Work has been so crazy this week!!! This is what I get for going on vacation!

I went to the Camp Cherith Women's Retreat 2 weekends ago with Rena, Jessica, Patty, Emily, Sarah, and Melani and we had a great time! First, we (all except for Jessica) had breakfast at BC Cafe in Claremont (one of my all-time favorite restaurants!) and then went out to Cabazon to do some shopping. We had decided last year that this would become an annual tradition....breakfast at BC Cafe and outlet shopping at Cabazon! Then, we met up with Jessica at the Rubio's at the bottom of the hill and had dinner and then head up the mountain. Luckily, it wasn't quite as cold this year. Last year, it was so cold that the roads were icy and my car doesn't have 4 wheel drive and so we were slipping and sliding all over the road! Yikes!

2 of my co-workers, Michelle and Eva, went to the retreat as well! It was a great time. It pretty much rained almost the entire time we were there and it even snowed on Saturday night! What's so weird is that just 2-3 years ago, it was warm enough that we were wearing shorts and went hiking and everything! The theme of the year for Camp Cherith (where I started attending summer camp every year in 1981!) is Rock Solid, and that's for all the weekend retreats as well as the summer camp.

What was awesome was that I got to spend a lot of time hanging out with Jessica and Rena. I hardly ever get to see Jessica (even though I talk to her like, at least 3-4 times a week!) because we're both really busy....she's a stay-at-home mom of 2 young girls and, well, y'all know my schedule... =) In fact, I think it had easily been like, at least 6 months since the last time I saw her! And what was really cool was that she, Rena, and I got to hang out and talk on Friday night.

After the Women's Retreat, I went to hang out with my friend, Meg, and her baby, Brendan. I hadn't seen Meg since last July! It's tough because she and Andy live all the way out in Fontana!! So, it was very nice to be able to hang out with her. We just hung out and talked and I went to go get In-N-Out for dinner. Then, afterwards, I went down (yeah, I know, I'm crazy!) to Irvine and hung out with my cousin's wives, Cindy and Rebecca, and our friend, Dorcas, to tell them about everything that had happened with Catalina and the previous Saturday when Matt and I had gone out. Then, I went home and talked on the phone with Rita until about 2:45 am. We talked about some really interesting stuff that I need to process through, regarding spiritual gifts.

My flight to Kauai left on Monday at 5:30 so Iris came over at 2:30 and we had lunch and then she took me to the airport. The flight was a tough one. I spent almost the entire time re-reading and taking notes on "The New Birth Order Book" and "The Birth Order Connection: Finding and Keeping the Love of Your Life" in preparation for the talk on birth order that I'll be giving at Patrick's church (for his fellowship group) on April 4th. I've been having dreams (perhaps nightmares?) about this talk that I'm giving....like I'm totally not prepared and stuff like that. It'll be interesting, that's for sure!

Susie picked me up from the airport and we headed to our, well, it wasn't really a hotel, it was more like a condo. The next morning, on our way to pick Erin (an old roommate of mine...she was home in Oahu for her brother's wedding and came to Kauai and spent a day and a half with us!) up from the airport, I called the Papa John's in Whittier and ordered a pizza to be delivered to Matt in his classroom. Just the day before, I had put a card in the mail so that it would get to his house on Tuesday afternoon and he'd get it when he got home from work. The card had a color drawing of a cat sitting on the edge of a couch and a dog with its nose in the cat's butt. hahahha =) And inside, the card read, "What's up at your end?" And I wrote, "How was the pizza?" =)

We went and got breakfast at Oki's and then went up to the Kalalau trail to go hiking. We were gonna do the 4 mile hike! (Yeah, rather ambitious of us!) But, halfway into it, it started raining pretty hard and none of us was prepared for rain so we wound up turning back. We went to a Farmer's Market and got some really good white pineapple and apple bananas. We were going to have dinner at Coconut's (recommended to us by Kay at Oki's) at 5 so we didn't have lunch. We stopped by Princeville where we did some window shopping and then hiked some more and went to 2 different beaches. The waters there are gorgeous!!! We had a really good dinner at Coconut's (our waiter was very cute!) =) and then head back to Poipu. We were so tired from the day that we didn't even end up watching any movies! (Susie bought a portable DVD player and I brought 28 of my DVDs and we both brought a lot of yarn!)

The next day, we went up to Waimea Canyon and were going to go on a hike but by the time we packed our lunch and go out the door, it was kinda late so we wound up only doing half of the 3.5 mile hike because we had to get Erin back to the airport so that she could get home to go to her niece's birthday party that afternoon. On the way down the mountain, Susie was driving kinda fast and Erin got car-sick (poor thing!) and we wound up having to take it slowly the rest of the way.

After we dropped Erin off, we went and did some shopping at Wal-Mart. I got a lot of the Kauai Kookies because they're so good! I also got lots of Island Heritage souvenirs! Then, we went back and just laid out at the Lawai Beach which was right across from where we were staying. (Pictures of all these places will be on my website! Click Picture Gallery, Trips, and Kauai, '03!)

The next day, I wasn't feeling well so we wound up watching "XXX" and crocheting in the morning and then head out and did some shopping at Hilo Hattie's where I bought 2 sun dresses (I have some weddings to attend this spring!)! We also decided to go on another hike to the Blow Horn, which was near Poipu, and wound up going to the Spouting Horn and buying some jewelry there! I bought 2 pairs of earrings and a ring! After that, we went and laid out at the beach again (saw a monk seal!) and then showered and went to have dinner at Duke's Kauai (they also have a restaurant in Malibu...Duke's Malibu which is where Erin and Josh had their California wedding reception a year and a half ago....awesome food! And they have this dessert which is just amazing!) where we had a really good dinner!

We went back and finally got to crochet and watch movies! Then on Friday, we did that hike that we didn't finish on Wednesday and wound up getting lost so we didn't get to see the Waipoo Falls! I guess I'm just going to have to go back! =)

On Saturday, my flight from Kauai to Oahu left at 12 so I had to be at the airport early. It was a really long day. I wound up waiting at the Honolulu airport for nearly 3 hours for my flight back to the mainland. I got a lot of crocheting done though! When I got back, my roommate, Tara, picked me up at the airport and we used one of her Buddy Passes so that I could get my flight out to Denver to go visit Dan in October.

I didn't sleep in on Sunday morning because I went to church at Journey Covenant because it'd been like, 3 weeks since I'd gone to church! Then I went home and started cleaning my room, which is long overdue! Our Bible study just started a new book and we're studying the 7 qualities that Peter exhorts us to add to our faith in 2 Peter 1:5-7: goodness, knowledge, self-control, perseverance, godliness, brotherly kindness, and love. I definitely feel like this situation is challenging and teaching me in the area of perseverance. It's also challenging my faith...do I trust that the Lord, in His infinite goodness and wisdom, will bring about that which is His will for my life in this area? To be quite honest, it's not been the easiest thing to do....to trust that He's going to make it happen if it's His will. And in some ways, there's really no reason that I shouldn't be trusting Him. So, why is it that I'm having trouble looking to the future and trusting (i.e., not stressing) that if it's the Lord's will, then it will happen in His perfect timing? Because I'm a control freak!!!!! Ack!!!!