'Twas the Birthday of the King

A couple of years ago as I sat pondering the children's Christmas song "'Twas The Birthday of A King" I was struck by how amazing it is that as we celebrate the King's birthday, He would be so generous as to let us remember Him by exchanging gifts with each other. Any earthly King would certainly expect lavish and expensive gifts and only to himself. People would work all year just to have gifts that were presentable to the King. They would travel from the far corners of the kingdom just to be present to bow before the king and give their gift. Now our Heavenly King wants us to commemorate His day by remembering and caring for each other. Of course He wants us to live righteously and keep His commandments, but that is not for some self aggrandizement, but rather for our own happiness. We can trust Him to always have our best interests at the focus of everything He does for us.

Gingerbread Extraordinaire

Gingerbread houses are one of the signs of Christmas. Those edible little buildings, that most people have such a hard time getting to stand upright and hold their load of candy, were the subject of our visit to Honolulu yesterday. At the Sheraton's Princess Kauilani Hotel in Waikiki, Chef Ralf Bauer has created a wonderland in gingerbread. He used 60 pounds of dark chocolate, 20 pounds of white chocolate, 30 sheets of gingerbread, and 120 gallons of icing to build a village that covers one side of the hotel's lobby with magic. It took him 250 hours to put this masterpiece together, but it certainly puts all my humble efforts with this art form to shame. Included in the village are a couple of small working trains, a carousel, and a sky ride with little electric lights and plenty of snowy landscaping all around. Topaz, our grandson, was totally fascinated watching the creation in operation. So was I. By the way, that's Chef Bauer with me in the picture.

GCB is Ruined

Oahu has been inundated with rain lately. Mayor Mufi Hanneman estimates the damage as at least 2.7 million dollars. Since Amber's blog published pictures of the flooding right here in Laie, I thought I would update you on the damage in one particular place. The GCB, general classroom building, is the headquarters for the School of Computing and Mathematics at BYUH. It also now houses offices for the school of Business. Your Dad's office is in this building. The entire building is a mess and all the carpeting is a total loss. Your Dad spent a number of hours after the rain cleaning the carpet in his office and one lab in order to do a final exam at 7:00 A.M. After all that, the Dean came in and said that he felt the area was too dangerous to have students come in. Your Dad finally told students that he would trust them to take their finals wherever they could find a computer to do it on, dorms, library, etc. and they were on their honor not to cheat. As all the carpeting was ripped up throughout the building, the custodial staff unplugged your Dad's little office refrigerator and left it unplugged overnight. Fortunately he went in early enough to discover that mistake before his Lean Cuisines all thawed out and he lost his lunches. Books and papers that were stored anywhere on the floor were lost, but most of the computers were on little shelves under the desks in the labs and so were undamaged. Special troughs that had recently been put in to hold the wiring however were filled with mud and water. It will take a few weeks to get this building so it can be functional again. The first two pictures are your Dad's office specifically and the third and fourth are labs. Of course there was other damage on campus but this is the closest to home for us. Rain has continued, although it is slowing. Streets in Laie are piled high with ruined belongings from residents in the area. Everyone is awaiting insurance adjusters before these things can be hauled off. Our ward, Laie 6th, was the most devastated in the Stake and so as you can imagine everyone has been doing laundry, taking in meals, and general cleanup for their neighbors.

I am the Bunny

While you may wish you were the Bunny, I am the Bunny- the energizer bunny , and I will keep going and going and going.

My recovery from surgery is progressing rapidly and later this week they'll let me drive again. I'm adjusting to life with a pacemaker and have learned some things, or at least I hope I have.
1. I can't control everything and I should quit trying, relax, let God help, and enjoy the journey.
2. People really do care. Put a sling on your arm for a few days and suddenly people offer to carry things, open doors, etc. Meals were brought in and phone calls were received. Love, concern, and support abounded all around.
3. I really only have one body and I ought to try a little harder to take care of it. Medical advancements are amazing, but natural good health should not be squandered.
4. I already knew God loved me, but once again He has confirmed it. I am awed by Him.

(note: Sorry-that whole "wish you were the bunny" reference is an inside family joke)

I'm Battery Operated

I've been in the hospital. I now have a pacemaker inserted in my heart. For about three days before Thanksgiving every time I stood up I would get really light headed. Even so I managed to help distribute the turkey dinners for the needy in the ward, wrap my kids gifts, and fix dinner for Thanksgiving. Tim did offer to bring me a stool to do all the work while sitting, but I said I would rather have help, so he peeled 4 potatoes. Amber helped whip them and made the stuffing and set the table, etc.

After dinner I could hardly walk to the bathroom without holding onto the wall. I felt like this lifestyle was just not going to work out for me so asked Tim to take me to Kahuku Hospital to see what the trouble was.

My pulse was 34 although blood pressure and everything else was OK they transferred me by ambulance to Castle. (They told your dad he couldn't drive me because the top and bottom halves of my heart were firing irregularly. It was a complete electrical blockage (not a heart attack or stroke. They told daddy if they both happened to fire at the same time it would be very bad)

At Castle it didn't take long to determine that I needed a Pacemaker put in my heart. They put in a temporary one very soon. A wire was threaded through the vein in my neck down to my heart and electrical pulses were applied with plans to put in a permanent one on Saturday. Unfortunately the temporary one wasn't so good so it often stopped catching and by Saturday after it had stopped about 6 times and so my diaphragm had started trying top create a pulse making me look like a serious hiccup case they zipped me into surgery for the internal pacemaker.

A small incision mas made in my left upper chest and the pacemaker inserted. Only local anesthesia is used. I will wear a sling for two or three days so that I don't move my left arm too soon and dislodge the thing and die on the spot. "Yes, I am 99% dependent on this little pacemaker in order to stay alive."If I need to talk to a doctor I can just call in, hold the receiver to my chest at the equipment site and it will transmit directly to him the battery life and status of my pacemaker and situation.

I should be able to go home tomorrow and as long as I keep my energizer bunny current I can just keep going, and going, and going, through the millennium I suppose.

l

Giving Thanks on Thanksgiving

I have no greater joy than to know that my children walk in the admonition of the Lord. I am grateful. I love all four from the depths of my very being. They have all married wonderful chosen spouses whom they love and whom I love too, and my grandchildren are a delight in my "old" age.

I am grateful that like Nephi I was born of goodly parents, reared in the church, and taught the ways of the Lord and loved by a mother and father and sisters. I miss my parents but their example and teachings guides my footsteps today. I am thankful for sisters and a stepmom who give me a family to belong to and love to share throughout my life.

A wonderful and loving husband shares my journey onward through whatever joys and challenges we may face. I know he loves me and he leads and blesses me by priesthood power. His kindness and patience sustain and fortify our marriage for eternity.

Many times I have rued the day computers came into my life because they seem so complicated, but today I am grateful that they have made genealogical research so much easier. In the last week I was able to have 48 baptisms and confirmations done and 15 sealings for my ancestors because of the greater ease in finding what needs to be done through the church's new Family Search program. Though much work remains, I am grateful to be trusted with this awesome responsibility.

This Thanksgiving is the 85th birthday of my mother-in-law. I would like to say I am thankful for her and the patience and loves she gives to me. She is a great example of all the good things I hope I can learn to be. She must have been a great mother as she raised 10 children who all remain true and faithful. Her son, my husband is so like his mother in many aspects and they both continue to bless my life with a better vision and greater understanding of how to become Christlike. I love you Mom!

Polynesian Cultural Center Still #1

Friday and Saturday we went to the Polynesian Culture Center with a couple that is being interviewed for a job at BYUH. Tim is the head of the hiring committee for this particular position so we were kind of responsible for showing them around a bit. Anyway, we hadn't been for awhile and were anxious to see the new shows and updated features. You'll be happy to know that the Poynesian Culture Center is still the number one tourist attraction in Hawaii, although the down turn in tourism is certainly obvious during these economically stressed times.

A couple of changes to the place include an updated night show and a new section about the Iosepa,the boat built as a replica of the early sailing vessels of how the Polynesians first came to Hawaii. "Iosepa" is the Hawaiian word for Joseph. Several million dollars were spent on the A-frame shelter that the boat is stored in let alone the cost of building the boat itself. When in the ocean they often anchor the Iosepa by Hukilau beach area and have classes on board. The new presentation at the PCC tells in Hawaiian chant and dance the story of the coming of the early peoples to Hawaii. It is very well done and interesting.

Another change is that the island of Marquesas no longer has a show, which used to be a "pig hunt" because all the students from Marquesas have graduated and there are no new ones here right now. This village is now just an exhibit, which is a loss, I think.

One of my favorite villages has always been the Samoan one where they climb the palm tree, make fire by rubbing sticks, and crack the coconut with one blow and make coconut milk by shredding the meat and gathering it into coconut fibers and squeezing it. The leader of this village is an excellent comedian so the whole show is great fun. The new addition is a side show of this village where students and younger children explain the weapons used in early Samoa and show the fire dances that they are learning to some day be prepared for the big performance at the night show. It was a good close up of the practice and so interesting to watch. I shall attempt to include some videos with this blog of that practice.