Happy 17 and Chinese New Year

Happy Year of the Rabbit! We are all thrilled around here to usher out the crazy year of the tiger and welcome in the mellow restful year of the rabbit. Now saying that I may be asking for it, but it sure sounds good to think about a mellow year. At least all family members are somewhat settled in and ready to get through the year. Micah is finally in Buckeye, the girls are here, and now all the boys.

On another fun note tweeny turned 17! That is so hard for me to believe. I can still remember my 17th birthday. Went out with hubby for dinner at Red Lobster. Scary. I am just glad she still likes to have fun and will hopefully wait at least 10 years to settle down. She is looking at a fun year of taking the GED and getting started in her estitician career. Should be a great year!

Book is Here

IT'S HERE! Just go to Micah's blog
This book is a compilation of Micah's poetry written during his first two years incarcerated in Coconino County Jail. I must say, totally unbiased of course, that he is a heck of an author.

Coffee With Apollo will make you laugh and cry and think. It really does offer a bunch for only $10.00. A lot of people have asked how they can help Micah. This is the best way. It is a great morale booster at a pretty tough time for him as well as keeping him in the coffee for awhile.

Thanks to all for continued support, love, prayers and trust in Micah.

Birthday Bash

I love birthdays! I keep wondering when I will quit liking my birthdays so much, but so far for the last 48 they just keep getting better and better. I got great gifts this year, that were much needed,(except maybe the pipe, which will be awhile). The rest were much needed.

My family put together a great feast of mexican food as well as a wonderfully sinful earthquake cake. I felt like the python that ate the pig before the night was over to be sure.

The only bad part of the whole night was that my son who is 21 and should know better, beat me at scrabble! He should know that you don't beat people at their favorite game, especially on their birthday. Ah I guess I will survive. I am trying to get him to do a rematch and he refuses until next year

I guess I better explain the picture. It just happens to be the only picture taken on the big day, but was a joke. Because I have dreadlocks people always assume that I must smoke pot. I do not smoke pot! I have dreads because Micah always wanted them, can't have them so I am his proxy for the dreads. Once he is free and can get his own mine may or may not come off.

I will do a different post on the true history of dreads and why the rastafarians are actually mistaken about where and why they came about. Anyhoo as a joke one of my comedian kids decided it would be funny to buy this little pipe and give it to me on my birthday! I have to admit I was shocked and they got that on video, but this pic says it all, pretty funny!

CONFERENCE WEEKEND

I have been busy getting the girls ready for conference this weekend. I was going to make cinnamon rolls but decided on coffee cake. Now I am thinking, is that appropriate to make coffee cake to eat during a Mormon conference?

This weekend is Micah's birthday and we will miss spending it with him. We were able to spend his 18th with him last year. I decided then that visiting through glass, talking on a phone, is pretty much just like talking on the phone and lots cheaper. I do hope he has a good day.

TEXAS

Well it is on to Texas for a few days. It is very humid here and feels great! I actually missed the humidity while in Arizona. The flight here was so nice. I am so used to the international travel with all it's hassles and forgot how simple it is to fly little.
I am still working on my inmate and trying to get him settled. Evidently there was a mix up and the jail people "accidently" moved him into a pod he did not want to be in. Everyone had agreed that he would spend the remainder of his time in the same pod he was in, but someone missed the memo.
The mentality in jail is such that change is very difficult and they know that. Sometimes they move people just to make their lives miserable. As if losing everything and everyone near and dear to you is not punishment enough. So when I visited him he was very agitated about being moved.
He was in lockdown and could not make phone calls or anything. For his own good of course, since he had just taken a plea. The deal is all the lawyers had agreed he would stay in what has become his home over the year he has been there.
The fact that he will be there for at least six months more is not helping. First time I've ever heard someone beg to go to prison. Anyway the facts and figures of his plea and a great picture of him are all on www.azdailysun.com in archives for micah neumann. He's so freakin cute!

OMG

So I had the biggest, and I mean biggest and bestest surprise of my whole life. My son in the above photo surprised me and showed up for pizza tonight! My kids managed to keep it from me from the past week and a half.
Even my grand daughter knew, they say even the dog knew, but not me and the hubby. I kind of did a cross between a scream and a cry when he started banging on the gate.
My daughter pretended her and her hubby were going out to dinner so I kept the kids. The younger sis was supposed to babysit and skipped off with the boyfriend. I was just done yelling at her and making her apologize to her sis. when someone banged on the gate. I ran out because we were all inside and no one else should be there.
There was the tallest guy in all of Costa Rica holding three pizzas, looking like he had had a very long flight.
I have been feeling a little blue because it has been one year this month since we saw Micah free, so this really cheered and lifted my heart. I give a big thank you and lots of love to my son, and other children for making this happen.

PARENTS OF INMATES

Sometimes I feel as if I live two different lives. There is the life that I blog about on this site, but there is my other life that I blog about on my sons blog, www.realjailnews.blogspot.com. I do lots better when I just have to talk about the day to day events on my hotmoms site. That is the side of me that I wish I was still living all of the time.
Unfortunately there is the other life that I have to deal with on a daily basis. Being the mother of an inmate is not something I ever dreamed or should I say had nightmares about in my lifetime. You just never expect something like this to happen to your family.
In reading a couple of books that I have been reading lately I am realizing we will never go back to the old life we have lived in the past. As the book says we are living another kind of normal. Now our family vacations will be planned around Micahs' birthday and visiting with him wherever he may be incarcerated. We spent his 18th birthday visiting him through the glass of coconino county jail. This year we are already budgeting and planning for our month long trip to the U.S. to see Micah. We will be allowed special visiting time because we are from out of state. I am just so excited to be able to touch and hug him.
Sometimes when I think that my son has not had a kind touch for eight months it breaks my heart. Maybe it is the Mom in me and a little bit of the massage therapist and just a plain old person that realizes we all need touch. Sometimes I wonder if part of the reason they fight in prison so much is just to get someone to touch them, without worrying about the other weird side of things.
These and many other things go through my mind a hundred times a day. We do not know what will happen to Micah, or when but we continue praying and hoping for the best outcome for our son.
As well as try to keep our faith and survive this "different kind of normal".

THE DREADED HAIR STYLE :)

I have always had very unmanigable hair. I take that back, from the time I went through puberty I have had unmanageable hair. when Rick and I were dating he tried to "style" my hair one time. He quickly learned that it was impossible.
Well low and behold I have finally found a hair style that works for me. DREADLOCKS!
I met a girl about two years ago with dreads and I really liked them. Then Micah kept talking about getting them and I told hiim he was crazy because you can't wash them.
Once I finally did the research and found that yes you could wash them, and basically all you did was quit combing your hair I was sold. I never really combed my hair anyway because it did not good.
My biggest fan is Breyssi, because now Grandma has hair like hers, Loca!

DREADS

So if anyone ever tries to tell you that dread locks don't hurt, they are soooooo lying! I think only childbirth rivals the pain, and at least you have a baby to show after that, not just fried hair. I told Micah I was going to dread my hair and leave it that way until he was free. My "rage against the machine" so to speak.
I do hope he appreciates the pain I just went through. Not to mention the fact that my hubby laughs at me everytime he looks at me. I think it would be better if he just freaked out or something, but laughing?
We are going to the beach for a couple of days and when we get back I will post pictures. By the way though if anyone is contemplating a face lift, this works pretty well. You know when you were young and mom put your ponies in too tight? Well this is the same idea, so it pulls your face nice and tight, cheap facelift in Costa Rica!

BABIES

My baby with her baby! My my how quickly they grow up, or think they are grown up should I say! Seems like just yesterday I was taking her to school at the Montesorri school and waiting in the long line of parents to pick her up. I just got back from walking my other baby to school and was contrasting the two babies.

The line waiting to drop off at the Montessori school were a bunch of Volvos, SUV's, and every other nice car you can think of. Fast forward to dropping off baby baby. All of us are walking quickly to make it the one half or one quarter mile to school in time. Of course there are a few scooter moms and beater car moms, but for the most part we are all walking moms.

All the moms stand outside the gate until that baby is safely inside the classroom, even though the school used to be a military barracks and they can't get out at all! Before the day when Costa Rica still had a military it was one of their posts. When Costa Rica did away with their military they turned all the military buildings into schools. There are a lot of schools.

It kind of reminds me of the bumper sticker about spending all the money the U.S spends on bombs and war on schools. Now that would be a novel thought and one that would surely be a true change for the Obama band.

But back to babies and school. My big baby was in the fourth grade before she went to school. We had been homeschooling and were all about done with it. So she went to fourth grade and Micah went to seventh, at the Montessori middle school. Looking back I probably would have put Micah in sooner and baby in later. He was very ready for all the kids, and challenges of school, she was not.

Of course when we found out the next year, in her fifth grade that she could not see at all out of her right eye it explained a lot of things. Like why she hated reading and playing ball! She still hates those things and still can't see out of her right eye, but she moves at her own speed with her school work and by the time she is 25 should be done with high school!

You know here in Costa Rica there is no shame in that. In Latin America in general being held back is no big deal. You just keep trying until you get it and when you do you are done. If you get to be an adult in the meantime you just attend the evening classes, no shame at all. I guess she is getting a bit Tica after all. Maybe she will take off when her baby sister catches up with her :)

HAPPY THOUGHTS

Ever have one of those days? I mean one of those, those days? Well this is one of them and I am trying really hard to be really positive. Thinking happy thoughts, "Biggest Loser" is on tonight, Maleah got to school on time today (helps when it is the 12:30 day), Rick is recovering from his stomach flu, Micah has not called with bad news, his lawyer has not called with any bad news, I had a great run in the warm sunshine, I found my lost bank card, I remembered all the muscles I was teaching in the kines class this morning.

Yeah it is a good day after all. Maleah was ready for school an hour before it was time to go. She finally agreed to let Hannah pick her up after school so I could go for a "talk" with a guy who needs English teachers. I love teaching and we are already half way done with our massage class, so looking for something to keep me busy.

Rebekah and I are also working hard on getting our "No Excuses" program going. Lots of research and leg work to get ourselves organized. Thank goodness this one does not entail doing another web, or blog site! Just lots of fun motivating people to take care of their one and only precious body they will ever, ever have. Doesn't that sound fun!