A One Car Family

June 2, 2008

The Ford Exploder is all gone... =( The Coast Guard will only ship one vehicle, and for most people that is ok...they just drive their other car to their new duty station....but we are not most people! We have only been able to drive to our new station once, and that was from Washington DC to Juneau, AK! Talk about a road trip. Our kids were 5, 3, & 1 at the time and it is was before portable DVD's were invented. We had a little TV/VCR combo that we hooked into the car, and we took the middle seat out of our van so the kids could watch Veggie Tales all the way across the USA! hehehe! Anyway...I am prone to wild tangents, and I was talking about the Exploder. We checked on how much it would cost to ship it to Alaska, and it was going to be over $3,000, so we decided to sell it. Newspaper ads are too expensive, and I was talking to a friend of mine about selling the truck, and she said I should try craigslist. I am a complete craigslist virgin, so I was a little skeptical, but figured it was free and I could post pictures, so why not try it out. I put the ad up on Friday morning. After I came home from picking up the kids from school, there was a message on the phone from a guy who wanted to look at it. He lived on another island, and said he could come over on Sunday morning to look at it. He's a flight attendant, so he hopped on an early flight Sunday morning, and Darwin picked him up and let him drive it around, and then he flew back. Dar said he took like 50 pictures of it and was really excited about it. He told us he wanted to buy it, and he would come back on Monday to pick it up. He got all his bank stuff done over on his island, and then flew here Monday around 4 pm, and put it on the Superferry and it is gone! We weren't expecting to sell it so quickly, but it is nice to have it happen fast so I could check one more thing off my to-do list. The kids only had three days left of school, so now we only have to get Darwin to work and back...and he has even been walking to work and back the last two days, so that isn't even a problem.

Two today

Well, the girl who contacted me yesterday, got ahold of me again today. (15, NY, twins) Anyway, she ended us making me really sad. She told us she went into labor last night and that the girls were 2 and 3 lbs and had tubes all over them. I asked her how many weeks they were, and she said she really didn't know...just that she was about 7 1/2 months along. She also didn't know if the hospital had given her a time frame for how long they would be in the hospital. She told me she didn't know what the name of the hospital she was at, and that this unknown hospital had a computer in every room, so she was surfing and IMing from the hospital. I asked her what city she was in, and she told me she was in New York City, and then when I asked what time it was, so we could figure out the time difference and she could catch me at a later time (she said the nurse came in and was going to let her hold the babies...??with the tubes all over them??...she said "Oh I forgot, I'm actually in Wisconsin...sorry about that." Then she wanted to know if I would like to see pictures of her 11 month old daughter. She sent us pictures of her and her daughter that were taken 2 months ago, and she didn't look pregnant in the pictures. It mostly made me sad, because she just kept on telling me things that just weren't looking like they were true, and she didn't want anything to do with our adoption worker. It makes me mad when someone tries to scam an adoptive couple. Maybe it's all true, and I'm a cynic, but nothing was adding up to me.

On a happier note, while we were at church another girl called and left a message on my cell phone. I called her and she was very nice. She is 3 or 4 months pregnant and is hoping to have her child adopted and raised here in Hawaii, so she didn't think, after talking with me, that we would be a match for her, but she had liked our profile and was very interested in talking with our worker. She sounded very sincere, and I am glad that I was able to help point her in the right direction, even if it doesn't end up being our match. I told her good luck, and she said who knows, maybe I will meet you someday.

The Host

This book is awesome! I started it at the end of last week, and finished it on Thursday. I gave it to Brooklin to read on Thursday night (right before bed time) and she had it finished by 7:30 Saturday night. It's no short book either...619 pages! I really enjoyed this read, more than the last few books I've read. It is really hard to find a great book, that is also rated "PG" and is still entertaining to adults...ie little to no bad language, no sex, nothing gruesome or overly violent... just a really good story. I usually don't read any of the bestsellers, because I don't like reading anything with those type of things in them. Mostly I read Young Adult level books, and even some of them are a little questionable. The last two series I read were not that great. I read the Uglies series by Chris Westerfeld (Uglies, Pretties, Extras, and Specials) and they were ok, but I really wouldn't recommend them. The first two were pretty good, but then the other two got really into the characters cutting themselves to feel high. The whole story line of the series was thought provoking, and it was a "survivors after earth was destroyed" kind of setting, so that was interesting...but they were just ok overall. The other series I just finished was The Gemma Doyle Trilogy by Libba Bray (A Great and Terrible Beauty, Rebel Angels, and The Sweet Far Thing). I enjoyed the overall story and the first book was good, but it was very "girl power" and the author again had one of the characters cutting herself, and two others she made gay, and one of the character's father was molesting her. I don't understand why a book set in 1895 and about a magic world, would need have to have lesbians, molesters, and cutting as side themes. It really made me angry, because most of the side stories came up in the final book...they didn't really contribute to the overall theme of the book...to me...and you had to read through them to find out what happened in the main story.

Anyway, The Host is a really, really great book, and I would recommend it to everyone. Stephanie Meyer (the author) also wrote the Twilight series (Twilight, New Moon, Eclipse, and Breaking Dawn...which come out Aug. 2nd). I read the first three this summer and they were amazing as well....vampires (who are "vegetarian"...they only eat animals, not humans) werewolves, a vampire/werewolf/human love triangle. Funny enough, the author wrote the Twilight books for young adults, and The Host was marketed as a book for adults. I won't let Brooklin read the Twilight books yet, and I let her read The Host...mostly because of a few steamy (albeit very moderate for today's standards) scenes between the vampire and the girl. We decided they would be more appropriate for her when she is a little older (maybe 15 or 16) when she can relate a little better with the feelings involved between the characters. We are really excited for the Twilight movie...it opens Dec. 12th. I just watched a preview for it, and it looks exciting! You can watch it by clicking on the hyperlink.

Adoption Contact for today

Today, I IM'ed with a girl who is 15 and pregnant with twins. She said she lived in NY, and was 7 1/2 months along. She had to go after a few minutes, (and so did I), but she tried to contact me again while I was out. Maybe she will try again tomorrow.

My next project...well one of them

This is the beginning of my next quilt. I am making this quilt for our birthmom. I got the idea while I was reading another couple's blog, and the wife made a quilt for their birthmom. I went out that same night and bought my favorite fabric at the "expensive" fabric store. I am using the design my mother-in-law used on the quilt she made for us for valentines day, because when I was telling someone what the design was, I said it had hearts and leaves on it. When I said it outloud, I thought wow, I guess that would be how a birthmom would feel when she placed her baby in the arms of another family...like part of her heart leaves. London was asking me why I was making the quilt for the birthmom, and I told her that there would be days when the birthmom would be really sad, and sometimes when your sad, it is nice to be able to wrap up in a blanket. London asked why she would be sad, and I said, "Well, she will probably be sad that she couldn't keep her baby, and she will probably miss the baby as well." London got kind of concerned, and said, "Why can't she keep her baby?!" It was kind of a realization for her...she made the connection that if we got to have a new baby in our house, that it meant that another girl would have to give her child to us. I told her that sometimes the girl isn't ready to be a mom, because she is around the same age as the girls who come to babysit for us. She didn't know that they could have babies at that age. I also told her that sometimes that is the best plan for the baby, even if the mom is old enough to have a baby. Anyway, this is the beginnings of the quilt. I don't think I will get it done before we move, but I have started it and will be working on it until they pack up my sewing machine.

The layout

There will be dark brown lines inbetween all of the white blocks and around the edges.

A neat little trick

This idea was in the book with the pattern in it. I am kind of a perfectionist with my crafting (not my housework...lol) and this saved me a lot of time with getting the spacing just right. Seriously, I would spend hours trying to find the middle, aligning all the pieces, and getting frustrated. I was totally excited that this little tip was in the directions!

Once everything is laid out, there is heat n' bond on the other side of the shapes, and I just have to dry iron them into place. The next step is to make a sandwich (top, batting, backing) with each block and applique around each piece, so it doesn't wash off...and it looks better that way too. After all the blocks are appliqued, then I just quilt the rest of the white space, and put in the dark brown lines (quilt as you go strips) between each block, and bind it....aww if it were only really that simple. =)

Another blanket done

This is a blanket I made for a friend who is having her baby in June. I made it the end of April, but I let it sit wrapped and ready to mail, on my desk for 6 weeks so I couldn't post pictures of it. I finally mailed it last week, so now I can post the pictures. =)

I went to a class at the mall to learn how to do this. It is similar to a rag quilt, but it is using a chenille technique. Basically, you take four 1 yard pieces of flannel, make a sandwich out of them, and then sew on the diagonal every 1/2 in. of the fabric. We used a really cool product called 505 spray to keep the fabric from shifting. It is like a spray glue, and it was applied to each layer of the "sandwich". Anyway, after you sew every 1/2 inch, there is this cool cutting tool (called a chenille cutter) and you cut the first three layers of fabric between the sewing lines, making very sure you don't cut through the last layer. It ends up showing the middle colors of the blanket in a fuzzy kind of pattern. On this one, I made the diagonals go in two directions and only sliced every three lines, but some people made theirs look like a checkerboard...one square blank, and the next with the fuzzy lines. After all the sewing and cutting, you have to wash it and dry it, and that is what makes the cut lines get their fuzzy look. This was a fairly quick project. I got the whole thing sewed and almost all the way cut by the time the class was over, and when I got home, I finished the slicing and washed and dried it. I finished it by sewing around the perimeter, and snipping it, but you could also bind the edges.

Finished blanket

Close up

Front and Back

Brooklin's 1st talk

Brooklin gave her first talk in Sacrament Meeting this past Sunday. She has only been 12 for three weeks, and bishop gave her the assignment on her first week in Young Womens. She told me that during the opening of Young Womens meeting, Bishop came in and handed her a 3x5 card, asking her to speak in church in two weeks on the topic of "The Articles of Faith". She didn't even know what the card was at first, but of course every other girl knew (and were probably glad it wasn't them!) They of course have all had the opportunity to speak, and as with most of us, public speaking is not our favorite thing to do. Anyway, she did awesome. Darwin gave her a few places to look to research for her talk, but other than that, she wrote the talk all by herself. She asked me to read through it for her, and I felt so proud to be her mother. I could not have come up with this much on my own at her age. She has prepared several talks for primary, but you only have to deliver those to the little kids, not the whole congregation. She was really cute on the way to church too. She asked me if she was supposed to sit on the stand, or just go up when it was her turn. I told her that usually when you speak, you sit on the stand. She didn't know where to sit, so I told her to sit next to the pianist (who is 16) while she wasn't playing. She went and sat up on the stand, and then came back down and said, "What do I do when I'm done? Do I stay up there, or do I come back and sit with you?" I told her that usually you stay seated on the stand, until the end of the meeting...which is what she did. We forgot to tell her that she needed to occasionally look up from her paper at the audience, but she did such a good job! I have copied her talk below, for those who would like to read it. Also, she didn't mention all 13 of them, but she did memorize them all herself. They are listed here ... http://scriptures.lds.org/en/a_of_f/1

Articles of Faith

Good afternoon my brothers and sisters and ALOHA! A couple of weeks ago, I went to young women’s for the first time. Soon after we started, bishop walked in and gave me a piece of paper. Everybody kept on saying things like, “Wow...that was quick....” and “He sure doesn’t waste any time.” At first, I had no idea what was going on and what the small slip of paper was for, but, as you can see, I do now!
My topic for today is the Articles of Faith. The articles of faith were first made when Joseph Smith was a prophet. He first wrote them in a letter to a man named John Wentworth, who was a newspaper editor, in response to his request to know what the members of the church believed.
The articles of faith are the thirteen basic points of belief in our church. Each one outlines one of the doctrines that our church teaches to us.
Right now I’d like to talk about a few of the articles of faith. The first one I’d like to share with you is the fourth one. The fourth article of faith goes like this, “We believe that the first principles and ordinances of the gospel are first, faith in the lord Jesus Christ, second, repentance, third, baptism by immersion for the remission of sins, fourth, laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost.” My sister, London, is getting baptized soon, and after that, she will get the Holy Ghost. This article of faith talks about the four most important steps that we need to take to live with our heavenly father again. Over the past seven and a half years, she has accumulated faith in abundance, and we also accumulate faith and a testimony, when we follow the commandments and choose the right.
The last one that I’d like to talk about is article of faith number one. I know that you think that I’m doing everything out of order, and that I should have done number one, well, where number one usually goes, at the beginning, but bear with me. The first article of faith is “We believe in god the eternal father and in his son, Jesus Christ, and in the holy ghost.” This means that we believe that Heavenly Father, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost are three different personages. Many churches believe just the opposite, and that they are one all person. We know this is not true and that they are all separate beings. When Joseph Smith saw the first vision in the sacred grove, he saw not one being speaking to him out of the light, but two.
As I was preparing for this talk, I came across a story from the October 1978 New Era. It was written by President Spencer W. Kimball. Here is how it goes.
“Some time ago, there was a young boy who was traveling by train to California. He sat all alone across the isle from a man who was also going to California. When he saw the little boy, who was traveling alone, dressed quite neatly and behaving very well, he was impressed by him and went across the isle to talk to him.
He asked how the boy was doing and where he was going. He soon found out that the boy had family in Los Angeles, and was going to visit them. When the man asked where he was from, he answered, “Utah”. “Oh,” said the man, “You must be Mormon.”
“Yes” said the boy with pride in his voice.
“That’s interesting.” The man said, “I’ve been through there once or twice and noticed the beautiful buildings tree lined roads, lovely homes, and wondered what they believed.”
The boy quickly said, “I can tell you!” then recited the first article of faith.
The man was slightly surprised, but listened to the boy as he went on.
Then the boy went on to say the second article of faith. The man thought, “It is quite unusual for a boy of such a young age to know all this.”
He went on to recite the third and fourth articles of faith, and with some encouragement and praise, went on and recited number five.
“That is wonderful. I am amazed that you know so much about the doctrines of your church!” Said the man. To which the boy answered, “Do you want to know more?”
As the man listened to the boy recite numbers six through seven than commented, “It sounds as if you believe in the bible!” “We do” said the boy, then recited number eight.
The man listened to him as he told him the rest of the articles of faith. When the boy finished, he relaxed and the man was very excited.
“When I'm done in Los Angeles, I’m going to stop in Salt Lake to learn more about the gospel” said the man. And he did.
Have any of you had this kind of experience? Have all of you memorized your articles of faith? If not, I encourage you to do so now because you are always prepared to teach the gospel and do missionary work when you know your articles of faith.

(Bear testimony. )
I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Adoption Contact

We got an email from the website from someone today. The person wanted to know if we would adopt a boy from 15 to 18. I replied that we were looking for a child under age 10.

Water balloon fight

Dar got a container of water balloons for his birthday last week, so this morning we filled up a bunch of them, and had a water balloon fight. It was short, but it was really fun.

Wildcat of the Month

Caleb made student of the month! He is the only one of our kids to make it this year. The First year we were here, only London made it. Last year, all three (Brooklin, Caleb, and London) made Wildcat, and this year the teachers were told to try and recognize different students...because the same few kids were making it each year and the "regular students" were not being recognized, so the teachers tried this year to pick some of the students that hadn't had a chance, and really were doing a good job, but maybe not shining as brightly as the stellar children. Anyhow, the woman who is speaking is the principal, and the woman who is handing out the goodie bags is our PCNC (which I can't remember what that stands for, but she works for the school and is in charge of a lot of the extra stuff...fund raisers and such). Anyhow, we are very proud of Caleb for making Wildcat of the Month. He got a goodie bag with candy and a gift card to Borders Bookstore in it.

Another weird adoption contact

This one was sent through the IM, but I wasn't online, so it just popped up when I signed in this morning, and I wasn't able to copy it. Basically, it was a teenage boy who said he had a sister who was 14 named "IVY" and they were refugees and hoped to hear from us. Well, I don't think they will hear back from us.

Instead of sending a forward...

My mom sent this to me, and it was funny, so I am posting it...I am an Idaho girl, just so you know! =)

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Three men from Texas were sitting together one day bragging about how they had given their new wives duties.

The first man had married a woman from Illinois and had told her that she was going to have to do the dishes and house cleaning. It took a couple of days, but on the third day he came home to see a clean house and dishes washed and put away.

The second man had married a woman from Michigan . He had given his wife orders that she was to do all the cleaning, dishes, and the cooking. The first day he didn't see any results, but the next day he saw it was better. By the third day, he saw his house was clean, the dishes were done, and there was a huge dinner on the table.

The third man had married a girl from Idaho. He told her that her duties were to keep the house cleaned, dishes washed, lawn mowed, laundry washed and hot meals on the table for every meal. He said the first day he didn't see anything, the second day he didn't see anything, but by the third day some of the swelling had gone down and he could see a little bit out of his left eye, enough to fix himself a sandwich and load the dishwasher.

May Day

The kids (except B) had their May Day preformanceon Friday morning. Isaiah's grade danced to Pearly Shells. London's grade danced to the Electric Slide. Caleb's grade did a hula to Kananaka (by Keali'i Reichel). We recorded it, but it may take awhile to get it onto the blog. We did it with the regular video camera, and it may not work to put it on here, but I will try. In the meantime, Darwin took these pictures, while I was recording them.

Isaiah's Class

This is Isaish's class. If you look carefully, you can count three little mohawks. The blonde boy sitting next to him, is the one who started the "craze". Isaiah's teacher is the Japanese/Hawaiian lady facing sideways.

London's Class

London's teacher is in the white dress with the blue lei. The kids were so funny doing the electric slide. They were all very stiff legged, and over accentuated all of the moves. When it got to the part where the song goes "boogie-woogie-woogie" the kids all did a little boogying and a little hop. Her partner in the dance was the ladies man of 2nd grade....Jennifer, you'll know him, he was in your class last year. Very charming






Caleb's Class

Caleb's teacher is wearing the orange lei. He had a partner in the dance...the blonde girl with braides. He said she wasn't a very good partner, because she didn't do the dance right. When I asked what it was that she didn't do right, he said she didn't shake her hips! Very cute! The very beautiful Samoan/Tongan girl with the curly hair in most of the pictures is a girl in Caleb's church class.

PS: Gas went up on Saturday again. Now it is $4.37 a gallon...up $.10!! Luckily, after driving by 2 gas stations with that price, we found one that hadn't changed yet, so I got it for $4.27. And Prince Caspian was really awesome!!

Gas went up again

We are now at $4.27/gallon for gas...uhgg!

The real spear fishing video

Sorry to any of you that watched the other 10 minute video of the ocean! This is the real spear fishing video!