Do you know what "stop" means?

Bella and Ethan have one night a week they spend at my mom's house. This last week Ethan and Mamai had a conversation that went something like this:
Mamai: Ethan please stop.
(ethan continues to do whatever he's doing)
Mamai: Ethan, I asked you to stop.
(he still continues)
Mamai: Ethan, do you know what "stop" means?
Ethan: no.
Mamai: Stop means "stop what you are doing."
Ethan: So they mean the same thing?!

Reading is good. :)

Her New Lip Thing.

She does this all the time now...very cute!

Nature is pretty cool.

So, we looked out the window about a month ago, so see this little "perch type" bird flittering outside our window. She kept flying back and forth, it was obvious she was building a nest on one of the flood lights above our deck. Yesterday, we looked at the nest and found her sitting in it....while she "stepped out", to eat, I'm assuming, we peeked in her nest and saw 3 tiny eggs! The kids are really excited and check for her every day (through the window). We are careful not to disturb her, though it's hard for the kids because they want a better look. :) Can't wait until the babies are born! What a good lesson in the life of a bird for the kids!

Our Little Annie Bug is growing!!!

Our Annie Bug is growing up! She turned 10 months on the 20th...she's amazing! Here's her stats from today's dr. appt: 17lbs. 13.5 oz (19th percentile), 27.5 inches (30th percentile). And here are some of the super cute things she's doing now: standing on her own to squatting to standing again! She's a strong little bugger! She waves "hi", blows kisses, holds her hand up to her ear and says, "hello". What a little cutie she is!!! :)

Catching up....

Lots has been going on since my last post in April! Bella and Ethan had their birthdays, turning 7 and 5. We have been enjoying the spring/summer weather by having MANY outdoor adventures, whether it's hiking, swimming, kyaking, camping....we've done it all and it's only June! :) One of my favorite things about life right now is how protective we (Mike and I) are of our family time. Every day Mike is not working we are building memories and deepening our relationships parents to children, sibling to sibling, spouse to spouse. Family is the one thing that you can never choose....they are always around and it's God's will to nourish those relationships. I am happy to know that when my children grow up they will be well grounded in family and will take what they have learned through experience and establish those grounds with their own families.

These are just some pictures of our "family time". Enjoy!

Happy (Late) Birthday, Bella!

My oldest daughter, Isabelle, turned 7 on May 17th, so like Ethan's birthday tribute, this is late as well....so I'm sharing what was written in her journal on her birthday! :)
Bella, in the last 7 years, you have shattered my expectations of what I thought you'd be like! You are strong and independent, not caring what others think or having the need to be approved of. You are your own person! You have this inner desire to be a "hero" and a "warrior", not what I expected, while you were in my tummy! I am not the least bit disappointed in who you are! You are always striving to do your best in every area of your life, whether it's Tae Kwon Do or cleaning your room...it's always to the best of your ability. You are spirited and fun, joyful and sweet, caring and intelligent. Here are 7 of some of my favorite things about you:
1. When you made the decision to be called "Bella" instead of "Isabelle". That was your first grown up decision and you were only 3.5!
2. Every Halloween you want to be a power ranger...and not the pink one...either blue or red! :)
3. I love how you are not aggressive in soccer but get in the faces of your opponents and steal the ball in basketball! You have no fear in this sport!
4. Your favorite color since you were 2 is blue.
5. You love animals and want to be an "animal rescuer" when you grow up...you have such a sense of adventure!
6. When I first had Annie and she was in the NICU with all the wires and tubes, you didn't want to touch her because you were scared you would hurt her....but when we brought her home, you couldn't stop touching her and would fall asleep holding her. :)
7. You take time to make friends....you choose them carefully and are very loyal to them.
I LOVE you, Isabelle Nadine Nalani....you are absolutely fabulous. You bring happiness to my heart and are a blessing to everyone around you. There is great favor upon your life and I know you will accomplish great things!

Happy (Late) Birthday, Ethan!

My son, Ethan Michael, turned his milestone 5 on May 15th.....so of course this birthday tribute is late on the blog, but this was actually written on his birthday in his journal. :)
Ethan, 5 years ago you were born into this world. God gave us another wonderful gift, you. You came into the world as my "miracle" and you continue to you uphold that name. The last 5 years with you have been so amazing...I've watched you grow from a baby to a boy and my heart bursts with pride. I wanted to share with you some of my favorite memories:
1. When you were 15 months old, we'd put you to bed and we'd hear you singing on the monitor, "mommy and daddy, daddy and mommy" over and over until you sang yourself to sleep. If we had friends over, you'd sing their names, too...."mon and steph, steph and mon."
2. That brings me to another cute memory....you would call our friend Ron, "Mon" and when you'd greet him you'd say, "hey, mon"!
3. One of your first words, when you were 12 months, was "nigh-night"...you named your blue blanket that because we would give it to you and say, "nigh-night time". So, to this day, you still sleep with your "nigh-night." And luckily, we've never lost it!
4. When you were 3, you had surgery....I was so nervous! When we got to the hospital for your admission, they gave you a little stuffed panda bear, which you named, "pandy". When you came out from the operation, we went in post-op and you were having a hard time coming out of the anesthesia, so I just cuddled you....they gave you a popsicle to calm you down and you said you wanted 2....then you ended up eating 4 more! 6 popsicles! Poor thing...you couldn't eat or drink anything before surgery and were soooo hungry and thirsty! :) In this same story was the comfort you found in "Pandy"....who you still sleep with! :)
5. last fall you picked up the phrase, "What the heck" from a friend at school, so I encouraged you to say, "what on earth" instead. One day, you got the 2 confused and said, "What the planet?" That has to be my all time favorite phrase that came from your mouth! :)
I LOVE you Ethan...you are more than I have ever asked for in a son. I am so proud of who you are and who you are becoming. You bring me so much joy!

A glimpse of spring.....

Here in GH it's still mostly in the 40's and rainy of course. Even though I looked out my window a few weeks ago to see flowers coming up in my yard, my first glimpse of spring came today. We were driving home from church and it's an amazingly beautiful day....sunny, crisp and 65 degrees! It's one of those days where you just HAVE to be outside. Anyway, when we were almost home, I rolled down the windows and as I did, I looked in my rear-view mirrow to see Bella...I watched her long enough to see her face as the window came down.....she watched the sun filter in and the moment the wind blew in her face, she smiled. Aahhh....spring has come.

LOVE

You know, there are days where I feel like the best wife ever...supportive, loving, touchy-feely. Then there are days where I was just annoyed with life in general....grumpy due to whatever, who knows, just one of those days. It's in those days where I'm sure I was a pretty grumpy towards my husband. Short responses, rude tone of voice, withdrawn. To make matters worse, he was great...loving, patient, supportive....he even took the kids, so I could have a break. What?? Talk about humbling. So, this is when I swallow my pride and ask for not only His forgiveness, but God's....along with the ability to LOVE my husband despite my emotions being what they are.
So, what is LOVE? I didn't like the definition found in the dictionary:
(1): strong affection for another arising out of kinship or personal ties
(2): attraction based on sexual desire : affection and tenderness felt by lovers
(3): affection based on admiration, benevolence, or common interests

HELP ME LOVE
by Pearl Barrett

Father, forgive these thoughts in my head
That are playing a chorus,
They don’t need to live, but I’ve been watering them,
Helping them flourish.
Been finding his faults, then pouring on salt
Into old wounds I never let heal.
So take all this mess, this bitterness,
Let me trust You, not trust how I feel.

Chorus-
Help me love unselfishly,
Help me learn to give and not expect anything,
Help me serve willingly,
Help me lay aside my pride, my rights, and my needs,
Help me learn to honor him
With a word, with a smile, with a touch,
Help me love.

Father, you see every corner of my heart,
All is uncovered.
Lord, search me please and tear up the weeds
That have grown and smothered
The truth of your Word that helps me to learn
To be the wife you have called me to be,
‘Cause I need so much to show this man that I love,
That I’m grateful for wearing his ring.

I love it.

I have to say now that 7 months into living life with 3 kids, that I love it. I know that sounds strange as if I could give one of them back, claiming I "changed my mind". There are so many times during the day where I just sit and watch them all interact. To see the looks on their faces when they see each other, is priceless and a blessing to my heart.
When Annie first sees Bella, she shrieks in excitement because she knows she'll be laughing in just a few moments! When Ethan first sees Annie, the words, "Hi baby!" in a high pitched voice come out of his little mouth followed by a kiss on the head. When Bella first sees Ethan, her eyes get big and says, "hey bro, wanna go play 'bro's'?". It's fun to be at home with my children, so capture every sound they make, every experience of a game they make up, every look they give each other, whether nice or grumpy!
Some nights I lay in bed and my mind fills with prayers for them...for everything...their innocence protected, their destinies to be fulfilled, their spouses, a love for learning, a teachable spirit, always being a close knit family, being the mom God called me to be, etc. I often pray myself to sleep because there are so many things to pray for!
Other nights, I lay in bed repenting for losing my temper, choosing to check "facebook" instead of answer the call of "mooomm!" (though I do feel I need "mommy time" to check facebook). Sigh....I don't like those nights...I don't like the feeling of letting my children down. Thankfully I serve a God who is bigger than my failures as a mother, wife, woman that I don't need to dwell on those times. I can lay in bed, repent and be refreshed for the next day.....so I can LOVE having children all over again and not miss an experience with them.

Peace.

In my last post I talked about how I was telling the kids who they were, what God calls them. This was a conversation I had with Ethan the other night while discussing this topic.
mom: Ethan, who does God say you are?
Ethan: I am strong!
mom: That's right...you are strong! You are a leader!
Ethan: If I'm a leader then that means I am the boss of Isabelle.
mom: Well not exactly. When you are a leader, you let God show you how to lead His people. You let Him tell you what to do and then you tell them.
Ethan: I already know what God wants.
mom: What's that?
Ethan: Kindness and Peace.
mom: Yes, That's right.
Ethan: Mom? Will you pray God gives me Peace?

Who are you?

Lately it's been on my heart to tell my children the story of how they were named. Mike and I didn't just choose a name we liked, we prayed and the Lord gave us a word for each baby and it always matched with the meaning of one of the names we liked.
When I was pregnant with Isabelle, every time we prayed over her in my womb, the word we got was "Set apart for God". When we looked at the meaning of the names we liked, we saw that Isabelle meant, "Consecrated to/Set apart for God".
When I was pregnant with Ethan and we prayed over him in the womb, the word we would hear was "Strong". Again, we looked at the meanings of names we like and saw that Ethan means "Firm, Steadfast and Strong".
The story is a bit different with Anna. Three years before she was born, I had a dream that I was pregnant with another girl and there were 2 names that I liked: Allison and Anna. In the dream Isabelle told me to name her Anna. So, that name had been in my mind for 3 years before she was conceived. When I was pregnant with her it was 2008, and the Lord spoke a promise to Mike and I for the year. The word was "Grace". We held fast to that in every situation we walked through and took hold of it in my pregnancy as well.....again, when we looked at the meaning of Anna, we were pleasantly surprised to see that it meant "Grace". This time it only confirmed the name we felt we were supposed to give her.
With all of that said, the reason I've been wanting to tell each of them those stories (of course Anna doesn't understand it yet) is because I want them to know what God says about them....What He calls them. I want their identity to be ground in their hearts and minds so that when the world tries to label them, i.e. "too hyper" or "tom boy" or (heaven forbid) "fat", they'll brush it off because they already know who they are.

Can you believe it???

Ok, so today was Pop's urology appointment. Understand that for the last 10 months, he has been having issues with his Prostate....after numerous appointments with doctors, who we trust and know are highly trained, and after numerous tests...there's a final result: Diagnosis: Prostatitis (infection) Remedy: Ibuprophen.
We don't feel this was just a misdiagnosis.....we honestly feel it was a miracle! Every doctor we went to and spoke with said, with a PSA that high, it was likely cancer and not just that, but that it had already spread. Not only was his PSA high, his prostate was lobulated (not symetrical), and his symptoms were fairly sudden onset over the last year. EVERYTHING pointed to Cancer! Again, let me stress that 2 of the medical providers we spoke with, who treated Pop, were Christians who believe in the healing power of Christ! We believe this was nothing short of a miracle. Test after test came back clear.....this is unreal and almost unheard of in the medical circle we run in....so praise God....He is Good. And yes, we BELIEVE it!

God is good...ALL THE TIME.

As we all know, God is good. CT scan results came back today....no metastasis (spreading)! Though, we all still knew everything would be ok, it is still a MAJOR sigh of relief to know Pop's "innards" are cancer free! Thanks to all you who are supporting us and standing with us in faith! We will keep you posted...Bone Scan is Tuesday, Urologist/biopsy on Wednesday.

Hi friends and family,
Terence, my Pop, has been undergoing some medical testing and medications for the past few weeks for an enlarged prostate.

He underwent further testing because he wasn't responding to meds. He recieved his test results back on Wednesday.
His PSA levels were high (Prostate-Specific Antigen is a protein produced by the cells of the prostate gland).

A normal count is 3. One that is significantly high and is medical marker to test for cancer is 20. Terence's levels were 350.
(they ran several tests just to be sure).

With levels that high, they have by-passed the biopsies (will run them next week) because the question is not if he has cancer, but what stage it is in.
They said levels that high usually means it has already metatisized (spread) into tissue or bone.

Terence will be going straight to Cat scans and bone scans (the results will show where or if it has spread). They are hoping that the cells have been contained within the prostate.

We will know more after his scan on Monday, the 23rd, and will definittely know more after the appointments with more doctors next Weds. It will take time.


Here is a scripture our family prayed and is standing on:
Please pray this and stand with us: Proverbs 4: 20

20 My son, listen closely to my words.

²¹ Do not let them out of your sight,
keep them within your heart;

²² for they are life to those who find them
and health to a man's whole body.

²³ Above all else, guard your heart,
for it is the wellspring of life.

We are praying for health to his whole body.

The eyes of faith sees the answer before it manifest in the three dimensional physical world.

Tonight, our family decided to have eyes of faith, and we are going to walk through this together, encouraging one another and standing on the word of God.

Please stand with us. Love Nadine

Sometimes...

Sometimes, I have a chance to actually sit and think about things without being interrupted by screaming, the sounds of children jumping off furniture, or the sweet melody of "mooooommmmyyyy!!!". It's during these times that I really realize how amazing everything is around me. Despite the clothes and toys all over the floor, the lack of millions of dollars in my bank account, the missing Cadillac Escalade in my garage, I think I have an unmistakably amazing life.
So, here you go...a few things I am thankful for:
1. the smile of my children's faces.
2. the sound of my husband's voice.
3. running water...running, heated water.
4. a full pantry.
5. utility bills, because they mean I have a house to live in.
6. family 5 minutes away.
7. skype to I can talk to family that's not 5 minutes away.
8. sunshine coming through my window.
9. health insurance.
10. the fact that Bella and Ethan are best friends.
11. the ability to breastfeed.
12. an amazing father for my children.
13. pacifiers.
14. books
15. the fact that I can legally, read my bible.
16. a camera to capture almost every precious moment in my life.
17. a big brother and big sister that LOVE their little sister.
18. that each of us have a bed to sleep on.
19. windshield wipers.
20. a washer and dryer.

89

Preceding events: Ethan has been cooped up all day in the house due to rain...very rambunctiously running and screaming through the house. I've asked several times to stop yelling and use an "inside voice"....finally out of frustration I say:
"Ethan, how many times have I asked you to be quiet?"
His response: "89."

Adorable Annie

You're 6 months old and absolutely amazing. I love your personality. You are more than I ever imagined! These are a few of your favorite things:
Favorite place to crawl: kitchen
Favorite food allowed: Pears
Favorite forbidden food: Ice cream
Favorite toy: a rubber whale...love to chew it!
Favorite place to sleep: car seat
Favorite saying: "na-na-na"
2nd favorite saying: "ma-ma"

You are one happy baby, Annie! We are so blessed by you!

Neglected blog.....

Well, I suppose it's excused with the "move" that I haven't kept up on here. Soooo much has happened and everyone's changed that I don't even know where to start....so here's a blanket blog:
Moved from Oklahoma to Gig Harbor, WA....love it!
New house...in the woods, near the water...love that, too!
See family everyday...very blessed!
New job for Mike...he's favored there!
New church....it's family now!
Bella into sports...swimming, tae kwon do, and everything under the sun!
Ethan into sports as well, same as his sister, a healthy competition sometimes and others..teammates!
Annie, 6 months and growing.....saying mama, dada, and crawling everywhere!
And last, me...surviving and thriving being a wife, mother, teacher, administrator, and newly Children's Ministry Developer!