We have all heard that life is not a sprint, it's a marathon. Well, I beg to differ. I happen to believe that it is more like a steeplechase - and odd, long distance race that is only seen in outdoor track meets. This event requires its participants to not just run for a few miles around a track, but to jump over what looks like security barriers, placed every so often. But just to keep things really interesting, one of these little fence-like structures has a gigantic puddle behind it, causing these guys to not only jump on and over this fence, but to land with a splat and a splash. If that were not enough, the runners have to continue in shoes that squoosh and shorts that, well...feel like there's been an embarrassing accident. But they persist and persevere. I love these guys.
So, a steeplechase. That is what our life - and I think pretty much all lives -look like. Of course, we happen to be running our race on the most beautiful place on the planet which makes it easier.
We are now in our new little condo - the latest in temporary digs. It's in a lovely resort that was built some time in the seventies or eighties...and it hasn't been updated since then! It's cabinets are that yellowy-cream masonite with the fake wood lip at the top or bottom that serves as a handle. We have the same yellowy-cream color in the formica countertops. The range has one of those digital clocks with the block numbers that flip - when it's working. This one reads a permanent 6:41. Don't know if that's A.M. or P.M. But by far the funniest part of this place is the little microwave that was set on the counter a couple of decades ago. Instead of nice little buttons to push, it has a couple of dials to turn - one to choose between "cook" or "defrost", the other to choose the minutes, 1-25. We discovered that this, like the digital clock, was no longer of much value, when I was heating a cup of coffee, turned the dial to "2" and left while awaiting the "ding" to politely tell me my coffee was now hot. When I heard something other than the gentle chime, I investigated and discovered my coffee boiling like Kilauea lava - and the dial still at "2".
Yup, this place is old. It's closets are little. The bathroom is tiny. And we are happy as two peas in a little pod! I started looking at the last two places we've been in as sort of metaphors for things in life: just because something is pretty on the outside doesn't mean it's not a train wreck inside. In fact, that is how the enemy gets us - seducing us into what looks glam, only to discover that things are not good once you're inside. The ocean front bungalow was that for us. But this little place is just who it is: unglamorous, plain, a little broken down. It has no pretense about itself. And we love it in its humility.
But, back to the steeplechase... we continue to run this race that God has set before us. We can make all those leaps and jumps as long as we let Him power our legs and hearts. It would be easy to give up when our shoes are squooshy or our shorts...damp. At least it's not boring.
I write this now as I watch Don finish up his packing for our trip to California for Christmas! Most of our time will be spent in Temecula with Amber and Josh - and their parents and uncles. I pray that I see many, MANY of you this Holiday season - but for all of my readers, may it be a time filled with blessings that you never expected and joy from surprising places!
Wednesday, December 8, 2010
Monday, November 29, 2010
Mango Bombs and Turtle Galas
I have GOT to find a new hobby. Once again, Don and I are packing our stuff and things to move to a different address - at least it isn't stuff and things and furniture. But day after tomorrow, we are out of the oceanfront bungalow and on to a one-bedroom condo about ten minutes north. The great thing is that it is in one of my favorite resorts on the island. The not-so-great is that it is pretty grim and small. But it's clean and pretty cheap, so we're considering ourselves quite blessed. The other great thing is that we're only there until 12/8, when we fly over to the mainland for Christmas!! Yay!! But this moving around thing is getting a bit tiring, and as of this writing, we still don't have a long-term home when we get back here on New Year's Eve. But we trust that the Lord has something for us - but the waiting is always the toughest part.
So, we're leaving our seaside abode. We have had some great times here, culminating with our Thanksgiving where we had a small but hungry mob here. Along with the usual gluttony and gridiron, we played some Maui Bocce ball. Don't bother to look it up - it's our own weird invention. Our version is played with (what else) COCONUTS!! This place has four coconut palms that are extraordinarily generous. A cleanout (not by us but by the good guys that live on the property) of the overgrown banana trees yielded about twenty of the things. We made a little green coconut seed-looking thing our pallino or target ball, and then rolled away. The learning curve was pretty funny to watch. Not only are these "balls" not round, they have the actual hard fruit inside the husk that shift and wobble them even more. It was a hoot!
One of the more dramatic features of this small property is a couple of forty-foot mango trees - one of which is right next to our bungalow, and the upper branches lean over the house. It does much to keep the house cool, but now that the mangos are ripening, and there is no one with a cherry (or mango) picker to go get them, it means that the tree will no occasion drop one of these golden tropical fruits right onto our house. The first time I heard it, Don was at Bible Study and I was home under the weather. I heard a thud, then roll roll roll. I grabbed my cell phone and something with which I could inflict pain, and sat quivering like the courageous adventurer I am, wondering if I should call 911 or just go screaming into the night. Fortunately, I chose a third option: remain frozen in fear until Don got home. It was the next morning when we found the little orangy-yellow bombs in the courtyard in front of our house. Since then, it has become quite a bit of entertainment, as we try to imagine from how far the dropping fruit has fallen based on the decibel of the thud onto the tin roof. Yes, we are astonishingly easy to please.
The past two months, we have enjoyed nightly sunsets over the island of Lana'i, sitting on the deck next by the seawall watching and waving to the sunset dinner cruises as well as a dozen or more turtles that mosey along, enjoying the salad bar that grows on the reef. These floating round-top boulders sometimes drift in, but more often than not, defy the currents, popping a dour looking head up every so often to gulp air.
The colors of sunsets are always remarkable, and the sea turns into an orange and pink liquid mirror. Most evenings, teams of outrigger canoe paddlers will come gliding past, each paddler digging into the water in perfect unison with his fellow watermen, creating a moving piece of Hawaiiana art. Of course, we also enjoy the morning paddlers, which instead of well-trained and perfectly synchronized paddlers has up to four tourists in between the front and back paddler. Not only do they lack the unity of the afore mentioned athletes, but many of them seem to lack coordination altogether. I can identify. Occasionally, there will be somebody - usually someone identifyable as the Dad - who has not just the lack of coordination and strength, but any enthusiasm at all. You can just see in his posture "I'm paying out the wahzoo for the family to visit this place - I'll be danged if I'm gonna paddle these people around the Pacific." Don can really identify.
So, we'll miss these sights. We'll miss going to sleep with the waves, and waking up to the same music. We'll miss watching the moonlight bounce along the shimmering black sea, with bright flashes leaping from ripple to ridge to swell. We've seen a shark swim by TWICE, and have seen spotted eagle rays gather for what could be politely described as group procreation. We even saw a ray break free of the water and glide through the air for a few feet. Maybe somebody goosed him during the orgy - anybody's guess. These things we will miss.
But....we need a home. I, for one, have grown weary of the nomadic life, but I have also watched my husband's faith grow by leaps and bounds. I'm blessed by that and by him every day. In all of this, neither of us have EVER questioned whether or not we should be here. It's tough. In fact, it's the hardest thing we've ever done - except for raising our sons. But somewhere in time, "hard" started to be a bad thing. If it is hard, it must not be meant to be. Well, Praise God that the Pilgrims didn't think that way. Or the Pioneers who moved west. Or the doctors and scientists who sacrifice personal lives in order to extend and improve our lives. Or those in the military and other first responders who stand in harm's way on the frontlines all to protect total strangers. Or Jesus, as He was tortured and brutally murdered as an innocent man, all so He could spend eternity with us who daily let Him down. Nope. Hard is a beautiful thing.
I just need to keep reminding myself of that as I pack and take to the road again.
So, we're leaving our seaside abode. We have had some great times here, culminating with our Thanksgiving where we had a small but hungry mob here. Along with the usual gluttony and gridiron, we played some Maui Bocce ball. Don't bother to look it up - it's our own weird invention. Our version is played with (what else) COCONUTS!! This place has four coconut palms that are extraordinarily generous. A cleanout (not by us but by the good guys that live on the property) of the overgrown banana trees yielded about twenty of the things. We made a little green coconut seed-looking thing our pallino or target ball, and then rolled away. The learning curve was pretty funny to watch. Not only are these "balls" not round, they have the actual hard fruit inside the husk that shift and wobble them even more. It was a hoot!
One of the more dramatic features of this small property is a couple of forty-foot mango trees - one of which is right next to our bungalow, and the upper branches lean over the house. It does much to keep the house cool, but now that the mangos are ripening, and there is no one with a cherry (or mango) picker to go get them, it means that the tree will no occasion drop one of these golden tropical fruits right onto our house. The first time I heard it, Don was at Bible Study and I was home under the weather. I heard a thud, then roll roll roll. I grabbed my cell phone and something with which I could inflict pain, and sat quivering like the courageous adventurer I am, wondering if I should call 911 or just go screaming into the night. Fortunately, I chose a third option: remain frozen in fear until Don got home. It was the next morning when we found the little orangy-yellow bombs in the courtyard in front of our house. Since then, it has become quite a bit of entertainment, as we try to imagine from how far the dropping fruit has fallen based on the decibel of the thud onto the tin roof. Yes, we are astonishingly easy to please.
The past two months, we have enjoyed nightly sunsets over the island of Lana'i, sitting on the deck next by the seawall watching and waving to the sunset dinner cruises as well as a dozen or more turtles that mosey along, enjoying the salad bar that grows on the reef. These floating round-top boulders sometimes drift in, but more often than not, defy the currents, popping a dour looking head up every so often to gulp air.
The colors of sunsets are always remarkable, and the sea turns into an orange and pink liquid mirror. Most evenings, teams of outrigger canoe paddlers will come gliding past, each paddler digging into the water in perfect unison with his fellow watermen, creating a moving piece of Hawaiiana art. Of course, we also enjoy the morning paddlers, which instead of well-trained and perfectly synchronized paddlers has up to four tourists in between the front and back paddler. Not only do they lack the unity of the afore mentioned athletes, but many of them seem to lack coordination altogether. I can identify. Occasionally, there will be somebody - usually someone identifyable as the Dad - who has not just the lack of coordination and strength, but any enthusiasm at all. You can just see in his posture "I'm paying out the wahzoo for the family to visit this place - I'll be danged if I'm gonna paddle these people around the Pacific." Don can really identify.
So, we'll miss these sights. We'll miss going to sleep with the waves, and waking up to the same music. We'll miss watching the moonlight bounce along the shimmering black sea, with bright flashes leaping from ripple to ridge to swell. We've seen a shark swim by TWICE, and have seen spotted eagle rays gather for what could be politely described as group procreation. We even saw a ray break free of the water and glide through the air for a few feet. Maybe somebody goosed him during the orgy - anybody's guess. These things we will miss.
But....we need a home. I, for one, have grown weary of the nomadic life, but I have also watched my husband's faith grow by leaps and bounds. I'm blessed by that and by him every day. In all of this, neither of us have EVER questioned whether or not we should be here. It's tough. In fact, it's the hardest thing we've ever done - except for raising our sons. But somewhere in time, "hard" started to be a bad thing. If it is hard, it must not be meant to be. Well, Praise God that the Pilgrims didn't think that way. Or the Pioneers who moved west. Or the doctors and scientists who sacrifice personal lives in order to extend and improve our lives. Or those in the military and other first responders who stand in harm's way on the frontlines all to protect total strangers. Or Jesus, as He was tortured and brutally murdered as an innocent man, all so He could spend eternity with us who daily let Him down. Nope. Hard is a beautiful thing.
I just need to keep reminding myself of that as I pack and take to the road again.
Saturday, November 6, 2010
BUGGIN'!!
Over the last year, I have waxed poetic about the many lovely and amazing creatures that God made for this island. From the magnificent humpback to the tiniest colorful fish, the stately egret to the little finch - we have been continuously awed by the Creator's imagination.
But then...there's the bugs.
Living in the tropics, one would expect to see all kinds of creepy critters - and those expectations would be met. Oh, there are lovely butterflies and big buzzy bees. But there are also gi-normous snails that look rather like an oversized ping-pong ball wearing a party hat and then painted in swirls of various shades of brown. I found a centipede in the house once, and he was huge at about three inches. Then I saw a Maui friend's posting on Facebook holding - with tongs and gloves - a one-foot centipede taken from her yard. I think it was as big around as mine was long. Going out some evenings or on certain jungle-y walks without a repellant that has near nuclear properties might find you becoming a walking smorgasbord of mosquitos and no-see-ums (yes, that's their real name, and no, I don't know who called "um" that first) and then you can entertain yourself by playing dot-to-dot on your legs and arms or cover each shiny bump with pink calamine and look like something from Dr. Suess.
The ants here are as wide in size and variety as any place I know. There are teeny ones, and I have seen some that our 3/4" with a bee-striped tushy. The ants that grab onto food have the best communication system around. Leave something a wee bit greasy out, and in no time it has the entire colony having a feast. Some of these little ones can bite, which only adds to my itchy-polka-dot joy. The real villains, though, are nasty imports known as fire ants. These little beasties are making their way around the islands and the county will jump on any reported nest. I got to do such reporting. FloJo and I were returning from our morning walk from the coffee shop when she needed to stop and do her little thing at her usual spot - a patch of grass under a keave tree. I'm standing there patiently, when I feel something stinging on the top of my foot. I look down to see three bright red ants chomping on my foot with all the enthusiastic energy of twelve-year-old boys at a pie-eating contest. I knocked them off, but the itch was immediately and intense. I walked back home looking like I was permanently stuck on the right foot verse of the Hokey-Pokey. By the time I got home, it had calmed down, but I still put some anti-itchy stuff on. That evening at church, all that was left were some little pinpoint spots, without any itching. Whew!! Yeah, right. I woke up in the middle of the night with a crazy burning itch that had me looking for anything to stop it - even if it was a power saw. Yikes. It took over two weeks of ice packs and foot elevation to get past the worst of it, and another couple weeks for it to disappear completely. Of course, I learned later that had I gone home and washed my foot with hot water and soap, over 90% of the venom would have washed away. Good to know.
The one insect gang most associated with the tropic and eeeeaaaauuuuuuwwww is, of course, the venerable cockroach. Oh, we got us some beeeauts, here! As any in my family can emphatically vouch, I have dealt with a full-on phobia of all things roachy. I have been known to contemplate moving from a house if I see one of those things in there. When we visited the Big Island with the boys many years ago, we stayed in an oceanfront condo that looked innocent enough by day, but was a veritable cockroach gala by night. And some of these bad boys flew. If we were arriving after dark, my heroic men would surround me on all sides, armed with flashlights, and we all scooted together into the safety of our condo. So, knowing that these guys all resided in the place I loved so much, and knowing that my praying for God to remove all the roaches from Maui would be like asking for a size 6 body or a San Diego team to win a Championship - unlikely to happen. So, I just asked God to make me not afraid. Pretty big order for the Lord, but He's just the guy for it.
So, how has it worked out? For the most part, encounters with these big disgusting-but-durable have been from a safe distance - with a few notable exceptions. There was the time that I was getting ready to go snorkeling, dropped my gear in the garage and one of these big fellas came running out of my bootie (the FOOTWEAR!! He ran under the car and eventually found his way into the house where a visiting Gregory dispatched him. I was a little oogied, but not totally undone. For me, that's big progress. Next time was in our small foyer, when I saw this obese roach strolling along. This time, hubby was my hero. Had this bug been snacking less and working out more, he might have avoided the sandal that came smashing down on him. No real ooginess, this time, just a minor ishy. We saw nothing for many months. It was actually after the house and surrounding areas had been sprayed for bugs. Maybe I should have clarified: "No, we wanted NO bugs!! Not to bring us bugs!!" That night I opened the bottom drawer in our bathroom vanity only to have a BIG one fall on my BARE foot!!!! That was a full on oogie-ishy-bleeeeaaaauuuuuaawww!!! The poor guy was in a state of shock himself, so he stood there waiting for death - to which my hubby obliged. After a few minutes of shudders and shivers, I went about my evening ablutions - but I must admit, every time I opened that drawer after that, I kinda stood to the side... And now this temporary haven. Our landlord said he had it sprayed, but we found out...not so much. A few nights ago, I went to take a bath and looked at our clear shower curtain to see a medium-sized (1 1/2") snuggled between two of the shiny clear folds. This guy did not survive the "round of applause" Don gave him while he was settled in his vinyl cranny. My reaction? Minor disgust, with moderate anxiety. Did the guy have friends!?!? I discovered that it was a big "YES" when, while staggering half-asleep into the kitchen for a glass of water in the middle of the night, the instep of my foot landed on something...different. Woke me right up. Sure enough, the bug's identical twin was sitting right where my foot had just been. He wasn't squooshed, but he wasn't moving. Might have been a statement about the fragrance of my foot, but I didn't wait to ask. Once again, Hero Husband took care of it. And me? I went right back to sleep. Thanks, Lord!
So, this place is lovely and I am delighted and blessed to live here!! I have learned to coexist with little crawly things. But a Gil Grissom (the passionate entomologist of CSI) I will never be. But if a few squirmy, unattractive, shudder-inspiring bugs are the price we gotta pay to live here, we get the better end of the deal. By far.
But then...there's the bugs.
Living in the tropics, one would expect to see all kinds of creepy critters - and those expectations would be met. Oh, there are lovely butterflies and big buzzy bees. But there are also gi-normous snails that look rather like an oversized ping-pong ball wearing a party hat and then painted in swirls of various shades of brown. I found a centipede in the house once, and he was huge at about three inches. Then I saw a Maui friend's posting on Facebook holding - with tongs and gloves - a one-foot centipede taken from her yard. I think it was as big around as mine was long. Going out some evenings or on certain jungle-y walks without a repellant that has near nuclear properties might find you becoming a walking smorgasbord of mosquitos and no-see-ums (yes, that's their real name, and no, I don't know who called "um" that first) and then you can entertain yourself by playing dot-to-dot on your legs and arms or cover each shiny bump with pink calamine and look like something from Dr. Suess.
The ants here are as wide in size and variety as any place I know. There are teeny ones, and I have seen some that our 3/4" with a bee-striped tushy. The ants that grab onto food have the best communication system around. Leave something a wee bit greasy out, and in no time it has the entire colony having a feast. Some of these little ones can bite, which only adds to my itchy-polka-dot joy. The real villains, though, are nasty imports known as fire ants. These little beasties are making their way around the islands and the county will jump on any reported nest. I got to do such reporting. FloJo and I were returning from our morning walk from the coffee shop when she needed to stop and do her little thing at her usual spot - a patch of grass under a keave tree. I'm standing there patiently, when I feel something stinging on the top of my foot. I look down to see three bright red ants chomping on my foot with all the enthusiastic energy of twelve-year-old boys at a pie-eating contest. I knocked them off, but the itch was immediately and intense. I walked back home looking like I was permanently stuck on the right foot verse of the Hokey-Pokey. By the time I got home, it had calmed down, but I still put some anti-itchy stuff on. That evening at church, all that was left were some little pinpoint spots, without any itching. Whew!! Yeah, right. I woke up in the middle of the night with a crazy burning itch that had me looking for anything to stop it - even if it was a power saw. Yikes. It took over two weeks of ice packs and foot elevation to get past the worst of it, and another couple weeks for it to disappear completely. Of course, I learned later that had I gone home and washed my foot with hot water and soap, over 90% of the venom would have washed away. Good to know.
The one insect gang most associated with the tropic and eeeeaaaauuuuuuwwww is, of course, the venerable cockroach. Oh, we got us some beeeauts, here! As any in my family can emphatically vouch, I have dealt with a full-on phobia of all things roachy. I have been known to contemplate moving from a house if I see one of those things in there. When we visited the Big Island with the boys many years ago, we stayed in an oceanfront condo that looked innocent enough by day, but was a veritable cockroach gala by night. And some of these bad boys flew. If we were arriving after dark, my heroic men would surround me on all sides, armed with flashlights, and we all scooted together into the safety of our condo. So, knowing that these guys all resided in the place I loved so much, and knowing that my praying for God to remove all the roaches from Maui would be like asking for a size 6 body or a San Diego team to win a Championship - unlikely to happen. So, I just asked God to make me not afraid. Pretty big order for the Lord, but He's just the guy for it.
So, how has it worked out? For the most part, encounters with these big disgusting-but-durable have been from a safe distance - with a few notable exceptions. There was the time that I was getting ready to go snorkeling, dropped my gear in the garage and one of these big fellas came running out of my bootie (the FOOTWEAR!! He ran under the car and eventually found his way into the house where a visiting Gregory dispatched him. I was a little oogied, but not totally undone. For me, that's big progress. Next time was in our small foyer, when I saw this obese roach strolling along. This time, hubby was my hero. Had this bug been snacking less and working out more, he might have avoided the sandal that came smashing down on him. No real ooginess, this time, just a minor ishy. We saw nothing for many months. It was actually after the house and surrounding areas had been sprayed for bugs. Maybe I should have clarified: "No, we wanted NO bugs!! Not to bring us bugs!!" That night I opened the bottom drawer in our bathroom vanity only to have a BIG one fall on my BARE foot!!!! That was a full on oogie-ishy-bleeeeaaaauuuuuaawww!!! The poor guy was in a state of shock himself, so he stood there waiting for death - to which my hubby obliged. After a few minutes of shudders and shivers, I went about my evening ablutions - but I must admit, every time I opened that drawer after that, I kinda stood to the side... And now this temporary haven. Our landlord said he had it sprayed, but we found out...not so much. A few nights ago, I went to take a bath and looked at our clear shower curtain to see a medium-sized (1 1/2") snuggled between two of the shiny clear folds. This guy did not survive the "round of applause" Don gave him while he was settled in his vinyl cranny. My reaction? Minor disgust, with moderate anxiety. Did the guy have friends!?!? I discovered that it was a big "YES" when, while staggering half-asleep into the kitchen for a glass of water in the middle of the night, the instep of my foot landed on something...different. Woke me right up. Sure enough, the bug's identical twin was sitting right where my foot had just been. He wasn't squooshed, but he wasn't moving. Might have been a statement about the fragrance of my foot, but I didn't wait to ask. Once again, Hero Husband took care of it. And me? I went right back to sleep. Thanks, Lord!
So, this place is lovely and I am delighted and blessed to live here!! I have learned to coexist with little crawly things. But a Gil Grissom (the passionate entomologist of CSI) I will never be. But if a few squirmy, unattractive, shudder-inspiring bugs are the price we gotta pay to live here, we get the better end of the deal. By far.
Thursday, November 4, 2010
Being Goldilocks
Everyone knows the story of Goldilocks - the entitled little girl with no social skills or respect for boundaries. She seemed hard to please, and was only satisfied when she helped herself to the property of one smaller than her, and even when she settled on chair, porridge, and bed, the satisfaction was fleeting - the chair broke, the porridge bowl emptied, and she was rudely awakened and chased from the comfy bed. Personally, I see things a different way...
I have been known to be a Goldilocks from time to time. In fact, if most of us were being honest about ourselves, we would see those same elements in us. Oh, not the breaking-and-entering element, or help-yourself-to-another's-stuff, but that part of us which is hard to please. There is a sort of innate discontentment, and a realization that satisfying things are not satisfying forever. And that is a good thing.
Don and I are living in a lovely beach bungalow right smack dab next to the ocean. Sometimes, the sound of the surf is so loud, it's hard to hear our conversation. We watch the sunsets over Lanai very evening and see the pink clouds of sunrise every morning. We see turtles, rays, and even a shark once, as they cruise by. It's beyond amazing. Yet... there are issues. SInce it is a vacation rental, it has taken some abuse. The water pressure is low. The kitchen is not fully stocked with cooking stuff. There is not a single window covering - which would not be an issue except that there are two men living on the same property. But most importantly, it's not home. You know, home - that place that makes you just sigh the day's woes right out as you fall into the sofa that has your tush memorized. It's that place that has your artwork on the wall, your dishes in the cupboard, and pictures of your loved ones everywhere. It's where you feel safe, it's where you belong.
I look at this life the same way. The planet is full of so many beautiful things: mountains and plains and rivers and oceans. Creatures that swim, fly, crawl, run, sing, chirp, and are covered with feathers, scales, wrinkled skin, and shimmering fur. There are babies and weddings and symphonies and ballgames. There is so much good with this place. Yet... there are issues. There are tragedies every day. People treat each other badly. There are wars. There is evil. But above all, it just isn't home. We who are Christians know that our Heavenly Father is preparing a place for us that makes this place look (to quote Pastor Miles McPherson) "ghetto". If I find myself too content here, I may stop seeking Him and His kingdom - the same as if we find ourselves too content in this beautiful bungalow, we may not continue to search for a long-term home as we should.
So, I will continue to enjoy all this bungalow - and life - has to offer, but still embrace my inner Goldilocks...
I have been known to be a Goldilocks from time to time. In fact, if most of us were being honest about ourselves, we would see those same elements in us. Oh, not the breaking-and-entering element, or help-yourself-to-another's-stuff, but that part of us which is hard to please. There is a sort of innate discontentment, and a realization that satisfying things are not satisfying forever. And that is a good thing.
Don and I are living in a lovely beach bungalow right smack dab next to the ocean. Sometimes, the sound of the surf is so loud, it's hard to hear our conversation. We watch the sunsets over Lanai very evening and see the pink clouds of sunrise every morning. We see turtles, rays, and even a shark once, as they cruise by. It's beyond amazing. Yet... there are issues. SInce it is a vacation rental, it has taken some abuse. The water pressure is low. The kitchen is not fully stocked with cooking stuff. There is not a single window covering - which would not be an issue except that there are two men living on the same property. But most importantly, it's not home. You know, home - that place that makes you just sigh the day's woes right out as you fall into the sofa that has your tush memorized. It's that place that has your artwork on the wall, your dishes in the cupboard, and pictures of your loved ones everywhere. It's where you feel safe, it's where you belong.
I look at this life the same way. The planet is full of so many beautiful things: mountains and plains and rivers and oceans. Creatures that swim, fly, crawl, run, sing, chirp, and are covered with feathers, scales, wrinkled skin, and shimmering fur. There are babies and weddings and symphonies and ballgames. There is so much good with this place. Yet... there are issues. There are tragedies every day. People treat each other badly. There are wars. There is evil. But above all, it just isn't home. We who are Christians know that our Heavenly Father is preparing a place for us that makes this place look (to quote Pastor Miles McPherson) "ghetto". If I find myself too content here, I may stop seeking Him and His kingdom - the same as if we find ourselves too content in this beautiful bungalow, we may not continue to search for a long-term home as we should.
So, I will continue to enjoy all this bungalow - and life - has to offer, but still embrace my inner Goldilocks...
Monday, November 1, 2010
If you will permit me...
...I would like to speak to those who think that living in Hawaii means retirement, semi-retirement, or just generally a life of leisure (and you know who you are!!)
The number of visitors we have here are testament to the siren call of the beaches and sunsets, and we were happily included in those numbers for many years. But it behooves us (isn't that a great word!?!??!) to remember that people live and work and have to pay bills here. They run the airport, rent the cars, and check you into the hotel room. They clean your room, serve your coffee, sell you souvenirs, clean your golf clubs, rent your snorkel gear, captain your cruise boat, and explain how to use the gear you just rented. Along with the good people who deal directly with visitors, we still have many who clean the parks, teach the kids, take care of the sick, pack groceries, wash cars, preach the Gospel, and yes, even sell real estate. So, before you think again that living here is all mai tais, suntans and lotus blossoms without having to work, please reconsider.
Although, having said that....there is something to be said for having a day off that is a Maui vacation....
The number of visitors we have here are testament to the siren call of the beaches and sunsets, and we were happily included in those numbers for many years. But it behooves us (isn't that a great word!?!??!) to remember that people live and work and have to pay bills here. They run the airport, rent the cars, and check you into the hotel room. They clean your room, serve your coffee, sell you souvenirs, clean your golf clubs, rent your snorkel gear, captain your cruise boat, and explain how to use the gear you just rented. Along with the good people who deal directly with visitors, we still have many who clean the parks, teach the kids, take care of the sick, pack groceries, wash cars, preach the Gospel, and yes, even sell real estate. So, before you think again that living here is all mai tais, suntans and lotus blossoms without having to work, please reconsider.
Although, having said that....there is something to be said for having a day off that is a Maui vacation....
EEEEEE-ticket!!
If you are under forty, you likely have no idea where the term "E-ticket ride" means or came from. No, it has absolutely NOTHING to do with e-tickets for plane rides, baseball games, or movies. It comes from...Disneyland.
In the olden days, Disneyland was not a free-for-all-go-on-every-ride-until-you-drop-from-exhaustion-or-lose-your-cookies amusement park. When you entered the Magic Kingdom, you bought with your admission, a book of tickets for the rides. It was all done by letters A-E. The "A" tickets were those rides that you could take your 96-year-old great-grandmother with the bad ticker on - the carriage ride, a slow walk through Sleeping Beauty's Castle, or perhaps the daring King Arthur's Carousel. "B" tix were those things that you might take your 2-year-old or easily excited relatives from Des Moines on - Swiss Family Robinson Treehouse, Casey Junior Circus Train, or the Motorboat Cruise (miniature outboards on a track -you could spin that wheel for days and go nowhere). "C" tickets were pretty awesome in that it began to include rides that the feint of heart (moi) and little kids with their parents could all enjoy and come out smiling at the end (Mad Tea Party being the notable exception) - rides like Mr. Toad's Wild Ride, Peter Pan Flight, or my personal favorite, Autopia. "D" tickets were definitely popular - Rocket Ships, Skyway, and still more rides for Granny, the big boats Columbia and Mark Twain. "E" tickets were the primo, popular, gotta-do-'em rides -not all of them thrill rides, but all with an element of WAAAAAAA. Like all things precious, there were fewer of the higher tickets than the lower. In fact, you could see folks bargaining for an "E" ticket with a couple of "C"s and a stack of "A"s. It was quite common to leave at the end of the day with a stack of the lower ones. But the "E" ticket was synonymous with a stomach-lurching, eyeball-popping, sometimes terrifying ride.
This has been our life - particularly in the last couple of months.
Since we learned that we would have to move, with no place to move to, it has been nothing short of the consummate "E" ticket experience. With only a few days left in September, and having no idea where to live, God provided us with this oceanfront bungalow. It's only temporary, however, so we are still searching for a long-term solution. In the meantime, we were still praying for some business for Don. A few days after moving in, someone called wanting to by the convertible. Sold!! While I was sad to see her go, I knew that God had His plan in motion. And I got to bring my jeep here! A few days after that, Don got a business lead which took us to the Big Island. Had we not sold my car, we would not have been able to do that. God is indeed good! So, our week over there turned into nearly two weeks with me doing research on properties and assembling materials for the clients and Don researching everything else and e-mailing the clients before they arrived. He was working nearly 12-14 hours a day! Goodness. Our only nod to touristy stuff was a morning ride on the Atlantis Sub. But the house was found and after some negotiations, the deal was struck!! PRAISE GOD!! More paperwork for Don. Of course, now we wait for escrow to close as Don prepares for his next clients (due in this week), and look for a long-term home. It's still nutty and crazy and full of nerve-wracking lows and breathtaking highs. And while, at times, we wish we could be back on the Main Street Carriage ride, we need to remember...
"E" tickets are the most coveted and desired of all the tickets!!
In the olden days, Disneyland was not a free-for-all-go-on-every-ride-until-you-drop-from-exhaustion-or-lose-your-cookies amusement park. When you entered the Magic Kingdom, you bought with your admission, a book of tickets for the rides. It was all done by letters A-E. The "A" tickets were those rides that you could take your 96-year-old great-grandmother with the bad ticker on - the carriage ride, a slow walk through Sleeping Beauty's Castle, or perhaps the daring King Arthur's Carousel. "B" tix were those things that you might take your 2-year-old or easily excited relatives from Des Moines on - Swiss Family Robinson Treehouse, Casey Junior Circus Train, or the Motorboat Cruise (miniature outboards on a track -you could spin that wheel for days and go nowhere). "C" tickets were pretty awesome in that it began to include rides that the feint of heart (moi) and little kids with their parents could all enjoy and come out smiling at the end (Mad Tea Party being the notable exception) - rides like Mr. Toad's Wild Ride, Peter Pan Flight, or my personal favorite, Autopia. "D" tickets were definitely popular - Rocket Ships, Skyway, and still more rides for Granny, the big boats Columbia and Mark Twain. "E" tickets were the primo, popular, gotta-do-'em rides -not all of them thrill rides, but all with an element of WAAAAAAA. Like all things precious, there were fewer of the higher tickets than the lower. In fact, you could see folks bargaining for an "E" ticket with a couple of "C"s and a stack of "A"s. It was quite common to leave at the end of the day with a stack of the lower ones. But the "E" ticket was synonymous with a stomach-lurching, eyeball-popping, sometimes terrifying ride.
This has been our life - particularly in the last couple of months.
Since we learned that we would have to move, with no place to move to, it has been nothing short of the consummate "E" ticket experience. With only a few days left in September, and having no idea where to live, God provided us with this oceanfront bungalow. It's only temporary, however, so we are still searching for a long-term solution. In the meantime, we were still praying for some business for Don. A few days after moving in, someone called wanting to by the convertible. Sold!! While I was sad to see her go, I knew that God had His plan in motion. And I got to bring my jeep here! A few days after that, Don got a business lead which took us to the Big Island. Had we not sold my car, we would not have been able to do that. God is indeed good! So, our week over there turned into nearly two weeks with me doing research on properties and assembling materials for the clients and Don researching everything else and e-mailing the clients before they arrived. He was working nearly 12-14 hours a day! Goodness. Our only nod to touristy stuff was a morning ride on the Atlantis Sub. But the house was found and after some negotiations, the deal was struck!! PRAISE GOD!! More paperwork for Don. Of course, now we wait for escrow to close as Don prepares for his next clients (due in this week), and look for a long-term home. It's still nutty and crazy and full of nerve-wracking lows and breathtaking highs. And while, at times, we wish we could be back on the Main Street Carriage ride, we need to remember...
"E" tickets are the most coveted and desired of all the tickets!!
Wednesday, October 6, 2010
...and Don can be played by Don Johnson.
Good heavens. Just don't know how else to start. Good ya-gotta be-kiddin'-me Heavens.
In our last episode, Don and I were dealing with an uncooperative ex-landlord and wondering about our only-in-our-imagination budget. Today, we assume our ex-landlord is still being uncooperative since we have not heard otherwise, but my-oh-my, how the other has changed. My silver Solara has a new mom and dad, thanks to an ad in the Maui News that we forgot about. About a month ago, it seemed to make lots of financial sense to sell my convertible and bring the jeep over here. Not only would the cash be dandy, but we are paying storage for the jeep. SInce we simply rent a car when we go to the mainland, it just seemed more prudent to bring Mr. Jeep over here. But then nobody bought my car. After prayer, we decided to sell Don's fine-for-a-realtor-but-kinda-fancy-for-Maui Lexus OR my car. It would be interesting to see which would sell quicker: cute or fancy-schmancy. Cute won. Actually, we had decided to keep my car and focus on selling his car, but the ad in Maui News stayed in there until it expired next week. Don took a call last night, and outa the blue, there was someone who wanted the car, said they had cash, and they would be here at 10:00 in the morning. AT 10, as Don and I were finishing up giving her a good shine, they pulled up. Thirty minutes later, they drove out with their new convertible Solara and Don and I had considerably more cash than we had yesterday. Can I hear a resounding PRAISE GOD!!!! When the Lord says He's got our backs, I guess we just gotta believe it!
We are settling into our new digs. It is pretty spectacular here, I have to admit, but there are some things to, shall we say, adjust to. The property itself is a two bedroom bungalow right on the ocean in North Lahaina. The lanai runs the entire length of the house, and has dining on one end and a living room-type grouping at the other. There is a small yard with a lawn - although the grass closest to the seawall is pretty much dead, due to the waves that splash over at high tide. At the south end of the yard is a smaller deck that is next to the sea wall, and has a small lip on to the wall itself. This small deck has 4 lounges. Unfortunately,the furniture is made from iron, so that, and the painted decking, are both in pretty bad shape, having been beaten up by the surf. Don put our beach chairs out there, so we sit in the evenings and watch turtles and spotted eagle in the glow of the setting sun. Last night, we actually saw a ray launch himself out of the water and glide for about six feet!! Amazing!! This is when we just pinch ourselves, and remember that we did nothing to deserve this. It is simply God working through this client. Nothing more.
It is significantly warmer here, without the trade winds and accompanying showers just a couple of miles to the north in Ka'anapali. It is also a bit noisier, with families with little kiddies on both sides of us. The neighbors to the north also have at least two dogs, and when our front gate isn't closed, they tend to come wandering in. We have no fenced yard, per se, so they can come right into our backyard from the front. With the ocean as part of our boundary, and having a doggy that's afraid of the ocean, we're not that worried about FloJo wandering off. She likes hanging around us. So, the neighbor dog thing still has to be worked out, but they don't seem aggressive - just curious about the new kid next door.
Another aspect of this place is the onsite caretakers. They are a couple of apparently very nice guys, being extremely polite and friendly. The issue once again is the lack of fencing around the backyard. The property has two houses - the larger bungalow in which we are living and a smaller "ohana" where the guys live. The ohana is on the street side of the property, near the big gate that is at the entrance. There is a courtyard big enough for our two (oh, wait. We only have one, for a while) plus a couple more. The two houses are separate, but there is a straight shot from the ohana to the backyard, and the sea wall. This would not necessarily be an issue if we understood from the get that we might be sharing the space once in a while - after all, we are here at the generosity of our Don's client. The problem comes in that there are NO WINDOW COVERINGS WHATSOEVER!!!! This is a place with lots n' lots of windows out the back because there's lots n' lots to see!! I don't want to be one of the things that is seen!! In fact, not sure anyone wants to see that. The other problem is that since we face pretty much due west, the sun starts beating in around 4-ish, raising the temp inside to about 173 degrees...celsius. I am planning to speak to Don's client about possibly popping up some sunshades on this wonderful lanai, thus taking care of both privacy and sunacy issues at once.
Well, it's 4:45 and my eyes are now getting hit by the sun. I am so grateful to be in the middle of this great adventure, and I can't see what God, the author, has in store next!!
In our last episode, Don and I were dealing with an uncooperative ex-landlord and wondering about our only-in-our-imagination budget. Today, we assume our ex-landlord is still being uncooperative since we have not heard otherwise, but my-oh-my, how the other has changed. My silver Solara has a new mom and dad, thanks to an ad in the Maui News that we forgot about. About a month ago, it seemed to make lots of financial sense to sell my convertible and bring the jeep over here. Not only would the cash be dandy, but we are paying storage for the jeep. SInce we simply rent a car when we go to the mainland, it just seemed more prudent to bring Mr. Jeep over here. But then nobody bought my car. After prayer, we decided to sell Don's fine-for-a-realtor-but-kinda-fancy-for-Maui Lexus OR my car. It would be interesting to see which would sell quicker: cute or fancy-schmancy. Cute won. Actually, we had decided to keep my car and focus on selling his car, but the ad in Maui News stayed in there until it expired next week. Don took a call last night, and outa the blue, there was someone who wanted the car, said they had cash, and they would be here at 10:00 in the morning. AT 10, as Don and I were finishing up giving her a good shine, they pulled up. Thirty minutes later, they drove out with their new convertible Solara and Don and I had considerably more cash than we had yesterday. Can I hear a resounding PRAISE GOD!!!! When the Lord says He's got our backs, I guess we just gotta believe it!
We are settling into our new digs. It is pretty spectacular here, I have to admit, but there are some things to, shall we say, adjust to. The property itself is a two bedroom bungalow right on the ocean in North Lahaina. The lanai runs the entire length of the house, and has dining on one end and a living room-type grouping at the other. There is a small yard with a lawn - although the grass closest to the seawall is pretty much dead, due to the waves that splash over at high tide. At the south end of the yard is a smaller deck that is next to the sea wall, and has a small lip on to the wall itself. This small deck has 4 lounges. Unfortunately,the furniture is made from iron, so that, and the painted decking, are both in pretty bad shape, having been beaten up by the surf. Don put our beach chairs out there, so we sit in the evenings and watch turtles and spotted eagle in the glow of the setting sun. Last night, we actually saw a ray launch himself out of the water and glide for about six feet!! Amazing!! This is when we just pinch ourselves, and remember that we did nothing to deserve this. It is simply God working through this client. Nothing more.
It is significantly warmer here, without the trade winds and accompanying showers just a couple of miles to the north in Ka'anapali. It is also a bit noisier, with families with little kiddies on both sides of us. The neighbors to the north also have at least two dogs, and when our front gate isn't closed, they tend to come wandering in. We have no fenced yard, per se, so they can come right into our backyard from the front. With the ocean as part of our boundary, and having a doggy that's afraid of the ocean, we're not that worried about FloJo wandering off. She likes hanging around us. So, the neighbor dog thing still has to be worked out, but they don't seem aggressive - just curious about the new kid next door.
Another aspect of this place is the onsite caretakers. They are a couple of apparently very nice guys, being extremely polite and friendly. The issue once again is the lack of fencing around the backyard. The property has two houses - the larger bungalow in which we are living and a smaller "ohana" where the guys live. The ohana is on the street side of the property, near the big gate that is at the entrance. There is a courtyard big enough for our two (oh, wait. We only have one, for a while) plus a couple more. The two houses are separate, but there is a straight shot from the ohana to the backyard, and the sea wall. This would not necessarily be an issue if we understood from the get that we might be sharing the space once in a while - after all, we are here at the generosity of our Don's client. The problem comes in that there are NO WINDOW COVERINGS WHATSOEVER!!!! This is a place with lots n' lots of windows out the back because there's lots n' lots to see!! I don't want to be one of the things that is seen!! In fact, not sure anyone wants to see that. The other problem is that since we face pretty much due west, the sun starts beating in around 4-ish, raising the temp inside to about 173 degrees...celsius. I am planning to speak to Don's client about possibly popping up some sunshades on this wonderful lanai, thus taking care of both privacy and sunacy issues at once.
Well, it's 4:45 and my eyes are now getting hit by the sun. I am so grateful to be in the middle of this great adventure, and I can't see what God, the author, has in store next!!
Monday, October 4, 2010
and when they make a movie of this, I want Michelle Pfeiffer to play me....
Well, we are now in our temporary home by the sea. It's a pretty awesome consolation prize - but more on that later...
We're out of Kualapa, and I would love to tell you that it went as smooth as the proverbial silk, but that would be far from the truth. It went. That's about the highest grade I can give it. We had several friends helping us along the way, but it was still waaaaay more than we could handle with anything resembling ease. I came up with a formula for moving, though: when you know you will be moving, assess the contents of each room and calculate the number of boxes and packaging needed, and the time required. Next, quintuple the amount of boxes and packing material, and multiply the time by about three months. But with the Lord's strength, and the blessings of hearty friends with trucks and scrub brushes, it got done - with our soon-to-be-ex-landlord watching on.
Speaking of landlords: the adage goes, "if you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all." Now, about ours:....... .......................um.....................................................uh........................then there was.........................................and...........
.......................................... And that's all I have to say about that. Actually, it has been truly difficult - being accused of taking and/or losing things, told that we didn't have the carpets steam cleaned when we did, and being faulted for 10 years worth of wear and tear in our one year of living there. Wow. Should set that to a beat... Anyway, as of now, we do not have our deposit back, and we likely won't see it for another week at the soonest. It's a good thing my trust is in God rather than landlords - but it does get a bit harrowing...
One of my more fun adventures was taking FloJo up to her doggy spa in upcountry Maui - Olinda, to be exact, a beautiful rural town at about 4,000 feet on the slopes of Haleakala. Since Don was taking care of all things in the move (including having the apparently mythical capet cleaner doing his mythical carpet cleaning), FloJo and I headed up for adventure on a here-to-for untraveled road - at least by us. The road started out innocent enough, but before long it was a series of switchbacks and uphills -sometimes both - and asphalt so rutted and swelled with tree roots it was like driving over a series of closely placed speed bumps - or like the Winnie-the-Pooh ride at Disneyland, take your pick. By the time we got there, we were both ready to get out. There are those who thought it would be traumatic for FloJo to leave her there. Hah, I say. She essentially went off happily and tail-waggily with the nice lady who offered to take her on a walk. So, after 90 minutes up, I had the 90 minutes back, arriving to a completely exhausted husband and totally soaked carpet.
Omigosh. Even as I write things just get nuttier and better. Don and I went to our usual prayer-at-the-pastor's-house Tuesday morning gig, then stopped by storage to rescue a few more items that we will need here. I locked my purse in the trunk. My purse with my keys and phone and everything. Don went to his Tuesday morning office meeting. My purse is still locked in my trunk, and, Drat! wouldn't ya know? I missed class the day they taught B&E for dummies. I have taken to posting my plea for rescue on Facebook....
But now, back to our story.... The long and the short of it is we got out. It was completely insane and frenetic, with all my organization skills being tossed out unceremoniously as we just simply wanted to VACATE!! There was no dignity whatsoever in this effort. We absolutely could not have done it had God not provided wonderful friends to help us.
So, now we are in our temporary digs, which are pretty fabulous, but not home. We picked up our puppy yesterday, so it's feeling a little more home-ish. Of course, FloJo hates the water, and especially the surf, so she's not all that jazzed.... But last evening was our first relaxed evening in some time, so we sat and sipped a little white wine while watching the sunset and a few turtles and spotted eagle rays. Yeah... it'll do in a pinch...
More on the little hale by the sea in the next blog!
PS: Don got the message and is on his way here. Thank you, God, for geeks who invented all this techy stuff and the dude I married who loves it all
We're out of Kualapa, and I would love to tell you that it went as smooth as the proverbial silk, but that would be far from the truth. It went. That's about the highest grade I can give it. We had several friends helping us along the way, but it was still waaaaay more than we could handle with anything resembling ease. I came up with a formula for moving, though: when you know you will be moving, assess the contents of each room and calculate the number of boxes and packaging needed, and the time required. Next, quintuple the amount of boxes and packing material, and multiply the time by about three months. But with the Lord's strength, and the blessings of hearty friends with trucks and scrub brushes, it got done - with our soon-to-be-ex-landlord watching on.
Speaking of landlords: the adage goes, "if you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all." Now, about ours:....... .......................um.....................................................uh........................then there was.........................................and...........
.......................................... And that's all I have to say about that. Actually, it has been truly difficult - being accused of taking and/or losing things, told that we didn't have the carpets steam cleaned when we did, and being faulted for 10 years worth of wear and tear in our one year of living there. Wow. Should set that to a beat... Anyway, as of now, we do not have our deposit back, and we likely won't see it for another week at the soonest. It's a good thing my trust is in God rather than landlords - but it does get a bit harrowing...
One of my more fun adventures was taking FloJo up to her doggy spa in upcountry Maui - Olinda, to be exact, a beautiful rural town at about 4,000 feet on the slopes of Haleakala. Since Don was taking care of all things in the move (including having the apparently mythical capet cleaner doing his mythical carpet cleaning), FloJo and I headed up for adventure on a here-to-for untraveled road - at least by us. The road started out innocent enough, but before long it was a series of switchbacks and uphills -sometimes both - and asphalt so rutted and swelled with tree roots it was like driving over a series of closely placed speed bumps - or like the Winnie-the-Pooh ride at Disneyland, take your pick. By the time we got there, we were both ready to get out. There are those who thought it would be traumatic for FloJo to leave her there. Hah, I say. She essentially went off happily and tail-waggily with the nice lady who offered to take her on a walk. So, after 90 minutes up, I had the 90 minutes back, arriving to a completely exhausted husband and totally soaked carpet.
Omigosh. Even as I write things just get nuttier and better. Don and I went to our usual prayer-at-the-pastor's-house Tuesday morning gig, then stopped by storage to rescue a few more items that we will need here. I locked my purse in the trunk. My purse with my keys and phone and everything. Don went to his Tuesday morning office meeting. My purse is still locked in my trunk, and, Drat! wouldn't ya know? I missed class the day they taught B&E for dummies. I have taken to posting my plea for rescue on Facebook....
But now, back to our story.... The long and the short of it is we got out. It was completely insane and frenetic, with all my organization skills being tossed out unceremoniously as we just simply wanted to VACATE!! There was no dignity whatsoever in this effort. We absolutely could not have done it had God not provided wonderful friends to help us.
So, now we are in our temporary digs, which are pretty fabulous, but not home. We picked up our puppy yesterday, so it's feeling a little more home-ish. Of course, FloJo hates the water, and especially the surf, so she's not all that jazzed.... But last evening was our first relaxed evening in some time, so we sat and sipped a little white wine while watching the sunset and a few turtles and spotted eagle rays. Yeah... it'll do in a pinch...
More on the little hale by the sea in the next blog!
PS: Don got the message and is on his way here. Thank you, God, for geeks who invented all this techy stuff and the dude I married who loves it all
Sunday, September 26, 2010
Extraordinary Things in Our Ordinary Life
Packing Day. Egad. Not only do I hate it, but I'm extra annoyed because I certainly didn't plan to do it so soon! But...that was my plan, not God's.
So, I packed today, and will again tomorrow, and the day after that. I pepper my packing with a lot of thinking - most of it good stuff. In fact, I think about everything that we get to be a part of here: almost daily rainbows (saw one over an almost full moon, still shining bright at 7 in the morning! Super cool!), moonlight so bright one can play golf by it (and Gregory has), sunrises that make Lana'i and Moloka'i soft pink, and ever-changing clouds. Don and I start every day in the Word - he, at the dining table; I, on a lounge on our lanai. Don brings me a cup of tea and we start our devotional, reading, discussing, sharing, and praying. Yesterday, however, I added wallowing-in-self-pity to the morning agenda. How could such a God like this, who loves me, take me away from this extraordinary place when there are people in the world who have this kind of view and they take it for granted and they are all sour on things, whereas I have always been appreciative and love views and never got tired of looking at anything beautiful that He has made and wah-wah-wah!!
There is a tale that's been around a while, of a man of God during a flood. He was standing out on his porch when a big flatbed truck rolls through the flooded street, with a few soggy but safe folks in the back. The driver calls out to the man on the porch, "C'mon, sir! Flood waters are rising! Jump on!" The man replied, "No, thank you, brother, the Lord will save me!" Soon, the waters rise so much that the man is looking out his second story window, when a small motorboat goes by. The man in the boat calls to the man of God, "Sir, it's getting pretty bad! C'mon with me!" Again, the man of God waves off his would-be rescuer, "No, thanks, brother! The Lord will save me! God bless!" Before long, the man has been chased up to his rooftop by the flood. A helicopter hovers overhead, and a voice over a bullhorn calls,"Sir, we're lowering a rope for you! The levees have broken and your house will soon be under water!" The man of God looked up at the copter, smiling broadly, but not grabbing the rope. He shakes his head and yells, "That's okay!! I don't need it!! The Lord will save me!" and the helicopter pulled up its rope and flew away. Sure enough, the house was covered by floodwaters, and the man of God died. As he was standing before the Lord, he was confused and saddened. "Lord," he said, "I waited for you! Where were you? Why didn't you save me?" The Lord looked at him and said lovingly, but firmly, "But I tried! I sent you a truck, a boat, and a helicopter!"
For the past few weeks, Don and I have been in a teeter-totter of emotions and faith, but always looking for the Lord in the midst of our "flood". We are to be out by Friday and we had no where to stay - even for the short term. uh, Lord?!!?!? I think our feet are getting wet!! Enter the helicopter. A new friend and client of Don's heard of our situation and insisted we check out one of his properties in Lahaina. I honestly didn't want to, but he persisted, having a friend of his show us after church yesterday. What looked like a kind of run-down Hawaiian bungalow opened to reveal a stunner of a house...right on the water. What was old Hawaii outside was warm and modern inside, with a lanai that extended the length of the house and a second lanai with lounges right by the waves crashing on lava rock. I now was annoyed because I knew this was way out of our budget.
We met with this fellow again, and he was determined. We are moving into this place-from-a-postcard-or-beer-commercial on Saturday, staying there for at least a month, maybe two, for waaaaaaaaaaay below what he gets for rent. Our helicopter.
Extraordinary.
So, I packed today, and will again tomorrow, and the day after that. I pepper my packing with a lot of thinking - most of it good stuff. In fact, I think about everything that we get to be a part of here: almost daily rainbows (saw one over an almost full moon, still shining bright at 7 in the morning! Super cool!), moonlight so bright one can play golf by it (and Gregory has), sunrises that make Lana'i and Moloka'i soft pink, and ever-changing clouds. Don and I start every day in the Word - he, at the dining table; I, on a lounge on our lanai. Don brings me a cup of tea and we start our devotional, reading, discussing, sharing, and praying. Yesterday, however, I added wallowing-in-self-pity to the morning agenda. How could such a God like this, who loves me, take me away from this extraordinary place when there are people in the world who have this kind of view and they take it for granted and they are all sour on things, whereas I have always been appreciative and love views and never got tired of looking at anything beautiful that He has made and wah-wah-wah!!
There is a tale that's been around a while, of a man of God during a flood. He was standing out on his porch when a big flatbed truck rolls through the flooded street, with a few soggy but safe folks in the back. The driver calls out to the man on the porch, "C'mon, sir! Flood waters are rising! Jump on!" The man replied, "No, thank you, brother, the Lord will save me!" Soon, the waters rise so much that the man is looking out his second story window, when a small motorboat goes by. The man in the boat calls to the man of God, "Sir, it's getting pretty bad! C'mon with me!" Again, the man of God waves off his would-be rescuer, "No, thanks, brother! The Lord will save me! God bless!" Before long, the man has been chased up to his rooftop by the flood. A helicopter hovers overhead, and a voice over a bullhorn calls,"Sir, we're lowering a rope for you! The levees have broken and your house will soon be under water!" The man of God looked up at the copter, smiling broadly, but not grabbing the rope. He shakes his head and yells, "That's okay!! I don't need it!! The Lord will save me!" and the helicopter pulled up its rope and flew away. Sure enough, the house was covered by floodwaters, and the man of God died. As he was standing before the Lord, he was confused and saddened. "Lord," he said, "I waited for you! Where were you? Why didn't you save me?" The Lord looked at him and said lovingly, but firmly, "But I tried! I sent you a truck, a boat, and a helicopter!"
For the past few weeks, Don and I have been in a teeter-totter of emotions and faith, but always looking for the Lord in the midst of our "flood". We are to be out by Friday and we had no where to stay - even for the short term. uh, Lord?!!?!? I think our feet are getting wet!! Enter the helicopter. A new friend and client of Don's heard of our situation and insisted we check out one of his properties in Lahaina. I honestly didn't want to, but he persisted, having a friend of his show us after church yesterday. What looked like a kind of run-down Hawaiian bungalow opened to reveal a stunner of a house...right on the water. What was old Hawaii outside was warm and modern inside, with a lanai that extended the length of the house and a second lanai with lounges right by the waves crashing on lava rock. I now was annoyed because I knew this was way out of our budget.
We met with this fellow again, and he was determined. We are moving into this place-from-a-postcard-or-beer-commercial on Saturday, staying there for at least a month, maybe two, for waaaaaaaaaaay below what he gets for rent. Our helicopter.
Extraordinary.
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
Reluctant Nomads
In choosing my title, I tried really hard not to sound as self-pitying as I feel. Don't know how successful I was...
Well, we are in our last week at 142 Kualapa Place. And we won't be just shifting to 108 Kualapa Place. Our meeting on Tuesday with the guy who is the co-listor/co-owner of the vacant house we were looking at came over for a meeting to "discuss our proposal" - said proposal being that we live in this vacant house with the messed up carpet that has been on the market for over a year, bring in our own furniture, and dare I say, good taste in art (most of it's mine, so careful what you say), and keep it like a fully staged model home, ready to show at a moment's notice, and in return, have a considerably reduced rent. whew!! That's a mouthful.... Anyway, this guy comes in and within the first few minutes says that there would be no financial consideration. We could have it for the going rate for rent around here and do all that other stuff. My husband looked him straight in the eye and said "oh, we're not going to do that" LOVE THAT MAN O' MINE!!! Anyway, after a few more minutes of explaining all the many things they had going for that property, the fellow left. It took all of fifteen minutes - and that included time to visit with our dog. When he left, we were disappointed, but we felt okay. This very nice fellow left still owning/listing a vacant house with a messed up carpet, a few dead roaches in a market where nobody is buying... hmmmm....
So, I pack and pack, not knowing when I'll get to play "Christmas" and open all my goodies again. I'm endeavoring to pack in a calm organized fashion. Of course, I have resolved such things before, only to find myself throwing in those last things -usually from the bathroom cabinet below the sink that you and all your helper friends totally forgot - into the one box remaining, which is usually too big so all the giant bottles of conditioner, mouthwash, and toothpaste that you bought in six packs from Costco bounce around for a while, leaving you to open sometime later and find that one of the toothpastes has ruptured, leaving green-striped goo over everything - but a least the box and its contents smell minty fresh. Yes, I am determined to avoid that.
A week from right now, Don and our landlord will be doing the final walk-through. I won't be there. It really isn't that I think I might be prone to violence. I've gotten over that. Almost. It's just that I am so sad to leave this place we have called home for the last year, and so many wonderful things happened here. Of the things that I will miss:
- Living on a golf course. It's had its moments of amusement, as I have seen -and heard - golfers hitting from about 50 feet in front of our house. They do not want to be there. There's the crack of the club hitting the ball, then the louder crack of said ball hitting the monkey pod tree - or sometimes, treeS, as it ricochets and ends up on our driveway - followed by an even louder string of epithets and curses as the hapless golfer swears he'll never play again. Then there's "pirate" golf, as Don, our sons, and friends would, on occasion, grab some clubs and play a couple holes just before dark. This May, we had the joy of watching our two-year-old granddaughter play her version, as well. The golf course is where we takie our evening walks at sunset with our dog, FloJo. It's her time to run, but then sit quietly as Don and I sit on one of the tee boxes, watch the sunset, talk, and pray to the creator of the magic that is unfolding in our sight. I'll miss that so much.
- Bird life. Yes, I said birds!! I love these guys! From the cooing doves - who only coo more as they are beating the cheese out of each other - the ever chattering mynahs, cardinals with their OCD songs, to my personal favorite and the bane of almost everyone else's existence: the Francolins!! Those are the grouse-like birds who have a call that can make your ears bleed if you stand too close. I love 'em! Once I learned to sleep through their ear-shattering alarms in the mornings, I started appreciating the absolute comedy these birds are. They seldom fly, instead, they walk very fast with their wings plastered to their side, much like a group of second-grade boys who have been told they cannot run, but must walk to the lunch line, so they do a semi-goose step. with arms straight down and legs stiff but moving as quickly as possible. These are the francolins. They are also doting parents. During the hatching season, we had several family groups with the CUTEST baby birds ever! They would skitter about, with bambinos following adults, learning the wing-glued-to-the-side speed walk of their parents. But should anyone - especially four-legged furry types like FloJo - walk nearby, one or two adults would come out, shrieking a call of alarm to both threaten and distract. Very impressive. But watching them socially is a serious hoot. There was some drama between a few of them out in front of our house the other day, and again, they resembled little scruffy boys as the call went out, "Fight!! Fight!!"
I lost count of how many francolins came scooting - not flying - to watch the top match-up on that evening's card. Love love love these birds!
- Our gardeners. Yes, these are the same guys who have every loud power tool known to the landscape industry, and it seems they love to use them when I am looking for quiet. But that's okay. These diligent, hardworking people are responsible for making this neighborhood we live in absolutely lovely! And they never fail to smile or wave to us. These guys I will miss, and I pray God's blessing on them
- Most of all, I will miss the love and fellowship that has taken place within these walls. If you never got to experience a Dalton Mega-Meat gut-buster, I apologize! But what makes me weep with joy and sadness all at once is the thoughts of our kids and grandkids here for Don's 6oth. It was perfection. Amber finger-painting in the garage, playing dress up with Grammy's costume jewelry and big hats, playing with her baby brother or daddy or Grampy in the blow-up pool out front, and drawing with chalk on the lanai concrete with her mommy. There was the "steak grilling competition" night, when our three sons had their own cook-off to see who was the true steakmeister. Don and I were the well-fed judges and were smart enough to declare a three-way tie.
There is so much. But for every sweet and beautiful memory we have of this place, we know that the Lord has thousands more in the places ahead - and INFINITELY more in our eternal home with Him! WHile I continue this packing, I still battle the tears. Shoot. I battle not crumbling to the ground in a full-blown tantrum like a four-year-old in a grocery store just denied a box of Benny Bunny's Sweet Puffy Loops breakfast cereal.
I had someone say to me one time, that how I saw God in everything was a mystery to her. Sad. But she had it only partly right. God isn't just IN everything - He IS everything!!
Well, we are in our last week at 142 Kualapa Place. And we won't be just shifting to 108 Kualapa Place. Our meeting on Tuesday with the guy who is the co-listor/co-owner of the vacant house we were looking at came over for a meeting to "discuss our proposal" - said proposal being that we live in this vacant house with the messed up carpet that has been on the market for over a year, bring in our own furniture, and dare I say, good taste in art (most of it's mine, so careful what you say), and keep it like a fully staged model home, ready to show at a moment's notice, and in return, have a considerably reduced rent. whew!! That's a mouthful.... Anyway, this guy comes in and within the first few minutes says that there would be no financial consideration. We could have it for the going rate for rent around here and do all that other stuff. My husband looked him straight in the eye and said "oh, we're not going to do that" LOVE THAT MAN O' MINE!!! Anyway, after a few more minutes of explaining all the many things they had going for that property, the fellow left. It took all of fifteen minutes - and that included time to visit with our dog. When he left, we were disappointed, but we felt okay. This very nice fellow left still owning/listing a vacant house with a messed up carpet, a few dead roaches in a market where nobody is buying... hmmmm....
So, I pack and pack, not knowing when I'll get to play "Christmas" and open all my goodies again. I'm endeavoring to pack in a calm organized fashion. Of course, I have resolved such things before, only to find myself throwing in those last things -usually from the bathroom cabinet below the sink that you and all your helper friends totally forgot - into the one box remaining, which is usually too big so all the giant bottles of conditioner, mouthwash, and toothpaste that you bought in six packs from Costco bounce around for a while, leaving you to open sometime later and find that one of the toothpastes has ruptured, leaving green-striped goo over everything - but a least the box and its contents smell minty fresh. Yes, I am determined to avoid that.
A week from right now, Don and our landlord will be doing the final walk-through. I won't be there. It really isn't that I think I might be prone to violence. I've gotten over that. Almost. It's just that I am so sad to leave this place we have called home for the last year, and so many wonderful things happened here. Of the things that I will miss:
- Living on a golf course. It's had its moments of amusement, as I have seen -and heard - golfers hitting from about 50 feet in front of our house. They do not want to be there. There's the crack of the club hitting the ball, then the louder crack of said ball hitting the monkey pod tree - or sometimes, treeS, as it ricochets and ends up on our driveway - followed by an even louder string of epithets and curses as the hapless golfer swears he'll never play again. Then there's "pirate" golf, as Don, our sons, and friends would, on occasion, grab some clubs and play a couple holes just before dark. This May, we had the joy of watching our two-year-old granddaughter play her version, as well. The golf course is where we takie our evening walks at sunset with our dog, FloJo. It's her time to run, but then sit quietly as Don and I sit on one of the tee boxes, watch the sunset, talk, and pray to the creator of the magic that is unfolding in our sight. I'll miss that so much.
- Bird life. Yes, I said birds!! I love these guys! From the cooing doves - who only coo more as they are beating the cheese out of each other - the ever chattering mynahs, cardinals with their OCD songs, to my personal favorite and the bane of almost everyone else's existence: the Francolins!! Those are the grouse-like birds who have a call that can make your ears bleed if you stand too close. I love 'em! Once I learned to sleep through their ear-shattering alarms in the mornings, I started appreciating the absolute comedy these birds are. They seldom fly, instead, they walk very fast with their wings plastered to their side, much like a group of second-grade boys who have been told they cannot run, but must walk to the lunch line, so they do a semi-goose step. with arms straight down and legs stiff but moving as quickly as possible. These are the francolins. They are also doting parents. During the hatching season, we had several family groups with the CUTEST baby birds ever! They would skitter about, with bambinos following adults, learning the wing-glued-to-the-side speed walk of their parents. But should anyone - especially four-legged furry types like FloJo - walk nearby, one or two adults would come out, shrieking a call of alarm to both threaten and distract. Very impressive. But watching them socially is a serious hoot. There was some drama between a few of them out in front of our house the other day, and again, they resembled little scruffy boys as the call went out, "Fight!! Fight!!"
I lost count of how many francolins came scooting - not flying - to watch the top match-up on that evening's card. Love love love these birds!
- Our gardeners. Yes, these are the same guys who have every loud power tool known to the landscape industry, and it seems they love to use them when I am looking for quiet. But that's okay. These diligent, hardworking people are responsible for making this neighborhood we live in absolutely lovely! And they never fail to smile or wave to us. These guys I will miss, and I pray God's blessing on them
- Most of all, I will miss the love and fellowship that has taken place within these walls. If you never got to experience a Dalton Mega-Meat gut-buster, I apologize! But what makes me weep with joy and sadness all at once is the thoughts of our kids and grandkids here for Don's 6oth. It was perfection. Amber finger-painting in the garage, playing dress up with Grammy's costume jewelry and big hats, playing with her baby brother or daddy or Grampy in the blow-up pool out front, and drawing with chalk on the lanai concrete with her mommy. There was the "steak grilling competition" night, when our three sons had their own cook-off to see who was the true steakmeister. Don and I were the well-fed judges and were smart enough to declare a three-way tie.
There is so much. But for every sweet and beautiful memory we have of this place, we know that the Lord has thousands more in the places ahead - and INFINITELY more in our eternal home with Him! WHile I continue this packing, I still battle the tears. Shoot. I battle not crumbling to the ground in a full-blown tantrum like a four-year-old in a grocery store just denied a box of Benny Bunny's Sweet Puffy Loops breakfast cereal.
I had someone say to me one time, that how I saw God in everything was a mystery to her. Sad. But she had it only partly right. God isn't just IN everything - He IS everything!!
Monday, September 20, 2010
Smoke by Day, Fire by Night
As I said in the last blog, we are getting ready for a move. I would love to tell you that we bought our first boughten home here in Maui, but alas! That would be a fib. We are moving because our landlords decided to being her parents in from Vancouver, Canada to live here. This came after we told them that our income was struggling, so could we - instead of a year-long lease - go month-to-month. They seemed completely agreeable at first, but then changed their minds - in a very big way. So, we are out of here by the 30th of this month. I would love to say that we have a great place to move to. Well, I'm quite sure that God has and awesome place for us...He just hasn't told us, yet... So, we follow, like well-tanned Israelites, we follow the pillars of smoke and fire - and pray that it doesn't take us forty years to find a permanent home! We do have a lead for another home in the complex we are in. It's a bit larger than this, and it has been standing vacant for a year. It has also been on the market for that year, and we know that this guy has to be hurting. So, we are proposing to him that we become his live-in stagers! We figure it's a great situation for him, to ease the suction sound of this lovely money pit. Of course, it would be wonderful for us to not have to put FloJo in a kennel while we stay in a vacation condo while waiting for an appropriate rental to come available. But, I have to keep reminding myself that God's timing is PERFECT!!
Today was a bit sad. I was packing up the office (Herculean at the very least) and it was time for FloJo's evening walk. Don hadn't come home form his open house, yet, so we hung out at this little bench under a beautiful plumeria tree on a little island in the middle of the street. We watched the rain creep through the mountains until we saw a rainbow grow in the mist. I'll never get tired of rainbows almost every day! We sat under the tree, inhaling its perfume and feeling the light tiny drops of the afternoon trade shower. It was sweet and lovely - and it nearly broke my heart. Oh, I know that there are trade showers and rainbows and plumeria trees all over this island, but this has been home for a year, now. I can't look at this particular little bench without seeing in my mind our son, Kyle, sitting with his daughter, Amber, the day before they were to leave for their home in Temecula. But, again, I must remember that God knows what He is doing! That obedience thing is tricky, but I think patience is trickier! And now we have to demonstrate both of these components of faith.
I'm keeping this short - for me - since I have to hit the sack and prepare for our meeting tomorrow about the other house. Actually, it's already tomorrow on the mainland...oh, you know what I mean!!
God bless ALL of our paths!!
Today was a bit sad. I was packing up the office (Herculean at the very least) and it was time for FloJo's evening walk. Don hadn't come home form his open house, yet, so we hung out at this little bench under a beautiful plumeria tree on a little island in the middle of the street. We watched the rain creep through the mountains until we saw a rainbow grow in the mist. I'll never get tired of rainbows almost every day! We sat under the tree, inhaling its perfume and feeling the light tiny drops of the afternoon trade shower. It was sweet and lovely - and it nearly broke my heart. Oh, I know that there are trade showers and rainbows and plumeria trees all over this island, but this has been home for a year, now. I can't look at this particular little bench without seeing in my mind our son, Kyle, sitting with his daughter, Amber, the day before they were to leave for their home in Temecula. But, again, I must remember that God knows what He is doing! That obedience thing is tricky, but I think patience is trickier! And now we have to demonstrate both of these components of faith.
I'm keeping this short - for me - since I have to hit the sack and prepare for our meeting tomorrow about the other house. Actually, it's already tomorrow on the mainland...oh, you know what I mean!!
God bless ALL of our paths!!
Saturday, September 11, 2010
Sunsets and Moonrises - Life in Maui
This is kind of a bittersweet blog for me. Bitter because we just learned today that we are having to move from this beautiful home by the end of the month - which can be kind of terrifying, since we have no place to move to!! But we came here with no home and God provided this one. The next one is just around the corner (either figuratively or literally)! We will miss this place dearly, but we know that God has better plans for us than we could ever imagine! The sweet part of this is that we are still living in a place that captures our hearts more and more!
One of the things we'll miss the most about this particular home is being able to take evening walks on the golf course. This is where we can watch the sunsets, sit and pray together and talk about things, and where we can run our nutty dog down the fairway (sometimes our nutty kids, too). The fragrance of the golf course in the evening is amazing - plumeria blended with the natural scrub that grows on the nearby hillside. Watching the sun fall into the ocean every evening is beyond words. Actually, though, we only see the actual ocean sunsets about the half of the year. During the winter months it sets behind Lana'i and in the summer, sneaks down behind Moloka'i. But during the late summer and early fall, and in the spring, we see some pretty awesome ocean-dipped suns - green flash and all!! Even though we won't be walking this golf course in the evening anymore, I'm sure that we'll find some place to watch sunsets...
Among the things that surprise us most is how much Don and I have fallen in love with...CLOUDS!! They come in all shapes and sizes here - long stretched out ones, tiny little puffy ones, enormous ominous ones. We can see them creeping through the West Maui Mountains from the side of our house that faces east. We can watch them pour out rain over the ocean and outer islands from the side of our house that faces west. They sprint along when the trade winds are strong, or they just stand over the islands and get taller. They make leis around the gentle slopes of Lana'i and the rugged peaks of Moloka'i. Yes, we love our clouds...
In this life, the thing that is center to it, is our worship life with the people of Calvary Chapel Westside. Little CCW became part of our lives more than five years ago, when we came as visitors. Greg was staying with us at our vacation condo, and he looked up the service times for this worship service at one of the nearby beach parks. It was whale season at the time, and I can remember thing that this guy had better be good since he was competing with honeymooning humpbacks. We pulled up, and to our surprise, instead of a couple of folks with a guitar and tambourine, we found a full-on amped up worship group singing the Chris Tomlin "How Great is Our God" AMEN!! How great, indeed. After awesome worship, we saw this not-too-tall guy in shorts and Hurley shirt, a bushy mop of black hair, and flip-flopped feet come up to the podium...and introduced himself as Pastor Steve Santos. And he held us in the palm of his hand for the next 90 minutes, preaching the Word, peppering in a lot of "gnarly's" and "radical's". We were hooked. In fact, that was the final - and most important - component to us making a life in Maui. Most of you know that we came from The Rock Church in San Diego, which is quite the mega-church. In it's unique way, CCW is even more mega than The Rock. We may have a tiny little church body, but our congregation on Sundays - especially at our beach service - is by and large visitors. We have people saved every week, and other Christians who are touched, who then in turn, take their experience to wherever they call home. That's big-time mega. And now we are blessed to not only call this our church home, we have so many new family members in this body of Christ. We have become especially close to that surfer-dude pastor, Steve, his wife Kim, and their two girls, Jen and Nikki. And toooo many others to name!
So, life is sweet, even if leaving this particular house is kind of painful. We're pretty excited to see the house the Lord has for us next!! In the meantime, we still have clouds to watch, crazy winds to blow through, birds to raise a rucus, fishies to swim amongst, and a Lord to praise!!
One of the things we'll miss the most about this particular home is being able to take evening walks on the golf course. This is where we can watch the sunsets, sit and pray together and talk about things, and where we can run our nutty dog down the fairway (sometimes our nutty kids, too). The fragrance of the golf course in the evening is amazing - plumeria blended with the natural scrub that grows on the nearby hillside. Watching the sun fall into the ocean every evening is beyond words. Actually, though, we only see the actual ocean sunsets about the half of the year. During the winter months it sets behind Lana'i and in the summer, sneaks down behind Moloka'i. But during the late summer and early fall, and in the spring, we see some pretty awesome ocean-dipped suns - green flash and all!! Even though we won't be walking this golf course in the evening anymore, I'm sure that we'll find some place to watch sunsets...
Among the things that surprise us most is how much Don and I have fallen in love with...CLOUDS!! They come in all shapes and sizes here - long stretched out ones, tiny little puffy ones, enormous ominous ones. We can see them creeping through the West Maui Mountains from the side of our house that faces east. We can watch them pour out rain over the ocean and outer islands from the side of our house that faces west. They sprint along when the trade winds are strong, or they just stand over the islands and get taller. They make leis around the gentle slopes of Lana'i and the rugged peaks of Moloka'i. Yes, we love our clouds...
In this life, the thing that is center to it, is our worship life with the people of Calvary Chapel Westside. Little CCW became part of our lives more than five years ago, when we came as visitors. Greg was staying with us at our vacation condo, and he looked up the service times for this worship service at one of the nearby beach parks. It was whale season at the time, and I can remember thing that this guy had better be good since he was competing with honeymooning humpbacks. We pulled up, and to our surprise, instead of a couple of folks with a guitar and tambourine, we found a full-on amped up worship group singing the Chris Tomlin "How Great is Our God" AMEN!! How great, indeed. After awesome worship, we saw this not-too-tall guy in shorts and Hurley shirt, a bushy mop of black hair, and flip-flopped feet come up to the podium...and introduced himself as Pastor Steve Santos. And he held us in the palm of his hand for the next 90 minutes, preaching the Word, peppering in a lot of "gnarly's" and "radical's". We were hooked. In fact, that was the final - and most important - component to us making a life in Maui. Most of you know that we came from The Rock Church in San Diego, which is quite the mega-church. In it's unique way, CCW is even more mega than The Rock. We may have a tiny little church body, but our congregation on Sundays - especially at our beach service - is by and large visitors. We have people saved every week, and other Christians who are touched, who then in turn, take their experience to wherever they call home. That's big-time mega. And now we are blessed to not only call this our church home, we have so many new family members in this body of Christ. We have become especially close to that surfer-dude pastor, Steve, his wife Kim, and their two girls, Jen and Nikki. And toooo many others to name!
So, life is sweet, even if leaving this particular house is kind of painful. We're pretty excited to see the house the Lord has for us next!! In the meantime, we still have clouds to watch, crazy winds to blow through, birds to raise a rucus, fishies to swim amongst, and a Lord to praise!!
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
The March meeting of Procrastinators Anonymous, scheduled for 8/31/09 has been rescheduled for 6/11/10
Good Grief. I can't believe how long it has been. I think when Moses said "a thousand years is but a day in your sight, O Lord" he must have been thinking God was in Maui. Days fly fast and furious around here - not because of the fast pace, but because there is so much that we are doing. And, no, thee are not days of golf and beach and snorkeling - those have their days, too - but we are both working our businesses six out of seven days, and fitting in family visits and another trip to the mainland. Yikes!
So, as quickly as possible... it has been a remarkable spring/summer for Don and I. By far (by like a million zillion squadillion miles) was the whole family congregating in Maui for Don's 60th! This meant that Amber and Josh came, brought their parents, and had their uncles meet them here. It was simply perfection. Amber and Josh proved to be quite the little travelers on the plane, and had a great day the day they arrived...and totally derailed the next. Wait. Let me back track to the day before - the day the younger Dalton Family arrived....
If you have ever been to maui, you know that the westside is accessed by a two lane highway. If you have never been, well...it's still the same two lane highway. it will occasionally close because of a bad traffic accident or a fire close to the road. When that happens, all movement to and from the westside stops...sorta. Around the northern end of the island (also known as the head) is a tiny twisty road that will eventually take you into Central Maui and the airport. During long closures, they will close it to outbound (toward the westside) so it is exclusively inbound (toward Central Maui). This is meant to keep drivers from trying to share a six-inch-wide road that is barely carved into the cliffside. The morning that KKA&J arrived (John and Greg came in a couple of days later) was just such a morning. AAAAUUUGH!!! I had never driven around the head. In fact, I could have died a happy person having never driven it. wait...let me rephrase... At any rate, it became apparent that we needed to go around the squinchy, twisty, groove in the cliffside if we were going to greet our grandchildren and their parents. I won't bore you with the long, agonizing details, just to say that at some point during the trip, the state "highway" turned into something less than -which meant that now there was just some sort of loose material beneath the wheels that at one time might have been asphalt. My palms still sweat at the memory - and that was May 4! We left with a good two and a half hours until their plane landed, which left us plenty of time to get out of the car and kneel and kiss the ground, and sing praises to God once we reached safety....we thought. As we were getting into Kahului, Kyle called to say they had landed. There plane was almost 40 minutes early! That never happens! I guess traffic must have been light that morning. I'll give you a minute....
So, there we were - Grammy and Grampy looking for them at baggage. Seeing them, and our precious Amber running toward us with her little Winnie the Pooh carry-on rolling behind her is the stuff of dreams. And Hallmark commercials. The first perfect moment of two perfect weeks - except for the train wreck the next day, of course. But the kiddos settled in beautifully and sailing was quite smooth from then on. Amber crashed in our room on one of those blow-up beds. Grampy actually got booted to the couch as his snoring and Amber's midnight chatting would lead to mutual insomnia. So, Amber was my little roommate! Of course, that meant waking at 6 or so every morning, with a little face in mine - literally nose-to-nose - saying "Grammy! We watch 'Up!' ?" Of course. So, onto the bed came Elmo, Cookie Monster, Nighttime Water (her special sippy cup. That's ok. Greg had a security...jacket), and any other friends that happened to be around.
By the time Uncle John and Uncle Greg ("Guncle), we had things running spectacularly - Baby Beach, the pool, the coffee shop. Don's birthday was pretty much the highlight of this amazing two weeks. My man turned SIXTY!! A great breakfast in the morning, golf with all the boys in the afternoon, and a party with our closest friends here on the island. We also surprised Dad/Grampy with the dedication to the Lord of the two newest Daltons. Finally!! I can surprise this, the greatest underminer of surprises!! Guncle got to do the actual dedication, which made it even more memorable and blessed. Unfortunately, Amber wasn't feeling so very blessed. Josh was hangin' out, loving it as his Daddy was holding him while Guncle was praying. Amber, being held by said Guncle, was fighting every inch of the way, trying to squeeze out of the death grip-uh, I mean Holy Hold, that her uncle had on her. The pictures are hilarious!! Greg is praying, Josh is hanging, Amber is fighting, and the rest of us are all (not) laughing. But what a time... I have often thought that Heaven might be filled with the most perfect moments of blessings in our lives. This would be right at the top.
I'm going to shorten this by stopping!! There is much more to say and to share, but I'll save that for later!
Until then...
Aloha!
So, as quickly as possible... it has been a remarkable spring/summer for Don and I. By far (by like a million zillion squadillion miles) was the whole family congregating in Maui for Don's 60th! This meant that Amber and Josh came, brought their parents, and had their uncles meet them here. It was simply perfection. Amber and Josh proved to be quite the little travelers on the plane, and had a great day the day they arrived...and totally derailed the next. Wait. Let me back track to the day before - the day the younger Dalton Family arrived....
If you have ever been to maui, you know that the westside is accessed by a two lane highway. If you have never been, well...it's still the same two lane highway. it will occasionally close because of a bad traffic accident or a fire close to the road. When that happens, all movement to and from the westside stops...sorta. Around the northern end of the island (also known as the head) is a tiny twisty road that will eventually take you into Central Maui and the airport. During long closures, they will close it to outbound (toward the westside) so it is exclusively inbound (toward Central Maui). This is meant to keep drivers from trying to share a six-inch-wide road that is barely carved into the cliffside. The morning that KKA&J arrived (John and Greg came in a couple of days later) was just such a morning. AAAAUUUGH!!! I had never driven around the head. In fact, I could have died a happy person having never driven it. wait...let me rephrase... At any rate, it became apparent that we needed to go around the squinchy, twisty, groove in the cliffside if we were going to greet our grandchildren and their parents. I won't bore you with the long, agonizing details, just to say that at some point during the trip, the state "highway" turned into something less than -which meant that now there was just some sort of loose material beneath the wheels that at one time might have been asphalt. My palms still sweat at the memory - and that was May 4! We left with a good two and a half hours until their plane landed, which left us plenty of time to get out of the car and kneel and kiss the ground, and sing praises to God once we reached safety....we thought. As we were getting into Kahului, Kyle called to say they had landed. There plane was almost 40 minutes early! That never happens! I guess traffic must have been light that morning. I'll give you a minute....
So, there we were - Grammy and Grampy looking for them at baggage. Seeing them, and our precious Amber running toward us with her little Winnie the Pooh carry-on rolling behind her is the stuff of dreams. And Hallmark commercials. The first perfect moment of two perfect weeks - except for the train wreck the next day, of course. But the kiddos settled in beautifully and sailing was quite smooth from then on. Amber crashed in our room on one of those blow-up beds. Grampy actually got booted to the couch as his snoring and Amber's midnight chatting would lead to mutual insomnia. So, Amber was my little roommate! Of course, that meant waking at 6 or so every morning, with a little face in mine - literally nose-to-nose - saying "Grammy! We watch 'Up!' ?" Of course. So, onto the bed came Elmo, Cookie Monster, Nighttime Water (her special sippy cup. That's ok. Greg had a security...jacket), and any other friends that happened to be around.
By the time Uncle John and Uncle Greg ("Guncle), we had things running spectacularly - Baby Beach, the pool, the coffee shop. Don's birthday was pretty much the highlight of this amazing two weeks. My man turned SIXTY!! A great breakfast in the morning, golf with all the boys in the afternoon, and a party with our closest friends here on the island. We also surprised Dad/Grampy with the dedication to the Lord of the two newest Daltons. Finally!! I can surprise this, the greatest underminer of surprises!! Guncle got to do the actual dedication, which made it even more memorable and blessed. Unfortunately, Amber wasn't feeling so very blessed. Josh was hangin' out, loving it as his Daddy was holding him while Guncle was praying. Amber, being held by said Guncle, was fighting every inch of the way, trying to squeeze out of the death grip-uh, I mean Holy Hold, that her uncle had on her. The pictures are hilarious!! Greg is praying, Josh is hanging, Amber is fighting, and the rest of us are all (not) laughing. But what a time... I have often thought that Heaven might be filled with the most perfect moments of blessings in our lives. This would be right at the top.
I'm going to shorten this by stopping!! There is much more to say and to share, but I'll save that for later!
Until then...
Aloha!
Friday, March 5, 2010
TSUNAMI!! (insert thunderclaps and intense music)
It's hard to define our tsunami. It wasn't a non-event, because it certainly did happen, thus making it an event. Besides, we have a bunch of scary-smart people who kept calling it a tsunami EVENT! But, it also was not a ready-for-Irwin-Allen-movie-with-B-actors Disaster flick. So let me describe our day...of the TSUNAMI!!!(insert more ominous music).
So let me set the scene...
#2 son, Gregory, was visiting with two of his friends from Portland, Robby and April. Said Robby and April had never been to Maui, so their days were pretty well packed full with fun stuff. Friday the 26th, Don and Greg headed to O'ahu's North Shore for a Calvary Chapel Men's retreat, with R&A staying back with me. Sounds great!!
Friday, our two newbies rented vespas and spent the day exploring the island, with the plan that Saturday, I would take them around a bit more. We planned to see Kealia Pond Natural Preserve, Kehei, South Maui - all culminating in the consummate adventure: Costco. Again, the weekend was shaping up in a fabulous way!
Normally, I am asleep by 10:00 or so. Yes, that's what I said. This place has changed a person allergic to mornings into someone up with the birds. But I digress...as usual... Anyhow, this was the second to last night of the Olympics, and I was already beginning my separation anxiety about them going away, so I was not about to miss one minute. This meant I would have to stay up past TEN-THIRTY!! egad. the recklessness. While the competition was awesome, what caught my attention was the teaser for the late news: a massive earthquake in Chile. I did some quick geography (thanks, world map placemat!!) and realized that their could be a watery event to follow. Sure enough, about 11:00 they said that we were under a tsunami Advisory, meaning that conditions were right, but they have to wait for some buoys at sea - or Leslie Nielson - to confirm a tsunami. This had my attention. The scary-smart guys thought that they would know by midnight, but it turns out that they didn't know until about 12:30. I had snoozed off in my comfy bed only to wake up about 12:45 to see, in bright letter across the screen: TSUNAMI WARNING. This means, get tidied up and make sure the toilets are flushed - company's coming.
It's important to understand, and crazy enough, they had to repeat this CONSTANTLY throughout, a tsunami is not a formed wave, great for extreme surfers and boogie boarders. It is a surge, a raise of the level of the water. They estimated that this was a 12-foot surge. If you think that this isn't so bad, take a tape measure, and stretch it to 12'. Then imagine a wall of water with all the force of the sea behind it. Now, we live up on a hill about 3/4 of a mile from the ocean, so we were good - but two of my men were camped out on the beach on O'ahu. I immediately sent a text, but heard nothing. I knew I wouldn't be sleeping too much until I heard. Besides, this was amazing to watch. Folks all around the island chain had gotten the word, and grocery stores and gas stations opened up, with lines immediately forming. The news anchors from the previous evening's news were still there for the marathon. But what was remarkable was the calm and good cheer of all involved. In the midst of the long lines at the gas stations, there were folks getting out of their cars to help direct traffic. There were no reports of hoarding at the grocery stores. Can you say "Aloha Spirit"?
I was still watching and waiting, with an occasional snooze, when there was a knock at my door, and young Robby poked his head in, "Denise?" he said in a quiet but a little bit scared voice, "there's a report on the news that there's a tsunami coming." Oh, yeah. I have guests. I assured him that I was watching the same thing. He assured me that he would be awake keeping his eye on the news, too. Abut 30 minutes after that, I got the text I had been waiting for- Don telling me that they were being evacuated to higher ground. Very good to know. So, they were heading up to Calvary Chapel's retreat center in the mountains. At this point, I was not sleepy in the slightest, so about 4:00 a.m. I headed to my office to post a little something on Facebook. It's always fun to spread panic wherever possible. As I entered the living room, I could see my vigilant watchman, Robby, completely snorged out on the couch. I guess he got over his anxiety. So, I posted a simple thing about the tsunami and that the first warning sirens would sound at 6 a.m. Good thing I'm a morning person, now, but I prefer the songs of mynahs and doves to the spooky wail of sirens. I trudged back to bed, and was getting comfy, when my phone rang: #3 son calling asking about my post. They have a 2-month-old. They don't sleep....ever. My kids share my same fascination with all things Creation and Natural Phenomena, so I promised to call when the sirens sounded. A few minutes later, Don called from O'ahu, saying that they were still at the beach and they were waiting for some fresh made fried rice but Greg was sleeping in the van. Bottom line, all was well and they were still slated to return that evening as scheduled. By this point, it was after 5 a.m., and we were getting close to siren time. I woke April and Robby, because being jarred awake by a siren is even more unpleasant that the awake kind.
6 a.m. - I called Kyle so he could hear our sirens. Silence. A bunch of silence. So, I hung up and said that I would call him when they did sound - which was of course, about two minutes after we hung up. I guess even warnings are on Maui time. While not loud where we are, these could be heard long and steady for what seemed for ever. They held just one note, instead of the up and down wailing you hear on tv, and the in once a month testing they do. At any rate, it was very chilling.
The three of us sort of wandered around the house, watching tv and the next team of reporters. Highways and roads were closed, so the island exploration was not going to happen. Resorts were evacuated. I heard that there were some hotels on Waikiki that moved folks to an upper ballroom where they fed and entertained them! I still needed to walk FloJo so I headed for our regular coffee place, which is still at a safe elevation. The place was packed with evacuees from the Ka'anapali resorts down the hill, and the mood was quite festive! And the young man (named Young) was doing business like never before. Tsunamis are goooood for business!! I chatted with a few _ FloJo is a great conversation starter - then headed back to my young company for more tsunami entertainment. On the way back, I saw that the highway was utterly abandoned - my first eery feel. Then I noticed that the golf course were equally devoid of life. double eery.
By the time my doggy and I got home, the guys on the tube were telling us to fill our bathtubs as both Maui and the Big Island have their water processing close enough to the shore that they would be shut off if the tsunami came as predicted. By this time, they had downgraded it to 6 feet, but again, that is 6 vertical feet. Scores of businesses and homes could be damaged or lost, and salt water in the processing machinery could mean our water could be shut off for a couple of weeks. Yeah, i'll take a couple of hours of flushing my toitey with water from the tub. I did opt to kill two birds, as it were, and take a bath. Now, don't go "eeeeuuuuw", since the saved water was for toilets and not imbibing. After a nice soak, I lay my little head down on the bead, only to be awakened by the siren again. They had been sounding every hour since 6 a.m. (or thereabouts), but this was 10:30. The surge was expected shortly after 11 (11:05, to be insanely exact), and so the sirens had more of a feel of urgency. At this point, my blood was running a little chilly. The implications were hitting me, and I could sense the apprehension in Robby and April. The three of us sat quietly, each of us in our own thoughts and prayers, as we watched the camera that was aimed at Hilo Bay. 11:05 came and went - nothing. Or so we thought. It turns out that there were changes that were imperceptible to the eye but the instruments set up by the scary-smart people marked the beginning of the event - at 11:05.
I won't describe what it looked like when it finally looked like something, but I strongly suggest checking out youtube/tsunami 2/27. Pretty awesome footage on some. But we spent the next hour and half or so watching the surge in and out of Hilo Bay, praising God at once for the preservation of life and property (except for an idiot in Waikiki who was probably still about enjoying the 23 mai tais from the previous night as he went wading), but also getting to witness such a demonstration of His power!!
The scary-smart people had said that this could go on all day, but again, God was merciful, and the warning was lifted about 1:40 or so. Robby and April still had to return their vespas, so we decided I would pick them up at a nearby Starbucks. When I got there, the mall was virtually empty, and Starbucks was (ulp!) CLOSED!! Now does that tell you the seriousness of our situation?!!?!?
To wrap it up, Maui's Kahului Harbor marked the biggest surge of 3.3 feet. Enough to strand a few fish, damage the hulls of some moored small boats, and give us the prize for this tsunami, but all in all, it was a dodged bullet.
But made for some great stories and "I survived..." t-shirts...
So let me set the scene...
#2 son, Gregory, was visiting with two of his friends from Portland, Robby and April. Said Robby and April had never been to Maui, so their days were pretty well packed full with fun stuff. Friday the 26th, Don and Greg headed to O'ahu's North Shore for a Calvary Chapel Men's retreat, with R&A staying back with me. Sounds great!!
Friday, our two newbies rented vespas and spent the day exploring the island, with the plan that Saturday, I would take them around a bit more. We planned to see Kealia Pond Natural Preserve, Kehei, South Maui - all culminating in the consummate adventure: Costco. Again, the weekend was shaping up in a fabulous way!
Normally, I am asleep by 10:00 or so. Yes, that's what I said. This place has changed a person allergic to mornings into someone up with the birds. But I digress...as usual... Anyhow, this was the second to last night of the Olympics, and I was already beginning my separation anxiety about them going away, so I was not about to miss one minute. This meant I would have to stay up past TEN-THIRTY!! egad. the recklessness. While the competition was awesome, what caught my attention was the teaser for the late news: a massive earthquake in Chile. I did some quick geography (thanks, world map placemat!!) and realized that their could be a watery event to follow. Sure enough, about 11:00 they said that we were under a tsunami Advisory, meaning that conditions were right, but they have to wait for some buoys at sea - or Leslie Nielson - to confirm a tsunami. This had my attention. The scary-smart guys thought that they would know by midnight, but it turns out that they didn't know until about 12:30. I had snoozed off in my comfy bed only to wake up about 12:45 to see, in bright letter across the screen: TSUNAMI WARNING. This means, get tidied up and make sure the toilets are flushed - company's coming.
It's important to understand, and crazy enough, they had to repeat this CONSTANTLY throughout, a tsunami is not a formed wave, great for extreme surfers and boogie boarders. It is a surge, a raise of the level of the water. They estimated that this was a 12-foot surge. If you think that this isn't so bad, take a tape measure, and stretch it to 12'. Then imagine a wall of water with all the force of the sea behind it. Now, we live up on a hill about 3/4 of a mile from the ocean, so we were good - but two of my men were camped out on the beach on O'ahu. I immediately sent a text, but heard nothing. I knew I wouldn't be sleeping too much until I heard. Besides, this was amazing to watch. Folks all around the island chain had gotten the word, and grocery stores and gas stations opened up, with lines immediately forming. The news anchors from the previous evening's news were still there for the marathon. But what was remarkable was the calm and good cheer of all involved. In the midst of the long lines at the gas stations, there were folks getting out of their cars to help direct traffic. There were no reports of hoarding at the grocery stores. Can you say "Aloha Spirit"?
I was still watching and waiting, with an occasional snooze, when there was a knock at my door, and young Robby poked his head in, "Denise?" he said in a quiet but a little bit scared voice, "there's a report on the news that there's a tsunami coming." Oh, yeah. I have guests. I assured him that I was watching the same thing. He assured me that he would be awake keeping his eye on the news, too. Abut 30 minutes after that, I got the text I had been waiting for- Don telling me that they were being evacuated to higher ground. Very good to know. So, they were heading up to Calvary Chapel's retreat center in the mountains. At this point, I was not sleepy in the slightest, so about 4:00 a.m. I headed to my office to post a little something on Facebook. It's always fun to spread panic wherever possible. As I entered the living room, I could see my vigilant watchman, Robby, completely snorged out on the couch. I guess he got over his anxiety. So, I posted a simple thing about the tsunami and that the first warning sirens would sound at 6 a.m. Good thing I'm a morning person, now, but I prefer the songs of mynahs and doves to the spooky wail of sirens. I trudged back to bed, and was getting comfy, when my phone rang: #3 son calling asking about my post. They have a 2-month-old. They don't sleep....ever. My kids share my same fascination with all things Creation and Natural Phenomena, so I promised to call when the sirens sounded. A few minutes later, Don called from O'ahu, saying that they were still at the beach and they were waiting for some fresh made fried rice but Greg was sleeping in the van. Bottom line, all was well and they were still slated to return that evening as scheduled. By this point, it was after 5 a.m., and we were getting close to siren time. I woke April and Robby, because being jarred awake by a siren is even more unpleasant that the awake kind.
6 a.m. - I called Kyle so he could hear our sirens. Silence. A bunch of silence. So, I hung up and said that I would call him when they did sound - which was of course, about two minutes after we hung up. I guess even warnings are on Maui time. While not loud where we are, these could be heard long and steady for what seemed for ever. They held just one note, instead of the up and down wailing you hear on tv, and the in once a month testing they do. At any rate, it was very chilling.
The three of us sort of wandered around the house, watching tv and the next team of reporters. Highways and roads were closed, so the island exploration was not going to happen. Resorts were evacuated. I heard that there were some hotels on Waikiki that moved folks to an upper ballroom where they fed and entertained them! I still needed to walk FloJo so I headed for our regular coffee place, which is still at a safe elevation. The place was packed with evacuees from the Ka'anapali resorts down the hill, and the mood was quite festive! And the young man (named Young) was doing business like never before. Tsunamis are goooood for business!! I chatted with a few _ FloJo is a great conversation starter - then headed back to my young company for more tsunami entertainment. On the way back, I saw that the highway was utterly abandoned - my first eery feel. Then I noticed that the golf course were equally devoid of life. double eery.
By the time my doggy and I got home, the guys on the tube were telling us to fill our bathtubs as both Maui and the Big Island have their water processing close enough to the shore that they would be shut off if the tsunami came as predicted. By this time, they had downgraded it to 6 feet, but again, that is 6 vertical feet. Scores of businesses and homes could be damaged or lost, and salt water in the processing machinery could mean our water could be shut off for a couple of weeks. Yeah, i'll take a couple of hours of flushing my toitey with water from the tub. I did opt to kill two birds, as it were, and take a bath. Now, don't go "eeeeuuuuw", since the saved water was for toilets and not imbibing. After a nice soak, I lay my little head down on the bead, only to be awakened by the siren again. They had been sounding every hour since 6 a.m. (or thereabouts), but this was 10:30. The surge was expected shortly after 11 (11:05, to be insanely exact), and so the sirens had more of a feel of urgency. At this point, my blood was running a little chilly. The implications were hitting me, and I could sense the apprehension in Robby and April. The three of us sat quietly, each of us in our own thoughts and prayers, as we watched the camera that was aimed at Hilo Bay. 11:05 came and went - nothing. Or so we thought. It turns out that there were changes that were imperceptible to the eye but the instruments set up by the scary-smart people marked the beginning of the event - at 11:05.
I won't describe what it looked like when it finally looked like something, but I strongly suggest checking out youtube/tsunami 2/27. Pretty awesome footage on some. But we spent the next hour and half or so watching the surge in and out of Hilo Bay, praising God at once for the preservation of life and property (except for an idiot in Waikiki who was probably still about enjoying the 23 mai tais from the previous night as he went wading), but also getting to witness such a demonstration of His power!!
The scary-smart people had said that this could go on all day, but again, God was merciful, and the warning was lifted about 1:40 or so. Robby and April still had to return their vespas, so we decided I would pick them up at a nearby Starbucks. When I got there, the mall was virtually empty, and Starbucks was (ulp!) CLOSED!! Now does that tell you the seriousness of our situation?!!?!?
To wrap it up, Maui's Kahului Harbor marked the biggest surge of 3.3 feet. Enough to strand a few fish, damage the hulls of some moored small boats, and give us the prize for this tsunami, but all in all, it was a dodged bullet.
But made for some great stories and "I survived..." t-shirts...
Friday, January 29, 2010
Married to Maui
One of my finer, yet more annoying qualities - depending on your viewpoint - is that I like to analyze things and find applicable analogies; parables, if you will. So, given the challenges we have discovered in living here - many of which caught us totally off guard - I felt compelled to understand it, to translate it, and find a way to put it in terms that I could grasp. After lots of prayer and scripture reading, I finally opened my ears enough to hear what God had to say, and how to put it in terms I could handle. Are ya ready!?!?
For many years, we came to visit Maui. We were dating Maui. Just as two people who are dating, we found ourselves falling in love. During this courtship, Maui put on her best face: beaches and golf by day, dining and moonlight walks on the beach by night. There were no worries. There were people to make our every wish come true. We didn't even have to worry about our car messing up. If the rented convertible made us unhappy in any way, we could simply return it for a new one. And maid service. Who doesn't love maid service? But there was something beyond the outward and surface beauty that made us want to commit to this exquisite place. After much prayer, we chose to marry Maui!
For those readers who have been married longer than a couple of weeks, you probably can figure what happens next. Just like when the young bride discoveries that this man who was her Prince Charming just a couple of weeks before is suddenly the guy who leaves dirty dishes everywhere, can't find a laundry hamper with a searchlight and bloodhounds, and leaves millions of teeny little black whiskers in her sink. The idealistic groom so smitten with his bride is horrified to discover that she doesn't always look (or smell) that great every morning, he can't get into the bathroom as freely as he used to and when he does, he needs a weed whacker and a machete to get through all the "girl stuff", and to top it off, she always wants to talk - the bane of many husband's existence.
So, also, did we discovered some not-so-attractive realities after our honeymoon with Maui. Business is tough, but we still need to earn an income. We have a beautiful home, but it is not ours and even tough our landlords are responsible for fixing what is broken, it takes forever - and even then it may not work. And there is no maid service. We aren't on vacation, so we aren't hanging out on the beach or the golf course. Amid the laundry and trash duties, Don is still trying to run a real estate business and I am trying to write a book and get some clients for my business. We're trying to find our way in a culture that is vastly different than anything we new before. We miss the familiar. We're lonely for our San Diego friends, even though we are making new ones here. We just miss the familiarity of those whom we've invested years. But it's all okay.
Just like with marriage of two people, we have to keep dating our island. As marriage coaches, we tell our couple how vital it is to keep the relationship stoked and fueled by spending time doing those things which helped them fall in love. And so we must do the same here. We are spending time on our days off doing fun stuff - golf, beach, dinners out. And just like the young couple must remember to appreciate those qualities in each other that took the love to a deeper place, we also must look into the eyes of Maui. It would be foolish to miss the breathtaking beauty of this place - from mountains to sea, palm trees and plumerias, doves and mynahs and egrets, fish and whales. It's all a wonder.
And just like with marriage, by not bailing when it is tough, by loving and nurturing and appreciating, and by trusting God's Will and Mercy, a new, deeper love is discovered.
Amen.
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
The New Israelites
Day 8 of being back in Maui, and the two of us our finding it tough to get it going - you know, that whole rhythm thing again. I think we both expected this island to be some kind of magic, and that our businesses would flow and flourish. eeeehhhh....not so much. Of course, magic is for the devil, so that means that the lack of magic is a good thing. But I guess we also looked for Divine Intervention in our businesses. After all, God has hooked us up with my car and a beautiful home, great new friends, and above all, a wonderful church to in which to worship and serve Him. As if that weren't enough, there are palm and plumerias, mynahs and doves, colorful fish in abundance in warm waters, and the whales can't stop leaping for joy. hmmmmm.... Maybe I've come upon the answer. I guess God has done that much and we're looking for Him to do more - and once again, He is asking us to trust Him. There's that word, again. Trust. And Patience. egad. Neither of those are my best thing.
So, having just now come back from a walk and a prayer at the beach, I have come to realize that we are not a whole lot different from the Israelites. Granted our "wilderness" is dressed with fragrant plumerias and stately palms, all surrounded by tropical seas, and our "manna" is some of the best fresh fruit and seafood that one can imagine. But just like Moses and all of Israel, we prayed and begged God for this. And God said "yes". But like I said before, His granting prayers never comes without strings. These could be strings involving ministry, blind faith, but always about obedience. egad, again. yet another of those words that go down like cod liver oil.
In this, our adventure for which we prayed ON OUR KNEES, we find a gift that is fraught with strings. Oh, we definitely find ourselves blessed in many ways, and we find ourselves being used by God in the way He places various people in our paths to touch quickly, but we are still trying very hard to define our vision - not His. This is where trust and and patience and obedience are being totally worked out. When we were in San Diego, we got a dandy workout from our former trainer, Michelle (her gift to us. Next time I'll ask for a toaster. Just kidding, Michelle. Don't hurt me!!!) We have not had that kind of workout for some time, so it was more than a bit uncomfortable during the workout, and our muscles screamed for a day or two after. So it is true with this workout - only it is deeper and harder than any physical exercise. It is more painful because it is more important and long-lasting. It is also more necessary, since we are being prepared for Spiritual battles that take place daily. God cannot have weenie soldiers, after all.
The other disconcerting thing is that so many friends - including some of our loving Christian ones!! - answer our challenges with either "you shouldn't be there" or"this is what you wanted". Wow. A bit isolating. Isolation. The devil's favorite thing.
But we are still walking ahead, in His will. I read Leviticus 26:3-13 today. I hadn't planned on it. FloJo had walked down to the beach, as we usually do, but this time I brought binoculars and my Bible - one for seeing God's creation, the other for hearing God's voice. I was looking to reference the Israelites for my blog, and also remind myself of their time on their "adventure", when I came on this passage. God is telling the Israelites the blessings in store for them if they will but "walk in my statutes and keep my commandments" (Lev 26:3). Wow. Talk about your encouragement!
So, we will continue in this mostly-exciting-but-sometimes-scary-and-lonely adventure. Hope it doesn't take us forty years to get it right...
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
We Get It!
We're home! After one month away for Christmas and grandbabies, we are back in our paradise abode. (sigh!) We are soooo happy to be H-O-M-E! I have shared about our unsettledness at times, and that we knew that God wanted us here, we were happy to be here, but... were we sure? Don had said that it was when we returned from our first mainland visit that we would finally feel that this was home. Boy, howdy, was he ever right! The month away was a crazy rollercoaster ride (view previous blog), but the lows were such that we knew where we wanted to be. That doesn't mean we aren't completely crazy about our family. We'd move them here in a heartbeat if only they would comply! But life is more than that. Dare I say, even more than grandchildren!! But we are called to be more than Grammy and Grampy. I know that God is calling me in a clear direction. In fact, He's calling me to do more than one thing. But I just need to take a deep breath (I just did) and follow Him. It doesn't seem real. It doesn't seem fair. Haiti is leveled and suffering beyond any description. Southen California is being buried under mud and water. And we woke up to the sound of gentle tradewinds through the trees and doves with their bright coo. We woke to blue skies with white, puffy clouds. We woke to a rich blue sea, thick with humpbacks. This is the life we dreamed of and prayed for. And God said "yes". Who are we to tell Him anything less?
Sunday, January 3, 2010
DO NOT EAT THE LOTUS BLOSSOMS!!
ahhhh.... Finally! I have been threatening and/or promising this blog for months - literally. It was supposed to be a continuation of our adventures in Maui without the clogging effects of e-mail, even though I am finally writing it - in San Diego. Not that we've moved back. It's just all that first of the new year stuff (I refuse to use the "r" word). I know I need to be obedient. God has given me the gift of words and adventures to write about using those same words. Part of my delay has been just sheer intimidation by yet another techie advance. Okay. I know. Blogs have been around for years, but forgive a grammy in her fifties if she's just a little slow. The other reason has more to do with the lifestyle we have chosen and the place we chose to have said lifestyle: the easy-paced Maui.
If you know some of mythology and Greek literature, you'll remember that their were some sailors that set sail for something a little longer than a three hour tour, and landed on an island that didn't have seven castaways, but some lovelies who were offering lotus blossoms for snacking. Not only were these luscious flowers tasty, and being offered by equally...luscious females, but they had a the side affect of making the consumer completely chilled and relaxed. Completely and utterly, no matter what the guy should have been doing. Captain Odysseus was very unhappy with his happy-but-do-nothing crew. Lotus Blossoms. Maui can be one giant Lotus Blossom...and I ate....
...but just a few.
I realized a few weeks back that I had our house all put together and my time could now be focussed on writing, painting, and my business. Could be. I use the excuse that I had lost all my momentum, but the truth is, I just was getting into the ease of island life. It IS all it's cracked up to be.
Don has been working the Real Estate biz, but it is still slow. But of course, he has only been at it for three months, and in that time he has made some solid contacts. We both feel very positive about how the business will be when we return in a couple of weeks. Don's broker's wife has this little ritual she dubs "The Snow Dance", which she encourages all the Keller Williams realtors to do. This dance will bring crazy snows to places beyond, thus inspiring people to finally spring for that long desired Maui Vacation Condo. The season is picking up over there right now, and thanks to global warming, a big part of the country is buried under snow and dealing with -628 degree temps. We should be seeing those real estate shoppers any minute now...
My business has definitely hit a standstill - not just because of my own inertia, but because it's just a hard biz to crack into. Autumn and I are hoping to be destination wedding business, but we have to figure out how to market in San Diego. Pretty hard to sell a Maui destination wedding if you are only selling it to Maui brides. My other pursuits have fallen by the wayside strictly because of my kicking them there. I haven't shared this with many, but I'm actually writing a book. I'm about two-thirds of the way through, but no matter how much I think about it and beg for the little book-writing elves to show up, nothing gets written unless I sit down and write it. Sheesh. Who knew? The third creative endeavor has been my painting. I've had a great canvas just waiting for me, but I haven't even unwrapped it yet. It's a new year, now. I don't believe in New Year's Resolutions - resolve seems to dwindle before we've even made the Super Bowl - but I do believe that God gives us this time to mark the opportunity for change. Let's see how we do...
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