Christmas in Hawaii-

Was lovely. We have been having an exceedingly rainy winter, but Christmas Day has been nice and sunny.
We took Lucy in her trailer for a bike ride around the hood.

Here's hoping everyone had a very Merry Christmas!

Oh My!

What a busy time of year this has been!
Can I tell you what's been going on here? Well, we moved into a new house, I am now employed at 3 different establishments, and we hosted a Christmas party last week.

We love our new home, it's more roomy, and seems to be more fun for the kids to play. We have a large paved area where the kids can skateboard or ride tricycles, which has been great, too.

I am working at 2 different home health agencies, trying to juggle the hours and not be away from home too much. I am also working at a Cancer Retreat center where I give infusions(this one is very part time, thankfully!).

We hosted a Christmas party last week. We had a blast, especially the kids. Ella said the morning after the party that she wished it could go on forever. During the party, St John decided to dress up like Spiderman, and was running around with the costume on, mask and all, when he ran through on of our sliding door screens. Thankfully he wasn't hurt(except maybe his pride) and the screen had simply popped out, which we fixed the next day.

We got a Christmas tree this year. I think Mark got it at Walmart, the same kind you can get on the mainland. Lucy loved taking the ornaments off, playing with them and putting them back on. Ella made our star for the top, see pic....

Let us not forget this holiday season, the Tree of Life.
My dear friend Steve Malone introduced me to this lovely hymn:


Jesus Christ the Apple Tree

The tree of life my soul hath seen
Laden with fruit and always green
The tree of life my soul hath seen
Laden with fruit and always green
The trees of nature fruitless be
Compared with Christ the applle tree

His beauty doth all things excel
By faith I know but ne'er can tell
His beauty doth all things excel
By faith I know but ne'er can tell
The glory which I now can see
In Jesus Christ the apple tree.

For happiness I long have sought
And pleasure dearly I have bought
For happiness I long have sought
And pleasure dearly I have bought
I missed of all but now I see
'Tis found in Christ the apple tree.

I'm weary with my former toil
Here I will sit and rest a while
I'm weary with my former toil
Here I will sit and rest a while
Under the shadow I will be
Of Jesus Christ the apple tree.

This fruit does make my soul to thrive
It keeps my dying faith alive
This fruit does make my soul to thrive
It keeps my dying faith alive
Which makes my soul in haste to be
With Jesus Christ the apple tree. 

Explain this:

A scene from the Target in Hilo, Hawaii.

The bunny at the Halloween Party

This past weekend, we went to a family Halloween Party and everyone had a blast(thanks Jenni!). The kids got to play games and win candy and prizes; Mark and I got to mingle and talk with some very interesting people.
But the highlight of the night, at least for Lucy, was a very friendly bunny. Lucy got to hold the bunny in her lap and she was absolutely thrilled!

Emily got a job!

Yes, I finally found a nursing job. I am working part time for a home health agency located in Hilo. As of now,  I am seeing one client in Hilo and one in Ka'u(southern part of island) on a regular basis. I am also completing client assessments(which a RN must do) for the agency on different parts of the island.
It's good being back at work, and it's good I'm starting back slowly because I think I would miss Mark and the kids too much if I had jumped in full time!

Playdate!

Lucy and I are part of a weekly Mommy and Me play group. We always have such a great time, and this past week was no exception. We went to one of the other mom's house to play and they have a new kitten. Lucy had never held a purring kitten and she was so curious and of course loved it. She also loved playing tea party with her friend Coen. She has such a growing imagination!

Blogging break

I've taken a break from blogging lately. First of all our satellite internet will not allow me to post pictures lately and that is very frustrating. Also, we've been busy with school, homework, painting projects, and so much more!
So, please be patient with me and hopefully I will be blogging again soon.

End of the summer

It's the end of the summer. Well, officially today is the first day of fall, but there are absolutely no hints of it here. I miss that.

We have a small garden that is finally producing. We have tomatillos, Roma tomatoes, and ONE artichoke. I think I might let it bloom just to see what the flower looks like.

We also still have 4 dogs living with us. All of them are sweet and silly in their own way. Kahiki is probably the laziest. Judge for yourself....

Reality TV Project link

http://www.markcarder.com/cw/

Mark (and I) have been working on a reality tv show project. He recently made a website that shows the basic concept of the show, so that we can show it to possible producers, etc.

Check it out!

Another walk with the fam

Climbing trees never gets old

Singing in the Rain

--and boy has it been raining! I'm starting to lose count. I can't remember how many day, weeks in a row it has rained. Yes, there have been a few hours here and there that it's been sunny, but mostly not.
We've had a LOT going on around here, which I won't go into now, but some very exciting things indeed!

I snapped a shot of Lucy singing in the rain today. And we found an orchid blooming along one side of our driveway.

Difficult beginning

Ella and SJ started school on August 1st. Ella is in 3rd grade, and St. John in 1st. Sadly, in the first 2 weeks of school SJ has already missed 3.5 days of school due to health issues. Since returning from his 6 week visit to the mainland to see his Dad, he has been showing signs and symptoms of asthma. We are so fortunate that we have healthy kids and I have mostly taken it for granted....until now.
SJ has seen a doctor here, and is scheduled to see his regular doctor in Birmingham when he goes there in December. Let's hope and pray that we get this thing under control and he can live like a normal 6 year old boy(that wants to run around and play constantly).
Thank you Lord for inhalers! because it's very scary not being able to breathe.

Grandma and Grandpa are here from Birmingham!

And we are having a great time visiting with them.
Grandma bought Lucy a new swim suit, that she immediately wore to swim in the hotel pool.

$10 for 10k Run

Help me help the women and children of the Congo! Go to:

http://www.active.com/donate/runforcongowomen/emilycarder

Here are a couple of photos of my friend Meria who is from the Congo! She is a great friend and I really love getting to know her. She came to the US as a refugee, but many of her family(those who haven't been killed) remain in Africa. She hopes to one day be reunited with them.

The smell of sulfur

There are cracks in the earth that start down near the liquid hot magma that lead to the surface where gas escapes. That gas has a high sulfur content which is obvious from the rotten egg smell and the strange colors it stains the surrounding rocks.

One of the following photos is of a steam vent, can you see the difference?

You can't stop flowing lava-

and it obviously took over this road.

Ellen and Matt

Ellen and Matt are visiting from LA and we have been having lots of fun showing them around the Big Island. I haven't had a chance to take many photos, but here are a couple from our walk along the coast in the National Park.

Running on another planet

I ran the Kileuea Iki trail in the Volcano National Park yesterday, and it was like running on another planet. I started running on a trail in what looks like a rain forest, then at the bottom of the trail it turned into a black cinder rock cooled lava lake. Kileuea Iki (iki means mini or little) erupted about 60 years ago and when it erupted it created a lava lake 300 feet deep, that lava is still cooling and putting off steam(which I saw on the trail). If you come to the Big Island I would recommend this trail!

running again

Since returning from Birmingham about 3 weeks ago, I've started running again. Yesterday I ran 6 miles. The amazing thing is that I can run any time of day and it's not too hot up here where we live, and coming from the heat in the South it's really different. In Alabama, even if I were to get up at 5am to run, the heat and humidity would still be almost unbearable.
I've enjoyed it more than I thought I would. It's a time when I zone out, talk to God, listen to the birds, feel the breeze, and organize my thoughts.
I run here most of the time:

Abby and I went horseback riding

For Abby's 10th Birthday present I took her horseback riding in Waimea. She said it was a dream come true. Abby's horse's name was Maui, mine Bradda(which is Brother in local Hawaiian lingo).
We had a great time.

4th of July rainbow walk

These photos were taken on a closed road (because lava flows have cut it off) which runs along the coast in the Volcanos National Park. It's about 40 minutes from our house, 30 minutes of that being in the N Park. We go there to watch the big swells crash into the cliffs, and it's always VERY windy.

We arrived about 45 minutes before sunset. The weather was perfect, with a wonderful breeze and a sky full of rainbows. We kept seeing one after another, growing in intensity. These photos just doesn't show it, but it was by far the most intense, brightest rainbow I have ever seen. Likely because we were in the shadow of the mountain and direct sunlight was hitting this patch of sky only on the exact spot, relative to us, that caused maximum effect.

Morning at Pohoiki

Sunday morning before church we stopped at Pohoiki so that Abby and Mason could do some boogie boarding. Lucy and I wandered around a bit so I took some pics in the morning light.