Faith like a child

A child is not afraid, until he is taught to fear. He is born with an infallible sense of trust. He has no understanding of distrust, of let down. He trusts that what you teach him is true, that what you do is right. When you toss him into the air, he knows you will catch him. He trusts you. There is only one option - you will catch him, he will be safe.

How I wish the world were such that this trust would never fade, that there would be no other option. One day, I will be in a place where there are no let downs. Where there is nothing but trust and truth and love. Until then, I will live in this world with all of its failures and falsehoods; I will have faith like a child as my family builds our house on solid rock.

Nothing is different.

I turned 28 a week ago. It was relatively painless.

I don't think much is different, except my age. And maybe that I'm a bit more moody than I was when I was younger. But I can easily chalk that up to being majorly sleep deprived for the last five years.

Oh, and I need to pee a lot more often than I used to. I fear that by the time I'm 30, I'm going to be that lady, "gotta go gotta go gotta go right now". I don't want to be her. Please don't let me be her. But I'm guessing the urge to pee doesn't have much to do with my age. I think it has to do with my two pregnancies, particularly the one when I carried a little boy who thought my bladder was a speed bag.

Happy birthday to me!

Please Lord Jesus, let this end.

There have been shootings on Saipan. I have no real news about it, I won't write the hearsay. Please pray for our little island community. My prayers to the victims and their family members.

Here's the latest from Guam's KUAM.

ETA @3 :50 p.m. - Authorities are saying all clear.

Wednesday What Is It?

What is it?

w how to play.

Wednesday What Is It? Results

The results of last week's Wednesday What Is It?

DVDs On A Spindle!

Great guesses everyone!
Hmm...now I have some new ideas.

Primos!

Diego is an adventurer. He's a cool, kind-hearted animal rescuer. And my little boy often pretends to be him.

"Jacob it's time to take a shower."

"I'm not Jacob. I'm Diego!"

"OK, Diego, it's time to take a shower."

"OK. Arescate amigos!"

Jacob still loves Dora, but he has developed a greater masculine bond with Diego. Like a younger brother who watches in amazement and admiration as his older, more worldly, rough and tumble brother rescues innocent, helpless animals so they can go on to live full and exciting lives.

Yesterday, James and I took our kids and our niece and nephew to see Spongebob, Dora, and Diego at the Kids 4 Kids Carnival at the Saipan World Resort. It was definitely better than when we saw Spongebob and Dora in 2007, because this time, they didn't oversell tickets and the crowd could all fit into the Jungle Stage.

We are not Spongebob watchers, so the Spongebob segment, which happened to be the longest segment, wasn't the most thrilling for us. Although Mele has seen enough episodes that she was able to answer all of the trivia questions correctly. And the crowd was small enough that if she had raised her hand to volunteer to go on stage and play the game, I bet she would have been chosen.

Dora came on stage after Spongebob. Mele, Maui, and Katelyn were too shy to raise their hand for a shot at going on stage to play Dora's backpack game. Jacob wanted to go, but I figured if he got called on stage to play Dora's game, then he wouldn't be called back on to play when Diego came out. Finally, Diego came out! Woo hoo!

But they changed it on us! It turned out that Jacob was too young for the Diego game. I was so bummed. I won't hold them back like that ever again.

There was one point when, I promise you, Dora looked right at Jake at waved just at him.

I wish they had let the kids take pictures with the characters, and not just take pictures of the characters. I also think that if you're going to have an event called the "Kids 4 Kids Carnival", there ought to be some carnival-like booths, like face painting, balloon darts, etc.

But the show was still fun. James and I enjoyed it and so did the kids, and that's all that really matters.

Wednesday What Is It?

What is it?

Here's how to play.

Wednesday What Is It? Results

The results of the last Wednesday What Is It?

A Typewriter!

5 points to SharShine!
2 points to Bon.

Good guesses everyone! It did kinda look like those old dot matrix printers.

Now don't freak out.

I knew it would happen. I have a son. It was bound to happen. Every man has a scar on his head. Oh yes he does. Ask him. He'll find it quickly or he'll part his hair to point it out. Ask him, at some point when he was a kid, he fell and cut his head and needed stitches or some other device to help the wound heal.

"Hello?"

"Hi Deece. Now don't freak out..."

(Of course I'm freaking out)

"Jacob fell down."

(My heart is beating faster)

"He has a little cut on his forehead. It's not a big deal."

(But maybe it is)

"He's sitting next to me and he isn't crying."

(A good sign. Right? Usually it is. Right?)

"But Eddie took a look at it and he thinks maybe the doctor should..."

(The doctor? So it is bad)

"see it in case he needs one stitch."

(A stitch?!)

"Just to help it heal."

"Ok. You want to take him to the doctor and I'll meet you there?"

"Yeah, ok."

So I left work and met my sister and my son at our doctor's office. She and Jacob were already inside the children's waiting room when I arrived. He had a Scooby Doo bandage on his forehead, a small scrape on his fat bottom lip, and a spot of dried blood on his sleeve. But he was happy. He smiled as he played. He pulled up the letter P from the foam alphabet mat and said, "P is for popcorn mommy!" I love you Jacob.

He didn't quite need a stitch. But he did need a steri-strip.

As you can see, I'm kind of behind.

The Proposal - Loved it! I was looking forward to watching it, but I didn't think I'd like it as much as I did. It's a girly movie, for sure, and really funny and I really enjoyed the acting. I just wish Sandra Bullock had stayed the same - when you see it, you'll know what I mean.

Monsters vs. Aliens - It's a nice family movie. My kids both enjoyed it. My kids' favorite part? When The Missing Link met Susan and did his whole ninja routine. My favorite part? When the president played the theme to Beverly Hills Cop ala Close Encounters of the Third Kind.

17 Again - Have I told you about this yet? Loved it! I really enjoyed Like Father Like Son and Big when I was a kid, so I really wanted to see this from the first preview. Plus, I really like Zack Efron. I could watch this every day. It's not the most amazing movie in the whole world, but it's one of those movies that kept me smiling the whole time.

Bart Got A Room - It was a funny little film, but I don't necessarily recommend it. I feel like I understand what this film was meant to be. I see the concept in my head the way I think the writer/s envisioned it. It's just too bad it didn't turn out quite right.

Labor Pains - Is this showing on TV already? Because I think I saw it on TV. It's cute. And I actually enjoyed Lindsay Lohan in it.

Adventureland - Not a family film ok? I like it! Unlike, Bart Got A Room, Adventureland totally knew what it wanted to be, and delivered. Set in the 80's, it definitely has the feel of an 80's teen movie, but different. In a good way. It's not a high school story.

Sunshine Cleaning - I totally didn't know what this was about when it started. It ws funny, quirky, and definitely out of the ordinary.

Fighting - Not terrible. Entertaining enough. Maybe this is someone's fantasy?

Inkheart - It was nice. My kids enjoyed it too. I would have liked more from the ending. Or maybe less? Or just something different. But it was a nice family fantasy movie. I enjoyed the acting and the artfulness.

Dance Flick - Crap

Bring It On: Fight to the Finish - I was surprised by how much I enjoyed watching it. It's a midless, veg out kinds of movie.For when you don't want to think about anything and just be entertained. If it was on TV while I was flipping channels, I'd probably stop and watch it for a while.

When you're in it.

In HSM3, Mrs. Montez told Gabriella that "high school feels like the most important thing in the world, when you're in it." The same can be said for Jr. High.

When I was in 8th grade, I knew that high school would come, it was inevitable. But it seemed so strange, so surreal, so much more mature than I was. Yeah right, high school, mature? My best friend, Marj, sat at my dining table and asked my mom if she would send me to the private catholic high school that Marj would be attending freshman year. Couldn't we be high school peons together? My mom did not oblige.

The end of 8th grade not only marked my final year of junior high, it also marked my final year at Saipan Community School - my final year with all of my friends at the same school. That would make a great lead-in to a post full of memories, wouldn't it? Eight years worth of memories - happy ones, sad ones, overly ridiculous ones. But if I wrote about all of them now, you'd never get a chance to read them because it would take me the next ten years to write them all out. So I'll save them for other posts.

As we neared the end of 8th grade, Marj and Zen - my girls - and I must have been searching for closure. We were looking for a way to celebrate what we went through together - as a whole class, as classmates and friends. We had an amazing send off. We spent a day at PIC as a class, the whole Jr. High took a field trip on one of those dinner cruise sailboats, and we had a graduation dinner at the Hyatt Regency Saipan. To end it all, my girls and I wrote and sang a song at our graduation. It really didn't matter that no one could hear our voices, it still meant something to us.

That's me with the bad perm in the top row.


Zen played the piano and Marj and I sang.


(We wrote the lyrics, but the melody was a Chinese pop song that Zen figured out how to play on the piano. I never forgot the tune, but over time I forgot most of the lyrics. Recently, Zen found them.)

Suddenly, this year has slipped right by me
It's funny how time just snuck up on me
Happy moments, that we thought would last
Have now become, a part of the past

Yesterday, we laughed and now we cry
We never thought it's this hard to say goodbye
Tomorrow, it when we will part
But I'll cherish you forever in my heart

I don't wanna leave
You are too close to me
I don't wanna leave
My friends surround me
I don't wanna leave
This year was too fast, can't you see
I don't wanna go
I'll miss you don't you know

Everything, will be different nothing stays the same
Without you there to lead, show and to guide me
You have been there through all these years
You helped me through my worst fears

I don't wanna leave
You are too close to me
I don't wanna leave
My friends surround me
I don't wanna leave
This year was too fast, can't you see
I don't wanna go
I'll miss you don't you know

All the time we have left is gone
Now all of us will go our different and separate ways
You know these are our precious days
So this is what I have to -- what I have to say (Wo, oh, oh, oh)

I don't wanna leave
You are too close to me
I don't wanna leave
My friends surround me
I don't wanna leave
This year was too fast, can't you see
I don't wanna go
I'll miss you (so much) don't you know

-circa 1995

Before

One year ago, I baked a million cookies and the kids dressed up, I made some bags, Sheila surprised me at the Hyatt, I explained how I went from DC to Deece, I was bummy and overwhelmed, I had a booth at Brilliant Star's Holiday Bazaar - a big thank you to Alison of Expressions, and I posted some handmade gifts.

That's me. Before.


I'm excited for what November will bring! Besides age.