Headed Home

We're heading home and I have to admit I have mixed feelings. I am very excited about seeing everyone and so are the kids. We can't wait! On the other hand, we're sad about leaving. It's been an interesting experience and hard to go back to "normal". Please pray for our safety in traveling, we'll be landing in Sacramento around 8:50 p.m. Wednesday night. We'll head to Red Bluff on Saturday and finally get up to Redding on Sunday. Our first week will probably be filled with unloading & unpacking & trying to prepare myself for Eli going back to work. I'm not looking forward to that. I'll have unpacking & homeschool to keep me busy for a while at least. It will be fun for the kids to have a yard again! I can't wait to rejoin my Bible Study Group & start playing volleyball...or at least making an attempt to play! I'm also looking forward to seeing everyone at church, we are thankful for those who kept in contact with us & kept us in their prayers. Well, we'll see everyone soon!

7 days & counting!

It's hard to believe this is our last week. The boys finally got to visit Pearl Harbor & the Battleship Missouri Memorial. They really enjoy all the history here. Now they want to see the Arizona Memorial & Museum. We've been trying to figure out the best way to get 5 kids, 7 pieces of luggage, 3 car seats, 2 strollers & 6 carry-ons to the airport without losing anything! We still have our matching neon yellow t-shirts my mom got the kids when we left so we wouldn't lose them (once a mom, always a mom!) So you can pray for our safe travel and sanity when we travel! We'll be staying in Sacramento for a few days to visit my family there and then we'll be heading home! The kids are counting down the days now. Keep praying for us wisdom as we are still trying to find the direction God wants us to take. This was such a unique opportunity for us as a family and hopefully we will remember lessons we learned. Life is too short to just be "safe & comfortable", following God blindly can be so much more exciting! Although it is very hard to trust that His plans are best, I think I'd much rather live life how He intended & reap the rewards eternally. I can't imagine not having the knowledge that there is something so much more than the here & now. I'm not sure how people live without having something so much better to look forward to! I wish I were better at sharing that with people that need to know. Sometimes I envy those that have been called to the mission field where that's all they do full time. How rewarding. Well, we'll be home soon!

I love this stage! Every morning Kamalia wakes up & gives me the cutest smiles. She talks and laughs, and you can tell she thinks she's pretty cute. I have to agree! She can't wait to meet everyone. Less than 2 weeks to go, where did all the time disappear too? I have to say my excitement for coming home has been a little dampened since one of my best friends won't be there to see me. They're moving to Quincy (?) but she promises to come see me soon & it will only be for a couple of years at the most. I'm not sure what I'm going to do without her. I'll miss you Shannon (& David of course!) We finally did the pineapple maze (it's the longest maze at over 2 miles long) & it was quite an adventure trying not to lose any of our kids along the way. They enjoyed it although Koa kept asking when we were going to get "there". I'm not sure he understood the concept! We're starting homeschooling this week, I'm curious to see how it will work with 3 in "school", a 3 year old & a baby. I think we're outnumbered by over 2 to 1 now, where did all these kids come from anyway?! I'm thankful for each one, they all have their own personalities, strengths & weaknesses. While being a parent is one of the HARDEST things in the world, it is also the most rewarding. It's like looking in a bunch of little mirrors & seeing all your faults so clearly! I'm still trying to figure out why most of the positive traits seem to come from Eli & all the negative seem to come from me, I wonder what that means?! I'm looking forward to playing volleyball again when I get home, hopefully I won't hurt myself before I can get into shape. I'm learning that there are actually a lot of advantages to having a lot of kids. Like today, we went to the park & played a game of kickball & we had enough people to play 3-on-3! It was fun, we got rained on for a few minutes but we played through it (aren't we committed), & after each kid took a turn of quitting or running away when they got out, we finally called it quits. I think we passed on our competitive spirits a little too strongly, so now we have to work on being good losers as well as gracious winners. (It's really hard to teach what doesn't come naturally). We miss everyone.

4 Weeks left!

Well we're down to four weeks and somehow that doesn't seem like enough time! There are still things we would like to do and the thought of going back to real life doesn't seem very appealing. We can't wait to see everyone and are very excited about that, (my kids are planning all the parties they will have!), but I'm still trying to figure out how to keep Eli home with us! I'm not sure how the kids are going to like him being gone either so I'm praying for an opportunity to present itself for a different source of income. I'm sure Eli loves being home with us all day too, I'm not asking, I'm just assuming! Last week Abi left after 6 weeks of being a part of this crazy, big family in our small quarters, & I'm sure it was the best birth control a 17 year old could have had! She survived though & will be starting her first year of college this month at Shasta College. I look forward to watching her play on their volleyball team next month. My cousin Aym'e and her husband John came last Friday & Saturday to visit on their way to Kauai. We were so excited to see them & as always, wish it could have been longer. They live in San Diego so we don't get to see them as much as we would like, but even one day was so nice. We've just been resting this week, even the kids seem a little worn down. Kalani's birthday is this Saturday so he's counting down the days until he turns 9. He's been busy planning his party for when we get home with my mom and Kaleia has been busy planning her & baby sister's "surprise" party with my sister! I don't think she understands what "surprise" means, but she keeps sneaking my phone to call "Auntie JuJu" to talk about it at all hours. I think she uses more minutes than I do! We miss everyone and are getting more excited everyday!

Check out my Slide Show!

Counting Down!

I guess now it's a countdown as to when we come back. About 6 1/2 weeks. Time is going so quickly! We are all well and have been enjoying doing some "touristy" things. So far we have visited the Waikiki Aquarium and the Honolulu Zoo. It was a lot of fun seeing God's creativity in person! I think my favorite things at the aquarium are the jelly fish & the sea dragons. I'm not sure what my favorite animal at the zoo is. Kaleia's favorite is the zebra (because it's like a horse), Kalani's favorite is the cheetah, lions, tigers (anything that is like a cat), Kekoa liked the reptile exhibit (because he's all boy!) and Keanu liked the komodo dragon. We have plans to visit the Dole Plantation, Sea Life Park and a beach luau. If only life could stay like this and Eli could stay home forever! I might be getting a little spoiled and have to readjust to him going back to work.....I'm thinking that taking care of me is a full-time job! If only it paid better :) We still feel like God lead us here for a reason & tried to step out in faith to see what He had in store for us, but maybe sometimes just the believing & acting is the purpose for the calling. I'm always looking for a logical reason that makes sense to me but Hebrews tells us about the "Hall of Faith" and Heb. 11:13 sais "All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did NOT receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance." I guess that's the kind of faith that pleases God because in verse 16 it sais, "Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God..." Sometimes our acts of faith are rewarded in our children or grandchildren's lifetimes, not our own. Talk about a test! I'm not sure if I could have that strong of faith but what a goal to have. My favorite passage is Philippians 3:8-4:1, to gain Christ & have a righteousness that comes from God & is by faith. Nothing encourages me more than reading what Christ has already done & is going to do for us. This reminds me that it's what Christ has done, not what I do that makes me righteous in His eyes. (It's a good thing too because of how short I fall & how discouraged I get when I or anyone else doesn't meet my expectations of perfection!) So please keep my husband in your prayers as he deals with my ever-changing emotions & unrealistic expectations!

It's hard to believe that we are halfway through our time here. Things haven't worked out exactly how we planned, (or anything close to what we planned), but we came here trusting that God had a reason & would work everything out. We have our new baby but no house. I think we are learning to put up with each other in a small space & trying to treat each other nice even when we get on each other's nerves! It's definitely easier to "preach" than live it sometimes. I'm learning that being an example of something you're trying to teach your children is very difficult sometimes. Hopefully now that we are starting to get back to a little routine we can start getting some stuff done. The older boys have been at the church camp & are enjoying getting to know some more people. It's a nice break from getting out of the "house" for them too. Now I need to find something to get out of the house for! Three weeks is more than long enough for me to rest & not do anything. I think I'm getting a little restless so the next couple of months might be more difficult for me. We really miss our family & friends and I really miss getting to see everyone's babies & seeing how everyone is doing. Kamalia is growing fast and getting spoiled wanting me to hold her when she's awake, & when she's asleep. ( Of course I do it so I can get some sleep too!) I don't miss all the fires & heat that Redding has had, but our air conditioner went out last week & when it's 85 with a lot of humidity....it makes things a little more difficult. Eli & I did get to go to dinner last Sunday night & we ran into the Youth Pastor & his wife so we ended up going to dinner with them & his parents who were here visiting. It was nice to get to know them & have some adult conversation. We're still praying for a house, at least to get some things done on the condo, but I really want it more for some space, privacy & a little "normalcy". I was complaining about how we didn't have enough room in our 3 bedroom house before we left, God has changed my perspective, (funny how He does that sometimes) & my house now seems like more than enough room! We miss everyone & can't wait to see you soon!