Have you ever seen the movie "Fireproof"? Let me entertain you with a brief synopsis:

A heroic fireman locked in a failing marriage accepts his father's challenge to take part in a 40-day experiment designed to teach both husband and wife the true meaning of commitment in this faith-based marriage drama starring Kirk Cameron and Erin Bethea. When he's battling blazes, Capt. Caleb Holt (Cameron) adheres to the old firefighter's adage about never leaving your partner behind; back at home, it's an altogether different story. Caleb and his wife Catherine (Bethea) have been married for seven years, but lately arguments over career, housework, finances, and outside interests have driven the once-happy couple hopelessly apart. Just as Caleb and Catherine prepare to officially dissolve their marriage, Caleb's father John (Harris Malcolm) presents his son with a most unusual challenge: commit to a 40-day experiment called "The Love Dare," and take one last shot at saving his marriage. While at first Caleb agrees to take a chance on "The Love Dare," the discovery that it's closely tied in with his parent's newfound faith causes him to momentarily reconsider. Still, Caleb carries on with the experiment despite being constantly rejected by his skeptical, embittered wife. When Caleb asks his father how he can be expected to love someone who refuses to give him a fair chance, John tells his son that this is precisely the same love that God shows for humankind. Now, with a little help from above, the man who makes headlines for saving lives will fight to be a hero to the one person who matters most -- his wife. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

A big part of this movie is The LOVE DARE, a 40 day journal with basically a new "dare" everyday to do to your partner. My dad recently sent Chris and I a copy of "The LOVE DARE". We have a great marraige but a great marraige doesn't just happen, it helps if you work on it. We have decided to read and implement the Love Dare together-  the book is conviently written in 40 daily sections, with the idea of doing one per day. However, since I only see Chris about 4 days a week  it may take us a little longer than 40 days. However long it takes us we plan on plugging along. The great part about this book is you can apply the dares to more than just  your spouse- your kids benefit too!

Day 1 was a couple days ago- and it was PATIENCE. "Resolve to demonstrate patience and say nothing negative to your spouse at all. If the temptation arises, choose not to say anything. It's better to hold your tongue than to say something you'll regret."   I guess I have a lot more patience with Chris than I do with the kids. I actually FOCUS on being patient I realise how inpatient I can be. This was a good challenge.

(There is also a chapter to read about the subject before each dare, it is a very good read and I actually CRIED while reading the chapter on patience. This was for two reasons #1 is I know what an amazing husband I have and I love him so much, and #2 is the pregnancy hormones, I cry at everything!!! I cried at the Ms. America pagent last night!!!)

Day 2 will be TODAY (Chris returns home from the boat soon) and it will be KINDNESS.  "In addition to saying nothing negative to your spouse again today, do at least one act of unexpected Kindness."

There is actually a spot in the book to mark when you have completed each days Dare and to write a little about that day. What will my unexpected act of kindness be? Check back to find out!

I woke up early this morning- about 6am, feeling ill. I hadn't slept very good. Between getting up every 2 hours to pee and feeling like I was going to get sick it was a long night. Around 6am I feel into a very deep sleep. The kind of sleep where you know you are asleep but can't wake up because your so deep into it. I had some very weird dreams. One of the last dreams I had was this- I was asleep in my bed, but also awake and I could hear my Mom talking downstairs. In this dream she wasn't gone. She was alive, and everything was fine. She was down in my kitchen having a conversation with someone. I felt so at peace. Like when you are a kid (if you had a secure childhood) and your tucked into your room at night and you haven't a care in the world. That's what my dream felt like. Like my Mom was with me, like all I had to do was get up and out of bed and walk downstairs where we would drink coffee together and talk.

And then I woke up. I laid in bed a long while this morning, while the house was still asleep. Thinking about how I will never again hear my Mom's voice again. How we will never have coffee together .
How I will never see her again.  I don't know when that realization will lose some of its pain, maybe never.   Thankfully I have dreams about her quite a bit. I always treasure them.

I am sitting here HOPING that Chris will be home and able to take Joey to Basketball practice- I feel ill and weak and would MUCH rather continue laying here on the couch watching "Enchanted" with the girls. But with an estimated leave time of 12 minutes, I don't think he is going to make it......  So I will gather the kids and head to the gym so Joey can have fun. 

The plumbers came today, it took 2 plumbers and their supervisor 2 hours to find the mysterious leak in the wall. Turns out that Chris, when he was hanging a shelf in the garage, accidentally put a screw through the plastic water pipe that ran down through the wall from the master bathroom up above. He put this shelf up about a month ago, so the leak is little and has been growing for a long time. They were really nice about it and the supervisor said not to worry, it will all be fixed and it was an honest mistake that anyone would make because these houses use plastic tubes in weird places. The majority of the holes are in the garage wall- a tiny one in the living room and they will fix all the holes and replace the baseboard as soon as I can get the carpenter to come over- probably in a week or two. Which is fine, I am just glad its fixed!

---- I am not back from Joeys practice. Chris did not make it, but he got home when we did at 7pm so he was able to help and give the girls a bath. I made french bread pizza for the kids. After I made it it smelled good so I went and ate a piece. We are betting on whether or not it stays down.... at this point I am hoping it does but am not too hopeful.

Another milestone was reached today and Joey and Sophia walked home from school by themselves! It is 1/2 mile from our house to the school and it is all sidewalk. There is one busy intersection with  a crossing guard- since the plumbers were at our house I called the school to give Joey the message to get Sophia after school and walk home. They were so excited when they got there. They said it was wayyyy more fun to walk by themselves and want to do it all the time now.

Tomorrow is furlough Friday and I am just glad that I don't have to get up early. If I feel good enough I will do something fun with the kids,  it's been a while since we have been anywhere fun.

I'm grateful Jesus Christ died for my sins and I know where I am going when my short time on earth is done.

I'm grateful I have 3 beautiful, smart, healthy kids.

I'm grateful for a loving husband who is an amazing father and hard worker.

I'm grateful to be sitting on my porch in January in a T-shirt and Flip Flops.

I'm grateful that I have insurance and can take my kids to the dentist and doctor.

I'm grateful to be able to feel another life grow inside me and to give my kids another sibling to love and grow up with.

I'm grateful for drugs like zofran and that I am able to take it and feel almost normal.

I'm grateful for my beautiful, big house filled with life and love.

I'm grateful that I have a van to drive whenever I want, and enough money to pay our bills, fill our cupboards with food and still have a little let over to save.

I'm grateful that I had a wonderful childhood and that I have the desire to give my kids an equally wonderful childhood.

I'm grateful for my family and friends-  for that is what life is really about.

What are YOU grateful for?

I am sitting here at 8pm waiting for the plumber to come and find the cause of some water damage that I just located behind the entertainment center. I have no idea where the water is coming from- my only guess is the water heater in the garage (it shares a wall). Since its RIGHT behind the entertainment center I JUST found it, and who knows how long its been like this- a day? a week? the carpet is wet, the base board is warped and brown and slimy and it smells. Yuck.  The maintenance woman asked if it could wait until the morning and I said that I would really like to find the cause of this leak tonight-  how can I sleep if I know there is a nasty water leak in my living room??? I really don't want to walk downstairs tomorrow and have the whole living room floor wet and nasty. Since the plumber had to be notified at home I am guessing that I am in for a long night- well, longer than my usual 8pm bedtime! And I was SOOOO looking forward to an early bedtime. Hopefully he will be here within the hour. Chris is on duty tonight so its just me, I hope the plumber man is nice and not a jerk. I should wake Joey up so he is down here with me. Thankfully I have stella as my guard dog.

I am thankfully feeling okay right now, though I did get sick a couple times today. Bleah! Only a few more weeks of this I HOPE!

In other news the kids had a dentist appt today- they all did really great and had NO cavities. Vangie was the cutest- she opened her mouth "wide like an alligator" and was such a big girl! She fell asleep on the living room floor at 5pm so I think she had an exhausting day.

Last night in my sea of sickness desperation I remembered I had a package of Sea Bands- you know, those wrist band things that people wear to prevent motion sickness? I wear them when I fly on an airplane because I do tend to get bad motion sickness-- I read on the Internet how they can help with Morning sickness.  Now, you think this would have been something I have tried before, I mean I have had morning sickness three other times- but I have never tried them before. I put them on last night before bed and woke up this morning ....... feeling like I could get out of bed!!!!  I am about 85% normal today and it is wonderful! I was able to take Vangie to Gymnastics and we even walked around the store together. 

Chris could tell that I was feeling much better today- he told me NO RUNNING and NO bike riding. He told me to lay around like a normal housewife, ha ha. And I am going to do just that- It feels so good to not be deathly ill and I don't want to do anything to hurt myself. I am wearing them all the time and hopefully I will continue to feel good.

I just got back from getting the kids from school. It was not easy. At 1pm I was still laying on the couch willing myself to not be sick. I finally gathered enough energy to take a shower and walk to the kids school. I am so thankful I have nowhere else to go today. 
I canceled my dentist apt that I had scheduled for tomorrow, because it would have ended badly..... very badly.

Yesterday I tried to will myself into feeling normal. I went for a very slow jog in the morning- I definitely did not FEEL like jogging, but I thought if I made myself get out and get moving I would feel better all day.... This was NOT the case. I got home from my run, ate lunch and got violently ill.  I felt a little better later in the day around 3pm- Joey has been asking to go for a bike ride all week so the whole family went for a bike ride to a park where the kids played and then we rode home.  I was able to give the girls a bath before I once again got violently ill- it is so horrible, I basically become weak,sweaty,  shaky and all I can do is lay down and pray that I start to feel better. So, my conclusion is that I need to not exert myself anymore. Its not worth it.

Thankfully Chris was home yesterday and so he was able to feed the kids dinner, and do their homework with them. Whenever he is home is is SO much help.  I am so grateful he is home when he is and not deployed. 

This morning Joey played his game and the WON! (well, technically they don't keep score, but the coach does- must be a MAN thing- and made sure to let us know that we WON, yeah!) The score was 8- 6. And guess what? Joey made a basket! He got the ball, was under the basket, shot and it went in!  He was so SO EXCITED! And then after that basket it was like he caught the BUG and KNEW how great it felt to make a basket and he was really playing hard. He was sp cute and fun to watch.

I was actually feeling okay this morning- and after my horrible night last night- where I was seriously so ill that laying on the couch was painful and I was in bed by 8pm- I was very grateful. After Joeys game we got subway and I put Vangie down for a nap. Joey and Sophia went outside to play with the neighbor kids and I basically fell into a coma on the couch. It was like I was drugged. I think Chris called me from work but I was SOOOO tired I couldn't talk for long. He has duty today but should be home tomorrow.

Vangie has been peeing her bed at night lately. Ever since she started sleeping on the top bunk of her new bunk bed. Maybe because it is too hard for her to get up and go pee at night? I am just tired of changing the linens! SO, I think I will be getting her some pull-ups to wear at night.

I posted a couple days ago about how GOOD I was feeling.... Yeah, that was then.  Today I have been feeling horrible. I am permanently attached to the couch. I have a constant nausea that will NOT go away. I keep telling myself- this is the LAST time I will go through this. This is IT. It I can make it through this morning sickness that will be IT, NEVER AGAIN!  Its just hard for me to lay here on the couch. I am usually on the GO all the time- I love being active and productive. I just have to accept that for NOW my productivity has changed- I am growing a HUMAN, so I am cutting myself some slack.

Yesterday evening Joeys basketball team (The Eagles) had their team pictures! Joey is the one on the right- and yes, he is the shortest- but someone has to be! He just loves to play and it has been so much fun seeing him make new friends and really start to understand the game of basketball (as much as a 6 year old can!) They have had 2 games so far- and another game tomorrow.

Chris got home early today and was able to take the kids scooters and go get them from school. Joey and Sophia really like it when they see him standing outside their classrooms (which is not very often). I think we MAY go to the theater this afternoon and see "Alvin and the Chipmunks" IF I am feeling like I can walk and not vomit. ( at the theater would be a bit embarrassing.) I hope Baby4 knows how much pain he is causing his mother!

Hi Mom, Its me.

I have been thinking about you a lot these past couple days. Today would have been your 51st birthday! I don't know if they celebrate birthdays in Heaven- if they do it would probably be the day you got to heaven and not your earthy birthday.

I keep thinking about what I would do if you were still alive, if you had never gotten sick and passed away. I would have sent you a funny card in the mail- probably about how you are getting so old. (even through you really weren't that old at all) I would have sent you a white gold necklace with a little sea turtle charm. Something you could have worn all the time.  I still remember last year when Chris and I go you those tiny diamond earrings- and  how shocked and happy you were. You never got jewelry, and you always said you never wanted any- but you were so happy with those earrings. You wore them all the time until you got sick and went into the hospital. Now I wear them.

I would have called you up today and talked about our futures.  I would have siad what I say every year- "Wow Mom, I can't believe your 51 and I'll be 31 this year. Were getting old! Mom, when your 60 I'll be 40,  when your 80 I'll be 60- When your 100 I'll be 80! and we'll be living together in a house in the country- too old ladies in our rocking chairs on the porch.  We'll grow old together and travel all over and do all sorts of crazy things.  Remember our plan we had to take the kids around the country in the 5th wheel on one of Chris's deployments?  Walking our yearly Ultra-Marathon?  I had so much more planned for us to do. 

But God had bigger and better plans for you. Your job here on earth was done. And who am I to argue. You lived your life with gusto! You did so much in your 50 short years, more than most people do in 80. Even though your not here to go with me or help me plan anymore I'll never quit dreaming, Mom. I'll never stop thinking up crazy things to do or places to go. Because I know you are in Heaven rooting me on.

I love you, Happy Birthday.

MUST-HAVES (in order to survive I must have copious amounts of these items on hand at all times) 

5. Soup! This is one of the few things I can eat that settles my stomach.
4. Crackers. Saltines- enough said
3. Fruit.Bananas, apples and mango's ( do they even HAVE mango's in Michigan??)
2. Cereal. before pregnancy I never ate cereal. Now there at 15 different boxes in the pantry.
and the #1 item I MUST HAVE access to at all times???
DIET ORANGE SUNKIST.I probably drink  a 2 liter a day. The orangeyness, the carbonation.....hmmmm

MUST-NOT-HAVES (if I see, smell or suspect this is around it will end badly.)

5. pasta. Gross. just thinking about Chris's huge pot of pasta in the refrigerator makes me gag.
4. garlic anything. Chris fed me popcorn with garlic salt last night. it took me 8 hours to recover. I even through the garlic bulbs in the trash today, I didn't like looking at them.
3.Ginger- through all my morning sickness of all my pregnancies everyone always tried to feed me ginger- if I have to taste ginger ever again it will be too soon. It does not help me. Its an "anti-help".
2. red meat. Gross. just gross. All I can think is how it will just sit in my stomach and rot. eeewwww.
1. Chucky-Cheese Pizza. Just typing this is causing me nausea; we went to chucky cheese a few days ago. When I got there I was very hungry and shaky and needed to eat. The pizza tasted pretty good going down.... but it did not settle down there for very long. :( I will not make that mistake again.

I know that I have several people praying for my to get through this Morning Sickness, and I want you to know those prayers are being answered! Today I woke up and I feel 90% normal. You cannot imagine how wonderful that feels after feeling so horrible for 2 weeks straight.

I was able to run 7 miles today, I was able to go grocery shopping! ( and not vomit at the sight of all that food) And when I pick the kids up from their 1/2 day of school today I promised Sophia I'd take her to Target to get new sandals and I will be able to because I feel GOOD.

This baby must be a boy- only a girl could have the power to cause such illness. And if you think I am being funny, its actually a proven fact that girl babies cause more morning sickness than boys. I think girls cause more problems overall. :) I love my girls and am so happy I have them but they are definitely more work - emotionally, mentally and physically- than my Boy.

Joey got an award for Pefect attendence at School this past quarter. Sophia should have gotten one too, so either her teacher forgot to put in in her backpack or she is skipping school already.

Chris has duty and so we won't see him until tomorrow night so its just the kids and I tonight- I guess we'll have to watch a few more episodes of our favorite show, LOST.

On my run today I was thinking about this summer. I was thinking about how I would love to fly to the Mainland and visit both sides of our family (Chris's side and My side) I was trying to figure it all out in my head. Okay, so If we fly INTO Orlando and stay for a few days, rent a car and drive to Michigan and stay there a couple weeks and then fly back to Hawaii from Michigan. Great plan, huh? Great except it would probably cost 6,000$ that we don't have. Great except we don't know if Chris would even get leave and would I be able to fly all that way 7 months pregnant with 3 kids?

Just so all you know we do miss you and we wish we could visit. Maybe it will work out.

Okay, okay, now our secret is out. You all know, I'm pregnant! (yes, again) but it's actually been a while since I have been pregnant. Vangie will, in-fact be 4 years old when  #4 makes its way into the world. It seems like a while ago, but the memories of past pregnancies have come rushing back.

Especially the Morning Sickness. I get HORRIBLE morning sickness. Yuck.  I get really jealous at women who don't experince morning sickness. Or perhaps they "think" they have morning sickness. "oh honey, I feel a little sick today- maybe its morning sickness? How exciting." To THOSE women I say SHUT-UP!

Morning sickness, TRUE morning sickness is actually ALL-DAY sickness. EVERY SECOND sickness.  You feel like you want to DIE. Every second is spent trying not to vomit.  You feel ill with an empty stomach so you need to eat every 2 hours, but nothing sounds good. Or maybe it DOES sound good until you eat it, and then it sounds disgusting and you can't believe you just ate it. You can't sleep at night because you feel like you have the flu (or a reeaalllyyy bad hangover) and then the alarm clock goes off in the morning and you can hardly get out of bed- your sick, your dizzy, and your tired. 

Your sense of smell is intensified 9,000 times. The pantry stinks, your deoderant is not too strong and making you sick, your lotion stinks- your HUSBAND stinks! Looking into the fridge makes you ill. The ONLY foods that you can eat are the super unhealthy ones - and your too sick to work out so of course you gain 5 pounds of instant bloat so none of your pants fit.  Your days are spent laying on the couch and watching endless TV- feeding your kids crackers and cheese sticks for dinner and praying that they aren't permanently damaged by the lack of regular meals and vegetables. Your miserable, your cranky... and guess what? It's going to last for 12 weeks- yeah.

Honestly even though I have been sick, it could be worse. I was sicker when I was pregnant with Sophia and Evangeline. And even though I feel ill- I am still keeping a positive attitude. Because negetivity gets you KNOW WHERE! Being ill is a sign my hormones are high and the baby is doing well. Being this ill makes me respect the cycle of life and how much work it is to grow another human. This is an important job and I feel blessed!

10. Laura Schmitt writes out a daily schedule on our dry erase board every morning. If it's not on the schedule, it most likely won't get done. Examples of list-worthy items "Workout" "Make Dinner" and
"Don't forget to pick the kids up from school."

09.  Chris Schmitt bites his finger nails, and that's where Vangie learned to bite HER nails, which she does All. The. Time.

08.  Chris Schmitt is a night owl and does not get up easily in the morning. He will often hit the snooze button 6 times in one morning until Mommy Schmitt threatens to break his fingers if he does it one more time.

07. Laura Schmitt is an early bird and often gets up at 5am just to enjoy the morning quiet before the troops get up.

06.  We have moved A LOT.  San Diego, Jacksonville, FL. Michigan, back to Jacksonville, Rhode Island, Fowlerville MI, Charleston South Carolina, back to Michigan and Hawaii!

05. Laura Schmitt's dream is to run a 100 miles trail race. (Chris and the kids will be my "crew")

04. Laura Schmitt has not stayed awake until midnight at new years for at least 6 years. 

03. Chris will drive around the parking lot for 20 min looking for the closest spot. Laura would rather park far and save the close spots for the obese and elderly.

02.  Chris and Laura only dated 6 months before they were married.

and the #1 Thing you Don't know about Chris and Laura is....... They are expecting their 4th Schmittling in early September 2010!

Today is Friday, and since we live in Hawaii and the land of horrible public school systems, the kids have the day off. I honestly don't mind- I rather enjoy sleeping in and not have to act like a drill Sergeant at 6 in the morning to get them all up, fed, groomed and ready for school.  We all slept in until 7! Had cereal for breakfast and then relaxed and watched some TV together.

THEN I got out our school books- I haven't been working with them as much as I should so this morning I marched into the den where Joey was watching TV, turned the TV off and plopped down in front of him a 100 pc puzzle of the United States. While he was busy assembling the puzzle I worked with Sophia on her number writing (Sophia tends to write a lot of numbers backwards) Sophia and I also worked on writing words and reading.  

The kids had report cards sent home yesterday. They are each doing really well. They have made dramatic improvements since the beginning of the year. (Just think how well they'd be doing if they actually went to school more than 3.5 days a week!)  Joey needs to work on his paragraph writing- topic sentence, the body of the paragraph and then the conclusion- so we have been writing paragraphs after he completed his puzzle!

I know, I know, I haven't posted in like... almost a week! And I don't really have much of an excuse except I have been very lazy.  So sorry! I will try to make it up to yo by being a super-poster from here on out!

Joey had his first basketball game on Saturday- he is so cute to watch! I don't know what is more fun to watch- Joey playing or CHRIS watching Joey playing. I constantly have to remind Chris that Joey is 6! He is not going to be a superstar already! Especially since before he started practicing he hardly touched a basketball at all! But to his credit Chris has been working with Joey- taking him to the park and working on his dribbling and shooting. I think by the end of this season Joey will be much improved.  Its funny at even this age there are already a couple kids on the team who are really good!  One kid stands a head above everyone else and is definitely the team superstar. 

Joey came home from school today with a RED flag. This is not good. This means he blew right through his yellow flag (which is a warning!) And right into a red. His story is that some kid was kicking him when then were all supposed to be quiet and Joey told him to stop- and this happened twice. What I am pretty sure  happened is this kid was bugging him and Joey said loudly "Stop it!" instead of just ignoring the kid and telling his teacher about it. His teacher also sent a not home saying that Joey has been very "playful" in class and it is affecting his ability to focus.  I made him write his teacher an apology and lectured him on how important it was for him to pay attention to his teacher and focus on his school work unless he wants to end up selling newspapers on the freeway. (not that there's anything wrong with that!) 

Vangie had gymnastics today and also peed on my new couch. Wonderful. I KNEW this was going to happen. Even as she was napping on the couch I thought to myself "I should really move her before she pees... no, she won't pee.... but she might....no, she'll wake up if she has to go...." well, she DID and I had to take the couch cushion off and work my steam cleaner magic on it. I think  I got all the urine scent out of it. If not I will just febreeze it for the rest of its life. Nice.

This morning Chris and I went for a fun 12 mile run. We ran from our house, across the Ford Island Bridge, onto and all around Ford Island and then home again. Chris pushed Vangie is her Jog stroller the entire way- she is such a good little rider. I just give her a water bottle, a snack and her blankie and she is fine the entire time.

The kids had a 1/2 day of school toady because it's Wednesday- Chris took Joey's bike when he went to get them from school so Joey could ride his bike back. The kids are busy playing out in the garage right now- The neighbor girl- Laria- who is also in first grade is over playing- she likes to come to our house because there is always some excitement here.

Tonight is our Bible Study at our friends Jen and Lelands house over on the Marine Corps base in Kaneohe. The kids always love to go because they get to play with their kids, so they always have fun. 

Nothing too exciting going on here, actually a pretty mellow day!

After the stress of yesterday it was nice to have a relaxing day today. Chris is still on leave and it is WONDERFUL to have him home- he was gotten so much done. Landscaping, fixing two nail holes on my van, oil changes in both vehicles, picked up from the warehouse and put together a bunk bed for the girls-- (we decided to get them an awesome bunk-bed so they can share a room since they share clothes and toys already anyway!) He also hung up some organizer hooks in the garage and now it looks super-dee-dooper organized. 

Today was the big kids first day back at school -- (insert enthusiastic clapping and cheering here)-- Chris and I walked them to school this morning and Sophia was so happy to have Daddy walk her to her class. After we dropped the kids off Chris and I went for a exhilarating 9 mile run - we took turns pushing Vangie in the Jog stroller who spent the whole 9 miles eating tortilla chips and reclining- must be tough! 

After our run it was time to take Vangie to her Kidnastics class- Chris now has a newfound respect for me because taking a 3 year old to a gymnastics class is tireing! Then we ate lunch at Wendy's and went to Costco  for a 10lb bag of frozen berries and a box of 8,000 zip-lock bags.  By this time it was time to pick the kids up from school, do homework, play outside for an hour and then Joey had his basketball practice- his first game is this Saturday--

Tomorrow Chris, Vangie and I are climbing Koko head and maybe taking the kids to the beach before bible study since they have a 1/2 day on Wednesdays.  Right now we are watching our new addiction- the show "Lost" which is filmed here in Hawaii. For Christmas I got seasons 1-5 and we are almost done watching season 1!

I am writing this post in a semi-state of shock- I just got off the phone with my Dad and last night their farm shop burnt to the ground and was a total loss. I am posting a link to the right of the Greenville Daily News where the fire made the front page.  The building was a total loss, as was the multiple tractors and two semi-trucks that were parked inside.  My Dad told me he has no idea how the fire started. The fire Marshell is coming out today to inspect the scene.

I know God works all things for the good. That is all I can put my faith and hope in at the moment.

My Dad is doing fine, he says- but please pray. A lot has happened this year and this is one more huge stress added to the pile. Thankfully everything was insured and no one was hurt.

How do you become the luckiest girl in the world? I will tell you- (disclaimer: This is only MY vision of perfectness, yours will be different and equally as wonderful!)

1) Marry the Man of your dreams who just happens to be your soul mate designed for you by God.

BONUS: Your soulmate/husband  is super HOT and athletic and will run 10 miles with you any time you ask and who also has a tiny bit of OCD so he does dishes , cleans the kitchen, and vacuums out your van and actually likes to go grocery shopping with you.

2) That soulmate/husband and you have three beautiful children who are the light of your lives and actually make you remember how much you love each other everyday, and when you look at these children you can see each other in them and your love for each other and them just grows more every second.

3) Your soulmate/husband  is super SMART and has a great job that enables you to be a stay at home mom so you can watch your children grow up and experience everything with them- you take them to parks, museums , beaches, amusement parks... you get to relive YOUR childhood through your kids.
BONUS: Your soulmate/husband's job enables you to move all over this wonderful USA(and beyond!)  and experience different cultures, climates, houses, friends, churches, schools.... and you get to absorb all the wonderfulness of all these new things! and learn from the not-so-great things.

4) Your soulmate/husband is the most generous person you know. Not only does this mean he tips every service worker as if that were his own son or daughter, it also means he spoils you rotten with lots of stuff you don't really need but love and are so grateful for!
( This also means he is slightly apt to spoil his own children so this means YOU need to step in and make sure this does not happen.... too much.....)

5) Your soulmate/husband is the nicest person you know. He always has a smile and a word of encouragement for everyone. He engages you in compelling conversation and values what you have to say. He thinks YOUR the hottest woman in the world and tells you several times a day... in fact, he can hardly keep his hands OFF you.... and all this after 8 years of marriage!



And THAT is why I am the LUCKIEST Girl in the WORLD!!!!

The new year is here and came in with a BANG! (literally) here on Oahu- the people here are obsessed with fireworks! I am not kidding, they were being shot off from everywhere  last night! It sounded like a war zone around here. And I am not just talking little kid fireworks- I mean the big ones, the kind that just shooting them off  causes a huge explosion!   Also all the stores are closed super early on New Years Eve - and a lot are closed on New Years day- I don't remember it being that big of a holiday on the Mainland- definitely not in Michigan-

Our landscaping project is FINISHED! We put in a boarder, soil, flowers ( I picked out the flowers, Chris and his OCD was all set to buy these horribly symmetrical flowers until I stepped in a took control of the foliage selection) Then we planted the flowers and today we went out and got the fountain of Chris's dreams. It even has LED lights. Wow. We now have a back yard oasis. Stella just sits outside and stares at the beauty. She doesn't know what to do with herself.

We all ate lunch at Chili's today. Neither Chris and I really like  Chili's- but we had a gift certificate so we decided to take the kids and make the best out of it. When it was time to pay Chris thought that I had the gift certificate and I was quick to remind him that NO, YOU have the gift certificate-- Which he left at home!  So now we will have to go endure Chili's once again to be able to use our gift certificate.

Also