3 a.m.

I woke up to the sound of puking and quickly jumped out of bed, only to find K on the stairs with lots of dark spots on several of the stairs in front of him and the pungent smell of puke!  We went in the the bathroom to get him cleaned up and I suggested that since we were up that he go pee.  He just looked at me and said he didn't want to go.  I encouraged him again and he said, "it feels like something is going to come out of my butt!".  I tried to keep from laughing and told him he might think of sitting on the toilet in case he had to poop.  He finally decided to do that, but wanted me to stay with him.  He had a series of blow-outs and between the smell of vomit and the noises coming from him, I was ready to toss my cookies.  Then he says to me, "my fots (farts) sound really gross....I think you should cover your ears mom!"  It was quite comical.
Ryan and I spent the next hour cleaning the carpet and I felt pretty sick by the time we got back to bed.  I woke up to a rumbling stomach and thankfully it was only diarrhea, but I felt pretty yucky most of the day.  Glad to be feeling better now and hoping the rest of the house stays healthy!

Maui

Maui has been a lot of rest and relaxation. We spent most of our time at the beach, laying around, reading, watching for whales and body surfing! This year we learned that you could hear the whales under the water so we spent quite a bit of time holding our breath to hear them talking and it was truly amazing!!!! I also read a fiction book (the last hunger games book) for the first time in years (even Ryan who prides himself on how few books he had read in his lifetime).

We've been trying not to get too off our sleep schedule so we've been going to bed every night around 8:30 and we're up at 5:30-6. I have been exercising in the morning since there's so much time before we can do anything. Today we woke up at 6:30 which is 9:30 at home so we're in trouble :(.

The last couple days here called for wind and clouds so we sort of last minute decided to make the trip to Hana. We experienced torrential downpours, sun and lots of rainbows all in a 10 hour span.

It was definitely worth the journey but we were very tired. We saw colorful eucalyptus trees, many waterfalls, black sand beaches, caves (where we got eaten by mosquitoes. I counted 17 bites yesterday morning just from the knee down!), a bamboo forest, and some amazing scenery and views. The road was just as windy as you hear but neither of us got carsick probably because we were so focused on the amazing amount of rain hitting our windshield. We got caught outside in the rain twice and by the time we got to the car we were absolutely soaked. There was a lot of laughing going on :). Our last stop was The seven sacred pools at Kipahulu. There was a 4 mile hike to see a 200 foot waterfall and we were not really thinking we were going to do it because of the rain but then it cleared off in 3 minutes (because that's what it does here) and we decided to make the hike. It was awesome, but seemed like 8 miles! We were very happy to get back in the car and take the unpaved, windy, one lane road (with a several hundred foot drop to our immediate left). We downloaded an app that told us where to stop and little stories about interesting things along our drive which I would highly recommend.

We spent our last day at the pool getting wind blasted and sun burned :).

Back to reality tomorrow......

Swim meet

We got up at 5:30 AM last Saturday to volunteer at Reggie's swim meet. When the home team hosts all parents are expected to participate. Ryan was one of the meet marshals (Responsible for keeping the kids in line) and I was check-in and lead timer.

It was a pentathlon meet so all the kids participated in five events. It was great because the meet was quick and it kept Reggie busy. He got a B time in his 50 freestyle and 100 IM-that is really great for him! I'm not exactly sure what a "b" time means but I know it is good. He has improved so much the last couple months and it has been super fun to watch. If he gets his initial start dive better and his exchanges at the wall, he will be right up there with the top kids :).

I ended up doing a few more jobs… Hospitality… Snack shack. It was really fun and although it was a long day, we all felt accomplished. Head timer was a bit tricky. I had to use two stopwatches when they started the race and if another parents failed with their stopwatch I had to hand one off and then find the fastest swimmer and stop my time when they hit the wall! I ended up with exact times four times and sort of became a little competition :). One of the parents said he's timed at a lot of meets and never had the exact time of a head timer. Who knew I had this hidden talent??!! Too bad it isn't worth anything!

Court Outcome

Well, I wish there was better news. I can't share too much but court took a different turn and I am trying to remember why... Maybe it was because the potential biological father was there and his paternity test was not yet available, but they decided to discuss the visitation issue instead of terminating parental rights.
I took the stand for about 20 minutes and then we broke for lunch. We returned at 1:45 did not reenter the court room until 3:45 and we were finished at 4:30. Lets just say it was not a productive day and we left very frustrated. The next day I was cross examined and Ryan took the stand for a bit. The father did not like how his attorney cross examined us so they had us all leave while they had a pow wow. They parted ways, so after almost 3 years and being on the last hearing, he was appointed a new attorney and that was it for the day. Well, almost....if you remember the visits were dramatically reduced pending the hearing. But we weren't able to finish the hearing because of the new attorney, so they went back and forth and the judge changed the order to increase visitation to one 8 hour visit per month. I have to tell you that we are disgusted with that outcome but even worse was the antics and disruptions in the court room that were allowed. I don't ever want to go back because it makes me so very discouraged. The next date is mid-May and Ryan has been called back to be cross examined. Feels like this really isn't ever going to end :(.
We are looking at having the court appoint us an attorney but if there's a cost involved we will not take that option due to the fact that this may go on for many years and could very well bankrupt us. Other than that, I guess we just be patient and pray A LOT!!!!  I am very glad that there are so many other poisitive things in our lives that we can focus on. We did go home on Friday with a new appreciation for our kids and especially cuddly appreciation for our children and especially Khalif, so there is good that comes from bad....we just have to be aware and look for it :).

Court

This Thursday and Friday, Ryan and I will be in court all day.  We are really hoping that the judge will make a decision that K will be able to be adopted.  Please pray for this process and that truth and justice will prevail.

We did get some good news a week or so ago that visitation will be reduced from 2, 8 hour visits per month to 1, 4 hour visit per month, so it feels like we are finally moving in the right direction!  This change in visitation will be huge for K's stability :o)!!!

Art and organization

We have a bunch of artists in this house!  I don't know where they get it, but they all are good at it and love to draw/color.  Maybe it is because Reggie does it so often and the other 2 participate with him.  Very recently, even K has started drawing things and taping his artwork to the wall.
Last Friday, the kids had an art assembly, followed by family drawing night in the evening.  Reggie had scouts, but chose to skip it to go to art night.  They drew 3 different sketches and then the artist did a raffle of 6 drawings and Reggie was the very last winner and was so super excited!  they have been drawing the same drawings all week on their new nicely organized table.

I finally got the organization bug after a year and a half of living here (maybe it took me that long to recover from moving).  The laundry room has been driving me nuts because it hasn't been very functional and my initial ideas to make it functional didn't work.  I guess with my children if it has a door or drawer, nothing will land in the right spot.  Thank goodness for wire cube cubbies!
My small laundry room project turned into quite the overhaul.  I absolutely love it now, but Ryan was less than thrilled to help me with my project.  The nice thing is that his old office is completely cleaned, the art area and photo books are all in one spot and the laundry room is wide open!  I still have to get a couple cabinets and then I'll be satisfied, but now I'm motivated to work on the garage and other non-functioning parts of the house.  
It doesn't look that exciting, but it is a big improvement :o).