This temporary life

Chris and I recently listened to an excellent sermon by our favorite Bible teacher, Jack Crabtree, in which he discussed this parable from the 12th chapter of Luke:

     "The ground of a certain rich man yielded an abundant harvest. He thought to himself, 'What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.' Then he said, 'This is what I'll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store my surplus grain. And I'll say to myself, "You have plenty of grain laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry."'
     But God said to him, 'You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?'
     "This is how it will be with those who store up things for themselves but are not rich toward God."

Jack's sermon said the man's mistake was not in storing up grain, but in making the things of this world important instead on focusing on God and life in His eternal kingdom. When the man's life ends unexpectedly, he is prepared to live many years on earth in comfort, but he is not ready for heaven. Scripture also reminds us to be ready to meet our maker because he will come unexpectedly, "like a thief in the night."

Last week, Chris and I sat behind Willy at church. This week we attended his memorial service. No one knew he would die suddenly from a heart attack, but we all know he believed in the promises of God and was sold out for Jesus. He was ready to die at any time. Chris also lost his aunt, Mary, this week. She died after a short battle with cancer. And yesterday, we rode our dirtbikes up Mauna Kea and explored wreckage of a military fighter jet that, years ago, crashed into the mountain. I doubt the pilot expected the plane to crash before take off. We need to be ready. Everyone dies so this seems pretty obvious, yet it's easy, at least for me, to get distracted by the here and now instead of laying up treasure in heaven. The Bible says, where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. God has so many awesome things in store for those who belong to Christ, I hope this post encourages you to chase after God and His kingdom.

Chris inspects wreckage of some sort of military fighter jet we found at approx. 11,500 feet elevation on Mauna Kea.

Chris and Christoph examine the evidence and try to piece together what happened when the plane went down.

Adz

Chris and I have gone up Mauna Kea twice looking for the adz quary that we are told lies somewhere near 11,000 feet. Apparently, lava broke out under a sheet of ice during the ice age and cooled very quickly, forming a dense, non-porous rock great for making tools. I am told rocks from this spot have been found throughout the Hawaiian islands. We thought it was be interesting to see the site and evidence of chiseling. We did find pretty dense rock and some evidence of human disturbance, but Chris doesn't think it was "the spot."

We also hiked up this puu near Onizuka Center at around 9,000 feet.

Uhu

Folks might get tired of seeing dead fish pictures, but I have to show off this nice uhu I shot with my speargun off the Kona Coast a couple of weekends ago. It's the nicest uhu I have ever shot and these fish are pretty wise to divers so they're not easy to get.
I dove down to make my move on the fish and he started moving away, but my husband helped herd him back toward my direction. So I placed a rock between me and where I hoped the fish would swim so he wouldn't see me, and when the uhu came around the other side of that rock I shot him. We ate half of it for dinner and the other half is in the freezer.
Someone asked me if I am sure the fish is a "he" and I am sure. Only "super males" get this color. From what I understand, super males have a harem of red female uhus, and when the super male dies, the alpha female changes gender and becomes the new super male. I think it's more complicated than that, I don't quite understand the details. But you can read all about it in the best Hawaii fish book I have ever seen, Hawaiian Reef Fishes by John P. Hoover.
I really enjoy diving, we go about once a month and pretty much always bring home something to eat. I love seeing all the different critters in the ocean, learning to hold my breath longer and improving my skills as an underwater hunter. It's a great way to spend a Saturday.

The pomellos of Pololu

A few weeks ago Chris and I drove up to Pololu Valley in Hawi and hiked back into the valley through thick jungle. About a mile in we found a pomello tree just loaded with fruit. Pomello is a giant sized Hawaiian grapefruit with a thick rind and light colored flesh. Wow, they were yummy. We hauled a couple home. Two fruit filled our backpack and were heavy enough for the steep slog back up to the car.

This dry creek bed led us back down the valley.



Part way down the trail into the valley we posed for this photo wearing t-shirts from our favorite Lake Minnetonka bass fishing guide.

Midnight Mantas

My co-worker Melanie and I took four YWAM students out to swim with the manta reys last night. The Sheraton in Keauhou shines bright lights on the ocean which attracts plankton which attracts mantas that eat the plankton. Our group had limited snorkeling experience and high onshore winds all day made the water a bit rough, but we went anyway and everyone had a great time, although one girl got a bit sea sick and had to palu. They also used borrowed, unfamiliar and old, untested gear, including the most ghetto wetsuit you have ever seen, owned by my husband when he lived in Oregon 13 years ago and repaired many times.

Mantas showed up at around 8 p.m. and we sorted our gear, jumped in the water in Keauhou Bay and swam around the point to the hotel. It's pretty dark so it was hard to spot our entry point and the ocean was sloshy so instead of climbing out on wana covered rocks, we swam a bit further and got out of the water by walking up the Keauhou boat ramp. One girl exclaimed, "That was a trip of a lifetime!" That made the effort worthwhile!

Our group, before jumping in the ocean. The girl second from the left is wearing our ghetto wetsuit backwards. They photo doesn't reveal just how "prime" that wetsuit is.

One of three mantas feeding in the bay last night.

Kona Motorcycles Shop

Chris continues to develop his Kona motorcycles shop business. The Kona motorcycles business is growing. He still does other businesses too. His soil consulting is about 1/3 of his time and the Kona Motorcycles Shop is picking up so that he hardly has time to work on house remodeling anymore.

The motorcycle shop is a little different kind of motorcycle repair shop in Kona. It is a one man motorcycles repair shop working out of simple facilities ( the north half of our house and garage). It is by appointment only. Which is good because we didn't want Kona motorcycle owners stopping by whenever. They call first and make an appointment for the service they need for their motorcycle. Our home number has become the motorcycle shop number so when you call do not be surprised if it sounds all business like, it is still our home phone too. The thing we did not anticipate is the calls for the Kona motorcycles shop at odd hours. Sunday night at 9:00pm somebody will call and want to talk to Chris about motorcycle repair. Chris usually takes the calls and doesn't mind talking shop. Customers seem to like it when they can talk directly to the motorcycle mechanic who will give them straight answers about how he can help them and their motorbike.

Kona Motorcycle Shop is a small shop where they can stay with their motorcycle and watch Chris service their bike, if they want to, they can learn what the mechanic is doing and increase their own repair skills. Hanging out with their bike during the service seems to be a feature people really like. Kona Motorcycle Shop focuses on scheduled maintenance, service and light repairs of metric motorcycles. Customers are giving Kona Motorcycles Shop good reviews and seem to be recommending it to friends, more people keep coming.
 

Photo Book

Click here to view this photo book larger
I finally finished up our latest photobook and thought I'd share it in case anyone has a extra time on their hands and wants to see the pictures I put together from the past year. Though, you'll recognize many of them from the blog.
Creating these photbooks can be pretty time consuming but it's been a great way for us to preserve our favorite pictures. Otherwise, the photos sit on our computer and we never look at them.

Shutterfly allows you to customize your photo book just the way you want.

Miscellaneous Stuffs

Chris, Christoph and I camped on the beach at Kiholo Bay a few weeks ago, and my parents joined us for part of the evening by the campfire. We ate s'mores, had good company and burned a bunch of scrap lumber that was piling up in the back yard. Later in the evening, the stars were incredible and it was so peaceful to lay in the tent and listen to the waves. I have to say I am impressed by the changes the state has implemented at Kiholo - limiting the number of campers and keeping trucks off the beach. It's not remote camping by any means, but it's such a better experience than it was before when hundreds of people were bootleg camping and trashing the place.

We pulled a hand of bananas down the other day. I'll bet it weight 60 pounds.

 

I got a new tire for my dirt bike, but not before I used up the little bit of rubber that was left on the old one.

If Santa can fit down a chimney...

Chris took a video as we squeezed through Spooky Gulch, a slot canyon near Escalante, Utah. It was gorgeous and a lot of fun, though a little disappointing that we drove more than 20 miles each way down an unmarked, gravel road only to arrive at a parking lot full of cars. Passing other hikers in the slot wasn't very fun. But I can't blame people for wanting to go here, it was remarkable. At one point, the "canyon" was so narrow my foot became wedged between rocks because the floor was not as wide as my foot. (I always have had wide feet)

The noise in the video is Chris' backpack, scraping against the walls. The A heart C graffiti on the canyon wall was not ours. There must be another Andrea out there somewhere who loves a different Chris. Who can blame her?

My coyote caller

I've always known that my sweetheart used to enjoy the art of coyote hunting. On our Utah trip, he brought his coyote calls to see if we could bring one in just for kicks. We hunkered down and sure enough, within 10 minutes we had a coyote in sight. The animal's sense of sound was phenomenal. From miles away it knew the exact origin of the sound. The sense of smell is amazing, too. Apparently, coyotes always circle around their prey and approach from downwind. We only caught two short glimpses of our coyote. It smelled us and left without a trace.

I have limited knowledge of animal calls, yet I am sure my husband operated his calls like a pro. One sounds like a dying deer, the other mimics a suffering rabbit. I always assumed coyote hunting was an obscure past time until we visited the Sportsman's Warehouse in St. George where we discovered an entire rack of coyote calls, not to mention the aisle of duck calls, room full of elk calls and warehouse of other various animal sound making devices. Now I am just getting carried away.

 

One night the coyotes complained about our campfire when they emerged at the edge of the forest.

 

Spending time with dad

Half way through our Utah camping trip my dad flew out to Las Vegas and joined us. It was great to spend some time with him doing some of the things we like so much. Seeing the Grand Canyon together was especially memorable for me. When I was three years old, we took a trip to the Grand Canyon and as I grew I often thought about going back to what was, in my mind, the best place in the whole world. Then we started a Grand Canyon fund - fundraising consisted of throwing all of our change into the glove compartment of my family's 1978 GMC conversion van (two toned green, last I heard, it still runs) My dad promised we would return to see the canyon in 1989, but as the story goes, my parents won a trip to Hawaii through Carquest auto parts, and the Grand Canyon lost priority.

The hike up to Angel's Landing in Zion National Park was another highlight. I did this hike in 2006 and it intrigued my dad. The landing is a 1,200 foot high rock formation with trails carved into the rock. During the last portion of the hike, the trail clings to a narrow ridge that is sandwiched between two drop offs. A lot of hand contact with the rocks is required and you'd rather not fall!

 

We also took dad through his first slot canyon, which really turned out to be a winner. He kept saying, "I can't believe how much fun were having!" I guess that's why we keep choosing Utah as our favorite vacation spot.