God's plans are so much MORE than mine, [Isaiah 55:9] and His ways are so beyond what I can even begin to comprehend! We're learning to leave our days in His hands and trust that He will 'work all things together for good' [Romans 8:28]! That knowledge was really put to the test this week after realizing that Derek's brand new diving fins were gone! He had worn them three times; they had revolutionized his diving career and then after an afternoon in the water, they were gone. We're pretty sure they were nabbed out of our truck when we popped into McDonald's for ice cream. But, with high hopes of a fin-finding miracle, we also took the kayak out on the water the next day. We searched high and low, but the only thing we discovered was the fun, little fact that Derek can flip me out of the kayak while remaining perfectly dry himself! Nice. On our way back in we noticed some pretty serious waves rolling in down the coast! Of course, we didn't have the surf boards that day, but not wanting to miss out on a perfectly good opportunity we paddled over to check it out. Before we could come to our senses we had decided to catch a wave IN our kayak! It was epic! 'Just one wave' turned into several hours of our new favorite water sport, which we're calling 'kurfing'! It took us awhile to find our groove, which made for some pretty serious wipe outs, but the adrenaline rush and hysterical laughter were well worth a few underwater summersaults!
On Monday we had a fantastic excuse to get all dolled up; a wedding!! It was a gorgeous, little beach ceremony and we had such a great time!
The rest of the week was a mix of work and play. We are seeing a pretty significant sized light at the end of this tunnel; our mission of taming six and half acres of coffee land! The work will never be completely done, but it's manageable now, and that is a grand accomplishment! The land is split up into four different sections and we've successfully weed wacked through all four, pruned through three and a half and sprayed RoundUp and the fungus (to kill the borer beetle) on three of them. We joke about needing to hold ourselves back because we 'don't want to get bored!' Because of all the progress made we don't feel one bit guilty about working a half day and then heading to the beach, which is perfect because Derek's diving buddies call on a regular basis wanting to know when we're free! We're getting better and better at cooking fish and living 'off of the land'! Our chicken coop brainstormings will hopefully blossom into a reality this week, we're just debating whether we should buy chicks or just trap some of the wild ones!
God's teaching us a lot about His provision and meeting our needs in amazing ways! Whether it's new friends to talk to, a squash from our neighbor, a random gallon of milk, or the fact that we prayed about finances and the next Sunday I was offered the job of cleaning the church! This is definitely a faith building experience. Although scary at times, it's truly incredible to let go and just let God BE God!
Our weekend was packed full of new sights, tastes and smells. We talked to a man from church that fuels his diesel truck with vegetable oil! We were able to visit a church family's 'Parrots in Paradise' bird sanctuary! We bought our first fruit tree; a Loquat, which has a flavor kind of like peach, citrus and mango all together! We splurged on gelato that was unbelievably delectable! Oh, and we decided it was time for another ROADTRIP!! Sunday after church we headed to South Point where we were, for the moment, farther south than anyone else in the nation! We also visited an amazing little beach that actually has GREEN sand! God is an incredible artist!! That night we camped across from the volcano and hiked up to where we could see the steam pouring out of the caldera! It lights up the whole sky and is a magnificent sight to behold.
We went into Volcano (the town) in search of a tarp to put over the truck (our fantastic, redneck version of a camper) and I got a little distracted in the general store... Derek didn't know about Dinty Moore stew and I felt like that needed to be remedied! My lollygagging was not appreciated, however, when we found the hardware store three minutes AFTER it had closed! God was, yet again, one step ahead of us and the man unlocked the door for us, allowing us to have a dry night! The next day we explored as much of the volcano park as possible; some areas were blocked off because of dangerous gases, fumes, etc. and the sulfur definitely had a potent smell! But we checked out a massive lava tube, wandered through a rainforest and drove down to the coast where the lava flow goes right over the road and into the ocean! We didn't plan to have such an incredible week and see so many new sights; that's just how our Papa God works! We saw the volcano up close and then drove up to 6600ft. and looked down on it all while we ate lunch! Later that afternoon we stumbled across a random, FREE zoo and felt like little kids again, running from the white tiger, to the lemurs, to the monkeys!
Needless to say, it was a top notch week!! Derek and I like to discuss our need for a vacation FROM Hawaii, while comparing 'battle wounds'; scrapes, blisters and sore muscles. This past week, however, closely resembled a 'vacation' and the end result wasn't exactly what we had in mind. We're exhausted! But it's the fantastic kind of exhaustion, the kind that comes from a week of adventures, discovery and road trips! There's no way we would trade that for a week of pool lounging, massages and chocolate covered strawberries! (Although I must say; there is definitely a time and place for those things, too :)
Now we're already started on a new week and I can't wait to see what God has for us; the challenges, the victories and a thousand reasons to fall more in love with Him and each other and this life He has blessed us with!
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