(Ch-Ch) Pray for Chayne

Vinnie just texted me about setting up Scott to come with him on a "ride-along." Hmmm... I wonder how that will go. Not because I think Scott would be in danger but what is he going to do...just sit in the car...what if something goes down. Scott is not really a fighter. Nah, I think Scott's biggest problem would be staying up so late. I wonder how long he would last before he would want to go home and sleep. Too bad I can't follow just to watch the ride-along.

Last week, I visited my sister and the ch-ch twins who were two weeks old by then.
I had to stay and help her take them to their doctor's visit because...well, there are
two of them and one of my sister. Here's Cheyenne napping before her doctor visit.

But, if you could just pray for my other niece, Chayne. Scott and I were on our way
to MiniChurch when my sister called me from the emergency room. Chayne was running
a fever and they were doing all sorts of tests on her. So, and I'm so grateful to Scott...we
just rushed over to the hospital and Scott kept Ashley company in the waiting room while
I sat in the emergency room with my sister and Chayne.

I missed most of the tests...but Cassan said she couldn't even be in the room. But we were
there while they checked her vitals and poked and prodded her. And then we had to take her
to get her chest X-rayed. The nice orderly told us to take off her little baby hospital gown so I was doing it while he started explaining this plastic tube apparatus to my sister. Chayne wasn't allowed to eat the entire time so she's crying and crying...and I'm thinking "man, mr. orderly, you're real nice but we don't really care one bit about some little part of your X-ray machine." And then I get it, she's not getting an X-ray while lying down all comfy. We had to help him do what felt like stuffing her into this upright plastic tube with her legs sticking down out of the bottom and her arms sticking up out of the top. We looked at him like he was crazy. the poor man. But, I guess they have to do it so that it holds the babies still. I still think it's outrageous and it was so hard but we did it quick, he hit the button twice and took pictures and we took her out of there. I felt so bad for her. I tried to be calm and assure my sister that it was all minor but a lot of it was hard to watch.

Because she couldn't eat, the hospital gave my sister a pacifier to give to Chayne. My sister actually had to ask for help on how to give it to the baby...I kind of laughed at that. and she kept asking why people where calling it a "binky." She is adamantly set against pacifiers. It did calm Chayne down and she sucked on that thing like there was no tomorrow. I heard Cassan lean over her and whisper "enjoy it because you are never having it again." oh, cassan.

She's doing good and her fever is down but they're keeping her in the hospital for a couple of days. So just pray that she gets completely better please.

I was trying to google an image of the X-ray apparatus they put her in but I couldn't find it.
I did find, however, an article about a woman who put her month-old grand-baby through the X-ray machine at the airport. http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-baby20dec20,0,6460373.story oh, boy.

HW turns 3 mo.-Memorial Day Weekend Camp

This weekend, we are having a Ignite camp out at Swanzy's Beach Park. The theme of the camp is "How Big is Your God?" I think Scott, well, it was actually Chad's theme, hit it out of the park with this theme. I love a question where just thinking about your answer is uplifting. My God is huge. He rescued me.

Dural shared about contentment..about being satisified with what you have or who you are. I liked the theme of his talk. I've always been about self-improvement, it's the reason why I spent so much of my life in education. But, there is an honest truth about recognizing and appreciating what you already have and who God has already made you to be. Pastor Ralph and Carl are taking us through a series on finances and I have to think that you can always expect more from God...but could you be satisfied and happy with the outcome of your life is this was all you ever got. I think I'm at a point that I could be.

Camp is super fun...I was real bummed that I had to leave to go to work. I learned to play risk...and come in second...although that was most likely because there were a choir of 4 deep voices that would "ahem...you don't want to do that...are you sure...if I were you..." and then of course the super deep voice saying "chill. just chill, keao." But my bold move, the infamous suicide mission of 2008 got me just enough stake in the game to outlast at least two of my opponents.

There are some fun things that I want to remember about camp.

1. Jasen and his romantic date "wall"
2. Mike and Clinton rumbling between our tent and the next camp over (the was one woman in the next camp just eyeing the whole situation)
3. Natalie and Jasen's attempts to make home-made waffles. And the fact that they tried it four times before giving up.
4. John-John's ORANGE tent...I wonder if it was an Oakley tent too.
5. the fact that we spent more time in 7-11 than actually cooking our camp supplies

(This may not be Jasen but this was his spot)

(Notice Kevin's hair and his shirt. He had to change his shirt after John-John threw that football at him and spilled Kevin's drink all over his original shirt)

(Dural sharing about contentment on Sunday morning)


Oh, I was real fortunate that Liz braved the wind and brought Haley all the way out to visit us. They did not spend the night despite our pleas. oh, after seeing the ch-ch twins, Haley doesn't look as tiny any more...but she was way more interactive and so cute. She's full of smiles.

(1. Love this picture of Haley...used a Michelle Black Soft Bleach-out PS action)

(2. Haley...the missing head freaks me out in this picture a little...but someone didn't

want to be in the picture)


(3. Haley all cuddled up...I think she has a resemblance to a younger Suri Cruise)

Compare with:

Learn and Earn

Hi guys, sorry I haven't been around. I had multiple health issues last week...last week was not good for me. I actually called in sick for three nights...and it's not like my job is that taxing on the midnight shift. But I'm getting better and feeling hopeful. I am a little nervous about the situations brewing in the lives of some of my closest friends...we are not talking little stresses, but huge life challenges. Scott and I went for a walk before work and we talked about whether we would do high school over again. The problems and stress was definitely manini back then, but so was our ability to cope with them. I definitely feel more capable now, but a little overwhelmed with the enormity of some of these issues. So, please keep 2008 in prayer, y'all.

I was unable to visit my twinnies because I was spewing out germs everywhere but we finally went over on Saturday. Cassan was all nervous that I was going to wake them up...she kept saying "what? you can't do that...you wake them up and you die." Ok, maybe not the last part, but she pretty much said it with her eyes.

(Cheyenne and Chayne...yes, Chayne is smaller but the pose makes her look even smaller)

(so cute their little feet)

Just Chayne by herself...Cheyenne was waking up already. (they are so not on the same schedule)

On the news today, there was mention of a program called Learn and Earn, a program that pays low-income students in Georgia $8 an hour for enrolling in afterschool curriculum. There's a lot of controversy, but, personally, I think its a great idea. Some of my thoughts:

The 13 years in the education system does not accurately reflect the 50 years you are going to spend in the job force.
-in a job, you are paid to work. in school, you pay to do the work
-in a job, inadequate work gets you fired, in school, you have to stay longer.
-in a job, you get money!!! in school, you get...letters. wow, exciting.

Personally, I always struggled to motivate kids to do the work and put in the time. You can get most of the kids through cajoling, talking, eye-brow raising, screaming, pleading, bargaining...and then there are those who just won't do it. And who can blame them. How many jobs would you be willing to work if you had to get up at 5:30 in the morning, spend 7 hours at your workplace, do another 2-3 hours of work at home and you're not even getting paid for it. It sucks. Sure, it's about the reward of learning, but not every kid appreciates that reward. Trust me, I've met them. I think the idea is cool...radical...but I think they need new ideas in the education system. Now, if I could only get someone to pay me for cleaning my own house.

(Ramble) How much phlegm can one girl produce?

Excuse my sniffling but I have a cold. It doesn't sound as bad when you say you have a cold...it sounds so mundane, much more harmless than "i'm sick" or "all the fluid in my body is exiting out my nose." My niece Lauren had a cold so she must have given it to me, which combined with the 4 hours of sleep I had the first night she was over and the 6 hours the following night...oh, it hit me hard. It sucks to feel under the weather but it does give you time to think about really stupid things...like how my nose can run. How can the body produce that much mucus consistently? I blow my nose and in two seconds it's running again. Let me try and google it.

Can't find much...just some person's weird self-experiment with a bucket and they said they produced 0.5 gallons in a span of 24 hours.

And when you're sick...you have some crazy dreams. Tonight I dreamed I was in the Don Quijote parking lot in Kailua when this stretch Hummer pulls up and the windows roll down and it is all these random girls from my high school that I was never really friends with. And then this other car pulls up with like my best friends and they all yell surprise. Apparently, in my dream, Leilani is throwing me a surprise bachelorette party...and even my friend, Kelii, flew in all the way from North Carolina. In my dream, I remember being real confused and also trying to say out loud to no one really listening to me "but I'm sick...and I have to work tonight...i can't go clubbing..." Oh, yah, and I got married like 9 months ago. Strange dream. Like, why is Chenielle Ka`aha at my bachelorette party? I wonder what I would have done in real life if ever caught in that same situation.

This past weekend was the kids' mother's day performance. I think it was really cute...some minor glitches but a success. a funny note. My baby niece, Lauren, licked the ground in the courtyard. It was Friday night and we were sitting outside in the church courtyard after service. Lauren was licking her blanket like crazy and everyone was laughing at her. Then she wanted to walk around...then she transitioned to sitting down on the ground by my chair and then five minutes later, she just lays down and sprawls out face down. What is she doing? So I pick her up and Jenny F. tells me "ummm, keao, I think she licked the ground." Sure enough, there was a definite wet spot on the concrete. oh, that crazy little girl.

(Ch-Ch) May 7th-The Ch-Ch Twins are born

I'd like to announce my new baby nieces, the ch-ch twins.

Chayne on the left was born second.

Cheyenne on the right was born first and they are both around

seven pounds and I have no idea how long they are.

I'm trying post these pics up as soon as possible so my sister, dad, and brother on the Big Island can all see the new grand-daughters/ nieces. I was super-tired because I worked the night before and I fell asleep at around 8:30 am only to be awaken at 11:30 am by my brother-in-law who wanted to know what certain hawaiian names meant. hmmm, can you give me a day or two and let me sleep first. But it was still worth it.

Scott and I showed up at Kapiolani Hospital around 2:30 pm...they had been born around 2:09 and 2: something. I always wondered why they just don't put the same time down for multiples.

If you watch Jon and Kate Plus 8, their twin girls are so competitive and it kills the youngest twin that her sister beat her out by four minutes. Unlike Lauren, who spent her first hour in that room with the big window and the nurses with absolutely no one but me in the hallway...these twins already had a huge audience. My mother, Faith, was there, and Deroy's sister, mom, niece, and my niece Ashley were all there. We watched them get their first bath and their vitals checked. Umm, they were still covered with some grotesque looking stuff but I took pictures anyway. I busted out my big lens and the nurse was looking at me weird and then this other nurse came out the door and asked me who I was. She was just checking that I knew the babies and wasn't a random stranger taking pictures. That hospital is really on it. They're great.

Cassan was still recovering so Mom and I fed the twins their first bottles. Mom had Cheyenne who just chewed on the nipple but didn't eat anything. I had Chayne who was sucking it up. The nurse came over and checked the bottle and she had already drank 10 mLs. So the nurse said just to feed her another 5 mL, no more than 15 mL. I didn't know how long it would take, but the next time I pulled the bottle out to check, she had already consumed almost 30 mL. Ooops, sorry, my bad. My sister, Cassan, gets really itchy from the medicine so this time she came prepared. Inside the baby bag was this heavy-duty wooden back-scratcher. Well, all the babies are healthy and it is really amazing that there are two of them. Can't get over it.

We have Lauren right now. In a few hours we are taking her to the hospital

to see the new babies. We hope it goes well. hmm, Lauren is a scrapper.

(Cheyenne getting her vitals check. Because they are twins, they

are more closely monitored)

(Cheyenne looks a lot like Lauren and she already is showing an

affinity for licking things. Uh-oh, could there be two Laurens)


(Chayne, smaller and younger, is much more mellow...almost sleepy)

(Chayne, can't you tell she's hungry..she kept trying to suck on

this monitoring bracelet they put on her wrist. They had these

little monitors on their abdomens that were in the shape of ducks)

(Cheyenne-after she finally got cleaned up and put in cozy pj's)

(chayne-she kind of reminds me of an old chinese man)

(AR & KH) Rehearsing for Mother's Day

Oh, I'm so relieved my weekend was over. I was so beat. I only had Friday night off from work and I had women's conference on Saturday. I had to leave after lunch to go home and sleep before work so I even missed Scott preaching. Poor Scott, he was in no condition to preach. He has some sort of abrasion on his left eye. And his left eye is his dominant eye and he already has double vision, so we are amplifying already poor vision problems. He didn't tell me this but Mel told me a funny story. At our church, we always pray at the end of the service. And then the Pastor will ask if anyone wants to invite the Lord into their life and hearts. Some people are kind of shy so usually everyone has their heads down and the Pastor will ask you to just look up and make eye contact with him so he knows you want to pray quietly along with him. Well, Scott's one good eye is now blinded so he asked people to look up...then he asked "if you want to pray with me, maybe you should wave your hand." Still he didn't see anyone, but perhaps it's because he was blind.

This morning, Cindy let me out of nursery which was an answer to an unsaid prayer. I was so tired I just sat in their office and worked on last minute stuff. I had my camera so I did take some pictures of Lori's girl and Erica's little boy. Erica and Dane insisted their child smiles constantly but I never saw anything. They persistently spent 10 minutes pestering that little boy with pokes and tickles and all I got were a few yawns. I think they're imagining things. I gave the following three pictures to the children's church because they are making gifts for Mother's Day. They said that they want to use the one where his face looks like he is constipated. I don't know which one they are talking about. You decide:

(1 Is that a smile? maybe it's gas)


(2 I think he was bored by his impromptu photo shoot)

(3. I think he's saying "what you talking about, willis?" )


Then I caught Kate actually smiling...but it was fleeting and then she jumped down and was pulling everything off the shelves. Hmmm, energetic child.

(You can only guess what mischief is waiting in that pretty little head)

Then after church we had a rehearsal for the children's church. Only 6 out of our 10 choir kids made it. It was a little chaotic. No, cross out the word "little." Oh, boy, I can only say that I am so thankful that I have really good friends who were there to share in the joy. We wanted them to practice singing on microphones with live musicians. Oh, boy, I have part of it on video and I think I want to youtube it. I can't believe I thought I would have to work with them to sing loud and not be afraid of the mic. I made the mistake of telling Kevin (thanks to our sound guy) to turn all the mics up...clearly we do not know little kids that well. They were so fascinated with the sound of themselves that we spent most of the rehearsal yelling "____, don't yell into the mic" and Kevin had to pull all their volumes down. The cutest part was that they really don't realize how loud they are singing and they all hunched over their mics. I tried to fix that by pulling their mic stands off the stage and 2 feet away from the edge. But as the song progressed, you saw their faces inching forward and forward until they were leaning so far forward I was sure they were going to topple off the stage. I still laugh thinking about it.

Troy led the actual practice part...which was great because he had all these ideas for the musicians. Stephen, Scott and Clinton were the musicians and must have played that song 10 times. Dural and Kevin sat in the sound booth and did their best to equalize the volumes. And Mel and I tried to oversee but really we were laughing too much, it was so much fun.

We've decided that this Mother's Day performance is either going to be really really cute or really really...loud. Come this weekend (Friday 7 pm, Saturday 5 pm, Sunday 8 am, Sunday 10 am) and I wouldn't sit too close to the speakers if I were you.

(L & S) Sleeping gets complicated

I'm getting a little worried about the next few days. I have tomorrow night off but one night is too short to try to change your sleeping schedule. So, I'll probably stay up most of it but then Saturday I have the women's conference and then Scott is preaching that night. But then I go back to work so I have to sleep sometime. And the next day, Sunday, I have a rehearsal after church so my sleep is going to get jacked again. At least it wasn't as bad as last week.

Last week, I had my days lined up so I had three nights in a row. So we decided to babysit Lauren and see if she would spend the night. The one time we tried before, she screamed until three in the morning and then slept lightly while pitifully sniffling in her sleep. It was real sad. This time she seemed to be doing really really well. I was the one dying of sleepiness so I fell asleep first on the couch. Scott woke me up an hour later and there was lauren sitting on top of me sleeping. So we moved her to the bed on the floor and it all seemed like it was going well.

Fast-forward to 2:45 am when she woke up again and started crying. Oh, poor thing, I just hugged her a little and turned the TV on...thank God, cable has at least like 4 channels with cartoons on it. actually, at first, we watched my taping of Gilmore Girls. I figured, heck, she's one...she probably doesn't understand. Maybe she thought it was a real lackluster comics. Then around 4, I put her cartoons on and I lay on the couch. She came up and wanted to lie on the couch too. It was real sweet. I must have fallen asleep because the next thing I know, I'm getting lightly, but firmly whacked in the face. I open my eyes and she's staring at me. When she saw my eyes were open, she turned her head and started watching the tv again. hmmm, got tired again. Started to fall asleep again. Whack! There she is, looking at me with her hand poised over my face. It took a few more times before I realized it was all intentional and I was not meant to fall asleep. So I gave up and stayed up.

She finally fell asleep around five and Scott came out to see how we were doing and he fell asleep on the couch. And I just thought, great, everyone gets to sleep but me. So not fair. Every time i look at this picture, I feel so jealous.

(Devotional): Parable of the Unmerciful Servant

Oh, to forgive 7 x 7 times. What does forgiveness mean? You hear people say: "he/she never ever really forgave me." or "they never forgot about it." I wonder, if you have to forgive people, what does that forgiveness entail? You see the way some people treat the ones you love and you think...is this who I am supposed to forgive? Today in my devotional reading, I read the parable of the unmerciful servant... if you're not sure, check out this supercute rendition online (don't worry, it's very visual if you're not a reader).

http://www.thebricktestament.com/the_gospels/parable_of_the_tortured_debtor/mt18_23.html

I, above all, am so thrilled that God forgives me of my multiple sins. I used to steal library books when I was in elementary school. There were fines on my library card that we couldn't pay. I would sneak the books out in my backpack. Don't worry, I returned them. I'd sneak them back in my backpacks too. Except one. There was one I liked so much I didn't want to return it. It was a book of tall tales. I was really into fairy tales and tall tales. This one had stories of Johny Appleseed and Paul Bunyan. I hid it up on my treehouse until it rained and ruined the cover. Then I came up with this brilliant story that I would tell my dad that I just "found" the book outside. I was an excellent stealer, not a very clever liar. I'm sure my dad thought it was a pitiful story but he probably just thought it was more pitiful that his daughter would be stealing books. In high school, I would steal coins from my friend's room to buy sodas...and finally, just resorted to stealing sodas out of the dorm store fridge. I was and am very addicted to soda. My arm was skinny enough to squeeze through the door even with the chain and padlock on. Sorry, didn't mean to rain on the perfect image you probably had of me in your head. Don't feel like you need to lock up your valuables when I visit your home...I'm proud to say that I don't steal anymore. Hmmm...except I do eat grapes at the store before I buy them. It's just common sense. I put that on my application to H.P.D. when I was applying for a job. Hey, they said to list everything.

Am I the unmerciful servant? I don't want to be. But there are certain people I don't let in my life anymore...a few that I kept trying to forgive and kept getting burned by. What is forgiveness?