Trees are GOOD!

The last day of spring break I took the girls and two friends to see Dr. Seuss' The Lorax. It was a very environmentally friendly film encouraging us to appreciate and nurture our trees which give us fresh air to breathe.

ALERT SPOILERS AHEAD if you have not watched the movie.

The movies starts off in a beautiful happy town. All the greenery we expect in a neighborhood (i.e. trees, bushes, flowers etc..) are inflatables which the towns people have to pump up every morning. Apparently there are no real plants that exist in this town... at least anymore. And instead of getting spring water delivered to your home, you can buy fresh air (in the same Alhambra water containers). The delivery man delivers it to your home, you drop it into your stand (as like if it was water) and turn on the fan to start blowing fresh air into your home. How ingenuous is that?

Of course there is one character, a young girl, who dreams of owning a real tree (that apparently only existed long long ago), and a boy who likes this girl and wants to get her a tree for her birthday. His grandma tells him he has to find the person who was responsible for destroying all the trees to get the full story of why the trees disappeared. I'll stop there and if you want to find out what happens you just have to see the movie.

The girls loved the movie and afterwards I took them to lunch. Rachel and Adrianne wanted In-N-Out burgers and my girls wanted spaghetti from Jollibee so as a good mom, I bought the spaghetti and brought it to In-N-Out. Now everyone is happy!

Visitors

We had the great pleasure of having the Yew family come for a visit. We enjoyed a nice dinner at the Elephant Bar and the next day, breakfast dim summing.

It was a rainy but beautiful time catching up with old friends.

SuperHeroes

Spirit Week continues and it's Super Hero Day. The kids got to dress up as their favorite or made-up superhero!

Can you guess what Emily was?

She was BirdGirl. She used her a towel as her cape. I clipped some of her decorative birdies on it and on her hair. Her daddy put a bunch of feathers throughout her hair and she wore a bird whistle around her neck. That's her super power. She can call and talk to all the birds.

Her good friend Adrianne was The Green Machine. She helps nature. A perfect pair!

Her friend Caryn, was Hello Kitty Girl! Yes, they were very creative!!

Double Vision

Twins.

People say that it's easier to have two at the same time and get it all over with at one time... the pregnancy and birth and all.

My former teacher-colleague had twins... a boy and a girl (her daughter is also named Hannah). A friend from Portland had twin girls (I never could tell them apart.) Matthew's cousin is currently pregnant with twins. Twin boys actually. They already have two sons... so that makes four boys for their growing family.

When my sister and I were growing up, my mom dressed us alike. That's what parents do to their kids especially those of the same gender. I guess that's the closest you can get to having twins. (Heather, I know that you'd appreciate this!)

My sister and I with homemade dresses made by our dear mother.

More handmade dresses and sweaters. I cannot believe how short they were. Of course my brother did not participate in the  twining. My mom even cut our hair the same.

So, of course, when I became a parent and had two girls, I did what any devoted mother would do...

You can even have triplets... (you got to love Gymboree clothes)

Grown-ups can even get into the picture.

The girlies with their Auntie Matthea

Here is Emily's BFFL, Rachel...

...and with her mother in homemade Easter dresses. (The girls are much bigger now. Angela looks exactly the same. She doesn't age.. really!)

This week was Spirit Week at KHA. It was Twin Day. Emily and her friend, Caryn were twins.

... And yes Emily does have glasses even though she never wears them. No braces...yet.

Here are some of her classmates:

The boys even got into the spirit!

I guess it's more fun pretending to be a twin than actually being one! So they say!

Aloha

For the first time in CCS/KHA history, the 5th and 6th grades had a social. It was called Hawaiian Paradise which took place at the school on a Friday night.

All her friends were dressed up aloha style...

Even the chaperones (aka all the middle school teachers) were dressed for the celebration.

Emily said (since parents are not allowed to attend) there was dinner (pizza, Hawaiian bbq), games (limbo, ping pong table) and movies playing (The Muppets and Puss-n-Boots). She said it was a bit disorganized (coming from a type A daughter) since everything was pretty much going on all at the same time. I guess that's what a 'social' means... no 'scheduled' plans to do anything... just a time to hang with friends. And that's what they did! She had a great time!!

Good Monday

I accepted Jesus in my heart when I was 12 years old. My cousin, Cheryl, prayed with me in her dad's office one weekend. She was 13 years old. I remember that I wanted to go to heaven and the only way, she said, was to be a Christian. So I wanted to go to heaven, so I prayed. No questions asked.

Many years later, in college, I learned that there was a lot more to being a Christian then just going to heaven. It was not to follow rules: the dos and don'ts. It was to have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. I rededicated my life to the Lord when I was a sophomore in college, at a time when I was in the 'pits' and that life was just darn painful and sad. I have to thank my mentor, Christine, who helped me see the light and snapped me to my senses. Since then God truly helped me through the ups and downs of life. I cannot imagine my life without Him.

When I became a parent, I knew that I wanted my kids to know Jesus the way I did. Jesus has such an incredible gift of life for us... who doesn't want an incredible gift? And I wanted to be the one to share that gift to my kids. Not a Sunday School teacher nor pastor...but me, their Mama.

So when I homeschooled Emily, on Good Friday, the day when Jesus died for us on the cross, I shared the prayer with her and she accepted Jesus in her heart!

3-1/2 years old Emily

When it was Hannah's turn to be homeschooled, on Good Friday, the day when Jesus died for us on the cross, I shared the prayer with her and she accepted Jesus in her heart!

3-1/2 years old Hannah

It was such an honor and privilege to guide both my girls to know Jesus as their Savior. I never thought I would lead anyone to Christ. Evangelism is not my 'forte''. (It's my mother-in-law's though:)

When I taught Emily's class two years ago at CCS, on January 27, I was able share about Jesus to my class and five students wanted to pray to ask Jesus in their heart. One of those girls was Shawna, a good friend of Emily's who we vacation with often.

This Monday, I was substituting in a third grade class and during the Bible lesson I was able to share again, the good news of why Jesus came to this earth to die for us so our sins can be forgiven so we can have eternal life in heaven with God. One student wanted to accept and pray the prayer. So again, I had the honor and privilege of praying with her. She was so happy and I was thrilled for her! And it wasn't even Good Friday... yet.

Good Friday is good because the death of Christ, as horrible as it was, led to the Resurrection on Easter Sunday which brought new life to those who believe.

That truly is the BEST news anyone can hear, know and accept.

Audience

Check out who was watching me eat lunch the other day?!?!