No guilt in life, no fear in death
This is the power of Christ in me
From life’s first cry to final breath
Jesus commands my destiny
No power of hell, no scheme of man
Can ever pluck me from His hand
‘til He returns or calls me home
Here in the power of Christ I’ll stand
"In Christ Alone"
We found him in the garage shop. When they're done (Update 2.0 - "they" being my friends who run the garage, and "done" meaning "done changing the oil in my Explorer" LOL), I'll take him to the vet and see if they can find him a good home...
UPDATE! Well, I found out that little Dipstick is actually a "she." I tried dropping her at the vet, but they really couldn't take her, so she went to the Danville Humane Society. It practically broke my heart, leaving her there! I know that since she's young, cute, and apparently healthy, she'll be adopted fairly quickly, but...
*sniff* Time to leave Hawaii and begin our trek home. We should be boarding in about an hour, and should arrive back at CatHouse Base in roughly 18 hours *sigh*
Earlier this year, in May, my Beloved's cousin came out here to the Big Island with his partner, and hid something for us to find when we came out. All Tom sent us was this picture, and a note that said it was within 20 miles of the resort area:
Well, my Beloved, being the genius that he is, enlisted the aid of our two nephews and the Darling Munchkin, and set out this morning to find the geocache. Of course, we had no actual coordinates, just the picture, but in a masterful display of deductive genius, they found the cache!
Wooot!
Meanwhile, my sister is halfway through her 90 minute massage, and then it's MY turn! ;-)
Last day in Hawaii for this year... It's been awesome!
We had a nasty scare today: we accidentally left my Hilton Grand Vacations beach bag at A-Bay today, and when we returned for it -within about 20 minutes - it was gone. A nearby family said that a gentleman had asked them if it was theirs, so we went looking for him and didn't find him.
Up and down A-Bay beach we went, and I confess that I fretted quite a bit. That wasn't surprising, since it had BOTH our wallets, BOTH our cell phones *AND* my beautiful Canon Rebel XSi camera!
But before I went completely off the rails, God in His kindness and grace reminded me to focus on HIM and His plan. Whatever happened - whether the bag turned up untouched or whether we had to wade through the nightmare of identity fraud - whatever happened, He was watching over me and my family. He would take care of it one way or another, and EVERYTHING would work out to His glory and to encourage me in my faith and help me learn to walk closer to Him.
God gave me opportunity to give a small witness of confidence in Him to several people, and I pray that His name will be glorified by it.
And God does not leave His children floating in the abyss! He didn't have to, but He chose in His grace to reward my poor effort of active faith with the return of the bag - the Beloved Husband is picking it up at the Hilton hotel's lost and found right now. The gentleman who picked it up did not leave his name, but I firmly believe that he was one of God's "earthly angels" doing the work of service and encouragement.
God is good. He is kind. His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He's watching over me.
A wonderful morning snorkle and sail with Ocean Sports out of ABay. Continental breakfast and lunch combined with great snorkling and aloha spirit make this money well spent. Highly recommended!
Surreal. Surreal and strangely hilarious! I saw this reviewed via a link from Instapundit (if I recall correctly), so when I saw it in the book store the other day, I HAD to get it!
I have NO IDEA what Waikoloa's golf pro thinks about all this... *grinz* However, feral goats and some feral donkeys are not that unusual a sight here in the Kona-Kohala area of the Big Island...
Of course, this poor plumeria tree got the worst of things - several of the goats stopped o give themselves a good scratch!
... life in Paradise truly Doesn't. Suck! As I said in my previous post, even though it's not yet entirely complete, we have fallen in love with our new home resort. I give deep and profound thanks to God for His generosity to us. and I thank Hilton fordesigning and building great properties and staffing them with superior people!
We bought into this particular resort perhaps about 20 months ago; we've been Hilton Grand Vacations Club® owners since 2006. We've been extremely happy with HGV, and have really used the resort stays. Combined with our Hilton HHonors points, we've really been able to leverage our resort ownership into some wonderful travel benefits!
As I say in the video, I've been quite frustrated that I could only find very basic information online, so now that we're here for our first "home resort" stay, I want to show the world how beautiful and luxurious these resorts are, and how wonderfully well Hilton builds, furnishes and manages them.
I haven't taken any video of the little pool they currently have open. It's the precursor to the large pool, which I think should be done, along with the other buildings, by October of 2009. But I do have pictures! It's a salt water pool, and I think it's quite charming (click to embiggen, of course!):
We are in building Five at the moment, which is a few buildings to the left (as you face it) of the Club House complex (still under construction). From the mock up in the Member Services Office, the main pool will be behind the Club House, and will be quite an elaborate affair. Last year, the manager, Phil, implied that the water slide here at King's Land might be bigger and better than the one at the (hotel) Hilton Waikoloa Village! Of course, I don't know for sure, and last year Phil wasn't either - but there's a bit of friendly competition going on, that's for sure!
My pictures of the mockup don't really do it justice, and it only includes the Club House and a building on either side.
Here are some of the other pictures I took, interior and exterior:
"God of Our Fathers" was written by Daniel C. Roberts in 1876 (one would assume for our Centennial) and set to music already composed by George William Warren. The CompleteLee Blog has a little Bible study, and goes a little deeper into the history of the song. More information can be found here, here and here.
God of our fathers, whose almighty hand,
Lead forth in beauty all the starry band
Of shining worlds in splendor thro' the skies,
Our grateful songs before Thy throne arise.
And how ungrateful we have become, to turn away from the One True God who brought this country into being. How sad that the songs lifted up in faith and praise to Divine Providence have faded into a background murmur! How foolish we have become, to deny His presence and power, which are proclaimed throughout Creation!
Thy love divine hath led us in the past,
In this free land by Thee our lot is cast;
Be thou our ruler, guardian, guide and stay,
Thy word our law, Thy paths our chosen way.
Father, we have turned astray from the faith and love that built this nation under Your guidance. We reject Your good law and immerse ourselves in sin and unrighteousness, we kill our own children for convenience's sake and praise vain and selfish people rather than simple, honest and good citizens. Father, lay Your hand upon this nation once again to turn us back to You in faith, trust and obedience!
From war's alarms, from deadly pestilence,
Be Thy strong arm our ever strong defense;
Thy true religion in our hearts increase,
Thy bounteous goodness nourish us in peace.
Only God can bring peace, and where the Spirit of God is, there is true liberty. It is the freedom to act with dignity and self-control, simply and humbly living for others according to God's will. It is the peace which passes all understanding, with which we can face the greatest bounty and the sorrows of war with hope and confidence, keeping our eye on the God who holds all history in His hand.
Refresh thy people on their toilsome way,
Lead us from night to never ending day;
Fill all our lives with love and grace divine,
And glory, laud, and praise be ever Thine.
Return, O Lord! Return to us and turn our hearts to You! Renew within us a right spirit, renew our minds with the washing of Your grace and Your word! Take away our hearts of stone and give us hearts of flesh that love Your commands and long to obey them! Make us into a people of praise, living Your precepts, worshiping You in spirit and in truth. Let Your work in this nation and in our hearts and lives be proclaimed to the glory of Your name throughout the world!
And though I despise the heresy of their church, you can't deny the beauty of the voices of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir:
