Placement Day

I haven't posted about this yet, because it was such a sacred experience it is hard to put into words.  There really were angels in the room with us at noon on June 12, 2012.  I think for now I will just post some photos and then tell you a little about how we chose Kalia's name and what it means.

Kalia's name:
A few days after learning that we were going to be parents again, I pulled out our copy of Hawaiian Names English Names by Eileen M. Root to look for a Hawaiian name for our daughter.  She technically isn't Hawaiian at all.  Most of her genetic makeup is Micronesian.  Her birth mom is from the island of Kosrae in Micronesia and is 3/4 Micronesian and 1/4 East Indian.  Her birth father is also Micronesian, but we don't know a lot about him.

The name I was drawn to in the book was Meakalia which means "The waited for one".  With five syllables, we would most likely shorten her name and I wanted to make sure when we shortened it, we didn't alter the meaning of the word...which can happen very easily with Hawaiian words.  I have a friend on Maui who is a Hawaiian language expert, so I emailed her and ask for her advice.  She wrote, "Naming is so important, especially Hawaiian names.  I'm so glad you asked for guidance.  I would suggest not using mea at all.  It has too much negative connotation to it.  Kalia is beautiful and perfect as it is."


I have a Hawaiian dictionary, so I looked up the pieces to her name.  Ka means the, and is used with most Hawaiian words.  Li'a means strong desire, yearning or to yearn for.  Kali means to wait or hesitate.  We started this adoption process five and a half years ago and have been praying and waiting for this sweet little girl for a long time!  This was why we chose to name her Kalia.  Partly for the meaning of the name and partly because she was born in Hawaii and has a Pacific Islander heritage.


Kalia's middle name is Willamina.  Her middle name was chosen to honor two of her ancestors...one adopted and one birth relative.  My grandmother who passed away in May was named Wilma.  We received the news that Kalia would be joining our family on the day I arrived home from attending my grandmother's funeral.  We feel that my grandmother had a hand in helping Kalia find her way to our family.  Kalia's birth grandmother (who passed away a few years ago) was named Cathmina.  Our birth mother named her three year old daughter after her mother, so Kalia's birth half-sister is also named Cathmina.  We wanted her to have a connection with her birth family as well as with her adoptive family, so we chose Willa to honor her adoptive family heritage and Mina to honor her birth family heritage.

Kalia's Birth Day

At 5:27pm on Sunday June 10, 2012, I got a call from the woman who drove our birth mom to the hospital. It was only a two minute phone call...but it was one of the most amazing phone calls I have ever received.  She said, "Hi.  This is Nancy.  I just called to tell you that your daughter is here and she is beautiful!  They haven't weighed her yet, so I don't know anything else to tell you, but she is here and she has a lot of hair.  I'm going to go now and call Sally to let her know.  Bye!"  (Sally is our adoption worker).

I was so excited!!  I called all the kids in (Darwin and Caleb were out home teaching) and told them that baby Kalia had just been born.  When Darwin got home, we texted our families to let them know, and then waited for a call from Sally to let us know what to do next.

At 6:16pm I tried calling Sally, but her phone went straight to voice mail so I left her a message.

At 8:31pm I tried calling Sally again...but again, her phone went straight to voice mail. I was a little worried...ok maybe a lot worried, so I looked up her home phone number on facebook and tried to call her at her house.  Her husband answered and told me that she had guests and that she would call me back in about 10 minutes.

She never called me.

Needless to say, I did not sleep at all Sunday night!  Adoptions are tricky things and can unravel fairly quickly...especially right after birth...so I had crazy dreams all night long!  The next day, I got up early to take Brooklin to cross country practice.  I checked my email on my phone and found an email from Sally that had been sent at 3:34am.  This is the email:

Melissa, it's 3:30 a.m.  I just checked my voicemail and found out V***** gave birth!!! It's Monday morning. I'm so sorry! My phone was dead today so I charged it up late tonight.

The baby will be discharged on Tuesday after about 48 hours or could be a few hours less..
Let's plan for a Tuesday placement.
I will call the hospital in the morning and see when the baby will be discharged. I'll let you know.  You can fly in and fly out on Tuesday.
I could take a carseat with me t o make things simpler.

I will contact you tomorrow.
CONGRATULATIONS!!!!  the big day is here!!!
Love, Sally

I had kind of wondered if her phone had died!  She told me later that she had guests until 10:30pm or so, and when they left, she had another person stop by and they stayed up talking story until 3:30am!  Her husband never told her I called and she had no idea that her phone had died!  She called me at 8:04am to let me know that she was trying to get a hold of the hospital in Hilo, but because it was a state holiday (King Kamehameha Day), no one was around that could tell her anything about baby or our birth mom!  She was flying out at 10am to go and visit V***** at the hospital and meet baby.  

I finally got some information on our baby from Sally at 2:29pm on June 11th.  She texted me these four pictures and all the info on baby.

She is perfect!!!  7 lbs 10 oz. 19 1/4".  5:17pm.  6/10/12.  Eyes wide open.  Kalia looks very Asian.

I was so excited to get pictures!!  We got right on the computer and bought plane ticket to Hilo for the next day, rented a car online, and started packing to go and pick up our new baby daughter!

Bone Marrow Matching Test Results

Caleb's doctor called us today to give us the results of the bone marrow matching swabs they did on the kids.  It was good news! =)  Not only does he have a sibling match...but BOTH of his sisters are a match!!  Both London and Brooklin matched 6 out of 6 markers that they tested!  The doctor said she had never seen two matches show up like this!  They are going to do another test on the samples to get a best-possible match where they test 10 markers.  That test should take a week, and then we can start on his treatment plan!

Another surprise to the doctors was that they were able to determine what caused the aplastic anemia in the first place.  They originally told us that 70% of the time they never know what causes it...so it was good news that they were able to determine the source.  I am happy to say that in this case, neither Darwin or I passed anything on to Caleb through genetics...so the likelihood of any of our other children getting it is very minuscule. The doctor told me that the cause of his aplastic anemia was called Paroxysmal Nocturnal Hemoglobinuria...or PNH.

From the aamds.org (aplastic anemia and MDS) website:

PNH  is a rare and serious blood disease that causes red blood cells to break apart. Doctors call this breaking apart "hemolysis". It happens because your blood cells are missing a protein that protects them from your body's immune system.

When your red blood cells break apart, the hemoglobin inside them is released. Hemoglobin is the red part of red blood cells. Its job is to carry oxygen around your body. The release of hemoglobin causes most PNH symptoms.

The reason this is kind of good news is now the doctors can tailor Caleb's treatments to this diagnosis and not do a general, blanket type of treatment on him.  The preferred procedure for this condition IS a bone marrow transplant, but they will be able to do some additional precision things that address the PNH. (...and I don't know what those things are right now).

The doctors also told us that Caleb is eligible for a Make-A-Wish, wish!  When we told Caleb, he said, "I'm not dying!"  Technically...he could die from this condition or complications that stem from it if it is not addressed and treated properly.  They told us that he could wish for just about anything and that the wish would be granted after most of his treatments are completed.  They said to make it something big that he would remember for the rest of his life.

We feel so blessed right now!  God is really watching out for us!! Our prayers (and yours!) are being heard and we feel the blessings and comfort of God daily!  Last week was pretty rough, but this week we have received two huge blessings!  Thank you for keeping our family in your prayers!  We really appreciate all of the prayers, messages of support and those near us who have willing served our family!

This picture just kind of reminds me of our last few weeks.  Feeling like we are jumping off a cliff with no parachute and then experiencing an amazing rainbow at the end of our ride! 

Akaka Falls in Hilo, HI

Five Weeks...In A Very Large Nutshell!

The last five weeks have been so unbelievably crazy!

On May 3rd, my family in Idaho called me to let me know that my dad's mother, Wilma Strasser had passed away.  She was very old and, while being sad that she had passed, we were all relieved that she was finally pain free and reunited with her sweetheart and her baby daughter Irene.  I decided to take London and fly Idaho to attend her funeral, which was to take place on what would have been her 69th wedding anniversary (May 11th).

When London and I flew out on May 9th (Brooklin's 16th birthday) to attend the funeral; Darwin had been working in Maui for 2 1/2 weeks and had 3 days to go, and Brooklin had made it to the state track meet for the 100m and 300m hurdles and was flying to the Big Island for the weekend.  Some friends of ours took Caleb and Isaiah for the few days we would both be gone.  

I am so grateful for the time I had with my dad's side of the family.  We haven't lived near any of them in a long time and it was amazing to just be surrounded by Strassers!  My grandparent have 45 grandchildren, and all but four of them were at the funeral! (Two were unable to make it, one was on a mission, and one passed away in 2005).

We were also fortunate enough to spend time with most of Darwin's family too!  His brother Bill and Bill's wife Shaneen both graduated from Boise State University the same weekend of the funeral, so London and I were able to see Darwin's parents, his Grandma Ray, four of his six siblings, and one of his cousins and her family.

During our stay in Idaho, we celebrated Darwin's 40th birthday and Mother's Day...in which my husband sent me a lei in the mail and won the best husband ever award!

London and I flew home on May 16th.  We got up at 4am Mountain Time (midnight in Hawaii) to catch a 6am flight.  We had a layover in Portland and arrived home at 10:30am in Hawaii.  When we landed in Honolulu, I switched on my phone I had a few text messages and a couple of missed calls.  One of the missed calls was from our adoption worker, Sally Lee.  This is the message she left:

“Hey Melissa.  This is Sally Lee.  Can you call me back?  Um, couple of things…the volunteer work: Margaret is ready to train you. And um, more importantly I need to sit with you and your husband and I wondered if you are coming into town today…or any chance of it…or I can go out to you guys.  Ok, call me. ###-####.  Thanks! Bye!”

I didn’t call her right then, because I was trying to find our bags.  Someone’s duffel bag had jammed up the baggage claim carousel our suitcases were supposed to be coming out of and we only had one of our bags.  I was also texting Darwin updates on which arrival gate he could pick us up at.

We finally got our bag and met Darwin outside.  We talked all the way home and then after I unloaded my suitcases I laid down on the bed and was out like a light.  I was exhausted.  Sometime while I was sleeping, Sally Lee called again.  One of my children answered the phone and told her I was asleep and that we had just returned home from my mother’s funeral. (My mother is fine…they just gave out bad information)

I told Darwin that I would call her later.  I was pretty sure she just needed some kind of paperwork from me.  I sent my LDSFS Volunteer application to their office right before I left on vacation, so I was pretty sure that is what she wanted to talk about…and she mentioned the application in the phone message.  He told me I should call her back anyway…

I called her back and she asked if she could come out to the house and meet with us.  Wednesday nights are not good for us.  Wednesday nights are mutual nights from 7-8:30pm.  Most Wednesdays are also Activity Days for London and Cub Scouts for Isaiah.  I tried to dissuade her a little, but she just kept saying, “Oh, I’m going to be out that way anyway.” so I told her she could come over at 8:45pm.

After having me tell her about my trip and her being relieved that it was my GRANDmother and not my mom who had died…she got down to business.  She said, “Well, we got your volunteer application in, but we are going to have to deny it because you are not going to have any time to volunteer.”  I was a little put off… lol…  I had tons of time!  I was bored at home and knew that they needed help down at the office.

She went on to tell us that she met with a birthmother over the weekend and had dropped off five couples’ packets with her…ours being one of the five…and the birth mother called her back the next day and said she wanted “Darwin and Melissa”.  She only read our packet and one other, so Sally told her to read all the packets before she decided, since this was a very important decision.  The birthmom called Sally back the next day and told her she had read all five packets and still wanted “Darwin and Melissa”. 

At this point, I ask Sally if she is kidding…because we have been waiting five and a half years and I’m thinking that it must be some kind of mistake or something.

She just smiled and went on.  “She wants her baby to have a lot of siblings…she is having a girl…she is due on June 22^nd (5 weeks away)…”  and I am just so shocked I just keep nodding along with my mouth hanging open.  It took me until about 30 minutes after Sally left for me to fully process what was about to happen.  I was in the shower and I just started sobbing uncontrollably.  It really sounded like this was going to happen and all the emotion I had been holding in for the past five and a half years just ripped its way out of me.

 

I didn’t sleep really well that night, and the next day I was so scared it wasn’t real or that something would go wrong that I don’t know what I did all day, beyond running different scenarios and situations through my head.

I called our birth mother on Friday May 17^th and talked with her for 15 minutes. She is a really sweet lady who has had a pretty rough life.  She had been taking the missionary discussions for about two months and was going to be baptized on Saturday May 26^th!  Darwin and I bought plane tickets and flew over to Big Island to attend her baptism and meet her and her four children for the first time.

We took our birth mom out to lunch at L & L, and just talked and got to know her a little.  After lunch, we went to her house and met three of her four children and her brother who is living with her to help her out.  We had a really good visit.  She just said over and over, "I just have a lot of faith in you.  I know you are the ones to raise my baby."  She was baptized along with her eight year-old son later that evening.  I can't even begin to describe how amazing it was to be able to attend her baptism!  I am so grateful she has such a wonderful ward family to help and support her through this time in her life.

 She told us that she was going to go on a run after her baptism so that the baby would come out while we were there!  hehe!

We flew home that night and knew that this was really real!  We called our families to let them know what was going on.  Monday May 28th was Memorial Day, so we took the kids out and bought a bassinet, car seat, stroller, diapers, wipes, some clothes, and a few other things.  We were really scared to take anything out of the box though... 

Sunday June 3rd, we celebrated London's 12th birthday...and Monday June 4th is when I took Caleb to the doctor and we found out he had a life threatening condition and he was in the hospital for three days...with many months of treatments on the future.  (To read about that go here, here, here, here, and here and as of this moment, we do not know if one of the kids is a bone marrow match yet).

Isaiah celebrated his 10th birthday on June 6th...and the poor guy had to open all his presents in Caleb's hospital room!  Brooklin left that morning for Youth Conference and Caleb was able to come home that evening (we didn't know if he was going to be able to since the diagnosis was still unknown at the time we opened presents).

We had three days of quiet...which we all needed.  We spent that time letting Caleb's situation sink in a little and just taking everything one day at a time...

...Then on Sunday June 10th, our birth mom called us at 12:49 pm to let us know she was in labor and going to the hospital!  

Piano Recital

The girls had their piano recital today.  Their piano teacher is so cute!  Her name is Yoshie Koga and she is in our ward.

London played "Landler in F major" and "Video Game Challenge" both by Alfred

Brooklin played "Seascape" by William L. Gillock and "Waltz in A minor" by Frederic Chopin

We have a diagnosis

Caleb has something called Aplastic Anemia.  His specific case is considered severe.  Basically, his bone marrow has stopped producing new blood cells, which has cause him to look pale and have an extremely low blood count.  On the scale the doctors use to measure (and I don’t know what the numbers represent), out of 100, anything below 25 is considered severe…and Caleb’s number is 5.

The treatment of choice for this condition is a bone marrow transplant from a matching family member…meaning one of his three siblings.  All of our children (including Caleb) had their cheeks swabbed this morning and those cell samples will be sent to a lab on the mainland for processing.  Each sibling has a 25% chance of being a match.  Darwin and I were also swabbed, but we will not be a match to him since we each only contributed 50% of his cell makeup.  Our cells will be used to find identifying markers.  This treatment usually “cures” the person, and they will be in remission.

If one of his siblings is not a match, the second treatment choice is a medication therapy.  They will give him medications that will take his immune system down to zero, and then restart it…kind of like rebooting his immune system.  This system is usually effective, but some patients will still require a bone marrow transplant in the future.

The third treatment of choice is having a bone marrow donor to be matched from a bone marrow registry and having a non-relative bone marrow transplant.  I do not fully understand why this is the last resort option, but this is the order I was told treatment would follow, if needed.

For now, Caleb has a very weak immune system and will not be seen in any large gatherings.  He will have to wear a mask if he absolutely needs to be in an indoor public place and he cannot have any visitors who are sick, or might be sick, or have germs…or cooties… ;)  If his temperature is elevated even slightly, he will need to be taken straight to the hospital.  He cannot eat any fresh fruits or vegetables, only cooked, processed, or frozen kind, and he cannot eat anything that may have been sitting out…like at a potluck.  He also cannot eat out at restaurants.  Home cooked or preserved food only until his immune system is a little stronger.  He is not allowed to participate in any “dangerous” or contact type activities. 

Caleb will be going through some difficult procedures in the future, including another blood transfusion next week, having a semi-permanent IV type catheter placed in his chest, and a possible bone marrow transplant.  His treatment plan is expected to last about a year (including follow-up treatments) and there is a small possibility we would have to go to the mainland to have these treatments done…meaning we be medically pcs’ing.  If you want us to stay here…which we think would be best for now…pray for his treatments to be available here. =)

That is all I have for now… and I will work on getting the other updates up on the blog later.  Right now I need to pay attention to my other kids. =)  

Awake and hungry

We do not have a definitive diagnosis at this point, but the two contenders are Aplastic anemia or leukemia. There were not any leukemia cells present in the results we have so far, but the part of the sample that has to decalcify over 24 hours is not ready yet and luekemia cells could still show up. The doctor is leaning more towards the aplastic anemia, but this is not the final diagnosis. 

If he has the aplastic anemia, he will need a bone marrow transplant, and we will have the other kids tested to see if they are a match. If they are not a match, he will have to do a pill type therapy. This will put him coming home sometime on wednesday. If the diagnosis is leukemia, he will start treatment for that on Thursday.
It could also be something else all together, so we will just have to wait and see. He is feeling much better tonight and is awake and scarfing down his dinner. :)

Bone Marrow Biopsy

Caleb had a bone marrow biopsy this morning at 10:30 am.  They put him to sleep for the procedure, which took about 30 minutes to do.  The procedure was done on his lower back (where the oval shaped bandaids are on his back).  They put a needle into the bone and draw out bone marrow fluid and tissue.

It took Caleb along time to fully wake up from the procedure.  He was really out of it until about 3pm.  This photo was taken around noon.  I asked him if he could give me a thumbs up...he did, but he doesn't remember doing it. =)  During the initial wake-up period, he asked for his dad every few minutes (who left right after he went to sleep to take care of the other kids at home) and he wanted to know what time it was a lot.

First Transfusion

Caleb was admitted and made it up to his room around noon.  Here, he was looking over the menu trying to decide what he wanted for dinner.  

This board has the goals for going home.

1. Four red blood transfusions

2. One platelet transfusion

3. Observe overnight

I took a picture of how pale his skin was compared to mine.  I know the lighting is pretty bad, but my hand is a normal pink...and Caleb's hand is drained of most color.

Caleb getting his first transfusion.

(He ended up getting only three of the four they initially requested and the platelet transfusion.  He said it didn't hurt too bad but his arm did get pretty sore.)

Caleb's Mysterious Skintone

Just wanted to let you all know what is going on.  I took Caleb into the doctor’s office this morning because he has been looking a little pale for about 2 months.  He also had some weird symptoms over the weekend when he was hiking (chest pain and stiff legs).  The doctor confirmed that I wasn’t seeing things and that he did indeed have a yellowish tint to his skin.  They sent us to get some blood work done to see if that could tell us anything.

We left the doctor’s office at around 8:15 am and drove home.  I took Brooklin and Caleb to their first day of cross country practice at 9am.  The doctor called me back at 9:20am and told me to take him directly to the ER at Tripler Army Hospital and that his blood work was very concerning.

Caleb had started practice with the other kids (a one mile warm-up), but didn’t make it very far.  Two of the guys had to practically carry him back and he was having the same kind of chest and leg pains and was crying and coughing.  I drove him to the hospital and he was admitted as soon as we arrived.  He said he was feeling fine by the time we got to the hospital, but his blood work said otherwise.  The docs told me that ALL of his blood counts were very low…red cells, white cells, platelets…and that is kind of rare.

At this point, he will be in the hospital until at least Wednesday morning.  This afternoon they are going to start giving him one of several blood transfusions and a platelet transfusion.  (He needs a total of 4 units of blood over the next 20 or so hours).  They are also going to do a procedure on him sometime tomorrow to check how/if his bone marrow is functioning.

We don’t know what kind of diagnosis will come from this, so we don’t want to throw out any of the doctor’s guesses at this point, but none of the things they discussed with us are going to be fun.  Please keep Caleb in your prayers.  He has been pretty upbeat so far…he told me he was a cyborg because of all the wires coming off of him…but if any of the worst things are causing this, he will be in for a long haul.

We are doing ok.  We are seriously hoping that our birthmom stays pregnant this week!!  Pray for her too!  She is having some serious back labor and isn’t due until the 22^nd, so if she can keep baby in it will be a good thing for everyone!

Love you all and thank you for your prayers!

Melissa

London's Birthday Wishlist

(Typed as written by London.)

Seperate from real list

1) Seperate B-Day
2) Party

Real List =) (not in any certaint order)

1. Phone
2. nook
3. book
4. laptop
5. new clothes
6. iPad
7. mini tv
8. bike
9. nife
10. wii game
11. DS game
12. (this line is scribbled out...)
13. personal progress!! =)
14. piano book
15. iPhone
16. lego set
17. the book "Princess Bride" !!!  (This one has a #1, three exclamation marks, and an arrow next to it in the margin)

Germany - by: Isaiah

I found this on my desk today while cleaning it off. =)  Enjoy! mj

Germany

I believe that our family vacation could be to Germany.  This would be the best vacation because tear (there) are fun things to do, there are luxurious hotels, and we can study are genealogy.

If we go to Germany on vacation we could go to interesting places.  Like the palaces of Berlin or the newly rebuilt city of Dresden.  Also we could visit the palaces of Lumens Neuscnwstein.

We could stay in luxurious hotels.  Most hotels are Marriott.  There is nice furnisher (furnishings), artwork, and marble fixtures.  You can get anywhere because they are on the border.

Most importantly we can study genealogy.  You would love it because there are plenty of documents.  Also we could spend a day on it.  I ashore you of it.  If we go to Germany we could go to sum interesting places, stay in luxurious hotels, and study genealogy.

Will we go to Germany?

2012 Business Excellence — Two Year Program

I got a phone call a few weeks ago from the University of Alaska Southeast (where I recently graduated). They were calling to tell me I was being awarded the 2012 Business Excellence - Two Year Program award and wanted to interview me! Unfortunately, I will not be walking in my graduation this weekend to accept the award (and not because my husband didn't try and get me to go)...but they put something up on the college's website about me.

 http://www.uas.alaska.edu/celebrating-grads/melissa-jensen.html

Melissa Jensen: 2012 Business Excellence — Two Year Program

Where is your hometown? I grew up in Boise, Idaho, but have spent most of my adult life living in either Juneau, Alaska or Hawaii.  We are a Coast Guard family and we plan to retire in Juneau in about six years.  We own a house there and love everything about Juneau.
What is your major?  I am graduating with an Associates of Applied Science in Business Administration.
Why did you decided to attend UAS? I didn’t attend college right after high school…mostly because I really wasn’t ready…but I always had the desire to eventually attend and earn a degree.  I chose to be a full-time parent while my children were small.  Once our children were all in school, I felt ready to dedicate ALL my free time (and some of my not-so-free time) to gaining an education.
What is one of your favorite experiences at UAS?  I loved being in the classroom!  The first four semesters of my degree I attended classes on campus, and the final three semesters I had to take online due to an unexpected move.  Although I am very grateful for the tremendous availability of online classes, I found that I really missed the interaction of being on campus and in the classroom.  I love the smaller class sizes UAS offers.  I always felt if I had questions or needed help the professor would know who I was and would be able to help me.  I enjoyed the friendship of many of my classmates as well.
Plans for after graduation? For the moment, I am taking a short breather from school.  We will be moving again next summer and I would really like to continue on with my bachelor’s degree once I am able to attend classes on a campus again.  Online school is just not the way I learn best.  I have been slowly building my own business and hope to expand my options in the future.  For now, I am filling much of my free time volunteering as the president of a children’s organization near my home in Mililani, HI.   Eventually, when my husband retires from the Coast Guard, we would love to run a bed and breakfast in Juneau.
Hobbies/Interests?  I am working as a freelance photographer and design, create, and sell photography props and other handmade items.  I enjoy reading, hiking, going to the beach, sewing, and being a “cross country/track” mom.
Anyone you would like to thank?  I would like to thank my husband, Darwin, for being so supportive of me and my desire to earn a college degree.  He stepped up to help in every way while I was submersed in textbooks, essays, deadlines, and general craziness.  He did laundry, vacuumed, helped kids with homework, and cheered me on when I was having a hard time.  My four children were also an immense support to me.  They were understanding when I couldn’t be or do everything they were used to and gave me “knuckles” and high fives whenever I got good grades.
UAS' 2012 Juneau Commencement will be held May 6 at 2:00 p.m. at the UAS Recreation Center.

Middle School Track

Caleb and London ran in their 1st track meet on Tuesday.  I am working on uploading the video from the event, but they (and their school) did a great job!  London took two first's and a second place, and Caleb took two third places.

Here are the updates I posted to facebook...I'm too lazy to retype them...lol. =)


* London ran the 4x800...first leg. She did awesome. She kicked in the final 100m and passed the girl in front of her! Good job baby girl!  First overall.
Tuesday at 9:57am

*Caleb just ran the 4x800, 3rd runner. His team was third throughout...but he gave a good kick in his last hundred. :)
Tuesday at 10:47am

*London distance medley relay (400m, 800m, 800m, & 1200m). She ran the first 800m (second leg of the relay). She let two girls pass her on her first lap, but kept with them and kicked hard on her final 100m. Her team finished 1st overall!
Tuesday at 11:21am

*London 4x400 relay, first runner. She passed TWO girls in her last 100m to get the lead! Her team finished 2nd overall.
Tuesday at 12:00pm

*Caleb 4x400m relay, second runner. He did awesome! Finished second in his leg, team was third overall.
Tuesday at 12:31pm



And this is the little blurb in the school news email. =)
 WHEELER WINS TRACK COMPETITION 
Congratulations to all of those who participated in the track event yesterday at Leilehua. What an impressive showing at our first track meet of the young season. Wheeler Middle unofficially won the Central District Relay competition. Out of 18 events, Wheeler took 1st, 2nd, or 3rd in 15 of those events. We took 1st place in 7 events. Also, way to show great sportsmanship through the day. All of Wheeler is proud of you! 

Pinewood Derby 2012

Isaiah participated in his packs Pinewood Derby last night.  He seemed to have fun and his car won a few races...but the Pinewood Derby kind of frustrates me.

Technically, the boys are supposed to make their cars by themselves with minimal help from adults.  What happens is the boy finds an "awesome" car design, dad cuts it out  (because boys can't operate a band saw), boy sands...and sands, and sands..., and then boy puts on a base coat of paint.  From here many parents take over so the car will look truly cool...and not like an eight or ten year old painted it.  I have been on both sides of that coin.  I have let my son(s) paint and detail his car all by himself, AND I have been the parent who has the boy do the base coat and then taken over the project.  It bothers me that the coolness factor overshadows the fun of the boys making their own cars.

The other thing that has always bothered me about the Pinewood Derby is that it truly feels like the boys take a backseat for the adults to have fun.  Once the boys are done designing their cars and the weights and wheels are in place...they aren't allowed to touch their cars...AT ALL!  The adults take the cars from the boys and line them up on a table with "security guards" to make sure that once they weigh exactly 5oz., someone doesn't secretly add more weight so their son's car will win.  "Security" tape is placed all the way around the track so none of the boys can get to close to the track.  A few adults (or older scouts) are assigned to pick up each boy's car and place it in the correct starting gate...and then one adult gets to pull the lever to start the race.  The boys don't race their cars...and it makes me sad.  They barely help make the car and then the adults run the race while the boys watch from behind a roped barrier.

That's all I'm going to say about it.  I just wish it really was more about the boys and less about the rules.

Here are some photos from Isaiah's Pinewood Derby race last night.

I love Caleb's face in this picture!  hahaha!

I thought the car in the middle was unique.  They used a cell phone for the weight!

Isaiah found a Wii remote Pinewood Derby car on the internet and decided that he wanted to do one.  I think it turned out great!