A Visit From the Bishop

Not that it was required for me to feel finally welcome here in Hawaii, I've felt more than welcome already. But there really is something special about having a fellow priesthood holder come visit me and my family in my new...digs. Still adjusting to calling it home at this point. All part of the process.

And when that fellow priesthood holder is our bishop, even better.

Rebecca and I commented on how we could feel a change, a calm, warm spirit, enter our home when he came in. We hadn't finished cleaning up the mess from dinner yet and we were wrangling kids to help clean up when he showed up. He even offered to help us clean up! 

And when we finally were able to sit down together with him, we were able to "talk story" and get to know each other. Such a great story he shared, starting in Tonga, then to New Zealand, finally to Hawaii. Uplifting and humbling story. And he shared it all with a self-deprecating laugh and smile. 

He joined us for a kneeling prayer before he left and he got the Lydia hug treatment. Even though things seem kind of daunting for us here, I know that my local priesthood leader, my bishop, is ready and willing to help us. Not because it's his duty, but because he genuinely wants to.

I feel humbled and grateful to be in the Lanakila Ward. 

My Hawaii is different from their Hawaii

What an active Saturday!

We woke up  without much planned. We decided to head over to Diamond Head, or Leahi, to hike up to the top of the crater.

Now , I remember doing this when I was younger, we did it for fun. Couple few things changed: first, the fee to get in. There's a part of me that totally gets it and thinks it's a great idea to charge people at least a $1 apiece to go on the hike. There's also a part of me that has a hard time with the whole change thing. There's a concrete path for heaven's sake! Sheesh. And at the top there's that loop, you don't have to go back down through the 100 steps (Lydia counted 99, I told her to round up to 100). It's very nice, yes, but I guess some of the fun of the thing for me growing up was the feel that this wasn't really a manicured kind of hike. Oh well. I wanted to point out where my good friend Sam and I vandalized a wall but I had to be a good example to James and Lydia. I think the kids had fun, I think Lydia did great she only did a piggyback on the way down way at the bottom. Not bad for a 4 y/o.

"Lydia, look at the camera!"

"No I don't want to, I'm tired."

"Lydia, just close your eyes and imagine Icee!"

"Dad, I won't go over the edge, I promise." You can't see it but James is (gasp!) outside the fence and off the trail! He is inches away from the edge WITHOUT THE FENCE!

After that, since we were near my old stomping grounds we went into Kaimuki town and stopped at the Crack Seed store. First time I went in there with Rebecca and all 5 kids. Was fun to see the looks on their faces when they saw and smelled all the jars full of yumminess.

And of course we got Icee. With a Li Hing Mui. Yum.

Then, after that we visited Punchbowl Crater, National Cemetery of the Pacific. We paid our respects to Grandpa Chock whose urn is there.

We headed home, pretty exhausted but hoping we could hang our with our friends the Haverly family. See, they're pretty cool and they have kids around the same age as us. We hope to not overstay our welcome with them, but love to hang out with them because they're so cool.  Well, they offered to bring extra surfboards to teach the kids how to surf. Awesome!

And then my cousin Ginai wanted to hang out too. More awesome! Then my cousin and one of my favorite families in the world could meet. So we went to Chun's and the kids all had a shot at surfing. Even Lydia got the chance to stand up on a surfboard in the water. It was in the shallow water and folks were helping her. But still.

I got to learn to holoholo. I was told you shouldn't say "fishing" because then you don't catch any. It's not fishing, it's "holoholo."

Such a fun day. I'm so, so proud of my kids for trying something new. I've already told them multiple times that my goal is for them to be better at "Hawaiian things" than me. That includes surfing.

Isaac and James about to enter the water with their guide, Kala.

Maile and Angela venturing into the water with their guides Pili and my cousin Ginai.

Honolulu Zoo

We got an annual family zoo pass just for donating $10 and opening an account at Aloha Pacific FCU. Sweet! We picked Angela and James up from school and went straight there. It was pretty toasty and it was a lot of walking and looking at sleeping animals so we felt like we were melting when we finished. Then we went to the Japanese food court at Ala Moana and watched Eric's son, Nicolas, perform with his band. We haven't been leaving enough time for the kids to just be home and getting homework done…oops :)

Potty trained orangutans?

Keeping Lydia entertained

One of the interesting challenges we've faced in the short time we've been in Hawaii is keeping Lydia entertained without using what we call "screen time," which is basically anything on a screen (Netflix, games on the iPad, etc.).

See, if you didn't know, Lydia is a social butterfly. She wants to be friends with everyone. Rebecca calls it "adopting grandmas and grandpas." Our neighbors just down the hill from us would be perfect candidates for Lydia's "adopt a grandpa" program. Except, when Rebecca went down there to knock and meet the neighbors (they're very nice people, excellent neighbors), and Rebecca explained Lydia's desire to get to know them. "Do you have any grandkids that Lydia could play with sometime?" she asked.  "Oh no, we never had children. We made a choice to not have children, we believe in zero population."

Ahem.

So, we just brought 4 rowdy kids with us next door to you. Sorry if the noise bothers you, neighbors!

They do have dogs though. And they're labradoodles, similar to our Xyla, a goldendoodle. So the kids enjoy getting a little puppy therapy from the neighbors who are zero population folks.

So, Rebecca grabbed some toys and games from the clearance rack at Wal-Mart yesterday. That means that daddy gets to play goofy games like Fibber with Lydia.

Visit to Pali Lookout

Looking to get out of the sweltering heat of the house, we decided to take a little drive up the road.

James goofing off hanging off the edge of the wall overlooking the Pali Lookout.

Beautiful Angela. 

Later we went on a drive up Tantalus Drive, and then we stopped at Liliha Bakery on the way home for some yummy coco puffs.

What does "Lehi moment" mean?

After posting yesterday's post on Facebook yesterday, a good friend who was basically my mom during the two years I served an LDS mission in Brazil asked for more information about "Lehi moment." I laughed later as my mother-in-law posted a response, explaining to someone who probably taught me more about Lehi and the Book of Mormon than I learned on my own up to that point in my life, who Lehi was. 

But I guess there might be some people who don't know who Lehi is or was, maybe you don't care to know and that's fine, but maybe some context would be helpful in understanding.

Lehi was a prophet in the Book of Mormon. Kinda like Moses or Noah from the Bible. And Lehi was probably just a normal guy trying to do the right thing, being a good husband and dad I don't know, when he basically had a vision or a message directly from God that it was time for him to get the heck out of town. And so, he listened and obeyed and grabbed his family and some tents and maybe some supplies and he got out of town. Lehi left behind what seems to be a fairly comfortable life, family and friends and familiarity, to go into the unknown and travel in the wilderness. All because God told him to. There's more to it than that, but that about covers the gist of it.

So the "Lehi moment" comment refers to Lehi up and leaving everything he knows for the unknown simply because God told him to. And that's pretty much why I left Utah. There's a whole long story about how that came to pass, how I actually received my own answer, but I'll save that for another time. I read somewhere you're supposed to keep blog posts short.

The title of my post, "My Dad had a Lehi Moment" is referring to my daughter, Maile, who had to leave Provo High School going into her junior year. She found that was the best way to explain to her friends who asked "why are you moving to Hawaii?" Most of her friends being Mormon, members of our church who would understand the Lehi reference.

And we still feel very strongly that this whole move to Hawaii was an act of faith. I still have no clue why or how or what. I have some ideas but I have learned that God works in ways my imagination cannot begin to consider.

 This is Lehi finding a kind of compass known as a Liahona outside his tent. Meant to guide them on their journey by their faith in God. The muscular dude leaning over him is his son Nephi. I'm sure there's some historical inconsistencies and such in this painting, maybe not. Just trying to add "color" to my post here...

“MY DAD HAD A LEHI MOMENT…”

The Chock Family (Thomas, Rebecca, Isaac, Maile, Angela, James, and Lydia) lived in Provo, Utah for the last 14 years.

Then, back in April of 2016, dad had a Lehi moment and was told it's time to move to Hawaii.

So, we uprooted and bought one way tickets into the barelyknown.

We have been in Hawaii a little over a week now. I figured it's high time to start blogging again, and there's folks that actually are interested in knowing about what we're up to and up against here in "paradise."

And now we have older kids who can contribute as well so it's not all on Rebecca and I.

Front view of the house. Was my dad's house. My father passed away in September 2014.