The days are flying by

I am finally starting to feel a little better today. It has been 1 week since I went to the ER. It was a really rough week with not feeling well but I made it through.

TUESDAY: In the afternoon I had to go to get my fingerprints taken to start working as a sub. It was cool because it was all done electronically, no black ink involved. That evening Micah had a scout pack meeting. They played some fun games and went Christmas caroling at the Minimart. Tuesday night we had our friends Charlie and Alex over to spend the night. On their way from Japan to California for Christmas they made a short few day stop in Hawaii! We were excited to see them and to meet their new little sister, Elizabeth.

WEDNESDAY: After feeding all four boys and getting them ready we headed to the Navy Lodge to swim in the pool. I let Micah and Jacob have a special day off from school. They swam and goofed around for hours and I got lots of time to hold Elizabeth. In the evening we all drove up to North Shore, watched the sunset and ate Stordo's on the beach. It was so hard to say goodbye.

THURSDAY: We found out at the beginning of the week that Oscar and Beth (Vairin) Gonzales will be moving to Oahu at the beginning of January. Oscar was offered and accepted a new job here and starts the beginning of January. So they flew out to check out places to live. We picked them up at the airport and then let them borrow Darrick's car to use while they are here. Darrick also fit in a quick tour of the USS Lake Erie.

FRIDAY: Micah was running a fever so he stayed home from school. In the morning we went to Jacob's preschool Christmas program. It was really cute. His class sang 2 songs. Jingle bells, where all the kids played an instrument and My God is so Great. He did all the hand motions and sang the words.

SATURDAY: We had a breakfast meeting at Zippy's for Micah's soccer team. He seems to have a really great team and starts practice this week Thursday.

SUNDAY: This morning Oscar and Beth came to church with us, Darrick is out to sea right now. After church we drove up to North Shore and ate lunch at Cholo's. From there we went to Sunset Beach to check out the Billabong Pipeline Masters . There was no competetion today but the surfers were still there. We stayed for awhile and then stopped for shave ice. Before bringing Oscar and Beth back to their hotel we stopped off at Pali Lookout. They are flying back to Cali tomorrow. But we will see them again soon!

Oh, what a weekend!

FRIDAY: The day started off with getting the boys to school. It was the day of Iroquois Point Elementary School's winter carnival. It was from 9am-6pm. I was there at 9 am helping in the first grade booth. At 11 I went to Micah's classroom because it was his classes turn to spend an hour there. At 12 I left to go pick Jacob up from school so he could come to the carnival too. Micah got out at 1:10 and we drove to Waipahu so I could get my TB test read. Then it was back to school for the carnival. Darrick met us there and took the boys around while I worked in the booth until 4:30.

While all that was going on Darrick had a very important morning. It was the 66th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor. Darrick's ship was chosen to sail around Ford Island during the ceremony. Every year less and less survivors return to remember this day because they are all passing away. This year they erected a "Healing Field" which had one flag posted for every person that died during the attack. Each flag also had a tag with an individuals name on it. There was also one Hawaiian state flag for every person killed in this war who is from Hawaii.

So back to Friday. We left the carnival at 4:30 to get showered and changed for the USS Lake Erie's Christmas party. Auntie Hiromi took the boys overnight so we could party all night long! It was held at the Marriot in Waikiki and the food and entertainment was awesome! But the highlight of the event was the award ceremony. One of Darrick's guys, those who work for him, was named Sailor of the Year and then to top it off the Captain picked 2 sailors who he promotes to the next rank and pay grade and it is effective immediatly and it was the same guy. Darrick was so proud and all his guys were jumping and cheering and hugging, I even saw some teary eyes-it was such a great moment for Darrick and his guys. On a side note, we DID NOT win anything in the raffle again this year. Darrick had his hopes set on 2 really nice flat screen tv's but they went to someone else.

The last bit of news for Friday was that we got our orders: We are going to Naval Air Station Lemoore which is in California. As of now that is where we are headed next but there is still a chance it could change. In February Darrick will find out out if he was selected to go to Officer School. If he does those orders will be void and he will go to Officer School and then get sent back to a ship, where we don't know. If he does not get selected we will go to Lemoore and enjoy 3 years of Shore Duty. The downfall is that there is a slight chance he will be sent to Iraq since they are sending a lot of guys on shore duty there. But it is all in God's hands and we will go where He sends us.

SATURDAY: After we picked the boys up from Hiromi's we spent most of the day unpacking and the boys played with some kids they met in the neighborhood. In the evening we decorate our Christmas tree. The boys put all the ornaments on. Luke seemed to think that it was his own personal relaxing area. We had to put the tree skirt away because he bit off a button and chewed on a snowmans arm. Are the pictures of the boys by the tree started out cute and adorable but went downhill fast!

SUNDAY: I woke up yesterday morning with a really terrible pain in my jaw, on the left side up by my ear. We all went to church but it kept getting worse. And during lunch it was so painful I could barely eat or chew. We were on our way to the ships kids christmas party and Darrick and I decided I should go to the ER. There was no reason for Darrick and the boys to miss the party and just sit in the ER with me. I had to wait about 3 hours and I had a slight fever and my glands were swollen. The doctor thought I have an infection in my glands and gave me motrin and antibiotics. If it doesn't go away in a few days I have to see my regular doctor. When the guys were done with the kids party they picked me up-I was just getting done, so it was perfect timing.

This morning it still hurts pretty good and after I got the boys to school, I took a big nap. I also turned in my sub application and made an appointment to get my fingerprints done.

Go Warriors!

The big news on the island is the University of Hawaii's Football team! They were undefeated and are now headed to the Sugar Bowl! It is really a big deal here and everyone on the island is supporting their team!

We have been getting dumped on, as far as rain goes. We are in the rainy season, but with the rain comes mud. Hawaii does not have the usual mud you may be use to. It is red dirt which makes red mud which stains and gets on everything.

Wednesday I got a TB test done as part of the process to becoming a sub. I have to get it read tomorrow.

Tuesday I went on a field trip with Micah's class to the Hawaii State Library and Honolulu Hale. At the library the kids heard a story and then we walked over to Honolulu Hale which is outdoor Christmas decorations, themed Christmas Trees done by local government agencies and a wreath making contest.

I have been spending my days unpacking and trying to get our home in order. We put our outside Christmas lights up and got our first Christmas card today from Charlie and Maud!And promised here are some pictures of Jacob's first day of preschool! Jacob is so hard to get to look at the camera-he could really care less about pictures. And that is his teacher Miss Josie.

We Survived!

Here I am sitting in a quiet house, in our new kitchen, because all the men, including Luke are fast asleep. We were able to find someone in the new neighborhood who has a wireless connection so we can check our email and write on our blog.

FRIDAY: The day before the big move. Thankfully Darrick has a 4 day weekend because the ship did good on their inspections. In the morning we had our lease signing and viewing of our new house. It looked great and we were excited to move in. While we were signing the new lease they told us they were giving us $500.00 to help cover our moving costs! So we were able to hire some movers to help us with the big stuff. Also on Friday was the last day of my substitute teacher class. So on top of all the stuff for moving, I was studying for the final for the class. Friday afternoon I took the test. I was a little nervous because I have not taken a test for over 10 years, when I was at Dordt. It took me about an hour.

SATURDAY: Moving Day! We were all up bright and early and the movers arrived at 8:30am. Everything went really well. They took all the big stuff like furniture and then when they got to the new house I told them where to put it. We decided that the shed that we bought will fit in our backyard so Darrick spent a big part of the day taking it apart in sections so we could move. As the boxes came into our new house I unpacked them. It was a long and exhausting day.

SUNDAY: Moving Day 2! We still had boxes to move and most of the kitchen to pack and then unpack. We worked on putting the shed back together. Darrick worked late into the night cleaning our old house for our final inspection on Monday. Another long day!

MONDAY: Today it was back to school for Micah and Jacob's first day of preschool. He was so excited and proud to be going to school. I will post some pictures when I find the cable. After we got the boys to school we had to move the motorcycle from the old house yet. But it would not start so Darrick had to walk it all the way to our new house. Darrick and I made 2 trips to Lowes today. We needed a ladder and some fencing to put around the bottom of our backyard fence so Luke can not get under. I mowed the yard-it is so little!!! Darrick finished the shed! And we did more unpacking.

I received my grade from the sub class and I got a 95% on my test so I passed (80% was passing). I am very happy. Next steps are fingerprints and TB test.

Jacob had a great day at preschool and is excited to go back tomorrow. They are practicing songs for their Christmas program. He said they learned about God and prayed. He played, had lunch and a nap and did some papers.

I LOVE our new place and am so happy here! We will send some pictures when we get some. We passed the final inspection on our last house so are now done with that. We just have the unpacking and organizing. As I am unpacking I am also getting stuff out to decorate for Christmas.

Luke had a vet appt. today and is now 9 lbs. We had his 2 last puppy shots and is healthy.

We called the company that does our phone/internet/cable and the soonest appointment they could give us is December 28! Can you believe it?!?! Hopefully we will survive.

Oh, I also forgot to mention that it was pouring rain on Friday. Beautiful and clear on Saturday and rainy Sunday and cloudy today. We got wet sometimes but on the whole us and our stuff survived!

Luke Sitting

I am trying out making and posting a video. Enjoy

Tiger Scouts

Last night Micah had a Pack meeting which means all the dens get together for one big meeting. They do this once a month. Darrick sewed all Micah's patches on this weekend and Micah was so excited to wear his Tiger Cub uniform. He looked so big. He has a big Den which are all 1st grade boys. At the end of the meeting they called the dens up one by one to hand out their kits for the " Raingutter Regatta" which is a boat race. I thought it was so funny how all the other tigers were wild and moving all around but as soon as Micah got his, he just started studying it.

Hays Family Soap Opera

This morning I meet with our Property manager and she was so great. She said that we can transfer to the townhouses that are also in Iroquois Point Island Club but just another part. They are waiving the $750.00 transfer fee and the $250.00 holding fee for us, thank God!

They gave me a map with about 7 different townhouses that I could look at and then I could pick out which one I wanted. Jacob and I went and drove around. We peeked in the windows if the blinds were open and looked in the backyards. We picked a nice townhouse that is in a cul-de-sac and has a back entrance to the school.

Because our house is not safe and Darrick has a lot of out to sea time coming up we need to move soon. So our move out day is this Friday, that's right THIS Friday. We are really sad to lose our beautiful beach house but we are glad that we will be in a safe house.

It is a 4 bedroom, 2 1/2 bath, with a fenced backyard and central air. It is two story.

So now we need to pack everything back up but I think it is for the best.

"We've Got Trouble Right Here..."

Well we have trouble right here in Iroquois Point and its our house. When we first moved in 2 months ago there were a few minor things wrong that we noticed which the maintance was able to fix. Like the seal on our fridge was broken, a sliding door was sticking.

But after we moved in and started actually living here, we have discovered some more serious problem. The first is the dishwasher which cannot be opened because it hits the cabinet handles. Second is that Darrick and I have both received electrical shocks when we take a shower in our master bath. It happens when the water is running and you touch the handles. The third is that when ever we use an appliance, microwave, washing machine, etc. we get power surges in the house. The lights dim and flicker. The fourth is that we keep having a breaker trip on a certain wall in the house. They sent maintaince and a electricran out but they were not able to do anything. So tomorrow I am going to talk to our property manager and they might move us because the house is not safe...we'll keep you posted.

The past few days I have been taking my substitute teacher class. Our teacher is a Vice Principal of an elementary school and she is really good. A lot of the stuff I already know but it is a good review. There is such a wide variety of people in the class, many different ages and walks of life. There is a retired Navy Seal, a girl who wants to get out of the restaurant business, new college grad, a guy ready to retire from the Navy and looking for a second job, current subs who need to get re certified, stay at home moms. There is about 30 people in the class.

Last night after church, we were blessed to see Paul Wright in concert again. He was awesome! Pastor Randy, Kai, Jocelyn, Stacey, Jenn, Micah, Paul Wright, Darrick and Jacob

Check out my Slide Show!

Major Wipe Out

The boys and I have been riding our bikes back and forth to school. Jacob learned to ride without his training wheels about a month and a half ago. Jacob and I were on our way to pick Micah up from school. We were almost there and were going across the crosswalk. Jacob was in front of me.

All of the sudden he started wobbling and then his bike hit the curb and it stopped but he didn't. He fell over the handle bars, face first. He scrapped up his chin pretty bad and his elbows. Thankfully he had his helmet and long pants on. The whole front of his white shirt was covered in red dirt.

He cried at first cause I think it scared him pretty bad. But he got back on his bike and kept riding.

The Weekend

Saturday: since Darrick had to work I decided to mow the lawn in the morning. Well I have actually mowed the lawn every week since we moved here because Darrick is never here to do it. After that the boys and I packed a picnic lunch. The boys made their own PBJ sandwiches. Somehow they got jelly on themselves, dripping down the cabinet, the stool and the floor but they were so proud of themselves. *Most of the jelly mess was on Jacob's side* Then we took our lunch and walked to the beach. We had a wonderful time and hung out for about 4 hours.

When we were walking home, Darrick drove up. We all had showers and rested and then went to Saturday night church.

Sunday: we all went to church again because I had to teach Sunday School. The boys rested after church while Darrick and I paid bills. Then we took a nice drive up the coast to see where the school is that I am taking my sub course at. It is in Waianae. It took us about 45 minutes to get there. I have the class starting this Friday, Saturday, Sunday and next Friday and Saturday for a total of 30 hours.

This morning Darrick left to go out to sea again.

He was told that we should find out about our orders December 7. Patience...

A Day in a Mom's Life

6:00 Wake up and shower
6:30 Get the boys up, breakfast, get ready for school, pack Micah's lunch
7:30 Out the door to bring Micah to school
7:35 Get to school and realize Micah forgot his lunch
7:45 Drive home and realize Micah's lunch was just hiding under the car seat
Get stuff ready to do all my running around, take Luke for a walk
8:30 Drive back to school and give Micah his lunch
9:15 First stop-Post Office to mail Elijah's birthday present
9:45 Second stop-Jiffylube for an oil change
10:30 Third stop-Bank to make a payment
11:00 Fourth stop-Get Jacob's haircut
11:45 Head up to Tripler Hospital to get Jacob's TB test read
12:30 Get TB test read and hold Jacob down while he gets 4 shots
1:15 Leave Tripler and drive to pick Micah up from school
2:00 Pick Micah up from school
2:45 Check the mail and open my transcripts from Dordt, call to see if there are still
openings for sub teacher course, there are just a few so you need to get here before
4:00 to register
3:00 Load the boys back in car and drive to Waipahu High School
3:45 Get to HS and register for class
5:00 Get home-traffic
5:30 Go to Beach Cafe and we get 3 Steamer 140 drinks-basically hot chocolate
6:00 We all take showers
6:20 Sit on the couch while boys watch an Ewok movie
8:00 Boys in bed, clean up house, do my online bible study, wait for Darrick to call
9:30 Go to bed asleep in 2 seconds
9:45 Get woken up by Darrick calling, saying they are home, ship returned today, but he has
duty and they have to work Saturday
10:00 Go to bathroom, back to bed and Goodnight!

Hawaiian Waters

On Halloween night we went to Harvest fest at our church. They had 3 raffles and our friends Jeremy, Jennifer and Brayden Homesley won 4 tickets to Hawaiian Waters. Jeremy left for deployment today, Jennifer is pregnant and the tickets had to be used before the end of the year, so they gave them to us.

Darrick and Micah both had off today so we thought it would be fun to go! And boy was it-we had a blast. We started off in Keiki cove where they had little kids waterslides and the boys had a blast. Then we headed to waterworld where they had two slides you could ride parent and child so we did that. Darrick went down a few fast ones but what was so nice is that there was hardly anyone there today so he just went up there and then came down.

We all floated around Kapolei Kooler (like a lazy river) and then Darrick and I rode the Shaka-see picture above. I thought I would not scream but when they pushed us over the edge it was straight down and then you go up one side and then down and up the other side until you stop. We played around all afternoon and just had such a great day. Even though we have lived here almost 4 years we have never been to Hawaiian Waters. It is $39.99 for adults so the free tickets were awesome! We packed our own lunch and there was no parking fee so it was a free day all around!

A Day that will go down in History

Today my parents got DSL! I never thought this day would come!

Congratulations Mom and Dad, welcome to a whole new world!

Friday

Yesterday afternoon Darrick got off of work in the afternoon which was so nice because he has been working late everyday.

We took a drive up to North Shore and had some shave ice and ate at Cholo's. It was so yummy.

But the big news is that we thought that we were stationed here until December 2008. Darrick was told yesterday that the date is wrong. We are here until August 2008. But what that means is that we are eligible to pick our new orders this month! Whoa-we weren't ready for that. Right now there is San Diego, Japan and Maryland.

We talked about it last night and we decided that we are not going to focus on location but the job. Darrick has been out to sea for a long time and he really wants to have a job that is real shore duty for 3 years. So that is what we are praying for. Right now none of the locations have a job like that so we are going to wait. We have some time to do that. We are just going to wait on the Lord. We will keep you posted.