Day 21 of Marriage :)

This is copied from an email I was writing a close friend (Esther). After I wrote all this, I thought why write it all over again?...

The honeymoon was WONDERFUL!!!! We LOVE Hawaii (of course, right?)!!! If God is gracious enough to us (and we are frugal enough), we're talking about going there for our first (and possibly subsequent) anniversary!! The Hilton was every bit as luxurious as it makes itself out to be!! We had the cheapest room in the joint, and it was huge, wonderful, and it had a balcony with an ocean view!! Oh, and it was a corner room, so we also had a view of downtown!

The first morning, we woke up at 6 (jet lag), so we walked to the beach and napped there all morning! Walking through the Hilton Hawaiian Village (on the way to the beach), we saw areas where there were flamingos, Chinese ducks, ibises, and many other exotic birds and fishes. And they even had the little signs like at the zoo telling you what they were and about them!! Then, we saw that they had peguins!!! They looked a little strange to us, though. And after awhile, we saw on the sign that they were African Black-Toed Penguins. They're just like the ones from Antarctica, but a little smaller, and they hold out their arms a little all the time, looking a little funny. :)

Well, the second day we were there, we were visiting the penguins again, and a lady was there telling some people who were filming some 2nd rate soap opera update TV show at the Hilton about the penguins, and she was calling one of them, Mana, with this "Hoo" call and telling the people that he was the youngest one and that he was the only one that had been born there and that yesterday he had been letting people pet him! And I stored all of that away. So then the next day, I called him with the "Hoo" call and calling his name and running my hand in the water, and after a bit he came to me!!! And pretty soon he let me pet him!! And so every day for the rest of the trip, we'd call him and he'd come, and soon he was letting me hold him in the water and pet him and play with him and pet his head and everything. And all the other hotel guests would gather around whenever we were petting him and be so jealous! Honestly, I LOVE Mana!! And I want my own African Black-Toed Penguin!! They are the cutest things in the entire world!! You wouldn't believe it!!

And the Sunday we were there we went to Lanakila Baptist Church, where I got saved when I was 5, and got baptized a few months later! And it was SUCH a blessing!!! It's just a little church, but the pastor was GREAT! And he loves the Lord!! And the congregation was really loving and friendly! And their AWANA program (which I was in 2 decades ago) is still going strong!

And then after that we visited my old house (base housing; the guard let us into the neighborhood :), and the 3 schools I went to! And I remembered it all!! That was really cool!!

And we took a surfing lesson, and it was us and 2 japanese girls, and the teacher was FANTASTIC! So on my first try, I actually got up and surfed!!! We both surfed a few waves that day! We can't wait to do it again! And I taught Roel how to snorkel, and we went snorkeling twice, and loved it!! And we went to the Arizona Memorial, of course, and to the Honolulu Aquarium, and to the Iolani Royal Palace (the only palace in the United States of America), and we really enjoyed all of that.

But we also, if we felt like it, did nothing, or watched a movie, or bought a game and played it at Starbuck's. We drove all over the whole island and really got to know Oahu. We also went hiking up in the Waimea Falls Audubon place, which was the most beautiful place I think I've ever seen on Earth, over in the Northwest side of the island. And driving on the East side of the island, heading North, the mountains reminded me so much of the Scottish highlands!!! Did you see that part? Did you think the same thing?

Anyway, God is so good to us!!!

And I wasn't sad at all when it was time to come home, because it was so exciting to start our sweet married life in our sweet suburban house!!! And this past week has been WONDERFUL!!! I started practicing again (praise GOD!!! It feels SO GOOD to be playing again!!! I am just SO thankful to the Lord that I'm an oboist!!!)!!! And i LOVE fixing all the meals for Roel, and taking care of the house and laundry and errands and everything. The funny thing is, it all feels completely natural! I'm spending the whole day at home, and it doesn't feel strange or anything. I go out in the middle of the day and all the other housey-wives are out doing their errands, too, and it just feels totally normal and right and great to me! It's so cool!!!

And I love Roel! More all the time!!

God is SO good!!

Roel took me (he surprised me) the other night after dinner to a nearby Methodist Church (of course not a Baptist church) because they were selling pumpkins!! And we picked out some pumkins for outside the house and some little ones for inside!! And we'll get candy for the kids and dress up for them for Halloween night! It'll be so much fun!! And then we'll get to put up a tree and lights for Christmas (much better than Halloween!)!!!

Anyway, God is so good, and I'm SO EXCITED all the time!!! Today, we're going to the State Fair!! Woohoo!!!