Amanda and the Hendersons

I woke up the same way each day while in Hawaii...... to the sounds of birds, no alarm, no crying baby.....just peaceful birds calling my name. I spent much time outside in the early hours of the day, watching the sunrise and breathing in the clean air. Today was Thursday..... It was our third day on Parklen's Make-a-wish trip..... We spent the first part of our day on the beach belonging to our resort......the beach enclosed the ocean fed lagoon which sat just moments away from our room. The walk to the lagoon winds over bridges, paths and along the waters edge. There are turtles swimming below as you stop to peer over the walls atop of each bridge..... People walking hand in hand....children laughing.... many stop along the paths to take pictures.....a chance to capture the moment forever.... Once to the lagoon, we settled nicely in beneath the sunshine. The kids went to work, splashing and digging..... all but Phinlynn.....who always takes a while to ma...

The conversation between the hundreds of birds outside of our hotel room was far to loud to sleep through.... I had never heard something quite like that.  I laid in bed for a moment before I decided to venture out onto the deck sitting on the other side of the sliding glass door in our room. I sat alone for a moment before retrieving our little pixie....together we watched the sun rise. We also watched as a pair of birds danced back and forth on the palm tree in front of us.  In those quiet moments with my daughter my heart was full.....we giggled and whispered.... I had only my cellphone camera on the deck as we watched these birds dance across the tree.... Before long, the boys joined us and we all marveled at the visions surrounding us.  We could see the ocean, we could see palm trees, birds, a lagoon, people walking.....and sunshine. We all got ready for the day.  Dressed in our summer clothes and smiles, we headed out the door.  Our resort wa...