Bits

On Easter Sunday Stan and I watched the sunrise from the beach next to our condo in Hawaii. As we watched the sky slowly brighten, I couldn't help but think of Elder Bednar's talk from this last conference. He talked about how revelation is often received in short and undiscernable bits of light that gradually stream into our lives. I loved this talk and I recognize that this is how I most often get revelation. As we have struggled and struggled with homeschool, mostly it's just been me, I've wondered and researched and prayed about what is best for our family. I would say that I'm pretty proactive in finding out different methods of doing homeschool. However, I was really stuck on something in particular because it felt right. The families that I talked to concurred that it was hard and that's just the way it is. They also mentioned how much their relationships have been strengthened with God and with their children as a result of all this struggle. This all sounds great, right? It does and that is why I stuck with it as long as I have. However, I finally realized, with lots of patient encouragement from Stan, that our family needed to do things a little differently. As I felt like I was banging my head against a wall and not receiving direction and answers to my prayers, a ray of light appeared. I realized that as I started listening to Stan and his perception of what I needed, the answers have started to come and it is so exciting! I was ready to give up homeschool altogether but didn't feel good about sending the kids back to school and they really don't want to go back. So, thanks to a wonderful husband and help from the Lord, we are finding a new path, one that will be right for our family.

Maybe the last Hawaii post

We got fried on our last day there at this great Waimae Beach. Stan was protecting his head. We both are still peeling from this day. It was the most relaxing day though.
Same beach. We had some good size waves to swim in.
Behind me is a tree that is near Waikiki Beach. The branches seem to grow down like vines and form roots. It was the craziest thing.
Same tree concept at the Pearl Harbor Memorial. This one looks like a fort. Good bye Hawaii! It was so much fun.

Hawaii Part 5-Luau

Cheesy picture of us that we took ourselves.
Food from the buffet at the luau included roasted pig, chicken, chicken long rice (clear noodle things), poi, salmon and some other fish, and the purple roll is a taro roll. That was my favorite item of the meal. It tastes like a regular bun, it's just made from taro, which turns purple when it is cooked.
A delicious pina colada smoothie served in this fresh pineapple

Celebrating Womanhood

Today is Mother's Day. I was reading something this morning that Sheri Dew said about the influence of all women. There are women in this life who won't have the opportunity to have children of their own. I am not one of them but I really appreciate the influence that all righteous women can have. Sheri Dew talked several times about our divine role as women and it included motherhood, whether or not you have your own children. I have a wonderful mother and I get to be a mother now, but there are many women in my life who have influenced me who are not my mother in the physical sense. This is a testimony to Sis. Dew's statement and ideas that we are ALL mothers. I hope that all women feel honored and special today, regardless of their circumstances. I'm grateful for all the mothers in my life who have given of themselves to help me in so many ways.

Hawaii Part 4-more PCC

This is the plaque underneath the fire hydrant from the next picture. If you click on the picture you can probably read it. I'm impressed with the dedication of these early Saints who were willing to heed the "call to Zion"


Fiji has some interesting stories of practices that used to take place. This is a picture of the King's house. His is the big bed and the best wife slept on the floor next to him. The king's house had 4 doors. One was specifically for him and if anyone entered through that door, they were killed. Also, if the king died the best wife was also killed to go with him. When they built the king's house, the three best soldiers were buried alive underneath the home so they could protect it, or something like that. Being mediocre in this culture would have been advantageous if you wanted to live.

Hawaii Part 3- PCC

Making poi (poy) This tastes very plain but I mixed it with some meat at the luau and it was just great.
canoe ride, our canoe pusher was from Fiji and knew Ryan, Stan's brother, we wrote his name down
Beke, our tour guide. She was from Mongolia. We were happy to upgrade our tickets so she could guide us around and help us manage our time. She was great. We had a family in our group from Calgary and a couple from Colorado. They were all very friendly and fun to be with.
The Polynesian Cultural Center was a favorite spot for us. I loved learning about all the cultures. More to come...

Hawaii Part 2

The flower looked like a bird, this one was mostly for the kids
Beautiful Sunset Beach
Everything is so green and there is foliage everywhere. I loved it
Not sure what Stan is holding.
We stayed on the North Shore near Laie and spent all of our time there except one day. We were so happy to drive out of the big city where there are tons of people and lots of traffic all the time.

Hawaii! Part 1

We upgraded our Cavelier for this. It was a lot more fun and worth the extra money. Stan enjoyed it much more than I did but I'm not sure I would ever want to own one, so it was fun to rent and enjoy the breeze and the heat as we cruised around. (We saw several trees that had buoys in them, anyone know why?)
Fun to see different kinds of trees, all without a trace of snow!

This one, and many others, grew around the power lines.
These kinds of trees are everywhere in Hawaii.

Disregard the face and look at the beautiful grounds and Temple in Laie
That's better
The whole street from the ocean leads up to the grounds of the Temple on the hill. It's stunning.
I LOVE HAWAII! The weather was beautiful the whole time we were there. The culture, due to the mixture of people is fun and interesting, the ocean was fun, and I loved that it is a civilized place. I would definitely re-visit Hawaii. There is a lot to do if you want to but there is always the beach.
As you can see from the pictures above, we visited the Temple, twice actually, and I could have gone again. I love the Temple! My favorite place on Earth to be. It was the best place to start our week long retreat. One lady in the Temple told me I was adorable from head to toe. That makes a pregnant woman feel pretty great.