Rolling on through January

Received a new planner for the year at work. Started out empty and in about five minutes flat, filled right up. Amazing how it does that seemingly all by itself. Geez. Then I realized, if I'm not careful, 2011 will be about crossing out each event one by one....versus living my life. Whew. Good thing I noticed that trend (it happened a lot last year unfortunately) early this time around.

So here's to 2011 being about not just going OUTSIDE of my comfort zone as much as EXPANDING it. Lots of things in the works for 2011....some of which may come as a slight shock to some, don't worry, it's a GOOD thing, and some not so shocking. Like you know, FINALLY getting Kalei and Lehua to COMMIT to toilet training. Because oh my goodness diapers (not to mention wipes, although I think we'll need those until they're much older...hands, faces, handprints...) are flippin pricey and for THREE kids?! GET. OUTTA. TOWN. Crazy expensive. We'll just have to keep at it.

BUSY WEEK this week! Ho`oponopono class, genealogy chant review, awa chants/ceremony, KALEA board meeting, Native Hawaiian Naming practices presentation with Hui Hawai`i O Utah, and ho`opuka...whew! But we do all these things so it's the "norm" for our girls, that they're raised being engaged in cultural practices and in the community. Trying to grow strong Native Hawaiian females, here people! LOL

Giving Thanks...

STILL trying to come to grips with Thanksgiving being this week. Sad, I know. Normally I'm much more prepared, so NOT being prepared is fully throwing my OCD self for a loop. Auwe. Anyhow, had a GREAT time at Hui Hawai`i O Utah Hawaiian Civic Club's 25th Anniversary party! Lots of kupuna, lots of friends, and family and of course mea `ai! So rejuvenated, and ready to do big things in 2011!!! Especially with KALEA! Was so funny, David was like, "Wow hon, it was so good to see everybody!" only he said it like 20 times. Can you tell he misses being with everyone??! Yeah, little bit. Hahaha.

Back to Thanksgiving though, in this time of giving thanks, I am acutely aware that not everyone will have a table full of food to gather around, not everyone will have a home to enjoy the holiday in, and not all of us will be surrounded by family and friends. Those of us who are fortunate enough to have even a little of these blessings, be thankful. Be humble. Be giving. If when you're celebrating, you experience a moment when it is all driven home for you, just how blessed you are, take the time to realize that not everyone will enjoy the same blessings. Then do something, anything you can, to change that, even if for just one person.

On a different, but no less serious note, one thing I am heartily grateful for is the fact that THERE IS NO CAPTAIN COOK DAY. Mahalo Ke Akua for this small blessing. In light of our Native American cousins examples, we can be grateful for this small gift.

We are now gearing up for the civic club's Christmas party which should be fun!!!!!!!!!!!!! So many things to look forward to!!! This Thanksgiving, we hope you all are bountifully blessed with the gifts of family and friends and the blessings of warm homes and warm meals to sustain you. From our `ohana to yours, may EVERY DAY BE A DAY OF THANKS

Good Intentions

Again, I LOVE the fall season, there's so much fun going on! November, for our 'ohana is filled with birthdays, but the 1st of November is our anniversary! This November 1st will see us together for 19 years. Finally, something I can attach the saying "for more than half my life" to, and it's something beautifully positive.
But for right now, it's Halloween and the kiddies have finally burned off the enormous amounts of sugar they consumed today, and are now sleeping. Kalei, for whatever reason didn't want to wear her costume, so I have zero photos of her in it. Lehua on the other hand, was focused so intently on the candy, it was difficult to get a picture of her, but we managed to snag a few. In fact, I just realized that if you look closely, you'll see Kalei in the background, in her pink princess outfit.


I always have the best of intentions to do a weekly entry, and so far....it hasn't happened. I guess it's better that we're too busy to constantly update, versus too lazy to do so. This month, especially the latter half was so busy!!! We had an awesome time at the Las Vegas Regatta, it was so much fun! I continue to be excited and happy for David and Kaika who get to paddle again after being away from it for so long. KALEA did so well at the regatta!!

We are looking forward to the upcoming month, and while it will definitely find us busy busy busy, it will always find us together.