Do not pray for an easy life, pray for the strength to endure a difficult one.

– Bruce Lee

Saturday/Creative Day: Last week we went to the Cherry Blossom Festival (Hanami). This week we went to the Hawai’i Museum of Science and Technology, it was really cool. Small but immersive and that’s what I like for a children’s museum. Without our friends it may have been not worth staying very long, but being there with our friends we could not only explore, but also jam on the piano or catch up or make jokes. It’s a pretty building and the layout is easy to see the kids so they can slightly get away without being unsafe. We had fries after and that was fun, the restaurant reminded me a lot of Brazil, not fancy, but lively and loud. The museum made me feel good, it’s not that far off from what we do and have, it’s toned down from big city normal as we also are so it made me feel like we are not that behind other non-profits in what we offer.

Sunday/Faith Day: Last week we went fishing at essence island, it was nice because my kids enjoy fishing (in a quick way) and I enjoy the sand and the environment, where there was once a healing temple. This week we went out skating, it was so rainy, I just wanted to relax, when we did get to the pavilion there was a beautiful rainbow pretty close to us, closer than I had seen a rainbow before. That was pretty, it felt like a blessing from the rainbow goddess. I felt good to be with my friends, but bad to be not resting when I could feel the call of rest from my body. Most of us were pretty moody, typically only one person is at a time, but today it was a grumpy day overall. On the car ride I complained a bit, but then I described things I should be grateful for, to skateboard, to see my friends and it helped me go from negative to neutral, but not really positive, it was a funky day for me mentally.

Monday/Unity Day: Last week I was actually happy about the front garden getting “finished”. A lot of it is finished, but one thing it didn’t get is milkweed to attract butterflies, I tried direct sowing it and that didn’t work out this time. Another thing is I’m not sure if I want a pebble road vs mulch. But it is more finished than it was. We were all a but tired we covered a little Social Studies and world history. I cleaned up the living room floor, vacuumed under the sofa, wiped the kitchen counters, set up the third aeroponic garden I had sitting in my room for a long long time. The whole house isn’t clean, but I started to clean it and take stock of what needs to get de-molded when I buy more de-mold spray. We folded some of our clean towels together, still behind on folding the clean clothes.

Tuesday/Self-Determination: Last week went skateboarding, it was really fun and we got picnic table lumber. This week we have the picnic table cut and since I got comfy on the miter saw I cut some frames for the art director, I sanded most of them with my daughter and son and still need to paint them. Choosing the sizes was a bit hard for me as an indecisive person, I chose 4×6″, 8.5×11″, 12×16″, 22×28″. When I work with bamboo I get into a flow, I also feel that way with this guava wood, I like to work with wood I harvested more than store bought wood.

The picnic table wood is cut, but not stained yet.

The frame wood is cut and mostly sanded, but not stained yet.

I was inspired by Eugene’s frame it look elegant and rustic, at least to me.

Wednesday/Collective Work Day: Last week a small class with my own kids was nice because to include others I sometimes feel I ignore my own and I don’t want to feel like that, I want it to be balanced. This week a ton of little girls doing karate together, it was adorable, from one about to be two years old to one about to be six, very cute mix of focused girls attacking the new punching bag. The frames were really fun, we had our art project, our red morning glories and hibiscus tea seeds, our karate class. It was Valentine’s day exchange and a birthday so it was pretty big. I was happy the punching bag went well, I was happy so many people were into martial arts this week, I was happy to see the kids playing well overall, I was happy people took plants, people made frames. I was so happy to be with my friends and enjoy the day. I still only taught one class, but I did offer to do two so getting there.

Thursday/Cooperative Economics Day: Last week able to see a new garden where I hope to help grow an English Secrete Garden Style Garden. This week helping out with cleaning up for an inspection, I’ve been wanting to help my friend for a few years, but it seemed like it was never the right time. It’s scary to hope we are going to make a difference but one of my friends made me feel hopeful and positive about it. You never really know what will happen, but it’s hard to work hard if you can’t believe it is leading to success, or I can’t. Much later after failure you see how skills lead to being able to do things you couldn’t have done without the failures, but failures hurt so they are scary and disappointing. I want to help my friend clean up because I came from a messy house and I’ve never seen a messy home become actually clean in real life, I want to believe it is possible, that people aren’t stuck as clean or dirty, but can become more than they are. I don’t want to believe we are set in stone or that I am.

Friday/Creativity Day: Last week I planted roses. This week there was a big storm so our normal stuff got cancelled, everyone was in a bad mood lately and then the big wind storm hit, it really seems to be related, because it wasn’t just me, but the most happy go lucky people as well who were not feeling like sunshine. The storm is a scary storm, it knocks over trees, it breaks things, it’s hard to repair the things that are broken as fast as they get broken and it’s depressing walking by things falling apart all the time. I had time to talk to the kids about my son’s birthday coming up and order some coffee mugs, I had time to plan the next phase of our scout group and to think about the future, I had time to look for my daughter’s best friend’s birthday gift and do some laundry. I made some muffins. It’s not a restful day with the storm winds raging outside, but I did have hope to have help fixing my home and to help others fix theirs I want to help us become a community that does that kind of stuff.

Last Year to This Year

Last Year: It was when we formed a Non-Profit Corporation to seek grants instead of just being a free community class with no structure, I met so many people I was having trouble keeping their names straight. We started the tide challenge and a girl I now like a lot inspired me to keep trying with the science challenges.

This Year: Felt scattered for awhile, but seeing that some of my goals did get done from last year to this year made me feel better, the golf lawn hit a 1.0 for sure with grass (though it’s overgrown now), the front garden fountain hit a 1.0 it works and is cool (though I am waiting on stone path and milkweed). Reading about last year I am so grateful about my friends that I once struggled to name, they have taught me a lot and supported me and fed me and inspired me and just last year I didn’t know most of them.

Live – Lift – Love

Live – Sometimes I need a break, I may not impress my friends, but that’s how I keep being able to be the person I want to be is by shifting into neutral sometimes. That’s kept me patient with my kids and with myself. Productivity vs Productivity Capacity, being able to rest to be healthy to do something, it’s so important.

Lift – I’m really excited that I’m helping my friend clean in our Clutter Fight Club, I’m really excited to be taking our scout curriculum to the next level even if it is messy and unprofessional, I’m really excited to look for Sandalwood seeds or seedlings, I’m really excited to be more comfortable with boundaries that I’m heading off problems within our group and learning from our mistakes. We are bringing the community together, for fun, for social well being, also to educate, to celebrate and they all seem to be equally important and beautiful. I updated our Patreon and website pictures, I did a Patreon transfer just to test the system. I am super inspired right now by a frame project we just did that a few people tried.

Love – I love the way having a scout group has brought my children more social opportunities, family is good and school is good, but friends are so soothing to the soul and they make you see things in a different way. I love that my children are a part of the group we are a part of, which makes me happy, I’m happy to do it for others, but I’m also happy to take from the community they have a lot to give me and teach me and I don’t hate help and knowledge. I guess I found faith, I found that to make something special you simply need to believe it’s special and what that means to me and for me. For me it’s not faith in God, but faith in humanity and if I have any faith in God, it’s the faith in the God in humanity (I’m not very spiritual of a person really, but that’s me).

📜