A wonderful week with Mom!

Mom is leaving tomorrow and we've been so busy that I haven't had time to post! We've been quite active! While Derek was at work we spent a few moments of normal life around here- doing school, going to the grocery store & Target, etc. But we also stayed busy showing her around. We took her to the North Shore where we went swimming in Waimea Falls. The rainfall in the mountains hasn't been as much as the past few weeks so the falls were much less full but that made it perfect to coax Ella into swimming out to them with us. Also, last time we went it was quite packed but this time we had the falls to ourselves. It was so peaceful and wonderful and of course, Mom loved the plants, flowers & birds! We also stummbled across the filming of the new Hawaii 5-0 show and it was fun to watch that happen for a bit- unfortunately no sighting of my Lost actor- Daniel Day Kim... bummer... no stalking today! :) We took Grandmom shopping & to the zoo too.
On Friday, Derek had the day off and we took off to Haleiwa on the North Shore. We stopped for delicious (ono) shaved ice- which is quite popular here. We also went to the beach there and rented a paddle board so Mom could try that out. We enjoyed trying it out on the open ocean too. The beach was so quiet- there were only a few other people on the beach and there were a lot of sea turtles out there to snorkel to and check out.

On Saturday, Mom & I took off alone and went to Pearl Harbor to tour the USS Arizona Memorial. It was so sad hearing the facts and traveling back into World War 2. There are about 1,000 men still buried under the sea in the Arizona and the memorial spans over the boat whose deck lies just 8 feet below the surface after it sank in 9 minutes taking 1,177 sailors and Marines with it. It was a quite sobering sight seeing oil leaking out of the surface of the water still. Then we had a wonderful treat when my Mom took us out to dinner and told us that my wonderful grandparents sent money along to treat us to dinner. That was such a fun gift! Mahalo Poppop & Grandmom!

Today we drove to the Leeward (West) side of the island to Waianae to take a dolphin watching tour. Just minutes out of harbor, we found ourselves inside of a pod of 50 to 75 spinner dolphins. They had several of their tiny babies with them and they put on quite a show playing in the surf behind the boat, racing in front of the boat and jumping and spinning out of the water. It was amazing to see that many dolphins together out in the open sea. We toured up the coast and saw more amazing beaches and mountains and views which we'll now have to find from the island side. It was wonderful to see them from the water side though!

All in all, this time with Mom has been amazing. It was such a blessing to have her with us everyday and I know that I'm going to hate having to drop her off at the airport again tomorrow. It will be another 3 months until we'll be together again when both Dad and Mom get to come out. What a blessing to have a Mom who is such a good friend and who loves me and my whole family so well!

A surprise for my birthday girl!

Ella's 5th birthday was this last weekend so we had some special 5 year old type activities planned for her. We kept telling her that Bumpa (my Dad) was going to send her something special for her birthday and we were going to have a lot of fun playing with it the next week. On her birthday I told her we would get it later that day but first I was going to go buy her a lei. The airport has great lei stands so we headed down to pick one up for each of us and on the way I informed them about leis and how people get them on special days and use them to show welcome and love to someone. So I told them we'd head into the airport to see if we could see people giving them to each other. Once in there I told them that we were really there to pick up Bumpa's special gift- Grandmom- who would be there any moment! They were stunned silent- which is saying something and then they were so excited! It's so fun to show my Mom all around our normal lives- our apartment, grocery stores, parks & beaches and the punch buggy games that don't stop even once we get inside! (They sit at the window and call them- they are in endless supply here and even Jett chimes in with the random "Punch Buggy Red" call). The kids have been her constant companions and I've been having to fight them for time with her! We took Grandmom over to the hotel across the street to watch the Hawaiian song and dances and fireworks that they have on Friday nights. Every show, at the end, they give out Leis and my kids have been so disappointed to not get one but this week I told them it was Ella's birthday and she got one. She has never been so proud! While Derek had off for the weekend we toured her around to several tourist spots. We started Saturday a little slower for her- making sure to keep room in there for nap time! We toured the Waikiki aquarium which was a bit of a let down but had a few interesting things like the Chambered Nautilus & the Lauwiliwilinukunuku'oi'oi and Humuhumunukunukuapua'a fishes (what great names, right!) Of course we had to take her to Waikiki beach too. The next day we donned our swimsuits and drove towards the windward coast to go scuba diving at Hanauma Bay (the best snorkeling on O'ahu). It was a volcano cone that had caved in and then eventually the rose to fill it in creating a perfectly sheltered bay with amazing coral and marine life! The snorkeling was great- Derek took turns going out with Mom, Mia & myself. The highlight for me though was seeing the two sea turtles swimming right in knee depth water and being able to snorkel right along side with them! After tiring ourselves out in the ocean we drove up the coast for a long way home and were awed at the amazing scenic mountain and ocean views. It looks like Jurassic Park land for sure! A tiring weekend for sure but we'll give her a bit more down time before the next busy weekend!

Last Weekend!

Last weekend seems so far away already! How does that happen when we haven't really been that busy! We've been a bit busy during the days this week. We're trying to double up our school days so we can have a bit more down time while my Mom comes for a week and a half. The kids don't know that she's coming yet so it's bound to be very exciting (and loud!) when they see her on Friday! They just think that they're working so much on school because of Ella's birthday on Friday and I keep telling them that I have some fun things to do next week because of a fun gift Bumpa (my Dad) is sending them!

So, last weekend we decided to head up to the North Shore to explore a bit. Before we left town we stopped at Leonard's Bakery (a classic store in town) to pick up some Malassadas (basically a very "ono" (Hawaiian for delicious!) Portuguese donut of sorts- though we told the kids that it was a seaweed and fish egg breakfast). It was here that my Dad called and told me that he had just surprised my Mom with sky miles for a plane ticket out to see us. Needless to say, I'm definitely homesick out here and would be happy to have anyone I know to talk to, but having my Mom- who, other than Derek, is my best friend- out here with us for over a week is such a treat! My Dad is the best... even letting her come and not having her there on his birthday cause no other time would work! They are both already planning on coming in December when my Dad has off work but it was so far away so I am so thankful for my wonderful Dad loving both me and my mom so much!

Now in a fantastic mood, after breakfast we drove up the middle of the island to Waimea Valley on the North Shore. The Park had quite a lot of activity this weekend with a "Heal the spirit Festival" or something of that sort. There were lots of Indian tribes & native Hawaiians there doing dances and exhibits and it was quite interesting. The girls loved the dancing and Mia found it hard to believe that these were REAL Indians. She confided in me later that she always thought real Indians would be meaner. So cute! I guess we are reading "Little House On The Prairie" right now and at this point in the book Indians are a bit of an unknown threat! :) They have a beautiful hiking area and Jett surprised us by wanting to run and explore everywhere. We figured out that if it was a normal paved road he refused to walk on his own without a tantrum but if it was a dirt path or stairs to a more woodsy area he was off at a run! What a little bugger! :) The whole area was beautiful and we especially loved that this was so clearly a "Lost" TV show filming area. There was a beautiful river running along the path that was the typical stop for water or have a flaming arrow attack spot in the show and then at the end of the hike was the gorgeous waterfall which in and of itself would have been worth the hike but made it even better that this was the falls that Kate & Sawyer found the briefcase in and that Jack jumped off of to rescue Hurley & his guitar case too. I'm in Lost Fan heaven! :) I was so bummed that they don't let you jump off the top anymore but it made my day completely to be able to swim out to the bottom of the falls and sit on a ledge there and just let the water run over me. It was a beautiful moment! Mia was so big and swam out with me and though she was a bit nervous by it all just loved it too! Ella took a bit of persuading but she at least tried to swim out with Derek (the kids have to wear life vests in the park) and then just got too tired of waiting for the other people to take their turns in the waterfall. After leaving Waimea Valley we drove just a minute or two down the beach to 'Ehukai Beach. It was such a nice beach with hardly anyone there and tons of sand for the kids to run and play in. The water here was crazy since it was over our adult heads in just about 4 or 5 steps out but it was a great place to begin to teach Mia to snorkel. The waves hit hard right on the shore but after getting through that first wave Mia loved getting out and learning how to breath through her very own snorkel. We'll have to come back to this beach in the winter since this is where the Banzai pipeline is and the expert surfers will do their thing! This was a great day to play in the sand, digging big holes and burying each other and over all getting ourselves completely pooped out!

Thankfully we had a long holiday weekend so we had a relaxing next few days. We took a walk along the Ala Wai Promenade right by our house. It runs next to the Hawaii Convention Center which was named the most beautiful convention center in the world. It made for some fun pictures and our kids loved climbing up all the stairs to the waterfall fountains. I definitely love having all this special time with our kids doing things together as a family... it would be perfect if we could just get a date night out without them sometime soon! :)

Longing For Home

Homesickness is an interesting thing. Here we are in a tropical paradise, living amidst a daily beautiful scene where I regularly find myself gasping "Wow" at the amazing sights around me. Derek & I are finding both our family growing closer and our relationships with God growing as well. Yet, we long for home; we long for Orlando. To be back to the place filled with family... friends... our church... known roads... our big comfortable bed... ah, there is so much to miss. What a reminder that Honolulu is not our home. What a reminder that Orlando is not our home. Heaven is our home. How is it possible to live as though this is home but know it is not? How is it possible to long for a place we've never even set eyes on? We can trust in God's promises. Just living day to day in all this beauty sets my imagination on fire. If it took God just 6 days to prepare this world and we are amazed by it's beauty and His creativity, then what will be in store there? All this time He has been preparing a place for us. Unleashing his creativity for hundreds and hundreds of years to prepare a place for us. The gasps when we catch our first glimpse... the tingling and excitement... meeting our Savior face to face... being able to worship without distraction or exhaustion! To think, "Who am I to deserve this? I who hated You and nailed You to the cross with each sin! Thank you God for saving me!" What a moment as we are ushered into our home... the place we are made for. Being uprooted from my temporary home has begun to teach me to long for heaven. To be homesick for my home with my Savior. To view this earth as my hotel or apartment that I'm in until my Dream home is finished. As uncomfortable as it is for little imperfect me to be waiting in this imperfect place, it will be worth it to be with Jesus!

Adventures in Cooking!

We've had over 3 weeks here in our strange new lives! One of the goals I had for this time was to be trying out recipes that I've accumulated but never tried and to also be feeding my family more healthy foods! Like with another goal of ours, watching little to no TV, I was prepared for the worst but we've seen so much grace from God for change! The kids have only even asked about the TV a few times and that is really saying something! They are adjusting to the different menu too! We've cut out our previous breakfast of choice- cereal and now save that for the weekends. Instead I'm serving a lot of eggs, home cooked muffins, oatmeal, fruit salad, etc. and they are loving it! For lunches I've tried to cut out all of their goldfish, animal crackers, chips, etc. that they were used to and replaced them with yogurt, applesauce, fruit & veggies. They are doing amazing! I've even been making some snacks for them! I've tried Butter Popcorn, Caramel Popcorn, Cheese Its & Graham Crackers! (Thanks http://www.realfoodclasses.com for lots of ideas!) I'm loving making all these things! So, eating well during the week allows for our weekends to be more of a splurge. I'll get them a box of cereal and sodas for all of us and make a special desert for the weekend too. I am feeling like I'm in the kitchen a lot more right now but I also have a full freezer that we're beginning to be able to delve into to just pull out pre- frozen snacks or meals. It's also provided opportunities to meet our neighbors and building guards as we take them pans of Cinnamon Rolls too! It's a lot of fun and I can't wait to see the stack of recipes that I've gone through and have new favorites to add to our typical menu lists when we get home to Orlando!

A very 2 year old weekend!

My little baby turned 2 this weekend. I'm not sure where the time went but he definitely got big fast! We did a lot around here that would be especially fun for him. We started at the Ilikai hotel next door to watch the fireworks then on Saturday morning headed over to the Honolulu Zoo. It was a gorgeous zoo with beautiful landscaping and views of Diamond Head and tons of open picnic type areas. Since we're only 2 miles down the road and it was only a few bucks more, we promptly bought season passes. That totally counts as school! We live off of one end of Waikiki but we hadn't been down to the other end which is the more touristy side of it so we promptly too a trip down there and of course, it was beautiful down there too! Sunday morning we went to a local church. My heart was aching already for all my dearly loved friends and church family at Metro. We really are so spoiled with the rich worship and depth of teaching in the Gospel at Metro and we were so hoping that a Sovereign Grace church plant would have made it's way to Oahu before we did. Sadly it didn't. However, the upside is that I've never actually looked for a church, so I think it will be good to see God working in so many different places and experience what else is out there... the good and the bad. It will make me ever so much more thankful for my beloved Metro too... if that's possible! :) So, we'll probably be visiting several local churches in the next few weeks and will be praying that God will make it clear where we need to be calling our church home for the next few months!

A fresh confidence in Christ!

Every so often I will find myself running through a list of questions in my mind. Questions to search out where my true joy, confidence, peace comes from. Trying to root out any idols or areas of floundering in my life may be. Is the Gospel- that which I say is of most importance- really proving to be of most importance in my life? If so, my actions, thoughts and such should line up in a clear line pointing the way to Christ being of utmost importance to me. Unfortunately, often I find that my life gets derailed by things of small importance. Majoring in the minors as someone once said. This time here is somewhat designed to help root out those minors and replace them with the Major.

I knew there would be differences here but never having lived more than a half an hour away from my childhood home, there were some things that I have never thought of or had opportunity to work through like I have already here. These last few days have been more of a struggle. I've never been away from home for more than 2 weeks and even during that vacation we had my parents along! This clearly is not a vacation though. We are living real life... cooking, cleaning, going to work, grocery shopping, teaching school, disciplining, getting into conflicts, etc. As much as parts of being here feel like a vacation, it's not. It's all so different.

Last night my sweet husband allowed me to get out without any kids for a while. I hopped in our car and drove down 9 floors of parking garage to get to the street and followed my friend, the GPS, where she told me to go. What should have been a 10 minute trip turned into a 5 o'clock traffic jam of 45 minutes. I made wrong turns, I sat at 1 light for probably 15 minutes. I was frustrated. I finally arrived at Target. I didn't realize it till I was in the store, but Target and Sams Club are kind of a home away from home. Aside from parking in a parking garage to get there and them stocking a few things- like SPAM- that I don't often see in Orlando's stores, I could almost be shopping right there in Casselberry. It's peaceful. I know where I'm going. I feel at home. Apparently too much at home, I looked down at my watch and realized painfully that it was getting dark. I checked out and loaded up my car and drove out of the parking garage into the dark. *Sigh* this is what I was hoping to avoid. I flipped on my headlights. The car alarm chirped in joyfully. Happy to be let loose again from where we confined it, it sang the whole way home. We went swimming with the key fob a few days earlier and that broke the alarm. We got it to stop but if the lights are on, then so is the alarm. Derek just didn't have the right tool to disconnect that just yet. It was rathers mortifying. Driving home with the background noise and off put looks of the pedestrians everywhere, I found myself anxious over something else. During that noisy ride home, God was so gracious to reveal to me an area that I was finding confidence in instead of Him. Finances were bothering me. I had just spend $100+ at Target... again. A normal quick grocery trip in the past would have been $25-$50 but here, I can't seem to leave a store without spending $100- $150! I have prided myself in the past at being able to grocery shop and provide good meals for my family on a meager budget. I love the fact that my home is furnished and decorated beautifully but frugally. Is that a necessity though? Here, we are in an apartment that has everything to meet our needs. Yet I find myself staring in anguish at the white walls and the furnishings and curtains that wouldn't be my exact pick. I am spending hundreds of dollars on groceries and other miscellaneous things that we need to set up the home. Am I a failure for having to do so without saving tons of money?

God is revealing slowly to me that my confidence as a wife should not be in making a beautiful home or an extravagant meal at a great price. I have been depending on these things that he has gifted me with and only as I am seeing my expectations for myself crashing down am I realizing that in these small things, I have taken God out of the equation! Oh the blessing to see this! Thank you God for taking the time to disarm me and make me once more dependent on you in an area that I have trusted in myself. I was so encouraged this morning while reading “Valley of Vision”:

“Giver of all graces, I look to thee for strength to maintain them in me, for it is hard to practice what I believe. Strengthen me against temptations. My heart is an unexhausted fountain of sin, a river of corruption since childhood days, flowing on in every pattern of behavior; Thou hast disarmed me of the means in which I trusted, and I have no strength but in thee... keep me sensible of my weakness and of my dependence upon thy strength. Let every trial teach me more of thy peace, more of thy love. My the Spirit confirm my trust in they promised help, and let me walk humbly in dependence upon thee, for Jesus' sake.”

Two weeks in and God is just prying open the topmost layers of my dependence on myself and the smallness with which I view Him! What a journey lies ahead I am sure! One that is worth every bit of trial and the massive homesickness that I feel already! Thanks for being here with me on this journey!

School days have begun!

I gave myself a week to settle in and then we started school up yesterday. This is Ella's first year and she was super excited! Mia was definitely less so than El but considering how much she loves telling people that she hates school, I was glorying in the somewhat excitedness! We're starting off slowly, working on flash cards and bumping up practice on anything that Mia had a hard time on last year. We also learned about balance. We talked about how differently if feels to be standing strong and standing on one leg and then we went down to the lagoon to practice how it feels to be standing on something that moves beneath you! I've been watching the paddle boarders since we got here and I was itching to try it! So, we rented a paddle board and took off into the lagoon. A little more practice and we may be ready to try it on some waves! I'd say that was a fun school day!

Makapuu Beach, Lighthouse & The Windward Coast

This post should officially bring us up to date. We've only done a small bit of exploring of the island but as we've now gotten most of our shopping & setting up house stuff done, we were able to get out yesterday and explore part of the island. Our plan would be to take each Saturday to do something touristy in the way of exploring, hiking, driving, snorkeling, seeing something new & exciting this island has to offer!

We drove east towards the windward side of the island to hike up Makapuu Lighthouse Trail. It was an easy hike because it was paved but hard because it was uphill and we had 3 kids in tow! Thankfully, it was all so beautiful and of course, all downhill on the way back! The drive towards the windward coast was fantastic and we stopped at one scenic view to do a bit of hiking down some rocks towards the beach. (I am a huge "Lost" fan- the tv show- and love exploring and seeing places that were used in filming this show! The place we stopped along the road just looked so familiar to me that I knew it had to be used in the show- and I was right! It's so fun!)

After getting all hot hiking, what better to do then to hit Makapuu Beach Park right down the road. This is a great body surfing beach and though the water was fairly rough so the kids didn't get in too far, Derek had quite a good time in the water. Mia even tried out a few smaller waves in the shallows and was loving it! She has really turned an adventurous corner- loving the body surfing and every time we turned around she was trying to climb up or down some rocks to explore everywhere! Ella started off this day very timid- freaking out unless she was holding someones hand and refusing to go anywhere that looked the least bit scary! But, something clicked about half way through this day and then she was off like her sister doing it on her own and generally starting to scare Mommy! Jett meanwhile seems to think that we're going to leave him and pretty much won't walk anywhere on his own. He is fine being pushed in the stroller or being carried or hanging out near us if we set up to stay somewhere but if we're walking and try to set him down to walk on his own- whether in the hallway, elevator, along the beach, etc... oh my... we've gotten our fair share of temper tantrums! We're working on these and hopefully we'll have a break for our arms soon once he realizes that we have no babysitters here! :)

So, check out the pictures below! What an amazing beach to be on! I just sat there enjoying the sun and white sand of a totally different texture and amazed at how gorgeous it all was!

We're city people now!

I can walk to the grocery store! OK- it took about 25 minutes to get there cause I was pushing Jett in the stroller and the girls were walking and we stopped by a park on the way too... so I may not do it again with the kids... but still... it's an experience I would have never tried in Orlando! :) Here's some pictures along the road. It turned out to be a good teaching experience. We learned about homeless people and why some people sleep in the park :) and we learned about Banyan trees and how their roots grow from the tree branches down to the ground to make new tree trunks. These are actually some pretty awesome trees! That night we went across the street to see some Hawaiian singers and hula dancers and fireworks. Fun!

Pictures of our new home!

Now what have we been doing for this last week?

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!