Bethany Hamilton

We stopped in the airport bookstore before our return flight from California and Josh asked if he could buy "Soul Surfer," the book written by Bethany Hamilton. She is a Hawaiian-born professional surfer who was bitten by a shark as a young girl and lost her arm in the attack. She returned to surfing and her story is very inspirational. But it is the shark and the missing arm that excite Josh and Lucas the most. The whole flight back, they just flipped through the book's photo pages again and again.

They stayed interested in the book even after we returned, so we also rented the Soul Surfer movie, which they watched about four times in the 24-hour rental period. Shortly after that, I was reading the news online one Saturday night when I happened to see a news item that Bethany was in town to speak at a church about 45 minutes away. So the next morning, I loaded up the boys and we headed out to this Texas mega-church, which was a unique experience.

Her presentation was very good. I only had my phone for a camera (we were inside church, after all, even if it was full of neon, stadium seating, cameras swirling around on wires, and a full-scale rock band), so these photos are grainy and not very good. But here is Bethany demonstrating how to use an Indo board, which is much more difficult than she makes it look.







Several minutes into her talk, Lucas leaned over to me and whispered, "Look Mommy, that girl lost an arm just like Bethany." I whispered back, "Lucas, that IS Bethany." I guess she is several years older now than her photos in the book, which is how he pictures her. He was surprised and pleased to get to see her in person, as were Josh and I. She is charming, positive, and down to earth, and I recommend her talks if she comes to speak near you.