I took this picture with my phone yesterday when the kids and I were visiting with Michelle and Sydney.

Let us try this again with a different photo of Hope

OK: Where did it go?

Not sure where the picture went. Will do my best to figure it out in the next few minutes... otherwise it might be awhile before I get to it...

Hope's Cheesy Smile

This is what happens just about every time Jack or I get the camera out. You gotta love those cheeks!

--
Hilary

www.freewebs.com/jhbviohl/

Something I learned about roaches: but it doesn't change my opinion of them

Did you know that cockroaches groom themselves? Jack caught one in a jar early yesterday morning so as not to wake the kids or our neighbor upstairs (it was on the ceiling). As a result, we got to observe this roach up close behind glass. It was interesting how it would --I guess-- bathe itself... I had no idea that roaches even cared about their appearance. Yeah, anyway, it was weird. I had no idea. I still hate roaches. I always will. Nasty critters, even if they do try to clean themselves. (I did have the thought that he was so hungry maybe he was going to eat himself, I have read they will eat anything, including human flesh. Nope, I guess he wasn't that desperate because he is still alive...and he has been in that jar for over 24 hours with only a few seconds of added oxygen...Roaches are hard to kill!)

The Yellow Car

I have been reminiscing. I just found this picture and had to scan it to share with you all. This is The Yellow Car (A.K.A. Turbo Girl): the first car that I ever drove. (In the front here is my adorable nephew Coleman. This was a several years ago). She is no longer with us. She lived a long and productive life, transporting us around town, learning how to drive, getting us back and forth to college, impressing my guy friends when I would need a jump start after leaving my lights on, with her Turbo engine…

I still have my keys to The Yellow Car. One is still on my key ring, and the other (this particular key that you see) is in the hide-a-key magnet that used to be under the bumper (we won't talk about how many times I actually used that useful invention). It is a particularly good magnet for holding recipes on the vent hood when I am cooking. I can’t seem to get rid of these keys. The Yellow Car passed away when Jack and I were living in Vancouver. That was well, so many years ago. Mom and dad purchased the car when I was 12 years old. That was, well, so many years ago, I will let you guess at the math. I first drove The Yellow Car when I was 13. I will never forget that day. It was a Sunday and we were coming home from church. Dad pulled into our alley way and stopped the car so I could drive it up behind the garage. I remember exactly what I was wearing. My pink and white store bought dress that I had picked out for my 13^th birthday. It had shoulder pads (what didn’t have shoulder pads in the 80s), and the leaf design on it made me think of deer tracks. I had on black heels. How did that happen? A light pink dress and black heels? I digress (that one is for you, Dani).

I was recently reading about Learning and Memory… and it mentioned episodic memory (dang, well, I think it is episodic memory) when trying to recall where you last left your keys. The author wrote that unless you have an emotional attachment to your keys, you are not likely to use emotional memory to find them. I would argue that I do have an emotional attachment to my keys. Goodness, I still have the Yellow Car key and no Yellow Car. Plus I have a Snoopy key chain I bought in Sendai, Japan (or was it Fukushima City?) that I have been carrying around for the last ten years… anyway.

My car that I have now still has no name. I am close to picking one, but nothing seems to fit yet. Brady calls my car “mommy’s car.” But then, every PT Cruiser he sees is a “mommy’s car.” I will let you know if I ever come up with something. It seems a shame. We have had this car since 31 December 2004... anyway.

When my sister and I used to drive this car to school guess how much gas cost? You might want to hold onto your chair. We complained repeatedly about it. If we had only known what we know now, we could have stocked up! There was a time we could fill the tank for $10. Then it went up to $1.32 a gallon and well, we would have to break an extra $5 or, heaven forbid, a $20. I am *gasping* for breath. Jack told me the other day that now, when he fills the tank, he stops at *gasp* $50. whether or not it is full.

Soccer Camp

Brady had soccer camp this week in Wailua for three hours each morning. It was kinda long for him, but we made it through! It was mostly HOT and sunny, excluding today where is was very windy, and Wednesday when we all got rained on. I thought it looked like fun, and Hope really thought it looked like fun, but not sure what Brady truly thought about it.

Thanks again for navigating over here to view the pictures. Not sure what is going on with Freewebs.

Here is Brady on a water/snack break. Those kids wanted to eat at every break. They would have too, if given the time.

Hope really liked kicking the ball around that one of the moms brought for her to play with while the other kids were in soccer camp. Her son is also four and in the same U6 group that Braden was in. When Jack went with us yesterday, we found out that she sings in the same worship team "Heaven Sent" that Jack sings in. It is a small world and an even smaller island!
My number one favorite flowering tree in the whole world: Rainbow Shower Tree. This is my favorite color variety too! There were several of these trees at the park where the soccer camp met. Such loveliness. I love their scent too. Just very faint, but nice and sweet. mmm. When I have a house I want one of these trees! Hope. What a silly girl. She always gets a cheesy grin when it comes time to pose for a photo. She had found her pockets and was walking around with her hands in them.



Brady actually looks like he is listening to his coach here!

Hope was fit to be tied that there were so many soccer balls out on the field and she couldn't play with them!
Today was the last day of soccer camp. Each participant received a certificate for being there. This was Brady's coach. All the coaches were from the UK.
Silly Brady. This was his pose for the duration of group pictures! Nice.
Brady has also been in swim lessons. He has two more classes in this session. Yesterday's session was cut short: it was too cold and windy! He has lessons at the YMCA. The Y just opened up this month. The pool is bran spankin' new! and it is HUGE. It is an outdoor pool (thus the windy coldness of yesterday's lesson).

Thanks again for looking over here at the pictures. Hopefully things will get figured out at Freewebs...

Paper Mache with Friends: A better look at the pictures...

I hope that you will enjoy all the pictures. I thought you might be able to see them better like this rather than in the collage I had made while trying to find some format that would work with Freewebs. No matter what I tried, nothing worked. Grrr. Anyway, thanks for clicking on over here so that you can see these.

Paper Mache with Friends

I have been working all afternoon (ok, not literally, but it might as well be) on trying to upload this very photo to Freewebs with no luck. I thought I would give this a try. Looks like I just might be switching over sooner than I thought...

Thank you, Morgan for taking these pictures on your camera.

We had Morgan and Brandon over last week to cover balloons with paper mache. It was FUN and messy!

Hilary

Hope and I had hot cocoa in her tea set from Auntie Holly.













Brady while on vacation. I am so thankful for my kids!

my aunt

My Aunt (one of my Dad's sisters) was just on-line at the same time as me so we were able to chat. This happens ever so often and when it does it makes me happy! I like visiting with my Aunt Sharon. She was one of the adults in my life as a kid who didn't treat me as a kid once I was no longer a kid. That has always been appreciated. :)

I like opportunities such as this! I love my aunt too.

Still thankful despite the time gap...

* We went on vacation, which was so nice! It was great to see our families.

* My son has made it through our horrid vogs with out having to go to the ER.

* We had NINE new kids at VBS this past week. I hear they are going to invite friends! VBS is going well. Hope we can touch some hearts.

I don't feel like writing much tonight. But I want to stay in this habit of being thankful, so I have found a few verses from the Bible to leave you with.

Col 3:15	Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body; and be thankful.
Col 3:16	Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms {and} hymns {and} spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God.
Col 3:17	Whatever you do in word or deed, {do} all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father.

I found it at the following location: http://www.blueletterbible.org/

Wow, we have so many opportunities to read the Word! I didn't even have to get up off my butt to find that. I had considered walking back to my bedroom to find my Bible, then thought I would do an on-line search. I didn't even have to go looking for a dictionary to find the correct spelling for my misspelled words. Spell-check is awesome. The tools we have at our literal fingertips! I am thankful for this...not to be lazy, but that it is here for us to use.

Easter

My kids finding Easter Eggs at church.

(and I think I am going to really like this mobile posting~ sending pics and text from email. We are going on vacation soon, and we can just take pics and send email posts from my husband's phone to keep people posted. I think I am gonna like this!)

What was lost has been found!

For Easter Sunday, I thought it would be nice if my daughter wore the ring I gave her that had been mine when I was her age. She has only worn it to church once before. I don't want her to lose it and I am also nervous about it getting stuck on her finger!

We arrived at church and as I was taking her out of her car-seat, I realized her ring was gone. Sadness! I determined that it was not in the car. So it must be at home. I decided that I couldn't worry about it. I would panic later! My friend Mary confirmed that I couldn't worry about it and that it was most likely at home.

It is a cute little ring. I don't recall ever actually wearing it! My grandparents gave it to me once upon a time. I am glad that I have a little girl to pass along my girlie keepsakes to!
I was thinking that OH NO, what would I tell my mom? What would I tell my gramma, that I had lost this keepsake? That I have saved that thing for what, thirty years, only to let my 18 month old wear it just to lose it?

I determined that no rubbish would leave the house until I was sure there was no ring mixed in with the boxes and paper (who knows where she was when she took it off!). I would sweep the house if necessary to find that ring. Thankfully it didn't come down to searching through boxes and papers or sweeping the house to find it. It was on the rug in front of the couch. I noticed it while I was resting. THANK YOU! I am very thankful that it is no longer lost! Now we can save this ring for another thirty years...

Title

I think I have finally settled on an actual "title" for this blog. The editor hidden deep down inside me couldn't allow "Untitled" as the title much longer. It just didn't fit. So for now! I like the song, "Give Thanks" from which I derived the title.

Give thanks with a grateful heart
give thanks to the Holy One
give thanks because he has given Jesus Christ, His Son...

And as a grateful heart is what I am trying to cultivate, it is fitting.

Everything else could fade away and the one thing I am most thankful for will still remain. I am so grateful for the salvation that my Jesus brings to me. With out God I am just nothing. I am thankful that God sent His son to take my place so that I can go to heaven when I die and be with him.
Not only does He grant me salvation from hell, he gives me here in the present, peace, contentment, and joy even in the midst of the craziness of life. I still need to make a conscious effort to be joyful and thankful, but He has given it to me, so I want to experience it! It is in reach. This blog is a tool to help me be more aware of being thankful for the blessings in my life as well as just being thankful for the little "stuff." I think it is helping. There are times when I think of things I can write about for which I give thanks, but don't have an opportunity to write. I am thankful for so much more than what you see here.

I took this on one of our walks along the path in Kapa'a. It is a very nice walk! The view is spectacular. We even saw a pod of whales on the same walk I took this picture. I need to get out and walk more. I just need to do something to give myself more energy and air! I am glad that there is somewhere to walk; now I need to use it.

another list

diet 7-Up
soda crackers
sleep
comfy blankets
pillows
Jack
Klarisse
chicken noodle soup
rest
movies

--can you guess that I was sick?

monday morning list

coffee that is ready to go in the morning
clean bowls
Cheerios
Milk in the fridge
a calm and quiet ride into Kapa'a
no traffic in Kapa'a (of which there always is)
Welcome songs!
Circle time
math manipulatives
pens and paper
soft play dough
story time
Aunties
friends
finger paint
bubbles
"Good bye Song"
a calm and quiet drive home
no Kapa'a traffic (there is always Kapa'a traffic)

READ A BOOK TODAY

I am thankful that I have always been a bookworm! Guess it has been good for my brain. Check this out.

My Sister!

I have a sister who is my best friend. You can't get a better friend than my sister Holly! She rocks.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, SISTER!
I LOVE YOU.

What you can't see...

is my favorite beach in the photo above, in the title area.
We were taking a "road trip" to the North shore to find a sunny beach to play on and well, it rained a lot that day. As a result we were able to see many rainbows on our "trip."

I had Jack turn around (on that narrow winding road) so that I could take this photo. There were some tourists taking the same photo, but they were crazy, letting their young children stand on the other side of the guardrail. Oh my goodness: I didn't even let my kids get out of the car!

I love views like this. Someday I will get to go back down to this portion of Lumaha'i Beach.

Psalm 139

Oh Lord, you have searched me and known me,
You know when I sit down and when I rise up;
You understand my thoughts from afar.
You scrutinize my path and my lying down,
you are intimately acquainted with all my ways.
Even before there was a word on my tongue,
Behold, O Lord, You knew it all.
You have enclosed me behind and before,
and laid Your hand upon me.
Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;
It is too high, I cannot attain to it.

Where can I go from Your Spirit?
Or where can I flee from Your presence?
If I ascend to heaven, You are there.
If I take the wings of the dawn,
If I settle in the remotest part of the sea,
Even there Your hand will lead me,
And Your right hand will lay hold of me.
If I say, "Surely the darkness will overwhelm me,
and the light around me will be night,"
Even the darkness is not dark to You,
and the night is as bright as the day.
Darkness and light are alike to you.

For You formed my inward parts,
You wove me in my mother's womb.
I will give thanks to You,
for I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
Wonderful are Your works,
and my soul knows it very well.
My frame was not hidden from You,
When I was made in secret,
and skillfully wrought in the depths of the earth;
Your eyes have seen my unformed substance;
and in Your book were all written the days that were ordained for me,
When as yet there was not one of them.

How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God!
How vast is the sum of them!
If I should count them, they would out number the sand.
When I awake, I am still with You.

Thank you.

Untitled: more stuff I like (am thankful for)

sunshine
sand
warm ocean water
family
my kids
friends
sunscreen
aloe vera
picnic lunches
canvas chairs
warm beach towels
blue sky
blue ocean
monk seals
mountain views
igneous rocks
tiny shells
shave ice

--can you guess what we did today?

Sorry for the lavendar. I have a headache today (it is almost gone, for that I am thankful!) and so lavendar is supposed to help in that area, right? hahahah.

I have this friend who has deided to do short daily blogs rather than letting time go by and writing long blogs. I have been enjoying reading her daily posts. She is studying in Rome at the present and she has such adventures. Makes me almost envious because I love to travel and see new places. But I am truly not. I am having my own adventures and opportunities. Sometimes it doesn't seem so adventurous, since this is now "home" but there are days when I can truly appreciate the absolute beauty of this island. Then there are days when I wish roaches weren't part of the adventure! thankfully we haven't had one of those for awhile.

I am thankful that I have friends who keep in touch regularly. I have friends who miss me (and I miss them too). We are all in this big adventure of life in different areas of the world and the US and I am OK with it.

This is all sounding rather random. My apologies. I am going to go now because of the next thing I am super thankful for. BOTH. MY. KIDS. ARE. SLEEPING. oh yeah. It is nap time for me too.

Merci! Mahalo! Arigato!

I am still mulling over ideas in my head about the purpose for this blog. I am still using that freewebs page for family updates, but this spot keeps yelling at me to write.

I need to be consciously thankful. So. Here I am going to write about stuff I am thankful for. So why am I still mulling over this idea? Not sure of the format. Do I do "Favorite Things" or "Stuff I Like" or "For this I am grateful" or "I. Am. Thankful. For. (the following)." It really does make a difference. Not really. But yes. Because in my HEAD it is different and that is what matters. Right?

I have so much to be thankful for that I don't know where to begin. Just this evening I was watching a DVD that I am going to show to the youth at my church in preparation and as part of the 30 Hour Famine (partnering with NCM) we are participating in a couple weeks from now. It was hard not to cry! Kids who have absolutely nothing and I have food scrapings to send down my garbage disposal. 29,000 kids die EACH DAY do to hunger and malnutrition...

If you happen to stumble across this blog please take the time to follow the link to World Vision and check out their orginization and how you can make a difference in the life of a child: be it through sponsoring a child, or participating in the 30 Hour Famine. World Vision is a charity organization that I believe in. Do check out thier site for more information. There are two main issues that tug at my heart: kids who go hungry and kids who don't have education. WV addresses both needs and more.

So yeah. I am thankful for my God, family, food, a nice place to live (even with those bugs I always complain about), nice weather, etc!

Feel free to comment with what you are thankful for. It is healthy to be thankful. Take the first step and let me know what makes you say "thank you!"

It rather makes me chuckle to think that this is my first blog entry on Blogger...and yet I have been "blogging since June of 2007" (or thereabouts). Since no one will probably read this, I am not sure why I am writing. Most likely because I have nothing to say, I am tired, yet can't sleep, and there is something about having an empty blog with no actual entries that is bothersome. Like having a new journal with shiny clean pages that is just waiting to be filled up with thoughts and ideas.

I have a freewebs site. It isn't like I am not already blogging, I just do it somewhere else and for a specific audience. I post stuff there for my family and friends so that they can keep up on the growing grandkids...and I complain about bugs a lot there. I think I really need to stop complaining about the bugs. There is more to Hawai'i then bugs and roaches and bugs and roaches. There are lovely rainbows: which we got to see several on our rainy trip to the northshore on Saturday (which wasn't all rain. We actually did get some sun and had fun!). I have been thinking that I need to start counting my blessings and focusing on the positive aspects of living here.

The thought has also entered my head that my vocabulary is suffering. I am constantly with my kids who are 16 months(my girl) and almost FOUR years old (in two weeks: my son). My opportunities to use large words are not often. I have rather lost what I used use. I DO use "big" words for my kids, I can't help it, but I am still a far cry from college. yeah anyway, what did that have to do with this post? Oh, that is right. Doesn't help to journal in ones head and not write it down. I am trying to think of a purpose for this blog. And my writing seems so simple these days. Not a bad thing, since the point of communication is communication and being understood.

Well, I will leave you on that thought. Can't promise when I will be back, but I am sure the cry of blank pages will bring me back sooner than I expect. And maybe when I return I will have ideas and a purpose.