Child Services

To say I'm disappointed in Child Services would be an understatement. This is a group of people that are suppose to be there to help children that are in bad situations. Yes there are going to be people in any job that make mistakes but when this is your job and you make a mistake it can cause a lot of heartache. Take my friend Sara for example. She had her kids taken away, her oldest, who is the same age as my oldest still worries that they'll come back for him. Sara won her case against DFC which is Great! I'm so happy but the thing is a. they took the children away BEFORE they asked questions and b. it cost them a TON of money to win this case. Now since they were innocent to begin with both these facts are absurd! Of Course DFC doesn't agree with the judges ruling and have said they will keep fighting this. So my question is how much money will they receive back to cover their legal fees and when will DFC admit they made a huge mistake?
Now because we live in the age of the Internet and the military moves us around alot we know alot of people. Unfortunately that's not the only person I know that has/is dealing with child services. Another friend Stacey is going through it too. Different reasoning's behind it, another innocent mom accused.
I'm not sure what needs to be done. I do know not all workers are so careless in accusations, I do have a great friend that children are lucky to have when she takes on a case. Workers do need to follow up on leads. It seems not everyone truly has the families best interest in the mind. Then too you hear of stories where children who truly needed out of the family situations were left with them and something tragic has happened. A serious overhaul needs to be addressed in our country for these services.
Knowing we live in a place where we are sue happy and the fingers are often pointed was a big reason we joined HSLDA. Now none of the above families are homeschoolers, yet when you do something 'different' it seems the finger may point to you. So staying up to date on legal matters and having a legal team on our side if the need should ever arise seems like a smart decision for us.


------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

In other news, Happy Birthday to my wonderful husband!!!!

We made butter over the weekend. I did take pictures but the camera was in the black and white setting so nothing really exciting about a black and white picture of butter! The kids had fun, each of the older three took turns shaking the container until, voila butter!
Sunday is a blurr, I remember picking James up from work and trying to make biscuits and gravy before church. Didn't quite have enough time to get the gravy just right but I think we will try to eat this a little more often because a. its yummy! and b. I'll be able to remember how to do it easier!
The kids made clay in science this week. J shaped his into a race car(which requires a lot of imagination!) and the I's made smile faces. J has painted his the others will paint today and then I will take pictures to share their creations.
I5 is turning 6 soon. She and I went out shopping yesterday. I think we have has started a tradition of doing birthday shopping with her every year. We have a lot of fun with it. The thing she really wanted was fingernail polish and she got a kit with nail polish and lip gloss. She is currently painting the younger brother's toes......hmm How do you think they'll look in pink and purple?

The older three just completed their first night of Awana's club . They all seemed to enjoy it and were all tired afterward. It'll make for a long Friday for them. I know I enjoyed talking to other christian mom's while they were in class and hope they are getting as much out of it as well. One mom was talking and I just had to stare at her for a minute because I was thinking of what she said. I was thinking of how different it was, now it wasn't anything totally off the wall but it was just the difference of someone committed to Christ and what someone of the world might say. I was realizing how use I am to comments of the world and how I need to guard myself against becoming use to them. Anyway just a little insight for me tonight and maybe you need to guard against outside influences as well.
The kids did learn one thing today. They have to wear close toed shoes and long pants. This is not something we normally do in Hawaii so we were not prepared and they didn't get to play the games. They were understandably a upset but still had a good time and now we know how to dress for club night.
It's been a busy week here and we haven't got to do alot of the extra activities that are studies have suggested. I'm hoping to play a little catch-up this weekend. Kids have been really interested in stars and directions(compass) this week. Also today they pulled out some craft books from Usborne that I have. They were making pirate hats, mice, crowns, lots of things. I was so impressed how well they could follow directions and just be creative without any input from me.

Pool time

My friend Michelle was showing us pictures of her boys swimming. So keeping her in mind and her great shots(She is very handy with the camera!) I decided to take the camera to the pool for a change.
Now you must know it took many outtakes to get them to jump at the same time. They kept trying to beat each other in the water!


She takes after me with the holding of the nose under water drill. Later on she put her goggles on which cover the eyes and nose.


This is classic. It seemed every time he jumped in the mouth was wide open, it's a wonder he didn't drink the whole pool!

It's dangerous to be the holder of the baby. He loves that splashing so the water is constantly in your face:)

A day at the pool is not complete without trying to push daddy into the pool. Yes, success!

Made from.......

My kids are always interested in where things are made.
Overhead at lunch today "You weren't made in China. You were made from God."

Hiking

We've sadly neglected our hikes since the youngest was born but we are determined to get back into it. Upon hearing that we were going on a hike today our 3year old asked if we could take a walk after the hike. Which caused me and his sister to smile, she tried to help him understand that a hike was like a long walk. He was still determined to walk afterwards, so we told him we'd see what he thought after we were done. It was a beautiful day here. We went to an old favorite up in Aiea Heights, was reminded again that it was a holiday-I don't think I've ever seen so many cars there! The trail was very muddy, we got sprinkled on and rained on but had a good time.
Here is daddy dragging J3-I mean helping him-through the mud. I wasn't sure if it was a good thing J had his old shoes on or if it would have been easier on him if he had the new shoes that had a better grip to them.

I have to say J did so well. About the last 20min he got tired and we had to encourage him to walk but considering it took us 4 hours today and he's not use to it he did awesome!

I & I lead the group for most of today. This picture cracks me up as I caught I7 with his tongue out:D



the landscape




These flowers were some of my favorites to see dot the hill sides. There were some purple ones with berries that I loved also. It was so lush and green(and muddy!) so different from the area we live.




As we were finishing the Hike J3 decided that he didn't want to take a walk afterwards(snicker) although I fully expect him to ask again before bedtime!

a word about gecko's

Now if you visit us you might be surprised to see a gecko run across the wall. Soon you will grow to love the little critters as you realize how helpful and cute they are, you might even name one! That being said a word of warning about these little beings. My dear husband had a first last night, yes it involved one of these innocent little creatures. There he was sitting at the computer minding his own business. Hears the little guy calling to his friends when a few minutes later he feels something on his neck...hmm what could it be?? Looks up and there is a gecko right above his head. Anyone know if it's good luck to get pooped on by a gecko? I tried hard not to laugh as I don't want to be next to get hit but come on it is a bit funny yes?! and it only took us 4 years to happen:D although I'm not sure I'll be able to look at a gecko the same way now.