Christmas in Hawaii

It seems every Christmas since we've moved to Hawaii has been very different. This year I worked 12 hour night shifts on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Thankfully it was a good group of nurses that were also scheduled to work and so we had a pretty good time celebrating together.

Mark wasn't able to take the trip to the mainland, so we enjoyed Christmas morning with our two precious girls and our dear friend Kaye. Yes, we miss our family on the mainland, but still enjoyed the holiday season here. We are most thankful this Christmas that we have a Savior!


When I got home this morning from work I snapped some pics of the girls enjoying the mild Hawaii weather.

fun photos

Wanted to post a few photos. One is of me reading to all of the kids. It is very rare to see all four together and sitting still, so it was worth documenting!

The family went to the zoo! We had a good time, Lucy's favorite animals were the macaws.

Ella and SJ have left for the mainland to spend Christmas with everyone there.  We miss them, but I must say having only two kids for a little while is a nice break.

Merry Christmas everyone, or as we say here on the islands, 

MELE KALIKIMAKA!

Education

“Joy and happiness in living, a love of all existence, a power and energy for work … the need for imagination, a sense of truth and a feeling of responsibility, these are the forces which are the very nerve of education.”
-Rudolf Steiner

Saint John has been homeschool this past semester. We have both learned a lot from the experience. I have learned how little I enjoy teaching and how much I enjoy seeing my children among a class full of other children their age. I realized that I am not called to be a teacher, and that's okay! Saint John has learned that he misses seeing friends on a daily basis. Thankfully there is another acceptable option. Next semester SJ will be attending a Waldorf(www.hawaiiwaldorf.com ) school which is conveniently located near Ella's school. I am so thankful that he will be able to join a classroom full of other learners! This school, by the way, is looking for a 2nd/3rd grade teacher for next year if anyone knows anyone who might be interested.
Waldorf education tends to be very touchy/feely which may not work well for all students, such as very unmotivated ones. But thankfully, SJ is very bright and probably needs more touchy/ feely stimulation. He tested in the 98% for math and reading this year, so I think he will be just fine where ever he is. 

By the way, Lucy is going to be attending their pre-school program as well. She will be starting in January, and will be going 5 days a week. I don't know what I will do without her. Well, since I'm starting school, also, I'm sure I will have plenty to do! 

Geneva and Mama

Geneva is 4 months old!

Family outing

One of our favorite places, a place we call the lava field. The tide was really low so we were able to find and play with lots of hermit crabs. I think that is what Ella is holding in the second pic.                    
Mark wanted to show Geneva the waves and got a bit too close to the edge and got a good splash. Thankfully, Geneva didn't seem to mind very much.

If you have ever wanted to learn to paint.

Then you will benefit greatly by Mark's new website! It's how I learned to paint and countless others. My step son designed the website, and I think it's wonderful! Check it out,

drawmixpaint

give Thanks, give Hope

Hi friends and family!                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                I have recently become involved with a non-profit, www.solehope.com, based in Asheville, NC that "offers hope, healthier lives, and freedom from foot-related diseases through education, jobs, and medical relief." I was wondering? Have you or one of your family ever had a parasite of any kind? Well, to get personal, we have.                                                                                                                                                             In the past couple of years, the kids have had head lice, and we've had fleas invade our home. On that note, I can't imagine the hopelessness of not having access to a drugstore to buy the essential products to get rid of these nasty pests!                                                                                                                                                                                                              This Thanksgiving season SH is having a medical supply drive to help give the HOPE of healing to those suffering with jiggers(a type of flea in Africa that can cause someone to go lame if untreated).                            I am asking for donations of large safety pins, gauze wrap, and stickers for kids. You can simply order them from amazon or gather them, and package them and have them shipped directly to SOLE HOPE at this address:   PO Box 1492, Asheville, NC  28802                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              Thank you all for helping me give Thanks and give Hope!! Love, Emily                                                              

pictures only, Geneva 3 months

Georgetown here I come

I am so excited to post that I was accepted into the Georgetown graduate nursing program!!! I am going to be enrolled in the online program, where I will complete my academic assignments online, but my clinical assignments here in Hawaii. My plan is to start school at the end of January, attend part-time and complete my Masters in Midwifery/Women's Health in 2 years.                                                           Yay for learning, Yay for school!

Sole Hope!

I have recently become an Ambassador for a non-profit called Sole Hope. Being an Ambassador means  that I speak out and try to spread the word about how others can help the work of Sole Hope. This work includes helping make and distribute shoes for children in parts of Africa who are at risk of getting jiggers in their feet(among other awful parasites!). Go to the website and check it out for yourself!  Also, Sole Hope is always looking for more Ambassadors, so if you think this is something you might be interested in, you can apply on their website.

My son

Saint John is my only boy. He has been different since birth. When my first born, Ella arrived she was wide eyed and calm. On the other hand, St. John came out screaming and fighting. He has always been very passionate. It's extremely difficult for him to sit still for a long amount of time, and he would probably be diagnosed with ADHD if I really thought about it.
He has always been the kid in the family that catches every cold and stays sick the longest. It's always been a mystery to me.
Recently, he had a cold and after 3 weeks of him slowly getting worse, we took him in and his asthma(which has never been officially diagnosed) had caused him to form pneumonia. So he had to start neb treatments and antibiotics.
Because of his tendency with the asthma I've been researching and learning that asthma can be linked with food allergies that manifest in several different ways. For years I thought the only way you could know you were allergic to something is to see it on the outside, such as a rash on your skin, but now I've learned it could be manifested on the inside, such as in the intestines. The intestines is where most of our immune system resides and so SJ could be eating something to cause his intestines to become inflamed and unhealthy and therefore unable to fight off virus germs.
So, we are starting a new diet for SJ, the first thing we are cutting out is the wheat products. We are hoping that will help him. If not, we will move on to dairy. Thankfully, we already limit the sugar in his diet and he loves fruits and veggies.

If anyone has any helpful advise---I would welcome it!!

what am I passionate about?

When I watched this video, it only fueled my passion to become a midwife and work to help women all over the world...

birth is a dream

Birthday Play

For St. John's 8th birthday, we headed to the black sand beach known as Honoli'i. SJ rode waves on his boogie board, and everyone else played in the sand and surf. This was Geneva's first exposure to the beach and she was extremely alert and interested. My friend Donna and her son joined us, also. 

Great fun!

Must see

My step-daughter Ellen and her husband Matt made a visit from LA earlier this month. Here is a link to their blog about the visit. It's got lots of great photos!

Running in the rain....

And loving it!

Can't get my sh** together

Lately, I feel like I've been running around aimlessly, just keeping my head above water. I can't tell you how many times I've wanted to sit down and share something here, but it seems impossible for me to be able to sit down for more than 30 seconds to type. I guess that's to be expected when you have 4 kids, one being a newborn, one home schooled, and one 3 year old who doesn't go to preschool.
I've been frustrated with myself as a mother like no other time in my life. I'm impatient with the kids and impatient with Mark. I'm constantly asking for God's mercy!...but shouldn't I be doing that anyway?
I've been struggling with living in the now, trying to enjoy the many blessings God has given our family and not just wishing for "when this or that". Mark gave me a wake up call when he made an innocent observation the other day. He said, "Emily, you are living your dream, right? Didn't you tell me your dream when you were younger was to be a mommy and have 4 kids?". It's like I was jolted awake from sleep. I thought, "yes, and I'm making myself miserable much of the time because it's much more difficult than I thought it would be!".
My conclusion was that all God calls me to do is to believe in Him and rest in His perfect will. I will never have my sh** together, and God knows that, and He loves me anyway....I want to rest in that.

Found this growing in our yard!

Sweet Geneva. Can't help but post a pic of her.

Picture post: Ellen and Matt's visit

Birth Story of Geneva Palmer Carder

I wanted to write the birth story of how Geneva arrived, here on my blog, so that I will have a record of it forever. Be warned, it may contain "too much information" for some readers.

July 24th: Arrived in Honolulu to wait for Geneva's arrival. We decided to experience her delivery on Oahu with a Midwife and in a "baby friendly" hospital(which means the baby never leaves the room of the parents).

July 30th: Appt. with Midwife, 39 weeks, baby looks good, dilated 2 cm, midwife said it could be tomorrow or it could be 2 weeks still.

August 1st: Mark gets food poisoning---and is severely ill. So thankful I didn't eat what he ate!

August 4th:
6am, Woke with a contraction that felt different. I had been having contractions throughout my pregnancy, but they most felt like tightening with very little pain. The contraction that woke me on the morning of the 4th was more painful and intense.

9:30am, Left for the North Shore. I was still having contractions, but they were very inconsistent(one every 15-20 minutes). Looking back this was not a great idea, but I think I was prepared for another long labor(18hours with Lucy), not willing to believe it would be any different.

1pm, Back at our rental in Waikiki, wanted to get out and walk some. We walked to the beach, Mark got some lunch, and I floated around in the water feeling more contractions. I believe it was at this point that I allowed myself to relax and welcome the contractions.

3pm, Walking back to the rental is when the contractions started coming at regular intervals and labor was in full swing. I showered and made sure our bags were packed.

4pm, I called the hospital and explained everything to the labor nurse who said I could come in now or try to labor a little longer before coming.

4:45pm, Mark was getting VERY anxious and convinced me that we should leave for the hospital. I was determined that I did not want to arrive at the hospital in early labor and only a few cm's dilated, so I was trying to put off going as long as possible---needless to say this made Mark very nervous!

5:20pm, Arrived at the hospital. When we walked up to the nurse's station there were a couple of nurses, the doctor, the midwife, the clerk all sitting around since there was no one in labor at the time. After I left the desk, they all made guesses among themselves as to how much I was dilated, the consensus was 2-3 cm based on how much pain I appeared to be in. But when I was checked by the midwife I was 7 cm(100% thinned, with a bulging bag)!! At this point I was very uncomfortable(understatement) and the contractions where coming every 2 minutes. At the height of each contraction I would think, "I can't do this, it hurts too much, I just want the pain to stop", but then the midwife would tell me it won't be much longer and I was doing a wonderful job.

5:55pm, I was fully dilated, the midwife broke my water, and I began to push. Baby was crowning after one push, the midwife was so helpful by panting and grunting with me, she used mineral oil to ensure that I didn't tear, and she coached me through 2 more pushes and Geneva was born at 6:05pm!

Right after Geneva was delivered and was in my arms for the first time, Mark turned to grab his phone to take some pics, he glanced out of the window and saw a double rainbow. It was an indescribable, amazing moment!

Thank you, Father God for your abundant blessings!!

Geneva is here!

She was born on August 4, 2012 at 6:05pm. She weighed 7 lbs. 13 oz., 19.5 inches long. Her full name is Geneva Palmer Carder.
I will post the details of her birth later.

Full term!

Yes, I am now considered full term at 37 weeks pregnant, but hope that I don't go into labor until I get on Oahu, which will be on the 24th.  Of course, I am very uncomfortable, but have every motivation to NOT go into labor yet.
I have been applying to several master's in nursing online schools these last few weeks. The one that most intrigues me is Georgetown with a dual Midwifery/Women's Health Nurse Practitioner degree. If I decide that I can handle it full-time I can complete the program in 18 months! We shall see.....

Maku'u market then the BEACH!

Mark took Abby, Mason, and Lucy to eat lunch at the Maku'u farmer's market, then to Honolii. I was trying to get some catch up sleep since I worked the night before. Working 12 hour nights is really taking a toll on me lately. I'm glad I only have a few shifts left before baby comes!

Abby and Mason

Abby and Mason are here and we are all enjoying their visit, especially Lucy!

This picture was taken at the tide pools near the Hot Ponds not to far from our house. 

The next step?

I've been thinking and praying a lot about what the next step in my life should be. I mean besides attempting to be a decent wife and mother on a daily basis. I can tell you right now that I do not plan on being a nurse in Hilo forever(not there is anything wrong with that). I have big dreams, now I just need the courage and wisdom to know how and where to begin.
My first dream is to go back to school and become a midwife so that I can assist women, here in Hawaii and around the world, in natural, safe childbirth. There is a huge need around the world for midwives!
On that note: this lady is such an inspiration---  Edna Adan  At the age of 65, she cashed in her retirement, sold her car and built a women's and children's hospital in Somaliland! My point is, it's never too late to think big and go for your dreams, especially when it involves serving others in God's name.
Another dream I've had for a while is to travel to places like Edna's hospital, take lots of photos and then paint inspiring, beautiful paintings that will educate and enlighten others to the "real world" outside of facebook and the country club.

I don't know what God has in store for our family, and that's okay. But we will continue to pray that He will lead us in His good, pleasing and perfect will day by day.

And to leave, a pic of Lucy where she is happiest....anywhere outside playing!

Volcanos national park

Haven't been in a while. Love this place!

Just some more yard pics...

and pics of our silly dogs.

Why not try?

So I filled out an application for a chance to win a small business grant for my painting/artwork. It seems like a long shot, but there are no risks involved in trying!

To even be considered for the grant, I must have 250 votes.... so please go here and vote! I think you have to login and then search for Emily Carder, in the State of Hawaii. When you find Inspired Art by Emily Carder click on the Vote button beside my business info.

Thank you!

Little Bird

Yesterday, we found a little dead bird in our driveway. It had flown into and collided with our friend Kaye's car and then ended up dying in our driveway. It's a Japanese white-eyed and oh so lovely. I let the kids hold it and look at it up close, and before I knew it they had named "him" and were picking flowers for him. They acknowledged before I did that this little creature had a soul and is one of Jesus' precious creations.

²⁹ Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground outside your Father’s care. Matthew 10:29


Isn't he beautiful?

Lilikoi flowers

....which means lilikoi(or Passion Fruit) will soon follow!

The other bloom Ella found and wanted to share.

Discovery: Rock climb in the front yard

This afternoon St. John discovered a perfect little rocky/grassy wall for the kids to climb. Everyone got completely worn out and even the dogs joined in! We've lived here 6 months and are still discovering new aspects of the property.