When I was 16 I read President Eyrings book "To Draw Closer to God". I have thought of this book often and know I should read it again. But in it there is a quote that I have always loved and think of often.
Elder Eyring writes, "Yield your heart unto God. Ask him what it is he would have you do. Know that he will have prepared a way for you to do it, even under great difficulties. Ask him how he would have you share what you have with others, and you will feel his love. He lives and he loves you. He wants you to come home again."
I think of this quote when it comes to trials. Later in the book he mentions something that I always try to apply in my life when a trial (big or small) comes into my life. Eyring basically asks you, it's not about when you will be freed from this trial its more important of how you get through your trial. It's more important to know what to do while in the middle of your trial and things that help you get through it than to just be out of the trial!
So when I was 16 I got the great opportunity to have a big trail; I had mono for a year and a half! Yup, that's a long time. Sure I slept a lot of it and don't really remember too much of my time besides always being in bed and sleeping. But those few hours a day that I was up (seriously maybe 3-4 hours a day I would be up) I tried to either watch tv, talk to my family, eat, or try to read. I remember one day I decided to read the book "To Draw Closer to God" and it was the best decision of my life.
There aren't too many things I do remember from that time but I do remember this book! Crazy huh? I think I remember this book so much because it was the perfect thing for me while I was in this trial. I never really felt like it was a huge trial but one that did take a lot of things in my life away from me. I mean at 16 your life is centered around school, friends, sports, etc. etc. But this book allowed me to center myself and get my life in order with God. It was with this book that I really found my testimony.
Sure my testimony after this trial wavered but hey I was still a teenager but because I had a strong foundation built I was able to pick myself up again and move forward. I never got too far from it.
It was today in church that the topics in Sunday School and RS made me remember this trial and the book that helped me get through it all!
Monday, July 11, 2011
Sunday
Sunday mornings are some of my favorite moments because I get to dress this little one up sharp!
Plus, Kau'e had a fun time in sacrament during the music because I was taking his hand and pretending he was conducting the music. He had some giggles and smiles while I was playing with him.
Plus, Kau'e had a fun time in sacrament during the music because I was taking his hand and pretending he was conducting the music. He had some giggles and smiles while I was playing with him.
Sunday, July 10, 2011
If you Really Wanted to Know: Soccer Info
I don't claim to know everything but from what I understand is that the fact that Brazil (women's) soccer team was able to keep up with the U.S. is amazing. U.S. women's soccer has been organized for some time. Yes, the professional teams has been on and off but just the fact that I played soccer while growing up says a lot about organized sports for girls in the U.S.
In Brazil if you are a girl and wanting to play soccer you are basically laughed at or told that they are a tom-boy! There are no organized soccer teams for girls in Brazil. The only organized teams for soccer is for boys in Brazil. Its almost like if a girl wanted to play football here in U.S. they would be laughed at and told to go play another sport. Is this shocking you?
It should! It shocked me when Romulo first told me this! I couldn't believe a country that takes their soccer or should I say football as serious as they do that they don't have organized teams for girls. If a girl in Brazil wants to play soccer they have to play with the boys in the streets and even then most guys won't let them play. Or if they do let them play they are teased endlessly about being a tom-boy!
Romulo showed me an article about a girl in Brazil wanting to play soccer so bad that her father made an offer to the local boys team to pay them for her to pay. He wanted to get her on a team so bad that he was willing to pay them to take her and have her on the team. But they said no! They wouldn't even take money for a girl to play. That's crazy.
If girls still have the desire to play they mostly find their chance when they hit high school age. And I don't mean high school because they will play on the high school teams because there aren't soccer teams for high school girls. They get to play on Adult teams in their town/city because the only some what organized teams for girls soccer are Adult ones. Even those are numbered around the whole country of Brazil.
I had a hard time believing this because I grew up playing all types of sports; soccer I started playing at age 5, soccer started at age 7, and basketball I started at age 10! I played all three of these sports through out high school. I was able to go to summer camps for all these sports, I got to play in summer leagues for these sports, and I even got invited to play on travel teams. I never played trial soccer because most games took place on Sundays and I have family/church time on Sundays. I did play travel basketball for some time. Even today if I wanted to play a sport there are organized women's leagues; even at this old age of mine!
So for a girl who grew up in the U.S. and wanted to play sports there were opportunities for me to do so. Sure there were moments when I was called a tom-boy but mostly I was teased because I would kick those boys trash at whatever sport we played against. True story. I should scan this pick of me at age 7 running over a boy in a soccer game! I love that picture. (Yeah, I'm going to scan it now!)
Its no wonder that today we saw a FIFA World Cup game play with U.S. vs. Brazil and U.S. winning by shootout. The U.S. girls team is the superior dominant team and they were the favorite to win. It's a shame that it took them that long to beat Brazil. I'm not slamming either side I'm just trying to show you how well Brazil played against a great team who has had great opportunity to be one of the best if not the best. Brazil is the weaker team because girls are not given the same opportunity to have organized soccer in their country. So just the fact that Brazil has always managed to be in the top 5 or 3 team in the world in girls soccer is amazing. It shows how much pure raw talent they have and if they could just organize it just the slightest man watch out!
Here's two examples: Nike has the contract with Brazil for all of Soccer (men's and women's). So if there is a soccer game Brazil gets their jerseys from Nike. But just like all contract there are fine lines that need to be read. So its not a surprise when the Brazilian women played the Norway team at the end of the game when a player for Noway asked Brazilian player Marta if she could have her jersey and my husband reading the lips of Marta read "I can't, we need to keep these (pointing to her jersey) until the end of the competition.". Yup, that's right. They are to play with this one jersey the whole FIFA World Cup competition. Not fair considering the boys have two jerseys per game in every single game they play. Why is this? Well, the boys are given the majority of the $ from Nike's contract. (This is not by done by Nike; done by someone in Brazil.)
Or when it comes to preparing for major competitions like this usually a team plays a bunch of "friendly" games. These friendly games help prep the teams and gives them time to practice together. Well, the Brazilian men's team had something like 6 friendly games while the girls soccer team had 1! Really?
Yeah, that stinks!
Okay, I don't claim to know everything about this topic, I just wrote what I know. I also wanted to point out that if the Brazilian Girls won today against the U.S. it would be a victory! I mean, it wouldn't shock anyone else but its almost like if the U.S. Men's soccer team beat the Brazilian Men's it would be a huge victory for the U.S. But since most people don't understand that in Brazil girls aren't given the same chance as the boys do when it comes to soccer they might just look past this game as a huge victory for U.S. because they are playing against Brazil. I mean look at the Brazilian girls jersey, they have 5 stars on the front of their jerseys. The girls team haven't won 5 World Cups these are from the boys winning. So why do they have the stars there? Good question?! I guess its just the fact that they are from the same country and playing the same sport. So, why not give the girls the same chances and opportunities as the boys...you answer this for me because I don't know!
Brazilian Women's Soccer Facts:
Brazil played their first game on July 22, 1986 against the United States.
The team finished the 1999 World Cup in the third place.
In 1998 and 1999, the team was the runner-up of the Women's U.S. Cup.
Brazil finished the 2000 Olympic Games in the fourth place, and was the runner-up of the 2004 Olympic Games.
In 2002 and in 2004, Brazil women's U-20 national football team was the fourth placed team in the FIFA U-20 Women's World Championship.
Brazil is the most successful women's national team in South America, having won the first four installments of the South-American Championships.
World Cup record:
1991 – Round 1
1995 – Round 1
1999 – Third Place
2003 – Quarterfinalists
2007 – 2nd place
2011 – Quarterfinalists
U.S. Women's Soccer Team have won 2 World Cups (1991 and 1999), 3 Olympic Golds ('96, '04,and '08), and 7 Algarve Cups (2000, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2007, 2008, and 2010)
Me 1990 Play soccer. Yup that's me plowing through that boy on the ground! My dad is the head coach on the left side of me in the team photo.
In Brazil if you are a girl and wanting to play soccer you are basically laughed at or told that they are a tom-boy! There are no organized soccer teams for girls in Brazil. The only organized teams for soccer is for boys in Brazil. Its almost like if a girl wanted to play football here in U.S. they would be laughed at and told to go play another sport. Is this shocking you?
It should! It shocked me when Romulo first told me this! I couldn't believe a country that takes their soccer or should I say football as serious as they do that they don't have organized teams for girls. If a girl in Brazil wants to play soccer they have to play with the boys in the streets and even then most guys won't let them play. Or if they do let them play they are teased endlessly about being a tom-boy!
Romulo showed me an article about a girl in Brazil wanting to play soccer so bad that her father made an offer to the local boys team to pay them for her to pay. He wanted to get her on a team so bad that he was willing to pay them to take her and have her on the team. But they said no! They wouldn't even take money for a girl to play. That's crazy.
If girls still have the desire to play they mostly find their chance when they hit high school age. And I don't mean high school because they will play on the high school teams because there aren't soccer teams for high school girls. They get to play on Adult teams in their town/city because the only some what organized teams for girls soccer are Adult ones. Even those are numbered around the whole country of Brazil.
I had a hard time believing this because I grew up playing all types of sports; soccer I started playing at age 5, soccer started at age 7, and basketball I started at age 10! I played all three of these sports through out high school. I was able to go to summer camps for all these sports, I got to play in summer leagues for these sports, and I even got invited to play on travel teams. I never played trial soccer because most games took place on Sundays and I have family/church time on Sundays. I did play travel basketball for some time. Even today if I wanted to play a sport there are organized women's leagues; even at this old age of mine!
So for a girl who grew up in the U.S. and wanted to play sports there were opportunities for me to do so. Sure there were moments when I was called a tom-boy but mostly I was teased because I would kick those boys trash at whatever sport we played against. True story. I should scan this pick of me at age 7 running over a boy in a soccer game! I love that picture. (Yeah, I'm going to scan it now!)
Its no wonder that today we saw a FIFA World Cup game play with U.S. vs. Brazil and U.S. winning by shootout. The U.S. girls team is the superior dominant team and they were the favorite to win. It's a shame that it took them that long to beat Brazil. I'm not slamming either side I'm just trying to show you how well Brazil played against a great team who has had great opportunity to be one of the best if not the best. Brazil is the weaker team because girls are not given the same opportunity to have organized soccer in their country. So just the fact that Brazil has always managed to be in the top 5 or 3 team in the world in girls soccer is amazing. It shows how much pure raw talent they have and if they could just organize it just the slightest man watch out!
Here's two examples: Nike has the contract with Brazil for all of Soccer (men's and women's). So if there is a soccer game Brazil gets their jerseys from Nike. But just like all contract there are fine lines that need to be read. So its not a surprise when the Brazilian women played the Norway team at the end of the game when a player for Noway asked Brazilian player Marta if she could have her jersey and my husband reading the lips of Marta read "I can't, we need to keep these (pointing to her jersey) until the end of the competition.". Yup, that's right. They are to play with this one jersey the whole FIFA World Cup competition. Not fair considering the boys have two jerseys per game in every single game they play. Why is this? Well, the boys are given the majority of the $ from Nike's contract. (This is not by done by Nike; done by someone in Brazil.)
Or when it comes to preparing for major competitions like this usually a team plays a bunch of "friendly" games. These friendly games help prep the teams and gives them time to practice together. Well, the Brazilian men's team had something like 6 friendly games while the girls soccer team had 1! Really?
Yeah, that stinks!
Okay, I don't claim to know everything about this topic, I just wrote what I know. I also wanted to point out that if the Brazilian Girls won today against the U.S. it would be a victory! I mean, it wouldn't shock anyone else but its almost like if the U.S. Men's soccer team beat the Brazilian Men's it would be a huge victory for the U.S. But since most people don't understand that in Brazil girls aren't given the same chance as the boys do when it comes to soccer they might just look past this game as a huge victory for U.S. because they are playing against Brazil. I mean look at the Brazilian girls jersey, they have 5 stars on the front of their jerseys. The girls team haven't won 5 World Cups these are from the boys winning. So why do they have the stars there? Good question?! I guess its just the fact that they are from the same country and playing the same sport. So, why not give the girls the same chances and opportunities as the boys...you answer this for me because I don't know!
Brazilian Women's Soccer Facts:
Brazil played their first game on July 22, 1986 against the United States.
The team finished the 1999 World Cup in the third place.
In 1998 and 1999, the team was the runner-up of the Women's U.S. Cup.
Brazil finished the 2000 Olympic Games in the fourth place, and was the runner-up of the 2004 Olympic Games.
In 2002 and in 2004, Brazil women's U-20 national football team was the fourth placed team in the FIFA U-20 Women's World Championship.
Brazil is the most successful women's national team in South America, having won the first four installments of the South-American Championships.
World Cup record:
1991 – Round 1
1995 – Round 1
1999 – Third Place
2003 – Quarterfinalists
2007 – 2nd place
2011 – Quarterfinalists
U.S. Women's Soccer Team have won 2 World Cups (1991 and 1999), 3 Olympic Golds ('96, '04,and '08), and 7 Algarve Cups (2000, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2007, 2008, and 2010)
Me 1990 Play soccer. Yup that's me plowing through that boy on the ground! My dad is the head coach on the left side of me in the team photo.
Friday, July 8, 2011
Super Hero in Training
The other day I found Kau'e "playing" Super Hero in his exersaucer. It cracked me up and made me wonder how he got his bib this way! Can you see it in the pictures? And do you notice his hands - wonder what his imagination was telling him?
Ar, Matey!
Kau'e is learning how to become a Pirate!
And who says that dressing little boys isn't as much fun as little girls? Not, me! ARRR
And who says that dressing little boys isn't as much fun as little girls? Not, me! ARRR
Thursday, July 7, 2011
Cranky Needy Boy for Sale
That's what Kau'e is today; cranky, needy, and demanding! I'm sure it has to do with yesterday's shots from his 6 month check-up but it's never easy on Mom! We're making it hour by hour, closer to bedtime! Seriously is that so bad of me to keep checking the clock and getting happier as the day goes!?
I love being a mom and would NOT trade it for anything but sometimes there are days that you just need a "ME-MOMENT"! I need a moment for myself and when your a mommy there is no such luck to a "me-moment"! I don't know I wouldn't say being a mom is hard or difficult it just takes a lot of your time and patience. The days do go by fast and the weeks go by faster and I can not believe how big Kau'e has gotten.
I like to look in past pictures/posts of Kau'e and I always think he can't be this big already or look how small he is in these pictures! It truly is amazing how the first year flies by! I know I say this every time but I love this stage that Kau'e is at; discovering everything! But there are days I miss his little newborn stage. I miss him sleeping on my chest at nights and those hours of starring into his sleeping face!
But those are amazing memories and ones that I will forever remember but everyday I love seeing him change and grow. And I really enjoy seeing him interact with others besides Romulo and myself! I love to see how people react to him and how he flashes that handsome smile of his to them! He really is full of personality. And I crack up every time he bats his long eyelashes and shyly looks away at them while smiling! He has that Latin-Lover blood in him!
Sure bath-time at nights is a chore but one that I love love love! I love to see him kick his little feet in the water or pat his hand on the water. He has really gotten into the whole pool thing and I'm glad he likes the pool as much as his bath. I was kind of afraid he would confuse the two and some how have a bad experience with the pool and therefore not enjoy his bath time but that hasn't happened just yet.
Here is little Kau'e today during his bath-time! P.S. I love the full head of hair Kau'e has and trust me there was a time in his life that I thought he was going to be bald because he was born with a full head of hair and then all of a sudden lost it all! I would wash his hair and it would all be in my hands by the time I was done! It scared me! Luckily it grew back and has come in nice and perfect. And no, I have not trimmed, cut, or buzzed his hair (even if Romulo wanted too - I won that one). Plus it has a little blondish-reddish tint to it just like mine! More and more traits on my side are coming out of him! (And yes, he still has blue eyes!)
I love being a mom and would NOT trade it for anything but sometimes there are days that you just need a "ME-MOMENT"! I need a moment for myself and when your a mommy there is no such luck to a "me-moment"! I don't know I wouldn't say being a mom is hard or difficult it just takes a lot of your time and patience. The days do go by fast and the weeks go by faster and I can not believe how big Kau'e has gotten.
I like to look in past pictures/posts of Kau'e and I always think he can't be this big already or look how small he is in these pictures! It truly is amazing how the first year flies by! I know I say this every time but I love this stage that Kau'e is at; discovering everything! But there are days I miss his little newborn stage. I miss him sleeping on my chest at nights and those hours of starring into his sleeping face!
But those are amazing memories and ones that I will forever remember but everyday I love seeing him change and grow. And I really enjoy seeing him interact with others besides Romulo and myself! I love to see how people react to him and how he flashes that handsome smile of his to them! He really is full of personality. And I crack up every time he bats his long eyelashes and shyly looks away at them while smiling! He has that Latin-Lover blood in him!
Sure bath-time at nights is a chore but one that I love love love! I love to see him kick his little feet in the water or pat his hand on the water. He has really gotten into the whole pool thing and I'm glad he likes the pool as much as his bath. I was kind of afraid he would confuse the two and some how have a bad experience with the pool and therefore not enjoy his bath time but that hasn't happened just yet.
Here is little Kau'e today during his bath-time! P.S. I love the full head of hair Kau'e has and trust me there was a time in his life that I thought he was going to be bald because he was born with a full head of hair and then all of a sudden lost it all! I would wash his hair and it would all be in my hands by the time I was done! It scared me! Luckily it grew back and has come in nice and perfect. And no, I have not trimmed, cut, or buzzed his hair (even if Romulo wanted too - I won that one). Plus it has a little blondish-reddish tint to it just like mine! More and more traits on my side are coming out of him! (And yes, he still has blue eyes!)
Wednesday, July 6, 2011
Kau'e: 6 Month Check-up
Mr. Kau'e is a super baby. At his 6 month check up he showed the doctor just how big he has been getting! He showed him how he could sit up, roll over, listen while people are talking, and never cried once.
6 month stats (based off of a full term baby):
weight 21.7lbs (90%)
height 26.5 in (70%)
head circumference: 47cm or 18.5in
Before this appointment Kau'e also got to see his special GI doctor, Hassall. He was very pleased with Kau'e and how well he has been responding to the medicine and solids. So we are going to try to wean him from the medicine and hopefully things will settle with his reflux once he gets more solids into his diet. Our Peds doctor liked this idea and gave us a goal to have him on more solids by the end of the month!
6 month stats (based off of a full term baby):
weight 21.7lbs (90%)
height 26.5 in (70%)
head circumference: 47cm or 18.5in
Before this appointment Kau'e also got to see his special GI doctor, Hassall. He was very pleased with Kau'e and how well he has been responding to the medicine and solids. So we are going to try to wean him from the medicine and hopefully things will settle with his reflux once he gets more solids into his diet. Our Peds doctor liked this idea and gave us a goal to have him on more solids by the end of the month!
Monday, July 4, 2011
4th of July
Kau'e experienced his first 4th of July! It was a hot one for sure but none the less he loved it!
Kau'e is a lucky boy when it comes to holidays; he gets to celebrate double the holidays because he's half American half Brazilian!
Kau'e is a lucky boy when it comes to holidays; he gets to celebrate double the holidays because he's half American half Brazilian!
Friday, July 1, 2011
Pool Day
Kau'e experienced his first swim in the pool today with Dad! We waited until 5:30pm when the pool was mostly covered by shade and the heat wasn't too bad. We squeezed his little body into a swim diaper and his swim trunks. He couldn't have loved it more! He was such a doll to watch and he even dipped his own chin/face into the pool by himself. We would take him in for a little swim around the pool then he would sit out with Mom wrapped in a towel. We did that 3x before calling it a day. But every time he was out wrapped in a towel with Mom he would just watch Romulo. It was super cute when he was swimming around the pool one time and he dipped his chin into the water and he instantly started doing raspberries!
Here's Kau'e in the water!
Here's Kau'e in the water!
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