Mokihana's Garden

This past Spring we were surprised by snow in March, which is very unusual for us here in this part of Oregon. I took this photo from our lanai just as the sun was setting, the raindrops on the bare branches looking like sparkling diamonds. I just stood in awe at the majesty of the sight, thanking God for allowing me to see such a beautiful part of His creation.

God really has a way of surprising me, inserting the miraculous into my days, even in the midst of winter.

Mahalo, ke Akua.

North! We stay heading North! Now it feels like we really stay going home; home to da green, da clear skies, da country. (more…)

Da car stay all packed up. Wen feel kinda funny to think get only one more night in dis wonderful hotel, complete wit maid service and wonderfully friendly staff peeps. At dis hotel, every singo night dey put out fresh Toll House (chocolate chip) cookies, warm from da oven. But we stay so late getting back dea on Tuesday night, get nomo da cookies! Ack!! (more…)

It happens every year. Along one of the main roads that I travel to town there is a storm drain at the bottom of a hill. During most of the year you’d never even know it was there. But when the rains begin each fall, wonderful things begin to happen to that nondescript circle in the middle of the road. I can’t help but wonder if anyone but me even notices it when to me it speaks volumes.

I think of all the dry spells in my life; I’m in one now. The days are long and exhausting, and sometimes I wonder how I will make it through to the next one. But everytime I pass this place in the road, my hope is renewed, and God reminds me that He will make streams in the desert places of my life, that He will give me beauty for ashes, that there is no place so dry He can’t reach it, and that no matter how awful I feel, He is there to satisfy my thirsty soul.

This week’s WFW takes a more somber theme than I’ve done before. Nolemana and I own a real estate appraisal business, and in addition to appraising homes in our area, we also do foreclosure reviews. As a result, we get to see the insides of houses from all over the country that are in foreclosure, which is a sad thing in itself. Some of the homes are in pristine condition, while others have been completely trashed by angry former owners.

I love seeing all these houses because in all likelihood Nolemana and I won’t be going to all the cities in which these properties are located. So I get to see what other parts of the country are like, thanks to the appraisals we are reviewing as well as GoogleMaps, especially when there is a street view. I love the street views; sometimes I just use my arrow keys and travel around a city just to see what it’s like. I’ve “been in” the Las Vegas desert as well as the lush Tennessee hills.

This week, however, what I saw in the appraiser’s interior photos made me sad. Someone had obviously punched a hole in the wall, and someone else, I assume, had written on the wall. I will have no way of ever knowing who made the hole or who wrote on the wall. Was the person who penned the psalms there afraid? Was s/he scared of whoever punched the hole?

The juxaposition of the punched hole in the wall and the psalms written there made me realize once again that truly He is our very present help in time of trouble. Perhaps the writer was affirming that. Perhaps s/he was crying out for help. I add both people represented by that wall to my prayers. I pray that the one who punched the hole in the wall will find peace that only God can give, and that the writer will experience anew what s/he wrote on that wall in the now-empty house.

Was getting close to da time foa Nolemana and I to head home, so I began to take photos from around da town wea, in all likelihood, I nevah going see again. I get no reason for go back. Da only reason I used to go was for see my maddah, and now, nomo reason to spend time dea. (more…)

Last year Nolemana and I made several trips to Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge. We originally went to Ridgefield to do an appraisal, and then, to our delight, discovered the refuge. The scenery and wildlife took my breath away. We had such a good time that we became members, and each trip up got better and better. It takes about thirty minutes to drive the entire loop if you never stop along the way, but it always takes us at least an hour because there’s so much to look at.

On this particular day, a Great Blue Heron rose majestically up in front of the car, his wings seeming to beat out a drumbeat to the glory of God. As I watched his huge expanse of wings, I thought how much it looked as if he were raising them in praise to God and I wondered if in some way he knew that too.

We humans are so limited in our thinking! We reason that no animal or bird could possibly know how to praise God because we see ourselves as so much more superior to the “beasts of the fields”. But what if, just what if, their praises exist on a completely different plane than those of us mere mortals? What if, as a heron soars above the earth, he is singing his own song of praise to the God who made him? What if, when we raise our hands in praise to God, He thinks to Himself, “Look at my children! They look just like that Blue Heron that Mokihana saw at Ridgefield as it took off and praised me with uplifted wings!”

Ho, I wen get so caught up at da Farmer’s Market, and we still dea! Nah nah… hea da rest of da photos from dea. (more…)