Thanksgiving, Huge Surprise, A 16 Year Old, Swimming, Lots'a Lattes

Days in the Life...

Monday morning Mom headed out early to get all the grocery shopping done for our Thanksgiving week celebration with all of her side of the family. At both Costco and Win-co she had to do two trips through the store because she could only fit so much in the cart. When she got home the car was overflowing and it was all hands on deck to get it unloaded and put away.

Chloe had 30 pans of cinnamon rolls to bake in order to fill all the orders people had placed for the week. Mom picked up over 100 lbs of basic supplies for her like flour, sugar, milk, etc while she was out.

Dad was finishing up stuff for work to be able to take time off later in the week and the rest of us had our own things to finish up. The littles got to take the week off of school.

In the evening the first group of family arrived for the week. It was so good to get to hug Aunt Amy, Uncle JC, Rowan (2 almost 3), and Eli (almost 1), from DC.


Tuesday was Christian's 16th birthday! Mom and Dad took him to Seven Mile Cafe for breakfast and picked up a few more grocery items, including Blue Bell Ice Cream for dessert later.

I watched Kate and Blaire for just a couple of hours that morning and then got to go home and visit with Aunt Amy and celebrate the fact that Christian and Chloe both get to go to Summit Ministries next summer like I did!

Blaire just crosses her ankles and hangs out.

In the evening Nana, Grandfather, and the others came over to have pizza and ice cream for dinner in honor of Christian's birthday. Our little cousins had to go to bed soon after dinner, but the rest of us finished the evening by watching "Parental Guidance". 

Wednesday we all worked together to finish last preparations around the house and such. 

I've been using my bullet journal to take notes on this 

personal development book. Essentialism.

In the afternoon Uncle Adam, Aunt Lini, Geneva (7), Charissa (6), and Sierra (5) arrived from South Texas. Our cat, Coal, ran for the hills when the storm of little girls came running. (Coal was a Christmas gift several years ago. I named him. He is black. We got him for Christmas. See what I did there?)

It was a beautiful day outside and the kids were out there having a blast for hours, while everyone else got settled and began visiting. 

Chloe baked cinnamon rolls all day Monday through Wednesday and by Wednesday evening they were ready for pick up and delivery. I went with her for one of her last deliveries and it was so beautiful to watch the sunset while we drove through the country. Texas is so pretty, y'all. 

That evening we visited with Aunt Amy and Uncle JC, who were staying at our house for the night. Uncle Adam and his family stayed next door with Nana and Grandfather, other family stayed at a hotel, and Chloe and Christian, who gave up their rooms, slept in a camper that we borrowed from friends. 

Thursday morning Thanksgiving day arrived!

Everyone at our house was awake (ish) somewhat early since Rowan and Eli are early birds. Breakfast was cinnamon rolls (we finally got to eat some after getting to smell them for three days!!!), eggs, fruit, granola, and yogurt. Everyone ate at the house they slept in.

About 8:30 Aunt Lauren and Uncle Phil finally arrived as the last family members yet to make an appearance that week and with them was the surprise! Nana's brother and his wife came all the way from Florida to surprise her for her 70th birthday which we were also celebrating that week. It was so fun to get to see her face when they got out of the car. We were all on the driveway waiting for them and then Nana finally made it outside having to be dragged away from the kitchen.

After lots of hugs and smiles out on the driveway, everyone made their way inside to get coffee and settle down to watched the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. I got to ensure my title as favorite oldest niece by making Uncle Adam a salted caramel latte. Not that my title was in jeopardy or anything, of course.

Enjoying the songs sung by people none of us had ever heard of. 

Everyone all together again.

Baby Eli got lots of snuggles.

Gabe with his marshmallows...and a splash of hot chocolate.

We had snack-y foods out for lunch that could be gotten whenever people were hungry. After the parade, Uncle Adam, Christian, and I teamed up against Chloe, Ava and Uncle JC to play Taboo. It's amazing what you can learn about people while playing that game...

The little girl cousins really enjoyed playing outside with Mia all weekend and Rowan followed Mia around everyone his mommy would let him. 

We ate our big Thanksgiving dinner about 5:00 pm. Everyone had a part of the meal they were responsible to prepare so it wasn't a big task for any one person. And with everyone working together, cleaning up took no time at all either!

The 30+ year old crowd sat in the dinning room and the rest of us were in the breakfast room, there was no way for all 24 of us to be at the same table. *wink* 

In the evening some watched football. Sorry, I have no idea who was playing. And some watched the new "Anne of Green Gables". We decided it was pretty well done, but it felt both extremely rushed and really drawn out at the same time. Nothing can really replace the original in our minds. 

Friday morning all the ladies headed to Denton to visit over coffee at Starbucks and then do a little shopping, while the men took all the kids to the park with a picnic lunch. Chloe had some college deadlines to work on and enjoyed the quiet house. 

Dancing to Justin Timberlake. 

Once we finished shopping, all the ladies met with everyone else at the park to eat before going home for some rest time. 

Late afternoon everyone congregated in the living room to play Uncle Phil's awesome game show! Since we were celebrating Nana's 70th birthday all the items in the game were things that were created or used or whatever else, during her lifetime. We split into two teams straight down the middle of the room and the competitive child Christian kept score, because, you know, that's important... 

After that Grandfather set us up with a crossword puzzle. The guys went to one room and the girls to the other and we saw who could get the most words right in the given amount of time. It was very close, but the girls won. Naturally. 

Dinner was two different kinds of chili. 

Cousin fun.

Chloe and Christian held down the fort at our house with all the kids and "Ratatouille" while the adults went next door to visit after dinner. 

Saturday morning my friend Emily came out to take pictures for us for a couple of hours. She did a beautiful job and we got lots of sweet pictures of different family groups and all of us together, etc. 

More football was watched in the afternoon and I got to enjoy the role of barista and make I don't even know how many lattes at peoples' request. 

Later in the afternoon Uncle Phil divided us into two teams to do an outdoors scavenger hunt. We had to take pictures of all kinds of things from people locked in the chicken coop, to someone doing something that looks dangerous, to something dead, to the attack of the tree people, and everyone's least favorite, putting everyone's feet in the pool. *Que a lot of screaming* 

Viewing the pictures from the two teams.

I had to leave after that to go to church early to sing and the rest of my family joined me in time for the service. 

Sunday was very quiet. Uncle Adam and his family were on their way home and everyone else had their own plans. 

We made our brunch meal and had a restful afternoon. 

We visited with Uncle Tom and Aunt Wanda before dinner and told them goodbye since their flight was early the next morning. 

That night we watched our first Christmas movie for the year, "Christmas Wish". 

The Herd: Quoted 

"I didn't choose to be so popular, it just happened!" -Mia in reference to her great popularity with all her little cousins.

Getting Back-sided, Surprise Children, and a Late Night

We still exist! We have not disappeared for forever! Just for most of July, but...  Allow me to now begin to catch you up on all that has been going on with us.

Days in the Life...

Monday was the Fourth of July and we didn't do that much...

I had off of work, Chloe and Christian had no class, Gabe did not go to gymnastics.

So I did a full day of studying and chores and ironing (I was sooooooo excited that Dad had stuff that needed ironing) and other stuff that needed doing.

Here I am sporting red, white, and blue. 

I recommend alternate methods for sporting red.

Dad worked and tried to fix our septic system as it was clogged and about to overflow. Of course, no plumbers were answering their phones and Dad could not figure out how to fix it. So we began conserving water. 

We all took turns going next door to beg to be allowed to use Nana and Grandfather's shower. 

In the afternoon Chloe made an apple pie and after a non-typical Fourth of July dinner, Nana and Grandfather snuck in and swiped the pie joined us for ice cream, pie, and "Tammy Tell Me Truly." 

The others stayed up to watch the fireworks again, but I was exhausted and went to bed. Mom and Dad tried valiantly to get to sleep before they started, but it was too late. 

Tuesday was another more laid back day for the most part. The plumber came to fix our septic tank and Chloe and Christian went to class. My car needed some work so Dad and I took it in to the shop in the morning and then went back to get it before dinner. 

In the evening I went to babysit a little girl. 

We played dress up. 

It is actually very hard to see through those glasses. 

Wednesday it was back to work, back to class, back to gym, back to normal. 

Gabe actually spent 7 hours at the gym, though, and after I got home from work we all got to have an adventure. 

Mom had just left to go get Gabe from the gym and I had literally done 30 seconds of my workout when Christian called Dad from Chloe's phone about 5 minutes after they had texted they were on their way home from class.

Right away I could tell something was wrong.

They had just been involved in a hit-and-run accident and Chloe "was in no condition to make the call to Dad."

Dad made sure they were okay and that they were not still on the highway. Christian said they were not hurt other than both their necks being really sore from being jerked. They had pulled into a gas station and the back bumper was still on the highway.

Dad told him to call 911 and then called Mom to reroute her from the gym to go be with Chloe and Christian.

The girls and I then left to go get Gabe after running next door to let Nana and Grandfather know what had happened.

Ava and Mia ended up giving me directions to the gym since I had never been there before. We found it just fine and got to watch the end of Gabe's practice. Then in the car I carefully worded the story of what had happened and why Mom was not picking him up. (Gabe is our worrier and can get very worked up about things. He was okay once he knew they were not hurt and that Mom was with them.)

Gabe lined up with his class. 

(He is the one in navy.) 

Back home I was able to read all the text updates. Grandfather and Dad had left to go get the car and Mom was driving the kids to the chiropractor. 

Christian had made the 911 call just fine and the police officer arrived sans sirens. Once Mom arrived a bit later, they all went in to the gas station to talk. 

Christian was able to tell the officer the make, model, and color of the big pickup truck that had hit them at a red light. The bumper had not fallen off the car and the reason Chloe was not able to call was because she was so angry and was still yelling at the long gone driver. (Christian was yelling too, but he calmed down first. Also, he is a bit dramatic and so the ordeal ended up sounding much worse than it actually was when he first called Dad.)

What happened was they had stopped at a light and were waiting for the cars in front of them to start moving as it had just turned green. The truck that hit them apparently missed that the light had been red .46 seconds before and so never slowed down but rammed right into the kids just as Chloe took her foot off the brake. Christian had been leaning forward when they got hit and so was slammed into his seat which hurt his neck and shoulder. Chloe's neck was also so violently jerked that her sunglasses flew off her face, all the stuff in their laps and on the dashboard got thrown on them and the floor, and the sunroof cover (which is nearly impossible to open) was shoved open a good several inches. 

Chloe drove through the light and then tried to move over a lane because they were in the middle of the highway. As she began moving over the truck that hit them swerved around them and almost hit the driver's side, then raced off. Christian missed the license plate, but was able to collect all the other information. 

They pulled into the gas station and then "let it loose." (To quote them both.) Christian calmed down first and tried to comfort Chloe who continued yelling and threw her phone at him saying, "call someone." 

So he called Dad, Dad told them what to do and called Mom, then called them back and made sure they knew they were to just sit tight and wait for the police and Mom to arrive. 

By the time I got home they had reached the doctor's office and Dad and Grandfather were on their way home with the car. (They were driving a 20+ year old Honda Civic so no airbags went off.) 

I was supposed to get dinner with one of the ladies in our church, but I wasn't sure if Mom and Dad would want me to stay home. Mom said I should still go, though, so I rushed to help Ava make dinner and then showered and raced out the door myself, passing Dad on my way out. 

The others arrived home and rested and ate dinner and watched a "Tammy" movie. 

I had a really nice time at dinner and enjoyed finally getting to relax and breathe after such a long, crazy day. (Work had it's "fun" moments too... Like arriving and finding out that in addition to watching the three I usually nanny, I would be caring for their cousins. So, the ages of my charges for the day, 6, 5, 4, and 3 years old, and 18 months. One girl. Four boys. One me, who was not freaking out externally. Six loud hours.) 

Back at home I got to hear the whole story from Chloe and Christian. That's when details like "no we weren't crying, we were yelling" came out. They were both already joking about it and seemed in good spirits. Chloe was excited to write a blog post about the adventure and I highly recommend it! Her post is here. 

Thursday I was already planning to take Mia with me, but adding her to the five I already had was.....interesting. The day actually went relatively well and Mia had fun. 

And yes, that would be Mia reading to them. 

Meanwhile, at home, we finally had concrete poured!!

Chloe got right back on that horse and drove our truck to class. It was her and Christian's last day of their Learning Frameworks class and they both finished with solid As. 

Mom and Dad went to dinner with Aunt Cendei, the kids watching a movie after dinner, and I had an adventure of my own. 

I was planning to finally put up my feet and do something that did not require much brainpower or energy, but I felt like I should at least log onto my college class and make sure I didn't have any emails. 

Well, I had one. 

And it said that, surprise, all the deadlines had been moved from Sunday night to that night and I had less than 5 hours to write three 300 word essays, two 250 word posts, and six comments, do a "dress for success" type assignment thingy, and take the final exam. (I had blocked off all of Friday to finish all those assignments.) 

So I took a few minutes to freak out. 

So I prayed, settled down, and got to it. Trying not to cry. 

I ended up having a few small issues like, "Oh, you no longer have any available space and so we are going to delete your essays," and "We'd rather not convert your pictures to an acceptable format," and "Now we won't allow you to submit your assignment because it's going to take 45 minutes to upload," and "Well, now you have nine minutes to take the final." (That would be my laptop and the class site talking. *wink*) 

But I made it!

I turned everything in and was able to complete 2/3 of the final before midnight. Because I didn't finish the final my grade went down by 2%, but that just meant I finished with a grade that was slightly better than Christian's. I'm not complaining! 

So that's how I finished my first college class! According to all those who have been through college, having that late night meant I am officially in college now. Afterwards I was very glad to have it done and my Friday was way more relaxed, but I was excited about not cutting it that close again. (Pay attention to that key word "was", it's important for reasons revealed in coming posts.) 

Friday I slept in. 

Then spent the day catching up on random little things I needed to do before leaving for Aunt Lauren and Uncle Phil's place. 

Chloe and Christian got to work on their other school and enjoy saying that they now have college credit! 

The rest of the week I'm not entirely sure what everyone else did. I know they went to church on Saturday, but other than that, I have no idea. (Or memory.)

I beat the Dallas traffic and arrived safely for my birthday weekend. Aunt Lauren and I got to visit until Uncle Phil got home. Then we went to dinner and returned to watch the first half of a BBC period drama called "North and South." In case you were wondering, that is not a comedy. At all. You will cry. A lot. 

Saturday we all slept in. Then Uncle Phil prepared a yummy brunch meal for us. Aunt Lauren made chai tea lattes and we had our quiet times until she and I could leave to go get pedicures. 

Upon our return, we had orange smoothies and sweet maui onion potato chips. Then we all went to a thrift shop. 

We felt like crying some more (not, but we were anxious to see what happened) and finished "North and South" with popcorn. 

After dinner and deep conversations we voted (unanimously) for a comedy and selected "The Glass Bottom Boat". 

Sunday Uncle Phil left early to go practice with the worship team and Aunt Lauren and I went to Starbucks until it was time for church.

After church we got burgers and returned to their place to read for an hour or so and then watch "Sweet Home Alabama."

We thought the pool was going to be finished by that afternoon so Aunt Lauren and Uncle Phil could come swim with us, but it was not. I returned home late afternoon and got to catch up with everyone and watch more Olympic trials.



The Herd: Quoted 

"They got back-sided?!" -Gabe

"I feel like this is the week of year of accidents." -Gabe 

"For the record, being rear-ended is not a pleasant experience." -Chloe 

"Last I checked, I am still an animal-loving bookworm." -Chloe

"Story of my life: 'No, I wasn't slowing down so you could turn, I was anticipating your foolish decision to turn in front of me at the last possible moment.'" -Chloe 

Note- Chloe was wondering why she wasn't being quoted as much. So I stalked her records to find some quotes because I can't remember any other quotes from four weeks ago. Hope y'all enjoyed! She is a very cleaver one that quiet girl. *Smiles with sisterly pride* I did not teach her everything, y'all know... 

"That's not my mom, that's my sister!" -Mia to the kids I nanny.

"I am made of frenchies and frost-eyes." -Me trying to say frosties and french fries. (That's what Mom craved when she was pregnant with me. I have only actually eaten that myself a couple of times.)


SaveSave
SaveSave

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.