Here's the extra special addition to our lovely hop. It's an oh-so-easy opportunity for you lovely participants of the Aloha Friday Blog hop to get some exposure to your blogs!!  What do  you have to do to enter?  Just link up to the Aloha Friday Blog Hop Below!! It's that easy!!  No extra forms or hassle, just link up!  Each week we will pick a linker to featured at random and invite you all to say ...

Aloha Hoapili translates as Hello Close Friend. So, without further ado let me introduce you to this week's featured friend ...

Leyla at This Day I Love.

Leyla blogs all about life, love and her littles. Want a little taste of her blog? Check out these posts to find out what you've been missing:

Kiddies and Tidy Books  A Mile in Memory  A Birth Story

Now let's start hoppin'! Click on the links in the linky to visit some lovely bloggers and make new friends. Oh, and don't forget to link up yourselves!

Aloha and have a great day people!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Here's the extra special addition to our lovely hop. It's an oh-so-easy opportunity for you lovely participants of the Aloha Friday Blog hop to get some exposure to your blogs!!  What do  you have to do to enter?  Just link up to the Aloha Friday Blog Hop Below!! It's that easy!!  No extra forms or hassle, just link up!  Each week we will pick a linker to featured at random and invite you all to say ...

Aloha Hoapili translates as Hello Close Friend. So, without further ado let me introduce you to this week's featured friend ...

Gertrude at The Chosen Remnant.

Gertrude blogs all about life, spiritualist and dealing with life.

Want a little taste of her blog? Check out these posts to find out what you've been missing: Dealing with bitterness Rough Days If you had the chance

Now let's start hoppin'! Click on the links in the linky to visit some lovely bloggers and make new friends. Oh, and don't forget to link up yourselves!

Aloha and have a great day people!

I haven't really posted in a couple weeks. I'm so very sorry for neglecting this blog.  I've had so much going on in my day job and in my day to day life that it left little time for writing.  Truth be told, I'm a stressed out person, super stressed out and I needed time off.  For those of you who aren't all that familiar with my blog, I'm a Christian. I don't shove my beliefs down anyone's throats but I like to share my love and devotion to Jesus and I believe that sharing Jesus' love with my readers is the priority.

Lately I've just been burdened because I feel like I can't do anything 100% because I'm stretching myself too thin and burning the candle at both ends.  I'm back to dieting and working out which depletes me at night so there's no late night blogging sessions so the blog gets neglected.  Daytime is consumed by work and my son so it's a very delicate balance and juggling act and I feel like too many balls have been dropped.  I am working on Sponsor Love posts for early next week and the Aloha Hop goes live tomorrow.  This week's hop has no co-hosts with Sarah and I as May has 5 weeks and the last week is a "break" for me as far as coding and co-hosts go.  June 7th will launch the June team of the Aloha Friday Blog Hop and I may be stepping away from it at least as a main host for awhile.  I am not sure exactly how it will work out and I'll still be sharing it on my site and doing the mass email but it will no longer be something that is "mine".

I am so proud of the Aloha Friday Blog hop, how much it's grown and how many wonderful ladies and blogs I've found because of it. I will continue to interact and love on everyone that participates but as a host, it's a lot of stress and time and I can't afford much of either it seems. I'm wrestling with issues not only with the blog but with my own personal life and walk with God and not having time to do anything right.  I apologize to any of you that are let down or upset with me for stepping back and doing this but it's something I need to do.

To those of you in the June team, don't worry, you're still co-hosts!!  I am transferring all the emails and the lists to a new email: alohahop@gmail.com so that Sarah can easily access it all.  If you're interested in co-hosting with Sarah, shoot us an email there.  Please keep in mind that the Aloha Hop is a really time consuming enterprise and that she's going to need someone willing to do the work, network and be a partner with her through it all. Sarah is one of the most amazing bloggers I know and I'm so honored to know her and to have spent the last 6 months having her as my co-host.  If she will have me, I will still be hosting in some way shape or form to help network, spread the word and email everyone but my part in it is going to be far diminished.

My blog will still be up but I really just want to post things I have a passion for and lately I feel like it's all business, no fun, all work, little about what I love.  Time for a shift in focus as I step back and let a new team bring a fresh face to the Aloha Friday Blog Hop.  Thank you all for being a part of the growth, the love and the Aloha.  My focus has to shift to Jesus, my son and my day job.  I can no longer burn the candle at both ends every day, it's just too much for me.  My blog will still be here and I'll be regularly writing on it but it will be shifted in many ways.  I want to love blogging again instead of dread it. As a result of me stepping back from the Aloha Hop, I've reduced the prices of my ads in half permanently.

Love you all.  Thank you so much for understanding.

Aloha,

Jean

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  Grab our button!!

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get the InLinkz code

I'm so blessed to have such a wonderful family and group of new friends.  I pray so hard all the time for God to just reveal His plan for me because I feel like I'm in neutral sometimes so it's been quite a journey these last few weeks of really letting go and letting God work in my life.  I've been quite challenged at times and blessed.  The only "down side" to this week of chaos and having my son and nieces is the looks I get when I'm out with them alone.  My nieces look enough like me in their own way to pass for my daughters and I get looks from people, especially older women.  Looks of disapproval and judgement and they don't even know me, don't even give me the opportunity to explain that the boy is my son but the girl is my nieces.  But I don't have to explain myself to them.  Then I wonder, do I ever give looks like that without realizing it?  Do I ever come off as judgemental even if I don't mean to be?  It was an opportunity to look at myself in a whole new way and think about how the looks I may give people might affect them.  I'm a people watcher myself so I notice the looks I get and man, it sucked being judged like that.

Being a single mom is lonely.  Being a fat single mom... lonely.  Though I'm working out and eating right now to fix my weight problem, it isn't an instant fix all.  Plus, my weight loss is more centered around taking care of myself and my health so I'm around for many years to come.  I often wonder if I'll ever find love.  I must confess the view from where I sit on that front is looking rather gray but maybe it's just not God's plan for me.  I fell in love and got pregnant by the first guy to tell me he loved me.  I was terribly abused by him and thank God he's out of me and Alaka'i's life.  I only had one boyfriend after him.  Bleek.  Hawai'i is full of these super gorgeous girls, in good shape and without kids.  Guys have all these other opportunities to find girls they actually would want to be with and then there's me.  LOL.  I think it's also due to the fact that my day job, parenting and just not going out limits my alone time with adults... perspective.  Whatever God's plan for me is, I'm just thankful for all the blessings I do have.  I am quite fortunate and have a pretty awesome life so I need to quit feelin' bad for myself.  But hey, girls tend to do that from time to time, get dramatic and emotional- at least once a month, ya know?

This week started off with some awesome Alohi time during the day.  She's a real character, that girl.  Oh and my darling niece Kaliko lost her first tooth... ever!!!  She's so excited. The Tooth Fairy gave her $1. She was so excited when my brother dropped her off this morning.

To all of you, I wish a happy and blessed Wednesday, whether it's a Wordless Wednesday or filled with words.  Know that you are loved, you are wonderful and you are beautiful.  Happy Wednesday!  Tomorrow is the Big May Giveaway by the way.... $750 bucks!!  So excited!This scripture always gives me comfort when I'm feeling lonely and down on things.


Aloha,