Change is Good

Hey Ya'll. I was getting bored with the site and I wanted to change something . It still has all the same features, just in different places. I am hoping to attach a link where you can view all our photos . I still have time to get that in order.

I am planning on trying to fly to Maryland this next week. I am going to fly with military flights so I have to be flexible if at the last minute they can't take me. Now, is the perfect time for me to try out military flights without children, a job and even without Daniel since he won't have to worry about specific leave time. I have to be ready for pretty much anything on the flight over, but who can argue with a free flight? Not me!

Not much to report here, other than the usual. I have been keeping up with AWANA, MOPS, and Sunday school, and of course spending time with the ladies. I had the joy of filling in for a singer this last week for the praise band at our church. One of the singers couldn't make it so they asked me to sub for a week. I really enjoyed working with the band, meeting new people, but especially helping bring people to a state of worship. I have missed singing in that avenue and have felt convicted lately on not using my voice in that way. I have to see what God has in store for me in that department.
Daniel, has been very busy lately, but is continuing to learn the best ways to delegate responsibilities. He is reading several books right now that will help him when it comes time to be promoted and move ahead in the military. We still do not know what God has in store for us in that respect either. We are still figuring out the here and now. I think it is working well focusing on the now, but being aware of the future.

Thank you all for your prayers and support. We are both learning about the trials and joys of deployment. Of course there are more trials, but we find joy in each conversation.

I leave you all with the beautiful rose in our front yard. I am partial to purple...

Much Love!

Progressive Dinner, Bowling and a Night at the Opera

Hello dear family and friends!

Daniel is staying busy as usual, but I am thankful to report he does have an adequate amount of downtime. I am glad to hear when he does, because a person could go crazy with that level of intensity all the time. He has been reading, watching movies with peers and just conversationally chatting with his roomie, as well as other guys. I am sure getting to know them personally has been a nice change from just knowing them at work. There are still no pictures to post because he doesn't have easy access to a digital camera. Last time we spoke he said he was going to try to take some and send them over. I will post whatever I get.

Saturday was a nice beach day. It didn't start off looking like it but Amaya and I decided to risk it and went out. Well, we underestimated the sun and we got sunburnt. The sun came out about 45 minutes into our outting. We had sunscreen on, but apparently not enough. It probably didn't help that we both fell asleep. We did find some great shells and enjoyed the great beach day.

That night we went to the Progressive Dinner and enjoyed ourselves silly. We started out at a couple's home in Kailua for salad and bread. It had an absolutly beautiful lookout over the town and there was a great view of the ocean. The company was wonderful. We moved on to another couple's home for the main course. The couple lived on base and I have one of their daughters in AWANA so it was good to get to know the parents. It turns out they are both from eastern Tennessee, right near my parents hometowns, and we hit it off instantly. Basically, dinner was the highlight of the evening in my mind. We had so much fun laughing and getting to know each other. We moved onto the last house together, Amaya, Brian and Cindy (the southern couple) and I. The last house we went to was phenomenal! We walked in the front door and the home looked like a museum. The house was much larger than it appeared in the front because it was built on a hill. Once you entered in, it was a maze of rooms, full of several works of art and just general loveliness. They even had an entire room for their birds. It had clear wire sealing it off from the rest of the home. In the bottom of the room was an indoor pond with Japanese kois and little turtles.

Tiramisu for dessert ended the evening on a great note and Amaya and I got a picture in front of the pool in the backyard. Unfortunately, it was dark and you can't see all the beautiful landscaping. The pool was like the cherry on top. The amazing plants and levels in the backyard were so peaceful. Basically it was a fantastic home. :)

Sunday morning brought another great Sunday School class with only a few kids because of the ProBowl in Honolulu. Sunday afternoon Jo, her sons, Amaya, and another 1/3 wife with kids and I all went bowling at the base bowling alley. I haven't gone bowling in quite sometime and it took a while for me to warm up to it again. We all had a good time.

Valentine's Day was very special because my husband sent flowers to the women in his life. He generously sent his mother, my mom, and me all flowers. I could brag on him forever! Thank you Daniel they are so beautiful! Of course you are my #1 Valentine, then the little boy in my AWANA group who keeps stealing kisses on my cheek. :) Haha...Too cute!

Tuesday evening I went to the opera with a music leader at Faith. She had been looking for someone to go see the opera with her and luckily we met up at the progressive dinner. The opera was Rigeletto by Guiseppe Verdi. It is a tragic opera. It was really good to go to the opera. It had been a long time since I had been to a live opera. It seemed like I was getting a steady diet while at school and this past year on the island I have been deprived. The opera season here is so short. Each opera runs one weekend and they only do three operas; so the season starts the beginning of February and ends the beginning of March. It is really sad because you miss out if you have a busy weekend. I guess they have a smaller audience here on the island and can't run operas for as long as I am used to on the East Coast. Thankfully, I caught this one and enjoyed it thoroughly. The highlight was the tenor in the role of the Duke. He had a warmth and brightness that was very pleasant to listen to. Anyways, I won't analyze the opera on here...to boring for most people.

I hope you all are doing well. I love hearing from all of you. Please keep praying for both Daniel and his older brother, Everett both deployed in the war on terrorism.

Many blessings to you!

Long Week and Bird Watching

As the title suggests, it has been a long week. I have been very busy with KV activities this week. Saturday we had a picnic and the beginning of the week we had several messages to pass on to wives. I have been on the phone alot lately. We had our regular meeting on Thursday and thankfully it went better than the last. I didn't leave as a ball of tense nerves like last meeting. The leader kept the chatty women quiet for the meeting part and dealt with everyone's concerns by the end. I was very thankful for that.

Daniel was able to email a couple of times early in the week to let me know how he is doing. He is healthy, busy, and ready to return home. I cannot share many details over the blog, as well as he was not able to share many details of his job over the email. There is a clear line of operation security measures that we have to abide by in order to keep everyone safe.

This week I also had the pleasure of being able to spend a day with Amanda and precious baby Rhiannon. They are back from their long visit with family in Texas. I had missed chatting with Amanda. We spent Thursday together for lunch and then doing some baby shopping for their new baby due this spring. I enjoy shopping for baby stuff. It gives me ideas for gifts for all the wonderful expecting mothers I call my friends. Such an exciting spring!

On Tuesday I did some shopping at Kmart and I finally bought a bird feeder, food, and native bird book. I kept telling myself I wanted to watch the birds here more often, so I finally broke down and did it. I have loved watching and listening to them munch away at the food as well as chirp at each other. I have cardinals, sparrows, finches, doves and pigeons crowding my backyard to get a good seat for the feeder. Please forgive my beginning photography. I am getting used to the zoom and outdoor settings.

This is the Red-crested cardinal and they are numerous on the island. I have about 5 that frequent my feeder daily.

This is the Northern Cardinal (male) that seems to hang around alot with one particular female.

Those adorable birds in the foreground are Java Sparrows. They have become one of my favorites because of their little masked faces. They have bright pink bills and they always chatter at each other when they are pecking at the feeder and ground. I love how they interact with each other.

Here are the doves that are so numerous. The larger doves are the Spotted Doves (on chain link fence and a bad shot...sorry) and the smaller are the Zebra Doves. The zebra doves are very vocal and so small compared to the spotted doves. They coo the entire time they are feeding.

And here is the beautiful Feral Pigeon that showed up today and scattered the small birds when ever it dove at the feeder:


I have enjoyed watching them while I read about them and the other island birds. There are so many exotic birds on this island. I hope to see many more than just the birds in my backyard and the few I see when driving. I should get out and hike more often.

Tomorrow I am going to a progressive dinner. Our church is sponsoring it as a Valentine's Day activity. Amaya and I are going together. I guarantee there will be pictures. We meet at one house for salad/bread then move to another house for the main entree, and yet another for the dessert. Each house we go to will be with a different group so we get to meet and chat with several people through the night. I am looking forward to it!

Have a great weekend!