The children are gearing down to finish off their 2006-2007 school year. Ben will go on to grade 7 at Chiefess Kamakahelei and Aly on to grade 3 at the local elementary school. School, for the kids, is out on June 8. Seems early enough for most people to be jealous, but they start right back up again in July which is earlier than most. Just over 2 weeks to go until school ends! And Grandma Warkentin comes on Tuesday for a 3 week visit. After that, she will escort the children back to Canada for the summer. They are SO excited!! In early to mid-July, Ed and I will be attending a conference in Oregon for a few days and then we'll fly east to Winnipeg to pick up the children and fly back to Kauai. We'll probably seclude ourselves with family at the cottage. If you, especially our riverwood friends, are dying to see us... I'd suggest getting a bunch of people together for an evening of visiting. I apologize in advance but we WILL NOT have time for individual coffees. Our time in Winnipeg is sacred and very short.
Ed has returned home after a 2 week conference in the Black Hills of Keystone, South Dakota. After an initial concern of staying in a remote inn in the middle of nowhere, he settled in
comfortably and had a fabulous time of refreshment and learning with the other missionary church pastors. The sessions were an intense full day work out but there was time to play. 
Thanks to Pastor Niles, Ed can now play the Hawaiian ukulele (commonly mispronounced you-ko-lay-lee). It's correct pronounciation is "oo-koo-lay-lee". Other notable moments were sightseeing and the National Day of Prayer Summit at the Mount Rushmore Monument. Once ridiculed and mocked for wanting to see Mt. Rushmore, Ed came home in apologetic fashion and promised never to ridicule me again for wanting to see the Black Hills. He was awed and inspired by the beauty of the Hills. Unfortunately, now it's back to the grind of sermon prepping, meetings and dealing with church issues.I, sensing a lack of purpose in my life, (you can only be happy and unemployed...even on
Kauai...for so long) shared my boredom with my awesome ladies bible study group. Within a couple of weeks I was asked to do childcare in my home for one of the ladies who is also a teacher in the local school and I started volunteering at my friend's home business making jewelry. 
We make earrings, bracelets, cell phone charms, and necklace pendant using fresh water, regular and stick pearls, glass beads, swarovski crystals, beads and shells. These are a few of the earrings that I have designed.
She is getting some good reviews on my designs. She sells them in stores around the island and also at craft shows like at the one she had on Wednesday at the Kukuiolono golf course when special large groups of tourists come to play golf.Hawaiian Pidgin Lesson of the Day:
- Pau Hana - done work
- Mauka - toward the mountains
- Makai - toward the ocean
- Ami - hula move (scrape the inside of a barrel with your hips)
- Fo' real? - are you kidding me!
- He go - that's good. it'll work.
- If can, can. If no can, no can. - If you can do it, do it. If you don't have time, don't worry about it.
- Whatevahs - whatever
- Blahlah - blah, blah, blah
Other noteworthy news:
- TODAY WE CELEBRATE 16 YEARS OF MARRIAGE!!!
- EVERYONE CAN BREATHE A SIGH OF RELIEF AS ED HAS DECIDED TO SELL HIS MOTORCYCLE!! (I can hear Mom Warkentin across the Pacific Ocean saying "PRAISE BE"!!)
- Prayer request for the Buller's as we try to buy a home/land and set down some roots. The parsonage is good for us but: too close to the church.........we won't build up any equity..........the missionary church does not have a good pension.......and we are not getting any younger. Housing prices here for anything decent (and i mean decent...nothing fancy but with 3 br and 2 bath) start at $700,000. We may actually do better if we build--barn-style raising way. We need a miracle!
Aloha 'til next time!!
