Love You Like A Hurricane

All in all, it was a good weekend, as far as we're concerned. I'm told the events of our few days on the north shore of Oahu would have ruined the time for "most people." I doubt that's true, though I do know that the A-Thon house does seem to have a bit more...well, let's just say excitement than the average household. And that fact has made us a bit less dramatic in our reactions.

The drive out was utilitarian, so we took the freeways as much as we could. However, even avoiding the scenic route, there is a point where all you have is two lane roads. Right about that time the view gets ridiculously beautiful. There is a pineapple farm on the left and a coffee farm on the right. The vast expanse of the Pacific is down the hill before you.

It truly is paradise.

We got some dinner at Cholo's Mexican Restaurant, and then stopped at the grocery store on the way to the house. While waiting to turn left, and yielding to oncoming traffic, we were rear-ended. Gratefully we were all completely fine, as we drive a tank.

The other gal was fine, too, but her car was totaled. All we got was a slightly damaged bumper with a permanent imprint of the Volkswagen symbol. Yaye SUVs!

The next day was the last leg of the North Shore Swim Series: The North Shore Challenge. It is a 2.3 mile rough water swim from Ehukai beach to Waimea Bay. In the winter, the waves are very large and the current is swift. However, in the summer, there are usually small if any waves and the swim would be with the gentler current. Well, the ocean is a wild place, and on Saturday there was 5+ foot surf. Additionally, the current was moving in a winter direction, meaning the swim would be against the current and in surf.
Girl-A-Thon (GAT) wasn't intimidated one bit. I was at a category 1 on the worried mom scale. Dad-A-Thon (DAT) was his encouraging self, and Boy-A-Thon (BAT) was at the beach!

Back at the finish line, we heard the start of the race over the timer's radio. They started about 10 minutes late, so I adjusted my mental time of when I should see GAT and her bright pink goggles. (She had practiced this race on Monday, and had finished in an hour, with her group stopping once.)

After an hour and twenty minutes, I upgraded to a category 2. When I began to see people with whom she usually finishes, I was on the high end of, but still at a category 2. By an hour and half, I had upgraded to a category 3 worried mom.
DAT was at the water's edge for still photos and I was at the "chute" to get video of her running through to finish. I began texting DAT that something was wrong--she should be here by now. DAT reassured me that all was well.
I began to notice the finishers. They were not well. In the previous races, they were tired but smiling. No smiles in the chute today. In fact, there was vomiting, and varying stages of consciousness. As it all began to sink in--she's way overdue, others are ill--I blew past 4 and went straight to a category 5.
I had almost reached my limit of waiting, and began to text DAT again, when he hollered my name and pointed to the lifeguard on a waverunner. GAT had been pulled from the water and driven to the end of the race. I could see she was OK, and she swam about another 200 yards, so I knew she wasn't hurt. I took a deep breath and tried not to over react.
Praise the Lord she was completely fine, though extremely pale and had no energy. She wasn't feeling bad about being pulled out at all. She said, "Mom, I would have been in real trouble if I had stayed in." I told her I was proud that she did the safe thing. We got her a Jamba Juice and Tropilicious Sorbet(they were sponsors) to give her blood sugar a boost, and rested in the shade.
As I sat with my baby girl, she had her sugary treats, her color came back, and she began to breathe normally again. I said many prayers of thanks under my breath, and hugged her enough that she finally asked me to stop. It's a wild ride watching your beloved progeny come into their own...

It's a funny thing this life. I hope our family's excitement always ends so well.

Aloha

Trying to Be Better About Writing

So, that's my goal. Yes, I'm aware of its vagueness. Yes, it's intentional.

Honestly, I think Facebook has stolen some of my need to "reach out and touch someone" through a blog...

Today I am hopefully finishing up the lesson planning and scheduling for the first few weeks of the school year. I wish I could say that it took really long, but the truth is that I procrastinated like a champ. Part of it was my overwhelm mode, and not really knowing where to begin. Part of it was a slight bit of depression. And part was just plain laziness.

Procrastination is a vicious cycle and a trait that I share with my sister and mom. We are visiters, you see (no that's not spelled wrong). We like to hang. We could (and have) spent an entire day in our jammies drinking coffee and chatting a the kitchen table. We have an effect on each other that makes us even worse procrastinators when we are together, too!

I saw Femina had a post about laziness, and it just seems too simplistic to me. If only the solution were that simple: "Don't waste time--you could have a tragedy, and not be able to do what you are able to do now." That kind of "encouragement" has never rung true to me It's too surface-y. Personally, I need divine intervention to truly internalize the gravity of the sin of wasting time...

Wendy Whiner

I realize now that much of my hesitation to blog lately is because I'm in a funk. It's been very stressful for a couple of years, and I rarely suffer in silence. Believe it or not, my scarcity of blogposts has been to spare the world of my kvetching. But lately, I've realized how much I need to be writing my thoughts and feelings. So, I'm trying to begin to write more regularly. (Not sure if it's particularly wise to be writing them publicly, so we'll see what makes it here.)

A few weeks ago, our family ran into a couple that used to attend our church. (I don't know why they left, but have ceased to give a rip when a family does. One left over the "ugly tile" in the women's restroom. I'm not kidding.) The woman of this couple used to attend a bible study that I hosted on Wednesday mornings in my home. I had two grammar school kids then and was a homeschooling newbie. She never missed an opportunity to tell me her concerns about the long term effects of homeschooling my children. Which means that at least once a week, I got her $.02.

Anyway, She hadn't seen our family in about 4 years. The Kids-A-Thon are big teens now, so it was a surprise for her to see them "all grown up." The first words from her to me were, "I was hoping you had given that homeschooling UP." Girl-A-Thon then began to explain how she and her brother also attend a few classes at a Christian school and they enjoy being at home and having a chance to be in a classroom. At this the woman said to Girl-A-Thon, "Well, I am VERY glad to hear that! You know, you need to have friends, and not be stuck with mom all day!"

I did not say a word in reply.
This is proof that He who has begun a good work in me has not left me!

Now if I can just forgive and let go of the indignant frustration I have for this person, God can move on to another area of repairing my heart :-)

Bad Blogger!

Yes, I am terrible at keeping up with this. I need to follow my own advice about writing every day...

I am moved to write about the mob incident at the Wisconsin State Fair. Unfortunately, I think this is a sign of a building tension that is going to overflow during the 2012 election. (The last time I thought something seemed to be more of a harbinger of things to come than was being noticed, was the attack on the USS Cole. I didn't say anything about that thought then, but I'm going to say this one out loud.)

I don't know anything, and I am no military or political strategist. But I do understand when things give off a vibe. And this, just like the attack on the Cole, is tweaking my Spidey senses. Our country is stressed out. We are in wars all over the place, we are functioning in an utterly complete leadership vacuum on all fronts: national, local, and even personal. Every American, save POTUS, has been affected by the economic mess we are in, and 51% of the nation is being paid for by the other 49%. There is an entitlement mentality that has no basis in reality and is perpetuated by an impotent education system that prioritizes condoms on bananas over multiplication tables. We are in trouble.

We need to pray for our nation now more than we have ever prayed for it before. I truly believe we are at a crossroads that will determine just what the future is for our children and grandchildren. Sadly, I think our children and their children will know intimately the experiences of the people who fought to found this nation. I pray that I am wrong. I pray that this nation remembers its roots. I pray that real leaders would emerge and help guide the country. I pray that the violence in our communities will not grow.

Gotta go now--and pray.