. :)

The transformation

from city girl to country girl is officially complete.

I have the land.



I have the chickens.



I have the garden.


I have the barn.



I have the boots(aren't they cute?)



And today, Gretel came home to stay. :)



She is newly pregnant and will be calving the end of April or so and we'll have yummy fresh milk to make all kinds of good things!

Stay tuned

Today's a special day. Stay tuned later today to see what it is:)

Adoption issues

I must say, Isaiah is one of my happiest and most compliant children. He is not known to be disobedient most of the time and is always a pleasure to have around. This morning something happened that has just about broke my heart and I wanted to share it because someone out there might just gain something from this.
During morning chores Isaiah was having a really bad attitude, saying the chore was too hard(he does it every day just fine), he was too tired, and just overall complaining. I told him he needed to change his attitude immediately or I would assign him an extra chore to do later. He continued to be upset so I warned him again and then needed to go outside to do something.
When I came back in all I heard was sobbing. Uncontrollable sobbing. Anyone who has Liberian children will know the "Liberian wail" well. He was hiding under the table crying hard. This is not something Isaiah does very often but when he does, you know he's hurting.
I knelt down beside him and asked him what was wrong. He fell into my arms and told me he didn't want me to be upset with him and he was sorry for his attitude. I forgave him, told him I wasn't upset and yet, he continued to cry uncontrollably. When I asked him why he was so upset still(about 7 times) he says, "I'm scared that you'll be so mad at me that you'll send me away!" Break.my.heart.
I wonder if this is the reason why we have so few issues with Isaiah and why, when he does get reprimanded for something simple, he completely loses it emotionally. My poor boy. The thought of my child worrying every day that if he did something "wrong" he would be cast off like a pair of holey socks makes me weep! I held him and told him I loved him and that he would NEVER be sent away no matter how naughty he was. I just hope he will come to believe me and that I can help him understand. The last thing I want is my child living in fear of being "sent away".

Play time with the sister's

What are you gonna do? He doesn't seem to mind that he has a bright pink scarf wrapped around his head, why should I?

Tomato sauce

Start with a big bowl of homegrown tomatoes. Yum! These are Roma's and they are perfect for sauce because of their low moisture content.


This is a Velox tomato press that I bought 3 years ago while garage saleing with a friend. I paid $4 for it and you can find these at old time hardware stores or, I'm sure, online.


Here are all the players in this orchestra. Very simple, easy and satisfying! You can see on the left that I put a ziploc inside a pitcher and it worked great for holding the bag while I poured the sauce in.



You will want to run the pulp through at least 3 times. It's amazing how much extra sauce you can get from it after the first go through.



Homegrown tomato sauce ready to freeze for future use in pasta, chili, etc. No heating during a hot summer day and no worries about canning it properly. With the speed we go through tomato sauce, this will be gone in no time.

Introducing...

"Look what we got!" Canaan says.

Jonah's Aracauna(really Easter Eggers but this is what they were sold as) is named Henrietta but he's at work and named her over the phone without even seeing her, gasp!


Tricia. No clue why he chose this name but he said he liked it and it was the first girl's name he came up with. Justus' chick is THE cutest with this cool mohawk and really pretty coloring.



Ari. Short for Ariel but I wouldn't allow Disney movie names unless they were nicknames so...



Jazzy. Short for Jasmine, see above.


Penzy. Short for Rapunzel, see above.


Nancy(after Nancy Drew).


Fairlight (someone's been watching a lot of the "Christy" series).



Buffy. It seemed fitting since she is a Buff Orpington, ya know?

After a very frustrating afternoon of not getting all the chicken's I wanted(they said they had them but they didn't and then a lady rushed in without paying(literally) and took all of the one's I was in line paying for before I had put them in my box). I will be going back in to town early Friday morning as the chicks come off the truck in hopes of finishing off our flock with some Barred Rocks and Wyandotte's and a friend is giving us some already laying Rhode Island Reds in about a month. Fun, fun!

Through Isaiah's eyes

Isaiah asked me the other day if he could borrow my camera to take pictures. I handed it over, interested to see what he would capture. It seems like he spent most of his time in our garden, where he loves to be. Enjoy!