Chapter 7

In this chapter Cheri talks about how her and Tom got their family started. She talks about when they buy there first house while she was 7 months pregnant with their first child. She also talks about the many adventures Tom and Cheri have had with their children. Cheri has been asked many questions about how her children, especially Bethany, have a had such a positive attitude about the tragedies that has happened in their life. Cheri says that the one parenting secret she has is The Holy Bible! She says that over the years she has fully relied on God and that is how they have become the way they are today. Claire Stewart

Chapter 12

This chapter talks about really managing Bethany's life after the shark attack such as, who to use as a sponsor, what interviews to accept and such. Bethany wrote her own book at the age of 14. There are a bunch of random points in this chapter. At one point, Cher says that she is crammed in an SUV with surfboards, in traffic, wondering if this is what they really wanted out of their lives. She was on the way to Bethany's surfboard shaper and when she finally got the board she wasn't so pleased but took it anyway. The board had palm fronds on it. Like I said Cheri wasn't too impressed as she had just gotten it, but was after listening to her CD on the way home and learning that palm fronds were used to praise and worship God. Later, Bethany was invited to throw the opening pitch at the New York Yankees game. She threw a strike and even the catcher said that it had some heat on it. She pitched another time for the Oakland A's in California, but when she was in New York a man by the name of Jeff Dunholm had come to see Bethany as he had too lost his arm and refused to give up like her. Cheri also describes one of her favorite times being in London. They all attended a church service that night at one of the local churches. While there Cheri broke into tears as she heard the reoccurring tune "Blessed Be Your Name". Later in London, Bethany was invited to teach the stars of a popular show to surf. She was presented with a badge of courage from that show, which served as a pass to museums and exhibitions that had been earlier featured on the show. The rest of the chapter just talks about Bethany growing up in Christ and her accomplishments.

Bethany on the British show Blue Peter

Chapter 10

This chapter starts in the hospital when Tom's old room mate and friend came to give Bethany his aloha. While he was there, he pulled Tom aside and said that they thought that they had found the shark that attacked Bethany. Bill was asking for Tom's permission to hunt and kill the shark, as it had now become a rogue animal, or one that is constantly proposing a threat. Cheri goes on to explain that to someone not from Hawaii, killing the shark wouldn't be a big deal at all. The Hawaiian religion, though, believes that the shark is a god or a passed away relative, just like India with their cows. Although the majority of Hawaiians do not presently hold to this belief, some still hold the tradition. After being asked, Tom thought and then said "You would make my day...In fact, make my year if you were able to get that monster. I never want another family to go what we're going through." Low and behold, about a week later Bill had caught the shark. They brought it ashore and took out the stomach skin to give to a drum maker and took the jaws out. They then released it back into the ocean. They later took the jaw and compared it to Bethany's bitten board and it was a perfect match.

Bethany's board

Chapter 8

The beginning of this chapter starts off with Cheri having Bethany. She had told Tom that she was going to have children until she had a girl! Soon after that Cheri had Bethany, rather quickly I might add. When they had gotten home, there came some really good waves. Cheri thought it was best to stay home and Tom just couldn't resist. On the way out of town, Tom felt like something was going on, like not in a good way. Tom was right because a little later Hurricane Iniki hit and leveled off neighborhoods. Tom made it back just in time and the Hamilton family took shelter in their across-the-street neighbors. After the storm had passed, everything was in tact as far as their house except for Noah's bedroom that had been completely torn away. The van on the other hand was totaled and they received an insurance check for $11,500. The van was still drivable and they had no other option but this because of their financial situation. It took almost a year for their life to return back to normal. They had lost their jobs because the hotel that they had worked at had been sold and they weren't taking back workers from the previous franchise. Cheri eventually got a job delivering magazines which was able to hold the family over for a while. After this Cheri just talks about her kids growing up and they're activities that they get into. The end of the chapter talks about Bethany's surfing career from age 7-13. It also talks about Cheri getting back into shape so that she could surf again.

Hurrican Iniki

Chapter 6

In this chapter, Cheri describes how she came to Christ. She talks about how she and Tom began to date, but it eventually comes to marriage. When they were married, they ended up living in their van, but it was something that they liked. Their van had problems and thank goodness they eventually made some friends that were also big on surfing, but one was able to help them every time their van broke down. These friends said that Cheri and Tom could move in since they already practically live there. These three friends had recently come to Christ and had Gospel tracts and religious propaganda laid out around the house. It kind of bugged Cheri at first, but she eventually picked one up and instantly became fascinated with Christ. She began attending Bible studies held at the durf shop as she and her friends grew closer to Christ together. Not soon after Cheri was saved, Tom was too and decided to get baptized the night that he was turned by the Spirit.  

Chapter 5

In Chapter 5, Cheri tells about how her and Tom both ended up in Kauai. Cheri went there with her ex-boyfriends' best friend, Chris, and lived in the attic with some of Chris' friends for about 2 weeks. After that, they bought a van and lived in there. Tom went to Honolulu for Christmas break after he got back from Vietnam. While he was in Honolulu, he heard that the waves in Kauai were amazing. He decided to fly there and try the waves. He hitchhiked his way into the city where the best waves were. He camped out on the beach at night since he had no money left. Claire Stewart

Chapter 4

In this chapter, Cheri basically gives her backstory. It starts when she was a child. Her family was very involved with the beach ever since she was little. Her family moved to San Francisco. She started surfing when a cousin who wanted to start surfing came on a trip to visit them. They all surfed a little wake once, but from that moment, Cheri knew that's what she wanted to do all of her life. From then on Cheri became a surfer girl. Always at the beach and hanging out with the regular surfers all of the time. Cheri's religion wasn't too important to her at this time though. She and her family only went to church maybe every other month or just on the holidays. Although she fell in love with Jesus at a young age at a nearby VBS, that soon faded for the lack of her company being supportive in Christianity. Cheri soon had no religion at all. She hung out with the beach bum, did drugs and other things of that sort, but when she was in high school she says there started to be a Jesus revival. Her best friend, Pam, tried to witness to her constantly and never forgot about her even when Cheri basically told her she didn't want to be friends with someone who talked about Jesus all of the time. In fact, Pam found Cheri later and came to find out that she had been saved and had a family that was crazy for Christ, too! Now back to Cheri's teenage years. Like I said, she had been hanging out with the surfer crowd that didn't make the best decisions. She even dated one and lived with him. They had made plans so that when they had gotten out of college, they would get married. So you'd think that they were pretty committed to each other, right? Well for her boyfriend's birthday, she took him on a skiing trip and he boyfriend became a ski enthusiast. They got back home, but her boyfriend later planned another ski trip with his friends, but Cheri wasn't able to go. She later got a letter from him saying that he wasn't coming back because he had given up surfing and become a ski bum. Cheri was heartbroken. Little did she know that she would later meet a man by the name of Tom who had just moved from New Jersey to go to her college.

Cheri Hamilton

Chapter 3

In Chapter 3, Cheri Hamilton, describes about how her husband, Tom, got a letter to be deployed to Vietnam. She talks about how he had to go to Pennsylvania to go through a test if he could be fit to go to Vietnam. Tom said that he thought he wouldn't have to go because he had surfers knee, bad feet and awful eyesight. It turns out that he passed the test and did have to go to Vietnam. He ended up not having to do field work and just worked on the ship delivering the mail. Claire Stewart

Chapter 2

This chapter was used for describing Cherri's husband, Tom. This showed a timeline of her life from when his first got the interest in surfing up until they got married. Tom started surfing when he was about 13 years old. Tom lived in New Jersey at the time, so there weren't many good waves as we see on tv. Back then, the boards were really heavy, bulky, and expensive. Tom's friend managed to get his hands on a surf board. Since he couldn't carry it himself he figured him and Tom would share it. So during the summer months, when the water was warm enough, they would surf until they couldn't anymore. They loved it so much and where out there rain or shine. Eventually, when Tom got older, his parents gave him a board of his own, it was lighter, but also flimsier. Tom didn't care though. That board was his, and his father later states that the second they gave him that board was the second that they (his parents) lost him. Tom and his friend soon started saving up for wetsuits so that they could surf all year round, instead of just the summer months. Wetsuits back then were also not at all how they are today. They were super thick, heavy, and stiff because they were originally made for scuba diving. Every time they wore them, they would have to grease their armpits with vaseline so that they wouldn't chafe as bad. Tom and his friend continued to surf and Tom often hung out around the surf shop. The owner soon offered Tom a job there and trained him on repairing boards. Soon enough, the sole thing Tom did at the store was repair boards because he was so good at it. Tom soon began begging for a trip to California so that he could actually ride good waves. On his 17th birthday, his wish came true and he flew out to California for about a week. When he flew back, Tom was on a surfing high, but one thing might change that. A drafting notice.

Chapter 1

In the first chapter, Bethany's mother, Cheri Hamilton, talked about how the movie all started. She said that she had gotten a call that a director would like to make a movie of the story of Bethany losing her arm. Cheri said that she saw this as a chance to tell how God works in mysterious way. She tells how one day her husband, Tom, was golfing with one of his close friends when suddenly Dennis Quaid gets  on the golfcart with him and drives away. Tom said that Dennis told him he would be playing the part of him in the movie. Cheri tells how she loved who were chosen to play the parts as her children and how well they played the part. Cheri tells about what they did on set of the movie and how she was able to share God with many people.