Merry Christmas
Well it’s the end of another year. We made it. 2010. Wow. But first, lets recap this year. Well, lets begin with dad. Clifton turned 34 last January, yep that means he’ll hit 35 soon, but anyways. He found the energy to play softball, soccer, and flag football again. He served as a cub master at church and enjoyed campouts and teaching the boys the old ways. He got a racing bicycle, but not before he left. So he still has that dream for 2010. He still considers his motorcycle his baby and loves to wash it whenever he can. Although, in August he got deployed to Iraq. He is learning or refreshing I should say his skills in medicine. He has gotten to see the other side of the world. Many countries and different landscapes from mountains to sand dunes, from extreme heat to cold, and many in betweens. He struts around fully armed and protected, gets fed lobster and steak, and flies to Germany often. He is well and likes his job there more than Hawaii, although he misses us of course. One minor flaw. He has missed out on birthdays and holidays, but we keep in touch with the internet. Gotta love it. 
Kilee recently turned eight years old. This year she has increased in her desire to be a singer/dancer. She needs a lot of work, but its her dream and we are here to support her. We are sick of High School Musical, but still sing along too. Since moving onto base here she has been accepted into the gifted and talented class at this school too. It is more challenging, for mom too. They do multiplication, even though second grade isn’t really teaching big addition. She brings home cubes for mom to help her put together. Certainly a time when dad is best, but we eventually get it. Explaining how is another question. She made a toothbrush battery robot and loves to do her GT homework on the internet with grandpa. Its nice to have the added help. She is working to improve her spelling and has made friends well. All four of her top front teeth are gone, so she now can bite freely into an apple, although she still asks me to cut it. Oh well. She is truly a girly girl. She is got her ears pierced and can’t wait to wear makeup. She dreams of dressing like Hannah Montana and others. We have our work cut out for us in pleasing her and seeing her shine. She has had a few accidents from falling on skates and getting a nice shiner, to being dragged by Kowen’s bicycle while clinging to her jump rope. She is handling pain and the dark much better. No more night light. We are so proud of her.
Kandon has had a brave year. In July, he had surgery to put a plug in his ankle to help it not pronate too far and did well. He is still working to rebuild his muscles and adjust to less flexibility in his foot, but he still runs and jumps and does all the things others can do. He didn’t get to learn to play the guitar this year as his New Year’s Resoluton said, but there is always next year. He dreams of being a Rock Star too. One that can dance all over the stage. He is always moving. He is still ahead in his reading. He has found a recent love for the Magic Tree house books and I find him reading alone. Who’d a thought. Now he still finds many hours for Wii and running around crazy like, but he is a good student. He likes that he doesn’t have to take off his shoes at his new school, but hates that he has to wear only tennis shoes. “Why can’t I wear flip flips (slippers) to school, we live in Hawaii?,” he says. “Don’t worry,” I say, “you get away with it at church. “ Anyways, he has earned his candy bar from his Sunday school teacher as he memorized the first four Articles of Faith. We are very proud. He dreams of when he can play soccer, basketball, baseball on teams again. We are debating on having surgery done to his other foot. He is into Star Wars the Clone wars, nerf guns, and all Wii games to name a few. He is still skin and bones, but growing every day.
Kowen is a handful to say the least, yet a cutie pie, a wild man, a sweet boy to have at home with mom. He has found more independence and I mean freedom. He is into the wild and naked self too often. I have found him naked in the backyard on the four-wheeler, standing at the water/sand table while workers were 20 feet away, running and playing outside our old house, and watching television on the couch to name a few. He is not shy and lets himself be known. He is still the whatever older kids can do I can too boy. We have so many crazy stories added to his journal that Grandpa Emmertson says he has plenty to embarrass him with when he is older. He loves to wear costumes to the stores and even invented with brother, a new hero called Super Underwear Pants. Yep he wore underwear over his clothes, one on his head, and one in his hand as a weapon to the grocery store. And just my luck there were two families we knew there. Strangers loved to look and comment and he just loved it. He has increased his love for fruit snacks and become a picky eater. He dreams of being a superhero and famous sports athlete of any kind. It changes often. I recently cut his hair because it was long enough for pig tails and he preferred putting it up sometimes. He was so convincing as a girl, while wearing them to the store and church party, we had to give into a hair cut before he got angrier at someone who would call him a girl. He did make a cute one though,. It was kinda hard to tell. He seeks to go to school and gets frustrated , but loves to stay with mom and watch movies and have snacks. He is growing up so fast. He leaves nursery class and enters primary this January. Could it really be three years since he was born. He has never really been a baby, even though mom wants to keep him one.
I guess that leaves mom. I turned the big 30 this year. Shoosh don’t tell anyone else. It wasn’t as hard as I thought, but still where did the 10 years go. Cliff and I celebrated our tenth anniversary this year, half a world apart. What a way to celebrate! The New Year will ring four months he’s been gone. We are doing well at the home front. Kids are getting fed, homework is getting done, and there are finally kids coming out to play. Mom needs to make more room for playtime, but we are managing. We are even squeezing in a trip to Alabama. Hope it goes well! What was I thinking? Although it is more than half a year away, my mind is on what haven’t we done here, so we can check it off before we move. It’s also on, I just packed the Christmas stuff in the back of the closet, do I really want to decorate for Christmas if we’re leaving. I don’t feel I learned any new skills, but I did lose eight or so pounds and kept it off. Not as much as I need, but less than at the beginning of 2009. We also were blessed with a little foster daughter we called Ani. We loved her for six weeks and were able to hand her off to her family. We have decided to wait for another time in our lives to do foster care again, but haven’t given up the need to serve. Hawaii has been good to us this year. We still have loads of ants, but now have added lizards, centipedes, caterpillars, and hoards of roaches to our new house. Even the car has spiders and lizards, but mom manages to kill them or drive home clenched to the steering wheel as they lounge on her head-rest. Life has thrown us many adventures this year, but we are still standing and moving forward. May we all be blessed with love and laughter this next year. Ring it in well and use your time wisely. The end of 2010 will be here before you know it. We love you all! Lots of Love!
The Nowell’s Clifton, Nakeysha, Kilee, Kandon, and Kowen
The Nowell’s Clifton, Nakeysha, Kilee, Kandon, and Kowen
