Palms of Victory, Crown of Glory

My dear friend Steve has departed from this earth. Steve loves Jesus. I love Jesus. May we meet again while waving a "palm of victory" and wearing a "crown of glory".

I've never believed so deeply how fleeting this life here on earth is. Therefore, how should we live?

Seeing ducks

Last night we stopped by Wailoa State Park. We got to see lots of ducks and little fish trying to avoid being eaten by bigger fish. It was beautiful.
Later I met some friends and had dinner at a "Very Home Style" Japanese restaurant. Everything was very yummy! I had miso soup, sticky rice, teri beef, and sashimi. I can't wait to go back and try the Udon with Ella.

Lava tree park today

We are having a great time with Mimi and Poppy here! Today we saw part of the Lava Tree State Park, then we swam at the Pahoa pool, and then ate a yummy lunch at Kaleo's in Pahoa.
It was a fun day on the Big Island!!

Here is everyone looking at the mongoose running around.

Mimi and Poppy are here!

And we are so thankful that they will be here for at least another 3 weeks!!

I really have friends here!

I went to the farmers market in Hilo today and I saw 4 people that I know.  Three of the 4 are friends, one is more of an acquaintance(he's the kids bus driver who also sells goat cheese).  This may not seem like a big deal, but it is to me.  It means that Hawaii is feeling more and more like home--which makes me happy!

Kids went snorkeling

They had fun.

Yard Pond

It has been raining here. Raining a LOT! We now have two ponds around our house, one in the front, one in the back. Thankfully our house is about 4 feet off the ground on stilts, so we don't have to worry about out house washing away. Actually the rain usually drains off fairly quickly since the lava rock, which is underneath about 6-8 inches of dirt, is very porous, but it's been rainy so hard it hasn't had time to drain. See for yourself-

Birthday Party in Paradise

This weekend Ella and Sj and I went to a birthday party. The setting was beautiful as you can see.
Come visit us and we will take you here-

Happy Lei Day!

May Day is Lei Day in Hawaii

May Day is Lei Day in Hawaii
Garlands of flowers every where
All of the colors in the rainbow
Maidens with blossoms in their hair
Flowers that mean we should be happy
Throwing aside our load of care
Oh! May Day is Lei Day in Hawaii
May Day is happy day out here.

Hawaiian singer

Ukulele Band

Hula dancers

Huli Huli Chicken

The Lei we made!

Latest Still Life

I haven't painted a still life in a while, so a couple of months ago I collected some items from around the yard(mac nuts, flowers, moss, etc.) and from around the house(vases, bowls,etc.) to create some different possible paintings. Here is the first that I decided to paint:

It's 16"x20". It's for sale.

Hiking in a white out

I took Ella and Sj to the steam vents trail that Lucy and I had been to last week. We walked a little further along the trial this time. I thought they would enjoy it. But it was very cloudy(it's at 4000 feet) and a little voggy and there were lots of cliffs without guard rails which freaked St. John out. When I say "cliffs" I mean sharp 500-800 foot drop offs. Needless to say, we stayed on the trail!

Sweet Ella

I wanted to share a couple of Ella's creations that she made for ME on the iPad. I can't believe how loving and sweet she is---especially to her Mama.

ELLA Smella

to Preach

I've never thought of myself as well spoken, certainly not as any sort of preacher. And honestly, I don't like the word preach that much, it makes me think of someone who is preachy, which is not a positive assessment.
But I love this quote by St. Francis of Assisi "Preach the gospel at all times, and when necessary use words." It's about the way we live, the way we treat others, whether while at the grocery or driving, or at home with our families. It also reminds me of my many years sitting in the church pews(living in the Bible Belt) listening to hundreds of sermons preached, wondering if I could ever get it right. All the theology and Bible knowledge was overwhelming and over emphasized. My point is, if I want to show God's love to others, it's not about what I say, not about how many hours I spend in a church pew, it's about how we treat others in the everyday.


This post was inspired by a blog I follow. See and be inspired here.

Challah

Lucy and I made some Challah or egg bread today. We sprinkled poppy seeds on top to make it extra pretty. Yum!

Steam Vents trail with Lucy

Lucy and I visited the Volcano National Park today and walked the short, beautiful Steam Vents trail. 

Lucy, such a trouble maker, trying to climb over the safety rails.

Steam vent, one of MANY.

Lucy trying to decide which way we should go next.

Smoke from Kileaua.

Looking over a huge cliff that goes down to the Kileaua Caldera

The cliff from a side view.

Two things about living in Hawaii

But first a lovely landscape pic--

First, on being a minority. After living in the Southeast US my entire life as a white person, it's a change. I hardly even think about it or notice it though, but yesterday at the mall I made the point to look at all of the (beautiful) races of people. It is such a wonderful melting pot of races here. It's hard to know "what" a person is, and most people just don't care, thankfully.

Second, on going to church. The first practical issue we have is the fact that most of the churches are about 25 miles away....can you say, lack of the sense of community?
Second, hardly anyone goes to church. At least hardly anyone we've met. This is so totally different than living in the Bible Belt. This fact doesn't bother us, it's just eye opening.
Another issue we've had with the church we were attending is the lack of kids/families that were involved. And then, when the church would attempt to have Sunday School usually a teenage kids would teach it and many times would teach some very important facts wrong. For example, one kid was trying to teach about the story of Mary and Joseph and somehow thought that when Jesus was "conceived" they had been married a long time and were trying to have a baby for a long time and that's why they were so excited about Mary being pregnant with Jesus. Wow, there are so many issues there, where to begin?!
Anyway, we've been to church once since Christmas, and are still contemplating it.

I'm thinking about entering this contest:

Schaefer Portrait Challenge
2012 Exhibit Prospectus

The Maui Arts & Cultural Center is pleased to present the Schaefer Portrait Challenge 2012, a statewide juried competition opening on Maui, January 8, 2012. First held in 2003, again in 2006 and 2009, the Challenge continues to encourage Hawai‘i’s artists to chronicle the changing face of our community through exploration in portraiture in 2- and 3-dimensional work.


I just need to find someone to paint here on the BIg Island. If you know someone interesting that you think wouldn't mind being photographed---PLEASE LET ME KNOW!!!!!

Back to life

I'm finally feeling a little more "normal". I'm even thankful that I feel well enough to do dishes and change a diaper and make dinner! Last night as I was making Julia Child's quiche recipe I broke some of our chickens eggs and noticed that there were two yolks in two of the eggs. I've never seen that before, so I had to take a picture:

Also, before my surgery I was sewing lots of dresses to sell at the market, but yesterday I decided it was time for me to make a little dress for little Lucy:

Simple Faith

I believe faith is simple. It's easy to try and make our faith complicated. Why do we do this? To make ourselves think we've got it figured out while others don't, to exclude, perhaps. Jesus says we should come to him with faith like a child. Simple faith.

I was reading a book set in South Africa. The people in the book had simple faith. Here are a couple of my favorite quotes from the book.

"I am very happy because I work for God. Even when there is no money, God can pay me. Everything we have, it comes from God."

A family with no food and no money:
"My wife was crying to me all the time." I say, "My wife, stop crying to me! Cry to Jesus!"
"You say we have run out of food and money. I say we have run out of faith."



Faith is a gift. An undeserved gift. I don't want to complicate that idea.

VERY Exciting News!!

Mark's Portrait DVD is for sale online! http://www.thecardermethod.com/store.html


You can watch him paint me.

APRIL 8th

April 8th was post-op day 5 for me and also, Ella's 8th Birthday. We had a quiet family birthday celebration here at home. Ella choose some new movies for her birthday, so they got to watch one of them. She wanted Key Lime Pie, so we made one together and all ate it together. Then last night we went to eat Thai, because Ella wanted Spring Rolls and coconut tapioca. It was a good day, I tried to take some pics:

Ella's thoughts about her Birthday, etc.:
"For my birthday I got a Moon Dough set for making pizza. I love it so much. And the BIG surprise was a bunk bed. I can't wait to put it up. I am going to sleep on the top bunk.
On my birthday I got to eat artichoke's with lemon butter dip, I love artichokes. I can't believe I'm 8 years old.
Yesterday at Pohoiki, I went swimming, but instead of jumping off the dock, Pop wanted me to swim to him. WE also went snorkeling, and I saw a flat fish that was very shiny and it was trying to blend in with the rocks, but because it was so shiny I could still see it."

Help Steve Malone

Steve Malone is one of our dearest friends. Even though he is about 5000 miles away, we want to help him all we can, so I shall repost here how you can help him:

I am sure you have heard that Steve Malone has been diagnosed with stage 4 pancreatic cancer. It has spread to other organs and the medical prognosis is not hopeful.

I met with Steve recently. He is very weak and has to rest a lot. He has had his lungs drained of fluid three times. He started chemo last week and it wiped him out. He will have two more rounds then a break and I think they will try to determine if it is doing him any good. Apart from divine intervention, he does not have long. He is so weak right now he can't take calls.

His financial situation is not good. He can't work and has basically gone through all of his savings. I want to make an appeal to many who know him to consider helping him financially on a monthly basis. I have talked with our elders about accepting donations in our mercy fund for this purpose.

I would like to find 30 people who would support him for $100 a month until his death. Do you know people who might want to help? I know he has lost contact with many people and many have questions about all that has transpired.

I want to keep a roof over his head and try to help cover his living expenses for the remainder of his life. If anyone has any questions they can call or email me.

Checks can be sent to me made out to First Presbyterian Church and mailed to 105 S. George Wallace Drive, Troy, AL 36080.

Please forward this email to anyone who might want to help.

In Christ,

Michael Alsup