Easter

Every time I go away for any length of time David always takes on some kind of house project. It makes me feel like I should go away more often! But I try not to expect it so that if it doesn't happen, I won't be disappointed. When I went away for the Women's Retreat, David organized the guest room to be more kid-friendly as Micah's play room. We picked up the cute little kid's table at the benefit auction for Lighthouse Christian School, a school that David does some work for.




Saturday there was a community-wide Easter Egg Hunt in our neighborhood. A friend of mine is now on the community board so she planned it all and pulled it off - it was a lot of fun. Micah was actually too young to participate, but I was there to help, so he was with me. I just happened to bring an Easter basket with us... and he got into it!

Sunday morning Micah and I went to church to meet Daddy there. David played guitar for both the Good Friday service and the Easter morning service. I was scheduled to work in the nursery, so Micah and I enjoyed Easter morning with lots of little kids, play doh, and flying cars! Here is the handsome little guy all dressed up in his Sunday best.

Micah had another Easter Egg hunt at his cousin's house.

Here comes Jack, swooping in to steal the egg Micah had his eye on!

Weekend Retreat

The women from my church went on a retreat last weekend - something that hasn't happened for three years. We went to Cannon Beach, OR - to the coast, where the weather is always unpredictable. It was mostly nice, sometimes a little rainy and cold, but the scenery is always beautiful. I was supposed to go because I was helping lead worship in playing guitar. I always love going to the retreats because I know God will work in some powerful ways, but I don't think I had my heart in the right place. I was going because they needed someone to help lead worship. No one at church knew I could play guitar because I haven't really felt the need to tell anyone. Stephanie, the other girl in the picture, sings at church and so when she found out I played, she wondered if we could try to do it together. We both have played about the same amount of time and we felt comfortable enough to lead since we'd have each other as a support.
Worship actually went very well - many of the women have said how much they enjoyed it, cried, and were led into worship. I guess at the women's retreats in the past it has been something that has been lacking because it has always just been thrown together.

The lady that spoke is the same woman who has been leading the Bible study I attend every Thursday night. She is such a wise woman and a lot of what she shared coincides with what we are learning in our Bible study, so it was an especially powerful weekend for those of us in the study. I have seen in her a depth and passion for our Lord and for being in His word that I haven't seen in too many people and I love seeing how that passion manifests itself in different ways in different people. My own passion has been renewed again for the Lord and I am grateful. It really is what matters in this life. His love for me is so great and from His abundant love is where I get my love for my family and friends, and for those that are not so easy to love. I want to tap into that abundant life that He has for me, which I have yet to discover.

A bit of Random

It was like we weren't even on vacation. David got really sick the week we got back. He was down and out with the flu all week and was absolutely miserable. He tried to go to work the first couple days but he couldn't do it the whole week, so he stayed home a couple days. He had a really high fever and finally went to see the doctor on Friday. Micah and I were lucky enough to only get a stuffy nose and sore throat.

We have been keeping really busy. I have been playing lots of soccer because there are couple of women's drop in times at the indoor soccer center nearby. I have also continued running with my friend a couple mornings a week. I got up to 9 miles yesterday, the longest run I have ever done! I was doing my 3 mile runs a couple times a week with my friend with the idea in the back of my mind of doing a half marathon, which is coming up in May. Now that I ran 9 miles, I think I am pretty serious about doing the half. I think I'll actually be able to do it!

The Saturday before we went to Hawaii we made the final decision to take one of our family members to the Humane Society. I was really surprised how sad I was... I cried for 3 days!! It wasn't like Luigi was harming anyone, he wasn't scratching or biting Micah. But we don't need to deal with the urine anymore and we didn't want to have to worry about it while we were gone. We checked the Humane Society website once when we were in Hawaii and saw that his picture was no longer up on the site, so we are hopeful that he is now with a new, loving home and that he is sharing all his loud-purring, warmth-loving Luigi goodness. That doesn't mean I don't sometimes think about him when I open up linen closet, where he used to make a bed for himself on one of the shelves. Or get a little sad when I see the basket filled with Micah's baby blankets that he used to sleep in. Or remember his obscene positions on the carpet in the sunlight or in front of the fireplace loving the warmth as only he could.

Hawaii Vacation - Part 2

There isn't a whole lot left to say about our vacation, but there are pictures to show. [Well, I just finished the post and realized I found a lot more to talk about than I thought I'd find!] The plane rides to and from Maui were fine, but we had to wake Micah up prematurely from his naps in the shuttle or on the plane and he was not fond of that. He cried and cried and did not want to be held so he would push away from us or try to hit us. I'm hoping the hitting thing is a phase that he will quickly pass through because I'm not sure how to stop him from doing it. He is obviously frustrated sometimes and he works himself up into a frenzy and then flails his arms and most often we're holding him so he hits our faces. Once he calmed down, though, he was perfectly fine.

We rode in style from the airport to the resort. The only shuttle available to take us was a 2008 Ford excursion stretch limousine. It seemed a little eccentric for just the five of us, but hey! It was very nice!

We saw hundreds of whales putting on a show for us all throughout the week. Sometimes they were so close and jumping out of the water that we could hear the thud of whale hitting the water. It sounded like fireworks. Midway through the week you could tell we were getting used to seeing them because we would nonchalantly look out the windows and remark "oh, there's another whale" and sometimes people would come over but not always, whereas at the beginning of the week everyone would drop what they were doing and go to the balcony. It was spectacular, though, and I loved seeing them!

Micah loved the water. Once he got his feet wet in the ocean but the waves scared him so he was content playing in the sand or kicking a ball around the grass or chasing the birds. He loved splashing around in the pool.

Our condo unit was in a different building that Dave's parent's unit, so we had to walk over there to eat. Micah was always the first one ready to go whether we were in our unit and getting ready to go over to theirs, or if he wanted some peace and quiet away from the other kids he would hop into his stroller and sit there patiently until someone started pushing him. There was a beautiful walkway along the coast that we would push him along and he loved it. It must have something to do with the weather because when I'm here at home and try to take him out for a walk he doesn't do nearly as well. Maybe it will be better in the summertime.

Dave's sister planned for everyone to cook one meal during the week so we wouldn't have to eat out every night. It was great because at the restaurants in Hawaii, one could drop $100 per couple on one meal - and doing that every night definitely adds up. So the first four nights were planned - steaks, kabobs, fish tacos and spicy pork fettuccine. One night we got babysitters and went to a Hawaiian slack-key guitar concert, which was a lot of fun. Friday night the grandparents watched all the kids so the rest of us could go out to dinner. Dave's sister and their friends went somewhere themselves and Dave and I met up with a couple we know from our church who happened to be in the same area of Hawaii at the same time we were. It was nice hanging out with them and getting to know them a little better, all while enjoying the warm Hawaiian weather and a soothing waterfall beside our dinner table. :)

A couple of the days most of us went snorkeling. It was very cool seeing all the tropical fish, especially in their habitat. I've been to zoos before and have seen some cool looking fish, but to swim with them in their own habitat was the best! Dan, David's dad, apparently saw a huge turtle one time, but we didn't see anything like that ... other than seeing a beached whale (aka: the man himself) getting tossed around by the waves while trying to fix his flipper.

Ka'anapali is a really great location for a vacation. Since David's parents have a couple units there, we will be able to go back again and again, and as the cousins get older there will be a ton of things to do. There are kayak rentals, whale watching boats, surf lessons, snorkeling right there or on boat trips to see dolphins too. There will never be a shortage of things to do with growing young boys who will have lots of energy. Whaler's Village is a also a great place with fancy little shops and ice cream stores. The resort that we stayed at has tons of activities to do, too, from the little kiddie-pool pirate ship that Micah played at to the volleyball or basketball pools or the waterslide for the older kids. It was a beautiful vacation and I'm so thankful for the Christmas present we all received 2 years ago!!

We even saw a submarine surface and sit within our view one day and after a while it drifted past.