5 Things

Being that this past week we were on a semi-vacation to Hawaii this post will all be pretty much vacation-related. Hope it doesn't bore you folks.

Number 5
We traveled safely on our first family plane ride! Yeah, so peanut's still on the inside but it was still fun to say he went on a trip with us, went in the Pacific Ocean (oh man was the water beautiful) and even got some sunlight finally! (Yeah, my extraordinarily white belly is now just semi-white.)

Number 4
Came home to our house still standing. (Thanks Dad and Clint for checking on Patina. She appreciates it too.) No major issues to fix... except the alarm. Which had some sort of cellular back-up failure and beeped the whole time. But that's been fixed already today by the wonderful, albeit late, alarm man who came early this a.m.

Number 3
I got to see my husband "in action" this week. You see our trip was actually business-related because Derek's company offers customers an incentive trip each year. If his customers reach a high volume of sales, they qualify for these trips that are pretty much all-expense paid. This year he was asked to attend. He was responsible for entertaining the customers, picking up the tab when we were out, and generally hosting other guests. It was amazing to see him in this role. Yes, I have heard him on the phone with customers and he talks about all of the problems or his typical day. But one thing I really noted about him, after almost 9 whopping years together, is that he is probably one of the most honest, hardworking people I have ever met and known. His customers absolutely love him and even attribute their successes to him. In watching him with them, he never changes who he is, puts on a "show" or acts like some scheezy salesman telling jokes. He is so kind, considerate, and very real. He treats his customers with a great deal of respect and tries hard not only to please them, but get to know them so that he can service them better. He really shows a genuine interest in their successes not only from a business perspective, but because he knows they are family-run businesses and he genuinely cares about their welfare. And it make me so proud. So I hope I am not bragging here, but remember one day I will share this blog with peanut. So son, I want you to know what an incredibly honest, genuine, and hardworking man your daddy is and has always been.

Numbers 2 & 1
I am cheating because I think this deserves two (and it's my blog so I get to say so!). Though our trip was so wonderful and we met some amazing people, it was also a crazy one. March 10, 2011 was a bizarre day. I have already told this story to so many people but that's ok I will tell it once more so skip ahead if you want to. Thursday we took Derek's customers back to the airport, said goodbye and picked up or rental car. We decided to head to the Haleakala volcano crater that afternoon since it was the final thing we had not done on the island. We were on our way back down (which is when Derek felt peanut move!) and headed to the hotel to just relax. We decided to hang out and lay low for the rest of the night when Derek's brother Grant texted us randomly that Japan had this huge earthquake and there was now a tsunami warning in Hawaii. To be honest, we laughed it off because we hadn't heard anything about it there. We turned on the news and it mentioned Japan but nothing in Hawaii. Lo and behold a few minutes later,  the Pacific Ocean Center came on and reported the possibility of a tsunami hitting the islands. So we continued watching for updates and suddenly they confirmed the possibility of 6 foot waves hitting Maui. To put in to perspective, Japan's first wave was at the time estimated at 13. That was roughly half the size... but Maui is like 1/20 the size of Japan. Uh oh. So we decided to pack our bags up and put together a to-go bag of snacks, water, sunscreen and hats, and essentials. The news said the first things to go would be power and water so Derek (my genius husband who is better than a Boy Scout he's like some awesome Man Scout) filled the bath tub with water. We headed to get some cash and determine our plan for evacuating or staying. We went downstairs and it was panic. People running around, buying all the food in the Sundries shop, trying to leave and call people, etc. By this time however we could no longer call out or text and the Wi-fi was jammed up and we couldn't communicate with anyone. But I remembered (see I did contribute somehow) we could plug his laptop in to the room's ethernet. We used it to text  and e-mail our families from the Web (an amazing resource by the way). We looked up elevation levels on the island in case we had to get to high ground and there was nowhere safe except Haleakala (over 1 hour away). We knew there was no way to get there on the one-lane highway now because panic had officially ensued and people were literally trying to flee. They didn't realize that streets had been closed except police-escorted evacuation. The hotel manager then came to our room and said no one can leave. The hotel has a tsunami emergency plan and moved us from the 2nd floor to the 5th. She explained that as long as we were above the 4th we'd be fine but to be prepared and "do NOT go to sleep." Awesome. Ok, so Derek kept his cool. Me... not so much. Ask peanut one day about his momma's irregular heart beat on that day. Pregnant + scared + super tired at 2:30 a.m. = BAD.  So "it" was supposed to hit at 3:07 a.m. and it didn't happened at that time. We set up our vigil around the TV watching but it was the same info. over and over. Because we didn't see or hear anything we learned from the TV that it did happen closer to 4:00 a.m. and even then because of the island's position to the east of Kaui it didn't hit West Maui as hard. The water did rise about 6 ft. but it was not an actual wave which is what really brings the destruction. The brunt of it did hit the North side of the island and cause significant damage, but we were so blessed to be out of harm's way. What a scary night. The next day the two nosy Markos's went scouting for damage and to see what happened. The streets had finally reopened and there was loads of debris, sand and water. Lahaina (Front Street) had flooded but water was receeding. We headed to one beach and saw locals taking pictures and talking. They all told us that they had never experienced such craziness and some of them hadn't even been home yet. They were evacuated to the airport area and spent the entire night awake in rooms without a cot or chair. They explained the ocean was so irradic and unpredicatable, showing us that the tide was so low it exposed rocks and coral they had never known was there. We sat and watched the current change directions in small whirlpools, then suddenly it would swell up so fast. It was strange because there were no waves (it was more like it just slowly rose and fell). I am so thankful that the Lord kept us is his hands, that he guided us to stay stay at the hotel, kept Derek calm, and we were absolutely fine and safe. It could have been something, but it turned out to really be nothing in comparison to Japan. So while I count my blessings I will also pray for the people who really were affected.

Oh, and once I go through our pictures I will post them to prove our trip was on the whole, wonderful!