Poopy Diapers

Our Big Girl

2011-06-27T22:54:00.000-07:00

Here's our sweet lil boog Haylen! It's been forever since I last posted anything. And I will try to keep this blog now up to date with pics of the kiddos for all to see and enjoy. Haylen is now 18 months...will be 19 months on the 3rd of July. She's so much fun! So far this is my favorite age....and I think I have said that with every month and stage she's been in. I guess all in all it just keeps getting better and better! She's grown up so much and so fast. Since we brought our lil Kyrie home, Haylen seems so much bigger than before baby. Its crazy. She talks so much, trying so hard to say every word we say...and trying so hard to say sentences. She's just started to come up to us and wrap her lil arms around our legs and give us lil Haylen hugs...the best feeling in the world by the way! And she says...I love Mommy and....I love Daddy! She's the best. I will write more about our lil boog later when I have more time and upload more pics. But for now...here she is!

Our Growin' Girl

2010-10-12T12:53:00.000-07:00

New News!

2010-10-12T10:43:00.000-07:00

Well after much shock...we are pleased to share...we have a totally unexpected sibling for Haylen bakin in the oven! We don't yet know how far along we I am...waiting to get into the doc...but think I might be at least a month or more along, because I am feeling oh so sick..blahhhh!!! I really don't like being prego...at all. But am looking foward to the end result...a precious lil person..boy or girl...a lil buddy for our Haylen. She loves babies and kids...soooooo much. So she has no idea whats in store for her. We will def have our work cut out for us...we will be diapering two kiddos at the same time..eek! Trusting that the Lord knows whats best for us..haha! Will post due date when we find out!

On the move...

2010-09-05T15:55:00.000-07:00

We have had the best time watching our sweet Haylen...learn and discover to so much. This is the best age! She just officially crawled for the first time a couple days ago and does it more and more each day thereafter! We are so excited...she looks like a baby deer taking its first steps...a lil wobbly...slow and its a lot like a shuffle crawl. Shes has even been trying to monkey crawl...getting up on her toes. Today I had to keep moving her back to the middle of the room because she kept finding her way to the coffee table full of fun "no-no's" and the entertainment center. I will often peek over and see that shes managed to stand up holding onto the coffee table and her crib. There ain't no leavin her sight anymore! And as excited as we are about Haylen's new moves...I guess we should be saying..."oh no!"..just as much!!! Pics of the cutie to come...having a hard time uploading for some lame reason.

Yummy Moments...

2010-08-05T12:43:00.000-07:00

There is nothing quite like the warm fuzzy feeling you get when your precious baby starts to reach for you, touch and tickle your leg when you are standing above them(indicating they want to be held) and the ever so scrumptious head on your shoulder cuddle! Haylen has never really been the cuddle type...which I have tried forcing her to be since she was born..haha. I have been wrapping her chunky lil arms around my neck for months now...trying to teach her how to hug. And I think shes finally getting it! In the last week or two, she has been way more cuddly, wanting to be held and when shes tired...wrapping her lil arms tight around my arm and neck and resting her sweet warm head on my shoulder. Not to mention the sweet times shes fallen asleep next to me in the morning, woken up and starts signaling to me shes ready for me to be awake and entertain her...I open my eyes and shes just a few inches from my face...her big beautiful eyes staring into mine, huge smile, usually making sweet soft cooing sounds and touching or wacking my face! Haha...shes so funny...she makes us laugh...a lot! As if just having Mark around didnt make me laugh a lot already! These are the yummy moments I wish so bad I could bottle up and put in a safe and be able to remember every second of it and get that same warm fuzzy feeling anytime I want. I guess thats why couples have baby after baby right!? Im so glad Haylens still a sweet lil baby...so we wont be having another for a while ;).

8 Month Old Chunky Princess!

2010-08-03T19:53:00.000-07:00

Our baby girl is 8 big months today! Happy 8 months to our chunky princess Haylen! She just gets more and more fun! She is gigglier than ever...her daddy is still the best at making her bust up, she loves to belt out screams and yells and grunts when she gets really excited and all her limbs go straight out and get super pointed...way cute!!! She does this hillarious squishy face with her nose all scrunched up and makes a nosy boogery sound....so funny. She is taking her naps super well...feed her, put her in her crib with her monkey and cow-cow and she now likes to roll to her tummy whenever she gets the chance and falls asleep on her tummy..so sweet. She is getting closer and closer to crawling...she pushes herself up on her arms a lot and pushes her butt up a little bit. Like I said..she rolls over a lot lately...I think she is realizing how mobile she can be. She still won't eat her baby food or rice cereal like she used to do so well...and of course resufes the bottle. So leaving her with grandma for long periods of time is out of the question. She does love eating puffs and freeze dried apples. This is definetally not how I planned things going. I did and still do not want a picky eater. I am trying really hard to be patient with her and remember she will eat food when she is ready. Now its just finding the things she will like. It seems as though she likes crunchy things...def not mooshy. Anyways...we are working on that. She has 4 adorable little teeth on the bottom and loves to chew everything. She sits and plays with all her toys all by herself, loves watching her favorite baby einstein movies (old mcdonald and baby van gogh)...so funny....as soon as she sees the beginning of the dvd...the disney logo..she goes nuts..haha. And so much more. We absolutely adore our sweet Haylen and can't believe how big shes getting..so fast. Happy 8 months baby girl!

Pray for Daisy Love...

2010-07-25T12:01:00.001-07:00

If you haven't heard or don't even know of the Merrick family...Britt Merrick is the pastor of Reality Carpenteria...an awesome church down in So. Cal. They are an addorable family of four...two kiddo's....older brother Isaiah and younger sister Daisy Love. They need major prayer! Their sweet and precious Daisy is battling her second bout of cancer...whilms tumor (sp?)...and its pretty bad. I believe I heard Britt say in one of his teachings recently...that she has somewhere around a 30% chance at this point. You can read the whole story...all the details...see up to date pics and videos of their entire very sad experience....on their blog... prayfordaisy.com...and also on brittmerrick.com. Mark and I saw lil Daisy running around the Murrieta campus a few years ago sportin the cutest blonde pig tails and red cowgirl boots...cute as a button and come on...her name alone...so sweet! We are still in shock from hearing of all this and can't even begin to imagine what they are going through right now. By the way....I believe Daisy is 6 now. Visit the blog or site and see all thats happening...they update daily and request prayer for very specific needs for her...PRAY PRAY PRAY!!! Again...

prayfordaisy.com
brittmerrick.com

Just Bein' Cute...

2010-07-19T12:50:00.000-07:00

6 Years!!!

2010-07-10T18:41:00.000-07:00

Today Mark and I celebrate 6 years of marriage! It has been a lot fun, a major blessing, super adventureous, the best 6 years of our lives! We spent our first year of marriage in Rogue River, Oregon...serving at a wonderful church with wonderful people. Then the Lord moved us on to a new and very exciting adventure to Maui...with a whole new wonderful church with wonderful people. It was 4 1/2 years of our life that we will never forget. We were blessed to buy a house and sell our first house there, have our precious Haylen there, and so much more. And now the Lord has moved us back here to Oregon where we are soaking up a lot of much needed time with family. We feel so blessed to have gotten to experience so many great and fun things in our 6 years together! The Lord's timing has been ever so perfect year to year, month to month, week to week, and day to day! We have watched him move in our lives in ways we at times doubted He would. And now we are back at that place again where we wait on Him for the next great big or small thing He has for us. In the meantime, we are enjoying every second spent watching our lil Haylen develope and grow up to be the precious baby girl that she is and lil girl that she will be. So what's next for the Saunders' three!?!?...guess y'all will just have to wait for that blog post! Happy Anniversary Mark Saunders...I love you!

Check up...

2010-07-08T18:02:00.000-07:00

We finally got Haylen on insurance and were able to get her in for a well baby appt.. We are a month behind, but not a big deal. She did fabulous! We are so proud of our chunky lil princess!!! Her nurse practitioner was quite blown away and so impressed! Haha...love it! We wouldn't have her any other way!

HER STATS:

19lbs 9oz (90th percentile)!!
28 inches (101st percentile)!!!!
17 inches head circumference (55th percentile)

She is just perfect in every way!!! I had to laugh and thank the Lord that she is tall and chunky....not short and chunky..haha! She does have a whole bunch of eczema on her tummy...arms....legs and here and there. Poor baby. Doesnt seem to bother her at all, but just dont like it. Thank God thats all it is. She isn't a fan of her fruits and vegi's yet...so her nurse practitioner told us we can try and give her food food...like cut up. We will see how that goes!

7 Months Today!

2010-07-03T11:39:00.000-07:00

Happy 7 months today to our sweet Haylen!!! We can't believe our lil bug is already 7 months! When people tell you it flies by so fast....it does! This is by far the funnest stage yet...we are loving it! She is learning and discovering so much right now. She often will sit and stare at her hand as she moves it around...her legs and feet also. She will often mimmick us if we open our mouths, stick out our tongue or move our arms up and down. She is very very chatty and very loud! She has conversations with us a lot...I wish I knew what she was saying...it always sounds so important. She loves to take her chunky lil hand and just hold our faces and look at us...so sweet! She has a whole bunch of new toys that she will sit and play with for a long while. Definetally able to entertain herself more now. We got her, her very first baby doll...because she is always goin bananas when she see's other babies. I could go on and on...she is just the funnest lil kiddo and we are so blessed to have her! She makes us laugh..a lot and makes us want to cry sometimes..haha...during the night when she doesnt want to sleep and all in all...makes our lives very full. We love you Haylen!!!

More Summer Fun!

2010-07-03T11:19:00.000-07:00

Haylen totally loved her new swim toy! Its perfect...a bit too big still....but at least she won't fall out of it. Keeps her shaded and she can float all around on her own...so cute! She would kick her legs and swim to me...such a water baby. And of course I was able to find her a perfect pool hat and some new stunna's!!! I have tried and tried to post a video of the boog takin a swim...but our connection here is sooooo slow. It would take a year to upload. Sorry everyone...soon enough.

Our Lil Mermaid

2010-06-29T19:31:00.000-07:00

Summer is definetally upon us. I won't go into how much I don't like it and at the same time like it. I hate the heat, but I love seein Haylen enjoy lots of "Firsts." One being her first time takin a swim in a pool! Mark took her in yesterday for a dip. It took her about 5 minutes to get over the shock of being in a gigantic bathtub...but after that she just loved it. She didn't stop kicking her legs til we took her out. This should make for a fun summer!

Frills!

2010-06-26T15:06:00.000-07:00

I just love having a sweet lil girl! There are plenty of opportunities for pretty lil girly moments. She is basically my dress up doll..haha. She endures a lot of dress up from her mom. She will thank me later in life, when she looks at her baby pics and see's how darn cute she looked :) The headbands and flowers are one of my favorite past times. I love making them. I make them when I find random moments in my day to get creative. Oh and by the way...this site annoys me sometimes...I have no clue why it posted a totally random pic of the boog on her tummy instead of one of the flowers. And unless I delete and re-do the whole post...it stays!

Rolling Over...

2010-06-24T20:38:00.000-07:00

So since a couple nights ago, every single time I put the boog on her tummy..she immedietally throws her head and arm back and rolls to her back! She'f finally starting to consistently roll over. I'm sure before you know it, I will be posting how she rolls all around, every which way! She's growin all around. She's been keeping us up a lot lately at night and I think we figured out why. We just discovered a third tooth on the bottom poppin thru! I can't believe it...another one already! I'm so excited to watch her grow, but also getting a bit sad to see the baby in her start to slowly disappear. When I watch her be her cute sweet funny self, I have to remind myself she is still just a baby...she sometimes seems like a lil girl already to me. Trying very hard to soak all of it in!

The Boog...

2010-06-16T12:59:00.002-07:00

I couldn't resist snappin a pic of the lil doughball...leaning against the couch..just chattin to her daddy! She loves standin...don't let the pic fool you though...she cannot walk yet or stand on her own..unless shes holdin something. I had to catch her several times. And this is her new booster seat! She totally loves it! She can sit at the table with us and eat her food and play. A great purchase!

She finally did it!!!

2010-06-16T12:50:00.000-07:00

Okay....so I'm super bummed Haylen got all camera shy...or maybe just tired, by the time I actually got the camera in hand...but wasn't able to capture her rolling from her stomach to her back, all by herself...three times in a row!!! It was so cute...every single time we put her on her tummy, she does something new and shows her new strengths. I'm sure you are saying to yourself...shouldn't she be rolling over already!? I have heard...yes she should be. But I had been bad about putting her on the floor...up until recently. Amazing though, once we started giving her more floor time...she was just showin us all she could do! She sits up now...can stay on her tummy longer and longer each time. So hopefully....I will have a video of her actually doing it soon!

2010-06-15T00:00:00.000-07:00

Mark and Dan in Kentucky

2010-06-14T23:45:00.000-07:00

So Dan and I went to Kentucky to do a photo shoot for this hotel. It was a blast helping setup and stage for each shot. We worked out butts off from the second we got off the plane in Louisville till we landed back in Portland. Well... We did make some time to go to Churchill Downs and watch the night horse racing. It was an awesome treat. We got free Box seats too! What an amazing experience it was.

Comin Home!!!

2010-06-13T23:55:00.000-07:00

Ahhhhhhhh!!! I just heard from my Mark...he just got into Portland from Kentucky. Thank God he and Dan made it safe...bad storm! We weren't sure how Mark was getting back home to Medford. I had him ck flights...and I was expecting him in maybe a cpl days. That was the plan anyway...but he just can't wait to get home to us and vice versa! He found a ticket for a great deal and is flyin into Medford tomorrow morning...ahhhhh....I can't wait! There is nothing more fun than picking up your man or someone you really love...from the airport!!! Love it! So long single mom week!!! Bring my man home!!!

Oh what a day...

2010-06-08T08:53:00.000-07:00

So yesterday was a busy day! But felt productive...thanks to no facebook...haha! We went to a delicious and super fun brunch at our old and favorite pastors(and his fams) house. Abblitts...we adore you! Then headed to Marks folks house to drop him off. His buddy Dan and his fam met him there, to pick him up and take him to Portland. He and Dan are flying out Wednesday to Kentucky! Dan is a photographer and will be shooting a hotel or two and is taking Mark as his lovely assistant and stager! My dream job....I am so sad I couldnt go and do it..but have every single bit of confidence in Mark that he will do an amazing job! The sacrifices we make when we have lil cuties. Then Haylen and I raided the craft store of some super cute fabric! Now if Mark reads this...we didn't really "raid"...just got a cpl cute things ;)...phewww! Mark and I are designing and making her crib set! Its going to be(crossin my fingers) soooooo stinkin cute. I can hardly wait to have a second in my day to get started on it. One word...well actually two...animal prints!!! Colors...black, white, pink, icy baby blue, light green and a hint of yellow. But mostly...black, white, pink, with a bit of blue and the other colors! Pics to come!!! Wish me luck...I have logged in maybe 2 hours total on the sewing machine, but am so ready to give it a whirl! And to complete our day...aside from missin Mark allllll day :(.....when sweet baby napped, I whipped up a mobile for her crib! Shes sleepin in there now, so a pic of it to come. I have one more thing to do to it. I have been on the search for something super cute, flashy, baby eye catching, and cheap to hang on her mobile. I found these great feathered butterlies that are pink, white and green....for $3 on sale for a box of like 8 or so. I already had the string, ribbon and wire. Its cute, a lil hokey, but it works and she things its great..she was laughing at it and yelling at it earlier..haha. Her way of expressing her love for something ;). So minus facebook and other distractions, I actually got a lot done! Aside from missin Mark, it was a great day. And I found myself spending wayyy more precious fun girly time with my baby Haylen. Thank you Jesus, may I have more days like this.....with a lil Mark thrown in there though! Oh and btw....I am a terrible blogger. I may post a lot...but its not all organized and bloggerish like some of my blogger friends. Mine are more like journal entries I guess. So forgive me, they tend to be long winded sometimes. :)

I'm back...

2010-06-05T09:04:00.000-07:00

Hello blogging world! I am back. We will see how this goes. I have been really thinking a lot lately about cancelling my facebook and just updating this blog for people....for those who care. I know some like to keep up to date on baby pics and all and what we are up to. Facebook just consumes wayyyy too much of my time during the day and takes away from time I could be doing something productive...or even spending time with my baby girl. Goodbye facebook and on to new fun ventures! So check in once in a while if you like and see what we are up to and how big Haylen is getting!

Oregon Vacation...few pics

2009-02-15T23:16:00.001-08:00

So here are a few fun goofy pics of the wild bunch tonight! We got together at the Ritchies for dinner and games! It was a good ol' time. I really miss Mike and Tracy, so it was great to be able to get together and catch up before we left. They showed us a fun dice game..don't know the name. Needless to say...I didn't win, but next time...you bet I'll win! Oh and the other fun couple there with us was, Phil and Tori, from the parents Koinonia group. Fun fun!

Mom was mad at Mike and Mark for taking pictures of her...silly mom!

Mike's Game Face(s)!

I'm Alive!!!....Update

2009-02-15T23:09:00.000-08:00

So it has been a reallllly long time since I have posted anything on here....as Facebook has consumed most of my computer time. But I always love checking my friends' blogs and figured...they might appreciate it if I were to actually update mine once in a while! So here it is...Mark and I have been on an extended and wonderfully long vacation in Oregon!!! We have been traveling all over Oregon doing all sorts of fun things, seeing family and friends, seeing the snow for the first time in over 4 years, freezing our butts off in over 4 years..haha, and all sorts of other things. And its only half over. We are currently in Medford with my family, but planning on heading to Bend Tuesday for a few days, then heading to back to Brookings, then back up to Portland for a couple days, then sadly..back home..to reality. We have had the best time here and realized how much we really do miss it here....and of course how much we miss all of our family and friends. So its late, so I won't post much tonight, but a few pics, but expect a few more maybe tomorrow!

super sad

2008-11-20T08:11:00.000-08:00

Last night was a real sad night. At church...we all had to say goodbye to the
White family. Bill, Leann, Jamie and Kimmy. And yes..probably everyone of us cried a time or two. Bill shared his heart with all of us...pointing out each and every person, couple, family that has touched his heart in his time here. And then sharing on the three most important things to him in his walk...and something he really discovered in his time here.......Serving, Tithing, and Prayer! And then of course a group of men prayed over them...and Dom(pastor)...shed a few too. Bill and Leann are like the ma and pa here for a lot of us. They are super special to Mark and I. Bill was like our dad over here. Bill was here many many times to pray with us thru hard times. He is really the only man here that Mark would ever go to with anything. So of course we feel like a piece of us is leaving with them. But as Bill made his last rounds of goodbyes....he told me....see you later....and that this isnt goodbye! And it is true. I told him I was avoiding them and hoping to escape without a tearful goodbye. I hate goodbyes...and it only gets harder and harder the longer you are here. So he gave me many squeezes and said.....see yah later....jennabug! He always calls me jennabug...like little jennabug down at the mission. So anyways...we instantly felt a hole in our hearts last night...and will feel it for some time. They leave Friday....I hate it. You really do feel very lonely when someone super special leaves here. You instantly feel as if you are the only one on the island. That is the one thing I really hate about living here. Always having to say goodbye to people you grow so close to. Here, you instantly make your friends, your family. At church.....we really are one big family. Everyone out here....is without their extended family. So we all get very close. Which then...makes those terrible goodbyes a lot harder. And because this is an island...a very transitional place.....here at Calvary South Maui.....we have to say goodbye to a lot of wonderful people. But definetally by far......saying goobye to the Whites is the worst. Okay....sadness time must end.....I need to distract myself.

Birthday!!! 10/28/08

2008-11-12T10:03:00.000-08:00

So its been forever since I have updated this blog. We havent taken many pics lately...but here are a few of my birthday! Mark surprised me with all kinds of goodies and a yummy rubys dinner at home! Such a good man. And to make my birthday extra great...I finally passed my drivers test..written. It only took three times..haha.

Dangerous...

2008-09-20T15:40:00.000-07:00

Our drive home is always a surprise, depending on the song...

Anthony Hopkins...

2008-09-19T23:57:00.000-07:00

so mark and i were on a hot date in lahaina tonight! we were just strolling along front street when we just were going to pass a small crowd, a few paparazzi and a red carpet leading into an art gallery. when right then a big black car pulled up and out came anthony hopkins! our timing couldnt have been any better. we were surprised but not shocked...because a few months earlier we heard he would be coming, we just forgot. he is of course an actor..but also a painter. and in this particular gallery he has a whole section of his paintings. so fun stuff!

i'm scared...

2008-09-15T18:01:00.001-07:00

okay...i am sorta freaking out inside right now. this happens often. especially when i am not sure of something. i am having to do something that is completely out of my element and totally goes against my jenna grain. all the way. i am actually applying for jobs...ahhhhhh!!! i know i know...laugh.....its so easy everyone says. well, i just think its a lot easier for a guy to just go get whatever job. but a girl...who is married and wants nights and weekends off with her husband and doesnt have hardly any job experience at all...has much reason to be shaky about this whole thing. its hard for me! i am wayyy picky...cause i have had jobs that made me miserable. no thanks. so anyhow...now that i got all that out....on with the newest. i made a resume that literally took me a few days to put together. oh my. yeah....can you tell i've never done all this before. yeah. so i just heard back from a gal that is a referral from a friend.....she is a very accomplished woman...who is the ceo of a successful business. she is an architect, a contractor and an interior designer..and some more i am sure. dan says she is a very easy going laid back lady and would be great to work for. i hope. though the job doesnt sound too complicated...i am freaked. she needs a personal assistant. dan only knew so much and told me what he knows and assumes of the job. working in her office.....phones..answering emails...office stuff. hopefully easy office stuff. i really dont know much. and just an assistant to do whatever for her....errands...help with the kids...i dont know really. so i emailed her my resume and just heard back from her. she seems nice. thru email anyhow. she said that her husband or another gal will call me near the end of the week to discuss...."discuss"....what does this mean? i am so scared. ahhhhhhhhhhhhh!!! what am i doing. do i even know what im doing. oh my. calm down.....oh boy. so deep breathe..okay...the reason for the delay...she is heading into the hospital today.....i assume to be insucced....spelling wrong i am sure. her baby boy is 5 days overdue. so anyhow...i think i will excuse her for this one..haha. so anyhow...thats the scoop thus far. i will keep an update on the happenings. and i just got home from running here and there and getting all the documents i needed for applying for our refinance. yet another super scary and intimidating thing. we have no clue what we're doing. but we press on in hopes that the Lord will lead us with every step and show us what we are to do and where we are to go. so til next time....

ummm...

2008-09-12T18:05:00.000-07:00

well, i dont really have anything to write here. not many updates. i will just do what i do best and ramble on and on about nothing then. i am good at that. for sure! so our life hasnt been as busy as it has been in the past. which is way nice..but strange also. we have cut back a lot in our commitments here and there...to free up our schedule more...so mark and i can actually see one another:). its been nice. although now...we do have a houseguest. andrew...our adopted son. he is living with us right now....for good or until he decided what he wants to do..and what we want to do really. we are all waiting on the Lord. for some reason though i have been mostly at home all of my days...i have been so stinkin tired. just pooped...and i just cant explain why. maybe i am starting my dreaded period soon or something. yuck! who knows. i have been trying really hard to use my time off wisely. as i am home most of the day now...i realize i need to actually do work here at home. thats a hard one for me. i struggle with keeping our home....home. but lately i have been feeling more and more motivated to keep it up. so its nice to have a semi-clean home most of the time now. we have so much to prepare for here soon. i need to clean out the spare room...office of all its clutter and make it a room. we have guests coming very soon....and all the way til thanksgiving. phew!!! oh my. marks friend jimmy and his friend are coming the first week and a half of october.....then marks parents arrive sometime that week also. then friends justin and jennifer from texas are to arrive sometime shortly after that in october. i need to talk to mark again though....and see if his parents are comin oct or nov....cant remember what they decided. and i know my parents wanna come out....we wish for christmas. that would be super fun. we would love to head to oregon for a true wintery christmas..but seeing as how we were just there...we will see what the Lord wants for us this year. okay..now i really am just rambling. i will wait to write til something terribly important comes up.

random-ness...

2008-09-04T10:54:00.003-07:00

so i am trying to be more organized on here...dont know why...just am. and so i wrote those other blogs and then...sat here and thought....okay....i have a few more random nothings to share...but dont know how to catoragize them all...so here they are....my usual mish mash of words...and random thiings.....
so lets see...some boring stuff comin your way!!! last night church was really good. except when i got frustrated during practice....at myself of course. for some reason i just wasnt gettin it like i wanted and needed. its not uncommon for me to be a frustrated worshipper up there..haha. i have high expectations of myself and never really achieve them. in heaven i guess! oh wow...just noticed how very white i have gotten..oh my! sorry...okay...but church itself was good. the teaching was good...dom started 1 samuel last night...and i was so excited...because i wasnt lost and confused....cause i actually read all the things he was talking about in this great book of marks...called...david. so i was very proud of myself..i felt like one of those cool reader people...you know...those of you that read book after book. yeah..thats not me. i desire to be...but am not. i am trying though. so yeah..it was great. fellowship was good after. love the young singles...so fun!
today...i have much to do. again. i didnt do a great job of cleaning yesterday..so today is the day. its a must...just because and also cause we will have a houseguest tonight and for a bit. not that i care so much..its just andrew...hes family practically. but i just need to. and we are having a welcome andrew dinner with a few friends....mark, myself, andrew, jess and caleb. should be a good time! i think i will make something easy and cheap...pasta....homemade sauce and all! so today i have to pick up andrew at the airport at around 2 i guess. wish marky could come. oh well. oh and josh has another soccer game...this time on tv..woohoo! and its in portland...so sad we cant be there.
so mark is leaving me..haha. not completely. he is leaving for one night. he has to go to this leadership retreat for the men up in polli polli. he leaves tomorrow after work and gets back sometimes saturday. so...friends chloe and val are comin over most likely for a slumber party! andrew will be here...so it will make things not so wierd. and its fun! they love the movie penelope as much as me...and im gonna expose andrew.....he doesnt mind the chic flicks..haha. so it should be a good time. i have realized i have to make good use of the times mark is away from me...because if i dont i end up sitting all day and night alone..starring at the wall...lonely and missin him. so if i keep myself busy and occupied....there you go! and chloe is visiting from oregon...so it will be good to spend some time with her before she goes. chloe and val actually asked mark and i to go camping in hana this weekend....but they decided to wait til next weekend...so we could go and others also. should be fun. we went with a small group of us a while ago....very last minute....and it was fun. got dumped on...but fun still. we had a centipede in our tent and not to mention....we were laying in puddles of rain. but still fun..haha. marks pretty excited i think....he is ready for something out of the ordinary fun and exciting on his weekend. and to get to hang with our old group again is great..for both of us. we miss them. so anyway...i need to get cleaning or my day will be gone before i know it. oh and i have been drawing a lot. and knitting here and there. i am just learning to knit. so i joke with mark that i am knitting him a sweater and i show him my progress constantly...and thus far i have about a 4 inch rectangle..haha! gettin there! he will have that sweater by winter of 2010!

out with the old, in with the new...

2008-09-04T10:54:00.002-07:00

so my job is over..as a nanny for the placourakis family :(. i am sad...but also....i guess..sorta ready for whatever else the Lord has for me out in the big big world of maui..haha. so the last few days i have been searching and searching the web for the perfect job. yeah...havent found it yet. dont know if i will. i fear that i will just have to take any job.....like picking from a hat and saying..okay...guess this is my lot in life. ahhhh. oh well...i guess we must do whatever it takes to pay the bills right!? a big problem....i am a very fearful person. i have never interviewed for any job i have ever had...or applied. this is all new to me. so we shall see how all this goes down. i am scared out of my mind to start a job with people i dont know....and things i dont know....i hate the learning process. so embarrassing. so if you think about it..pray for me!!! i wanna be super-fearless-woman! thats gonna be my new super hero name...thats my hope!

oregon trip!

2008-09-04T10:54:00.001-07:00

okay..i am gonna try and do as everyone else does and keep it somewhat short...and more organized. i will do my best to only talk about my trip to oregon in this blog...then create another one for another subject. haha. i am a terrible blogger.
so all that said...i got back from oregon about a week ago. it was a great trip! i went over on my own....so sad to leave mark behind. but then he showed up and surprised us all! great fun. so he made it for my brothers wedding...which was fun as well. overall....a really good trip. this time i was able to spend more time up in portland...with my brother davy...good friends bobby and meghan and others. it was great seein the fam...allllll of them. it was like a huge reunion. havent seen so many of these people since my wedding 4 years ago. crazy. because i am super lazy this morning...i will post a few pathetic pics of my trip.....later. for now...you just get to read..haha

looooonnngggg update!!!

2008-08-07T10:19:00.001-07:00

wow..its been a while since i have posted. my blogs are getting farther and farther apart as time goes on. i will have to stop that from happening. and i havent really been working much at all...so i have no excuse. lets see...whats new....
i'm heading to oregon next week. and i will be there for about 11 long days without my marky. i have never left him before...not for even one night i dont think. he has...but sad to leave him behind this time. i am trying to reassure myself he will survive without me..haha. i know he will. he is a grown man. it gets lonely on maui though sometimes...soi will just be praying for his time alone here. i hope it will be good for him..and me. so my brother is getting married..nick. its wierd and oh so strange...but great! cant believe he has found his perfect half. love her..shes gonna be fun to have in the family. i have never had a sister..and honestly was always worried nick and dave would marry someone who was all ditzy and girly girly...not like thats bad..dont get me wrong. but...i am not that way at all...so i knew the Lord even had me in mind when he chose krystal for mark. mark has been working away...doing tile right now. he likes it more than concrete i believe...but hurts his body in a whole different way. lots of knots in his back..and his butt hurts from sitting on the tub all day..haha. so i think i am going to surprise him with an amazing massage from our friend cari before i go. he will looooovvveeee it!!! he deserves it and more. all our financial difficulties have been pretty straightened out..thank the Lord. it was very hard and very confusing there for a while...and i think we are through the thick of it and are seeing the light at the end. our bills are getting paid...theres food in the fridge. the Lord i believe allowed all that to happen for many reasons....but mainly...to teach us how to handle HIS money. its never ours..all His. and how important it is to be super mindful of how the money we are so blessed with gets spent. we are much much more careful and even have high hopes and tentative plans to start saving bit by bit.....something that is nearly impossible to do here on maui. but we are sure gonna try. also new....mark has gracefully handed our college age group...The Life..over to another guy...xavier. he is a great kid....a crazy kid....but has grown so much in the last year...as he has graduated from our bible college last semester and will be teaching a bible college class this next semester..set to start in a few weeks. he is going to also attempt to teach and lead the life as well....at least try it out for a month or two and see if its something he wants to commit to. marks work schedule and just life in general....has made it incredibly hard to stay committed wholly and completely with everything in him...to any ministry...such as leading a group. i am very relieved for him that the stress of leading and preparing for teaching every week...will be gone! but at the same time i am very sad...so is he...that we wont be with that group anymore. we adore them...they are our kiddos and our family. the Lord has us entering a whole different ministry right now.....a young couples study. and it only happens twice a month. which takes a load off mark for sure. we have had two and both have been very good. quite hard for me to transition to though...if im being honest. i love it and them...but already miss our youngsters...the college age so very much. they have been a huge part of our lives..and i hope and pray....will still be. wow..this is long..but so much to update....one more thing....! i do have plans still to start a new study.....not really study...we dont know what to call it yet really...a get-together.....morgan and i....for the college girls. or college age really. they have a womens discipleship class every week with a gal here....which is great. but a lot of them have in the past expressed their desire for something else too. they have questions and they want answers from young married women. they have dating...marriage..such and such questions to ask. and so morgan mostly..and myself have put together a packet thing..very simple...that we plan to go thru with them...whoever wants to come. we are very atoment(sp?) in making sure it isnt another bible study. they hear teachings for hours and hours throught the week. we want it to be like a big slumber party....not a slumber party actually..but like that....laid back...sit around and talk girl stuff....get personal....be honest and open and get down to business. and of course have fun! so morgan and i have been praying over this....working on this for months now....and still have plans of trying it out and seeing where it goes. she went to cascade...and they had a class like this.....something morgan and friends asked a teacher to start...and to this day is cascades most popular class.....has a waiting list to get into. so now that the college age is not our main ministry anymore....it does prove to be a bit of a challenge now. i was considering not doing it at all. but thought....no...i should try it out. so we will see. so i am shutting up now...and heading to ross to look for a shirt or two for my hubby! because i love him so!

memory game...

2008-07-28T10:34:00.000-07:00

i got this off megs page..seems like fun...

1. As a comment on my blog, leave one memory that you and I had together. It doesn't matter if you knew me a little or a lot, anything you remember -- it can be funny, weird, awkward, random... whatever!

2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you. It's actually pretty funny to see the responses. If you leave a memory about me, I'll assume you're playing the game and I'll come to your blog and leave one about you!If you have a memory you want to leave, but don't have a blog of your own, feel free to leave a comment anyway!

4TH ANNIVERSARY!!!

2008-07-11T10:10:00.001-07:00

yesterday was our 4th anniversary! cant believe it. how times flies by. we had the best time...surprisingly...considering we didnt really spend any money. well..thats not true...i bought a bottle of sparkling cider...a must on such an occasion. since we cant spend any money right now.....nor do we really have any to spend..haha...i spent yesterday setting up a little fun surprise for marky. i decided...since a nice restaraunt is out of the question this year...there is no reason why we cant still make it so special. so with whatever i had in the fridge and freezer...i was able to put together a really tasty and nice meal for us. i set up a lil table in the middle of the house...addorned it accordingly...a candle...or two or ten or so..haha. and i even cheesed it way up..with white lights in a circle around the table. it was so fun. then i set up all the pics over the years i could find...that we have over here..not many...and set them up nicely next to the table. i also put together a slideshow of pics of us together...every pic had us both together in it..hehe....thru the last 5 or more years. oh yes...and we had the fire on...our fireplace dvd that is...wonderful tunes...so romantic. we started the night out with...well.....dressing nice. hehe....all the way or not at all! dont look at me in pics...i looked terrible...while mark was able to shower up and doll himself up...i was cooking....before that all my makeup got rubbed off in my massage by friend cari...which was amazing! thanks marky! and had no time to do hair either.....just put a dress on. so we started out with...a light salad..it was yummy. then onto entree...stuffed chicken..delicous recipe got online...and smothered in gravy. homemade mashers also smothered in gravy. corn on the cob dredged in butter and a yummy slice of french garlic bread.....and dont forget our sparkling cider and lime water. for dessert i picked up two chocolate custard filled eclairs....mmmmm. what a treat everything was. mark helped near the end and put together the salads and drinks. it was so much fun. we both agreed...way more special and memorable than any of the fancy restaraunts we have dined at. thank you Lord for blessing us on our special day! seriously....with no money...normally we wouldnt do a thing....but just sit and do nothing...but the Lord really gave me a great vision and provided everything i would need to make such a special night. He is so amazing. oh then..we watched a movie...mad money. pretty good.....we really liked it. so here are a few pics....to capture the moment.

possibilities...

2008-07-08T12:48:00.001-07:00

yesterday after mark got home from work...we headed to kihei with a friend chris...to check out a boat mark found for him. it was no good....after looking at it..but anyhow..not the point. when we got back home...we chatted with chris for a while outside about work. he moved over here from oregon shortly after us. he is one of the head formans or supervisors. he heads up a crew that does cabinets, countertops and etc.. mark expressed to him, his interest in switching from concrete to cabinets. light carpentry projects have been fun for mark and myself to do together. mostly is mark though. we have been doing this and that around the church..been fun. he is good at it. very detailed. so chris was shocked and thrilled to hear of his interest. and told him he has to check with head hancho mark spencer before he says yes...but wants to definetally. he wants to make mark the cabinet guy. you work alone..which is nice and are expected to get at least one house done a day. chris can do two. anyhow...so that transition...if took place...would be in august..likely. mark was excited and me too. i would be very happy for him if he was able to get out of concrete. its killing his body...obviously..with his arm. so we shall see. time will tell what marks job will be. we pray for the Lords best for him!

a walk...

2008-07-08T12:48:00.000-07:00

well, this morning i finally did what i have been thinking about doing for..well...forever. i do a lot of thinking about it....but never doing. its like when i was younger...i loved watching my mom excercise....but never enjoyed doing. but this morning...i didnt give those thoughts a chance to muster up in my mind and talk me out of it...i sent mark off to work at 6am...and put on my walking shoes...and headed out the door. so glad i did. not if only i can get myself to do that every morning. it was beautiful. the mornings here...i tend to miss out on...cause i stay in the house til later in the day. the gorgeous west maui mountains right behind us were clear and so amazingly stunning as always....and the temp was so perfect. i loved it. and physically i did better than i expected. i didnt feel like passing out. a plus. maybe tomorrow i will bring my camera.

wedding...

2008-07-07T09:44:00.002-07:00

okay..again these all got our of order...i am not good at this. but thats okay. mixed up or not. so here is rachel love and tony acadamias wedding pics. didnt get many...especially of them. it was fun...good food...good overall...they looked great...so glad they are finally married...excited for them!!!
so joey got sorta crazy near the end...got sloshed on sparkling cider..haha

oohhhhh...tim love....with addorable and so sweet girlfriend..katy. walk far away..got them in the zoom!

well....this pic obviously doesnt need a caption!

umm...xav....did you know you were coming to a wedding..haha..crazy kid. xav, joey and micah all went shopping for their outfits at savers thrift store on their way to the wedding. oh my.

good pals...dan and brandi..looking super fabulous in their wedding attire! we all had to go shopping for nice clothes..haha. rachel made it clear....formal! we all tried our best. looking good guys!

like i said...davy made their topper and brought it from oregon. very cute!

our table...good pals jacob and morgan!

dan and brandi again! by the way...we were all just so starving at this point...bring on the food!!!

davy and joey..chattin it up

micah...posing for the camera

and i had a video on here and it just deleted....shoot....will try and post later...dont have patience for this right now.

recent pics...

2008-07-07T09:44:00.001-07:00

okay...so here are just a few pics of davys time with us. in the process of uploading...they got mixed up and out of order...so please forgive my non-organization. i am too lazy to fix it.

us freezing on top of haleakala crater...to see the sunrise. something we hadnt done...but very popular among tourists. was breathtaking!

davy leaving...tear. no i didnt cry..but wanted to. so sad.

dave patiently hanging with us at the church finishing up..yet..another project.

the project...redoing church sign...mark put the new roff on and repainted signs frame..go mark!

in front of church...again..waiting..haha.....

more sunrise...on haleakala...

just hanging at the house...me...trying to capture every moment...

wailea beach...buddy dan let them take out a kayak

tan yet? haha. not quite...but thats okay dave.

mark...tan? yes..always...stinker.

wailea beach with dave...and friends dan and brandi..not seen..baby elli. dan's as white as dave! go us..white folk!

beautiful morning at changs beach...a couple hours before davy took off on the plane...sad. trying to get in one more trip to the beach.

random updates...

2008-07-07T09:44:00.000-07:00

well it has been a while since i have been consistently blogging. i have been busy i guess. sometimes i am in the mood to write...other times...lately...just not so much. but this morning is quiet...i am alone...and thought it would be a good time.
it is a lonely feeling a bit.....mark started work today..we will see how that goes. i have been praying for him all morning....he was dragging his feet so much. poor guy....we have both enjoyed our time off together...but know finances arent allowing us to do that anymore. we must work like the rest of the world...and not try to retire yet..haha. his arm is doing ok...went to doc other day to get a work release...and we basically told the doc we wanted him to have the orthoscopic surgery done...find whats happening and if possible fix it. we are ready to have our lives back...and have his arm back too. it has been giving him pains here and there...for his sake i hope it gets well. right now we are waiting to hear from the doc office...to see if workmans comp will cover the surgery and hopefully physical therapy til then. give him a possible chance of healing before surgery...maybe not even needing it. by the way...they cant get him in for surgery til august 21st. insane. what a mess this all is...but you know its so worth it...we figure this is our last resort with his arm. other then just cutting it off..haha. the problem also...thats 2 days before my brothers wedding in oregon. but as important as that is....we have to take this appt...or we might be put off another month or more. thats just the way things are running here. so lame. but financially right now...we couldnt go to the wedding if we wanted to. the Lord knows and will provide that extra money if He wants both or just me to go. i can only hope and pray my family will be so understanding...as i know they will. what a terrible thing to miss your brothers wedding...but...there really isnt a darn thing we can do about it at this point. we will see...time will tell. right now we are just concerned about making each bill with our fingers crossed and a prayer and waiting for each pathetic workmans comp check...which comes with some begging and beating if necessary...every two weeks. not to mention.....its usually the amount mark typically makes in one week....we are getting in two weeks. yeah....can you see the problem.....mmmhhmmm. sucky. but we are hanging in there...trying...each day. the Lord continues to show Himself so faithful...when we are so incredibly faithless. it feels like we have nothing.....when in reality...we have sooooo much. Thank you Lord.
so moving on......brother davy came and went. it was a fast trip. he was here about 8 days. we were soooo busy when he was here. on top of our normal crazy insane schedule...we tried our best to give him a good time. which was a huge blessing for us too....seeing as how...we did stuff we typically dont do ever or hardly ever. even some things for the first time for us. so it was like a slice of vacation for us. we loved having him around...he is a champ. haha...a champ. he is a great kid. and so grown up...makes me wanna cry. so much i have missed. we try to stay in touch now...with skype....when we can. get to chat face to face....kinda. but i will post a few pics of our time with davy...and just us lately...up to no good!

visitor!!!

2008-06-25T09:43:00.000-07:00

yay!!! davys here! my bro dave flew in yesterday. we are thrilled to have him. poor guy though...must run all over the place with us and eal with our crazy schedule. yesterday was a whirlwind...the second he got off the plane. hopefully starting today...it will be fun! we plan on heading to the beach today. got these new beach towels at costco....that i am in love with..hehe........they are "two person towels." so huge. and they are rainbow striped...and so soft....100% egyptian cotton. costco is the best place.
so yesterday when i picked davy up......i had to drop my boss and family off at the airport...they are visiting family in canada. then it was perfect...i picked davy right up at the same time. that was exciting.....he is so grown up. then we headed home for a bit......had some lunch...then off to pick up a really spendy tire....got a flat on my way to work yesterday morning. so sucky. and the tires for this car.....ouch..so spendy. and we need all 5. lame. so we got one! haha. so we had to drive back to my bosses house and change tires. took forever...had hard time getting tire off. and it was so hot and humid. been real humid this week. usually we cant ever feel the humidity even though its there......used to it. but this week......pretty bad. so then off to home...cause we had their fish to take home..and fish-sit. so yeah...and the day went on and on. oh yeah...we took him to rubys for dinner..mmmmmmmmmm! always a treat. and then just relaxed at home til late. ouch my hands are cramping.

wow...been a while.....

2008-06-19T11:05:00.000-07:00

well hello all! it really has been so long since i have posted something on here. a lot...i mean a lot has been going on with mark and i...but i guess i just wasnt in the mood at all to post it all. some hard things for sure. as most or all of you know by now....we did miscarry. that was a couple weeks ago. it was very hard...but the Lord has given us so much peace and comfort thru everything. and we are doing good. God is so good. we have had sooooo much support...love...prayer and ever meals for a while there. we are so blessed. so though we know this wasnt the time for us to have a little one....we know that it will be in His perfect timing! man.....it has been rough...with all that.....and you know finances are a rough one....i think for a lot of our friends and family....but especially right now. times are tough for a lot of us. especially here in hawaii....things are sooooo expensive. gas is a killer right now....we have to put supreme in our car...and its at 4.73 right now. its so crazy. and so much more. the main struggle for us right now....is marks arm injury still has him not working. and its not that he couldnt do some sort of work....its that over here no one is ever in a hurry for anything....especially doctors. it has taken over 2 months now for him to see......just three doctors for his arm. so they dont want him working til they figure out whats wrong with his arm.....and if he will need surgery or if he can just work with it. so we have been waiting and waiting. finally today...he has his appt....in oahu...had to fly him there to see a specialist. he just called me and told me he arrived. poor guy...is so nervous. said his stomach is so upset. when you have been waiting this long.....you just dont know what one doctor to the next will say. how upsetting it will be....if this doc is typical hawaii doc...that peeks at it for a second and sends him on his way. we will see. so all that to say...due to his arm injury...we have been surviving on small workmans comp checks...oh which you have to practically chew someone out every couple weeks....just to make sure you get it. so crazy. and my summer hours have begun....i am working less than 10 hrs a week right now...and dont know what the Lord wants me to do......try and pick up more there or get a completely different job. we pray todays appt will tell us a lot........whether he will be doing concrete again or something else.....will we do something on our own together....dont know. time will tell. but the Lord has been so good to us even and especially in these rough times. He has continued to show us He is right by our side and carrying us thru it all. so from this point on...i hope and pray my blogs will be happy and joyful ones......we shall see.

oh baby!!!!!!

2008-05-15T02:25:00.000-07:00

yep thats right.....mark and i are proud to finally and officially tell the world....we are EXPECTING!!! we tried to keep it a secret....but didnt happen....we were just to siked to contain such things. we are both very nervous and naturally...scared.....but very excited to be proud parents of a boy...or a girl! wow..thats just crazy to actually say. i have to ask myself...is this really happening to us??? wowowowowowwow!!! i must go to bed..but will write details in next post!

mothers day...

2008-05-12T09:19:00.001-07:00

so this is what we did on mothers day. after church....we came home...mark left and went to a tongan friends...sons birthday party way out in napili.....i stayed home and relaxed....not crazy about the food they have there and dont want to be rude. but after he got home...he was cleaning up his new baby...and i decided to mow the lawn..i like doing it...sometimes. and he cant cause his arm. if he gets caught mowing...he might get in trouble. and our lawn was looking shaggy. the lame part...i got about half done and ran out of gas. haha. we have a half mowed lawn.

pre-dinner at...

2008-05-12T09:19:00.000-07:00

my boss's Aaron and Rhonda Placourakis, thats a mouthful...own a few 5 i think...super nice high end restaraunts...greek mediteranian...two three of which are on maui and two on oahu. we have been so incredibly blessed to have been treated many times to the restaraunt of our choice...the first time we went to sarento's..right on the beach. so romantic...they told us..the table they sat us at...was mike meyers favorite table when he is in town. it was beautiful...right at sunset. we ate their a couple times...and at nicks fish market. sounds not fancy..but it is sooo nice. we tried to get a pic or two of the restaraunt..but kinda fuzzy. its in the fairmont kehalani hotel. we arent fancy folks...but its fun to pretend you are i guess for a night. i think mark fits in more comfortable than i do sometimes...but thats okay...still a nice treat sometimes.

okay..ths is a terrible pic...but the one of us at the restaraunt i couldnt find....will try to put in next posting. i look like droopy eyes. oh well.

the pool area next to the restaraunt....at the fairmont.

you can kinda see the restaraunt....very bottom....outside kinda....vines above.

on our way to dinner

new toy...

2008-05-11T19:34:00.000-07:00

okay...so mark got a new toy! a scooter!!! these things are everywhere here and frankly i just dont think its safe riding on the road...but if you are careful and with a helmet...which he will be getting. you know we have been wanting one of these over here...for a long time....just for fun. and mostly for a super super cheap way for mark to scoot around on the job site with...that way i dont have to take him. umm...but they are very spendy...usually selling...even used for about $1000 or more. and this one is an 07....its a tad beat up....but runs perfect. beat up because we bought it from a bible college student....they dont really treat all things like gold. but because toast..or david.....had to head back home yesterday...he was forced to sell for cheap.....we got it for 450. a real score. you can never ever find them for that cheap..not even close. so its a blessing. cause now he can put around the site and to wailuku if he needs...and i am not home. he has been stuck at home..poor guy. the cool thing.....you dont have to register these...or insure them and the scary part.....you dont even have to have a license to drive one. so yeah...he is pretty excited and i cant keep him off it. haha. i was able to capture a bit of video of the first ride...kinda silly...but he was like a gitty little kid who got a new toy from toys r us!!!

oh by the way....he is dressed quite nice..only because we picked it up right before our dinner at my bosses restaraunt.
so in love.......

racing jacob on his bike..haha...not really..but looks that way

riding from student condos to the church..again i repeat..he will be getting a helmet. even though no one wears them here even on motorcycles...not required..idiots(i say).

riding around at the church....and cutting thru the grass...i was laughing histarically....dont know why...just thought it was funny.

crazy day...

2008-05-07T10:10:00.000-07:00

mark and i have been so used to a not so busy schedule lately....super unusual...but nice.....that yesterday sorta wore us out. well..i worked from 9-12ish. well....mark dropped me off at work and then he went to the shops at wailea and hung out with friends dan and garrett. they just purchaced a business....an activities hut in front of the grande wailea. pretty cool. and then other friend dan...and brandi were at the shops too and saw the car.....and found mark and hung out with him for a while too. then he came and picked me up. listen to me blab...haha. then we went to subway to grab some lunch and went straight to dan and brandi's....where we ate quickly then loaded up the cars and helped them take dans brother, his girlfriend and his friend to the airport. then off to costco we went. i had to get a bunch of stuff...and so did dan. then we headed home...after a long time at costco...dan and brandi came over and hung out for a few hours til we all left for the movie..iron man!!! a must see! and there was more inbetween all this..but too many details.....i am blabbing enough. so yeah....mark was more exhausted than me..haha.......he has gotten used to the laid back lifestyle at home.

dancin at the life...

2008-05-06T10:32:00.000-07:00

mark was trying to show some...how junior highers danced back in the day and probably still do. the first one of a better example....the second...he got a little crazy and twirled me. it was awkward...but he's good at making those moments....haha...it was pretty funny.

the life...

2008-05-06T09:53:00.000-07:00

a few from the group mingling and fellowshipping after the study. sippin on coffee and hot cocoa

brothers chris and jami...faithful "lifers" and great friends!...laughing at something mark is telling them...naturally.

levi...such a servant....prepping the warm beverages for the life.

mark and daryl chatting it up after study.

the life was good last night. it was the last "life" for most of the group...as its the students last week here and they are prepping to head back home...most are not returning after summer for the next term....only a handful are. so it is a hard and sad time......to say goodbye to all or most of them......you become quite attached.

long time...

2008-05-03T11:58:00.000-07:00

wow, i havent posted anything in a real long time it seems. not a ton to write about i guess. i am sooo glad its finally the weekend. feels like i have been working for a year straight this week. it felt good to finally sleep in this morning....a wopping...5:45am. i forced myself back to sleep on the couch for about another hour and my body just wakes me up....so used to those early hours during the week...darn it. its okay....feels good to be up early. although marky is still out. he doesnt have such a hard time sleeping in.
he finally got into the doctor....the orthopedic surgeon doc....and he basically told him what mark was already figuring he would say.....that he needs an MRI. so next wednesday he is apparently scheduled or sometime soon for one. he is a bit nervous...but more anxious to finally figure what the heck is going on with his arm....and move on. although work isnt what he is looking foward to. in fact.....the first few days...were rough....he was quite anxious at home all day everyday. used to being so so busy. but he has gotten way used to it..and now wants to be a stay at home husband. haha....he has assumed the housewife role quite well...and in fact...i tell him...he is a better housewife than I. its true. so sad. he does cleaning and dishes and what not. not laundry yet...but working on that..haha.
his boss.....not understanding all the legal stuff with his arm and workmans comp...made him try and work yesterday. i was furious...we both were. he was gonna get him in big trouble. finally he and others convinced him to let him go home. it was idiotic...i wanted to chew him out. so he did work with his arm yesterday as much as he could......and it is a tad sore.
last night we just relaxed in front of the tv....and mark actually surprised me with a board game. i always beg and beg..but he always says no thanks. we played sorry. as mark and andrew would say.......its the game of sweet revenge....and of course thats all in a very dramatic voice only they can pull off...haha. tonight mark is teaching for dom...dom is sick.....and mark hasnt been looking foward to this. but we talked and prayed for a long time the other night and i think he is feeling better about it. he just expects wayyyy too much from himself. anyways.....i will be praying thru the day that his study time goes very well.....Lord willing!!!

here i go again...

2008-04-22T23:23:00.000-07:00

okay..the latest...

2008-04-22T09:17:00.000-07:00

havent worked yet this week. had yesterday off....which was very nice..again. but i do feel quite useless and dont know what to do with myself...with so much time off. its wierd. i am working today...i actually cant write long...have to get ready. but its only for like three hours. which is fine with me. haha. not great for the money...but i wanna make sure mark is super duper here at home. fixing himself something to eat right now...isnt the easiest thing in the world. he cant cut things up....you know....anything that requires two hands. anyways...he will be fine and dandy. i feel so bad for him though...he is so bored. more....tired of laying around the house doing nothing but watch tv. i wish there was something for him to do. we will get used to this soon i am sure and he will figure things out. i hope. so i am not really getting to the latest....and i will try my best to be brief. yesterday morning.....ed..his boss...called and said he had a meeting to attend at one with joyce and jesse spencer(owners), mark(their son..who runs the company) and gary(office manager). he was like....whatttttttt!!!????!!! he started to panic. up until he walked thru the doors of the office. he knew he would be having to defend himself in front of everyone.......that this was a work related injury...so he could get workmans comp. dont know what we would do this whole time without it. so he....we....were both very nervous for his meeting......and after praying and praying......he walked in and was so relieved to see it was only jesse. so him, jesse and ed met. dont know why not everyone else...but we was to thankful. see....mark their son....is very nice...we know him well....but have to say....everyone knows...he is generous like his parents(but he doesnt believe mark is being honest..because of some fibs "someone" wont say..told them). but his parents are so incredibly giving and generous and selfless....its unbelieveable. and mark knows they have given sooooooo much to mark and i. we have never asked for anything...they have always just sorta looked at us as their kids and always are making sure we are taken great care of. there were even a few times where joyce sent us a check for something or another....and i kindly and thankfully sent it back...because it comes to a point..where you feel terrible excepting so much generocity that you want them to know with everything in you....that you never ever intend on taking advantage of them. but anywho.....all this to say.......jesse basically said....mark.....i dont even care or want to know how it happened....i dont care if you hurt it on the job or off the job.......joyce and i love you guys very much and will make sure you are taken care of. they are so amazing. so he said.....he would give him workmans comp.....which sadly is only $12 an hour. crazy. which jesse knew it would be. and mark makes more than that..way more. i make 12...haha. but jesse knew this.......and asked if i was working and if my job is able to provide for us. he said we should be fine..but jesse knew different....and told him again...he wants to take care of us in any way possible. and he told him.....he will be recieving full checks......they are making up the difference on his check and more if we need...just let them know. for 2 weeks i believe. so we will need to be extra tight with what we have in this time.......cause after two weeks...dont know what will happen. i know they wont dare leave us out to dry. we shall see....so thats the latest........He truly does...never leave us....nor forsake us!

pray...

2008-04-19T12:58:00.000-07:00

oh please please please pray for mark. and for us in general. mostly his arm and mostly finances. this is one of those times i just have to trust the Lord. its hard. and i dont have a clue what we are gonna do...but the Lord knows all these things. i feel the weight now of making sure we are covered financially. but when you make as much as marky here...i wouldnt even come close with any single job...even if i worked 4 jobs. now...i am mostly concerned for him and his arm. he is sleeping now. this morning...at about 6ish....he woke up in a major panic....his arm was in incredible pain from him moving it the wrong way. he was pacing all over the house frantic urging me to hurry and take him to the er immedietally. poor guy. the second i heard him.....i woke up from a dead sleep in a huge panic and ran straight into the bathroom..turned the faucet on...and filled sink with warm water...all i could think to do at the time. i got up wayyyy to fast from a dead sleep...that i nearly passed out. seriously. i had to sit down....my whole body was wet from cold sweat. and i felt so terrible that i was keeping him waiting....that i tried to get up and fell to the floor a couple times. i ran into the wall one time. had to sit for a second and put my head btwn my legs. he in the meantime....grabbed the keys and was ready to drive himself. poor guy had no clue what was going on with me. i grabbed the keys and walked out to the car.....gonna try and drive him there....he wouldnt let me...he said my face was pail and my lips were white as a ghost. he called lloyd...he came right down....got us both and took us to er. we had to wait a while of course. and was seen finally by the doc. the took him back and xrayed him. which we knew would tell them nothing. he needs an mri. they sent him home with his arm in a sling and major pain pills. after giving him a shot for the pain. poor guy almost passed out just from getting the shot...major fear. now he is passed out on the couch. please pray for him. for healing of course. but also that these docs would get their heads on straight and see that his is an emergency and not put him off for a couple weeks to possibly do surgery. the doc said if he waits longer than a couple weeks....there will likely be permanent damage and will lose most mobility in his arm. so i will be calling to see if we can fly to oahu and get him in there sooner. if not....then portland we come. i will do anything at this point to make sure he is seen immedietally. this is crazy. pray also for our finances...big time. i am scared. it will work out...it will work out...it will work out. have to tell myself that. i am not on the major job hunt. though i have one already...i have to be ready to do whatever it takes now. i am terrified. pray for me too. thanks and will keep you updated.

wierd week...

2008-04-18T09:41:00.000-07:00

okay this is the wierdest week ever. im not complaining. i have had it seems like a lot of days off this week. when in reality....this will be my first one completely off...unless she calls and drops him off again. but they have a friend in the hospital that isnt doing well...and so they have just dropped him off at my house to watch him. yesterday i actually went to their house and then manoli and i went to art class like normal and ended up at my house, where aaron picked him up. its been so nice...being able to be at home so much. love it. and mark will be home today too. i dont know what we will do.....we both are a tad concerned. his arm is so bad he cant even use it to scratch his head. so how can he work? he tried yesterday morning using his left hand to pound in stakes...but not happening. its like being a baby and learning to use your hands for the first time. he finally heard back from the doctor and she told him the ortopedic surgeon couldnt get him to check him for 2 weeks. this is crazy. if you can believe...there are only 2 on the island at this time. maui just sucks sometimes. i told him he should fly over to oahu and see if he can get in asap over there. he's kinda stubborn. but he is nervous....of course. the doc will tell him if its something that cannot be fixed..........not likely.............therapy can help or surgery....most likely. i am nervous for him of course and to be honest...the cost. if he needs it.....definetally for sure no problem. but i am scared to get into debt. we do have insurance..and i pray it covers it. we shall see. anyways...i didnt even say what was wrong with it did it? umm.....wayyyy back when he hurt it arm wrestling in that competition....he snapped all the tendens like spagetti. he has since then had random problems with pain and discomfort...definate loss of strength. he obviously abuses it everyday doing what he does for work......and jujitsu and numerous other things...that contribute. the doc took an xray and even from just looking at his muscle formations.....she said as far as she can tell....she believes.........its bad...........that his tendens snapped and over time.....they have rolled up like a shade and tucked itself behind his muscle....which therefore is causing the intense pain. something only surgery can likely fix. anyways...so yeah..i didnt mean to go wayyyyyyyy off on that. but yeah...all that to say....wierd week. but last night i did make a super yummy dinner if i can say so myself! we were expecting garrett...or as mark calls him.....GG...gorgeous garrett....whatever.....for dinner. but he must have forgotten or something. we werent complaining....we were tired..he wasnt feeling great and a night plopped on the couch watching tv..the office!!!....and such things was nice. anyways......i made mexican. tostadas. but i fried my own shells.......but with flour tortillas. so good. and obviously beans. i happened to have every topping under the sun. i think i will try to name them all.......hehe.......cheese, olives, green onions, bell pepper, tomato, cilantro!!!, avocado, lettuce, corn and green sauce and red sauce. mmmmmmmmmmm!!! so fresh. anyways....yeah...i must go now.

oh no...

2008-04-17T09:58:00.000-07:00

marky hurt his arm pretty bad. its not broken and it didnt fall off or anything. haha. ummmm...i shouldnt laugh. um...i think its a big combo of things. but it hurts him pretty bad...when he goes to use it in any way. and low and behold...its his right arm. great!!!!!????!!! why not the lefty. he obviously ruined his arm back in the day when he snapped every tenden arm wrestling. gosh. and he has to use it hardcore everyday for work. and he does jujitsu...last week....after class he started to really complain about it. and last night even more this morning.....if he even moves it.....ouchhhhh!!! we wrapped it...and gave him lots of motrin. but this is not good. i pray pray pray for his sake first and foremost...that his arm would be healed...then i pray for our sake that his arm would be healed. that arm is our lively-hood. i am praying he would eventually be able to do something making great money like he is now....but that isnt killing his body. pray for his arm please.

the greeks...

2008-04-16T09:07:00.000-07:00

today should be an interesting work day. the people i work for...specifically arron, manoli's dad...is greek. he it totally american though. he doesnt sound a lick of greek. just lived over there for some time becoming a chef or something like that. and rhonda i guess is still not a complete us citizen in one way or another. even manoli had to recently become a citizen. i think at some point in time they all lived there. anyways...they visit there every summer for 3 weeks. they share a villa there with his brother i believe. something like that. anyways...well...his brother and family...i think its his brother....are coming today to stay with them. she warned me....it will be loud and very greek..haha. she said...not to worry...it may seem that they are mad at one another a lot...but they just yell at one another when they talk. i told her.......rhonda...i come from a italians. we may not yell at one another when we talk...but we are loud. especially when its a big dinner with all the fam. and my dad...likes to think he is italian by throwing pieces of garlic bread across the table..haha. he has always done that...so funny. good memory. he is truly italian at heart. but i do love my polish side too...of course. mark always complains that i hit him a lot. i think i get that from my mother. thanks mom. i truly dont mean to....it just happens. not hard...but you know lil slaps or hits like on the arm. he hates hit..haha. and he complains that i am too loud sometimes.....like when we are at home...like last night we are laying in bed...all windows closed and he gave me a wet willy.....yuck...and i yelled kinda......and he gets all upset cause he thinks the whole entire earth can hear everything. boy oh boy. anyways.....didnt mean to rant on all this. but yeah....all that to say.......this should be an interesting day...week.....or however long they will be here.

the life...

2008-04-15T09:51:00.000-07:00

the life went really well last night. he taught out of acts 4:32 mainly. basically posing the question...if the Lord called you somewhere...or just called you to do this period...would you do it.....would you sell everything you own and give it away.....drop your nets...completely and follow Him??? i have a hard time answering that one myself. it was good. then afterwards we surprised everyone with pizza! it was tasty. and thats a big deal here. the students hardly eat..haha.....they cant afford much...most live off of hot pockets and otter pops. really..its true. haha. so when we say pizza.....the whole college usually shows up that night. so we learned not to say anything to anyone til the very end. we hate so much when people come only for the food. a few heard last minute somehow and came up after the teaching.....makes me so mad. but cant be mad about giving...ahahaha. anyways...we all hung out for a long time after. and this weekend...saturday evening to be exact...we are heading to chris and jami's....the two brothers that live one street over from us.....they have been wanting to have the life over to utilize their new house for stuff like that. they are great guys. i dont know why i am telling all this.....no big deal stuff. anyways....just rambling....because nothing too chat worthy happens really. so i guess i am done for now....might write more nothingness later. just for fun.

yard work...

2008-04-14T09:46:00.000-07:00

mark was working away and i was having fun taking pics...sorry i know these pics are sorta lame and boring..but this is one thing we did this weekend..hehe.
cloudy day...so nice! wish you could see the mountains behind that big cloud..amazing. another day.
my lil boxwood plant..cute leaves. wow..some people take pics of their addorable kiddos and i take pics of cute plants.......oh my.

okay...i know the lawn looks terribly brown. its supposed to look like that. with this kind of mower...it takes it down very low...and takes a couple weeks to turn real green. we just got this awesome mower a few weeks ago for such a good deal off craigslist...woohoo! everyone else out here paid the retail $600 price. we only paid $350!!! lame video i know...but my dad will appreciate it..hehe. basically...in a little while...it will look and feel just like a putting green. thats the kind of grass they planted. i much prefer the oregon lush grass...but this is nice too i guess. makes so you dont have to fear walking barefoot or sitting on your lawn....wondering if there are any centipedes hiding. wow..did i really just blog about my lawn...scary.

2008-04-12T09:40:00.001-07:00

just realized i have been spelling karoke wrong...i think its karoke not karoki..hehe.

bad karoki...haha!

2008-04-12T09:40:00.000-07:00

a fact: philippinos loooooovvvee karoki. over here it is craziness. every friday night at the mall....we never go.....because they have karoki right in the middle of the mall for everyone to hear. its horrible..haha. all the same old guys show up to sing every single week. and they are drop dead serious about it too. there is even a guy who shows up as elvis every week and of course...sings elvis songs.

here's our transportation...

2008-04-11T09:26:00.000-07:00

okay....i loooooooovvvveee my car. okay....our car. i always say my car......it is my daily driver...but it is ours..hehe. it is way more car than we or shall i say.....i was looking for. but i have fallen in love...i must say. the speed...the leather...the style...the turbo...the gas(not so much). but we were way stuck when one day my bmw decided to die on us. and my job is half an hours drive. couldnt walk. we had to make a fast decision. one of our best friends dan....works a the audi/harley dealership here. and we go in at least once every week.....to go see him and mark likes to check out all the cool cars. since we have gotten to know the manager from going in sooo much......dan and the manager gave us a great deal on this car. still too spendy...hehe.....but way cheaper than it was supposed to be. he basically gave it to us for almost wholesale. took like 7 thousand off and to give us smaller payments.....they gave us a loan for 80 months..haha. oh i dont believe we will ever pay this sucker off...haha....we would sell it. would take forever and a million years. anyways....long story for a small and short question from megs on marks facebook....that i saw this morning. hehe.....thats the beauty.

okay so i am having fun uploading lots of stuff...

2008-04-10T15:52:00.000-07:00

look what mark found....treasure!!!

having some camera fun before church.....

2008-04-10T09:56:00.000-07:00

okay...bad pic...kinda cut marks head off..haha.

this was seriously how high i could jump...pathetic..especially after you look at marks.......i told him he should have been one of those guy cheerleaders!

woohoo!!!

good morning...

2008-04-08T10:19:00.000-07:00

it is such a gorgeous morning here. well...thats dumb....its pretty much the same every morning...gorgeous...but the sun is so bright and the mountains are clear..so picture-esque. i should go for a walk...but i would rather sit on my bum and write about nothingness. so i am thrilled to pieces to have my marky back!!! what a pain just to get him home though. he got to the airport in oahu at about 6am...and didnt even make it home til 2:30. craziness. he finally was able to board his plane and after sitting for 45 min....they taxied down the entire runway...just started to take off when they slammed on the breaks. everyone just lunged foward i guess. the pilot announced he was turning the plane right around because of a break that is locked up. uh.....scariness. no thanks. so they tried to fix it with everyone on board...for a long time. couldnt..so they all had to get off....get in line to get new boarding passes to board another plane...but a couple hours later. poor guy. needless to say.....he was plain exhausted. he came home and crashed for a while. then we headed off to The Life. he felt very unprepared....lack of time. but the Lord blessed him with a great word out of philippians. about unity in the body. you see.....we have been having a consistent problem within our bible college mostly.....but all the time with all of us it happens........division in the body...between believers. over real dumb things too. and there are these two girls especially. both i am very close to..in the school. and they are no longer on speaking or even looking at one another terms....over real lame things. and i am stuck in the middle. its just so immature. and there is always.....bitterness and what not in the body between believers.....we all benefited from this teaching. it definetally spoke to all of us. it was definetally more of an exortation for sure. anyways...what else can i ramble about.......umm....maybe of how i really dont want to work today. yeah. you know what kinda drives me crazy......when people find out that i nanny...babysit manoli..whatever you want to call it.........they assume i just love to babysit all the time for just anyone. and i do not. i love the kiddos....but my evenings are full. and to be honest......i can only handle one kid in my life right now.....manoli..and he is plenty and some. i love to play with my friends babies...but when its random people i dont really know that well......i never know what to say. anyways.....yeah..thats about it.

wow lazy...

2008-04-06T20:26:00.000-07:00

my gosh..i didnt realize how lazy i can be. being without mark this weekend has shown me some things.....one of which...i wouldnt do well on my own. as a single gal living alone. i think i would sit onmy butt, eat junk food(not fix myself decent food), never leave the house, watch movies and just plain and simply.....be super lazy. nap of course..a lot. thats what i've been doing....and i do admit.....it has been nice. but i cant believe the time i have wasted doing it. the house could have been spotless by now...the lawn could be mowed by now...on and on. but no...still the same as when marky left. i guess i have tonight to do it......hmmm...we shall see how modivated i become. haha. i have watched a movie called.....must love dogs....on tv a couple times. because i recorded it on the dvr...love the dvr. cute movie. i like john cusac movies..he is interesting and is always wearing black and usually a long black coat in every movie he is in. dont know why. must be his awkward personality or something. mark has called me more times than i can count....which to be honest....surprises me. usually i am the one calling him off the hook...bugging him when he is gone. but i havent needed to...cause he calls a ton of times a day.......but i do love it that he does. hmmm....i dont know..maybe he misses me..or is just bored.....one will never know. everytime dom gets on the phone forever and a year....he calls me. that dominic. oh my. i know i am just rambling..but i like rambling....feels good sometimes just to talk about a lot of nothings. you know i am realizing now how lazy i really am.....when i type...i use a lot of.....................................these.....................! everyone gives me a hard time about it. i guess....it means i dont have to use my brain to think about where commas go. and i dont capitalize anything or make paragraphs. thats terrible. oh well...it is what it is. last night i went to chris and jamis...two brothers.......good friends of ours..practically family. young guys......chris works out here on the job site. he is 19 i think. and just bought one of the houses out here. they live one block over. they have their big family over here visiting from oahu for the weekend. mark just loves this family. the kiddos are so cute and so darn sweet. the parents are too. not cute....haha....sweet! so their mom made a big delicious mexican feast last night and they had a bunch of people over....kinda a meet the fam...and house warming. homemade tortillas..mmmmmm. need i say more!!? talked with leann and bill most of the time. missed mark a lot. yeah. church was good this morning. i tried to not get frustrated during worship practice.....again...typical sunday for me. hard to blend three vocals. hard i tell yah!!! i was pretty anti-social......i was mainly just tired. it was cool though....dave courson taught a great message......and our old property manager from our apartment in kihei villages...that we had issues with sorta.......was there. it was crazy. first time. has friends that invited her. she really liked it.....she was really nice...which was a relief and wants to come again. praise jesus!!! as mark would say........."exercise the deamons....this house is clear!!!" haha. love it. and of course if you can imagine the twang in his voice when he says it. well...i have gone on far too long. think i got all the chattttt out of me for now. better go feed myself and get something productive done. oh Lord modivate me!!!

uggghhh...finances...

2008-04-06T15:36:00.001-07:00

believe me megs...i know the financial feeling. all the time. in fact....this is one of those times too. we just made our first mortgage payment totally on our own...with no renters help. scariness. yeah...the bills just dont let up. so hard. praying for you my friend...pray for us too. write a letter...call....complain big time about that....they might be merciful and take at least one payment off. of the late charges anyway. i would even call back a few different times...getting hopefully different people....until the one...the nice one....is feeling generous that day and cuts you a deal.

light as a feather...

2008-04-04T16:33:00.000-07:00

marky just doing a lil dance...nothing unusual. i have a bunch more of these kids of videos i need to post actually..haha. such a good dancer!!!

elli...

2008-04-04T09:31:00.001-07:00

okay since we dont have kids of our own to take pics of...its fun taking them of our friends kiddos. and elli is just the cutest lil thing. this is her attempting to sit up on her own for the first time...last night when they came over for dinner!

note!!!...

2008-04-04T09:31:00.000-07:00

i should probably mention.....the cutie little blonde manoli...is not my child. nope. i am his nanny of about a year and a half almost. so yeah...just wanted to make that clear if anyone seeing the pics didnt know that. hehe.

sucks...

2008-04-03T17:32:00.000-07:00

so this just sucks...mark is leaving me again...for oahu. this time with dom...think i mentioned all this. he leaves tomorrow. so sad. for four stinkin days. what am i supposed to do with myself...by myself for four days? oh my. i miss him already. i am trying to fill my time...which doesnt usually take long. friday night me and some girl friends are going to paint pottery. looking foward to that. been wanting to do it for some time now. i take manoli there every thursday for his class...but i never get to paint...my turn now! i am always affraid when mark goes on these trips...he gets all siked to go...he gets there and calls me wishing he was home and he is stuck..committed and cant leave. and thats usually only overnight. this time 4 days. i told him...he should come back a day or so earlier than dom. so i hope he really enjoys himself and isnt wishing he was home.....i always feel bad when i cant do anything about it for him. these are my ramblings for today.

mr. manoli...

2008-04-02T09:13:00.002-07:00

okay...cutie face! this was forever ago. maybe a year or more. amazing how much they grow up..and you dont really notice it til you look at the pics. oh yes...he is helping me with laundry...something of which at that time took forever..cause he could only put one thing in at a time.

going on a picnic! so grown up..big three year old.

uuummm...yeah...its not what it looks like...he is actually teaching me..how to smoke a pretzel..haha!

at the oh so dreaded(for me anyway)...fun factory...after art class

goof! need haircut.

so sad...

2008-04-02T09:13:00.001-07:00

so we sold my bmw...thank the Lord...especially cause it isnt running. which is a miracle that someone jim from the job wanted to buy it anyway and we didnt even have it up for sale yet. praise the Lord. but it was so sad letting my baby go. just a car...just a car!!!

mark made us dinner...

2008-03-31T09:52:00.000-07:00

mark prefecting the mini-burger! they were delicious-ness!!! don't look at our weeds..haha.

horton hears a who...

2008-03-29T11:00:00.000-07:00

last night we went and saw horton hears a who....so cute. and funny. loved it. dr. seuss is just great to begin with and then make a movie...greater-ness-ness!!! mark is getting to be like my dad..falling asleep in the theatre. haha....the last few movies we have gone to...granted have been the late ones....but he has fallen asleep in them. i know he is an ultra hard workin man....in fact he is working right now. at the job site here though. i should go take a pic or two of him cutting driveways and post them. not that that is exciting...but yeah. tonight mark is going with his jujitsu buddies(the guys from his class) to a fight tonight. ultimate fighting i should say. he got the good seats....ring side seats.....if he comes home with spots of blood on his face....i will be so grossed out. just found out last night..he did too....that he is going to oahu again!!!....this time with dominic. doms going over there to meet with some pastors...theres a conference i guess. but he is going to spend some time with some head pastors or something and wanted mark to go along with him. so once again...mark will leave me for oahu. this is probably number 10 or so being over there. only twice have i been. shame. if we could afford it...and i had lots of shopping moneysssss....i would grab morgan and we would go over ourselves. another day.

a lonely lil pic...

2008-03-27T22:40:00.000-07:00

gamers! mark and dan the other night playing games.

i am looking thru our most recent pics...which really..haha are all of mark or other dumb things. so yeah...gonna just have to take some i guess. soon to come.

hard night..

2008-03-27T15:58:00.000-07:00

so....i feel like i just am constantly writing about bad things. which we arent always going thru bad things. just write alot about them i guess. anyways....last night i was up practicing for worship....and i had no idea that mark had recieved a hard phone call from his mom. karen called about 20 min before church started....in tears....mark immedietally dropped to his knees thinking it was his dad.....scary........thank the Lord no.....but still not good.......marks uncle jeff...his moms cousin...jeff moore killed himself....i believe yesterday. the same way i guess his wife did just a few short months ago. so so so sad. i dont know if i ever met them. i think i might have..but cant remember. but mark and his mom were very close to them both. but havent talked to them in a while. and have much regret in that area. he i know was missing his wife terribly....and had been very lonely i am sure.....his kids are all in their 20s i believe and out of the house. he had just been laid off from work and i believe losing his house. so so so so so sad. makes you wish..if only someone was there to love on him. according to mark...he had the Lord in his heart. so mark just asked me to look for a cheap ticket for him to go to the funeral maybe...big maybe next weekend. and only for the weekend. like a quick 2 or three day trip. we will see. wish i could go with him. anyways...sad news. next blog....writing about something good. maybe i will even post some pics finally.

the life...

2008-03-25T01:38:00.001-07:00

the life.....went good tonight. it always does. it was much smaller tonight...first day back from spring break for the students. homework and dorm cleaning. but the Lord spoke thru mark once again...he taught out of luke 5...it was real good. then we broke up into groups for prayer...then worship and communion. then good fellowship. some of us were so starving....so some of the guys got pizza.....and now are all at our house right now actually....just hanging. i am obviously escaping from the boys playing video games and chatting about work stuff....guy stuff. i just wanna go to bed actually...but cant do that...then they will all think that its time for them to leave.....i mean it is........10:41pm...ahhhhh! so i can tell i am just rambling now.....better go force-feed the boys all our insane and ungodly amount of easter candy. i once again overdid it on marks basket. i have a hard time deciding what to get and obviously....what not to get. so many choices. so i usually end up getting all of them. yeah...its a big one. haha. shame on me.

happy easter...

2008-03-23T17:49:00.000-07:00

church was good. lots of people got saved and baptized..so awesome. so cool too....and funny.....marks old friend jesse warren showed up. it was so random. came right up to mark and was like..hey dude..whats up? it was great. we had heard that he was going to school a while ago on oahu..but didnt think he was still there. sure enough....he is. the last two years. he thought maybe we would still be here. so he decided to hop on a last minute flight over here this morning...to get away from life on oahu and escape for a day or so. so we went to breakfast....caught up. now he is here at the house with us..just chillin and relaxing. we all had lunch and he most likely will be joining us upcountry at dan and gretchens for dinner. he was supposed to fly out i think tonight...but might wait til tomorrow morn....cause we told him he could stay over if he wanted. he didnt have anywhere to stay...no money. anyways...so thats our easter so far. pretty good. had some bbq and chowed on some easter candy...too much. ooohhh and watermelon....mmm...but with it was mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm. tad to early in the season....could be better. i will eat it anyway...cause i love watermelon. anyways...i need to go make some cupcakes for tonight....woohoo! happy easter. oh and i must call my fam. haha. kinda important.

i never...

2008-03-21T09:18:00.000-07:00

i never post any pics. i hate that. i have a million pics...but not any good recent ones. just of marky. not us together. i am usually the one behind the camera. which is a-okay with me. anyways...i need to get some soon.
some super great news...my bmw sold practically and we didnt even have it up for sell. not yet anyway. i am sad to let it go...especially when its all paid off.....wouldnt hurt us to keep it....but if we ever want to drive it around again....it would need about $2000 worth of work done to it. which we dont have just lying around. i hope i didnt share this already....if i did..oh well. so the other day....one of the guys miguel that works out here on the job site....knocked on the door and asked if the car was for sale. i surprisingly hesitated...like...whatttttt!!!?!! yes it is! well..he said one of his workers was asking about it...and that he'd talk to mark about it the next day. so mark went to a retired mechanic friend that wanted to fix it for free for us..just for fun...jim....and asked if he could fix it for us so we can sell it. jim says.....well.....i would buy the car for you for $1150. mark is like...no way....running its worth at least $4000. and he knew it would be a minimal amount just for him to get it running. so he said....$2000. mark was like...sold. we were gonna try and sell it not running for $2500 anyway. good enough. we figure if...we put 2000 into it to fix and sold it for 2000, it would just about work out the same..if we just sold it as it for 2000. and we dont have to fork out 2000 to fix it. yahoo!!! we could use the extra 2000 for some blinds finally. so thats some good news.
lets see....some useless info....dan and brandi and elli stayed over again last night. they braved it at their house for one night and didnt sleep at all. dan installed a night vision camera and it was cool and creepy...we watched it live online last night. did i mention...i dont want to work today. manoli and i went to his art class at the pottery painting studio.....like we do every thursday. and then we went to my house for a bit. then to costco to pick something up for rhonda. needless to say....we were both worn out. its one thing to run around town by myself..and another with a three year old. wanted to rip my hair out at times. i have next thursday to look foward to...!

okay okay...

2008-03-19T00:25:00.001-07:00

i finally have a moment...and its quite a bit after work..haha...its 9:34pm. anyways...sorry megs. so this absolutely horribly crazy thing happened to our close friends. actually megs.....i should email it to you. i know you are the only one who reads it...but just in case..for their sake....to be continued...in an email to you!

crazy night...

2008-03-18T09:39:00.000-07:00

so last night The Life was cancelled cause its the students spring break. so we had the night off...sorta. and you know what...i am looking at the time..and i absolutely have no time to write this right now..i must get ready..but will continue my crazy story after work..hehe. to be continued........!

happy st pattys...

2008-03-17T10:05:00.000-07:00

i must call my old boss dr. barry....st pattys day is the biggest day of the year for the barry family. they are so funny. so i dont have a whole lot of excitement to write about i guess. lets see....lots o mumbo jumbo. mark got a raise...a $2 raise. woohoo! praise the Lord. umm...what did we do this weekend....? thanks for asking.....friday night we helped my buddy morgan tow her car back to her place...broke down on her...and when her hubby left town for a few days. poor thing. been there. we were supposed to go to a friends breakdancing show....all these pros from other islands...but duty called...and thats okay. mark was supposed to work saturday..he drove all the way there...about 40min drive and job wasnt ready. super lame. but glad when he showed up at home. we galavanted around town...we went to a movie....10,000bc. i was sketch...but it was actually pretty good. i liked it. and we have yet to see the end. because right at the most important part in the whole movie....the electricity went out. so we got free movie tickets out of it....but we really dont want to sit thru another 2 and a half hours just to see the end. might wait til it comes out on dvd....then we can fast foward. electricity outages are not uncommon here. all of town was out. for a bit. who knows why. thats maui for yah. that night...we went home ordered a delicious pizza and watched a movie. i love pizza and a movie. sunday after a long morning at church....we went with a bunch of friends to jaws. the best food on the island for sure. then went home and crashed for a few hours. we were so out...we may have been dead. then headed upcountry to dan and gretchens for dinner.....yet another gourmet meal from chef dan. we watched another movie..haha....indiana jones..the last one. so good. great movies. classics. and then finished the evening off with a few office episodes from season 2. love that show. so now here i am.....being distracted from things i must do before heading off to work. like eating...i am hungry. and did i mention...i really dont want to work today.

gggrrrrrrrrrrr...

2008-03-13T09:53:00.000-07:00

last night was a huge struggle for me. i just had to go in the shower and cry it all out. not that i had a legitimate reason to cry...i just needed to. and mark went in the other room and talked to joy about everything. not everything...but mostly everything. i feel a bit better...though i still dont like our situation. i just have to deal with it i guess. and every morning i get to start off my day the same...and be faced with what is getting at me. our wonderful ride to work. and this morning might even be more awkward than yesterday. i hate all this so much.

nervous...

2008-03-12T09:57:00.000-07:00

i am really nervous this morning. nervous for my ride to work. roommate/tenant joy rides into work with me...about half an hour drive. well...last night mark shared his heart/our heart with her brother dan...our good friend...on some important things pertaining to her living in our home. he was sharing with dan first before we are to share with joy. well...she was at his house last night and he shared some or most of all they discussed. which is fine...except she got home last night after we were already in bed, so that means...this morning i am faced with the music of the major awkwardness for a whole half an hour. bit time shooooot! please pray for me. i hate confrontation.

power of a praying wife...

2008-03-11T10:00:00.000-07:00

something i am learning a lot....or shall i say...the Lord has been trying to teach me this for some time now and i have yet to be consistent and diligent in it. that is....praying for my husband daily. it is sooooo important. even more especially when they are involved in a ministry of some kind. the enemy so easily can grab ahold of them..as he often does...not that i want to give him any credit. we love the college age group..."the life." but often times and more lately...mark wants to hand it over to someone else. he absolutely loves this group and this age. but struggles to feel equipped to teach this group or any at all. he knows he isnt where he should be...i am not either. none of us are usually. and he has known that for some time now....but hasnt done too much to change that. thats where he struggles to think that he shouldnt lead this group. he has a hard time hearing from the Lord when he sits to study. i feel for him...i can only imagine as a teacher what it must be like. i am in a hard position. i really dont want him to quit this group...we love it. great group. love this age. God is doing amazing things in and thru them and this study and thru mark..whether he sees it or not. and i am scared to be honest...for him or us..to not be in a ministry. the accountability wouldnt be there. what is it like to just go to church? been so long. sounds so dumb i know..but so true. and i dont really believe the Lord wants him to step down. but on the other hand.....due to the stress of it all....usually every monday....it makes me want to tell him to just give up. like that wife in the bible..that told her sick husband i think it was job.......just give up and die. and i know thats not right. its so i wont have to see him struggle and get so down on himself and frustrated. its so so so hard for me. a very helpless feeling. so now...i sit back and pray.....realizing i need to pray more for him...so now...i am going to go do that. i have the time this morning to go to my knees before the Lord and really really pray for him. and you know...as one of the students shared last night...if i believe.....i can move mountains....shall i say...the Lord can and will.

good mood...

2008-03-09T13:33:00.000-07:00

you know i have to say..i have kinda been in a rotten mood for a week or more now. and i know mostly due to pms. thank the Lord thats over. i have been having oregon woes. kinda i guess. but that only happens when i either talk with family a lot....like dave. or when friends come over to visit and then leave. i think thats it. but i am doing pretty good today. feeling good. i should say i am in a good mood. i am at church right now of course...during second service..just got done singing and hanging down here in the library. its always funny...cause theres always a couple students down here...and its funny to hear all they talk about...especially the guys. right now they are talking about grooming and primping...massages and stuff. haha. wierd fellows.

no title..haha...

2008-03-06T08:47:00.000-08:00

it has been a while since i have blogged.....so this might be so very random. megs is so organized in hers....and i am just all over the place. oh well...guess thats what makes us all so unique. i guess there isnt much new with us. just been busy. busy working...mark especially. this month has been kinda cool.....we have had some mainland visitors. not staying with us...but good friends. becca bozarth and a friend came out for a few days......good to see her. michael watson was out here again....for a couple weeks....always nice to have him out here. his parents were actually out here a couple months ago...that was fun. spent a lot of time with them. now....just waiting for davy to come in june!!! so excited for that. he is too. marks parents come in september....woohoo! and my parents...well.....who knows. they just started paying for daves school...so yeah. hopefully someday soon. tomorrow after work.....mark, myself and dominic are heading to hana. the other side of the island...the green gorgeous side. about a 2 or 3 hr drive down a crazy cliffy windy bridge crossing road. i hate it. but it is gorgeous. waterfalls everywhere. every semester the bible college does the hana retreat...they camp basically....not like any other camping...its gorgeous. haha. yeah. grassy...palm trees.....grass huts. so we are going for their last night. mark, jacob and levi are teaching this time. usually they have the older guys teach....dave courson, charles casco, dom. but jacob did it different. cool. excited for it. anyways...so yeah....we still dont know if we will be camping or grabbing a gross cheap hotel room. there is only one out there...haha. so yeah..i need to go....taking manoli to an art class today. not too siked about taking him anywhere. freaks me out. he kinda goes nuts and gets wayyyyy too excited when he sees other kids. oh my.

oh so lonely...

2008-02-28T21:28:00.001-08:00

mark landed on oahu a couple of hours ago. and i miss him. he is at a calvary chapel mens retreat. first time staying at house without him. at least joy will be here to make it not feel so empty. so what did i do when i dropped him off at the airport...shopping. oops. hehe. yeah...i didnt want to go home and drag the night out you know? so here i am....it is amazing how different it feels without your man around. makes you realize how much you really love him...or how much i really love him.

okay...

2008-02-27T22:42:00.001-08:00

i am at church right now....well...church is now over...but i am just being incredibly anti-social. one of those nights. well...thats me a lot. but tonight especially. i think i am going to start my period very soon. that tells a lot. yeah. little things just frustrated me and got to me tonight. so i just decided to remove myself from the temptation to frustrate myself. sometimes it just feels so good. okay...i need to change the subject and realize i am just emotional..hormonal. so we sold the focus today..woohoo. that is something to praise about. he was actually a really nice guy. a total believer. always a good thing. so we thought we would have to ship the car tomorrow...but we did it today. so its done..gone. all i am waiting for now is...the title to sign off and then send to him. then its done done. we are so elated to be relieved of a car payment. now down to just one. yay! anyways...so it gave us a tad extra..so woohoo.....just in the time of need.

bye bye car...

2008-02-27T08:55:00.000-08:00

the guy from oahu will be flying over here in a few short hours to buy the focus. praise the Lord. i am not nervous about him coming...i just hope it all goes smoothly. cause he has to transfer money from his bank here to mine in oregon to pay off the loan and all. i hate that stuff..makes me nervous. but will be looking foward to about 3 o clock when he is gone...and the car will be totally sold. yay! then thursday..tomorrow....we have to ship it for him. that will be kinda sad to see it go. there is always a slight attachment to cars..for some dumb reason. so rather than roam around on here.....i am supposed to be finishing the detail work on the car..hehe. dont tell mark. mark has been so so so stressed over this whole thing. understandable..but unnecessary sometimes...he knows that. but just cant help himself. so for his sake..i cant wait for this to be over.

this is so not exciting...

2008-02-23T12:27:00.000-08:00

i just went to walmart bright and early...to get some flower seeds...pots and soil. i am gonna try my hand at growing my own flowers and foliage for out landscape. i think it will be cheaper. we soon shall see. the great thing here is....you can grow anything here and it grows very fast. woohoo. am i getting old or what...i am so excited to plant these in a few minutes and then baby them and watch them grow and then hopefully soon....plant them. i do have a lot to do today though. i need to clean the place. such a mess. i need to do laundry real bad...but i am still freaked to go into the garage. had it sprayed...but still scared. and i need to bake birthday cupcakes for mark. friends dan and gretchen are making him his fave bday dinner upcountry....meatloaf. can i say..i am a bit nervous. never had meatloaf...sounds so gross. oh and cupcake liners....had to go to three different stores just to find them. gosh....thats maui for yah.....always out of just what you need. mark is working right now.....i feel so bad for him...he really didnt want to work. i hope it goes quick for him. wow..i feel like i need a nap already and its only 10:30am.

boys being boys...

2008-02-22T22:43:00.000-08:00

okay....dont remember if i mentioned this earlier...i got mark two pairs of boxing gloves for his bday...so he and his buddies can spar. or shall i say...whomever will dare to step into the ring with him...or the front yard..haha. him and i have gone at it a lot..haha...dont think i need to tell you that i lost..haha. him and his pals just went at one another with them outside on the front yard...mark smashed them all. thats my man...the rock. i think i remember when he had some in rogue river and him and bobby would go at it. good ol days. and then they would invite nick in...and well...need i say more!!? speaking of.....nick is getting married. wow....i am a terrible sister. i cant believe i failed to mention that. i believe he and crystal have been engaged for over a week now. excited for them. she is great. perfect match for him. my mom said she went dress shopping today. i hate missing all that. okay..i am going random again.

good time...

2008-02-22T19:09:00.000-08:00

awww...mark and i just got in the house from doing outside work on the house. boy oh boy..it takes time. something we arent quite acustomed to yet. but we enjoy it. though we dont yet have the funds...we are trying to brainstorm and map out our landscaping. we hate how they did it....well..everyones is the same. yuck. boring. i want my dads yard. gorgeous. i hate the local hawaiian plants. no thanks. i want oregon style flowers. like marigolds.....yeah! anyways...mark is playing his new guitar hero he got for his bday from dan, brandi and joy. he's a-rockin'!!! the house is a disaster. we havent seen any fleas in the house today..woohoo. i should bite my tongue..we probably will now. just had the garage professionally sprayed yesterday. we have yet to brave it in there to check things out. still have a feeling they are hiding in a roll of carpet out there. no good. dying to do laundry. we'll see. but thank the Lord the house is either totally clear or almost. hard to know. they show up every once in a while. yuck. the good news......i can start to see a vague light at the end of the tunnel!! i should clean house while mark is out tonight. we will see how motivated i get. he is going out for a guys night. haha. a first. he always drags me along with him and the guys. i like it. but tonight i must let him go free. haha. him, dominic and dan are heading to a movie. i hope he has a great time. i am realizing recently how important it is to have guy time and girl time. here and there. my good friend morgan and i try to meet up every tuesday. or when we can. i love her. she is newly married....not quite a year. wow..i am realizing my blogs are so very random. sorry about that. megs are so organized and kept to the title of the blog...haha.

good night...

2008-02-18T08:53:00.000-08:00

last night after a loooonnnggg day of cleaning the dumb car for the sell...hopefully tuesday.....we plopped on the couch....hoping to relax...but not quite at that relaxing stage yet...with the fleas. they are gone in the house....i have to spray yard again...they come in on us here and there...gross. pain in the rear. i tell ya. anyways....mark turned the tv off...grabbed his guitar....and we sang a bunch of worship songs...til we both fell asleep on the couch. it was great. i miss doing that with him. it just felt good to shut the tv off and worship the Lord. makes me wish we didnt have dumb cable...so we would be more easily prompted to do that often.

jibberish...

2008-02-17T12:35:00.000-08:00

lets see...everything...i am so siked for markys bday. woohoo. i had fun shopping for him. i love buying him things. especially clothes. i am his personal shopper. fun fun. i hit ross yesterday for a few hours...and came out with a load of shirts for him. what can i say...i am a good wife...totally joking..haha. we are pretty positive the focus will be officially sold either tuesday or sometime this next week. pray for us that getting it registered will be a breeze. i am concerned i dont have the right papers from shipping the car. oh my. things are always more difficult here. haha...right now i am down in the library at church...and there is a student down here chatting on the phone...and telling his buddy about this here that he totally likes..hahahaha. this is great. surprised he hasnt left the room to i cant hear everything. he is great though...know him well. anyways...sorry distracted. we finished our video for texas friends youth group last night. late last night at friends. it got sorta frustrating. but that happens at late hours. i am so not ready for the weekend to be over. this is lame. this stinks. anyways...sorry i cant focus....with this kid chatting..haha.

sunday mornin...

2008-02-17T12:32:00.000-08:00

this morning was kinda a rough one. i wont go into detail...and its not huge at all..but i guess...its simply put....PEOPLE!!! people make me mad...seriously. and its always the people in church. why is that?

focus...

2008-02-15T08:44:00.000-08:00

well...we have a very serious possible buyer for the focus..finally. praise God. this guy basically said he has the cash and he wants it. but he wants to fly over...from oahu to come take a good look at it just to make sure and then if he likes.....take it home with him right there and then. so i have so much to do today. not that you care to know...but i guess all i do is blab about nothing usually anyways.....after work i am supposed to go to the dmv...yuck..i hate. get the car registered and get hawaii plates and all that.....which we havent done..haha...cause we never drive the thing. i have to call rogue federal and find out how on earth we do the whole transaction...could be slightly complicated. hope not. he wants this car like pronto. and so much more...do you ever feel like there is just not enough minutes in a single day? that is my life. and yet today is just another one of those days...where i am like..okay Lord i know you will help me get all my things done. so here it begins...i must get ready for work. off i go to start the race!!!

i got a lot to say..haha....

2008-02-14T08:45:00.002-08:00

update on our financial situation as of late...
the Lord continues to provide for us our every need. without asking...our good friend dan wrote us a check on loan last night. we hate doing that...but with dan and brandi...we have passed the buck many many times. its very comforting knowing you can most often turn to your friends in time of need for a lil loan...if they have it themselves. and them...the same. so thank you Lord. and the Lord had hillariously given me a bit of extra work for a bit of extra money. although i am still trying to decide if i even want to do it....and if its worth is. but friend holly...always has these crazy ideas...and she called me up the other day laughing....asking if i would want to help her pass out phone books..door to door. well....we're doing it. haha. its pretty interesting. we had our first day on tuesday. you have to bag all these books. we had 800 books.....but 2 to a bag. so 400 houses. we bagged them all...and delivered half. today after i get off work...headed straight to her house to load up the car. we are trying to be ultra positive....saying we are getting paid to work out. its sorta true. her husband lloyd drove the truck..for free..thanks lloyd...and marked and kept track for us all the houses. we just sat on the tailgate and he would pull us around to each house....she takes one side i take the other...and for times sake...cause the faster we are the more we can make...i was running from house to house. while holding these heavy bags. so lets just say.....i am sore and pretty exhausted....combine that with lack of sleep and poor diet this week. i have pretty much lost most of my appetite cause of the bugs. yuck. so anyways....i did tell the Lord...okay God, i will do anything at this point for some extra bucks....and well...there we go. He truly does provide!!!

happy valentines...

2008-02-14T08:45:00.001-08:00

oops i just realized i forgot to tell mark happy valentines..haha. we pretty much dont really care so much....especially right now when we have so much on our plates to think and worry about. we dont have any plans...which we are okay with. we will celebrate later. we might drop by the church to say hi to everyone and check out the festivities. a couple students in the bible college are putting on this valentines banquet. super cheezy style. they are making it like a prom. most of the guys and hers chose one another as dates....just for funniness. it will be decked out with hearts everywhere and made like a prom. they will have a backdrop for couples photos..haha. dancing. they will be crowing a king and queen and all. should be entertaining.