Practically Perfect June 27, 2010

my beloved clint returned from his deployment in
Afghanistan a few weeks ago.

i hopped a plane to hawaii as soon as i could!!

the plane ride from dever, co to honolulu  was the
most torturous ride i’ve ever been on! my ipod died
on the first leg of the journey and as i was walking
onto the plane my iphone died too!! that means no
music and no tim keller sermons. i had nothing to
keep me busy, nothing to distract me from the 8 hour
journey to see my love after 7 months of separation!

i couldn’t focus enough to read even one page of the
two books i brought. i looked through my espn
magazine…that did bring some solace for a moment.

the movies were not good AND they didn’t feed us.
i was wholly unprepared! i was anxious and so i
couldn’t really sleep. at one point i turned to the
high school girl next to me (after not talking to her
for about 3.5 hours) and said, “I’M SO BORED!!”

i had to get it out.

it was the longest plane ride of my life!
(sorry for complaining so much.  i need
you to get a clear picture of my emotional
state of being at the time )

but the moment i walked off the plane, down
the beautiful, warm, sweetly scented open air
corridors of the honolulu airport, and into
clint’s arms none of it mattered in the slightest.

(can you see the little waterfall? yes, this is the
honolulu airport!  beautiful!!)

i was there.
he was there.
we were there together!

it was perfect!

so for the next ten days we
played
ate good food
hiked
sailed
golfed
beached
paddle boarded
rode around the island on his motorcycle
and
spent time with sweet friends

it was all so perfect!
(have i said that already? oops. well, i might say it again)

i stayed with mary ann rice, an army nurse and good
friend of clint’s. her sister lisa, also an army nurse,
just left for afghanastan as clint was coming home.
i stayed in her room. it was the biggest blessing to
spend time with mary ann. she is a sweet, kind, generous
woman with a tender heart bent toward the Lord.  i really
enjoyed getting to know her better.

(can you see the view? it was a gift to get
to stay in such a lovely home for 10 days!)

on the weekdays clint had to work, so i took him
lunch at the marine corp. base

i saw heidi and ashley, who are both married now!
oh, it was good to catch up with these girls.

i missed them!!

one of the highlights for me was the sweet
meals we had with friends.

clint and i had dinner with our friend rob.
rob has been a good friend to both clint and myself
since we met him a few years ago.  he was almost in
tears as we sat with him together telling our story.
(which he’s heard, but telling it together has a different
feel to it.)

we also had dinner with our pastor and his family.
todd and marry ann capen and their girls are so precious.
clint and i loved every minute of our time with them.
they had us rolling with home videos.

and we had an amazing dinner with the malone family.
they are dear to us both. they were my first friends
at trinity.  they befriended me and loved me from
the start. and did the same with clint. it was so happy
to be together. charlie and anne have a lovely marriage
and are wise godly people.  their children, will and
caroline, are equally as lovely. they are smart, fun,
obedient teenagers who i really enjoy being around.
it was a gift for clint and i to enjoy the malone family
together on my last evening in hawaii!

…and like old times caroline got out her airsoft (i think that’s what it’s called)
pistol and we shot at stuff in their backyard.

10 days…
two sundays at trinity, our beloved church
two saturdays filled to the brim with fun
four lunches at the “office”
five+ meals with friends
numerous conversations and laughs
…and not enough hawaiian sunsets

it was indescribably sweet.

the time together was just amazing.
seven months is way too long…way way
too long! may he and i never be parted in such
a manner again!

i left refreshed, renewed, energized, at peace,
deeply grateful to the Father, with inexplicable
joy, and with a very glad heart.

this was all manifested in the plane ride home
when i slept like a baby for 8 of the 9 hours!

here are a few more pictures/stories for you:

can you believe this golf course?!!
the 13th hole was breathtaking!
it was all breathtaking!
we planned to play 9 holes, but ended up playing
all 18 holes. don’t tell julie, but i didn’t put on any
sunscreen. after being in the hawaiian sun for 5 hours
i had a pretty serious farmer’s tan.
oopsy!!

i might have made the other couple we were
matched to play with close their eyes for the
first few holes as i tee’d off. i was so nervous
with them watching that i couldn’t even hit
the ball! it got much better as things went along.

this is clint and his boat. did you know he lives on
this thing? he’s loved it! what dude wouldn’t, right?!!
it’s super cool!

i love this picture!

sailing was so much fun!
but a lot more work than i thought it’d be.
the ropes and the sails and the steering  and
such all kind of get in the way.

we saw two huge turtles.
one asked for our sandwiches. we had to tell
him “no.” who knows what peppered loaf (or
whatever kind of meat that was) would do to
a poor sea turtle’s GI system? i’m not willing
to take the chance.  he probably would have
settled for some ice cream (it was a hot day),
but we had none to offer…to me and mr.
sea turtle’s dismay.

my last sunday we ate lunch in the forest…
well, that’s what it felt like. the food and the
scenery were both amazing!!

this is heidi (not my heidi, a new heidi) and chris.
they go to trinity. they also went hiking with us the
the previous sunday.

we spent some time on the motorcycle.
clint is a safety officer, and a good one, so don’t
worry. it was really fun!!! the drive along the
eastern coast was my favorite. in a car or on
a bike, it’s my favorite stretch of road on oahu.

pros and cons of motorcycle riding:

pros:
you get to wear black and look tough
LOTS of fresh air
easy parking

cons:
it’s troublesome to use a phone… look up directions or get un-lost.
if you don’t put your foot in the right place the exhaust pipe will melt your boot. oops.
a girl with lots of thick curly puffy hair might have a hard time getting her head in and out of the helmet.

clint had never gone to the beach just to lay in the
sand and play in the waves since he moved to hawaii!

what?!!

i was not about to allow this to go on!

about 15 min after we got to the beach, were
on our towels, and soaking in the sun he said,
“how long do we stay on one side?”
he’s a good student.

we saw another sea turtle, but he didn’t ask
for a snack, he must have just had lunch.
we played in the waves like all
good beach-goers should. clint even caught
a little sand crab. the little guy was so frightened
that he didn’t even jump off of clint’s hand when
he opened it to show me. after we played with
him for a minute  i made clint put him back by
his hole so he could go home and rest.

FUN FUN FUN!!
it was the best trip ever!!

goodbye wasn’t so fun, but i’ll see him
again in just one week!! (one week from
now…three weeks from then) three weeks
is much better than 7 months! i’ll take it!!!

WELCOME HOME CLINTON LANCE EUBANKS!!!

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