Building

Today in the car........ 

Noah:  "Mom,  you need to build a strong family."

Me:  "We have a strong family, I think"

Noah:  "No,  it's the mother's JOB to build a strong family"

Me:  "So, how do you think I am doing?'

Noah:  "Pretty good,  we all love each other at least"

Me:  "Well,  I promise to keep working hard at my job"

Noah: "Yeah,  it's really hard work.  Really, really hard work."

As per this example, Noah maybe has been learning something at church and at family home evenings. It might also be a bit from Disney channel.  I saw a commercial this morning with this message.  He is so thoughtful and mulls things around in his head a lot.  I am grateful for his reminders of the things that really matter.  It is my job as a mother and as one lucky enough to stay home with my children, now when they are young to build our family.   I do appreciate that Noah realizes that building a strong family is "Really, really hard work".  Not to say that it does not have it's rewards and blessings.  It sure does not come in a monetary way. I say that I win when my job description calls for multiple snuggles, rocking and hugs throughout the day.  I often struggle with the balance of the most important things to teach.  I know the most important is the spiritual aspects for they will not get that anywhere else.  But the physical, the manners, working, independence, grooming and all the other, day to day things that they need to be healthy functioning and happy adults someday.  With my son it is better to relate anything you can to Star Wars.  So I am trying to teach him the light side of the force.  That we are all connected and we can and will be a stronger family if we rely on the force or the Holy Ghost.  And listen to our hearts to know what the right choices are.  And if we try to do what is right we will be together forever even after we die.  We need to forgive and love one another for our strengths and weaknesses.  As Noah say.... I love you to infinity and beyond and to beyond heaven.  So for better or for worse,  I am trying to build a strong family.

MAY THE FORCE BE WITH YOU!

Grateful Sunday - March 28, 2010

Today was such a beautiful spring day outside.  It made me want to sing and dance around the yard.  Instead, I ate my lunch on the deck and took pictures of my kids in their Easter clothes.  Since next week is General Conference we are going to watch church in our pajamas.

Neighborhood:  I love being busy and social.  The last two weekends have been jammed packed with fun and friends.  I love it but it sure makes us tired.  With the beautiful weather,  it has been idealic and has given me a taste of what summer will be like in our neighborhood and it makes my heart sing.  Kids playing together on bikes, inventing games and having so much fun.

Family:  Although sometimes it makes for chaos,  I adore living close to our families.  There are so many times I don't know what I would do without them.  I love my parents and my sibs so so much.  And Kersten's family has become so much a part of me and I just love them all.

Noah:  this boy just keeps getting better and better.  His insights and thoughtfulness astound me.  He gave a talk in primary today that brought tears to my eyes and many of the other adults in primary.  He has such unshakeable faith and such confidence when there are things pushing at him that could make it easy for him to fold up.  He talked about how the Saviour asked his disciples to feed his sheep after he was resurrected.  His favorite part of the story was that Jesus made them fish and bread for breakfast.  He has a gift to bring the spirit directly into the room and he was very specific that the things he said in his testimony came from him and not his dad who helped him with his talk.  I am so very blessed to be his mother.  I just can't get enough of this boy.  And this week is spring break so we are going to play a lot this week.  Hooray

Sofia:  my goodness who knew that having a daughter would be this adventurous and fun.  This girl keeps me on my toes in all her two year old glory.  She is my shadow and biggest helper.  She lives life with such enthusiasm and pizazz.  I love that she is always dancing all day long.  She walks on her toes and has started dressing up every day.  One minutes she is playing mommy and the next she has a ship and is shooting the bad guys.  Her laugh is infectious and her grin can melt you.  She is so trouble.  Already she tries to charm her way out of getting into trouble.  She amazes me with all her words and understanding.

Kersten:  my man, he works so hard and just keeps going and won't give up.  I am so grateful for him and the life we have together. I love that we are connecting so much better now and talk to each other about everything.  I love the crook in his shoulder that I fit perfectly into.  I love that he will let me wear his "Muppet" jacket when I am freezing.  He has been so motivated and has been helping a lot.

I love having really pretty dresses for my Sofia.  I take a lot of joy from her desire to dress up and look pretty especially for church.  She literally jumps up and down on Sunday because she gets to wear one of her princess dresses from the closet.  And go to "my class" and "collar Pictures"  of Jesus and play.  I love this dress and just had to show a full length view of it.  It is her favorite too.  Thanks to the people out their who made this dress possible

Noah's Room - House

In a new series 

I will show you our new house one room at a time.  

I don't believe that even one room in our house is "finished"

in decorating, painting etc.  

I will also do updates if something drastic changes.

So today here is Noah's room.

here is the view from the doorway.

His only request with our new house was that he has a blue room

When we moved in.  The blue wall was red

Obviously we painted it blue for him. 

He says he has a Star Wars Room now.

But he wants to keep his Wall-E bed.

His 'N Force" of animals sits on his ledge

and his favorites stay on his bed.

"Pal, Tom and Baby Whale"

Most of his toys and big books and Star Wars books

are house right across in the cube shelf

on the opposite wall from his bed

are his bookshelf, calender, Star Wars Stamps and dresser.

(this wall is not complete yet)

This is what you see as you walk in the room.

His closet straight ahead

which he calls his Darth Vader closet.

It is red after all.  The same red it used to be on the blue wall.

I want to hang a curtain with a Darth Vader on it someday.

and his Yoda Painting by Kieran.

When we were looking at our house for the first time.  Our children were with us.

This was the first room that Noah walked in and said

"This is MY room"

His only complaint is that he misses Sofia.

He wishes that she still slept in his room with him.


(just discovered,  Noah noticed a "gross banana" on his bed)
His room was not as clean as I thought it was when I cked it

Mischief Leprechaun 2010

A leprechaun came to our house today

Even though we even set a trap.

Noah designed it and even put a sleeping potion in it so that he could not get out.

It looks a bit like a tent, I would think.

We put something green in it,  his frogee

and some golden coins and he even put straw in there to make him more comfortable.

The cups on top were for headlights

to attract him to the trap.  

Next year Noah says we need to put sticky tape all through the trap.

He snuck out of the trap and snuck to our fridge

and made our milk green.  

He is full of mischief this one.

He even drank one of our Sprites. 

Noah had to investigate and keep each of the footprints

so he came make a better plan for next year.  

I love this outfit on Sofia

It really is so fun to dress up a girl

and one that loves to be so pretty all the time.

I love having a daughter. 

And Irish blessing.....

May there always be work for your hands to do,

May your purse always hold a coin or two.

May the sun always shine on your window pane.

May a rainbow be certain to follow each rain.

May the hand of a friend always be near you.

May God fill your heart with gladness to cheer you.

Lots of Happenings around Here

We have had some big things going on in our family and beyond.

Last Sunday, my father in law Heinz became Bishop of his ward.  The funny thing is that he joked about a month before that he wanted us all to show up on the day they called the bishop so they would think it was him.  When he told us in all seriousness that he was called as Bishop,  we did not believe in.  It took a couple of minutes for him to convince us that it was true. I could tell he was humbled and I know this will be an amazing experience for him and our family.  The ward will be blessed with him as their bishop.  He is one of the most genuinely concerned and generous people that I know.  It was an amazing experience seeing him set apart as bishop.  After he was sustained,  the mantle of bishop was laid out on his shoulders.  The entire family was there to support him.  A couple of the neighbors laughed and figured out what was happening.  The counselors were wise and inspired by the Lord.  I enjoyed visiting our old ward for a week and it confirmed to me that we really are in the right place for us right now.  Already I have seen many changes in Heinz and I know this will be an amazing experience for them.

This is my Fia,  one of my favorite pics of her

Virginia (my sister in law) is engaged to a cute boy named Mark.  He surprised Ginny this last Monday and came to visit her and get baptized.  It has been so so hard keeping this secret from her.  And she really had no idea that he was coming.  So it has been a really fun week.  Sofia has fallen a bit in love with "Her cute Monkey Mark" as she calls him.  He gave her a monkey for Christmas that has become her favorite. Ginny has a bit of competition.  We visited him on Tuesday to say hello and they watched Sofia for me as I went to an appt.  She  was super shy with him at first and love him by the end.  On thursday morn,  Sofia was so so sad.  When I asked her what was wrong she say "my see, my mark".  I was a nice mom and after we took Noah to school we stopped by to see "her Mark".  And when she saw him she hugged him with her head on his shoulder for a good 10 min.  I know she made Grandma Monika a bit jealous.

Yesterday afternoon we got to experience Mark's baptism into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.  He glowed with the spirit and it was a beautiful event.  The spirit was very strong.  I was coerced into leading the music and it had been so long since I had done it that I led wrong on the first song and by the closing song I had my groove back.  Kersten gave an amazing talk on Baptism.  It amazes me still to see my husbands talents.  He is a great speaker and had some beautiful insights.  Justin gave a talk about the Holy Ghost,  he is a convert and his perspective on the Holy Ghost was refreshing.  It was a beautiful program.  I know that Mark made a choice that will bring him eternal joy and happiness.  The spirit was amazing and strong during the entire day.  Afterwards the food was divine and it was so so fun to visit and be with each other.

Noah had his Kindergarten program on thursday.  All week Noah was so anxious for us to come.  And kept checking to make sure that both Mom and Dad were coming.  He told me numerous times that his program was going to be really cool and extra special.  I told him numerous times how excited I was to go. They had them do a workbook to show us what they had be learning.  The had a story they had written hanging up.  And afterwards they sang some songs for us.  They sang God Bless America with the sign language, they did the Pledge of Allegiance,  they sang a song about the days of the week and the months of the year,  a song about Peter the Penguin, the song You are my Sunshine and they did the Chicken Dance and then had to teach it to their parents.  It was really fun.  Noah may not have known all the words to every song but he was definitely the most enthusiastic of all the kids.  He kept looking for us and grinning. It was really special.  And just like the good mom that I am when I took out the camera the battery was dead.  Made me so sad.

Today we are celebrating Kersten's Grandpa F or Opa Rolf's 80 birthday.  We are having dinner at Kerst's Aunt Judith's house and Noah excitedly exclaims that we are having a Family ReUnion because all of us will be there and Daddy's cousin's too.  He has been expressing a desire to go to a family reunion where he can play with lots and lots of cousins.  So he is super excited.

Hangover

I woke up this morning with a major hangover.
Or what I imagine a hangover must feel like.
I never have had a real one.
But I had a friend back at diabetic camp tell me that going low
as in (low blood sugar) is a lot like getting drunk
as is going high as in (high blood sugar) is a lot like getting high.
The loss of control of your emotions and some of your faculties.
My head is pounding and my limbs are loose and my head is in a fog.
I just want to go back to sleep.
Luckily I have a girl who is snuggling and making out with my face
and then a boy that keeps fainting because his girls look so pretty today.
I drank my first jolt of caffeine, my beloved Diet Coke.
And took a very hot shower and realized why lots of people do that to feel better.
Shower time is thinking time.  One of the rare times I am by myself.
Even if a little girl is knocking on the door trying to get in.

I don't drink but in this case I wished that the hangover was because of that
Instead of my reality,
Sometimes living with this disease is just a bit
overwhelming, defeating, frustrating and scary.
I don't define myself by my disease,  but it seems to creep up everywhere.
It creeps into what I eat,  it is such a divine part of it.
It creeps into my fun, my work, my showers, my time
and it creeps and tries to destroy my relationships.
It seems to be a theme with the people I love most.
A wise professional once told me that have a chronic disease
give people a lot of power.
Even if that power is making the people that you love, feel powerless.
Powerless to help, to feel or to live for you.
I have a very powerful promise from my Heavenly Father.
My bishop gave me a blessing when I got my new calling.
And in it I was promised that my children would be cared for when I was having a bad day.
I have seen that promised fulfilled 3 times now and more in little ways
since that blessing a month and a half ago.
How comforting this has been.

I know this is part of my life.
And will be until the day I depart from this earth.
I hate, (a very strong word)  how it infects me and the people I love.
I need to learn how to incorporate it instead of fight against it.

Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet

I finished this book this morning and it has been awhile since a book touched me so deeply on so many levels.  I was recommended this book by a man that has the rare ability to discern the beauty in all things.  I opened the first pages with great anticipation.  As those who know me well,  Know that I am a really fast reader.  I also retain a lot of what I read for a long time.  With this book it was the rare exception that I relished every single written word on the page.  It is a bit sentimental but that is part of who I am at the core.  I love connections that continue from the past to now to the future.

This book is set right after Pearl Harbor in the city of Seattle,  where a young Chinese boy, Henry, meets a young Japanese Girl, Keiko, at an all white school that they attend.  I love the poignant innocent friendship they have and the love and compassion they show for each other.  This book is told by a 50+ year old second generation Chinese-American. It is told in two different time periods, and flows back and forth between the 1940's to 1986 seamlessly. It is  also the story of the other relationships that the boy has: his Chinese parents, a local black jazz musician, and later with his own son and son's fiance.   It talked about the attitudes and superstitions of that time when the world was at war.  The realities of what happened to the different cultures and races of people.  The picture of the time was painted so well and beautifully that it felt at times that you could smell the salt from the sea and feel the humidity of the air.  The emotions of the young are so volatile and consuming that if you have every loved, lost, found, suffered, and found such amazing joy in a friend that you could feel it all right there.  

I did catch a couple of nuances that could not be,  for example the internet was not around in 1986 and neither were digital CD's.  But I am willing to forgive that because from the first page you are already rooting for Henry and wanting to know more.  The characters and story are just brilliant, captivating and entirely lovely.