Nevaeh's Science Project

I'm trying to think of a catchy title, feedback is appreciated. For now we are calling it " Dyeing Daisies."
"

Materials
White Daisies
6 glass jars
Food Coloring
Water

Step 1 Cut the Daisies into even lengths and let sit while you prepare the water jars. The thirstier they are the better.

Step 2 We filled each jar with 10 oz of water



Step 3 Nevaeh added 30 drops of food coloring to each jar. Yellow, red, blue, green with an additional red jar and blue jar ( for a project within a project)

Step 4 Add the daisies to their jars. For our side project we cut the stem of the daisies and added them into two different color jars to see what would happen.



Step 5 Wait


Here were our results after 16 hours

Update

I met with my OB and want to go on record for saying Dr. Vera Stuckey is the greatest OB in the world! She is 100% on board with a biopsy and personally called the surgeon immediately to get our order for the biopsy! She agreed it was ridiculous to wait and wants us to attack this straight on. I hope to hear from the surgeon today to get it scheduled ASAP. Baby is doing great! I've gained 2lbs, gotta be careful not to gain too much and end up with a giant baby. His/her heartbeat is 146. While still a little uneasy of the unknown I am excited that we have a plan.

I Choose to Worship and Not to Worry

I’ve always been a firm believer in that “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me,” and that the Lord will never give me more than I can handle. I can humbly stand before you today and truthfully say that these two verses have been put to the test in my life. And that while I am trying my best to embrace them I am struggling and am battling with my emotions.

Nearly two months ago my husband and I found out we are expecting our fourth baby next spring. We are thrilled and while adding another child into the family can cause a little more stress physically, emotionally and financially, we are so incredibly blessed to be able to welcome another miracle to the world.

I had my first OB appointment on September 19th 2011, ironic being that the 19th of September is Trinity’s birthday. She and Nevaeh were able to come to my appointment and watch our new little peanut on the ultrasound screen, it was very special. During my physical exam my doctor discovered a small lump on my right breast. We both assumed it was the result of a clogged milk duct, being that I had recently stopped nursing Selah. To be on the safe side she ordered an ultrasound and full lab work up.

A couple weeks later I went in for my lab work. Selah was sick so I conveniently made her appointment the same day. Bad news came from that doctor visit. They are treating her for and keeping an eye on her possibly having asthma, which runs in our family. Not the most exciting news to get for the day. Then it was time to head over for my breast care ultrasound.

The ultrasound tech was super sweet, she got all the pictures she needed and explained it may take about 30 minutes for the doctor to go over the pictures and come in to talk to me. She left the room and not even 5 minutes later came back in with the doctor. He looked a little frazzled and was trying to choose his words carefully and went on to explain that it was not a clogged milk duct but was a tumor about the size of a small egg. My face must have lost all color because he immediately followed his first statement with, “I can’t say that it is cancer but I can’t say that it isn’t.” I asked what needed to be done and he immediately said a biopsy is the best route but there are risks involved with me being pregnant so he would need my OB to approve the surgery. He said my other option was to wait three months to have another ultrasound so that we can track the growth.

I left the office feeling scared and unsure. What was going to happen? I called my husband and my mother to tell them what was going on and had a mini emotional breakdown in the Kaiser parking lot. I listened to my husband’s CD the whole way home and had “Where Would I Be?” on repeat. I sang and sobbed the words,
You are all my life,
You have made me complete.
Here I stand Lord an offering,
A living sacrifice burning for you.

I got the questions out of my system, why me Lord? What did I do to deserve this? Lord please make this tumor benign or even disappear. I got home to my girls, had some “quiet” time and surrendered, to the best of my abilities, my fears. I prayed that regardless, cancer or not, God would get the glory in the way this situation played out.

My amazing family got together to pray for me. My incredible husband poured out his soul, reassuring me that he is by my side through thick or thin and that we are in this together. And it is the love and support I have since received from the wonderful people in my life that is helping me get through this more than they could ever know. “I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength.” I believe with all my heart He is giving strength through others.

In an effort not to draw attention to myself or start any type of scare, we have kept this on the more private side of things. Mostly because of my own fears of how people will respond. But my husband made me realize that the more people I have praying for me the better and I’d have to say I agree.

I have a doctor’s appointment tomorrow morning to make a “game plan” with my OB. It is there we will discuss scheduling a biopsy and my options for surgery. We believe in the power of prayer. We are praying that…
#1 God places a hedge of protection over the baby growing in my belly
#2 That we are able to schedule a biopsy as soon as possible
#3 That the results are benign
#4 That if surgery is necessary it be scheduled promptly
#5 He fills me with His strength because I can’t do this on my own.

Thank you for your love, your support and most of all your prayers. I am trying everyday to not let this get me down and to see the blessing that can come out of this situation. God works in mysterious ways and we don’t always understand why. I choose to trust in Him, to worship and not worry.

Cinco De Mayo

Haven't blogged in a while, I suppose you could say life has been a little busy lately. Nevaeh started kindergarten and celebrated her 5th birthday, Trinity started preschool and celebrated her 4th birthday, Selah is growing like a weed and will soon be turning one! And if all of that wasn't exciting enough we found out early September that we are expecting baby #4!!! May 5th 2012 another little miracle will be added to the Winters household and we couldn't be more thrilled. Nevaeh and Trinity are super excited and are praying for a brother, I reminded them that it could very well be another little sister and they were okay with that. While this pregnancy is a lot different than my others I am still expecting baby to be another girl. Aside from the ever so wonderful morning sickness I have crazy fatigue ( couldn't have anything to do with the fact I'm chasing 3 little rugrats around everyday) and am super sensitive to smells. It's a package deal, these symptoms just come with the territory, I am so excited about the end reward and am thankful to have an amazing family and a wonderful, supportive husband. Gender will be revealed early December. Guesses? ( not what you hope I'm having, but what you truly think I'm having:) )

Winters Family Adventure 2011

Our family vacation, or as we like to call in The Winters Family Adventure 2011, was both amazing and exhausting. It came with many sets of challenges but above all else gave us some quality family time and memories we will only laugh about later.
I must say first and foremost we had an amazing time on our trip. There is always so much to discover out in the Eastern Sierras. Family, food, fishing, hiking, old gold mines , hot showers and the scenery is just breathtaking. We did however hit a few little "bumps in the road" and so the "adventure" begins.
We got to camp only to find out our electric wasn’t working, but we shook it off. Then Day 1 of our trip I got super sick and ended up in the ER and was treated for strep and pneumonia. I had one day of rest but didn’t let getting sick stop me. We enjoyed Lee Vining went on a few hikes with the whole family, it was a blast!Our girls had a blast with all of their cousins, we had Jason's entire family there this year. This was my parents first trip to Lee Vining so we wanted them to see a little bit of everything, Yosemite, Lundy Lakes, Mammoth and more. An interesting fact, the water levels were higher than they have been since the 30’s, many of the campsites we have stayed at in years past were under water this year. Only downside was Yosemite was CRAZY BUSY because the falls are so huge.

Day 3 Jason ended up in the ER for the same reason I was there, then it rained for the first time taht we have ever traveled to Lee Vining( I'm going on 7 years this year) We made a day out of it in Mammoth though ( trying to entertain three kids in a trailer for an entire day to escape the rain is nearly impossible). We even ran into some friends of ours from Ramona who happened to be on their family vacation at the same time.
My parents left on Saturday, Sunday we went to church in June Lake then headed on the Rainbow Falls/ Devils Postpile hike, it was beautiful. And while we were in Mammoth we ran into a good friend of ours David Porter who joined us on our hike.
Monday we celebrated the 4th of July in Bridegport, as always. We enjoyed battling it out in the Mud Volleyball tournament, playing on the jumpies at the courthouse and eating yummy food. It was here we decided that we would try something new, pack up Tuesday morning and head to Lake Tahoe. Jason had fun childhood memories there, floating down the Truckee River, eating breakfast at Ponderosa and taking the cable cars up to Squaw Valley. So we made the trek, found a great camp spot right by the beach, set up the trailer, swam in the lake for a bit and had a relaxing night with our girls. The next morning we found out that Ponderosa closed in 2004, Jason was bummed. At least we had the rafting trip. So we headed up to the Truckee River, stopped to buy Selah a life vest discovering there was a bunch of money missing out of our account. All of it to be exact. We were in Tahoe with no money, no gas and three kids. See what I mean about adventure. Praise the Lord for free wifi at McDonalds, I jumped on the internet, found the problem, Chase fixed it and we were back and ready for action! We FIANLLY made it to the rafting company only to find out IT WAS CLOSED FOR THE SEASON! AH! Apparently because of the high levels of water this year the base of the river was flooded so they had the dam closed not allowing any more water down the Truckee.

At this point Jason and I questioned why we ever came to Tahoe. As we headed back to camp feeling stressed and defeated I received a text message from a dear friend Lori Bassham inviting us for dinner in Tahoe. They were on their family trip only 15 minutes away from us. ( Her Mom Ginny read on my Facebook Profile that we were in Tahoe and gave Lori a call)We were THRILLED!!! And to make this dinner date even better, they had coordinated with our friends Aaron and Carol Gayden who live an hour away, to meet up with us as well. These folks are some of our FAVORITE people ever. So we got ready, spent the afternoon with our girls then headed for dinner. It was loud, crowded, a little chaotic with all our kiddos but we had a blast! That dinner made our Tahoe Trip! We decided to start our way home the next day to break our drive into 2 (6 Hour) driving days allocating time for a few stops along the way. First stop was a cable car trip up to Squaw Valley which is some one the best Ski area ever. They hosting the Olympics there in the late 60’s. It was really fun traveling up the cable cars, a little freaky, but our girls absolutely loved it. Second stop was supper at Aaron & Carol Gaydens house where we grilled some carne asada, visited Aarons studio and just enjoyed each others company for a while. We made the trek down the 101 and stayed IN A HOTEL! It was heaven after camping for over a week. We swam in a pool, slept in a super comfortable bed, woke up and ate a breakfast I didn’t have to prepare, it was great! Then we started the trek home. Not a lot to say accept our 6 hour drive home turned into a nearly 12 hour drive home because of unexpected traffic and another ER pit stop. Jason was suffering from a weird unexplainable fever. So we made a pit stop in San Marcos then I drove the rest of the way home ( driving a trailer is scary.) As soon as we pulled into Ramona a sense of peace came over me. It felt so good to be home. So that was our adventure. Life has a way of creating challenges and adding a few bumps in the road. We got to a point where we just looked at each other and laughed. We may have had a lot of “issues” with this years trip but we still had an amazing family adventure. Dare I say, I am looking forward to what God has in store for us next summer!

Better Late Than Never

So it's been a couple off months since I have blogged last and once you read this you will understand why. At the end of May I had the honor of shooting Paul & Cindy Ransoms Wedding. It was a beautiful wedding full of friends and family from our church. June we hit the summer running, Nevaeh graduated from Busy Bee Preschool we had a wonderful MVCC Staff Retreat at Boomers and then I left for Summer Camp. I spent a whole week with 20 of our MVCC kiddos at Indian Hills Camp in Jamul, it was a blast! I came back mid week of camp for a day to pack for our family camping trip. I got home Friday, finished packing Saturday then we left Sunday after the church picnic for Lee Vinning. We call this trip our 2 Week Winters Family Adventure(Vacation Blog to follow) The day after we returned from our trip I had the priveledge of shooting my friend Sarah's wedding. It was a mini high school reunion for me, I had a blast and she was one stunning bride.
After spending a few days getting " back in the swing of things", my sister-in-laws and I spent the day at Glen Ivy for our birthdays. It was so nice having a day to myself. Lots of fun and exciting stuff. I have a few more birthday celebrations this week, our 6 year anniversary is coming up then I get to look forward to Catalina in August. I feel so incredibly blessed to have the opportunity to do lots of fun things and am thankful for the strength and energy God has blessed me with to do them.

A Dozen Blessings for Hope

At 1:08am Monday morning I woke up to my dog Hope barking from the laundry room. She had delivered her first puppy and freaked out. I calmed her down, laid her on her blanket and handed her baby boy. He was so tiny! I got a little nervous, which is silly because I wasn't the one in labor. The second puppy was born about 15 minutes later. I had to kind of help her find the puppy and prompt the clean up. The third puppy came and she was a pro! The first four came quickly ( about 15-20 minutes apart)the next 6 came about every 30-40 minutes, an hour later was puppy #11 and an hour after that puppy #12. I was up the entire 7 hours, giving Hope food & water, petting her, helping the pups find food, ect.


It was an incredible experience, I just hope next time she delivers during the day so the girls can be there for it. They ere pretty excited to wake up to 12 puppies in the house though. She is such a good mommy, it is really neat to see my crazy, hyper puppy turn into a calm, mature, responsible "woman" over the course of a couple weeks.


Now I am the proud owner 12 Golden Retriever Puppies for the next 8 WEEKS!

Meet Bandit The Racoon, he is going to help me see how fast the puppies grow week by week.