Here is a summary of where we were when and what we were doing.
January, Feb and 1/2 of March we were in Pullman, WA. We lived in Kaitlin and Phil's 1st level for about 6 1/2 weeks and in a farm house with a family for the other 4. I worked 4 days a week at a nursing home in Colfax helping older folks get better and Aaron worked many many hours on a project for Group Publishing in a closet office. Although very cold and fairly stressful with us working a lot, being away from Autumn more than we were accustomed, we look back on our time in Pullman with smiles. We pretty much attribute this to the amazing time we had bonding to the Watson's - sharing fine meals, going swimming, shopping and just living everyday life together. We sure miss them!! The other perk was that we made money for our Hawaii/Asia adventure.
In mid-March we took off on a 6 week adventure. Aaron's best friend and his wife live in Myanmar and so we thought going to see them in SE Asia was an opportunity not to be missed. Since frequent flyer miles could be used for 1/2 the miles to get to Asia from Hawaii, we decided that would be a good starting, hang out with friends and finishing point for our 10 days in Asia. We started by flying into Maui and seeing our dear friends there, then onto Kona to reconnect with our ohana there. Our amazing former landlord in Kona let us stay in our old apartment for free for almost 3 weeks - it was a treat to have our own space for the first time since before Christmas. We really enjoyed seeing everyone and soaking in the sun. We had shipped our green car from Washington in preparation for our move out to Hawaii in July. We didn't know that we were going to end up in Kona for the 2011-12 school year, but this time sure made us miss it and talk more about what it would look like to move out here. We wrapped up our time in Kona, packed our car to store for a few months and headed to the airport. Off to Asia! Here is my very lengthy journal entry about our time in Thailand and Myanmar. On our return we spent 2 days in Waikiki relaxing and adjusting to the time change, 1 day in Molokai and then a few days including Easter with the Hassell's again in Maui. All in all we were gone 43 wonderful days.
We returned to Seattle, flew to Pullman, spent a day with the Watson's and packed the other car to drive back to Colorado. We drove through Utah and spent a couple of wonderful but chilly days catching up with Connie and Ryan. It was so cold and Autumn just wanted to play outside! We arrived in Glenwood Springs, hugged on Papa and Nana for a couple of days, unpacked our car headed for NoCo. There we reunited with Aaron's family before hopping on another plane to Maryland to see my brother's family and our friend's in Arlington. Here are some crazy stats (ones that Aaron has no intention of us ever repeating) From April 8th until May 13th we didn't spend more than 3 nights in any one bed, we were on 19 different airline flights and drove about 1300 miles. Praise the Lord for safe travels and thank you so much to the 7 families that hosted us!! We love you all and feel so blessed that we got to see everyone!
We spent the rest of the summer jumping back and forth between NoCo and Glenwood Springs spending time with friends and family. Amazingly, because Aaron just needs phone service and internet to work, he pretty much worked everywhere we went except for in Asia. Up until early June we had assumed that we were being placed in Maui for the 2011-12 school year. The OT gal that took over in S. Kona schools when I left in 2008 informed me that she was moving to an early intervention position. We waited patiently for weeks and finally on July 1st found out that I had received the contract placement back in my old position. We were so excited about this for a few reasons. We consider Kona our Hawaii home, and although Maui would have been nice we felt like it would have been another 10 month vacation from real life and being able to integrate ourselves into a community that we plan to make part of our life for a longer time. Also the job in Kona is less stressful, most of our friends are in Kona and we honestly just like life on the Big Island better. YEAH - we were so so so excited!!!
Mid July we started packing up, shipped our second car and got ready to be gone for 10 1/2 months. On July 20th we flew to Kona and got a ride to our car (thank you Ang for being our taxi/rental car :-)) Unfortunately the car wouldn't budge... after one mechanic made us certain we'd need to tow it, Aaron's brother and our Kona Mechanic convinced us to hit the gas harder as it seemed likely that the brakes had rusted. Luckily they were right and we were on our way with no ill consequences. We started the process of figuring out priorities - food, housing, daycare, belongings... it was a long few days of looking at housing/condo rentals with the complexity of nap times, snack times and tantrums. We made it through without permanent damage and secured a top floor condo 3 miles from my work and a few units away from some friends. The next weeks were filled with yard saleing, thrift store shopping and craigslisting to find everything we needed to make it more homey. Luckily beds and most necessary kitchen items were found during the first weekend!
Aug-Nov.: We've been living a mostly routine life of work and Autumn going to daycare. We celebrated 8 years of marriage with a night in Waikoloa, had Aaron's brother and our niece out for a bit, I completed my first Olympic sized triathlon, celebrated Autumn's 2nd birthday on the beach and I turned 30. I also started volunteering at the Christian pregnancy center in town by helping Thursday nights and teaching pregnancy nutrition and infant safety classes. We've had a fair bit of illness which slowed us down, taught Autumn deeper compassion for pain and unfortunately we're still dealing with aftermath. We haven't made it to the beach as much as we'd like and are still figuring out navigating island life with a 2 year old. We've spent some time with friends and look forward to more of that in 2012.
December: Family month! Aaron's whole family got to spend a week at the Aulani in Oahu. Aaron and Autumn got to join them for the week and I got to go for a long weekend. It was a nice time with a lot of time spend on the slides, hot tubs, on the beach and in the lazy river. They had great entertainment with shows, story tellers and crafts. Autumn thoroughly enjoyed spending time with her Grandma, Papa, all the cousins, Uncles and her Aunt! We all went to the Polynesian Cultural Center for an afternoon, then dinner and the Ha Breath of Life show (which was amazing). The last night Aaron, Autumn and I met Jeremy and Camry in Waikiki for all you can eat sushi and everything else under the sun buffet. Yum yum yum! Autumn even enjoyed the octopus!
5 days after we returned to Kona, we packed up and met my parents for a week in Kauai. This is the last of the major islands we had yet to see. It is called the garden isle for good reason - both for the beauty and the intermittent and random showers. All the islands are so different and beautiful! Kauai is certainly a treasure! We had a great time exploring and relaxing, Dad and I even got to do a helicopter tour - so spoiled, what a treat! Autumn really loved shoulder rides with Papa, bath times with Nana and all the other time with extra attention and playmates! We all flew back to our home on Christmas Eve and spent Christmas enjoying special gifts, cooking and playing at Kua Bay. We ended the year in Waikoloa enjoying our last condo stay after seeing a bunch of turtles at Kukio Beach!
Na Pali Coastline from the HelicopterAll in all it has been a pretty dreamy year with a lot more adventure than we ever imagined having with a small child! We continue to learn, grow and have God shape our hearts. Our compassion for the poor and suffering and our world view continue to define who we are and what we want to spend our lives doing. We really sit with a blank slate for the coming year. We will continue to dream and let God sort out where and what we will be doing a year from now.
2011 Reflection Questions:1. What was the best thing that happened to me this year? Do I have to choose 1? Getting to spend so much time with Kait, my life long dream of seeing Thailand, getting to spend this school year in Kona
2. What did I do this year that I'm really proud of? Completing an Olympic Triathlon, being more generous financially
3. Who did I really help? My clients at the nursing home and my students
4. Who do I need to thank and acknowledge for having been there for me? During our fight with MRSA I really appreciated the calls and check ins from friends and family - there are many of you.
5. What are the top three lessons I learned? I need to spend more time having fun with Autumn, I need to be less controlling (this one is so so so hard, especially after the MRSA), face to face time is so valuable.
6. What increased my happiness and joy this year? my husband and daughter
7. What's something I got through that was really tough? our awful experience with a MRSA infection on Autumn
8. What did I avoid that I must pay more attention to in 2012? I wouldn't necessarily call it avoiding - but I would really like to spend more time in the Word of God this year.
9. What character trait did I develop most this year? Patience with difficult 2 year old behavior- it is slowly but surely developing...
10. What new people did I meet that are now in my life? the Teagues, McNeills, Tresters, Erin and Natalie
A few fun adventure stats from 2011:
Number of nights in hotels/condos/bungalows/resorts - 39
Average price we paid per night - $31 (thanks to heavily subsidized family vacations)
Number of nights staying with friends/family (rent free) - 79
Individual Airline Flight segments - 29
# of employers - 4 in 3 states
Goals for 2012!
1. Get pregnant again
2. Spend 20 minutes 5x a week in God's word
3. Spend more time learning Aaron's business so I can work for him some
4. Keep a prayer journal 3-4x a month
5. Surf 3-4x a month until I'm 15 weeks pregnant (when ever that might be)
1 comment:
We loved having you here and are missing you this winter!! I have tears in my eyes that we made your list of favorite things...love you friend!
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