Kauai is home

  Our family of five has lived here for 16 years.  The kids were ages 7, 4, and 18 months when my husband and I left everything we had ever known and loved in Oregon and moved to an island 3,000 miles away where we knew no one.  Some people have told me how they think that is so brave.  I wouldn’t say I was brave because I was so scared, really.  We were just desperate for change, for healing, and we wanted to leave dark winters for a tropical place to grow avocados, papayas, and I somehow envisioned growing my own coffee.  Well, I haven’t gotten to the coffee plants yet but papayas galore and pomegranates oh my, yes we have!  We have hit some valleys in our time here in Kauai and it has definitely made our roots grow deeper in faith and some of those valleys turned acquaintances into full blown family.  We were accepted and loved on so well by our friends here, in a time that should have been a dark, I saw so much beauty on the horizon.

  Kauai is a healing place.  It is profound how at peace you can feel here just listening to the mourning dove coo, the Shama sings to his wife Shama mama, and the cardinal’s pip squeak chirps. The ocean sounds of course give you the negative ions that I’m told are converted into “posi vibes only” plus being immersed in salt water calms the body. 

The thing that I am really starting to observe and love about Kauai is the contrast.  Oh, the contrast is rich here.  The dirty asphalt gathers a puddle of rainwater but when you peek into that gross puddle you see the amazing clouds above your head and the dancing palms.  This lava rock wall on our 90 year old house is very dark but life is bursting out as this tiny fern creates it’s home in a crevice.  No rain, no rainbows!  So true.  Often the brightest skies are contrasted with the dark grey clouds that seem to cover the entire center of the island when storms roll through.  Kauai has a desert and a rainforest.  We have redwood trees in the mountains and then plumeria trees that lose it’s leaves to let you know it is winter.  I cannot wait for our retreat in January 2026 with Jeanne Oliver because there are so many beautiful things to see and I love seeing it through your fresh eyes. I’m hoping you can see the beauty in ashes, joy instead of mourning, a spirit of heaviness swapped with praise. 

Thanks for being on this journey with me,

Art undone

As I prepare a piece of mixed media art for an upcoming art show on Kauai, I can't help looking deeper into the meaning behind this piece I created.  At first glance your eyes move around the page doing a happy dance with all the bright colors and flowers being odd shapes.  But when I count the vases I know right away that these eight vases are my seven closest girlfriends and myself.  Each one on it's own is sweet but man together we are an amazing bunch.  These girlfriends have been there for every joyful event, every heavy and hard event, they have been just a text away with me typing,"going through a rebel checkpoint today, I'm scared, please cover us in prayer."  We just did a surprise dance for my daughter's wedding reception by having one friend choreograph it then teach it to us a week before the wedding!  Some of my girlfriends were just given a video to watch and didn't make it to the one practice and they still popped up on stage anyway.  That is love right there.  Being ok with making a fool out of yourself for the sake of fun.  I realize having a group of eight being so tight sounds a bit big but during the pandemic we thrived, we covered each other in prayer, shared our fears and weaknesses, and praise the Lord we are still spurring each other on today.  I hope you find those women in your life that are life-giving and are able to be a breath of fresh air to them in return.

a word on travel

Okay, there is not just one word that can sum up travel. So, here is several words on it. It changes you.

When I was 35 years old and my children were 13, 11, and 7 my husband decided we needed to show our children how the majority of the world lived. We were living in Poipu on the beautiful island of Kauai. We all surfed a ton, we took bike rides at night, worked hard and played harder. But then we left all of that to be a 13 hour bus ride from the Indian Ocean to live In Western Kenya. The first four months of living there was a major adjustment on our stomachs as we learned to boil water just a little longer to kill whatever was in the water. We homeschooled our kids and looked forward to market days where vendors would bring in used clothes & shoes from all of the world. Seriously great finds. Being there for nine months meant we made it past the honeymoon phase where everything was new and beautiful to wow our cultures are really different. Americans are so fortunate for clean water and free education, kids in the states don’t know how good they have it. We have traveled back there as a family probably 8 times, spending a month there every December was our favorite. Their Christmas is not commercialized like in the state so you don’t know it’s Christmas until Christmas Day.IT’s quite beautiful. Everyone puts on their finest clothes and walks the streets hoping to buy a soda and watch people singing and dancing. Traveling to Kenya with our young kids and watching the world through their eyes has given us a beautiful perspective. Is the Lord calling you to pick up and move, get a little uncomfortable, and learn how to love another culture without changing it? Happy leaping!