Hanalei Young Women's Luau

The Hanalei Young Women hosted a luau to raise money to go to Especially for Youth in Honolulu. It was lots of fun and the cost was way less than any other luau on the island. Here's the band:
The band is made up of Coppin (in the middle) from our church and two other guys that we don't know. They played traditional Hawaiian music and they were wonderful.

Joey and a bunch of little girls sat right by the stage, enjoying the show.

Here's the food. Kalua turkey (yum), chicken with long rice (yuck, tastes good but looks like snot so I can't stand to eat it), cole slaw, steamed rice, pork lau lau (yummy at the luau, gross in the hospital cafeteria), haupia (yummy coconut pudding), taro mochi (REALLY yummy dessert made with taro and rice flour), pineapple upside-down cake, coconut & macadamia nut cookies, and coconut cake.

The hula dancers are some of our Young Women.

Here's Coppin doing a fire dance.

We had so much fun!

He Hears Me

I have always known that God hears and answers my prayers, but sometimes He does it so effectively that it's almost comical. Take today, for instance. Here's a little background information: Because I have two grandbabies in NICU on the mainland, my boss has not been putting me on the work schedule since I keep telling her I have to go help my daughter with the babies when they go home. They are now way passed their due date and are still in NICU and we don't have any idea when they'll go home, so I keep having time off and then not going, and then worrying about getting enough work hours so that I can afford to go when the actual time comes.
This week I had only twelve hours in. I have to work a lot more than that to keep our health insurance and to make ends meet. Last night I prayed to Heavenly Father that work opportunities would come so our family could meet our obligations.

Here's the funny part. This morning Michelle called and asked me if I'd take her call shifts tonight and tomorrow night. Sure! Then Tomi called and asked if I'd work her twelve-hour L&D shift on Sunday. Sure! Then Savitri called and asked if I'd work her twelve-hour L&D shift on Saturday. Sure! Then my boss Bonnie called and asked if I'd like to observe (paid) in the OR on Friday in prep for some training that's coming. SURE! Then Jen called and asked if I'd work four hours of her shift on Thursday. SURE!! Then Vicky called and asked if I'd take her call shift on Saturday, but I had to say no because I'm already working for Savitri on Saturday.

WOW!! Sometimes the power of God amazes me! I keep telling Mike he doesn't need to worry about things because He always takes care of us. This all happened this morning after last night's prayer. SO FUNNY!

Snorkeling With the Sea Turtles

We love to snorkel and one place we go is Anini Beach. We always see sea turtles there. My friend Donna from work saw an octopus there. She also frequently sees sea horses, but I have yet to find one.
Our sea turtles look like this, but I don't have an underwater camera so I got this pic off the web.

Another web picture.

See, my pictures don't look exactly like the ones off the internet, but this really is a sea turtle picture I took.

Please believe me! This really is a turtle!

Joey and I like to find a turtle and then swim around with it for a while. I love when they come up for air. It's fascinating to watch. I rise in the water with the turtle and when I look above the surface, the turtle looks like a great big snake coming up. I know this sounds crazy, but I think Joey and I have followed the same turtle around twice. Yeah, I know what you're thinking... they all look alike, right? But this turtle has a shorter foot or fin or whatever you call it on the right in the back than on the left, sort of like Nemo the fish. He hangs out at Anini and we are friends now.

Say It Out Loud

I'm starting to like the Hawaiian accent and even starting to speak with it... a lot. You can speak it too, if you read this out loud:
This is written on the bleachers at the gym where Joey plays basketball. It is re-printed on each set of bleachers so it is printed exactly like this six times.

Basketball Season Once Again

Once again it's that time of year when Joey plays basketball. I love to watch him play.

He just keeps getting better and better and this year he is really doing great!

He is number 4 (in the black shirt) and here he is making a great shot.

Once again, the ball is sailing from Joey's arms toward the basket.






At this league in Kauai, there are boys and girls on the teams. Joey says it's a little different playing with girls but he's getting used to it. There's a little girl named Zoe on his team and she is a scrapper!


She and Joey are the best players.

I love this picture of Joey getting the tip-off. Look at that graceful form!

Anyone who knows me knows I am not a sports fan, but I really do love watching my boy play. I am so proud of him.

Not Completely Paradise

While Kauai is amazingly beautiful and the weather is always nice and beautiful things grow everywhere and there are no snakes and people have a wonderful spirit of aloha and it looks like heaven, I don't believe it is actually heaven and this is why:

Life's Burning Questions

Today at work my friend Carol asked me, "Why does splenectomy only have one E when spleen has two?" And I answered, "Why is Filipino spelled with an F when Philippine is spelled with a Ph?" Anyone know the answers to these questions? Because Carol and I are stumped.