Aloha

Well, we did it!! We finally made it to Hawaii. After all the years of wanting to go and putting it off for another year, we did it!! We arrived in Maui on April 16 after an uneventful flight. It was cooler than normal (or so they say - felt good to us). We picked up our car and would you believe we were assigned a brand new mustang??? Muscle car for Lee. As we drove around the island we realized that 75% of all the rentals were Mustangs! Nothing like advertising that you are a tourist!! Our condo was perfect! A one bedroom quiet place just a block from the beach. We found ourselves feeling that panic feeling when you first arrive on your vacation that we had to see everything and we had better get started! Our first day there was the Swap Meet at the community college and we were so glad we went. We got two huge bags of produce (and pineapple, of course) for $8. Wow!! It was so fresh and tasty. There were lots of other great things there, too. All in all we tried snorkling, went to a luau, drove the road to Hana (or mostly), played in the water, sunned ourselves, shopped, ate out (and in), and truly enjoyed ourselves. After six days we packed up and left for the main island, Ohau. We discovered that Honolulu - Waikiki - was a different world than Maui. Busy, noisy, expensive, but a great experience that anyone should do once. :) We spent a day discovering at Pearl Harbor. That was a trip worth making, just to be in the harbor and experience the history made there was grounding. Our soldiers, sailors, airmen, and marines certainly did make a huge sacrifice for us on that day in history. We experienced a little of the life of Waikiki - restaurants, shopping, beach walking, and just people watching! The International Market had LOTS of stuff!! There were so many little kiosks filled to overflowing with trinkets and bobbles that it was a bit overwhelming. We walked through the Royal Hawaiian Hotel, the Outrigger, and the Hilton just to experience the ambiance of luxury! Saturday night Lee worked on figuring out the bus schedule that would take us to visit New Hope Church. We allowed ourselves plenty of time, which is good because the service times were different than we had realized, so we arrived exactly at 9 am, which is when one of the services started - thank you, Lord! We thought we had read that the services started at 8 and 10. It was a great time of worshipping with brothers and sisters in a very warm and wonderful way. Our bus trip took us through Chinatown and it was so fun to see people out doing their errands and all the shops full. Lee worked a little more on his tan - wanted to look good for the kids when we got home - and we had one more meal at a restaurant on the beach. By Monday we were ready to fly back home. And, believe me, while Hawaii has wonderful vegetation, when I opened my eyes to the lush green of Oregon this time of year the next day, I knew we have paradise here as well.

Here's for Uncle Sam

Lee, Wendy and Jonathan are all gathered at the kitchen table finalizing their income tax returns. Things like the American Education deduction, Hope deduction, standard deductions, itemized deductions. Add, subtract, divide, and multiply. 1 x 176 is important to be able to figure for one of the deductions. That must be why in the third grade it is so important to memorize your math facts, because you use them all to figure your taxes. Always a good reason to stay alert with your math skills. You know that it can come back to bite you if you make a mistake. And you want to be able to get the maximum legally allowable back. So many ways to figure them out, and it always pays to try figuring a few different ways to make sure you a. don't make a mistake and b. get the best results back. The good news is that so far, no one has had to pay and we all get refunds!! Yeah!!! Now, what to put our tax refund toward. Hmmmmmm....

The "Un"empty Nest

Unlike all our friends, Lee and I are quickly approaching the twilight years and still have not emptied our nest. Jonathan, who is now 20, has taken the year off of school at Oregon State University and is working full-time while living at home. We tease him that it is a good thing he has a cold and dirty job working outside at a metal recycling business. He has found it is NOT a job he wants to have for life. He is considering applying to Multnomah Bible College for next year. That is really where his heart is. He spends many of his evenings ministering to Young Life students.

A year ago our daughter, Wendy, now 27, moved home to return to school. She is attending OSU and getting her degree in Merchandise Management and is considering a minor in business, since she will have all but 2 or three classes to do so. She is on target to be finished this time next year. We are very proud of her hard work!

What fun we have had with the two of them here! Lots of football, pizza, students, drop-ins, boyfriend, animals and all kinds of excitement. Almost too much for Lee's and my weary bodies at times. But we wouldn't change it for anything!!

Our Katie and her husband, Adam, are in Salem where she works as an office manager for a printing business and he as an electrician and full-time student working on his master's. They have a new little puppy, Dodger, so we are puppy grandparents!! Whoo hoo!!