February & March

These past 2+ months have been super busy. My dad came to visit for a week on Feb 19th and met Liberty for the first time! He only calls her Liberty Bell OR Wordy(how Jackson says her name if he's talking real fast). She loves her Grandpa especially since he introduced her to cookies, snicker bar ice cream, and donuts! And she loved eating the flowers on his lei. While he was here we went to the North Shore, Hanauma Bay, he and Chad spent a day at Pearl Harbor, and Savannah asked him to help her make her strawberry birthday cake! We were so sad to see him go but so thankful he came to see us :)

The day after he left, we had a tsunami warning and Chad had to ship out so the ship wouldn't get damaged pierside. Thanks to Christy (who was on her way here) we were up at 5:30am and off to fill up the cars with gas, and getting bottled water. Reminded me of hurricane evactuations. Thankfully the tsunami hadn't strengthened and there was no damage to the islands.

That evening Christy arrived from Jacksonville for 8 days! We also played tourist and spent alot of time at the beach and visited (what we like to do most)! It was so much fun to see her. I wish she lived here! The Wednesday before she left, Chad received 72hr notice to go to a 2 week school in San Diego. They both flew out on the same day, 6 hours apart.

While Chad was gone Liberty smashed her finger and it ended up getting infected so we had to take off the nail. It looked so painful. That night was her first experience with a popsicle :) She also got a double ear infection thanks to a VERY stubborn tooth that didn't want to push through the gum. Jackson got croup, but was a trooper and it wasn't as bad as he's had before.

Chad surprised us by switching his flight and coming home a day early :) He was home for a week, gone last, home for Easter weekend and to take Savannah to her first ever father-daughter dance, and left early Monday morning. Hopefully we'll see more of him in the next month or so.

We were so excited to find out Savannah made Student of the Quarter!! I surprised her with a monster cookie and was so tempted to eat it myself! We are so proud of her.

GRANDPA LARRY'S VISIT:

Liberty meet Grandpa!

Drinking the mouth-watering smoothies

Happy 7th birthday!

Barbie from Grandpa Bill and Grandma Pam

Bible From Grandpa Larry and Grandma Mary

Waiting for more donuts

mint chocolate chip cookie

Grandpa trying to get Liberty to walk to the ice cream

She finally agreed to stand up for it

North Shore

TSUNAMI WATCH:

Hanging out at higher ground while the tsunami passes by

CHRISTY'S VISIT:

Aloha!!!

Yes, that's a smoothie :) and Diamond Head in the background

Christy and Liberty sharing pineapple ice cream

at the Dole plantation

Sunset Christy and I saw at the Tiki Bar and Grill Restaurant

in Waikiki

Liberty's smashed/infected finger

It looks worse than it actually was--the infection's

gone and now her new nail is growing in nicely

The kids thought it was funny that I accidentally

bought mini popsicles!!

Just her size!

Happy Birthday Chad!!!

This is where the kids get their humor from :)

Monster Cookie!!

Liberty's hair after taking a walk with the

trade winds blowing!

That's some WILD hair!!

Vanilla Bean Frappucino--she's hooked!

The love of my life and best friend!!

LOST Season Premiere After Party

Back on Jan 31st Chad and I had the opportunity to work the LOST Season Premiere After Party. Chad was ecstatic and I was excited to work it with him (no, before this I had not seen an episode of LOST--the background music annoyed me) BUT after seeing Chad have the time of his life at this party, I have watched every episode of this season. The party was in Waikiki at the Wolfgang Steakhouse restaurant. Here are the pictures capturing that night(I have some of the actors, but they are all blurry):

Easter Story Cookies

While at Bible Study today, someone showed me a cookie recipe to do with your kids. I thought it was a great, interactive way to explain the story of Easter to the kids!

EASTER STORY COOKIES
(to be made the night before)

• 1 cup whole pecans
• 1 tsp vinegar
• 3 egg whites
• pinch of salt
• 1 cup sugar
• ziploc bag
• wooden spoon
• tape
• Bible

Preheat oven to 300 degrees PRIOR to making cookies

1. Place pecans in ziploc bag and let children beat them with wooden spoon until they break into small pieces. Explain that after Jesus was arrested, He was beaten by the Roman soldiers--read John 19:1-3
2. Let each child smell the vinegar. put 1tsp in mixing bowl; explain that when Jesus was thirsty on the cross, He was given vinegar to drink--read John 19:28-30
3. Add egg whites to vinegar; eggs represent life; explain that Jesus gave His life to give us life--read John 10:10-11
4. Sprinkle a little salt into each child's hand. Let them taste it and brush the rest into the bowl; explain that this represents the salty tears shed by Jesus' followers, and the bitterness of our own sin--read Luke 23:27
5. So far the ingredients aren't very appetizing. add 1 cup sugar; explain that the sweetest part of the story is that Jesus died because He loves us. He wants us to know and belong to Him--read Psalm 34:8 and John 3:16
6. Beat with a mixer on high for 12-15 minutes until stiff peaks form; explain the color white represents the purity in God's eyes of those whose sins have been cleansed by Jesus--read Isaiah 1:18 & John 3:1-3
7. Fold in broken nuts. drop by teaspoons onto wax covered cookie sheet; explain that each mound represents the rocky tomb where Jesus' body was laid--read Matthew 27:57-60
8. Put the cookie sheet in the oven, close the door and turn it OFF. Give each child a piece of tape and seal the oven door; explain that Jesus' tomb was sealed--read Matthew 27:65-66
9. GO TO BED. Explain they might feel sad to leave the cookies in the oven overnight; Jesus' followers were in despair when the tomb was sealed--read John 16:20,22
10. On Easter morning, open the oven and give everyone a cookie. Notice the cracked surface and take a bite. The cookies are hollow!! On the first Easter, Jesus' followers were amazed to see the tomb open and empty! Read Matthew 28:1-9

For those of you who chose to do this with your children this Saturday night, leave a comment and let me know how it went and what was the kids' favorite part of making the cookies!

One Year

I'm back!!! Our computer crashed a few weeks ago and we've been computer shopping and just got one last night :) I can't believe we've been here for a year. The time has flown by. I know I've been horrible at blogging, but it took 8 months with having 3 kids until I finally felt like someone threw me a life preserver and the chaos started settling down. And when Liberty hit 10 mos, I felt like I could write a 'to-do' list and accomplish some of those tasks, blogging being one of them(and that's when the computer crashed).

Here's a little re-cap of our last year:

• The kids and I flew out on March 1st to Honolulu
• We moved into our home March 9
• Our household goods arrived April 10th--we unpacked and put away 80-85% in 3 days b/c my due date was April 14
• We went on an Easter Brunch Catemaran cruise
• Liberty was born April 24
• We've had visitors 8 times (mom came twice)
• The visitor with who traveled the farthest was Christy (Jacksonville, FL)
• We went to the 4th of July festivities up at Schoffield Army Base--it was so much fun and the fireworks were so cool
• Chad worked nights for 8 weeks last summer which was fine except Liberty had colic for 14-16 weeks from 4pm-11,12,1,2,3am! I was exhausted
• Savannah started 1st grade in August and is learning Chinese and Hawaiian and their traditions....very interesting!
• We went to the Big Island twice in August, the second staying at the Hilton Waikaloa Village (awesome place for kids)

• Chad's command decommissioned Oct 31st; we received orders to a ship stationed in Pearl Harbor and our tour here got extended another year. We are now scheduled to be here until January 2013
• Mid November we went to NJ for 2 weeks, stopping in Seattle for 2 days on the way over
• Early December we went up to the Northshore and watched the O'Neill World Cup Men's Surfing Competition up at Sunset Beach
• Chad had duty on Christmas so we went and ate Christmas dinner with him on the ship- very unique experience

(a view of the sunrise behind downtown Honolulu from our bedroom window)

• For my 30th birthday Chad bought me a car (Land Rover LR3) which I love!!
• I went skydiving with my cousin Landon and had the time of my life! WHAT A RUSH! I can't wait to do it again
• We had our first tsunami and survivied!! Although Chad had to go to the ship and get it underway as to not cause massive damage if it were moored to the pier
• Just 2 weeks ago, we saw at least 30 rainbows in a 7 day period. We are so thankful for this reminder of God's love and promises to us.
• We regularly go to the pool, beach, downtown to get smoothies or look at the penguins, turtles, koi fish, flamingos at the Hilton Hawaiian Village and love to eat at Dukes

I'm very excited to see what this year brings--praying for less chaos and being able to fully enjoy all that God has given us to experience here in Hawaii. Chad deploys later this year for only 4 months!! Yay! So, if anyone wants to visit, shoot me an email :) We'd love to have visitors.

USS Crommelin (FFG-37)

It's official--Chad is going to a ship--the USS Crommeling (FFG-37). I know most of you are wondering, "What the heck?" So, here's the scoop.............


Last August when we received orders to Honolulu, they were for a command, DJC2 that is considered sea duty (in the Navy you alternate sea/shore duty), but not a ship. It is a mobile communications unit where Chad is on call to deploy anywhere in the world on 48hrs notice. We were so thankful he would be scheduled to be gone 20% of the time and come home at night to us. We were elated, in fact.


That all changed Labor Day weekend. Since May we have heard rumors that due to budget cuts, the Navy would be turning over the command to the Army, and the assumption was that the Navy personnel would either stay at the command until their rotation was up, or get sent elsewhere. We didn't spend much time dwelling on this information since nothing was official and we didn't know when this would take place.

After the command was deployed in August to the Big Island for a mission involving 15 countries, we got word that the Army was taking over Nov 1, and the guys had no say on where they were going. Not even a choice of what was available. Needless to say, we've spent alot of time in prayer, and getting our hearts right before God---praying and waiting....and waiting....


We haven't said anything because we haven't known much. Rumors were flying, Chad was "penciled" in to other places, and we didn't want to keep telling a different story to everyone each week.


With the detailer in Tennnessee, it has been difficult for them to connect, but last Thursday he got a phone call confirming what we'd thought for a couple weeks now--he would go to the Crommelin. His orders haven't been cut yet (written out), and we are not sure when that will happen. We also won't know until he receives them when his report date is to the ship. The Crommelin is currently on deployment, scheduled to come back in December. They could fly him out to the ship or opt to keep him on base until the ship gets back into port. We don't know if he'll get leave in-between commands or if we'll be able to go to Montana for Christmas.

As chaotic and mentally overwhelming as this is, we are glad to know where his next command is and we'll be staying here. We haven't told the kids yet--waiting to find out his report date. Please keep them in your prayers, as this will be very difficult for Savannah--she doesn't remember the other deployments or life with her dad on a ship, and she had a hard time when Chad was gone for 3 1/2 weeks in August.



At times in this circumstance I have felt like David when he was crying out to God and asking "Why?" and begging for mercy and grace and have shown many of the emotions in the Book of Psalms, but I know that "all things work together for the good of those who love the Lord and are called according to His purpose"--not my own purpose. I have cried (just a little), gotten mad, pulled away emotionally, felt like my head was going to explode from all the chaos, but the worst was seeing Chad have his "hands tied behind his back" not being able to have any say whatsoever in his job. I felt so helpless and with God's help, have been there for Chad as a supporter, encourager, and have tried so hard to keep my emotions "in check" as not to overwhelm him.

We are living each day in the present, and not focusing on the future "what if" scenarios, and trying to cherish and make the most of each day together as a family.


.............Just another day in the life of a Navy wife........

Chance and Iwona's visit

We had visitors!! Chance, Iwona, and the girls came to visit for 10 days! Part of the time they spent at a hotel in Waikiki! It was so much fun playing "tourist" right along with them. Every day we went to the beach and/or pool. Jackson and Kyley were inseperable, Savannah had a blast with Taylor and Payton, and all 3 couldn't get enough of Liberty! She LOVED her cousins holding/feeding/playing with her :) We also got to go to the Northshore to the Bonzai Pipeline and watch the surfers attempt to ride the waves (they were 11 foot waves that day). The kids got to experience fresh pineapple, too. One day we went to lunch at a kid-friendly restaurant, Farrell's. They had so much fun trying on funky sunglasses and silly hats. We all had an AWESOME time them and were sad to see them go.

COME BACK SOON!!! IT'S TOO QUIET AROUND HERE.