perspective adjustment

you know how sometimes you have moments of pure clarity? where something pops your self-made bubble and you see, really see, the reality of those around you - people who aren't insulated by subdivisions and shopping lists and all that. yesterday, i had such a moment. after seeing dad off at the nashville airport, i realized that i was actually out and about during steak'n'shake's happy hour. how often does that happen? never. so, i stopped and got a shake (of course), and a meal that i didn't really need, but went ahead with ordering. then, not three blocks down the road, i look over and see her: a mother, and her daughter (about 8 or 9), with a homemade sign. she'd been laid off, and they would appreciate anything. how could i pass that by? i stopped and gave them the food and some bottled water and the few dollars i actually had on me. she was crying and so was i. i cried all the way home. i was wishing i had more to give, and praying that they would find what they need.

i'm so thankful for this experience - heavenly father's children are hurting right here and right now and this opened my eyes to that. i didn't just read about it and it touched me. i saw it with my own eyes, felt my heart break inside, and hugged this woman with these arms. so, i'll be looking for ways i can help, things i can do.

i wanted to start with saying "thank you" to our loving family and friends. even if we found ourselves in a position where we lost everything, i have such comfort in knowing that we have somewhere we can go while getting back on our feet. i can't imagine not having that underlying feeling of confidence and security that, no matter what, things really will be okay. you have made our world a better place, and we appreciate you.

thank you.

i think it should be "woman's day"

"A woman's reach is bounded only by what her mind accepts and her heart allows." -Belle S. Spafford

thank you to all you lovely ladies who continually inspire and support us and our family!

happy mother's (woman's) day!

week in review

let's see, this week.... well, it started with kawelo having another allergic reaction. this time, it was systemic and could've been anything from saturday: playing outside in the freshly cut grass, sunscreen, sun exposure, or a combination of any of the above. i tried benadryl again, but it just wasn't cutting it, so kawelo got to make a trip to the pediatrician on tuesday. the lucky duck was prescribed oral steriods for five days. thankfully, he didn't turn into the hulk, but he did get a bit whiny. wednesday, james & i went to a recognition dinner for the research award he won this year for being awesome at research (and cute, too! the whole package!). it was so nice to dress up and go somewhere! plus, james got this handy-dandy certificate. unfortunately, this baby won't fetch a dime on ebay, so he'll have to settle for hanging it on his office wall.

also this week: rain. every day. that's okay, though, cause april showers bring may flowers! woohoo! hopefully, it'll dry up some time this week so we can get our garden seeds in the ground. we're planning a strawberry patch - wish us luck!

action and reaction

we had a little excitement yesterday: our little one pet the neighbors' dog and then itched his eye and kept on itching and digging at it until it looked like this. just the one eye was affected. thankfully, kim was home to take my frantic call (kim's the best! she's our official 24-hour nurse hotline), and, one day and several doses of benadryl later,

kawelo now looks like this:

he's happy and fussy and whiny and crazy and everything that's typical of almost-two-year-olds. best of all, he's on the mend!

inked

kalei gets points for finishing chapter books and passing a quiz about each one. this week she got to redeem her points and she picked a rubiks cube (i don't think she realized what it was - both she and koa spent approximately 30 seconds each on it, then discarded it immediately - i did the same thing), and tattoos for herself and koa. what a thoughtful sister! we're so proud of you, kalei!

nature - up close & personal

i'll give you three guesses what we found in the yard yesterday.

to quote kalei: "they are so CUTE!" (except stretch "cute" into two syllables, as in "key-oot!" and say it really excitedly, with lots of squealing.) they are cute - so cute. and i let the big kids get really close and look at this one (the rest were sleeping in their nest).

*sigh*

then i got to have a discussion with kalei & koa about how, even though they are so key-oot, we really don't want baby rabbits in our yard. number one, we don't want to accidentally hurt them (as shown by koa slightly stepping on this one - the rabbit's okay - and james' mowing incident involving another nest we didn't know about and a hurt baby rabbit and a shovel - ick - p.s. don't tell the kids). number two, they dig holes in the yard and eat our garden veggies. the kids were very understanding and related baby rabbits to dandelions (yes! proper connection made!). so, we will enjoy these babies while we can, but next year we will be spraying "deer-off" around the fence line to keep the rabbits away.

we love you, nature, but we need some space.

simple pleasures

ah, the simple things in life. kalei and koa were so entertaining to watch walking around with this box over their heads..... then i took pity on them and cut out some eye holes.