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I haven’t really talked about it yet, but wifey came down with something when we got here. It’s been pretty hard over the last few weeks watching her go through this sickness, but after a proper diagnosis and a little money, she’s finally better. The diagnosis?…Jeep fever. Ever since we went to the beach for the first time, we knew we needed a beach car. We searched the base “lemon lot” and quickly found a candidate. It had low miles and a decent price so we took it for a test drive. Everything looked good, we made a ridiculously low offer, and the seller accepted. The whole process was a good way to cope with the fact that we had no place to live. I never thought I’d own three cars…much less on an island where I’ll maybe put 5,000 miles a year on each one. All of you potential visitors should just rejoice that you’ll now have your own wheels when you come out here.

J

After 2 weeks of painstaking waiting, we were finally awarded a cozy 2-story house. It’s a 3-bedroom house, but it has a small study and an enclosed back patio. So, it’s essentially a 5 bedroom house. Don’t get too excited…it’s only 1200 square feet and we have to buy window air-conditioner units. Also, there’s no garage. But, it’s our house and we’re happy not to pay $700,000 for a shack downtown.

This was not an easy process. In fact, over the last week, we went from “I think I’ll have a house for you today,” to last night’s shocker of “I think you need to consider looking downtown.” I can’t explain how things changed, but this morning, I went in to find out what was going on and they said, “We have a house for you.” Not only did they have a house, but it was the exact style we wanted. The only way this can be explained is that God worked it out for us. Thank you soooooo much for those of you that were praying for us to get a house. Yeah God!!!!

J

We’ve been here about 2 weeks and still no house. This whole process is going to give me ulcers. I hope to have better news tomorrow…

J

Funny story that I wanted to share from my graduation last month. As my name gets called and I head across the stage, offspring #2 yells out, “Daddy, you won!!!” Since I was the 3rd guy across the stage, the bar was now set pretty high. Unfortunately, most of the other lame families clapped (at best) when their loved one walked the stage. I guess they figured why say anything if you can’t top that!

J

I’ve noticed a few things that are different here in Hawaii. Here’s just a few:

Gas: $2.55 a gallon
Milk: $3.50 - $4.50 a gallon
The thermostat in the room: There is no switch to go between “heat” and “air conditioning.” It only does cold.
Weather Channel: They don’t have one. Why? Because the forecast is sunny and 88 degrees for tomorrow, and the next day, and the next day…
McDonald’s: The apple pies…they use the “old school” fried pies. None of that baked junk. It’s going to be tough to lose weight out here!

There are a few new pictures in the photo album for those who are curious…

J

Moving…it seems anti-climactic to talk about it since the hard part is over. I just wanted to emphasize how much I don’t like doing it. You have to pick up your life, leave your friends, and entrust all your possessions to a group of people that is sometimes mostly made up of teenagers who need a summer job. With the exception of this move, there always seems to be one guy “in training.” Then, on the other end, you get the joy of trying to find a new house, new church, new friends and then unpacking all of your possessions (of which some of them were inevitably broken). You just have to let go and realize that it’s all God’s stuff anyway. This is the third different place we’ve lived in the last 14 months. I’m getting a little tired of all this moving around. As of now, I still don’t have a house yet and I’ve officially been living out of a suitcase for a month.

J

I took the family out for some fine dining at Taco Bell on Pearl Harbor the other night. Incidentally, I found it ironic that 2 of the 3 ships I saw in Pearl Harbor were Japanese. Anyway…we ordered our food, I hand over the credit card and the person at the register asks to see some ID. So, I hand her my ID card and she says, “Oh, I remember you.” Keep in mind that I’d been in Hawaii for less than 48 hours, so I give her the “I don’t think so” look. She says, “You had the general delivery.” I’m now thinking, “OK - you’ve got me mixed up…I never ordered take-out from Taco Bell, much less here.” She then tells me that she remembers my name from picking up my mail.

OK - now I got it…this person was working at the post office when I had stopped in to get my “general delivery” mail the day before. It turns out that she works in both places. Even still, it was kind of weird to see someone who recognizes you in a place that you’ve been in for less than 2 days.

To carry that on, when we were driving around Waikiki yesterday, we saw the guy that complained about offspring #2 kicking his seat on the plane ride over. Weird, wild stuff.

J

We finally arrived in Hawaii! Let me recap the trip:

26 days on the road
3700 miles by car
3790 miles by air
6 homes
4 hotels
2 bottles of sunblock
2 rounds of golf
1 baseball game
2 fireworks shows
1 bird attack (courtesy a Mississippi Kite)
1 broken car seat (courtesy American Airlines)
1 bottle of Pepto Bismol
1 2-year old little girl (offspring #3) throwing up in the middle of the hotel breakfast buffet just 2 hours before leaving for the airport…priceless.

Of course it’s all worth it when you’re standing on Waikiki beach in the middle of the most perfect sand castle sand you’ve ever seen watching hundreds of surfers trying to catch the perfect wave. I can’t wait to get some pictures to share.

J

I tried to blog this from my mother-in-law’s house a week ago. She has dial up. Hello…DIAL UP! I didn’t know they still made that! I connected at a blazing 31,200 bps (that used to be pretty fast about 15 years ago) only to discover that her computer with Windows 98 and some ancient version of Internet Explorer wouldn’t allow the java scripts to run. Result…no blog entry. So, I tried from my sister-in-law’s house. Windows XP – YES!!! That should do it, but again…dial up. I almost got this entry in two or three times only to be kicked off line just at the last moment. So here I am a week later. Anyway, my communications problems are not the main point of today’s entry, but I felt it was worth mentioning. Not to worry…they probably won’t read this blog anyway…they have dial up.

We spent about a week in San Antonio, and the one weekend that we were there was marked by my in-law’s 50th wedding anniversary party. It was a really good time. The place was decorated in a 50s diner theme and had placemats with info about living in the 50s. One of the placemats had this excerpt from a 1955 copy of “Housekeeping Monthly.” If your wife thinks housekeeping is a drag, have them check out this little gem:

J

Let me apologize up front…this post is a little lengthy. But, there was no short way to convey the experiences of living in a small town. Plus, you have to read the whole thing or you won’t get the picture at the end.

During our travels, we stopped in West Texas to visit my family. We stayed at my grandmother’s house which is smack in the middle of a town with a population of about 457. Main Street is still cobblestone and there are no parking places marked in front of any of the stores. I noticed this when my sister and I went “downtown” to the “grocery store.” Without any lines to guide me, I did my best to mimic the angled parking of the cars next to me and pulled the car up to the curb. I felt a little silly for locking the van, but you never know when someone might break in and take the money from your ashtray. Anyway, we went in the store and were immediately greeted by the “you ain’t from around here, are you?” look as we walked past the cashier. We got our two items and left. I could feel the same stare in the back of my head as we exited the store. Now keep in mind, this store is relatively new. My grandmother used to have to get groceries from the store that is two towns away (about 15 miles).

Small towns have their up-side though. If you oversleep, the neighbor’s rooster will wake you up at sunrise. Anyway, my mom talked us into going to see the “parade” down at the park on July 4th. We walked about 6 blocks (halfway across town) to get there for the 9 am start. There were about 100 people there, including the local Lions’ Club. The park was about one square block and the parade route was to circle the entire park. Within 5 minutes, we had been greeted, given a history of the park we were in, prayed and sang “My Country Tis of Thee” Baptist Style (1st, 2nd, and 4th stanzas). When’s the last time you were at a public town gathering and started it with a prayer? There’s something you don’t see everyday in (insert your town), America. Then the parade…it was led by an Army guy, home from Iraq. He carried an American flag and was followed by kids on bikes and on wagons, which were all decked out in red white and blue. The speaker asked for volunteers to stand on each corner and control “traffic.” Keep in mind, I only saw two cars on the roads during the walk to the park. Anyway, when someone raised their hand, she would call them BY NAME and look for the next volunteer. The parade (the picture below is the ENTIRE parade) took all of about 5 minutes and then each of the participants came up and introduced themselves. Then we honored those in the military who have served and helped make this country free. I was expecting the obligatory “if you have served, please stand up” comment, but instead received the “if you have served, stand up, tell us who you are, and what you did while in the service” statement. A cool impromptu recap of WWII and Vietnam stories ensued. Each person who stood was usually called BY NAME again (still baffles me). Of course, then someone shouts out that I’m in the military and I have to go up and talk a bit. Then the floor was opened up to anyone who wanted to comment about anything. We had about a dozen more takers talking about patriotism and military heroes from the local community. There was never an attempt to shut someone up or keep someone from talking. It was amazing. Then we ended the formal portion by singing the military songs for each branch of the service and then “God Bless America.” Then the gathering turned to BBQ, hotdogs, watermelon, sack races, three-legged races, and water balloon tossing. All-in-all, it was a nice change of pace from the hustle of big-city living: A town where everyone knows everyone else, can pray in public, and loves their country. I think we could all use a little more of that.

J