Boy, do I love my boys!

I can't seem to stop taking pictures of my boys lately! I just feel like they are growing up so fast and I want to capture them at this age. Trust me, they have their moments but boy can they be sweet. Jacob is just such a love bug and I love talking with Micah.

This afternoon we rode our bikes to the dog park. Luke gets so excited when we are there, especially when his doggie friends show up! He just follows those big dogs all around and the best part is that when we get home he is exhausted and quiet!

The boys played in the ocean while Luke played with his friends!

Field Trip at the Zoo

Yesterday I was able to go on a field trip with Jacob's preschool to the Honolulu Zoo. It was a nice warm day and the animals were out for us to see. I had never been on a field trip with preschoolers, so for me I'm not sure who was more fun to watch the kids or the animals! Between drinks, bathroom trips, and whatever else you can think of it seems like we didn't get too far at times!

We rode on a bus, which was a highlight for the preschoolers. Jacob really enjoyed the goats and hanging out with his buddy Eric!

Get Well Wishes

This afternoon Jacob's friend from preschool, Eric, came to visit him because he misses him not being at school. Eric brought Jacob a Get Well Balloon, a coloring game book and a cool car. Jacob was so happy to see Eric, it definitly gave him an energy boost! You can also see in the pictures that Eric is wearing a matching necklace to Jacob's. Jacob gave it to Eric for his birthday. When I asked Jacob what he wanted to get Eric for his birthday, Jacob said "A necklace like mine!"

Jacob is feeling pretty good today. The incision looks really good. He had a great sleep last night and has been resting and playing off and on all day.

Jacob's Surgery

Jake's Ear before surgery
In his cool hospital pj's-he loves the red booties with skid on the bottom
Ready to be taken into the operating room
His IV
After surgery, pretty groggy
Something from Micah for being so brave!
Ready to go home (with his cool booties!)
His ear with incision and stitches

Thank you so much everyone for the prayers! Every thing went awesome. Jacob was very brave and did not cry. They said he did really good in the operating room. I went into the recovery room and he was pretty sleepy and it took him about an hour to wake up. Then he enjoyed two green Otter Pops. He is doing good and not in too much pain! We are so proud of him!

Please pray for Jacob

Tomorrow (Monday) morning Jake will be having surgery on his right ear. We have to be at the hospital at 6 am and he will be the first one of the day. They are removing an atypical mole that keeps growing. They will be putting him under for the surgery and it is being done by an ear, nose and throat plastic surgeon. We will update you tomorrow after we get back home from the hospital. Thanks for the prayers!

Today, Luke is finally a ...

...well, for sure not a man, an "it" maybe, I'm not sure what the correct term is.

That's right today Luke got fixed, or as Micah put it: "cutting his testicles off".

We dropped poor unspecting Luke at the vet this morning. At 12:30 they called and said the surgery was done, everything went great and Luke was starting to wake up. We were able to pick him up at 3:00. He seems in good spirits, all things considering.

Not this cone thing again!

Yep, they're gone!

Dog Park

For about a week now we have been taking Luke to the Dog Park. Where we live they have a large fenced area that includes part of the beach. We have been riding our bikes there-which is fun.

It seems like the time that we go is when the Big Dogs come to play. At first Luke was really freaking out. When they would come near him he would run as fast as he could over to me and hide between my legs. But now he is getting use to the dogs because he sees the same ones.

It is so funny to see this little min pin running and playing with all these big dogs. They seem to really like playing with him, even though sometimes they knock him down or roll him. And boy is Luke tired when we get home.

Camping with Micah

I have not written on the blog in a long time. This weekend Micah and I got to go camping with Cub Scouts. We had a great time together. I especially enjoyed watching Micah, he is so big now and is a great kid. I am not saying that because he is my son, it is because he really made me proud. He even won the Super Scouter Award, the leader said he got it because he exemplifies what being a Scout is about. They only gave 3 out over the weekend and he is one of the youngest kids. He really listens and does whatever he needs to do and helps everyone. I watched him do a Service Project, they had to spread mulch, and he worked very hard and never complained. Then he had a Tug of War and Micah really pulled hard and his team won. Then he had his swim test and did awesome. In the evening he had a skit and did great with that. For lunch we had MRE's (meal ready to eat) and he tried that and did pretty good with that because that is what the military guys eat. The only thing that did not go well was he was scared by a scary story and a guy the jumped out of the bushes to scare the kids. All this may not sound like a big deal but if you know our Micah and how shy he can be he was so awesome. I had a great camping trip with him. He also did great sleeping in the tent. I took a lot of pictures so I will put some of those on here.
Darrick

Baptism

This afternoon our church held a baptism at Nimitz Beach. It is located on an old military base so in order to secure a picnic canopy area you have to be in the military to reserve it. So Darrick did that about a week ago.

So we thought since it was reserved in Darrick's name we should be there. Plus, the boys and I have never gone to one of our church's baptisms but Darrick has gone to one.

Quite a few people came and 5 adults and a 10 year old girl were baptized. Everyone gathered at the canopy first and each person told why they wanted to be baptized and then we all moved down to the ocean and one by one they were prayed over and dunked in the ocean. It was really awesome!

I was baptized as an infant and then made my profession of faith in high school. The ceremony today really touched me and I think I am going to get baptized the next time they have the ceremony...want to come?

Me and Jake

This weekend it is just me and Jake. Micah and Darrick left this afternoon for a weekend, Friday-Sunday, camping trip for the scouts. It is their first Father-Son thing and we are so glad that Darrick is home to go! The camp is at North Shore.

This morning we had Jacob's pre-op appt. for his surgery on the 21st. Everything went really good with that.

This afternoon Jacob and I took a bike ride to the Beach Cafe and had a scoop of ice cream. Then we played at the park and tonight we are going to watch a DVD together.

Compassion International

Last night we had an awesome event at our church. We were able to have a woman named Michelle Tollentino come and speak to us. She is a former Compassion sponsered child who has now graduated from college. She told us her testimony of how God rescued her through Compassion and changed her life. It was very moving. There were over 250 people there.

I was there to help at the child sponser sign up table. Our family has sponsered 2 boys from two different countries for a few years now so I had experience to help. There were SO many packets to choose from it was overwhelming when people came to pick. We were often asked "How do I choose one child over another?" Many people prayed right there at the table that God would lead them to the right child.

And then last night it was "Idol Gives Back" on American Idol. It is just overwhelming to me how big the problem of poverty is-even in America, but especially Africa. We have SO much, more then we will ever need or want.

Someone said last night that God has blessed us so we can help others. If that is true then we need to start helping others and stop helping ourselves trying to chase the American Dream.

Today it makes me sick looking around my house at all the stuff I have when others have nothing.

www.compassion.com

Good Question Micah!

I was reading bedtime stories to the boys tonight, Darrick has duty, and we were reading a book called "Animal Babies". We got to page which had a picture of a family of turkeys. I saw it as a teachable moment and my teacher mode kicked in and I asked the boys to observe the differences between the daddy turkey and the mommy turkey. They said things like: the daddy is bigger, it has a beard, etc. I pointed out to them how beautiful the daddy was in color and feathers. Then I used other examples like peacocks and some birds we have here in Hawaii and how all the daddy birds are more beautiful.

Then Micah looks at me and says "Then Mommy, how come you are more beautiful then daddy?" And Jacob said, "Yea, Mommy you are more beautiful!"

Good Question Micah, good question...

They're Back!

This afternoon the boys and I picked up our friends Jennifer and Brayden from the airport. They flew home to Texas while Jeremy is away on deployment. It is now 1 month until Jeremy's return so they are back to get settled.

Straight from the ariport we went to housing and Jennifer signed the papers and got the keys to her new place. Then we drove to Ford Island to get her car out of storage. Then we drove to her new house to check it out and unload what stuff we did have.

The next few days we will help her get settled, her stuff all out of storage then and moved in, did I mention she is like 8 months pregnant! What a woman!

Our Navy Life

Today was a very big Navy Day! First of all, it was the change of command ceremony for the USS Lake Erie, which means they are saying goodbye to their captain and hello to a new captain. It is a very huge ceremony.

Darrick with old capt. and XO (and Jacob)

Second, today is the 115th Birthday of the making of Chiefs in the Navy.

Command Master Chief

Third, today Darrick re-enlisted in the Navy for 6 more years. After the change of command ceremony they had a huge reception on the flight deck. And at the beginning of the reception Darrick received an honorable discharge from the XO and then he re-enlisted from the old captain. They even gave awards to the boys and I for supporting Darrick.

When he is finshed with this 6 years he will be at 18 1/2 years-almost done! Darrick was also invited to cut the Chief birthday cake with the Command Master Chief and old captain.

This past weekend Darrick and I attended out first Navy Dine Out. Beth and Oscar took the boys overnight. We had a really nice time!