Snorkling and Sailing

We went to Hawaii March 9-15th. I should have looked forward to this trip but I was worried about Alisa and Josh and their cancer journey. The highlight of my trip was actually meeting Josh and Alisa and the boys at the Lihue airport. They were flying home as we were flying in. We got a chance to take them to dinner and share the excitement of monk seals and whale watching with three very excited boys. They handed us their GPS and for a day or two we were able to go to a few of the places that they had been. I am hoping that Alisa has pictures that she can share. I took a few thinking-- I wonder what beauties Alisa captured.



This is a picture on the top of Waimea Canyon of the Napali Coast.












We lived through the Tsunami. We were evacuated up from our fourth floor room to the sixth floor. There were no empty rooms on either the fifth or sixth floor so we shared a room with a couple from New Orleans. We each had our own bed but the Tsunami was to hit Kauai at 3:07, so we stayed up waiting to see if we would see, hear or experience anything big. Between 3:00 and 3:30 I sat on the balcony listening and watching the dark ocean. The only thing that really happened was that there was a time that it was very quiet and then the waves started up again. I can only think that is when the Tsunami actually hit our shores. The only other ramifications were that we had to stay in our new rooms until 8:00 a.m. (We now have a greater idea of what we need to do to be prepared for an emergency -- but that is for a later post)

We had signed up for a snorkeling/sailing tour along the Napali Coast. I was looking forward to snorkeling with my new found swimming skills. We all boarded the boat and started putting on our sunscreen and getting ready for this adventure when the captain of the boat announced that there would be no snorkeling due to the Tsunami. I was so disappointed. Then I thought about how sometimes in life we sign up for the snorkeling/sailing plan and we get shifted to another adventure. We were now on a sailing/whale watching adventure. It's not what I signed up for. I was disappointed. But it was still an adventure with memorable and enjoyable times. As I have contemplated life in the last few weeks I realized that sometimes we think we are going snorkeling/sailing and we end up on a different adventure. Sometimes the adventure is dangerous and disappointing. Nevertheless we can choose to make the best of it or not. Josh and Alisa's tour is not quite what they were expecting. They have met this change of journey with faith and hope. I pray that I will be able to support them on this new journey with faith hope and courage to match theirs. We didn't get to snorkel, but the whales were wonderful.