Teaching James 1.27

"Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world."
Anyone who knows our family knows we embrace the concept of adoption completely. It is biblical. Although we have physical limitations to bring in all orphans, we certainly hope to practice James 1.27 in some capacity. When I asked Makana to think about what kind of people she wanted to help with the money we raised from our yard sale, it was almost a "no-brainer" for her. "I want to help children who don't have mommies and daddies." Later it expanded to "children without brothers and sisters" as well. We watched some videos online to see how the money could tangibly help children, and she decided to help adoption agencies (one international and one domestic) and fill two shoe boxes for Operation Christmas Child.

She went through her toy and clothes collection to select things that could go to the sale. :)

By mid-morning of our sale, Makana got the hang of asking people to place their donations in one of the two piggies, "This one is for adoption agencies, and this one is for Christmas children." :)

Hopefully, her heart is being nurtured to love God and others. :)

Brownie Fun

Carrie, Makana's 11 year-old wonderful friend, came to help Makana with her part of the yard sale. Makana had her friend sleep over (a first!), and had a fabulous time. They made brownies to sell with cookies at their store to raise money for "children without mommies and daddies." (See next post.) We're thankful for Carrie, who is so good with Makana as a friend; they played for hours on end. Stephen got in on the fun a bit, too! :)

Swing Time! :)

Stephen and Makana love to interact with each other, especially while playing on their swings. It's as though the swings are their happy places.

Striped Sibs

Stephen's borrowing Makana's glasses, and Makana's using mine. :)

Shake's + Friends = Good Times! :)

We were blessed to have met up with our friends from our church in Hawai'i on our last trip to Florida. They moved to the area a few years back, and when Dave spent a summer at Hurlburt Field, we saw them then as well. :) Now their children have grown even more. Laura suggested a variety of places, but when she mentioned Shake's, an ice cream place near our hotel, we were game! :) Yummy! :) I surprised Dave and ate a Chicago Hot Dog first, which had everything from sweet pickles to green colored yellow onions. :) We soon got rained out and went shopping together, where Makana had a fun time playing with Candace, and Justin smiled when he finally held Stephen.

Yikes! We remembered about how Kyle and Justin were born extremely close in age to Kayla and Kyle (Mary's 2 oldest). Those were the two that we met in Hawai'i before we left for Japan. Somehow seeing children grow measures time more tangibly than other things.

We went to their church the following morning, where Candace danced for the Lord! It was great! :) Laura and I danced together at Faith Christian Fellowship (At that time, we were only allowed to dance hula).

A Must-See!

Dave couldn't believe his eyes when he came home from work to find Grandma on Makana's swing--swinging with her legs up! :) It's quite amazing what a three year-old can convince her 66 year-old grandmother to do. :)

I Feel Food

Stephen LOVES food! :) He watches every bite each of us takes and smacks his mouth LOUDLY. Stephen was extremely excited to finally start solids, especially after the initial cereal only stage. He started his tasting with peas and was thrilled to have a new taste in his mouth. :) After about a month of solids, he even recognizes the names of the foods. When we say food words like peas or carrots, his arms and legs start dancing, and his mouth starts smacking. Believe it or not, his favorite channel is the Food Network. No kidding, when that channel is on, he is fixated and smiles at the food. :) I've told my siblings that he definitely fits in with our family with his enjoyment of food. :)

Stephen's actually sitting on my lap at the moment, and he is also excited to see his pictures. :)

(I almost forgot to explain the title. My friends who spent a year in Japan studying together with me will automatically know what I mean. We'd find the Japanese-English funny, particularly on clothes, billboards, and in TV commercials. There is one advertisement that Coca-Cola Japan used: "Sawayaka tasty, I feel Coke." The general gist was that [as far as I could tell] because Coke is satisfyingly tasty, one would desire it. I think that's how Stephen thinks about his food. :) )

1st Day of School

When we arrived in Alabama, there weren't any children Makana's age at the chapel. She relied solely on Daddy, Mommy, and Grandma to be her playmates. After deliberating for a while, we decided to send her to preschool for the social interaction. She is doing incredibly well, as she enjoys the structure (AND RULES!) of school. Makana gives me a report each day about who went on to "yellow and red lights." I remind her that the important thing for us is that Makana stays on "green light," and she assures me that she does.

These pictures were of her first day, and she was extremely excited to use her new backpack and lunch bag. (BTW--whatever happened to lunch bags coming with the thermos? Oh, those are the days of yore! I show my age again. Seriously, piecing together her lunch bag is spendy!) Dave asked me if I was ready for this day as we were entering the building. Yes, indeed! She only goes for 3 mornings a week, so it is just the right balance at this stage.

We are thankful that her day is full of a variety of experiences. Yesterday they "made sand" out of peanut butter, for this week's theme is "vacation." Makana also tells us of the Bible stories they are learning, which enhance the Bible story times at home. :)

Last week, her teacher informed me that Makana and another girl were quickly becoming friends. Makana would ask me, "What is my friend's name again?" for it was the first time Makana's heard that name. We figured out who it was the next day. When I picked up Makana the other day, she gleefully introduced me to another new friend. After fussing to me about not wanting to go to school all summer, Makana's has pleasantly surprised us all in her first two weeks of school.

Big Beach Holes

Each time we go to the beach, Makana thinks it is Daddy's and her task to make the largest hole in which to play. This one was created in May, during our cross-country trip. :)





When we went this past weekend, Makana's hole was so large that it had a small cave in which Cinderella was being held by her evil stepmother (at least that's her story). The story developed throughout the day.

Makana especially loved it when people would pass by and exclaim, "Wow, that hole is HUGE!" or, "This hole is awesome!" The best for Makana was when some children came by and asked their parent, "Can we make a hole like that?" Makana told Dave that she hoped more children would come by to look at her hole. So much for humilty! :)

Cow Appreciation Day 2009

Our family eats mor chikin! :)

Picnic in Shakespeare Park

We had a great late afternoon dinner and photo fun in a nearby park.

Like Father . . .

What is Dave is teaching Stephen? Click here. :)

Yummy Blueberries! :)

Who would have thought we'd be in blueberry (click on "blueberry" for pics) heaven here? :)

Vote for Makana, so she can Eat Mor Chikin!

If you didn't know, one of Makana's favorite restaurants is Chick-fil-a. Please click on this link to vote for her picture. You will have to confirm your vote through your e-mail account. If she is one of the top 20 vote recipients, she will win some Chick-fil-a stuff and just be so thrilled!

One way Dave was able to get Makana excited about our move to Alabama was to inform her of his Chick-fil-a sightings (while house-hunting for us). Makana would then boast to her friends as the count increased daily. The final count in our area is at 5. She'd tell people, "My daddy found FIVE Chick-fil-a's in Alabama, and I'm going to move there soon!" Surely enough, as we were on the outskirts of the city, I rec'd a phone call from Dave stating that Makana had just spotted the billboard for Chick-fil-a (I was driving behind Dave in the van.). Daddy was telling the truth that this city was serious about her favorite restaurant. :)

Pinata Fun

Daddy helped Makana discover what a pinata was when they were on one of their dates. Makana came home telling me that she would have a pinata at her birthday party. Immediately I began to scheme as to how we would make such a thing. Thankfully, Makana asked for a fish pinata even though she had butterflies for most of her party things.

Makana and I worked on making her pinata. The first attempt popped as it was blown onto our rather pokey grass while it was drying outside. Dave then told me not to worry, as we would end up buying one anyway. Well, so much for a vote of confidence in our pinata making--we now HAD to make it and make it good! :)

Makana enjoyed decorating her fish that lasted the many blows by the girls at the party. Little did we know that Jamie and Makenna would love hitting the pinata! :) It definitely was a "hit"! :)

After allowing the girls to expend their energy on the pinata, Dave finally took it upon himself to break through the pinata that survived the girls' attempts.

We took a tip off the show with the 18 children: We packaged all the girls' treats individually with their names so that they would have to help each other out politely. It worked well to keep the treats contained and evenly distributed. :)

Bouncy Time

When Makana was present at her 1 year-old celebration in Hawai'i, she could only watch her cousins and friends participate in the bouncy ball game. This time around, she was in charge of showing her friends how to play. The funny thing is that the girls still didn't care much about winning, so they took turns using the two different balls. All who participated won. :)