Is that your final answer?

Well, I am sorry to be the bearer of bad news but we are not coming home for Christmas. We just found out and we are pretty bummed. The person on the ship who said the Navy was paying for our tickets for the way home was wrong. When Darrick went to the main office to book our flights, hey looked over his orders and said we are not eligable at the time. But if Darrick wanted to sign up for 2 more additional years of sea time then we could ge the tickets in September-no thanks!

So we are staying here and having our own Christmas in Hawaii again. But we are focusing on the positives like Darrick is home with us and we can have some down time as a family.

Decorating our Tree

She lives on...

This afternoon we spent some time decorating our Christmas Tree. We let the boys put on most of the ornaments so they often end up clumped together but they are so proud of the job they did.

But then when the boys are done, it is my turn. I very carefully lift my angel out of the box and lovingly place her at the top of the tree-where she belongs.

I made this Angel when I was in 2nd grade at Ontario Christian Elementary. I folded a paper like a fan, cut out a circle for her head and drew her face, then I cut out wings and glued her head and wings on. And on her left side are my initials (well the ones I had before I got married) J.G. For many years she reigned on top of the Gutierrez family tree since I was the oldest.

As we got older my brothers use to poke fun of her and say she was ulgy, but I didn't care, I still put her up year after year. One year my brother Dave tried to replace her with a homemade star he had made but it didn't matter I still put her at the top next to his star.

And when Darrick and I got married, I took her with me so she could sit at the top of our tree and she has for the last 9 years. And as I am writing this I can see her sitting at the top of our tree. She may be turning brown and yellow from fading and she has a tear and her head has been taped on but she is beautiful to me. And as Iput her up Jacob asked, "I thought we are suppossed to have a star on top of our tree." And Darrick answered, "Not in this house. We have an Angel that is very special to Mom."

Our Thanksgiving

We hope that everyone had a nice Thanksgiving-we sure did and it was a first for us. It was the first time we had Thanksgiving at the beach! Our friend Sonya invited us to celebrate with her family, who is visiting from West Virginia, and friends. It was nice for me to not have to cook a lot. I had to bring Strawberry Spinach Salad and a dessert-I make Chocolate Toffee Crunch Poke Cake.

It did rain on us but that was ok since we had a cabana. The boys swam in the ocean and played in the sand. It was a relaxing day.

On Friday we started out our morning with a family bike ride. We explored a different part of the peninsula which is by the Navy Seal Base. It was by the water and when we were looking around we saw a huge blowfish and Jacob spotted a ray that we all got to see! It was awesome. After we cleaned up we went to the movies and saw "Flushed Away". It was cute.

Then in the later afternoon we went to the Hale Koa with all our neighbors and Sonya and her family. We swam, had dinner, watched the fireworks and the fire dancers.

Today Darrick has duty so we are just hanging out at home. I am doing some laundry and putting up the Christmas tree, Micah is playing video games with Jalen and Jacob is watching cartoons!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone! Micah is wearing the Native American costume he made at school.

We had quite a fright early this morning. Micah woke us up at 2:30 am saying he couldn't breathe. He was wheezing really bad and had very labored breath. He was very scared and crying which made it even worse. Darrick took Micah to the ER at Tripler. Thankfully there was no one else there and they saw Micah right away. They said he was having an asthma attack and gave him a breathing treatment. Micah has never had asthma or any allergies. So we had to follow up with his doctor later this morning. She also confirmed it was asthma and gave us a ton of medicine. We have to see the doctor again in a week. We are not 100% sure if the diagnosis is accurate since it came out of no where so we just ask that you pray that God will reveal the truth to us. We are so worried about Micah. Just in case you don't remember April/May 2006 Micah was evaluated and diagnosed with Panic/Anxiety/Separation disorder. He has been seeing a specialist, taking some medication and with a lot of prayer support has made so much progress no one hardly knows he has it. But about 2 weeks he got the flu and threw up in class which was causing him to have panic/anxiety attacks for the first time at school. We have been working with his teacher and the school counselor and making some progress. So this asthma attack just adds to his worry because he is afraid he is going to have another one and not be able to breathe.

We also got some really really great news today. Since we were not moving to Washington we had decided that it would not work for us to go to California for Christmas. We were really disappointed because all my family is going to be home. Well we found out today that it is written in Darrick's orders that we get to travel to his home area, all 4 of us, for FREE-compliments of the Navy! Praise God! He works in such awesome ways and when we can't see a way, He finds a way! We can't wait to see everyone and eat some yummy California food!

Time to catch up again...

Darrick left on Monday to go out to sea for the week and Dave, Laura and Elijah left bright and early Tuesday morning to fly back to California so our house seemed pretty quiet with just me and the boys.

We had a pretty normal week. Darrick came home Friday and we were all happy to see him-especially the boys. Darrick had promised them that when he got back we could watch the movie "Cars" and then the boys could have a sleepover together. Micah and Jacob decided that they all wanted to sleep in the guestroom and when I peeked at them they were both cuddled up, one on each side, next to Darrick.

Saturday we took it easy. In the morning we went for a family bike ride on the bike path. We were all cruisin' along fine until we got to a little downhill section by the watercress and taro patches. Jacob veered off the path rolled off his bike and crashed at the bottom of a small hill by the taro field. Thankfully he only scratched his chin a little and cried because he said he was scared.

In the afternoon we cleaned out our storage room to get out all of our christmas stuff. We were quite surprised at the amount of gecko poop that was in there. I mean it was so much we had to sweep it out. We also encountered 2 giant cockraoches, yuck!

Darrick had duty today so the boys and I went to church but it was not a normal church service it was Hope Chapel West Oahu's Thanksgiving Luau. It was awesome and everything was FREE! First was church. I helped with the kids. We had a couple hundred kids from Pre-K to 6th grade. We started with a great kids singer named Tisha and then a Christian magician. The kids loved it. We had handed out quite a few tickets to our friends and neighbors but the only ones we saw there was our new neighbors Jeremy, Jennifer and Brayden. After church then the Luau started. We had traditional food: kalua pork, rice, chicken long rice, lomi lomi salmon and poi. They had bouncers for the kids, carnival rides and shave ice. They also had some musical guests: Kapena (http://www.kapena.com/), Keahiwai (http://www.keahiwai.com/) and Nathan Aweau (http://www.nathanaweau.org/). The boys and I relaxed, listened to good music and ate 3 shave ice each!

I better wrap this up, but one last story. As a result of the 3 shave ice Jacob especially had to go to the bathroom a lot. I made sure he went right before we left. One the way home I had to make a stop to sign Micah up to play AYSO soccer for the first time-the season starts in January. So we are in traffic, I'm trying to drive and Jacob blurts out "I have to pee!" "Right now?" I say and he says "It's coming out!" "Quick think" I say to myself. There is no where to pull over and I spot an empty waterbottle-perfect! I tell Micah to try and help him get his pants down while he is still in his seatbelt. I just tell them "Make sure your penis is in the bottle before you pee." We are finally coming to a redlight, I turn around just as Jacob starts peeing and his penis pops out of the bottle and he is just sitting there peeing like an out of control firehose. I am yelling "make it stop!" as it hits me and Micah. Finally it stops because he is out of pee and he just smiles and starts giggling. The lights turns green and we get to the registration place and the first words out of Micah's mouth are "Mom can I use the bottle too?" Life with boys...

Our Day

Today Micah and I went to school this morning and Dave and Laura watched Jacob. Elijah was able to get a good nap before we started our afternoon activities.

We picked up Micah from school and headed straight for the Goodwill to find Dave, Laura and Elijah some Aloha clothes. We found a few other good deals and then got back in the car to head to Wahiawa.

We went to Dole Plantation. We had yummy Dole whips and then rode the Pineapple Express. It was another great day with sun and a nice breeze. After the train ride we went to feed the Koi Fish-which the boys all loved. But all of the sudden Elijah kicked off his sandel and it landed in the pond. We had to get a man to fish it out with a net. It is always an adventure...see what we do tomorrow!

Today was a day off from school because of Election Day so we were able to go and have some fun! After breakfast and a nap for Elijah and Jenn, we made our way over to the Arizona Memorial. Our boat and show was going to be in an hour and a half so we looked around the museum and then had our picnic lunch by the water. It really was a beautiful day with a refreshing breeze.



At the Arizona Memorial





After the Arizona we had an awesome drive to Lanikai, and Elijah caught another little catnap. We all had such a good time. The water was really warm and we all got in and swam together. Dave and I spent some time snorkeling and getting cut on the coral!

Darrick had duty today, so we missed him, but we sure had fun!

Tonight Micah caught a baby gecko in my room so him and Dave took some time holding it before they set it free-in our house! I remember being so scared of geckoes when we first moved here and not being able to sleep because there was one in my room. But now the boys actually catch them outside and set them free in the house because they like them as pets. They are harmless and eat misquitos so it is fine with me!

And our guests are...

Well our newest guests arrived today: Dave (my brother), Laura and Elijah Gutierrez! They had a really good flight and arrived a little early. We greeted them with leis and big hugs and smiles.

From the airport we drove to Pali Lookout. The view was amazing even though it was pretty breezy. And there were a lot of bees. There has always been a signs warning of us bees but in the 2 years we have been here we have never seen a bee. Jacob got stung on his cheek.

While we were enjoying the beautiful view I was telling Laura how Japanese tourist love taking pictures of the boys and children who look "Western". As soon as I got done a group of Japanese students came over and wanted to take pictures with us and they went nuts over Elijah-they were squealing and trying to touch him.

This afternoon we relaxed and had a yummy dinner of BBQ chicken, rice-a-roni and fresh pineapple. Tonight the cousins took a bath together and are having fun getting to know each other again. Elijah likes to watch the boys and see what they are up to. Our adventures continue tomorrow...

Darrick's New Toy

Last week Darrick got a motorcycle. A guy from the ship was moving and couldn't take it with him so Darrick got a really good deal. It is a 2000 Suzuki Katana. He is now going to work on getting his Hawaii motorcycle license so he can ride it!

Smile...you're on Candid Camera

I have now come to the conclusion that I have to be on some kind of hidden camera show...it is the only way to explain how crazy my life has become!

Today started out as a normal day, we got up, had breakfast, got ready for the day and brought Jacob to Miss Jackie's, Micah to his class and then I made my way to the 5th grade classroom. About 45 minutes into Math class my cell phone rang and it was Jackie. I needed to come get Jacob becuase he was throwing up. So I left school, got Jacob, gave him a bath, and got him cozy on the couch with a bucket.

Around 1:00 the phone rings, "Mrs. Hays can you please come get Micah, he is in the Health Room. He just threw up in his classroom" Jacob was napping so Tonya kept an eye on him while I went to get Micah. We got home, I gave him a bath, and got him cozy on the couch with a bucket. They have both thrown up a few more times but hopfully it will pass quickly.

I think the name of the show I must be on is "How much can one person take?" and the theme must be they keep throwing crazy situations at you and see how much you can handle before you crack! But the great thing is that I am doing good and God is giving me the strength I need each day to handle the challenges that lay before me.

This morning the Lake Erie called to request Darrick to be the Chief on their ship. So we are just waiting to see what happens.

Huh?

Well today we had surprising news...the Navy told us that we are NOT moving to Washington. We are still pretty shocked. What it came down to was that the detailers do not want to pay to move us from Hawaii to Washington. So now they are either going to keep Darrick on the Hopper or transfer him to another ship stationed here-the USS Lake Erie.

When we got married the verse we chose as our verse was Jeremiah 29:11 "For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, to give you a future and hope". We are just hanging onto that verse right now, when we are not sure if we are coming or going. Even though it seems like the Navy is in charge of our life, it is God who is in charge of ALL including the Navy. We know God has a plan for our family and we will listen when God tells us to go and stay when He tells us to stay. We'll keep you updated!

Images of our Halloween

Happy Halloween from the Hays Family!

Jenn: Tinkerbell, Darrick: Captain Hook, Jacob: Robin, Micah: The Human Torch

Goodie Bags Micah and I made for his class

Well I am back from my Weekend retreat.
On Saturday while I was gone Jenn and the boys went to a Halloween party and a going away party for the Shedd's.
The retreat was a good time of learning what a man of God looks like and what I need to do to be that man. I think something I struggle with is me trying to do good things for God rather than allowing God to do good things through me. Another thing is I sometimes get so mad at people when they do things they shouldn't do. The speaker said to remember they are lost and need Jesus. That will really help me to keep from getting angry.
On Saturday on the retreat we had free time so we played some basketball and went swimming. I did okay on the court but hurt my ankle again so it is pretty swollen tonight.

Today I got home in time to meet Jenn and the boys at Church and hear the message. When we got home we rested and Jenn actually slept. Then we went for a bike ride around the housing area. The weather was so nice today with a nice cool breeze. After our ride Jacob tried riding his bike without the training wheels. He actually did really good but we put the wheels back on because he needs a little more time. He still likes to look around when he rides and when he did that he would fall over.

The past few days I have been down and out with the flu. It hit me early morning Wednesday and of course, how it always goes, Darrick was leaving to go out to sea Wednesday thru Friday. I stayed home from work for 2 days and mostly in bed. But I am finally starting to feel better today and was able to go to work but took it easy.

Today after school was the Lehua Family Fun Fair. So the boys and I went and had a really great time. They had different games and a cake walk and yummy food like shave ice, nachos and hot dogs. Micah and I each won once on the Cake walk and Micah chose cookies and I chose brownies.

Darrick did come back tonight but later than expected so we did not get to spend anytime with him. Mike Ching from Bible Study picked him up soon after he got home and they rode together to HCWO's Men's Retreat. It is Friday-Sunday and even though we haven't seen him in days, I'm so happy that he can go.

Gold Bullet

It was so wonderful today when I started the van this morning and it was so quiet!!! What a blessing! We forgot to mention yesterday what the problem was. It was the tensioner (Don't ask me what or where that is). Darrick had changed the tensioner pulley but not the tensioner. So thanks to the mechanics at the Autoport for fixing our van. By the way the Gold bullet is what we call our van. The boys love Gold Bullet and think it is the fastest and coolest car on the road.

And we all seem to be adjusting to life without Moses. The boys did not mention him this morning before school so I did not either. And they didn't mention him in the afternoon. Only once in the evening they each asked me where he was but there were no tears. That was one of the hardest nights for me as a mom. I knew we were doing the right thing but it broke my heart to hear the boys cry like that. I had to lay in bed with Micah until he finally fell asleep. He kept saying the sadest things like "Will Moses forget me?" "Will they change his name?" "I love Moses"...

Hopefully the worst is over!

Bye Moses

Well today was a bit of a sad day. The family that adopted Moses picked him up. Everything was going good until it came time for the family to take him away, Micah started crying, the hardest cry we have seen from him in a long time. It was hard but we feel it is the best thing for Moses. We took a picture with the family so you could see who adopted him. The little girls were so excited to get Moses, we could tell they will give him plenty of love and attention. Besides the little girls they have another dog at home and a big yard for them to play in.

Also we have a huge praise. We got our van back today and it was nice and quiet. Not only was it quiet but it didn't cost even close to what we thought they would try to charge us and we got a screw taken out of one of the tires and the hole fixed so the van is ready for our next visitors.

Saturday

Well we finally decided that it is time to take the van in. The squealing is so bad, it is embarrassing. So we brought it to the Autoport on the Navy Base so hopefully they can figure out what is going on with it. But in the meantime that left us without a car so we rented a car. It is a Dodge Neon. We are really enjoying driving around in the car, and it is blue, which the boys like.

Then we had to go to Honolulu to pick up the papers that prove Moses is a pure breed Cairin Terrier. And here is another God thing. The Navy housing in Washington does not have fenced in backyards so we decided it would be best to not take Moses but we were not sure what to do. We wanted him to go to a good family, but how would we find one? Well last week Darrick was talking with some people on the ship and they were talking about pets and Darrick just threw it out there that we were looking for a home for Moses and one guy said he wants him. He has 3 kids who want a dog. So next week we will bring Moses to his new family. We are sad but we feel it is for the best.

Yesterday I got my haircut. It was just getting too long and I was starting to get headaches. So I got about 4 inches cut off and layers put back in it and the lady thinned it out. It feels so good.

We also got our first takers who are going to come visit us before we leave. They are coming the second week in November. We are so excited! Who are they? You'll just have to wait to see!