I forgot to mention what happened to our important papers with the last 2 posts... Sorry for the drama! It was really stupid actually. In hind site I would have absolutely put them in the locked case with our other valuable possessions.
Last minute, I decided to put all of our social security cards, 2 of our birth certificates, and our marriage certificate in an unassuming backpack in my bible study book in Cambria's backpack. And with all the confusion and multiple bags and such, we just picked up all the bags that were around us whenever we picked up and went anywhere between the two airports. I still don't know what happened. But I didn't even notice that this bag was missing for THREE days!
Ugh. I felt so sick about it and spent the whole morning on the phone with banks, credit bureaus, the social security administration, both airports in multiple offices... and no one had seen it. The last office I could call was the baggage claim office in Honolulu and I had to wait an excruciating 2 and a half hours for them to open. When I described the bag, they knew they had it right away :) RELIEF!! We picked it up the next day and everything was there. Lesson learned!
Onto the rest of the post.
It has taken quite a while to settle in. We thought we would narrow down a church in a couple of weeks, but we are still in the process of visiting them and checking out small groups. More on that later. It has been very interesting. I can't wait to see where we end up! I feel like we are the judges in a talent show and whoever has the best fit for our family, wins! Except it's much more important than that. And we are considering some pretty wild options. So maybe that's not a great description :)
After 2-3 weeks of it being just our family and some strangers from church and AWANA, the kids started getting restless... Mason especially has been wondering when he would make a good friend and if he would even have anyone to invite to his birthday party in October. He finally connected with our neighbor who is only a few days older than him and loves sports.
He is gone in the evenings quite a bit for baseball right now, but they've taken a couple of walks around the condos and gone swimming together. I'm thrilled for him to have a buddy so close. And he seems like a really nice kid.
Kaiah has been extremely shy, and Cambria can make friends with anyone... so I'm not too worried about her. Lochlan could have made a friend the other day, but he became annoyed with a kid his age who took his towel for a minute at the pool. I had to call him over when I heard him loudly muttering to himself (for all to hear) from all the way across the pool house, "That kid! Took my towel! I told him not to take it, and he just kept taking it and it's really annoying!" So... I'm not sure if that mom wants her kid playing with mine... we'll see.
We have attended a homeschool group that meets in the park twice a month and all the kids play very nicely with each other, but we haven't found a family that we would want to invite over for playdates yet. I think that a few more activities and some more time will help us figure that out. My phone is full of numbers of new people with adjectives in the name line. This helps me to remember what context I met them in, what they look like, and why I wanted their number in the first place. It has helped quite a lot doing that! I'm a little maxed out with new names right now...
I was invited to a coffee date with a few other moms and got a great lead on a homeschool co-op that meets in Honolulu once a month doing two subjects I wanted to do anyway, so I think I will apply for that in the fall. It sounds great! So that's really encouraging.
I also was invited to a few other small group setting things (bible studies and such) where I'm learning a lot about people here. It seems so normal to everyone here, but there are a lot of military families coming and going. We knew this would be the case, but I have been struck with how difficult life can be for them. Prayer requests involve upcoming locations for transfer orders, strength for young moms who just found out that day that their husbands are leaving the next day (no previous notice) for 2 weeks, and husbands with PTSD, from battles in the middle east, and wreaking havok at home due to their stressful condition.
The number one question we are asked here is if we are military. People are generally shocked to find out why we moved. There are plenty of adventurous souls trying out the island for one reason or another (usually surfers), but Cliff just looks so military, what with being white and bald and all. Although the kids and Cliff are getting so much darker! And I did make a new sweet friend who has a story so similar to ours it's eerie. We have quite a lot in common. I kind of hope we end up at the same church.
Our area has quite a few white people, so we don't really feel out of place, but I am excited to see how the Hawaiian's live their lives differently. It seems like they are constantly doing barbeques on the beach, having big family get-togethers and celebrating birthdays with bouncy houses in the park. One of our neighbors invited us to dinner and asked if we like Korean food. I responded hesitantly because of how picky certain kids and husbands are with new, spicy food. I'm excited to try some new stuff.
I actually have been pretty adventurous! Mostly at farmer's markets, I've eaten samples of raw fish, poi, taro paste, octopus and marlin jerky, kava juice, and ti leaf waffles. It's pretty fun to see what they have for sale. I still am looking to try the coconut peanut butter, jack fruit, and whatever other treasures they come up with. Kaiah is actually pretty brave too. She doesn't really ask questions. She just shrugs and puts it in!
Cliff was invited to enjoys pupu's and beer at a local restaurant by some guys at a church we are checking out, but he wasn't able to go because a group from another church invited us to their house for a dinner and bible study, but they ran late and he didn't make it. I feel like we are openly dating a couple of people at the same time and keeping up with them is starting to get complicated...
We've still been looking at things on Craig's list to buy. We still need a second car, some bookshelves, and dressers or something similar for the kids. All of their pants/underwear/socks/suits/toys/homeschool curriculum/journals etc. are still on the floor and it's starting to bother me. But I am tired of calling people and having them not call me back. I still have to get used to doing a search morning and night and trusting God for the right things to come our way. And although our stuff is still all over the floor, we found some good deals on a surf board and two sea kayaks... so at least we have plenty to play with outside!
One thing that Craig's list is not short on is plants! We have purchased many different kinds: a clove tree, 3 sweet basils, 2 italian basils, several aloes, an orchid, several that I haven't identified yet, and a neat spiky tree thing that looks like it belongs in a Dr. Seuss book.
Garage Sales are pretty great too. We've gotten a few plants there as well. Last week I purchased a couple of school desks for the play room and some baskets for shoe organization in addition to a new boogie board, some nice fins, and a couple of beach chairs. There are great deals to be had here, it just takes some patience. And I have to use a lot of self-control to try to stick to the sales on this side of the island. We have been burning a ton of gas driving all around exploring new areas, meeting new people, and giving my mom (who came to visit after we had been here only 2.5 weeks) some island experiences. So I'm trying to be efficient with where I go when... but I have much room for improvement in this area.
Speaking of gas, it took me 4 tank fills to get pumping my own gas right with no mistakes. That's a little embarrassing. Most people don't know that Oregon won't let you pump your own gas, so they looked at me like I was an idiot... or at least they were a little amused. I didn't pull up on a handle I was supposed to pull up on, I didn't have a membership to a certain club to pump their gas, I entered the wrong zip code for the card I was using, I dripped gas all over my feet... Anyhoo, I feel like "one of them" now! It's totally cool... and Cliff can be proud of me because his biggest pet peeve about Oregon was that law. He, on more than one occasion, declared that when he was elected supreme dictator, he would make everyone pump their own gas.
Cliff has been doing well at work. He has picked up on all major stuff he should know. But probably the most challenging part is the culture of his fellow nurses. Almost all of them are Filipino women, who he thinks all look the same. Add to that their different names and you've got a very challenging situation! He has also made it very clear that he wants to move to days ASAP. And now that we have more contacts in the area, people are keeping an ear out for positions he would like at the hospital in town as well, although he most likely wouldn't change jobs for quite a while out of respect for the hospital that spent so much time and money hiring him.
Everything is new, and having my mom here has been a fun point of familiarity and quite helpful! But it has been hard. Texts and calls are much less frequent from both friends and family, and there is a 3 hour time change, so by the time I get the kids squared away for the day, everyone in Oregon is asleep. We have to careful to not call too late. Mason has been so lonely, he calls one of his friends every. single. day. And thankfully this kid is really chatty. He loves to talk and thinks Mason is pretty fun, so it's a great arrangement. Facebook has been really good for me to stay connected as well.
On the flip side, we have received two care packages from sweet friends that really have lifted our spirits. It was so great! One package had really nice things, handpicked for each kid according to their unique personalities. It was honestly so thoughtful I just about cried. The kids were elated and we felt very loved. The other package was some fun treats for Easter. It took some thinking ahead to get that to us on time for the holiday. I have really been challenged to figure out ways of being more thoughtful in this area. It is a relatively simple gesture, but so wonderful to receive. It's not like we're in a foreign country or anything, but living on an island, it kind of feels like it a little bit.
There have been a few trials, some sadness, but generally a lot of fun and adventure exploring this new place with Cliff, the kids and my mom. Living here is not easy. It takes a lot of planning, making homemade food to save money on groceries, driving around to find good deals, and doing tons of laundry! But you cannot beat how gorgeous it is here. The people are so friendly and helpful too. We are definitely enjoying it. But we are excited to really get plugged in with a community of people we can live life and share joys and sorrows with. It's only been a month, but we're ready to get going!
In a couple of days we are having our second visitor! A friend of mine from our old neighborhood. She's overlapping with my mom for 4 days and staying for 12... Hopefully she'll overlook some of the chaos and craziness of moving a family of 6 to Hawaii! Should be fun.
Congratulations on making it to the end of my novel of new things in our life in Hawaii! I really didn't think anyone except our family would be interested in all of the small details, but here they are anyway :)
