HE IS RISEN! - Easter in Hawaii...

So we have officially had our first major holiday away from our home, friends, and family-- and it's been different, a little sad, interesting, and great all at the same time. It is strange to be out in 85 degree weather hunting for Easter eggs as we remember usually it would be our first Spring outing in Bend, bundled up to brave the crisp Central Oregon air.  In case you were wondering, plastic eggs full of chocolate, in a tropical climate, don't jive very well at all. The kids found eggs full of a mysterious brown goo mixed with bright foil bits.  No wonder the community egg hunt we did yesterday had eggs full of silly bands and erasers.  We are a bit slow at times- blame it on the Vog.  That's always a good scapegoat for most things.  Anyway, we went to a sunrise Easter service this morning with about 1000 other people from multiple churches.  We admit that we are a touch of crazy getting our kids up at 5:30, but it was totally worth it!  What an incredible time of worship as the sun rises over Mauna Kea!  There were many hula dancers that were dressed up to a tee in traditional Hawaiian attire and dancing their hearts out to glorify God--which I never really connected Hula and worship, but now I am begining to understand the deep Christian roots in this land. We ate a gourmet breakfast at McDonald's as nothing else in town was open.  Most local businesses and even big chains will close here for most anything.  Even on Good Friday most banks and grocery stores were closed at least part of the day!  I think it's great to make sure to stop and remember why these specific days are important.  Most everyone else just plows right on through it.  We played on the beach for a while, then had our own little egg hunt and Easter Linner (ya know Lunch & Dinner) but with the regular Costco ham.  Now we are realizing we will be eating ham until Memorial Day- so send us your best ham recipes! 
       So we broke down and upgraded to iPhones this last week and this hopefully will make it much easier to keep connected with you all.  Lallie wanted to remind everyone that she frequently updates her Facebook page with new pics, especially now with Instagram on the iphone.  I know nothing about Facebook and am trying to make it my life goal to remain ignorant so don't go to my page (which Lallie set up for me) She has become an iPhone addict overnight and I have to literally pull it out of her white-knukled hands so she will attend to some basic hygiene duties.  We love to Facetime or Skype for anyone out there that would like to "see" us - please let us know!
     Work is really going well.  I have settled into somewhat of a routine and I am no longer the newbie.  The clinic has hired two more providers which brings us to 8 full-time and 3 part time providers plus all of the behavioral health team.  I think the clinic is up to 60-70 employees now and we continue to grow.  This is the kind of job where I can actually see NOT getting burned out in community medicine, not to say that there aren't crazy challenges here.  The support I have behind me makes my job possible most of the time. 
    A little praise- finances are challenging here with the cost of living one of the highest in the country.  Electricity is down right insane- 45 cents per kilowatt- compared to about 10 in Oregon.  So that means running a night light for a month runs you around the cost of a new iPhone, well not quite -but sures seems like it.  The kids now refer to me as the Light Nazi instead of Daddy.  So- word of advice don't move to Hawaii to get rich cause that ain't gonna happen.  We knew that going into this thing. Anyway, to the praise- our car's 4WD was acting up and actually was stuck in 4 LOW for some time.  We got connected with a Christian mechanic recommended to us and he said it would be about $1200 to fix but he would look around for a cheaper part.  About 2 months later- yes 2 months = Hawaii Time- he found it for about $300 but also at the same time our brakes were going out.  He said $560 for full brake job and we scheduled both to be done even though we really couldn't afford that.  The day before the appointment the 4WD corrected itself completely and works perfectly AND we got a completely random check in the mail for $560!!!  The car is fixed and PRAISE GOD!
    More praises- Clay accepted Christ in his heart yesterday after reading through the Easter Story!!  He is one bright young boy who seems to really get what Christ did for all of us and is not ashamed of the Gospel at 6 years old!!  It is a good reminder for Lallie and I that maybe we are doing a couple things right through all of our mistakes and imperfections and more importantly God is GOOD!!  I recorded the time with him yesterday and you can view it at http://vimeo.com/39995262 .
Thanks for checkin' in with us and we again so miss you all.  We will be in Oregon 4/20-5/7 but mainly in Bend 4/30-5/5.  Would love to see you all!!  Here are some pictures of our most recent adventures....

Pony rides at the Easter festival in Kealekekua

Sweet little dude

Why are we doing this mommy?

Yep, homemade Easter 'baskets'.



Check out the Easter Bunny's face paint, huh?! Evie's face is priceless!

Sis like geckos too! Especially baby ones=)

At the Sonrise service Easter morning - so cool!