Hello!

Well Hello everyone!  It's been way too long since I last posted.  My kids are growing just as fast as my weeds are!  Ella just turned 2 and Eli just turned 4!  How crazy is that?  I remember so clearly feeling Eli play soccer in-utero!  And again, in my belly, felt him press up against my side where I was strumming my guitar.  He did that every single time!  Now 4 years out of my womb, he loves music, singing, and dancing.  He's got a mean "booty" groove... I think he got that from his daddy!  ha!  Eli can also do a "white-man's-overbite" better than Tim.  Very entertaining.  Ella is quite the leader.  She is sweet and sassy and full of joy!  She loves to talk and will tell you like it is.  She too has found her groove and can keep the beat better than her brother.  I'll take credit for that one!  :)  Anyway, if anyone is even reading this... thanks for checkin' in!  have a fabulous day!

Mele Kalikimaka!

Merry Christmas everyone!

Gee.  I can't believe how long it's been since I've blogged.  Since the last blog about our student....great news.  A few days before the race her doctor reported NO CANCER...NONE AT ALL!  Praise God!  Currently, she is getting ready for a bone marrow transfusion in early January to deal with MDS and potential of AML.  There has been many miracles great and small and we thank God for all of them.

Well, I greet you from the one and only Motherland.  Yes, sunny skies, cool trade winds, low of 65-67 degrees, high of 76-80 degrees... ah, Merry Christmas to me.  ;)  This is the most relaxed I have ever felt in a long time.  I am at peace, I can breathe in deeply, I have hope, and I'm well-rested.  Must be something in the Hawaiian waters that cures all things.  :)  I'll drink in the beauty for all of you freezing your tushies in the mainland.

As we say here in the islands:

MELE KALIKIMAKA A ME HAU'OLI MAKAHIKI HOU!!!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Eight weeks ago I decided to something about my weight.  I'm happy to report that I'm down a nice 12.9 pounds, baby!  But the big piece that's missing from my weight loss program is exercise.  It can be a bit of a challenge with a three year and 15 month old.  However, I'm biting the bullet. 

I needed something to jump start me so I called my dear friend Noodle and said, "I want to run a 5k.  Will you do it with me?"  Result: she immediately found the Sacramento Cowtown Marathon/Half Marathon/5k on October 1 and encouraged me to go for it.  That's 3 weeks away.  yikes.  My attitude is to focus on finishing the 5k whether I walk or run.  The point is to go out there and move those muscles and burn some fat.  But...

IT'S NOT ABOUT ME.

The night I decided to commit to this race was the night I also discovered that a student in our ministry was no longer in remission from leukemia.  In fact, it had mutated into a more aggressive form of leukemia.  my heart sits heavy and still as I write.  The beneficiary of the race is the Leukemia Lymphoma Society.  The desire to run (or walk or hobble) the 5k is no longer about jump starting my metabolism but rather to run in honor of my student and give towards a cure.  I will be thinking of her with every step and praying for her every minute I'm pounding the asphalt. 

I have two mantras that I've been living by lately.  The first, "NOT IN MY HOUSE!"  And I say that when I'm tempted to make a not so good decision/give into temptation or faced with warfare of all sorts.  The second, "If not now then when? NOW IS THE TIME!"  That one is pretty self explanatory.

Please pray with me that leukemia will not have it's way in our student, "Not in this house, not in this temple!"  And that "NOW is the time" for God's healing and glory to be made known dramatically!  Ultimately, I do not know what God's plans are for her and this illness, but until then, I choose hope and to exercise faith in my God in whom all things are possible! 

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