Kauai on a Budget

One of the reasons I've been so quiet on my blog is due to our vacation. We packed up everyone but the dog and headed to Kauai for six days. I questioned my sanity while planning this last August since I was not working and doors I was knocking on kept closing. But I went ahead and spent a whole day on the internet finding flights that could accommodate our miles (during mid-winter break!) Anyone who's tried to cash in miles during peak travel times will appreciate the blessing I felt when I actually accomplished it. Then I put the whole trip on a back burner in order to get ready for Africa.

About two weeks into January I started to get anxious about the trip - where were we going to stay? could we afford it? what was I thinking?!!!! I started asking around for suggestions and one of the people I asked was Matt Hayashi. I was consulting with Matt and his wife and they used to live on Kauai. Matt did some looking around and found VRBO (vacation rental by owner). He suggested the part of the island that he thought would work and recommended a place that was $85/night. Wow - that was so much better than anything I'd found up to that point (not to mention that almost everything was already booked for that week!) So I went to VRBO and started looking around myself. I went to the rental that he suggested and then started to get nervous. There were no guest comments - not a good sign. There were no bookings on the calendar - another bad sign. So I started exploring all kinds of rentals on the sunny West side. And then I started emailing the owners and offering them even less than they had posted. After several days of searching, emailing and wondering, I hit on the place we eventually rented. She took my offer and we ended up in a two bedroom apartment, right on the beach in the quiet town of Waimea. After taxes and fees it cost us 516.00. Really. I was tickled but a bit apprehensive about what this place would be like (after all, it didn't have any guest comments or bookings either). I consoled myself with the thought that we're a camping family - it doesn't have to be fancy for us. I was just hoping that it didn't smell - I don't do well with smells.

The apartment was advertised as having a full kitchen so Hallack and I set out to plan some meals that we could bring with us. Using our Costco rebate, we picked up cereal, rice mixes, dried tortallini noodles, bagels, nuts, raisins, peanut butter as well as another bag to help us carry all these items. Our rebate was so very timely! We packed up all the food and added coffee, tuna, smoked salmon and a little cream cheese from our own stock. We made sure none of our bags weighed over 50 lbs and we were set. Off to Kauai! What would we find once we got there?!!

Our flight got into Lihue at 7pm and after getting our rental car (the most expensive part of our trip at $539 but boy was it great to have a car big enough to fit all of us and our stuff comfortably) we headed off to our little unit on the beach. We got there about 9:30, fumblied around in the dark to find our key (the porch light was not on) and I was beginning to have serious misgivings about this place. When we finally got the door unlocked and piled inside, I was delighted. It was clean, simple and there was no smell! So far so good. Since it was 11:30 Seattle time, we brought in our bags, assigned rooms, unpacked the food and fell into bed to the sound of waves crashing on the beach (they were so loud that Hallack and I had to trade rooms the next night with the girls - who sleep like rocks - in order to get some sleep). After dreaming about waves rather fitfully, I woke up before daybreak to a very cheerful husband who had been up and walking around the town since 5am. His words to me were "this place reminds me of Mexico." And so it did for all of us. I borrowed an ipod and took a long walk on the beach marveling as the sky got lighter, then pink, then gloriously sunny. I met several locals who walk on the beach for their exercise and I had the great sense that this was going to be a fabulous vacation.

It really was. From the simplicity of our little two bedroom in the midst of the locals to the joy of visiting the "sunshine" market (a local farmers market) and picking up fresh pineapple, apple bananas, cucumber etc. While waiting for the whistle to blow (that signals the opening of the market) we had a chance to get to know some pineapple farmers. They told us so much about their life on Kauai, their children, even their losses. I love meeting people and hearing their stories and having my children hear them as well. We lazed on beaches, fell in love with snorkeling (now I know what it's like to be in a big fish tank), drank in the beauty of Waimea Canyon and Wailua Falls, toured our neighbor's garden, and learned a whole bunch about horses. Since it was Bekah's 16th birthday and her special joy is horseback riding, she got to take a ride with Laura - the most knowledgeable horsewoman I've ever met. She took all of us through horse psychology 101 and then took the girls for a 90 minute ride during which they got to walk, trot and canter. Even in the rain they had a great time. While they were doing that, the Greider guys took a train ride around a plantation and found out why there are chickens everywhere. I spent 40 minutes in a fabric shop, rubbing elbows with local quilters and trying to choose from more Hawaiian fabrics than I ever thought existed. We also discovered that the town of Waimea has the best shaved ice on the entire island and I can't deny that the Greiders got there just before closing more than a couple times. We even rushed dinner in order to top it off with JoJo's and then walk on the beach as the sun was setting.

It was amazing and even as I write this I feel gratitude welling up. Gratitude to God for the impetus to go ahead with this trip when it seemed foolish. Gratitude to Hallack for working so hard providing us the resources to take a vacation like this. Gratitude to God Who is the source of all goods things - especially this family that means so much to me and with whom every day is a new adventure. May all your days be filled with joy - even when you're not in Kauai. Aloha

Getting Caught Up

Wow, it's been a long time since I last wrote - so much has happened and I'm trying to distill what has taken several weeks to transpire!

I've discovered a new joy - talking with young parents (or rather, parents of young children). I was asked to meet with a Christian community called the Ohana Project to talk about parenting. I sat down and reviewed all my parenting books, wrote down all the things I wished I'd known before I had kids and asked several people what their advice would be. The end result was a lot of wisdom from several sources and the discussion that happened after we ate together was precious. When I think about what made it so fruitful was that I started the evening with a cute video of Hannah and Bekah when they were two and three. They really were so very darling and when I look at the videos I wonder how I could ever have gotten mad at them? But as I confessed to the group that night, I did get mad at them - one time I even kicked a hole in the wall.

Ahhhhh, the hole in the wall story. Now I can think about it without overwhelming shame but that wasn't always the case. When it first happened it was like a wound in our home that I couldn't hide - I just had to face it. First I had to face the girls and admit how ridiculous I looked (they laughed). Next I had to tell Hallack what I'd done - he was gracious, as usual. When my brother came to visit, I had to tell him the story; when friends came to visit, I had to admit what I'd done. It was several months before we finally got it fixed and I remember it so clearly. Now I see it as a way to open up discussion and to let vulnerability make it safe to talk about how very difficult parenting can be. None of us do it perfectly - no matter how badly we want to. That isn't the only time I've lost it while parenting - just one of my more memorable ones.

So I got to use that formerly shameful experience in a way that I trust will bring grace to tired parents. Isn't that just like God? To take our brokenness and use it to show us grace and then allow us to use it to heal others! I don't like to be broken but I am and standing in the ever flowing grace of God allows me to be present with my brokenness and immediately healed. If I don't feel His forgiveness as I admit and confess my sin, it's not because He's not offering it. It's because I'm not accepting it. I've spent too many years judging myself and trying to measure up to an impossible standard. Now I just want to live in humility and allow God's Spirit to gently point out my sin so I can turn back to my Loving Father and accept His forgiveness through the sacrificial death of Jesus. Not cheap, but not complicated. Grace, ever present and near as my next breath, Grace.