Ashley is 5

My baby girl turned 5 on Wednesday, March 30th. The day started off with breakfast in bed of waffles with regular syrup and pink milk.

After that it was off to preschool where she got to bring marshmallow treats and wear a purple crown.

For lunch I made her Dora chicken noodle soup. And then she got changed into her blue sparkly dress for her party. We got ready for the party by setting the table with her princess tablecloth, plates, cups and napkins. Her purple cupcakes were store-bought with Tangled princess ring for a top.

I went to volunteer at Emily's school while she watched a movie. The friend birthday party was to start at 4:30 when Emily got home from piano lessons.

For her party we played a hide-and-seek game called Sardines. Emily is showing Aaron her hurt knee from Sardines.

Then we played Duck, Duck Goose. Aaron decided he really liked touching heads and saying 'duck' so the game was mostly laughing at Aaron.

From left to right: Emily, Sarah, Ashley, Maddie, Jeni, Aaron, Cami, and Brookie. Five friends since she was five. Then we did the limbo, opened presents, and ate cupcakes and ice cream cones. Then the kids got to work coloring on our cardboard house; which they loved.

The party was a success- kids went home happy and we'd only had outbursts of tears by Emily and Cami. Ashley felt celebrated and yet it wasn't too much in one day.

The birthday fun continued by going to the swimming pool later that week, packages, phone calls, and a whole other party with the Fosters.

Easter Weekend

FRIDAY

2ish- Brothers' Hanks arrive

3-4:30 pm- I dropped off Emily at gymnastics and then went shopping b/c I didn't want to be with the brothers.  I found I liked shopping.  I went to Michaels & Deseret Book and was mostly successful.  

4:30-7 pm Bryan makes carne asada and homemade flour tortillas for dinner.    

7 pm- Girls got picked up by Aunt Amy for a sleepover.  Date night plus Aaron begins.  I deliver PUD statements and talk to neighbors for a while.  Brothers leave.

9pm- I put Aaron to bed.  I am tired from an early run and I am feeling sick with a cold.  We abort our grand plans to play games, opting for bed with books. 

SATURDAY

8 am- Sleeping-in.  :-)  Bryan got Aaron breakfast then rejoins me in bed for lounging and reading.  I stayed in bed until 9.  All morning we took turns helping Aaron and reading.  Garrett calls to say he's coming.  Amy took the girls shopping at DI and yard sales which they all love.  Bryan goes for 5 1/2 mile run.  

11:30ish- Garrett arrives.  I make french toast.  Bryan gets online for cooking tutorials and starts prep work for a better round of carne asada with tortillas.  Bryan and Garrett see who's the man by trying to outdo each other in P90X Ab Ripper.  Turns out both can handle a good ab ripping as long as they are grunting hard.   

3:30pm- Garrett needs Bryan's car from the brothers to get a friend who's visiting from Mexico.  Bryan working hard on yummy dinner.  

4 pm- I drive to get the girls from Amy's.  After loaded in the car, Ashley conks out (typical).  During the drive home Emily falls asleep which tells me Tiffany wasn't exaggerating when she said they were awake until midnight watching movies (Em never naps).  Garrett brings Darian Cruz (18 & friend from ESL teaching). 

6 pm- Brothers leave.  Bryan tags me in making dinner.  It turned out better than before- hooray for Bryan's perseverance.  Garrett and Darian make cookies teaching Emily to speak Spanish.  We hard boil and dye eggs; including one that looked like Mexico's flag.  I try to wake up Ashley from nap and she doesn't. She ended up sleeping 4:30 pm to 7:30 am = 15 hours!   Bryan bathes Em and Aaron.  

9 pm- Em tipped the blue easter dye cup on herself and the floor.  Bath round two.  Eat yummy cookies.  Bed for Em and Aaron.  Bryan reading.  Gar and Darian dance the cumbia and I take a turn too.  Fun Latin music dancing!  

10:30 pm- I get ready for Easter morning.  Garrett takes friend home. 

SUNDAY

7:30 am- Our family's first visit from the Easter Bunny.  Emily's friend told her she just had to believe.  They were surprised with a basket by their beds- candy, picture of Christ, notepads, pencil, art project.  Aaron got a basket of matchbox cars and trains- happy boy all day.  Also found 6 eggs in the front yard from a neighbor Easter Bunny.  

9-12  Church. We were all looking good.  Nice service.  Bryan came with for the first hour.    

2 pm- Bryan, the brothers and Em went to a park to play Captain Hook (Emily) vs. Peter Pan with Lost Boys.  I make dinner and Gar and Ash dye Easter eggs.  Brothers leave.  

4 pm-  Easter dinner: ham, mashed potatoes, gravy, deviled eggs, french bread, chewies dessert.  

5 pm- Garrett leaves.  Talk on the phone to family.  Hang out outside.  Clean up house with girls.  Bryan does all the dishes.  Wrestle-mania Bry and kids.  

8pm- Bedtime snack, stories, teeth.  Read story about the empty Easter egg representing Christ's tomb.  More talks with family.  Homeschool prep should be starting, but it's not.  

The Brothers Hanks

Cameron (26) and Spencer (29) have been homeless off and on for the last few years. Post eviction from their parents' home (Jan 2011) they have lived at a friends' house, a hotel, the streets, a hospital, a mental institution, a homeless shelter in Dallas, our house, and are presently at a homeless shelter in Salt Lake. They are Bryan's brothers and some of his best friends and they are all doing what they feel is right in this situation.

I am writing about the homeless scene that I have been privy to since the boys talk to Bryan. This info may not be new to you but it was to me. This info is based on the boys having lived in a shelter in Dallas for 4 weeks and SLC for 3 weeks.

-There are enough beds for everyone. If someone shows up at a shelter in time and the beds are taken they can help you get to another place. They have showers. There is no limit on how long you can stay.

-There is free food for you all around town all day long. Not at the homeless shelter, but they have lists of places (i.e. churches) that will give you food. And they send lots of extra food with these guys. The shelter has a rule that no outside food may be brought in (sanitation, fighting, etc) but some shelters don't enforce this policy.

-Sleeping pads are passed out and everyone is in bed from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. If you don't make it there, you don't sleep there. If you are disturbing the peace, you don't sleep there.

-If you need medication (Spencer does), they have doctors that will give you an Rx for whatever you need.

-The currency in shelters is cigarettes.

-Drugs are very prominent in shelters. People talk about using them, ask you if you want to use them, try to sell you all kinds of stuff, you see people tripping out on drugs.

-People are also talking about God and finding His peace and presence. You can hear a conversation about God on one side and one about drugs on the other.

-In Dallas: a security guard was hired to keep the peace all night, they give out one-way bus tickets to anyone who could prove there was a residence waiting for them, they provide residency to Dallas city so you can get a library card to use the internet and check out books. The boys' backpack and laptop were stolen but they got the laptop back.

-In SLC: it is easier to be homeless b/c the shelter's rules aren't as enforced, free TRAX transportation, the downtown library is close and huge. Homeless guys said they love Conference weekend because they make lots of money from asking people. A woman drove by and asked them if they were homeless and then gave them a bag of chips.

All this info has made me wonder: Who is picking up the bill for all this free stuff we are handing out? How come helping people in need of these services easily turns to abusing these services? Why do I feel angry at the people who I think taking advantage of America's security blanket? Is America doing a service to not let these guys fail? I want to help those who are hurting, yet when I see this I wonder what is it God really asking us to do?

~Jacob 2:18-19 "After ye have obtained a hope in Christ ye shall obtain riches, if ye seek them; and ye will seek them for the intent to do good--to clothe the naked, and to feed the hungry..."

~Matthew 6:25-26 "Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body... Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they? ...If God so clothe the grass of the field... shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith?"

~Exodus 20:9 "[9] Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work"

~John 5:17 "But Jesus answered them, My Father worketh hitherto, and I work."

~John 6: 28-29 "What shall we do, that we might work the works of God? Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent."

So the work is believing? It seems to be a cyclical line of reasoning.

Maybe it is in Matthew 7- judge not, seek God, bring forth good fruits, build your house on 'the' rock. I think I will try to judge less, love more, and build myself and my community, and trust homeless people less.