A Praying Life by Paul Miller

A quote out of our women's Bible study book that really grabbed my attention. This was written by John of Landsburg, a Catholic monk in the sixteenth century. He wrote this quote, imagining that it was Jesus speaking to us personally:

"I know those moods when you sit there utterly alone, pining, eaten up with unhappiness, in a pure state of grief...This near-despair and self-pity are actually a form of pride. What you think was a state of absolute security from which you've fallen was really trusting too much in your own strength and ability...what really ails you is that things simply haven't happened as you expected and wanted.

In fact I don't want you to rely on your own strength and abilities and plans, but to distrust them and to distrust yourself, and to trust me and no one and nothing else. As long as you rely entirely on yourself, you are bound to come to grief...your own strength will no more help you stand upright then propping yourself on a broken reed...You may hope and trust in me absolutely. My mercy is infinite."

What great hope!

birthday fun

Looking for treasures...rocks, shells, fish, hermit crabs but especially rocks. We have a great collection at home now.

Shark's Cove tide pools

The waves were a bit crazy beyond the tidepool walls, the waves would crash over and rush down like waterfalls.

Jude with his little sis who he adores.

Jason took the day off from work for my birthday and we all headed to the North Shore for some birthday splish-splashing fun. It was a great birthday...skype-ing with my mom and sisters for breakfast, hanging out with my hubby and kiddo's all day, going on a date that night while our friend D babysat for us and some lunches with some of my girlfriends. I feel blessed from God for my family, husband, kiddo's and great friends. What a great birthday!

homemade deodorant

I found this recipe on-line about a year ago and finally made a batch of it about 6 months ago. I'm sure you've heard of all of the bad reports on aluminum in deodorant and pretty much every antiperspirant has it. So after trying a couple of "natural" deodorants which didn't work at all, I went ahead and tried this. It works amazingly well, so I thought I would share it on my blog if anyone was interested. If you are a big sweater than this won't keep you dry all the time (but for me the antiperspirants didn't always either).

Since using this recipe I have realized a couple of things, the store bought deodorants made me stink worse and I don't sweat under my armpits as much anymore. This homemade recipe keeps the stink away and with the coconut oil it keeps those underarms moisturized (great for keeping razor-burn away).

So basically I saved my old deodorant containers and filled it with my homemade version and once the coconut oil solidifies it becomes a solid deodorant. Here in Hawaii coconut oil liquefies at room temperature because it's always over 80 degrees, so I keep mine in the frig to keep it a solid. Yes people have asked why I have deodorant in my frig.

Here's the recipe:

5-6 Tbsp Coconut oil

1/4 cup baking soda

1/4 cup arrowroot powder or cornstarch

This link is where I got my recipe.

This link is explaining how to mix it and use your old deodorant containers.

true picture of life

I found this video on my camera made by one boy named Ethan. It cracked me up because I thought it depicted Ansley really well...whining when she doesn't get what she wants and then the fake cry so everyone will feel sorry for her. It doesn't work for me but her brothers tend to be more compassionate and concerned.

1st day of school

My second grader. My second grader? Where does the time go. It seems like I was just starting preschool with him.And then my preschooler......whose upper lip started disappearing the more pictures I took......until I told him to smile really big and this is what he gave me....guess our first preschool lesson will be on how to smile a real smile for the camera.My boys...trying to smile but at the same time telling me it's too bright.Ethan started off with a little piano practicing. Notice that extra arm? Pesky little brother. Jude's first assignment...which he did all by himself. He was very excited to start preschool and made sure that he told anyone who cared to listen.
And then we had a little lunch out in the "school yard"...even their little sis tagged along. I packed them a lunch in their lunch bags just to make their first day of school fun.

Over all it was a good first day. I'm going to tweek the schedule a bit now that I can see how long each subject will take...and think of a few more "activities" for the under 2 crowd to keep busy with.