Paula and Rock had wanted to go to Hawaii with us so we all agreed on a time and set things up. Chris made a reservation at a condo for the four of us but shortly before the trip they cancelled. It was too late to cancel the condo so we decided to go anyway and we took Emily and Aaron and had a wonderful time. Jen and Shar were home and kindly took care of things there and be with the twins. We were so grateful for their loving service.
Sacred Falls
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Swimming at the base of Sacred Falls
Hauula |
Church Temple Grounds
Goat Island
Polynesian Cultural Center Laie
International Marketplace Honolulu
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| Pali Lookout |
We were able to also go to Maui. We visited Chris's 6th grade teacher, Eddy Mathias who moved back here. He was so kind and gracious. He took us to visit one of his family members who lives in the country and has no electricity! They do have a generator in case they need it and lots of flashlights lining the window seal. There was a big McCaw perched in the tree. They said he got out one time but never flew away. He just stays in the front yard! ha ha. We enjoyed our visit and everyone Aloha'd and said Happy Mother's Dad and did the traditional Hawaiian air kiss to the side of the cheek.
We had a very sweet experience at church on Mother's Day. We sat on the front row and Eddy Mathias came and sat with us after playing prelude. (Someone else plays congregational hymns and someone else plays postlude). During the rest hymn the conductor motioned to Chris to come up. He was so surprised! I guess she could hear him singing and while we were all singing verse one of "Love at Home" she asked him to solo verse two! He did a beautiful job and got many compliments afterward. I'm sure that made his day.
The closing prayer was given by an elderly Hawaiian man and it so touched me. He said something like: "On behalf of this congregation we ask thee to send our love to our Mother in Heaven and to send to her a very happy Mother's Day from all of us." He spoke it so sincerely and with the love and faith and humility that is rare to find.
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Mother's Day gifts
from the ward
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The bishopric were all wearing ti leaf leis and one of them took his off and gave it to Chris to give to me! Everyone was so warm and just seemed to be vibrant in spirit. All seemed present and engaged in being there. It all truly felt infused with amazing great love!
Eddy invited us to lunch and he was a most gracious host. He and Chris say Pearly Shells together and I video taped it on the new camera Chris gave me for my birthday. (It's very small and takes stills and video all in one camera!)
We heard sad news that today on Mother's Day, there was a landslide at Sacred Falls that killed 8 people. One man died shielding his wife from the falling rocks. So very sad and we were just barely there!
We went to the beautiful Iao Valley. A Vietnamese looking guy handed Em or Aaron a woven rose with a heart around it to give to me for Mother's Day. He told them that they are the next generation to be good and not smoke. He told how everyone has become too materialistic and that he came from a place where many of his family were killed by land mines. He said he had seen terrible things and yet here people complain about the pickles on their hamburger.
We drove up to Haleakala (10,000 feet) Felt like we were up with the airplanes! We could see the Big Island and two volcanos from there. We also had an amazing snorkeling experience! So many beautiful fish!
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| Haleakala Crater |
Road to Hana
Road to Hana was such a paradisiacal beautiful. It interesting how eceryone is drawn to beautiful things. People will spend a great deal of effort to get to a place that they can ooo and ahhh over for a few minutes, snap a picture and move on.
At the end of our trip we got a very exciting and amazing phone call from Andrew. He so beyond excited and well he should be because he won the Captain Underpants contest!!! (See prior page for the story)
