mama's day '12

Today I post in honor of both my mom, mama-in-law & grandma. How blessed I am to have not one but two amazing moms and Grandma to look up to & by whom I am continually encouraged. Reading Ann Voskamp's blog (aholyexperience.com) she has promised that by thanking mom(s) publicly she will, in turn, help support a mothering educational project in Haiti - just through this simple act of gratitude. She calls it "the 1000 moms project" ~ she will match my (your) honoring of mothers by funding a maternity/child survival program in haiti for a whole year! You can read about it here: http://www.aholyexperience.com/2012/05/the-one-thousand-moms-project-make-a-mothers-day-difference/ So onto these three amazing women. I would have to say some of the greatest things I've seen in my own mom is the servant's heart she has, and her ability to spread love & joy on anyone who crosses her path. Sometimes I wonder if her cheeks hurt from smiling so much. I've never known someone to smile as much as she does! I love the lines etched in her face from years of smiling and joy. I am so grateful for her constant encouragement from early days through my own journey as a mama and I know much of what she learned, she learned from my Grandma - a woman who epitomizes one who is gentle & humble at heart, a quiet & kind spirit. I am so thankful for these generations of women... Regarding mama-Susie, she has most definitely remained committed to me since the moment I married her son! I remember when Tagen was just a few weeks old feeling like I didn't want to blow it in any way as a mama and the overwhelming task of raising this lil' human being. As Ann points out in her blog: as humans, we DO mess up and that simply exposes our need for Jesus! So it’s not so much that we aren’t going to blow it. It is what we do with it, when we do. Both my mom & mama-Susie have gently reminded me of this in many different ways over the years. Ann continues this thought by saying "perhaps there is something more powerful to experience than a perfect Mother: the wonder of a committed Mother who simply humbles herself. Like that Shepherd who knew the cost of relationship, chose to pay the price, and, staggeringly, “humbled Himself… even to the point of death on a cross” (Phil 2:8) No one gets it perfect. And that’s exactly why we sing Amazing Grace — and it really is! Motherhood does not require complete perfection and a Superman cape. It simply requires an imperfect commitment and the surprising humility of Christ. The Shepherd gently leads those with young not to be Hallmark versions of perfection — but rather persevering versions of humility. Grace stands in the gaps." I couldn't agree more. And I couldn't be more thankful for two mamas & grandma who embody such grace and humility and for all they have sacrificed for me. I know there are plenty treasures awaiting you three in heaven. I love you!!!

Tagen turning 7?!

Dear Tagen,

In just 5 days, you are going to turn seven. It's the oldest question in the world, but WHA?! When did I blink & suddenly you're a man? Please. Slow down a bit for your poor mother. Perhaps I should put a brick on your head.

But. There are most definitely many benefits of you getting older! One is that I'm always safe. Because you are super strong. You frequently remind me of this fact by showing me your bulging muscles and ninja moves. Aveda is the luckiest to have you as an older brother.

Another amazing part of you getting older is that we get to know more and more of the workings of Tagee's mind. You are getting more & more creative in your humor and you keep us laughing constantly. We can see that you love to make people laugh. It's definitely a gift God gave you early on. Whenever Aveda is sad or hurt you think of the craziest things, even if it means inflicting pain on yourself, to make her giggle. Just this morning you thought out loud "what if i could have a wind gun and blow things from here to there. We'd see chickens flying so far! or what if i could make a tickle gun and shoot tickles out of it - everyone would be laughing…"

You tell me that when you grow up you are going to be a police man. You are very concerned with justice, for yourself & for other people. I have never met a lil guy so empathetic. I can see this in the way you take note of how others feel and how, of your own initiative, you try to help. I greatly admire you in this. I can also see this in the way you like it best when everyone sticks to the rules and you panic a lil' when somebody doesn't. In this, I gotta say, lighten up my love. You are a tad dramatic (understatement). You get very upset when you feel that YOU are being unfairly treated. But you are also selfless. If Aveda feels SHE is being treated unfairly, you often share what you have to make her feel better.

Bonus again of getting older - your mind is coming up with more and more complex ways of putting together your legos. You are like a lego-king; something of a phenomenon. You love your legos and at your request are having a Lego birthday party with some of your buddies from school this year. Being a huge fan of legos myself, I am ecstatic about this idea. Perhaps you'll end up being an engineer or an architect or something. Your skills really are insane in this area.

My dear son, I know there is something very special about you. People feel it They're drawn to you. I feel it too, & it makes me a little protective of you. But then I remember how God gave us you as a gift. One to train to love Him above all the world has to offer and eventually to shoot you off like an arrow into this world we live in. I love you with a wild, ridiculous love, son. Happy 7th Birthday!

love, mama

preschool:

kindergarden:

1st grade!!

October already?!

Why does time fly so quickly and then stand still at other moments? I've been asking Tagen & Aveda if they could just stop growing already and stay little forever. Tagen responded with an emphatic "no... I will be big like Goliath." "Just so long as we can still cuddle and be silly," I replied, and he agreed to that. I realized it was February when I last posted and how much has happened since then... Tagen is 5 'and tree quarters' and Aveda Violet turned 4 in July! We got to celebrate her special day in Oregon visiting Gramma & Poppy and Gigi. Just today she asked if we could go back and visit and go fishing again as she remembered those wiggly fish and how funny they were when they would flip and flop their tails and splash water on her. Tagen 'graduated' preschool in May and had a special lil' ceremony and now he is a kindergardener! He is loving his school and Mrs. Taba, his teacher except for having to wake up in the mornings. He's not exactly a morning kinda kid. He's playing soccer again this year and has 3 other lil' boys on his team. (There's only 3 on the field at one time) He loves it this year! Lil' miss Aveda has begun pre-school at Kalaheo Missionary - just around the corner from Tagen's school. Words cannot even describe how much she loves her school. Whenever it is not a school day she longs for it and constantly talks about it, asks about it, recalls stories of it etc... Pretty cute. I didn't realize until her being there that most of her friends are Tagen's friends or siblings thereof so it is pretty special to her to have made some friends all by herself! I miss both Tagen and Aveda like crazy when they go off to school but I have seen so many good things already in their little lives as a result of going and it makes our times together that much sweeter & more meaningful.
I came across an article recently entitled, "Why don't friends with kids have time?"... a woman (who doesn't have kids) wondering what her friend who has kids does all day and why she didn't have time to call... I liked it so i am reposting the answer to her:
"I keep wavering between giving you a straight answer and giving my forehead some keyboard.... When you have young kids, your typical day is: constant attention, from getting them out bed, fed, cleaned, dressed; to keeping them out of harm's way; to answering coos, cries, questions; to having two arms and carrying one kids, one set of car keys, and supplies for even the quickest trips, including the latest-to-be-declared-essential piece of molded plastic gear; ... it's needing 45 minutes to do what takes other 15.
It's constant vigilance, constant touch, constant use of your voice, constant relegation of your needs to second tier.
It's constant scrutiny and second-guessing from family and friends. It's resisting constant temptation to seek short-term relief at everyone's long-term expense.
It's doing all this while concurrently teaching virtually everything -- language, manners, safety, resourcefulness, discipline, curiousity, creativity. Empathy. Everything.
It's also a choice, yes. And a joy. But if you spent all day, every day, with this brand of joy, and then, when you got your first 10 minutes to yourself, wanted to be alone with your thoughts instead of calling someone back..."
This article struck a chord with me because I could relate on many levels. How many times I have been asked "what do you do all day?" and really, how am I supposed to respond to that? This did sum it up so well. Although it does err on the side of doing it all with a cynical attitude even though at the end it does say "this is a joy". I really do consider it a joy. I LIKE being a mom. I LIKE being with my kids and all that it entails. I am honored and blessed to have this role and even though I the season has changed from baby/toddler-hood and all those demands (which actually leaves me a bit melancholy) I love this season that we are in and all the new questions and things we get to do all day. Even though they are 4 and 5, and in school too, I am still mama and going from morning til night.

pictures:


family photo from our trip to Oregon, unfortunately Kyle couldn't make the trip. I thought of photoshopping him into this one but realized how cheezy that would look.


Uncle Garrett and Tagen built this pirate lego ship!


Tagen's first day of Kingergarten!


Aveda V's first day of Pre-school!


Tagen has become good friends with the boy in the front (Jesse) and is on the same soccer team too! He's a big teddy bear.


and just because I love this photo

gratitude

“Gratitude is truly my life preserver. Even in the most turbulent waters, choosing gratitude rescues me from myself and my runaway emotions. It buoys me on the grace of God and keeps me from drowning in what otherwise would be my natural bent toward doubt, negativity, discouragement, and anxiety. Over time, choosing gratitude means choosing joy…” – Nancy Leigh Demoss

Holy Heat Wave...

So it's "fall break" here on Kauai.... Tagen Train started pre-school in August and the schools run year-round here so there's a bunch of random 'breaks' through-out the whole year. He's LOVE-ing school so far and we're super impressed with the place and the teachers. Aveda and I have been able to join him on all the field trips and drop in whenever to hang out. The only thing I would change is somehow figuring a way to terminate all misquitos. Nightmare! Poor guy comes home with welts almost daily. grrrr. Aside from this, all is good.

Since ... Sunday there's been the craziest heat-wave here. (yeah so today is only Wednesday but we feel like we've been living in this for a month alreadY!) Kona winds (meaning NO WIND), muggy, HOT. Can't complain though because we have the privilege of pretty much living at the beach. This evening it was literally too hot to even be in our house so we packed up the kiekis and headed off to PK's - a beach where Kyle likes to surf. The beach itself is sorta sandy, sorta rocky. The kids and I don't typically hang out at this one because of how the waves crash on the shore and the reef under the water. But today - I didn't even care where we went as long as it involved us out of the house and in some form of cool water. Tagen has been, since about July, on an unusually brave streak which is pretty fun (oK, sometimes heart palpatating - is that a word? - for mama to watch)... Dada's been taking him out to the big waves to surf and duck-dive those big waves. And this evening I buckled on his life-vest and he didn't even wait for me but just charged right into the shore-break and out into the ocean. Aveda, on the other hand, has been having an unusually timid streak lately. So she sat, fully content, on the sand and watch and I went out to swim with Tagen. (For anyone reading this thinking I am a crazy mama who leaves her 3 year-old on the beach to fend for herself, it's just not case! This is a SUPER mellow place where she's not gonna get stolen and my eyes are stuck on her like glue. Besides, I'm really only like 20 or 30 feet from her....) I then decided I was was gonna break this girl of her timid fear of the waves. (Who knows why... maybe it was the heat) So I swam back to shore, popped the neon orange floaties on her arms and carried her (screaming) to the water. She screamed "I WANNA GO BACK DERRR (pointing to the shore) as we swam all the way out to where Tagen. This continued for about 3 minutes and then... she realized... it was JUST. LIKE. THE. POOL! (that she is in love with right now) and she stopped crying and had the HUGEST grin on her face and I couldn't even get the girl OUT of the ocean for a good hour! success. So we had such a blast swimming and playing out in the water. And it was the first time Tagen's really been swimming far out and at a place where there is TONS of reef fishies so I put his goggles on him and how i WISH i had video of him because I don't think words could possibly do justice to how excited he was over all the fish he was seeing right beneath him. He'd hold his breath and stick his head down under water and then pop up so excited and talking so fast I really couldn't understand what he was saying about those fish and then he'd throw is head back down before he even finished talking. And on and on it went like this for quite some time. So now, as you might imagine, they are sleeping soundly in the next room over with the ceiling fan on high because it's STILL so hot. And a side note - I don't know how this got started but every night before I leave the room I tell the kids "I'll see ya when the sun comes up" and Tagen replies "I'll see you when da sun come up!" and for some odd reason Aveda always replies "I'll see ya wen da moon come up mama!" It's been a good, hot, day.


ps - Dada's been teaching Tagen how to ride bike... hopefully this video works oK

Once upon a time...

Once upon a time there was a mama who took her two young kids to the doctor because kid B got kid A sick. They went to this same doctor for Kid B a week ago but now it was Kid A's turn because his fever and cough were just getting worse & worse. So there they were in the doctor's office waiting... and waiting... and waiting. They waited so long you see because Friday is not a good day to go to the doctor as a walk-in patient... everyone's trying to get in before the weekend and then there's all those people who already had appointments and so on. So they waited.
Finally doctor called em in and thought Kid A's lungs sounded pretty yucky in there... a lot like asthma in fact. He went on to show mama with his handy-dandy flashlight thingy that Kid A had broken a whole bunch of capillaries on the soft pallet of the roof of his mouth from coughing so hard! ouch. So doctor thought it best to send mama and Kid A and Kid B over to get Kid A an x.ray.... There they went and there they played the waiting game... again.
As they waited Kid B thought it was a good idea to lick the hospital chair which made mama gag and nurse lady run over promptly with paper and crayons to keep Kidlings a little busier than licking hospital chairs. Kid A was soon called in... x-ray done and back they went to doctor. As he and mama looked at the x-ray it was concluded that at the least Kid A had bronchitis and that he could possibly have asthma too which is not unlikely seeing that whenever Kid A gets sick it immediately turns respiratory.
So off they went to get a nebulizer and antibiotics and finally mama, Kid A and B made it home. Breathing treatment done. Medicine taken but there's a new twist to this lil' fairytale... Kid A tells mama he just swallowed a marble! Naturally she responds with "Why didn't you do that BEFORE we had the x-ray?!" okay maybe not but she's been diggin' through his poops ever since looking for some sign of it coming out the other end. What a day. What a day.




And to dada of Kid A and B - what a good dada you are. We love you to the moon and back!

scroll down...

so i realized there was an old post i wrote but never posted... scroll down a lil' and you can see it... besides that i'll just post some pictures. enjoy!