My Sister

And yet another one from the Drafts Folder.  This was a post I wrote as my sister turned 30; she has since celebrated another birthday.  (Do you see how ridiculous I am?!) Still, I wanted to share, because truth is timeless, and...well, because I love her. :)

Today, my sister joins me in the business of being thirty-something.  As per her usual modus operandi, she took 4 years and 11 months to join me in this; her husband will be quick to remind me that she is {always} worth the wait.  

Of this fact, I am well aware. I've heard often the story of the 4-year-old version of myself bursting through the door of our Ala Kapuna Place apartment on the day she came home from the hospital, flinging my backpack (and all niceties) to the floor, and tossing a token "Hi, Mom!" over my shoulder as I raced to the bedroom where she lay: my future playmate, sparring partner, secret-sharer, and accomplice in a very few, very minor crimes--I am, in fact, a quite boring and rule-abiding older sister.  (And I also would give much to hear our mom tell this story again.)

 

Physically, we are nothing alike, aside from the identical subtle (and finely-tuned) expressions used to remind our husbands who is {really} in charge (lest they forget).  Discreet death stares aside, my sister and I are opposites: I am the adorable and slightly squishy sister; she is the charming, beautiful runner whose mere presence can command a room--sometimes intentionally, sometimes not.  She has both the honor and the burden of bearing a beautiful resemblance to Mom; when I look at her, I catch glimpses of our mother that make me both smile and fight back tears at the same time.

 

Growing up, she quickly established herself as the child with a mind of her own, not easily swayed by the preferences and opinions of any who would care to divulge such things; this was sort of cute when she was 2 years old, and became slightly less charming as she got older.  Sometimes, it was downright scary, and there is a thankfulness for the grace and protection that has been hers through these experiences.  To this day, she continues to do as she sees fit, but has called to service the ability to listen more closely to that voice that comes from both above and within; her example has  reminded me to do the same.

 

I talked to her this morning; she recounted how she had fallen asleep on the couch last night, and when Terry woke her to go to bed sometime after midnight, even in her fog, she remembers realizing, "I'm 30 years old now!"  Funny; turning 30 did seem to be one of those things that was both everything and nothing at all, at the same time, in my memory.

 

 

 

 

I never could quite figure out how to finish this post; it's often the hardest part for me when I write of my loved ones, trying to summarize the depth of emotion that runs through this short little body o' mine. So I'll just close this today with a picture of us; love you, Keala.

 

{Thankful.}

 

 

 

Hippo Birdies

It's been three years since I complained publicly about it, but she went ahead and did it again, like she does every year; the nerve.

 

This cutie-turning-beauty made the jump over into 9-year-oldness two Tuesdays ago with her usual gusto and determination; apparently, she has long possessed a slightly rebellious streak: 

 



But when you've always been that cute, really--who's going to argue with you? 

 

*shrugs shoulders*



Oh, dear.
♥ I miss this baby. ♥

 

This year has served me many reminders of time marching on; I learn a little more each day about simply embracing it, and trusting that there is just as much goodness and joy for us in the future as there has been for us in the past.

 

 

 

Since celebrating Malia's last birthday as a Single-Digiteer, we've celebrated a few more in this family:

 

 Oldest Younger Brother turned 28 on the 20th: 



 

 

Husband kicked off his last year as a 30-something on the 23rd: 

 

And Sister moves into her second year as a 30-something tomorrow! 

 

 

Yep--it's the fall birthday season for this 'ohana once again;

bring on the stretchy pants.

 

 

{All for now!}





 

Happy Day

Wow--it's been a big weekend.  Celebrating my 13th Mama's Day, and the official induction into teenagehood for Oldest Daughter--{gulp}.  I can hardly believe it.  And I really wish I could whip up something like this birthday post from last year, but, alas, my writer's block has been insurmountable for the past 11 months.  It'll come to me...

It was a happy weekend, complete with the coolest glow party this house has ever seen (courtesy of The Uncles, of course), and quiet moments of reflection and remembrance.

Let me start off with pics from the party:

This is *my* sweet, well-we-have-to-give-her-credit-for-trying-I-guess
contribution to the decorations.  I'll just note that if you need someone
to hang decorations from the ceiling, maybe a 4-and-a-half foot tall
person will not be the best idea you've ever had. 
(To be fair, it was my idea. :-p)

Group shot on the stairs before admission
to the REAL party.

And, {there} you go. 
Seriously, brothers?!?!  This is how my brothers
subtly let me know that despite the fact that I am the older sister,
they are, and always have been, better than me at everything,
even the pretty, sparkly stuff.
Needless to say, the girls were {thrilled}.

 

A lighter shot, courtesy of the professional. :)

Does someone want to give me credit for this cool idea?
Okay, fine--it was Pinterest's idea.
These days, aren't they {all} Pinterest's ideas?

Opening presents. 
She's gorgeous, no? :')

The grown-ups, seeking respite in the living room. 
(And, a call-to-arms in support of the idea that Christmas
lights should not be reserved for Christmas only.)

As you can imagine, Saturday was recovery day, with clean-up and lots of naps involved.  Sunday has been sweet, with lunch after meeting with the brothers, and Sean, and some sweet-parents-to-be; and then an amazing surf 'n turf dinner with the brothers--I have never eaten so much crab in my life, I think. 

Now, close of day, and another first--first Mother's Day without *my* mama.  Tonight, as I drift off to sleep, I will close my eyes, and I will see {her} eyes smiling back at me, and I will be made infinitely grateful again for lessons learned and impressions made during her short time here.

(Don't forget to hit pause on my playlist in the upper right sidebar.)

 

This was the slideshow Mom's sons created for her service; the opening track is a song our dad wrote as a teenager.  The last 4 minutes or so of the slideshow were added later to include moments from our final farewell to our precious mom.  I hesitate to use the word "perfect" to describe anything other than God's will for our lives, but I'll make an exception here; this day was a {perfect} tribute to her life.  I miss her every day.

 

 

{All for now}



 



A quick post; it's been bugging me just a tiny bit that my fB posts and my blog posts are not consistent with each other.  (You'd think I have bigger things to worry about.)  So, for those of you with whom I'm connected on fB, this is old news; for the rest of you--our family's birthday season has started.  

{Bring on the cake.}

Eight is great!  Our soccer player turned 8 on September 17th.

Here she is, showing off the cool rainbow cake her sissy made for her.

The cool cake Kiana made in celebration of Daniel's 9th year as a thirty-something. :D

Yesterday was my sissy's induction into the Thirtysomethings Hall of Fame; I'm trying to pull a post together for that one, but it just wouldn't be {me} if I'd posted it on the appropriate day. :)

Happy Sunday!

Mish Mash

Words don't come easily this evening, but it's been on my mind to update the blog, and so here I are. :)

Our time home on the Big Island was precious, and something I am still unable to write about.  We returned home to Washington at the end of July, and have enjoyed sweet days full of sunshine, friends and family, and for myself, a constant, aching awareness of having "one less"--miss you, Mom.

And, now, the easy part:

 Finn Turns 4



He happens to be one of our favorites. :)



We Go to the Blackberry Festival



Blackberry Festival on the Bremerton Boardwalk



(Need I mention Kiana took the following 4 awesome shots?  Nah-I didn't think so.)

Littlest.

Middlest.

Also the Littlest.
(Well, he used to be; then he turned 3.)

Bossy.  I mean, BossMan.

Heading home, waiting in the car for Daddy.

We Eat a Lot of Sweets,

and Hang Out with Uncle Kale



She's at it again--my baker extraordinaire.  She has gifted us with brownies,blackberry cobbler, cookie pies, and this "back-to-school!" cake; I assure you, it has all gone to waist. :-9

There are more fun shots from this day, but I am too lazy and/or law-abiding to hijack them from him.

The Girls Pick Blackberries

at Dorothy's Place

Our gracious hostess.

Miki eventually gave up being sneaky about
popping every other blackberry into her mouth.

♥

Happy girl!

SweetTart.

Fresh air, fresh fruit, and a cool old barn--sweet. 
(Oh, and some silly geese. :D )

We Remember



♥ Days in the sunshine ♥

Down in the Valley.

All for now.

Happy Monday!

Words Fail Me...

...as they so often do,
when I consider these children
that Daniel and I have been entrusted with.

And what to write of this child,
who was first to call me "Mama"?

Who, with first heartbeat, and first breath, and tiny hand wrapped tightly around my finger,

helped usher me into this sweet/amazing/terrifying
era of motherhood?
 

Her eyes speak of  kindness,

her lips bear truth,

and her heart (though rarely worn on her sleeve),

lives within easy reach of any who need compassion.

She turns 12 today.

12 seems like a funny age to be a milestone,

but it always has been for this writer.  

13 marks the official induction into "teendom,"

where people expect you to start screaming

declarations of independence.

But 12...

...well, "12" is the quiet shifting of the tide,

when the waters are drawn less and less 

toward the safe shores of home,

and more often toward the depths of the wide open sea,

with all its possibility, and a seemingly endless horizon.

I have been watching and waiting quietly for this shift,

and it has come.

I thought I was watching and waiting from the shore,

but, no; 

I am the shore.

She ventures away more often

to explore every corner of her existence;

sometimes, I am lonely for her, even as she sits beside me.

Each time she goes, she takes a bit of herself, grain by grain, and I want to shout,

"Bring that back here, young lady!"

But it was never mine, always hers,

resting safely on this shore, only mine to hold

until she was strong enough to reclaim it,

and carry it away.

Away over the ocean, away from me,

to her own place, to her own being,

shifting, churning, swirling,

until, finally, she will settle

 and she will become a safe shore for her own children.

But for today, she lingers,

because, she, too, senses the shift,

and today is not a day to be drawn away.

Today she will sit upon this shore, and scan the horizon,

and, just for today,

she will be in no hurry to get there. 

Hau'oli la hanau, love.

*I have to go through this 2 more times?!?!  Ack! ;-D

Ah....much better--I like this background.

If you happened to stop by my blog the other night, you may have gotten caught in the crossfire of my indecision--it was the eve of the first day of the month, also known around here as "The Changing of DoRe's Blog Background Day," in the more rural areas of my insanity.  For a few short hours, my blog appeared to have been the scene of a massive Easter egg explosion, pastels screaming across the page, with pinks, and blues, and greens galore.  It was cute, and seasonally appropriate, but when I logged on the next morning (or was it still that night?), it was an experience akin to this Hawaiian looking at a mirror, and seeing a tall, thin, blue-eyed blonde--it just wasn't "me."  (Although, if the mirror experience actually ever did happen,  I might not feel the need to change things so quickly. :-9)  Now, moving on....

...And I'm back.  This post got shelved the other night; it was much too late for me to try and be coherent, as the paragraph above indicates. :-9  I've been avoiding a post, as it feels like there could be so much to talk about; I don't even know where to begin, or if most of it is even significant enough to be taking up as much brain space as I allow.  I'm just going to let the fingers do the talktyping, and see where this goes; thank goodness for the editability of this medium. :) 

In no particular order:

Songbirds:

Oldest and Middle Daughters had opportunity last month to participate in a couple of concerts through the school district.  As usual, I was MIA where photography is concerned, so here are the scant few I could rustle up (thanks, Dad):



Kiana, the Soloist. :)
 ("Amazing Grace")

 


Halfy Birthday, Malia!

If you've been reading my blog for a while, you'll remember we celebrate half birthdays; this year is no exception.  Malia is now officially 7-and-a-half, as of March 17th.




Malia's Irish roots coming out here--she looks slightly leprechaun-ish, I think. :D


Okay, I need to regroup here; I started writing this post on Saturday night, and it is now Tuesday-turning-into-Wednesday.  I am having a remarkably difficult time uploading photos; I'm going to try to get one of Miki on here, and then this is turning into a "words-only" post.


Princess FrogFeet:

Ever the trendsetter, Middle Daughter saved up her allowance, and picked up a pair of these to add to her extensive shoe collection:

Miki's version of "Happy Feet."



Happy Miki. :)

For those who don't know, those are Vibram FiveFingers.  Super comfy, but wearing them in public may require more self-esteem than I possess at this point. :)  Miki, she's got no problems. :D 
Ack--I give up.  I think this is it for now--I'm exhausted.  This post is incomplete, but if I don't publish now, it may never happen.  If I don't show up again soon, we're having a great spring break, complete with sleepovers, pool time, stomach flu, sleeping in, a little bit of sun, a little bit of rain, and so on.  Hope all is well in your corner of the world...Happy Tuesday!





Exhale

The Fall Birthday season has officially ended here in the Recaido-Arnall-Campbell households.  The 3rd week in September marks the beginning of a long stretch of seemingly never-ending birthday cake in this family:

Malia--9/17

Joshua--9/20

Daniel--9/23

Keala--9/29

Mikela--10/9

Kale--10/17

DoRe'--10/29

It gets progressively harder to fit into our pants/skirts during these weeks; the collective sigh of relief heard on my birthday is really just us giving up on trying to suck our stomachs in anymore.  We then have 3 weeks to hit the gym and recover our normally flawless physiques, before it starts all over again at Thanksgiving.  Haha.

Closing ceremonies took place all day Saturday, starting with a leisurely cup of coffee, some early-morning blogging, a quick workout, and then some general laziness.  Then, off to lunch at Hakata for sushi? Yes, please.

They made me share.  :-)

Abby's face is classic in this group shot. :)

After lunch, home to address the kanak attack, before the guests started showing up for birthday cake:

The early birds get the worm. 
Or sit outside in their car and debate going home because
no one else has shown up yet, and maybe there isn't really a
party here tonight. :)

Middle Brother, doing the usual. :)

These two came all the way from Hawaii for my birthday. 
Okay; not entirely true, but they did come from Hawaii,
and it did happen to be my birthday. 

Talking story.

We have more seating in this house than this picture would
indicate.  We're a cozy bunch.

The very cool pumpkin cake Oldest Daughter
made for her mama's birthday.

 It was a good day to get older. :)

Happy Sunday!