Need packers?


I have 2 of the cutest ones around! (o.k maybe I'm a little bias)

they will go anywhere to get the job done...


may be a tad tempremental....





But cute as buttons....


Here's the video to prove it....



Can't guarantee you'll get much packing done. But I CAN guarantee a giggle or 2! :)

********MORE PICTURES BELOW********

Last minute visits

Holy Moly....so much to do...so little time! ha ha

**Isnt that how the saying goes? **

Well....in between bouts of packing...hauling....selling...and organizing, *rolls her eyes*

we are trying to do a few "last minute" things.

Our family LOVES the outdoors.

Camping, hiking, canoeing, swimming, you name it....we pretty much do it.

Kids and all.

So what could be better than to spend one of our last few days on the island hiking up Diamond Head?!?!


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~



We left Drama Mama with Papa and Popo (so Bug could have some mommy/daddy time)and headed off...




"Let's go mom"



"everybody in!"



Our destination point (view from parking lot)



"Lets go, lets go..lets hit the road"



Doesn't LOOK that far right?



WRONG! This comes after hiking up that....there's about...oh...176 steps!



Through the spooooky old tunnel....(Bug's FAVORITE part)





Are we there yet? nope. *gasp..pant..pant* More stairs. 184 of 'em..And these babies are STEEP~



yay the top....which leads....to yet... ANOTHER set of my favorite things in the world to do...*sarcastic, in case you didn't catch that* STEPS! lost count. (at least these ones are cool)



at the top of those....*GASP...stumble...trip...gasp* the LAST set of these bad boys! to tired to count.




FINALLY....the REWARD!






and the FUN part.....headin' back down~


TOTALLY loved it. Sure going to miss it. But I am sure looking forward to seeing what good ol North Carolina has to offer!!

Oh and one last thing....here is a video of Bug AFTER the hike....he is mad because I passed him and he HATES to be last at anything. IS this MY kid or what?



TTFN!~

P.S Yes, Bug walked the ENTIRE way up to the top and back down again. We had so many people comment on him, and how strong he was. He of course just ate it up!~

8 more days and counting

Well....the kids and I have exactly 8 days left on the beautiful island of Oahu.

We have been beyond busy....with packing, sorting, and donating things.

BUT....with the stress of it all...

we manage to have a little fun..

Here are my 2 ruggies *gosh I love them*...playing together...



Here is Drama Mama helping me pack! :)


*****deleted one of Kayla cleaning in her birthday suit...sorry******

Next we have Kaiberg (nickname) and the drama mama boogie-boarding...


Mommy and Bug after a swim...


Cheeeeeese!


My 2 sweeeeeet Men! :)


"you talkin' to me?"



Ahhhhhh...it's the Bug Monster!....



Now since Sheri had posted a few priceless pictures of Ad doing this......so I thought I would share these...


Find any gold in there guys?




Better get back to packing. I'll have more pictures once we get moved and I can find everything!! LOL

TTFN!~~~

P.S Please continue to keep Rachel and her family in your prayers. They are an awesome family.

Want to help me celebrate????

Tomorrow is Hannah's Celebration of Life.

And since I am too far away to actually attend....I have decided I will have my own one here at home with the ruggies.

You can join me from where ever you are.

There is only one restriction.

You must, and I mean MUST leave your adulthood at the door.

We do have a dress code. It must be strictly adhered to.

o.k i fibbed 2 restrictions....

We ask that you "don" the following: (all of which I went and got today!)

Feather Boas:

Your shiniest most sparkly pair of shoes: (mine are quite similar...after all I was looking for "just the right" pair...and here they are below)

and my favorite new addition.(Hannah would have LOVED this!)...a tiara!!! (oh, and crowns permitted also...you men out there...no excuses!)

So please.....dust off those boas....shine up those crowns.....and clip those wings. Because I KNOW Hannah will be looking down at us.....in HER wings, HER shiny, sparkly shoes...and HER glorious, jeweled out *slightly askew I might add* tiara. Her smile will be so big....I can see it already.

so please...take the time out of your busy lives...to take a moment and help me celebrate the WONDERFUL life of Ms. Hannah Banana!!!

SHE WILL BE MISSED!~~~~~~

Shock.

I can't even think.

I found out a friends 5 year old daughter Hannah passed away this morning.

She was on a beach outing with family and was swept under by a riptide.

PLEASE pray for her family.

I can't even imagine the pain they are going through.

I am so heartsick.

So many questions.

So little answers.

Rach, Brein and Jess....from across the world...

we are thinking and praying for you.

I am so so so sorry. From the bottom of my heart.

I have learned to never take a day for granted....

and just how SMALL my problems seem to be.

Dance Hannah Banana.....dance!



thank you Sheri...for sharing such a BEAUTIFUL memory of a true sparkle.

Laugh or Cry?

Thats what I get for bragging about how Bug NEVER played with crayons or markers except where he was supposed to.

As soon as he walked in....I grabbed my camera and started rolling...

The kicker is.....he tries to shift the blame..(at the end)

is this Brad's child or what? *laughs*




And some picture's to go with the video:

His face:

Side view:


Do I even want to know how he managed to color there?


Alright I confess...I did it.


laugh or cry?

as you can see...I chose to laugh! (much to Sammy's confusion)

Please ignore the mess.....as we are in the middle of a move with about 3 weeks to go.




~~as far as Brad goes....we are still trying to figure out the best way to deal with things. He is still having a hard time with attacks daily. We are going to try one more week of "his way" and then I think we will have to look into other options. Thank you all for your phone calls, emails, and letters. I know there is a light at then end of the tunnel somwhere, and it makes it easier knowing we have such a support system!

Better...

thanks for the prayers.

They seem to be working.

He went and saw the behavioral specialist that he was referred to.

He said they talked..

and talked..

and talked.

And short of taking medication to control the anxiety.....

he has to learn a few "natural" ways to deal with it.

side note: a HUGE thanks to those that offered support and advice. It meant a lot to Brad to read some of the emails, and posts that people have been kind enough to send me. I think he finally felt like this was something that happened more often than we thought. I was shocked at the number of people that put aside their issues and "confided" that they too were dealing or had dealt with the VERY same things. We truly are blessed to have such a network of family and friends surrounding us. MAHALO!

So we are going to try that approach first.

And we agreed, that if it didn't work....there was nothing wrong with trying the medication.

We are hoping after the move and things get settled....the attacks will subside.

So, please, continue to keep our family in your prayers...

we appreciate it more than you know.

Prayer can be a POWERFUL thing. (no matter your belief)

JMO. (just my opinion)

Still waiting for answers...

I am becoming VERY familiar with the ER here.

Brad has now had 4 episodes resulting in a trip to the ER.

Only to be released some 5 hours later with a "follow up with your doctor as soon as you can" and not so much as an I.V

If you know Brad at ALL....you would know how rare this is.

In 10 years I have known him...he has been to the doctor's exactly once....

for a KIDNEY stone.

Here is where we stand...

O.K We have ruled out:

diabetes
high blood pressure
high cholestrol
hyper-thyroid
tumors
indigestion
certain cancers
anemia
dehydration
and more.

We have had:

CAT scans
X-rays
blood work of every kind
EKG's
EEG's
complete physical
urine tests
and more.

His symptoms are:

heart palpatations
shaking
difficulty breathing
neck and upper back pain
a feeling of disconnection from his body
tunnel vision
on and off "rush" feelings
fatigue

After doing some research on WebMd I have come to my OWN conclusion ( to be backed by several others sharing their experiences with me...HUGE THANKS) that it must be anxiety.

It sounds so menial.

But it's not.

I mean....how can something that sounds so.....

easily diagnosed....

be missed by 4 ER visits...5 follow up visits.....and 5 regular visits to see if anything was wrong to begin with.

I know they had to rule other things out first....but how many times did they run the SAME blood work AFTER I told them it had already been done (and kept copies to give them each time)

Now I am NO dr. by ANY means.....

but I am mad.

I need my rock back....my strenth, my other half back.

He is slowly withdrawing....

feeling like he is going crazy because all the tests show nothing wrong. He thinks no one understands, or believes him. The doctors don't seem to care one way or the other. But...

I do.

But he doesn't believe ME.

Please pray for him,

and for the dr's we are going to see to discuss the possibility of it being this.

oh, and me.

We just want answers.

I just want him back.

Is that a hint?

I am wondering if Bug is trying to tell me something.

I have decided to take some "preventative" measures to make sure that we have no "surprise" additional family members any time soon.

It's not that we don't want more (a discussion in progress)...

it's just that with the move, and new enviroment, Brad's health and sammy starting school...

the timing would be WAYYYYYY off.

Anyway....to make a long story short,

My "reminder to take pill" alarm went off at 6:25 a.m like it always does on Monday...

so I go to where I ALWAYS keep them (on top of the bar in our pen bin.....AWAY from little hands...plus it's near the kitchen ..where the water is!)

And they are GONE!

I am SOOOO sure that I put them back ( I have learned that if I don't do this....I will never find whatever it is I am looking for)...

so I look

and look

and look.

I am moving, lifting, looking under, and checking twice....all over the entire place.

nothing.

I wake Brad at this point, sure that second pair of eyes will find them.

He is smug...sure that he will find them in an obvious spot that I have over-looked.

He spends 30 minutes looking.

in the kitchen, living room, both bathrooms, kids room, our bedroom.

FINALLY he admits defeat and leaves 20 minutes late for work.

Fast forward to 3 days later.

I am doing the weekly laundry (well...I do a load EVERY day...but the sheets and such once a week)..and go to grab Bug's stuff off his bunk bed.

there they are.

sitting UNDER his pillow on the top bunk.

so much for that month.......

gee, I wonder why I didn't think to check there.

and how the heck did he get a hold of them?

come to think of it...he asked me the other day about having another "kay kay" in my belly.

please don't fret...none were missing.

The only thing missing now....my sanity!

So, if you happen to see it......

let it know it's sorely missed......and NOT to hide under the pllow in bug's room. It may take me a while to find it.

Prayer Request Please

Well, our 4th of July was spent in the ER at Straub. Brad had his heart act up again, and was sweating, shaking, and seemed to be out of it.

So I took him directly to the ER....we couldn't even make it to the Kaiser one.

They took him stright back and hooked him up to an EKG.

After about 2 min he looked over at me and said "Honey I dont feel good at all" and had this look about him..

I looked up at his monitors, and all of a sudden his heart rate when from 74 to 134 in about 20 seconds.

I was asked to leave.

I got in an "i love you" and a kiss and then had to wait for 35 AGONIZING minutes. Finally they let me back in to see him.

All his tests came back fine (the same ones Kaiser did a week ago)....so they want him to follow up with another stress test and EEG at Kaiser.

*sigh*

Please pray they figure out what is going on. No matter what it is, we can deal with it.

Its not knowing that killing us.

Any and all prayers of any kind are appreciated! (oh and some hair dye for all my new whites LOL)

MANY MANY thanks! I'll keep you updated after his appt at 3:20 today.

Aloha Oi'

Well, I think it is time we finally announced that we are moving~

Yes you read right! We are leaving this beautiful island!!

and it is HARD!

I know I had to write to the paper, and I made Hawaii sound like a drug infested wasteland....but i assure you...that is NOT.

It has just gotten out of hand recently, and unfortunetly it happened to move right into our neighborhood park.

add that to the "con" list

BUT....with that said....we are heading back to the "mainland" to North Carolina!

Thanks to my mom and step dad....they have made us an offer we can't refuse! Plus with Sammy starting school, it just seemed like the right time.

The kids and I are leaving on Aug 3rd!

But first we will be stopping in Virginia to visit my mom, step dad, my brother, friends, nieces and nephews, and our wonderful church "Grace Baptist"~

Sammy is SUPER excited that he is going to see his cousins!!!

and Brad and I are.....

well....scared, excited, nervous, depressed, anxious, happy, stressed all come to mind.

just pick one!

We fluctuate.

It is a big step we are taking, but we honestly believe it is the best thing for our family.

It's going to be hard to leave.......

Especially having to leave 2 of the most wonderful loving people... Popo and Papa.

Speaking of them..

They are NOT taking it well.

My dad denies that I am leaving, and Jane can't even talk about it.

It's been crazy.

I think the hardest part is knowing that they won't just be...

"right down the hall".....

Lord knows they were my saving grace on way more than one occasion when I needed a BREAK from the kids! *blushes*

As far as the kids go...

I have told/explained to Bug we are moving and going to a "new house", and he gets real excited....

excited about going to school, seeing Matthew, having a backyard...

but

he also doesn't understand just how much we are leaving behind.

He will....

he's a smart cookie~

and I pray for the strength to help him adjust.

He is VERY VERY VERY close with his Popo and Papa.....so it may take some time.

However....

finally we will be closer to more family and friends..

but

BOY will we miss it here as well!

I know whatever choices or decisions we make, we will have God to guide us, and I pray for His strength on a daily basis.

It is what keeps me going.

TTFN~ (or I'll cry) ha ha