This is my Aha moment - Revised

Ken Isaak

Today Fresno Pacific started grieving the loss of a good friend, Ken Isaak. Ken has worked at FPU in many capacities for over 20 years. I didn't know Ken well, but since I work in the University Communication's office, I have the great pleasure of working with many great people across the campus.

In 2008 our department came up with a funky idea to use sock puppets to explain difficult concepts at the University. One of my favorites starred none other than Ken Isaak. It was his video debut. He played himself (FPU's financial aid director) discussing financial aid with a sock. He was fantastic to work with! He listened to our suggestions, and laughed a lot. I've embedded the video below, enjoy!

The Sockingtons - The Deadline from Fresno Pacific University on Vimeo.

On the personal side of Ken's death. This is the fifth death to touch my family in 10 weeks. My kids have seen my grieve a lot this year. They've had lots of questions. I've done my best to explain. I've turned to friends for support and help. My friend Tracy wrote a really good post that explained talking to her boys about the subject. I'm going to use some of her words of wisdom too. Thanks Tracy.

Goodbye Ken.

Kristina's Going to Italy

My niece Kristina is going to Italy. Can you help send here there?

Try to watch this video without a tissue...


There more information here on her Facebook group page. Thanks for your help!

Softball Season

I LOVE softball/baseball season! This year only one of our kids is playing softball. Our little Tori is playing with a bunch of her buddies on a team and she is having a blast! She willing plays whatever position coach puts her in and loves to swing her pink bat!

For opening ceremonies the team dressed up as princesses!

How cute are they???

The coach on the left is none other than daddy! Tori loves spending extra time w/her dad.

Tori and her buddy Macae.

Birthdays, spelling bees, gotcha days and memorials

Well, I won't pretend that I haven't been a horrible blogger. So let's just get to the recap, shall we?

Birthdays:
Kev celebrated his birthday on Monday of this week. We had family stuff going on that day, so hopefully we can celebrate soon. Below is a tribute to Kevin written by one of his little sisters, Joyce. It's pretty funny. (I'm seeing some foretelling for Joshua I think!) I love you Kevin. It has been amazing to be your wife and partner for over 20 years.

Gotcha Day:
We celebrated Tori's Gotcha Day in January. Hard to believe we celebrated the fourth anniversary of her adoption! Wow, time flies. She is growing to be a funny, sweet and loving little girl. Her favs these days include school, soccer, princesses and our dog Lola.

Spelling Bee:
Yesterday Lizzie won the fourth grade spelling bee. Yay! I felt so bad that I haven't had the chance to work with her on her words the past couple of weeks, but evidently, she didn't need it. She rocked it yesterday! On to the county bee.

Memorials:
This one is harder to write. It is still so surreal. On Saturday, February 6th, my brother-in-law Paul (my sis Lori's husband) had a massive heart attack and died. He had been battling high blood pressure for about a year, but this was totally unexpected.

The last two weeks have been a blur. His memorial was a week ago today. Paul has been a part of our family for over 27 years. He was an incredible husband, daddy and uncle. From the moment my kids were born (or brought home) he started chanting "Uncle Paul, Uncle Paul" in an early effort to get them to say his name. His methods were very successful!

Paul, we miss you more than I can describe.


Joyce's tribute to Kev:
Kris and I call him our "little big brother" because we have another brother (Brad) who is the biggest of our big brothers. Anyway, Kevin is two years older than me and was a constant play-mate for me while we were growing up. Sometimes that was a good thing and sometimes not so good. :)

Kevin was and still is a character. Anything and everything turned into a fun time if he was around. The problem was, you just NEVER knew how things would turn out...sometimes good and sometimes not so good.

Like, climbing a tree might turn into him falling out from the very top or it might just end up with a tree full of kids and nobody gets hurt. A baseball game might turn into a broken nose (usually for him), or it might just turn out to be a fun way to pass the time.

An innocent game of "darts" might turn into a dart in Kris' arm, or it might just be another dart game on a hot afternoon in the Phillippines. Or, Mom cutting out a pattern to sew might turn into being stabbed in the arm with the scissors (Kevin again), or it might just turn out to be the beginning of a new dress. (Not for Kevin.)

Then there were the neighborhood water fights when all the parents were at work. They started out simply enough...one bucket of water at a time tossed across the street at each other, but soon enough, they'd turn into an all-out, three-lawn-hoses-hooked-together shooting match that sometimes ended up INSIDE the house!!!! See what I mean?????

I'm not necessarily saying he was accident prone, but if there was trouble to be had, you can bet he was in the middle of it! SO MUCH FUN! (lol).

In school, Kevin was a rock star. Every girl I ever knew would tell me how good-looking my brother was. Then there was the occasional teacher that would say to me, "oh...you're Kevin's sister." (What was THAT all about??) ;-) His nickname for me has always been "Poy" (I think that's the name of a tropical fruit...rather appropriate, don't you think?) :)

Now days, Kevin is the best husband (to Lisa) and father (to Lizzy, Tori, and Josh) that you could imagine. I'm sure my Mom and Dad are just WAITING for the day that "you just wait, young man...someday you're going to have kids JUST LIKE YOU!" actually starts to pay off.

If you ask me....that wouldn't be such a bad thing after all.

Practical Ways to Help Haiti

1) Text "HAITI" to "90999" to donate $10 to the Red Cross -- Our friends at the US State Department, including Katie Stanton (@kateatstate), very quickly put together this number to channel relief contributions directly to first responders who will be on the ground there. I love that our government does things like this. This only works in the US.

2) Text "Yele" to 501501 to donate $5 to Yele Haiti -- Wyclef Jean (@wyclef) created this foundation to permanently improve the lives of the most impoverished in his home country of Haiti. Wyclef has an amazing commitment to the region and the impact Yele Haiti has there every day. Check out more on Yele Haiti.

3) Donate to Partners in Health (click here) -- PIH (@pih_org) is already on the ground in Haiti and mobilizing their relief efforts. If you have heard of Paul Farmer, this is the organization he co-founded. Working to provide health care and education to the poorest of Haiti, PIH is the real deal.

4) Donate to Architecture for Humanity (click here) -- Cameron Sinclair (@casinclair) and his non-profit Architecture for Humanity (@archforhumanity) can be found at virtually every developing world disaster site on the planet. These guys are a collection of design and housing geniuses who work tirelessly to provide shelter for the most deserving.

5) Donate to charity:water (click here) -- charity:water (@charitywater) works to bring clean water to the 1 billion people on the planet who don't have it. Recently, the organization's founder, Scott Harrison (@scottharrison), traveled to Haiti to commence operations in that country and already thousands of Haitians have clean water to drink. As if the situation wasn't already bad enough, the need for clean water only intensifies in the aftermath of earthquakes. Every dollar of your support to these guys goes fully and immediately to work in the field. Charity:water wrote a post encouraging you to also help their partners in Haiti.

6) Donate to Oxfam (more here) -- Oxfam has long experience in Haiti, and we're rushing in teams from around the region to respond to the situation where our assistance is most needed. Our response will include providing clean water, shelter, sanitation and helping people recover – your donation will go immediately to the most critical needs in Haiti, and we will ensure that every penny is used wisely.

7)Donate to Hands and Feet (more here) -- Hands and Feet Project , a 501c3 non-profit organization, is a children's village in Jacmel, Haiti that was started by the band Audio Adrenaline in 2004. The first little girl arrived in the spring of 2005, and they now care for 40 children ranging in age from 2 months to 9 years old.

8) Support World Vision (more here) -- A gift to World Vision (@WorldVisionUSA) now will help distribute life-saving relief supplies – including food, clean water, blankets, and tents — to children and families devastated by the earthquake and aftershocks in Haiti.

9) Provide essential items through Samaritan's Purse (more here) -- Samaritan's Purse (@SamaritansPurse) is responding to the earthquake that devastated Haiti by providing critically needed assistance, including water, temporary shelter, blankets, hygiene kits, medical aid, and other essentials. (Emergency Relief 13942)

10) Pray. Pray for all involved. Pray for the Haitian people, the relief workers, the governments involved.

*Some items listed borrowed from Chris Sacca's blog post.