Photography fun…

Last week was our photo outing for our photography group, a group of women sharing tips and motivation to enjoy and improve our photography skills. The group leader set up a location shoot at an old housing site here by the water using young women from our ward. It was a fun opportunity to get some great shots of my beautiful daughter.

Here are some of my favorites. Disclaimer: I don’t have a DSLR camera. I don’t want a DSLR camera. I’m too lazy for a DSLR camera. So, while I know that if I had used a high-end camera that my depth of field could have been better or my lighting could have been fixed with some aperture settings, I’m happy with my mid-size Canon. And, I think they are pretty good. All without any editing. Enjoy!

Happy Birthday, special girl...

Our first born, Sabrina Nicole...turned 14 on July 18th. She was lucky enough to not have dad here for her actual birthday, so she successfully stretched the celebration over 5 days! We started the weekend with a beach party with her friends. They had a great time splashing about, eating hot dogs and monster cupcakes, exploring their creative sides with frosting (Sorry, David!)

These were the ridiculously difficult cupcakes she requested out of the super cute, self-proclaimed EASY cupcake cookbook. Yeah...they LIE! Grrrrrrr....2 days of work later, they did turn out cute.

Sunday, I asked her what she wanted for her birthday breakfast. She came up with crepes...hmmmm, haven't done that in a while. I'd forgotten how super easy and mega yummy they were! What a pretty display...

Monday was her actual birthday, so I dropped off Hayden and McKenna at friend's, then took her out for a surprise pedicure. She really wasn't excited, but in the end, loved the experience.

Dad finally came home on Tuesday, so we went to dinner, her choice, burgers at Island's. Yum, again!

Year 13 was rough, I ain't gonna lie! We moved away from Germany, the only home she remembered; there were major diabetes issues we've worked hard to overcome; add in siblings and hormones...and I'm surprised we're all still alive. But, I think we've come out ahead, and it's only uphill from here. She has really embraced this new adventure, loving the sunshine and water play.

She's taking advantage of opportunities to hang out with friends. She makes friends easily, we all knew she would!

She's even started improving relations with Hayden....awwwww...aren't they cute together?

Some more things we love about her... She loves to sing karaoke.

She's creative, fun and quirky-- slipper socks, and all.

And, I never tire of downloading the cameras and finding gems like this:

High school, 5:50 am seminary, new friends, new routines---changes ahead. Enjoy 14, baby girl....we're along for the ride.

Cake Boss is the Boss!

So, I told you guys that Sabrina was sweet enough to bake me a birthday cake this year. I didn't show you a picture before...yes, that's a chunk out of the side that stuck to the pan. I love that dear girl, and she really tried.

Then, on 4th of July, The Learning Channel was having a "Cake Boss" marathon...it's amazing what this Jersey bakery pulls off. We recorded it, and watched it later that week, and after about 4 hours of watching these yummy cakes being made and eaten...I wanted cake.

So, I asked her to go in and make one for us. She baked it, then I showed her how to make real frosting, not from a can. I took out my decorating tips and let her have at it. She had picked up so much!

The result was a decadent chocolate treat. A great accomplishment for a 14 year old. I'm going to have to put her to work in the kitchen more often! Yummy!!

Our own March Madness...

Following my last post, some crazy stuff came up...my computer locked up and would only open up in safe mode, so I had to back it all up and Dennis wiped it back to start. It took a few days to get back up and running and even longer to make it feel like my trusty old computer again.

Then, we had Spring break...yes, we already had spring break. Never mind that spring just started...ha ha. I guess when it's warm year round they can schedule breaks whenever... I took the kids to the beach a couple of times, although this day at Bellows Beach was so windy and chilly that I had to buy this cute swim shirt at the shoppette. Sabrina was at Girls' Camp at the beach. She had a great time and bonded with some of the younger girls. Yes, that's my goofy girl in the background with the crooked hat.

We have also been spending a lot of time at Tripler with the patient educator getting the training we didn't receive in Germany. In a couple of weeks we are expecting Dr. Chase from the Barbara Davis Center in Denver for a conference. We get a one-on-one with him to assess where's Sabrina's at and make improvements. I'm really happy we are getting so much care here, but it's time consuming and exhausting.

Also before Spring Break we were called into a meeting at the school for Sabrina's English teacher. It didn't start out too positively, but ended up agreeing to re-assess her with a different test. She didn't finish all the questions, but what she did finish she did really well, so now they are looking at the time it takes her to process things. They have agreed to make adjustments to how they grade her, breaking things down and giving her more time for things. All of a sudden, this english teacher is Sabrina's best friend. Odd how judgements will affect the effort they (teachers) put in...I'm hopeful, though that it really helps pick up her grades this final quarter and eases the workload, because as much work and frustration as it is for her, added worry makes it is moreso for us...

Hayden earned his Arrow of Light, the highest cub scout badge, this week at the Blue & Gold Banquet. He will move up to boy scouts when he turns 11 next month. We're so happy with the work he's done to get here.

Today, I spent the morning at the beach with 2 girlfriends playing "hooky" from being a SAHM while the kids were in school. It was relaxing to sit there and "talk story" as they say here in Hawaii. Plus, no lugging boogie boards and sand toys...bonus!

I'm going to sign McKenna up for soccer next month. She has been asking for 6 months now, and they have the base soccer starts in June. The AYSO doesn't start until August, and I'll put Hayden and Sabrina in that one...it is really well run, and with them being older, I think they need that. Plus, having them all 3 have games on a Saturday could pose a problem with only 2 parents...conceivably 3 locations. McKenna will be finishing around the time they are starting, so it works out well.

So, now the kids are back in school, back to routine, and I'm trying out new things...I'm trying a hiking group next week and plan to work in some kayaking sometime in April. What fun Hawaii can be!

What's up?

The past few weeks have been focused on the upcoming spring break, when Sabrina will have YW camp at Bellows beach, and the end of the school quarter. We plan to take in a movie, hit the beach a couple of times, and maybe visit the Discovery Center for hands-on fun.

Hayden finished his 5 week Starbase field trip to Pearl Harbor complete with successful rocket launch! Dennis and I each spent a day chaperoning. He had a "blast" and got a ton of flight and space education, including CAD engineering design.

We have started weekly appointments to get the training we should have received when Sabrina got her pump in Germany. We have a FAB.U.LOUS. patient educator here at Tripler Hospital that has really taken a caring interest in getting Sabrina's pump therapy running smoothly. We have lots of fun "homework" like going out for a burger, french fries and milkshake, and using a square-wave bolus. Next time we get to try pizza with a dual-wave bolus. Sabrina's thrilled!

McKenna ate an entire appetizer platter of shrimp last week. She has a strange pallet for a 5 year old.

Sabrina had an etiquette night at church, complete with a fake date and a fancy dinner. Hopefully she took it all in. Have you seen her eat? I told her no date would take out an animal like that a second time!

We also finally replaced Sabrina's glasses with a new style she's excited about. Maybe they'll help her be more studious?

We had our dental checkups this month...found a dream of a dental office. Everyone passed with flying colors...but poor little McKenna, those dang baby teeth are no good!

Sabrina and school-- She. is. not. organized. Period. I, however, THRIVE on being organized. So, each quarter it boils down to me working to get her caught up with semi-decent grades. This quarter has been no exception. Her teachers just have not been helping. Dennis and I met with her English teacher (who, by the way, teaches from behind her desk...always) and got a rundown of how she thought Sabrina may have a 1st grade reading level. Really? Last year she was in the average range for 7th grade in the Terra Nova. She backtracked 5 grades?

So, we stood up for her, discussed her medical conditions, looked for possible reasons she wasn't producing grade-level work and testing well. She gave her a different kind of assessment, and lo and behold...she scored mid-senior and post high school on her vocabulary and comprehension. All of a sudden this teacher, that thought Sabrina was a slacking loser, is her best friend...in her corner...helping to prepare an education plan that takes into account her medical needs and focuses on the main rubriks to help her succeed. I'm so hopeful that it will turn around for her...and us. It has been an exhausting year! This next quarter will be the real test to see if it works.

Hayden earned his Webelos badge last week, and he is set to earn the Arrow of Light at the upcoming Blue and Gold banquet this month. We are so proud of all of his hard work...he is doing his 3rd hike this Saturday...just for fun, he doesn't need to fill a requirement. He'll be moving to the 11 year old scouts on his birthday in April.

Dennis has been acting superintendent this past month--a job he'll gladly relinquish when someone else comes in soon. He can't get ahead of the volume of email.

Me? I just can't wait to sleep in on Friday...and every day next week! That's the best part of the school breaks for me...Yay!

A week in the life....

Let's see...

• Last week, after Hayden had the flu, Sabrina started getting sick over the weekend. After a horrible showing at New Beginnings Sunday night, we took her in to the Dr. last Monday, and she was dehydrated with walking pneumonia. Six hours and a bag of I.V. fluids later we got to go home with antibiotics. I felt just a little bad I made her go fulfill her YW obligations...just a little...

• Last Thurday, Hayden's teacher had a rough morning and told him and his friends, if they wanted to continue to talk, take it outside. So. he. did. Phone call to mom...

• Yesterday, I was standing in line in Ross and a woman told me McKenna was beautiful...happens a lot, but then she suggested we put her in pageants. I nodded and smiled, but then she proceeds to tell me how her sister puts her kids in pageants and they are all messed up, ruining kids' childhoods, putting people in debt, etc. Whaaaaat?

• Also yesterday, I was pulled over and given a ticket, while the truck I was following at the same speed drives on. How is that fair? Shouldn't he have lasered the first car coming down the road if he thought the cars were speeding? I will admit, I'm sure I was over 35, but it's hard not to feel a little like the "local" got away...

• And, again, yesterday, when I got my ticket, I was rushing to pick up Sabrina from an afterschool tutoring, and she was stuck on the second floor. The gates to the stairwells were locked. Violate fire codes much?

• Dennis's exercise ended, thus ending his 12 hour shifts (that really turned into 13-14 hours, but I digress...) and is now acting Superintendent so now we get to see him at dinner...usually.

• This is the first week that no one in our house is sick. Yay!!

• I have finally gotten tired of the little "spots" in the house with stuff from the move that had no home...so I've put a huge dent in it the last two days and feel so liberated! Now I can get to the list of 101 Things Lisa Wants to Finish this Year. (Doesn't everyone have one of those?)

• Tonight is my first Enrichment I'm putting on and instead of doing research for my class, I'm writing this post...can you spell P- R- O- C- R- A -S -T- I- N- A- T- I- O- N?

School days, school days...

Just a post about what's going through my head today:

The kids and I went to Utah for my grandmother's funeral, returning last Monday. We were really glad to be able to be there, but during the week after the funeral everyone got sick, so it was hard to visit like we wanted. I had 2 nieces with swine flu, one niece and one nephew with strep, and one niece with pneumonia. While we were there, Sabrina was sick for about 24 hours with a flu, but came home with just a cough.

That cough lingered, and over this past weekend, she started acting really lazy and had flu symptoms, which affected her blood sugars and ketones, causing her to get dehydrated. So, yesterday I took her to the hospital, where we spent 6 hours getting labs done, chest x-rays and an IV drip. The final word was she has a case of "walking pneumonia" which is making it difficult to manage her diabetes. So, armed with antibiotics and additional info on taking care of a sick diabetic, we finally were able to come home. But, she has now missed two more days of school, which brings me to this post.

I wanted to be proactive, so I took her to school today to pick up her assignments from the past two days. I shouldn't have. Now, I'm even more frustrated. She is not...I repeat...NOT a great student. Don't get me wrong...we love her dearly, but school and being organized (like using a planner) are not her strong suits. I have had conversations, even recent ones, with teachers about getting her caught up, staying on top of everything, etc. So, when I take my sick daughter to the school for the express purpose of picking up work to stay caught up, you'd think they'd be a little grateful...or at the very least, interested.

The first teacher didn't even get up from her desk, told Sabrina to back away (lest she catch the big, bad cold) and pointed to the board. The second one walked around the room, apparently gathering materials, with no indication he was even paying attention to us. Then he walked away without even a goodbye. One teacher is a sub for the entire semester, but isn't grading any work? Only one teacher even acted concerned that she was sick and made sure to give her all the information she needs for an upcoming test...and he isn't even one of her core subjects.

No wonder she's struggling...no wonder Hawaii schools are getting a bad rap...I'm finding it justified. This week her middle school is on minimum days, letting out at 12:30 for afternoon conferences that every student participates in. What I found today, when I arrived at noon, was the kids at lunch...really? Lunch ended at 12:20, when they proceeded to go sit in their classes, chatting until the bell rang at 12:30. Wouldn't it make more sense to skip lunch this week, work straight through, and let the kids out at 12:30? So, basically this week they are getting 3 hours of class each day...on top of no school on Friday for the Furlough Friday program to save money.

Hawaii kids are already getting less hours in the classroom. It just frustrates me that a student like Sabrina, that is already struggling, is not going to get the attention and interest she needs to succeed. It makes it hard for me to blame her, when the administration and teachers don't appear to care. I have considered homeschooling, but am told that unless I continue all through high school, she'll enter as a freshman when we leave here. And forget about private school...that's a small fortune, and I like to feed my family. I can only try to do my best at home, but without knowing what she needs help with, it's difficult. Just frustrating...

One week to go!

So, what's been going on this week? Last week was the Big Eddie, a seldom run, invite-only surf contest on the North Shore. There is all this criteria for it to run: the waves, height, barrels...lots of other conditions that mean nothing to my lack of surfing knowledge. We drove up there after the kids got out of school one day...missed the contest, but marveled at the fierocity of the waves. They had closed some of the beaches, including this one. This picture doesn't even do it justice...I mailed out ALL my cards, and ALL my packages, and got to baking. I had little helpers this year...

10 batches of cookies later...Hey, where did that extra cookie dough go?

We have been enjoying actually getting cards in the mail. Used to be we'd cover an entire door, now just about 1/2 a door the last couple of years...either we're less loved, or not as many want to do the mail thing anymore. Oh, well, I still make the majority of ours...and love it.

Coming home from shopping this week, seeing why we are SO grateful to live on base. While the rest of the area are leaving Hickam and Honolulu, we are coming home, on the right side of the freeway...

Dennis and I had a date night and went to the flight Christmas party...

Saw the coolest sunset while out delivering cookies tonight...

Came home and took the big, bad teenager's door off. (Long story, lots of drama...) Hayden thought it was funny and wouldn't stop taking pictures, so Dennis took his off, too...

What will the next week bring? All preparations are done, tomorrow's the last day of school until winter break, and the weather is beautiful...so, hopefully, lots of peace and fun family time. Who can ask for more?

Week 2 of unpacking and getting on track...

Ok, so I thought I was smart...Isn't the unaccompanied shipment supposed to be the one that is flown over with the stuff you need up until the last minute and the first stuff you'll need when you get there? I put in our silverware, pots and pans, sheets, the kids' soccer cleats (for the season that started this week), our tennies, hampers, the kids' computer, the bulk of Sabrina's diabetic supplies, plus more necessities. And, it's STILL.NOT.HERE. Our main shipment was delivered 12 days ago. What's up with that?

We did get to our new ward this past Sunday, though. We were welcomed with shell lei's and big smiles. It looks like a smaller ward, but I think it's a larger ward, just about 1/2 active. Sabrina is one of only about 6 young women. McKenna is the only girl in her primary class. A woman sat next to me in Relief Society and said her son thinks Sabrina's pretty, said he was being obnoxious to get her attention...she said it twice. So I asked Sabrina about it after church. Yes, apparently Jason was acting silly in class...she noticed. And, DAVID passed her a note that indicated he thought she was cute. Two boys, in 2 hours. Not bad...are we in trouble here?

Sabrina has definitely started to feel at home. She likes school (although the fact that homework has been all but non-existent could have something to do with it). She's made friends. She has boys following her. She has been doing really good getting out the door at 6:40am for the bus. Her attitude has changed, and she has been doing her chores without fail. We just found out that she's been getting lazy with checking her blood sugar and taking insulin...not a good thing. I guess it was getting TOO good...

Hayden is a new kid in school too. I told his teacher he likes to get up and help other kids when he is done with his work, and she said he just cracks open a book and reads! That's not like him. But, he does like his teacher and his class. He's doing well and started soccer this week. Boy, is that a workout...1.5 hours and hard core running and work in 88 degree weather. He is working hard.
McKenna started Kindergarten this week...she didn't even miss me! She's having a blast and loves to walk to school with Hayden. Her teacher is so sweet and McKenna is really taken with her. She starts gymnastics today and has been enjoying coming home from school and playing out back in the blow-up pool.

Dennis is working long and hard. He leaves for work before 6:30am for meetings and had some pretty physical, not to mention hot, PT several days in the week. He is exhausted when he gets home and, frankly, not really excited to be still putting furniture together. I don't blame him. Apparently, bolts and screws to two things are MIA.

I have been living at Walmart and Target getting curtains, returning curtains; getting a can opener, returning a can opener; getting a hose holder, exchanging for another. It's getting old. And, I'm down to the last few things to really finish setting up HOME. A few pictures left to hang, the other shipment to arrive, and I'll be happy. I am, however, knee deep in putting away the craft supplies...but have made quite the progress there, too. I'm loving the space. And, happy to have somewhere to put things away and pull them out when I need them.

We had our first Gecko lizard in the house last night. And our first Hurricane warning...that didn't pan out, thank goodness. And, we have had little crickets alot. Man they are fast! I can't figure out where they are getting in. And earwigs...but that's about it. It can be worse...we've been warned about centipedes and cockroaches and other tropical loving pests. I'm listening to the housing lawn crew take care of our yard right now. How awesome is that?! Even if it's a little disconcerting to have strange men with weed wackers outside your front door, I'm sure I'll get used to it.

As a family, we have been spending lots of time together, although Dennis says it's not quality family time to be out shopping. Not fun for who? ha ha. But seriously, with one car, I have to run errands when I get the chance. We have been preparing dinner together, jamming to IPod music, sitting down for family dinners (sans bench...one of the missing screw pieces), and gathering in the living room to watch Shark Week on the Discovery channel. (I love HGTV and watched 3 episodes of Clean House on the Style Channel yesterday.) No car, so I'm most productive in the mornings at home. Eventually when Dennis's car gets here, I plan to go out and get a part-time job. Lucky me.

But, we are getting on a schedule and feeling at home. It's a feeling I've missed.

Getting settle update...

Here we are, moved in to the new house on Wednesday, and we had a call on Thursday that our household goods are here! What luck! Also, they couldn't get us an appt to install phone/internet/cable until Aug. 13th, but called us on Thursday and will be able to fit us in this week. Yay! I'm severely in withdrawals from my lack of internet...it's killing me not to be able to get on when I need to. No email. No blog. No digital scrapbooking downloads....UGH! Right now I'm grabbing some free internet, just to get this done.

We did finally get the kids registered for school. There were issues with the TB tests...not showing on their records, so we had to do it again. Hayden was supposed to start on Friday, but both him and Sabrina were throwing up during the night before, so he missed his first day. McKenna starts on Wed, then goes again the following Monday, then full-time on the 11th.

Sabrina starts on Monday. I have to take her in to take all of her diabetic supplies, but after that she'll be riding a bus....at 6:45am! It's a crazy system...they pick up the kids on base, drop them off at school, then go out for another run at another base. So, she'll be at school almost an hour early every day. Did I mention we have to PAY for that service?

They have a short day here, 7:55am to 2:05pm. On Wednesdays it's even shorter, getting out at 1:15pm. I guess Wednesday will be my stay-at-home, get-everything-done day. No point running out to rush back.

The house is really nice...only opened up in November. The family that lived here before us was a forced move, lived in old housing but PCS'ing soon, so they only lived here 5 months. The kitchen is really large with, get this....22 cupboards and 9 drawers! (To all my friends in Germany: I'm loving returning to the land of cupboards!) I'm really at a loss with all the space! Lots of counterspace and a bar the length of one wall into the dining room. It's really a good layout. The utility room with the laundry is large enough to put my sewing table in. So, it will really work out well. I can't wait to get our things and play around with putting everything away!

I was also able to connect with another family that moved here a few weeks before us from Ramstein. She ran into Dennis in the housing office. They haven't been as lucky to get the new houses and their stuff isn't here yet. So, I'm feeling really grateful. We still need a few things...a TV, mattresses, etc. But, we're getting there.

We have been spending lots of family time...running around together. Lots of opportunities for funny things out of my kids' mouths. Last night, Sabrina picked up a rather large cutting board that had markings for rolling out pie dough and measurements etched on the right side. She said, "Hey, I can used this to measure my liquids!" I think she was referring to the conversions all listed on the side, but it was super funny....being a flat cutting board, and all.

Then last night, McKenna asked for a cheeseburger and cinnamon melts from McDonalds for dinner. She has never finished an entire cheeseburger, so I was skeptical that she would eat both, but I thought maybe the treat would be a good incentive to eat the entire burger. I was right and with a little prodding she finished the cheeseburger. Of course, I had to pack the melts in my purse because she was full. When we got to the car, I handed them to her, she put them between her legs. I then turned around about 5 minutes later, and they were half eaten. I asked her, "McKenna, wow! I don't believe it, where are you putting it all?" She said," In my lap." Isn't it funny when they take you so literally?

Yay! I'm not alone!

I mentioned before...it's been rough...a rough couple of weeks, especially. It doesn't help when you run into someone that says, "You are so amazing...the three kids...a pending move...doing it all alone...blah blah blah." Seriously, what do you say to that? "Yeah, I rock!" No, you just think about all the times you yelled at your kids this week, and think, "if they only knew!"

So, I read a blog now and then, can be found at http://thebackorderedlife.blogspot.com/. Sometimes her posts are lengthy, but they are also real and humorous, and a warning...not much in the way of hearts and flowers.

Her recent post summed up exactly how I feel, especially right now...TODAY. And exactly how I feel when someone that doesn't have teenagers, or at least not MY teenager, says something fluffy and sweet about how wonderful my kids are...and I hope she doesn't mind me quoting her here...

"However, my kids are all in very challenging places right now, and it's tapping me out, folks. They're awesome kids. (Why do we always feel the need to clarify that point? I mean, you never hear a mom say, "Well, the problem is, we shoulda tossed that one in the river on the way home from the hospital. Saved the taxpayers a lot of aggravation and freed up a bed in the big house.")

But each one of my kids is grappling with some major life-transition stuff, and I'm the sounding board / punching bag / crystal ball gazer who, guess what? has less of a clue than they have. These are grown-up choices, and many of them will require a great big leap of faith that, frankly, I can't take for them. They'll weather it all just fine, and by this time next year Hallmark will be a safer place to be on Mother's Day.

But meanwhile, it was pure torture to sit through church and hear moms whose oldest children are EIGHT tell me that motherhood is the closest anyone can be to God while still on earth. I'm telling you, there are days when ONE of us is flirting with a face-to-face with the Almighty, but somehow I don't think that's what the speaker had in mind.Another wonderful bit of wisdom I heard a couple of times this weekend was, "Live in the moment." Seriously? Live in the moment? Which moment would that be, exactly?

Any of the hundreds of moments where one daughter is telling me that I'm the meanest, most heartless slug ever to sully the title of "Mother" because I suggested that her life plan of joining a Korean boy band was perhaps a little unrealistic?

Or how about that moment when another daughter can't be asked to pick up her room or take a turn with the dishes without passing through the seven stages of pissiness?

Should I just take up residency in the moment where I'm seeing via ParentLink that my 7th grader hasn't done any school work since the bronze age?"

OH.MY.HECK. She's living in MY house! And, I've lived through all of her moments with just ONE of my kids...I'm really struggling to find a way past her anger over having diabetes.

I have, however, two lights at the end of this tunnel that are helping me through. One, Dennis will come back. And, two, I'm working on getting my daughter into that Korean boy band...

Pumps and prayers...

Sabrina has had to deal with a life-altering illness, Type 1 Diabetes, for just over a year now. I can't say enough how proud I am of her for how she handles it, most of the time. She went from being terrified at immunization time to giving herself her own injections of insulin 4-5 times a day within a matter of weeks. Then, in December, she was changed over to the on-site insulin pump and continuous glucose monitor. This is what has become a major part of her life and ours. All of the equipment and site injections every 3 or so days.
It's something that has spilled over into so many areas and brought so many learning experiences. I think it's made her stronger, and I've been trying to help her understand that it is something she can control...not let it control her. Even McKenna mimics her. She wants to be like big sis...with her own "pump"...
But, last night also came a teaching moment that I tried to take advantage of today. Sabrina was changing her site on her pump, and having a hard time...it was late...she was tired. And, I don't blame her not wanting to stick a 1/2 inch needle straight into her stomach every 3 days. So, after it was done, she came to me crying that Heavenly Father didn't answer her prayer to help her find a good spot that wouldn't hurt. I tried to explain that He loves her, and it is going to hurt anyway...it didn't mean He wasn't answering her prayers.

Then, today in the combined adult meeting at church, the speaker talked exclusively about prayer, about desire, about listening for answers, about doing the right things that will put you in a position to get answers. So, I started thinking again about Sabrina last night.

She definitely had the desire...she even had faith He would help her. So, what I wanted to explain to her (and I brought Hayden in too) was something I still struggle with...giving into His will...not that it's His will that she be in pain. But, that she needs to use her prayers to ask for her own growth and strength to handle these challenges. That we can want something so badly, but it just isn't in the cards, or isn't something we can change...so ask for something we can...like to endure.

I hope that as she gets older she can grow closer to her Heavenly Father and learn to view prayer as shared communication with Him. Not just outlining what we're grateful for, or asking for what we need, but really talking to Him and feeling Him. It's what I hope for-for all of them, and myself as well.

This 'n That...

Ok, not so much a bad week, or a good week...just one of those "getting along" weeks. I did get the car fixed and passed inspection (yay!). Of course, I think I paid the mechanic's rent for the month...

But, a couple of things I have been wanting to share...

McKenna is big on Knock Knock jokes right now...too bad she can't recite any. We get a lot of :
McKenna: Knock Knock
Us: Who's there?
McKenna: "Knock Knock, who?" or "orange you glad?"
How do you finish that?

So, I decided to make one up with her that she can remember and wow her friends. (and she can actually carry it off!) It goes like this:
McKenna: Knock Knock
Me: Who's there?
McKenna: Ach
Me: Ach who?
McKenna: Bless you!
She's so proud!!

And, then there's Hayden...he's definitely our talker. This is always brought to the forefront when he has someone's full attention, as when we get new home teachers, like last night. Here he is...going on and on-- about our cruise, about his love of camoflouge, about Sabrina being a bully to him, about the fire station a block over...it gets almost embarrassing. You have to pretty much cut him off at some point, or the fountain will never stop. He's also my curious george, always asking probing questions and soaking up any bit of knowledge, especially technology related...he thinks email and the internet were created for him. He watched a video online the other night about Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes, then proceeded to tell Sabrina and I about the diseases...wish he could tell us why we are having problems with her blood sugar sensor...

Both, Hayden and Sabrina, passed stripe tests this week. Sabrina is starting her brown belt stripe testing, and Hayden is finishing up his red belt. Some of the biggest arguments between them start with who can take who out...wasn't this karate thing Grandpa's idea? So much for harmony...