Family Withdrawals

I just spent the past two weeks with a house full of family visiting from the mainland.  It's funny how you don't notice how much you need something until you can't find it.  

My Brother Paul marinating a mean Carne Asada

Take Mexican food for example, I love me some Mexican food!  Friends from both Hawaii and Colorado can attest to this truth.  There's nothing quite like chili verde, menudo, carne asada, and flautas.  Okay, I'm making my stomach growl just thinking about it.  No, Taco Bell is NOT authentic Mexican food.  Those who have had the "real deal" know the difference between a carne asada taco at a great Mexican food restaurant and a taco from Taco Bell.  No comparison!  It's been one of the more challenging quests upon our arrival in Hawaii, to find some authentic Mexican Food.  This is why every Mexican restaurant we go to, we have to  look in the kitchen to see if the cook is in fact, a Mexican. My brother, Paul, made it a point to make me my two favorite Mexican comfort foods during his stay here (Green Chili and Carne Asada).  Now that's LOVE!  Often times, we do not appreciate a good thing until we have to go with out it.

On our way to the Beach with Bela

When it comes to family, I think the same is true. Having family here was absolutely the highlight of my kids' summer.  My sister (she's actually my close cousin whom I grew up referring to as my sister), Sacha got married on Oahu.  Her and her new husband Chris, had an amazing wedding on the North Shore with lots of friends and family here to celebrate the joyous occasion with them.  My mom, my brother Paul and his wife Mary, my Aunt Pat and Uncle John (parents of the bride), My Aunt Jeanette, my cousin Clint, and my sweet niece Isabela all came to Hawaii for the wedding. We created many fond memories with them and I hope that it's the beginning of many future visits from family.  Isabela or "Bela" as we call her, spent an extra week with us while her parents spent their honeymoon on a neighboring island.  During this time, her and Abi got really close.  Abi being a few years younger than Bela, was able to connect  with a girly girl like herself who has similar interests and hobbies.  When we dropped Bela and her parents off at the airport to say the final goodbye, Abi lost it.  She was really upset.  She cried the entire ride home from the airport and continued to cry into the night.  She's so tenderhearted and has a genuine love for people (much like her daddy).  

Consoling Abi after saying goodbye

Abi and Zekey have recently took on the art of text messaging.  Abi who is soon to be a second grader, can send fully legible messages, complete with smiling faces and hearts.  Zekey's messages look something like this, "jaoiljkio olkjljj i kkljalfi erh!"  He giggles as he sends them because although he's learning to read and can recognize some words, most of what he sees when he reads is gibberish.  Abi and a few of her cousins have been corresponding through messages on their "i things" ipads and ipods.   We do monitor their conversations and limit their online interactions but it has been really exciting to see the kids grow in this area.  In the days since Bela's departure, they've been corresponding through these type of messages.  

It reminds me of my sister and I.  When Sacha and I were little we were pen pals.  We wrote hundreds of letters to each other over the course of time starting from the age of 6 years old well into our teenage years.  I can still remember rushing to the mailbox when I'd get home from school just to see if there was a letter from Sacha waiting for me.  It was often the highlight of my day and sometimes week.  Yes, we used snailmail back then (don't laugh), it was long before the days of emails and text messages (okay you can laugh).  As adults, we can sit and laugh about it now.  We remember how silly we once were and how we'd spend hours talking or writing about the funny stories that made up our understanding of life as we knew it.  It is interesting to see myself in my daughter.  I can look at her life, all seven years of it, so far, and be full of excitement for her future.  

I bet that's a lot like how God sees us.  As His children, He can see Himself in us.  Not only that but, He can see the silliness of our worries and the limitations of our understanding.  He can look beyond our time here on earth and smile because He knows that our future is not only bound to what we can see but there is hope for so much more.  Just as Abi can smile at Zekey's gibberish because she's a few years down the road, and I can smile at Abi's letters, I know that the Lord can and often does smile at our situation.  He can see where the road ends.  Maybe at the moment all you can see is what is in front of you.  Maybe all you can remember is the sorrow you feel by your emptynested heart from having to say goodbye too soon.  Maybe all you can see is gibberish when you open God's word to hear from Him.  Perhaps your current situation is too complicated to even make sense of.  Can I encourage you that there is hope.  Here is a promise that you and I can cling to:

Hebrews 10:22-25 So let’s do it—full of belief, confident that we’re presentable inside and out. Let’s keep a firm grip on the promises that keep us going. He always keeps his word. Let’s see how inventive we can be in encouraging love and helping out, not avoiding worshiping together as some do but spurring each other on, especially as we see the big Day approaching.     

We might be discouraged or experiencing something similar to family withdrawals, but spur on my friends! Get a "firm grip" on His promises because HE keeps his word.