So remember the humuhumunukunukuapua‘a I knit for Hawaiian Beanz Coffee Shop? All this time I’ve been waiting for Mike to do what we’d decided on so that nobody could steal the fishie, and two weeks ago, he finally got it done (not that I hounded him about it or anything… let’s just say I strongly reminded him!) (more…)
So this morning I was on my way to meet my numbah one (oldest) daughter Leilani; we’ve been planning to holoholo ka‘a to Ridgefield Wildlife Refuge ever since her birthday. One of her presents, and ultimately for her hubby as well, was a year-long pass to the refuge. (more…)
I love all the birds that come to our feeders, and I love that I have a new camera I can take really good close-ups with. This flicker is a regular visitor to the suet that I put up; last year he and his wife raised a baby, and I got a couple of great shots of two of them together. (more…)
The next day, Poem and Ricky were settling in well. Joan came over that night and put them in the barn as she would do every night, then let them out in the morning. (more…)
Puakea and Pikake were coming to some sort of understanding that Poem and Ricky were here to stay. They kept their distance, though they were still a bit restless. Rayado, on the other hand, had his own issues. (more…)
Rayado was still standing still as a statue. He’d had horses in the pasture with him before, but it had been a few months and he wanted to make sure these new ones were okay. (more…)
The horses were safe in the pasture. All of us had been praying that the transition would go smoothly, and so far it couldn’t have gone better. (more…)
I have loved horses all my life. My friend Kikue and I often quote the local song, “’round the Ko‘olau Hills we’d ride on horseback’”, wishing we’d known each other back then and could have ridden around Kane‘ohe together. My horse Kapi‘olani was my best friend growing up; into her ear I whispered all the secrets that I couldn’t tell anyone else. (more…)
I love my Jacob sheep, and I love the verses in the Bible that tell of these special animals and how Jacob chose them.
This verse in Genesis reminds me how we’re all chosen by God, designed by Him to be His own and to fulfill the potential He put in us from the very beginning. Sometimes we don’t even realize that we’ve been chosen until we’re grown; but He’s always there, calling us to Him, waiting for us to come to Him and become the people He designed us to be from the beginning of time.
29 Jacob said to him, “You know how I have worked for you and how your livestock has fared under my care. 30 The little you had before I came has increased greatly, and the LORD has blessed you wherever I have been. But now, when may I do something for my own household?”
31 “What shall I give you?” [Laban] asked.
“Don’t give me anything,” Jacob replied. “But if you will do this one thing for me, I will go on tending your flocks and watching over them: 32 Let me go through all your flocks today and remove from them every speckled or spotted sheep, every dark-colored lamb and every spotted or speckled goat. They will be my wages. 33 And my honesty will testify for me in the future, whenever you check on the wages you have paid me.”
I am on a journey. It’s not always easy, and most of the time it’s extremely painful. There are times when I cry out to God saying, “I just can’t do this anymore”, but what I really mean is, right at this moment I don’t feel as if I can do it anymore.” Big difference. This journey means taking a really hard look at those hidden places in my past and learning to become “transformed by the renewing of my mind”.
Some days are far more difficult than others. Some days I’d prefer to keep the illusion, thank you very much. But mostly, I want to know the truth. I don’t keep things hidden on purpose; getting to those inward places takes a lot of hard work. Sometimes I don’t even realize that stuff is hidden ‘way deep inside.
I’ve had friends who decided that the journey is just too hard. They got to a certain point and just stopped, preferring to live with chaos than to face those deep, painful places. I totally understand why they just don’t feel they can continue. But I am a sojourner, a pilgrim. I am not a quitter. There is this God-given flame burning deep inside that keeps me going, that won’t let me quit. Those hidden places within me need God’s light to shine on them, and I know that He will continue to give me beauty for ashes as I walk this sometimes very lonely path.
