BOOK REVIEW: THE CLEANSING OF AMERICA

Title: The Cleansing of America
Author: W. Cleon Skousen
Number of Pages: 146
Number of Stars: 4

Cleon Skousen is also the author of "The 5000 Year Leap" which I think everyone should read. I found this book to be very interesting, but not as informative as The 5000 Year Leap.

The first half of this book, while disturbing, was a more interesting read.  He took more out of the scriptures and other sources for the first portion of the book.  When I started reading this book the voices in my head were just screaming in unison "AAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!!"

You could have many long and heated discussions from this book!  I really liked that it brought new thoughts to my mind and made me think.  I am not sure how anyone will actually survive everything that is going to take place before the millennium.  I think I need to work on my faith so that I won't be scared senseless when these things are happening.  I came away from this book really, really hoping my eyes won't rot out, and also the eyes of those I love!  In reality I hate to think about that happening to anyone.   I am a believer that all of the continents used to be together in one large land formation, so the thought of Earth becoming like that again would be incredible.

The second half of the book was more about forming a "Zion" people.  The interesting thing about this is it seems to basically boil down to communism by choice rather than force.  I found this to be a less interesting read and I think he put much more of his own opinions into the last part.  I just decided that if I survive the horrible eyeball rotting disease, the earthquakes, the wicked people, the thundering, and tsunamis, the cleansing fire, then I will worry about how the government will be set-up.  I think at that point people will be very humble and more willing to help each other and listen to each other. It will take something of that magnitude to get people who are in positions of power to think about "the people" again, assuming any politicians survive!

I plan on re-reading this book, because I am sure I missed a lot the first time around!

Jr. Green Belt Test

Isabelle had her Taekwondo test for her Jr. Green belt today.

Overall she did pretty good.  

 

She is still about as fierce as a bunny rabbit.  

I am hoping that the cute "disguise" can work to her advantage if she ever needs to fight in real life.

 

Doesn't her dad, I mean Master Kim, look super impressed?

This is a video of her form. 

Not too shabby for a 5 year old. 

Good job on your test today Isabelle!

We are so happy that you love Taekwondo.

 

She said to me the other day "Mom, I don't really want to be a dentist (Soungsik and I have been dropping hints), what I really want to be is a Master Kim, just like my dad!"

I'm a Big Kid Now

I am putting a disclaimer on this post.  Isabelle is going to really hate me for writing this post in about 5 to 10 years but today she willfully and excitedly gave her permission for me to blog about this. Therefore anything I say can and will be held against her in a court of law, or at the dinner table when her friends are over. 

**As a completely unrelated note she also promised me yesterday that she wouldn't date until she turns 41.  I thought that was a little extreme so I granted her permission to date at 31.**

My baby is growing up.  The milestones seem to be getting farther apart and while I still love them coming I am beginning to get sad that we have passed so many by already.  Isabelle found out a few weeks ago that her 3 year old cousin didn't need to wear pull ups to bed anymore.  She thought this was a strange concept since she is older than her cousin.  She decided that if her much younger cousin could sleep in "big girl" underwear then she should be able to too!  Since she is my first child dealing with this I have no idea what a reasonable goal/expectation should be for a 5 year old in this situation.  We agreed that if she could stay dry for 10 nights in a row that she could sleep with her big girl underwear.  Well, much to my happiness and dismay she accomplished that last night.  Her she is doing a victory dance...

 

The thing I am most worried about is that it has only been 3 days since she started sleeping in the top bunk in Williams room.  I am hoping with all my motherly might that she won't have any accidents for the rest of her life. Is that too much to ask?

 

"Oh yes, we won't be needing these icky things anymore!"  is what I think she's saying.  I won't miss buying them either.  That literally is flushing your money down the toilet.

 

I understand now how sad I made my dad when I started to refuse to wear my hair in pigtails.  I know our days of pigtails are numbered just as our days with pull ups were.  There are some things she can never grow out of though, like those baby fat cheeks.  Sorry Isabelle, those come from generations and generations of chubby cheeked people.  It's our family's trademark.  And I hope that when you are 31, dry, and pigtail free, you will find a man who just adores your pinch-able chubby cheeks as much as I do! 

I May Regret This...

Spring fever has hit me pretty hard the last few days.

This usually means that the closets and furniture start calling out to me to be moved and organized.  The rooms calling out to me the most were the kids room, actually our room was calling out the most, but it needs money to solve its problems. Sigh.  

Back to the original point.  We decided, well I decided and Soungsik didn't say no, that the kids should share a room for a while.  Isabelle has been asking for a while and I guess I didn't think about it much since they aren't the same gender.  Then it hit me, who cares if they aren't the same gender?  They are 5 and 1. If they were 15 and 11 it might be an issue.  My goal with moving them together is that hopefully this will help them in building their friendship.  Most of the time they get along pretty well.  William cries anytime Isabelle leaves, and she is the best big sister.  She reads to him, plays with him, and almost always shares with a smile.  

I have some minor concerns because of this move, such as:

Will William fall to his death off of the top bunk?  I hope not.  

Will the top bunk ever get made?  Hmmmm.  

Will the lower bunk ever get made?  Double hmmmm. 

Will the kids ever go to sleep at night? They better.  

Will William wake up Isabelle in the mornings?  Yes.  

Will Isabelle wake up William in the middle of the night?  Probably. 

Even with all of that I still think there will be some major benefits too, such as:

Will there be lots and lots of laughing?  Definitely

Will there be more playing together instead of seperately?  Of course.

Will there be more secrets told?  I may never know.

Will there be more stories read to each other? I bet.

Will this help them in becoming best friends?  I am banking my sleep and sanity on it.

Here's what the room looks like now.

 

Its a mish mash of boy/girl paraphernalia.

I wonder if we have enough stuffed animals?

We will have to wait and see how well this works before I commit to any design theme!

William will just have to sleep with the flowers, I hope it doesn't permanently damage him.

Isabelle will have to get used to the jungle theme.  Wait for it...she's used to it.

Wish me luck, I think I am going to need it!

Conference Sunday

I love conference weekend.  When I was a child I didn't feel the same way.  Now that I am a mom I seriously need the recharge every six months! The power was off most of the night and it didn't come back on until a couple of hours before conference started. We are used to less than perfect weather on conference weekend. As the saying goes "When the saints meet, the heavens weep"  but I think this year the heavens must have a had a snowball throwing competition.  This is what we woke up to...

 

After a hop, skip, and jump up the ladder (no NOT by me), all of the snow was removed from the satellite dish and our TV was ready for the fun to begin.  We didn't have many traditions when I was growing up, but there is one that will probably go on for generations.

We always eat rolled pancakes at conference time.  Strawberries in April and peaches in October.  My dad would get up early every year and start making crepes.  Now the tradition has been passed down to myself and brothers and sister, and I must say that my children approve!

 

Holding church in your pajamas is so wonderful.  Usually I require my kids to get dressed after the first session ends at noon.  Somehow Isabelle made it all the way to 4:00 in her pajamas!  William was mesmerized by the choir.  And Isabelle kept saying "I just love stake conference, I just love hearing the prophet!"  She also told me "Mom I love you more than anyone, except I love Jesus more than you, is that okay?"  Yes, yes, that is fine by me!

Conference as always was so uplifting.  It gave me more than a few things I need to work at and improve on.  I love the kind and gentle reminders to reach higher and be better.  

Counting down the weeks until October...

The Fat Cat Sat on the Rat

 

Isabelle finished her 2nd grade Hooked on Phonics reading curriculum today!

I am so proud of her.  She has worked really, really hard.

I was planning on using this "curriculum" for at least another year

(we had kindergarten through 2nd grade) but she has just breezed past everything.

Now she is just on regular books for her reading education.

At this rate it won't be long before she outsmarts her mom!

 

Usually after she passes off a grade level in her reading I take her to do something fun.

This time I was tricky and asked her if she wanted me to buy Tangled for her instead. 

It just happened to be released on the same day she finished.  

She thought this was a great idea.

Please don't tell her I was planning on buying the movie anyways!

Good Job Isabelle!  Did I mention I am so proud of you?

Unplanned Event

Just when you think life is going as scheduled life throws you a curve ball.
We had such a curve ball yesterday.  First off I took Isabelle to choir in the morning and when we were leaving choir there was a wet, wet blizzard and freezing winds.  It felt like a very cold January day.  Right then and there I should have known that something was off with the universe.

The rest of the day progressed as usual: school, cleaning, lunch, dishes, taekwondo, ect.  Around 6:30 I was helping Isabelle practice piano when I hear the door separating our house from my parents house open.  I didn't think they were home so I was afraid that William had somehow opened the door on his own.

When I went to check my dad was on the couch and my mom was on the phone.  She tells me "Go and watch for the ambulance in case they come to your door!" It didn't connect with me why I would need to do that.  Then I looked at dad and he was a pasty whitish/blue color.  He was clammy all over and very dizzy. Instantly I had flashbacks of 5 years ago when I thought my dad was going to die right before my eyes.  He did this to us about 2 years ago too.  If it's an April fools joke,  it isn't funny. I asked dad "What can I do?"  and he instructed me to "Put my gun away".   Again I thought maybe he was joking, he wasn't. Do people think about gun safety when they might be dying?  Apparently so.  At any rate I put the gun and holster away and then put Isabelle in charge of watching for the ambulance.  My daughter is a girl who loves a job to do - she was very diligent.  Meanwhile mom was still on the phone with 911 while William was hanging off of her leg begging for a drink.  He didn't grasp that someone could be in more need than a thirsty toddler.

After what felt like forever a firetruck, ambulance, and about 6 paramedics showed up.  Isabelle ran out to the sidewalk saying "Come on guys, he's in here!"  She was thinking that having such an exciting job was awesome.  Maybe I can still convince her to be a doctor.

The paramedics rushed in and started asking dad questions and hooking him up to thing-a-ma-bobs and whoozy-whatits.  This was already a big improvement over 5 years ago when dad couldn't communicate and they had to shock his heart back into beating.  I was relatively calm because of that fact. I hear Isabelle at our front door speaking to someone so I go and check.  She was telling Brother Rupp, a member of the bishopric, very nonchalantly " No, nobody's sick!  My Grandpa just gets to go for a ride in the ambulance!!!"  He looked at her with slight desperation in his eyes as if he was thinking "Can I please speak to someone over three and a half feet tall?"

Bishop Chase didn't bother with stopping at the door, he just came rushing in.  After what happened last time, I think we had him scared again.  Then my friend Candice came and whisked my kids away before I knew what was happening or could even think to send them out the door with shoes on.

Nathaniel and Jenny showed up expecting to come and eat pizza and play games, they were just slightly surprised at the scene.  Nathaniel drove with mom to the hospital and Jenny, the kids, and I started the waiting game.  I think the waiting game is worse when you are at home.   I hate feeling useless, I did end up making a million phone calls so that kept me kind of busy.  Like Isabelle, I like having a job to do, even if it is an unimportant one.  Jenny and I decided to play games even though that is probably the most horrible thing you could do when your dad is in the hospital.  We just wanted something to get out minds off of that fact. Soungsik told us we were horrible but then decided to play with us anyway.  Karma came back to get me and I lost big time while Soungsik won.  So who's the horrible one really?

After a few hours we learned that dad was okay and that they were sending him home again.  They had run tests on him and his pacemaker and couldn't find anything wrong. Just like 2 years ago we don't know what caused this to happen to his heart.  Hopefully it won't ever happen again. Mom is convinced that there is something psychologically wrong with dad, but that's probably how most women feel about their husbands from time to time.  According to dad at least it was an entertaining trip.  On the way to the hospital the siren fell off of the ambulance and they ran over it on the freeway.  When they arrived at the emergency room none of the paramedics could get the hospital door to open.  They kept trying different codes and nothing was working. FYI if you want to get into the emergency room you need to push the pound key and NOT the star key when entering the code. His doctor introduced himself as Dr. Fredette, which is not his name, but he had just been talking about the BYU basketball game.

At any rate I am so grateful today for many things.  Mostly I am grateful that my dad is okay still.  I am grateful for amazing neighbors and friends who come to your aide before you even know you need it.  I am grateful for wonderful paramedics who can get here so quickly and wonderful hospitals within minutes of home.  We are so blessed to live here, and this isn't the first time I have felt this way!

The Boringness That Is: ME

So I haven't posted for quite a while.  There are a couple of reasons for this. Number One: I didn't feel like taking any pictures.  Number Two: I am a very, very boring person.  Please note that I am not a bored person, rather a boring person.  There is a big difference. I am quite content doing the same things day in and day out.  Which makes for an uninteresting blog.  Unless people want to know about my day to day dishes fiasco and/or the laundry wars in my bedroom.
I didn't think so.
My husband teases me because 70% of the songs that come on the radio are my "favorite".  I could listen to the same song 100 times over and not get sick of it.  The same goes for books and movies.  Especially chick flicks/books.  I have decided I am going to make the most wonderful old lady.  Sitting in my fluffy socks, wrapped in a warm blanket, and listening to the same music over and over while re-reading Jane Eyre for the millionth time.  When spring officially comes I am sure things will liven up a bit around here, but until then it's just going to be the status quo, which is alright by me!

BOOK REVIEW: THREE CUPS OF TEA

Title: Three Cups of Tea
Author(s): Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin
Number of Pages: 349
Number of Stars I'm Giving it: 2.5

This review will be short and sweet, or at least to the point.

I give this book 2.5 stars for content, and zero for context.
The writing was pretty bad.  I know I shouldn't judge because my writing is downright atrocious at times.  The difference is that I don't charge money for my writing.  In fact I hope that most of my "writings" will go unseen from human eyes forever!

This book was an interesting peek into another culture and I enjoyed that.  However I do think he looked at the Pakistani culture with rose colored glasses and was very judgmental towards the American culture.  I respect what it is he is trying to accomplish in an impoverished part of the world and it is a far greater contribution than I may ever achieve.  Politically I doubt I would agree with the author on much, but that is the great thing about agency. It is nice to see that one person can make a difference, and that you can accomplish a lot when you put your mind to it.   If you are just reading it to have something to read then there are endless lists of more entertaining things out there.

BOOK REVIEW: WE TWO

Title: We Two - Victoria and Albert, Rulers, Partners, Rivals
Author: Gillian Gill
Number of Pages: 480 (Closer to 380 of actual reading)
Number of Stars I'm Giving It: 3.5

Let me start off  by saying I think its mean to name your daughter Gillian Gill - or Gill Gill for short.  At least she grew up to be a very successful person.

Having finished this book I still have very mixed feelings about it.  There were parts I loved, and parts I hated.  I do feel a little cheated that I read the entire thing and I won't even be getting any college credits for it.

The first 30% or so of this book I thought was fascinating.   The way in which Victoria was raised was extremely harsh and sad.  It is amazing that someone who was never left alone could actually be so lonely.  I was impressed that although she had such a lack of independence and nurturing love as a child, she grew to be a very powerful leader.

Albert at first I thought was a very impressive person.  The more I read about him though I feel like he had a superiority complex.  He seemed to be a doormat for Victoria and his father because he wouldn't dare stand up to them, but to make up for that he tried to walk all over everybody else.  He came across as very pompous and arrogant.   The thing I like most about Albert was a very loving father, that is if his children met his high standards.

Where I have my most mixed feelings are in the general culture at the time.  I guess in my mind I always imagined life in those times more as a Jane Austin novel than actual fact.  I had an image of most people being God fearing and moral people.  It was a time I envied and wanted to see for myself - all of the true gentlemen and ladies. I was a little disgusted when I read this book.  It seems that affairs and mistresses were the norm.  Infidelity was to be expected and abandonment of a mistress and her children rampant.  I don't know about the lower classes, but it seemed to me that if you were rich, all rules of morals were thrown out the window.  At least Albert was a faithful husband to his wife.
It made me crazy to think that most or all of the European royalty was related and that they were all allotted money and services from the day they were born until the day they died, regardless of if they accomplished anything with their own lives. 
Reading about the medical beliefs at the time made me cringe.  Bloodletting and sleeping in freezing rooms for good health.  Children eating only bread and milk with very little meat. Victoria had 9 children, one almost every 2 years.  She hated being pregnant and I don't blame her at all.  Her husband was unsympathetic and thought she complained for no reason.  She only had chloroform with her last 2 children, and even then it was considered a sin, but she was the queen so who was going to say anything to her?  The hemophiliac son they had was so interesting.  They just tried to ignore medical fact thinking that if they didn't acknowledge it then it wouldn't be true.
It disturbed me how much she disliked her children.  She didn't find joy with them and was even extremely jealous of them when Albert would spend time with them.  It was striking that after her hate for her own mother's "neglect" that she would turn around and do almost the same thing to her children.  She would openly criticize them.  I lost a lot of respect for Victoria in this area.  They had multiple vacation homes, and yachts.  She had an endless supply of money, but I wouldn't trade any day in my life for hers.
I can't imagine being someone lower than the queen at those times.  It must have been unbearable.  Some of her servants never had a day off in their lives.  And most of them worked 14 to 16 hour days 5 to 7 days a week.  How important is a queen that so many people should give up their entire lives to her? I find it disturbing, and it made me proud to think of the beliefs that America was founded on.  A country with no king...I hope it can continue to be strong so that we don't ever have to be in times of oppression like these again.  Victoria was a good queen to her people and she and Albert spawned most of the European royalty even down to today.
I recommend this book if you want a taste of history, but don't expect a romance story wrapped up in it all.

Fly High

In our house daddy is so much funner than mommy.

Here's one reason why.

 

Even if my legs were strong enough to do that 100 times over, I doubt I would.

Despite the look on Williams face he never gets scared doing this.

After Soungsik raises him up like this he opens his legs really fast and 

lets him drop like a steel ball.

Luckily Soungsik is a good catch, but it never fails to scare me!

This is another reason why kids need a mom and a dad,

A dad to do the dangerous fun things, and a mom 

to make you go to sleep at night.

In Our World: Japan

On March 11, 2011 Japan was hit by the 5th largest earthquake on record followed by a massive tsunami.

My heart and prayers go out to all of the people affected by this.

 

At some places the wall of water in the tsunami was at least 

27 feet high and the water flooded up to 3 miles inland.

 

 

Searching for survivors before they can bring in 

heavy machinery to help clear the debris.

 

 

 

Red Cross workers being checked for radiation exposure.

There is a threat of a nuclear breakdown or explosion at 

one or more nuclear power plants in northern Japan.

Many heroes are working diligently at these plants to do 

all that they can to prevent more loss of life.

 

3 days after the destruction a 4 month old little baby was 

found alive and reunited with her father.

There are still miracles on Earth today. 

Heavenly Father will never leave his precious children alone!

Checked Out.

When Isabelle hurt her arm we were thrown a little, okay a lot, off schedule.  Taekwondo, piano, and gymnastics were all canceled.  It was still freezing cold weather so my emotions had decided to check out weeks ago and it didn't take my brain long to follow suite.  For the last 2 weeks we haven't really gone anywhere except for choir, church, and emergency egg runs to Walmart.  It has been so nice!  The bad thing about being thrown off of our schedule is that we also did very little school, and very very little cleaning of the house. Today is Sunday so as sad as it is at the stroke of midnight tonight the schedule will magically be back in place.  We have much to catch up on this Monday.

Here's Isabelle with a fully functioning arm.
Her dad spoiled her with Hello Kitty paraphernalia just because she flashed him her big brown eyes and said "I love you sooooo much daddy".  What a sucker!

 

When we took off her splint she was so happy she did a little happy dance saying 

"Yay Isabelle, yay Isabelle, yay Isabelle!"

Here's how far off schedule we have been . 

Today Liam woke up from his nap at 6:45.

Which is exactly 15 minutes before his regular bedtime.  Needless to say he won't be going to bed on time tonight.  I also had a nap, which was wonderful. I could have gone back to bed in 15 minutes if my minions would've allowed that.  It is now almost 8:00 and Soungsik and I are beginning to think the kids might want dinner. 

 

Liam is our super shy kid.

He sticks like super glue to me when I take him into nursery.

Hopefully sometime in the near future he will be able to go by himself.

His teachers think he is just this quiet little mild child.

At some point in time they are going to be surprised!

A few days ago there was a massive (almost 9 point) earthquake in Japan.

This was followed by a massive tsunami, and radiation leaks at 2 nuclear plants.

There are at least 10,000 people who have died so far, and that number is expected to rise due to the number of people still missing.

Soungsik's brother was in Japan at the time but fortunately he was farther south than the destruction and he is safe.  They currently have a volcano which may erupt and his brother is closer to that.  We are holding our breath that nothing will come from the volcano threat!

Apparently Earth was moved over 10 centimeters with the earthquake.  The result of this movement is that time will literally move faster.  This could impair my getting back to our old schedule!

Don't take me the wrong way, I am grateful that this is the only way I'll be effected by this act of God.

   

Yet again there was no rhyme or reason to that post.

It seems that my only consistency with blogging is randomness.

Picasso?

I left William alone for about 2 minutes today. 

Why?  Because it's not humanly possible to watch him all of the time.

He knows how to make a person tired!
He found a marker and colored all over his face and hands.

He was very impressed with his art work.

Luckily it was washable and he limited his art to his body and not furniture, so I guess I can't complain.

 p.s. It doesn't look as bad in the picture as it did in real life.

OUCH!!!

I was thinking I wouldn't have anything to blog about this week because we didn't have anything fun planned.  Isabelle decided to help me out with that.

Last night Nathaniel and Jenny were moving into a new house.  Isabelle and Natalie were playing in the family room having a really great time.  Isabelle was "flying" around being a Pegasus when she slipped and fell.  She hit her elbow on the ground.  We thought is wasn't broken last night but today she really started favoring her arm.  She couldn't even pick up her spoon to eat lunch.  Finally I decided to take her into the instacare.  

Isabelle did pretty good during most of the exam.  It was horrible to see her get her x-ray's taken.  I had to hold her arm down and twist it a little so the technician could go take the x-rays.  I have never heard her cry that bad before.  I felt like I was torturing my own child, she was screaming and saying "Mom, please stop, don't do that!" When she was 2 and broke her arm, she cried, but now that she's older I think it was much more scary for her. The doctor didn't find any fractures on her, but she does have swelling in her arm.  They put a splint on her arm and we will just have to watch her for a while to see if she gets any better. 

 

Fortunately  Isabelle has a big heart and she forgave me for hurting her at the doctors office.

I am keeping my fingers crossed that her arm will heal quickly on its own!