Week 8 (Hawaii,
Vancouver)
15th
to 21st of September
Jack Johnson,
Bethany Hamilton, Wayne Cordeiro, Joe Onesai,
Hawai’i being
Hawai’i…you just can’t get anywhere before going for a dip(swim) in the warm
sea. We also had the added bonus (?) of needing to wait until 10am(aaaaaaaaaa)
so that the kids can go for a swim in the pool….before we can even begin to
think about going anywhere!!!.
The children absolutely loved that pool…even
though it was colder, by far, than the ocean. We had to keep a close eye on
Nina, because she was starting to believe that she can swim…and doing a pretty
good job of it…but still… Philippa started to be very confident too. So we
encouraged them to go in the water as much a possible, not that they needed
much persuasion!!!
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| Pineapple flower |
We parked
ourselves again on Haleiwa beach. The waves were even stronger than the
previous time here, so we did not stay to long, but Alana showed her steel in a
few attempts on the surf board. She now swam out deep with Arno and had a few
fantastic wipe outs!! Every little bit of practicing counts. Nina was crying to
get her chance on the board…but the water was just a bit wild. Meanwhile,
Thomas had a few boogie rides and then ‘retire’. He kept Philippa company under
the palm tree, people watching!! Philippa’s skin gets irritated by the
seawater, so she prefer to play in the sand and sit under the palm tree. That’s
why she loves playing in the pool so much!!
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| Ph with her shell collection |
All this time in
Hawaii we have not been on a white sandy beach, so on Tuesday we went to the Kaulia
beach. We made a lunch stop at the world-famous Shrimp-Shack and then headed
for the beach. It was fantastic aquamarine seas with the most soft white sand.
For a change we managed to get Philippa playing in the water too. The little
girlies started balancing on the boogie boards, with Nina ended up standing on
her own on top of the board! Wow!! She is determined!
Too soon our last
day on the paradise island of O’ahu arrived. Our flight was not till
mid-evening, so we planned to spend it on Waikiki beach.
A glorious
afternoon..just as you can imagine it! The best part of it all, both Alana and
Nina stood up on the surfboard and actually rode a bit of a wave!!!
Before we depart
from Hawaii, I better tell you a bit about the islands!!
Hawaii is the 50th,
and most recent US state to have joined in 1959. It is the northern most island
group in Polynesia. The tropical climate, beaches and active volcano’s make it
a very popular tourist destination. It hosts more than 1 million permanent
residents. The state encompasses of hundreds of islands, spread out over 2
400km, with the eight main islands in the south-east. O’ahu is the 3rd
biggest island and also referred to as the ’gathering place’. The ‘Big Island’
(Hawai’i) and Maui (The Valley Island) are bigger. The islands were (and
continue to be) formed from volcanic activity. This volcanic activity is
initiated by an undersea magma source called a hot spot.
Because the
islands are so far away from other habitats, its said to be inhabited by the 3
W’s – wind, waves and wings(birds carrying seeds)
……. back to
Vancouver, Canada, we go. You might wonder why we were flying ‘back’. Our wonderful
travel agent helped us to find the best deals on flights and this route proven
to tick just that box. We were very pleased with this suggestion, since our
good friends, Sally and Brandon (and their 4 kiddo’s) live in Vancouver,
British Columbia(BC). It was a bit weird departing at 8:30pm and to be arriving
in Vancouver at 5am after a 6hour flight. We were all a bit passed it……but the
adrenaline rush, seeing our bestest friends again, kept us going! Sally picked
us up form the airport and by the time we got to their home(round 6am) most of
the children were up and welcoming us! Even Brandon was still there before work
and we were having a great BIG reunion ‘koffie en beskuit’(rusks dipped into
morning coffee) around the kitchen table. This was the theme for the rest of
our long weekend with the Stellings!! Loadsa catching up, food and more food
and loadsa down-time play time for the children.
We met Brandon
and Sally (and Mikyla) when we moved to Kilmarnock, Scotland in 2006. 6 months
later they decided to relocate to BC. We were not happy, but we trusted that
God would protect our friendship. In 2008 we had the opportunity for just that,
when we visited them in Canada. Between us we had 6 children then, with
Philippa and Amy under 1 year old. What a joy for these children to visit with
one another again. Nina and Jason still had to be introduced, but within
minutes all the children were playing together as if it was yesterday since the
last time they have met up!!
It may be a house
filled with girls, but we were walking into football heaven! They all play
footie and Brandon coach on a Saturday. Thomas was delighted to join Mikyla at
practice…even though it’s a bit of a carry on with insurance restrictions and
all that. Praise God for a very kind coach!!
We had to get a
few things repaired here: Thomas’s glasses broke in LA (do not ask me how….and
he even managed lose a part of it….) and the hard drive’s smoke was also
out.(Arno was pretty annoyed about this, since he had spend numerous hours
ripping DVD’s and Cd’s onto it.) Well, the feedback is all positive. We manage
to find a frame that fitted the lenses and Arno found a company to recover all
our data. Obviously two unforeseen VERY expensive repairs, but we were so
thankful to have found people to help us with this.
What a delight it
was for me to go for two fantastic runs with my long lost running partner!! It
was just the best thing!!! I can not wait until we meet again(Jan2015 in South
Africa!!!!!!) for a repeat!!!
Arno went biking with Brandon. Thomas joined them
this time.A few years back Brandon connected with a tree on a similar outing
with Arno…luckily this acrobatic performance was not repeated!! A nice play at
the Spanish Banks Beach overlooking Vancouver city, was followed by our first official
sushi dinner!! There were sausages on the side for the fussy eaters too!!
We also visited
the British Columbia Hall of Fame. This forms part of the BC Lions American
Football Stadium. Here we were introduced to BC’s cancer hero Terry Fox. After losing
his leg at 21years of age to cancer, he dreamed about raising $1 per
Canadian(23 000 000) for cancer research by running across Canada. He never
finished the race, due to the return of cancer to his body. When he passed away
at 23 years old, he has raise £24 million after running 3 339miles. Once a year
in September all BC school children take part in the Terry Fox Fundraising race.
In 2012 $550 million has been raised!!!
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| Walking into his future!!!! |
Another Canadian
role model is called Rick Hansen or ‘Man in Motion’. This man wheeled himself
around the world in a chair (was paralyzed in a freak road accident). It took
him 2 years, 2months and 2 days. By doing this he raised $26million for spinal
cord injury research.
I love this quote
by him: ‘Success is not measured in how you use your arms and legs, it’s how
you live your life.’
We love
Vancouver!! Basically all of British Columbia!! Sometimes we wish God wants to
sent us here!! Well, saying that…it is also the most expensive place to live
in…so He’ll need to provide us with a small fortune on the side, if it’s the
case..Hee hee. Well, at the moment our desire for South Africa is just growing
stronger with in us!
A lovely sunny
Sunday greeted us and we accompanied the Stellings to Tenth Church (In Tenth
Street) Two Sunday’s in a row attending church!!! Witness a beautiful baptism
and got the opportunity to meet with Kevin Knight, Founder of ‘Manna for
Life’.This project in Cambodia(!!) is helping the community of displaced people
to establish better opportunity and creating a better living environment. Kevin
was prompted by God to go and live amongst this people group in a slum in
Cambodia. At that stage they’ve been displaced twice by government officials.
He do not preach to them, but work alongside them, being Jesus in real life for
them. He is married to Latika, who grew up in a similar hopeless environment.
Together they are providing a light on their doorstep( literally and
figuratively) for these people. Their community used to be called “blue
tarpaulin village”, but the people has started calling themselves the ‘white
village of steel’. Just before Kevin and Latika departed for their feedback
trip to Canada, the government has issued the people of the village(nearby
Odong, 38km north of Phnom Pheng) with ‘soft’ land title deeds!! This means
that they are acknowledging this village and most likely will not displace or
move them again!! We believe this was a godly connection, set up for us. We are
now planning to make a slight change to our Cambodian itinerary to visit them
for a night or two!! How good is that??!!
We danced through
the twilight hours as part of the finale in a not-to-be-missed talent show.
Surely, that back garden will carry these happy memories of a final last
summers eve in 2014..till we visit again (hopefully the kids will not be to
‘big’ then to entertain us on the monkey bars and in ballerina tutu’s!!)
I’ll leave you
with one final quote of Terry Fox:
‘How many people do
something they really believe in? I wish people would realize that anything is
possible-dreams are made if people try’
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