Huge Gray Lion

Days in the Life...

Monday Mom enjoyed spending the day with her friends from church and then came home from their weekend away in time for dinner. 

Dad had a meeting and so the rest of us played music loudly, did chores, helped the neighbors chase their escape dog, and got food whenever we were hungry. 

I had to leave around 5:00 pm to go babysit for the family with the five little boys and one little girl. If you weren't aware, traffic does not tend to only congest at times when you have plenty of time to sit stationary behind three transportation trucks for 20 minutes... 

The kids were great. They ate and we played games and they watched Curious George while I took a nap on the couch stayed awake ish. They were wide awake even when their parents returned at 10:30 (afternoon naps are great...). 

My drive home was just fine. I sang to stay awake.

Tuesday can be summarized by a lot of pictures and another edition of "I've been Pondering." 

This would be an entire stick of butter 

which I exploded all over the microwave. 

Making "Kitchen Trash." 

The second stick of butter did not explode. 

Chloe was trying so hard to make cinnamon rolls;

first she used twice as much milk and had to throw out the batch.

Then the milk boiled over. 

Then she spilled it.

Finally she got it going. 

Success! 

Hopefully... They weren't for us...

Another country sunset. 

I've been Pondering...

• I love my job. 

  
  
  

  
  After a day of over sleeping, missing breakfast to race out the door, driving 5 minutes the wrong direction, not knowing really where I was going, returning from my errand for Dad to more jobs to do at home, blowing up an entire stick of butter all over the microwave, having to use pink and purple wrapping paper because that's all we had left, and needing to make dinner that I didn't have time to eat with my family, it was so good to get to hold this precious baby. 

  
  It sort of sounds like I had a bad day, but really it wasn't. 

  
  The sun was shining, it was 70 degrees (on the first day of winter!!), I never hit any traffic while out, I got to have coffee, Dad and I invented new cookies together, I began writing another piano song, I saw ways that the Lord had been working this past week, and I enjoyed a fun text conversation. 

  
  Sometimes it's hard to look at the bright side (I struggle more with that on the days that it's cloudy and cold), but our God is faithful. 

  
  In a world where the radio is blasting messages of brokenness, dysfunction, hurt, and anger, and the people around us are striving to keep high their walls of self-protection and in the process hurt others because of the hurt they are experiencing, and where everyone is searching, but few are discovering, Jesus has come. 

  
  We are His messengers who share the news that He has come to mend broken hearts, set right the things off-kilter, soothe open wounds, and bring peace. We carry Him in us so that He can pour out of us. We get to show the world the One they are searching for. He has revealed Himself to us so we can share Him with others. 

  
  Be the light.

  
  
  Peppermint Chocolate Cream Cheese Cookies,
  inspired by an off-hand comment.

Wednesday was Christmas celebration number two at Gramma's house with all of Dad's family. 

There was a time when we all took turns opening gifts one at a time for everyone to see what everyone else got, but that time is no more. There are 18 of us, that would be a long time... 

Gramma had all of the grandchildren's gifts in sacks for each one and everyone was encouraged to "have at it" until all the gifts were open. (That took about 12.5 minutes.) Then we could show each other what we'd received and watch the parents open their gifts. 

No socks needed. I love Texas.

Gramma made these aprons out of two shirts Dad had gotten rid of!

We always take pictures in the wrapping paper pile.

We ate BBQ for lunch, opened gifts, visited (or played), ate dessert, and headed home after 5:00 pm. 

At home gifts were taken to each person's bedroom and we finished getting to see what everyone received. 

Legos anyone? 

We finished the day with dinner in the living room while watching "Little Women." Pretty sure that movie is on my absolute favorite list. 

Thursday everyone slept in, I went for an interesting run, Mom made more cinnamon rolls and worked on Christmas cards to send out, everyone wrote thank you notes, the kids played with their new things, I read 100 pages in a book (haven't done that since Maui), Dad organized in his office and finished things up to take a break the next few days, Christian stayed in bed not feeling great, and we all in general enjoyed a quiet day. 

Christmas music played all day and the windows were open. The kids played outside. 

While on my run I got followed by a huge, gray lion dog. I do not like big dogs. Honestly, they scare me. So I was praying so hard that it would go away. Finally a lady driving by stopped and asked why the dog was following me. She knew where the dog belonged and jumped out to coax him home while I drove her really, really, really nice brand new car. 

That moment when...

You almost fall asleep babysitting.

You explode a whole stick of butter in the microwave.

Gabe takes off his shirt in the middle of church. 

Your little siblings get the same gift you got when you were their age. 

The Herd: Quoted 

"I'm awake...I mean, I'm home." -Me walking into the wall in Mom and Dad's room at 11:30 pm to let them know I was back from babysitting.

"If it wasn't so funny I'd be crying by now. Don't let Mom see any of this." -Chloe trying to make cinnamon rolls. 

"Write a song that actually sounds like you're doing something and that is not crying." -Chloe to me before I go to try composing a new song. 

"I keep checking every gift to be sure they are mine. I don't know why. It's like blowing on cold cereal." -Me opening the gifts in my Christmas sack. 

"Here's my heart, spend it wisely." -Christian 

"It looks like the Lego Store threw-up in here." -Chloe talking about the little girls' room. 

The ER

You are the light of the world, a city on a hill, a cup of coffee 

in the hands of one who is cold.

You spread light and love and warmth to those around you.

Friday after morning family prayer time I went to work at my new nanny job for a majority of the day. The moment I got home Mom and Dad were walking out the door. I didn't take it personally. They were headed to Dallas for the evening that extended to be most of the early morning too. 

I asked for a few minutes of time by myself in my room after giving a little direction. Of course at least three different children then came to my room with questions during the next five minutes, but... 

After dinner the littles set up their movie in the schoolroom, "A Cinderella Story." And, at the recommendation of a friend, the rest of us settled in the living room to view "Stardust." I love both movies, "Stardust" is probably more of a bigger kid movie, but it's really good if fantasy and crazy plots are your thing. And "A Cinderella Story" is adorable for anyone. 

Because it was storming, we live in the country, and both movies required wifi, we ended up having to pause our movie so the kids could finish theirs in time to get to bed. It was worth the wait and I got to make Trim Healthy Mama Hot Chocolate (aka, guilt free hot chocolate that is actually full of good protein). 

Mom and Dad were going to be late because of the rain and having such a long drive so everyone except me went to bed. I stayed up to wait for them, obviously. By 11:00 pm I was getting concerned. 

I was about to call and check on them when Nana knocked on the back door. Of course I immediately thought Mom and Dad had crashed or something. Thankfully they had not. They were about 1/2 a mile away, but Dad had started to feel lightheaded and pulled over. He promptly blacked out. 

Mom was able to call Grandfather to come right away and sent Nana to me. 

Mom and Dad had pulled over in front of the house of one of our neighbors who lets Chloe ride their horses. Within a few minutes those neighbors got home and had Mom and Dad and Grandfather go inside with them. The Husband called 911 and while they were waiting they were able to check Dad's blood pressure. (He was awake by the time they were going inside.)

The Ponder Chief of Police (whom I'd met the day before...) was the first one there and the ambulance arrived soon after. They checked some things and recommended that Dad go to the ER with them. 

Mom got to ride with him and Grandfather followed them. The rain made for a very slow and not fun drive. 

They were seen pretty quickly at the ER. (So, if y'all ever need to go, 3:30 am isn't very busy.) The doctor ran some tests and everything came back negative. Dad was cleared to go home and was encouraged to follow up with his own doctor on Monday. 

Saturday had been a fully booked day, but when Mom and Dad didn't get home until early in the morning we canceled our plans in favor of resting. 

Mom and Dad called a meeting in their room to tell the rest of the kids what had occurred during the night and then we all did whatever we could to let them rest. Dad was tired, but especially as the day went on he felt better and mostly normal. 

Aunt Lauren and Uncle Phil picked up things to make us dinner and brought it out so they could spend time with us. Uncle Phil had lots of little helpers getting dinner ready and Nana and Grandfather joined us. It almost felt like it was a holiday or birthday or something, it was fun to be together. After dinner we all watched "New in Town." 

Sunday we had our brunch with Aunt Lauren and Uncle Phil and a lady Mom and Dad had met Friday night. Uncle Phil got to learn some new games. 

Sunday was the first of November which meant that National Novel Writing Month or NaNoWriMo began. Chloe and I had heard about it from a friend and both had been thinking about participating, though neither of us told the other until a couple of weeks ago. So that afternoon we both began our stories. 

The basic idea is that you start writing a novel and work on it until the end of November. The rules; it has to be 50,000 words long and you can do no writing until November first. Both of us had basic plot ideas and a little bit of characterization thought through. 

Essentially you have to write about 2000 words a day to complete this. 

That night we got Pizza from Papa John's (Dad's favorite) and watched "First Knight." This movie has been called "The First Knight," "Last Knight," "The Last Knight," "Last Night," etc. I was positive it was called "Last Knight." It's not. Anyways, we enjoyed it and Mia's commentary especially was humorous. All movies we watch come with extensive commentary. 

Country Sunset.

Monday Mom and Dad went to a doctor's appointment for Dad and they didn't find anything alarming. At this point they are doing a few heart tests. We are so grateful. 

Chloe had a job interview with a woman that works locally as a photographer specializing in senior and family pictures and horse photography and she got the job! We are all thrilled for her. 

I went out to run some errands thinking I'd only be gone a couple of hours. I was gone for four. But I found what I was looking for, namely, speech tournament clothing and shoes, and Blue Bell Ice Cream!! 

She is so excited that she can "finally" read her Bible! 

This is not normal for Gabe... 

When I got back Aunt Cendei was at our house. She had delivered dinner from another family in our church and we invited her to join us. Gabe wasn't feeling well, but after we all laughed with Aunt Cendei (because she brings laughter with her everywhere) and watched "Zookeeper," he was perking up.

His Fingerprints

Dad and Christian were supposed to leave for a missions trip to Haiti next week. But, they could not go because Christian's passport application process hit a snag right before our Maui trip. At the time we were upset, but trusted that God had a plan. After Dad's incident, we are so grateful they are not leaving. We were content to never know why the passport issue occurred and trust God, but knowing what we do now, we see His hand so clearly.


That Moment When...

You change out of jeans into pajama pants. 

Dad gets to meet the Chief of Ponder Police and the Ponder EMTs. 

Gabe falls asleep in the middle of the living room floor in the middle of the day. 

The Herd: Quoted 

"Hey! I have curls too!" -Mia

"You did, but they were wilted in the shower." -Gabe 

"He didn't give me a ticket, though." -Me telling my story about how I learned that turning left on red is illegal. 

"Of course he didn't!" -Dad

"He was old!" -Me

"Yeah, old, not dead. He probably felt sorry for you too, since your response was 'you can't do that?'" -Mom

"If you took out all the romance-" -Christian 

"-And all the battles, there would be no movie." -Me 

"I found my scarf! It was inside my coat like a liver." -Mia

"What?" -Me

"You know, it was inside my coat like the insides of a body." -Mia 

"How are you surviving, Lydia?!" -Christian during our cold photoshoot. 

"I'm not." -Me 

"I got some great shots!" -Chloe

"It's a good thing your model didn't freeze... All the way." -Me 

"Yeah, that's always good." -Chloe 

"So, Dad, funny story... It's not just construction workers in Maui that like me..." -Me

"Funny? Why don't you tell us about that." -Mom

"Well, I was in traffic and the truck next to me rolled down the window and looked over at me. I glanced over and someone in the backseat was violently waving. For a second I thought it was someone I knew, but then I realized the entire truck was full of guys checking me out. I looked away pretty fast..." -Me 

"We are going to have to start sending little children with you!" -Mom 

"I've been trying to think of signs I could hold up like, 'My Grandfather has a gun.' or 'My uncle just got out of jail for taking out the last guy like you.'" -Me

"Or you could make one that says 'I'm visiting my husband in jail.'" -Ava

"What?!" -Mom

Somebody's 18 and we almost died.

Thursday was my 18th birthday! 

Mom and Dad took me to breakfast at Island Vintage Coffee. Mom got her own coffee and her own breakfast platter. Dad and I shared an acai bowl and a mango peanut butter sandwich. And I had my own coffee, because Dad didn't want to share that.  

There was a birthday rainbow for me.

No denying I'm a blonde.

While we were eating a pretty "Happy Birthday" song came on the speakers and the baristas came over to sing to me and give me a sash/banner thingy that said "Birthday Diva." Of course I wore it. 

Mom and I walked around Whaler's Village for a bit and went into the Pandora Store to pick out a few rings for my gift from Mom and Dad. 

The others were already down at the beach when Mom and I got back to the room. 

When we arrived in the cabana, our family and friends were the only ones there and "our" section was all decorated for me and included a "throne" and gifts. 

The gifts came with "unwrapping helpers." 

Dessert was mini chocolate cakes and Lilikoi (Passion Fruit) Cheesecakes. 

I got to wear these most of the morning and I rocked them. 

The oldest and the youngest members of the party laying out. 

After opening all my sweet gifts, we showed people in the cabana our professional pictures and visited until lunch time and dessert. 

In the afternoon it was as most afternoons went. Chloe, Aunt Lauren, and I went to Black Rock to snorkel. The ocean was super clear and getting over there was easy, but the swim back wore me out because of the current. 

Back in the room there was a package for me. 

It was a beautiful flower lei from Kate's parents! 

Two of my new rings

My dinner place of choice was Lahaina Pizza Company to eat (what else?) deep-dish pizza and a dinner salad. 

Friday the family who own the tour some members of the family went on on Monday invited us to join them for a beach day so they could teach us to surf! (There were a multitude of squeals when this was announced.) 

 This is what the main road in Maui looks like: 

This is the beach we met them at about 9:00 am. 

Mr Hodges gave us our on-dry-land lesson and then he and his 12 year old daughter and 8 year old son took Gabe, Ava, and I out to the water. 

We apparently had paddling down really well and Gabe and Ava, with a little push, caught and rode waves all the way to the beach their first try! I needed a second try to get all the way standing up. We continued paddling back out and getting pushed into waves until we were pretty comfortable (30 minutes, maybe), then I switched with Chloe and Christian went out, too. Mia went a little later and insisted on having no help at all. 

Christian had it from the get-go. He is a natural as we knew he would be as he has incredible balance. 

Chloe...didn't do quite so well... To be fair, out of all of us, she has probably the least balance and is not as athletic. So she stuck with riding the waves on her stomach or knees, which really wasn't that bad. And she probably would have done much better after a little practice, but she discovered a sea creature within 20 minutes, one that took a liking to her knee. 

Where we were surfing was over a reef and the water was NOT deep at ALL. We went way, way out and the water was only 3 or 4 feet deep. In the reef everywhere there were sea urchins. So, yes, Chloe now has 3 (I believe) sea urchin needles still in her knee. Needless to say, she was done after that. 

The rest of us got a lot more purposeful about falling flat, not putting our feet down, and in general being extremely careful. Or at least I did. 

Me getting ready. 

The first wave I caught. 

Ava the pro. 

Christian crushing it.

I know I look cool right there, but, in all honesty, that is me falling off. 

Hang-loose.

Go Mia!

Ava.

We saw a Monk Seal! 

In the afternoon Mom, Chloe, Nana, Grandfather, Aunt Lauren, and Uncle Phil headed back to the room as they were not surfing. Christian went off to the big surf with the Hodges' daughter. I got Dad to try surfing for a few minutes. His board was way tippy though, so it was pretty challenging for him. 

Gabe, Ava, and I went out together and they especially caught wave after wave. I caught several on my own, but had difficulty staying up. I did get one really, really good one and rode all the way to the beach, but everyone missed it. 

We began loading all the boards around 2:30 pm and went back to our condo to shower and rest. 

That night all the adults went out to dinner and us kids ate leftover pizza and watched a movie. 

Laying on the board for so many hours left us all with board-rash. Because I especially am so slender, I'm all bruised down the front of my body. Not hitting the reef was impossible so we all have scrapes and bruises from that, and we all got sunburned. Plus there was the occasional board crashing down on someone else... So yeah, surfing is a dangerous sport and I at least, have the evidence to prove it. 

We all had a great time though and definitely hope to do it again next year! 

The feedback from the Hodges was that out of all the families they have taken surfing we caught on the fastest, so I guess that is good! 

Saturday Mom and Aunt Lauren went to have coffee on the beach and all the guys went to the breakfast buffet next door. Us girls slept...really late... 

Just after we finished breakfast at 9:30 am Nana came to get us and said we all needed to meet everyone else down on the beach right away. So we ran down in our pajamas and this is what we saw.

The waves were crashing all the way over the sidewalk into the golf field. 

Actually I don't think that is what it is called... Oh yeah! 

The golf course. Sorry. 

The cabana was coming apart in pieces and we could see it floating in the ocean.

All the staff guys came to take everything they could out and off of the building. 

This is how dirty the water was and so far out too. 

That is not what it is supposed to look like... 

So we decided that we were not going to stay at the beach. Obviously the water was NOT safe and the cabana was closed. The reason we went down in the first place is because as soon as Mom and Aunt Lauren sat down on the other beach a huge wave came up and took Mom's shoes away. So they walked over to check our beach and the guys met them there to watch. That's when us girls were summoned down. 

We went back to the room and pretty much just did whatever. For a long time. 

Around 3:30 Nana, Grandfather, and us left to head up the mountain on the other side of the island. The Hodges, who took us surfing, invited us to their church gathering at their friends' house. It was over an hour away but the drive was amazing!!

Apparently she wasn't actually asleep.

And this was the view from their front porch!

The gathering was to start about 5:00 "Maui time" which means more like 5:30. We were there on "Texas time" so 10 minutes early. 

Everyone welcomed us very warmly and it was fun to get to see our new friends again. We visited and got to know people and helped finished pulling food together while the others kept arriving and eventually we ate. It was a little cooler on the mountain but all the windows were open and the breeze was prefect. 

After eating, guitars were pulled out by Mr and Mrs Hodges and Ava and I were employed to help sing. (No idea why.) We gathered tightly into the living area and chose songs as we went. It was so sweet to worship with people that are a part of our family even though we only just met them. 

I got a guitar lesson in between the worship time and lesson. 

Mr Hodges led the lesson on Romans 1 and 2. We took turns reading a few verses and then sharing our thoughts and reactions to what was said. 

Once the lesson was over there was more time for visiting and playing for the kids before we left around 9:30. 

It was kind of late by the time we were in bed...

Sunday morning it was raining. The rest of our visiting family plus Dad, Christian, and I still went to church. No, we didn't sit outside in the rain, there were large umbrellas for us and the only thing wet was my chair. 

The worship leader was unable to make it and the rest of the church people didn't know that until 10 minutes before we all arrived for church. So the pastor lead us stumbling through 10,000 Reasons and it was beautiful. Then we got to see several beautiful worship songs interpreted through hula. 

I am really missing our church family, but I will so miss church on the beach. 

After the service we split up and did some walking around in Whaler's Village and shopping for before we go home. 

We got back to the room in time for lunch and four pies. Yes, we ate four pies, just our family. No, they were not the ones that are 9 inches across. They were mini pies. *wink* 

The rest of the family came over to visit and eventually some of them went for a walk to see how the cabana was holding up. 

When they returned they talked the rest of us into putting on our swimsuits and going to play in the waves even though the waves were the same size or even bigger than the day before. 

It was still cloudy and rainy and the waves were obviously huge. Lots more sand had been brought in and the cabana had more damage. 

All of us didn't wait long to run into the ocean. Mia and Gabe included. It was SO FUN. We are RUINED for big waves FOREVER now. It is a good thing we are all strong swimmers though because otherwise it would NOT have been wise to get in. Also knowing how the ocean works helps. 

Gabe got a little nervous after he was tumbled in a wave and opted to go play in the sand. Mia, on the other hand, had the most fun out of all of us and did a ton of giggling and screaming. She wasn't the only one screaming though. 

It's really hard to explain what playing in huge waves like that is like, especially to people who haven't maybe been to the beach. I wish we had pictures, but it was too rough to take down our phones. Just imagine us in the waves pictured above, but everything is dark and cloudy. 

Most people were able to stay past the impact zone or breaking point and then jump over or through the waves depending on their size. That was always my goal, but I often got too close to the impact zone and instead of jumping over, jumped right into the water about to tube and thus I got tumbled onto the beach and dumped in sand a lot. 

Those times that I did time it right though, were so cool because if you can jump and rise to the very top of the wave you are up 15 or so at least feet in the air way above the beach and it feels so fun. Then it takes about .12 seconds for the water to drop away and you are touching the bottom again. 

Mia says... Yikes! It was so scary. It seemed like every second another humongous waves was going to crash onto us. And Lydia kept screaming and so did I. Soon I was saying funny things that came out of my head. It was cold. 

After two hours of trying not to die that we finally crawled and ran to get out before another round of huge waves pulled us back and headed to the pool for a pre-rinse. We were all COVERED in sand, in our hair, in our ears, in every crack of our swim suits, in our skin, everywhere. I think that time in the dangerous waves all together is one of my favorite memories from this vacation. 

I don't think anyone got seriously injured. I know, though, that most people were pretty sore (I wasn't the only one who got tumbled). Dad's knee was swollen and I think I may have hurt my back. I did get slammed down on my hip, but though it hurt for a while, it was fine. 

After we all showered and ate our own dinner, everyone met back in our room to watch "The Pacifier." If you haven't seen that, that's another one we highly recommend. 


His Fingerprints 

All the time we have been here we have keenly felt the loss of the sand on our beach and the lack of it under the cabana. But if the sand had been in and like normal, the huge waves that have come would have completely wiped out the cabana and if that had happened the Maui Eldorado would not be allowed to rebuild it. 

In the beginning of the church service a huge, gorgeous, vibrant rainbow appeared over the ocean, framing the gathering. Throughout the entire service the rainbow remained reminding us all of God's promises and as the service continued, it gradually sank lower and lower in the sky until at the very close of the service it disappeared "into the ocean." What a gift! 

I've Been Pondering... 

When I was little I always looked up to those older and than me and dreamed about the days far ahead in the future when I too would be an adult. I thrived in the presence of those older and wiser than me who cared for me and included me and taught me and I still do! I thought surely by the time I crossed into that realm and called myself an adult I would be ready to carry that title. In fact, even at the ripe age of 4 I thought I was ready.

 Now the day has arrived, I'm 18 and no way do I feel ready. But perhaps that has been my Lord's plan all along. For if I felt ready to take on the world, I would not feel so keenly my need for His guidance through each and every step. 

I wonder, will I ever feel ready? Or Do I even want to feel ready? 

No, I think I'd rather be forced closer to my Savior. I'd much rather press into Him than feel that I could face each day ready in my own strength. 

I hope and pray that this will be my outlook on every anniversary of my birth. 

Not that I finally have reached my dream age and feel ready to take on what lies ahead within my own power. 

No. 

That I would instead be reminded that I'll never not need my God to lead me and guide me and strengthen me and renew me every morning and even in the hours and minutes and brief moments between. 

That is my birthday wish, my birthday prayer, and my deep-ish, theological-ish, thought as I step into the chapter of my life called adulthood.


That moment when...

You're about to go swim in monster waves and cloudy water and a lady you don't know starts advising you on how to not get bitten by a shark that could be in that water. And then you still go swim and try very hard not to look like a turtle. 

You really want to get out of the ocean, but you have to wait for 3 more monster waves to crash over you before you can. 

You are staring at a 15 foot wall of water that is about to either, pound you into the sand and tumble you onto the beach, or, if you are lucky, you will jump and rise to the top of it and look down on everyone else. 

You can't see anyone else in the ocean because the waves are so big and choppy everyone is getting separated into their own "water ditch." 

You have no idea which way is up or down or if you are being carried out to sea or are about to be pounded into the sand on the beach. 

The Herd: Quoted 

"Are you tired?" -Mom

"Yes, I mean, 50/50." -Mia

"I'm giving this to Chloe otherwise Lydia will kill it." -Mom handing our room key to Chloe and referencing all the times I have demagnetized it. 

"Which side were you eating from? -Me

"What? Y'all are sharing a bowl of food, who cares which side!" -Mom

"I get you!" -Dad to me 

"Do you want some? I can mix this all together." -Me to mom 

"No!" -Mom

"I was feeling old today, wondering how I could be old enough to have an 18 year old daughter, but then I realized I could tell people that you are my daughter from my husband's first marriage." -Mom

"Tomorrow looks like me not moving." -Me after surfing  

"This is what is so fascinating about being the youngest, I'm the cutest and I have a lovely big sister." -Mia 

"One of the kids left with my wallet in their bag." -Dad 

"I left my wallet in the room!" -Dad the next day  

"I am NOT getting into the water." -Mia in the room.

"I want the waves to get even worser because then they are way more funner." -Mia in the big waves  12 minutes later.

"Is this better than playing with boys?" -Mom
"No, I mean, 50/50." -Mia in the big waves.