A precious miracle...

I saw a miracle today! Yep, in my ordinary day God blessed me with the privilege to see a tiny, beautiful miracle. :) 

Mackenzie's teacher and her husband welcomed their baby daughter, Mikeila into the world. Every baby is a miracle, but this one especially because her parents have been waiting a while and a lot of prayers went up to heaven regarding this little one. 

In our society it seems that life is being valued less and less everyday. It breaks my heart to think about the millions of kids who are neglected and abused each day and the millions who have been aborted. Watching the news stories about missing children, moms who care more about a party than their child, and moms who take on more than they should to make up for their own loneliness (I know..controversial stuff...but it's just how I see it..) can be really upsetting. 

It's beautiful to see the other side- Parents who patiently prayed for years and received a gift from God. Mikeila is a lucky little girl. :)

Each kindergartner made a scrapbook page for their teacher as a going away present. This is Mackenzie's drawing of her and her teacher. Can you see the baby inside her tummy? :) 

What a great week!

We had a great week with the Sutton clan. Here are a few pictures from our adventures. (The pictures are in no particular order.)

Many of these pictures are from the luau. Mason and Mackenzie had never been before and I think it was one of their favorite events.  We ended up getting a free upgrade which got us really good seats and special drink coupons. The kids thought the special drinks were pretty cool. Kenzie saved all the drink umbrellas. 

Kenzie's tattoo at the luau. 

Canoe ride at the luau

A monkey in a tree. :) 

The same monkey in the sand and in another tree. Or maybe that's Tarzan. :)

Putt putt golf--don't ask who won...

Mason with Chief Kono after the luau. He was the "fire stick twirler" and Mason was so awed by his abilities. I kept reminding him that he can't light sticks on fire and twirl them around at home! 

scheduled visitors and surprise visitors...

Scheduled visitors and surprise visitors, we take them all! 

My Uncle Harv, Aunt Brenda, and my cousin Brian arrived yesterday from Nebraska. We've been anticipating their arrival for a couple of months now and are looking forward to playing tourist with them for the next week. We are on Spring break so we'll have lots of time to be out and about around the island. 

Today we went to the windward side of the island and played at Bellows beach. It was quite windy and a bit cloudy but we had a good time.  On the way home we stopped at the Pali Lookout for a great view. 

Last weekend we had surprise visitors on their way back home. My sister-in-law Kelly called Saturday to say that her and Maggie had caught a hop heading our way.  They got to stay with us until Monday night. We wish it could have been longer, but we were just happy to see them. We hadn't seen them for about a year. 

Maggie stylin' in Kenzie's shades! 

I'm not sure how many times the "cookie" book (If You Give a Mouse a Cookie) was read, but I know Mason read it to her a couple of times. It was so cute, Maggie would walk up to Mason, grab his hand, and say "play with toys?" Maggie may have been a bit overwhelmed by Kenzie's intensity but her and Mason got along well. :)