So I noticed that for some reason the date for my last post was not correct... who knows why but since I have very little idea what I'm doing, I will just leave it alone! I know I'm getting a bit behind already cause a lot can happen in a week, so I'll give you a brief happening of all we've been doing and then go from there!The flight went great- especially since we were preparing ourselves for the worst! Jett snoozed for an hour or two on the first flight and since he was a lap child we were so excited to have an extra seat with us too for him to use! Not so easy on the second flight. It was packed out so he got to ride in our laps and sit with the girls for this flight. Oh well! On this flight out of LAX we had very wired children and no show on the plane for them to watch. Thankfully we had a laptop with enough battery for them to be occupied for a while with a movie! Ella finally fell assleep for an hour and woke up just as we were coming into view of Hawaii and Mia didn't sleep until we had landed and people started getting off! (We were on the very back row though so she had a bit of time!) The airport was exciting! It was 7:30pm Honolulu time and 1:30am Orlando time. I couldn't believe our kids held it together as much as they did! Getting the 8 large bags as well as our 5 or so carry ons/ purse/ etc and the stroller & 2 car seats was interesting. In the end, Derek put me & the kids and some luggage on a bus to the hotel & then went and rented a car and met us there. There just wasn't enough room for us and all the stuff!
Waking up in Waikiki was great! We were able to go on our balcony and see the apartments across the street that we knew would probably be our future home and a beautiful view of the mountains behind. Considering the time change, our kids did great again... up at 6am. We got our first taste of the cost difference in Honolulu when we went to breakfast and split 3 meals with just water to drink and paid $35! We took a look at the apartment and it looked like it would work perfect for us! It's across the street from the beach, within walking distance to grocery stores & shops & within biking distance to Derek's work. We found God to bless us again with this because this apartment had closed in the good sized balcony and it was a whole separate room which we use as a bedroom. We're paying $2,100 a month for this 2 bedroom + enclosed lanai apartment (which actually is a very good deal!) and just what Derek's work pays us to go towards housing and we couldn't afford to get a 3 bedroom anywhere close to the beach! The apartment has it's own parking, pool, hot tub & gym too as well as pretty awesome views!
We were able to immediately get into our apartment and after a few trips across the street Derek had all of our luggage here and the unpacking and sorting began! Unfortunately, what we didn't count on was not having internet in our new place. For some reason it didn't work right for the first several days so the next 3 days were spent finding WiFi to try to figure our where we were going, finding a used car to buy, finding the best route to work and so on. Oh how we missed the at homeyness that we feel by being able to use the internet and contact friends and such. We were so happy when it got fixed! We did buy a car. We took a trip out to the- gorgeous valley between 2 mountain ranges- middle of the island and found a somewhat old beater of an SUV that we thought would suit us fine while we're here. Unfortunately, with not having a mechanic able to look at it for a few days to just check it out and having to send our rental car back soon, we just decided in prayer to walk in faith that this would be what we need. I think our exact prayer while going to pick it up was: "God, we're trusting in you to provide again. If this isn't what we should be doing and this car is not for us, just please stop it somehow from happening and protect us from it." Though of course, those prayers are easy to say, they are not always easy when they happen! We bought the car and did a wire transfer to pay for it since we don't have a local bank here. As we drove off Derek inspected the title closer and discovered that this was an insurance rebuilt car after an accident... uh oh... don't like that at all. Then we went into Walmart and bought insurance and a few other things and came back out and, what is going on? Our key won't open the front door. It looked like it had once been jimmied and the only way to get in was to pop the back of the SUV and let Mia climb through to unlock the doors. We were a fair bit disappointed. The next morning Derek got a call and the previous owner informed us that the wire transfer hadn't worked. Derek tried it again and it wouldn't still. Then he started trying to pull out money each day to get enough cash to pay for it. At only a few hundred a day it would take a while. Finally, Derek's card got stopped. He called the bank and it turned out that they thought it was suspicious activity so they stopped his card in case it was stolen. At this point we thought that perhaps God had answered our prayers. We called the guy we bought the car from and apologized profusely but said our bank had been having some issues and since we couldn't get the money to him right away we would give the car back- plus it was a full tank and detailed and everything now. What a hassle getting it back out to him and all of that but also what a relief! A few days later, we found a van in town that seems to work fine. (Except funny enough, today... Derek forgot the keys were in his swimsuit pocket and went in the ocean. When we got in the car to leave, the alarm went off and the key fob wouldn't work to turn it off! We tried everything but in the end drove home with the alarm beeping on and off the whole way! I'm sure the 1/4th of the island that we drove past thanked us for that! We got it to stop when we got home- that is, unless the lights are on- then it beeps away... oh well, we'll save that fix for another day! :)
So, the last new thing this week was Derek starting work on Tuesday. This whole week has been orientation. Pretty boring honestly, but it has also been a wonderful break from the non-stop busyness and constant phone ringing & problem solving of the last few months. I'm praying that this time of having no management responsibility at work will be a welcome rest for Derek!
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