Back to our usual routine

I finally got through all of my email and am caught up at work! Finally.

We had a great time watching Micah on Monday night -- we had to take Maggie for a walk to the park. Micah decided to give Maggie his corn on the cob, which Maggie totally devoured. I had no idea she'd eat the cob, too.

On Thursday night we drove up to San Francisco for a debate on the topic, "Is God Good?" It was really a dialogue investigating the problem of evil and suffering in our world. I loved it. The debate was respectful and really helped me to understand the topic and the problems both sides have explaining evil and sparked lots of interesting conversation.

The reception beforehand had me fascinated. I was expecting an "older" crowd for some reason. The room was on the 15th floor of the Merchants building in the heart of the Financial District. It was totally wood panelled with beautiful old chandeliers and an ornate ceiling. And when we got there for the pre-event reception, the place was packed with twenty and thirty somethings, all holding a glass of wine and standing in groups of 3-5 people engaged in loud energetic conversation, talking, laughing, introducing people to each other. I met Jeff (an atheist starting his own Green business) who is recently married to a Christian and for the first time is open to exploring the faith. He was quite the connector -- and introduce me to people from the British embassy who work in international finance between the US and Britain. (Quite an interesting time to be working in finance.) And I met a prof at San Francisco State (a Christian) who is researching happiness. Did you know that research shows that money doesn't make people happy! And it is not true that poor people are happy...often they are not happy because they've been oppressed and have no path to improving their life. His research and work was fascinating. Kevin went and got us some seats and met some interesting people as well.

Afterwards, we decided to have dinner in the City before heading home. We had a really great evening....and now we have the problem of evil all sorted out (well sort of).

Go Spartans!

Kevin and I went to Homecoming (San Jose State 30, Utah State 0). What a great game. We enjoyed sitting in the Provost's Box, talking with colleagues and cheering on the team. I couldn't believe some of the plays -- absolutely amazing. The band was great -- even the alumni band was good. I'm glad SJSU decided to fund a quality football program. Go Spartans!

Going to Lake Tahoe and the PSWC Pastor's Conference

We had lunch with Mark Ballaart on the lake and then went for a little walk. The trees are changing color and are beautiful and there's just a hint of snow in the mountains. I can't help but think about the Donner Party...it's so beautiful and peaceful here this time of year, nearly 80 degrees during the day. Kevin decided to go buy milk early one morning and was surprised to find the ice all over the windshield. There's over a 50 degree temperature differential.

I really enjoyed connecting with the other men and women who are ministering in our conference. What a great group of friends. I'd love to get the women together from northern California and just spend a weekend together.

Hiking at Tahoe

The pastor's conference was held at a conference center on the site of the 1960 Olympics at Squaw Peak. I grew up hearing about the great skiing at Squaw Peak, so it was really fun to be there and see the ski runs.

Kevin and I ran into Kevin and Linda Swanson from Sanctuary Covenant Church (Jeff Hale is the Chair of their Church Board) as we were heading off to hike up to Shirley Lake. We decided to go together. We had a great time getting to know them and Linda and I are really similar (she loves to write, she likes to paint, she wishes she could sing).
The trail started out through the pine woods and along a creek with a gentle grade. Then it started to get a lot steeper, and we were climbing over granite boulders and essentially climbing up the mountain.

After 2 hours and no lake in sight, we decided we better call it quits and head back for home. We stopped by the creek for lunch and had a really great time. We read a little about Shirley Lake and it's actually a lake that was formed when two granite plates collided. Needless to say we were looking for some caffeine before the evening meetings began.

Last night in Kauai

We just had to go back to the Beach House and enjoy our last sunset. Since we didn't have reservations, we thought we'd just have to try to get a table in their bar (first come, first serve). We got a fabulous table and so enjoyed watching the surfers until the sun went down. What a great way to conclude our time in Kauai.

We left at 8:30 a.m. for the airport -- and got home at 10 p.m. and there was Venus in the West -- we couldn't get to sleep until after midnight (jet lag) ...oh, the joys of travel!

Geckos

The lizards on Kauai look more like geckos to me -- they are about 6 inches long and are so cute (I love their "toes"). Kevin took this photo of a gecko on a wall - whenever we got home at night we'd see geckos hanging around.

As we were walking by several ginger plants, Kevin spotted a little green gecko licking water out of the petals of the ginger. In this photo, he's checking me out. (It's amazing how well he blends in with the green leaves.)

Then, he leaned into the flower's shadow to try to hide a bit. (I uploaded these photos in high resolution, so you could blow them up to see him better.) This is Hawaii's state flower, the yellow hibiscus (there isn't a gecko in this photo). Before 1988, the state flower was a red hibiscus--I'm not sure why they changed. Apparently hibiscus were thought to be endemic to Kauai until 1980 when a botantist discovered that it is really an African plant that escaped from cultivation decades ago (so the state flower isn't really from the state!). What I didn't know was that the blossom only lasts 1 day, and then it dies. No wonder I could never get my hibiscus hedge to be fully in bloom!

Waimea Canyon and a Centipede

Another beautiful sunrise this morning (first picture). They truly are "new every morning." I keep thinking that the sunrise will become routine, but every morning it's more beautiful than the previous morning. I've been recalling Psalm 23 and the Lord's Prayer before I get out of bed in the morning, and then I get a cup of coffee and watch the sunrise. And then we read and write for a couple of hours. I've really been enjoying a couple of books by Dallas Willard and I've been reading the gospel of Mark and writing in my journal. And then Kevin and I talk for a couple of hours and then we decide to get going, and "start our day." I could get used to this routine!

Today we decided to go for a hike in Waimea Canyon. On the way to the car, the sun was lighting up the ginger so I had to take a picture. Ginger is one of my favorite flowers over here.



We stopped to look into the canyon and a couple also stopped to check it out. The man was standing right behind me -- and all of a sudden he starts kicking and jumping. So I turn around wondering what the heck is going on...and he's holding his feet about about ready to cry. He was wearing flip flops and was bit by a centipede. Sure enough, we checked under the rock and there was a 6 inch centipede. It was SO disgusting. Totally creeped Kevin and I out. UGLY! We got out our guide book and it said that he wouldn't die from the bite, but he would wish that he would. The only remedy the doctors give is to stay drunk for 3 days...apparently it hurts somewhere between a wasp bite and a gun shot wound and doesn't let up. The guy was really miserable. It was awful. So much for looking at the canyon. If you go to Google and type in "centipede kauai image" you'll find photos just like the one we saw. They are totally disgusting!

We drove to the end of the road --watched helicopters come into the valley (third photo) --4,000 feet above the Na Pali coast. It's go beautiful up there and the blue of the ocean melts into the blue of the sky.

Then we went for a little hike in the forest. Lots of green trees and a few birds -- no wild flowers though. I keep thinking that I'm going to find a wild spot that looks like a garden -- but we never do. It's funny. Plants grow really well with all of the sun and rain over here -- but I keep expecting to find orchids growing wild, and they really don't.

Our waiter tonight came over in 1978 to go surfing with his buddies, and he's been here ever since. Thirty years surfing and waiting tables. The pastor at church last Sunday came over here 30 years ago to surf and him and his buddies decided to stay. Thirty years surfing and doing ministry. There's something about Kauai ... once you come and enjoy its beauty, it's hard to go back to the rat race.