I am always amazed that the greatest lessons that I have taught my kids seem to always be the ones I did not intend to teach. I guess that is how my kids learned that anything worth having in life is worth working for and that good can come from even the darkest of times.
This lesson began in July of 1997 when Chris was almost 7 and Z was almost 4. My dream of the perfect little family living the American dream and growing old happily ever after came crashing down around us. Before we knew it the boys and I were in a safe house which was actually a 2 bedroom apartment with 2 very kind people and 5 cats, no money and no idea what would happen next. The “nice people” as my boys called them, welcomed us in with open arms and though I had this back up plan in place, they had never met my kids. We arrived with the boys backpacks and they each had their favorite stuffed animal. The “nice people” were amazing and that night the boys and I sat on the floor of their extra room talking about the exciting changes to come. I put on my game face and tried to sound as positive as I could about how exciting it was going to be now that it was just the 3 of us. Z wanted to eat pizza in the living room
when we got home, Chris wanted to go on road trips and of course I encouraged the discussion. That is the moment when Chris said something that practically turned me into a puddle of tears, his words were “We should go to Hawaii.” At that moment I had no idea how I was going to afford the rent or how I was even going to be able to afford to feed them and my almost 7 year old wants to go to Hawaii!! I said the only thing that I could come up with at the time. It was something to the effect of “Sure honey, you guys start saving coins and one day we will go to Hawaii.” That night as they fell asleep snuggling together they felt safe and encouraged for the future. Life had just changed dramatically but they met the “nice people” and they had come up with a game plan.
Eventually the boys and I did go back to our home and the boys did indeed begin collecting coins. From that night on they seemed to find them in my purse, on the ground, couches and everywhere they 
looked, they were determined to keep collecting and their determination held strong. Over the years I dipped into that jar of coins for gas, milk, etc. and as much as I would love to say I replaced the coins that just wasn’t the case. The boys knew I took it out but they continued to save those coins. As they grew older they started collecting recycling, trading in cans and bottles and once again putting the coins into the jar.
It was in June of 2007 that we decided to count up the coins and figure out how much money we had collected in 10 years. We sat down and rolled more coins than I thought was possible to roll. Once we added it up we realized that the boys had actually saved enough money to go to Hawaii. We rented a condo for a week on Maui, we purchased tickets
from a cheap airline and we realized we had just enough money for one grand adventure while we were on Maui. We researched our options and of course my boys picked zip lining (Yes, picture me hanging from a “d” ring over a jungle). All of our plans were set and in July of 2007 we headed to Hawaii. Of course nothing quite goes exactly to plan and we had a great adventure with a creepy rental car, an up close and personal moment with a sea turtle and a cow in the middle of a road but everything kept working out. Looking back we can now see that God’s hand was in all that took place, we just didn’t realize it in the moment.
Often throughout our trip we would hear strangers telling the boys how lucky they were that their mom took them to Hawaii. I was quick to correct people and let them know that actually THEY took ME. We spent so much time in Maui doing the typical tourist things such as the road to Hana, snorkling and swimming but there was a moment that seemed to be the most meaningful of all. It was on our last night on the island right after the luau . The boys and I decided to walk
down to the water instead of heading back to the rental car. On the beach there were three lounge chairs set apart from the rest and we each plopped down and did what we do best, we talked. We talked about how much life had changed in the past 10 years and we talked about how though things were hard we got through it together because we had each other, we talked about hard work and how if you really want something you have to be willing to work and save for it, the world does not owe us. Listening to my boys (almost 13 & 17)that night gave me such an understanding of who they are and the men
they were growing up to be. They learned some very hard life lessons and they came through it valuing relationships and people, not things.