`When Uncle Sam Calls The Shots

Well we are down to our last 6 or 7 months in Hawaii!!  We have mixed feelings about this, but mostly we are excited.  Very excited.  I love so many things about Hawaii, and will be forever grateful that we got this great opportunity to be here.  But it's time to go.  The beauty of the Island doesn't make up for the fact that we go over a year without seeing our families, and my niece will be over a year old before I even meet her. Yes, it's time to go...now. Yet, even though we have only a few months left before we put all of our belongings adrift in the ocean for several weeks...we have NO idea where we are going next!  I'll tell you, not knowing where you will be living in just a few months, yet knowing that it will for certain be somewhere different than you are now...well, it's not the best feeling. However, it's something that countless other military families identify with.
The other day I got an email from Tony while he was at work.  The conversation went something like this:
"How about Nebraska?"
Me:
Hahaha! NO!
(You see, a girl from Texas would never want to move to Nebraska.)

Then we see an article about Omaha being the top place to raise families. Interesting. Then we ask some military friends that have been stationed at Offutt AFB before about it.  All positive responses.  Hmmm...We do some more research on the base and area, and suddenly....This girl from Texas WANTS to go to Offutt!  What?!?  How?!  Suddenly, we both want to go to Offutt.
So Tony applied to be sent there as our next duty station. And now we wait....and wait, and then, we will wait some more.When Uncle Sam calls all the shots, you spend a lot of time stressing waiting. If he is accepted for the position he will have to extend his enlistment in order to take the job, so that's another confusion. My poor husband has been reading through hundreds of pages of Air Force rules to try to learn how it all works.  To add to that confusion...we just discovered that the earliest that we would be leaving the island will be in my 36th week.  The latest that I am allowed to fly.  Hmmm....Back to the rule books....  Aside from the fact that a 8-12 hour plane trip will be hugely uncomfortable at 36 weeks, that would likely mean that all of our belongings will be somewhere on the ocean when I'm 40 weeks!  Not good! So now we get to see how/if we can get our move bumped up a little earlier.  This could have me making that very long airplane trip across the ocean with 3 girls, and a large belly/small bladder all by myself!  My sweet hubby said that if anyone could do it, I could.  :o)  He's so sweet.
If he isn't accepted for the job in Nebraska, then in a little over a month a list will come out that has all of the places that have openings for someone is his job and rank.  We then put that list in order of preference, and then we wait... We can put up to 5 places on our list...provided the list of options is that long.  We have some friends that recently had their list come out, and it only had 1 option!  That made it easy for them. ha ha  While we wait, we will plan for the location that is at the bottom of our list to be where we will be assigned. ;o)   Cause let's face it...Uncle Sam doesn't care too much about what anyone wants.
Honestly, I'm not too worried about where we are going.  We know that God has it totally in control, and we will end up exactly where he wants us to be!  He has guided our steps and blessed us so clearly in our military adventure, and I know he will continue to do so!  The good thing about our first assignment being overseas, is it doesn't matter where on the mainland we end up, we will feel like it's close to family! :o) However...I just want to know where that place is!!  AND, I want to have a house and a bed for the new baby.
I have lots to do to keep me busy while I am waiting I guess...I have to try to make my house look like no one has lived here the last 3 years.  I should get on that...cause once we DO find out where we are going, all kinds of crazy is going to break loose. And even though 6 months sounds like a long time...I know it can fly by!

USS Ronald Reagan

I am loving experiencing all the new things that being in the military and stationed in Hawaii has offered us so far. Yesterday we got to see the USS Ronald Reagan coming into port in Pearl Harbor. We were able to stand by the water on Hickam AFB and see it just glide by. It was very cool! It was a little over an hour late, but that's not unusual for the military! LOL

That thing is HUGE!
Just a couple of things that I think is super cool about the ship:
It can run for 20 years before needing to be refueled
It has a crew of around 3000- that's bigger than a lot of towns!
It carries 90 aircraft.
It travels 35MPH

This is definitely one of those experiences where words and pictures don't do it justice! If you click on the pictures you can see more detail. That helps a little.


Here she comes!







Getting closer!








You can see some of the planes here.



I love how the Sailors were dressed and standing at attention on every deck, around the whole boat! It looked very neat!














See the Sailors? I think that was my favorite part. :o)

Different in Hawaii-Part 1

Some things that are taking me awhile to get used to, or that I find different or funny.

Hawaii loves SPAM! It's everywhere. They have a festival every year to celebrate it. You can buy it at Burger King. The local souvenir section at Target has a ton of SPAM themed items. They are also crazy about Macaroni salad! And mayonnaise! I probably don't need to tell you that the native Polynesians are a, uh...hefty group of people. :o)

The roads/highways here. First, the speed limit is so much slower than I'm used to! The main, 3-4 lane divided roads are only 35 MPH! What?! Is this how they attempt to make it feel like the island is bigger than it is? You feel like you are driving further if it takes you longer to get there? The "interstate" speed limit is 45-50 mph. And yes, it is called an interstate. Even though it doesn't connect any states. Hawaii had to do that in order to get federal funding for the roads.

Second, the condition of the roads. I am spoiled by driving on Texas roads so much maybe, but these roads are rough! Potholes and cracks and bumps everywhere!

Third, the narrowness of the roads and the lack of big cars! In Texas our Expedition was one of thousands. Big cars and trucks were very much the normal thing to drive. Here, there are lots of Mini Coopers and small cars. I am definitely in the minority in my big car. Parking is a lot harder in my big car and narrow spaces. It usually takes me at least 2 tries to get it parked ok.

The traffic. It's terrible at rush hour! It can take you 30 minutes to go 5 miles. However, being from Texas, I am used to driving 30 minutes to get a lot of places I'm going. So it doesn't feel too bad to me yet. I just don't think about how far I have (or haven't) traveled.

The drivers. Are NICE! ha ha Very laid back and if you need over in the crazy traffic, it's not hard to do! Someone will always let you in. I definitely like that! I have never heard people honking at each other or getting mad in traffic. The Aloha spirit is very much evident here.

The language here. Yes, it's English...but the Hawaiian alphabet only has 12 letters. Some of the vowels make different sounds than in our alphabet. There are only so many words that you can make with 12 letters, so some of the words get very long and strange!! I think that they are just made out of random letters because they are running out of ideas. Tony and I got so cracked up listening to a couple of our movers talking. It was English, but we couldn't understand what they were saying! The islanders have a way of talking and words that they use that really do make it sound like a foreign language.

The scenery. I am not used to flowers growing beside the highways and everywhere! It's beautiful and makes it smell good! The mountains are breathtaking as well.

The customer service. Is terrible!!(mostly talking about fast food restaurants) There isn't much service with a smile here. No one gets in a hurry to help you either. Laid back is good, but sometimes it would be nice if you could do some things quickly! I think that's why there are no Chick-Fil-A restaurants here. They couldn't find enough people that would be friendly enough to work there! ha ha.

Finally!

Well, you saw the front of the house in the last post. Here is some of the inside! We are finally settled into our house! No more hotel living for us. That makes me very happy.



The Staircase. There are lots of stairs.

The view from the front door.

The Girls' bathroom. I LOVE having more than 1 bathroom!

The "great room" Living, dining, and kitchen.

Living room
Dining area

Playroom!



And of course the kitchen!

I am so very happy to be in a house again. Our house is big and beautiful. We are so very blessed to be able to be living in a newer house here. It was worth the wait!

We had a bit of a rough time getting the house. The washer and dryer that were supposed to be included, weren't. The housing office told us it would be another 10 days before we could get one. Uhhh, I have 2 toddlers. 10 days wasn't going to work very well! So, I stayed persistent and kept calling the office until they managed to find me one after 4 days. Then, the day we got the washer and dryer we got a call saying that our dishwasher has been recalled...and we shouldn't be using it! Are you kidding me??! What's next, are they going to come and take my refrigerator? Ha ha. I have not been using my dishwasher...as much! I know, I know. But it's been running fine for the last 2 or so years. So I figure if it's going to start a fire, it would have already. I never leave it running when I'm not home, or overnight. I'm trying to quit, I really am. I'm just having to work up to it I guess.
I few things were damaged in the move, but nothing that can't be replaced. I'm thankful for that. The back of our leather couch got torn up, but I guess that's something that I'm just going to have to live with. We are turning all the paperwork in to be compensated, so we will see what happens. I'm not expecting much.
We have laminate flooring downstairs and high ceilings, so even with all our stuff in the house it is still very loud. It's very white too. We aren't allowed to paint or anything. So I get to buy curtains and some decor soon to soften things up a bit. I'm excited!

Almost 1 year ago, it was prophesied over me at church while Tony was away at basic training that "It's always darkest before the dawn. But the dawn is coming, and it's going to be brighter than you've imagined." Well, there have been some dark times since then. But I never imagined that I would be living in Hawaii, in a house like this! Maybe this is the Dawn that He was telling me about. :o) It kinda looks that way to me.

Almost There

Today is day 57 of living in a hotel. Not good. However, the good news is that we only have 3 days left! We get to look at our house on Wednesday, sign the papers on Thursday...and have all of our stuff delivered on Friday!!!




I'm so antsy and excited I can hardly stand it! I am so ready to have a routine again! All those things that get old and boring...like the cooking and cleaning, well I can't wait to do it again! Don't get me wrong. A break from all that is nice. Eating out often and not having to cook and clean up afterward is really nice! However, I think 2 weeks or so is probably sufficient. 9 weeks is a little much, especially with 2 toddlers! I can't even tell you how nice it will be for all four of us to not have to live in 1 room! I can't wait to clean, and make out a menu and cook again. I can't wait to decorate, and plant flowers and herbs. I can't wait to get back to teaching Natalie preschool, and potty training Gabbie. I will finally be settled for awhile! For over a year now, I have just been waiting for time to pass. Living in the temporary, just waiting for what was coming. Well now it's finally here! We will be here for 3-4 years. I will finally be able to really settle in and enjoy life more! I can't wait.

Tony is working different hours this week, 2-10pm. Don't know if it's that, or the fact that we are so close...but of course these last few days are really dragging!! Come on Friday!!!

Lanikai Beach

We wanted to find a beach that had calmer waves to take the girls to. They love the waves, but its easier for us if the waves are a little more gentle. :o) This beach was nice. You can see all the plants and coral in the water close to the shore. This broke up the waves, but it also made it hard to go very far out into the water. We saw several people snorkeling there, so we may have to try it sometime! The nice thing about Hawaii, it's a state law that every beach (except for the ones on military bases) have public access. It was pretty cloudy the day we went here so it was a little cool when we got wet. The water was nice, about 78 degrees. We about decided to call it an early day since it was chilly when some clouds blew in and we got rained on. So our trip to that beach was cut short.

Somewhere along the North Shore...

We went to Haleiwa on the North Shore. We didn't see any turtles on the beach like we were hoping, but we did see some playing in the waves on the shore.








If you look really closely you can kinda see the turtle in the water. It didn't show up on the camera very well.


My first Hawaii Shave Ice. This one was a pineapple bowl. Pineapple ice cream under the pineapple flavored shave ice. Yummy! Gabbie is all ready for the first bite!

Bellows Air Force Station

The day after we arrived we went to the beach at Bellows AFS.




The views on the drive to that side of the island...




Natalie in a big hole!

Gabbie loves playing in the sand!



The girls absolutely LOVED the beach!! I think that we will have a couple of beach babies in no time at all!