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.

Chock Family Vacation 2010

Click to see the latest pics from our little family vacation!

Hike the Y

So back before all this re-visit to winter weather began, we decided to hike up to the Y. We lived to tell the tale.

James' 1st Day of Preschool

James is loving preschool. Here are some pics from his first day:


We rode bikes to school on the first day. He loved it!




James in his element: dirt. Or at least sand, in this instance.



He called this a painting of a waterfall...hmm...




Wow. All our kids are in school. Cool.

We'll miss you, Dottie...

Last Thursday evening, Dottie threw up right around bedtime. She threw up a bunch of grapes. Apparently while she was over at our neighbor's house (where her little brother Pixel lives), she helped herself to some of the grapes growing in the back yard.

We didn't know grapes could be toxic to dogs.

Over the course of the last few days, she stopped eating. She was lethargic and losing weight. She mostly slept. We took her to a vet who gave us some hope. So, we tried feeding her chicken broth with one of those syringe-like medicine droppers, which worked for a while but she wasn't getting enough and then yesterday she just stopped swallowing. We gave her Pepto Bismol (that vet's suggestion) a couple of times, but that just seemed like animal cruelty. She would drink some water, but by Monday her urine would come out pretty clear, a sign of kidney failure.

This morning the vet ran some tests, and sure enough she had super-elevated levels of things a little puppy like her shouldn't have.

We decided to euthanize.

We decided to be present, to be able to give her one last hug before we released her. Rebecca and the two older kids had a tough time. I stayed stoic (I know, typical guy), though I did get sniffly. Angela was very positive, reminding us that Dottie was going to be happy now, no more pain. And James was...well, James.

The vet was awesome (thanks for referring us, Jen). Very personable but very professional. They gave us a nice little cardboard coffin for her.

We took her to Grandma and Grandpa O'Neal's house in Payson. They've got a big backyard. We had a little funeral for Dottie, just our family. The three older kids wrote letters that we buried with her. Here are some excerpts:

From Isaac:

I'm so sorry for letting you get grapes will you forgive me?

From Maile:

I hope to see you in heaven someday Dottie, you deserve the best place a dog could ever have.

From Angela:

I hop that you will hav a grat time up in Hevin. I hope you will make noo frends.

Some of the positives we were able to identify from this experience:

- The kids learned about being responsible (they actually all helped a lot with feeding, cleaning up, etc.)

- ALL our friends who knew about Dottie who have dogs of their own now know about grapes

- The kids get to learn about dealing with loss

- We have great memories of a fun, cute dog that surely brought happiness into our home.

We'll miss you Dottie!