Girls Write Out
Tuesday, April 13, 2010

FIRST IMPRESSIONS CAN CHANGE
Well, our trip is over tomorrow and it's back to Indiana. We came expecting something similar to Hawaii and were disappointed the first five or six days. We'd picked St. Croix because it was a U.S. territory so we thought it would retain much of the U.S. flavor. It's much more Caribbean than that but that's another blog post about living on the frontier. LOL We expected world class snorkeling and saw hardly any fish at first. The island IS beautiful. When we walked in the house, we just gasped at the view through the open wall. Fabulous! But the kids weren't raving about the diving after the first dive and I sure wasn't impressed with the snorkeling which is my very favorite thing to do on vacation. Well, other than playing with Punky.

After about six days things began to change. We quit expecting the island to be something it was not and began to enjoy it for what it is. About day three we were saying we'd stick to Hawaii from now on. As of yesterday we were making plans to come back and looking at houses. LOL The kids came up from their second dive raving about the diving. Yesterday we went to Buck Island and I've never experienced such fabulous snorkeling. I wish we'd done that sooner and I would have gone back. The only bad thing is you have to pay to get to the best snorkeling place in St. Croix since it's an island. We can see it off our beach but it's a little far for the kayak.

So now we love it! And it got me thinking about expectations. We expect even God to be a certain way and don't open our eyes to who He really is. We want to put Him into a box and He's so much bigger than that. So this vacation has taught me to put down expectations and try to see the truth in front of me. How about you? Have you had your first impressions about something totally tossed overboard? Or have you had a revelation about God you didn't expect because you weren't looking?

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Colleen Coble  
posted at 7:20 AM  
  Comments (7)
 
 
Delicious Delicious
7 Comments:
At 8:29 AM, Blogger Diann Hunt said...

First, you and Dave look great!!

Secondly, I think it's true of people--we may have a first impression of someone and they turn out to be totally different than what we originally thought. It's that whole can't-judge-a-book-by-its-cover thing.

So glad you're having a wonderful time! You deserve it!!

 
At 8:54 AM, Blogger Denise Hunter said...

I'm glad you came around. LOL I love the Caribbean. Each island does have its own unique flavor. Too bad you didn't find the good snorkeling earlier!

I thought of people, like Di did. Sometimes you hear something about someone before you meet them and go into it with a preconceived notion. I've had those notions proven wrong more than once.

 
At 9:41 AM, Blogger Mary said...

Colleen you look fabulous! You and your husband look great.

Great topic and blog post!

 
At 9:42 AM, Blogger Beverly said...

At Bible study last evening, I was really struck by the answer of the Jews to Pilate: Jesus must be crucified because God's law says so... I find it a bit terrifying how we can be looking at God and His word so fiercely that we miss what He is saying.

In another situation, I was thinking about responses of people in an effort to help some people in poverty. The plan is not perfect, but I had to wonder if perhaps God had said, "I have heard the prayers on your behalf, and folks aren't going to like this, but enough is enough." I just had to wonder if God was acting in way unexpected, and instead of seeing people, people saw change.

Waving at Diann! Everytime you post after a treatment my heart does a happy dance!

 
At 9:50 AM, Blogger Jaime Wright said...

Your post made me think of Denise's post yesterday and how a little Chad was so thrilled with a stop at a rest stop thinking that was vacation. I guess if we viewed life with the simple expectations of a child we can be overwhelmed with joyful simplicity.

 
At 10:43 AM, Blogger Colleen Coble said...

D, there is no great snorkeling without paying $68 to get to it. :-( But the island has its own charm. It will never be Kauai but then it's not supposed to be!

Beverly, great insight! Jaime, you'll be hearing that little child attitude when Chloe can talk! :-) Thanks for your note, Mary! That was at dinner last night at Duggan's Reef. I had the best lobster!

 
At 10:46 PM, Blogger Cara Putman said...

What a great photo of you and Dave. So glad you had a good time! Now write like the wind :-)

 

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The Authors
Kristin Billerbeck
Kristin Billerbeck is a proud Californian, wife, mother of four, and connoisseur of the irrelevant. She writes Christian Chick Lit; where she finds need for most of the useless facts lulling about in her head.

www.KristinBillerbeck.com

Colleen Coble

Colleen Coble writes romantic suspense with a strong atmospheric element. A lovable animal of some kind--usually a dog--always populates her novels. She can be bribed with DeBrand mocha truffles.

www.ColleenCoble.com

Denise Hunter

Denise Hunter writes women's fiction and love stories with a strong emotional element. Her husband says he provides her with all her romantic material, but Denise insists a good imagination helps too.

www.DeniseHunterBooks.com

Diann Hunt

Diann Hunt writes romantic comedy and humorous women's fiction. She has been happily married forever, loves her family, chocolate, her friends, chocolate, her dog, and well, chocolate.

www.DiannHunt.com

Hannah Alexander

Cheryl Hodde writes romantic medical suspense under the pen name of Hannah Alexander, using all the input she can get from her husband, Mel, for the medical expertise. For fun she hikes and reads. Out of guilt, she rescues discarded cats. She and Mel are presently taking orders from four pampered strays.

www.HannahAlexander.com

 
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