August 2

The timezone switch demanded that we all get up earlier than usual this morning, which meant that I heard giggling and stuffed animal voices (oh yes, they're real things at our house) from the Little Boys' room at 4-something AM. A little later on, we were treated to several rainbows as the weather sorted itself out by morphing from pouring-down-rainy to sunny every few minutes. The craziness left us feeling unsure about a big outing, so we hung around the house for the most of the day, though we did go to the store, to the farm to check out the available produce, to get some shave ice, and to the pool.

These are all nice images from the day and they all hold meaning for me; the kids under the rainbow, the sweeping view of the ocean from the farm, our afternoon game of Clue, the shave ice eaters, and that majestic orange-y yellow sunset. But the largest pic is the one I most want to write about.

As we perused the available produce at the farm (and there wasn't much there; it seems like visitors must pick fruit and veggies before they're ripe), Abby came across a tree that boasted a huge, very ripe mango, and she wanted it. She stood at the base of the tree looking up at that mango for a minute before finally deciding that she'd try shaking it down. So she did just that: she literally shook the tree. Unfortunately for her (and likely the other visitors who no doubt wanted it but couldn't get it down from its sky-high perch), it refused to budge. Worried that she might hurt the tree, I told her to stop and she complied, but she continued her quest for a nice, ripe mango. It took a while, but after checking every tree, she finally found one, and Adam hoisted her onto his shoulders so she could pluck it for herself.

The lesson? Just because we don't get what we want doesn't mean that we won't get something that's just as good --or even better-- down the line. We need a good mix of patience, determination, and faith in order to wait in good cheer.