Have a Wonderful Easter!

I believe in Jesus Christ and I know that He died for me. I know that His suffering was beyond my comprehension. My heart can hardly handle the thought of His body hanging limp on that cross, held only by the nails placed into His hands and feet. Tears streak my face as I imagine witnessing these events.

The beauty... the MIRACLE is that He stepped forth from the tomb. HE LIVES!

I know that I am never alone, and I will stand beside Him and be a witness of His love at all times. I hope that your Easter is wonderful and that your greatest 'find' is the joy and peace that can be found in the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Hawaii Highlights...Oahu

WARNING: Long Post with LOTS of pictures!

Honestly, I don't even know where to start... this post will be long enough in a condensed version. If I told you every wonderful thing about Hawaii, it would be way too long! I guess I'll just start at the beginning....
We left on Christmas morning after all the festivities... in white-out conditions (which was perfect for Christmas, by the way... I'm a huge fan of white Christmases). We were worried that our flight might not even leave... but it did - and right on time. 

Sidenote:

Although we think it's funny now... it was not so funny at the time... when we were going through airport security, the officer asked each of the kids their names, ages, etc to verify who they were. When she asked Trevor his name, he tilted his head and cooly said in his best french accent, rolled R's and all, "E-trev-air". It came out more like "Rafael".

The security guard looked at me, quickly thumbed back through the tickets in her hand, and looked back up at me. I was in such shock that I just gave her a blank stare... I had nothin. When reality set in, I turned to Mike, who looked just as shocked as I did. Silence. And then out of sheer reaction, I thumped Trevor on the back of his head. Yep, thumped him... and said, "Tell her your name... that's not funny!"  Luckily, she had a sense of humor and let us through, with a little lecture for Trev... and Trevor used his real name for the rest of the flights. Oh, my silly little clown boy!

We took lots of snacks for the plane ride (thanks Miles Fam, for that tip... it saved us a grundle!) and the kids had all kinds of activity books and their ipods. It was fun to watch Trevor and Tessa when we took off, since it was the first plane ride they can remember. They actually held hands and I didn't get a picture!

When we landed just a few hours later on Oahu... ahhhh, sunshine and warmth! It was especially nice for me to feel the warmth, since I got a major head cold the day before. We only spent less than two days on Oahu... here are our highlights:

*Walking barefoot down Waikiki beach Christmas night

*Pearl Harbor

*Some of the most amazing trees we've ever seen (which I didn't get pics of - sorry!)

*Going to the National Cemetary

*Looking out over the city and breath-taking views

*Tessa's baptism into our church

*Being part of a historical island-wide blackout: the power went out right as we parked in the LDS Temple parking lot and we were without power for 12 hours! Not a highlight because it was much fun, but because we can say we were there when it happened. Mike waited in line for an hour and a half at a little convenience store only letting two people in at a time to control the crowds... and we ate junk food for dinner. Ick. Then we packed our hotel room in the dark the next morning... only to have the power turn on right when we walked out of our room, all packed up. That would be our luck. Here are some pictures:

Next up: our Big Island adventures!

Tessa's Decision

Tessa was baptized last Friday... on the 26th. Just before sunset we went down to a private beach on Oahu and she walked into the ocean with her daddy. Our friends Kevin & Chase Cottle were the witnesses. Chris read us some scriptures and gave a small talk. It was such a wonderful experience for all of us! A lot of the pics look like it was totally dark, but really we had plenty of light and it was absolutely beautiful! To keep in form with Hawaiian custom, when Tessa came out of the water, we put leis around her neck and kissed her precious face. Congratulations, our Tessa - we love you so much!

These pictures are the ones we had taken on Tessa's birthday:







P.S. More of our Hawaii pics will be coming soon!

I Hope They Call Me on a Mission...

Our nephew, Stephen, got his mission call this week... to Macieo, Brazil. Congratulations, Stephen! We are so excited for you! The bottom pic is of his mother having heart failure... and I had to post it because I thought it was so funny and cute - and so Randie!



And Stephen... I have news for ya... SOCCER on P-day in Brazil (wink)... you just wait... those kids will be begging you to play with them! Trevor was very excited for you... he says the only place he wants to go on his mission more than Brazil... is Portugal. I told him he shouldn't pick where he wants to go on his mission based on a sport, but like I said in my last post... that's next week's lesson.

Sorry, Rich, I had to steal the pics from your blog... thanks for sharing!

Learning to Teach...

It has come front and center to my mind lately that I need to do more in teaching my children some of the basic truths of the gospel. It's been humbling, but I promise to do better. A couple of my reality checks:

1. I intercepted a tithing envelope from Tessa a couple of weeks ago.... and quickly scribbled over the note she had written on the back of it: "Dear bishop, heres som mony for you. I hope you can bye sumthing you want."

We had our Family Home Evening lesson tonight on tithing.

2. I overheard Trevor explaining to Tessa what missionaries are: "They're these guys that just go to RANDOM COUNTRIES and teach about the gospel."

Our lesson next week is missionary work.  

My Heart Melted...

My heart completely melted yesterday during sacrament meeting in church, when we were singing. Mike nudged me and pointed to Trevor, my 9-year-old. I couldn't hold back the tears when I watched him, with the hymn book just inches from him face and singing loud and strong, with full purpose of heart, 'I Believe in Christ', as though the words he was singing were piercing his little heart and melting into his whole being!
When the song was over, I looked over at Tessa, my 7-year-old, and she was drawing, and again I teared up at what she had just written... 'I am a child of God.'
How wonderful it is to know that my children are growing in the gospel of Jesus Christ and know that they are children of God... and that they do believe in Jesus Christ... we are so blessed!