More Notes from Hawaii

I spent 2 days on a Silent Retreat just before leaving on vacation - it made for a busy Monday unpacking, repacking and finalizing plans for the family while we were gone! Also Sunday night - I was glad that I didn't care about the Super Bowl, as I spent the 7 hours after arriving home cleaning and planning. I figured I had had my day of rest and then some.

On the Silent Retreat, the Lord impressed on me that I try to be a good wife and mother and homemaker and music director and relative and friend in my own strength - I need to work harder, I need to be better, I need to figure out a new plan - instead of asking for the Holy Spirit's help and listening for His answer. I hoped that Pete and I could spend a fair amount of time on our vacation discussing this and figuring out how to do it in our home.

That happened, and it was great. Pete spent 2 days sick in bed, but otherwise we had very relaxing days of reconnecting, focusing on the Lord and His love for our family and for us, praying and studying the Scripture.

We sang a duet at the Ilikai Protestant Church; it has met in a hotel on Waikiki Beach for 46 years, and people from all over North America worship together - some for a couple of months, like my parents, but 5-10 first-time visitors each Sunday as well. We have sung "My Father's Wonderful World" dozens of times with an accompaniment CD, but hoped that Ginny Tiu, the church pianist, could accompany us since she plays beautifully by ear. She listened to the CD on Saturday, but without hearing what we were singing, couldn't quite feel it, so we used the CD. Halfway through the CD, it started skipping. We decided to keep singing and hope it would get better. It didn't, but Ginny came to the keyboard, fumbled around to find the key, and started playing with us! Although it's a combination of two songs, she was able to follow us until the end. It was just another example of the Lord's providence in little things as well as big.

Some other things we enjoyed (besides our adventures below):
- swimming at the Hilton beach
- going on a submarine ride
- eating at the Top of Waikiki revolving restaurant
- an onion loaf and superb ribs at Tony Roma's
- playing cards and watching fireworks at Bev Young's 13th floor beachfront condo
- watching the sunrise from a lookout point near a lighthouse by Diamond Head crater - don't know if we've ever seen such pinks
- waving to the kids from Duke Kahanamoku's statue webcam

Thanks, Lord, for a wonderful time!