Happy 4th of July!

Happy 4th of July Everyone! We hope that you had a nice day! We celebrated by attending the 2006 Block Party and Fireworks Spectactular on Pearl Harbor. During the day they had activities for the kids and we also walked around and looked at the booths. We met up with some other Hopper spouses and kids and sat together by the stage. At night before the firework show they had a comedy show with Bert Kreischer, Alonzo Bodden and Jay Mohr. They were pretty funny and told us how much they appreciated what the military is doing and how much the appreciate the families. We all got teary eyed and shed some tears when we stood to hear the National Anthem and then we saw a beautiful firework show. Jacob ended up falling asleep before the fireworks and missed the whole thing. I was so thankful that I borrowed my neighbors wagon because I just loaded Jacob in it, asleep, and was able to get him and all my stuff to the car very easily. The boys both fell asleep on the way home but I was prepared and changed them into their pajamas before we left the parking lot so I could put them straight to bed when we got home!

This night also bring backs a lot of memeories because it was 11 years ago on the 4th of July that after watching fireworks by Upland High School that I said goodbye to Darrick and he left at 3am to go to San Diego to fly out to Boot Camp in Great Lakes, Illinois. Darrick, I am so proud of you and all the sacrifices you make for us and our country. Only 9 more years-we can do it!

RIMPAC 2006

Right now RIMPAC is taking place here. RIMPAC 2006 brings together military forces from Australia, Canada, Chile, Peru, Japan, the Republic of Korea, the United Kingdom and the United States. This year's exercise is the 20th in a series of RIMPAC exercises conducted periodically since 1971. More than 40 ships, 6 submarines, 160 aircraft and almost 19,000 Sailors, Airmen, MArines, Soldiers and Coastguardsmen are participating. RIMPAC is intended to enhance the tactical proficiency in a wide array of combined operations at sea. RIMPAC stands for the Rim of the Pacific and helps to promote stability and enhance interoperability.

It is so amazing to see all the different ships here as well as the different flags and uniforms. Needless to say the exchange and commissary are places to avoid with all the added military people. Tomorrow the bases are having huge celebrations to celebrate the 4th and to host all the countries-should be fun!

Darrick called last night and said he is not able to post on our blog right now, the computer guys are trying to figure out why. But he is in Kota Baharu which is in Malaysia.

Shirts Darrick sent the boys from Japan

Neighborhood Night at North Shore last week

Update from the Big Blue

Hello,
I know it has been longer than I had hoped to update again but we are a little busy out here. After my last update I got to go on a little adventure. I got underway on a Thailand navy ship, something that not a lot of US Sailors get to do. It was a very interesting experience for sure. There were four sailors from the Hopper, 2 Chiefs, 2 officers and me. We got there and they were ready for us with a place to sleep, but after they showed us were we would be sleeping they left us. So I wondered around until I found someone. I ran into a guy that had spent some time in Los Angeles so he could speak a little English. His name was JJ and he said he missed Wendy's, Taco Bell and Foot Locker. Then the ship got underway. That seemed to go pretty smooth but a couple of hours later I was walking around and I saw smoke. So what do I do? What most Damage Controlman would do I went to find out where it was coming from and then I took some pictures and helped secure the area. Turns out it was a washer that caught on fire. The thing is they do not do things like we do. They did not put on breathing apparatus or protective gear they just went in there like John Wayne. After the fire about eight of them were outside coughing up lungs. So that was that and it came time for lunch. We had rice with every single meal, and some kind of soup and chicken. But they did have Coke or Pepsi so I was able to survive. I was there three days and two nights and it was good except for the roaches, tons of them, like when I went to get a cup there would be about ten roaches on the dishes.

I never thought I would be so happy to see the Hopper.

Pictures from Thailand

They have these shrines everywhere. I don't have the beliefs they have but I do find these shrines interesting. I hope it is okay that I took a picture in front of one. That is a Pepsi I have, it cost me about $.25 at the Seven Eleven. Seven Eleven is something I think they have everywhere.

Anybody Hungry?

Well I am now in Thailand.

It is interesting to go to all these different countries. I know that some of you have been to other places besides the US but I know a lot of you have not. In that way I guess I am fortunate to have these opportunities, like seeing the way different people live. Like the different food carts we see in the different countries. I am willing to bet that almost none of you have never seen a food cart like this. There was a man pushing this cart around selling his food. Just incase you can not tell those are grasshoppers, beetles, grubs and there were frogs and lizards to the left. No I did not try them but only because I had already eaten.
That is it for this one but I am going to add a few more pictures.
Darrick

Will you forgive me?

Our church is going through an awesome series of sermons about relationships. Last week was on husbands and this week was about wives. The three main points were "Three things every husband wants his wife to say". They were 1. "You Da Man!" 2. "Yes we can!" and 3. "I was wrong, will you forgive me?" If you would like to hear what those are about you can listen to this sermon or the whole series at www.hcwo.com

One point that Pastor Mike said was that no one says "I'm sorry" in their family. They ask one another for forgiveness. I really liked that and had many opportunities today to have the boys ask one another and it was powerful. Give it a try!

Girls Night Out!

Last night Jocelyn and I got together for another girls night out! Her husband watched their daughter and my friend Margaret watched Micah and Jacob. She picked me up and we went out to dinner at Chili's. It was so yummy. We spent so much time laughing and talking that before we knew it it was time to leave for out next event.

We were off to Livingstone Cafe to hear Stacey play. Stacey works with the youth at our church and leads worship on Saturday nights. She played her guitar and one guy played another guitar and the other guy played this drum box thing. Does anyone know what it is called? They were so good. They played some songs by other people but then they played a few songs that Stacey wrote herself. They were very beautiful and touching. Jocelyn and I shared a yummy dessert called a Choco lava flow-because on girls night it is a requirement that you must consume some chocolate. After Stacey played, we stayed a little to hear the next group but they were kind of silly. Way to go Stacey, God has blessed you with a beautiful voice, thank you for sharing it with us.

Hanging out with new friends-Kierra and Mika

Micah and Jacob doing spoon tricks

Last Saturday-out to breakfast and taking a walk by the water

Thumb sucking buddies-Jacob and Loretta

Commune Living

Me and my neighbors always joke how it seems like we live in a commune. We share everything-food, cars, watching each others' kids...the only thing we don't share is husbands! :)
But the "new" Navy has all the sailors gone more often so we all depend on each other a lot.

For example a fellow Hopper wife was told they had to move because the amount of lead in their house was too high-it was a much older home. So what do you do when you have a 7 year old and an 18 month old and you have to pack and move? I offered to take her 2 girls for the day (can I just say that girls sure do talk a lot more then boys!)

Every afternoon we hang out in the frontyard and the kids play and the moms talk. We take turns sharing snacks, running after the kids and being another set of eyes for one another. Well we played so late today that 3 moms and 9 kids all piled into my house and we made spaghetti and breadsticks for everyone. Then the kids played andthen we had cookies and a funny face contest, I think I won, and then I did a storytime for them. It was so fun. Two of the husbands are underway and one had duty tonight. It just makes it so much more bearable when you are not going through it alone. God has truly blessed me with wonderful neighbors who have now become dear friends, and special people outside of the Navy community, from church, who have been so supportive and encouraging.

Art Camp

Today Micah had his first day of Art camp at Hickam Airforce Base. It is open to kids 5 and older. There were 40 kids in his class, from all ages. He was a little nervous at first since it was new but I stayed in the back for a few minutes and then he was fine. He said that they had to go outside and find a big leaf and then they each got a slab of clay and made an impression of the leaf, then they cut it out and painted it. They had to leave it there overnight so it could dry. Micah loved it and asked if he could sign up for more weeks.

It's me again

It was brought to my attention by my lovely wife that I have been doing a bad job at updating on the blog. Sorry about that I guess I didn't think what I am doing was that exciting.


Well we are in Singapore now and I have had a few chances to go out and see things. I am including a picture of a Merlion statue. It doesn't look so impressive in the picture unless you look to the left and notice the street light dwarfed next to it. It was really big! I wish I knew more about what it means and why it is like a symbol of Singapore. One thing I learned was that Singapores birthday is the same day as me and Jenn's Anniversary.

Another thing that we did on our last underway was give a helicopter fuel while we were underway and it was flying. It was pretty cool and one of those things we can only see live here in the Navy.

I will try to update more and give more pictures when I can. I just read Jenn's blog and it was very nice to talk to the boys and say goodnight to them. I enjoyed singing with Jacob very much. I really miss Jenn and the boys.
Darrick

Catching Up

Thursday: We hosted our first mini church at our house. The shepherds (leaders) are Mike and Susan Ching and we are the host family. It is at our house every Thursday from 7-9pm. My friend Margaret comes over and takes care of the kids in our playroom while the adults have the study. It went really well.

Friday: We babysat Loretta most of the day so her mom, Margaret, could attend a conference for Head Start. I even braved the grocery store with all 3 kids and it went really good.

Saturday: Bright and early (7:30) we met our friends Margaret, Loretta, Tonya, Deja, Jalen and Tayveon at the Wright Bros. Cafe for breakfast. It was so fun. Then we all walked down the path to the ocean and looked at fish and searched the rocks for hermit crabs and other sea life. Then I did my usual Mow the lawn. Then at 3:30 we picked up our friend Nadine and we went to a swim party at Troy and Bow's house. We had such a great time and reconnected with friends and met new friends. One couple was was Redlands and Rialto!

Sunday: We got up and went to church. I was extremely exhausted and so were the boys. We made plans to go to the beach at 2:00 with Sedrick and Nadine. So after lunch we layed down for a nap and did not wake up until 5 pm. I couldn't believe it! So we missed our beach outing.

Monday: We had a few Doctor appts. and Nadine was able to first watch Jacob and then watch Micah and Jacob. This morning I was trying to clip Moses' toenails and clipped too far. Apparently dogs have veins in their nails and it bled so much it scared me so I knocked on Margaret's door for help. She helped me but it was scary.

Darrick bought a special cell phone that works over seas that works by him buying a special card in each port and then he can call us more often. It has been great. Tonight he got to say goodnight to the boys and sing "Jesus loves Me". It was so cute to hear Jacob singing it with Daddy while holding the phone.

Swimming

Yesterday Jocelyn and Kai invited us to go swimming with them. It was a great day for swimming and the water felt so refreshing. We first had lunch under some covered picnic tables and then swam for a few hours. Even Jocelyn and I got in the pool. Jocelyn also brought some food for us to try. I don't remember what it was called but it was a slice of ham with white rice wrapped in seaweed. It was yummy and Jacob liked it too but not Micah. Then we had oranges with Li Hing on them-it is like a sweet and sour powder. It was different but good. Jocelyn you can correct me if I spelled it wrong. The people next to us were grilling oasters in their shells, they looked like big rocks.

We also took Moses to the vet yesterday. He needed to get 2 shots. He did a very good job. He now weighs 9.3 lbs. and is healthy.

We love Casting Crowns!!!

It has been a crazy and busy weekend but so much fun! Friday night my friend Sonya watched the boys so Jocelyn and I could attend "Spirit of Aloha 2006". It was a gathering for believers all over the island to get together and worship God no matter what denomination. It started with a praise team made up of people from many different churches. The second half was a concert with the band was Casting Crowns! This is my third time seeing them in concert but Jocelyn 1st. We had great seats and acted liked silly teenagers. It was a blast. But on the way home the H1 was closed and it took us 2 1/2 hours to get home (it usually takes 20-30 minutes). But it was such a great time for us to get to know one another better. Thanks again Sonya, sorry it got so late.

Saturday we did some stuff for the Hopper and then I did my usual Saturday chore of mowing the lawn. At night we babysat Loretta. It is so fun having a little girl in the house.

Today we went to church. I have been feeling for the past couple of weeks that it is time for me to help with the children's ministry. So I talked to Uncle Brian and I will be starting soon. It was a much needed break but I am ready to get back into it. After church we had pizza with our friends Sedrick and Nadine. The boys love silly Uncle Sedrick and the jokes he plays. Then the boys and I did a little shopping. Then we rested at home and played in the backyard. We also planted some greenbeans in our backyard-hopefully they will grow and Moses will leave them alone.

Save The Ship

The Hopper is now in Singapore. It is very hot and humid here. So when we went to the Singapore Navy Damage Control School we were happy to get wet.


The reason we went to their school was to see how they do Damage Control and to practice our Damage Control. They had a mock ship that they have damage on like flooding through holes, cracks and ruptured pipes then we try to save it from sinking. Pretty much what my real job in the navy is. It was a lot of fun to use our skills and put them to the test. It was also interesting because we had some Singapore Sailors with us. Besides a little language barrier everything went really good and I think we could have saved the ship.

Other than call Jenn that is that only thing I have done here so far. Tomorrow I am going on a mountain biking trip that should be really fun and Saturday I am going out on the towne to check things out. I will try to keep you posted.

I am doing good. I feel good with only a little bit of soreness and have lost a few pounds. I will try to post more often to keep you updated. How do you like the pictures of the ship and me?
Darrick

Micah's 1st Bike Ride

Today Micah officially rode his bike for the first time! He
has tried before and could do it but gave up. Today I
encouraged him to try again and his first try, he took off
riding and did not stop all afternoon. He couldn't wait for
his friend Deja to get home from school so they could ride
bikes together. I even got on our neighbor Will's bike and
joined him and Deja for a ride. I am so proud of him and I
made sure to video tape the whole thing for Darrick! Way
to go Micah!

Happy Memorial Day!

I got an email from Darrick that said they are now in Singapore. Hopefully he will be able to call us-it would be so great to hear his voice and talk to him.

I didn't really have any big plans for me and the boys today but then my friend Sonya called and invited us over to swim at the pool in her apartment complex. Ironically we know that pool very well because it is the pool the boys had private swimming lessons in last summer. We got there at noon and they swam until 4. They got out occassionally to munch on some pretzel sticks and drink some water but then it was right back in the pool!

My neighbor let us borrow their copy of "Nanny McPhee"-it is called the new Mary Poppins. It was really good and the boys loved it. There was one part I did not like because they use some "bathroom" language but the rest was good.

One last story. Included in the goodie bags from the boys pirate birthday party at the beginning of the year was treasure. Included in this treasure was beads and gaudy rings. This weekend Jacob was playing with one of those rings and came up to me and said "Mom, when I get big like Daddy, I'm goign to marry you with this ring!" It was one of the best things to hear as a mom. It will be a bittersweet moment someday when I am not his favorite girl.
__________________________________________________

I just got off the phone with Darrick. We were able to talk for an hour. It was so great. We laughed becaused I almost talked the whole time, I just had so much to tell him. But he did ask a lot of questions. It is 9 pm Monday here and it was 3 pm Tuesday for him. He said it is hot and humid. He said he will try to post of his adventures while in Singapore-so keep checking back!

USS Hopper by Japan with Coast Guard Ship Sherman in the background

Darrick and Walter enjoying a Steel Beach Picnic

Mini Church

This is a group picture of our mini church (Bible Study in someone's home). We meet every Thursday from 7-9 pm. We have a great time, learn a lot and encourage one another. Top Row: Jocelyn, Mike, Troy, Bob, Cassie On Couch: Tomoko, ME, Susan

Last few days

Later today we will be bringing Sam to the airport. We had so much fun with him, it will be hard to see him go. The boys adore him and will miss their Uncle a lot.

SATURDAY: we went to the 3rd annual Wahiawa Pineapple Festival. The weather was rainy on and off but we still had a nice time. We met our friends Will, Margaret and Loretta there. The kids rode rides and we all tried things like pineapple yougart, pineapple tea, pineapple vanilla ice cream and of course pineapple.

SUNDAY: we went to church and then went to North Shore with our friend Sonya. We ate lunch at Cholo's and then hung out at the beach.

MONDAY: Micah and I went to Lehua Elementary School with Margaret and her headstart class to tour kindergarten. Then me, Sam and the boys went to Dirty Lickin's for lunch and shopped at the Goodwill.

TUESDAY: we went out to breakfast at the Wright Bros. Cafe and then went to Lanikai beach. Then at night Sam and I went to Waikiki and had dinner at the Cheesecake Factory.

On Sunday when we went to North Shore Micah had a cruch on a teenage girl. Her and her friend were digging a hole by the shoreline and Micah kept getting closer and closer to them. But the funny part was that he was acting like a gorilla. I laughed so hard I cried. He followed them around for at least 45 minutes. If they talked to him, he would run away. They were so kind and let him follow them all over. He would just sit and stare at the one girl.

Yesterday at Lanikai Beach we had quite an ordeal. I was dozing in the warm sun and Sam was building a sand castle with the boys. All of the sudden Micah and Jacob are crying and it took me a minute to figure out what happened. A dead jellyfish washed up on shore and they both touched it. It had stung them and they were crying hysterically. I remembered once I saw on Survivor that they peed on a guys hand when he got stung and it helped. Well Micah was too upset and couldn't pee but Jacob had no problem and peed all over his hand. Some people whose house is right on the beach ran to get some vinegar and we poured that on too. Well all of the sudden Jacob starts screaming again and yelling "my penis!" Apparently when he peed on his hand he touched it and when I looked at it, it 2-3 times the size and red. So we poured vinegar on it. The boys were crying "I want Daddy!" and honestly at the moment I wanted him too! So we left the beach. When we got home I gave the boys a shower and tylenol and I am happy to report they are feeling better and everything is back to normal.

Micah with a creature we found at the beach today

Yesterday and Today

Yesterday afternoon we headed up to North shore to get some Matsumoto's Shave Ice. Sam tried rainbow with ice cream on the bottom and loved it. The boys never seem to get the hang of eating it right and once again they dropped theirs. From there we headed to Turtle Beach where there was one turtle on the shore and two in the ocean close to shore. Then we went to a beach my neighbor told me about that dogs can go to. So we brought Moses along for his first outing to the beach. It was pretty empty so Moses could run around and chase after the boys. The waves were really rough but we could get our feet wet and enjoy the sunshine. At night we went to Bible Study and Sam fit right in playing guitar for worship along with Tomoko playing her ukelele.

Today we took a nice drive to see the famous blowhole and the east side but it was not too great because of the tide. Then we walk down to the beach where they filmed the classic movie "From here to Eternity". They have lots of tide pools and we found some interesting creatures. Sam is starting to get a nice tan and not looking like he just came from Iowa anymore! This afternoon Sam and I went to see the DaVinci code. It was good but the book was so much better. Enjoy the pictures.

Going in the waves with Uncle Sam

Moses' first time at the beach

Eating Matsumoto's Shave Ice

Sam and Micah trying out poi balls

Where's Darrick?

Hello everyone its me, Darrick. The USS Hopper just pulled into Okinawa today. We have been cruising across the ocean for eleven days. I am doing good and not having any problems with hernias. I am just really tired because we work really hard while we are out to sea. It is 10pm and I have been up since 1:30am so when I go to sleep after writing this I will sleep really good. I get a full night sleep tonight and have the day off tomorrow so I can take a tour of Okinawa. I was able to go to the Air Force base here and get a memory card for the digital camera I brought so I can get some pictures of my adventure here. Thank you for your thoughts a prayers I will try to write on here more if I can.
Darrick
Here is a picture of me on the ship. See how awake I look.

What we've been up to

Monday: Sam arrived and after some lunch we drove to Pali Lookout. The view was great but it was windy and chilly. From there we took the scenic drive home. Once we got home it was still early in the day so we packed up and headed to North Shore. We stopped at Shark's Cove and it was a little rough but we went in a little and had fun looking at little fish and building a rock tower. We stopped at Stordo's deli for dinner-so yummy and Sam loved it.

Tuesday: We spent the day at the Polynesian Cultural Center. On the way there we stopped and got another Stordo sandwich. We toured the villages during the day. Sam's favorite was New Zealand where we all practiced twirling poi balls and Sam and I played the stick game! Then we had a yummy luau dinner and then on to the night show. We were so amazed when we were seated in the 4th row from the front! It was really cool!

Today: We had a relaxed day today, the boys were pretty tired after yesterday. In the afternoon we went to the commissary to get some groceries. Then we had dinner at Dirty Lickin's. Sam really liked it-he got 10 hot wings-and wants to go back again while he is here.

I really love having my brother here-we have had some great talks and boys have enjoyed daily wrestling with Uncle Sam. There has been lots of laughs lately!

Me and Sam at the Polynesian Cultural Center

Next visitor...

This morning we picked up our next visitor from the airport...My brother Sam. Watch our blog for our adventures...

Interesting day

Today some unusual and awesome things occured. It started out as a normal morning. Our friend Alex came over to play for awhile.

I decided we should go for an exercise walk. So I put Jacob and Alex in the double exercise stroller. Since Moses has not had all his shots yet, he is not allowed to walk outside of our house or backyard. So we strapped him into the single exercise stroller and Micah pushed him. Our whole walk I could see people looking and smiling or chuckling. One lady jogger said "That is about the cutest thing I have ever seen!" See picture. We also found a really cool bird nest on the ground.

After that were walking to the park minus Moses. Alex stubbed both of his big toes twice in a row. They were bleeding so we ended up walking home. But then they wanted to play in the tree in Alex's front yard. They were monkeys and I was the zookeeper building a nest for them. I was gathering flowers and leaves and sticks when I came across a huge centipede. It was dying but was still moving its legs. It was about 4 or 5 inches long! They are very poisionous. So I picked it up with some sticks and put it in one of Darrick's old hats. It was super gross!

Tonight Micah is really missing Darrick and was crying for him so I got out the book about Darrick and the boys that I made for his last deployment. It really cheered him up. There is one part that explains that Darrick and I asked Jesus into our hearts which is why we had them baptized. Micah said "I asked Jesus into my heart when I was 4!" And then Jacob said "I want to ask Jesus into my heart." So we all prayed there on Micah's bed and Jacob asked Jesus to come into his heart. It was such a beautiful moment and one I will never forget.

Ready to go for a walk

At North Shore the weekend before Darrick left

Goodbye

Well today is the day...The Hopper is leaving this morning for a 5 month CARAT cruise. We actually said goodbye to Darrick yesterday morning at 6am because he had duty. Micah and I cried and the boys keep saying that they miss Daddy but so far we are doing good on the home front.

Today my youngest brother, Jeff, is graduating from Dordt. Now all 4 of us have graduated from Dordt College and my Dad can finally retire from 30+ years with the phone company. Thanks Dad! My parents flew out to Iowa on Wednesday and will be there until the beginning of next week.

Moses is doing good. We have had to try something new because he kept having accidents all over the house so we have contained him to the kitchen-which he doesn't really like but it is saving us a lot of clean-up.

Once again I would like to thank everyone for the emails, prayers and gifts of support. It means so much to us!

What is Darrick doing

Hello everyone this is Darrick. Jenn wanted me to write tonight so here I go. So what have I been doing? Well I have gone back to work. We are preparing for our deployment next week so I have had duty then two days off then duty. But tomorrow it is back to normal work then I have duty again on Friday. Just a reminder duty means I stay on the ship all day and over night. I have been doing things like getting a passport, getting my uniforms together and trying to get things squared away at home so I don't leave things not good for Jenn. I still have some more things to do like get the tires on the exercise stroller fixed, fix the toilet seats, do some work on the van and get all my supplies from the store. Oh I also need to finish my current college course and get my Chiefs package together and send it in. Last but certainly not least and the most important I need to spend time with my family. So I am feeling a little stressed and busy. But there is no sign of any hernias, just some scars and a little soreness. Please pray for us this last week at home and then while I am gone. Thanks
Darrick

Oh, Jacob

We knew it was just a matter of time and today it happened, Jacob ate dog food. I guess it was just too tempting for him sitting in a shiny green bowl on the floor in the kitchen. All of the sudden we see him spitting something out and pieces of dry dog food on his chest.

But that is not all he has tried. Moses has a dog toy that you put some peanut butter in to keep them busy. A few times we have caught Jacob trying to eat the peanut butter. He has stepped in dog poop. He has tried to carry Moses by his hind legs. And he has carried around the dog toys in his mouth.

We also think Moses has kennel cough. But we have an appointment at the Vet tomorrow so hopefully he will get an answer.

Glimpses into our day with Moses

So far everything is going much better then we expected. He has been sleeping in a cage in between the boys' beds. He does not whine but just goes to sleep. He has had 3 pee accidents in the house but no poop accidents and twice today he has gone outside to pee.

This morning the boys brushed him and then I gave him a bath. He smells really nice now.

He also found a new place he likes to sleep. The bottom shelf of our coffee table.

Question of the day

Today we ate Popeye's chicken for lunch. The boys each had a chicken finger kid's meal. About half way through the meal Micah says "Do chickens have fingers?" We all got a good laugh out of that!

Pets

Introducing the newest member of our family,
Moses. We bought him today, he is 9 weeks old and is a Cairn Terrier.

He is so adorable and we all already love him. Micah told us that this is the best day of his life. The boys have been wanting a dog for over a year and we thought now would be a good time since Darrick is leaving next week for a 5 month deployment.

The boys spent all afternoon running around the backyard and Moses was running along with
them.

On a sad note last week my new fish Lily died. We have no idea what happened. So I think that is the end of fish for me.

Darrick went back to work on Tuesday. Right now they are on stand down so he has duty one day and then two days off which is nice. We are busy getting things ready for Darrick to leave-making sure the car is in good order, getting his passport, getting our power of attorney.

It is hard for us to believe that it is time for him to leave again. A year and a half went so fast!

Another day of adventure

I started my day with my annual physical check-up at 8:00 am. Everything went good. From there I headed to Diva Nails to get a pedicure so my toes look nice for Easter. I was relaxing and enjoying the pampering when in walked a big Hawaiian man. He said he wanted a pedicure and manicure. He was in the chair right next to me. I overheard he was a roofer which he does in slippers (flip flops) which is why his feet were so dirty. We chatted about a few things. The girl working on his feet was amazing, they didn't even look like the same feet! She just cleaned his nails and feet and cut his nails, no polish or anything. Before he went to get his manicure he turned to me and said "When you get home I want you to tell your husband thank-you". I was confused but he said "I'm serious. He's in the military right? (He must have overheard some of my conversation too) I'm a Vietnam Vet and I want you to thank him for protecting me and my family". It was very nice and Darrick really appreciated it.

This afternoon we took the boys to the Hickam Airforce Base Bowling Center. It was not very busy which was nice. The boys were so excited. First we got their shoes and they thought they were so cool-Micah even asked if we got to keep them when we are done. We had bumpers put up on our lane to help the boys. The boys did really good and in the first game Jacob got a few spares and in the second game Micah bowled a Strike! He was so proud of himself. Micah's high score was 91 and Jacob's was 84. We only had one mishap when Jacob crossed the line, which I warned them not to do, and he fell on his back. Darrick and I couldn't hold back our laughter. When he got up he said "I hurt my bum!" We also got a kick out of watching the speed of their balls down the lane. On the score screen it listed mph. Micah's high was 7 mph and Jacob's low was so slow going down the lane it did not even register a speed!

Driving around to see new sights

Last night we decided that we were all tired of sitting in the house-especially Darrick. So this morning our plan was to get haircuts for the boys and then go where the wind blows.

It was lunch time when we were done so we went to the Pizza Hut near the exchange where we were a few weeks ago with my parents. We were surprised to find out it was closed-for good. So we went to another one and it was yummy. The boys each tried a piece of blueberry dessert pizza and they really liked it.

We saw a pet store in the same shopping center so we went there to look. It was pretty cool, they had a lot of fish, birds, lizards, rats-the boys had fun looking at them all. I was so surprised when I saw some celestial goldfish. When we lived in New Jersey we had one and his name was Paco. I loved him so much but he died when we were moving and we have never seen another one until today. So of course I got one since I am fishless. She is so beautiful and I named her Lily. They are called celestial goldfish because their eyes always look upwards.


This is a picture of a celestial goldfish. It's not Lily but it looks just like her.






Then we saw a used bookstore so went there and got a few books for the boys. Two that I read when I was little "Cookie Monster and the Cookie Tree" and "Big Bird's Red Book".

Then we drove around Hickam Airforce base looking for a wooden park I had heard of. We finally found it. And right next store was Kidsport which is like an indoor obstacle course for kids. They have some classes that I thought the boys could try sometime. As we were walking to the wooden park the boys ran ahead of us to play. As we got closer we see Jacob run off the structure, pull his pants off and just start peeing! We couldn't believe it. How embarrassing!

Then we stopped at the bowling alley to check it out. Then we found a scrapbook store on the Airforce Base and it was really cool.

Then we went to Dirty Lickin's for dinner. When we got home we put Lily in her new home and found some cockroaches for the gecko. Now it's time to relax.

New Pet

One thing the boys love about Hawaii is finding all the interesting creatures and then catching them. The bad thing is when they do not want to let them go. Geckos are very fast but Micah has great reflexes and catches them often.

Sunday Micah caught a gecko and we put him in a bowl with a lid so he can't get out. Yes there are air holes. But Jenn and I thought we would let him go after a few hours. Micah would not let that happen so we made a deal with him that we would find him a bug and if he ate it we would keep him. We never thought he would eat the bug. But as you can see in the picture there is no bug. So we have a new pet.

Update from Darrick

Hello everyone
It has been a long time.

I am doing good, I am sore but not feeling like I am going to fall over or walking hunched over.
Today my friend from the ship, Nate, came over and we went to a Christian book store to check it out and to Denny's for lunch. He made sure he parked close at both places so I barely walked at all.

Micah is doing good. Jenn has gone out twice leaving me with the boys and he had a little bit of a hard time but pulled himself together quickly.

Thank you for all your prayer's and encouragement.

Please pray for Jenn who is now feeling under the weather.

Updates

Darrick is continuing to get better. The pain medication they gave him last time and this time made him spacey and feel wierd so he only took it the first night this time. Now he is just taking motrin. Tonight he gets to take the bandages off so we can then see the incision. He can also take a shower tonight which will be nice...just kidding!

Yesterday was Micah's appt and it was a hard day. Micah cried a lot and basically freaked out which was hard but it also gave them a chance to see what I deal with. I had to give them a lot of family history and details of Micah's life beginning with my pregnancy. Micah is dealing with a lot of fears and anxiety and they agreed to help him and hope that the progress will be quick and he should be doing great by the time kindergarten starts in July.

So please continue to pray for them both, thanks!

Darrick Update

Today went really well and we are home and Darrick has been sleeping for over 3 hours. We had to check in at 7 am. We got there early to beat traffic and so had time to eat some blueberry pancakes in the hospital cafeteria-well except for Darrick he had to stop eating at midnight.

The surgery went really well and the doctor said he fixed it good. He said that he has done over 100 hernia repairs and this is his first one that has relapsed.

This time they made an incision to do the repair and he is in a lot more pain. But we are praying for a speedy recovery.

Thanks for the prayers and tomorrow at 1:00 is Micah's appointment.

Have you heard?

This is part of an article that was in the Honolulu Advertiser:

"The 48 million gallons of raw sewage pumped into the Ala Wai Canal this week marked the largest release of untreated wastewater into Honolulu waters in at least two decades.
And yesterday's extremely wet weather caused additional sewage spills in Waimanalo, Kailua, Kane'ohe and central Honolulu, city spokesman Mark Matsunaga said.
Despite the heavy rains, city officials said repairs to the ruptured Kai'olu Street sewer line in Waikiki held and no more raw sewage was pumped into the canal.
It was that rupture — beginning March 24 and ending six days later — that has contaminated coastline waters in and near Waikiki and prompted city and state officials to post 103 warning signs urging people to stay out of the water."

There are so many stories going around the island right now about is the water safe or not, is the government telling the truth or are they scared of frightening tourists away...

On top of that Hawaii has just hit over 40 days (and nights :) of rain, is the end in sight?

Two Prayer Requests

The first is for Darrick. He is having surgery again Monday, April 3 for the hernia. A few weeks ago he had surgery to fix two hernias but one of them has slipped and is out again. He has to check in tomorrow morning at 7 am. I will post tomorrow some time to let everyone know how he is doing.

The second is for Micah. We are having a very difficult time with him and Tuesday we are having him evaluated. Please pray that God will reveal to us what is going on and what we need to do to help him.