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.

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!!

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!!

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!!