Attitude

Tonight I wore pirate skull and crossbones earrings to the adult session of Stake Conference. Like this, but mine are gold.......

I am becoming a rebel.

~Kim

first generation church members

Church here is a lot different than at home.

No, the women don't have the priesthood (wait, in one branch on one of the islands a misguided leader DID do that) and the gospel teachings are the same.....but some times some strange things pop up.

I have to remember that most of the members here are first generation; meaning that they are the first person in their family to be baptized. This leads to some sweet teaching moments. About a month ago, a dad was blessing his baby. He went up to the pulpit to do the blessing and started talking, welcoming people, etc. The bishop pulled him aside of the microphone, with Elder Coleman, and the father was given about a three minute instruction on how to give a baby blessing. It was a sweet moment as this dad was given instruction and we practiced patience and love.

Forward to today. I was sitting in sharing time for primary, happy that the Primary Presidency had come today. Last week everyone was gone and so I got to do sharing and singing time. One of the counselors got up to do the sharing time. She is new in primary (since I have been here) and is a very visual, tactile person. She always has great visuals for the children to see and focus on. Today she was sharing how the scriptures and their teachings are a great treasure for us, better than earthly treasures. She had a beautiful red cloth draped over the table area and then placed a box in the middle of it with different jewelry pouring out of it. Great visual aid.......too bad the box was from a bottle of Johnny Walker.
~Kim

Fasting funny

Kambrielle began to fast when she turned eight in July. It is a huge struggle for her every month and she is trying to get through it.

This last Sunday she began way too tired....having teen-age sisters doesn't do much for her bed time. We just forget that she is only eight and let her stay up with us. And then we pay the price the next day.

So, Kami was ultra-tired and then went to primary and the substitute teachers brought everyone in class cookies if they were good. All the other kids ate theirs immediately and Kami held on to hers. So, here she is staring at these delicious cookies and knowing that she has to wait and wanting to wait, but wanting to eat them too! (Know the feeling?)

She started whining and whining and whining and........ Finally we had all had it! Kevin told her to find something to keep her mind off it and she cried "I did! I was practicing my Spanish on Rosetta Stone and it started a new lesson! It had me saying 'Ella come. El come. Ella bebe. El bebe' I can't stand it!!!!"

I burst out laughing......translated those mean; "She eats. He eats. She drinks. He drinks."

She just couldn't win.
~Kim

Newest Members of the Family

I have been looking for some kittens for the girls for the last two months. I told my friends Charmaine and Julie and they were on the lookout for a kitten for me. While at the vet, Julie found out that there was a mother cat that had just had kittens and that we could have one in three weeks, when it could leave its' mother. She took photos of the kittens, so that we could choose, and brought her camera to Girl Scouts. I showed the photo to Kari and Kambrielle and told them that Kevin and I had decided that they could get a cat. Kari about hyperventilated and cried right there at school. They went home and told their sisters and we had the happiest girls around.

Fast forward a few weeks........ The lady with the cats won't call us back. No kittens are available..............insert sad and disillusioned children here. You can't get kittens here like at home. You don't really see them on the streets much, or people giving them away. I don't know why you don't see them more, especially with all the rats that are here, but I have my suspicions......(think dinner meats)

Friday when Kevin got back from work in the early afternoon we loaded the girls into the van and headed off to El Arca, one of the pet stores here in town. They had two kittens.... and only wanted $210 a piece. They were a himalyan siamese mix. I asked the worker there if he knew of anywhere we could go to get a kitten that just needed a home. He looked at me like I was insane and shook his head no (of course, I did interrupt his computer games he was playing...)

We went to another pet store in town and they also had three kittens for sale. These were a steal at $278 for the black ones, or $334 for the orange one. Needless to say, we left there without purchasing anything. We did enjoy looking at the monkey they had for sale. It had an infant that was clinging to its' back and it was really cute. They won't sell them to Americans, is the rule, but I am sure that if I had the money they would sell it to me! (something about the way we can't bring them back into the US)

Kari suggested we try a pet store in a poor area of town, that we pass on the way home from Kevin's work. We headed back there and headed in to talk to the owner. They only had dogs, birds and fish. I asked the owner if he knew of any kittens and he was very kind to make some phone calls. I told him we didn't want a pedigree, just a kitten that needed a home. About 15 to 20 minutes later a man showed up on a motorcycle, holding a box with 2 very scared kittens. The girls immediately fell in love and, after a bit of negotiation, we left with 2 little girl kittens and spent about $27 for the two. Kevin and I decided that we would get two so that they could keep each other company.

We brought them home, bathed them, and fluffed them up. (They took the baths without a problem) Throughout the night the girls played with them, observed them and came up with names. The one with the gray markings is smaller, but more adventuresome. She goes exploring and gets into everything. She is named Sophia. The one with the black markings is much more timid. She jumps at everything and is learning to trust us. She is named Giuliette (Kaitlin wanted the Italian spelling of Juliette).

Hopefully the twice weekly baths and brushing them will keep my allergies at bay.
My eyes are itchy, but my children are happy!
~Kim

Really Random

Yesterday Kami was hugging me as we waited for the elevator to come up to our floor. She squeezed me really tight and said, "I am glad you are chubby. It is nice to hug chubby people."

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Two weeks ago I was riding in a taxi home from the temple. We have only one car and Kevin needed it and so I was using public transportation. I was having a chat with the guy driving when he needed to swerve to miss a pothole. I asked him...(conversation translated from the original Spanish)

me: "What do you call those holes in the road?"

him: "Holes in the road?"

me: "Yeah...you know, the holes that we get after a big rain."

him: "holes"

me: "You don't have a special name for them? In English we call them potholes"

him: without a pause "Maldito hoyos" (translation... d*#* holes)


They have really amazing potholes here. They are everywhere after a big rain, which translates to all the time. People in Utah complain about the road conditions there, but they have nothing on the roads here. When you are driving down the street you are constantly swerving around these potholes. It feels like living in a video game.


Once I was in the Colonial Zone with Elder Coleman's daughters. They were visiting and wanted to do some souvenir shopping. Since the Coleman's were busy with an assignment I volunteered to take them. We got a bit lost coming back (lots of one way streets that are wide enough for one car only) and so were coming back up a street I don't normally go on, when there was a big pothole in the road. I am talking huge! This hole had one of those blue plastic water barrels in it, and then another water barrel stacked on top of it that was 1/2 way in.....so this hole was 1 1/2 barrels deep! I barely squeezed the van by and the ladies started yelling for me to back up so they could get a picture! No way! We barely made it by the first time.


Wish I had the picture though!

~Kim

Computer challenged

Hey look! I changed my background! And without Kierstin's help!

Will wonders never cease?

~Kim

Still laughing.....maybe.

Still trying to keep up with the attitude of laughing at what life throws at you.

Woke up last night with the bed shaking and the door slamming ......yep, earthquake (5.6). I kept shaking Kevin, it felt like forever but was only a few seconds, trying to wake him up saying "Kevin, earthquake!!! EARTHQUAKE!!!!" He says "Yeah, I feel it", then turns over and goes back to sleep!

I got up, checked on the girls, checked the house and then went to bed and worried about Kaitlin and Kari. They are at a Stake overnight campout for seminary students. There was no information here about the earthquake, so I had no idea where it was centered (93 miles SW of Santo Domingo, in the ocean) and didn't know if it had affected the girls more or what.

This morning, when Kayli checked Facebook, she saw that there had been an earthquake (her friends talking about it) and came running to tell me. I informed her and Kami that I knew, that they had slept right through it and that all was fine. Their only real experience with an earthquake is with what happened in Haiti and here in February. Kami was, understandably, concerned.

All is well, and it was just a small earthquake. Hopefully, I WON'T get used to them!

-Kim