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Hawaiian Heldts

Fits, Giggles, Happenings

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Saturday, 22 January 2011

I wanted to add some photos, I know this blog isn't something fancy where I bare my soul....but it had been a record of my family for so long. I've forsaken writing here! Life has been so busy lately I haven't made the time to post memories and fun times here. But I need to. Not even for me but for the kids really.......

I've thought lately as my role of "keeper of the memories....and I'm not doing such a great job! It's a sad thought since I love photography~ and have slowly fallen out of it. Love writing, and do none of it.....ah. It's a busy season in life and though I could do less and try more, it's just about rearranging time and making time. I've stopped doing art, sewing, all things creative (except for making babies apparently)......and I don't think motherhood needs to be about completely losing yourself to give life to others. Though it comes pretty close.

I'm trying hard to hide in this office today but I am easily found to reposition Rapunzel wigs and go through baskets and boxes.....I need to invest in some camo!

The days are long for now, we live 45 minutes from school, Dave is teaching till after 5pm.....so it's me and the kids for long stretches of time. Years ago when the Dave got home mid afternoon, I couldn't imagine handling all this by myself on a regular basis. Now, it's life and I love it most days. Most days it's fun. We are homeschooling from 9-12 (with a serious ISH on the end of those numbers) and loving our seriously funny 2 year old and baby. (Seriously Gracia should take her show on the road, she cracks everyone up.) And this Momma's girl of a baby is such a doll. A little firecracker. She's just starting to really love the chaos that is our home for the most part. She longs to be right in the middle of the school room playing with the math manipulatives....learning right along with the rest of us, me included.

See? Our little comedian on the end, then the kind hearted little boy with all those sisters, the baby and Ellie-kins. Baby lover, Momma in training. Sigh. I love these guys.

All those feet that putter behind me all day calling my name (sometimes ad nausium) ....they are precious in His sight.....and mine.....

Friday, 15 October 2010

Has it really been 2 months since I've posted here?

I've totally forgotten about xanga. How very sad! This was the place I first started blogging when Jonah was a little babe, and now 6 years later.......I had completely COMPLETELY forgotten to check on things around here or blog about things around HERE......I guess that tells you how consumed I've been about life and the big move. Can't say the consumption has been a good thing, can't say that at all.

Monday, 09 August 2010

Moving on Moving Up!

I haven't shared all the details on here in full....but we are moving!

No not the blog, our family is officially moving! It's a longish/shortish sort of story....it begins like this:

My parents have lived here in Hawaii for over 35 years, but they both love the mountains, taking road trips and seeing more nature than cockroaches and mongoose. Around 7th or 8th grade we started taking Skiing trips to Angel Fire, New Mexico where my parents bought a small condo. We would return every year to this small, cozy little town for fun and adventure and snow! Something we are a little short of here in the islands. It's a place they've dreamed about living for quite some time now and finally that dream is becoming a reality.

They found a house they love, one they can create anew as their own. They've worked over the last year to get it ready for them, the final push coming with the movers taking away their treasures and us piling up ours within their house.With that there came the question of whether to sell their home or keep it, and thankfully they've decided to keep it, and let us live in it, potentially own it somewhere in the future~those details are yet to be finalized. Keeping the house also allows my brother to remain here, working for the family company. It gives my Parents a place to come to when they travel back and forth from NM to Hawaii on Business or for visits.

It's been an emotional and stressful journey trying to pack up us and move in to them. I've been spoiled with having my parents live so close for so long. Through all my pregnancies and babies being born. The good times the bad times. All of it. So with the moving in we teeter on happiness and sadness, excitement and exhaustion all at once.

For the last two weeks we've been trekking back and forth, slowly transitioning our lives from here near the coast, to the middle of the island. It's been rough to say the least. The realization of just how much JUNK we really own is overwhelming. Then deciding between what really is Junk and what is loved and treasured junk is exhausting! Further more packing, hauling, unpacking is well........draining.

But this morning I was reminded by

Philippians 4:8

⁸Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.

This move, though difficult, tiring, exhausting.....is incredible. It's a HUGE blessing for our family. A chance to start over financially and be debt free, and chance to spread out in a home that actually fits our growing family. A place where we are closer to our church family and friends. A fresh start at reorganizing and purging what we've crammed into this little home. THAT is what I need to focus on now and in every situation. There is good even in that which is difficult. Though sometimes it's hard to see the good, hard to focus on the truth, hard to see the light at the end of the proverbial tunnel. It is there.

Saturday, 17 July 2010

Closing up Shop {for a bit}

We stared making slings 4 years ago with the birth of Ellie, our oldest daughter. I remember seeing another Blogging mom wearing her baby and I was amazed! I leaned in close to the computer screen with my mouth wide open, just staring. What was that thing???? Of course I asked her, it was a sling! I was a new mom, I had a Bjorn but it wasn't as comfortable as I had hoped.......oh I needed a sling!

After googling and searching I saw that slings were not only gaining popularity but they were.....expensive! Something I definitely could not afford. But being the crafty art major I was I again started searching the internet for instructions on how to make them. I found them easily enough and that very day I was a the store buying fabric for my very first sling. That is how the ride began.

It took months before we had what we thought was a great product. I had tried pleated shoulders, unlined, lined, flannel, cotton, closed tails, open tails, new folds around the shoulders, steel rings, aluminum rings, adding toy tags and inseam pockets. It was an adventure, and I loved it. I still do.

In lean financial times God provided a way for our family. We had the privilege of meeting tons of parents, inviting them into the world of baby wearing and sending them away with what we thought was a stellar product. We were proud of our work done late at night when everyone else was sleeping! We had fun picking out new fabrics and trying out new ones for ourselves. We were proud to be a small business at the Big Baby Expo, born out of necessity, grown in love.

But sometimes in life we have to make hard decisions....heart decisions. The idea of closing up shop has been lingering for over a year now, maybe even longer. I am so hard headed I didn't want to believe that closing the business and shutting down the website was even an option. It wasn't something I was ready for. But sometimes when you hold onto something and continue for it to be a burden and a stress, well it turns into being a huge negative mentally, physically and for me even spiritually.

Life has seasons, and though my babywearing season is far from over, my sling making season needs to be on pause. I can't say I'll never make another sling (especially for gifts AND myself!) but to try and run a business, care for a family, homeschool and serve in Ministries at church.....it's all too much. So after much prayer, muh sadness and even tears, we've decided to pack it up for a while.

Now while it's sad for us, it may turn out to be a great deal for some of you! If you are looking for a sling to buy OR make. I've decided to sell off the slings I have made and packed at our wholesale price, and to sell sling making kits as well. The kits will include the top material cut and ready to go, the rings, toy tags and instructions for sewing. You provide the liner of your choice! I might even go as far as to sell some fat Quarters of my material because boy do I have a LOT!

Here are some links to the website highlighting all the deals for anyone interested.

Keiki Kuddlerz

Let me know if you have any questions and don't forget to check back, I'll be adding already made slings as well as kits and fat quarts as I locate the images in my computer! If you see a material you'd like in fat quarters but not a kit, please contact me at:: keikikuddlerz@earthlink.net and I'll let you know what I've got available!

Saturday, 26 June 2010

Feminism can take a flying leap!

SO I've been doing a lot of blog hopping and book reading lately on the subject of The role of a wife and mother. And let me say for beginners I am quite shocked at what I've found. There is a growing group of meek yet not so timid women who are actually joyfully raising their little girls to be homemakers, to stay at home and serve their husbands and children. Now the question is are you offended or intrigued?
To tell you the truth I was at first, a little offended. Not because I see anything wrong with being a homemaker (I should hope not since my mother an I are both homemakers!), but to intentionally and specifically train your daughter to be a homemaker? I had never heard of such a thing! Many thoughts ran through my mind, what about your talents and gifts? What about security of having a career and job in the event you lose your husband? What about your education? What about your contribution to the finances? What about..........what God wanted for your life? This was my first clue I had been brainwashed by feminism.
From the time I was a little girl, everyone asks what you want to be when you grow up. What do you want to do, where you want to work. To be honest my first thought was never to be a Wife and Mother. I can give you a long list of careers I dreamed of having as a young girl, none of them included the two most important roles a woman be. The two roles that we were created, gifted and blessed to be. I never realized that this was the ugly face of feminism, telling me in secret that being a wife and mother weren't roles to aspire to.
You see feminism is clothed in bright, beautiful garments, whispering in your ear and telling you that you are so much more than just a homemaker. That you were made to do and be all that a man can and is. That if you don't enter the work force, get educated, {conform} you aren't worth as much as those who do. It has told generations of women that choosing to stay at home wasn't acceptable or valuable. That you were worthless. Worth less than those who pounded the pavement and held their degrees, attaining and surpassing men in rank and wage. I know because my own Mother suffered from this prejudice. Her idea of her own worth and the importance of her career were damaged because of this.
Feminist Simone de Beauvoir states, "No woman should be authorized to stay at home and raise her children. Society should be totally different. Women should not have that choice, precisely because if there is such a choice, too many women will make it."
Vivan Gornick states, "Being a housewife is an illegitimate profession...The choice to serve and be protected and plan towards being a family-maker is a choice that shouldn't be. The heart of radical feminism is to change that."
And unfortunately for many, it has done just that. Wages for men have gone down making it nearly impossible for the average husband to support his wife and family forcing scores of women into the work force. Woman have been lied to and convinced that taking care of those most important to her isn't a job, isn't important, isn't valuable. I have even made the mistake of saying, "I don't have a job!" I've been a wife of 11 years and a mother for almost 6 and it's only now that I am beginning to embrace and understand my role. And the more I learn and study, the more I can identify the areas where feminism and a world view of service has damaged my attitude as well as my identity as a housewife. What I should be and will be focusing on from now on, is my Biblical view of a wife and a mother. Because according to the Word of God, without me, man is incomplete.
Reading the creation account in Genesis 1 we find a few things. God was pleased with His creation, many times He called it "good". One time though, he looked on all that had been formed and declared something "not good". You know what it was? Loneliness and need. Adam was in need of a companion. He wasn't just bored being by himself, didn't just want someone to talk to, he needed someone, his existence was incomplete. Nothing could complete him other than someone who could help him, be with him, someone compatible. Not of dust, like man was formed, but from his side, God formed his helper, his mate, his companion. And when woman was made and God's creation was complete what was it that God said? It was good? No, He said it was Very Good. We are a special part of God's creation that He sees as very good. Our role as wife not only compliments our husbands, it completes the picture of what God says is very good. Adam alone, without a helper, was incomplete. We weren't an after thought or an "Oh yeah!" We were the final touch, the icing, the perfect compliment, that "special" creation that was needed, for God's creation to be deemed very good.
Let's take a quick look at the "illegitimate profession" of Keeper of the House. According to Proverbs 31 an excellent wife is one that is hard to come by. Why is that? If anyone can do it and do it well, aren't we a dime a dozen? Isn't it a talentless, menial job? No, she is trustworthy and loyal to her husband, she is thrifty and industrious and adds to his wealth, she is talented in many areas, she is a seamstress (a creator of beautiful things) she is a talented chef, providing healthy and delicious foods some of which she may have grown, she is resourceful and has an entrepreneurial spirit and mind, she is strong and willing to work hard, she is up early and to bed late making sure her house and those in it are cared for~it is her priority, she is generous and cares for the poor and needy, she speaks and does good to her husband, her service to him and their children allow him to fulfill his God-given duties and roles as she fulfills hers, she contributes to her husbands success, she has strength and dignity, she fears the Lord, she is wise and plans for the future, she is a teacher of wisdom, tempered with Mercy and kindness, she is skilled at managing the home and all that goes along with it, she uses her time wisely. And because of this, her children will bless her and praise her. Her husband will have a good reputation.
The saying, "Behind every good man, is a good woman." Is true! If it weren't for the dedication and hard work of a willing wife, the husband cannot be successful in all that God has called him to be. In my season of life I am seeing this first hand as Dave has been called to the Ministry. God has been opening up more and more doors for him to share His word and teach! God is transforming Dave's love for teaching science, and using it for His glory. If I am not capable of caring for the kids and the home, for making meals and training our children, he cannot fulfill his calling.
I hear you, you are chanting along with the feminists, "What about your calling? Your talents?" I use them everyday! I majored in education, homeschooling our children I use that talent and passion every day. I majored in Art, I am free to create and "do art" all the time, though it may look different than Painting 101, I create! Having 4 children has allowed me to study and research pregnancy and birth which I am passionate about! I have a love for learning that keeps me quite busy all week long! Scores of other women are using their talents in running their homes everyday! It's no small task to run a small business such as a family. It takes intention, organization, shrewd business skills in many areas. It takes hard work and determination, kindness and love, patience and mercy. It takes brains to be an excellent wife.
Many people have asked if I will return to teaching (in a school) once the kids are all in school. I always answer, "I don't know! Maybe!" For many reasons. More recently I have actually started to enjoy my role as a wife and mother, which for a long time I didn't think was possible. I thought it was normal to struggle with this stage of my life and basically not enjoy it. I don't give a clear answer because I don't know the future and life has been so full of God's desires and plans rather than my own, that I have a hard time focusing on the future in that sense. I think "maybe" because I like my peers, I like working for and with my best friend, he's a lot more forgiving and friendly than those I've found in the world. I can't be fired from this job;)

My heart has been opened to fulfilling my role as wife and mother in a way that is pleasing to God. I desire to serve my family in a new light, one that previously hadn't shined in a way that it does now. I supposes I didn't realize just how special my role was. Through my role I am serving not only my family but my God.

Matthew 25:37-40
³⁷ “Then these righteous ones will reply, ‘Lord, when did we ever see you hungry and feed you? Or thirsty and give you something to drink? ³⁸ Or a stranger and show you hospitality? Or naked and give you clothing? ³⁹ When did we ever see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ ⁴⁰ “And the King will say, ‘I tell you the truth, when you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters,^[f] you were doing it to me!’