Between the Storms: Aloha CWO! Girl's Get-away Contest

Aloha!

From the book, Sisterchicks do the Hula!, I discovered what aloha means:

Alo means presence or in the face
ha means breath or spirit
so Aloha means breathe into the face or share spirit with one another

God came face-to-face with the very first man, Adam: forehead-to-forehead. That closeness was all that was needed to breathe life into him and from that first breath, all the people from then to now were created. Amazing. Mind-boggling. Wow! (Shaking my head to clear it so I can continue!)

Aloha moments are times when two people draw close to each other. They come close enough to trust who the other really is, close enough to breathe into the other’s face.

This past summer I had many aloha moments with my very best friend, M

ari. I still remember looking at her; forehead-to-forehead that last morning, right before we were leaving for the airport. I wanted to memorize her because I had no idea when we would see each other face-to-face again – one of our aloha moments. We shared spirit with one another for sure. She is my Sisterchick. God plopped her down into my life for all time.

Sisterchick definition from Robin Jones Gunn: "a friend who shares the deepest wonders of your heart, loves you like a sister, and provides a reality check when you're being a brat."

Mari and I are very close but we had never met face-to-face. You see, I live in Central Illinois and she lives in Washington state. God brought us together through Faithwriters.com. Because of this common interest in writing, a friendship was born. We texted, phoned, IM’d and used web cam but until you are able to share an aloha moment with your best friend, the deal just isn't sealed, not in my book anyway. The internet leaves a big old hole where aloha should be. I can’t wait to

share another aloha moment with Mari. When I found this contest, I felt my heart jump. It gave me hope that our dream would come true again.
Mari loved watching me soak in the sights, sounds, and smells of 'her' Mt Rainier. She laughed at my silly questions and attempted to answer each. She stopped at funny places so I could take pictures of things that can’t be found in the Midwest. She laughed in amazement at my ignorance of pilot cars and tsunami signs.
Our silly aloha moments will last forever in my mind. As majestic as the mountains were, what stands out is the shivery feeling of being barefoot in the snow with our flip flops tossed aside. I watched through the camera lens as Mari made snow angels in July and we giggled as we made our way down a slippery snow bank.
I have never laughed so much in my life, but now as I write this, I can’t stop crying. I have such joyful memories tucked away in my brain and photographs forever captured and able to be retrieved with the click of a button.

Her laughter is engrained in my memory. Her fresh vanilla scent lingers in my nose and remembering her hand in mine as we walked down the mountain paths like little girls – these are just a few memories that bring tears to my eyes.

Mari and her pastor husband are going through major life-changes. While they wait to hear what God's next plan is for their lives, they are living in their RV. We are praying that doors open quickly and that God starts revealing His awesome plan for them.

Even though her life is topsy-turvy, she continues to reach out and minister to me as I deal with a life of chronic pain. We grow closer and closer through each struggle as we help and encourage each other along. And God is so good to both of us. When I’m down, Mari is there to help me back up and when she’s down I’m there for her.

We have the most perfect Godly friendship there could ever be. We both are sure of that – EXCEPT we’re so very far away from each other. We plot and scheme trying to figure out how we can get back t

ogether and then we stumble onto this contest. Just like Lucy and Ethel, we will continue to blunder our way through life -together -and wish and pray for another meeting, just as good as or better than our first.

So, CWO – I hope this was a good explanation of just why Mari and I would LOVE to win this contest! We are so ready to share another aloha moment with each other, especially since February, the date of the cruise, will be our one year sisterchick anniversary!

Aloha!
Cha, Cha, Cha!!!