The assignment is- a)Write a few lines on how happy you are.

b) Pass it on to as many bloggers you can think of:

My Answer:

I'm happy because I am blessed with an amazing husband and family. Even though money is tight, I am the richest person in the whole world! The Lord has truly blessed me!

We all need to take some time each day to remember the important things in our life...the things that bring us true happiness.

I want to pass this award on to YOU and:

AMY

APRIL

JANAE

TRISH

KC Mom

...love Maegan

ROBBIE

I hope you will all enjoy thinking about what makes you happy!

Be sure to stop by this post by Robbie

...scroll down and read this

"Great Faith (part 2 of 7)".

This should be embedded in our bathroom mirrors to read each and every morning. Whether your married or not...THIS IS A MUST READ!

Thank you Minti Family for all your support!

Cherokee Indian Legend

Do you know the legend of the Cherokee Indian youth's rite of passage? His dad takes him into the forest –blindfolded-and leaves him...alone. He is required to sit on a stump the whole night...and not take off the blindfold until the ray of sun shines through it. He is all by himself. He cannot cry out for help to anyone.

Once he survives the night he is a MAN. He cannot tell the other boys of this experience. Each lad must come into his own manhood. The boy was terrified-could hear all kinds of noise...Beasts were all around him. Maybe even some human would hurt him. The wind blew the grass and earth...and it shook his stump. But he sat stoically - never removing the blindfold. It would be the only way he could be a man.

Finally, after a horrific night...the sun appeared and he removed his blindfold. It was then that he saw his father sitting on the stump next to him...at watch...the entire night.

We are never alone. Even when we do not know it, our Father is protecting us...He is sitting on the stump beside us. All we have to do is reach out to Him.

"Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go" Joshua 1:9

  My family was all in Utah together for the 4th (we couldn't afford to go), but made the best of it here. It's always hard for us because it's the anniversary of my brother John's death. I usually start to get a little edgy and emotional the week leading up to the 4th. I try to make sure we have lots of plans, the busier I am the easier it is.

I decided to treat myself to a new bike this year...last year we were the Beverly Hillbilly's of OC with our crappy, squeaky, rusty bikes. I haven't had a brand new bike since I was 14 years old! I figured it was time...also I thought it would encourage me to get out and exercise more. I was going to get my usual boys beach cruiser in black, I'm such a tomboy that I don't usually like flashy. But I decided at the last minute to get a shiny purple and silver girl bike. What do ya think?


We rode down to the parade, stopped by to meet some friend's at a house party, but it was all adults and the little guys wanted to hang out with us for a while (we wont have very many years left of them wanting to be with the "parents" since they're 14 & 15. So we told them we'd be back later and rode around with the kids.

Anthony's sister's and all their kids ended up coming down and we met up with them, got some lunch and had a picnic at the park with them and some other friends who met up with us. The boys ended up leaving and me and Anthony headed home for a quick rest before we had to ride back down for the fireworks show.

I had to leave and go pick up Josh from work. I was sitting in the LONG line of cars waiting to turn, when a group of bikers came riding in between all the cars and some parked cars. Some girls were obviously drunk...one girl turned around to talk to her friends and ran smack into the back of a parked car and flipped over the top of her bike, denting the car. Okay now you are all going to know how mean I am...I LAUGHED so hard. I always do when someone trips or falls. I can't help it! I wasn't alone, all the other cars were yelling, honking and laughing too! I didn't feel as bad. She was okay, but she did a bike hit and run. The owner of the car came running out of the house party, but the girl was long gone. I'll take entertainment anyway I can get it.

When we got back down to the beach it was FREEZING. The little guys never came home and had only swim trunks and tank shirts. They were shivering and complaining...we brought them some jackets and I got these pics of them racing toward the backpack and then fighting with a friend for the warmest one.

Elijah, Adam & Friend racing to the backpack for sweatshirts.

The boys fighting over the warm sweatshirts

 

Even Anthony was cold.




Elijah, Friend (Harry), and Adam

Crowd in the ampitheatre.

Crowds watching street performers.

More Crowds in the dreaded Out House line.

My hubby & me trying to stay warm.



Waiting for the fireworks to start.

YAY...FINALLY!

All in all it was a good day and I didn't even cry once...which was a first. We love and miss you John!

My brothers...John hugging Troy. Yes it was the 80's (hence the mullet)LOL!  

I just returned from a date night with my hubby. There wasn't any good movies out so we decided to visit the discount $3.00 movie theater and watch an older movie. We had some sushi and then went to see "I Love You Man." I have to admit, I was pleasantly surprised...we both were cracking up throughout the whole movie.

If you get a chance make sure you rent it when it comes out. It was really cute...I'm always up for a movie that actually makes me laugh out loud (which doesn't happen very often, I'm hard to please). LOL!

Hope you're all having a wonderful weekend!

He was immediately posted as Red Hot! on MODELS.COM (See Here)...this was crazy...it happened so fast. They posted a You Tube video of him (you can tell he didn't know what to say...LOL). Next he was flying off to New York for a week (he comes home tomorrow) for several photo shoots and castings. Calvin Klein gave him their brand new clothing line to wear for a photo shoot! Homme Star posted his polaroid that I took (not bad for an amateur huh?)

Click the links above and check out some of his pics and leave comments if you want...he LOVES them. This has been quite a whirlwind experience. They said he may even go to Milan in June to walk at fashion week...not bad for a 17 year old kid! We're all so happy for him!!

IN THE NEWS

NEW FACE ALERT!

(TGI Fridays)
Yesterday was my birthday, my mom's birthday and now we have a new little edition to celebrate our day. My sister April had a beautiful baby boy, Tyce, who weighed 8lbs, 20 inches. So now we will have a triple celebration every year. What a great birthday present!

I had a great day, my work took me out to a huge lunch. Then when it came time for my family to take me out to dinner, I wasn't even hungry. I pushed the dinner time all the way back to 7:00 p.m. hoping I would get my appetite back, but it didn't happen. Luckily I have tons of boys who are NEVER full, they cleaned their plates and then polished off the rest of my dinner.





Everyone showed up except for Natascha...she had a final at school. We took some pictures in this really cool courtyard, it had water streams running through, waterfalls, and abstract art. We all climbed up on this mini pyramid looking thing to take a picture, when the security guard came charging towards us (I don't think we were supposed to be standing on it). The kids took off running and the guard started to go after them, then he walked towards us and just looked at us...he wanted to say something, but I think he was shocked that we weren't kids. So we calmly kept walking and when we reached the kids we told them that the guy was chasing them down. They said, "REALLY" and all started laughing.

(Shadow Boxing)

(Adam aka Monkey Man)

(Busted~~~Climbing on the Pyramid)
We seem to cause trouble wherever we go...even when we're just trying to take pictures. What's up with that? All in all it was a really good day...besides the fact that I'm getting older (YUCK!!)

We are all really struggling with this right now, especially my mom who has never gotten over my brother's death. My dad however is so upbeat and trying to stay positive. He said, "Don't worry, I'm going to be around for a while!"  He is still in the hospital until they can remove the fluid from his lung.  They will hopefully release him in a couple of days. He was due to retire from the police dept. in a few months and was looking forward to it...now this!

We will be driving up to Utah to spend Christmas with my family for the first time in 14 years (we never have the time off or the money). It is going to be very hard but we are happy to be able to go this year even under the circumstances.

We would appreciate your prayers for my dad, Dave Bolda. It's in God's hands now and we are praying for a miracle.

Sure: (1) confident in what one thinks or knows (2) having a certain prospect or confident anticipation of (3) certain to do something (4) true beyond any doubt

When you are faced with a difficult situation, try saying this strong word...S U R E! Once you say it, you somehow feel more optimistic, positive, and confident. Can you do it? SURE you can!!!

"And whatever things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive."
Matthew 21:22

This was a very tough weekend! We had the funeral of our friend Mike Burk (age 42), and all the boys decided to go...I was glad because it meant a lot to his wife Karen. I can't began to tell you how heartbreaking it was watching those boys and Karen. The sixteen year old was trying to be strong and not cry. The 14 year old was in tears throughout the whole service and the youngest didn't really understand what was going on...which I think was a nice distraction for Karen.

When we walked up before the service, I waited to give Karen a hug, not knowing what to say but just wanting to let her know I was there for her. She saw me and lunged into my arms. As we hugged she seemed to be hanging on to me as if I were a lifeline...a piece of the life that she and Mike had been a part of for 12 years. Baseball and basketball had brought us together and formed a bond and friendship that had become very special over the years. We held each other tight as she said, "Mike just loved you guys and the boys, thank you so much for being here. It really means a lot to me." Squeezing her tighter and fighting back the tears, "Mike has been an important part our lives. Please know that we are all here for you and the boys. If you need anything you know you can call us!" Jullien was standing behind me, she looked at him, chuckled and said, "Oh Jullien, Mike absolutely ADORED you! You always gave him a hard time but he loved you!" They hugged and laughed.

That comment brought back a whole new flood of memories...Jullien was always a hot head, a perfectionist and competitive to a fault. Mike knew this about him and I think saw a bit of himself in Jullien. As a coach he tried to calm Jullien down if he was having a bad game. He decided to find ways to motivate Jullien...one particularly important game found Mike's team down by quite a few points at halftime. He knew that if he could calm Jullien down and get his head back in the game...they could still win. He went straight to the heart of a teenage boy...he offered him CASH! He said, "I'll give you $1.00 for every basket you make." Jullien's eyes got huge, "Are you serious?" "Yeah..show me what you can do, let's see if we can win this game!"

Jullien's face lit up, a light had been switched on. He gathered the team, and said, "We can take these guys...we're better than them." My son turned into Koby Bryant right there on that basketball court, dribbling, passing, leaping, lay ups, three pointers, even a few allyoops. It was amazing to see, he had a look of determination that I had never seen before. We ended up winning the game by 6 points!

I walked up to Mike after the game and said, "What did you say to him...I've never seen him so intense before?" He just smiled and said, "I just figured out a little trick to motivate him." "Well what is it?" I waited patiently for the magic words that I could use for years to come. He grinned even bigger, "It's a secret!" "C'mon Mike, you have to tell me." "Jullien can tell you later if he wants." I got a little bugged, why wouldn't he tell me...I need to know, it was magical!

We got into the car, my son was beaming! "So, what did Mike say to you?" Waiting, leaning back over the front seat, anxiously holding my breathe for the answer (I'm very competitive too and HAD TO KNOW!) He reached deep into his pocket and pulled out a $20.00 bill. I said, "Where'd you get that?" "That's from Mike, he offered me $1.00 for every basket. So I scored 20 points and he payed me!" I told my husband to stop the car and turn around. Mike was just getting to his car. I told my son to give him back his money. He argued, but he knew I meant business! He got out of the car, head low, moping, and handed Mike the money. "My mom said I have to give this back." He walked Jullien back to the car and said, "We made a deal. He held up his end of the bargain so I need to hold up mine."

That was Mike, motivating, giving, encouraging, stubborn and most of all caring. He would not let this angry, overly aggressive kid get beat by himself. He looked inside, saw his heart and talent and found a way to lift him up and show him his full potential. Mike will truly be missed.

After the service I looked over to see his sixteen year old son standing alone, back away from the crowd of people. Staring blankly at the scene before him. I walked over, hugged him and told him how sorry I was and how much we loved his dad. He seemed numb, void, shocked, disbelief and nothingness...I saw a memory of myself when my brother died. I knew that he would be our mission. His long road ahead will be difficult, he'll need to be encouraged, watched and comforted. We'll stay close and help any way we can...we owe it to Mike. Stepping up in his memory and reaching deep inside to touch HIS children and wife.

"The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me to lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside the still waters. He restores my soul; He leads me in the paths of righteousness for His name's sake. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You anoint my head with oil; My cup runs over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me All the days of my life; and I will dwell in the house of the Lord Forever." PSALM 23: 1-6

Thanks once again for all your support...Minti people are AWESOME!

Elijah and Adam surfed and were on their way home, Adam had sped ahead because his mom was going to be picking him up. Elijah was riding alone (slowly...after a 3 hr. practice and then a 2 hr. surf session). He was on the wrong side of the rode (we all do it because you have to go across Main St. at the light before pulling into our driveway.) He had a green light, a 17 year old girl who had just gotten her license was making a right hand turn and didn't see him. He tried to swerve to avoid being hit head on. The front of her car hit his left foot and threw him off the bike. Luckily he was wearing his helmet and there was not any oncoming traffic. He tried to stand up but couldn't put weight on his left foot. He hopped over to the grass and called Jullien (my middle son...he said he didn't call me because he didn't want me to get freaked out). I was upset because he KNOWS I never freak out when they get hurt! I've always had to be the one to stay calm and keep them calm, I lose it later when I'm all alone.

Anthony, me and Jullien jumped in the car and drove to the next block. Elijah was scraped up, had some tire marks on his feet and said his achilles tendon hurt really bad and he couldn't stand on it. The girl was trying to hold back her tears and said she had called her mom and dad. They pulled up, we talked to them, they gave us their information, but we told them we have insurance and not to worry about it. They told us to please call them and they would take care of everything and fix the bike. As we pulled out the girl had completely broke down and was crying as her mom hugged her. Jullien walked the bike back home, I got jackets, called our doctor and drove Elijah to the emergency room.

Luckily it wasn't crowded...we got taken back in 15 minutes. They took x-rays and put him in a temporary cast and crutches. They think it's only a sprain, but because of the pain and swelling they want to make sure he is checked by an orthopedic specialist to make sure he didn't tear the tendon. They need the swelling to go down before I can schedule the appointment.

I got home and called the girl's mother, I wanted the girl to know that he was okay. I left a message and told them he is fine, he might have an achilles injury but will be okay. Accidents happen, our insurance will cover it and not to worry about anything. I wanted to put her mind at ease.

Needless to say I AM SO GRATEFUL that it wasn't worse! God was definitely looking out for him today!!! When we have so many things going wrong in our life (financial struggles, stress, possible foreclosure) something like this really puts things into perspective. Family and health are the most important things. Everything else just DOESN'T matter. I am the happiest mom in the whole world today...a potential tragedy turned out to be a blessing, my son is safe!