Through Dezi's eyes...

I need a break...

So this post is mainly to let off a little steam. I know I've written about my hard little times before and I guess it's time to rant and rave again.

A lot has been going on with my family lately and I feel like I'm barely staying a float. To start, we have just moved about 5 months ago to Ewa Beach. I am totally in love with my new home and love having our own space to do what we want. I guess you can say we were spoiled with not having to pay bills and spending what we wanted. Don't get me wrong were OK but barely. I'm the one that keeps up our financial books, cleans the house, takes care of our son, cooks and pretty much almost everything else you can think of. Gil is back now but he has been gone during the weeks for the past 5 months working on Maui. So I was literally doing it by myself.

I got a new calling a few weeks ago to be the Primary Secretary and I feel like there's so much to be done and I don't know people and I don't know the kids. I'm trying and very slowly getting there but I feel like it's just to much to soon. I can't write anything on my computer cause apparently our Microsoft works was a temporary thing. The church computer and copier is broken and I need to print out and type up so many things.

I recently (about 4 months ago) started to babysit for extra money. I was praying for an opportunity for Gil and I to have extra money and this came right away. It was for a friend of a friend. The boy I watch is Dezi's age, almost 3, and he is more than a handful. I feel like he might have something like A.D.D. but I can't really tell. His mother has told me she's supposed to get him tested but she never has (I think for fear of knowing her child may have a disorder?). He is only now starting to really speak or try to but half the time it's still babbling and with that there are tantrums because I can't understand what he wants sometimes. He keeps me more than on my toes and I am running after him all day. I feel like an incapable mother because all my attention is on this boy all day and Dezi is in the back of my mind cause I know he is ok. By the time the boy goes home I'm tired and have to start dinner, bath Dezi, clean and put him to bed.

Since Gil has been gone I've been doing everything literally by myself and have gotten used to it. Since he has been home I still do what I need to do because it needs to be done but I get no help. I think he sees me doing it and so he just doesn't do anything. I want to say something to him and ask for help but for some reason I can't. I just think "why do I need to ask?"

And last but not least, Gil has just gotten surgery on his knee so even more so I have to cater to him. I'm working hard and he is playing games all day. I know he can't help but I think it's resentment from past months building up and it's finally coming out.

Although times are hard I know they will get better. My faith is being tested and I hope I make HIM proud. I am grateful for all that I have been blessed with. I really am. I feel better letting off a little steam.

Sorry for the complaints and long post but you know what.....IT'S MY BLOG!

Nuhi/Au Family reunion 2010...

So every two years our Chinese family on my mother's side gets together for a family reunion. This year was interesting because I actually was at the sign-in table greeting family and getting to know a lot of them. We had a family pedigree chart that my tutu made so I even found out who was who and who came from what line.

Each year is different and usually there are activities to go along with the whole reunion thing but this year not to many people signed up for them so we just had the dinner part. Even though there were no activities I found I was more involved and actually enjoyed it, rather than going and thinking..."I'm never gonna see these people till the next family reunion or if I do I'm definitely not going to remember them." I helped make the food, was at the sign in table, cleaned up after the whole deal, helped prep for other things and put my self out there to talk to strangers.

This picture was taken by an old auntie who, I still don't remember her name but if I see her I can say, "Hi Auntie!"

Our family was in charge of the Lomi salmon. So we showed up the Friday before and started chopping away. And we looked good doing it too!

The men prepared the imu....

So we could eat this...

(he's not dead. Just tied up)

So a funny but not so funny story about the little pig who went to "market"...

The boys in the family had caught this pig a while ago and kept it at my uncles house until the reunion time. Well the day before the reunion we had to get the pig ready for the imu. While it's in the horse trailer the men start tying it's legs together to prevent it from running away while it's...let just say "passing". It is the worst sound you will ever hear (maybe I'll post the video one day?) . Anyway the pig has "passed" and has been laying there for about 15 min. with the body in the trailer but it's head hanging over the edge. Everyone is watching this poor thing bleed to death, talking, laughing, taking pictures and for some..tasting the blood which they drained into a bowl (totally disgusting but a good picture/story for my cousins to share with friends in the mainland..I guess). Well a distant cousin of mine...from the mainland... decides he wants to take a picture with this dead pig and proceeds to lie down under the head pretending to taste the dripping blood. I guess the pig didn't like that so up he got and shot out of the trailer running as fast lightning as far as the rope would let him go! Needless to say everyone went running wild, children were left behind to save ourselves and guys were laughing! I guess we ladies forgot he was tied up. Super scary moment but now I can laugh about it.

I had Dezi in my arms when it happened and nearly dropped him. Can you imagine an animal that you thought was dead, throat slit, blood drained and he gets up and runs!

After all that was said and done, from the days before to the late night clean up, then drive an hour home, it was worth it for all the memories we made!

Thiim Family photo session 2010...

Our "on occasion" annual family photo shoot took place at the Ho'omaluhia Botanical Gardens. I love this place and I am so beyond happy we chose this over the beach....again. It was a beautiful day and the weather loved us too!

Here's just a few pictures of our growing family.

The siblings

All the adults

Papa and Tutu with all 15 grandchildren. Yes you heard me right....15. And still growing might I add.

I LOVE this little guy to death!

The four babies. They were all born within a year of each other. Dezi is such a ham! How can you not love that adorable child?

Vegas quickie...

We stayed a weekend in Vegas...

To see these lovely people get married...

(congratulations Dustin and Jamie!)

To spend time with and stayed with these awesome friends...

Chatted it up with this amazing gal...

And had fun with this little guy!!

(Yay jayden!!)

A very quick (to say the least) weekend getaway! It was fun, quick, amazing, and awe inspiring!

Oh how I miss the "Sin City." But hopefully we'll get back there soon!

Return to virtue...

That was our 2010 YW camp theme. We camped at bellows and it was a bitter sweet weekend for me. I was so excited to go and spend the night with the girls and just be with them and make sure they had fun. But it would be my last camp with them because I moved soon after that (wards that is). I hope they had as much as I did and gained something from it.

Some of the things we weren't able to do because of weather but I think the girls still had a blast. At least that's what I got from their wonderful and inspiring testimonies. The older girls anyway. The younger ones were still too shy to share what they felt during our testimony meeting but were able to express it throughout the camp. I love them and miss so much but they will always hold a special place in my heart.

We hiked the Koko Crater. At first I thought, okay it's just stairs I can make it I think. Well there were 1048 steps...I think? And I almost didn't make it. I wanted to give up but when the girls started coming back down I had to make it up. Hence the photo:

We actually made it. But most of the girls were down at the bottom waiting for us by now. At least I can say I did it, and I made it!

The view from the top was sooooo worth it!

Some of us stayed up late and played games. This one was a game where you couldn't show your teeth and everyone had funny, no..hilarious signals/signs that they made up. You did your own then someone else's and so on and so on. The first one to show their teeth through laughing got their face dotted with puff paint since no one had a lipstick.

We played games and had a relay on the beach then we watched from the shore as the girls swam and had fun in the ocean.

Activities included poi ball making, including a dance to learn and perform..

bracelet making

and

pillow case decorating.

I know the girls had fun and enjoyed camped and being with each other. It's neat to watch them and see how they treat each other when they think no one is looking. Our girls mesh really well and I hop they will keep it that way.

A two year old's conversation...

Preview to my conversation with Dezi....I have my monthly friend.

I just used the bathroom in the morning and he came in to do the same.

D: "Mommy...red shee shee?"

Me: "Yes."

D: "Oh. I want to make red shee shee!"

Me: "No, only mommies make red shee shee."

D: "Oh."

*I'm putting my stuff in.*

D: "Ouchie mommy! You got bite?"

Me: *laughing, and realizing I should have done what I was doing somewhere else.* "No it's not

a bite. It's a tampon."

D: "Oh. *I could tell he was thinking about something* Mommy I want a tan-pom."

"Pleeeeeease!"

Me: "NO Dezi only mommies get tampons. Your a boy not a mommy."

D: "I want a mommy!" *meaning he wants to be a mommy*

Me: "Your a boy and I am a mommy. Only mommies get this stuff and boys don't get it. Your lucky okay."

D: *sadly saying* "Okay."

Life...part 1...

This is seriously going to be a short little re-cap of what has happened before and during our move...

We celebrated Easter...I got to decorate my house, we had our first get together, the Easter bunny left Dezi a basket of all sorts of goodies and he got to dye and look for eggs.

On hot days we've been going to our pool to hang out and even celebrated Aleena's birthday at our pool!

*I cannot get this picture to turn*

We did get to relax a little while waiting for news of our home.

We walked the Great Aloha Run. Dezi was up at 4am then fell asleep as soon as we started walking and stayed asleep for the first 5 miles.

Daddy has been teaching him how to ride his bike.

We've cheered on my nephew Keoni at his first flag football game.

That's him handing off the ball.

Hung out with friends at their pool before they had twins!

Bought a new car for Gil to cruise around in. So now we have 4 cars. What? Yup! Gil's work van, my car, his car and his race car which is sitting in the garage until the track or super ferry opens up again.

Making use of his birthday gift from uncle Glen. He is spoiled rotten.

*not really*

A new beginning...

A new life look forward to in brand new house is a dream come true. After living with no space of my own for 4 years with my family this is to good to be true. I have been so blessed with everything and am truly grateful for what I have. I don't care if we have nothing now and are living pay check to pay check for now cause I'm loving my life!!

Before...

(I know I posted other of the before so here's just another look)

During...

We basically tore out all the carpet in the entire house and redid that, painted all the rooms (mine is cream, Dezi's is blue, guest is white along with the rest of the house except the dining and living room is brown), Gil redid all the lights, and laid laminate wood in the whole downstairs. Now it's just the decorating and putting up the little touches that make it a home.

the hole in the ground was so Gil could do the lighting in the kitchen.

After...
We are sooooo proud of the end result. It is our home and we love it. We are slowly getting all the little things to decorate but that will take time and money which is one thing we don't have at the moment. But I don't care....cause I have my own house. And I know it's only for a time.

Didn't quite know what to do with this little nook area so when we saw this shelf

it said...."put me in the nook."

I had to find something to put on this wall fast and found swirly things. If I didn't

Gil would have put donkey Kong stickers from top to bottom. It's in the garage now. I'll show you

a picture of it later. Feeeew!!

This was during Easter. Hence the eggs hanging from the window. It makes me smile just looking at it now! Aaaaahhhhh!!

I am proud to say...

That I am (and have been for a little bit now) a homeowner!! This journey has been the longest, most stressful time of my life but it is sweet, sweet music now. I am absolutely in love with my new home and can't wait to share it with you!

I am going to blog this in segments so it's not so overwhelming for you or me. Gil and I started looking for a place about Jan. of '09. We really weren't sure about the market and who to trust to help us buy our first place. I knew of some Realtors in our ward but things were iffy and I still just wasn't sure. Well things fell right into place once I seriously started praying and listened for those quiet whispers and snugly feelings. I love those feelings. It just confirms everything that I know to be true. Anyway...

Due to unforeseen secrets and and other things that happened I started to really pray hard and earnestly if moving was the right decision for Gil and I and to help us find someone trustworthy to help us through this daunting task. The answer came quick and so did everything else. My brother-in-law had got his license a long time ago but never used it. So one day as Gil and I were talking about finding a place my brother-in-law suggested that he help us. I knew I could trust him but wasn't sure still cause he just has so much on his plate, a family of 5 young girls, his calling in the church, his normal job in the military (which was sending him away soon), and an appraisal job on the side. Even though all these doubts entered my mind at first, I went ahead and said "Sure.....are you sure?" Well let me tell you he was great!! More than I could have asked for.

We went ahead and started looking seriously in Aug. '09. We saw homes in Ewa (4-5 bedrooms, yard, etc..) that we could afford at the top of our budget but needed work. We soon realized that we needed to find something that wouldn't take a lot of work to make it nice living. We started looking at homes and found a few that we bid on but obviously the bank lowered the asking price to start a bidding war which we lost 3 times. Feeling very frustrated we put an offer on a town home (with a vengeance) that looks exactly like the one we have now, but it had nice hardwood floors, stainless steel appliances, nice paint, wouldn't really have to do much to the place. I fell in love with the inside (who wouldn't with all that stainless steel and granite counter tops?) but still wasn't sure. I was confused (it was super nice and I wanted it but something just wasn't right) and didn't really want to make a move even though we bid and won and the process was starting to go through. I prayed really hard again if this was the house we should raise our family in. Well, a week later our brilliant realtor was looking on line and found a diamond in the rough.

We looked at it the day after it went on the market, placed a bid, told the other house "Sorry but we found something better," then got accepted (people told us we were crazy for doing that). This place had ugly brown carpet complete with dog hair balls (I don't think they ever cleaned) and vinyl all over, a broken fan, hard liquor everywhere and missed matched everything but somehow it just felt right.

After waiting 5 months for this short sale to go through (another blessing) we finally had a place to call our own. I am sooooo happy to be here in this house. It was such a stressful adventure but one I would do all over again.

**if you want to read all about it I'm going to blog the whole process in detail pretty soon just so I can go back and relive the horror!! chuckle, chuckle!**

top....our kitchen before (standing in front of the front door I think.) The open door leads to the 2 car garage.

Our living room with broken fan.

a before picture......before it turned into Dezi's room.

stats: 3 bedrooms

2 1/2 baths

a little office area

2 car garage

a perfect little enclosed front yard.

P.S. stay tuned for the "after" blog.