Spring in This Island Paradise

It's exciting to live in Hawaii always--university life brings variety and opportunity to assist others, we don't have weather to complain about, really, but things can get interesting when tsunami warnings hit. That was our experience the end of February, Saturday the 27th. We were supposed to go to a play that night on campus but both of us were tired. Then at 10 p.m.-ish Lindsey let us know of a huge earthquake in Chile that generated potentially damaging tsunami for the Pacific.

We had about a 12 hour lead on its arrival, so sleep was hard to come by. Preparations picked up by 3 a.m., and by 7 a.m. we had gathered all emergency items to the car, carried possessions/furnishings upstairs, wrapped items in tarp, and gone to Bill's office joining Megan and Jenny's family there to wait it out.

Fortunately, and because of much prayer, we were spared this time. Thank heavens! [And we did.] We learned much and were grateful for this emergency "dry run" with ample lead time. What will happen if it's a disaster that doesn't give lead time??? I hope we never have to know! At the all clear, we returned home and undid our preparations and rested well that night although many events in Hawaii were cancelled, even our big basketball game with HPU.

So, then on Monday night we played HPU at Blaisdell, and we joined the other boosters to cheer on our team-victorious, it was a great game!--and with a berth in the district tourny in Bellingham, Washington. A week later, Bill joined this entourage as the token administrator, and enjoyed a week away. It proved to be a good time for him to catch up and relax at the same time. I enjoyed my solo-ing at home but was glad for his return, of course. Although we didn't make it through the final match up, we watched the team who beat us become the final top team! We got within 3 points of them in our match, which is great compared to the other scores they had against opponents. We loved this season and hope they do it again.

Our stake conference and Bill's stake conference were the same weekend, and we welcomed President Aaron Shumway and Iafeta "IJ" Sao and George Reid to the Laie Presidency. Bill's stake conference hosted Elder Dalton, who will soon be the new mission president here in Hawaii. A good weekend, for sure.

The next basketball team we followed was UNI, our alma-mater, who made it to the Sweet Sixteen Division I NCAA. Purple and gold Panthers had great players and following. We watched live stream here at home--technology has a wonderful place in our lives. It was great to share successes with family on Facebook/FB who were also following along.

Easter holiday celebrations and a performing role for Primaries filled some days in late March, early April. I was tapped as a fill in for Mary Magdalene at Bill's stake Primary Activity, then was asked to repeat that for another Primary activity. Even got out the sewing machine to whip us a quick tunic for that. It was an honor, joy to portray for the children the way Mary M. might have shared her story. Easter weekend coincided with General Conference weekend, so we were enriched by that--and also having the family here for ham dinner, Grandma's deviled [doubled?] eggs, and egg hunt. Maddie Kite, Megan's roomie, also joined us.

We're having another grandson in August!--that's pretty significant news for us, and for Jenny and Aaron and Kylee. Kylee is still reigning Princess, with soon to be 6 Princes in the total family kingdom. As usual, my Family History volunteering, teaching, and spare-time-searching occupy my days--and even some late nights. It's been helpful to connect and find missing data and bring it into new.familysearch.org.

We're now enjoying the daylight earlier on our daily exercise, though the wind and rainy a.m.'s lately has made it not so pleasant for that . . . It's time to get back in to the regular habit we so much enjoy. Those walks, sometimes with Jenny, get us off to a grand start in our day.

The Conference of Champions for upcoming entrepreneurs brought a guest to our home, Kevin, from Shanghai. How nice that this campus brings others who can see and feel what a unique university this is. Another visitor, Elia Gourgouris, gave an insightful fireside and we enjoyed his company at dinner, too, one evening with wife, Sona.

The third Sunday each month we've been enjoying the company of BYUH missionaries for potluck dinners. We enjoy so many of these couples who give their time and talents to serve the Lord and also the students here in a variety of capacities. Someday, we hope it's the two of us who will be serving in some mission!

Homeschooling and dating the boys and visits with Jenny and Kylee round out my days. As I write this, Trevor has only 2 days left with me in Language Arts/Handwriting. He has zoomed right along and is quite ready for the second grade. He mostly enjoys his breaks, I think--cottage cheese, chocolate milk that he makes, and cookies if they are on hand seem to make his mornings here. Kyle now joins Trevor each Wednesday after the schooling, so he can get comfortable here with me, too. What energy this guy has! His speaking/conversation is really starting to roll along! His favorites at my house are bananas, and bananas. He likes jello squares and apple juice, too.

Devin is fun, fun, fun. His "Seasider" soccer record is perfect against my winless "Alligators" team! But he is complimentary when I make a good block. His favorites are tuna sandwich, a bit of cottage cheese, chocolate pudding, and jello, too. He loves to drink orange juice. Kylee usually finds time on Friday mornings before napping to come and hang out here with me and her mom. She's had a few bites of candle and golf ball foam lately, but it hasn't hampered her enjoyment here, it seems. It's great connecting time for those of my grandchildren here in town. We see Bryson here and there in the drop offs, and his smiles and scooting around show us he is a growing little one. We miss Erin and Avery in this mix, and have thought of them so much as they were here for a few months just a year ago before moving to PA.

Erin is talking more like schooling is again in her picture in the near future. We try to visit on her days off, after resting from her night shifts. Avery L O V E S their better weather and plays almost daily for an hour at parks in their neighborhood and beyond. I got to visit some when I was there last November and hope to get in on some visits with him in May.

Megan has performed recently in concerts and at a devotional so we've enjoyed her music making again. YAY! Proud parent moments, for sure for those pep band, brass band, and university concerts recently. She has changed jobs, liking very much her new one of tech/sound/TV production studios employment. Her major is becoming defined, a big move forward. We're so happy she is finding her niche. She may be home awhile this spring and summer before returning to campus in the fall, it seems. It will be strange to have our youngest out of teens...we spent 17 years as parents of one or more teenagers. We're okay in most ways that era will soon end for us.

Bill needed me to be a substitute receptionist for him in February and early March. I was glad to get an inside glimpse of what his days/weeks were like. I'm also VERY glad he has a temporary, Rebecca, who took over that role. Back to my life!!

Good things ahead--end of semester, Graduation [a first--it's in April this year!], SIFE regional, RS, to Long Beach with Bill for a conference. I enjoy the variety this spring is bringing.

Grateful for all that is good, for all that I'm learning, for what is in store, for what I can give.