Surprise News and a Little Project Spectrum Fun

Well, I will start off with the surprise news even though it is not entirely a surprise anymore. We are moving in August. That's right, we are moving away from the dear Hawaii shores to the beautiful North Carolina shores. Daniel and I were planning on staying here until at least June of 2007 but we could not pass up the opportunity for Daniel to work at Cherry Point, North Carolina when we could be so close to family and friends. I am not going to go into all the details on the blog, but know that we are excited and looking forward to being on the East Coast again. Daniel hasn't been in the continental United States for quite sometime now. He has been on islands for the past three years. He is looking forward to the change of venue as well as the challenges of a new work place.

I will share more news when I get it. We are waiting for our official orders so that I can start the Permanent Change of Station (PCS) requirements before he gets back from Afghanistan. For now, there is not much more I can say other than this happened all very quickly and it is still a new thing for us as well.

Daniel is currently unreachable. He is away from computers and phones so he has not contacted me for the past few days and he said before he left it would probably be a few weeks. The major operation on the news is what he is a part of so that is what has caused the communication break. He seemed excited and very motivated before they left so I am happy for him, yet I am trying to deal with my own emotions about his deployment. I am ready for him to be home to me. It will come before I know it...I am praying that.

I have been staying relatively busy since I got home from Maryland. This week I have been fighting a stomach bug. This evening is the first time I have felt like eating real food. It was so good to me after the past three days. Anyways, enough about sickness. I have been reading and knitting this week.

This past weekend I was blessed to celebrate my dear friend Amaya's graduation with her family. Her husband returned from Iraq early and was able to make her graduation from massage therapy school on Saturday. He flew in Friday afternoon. It was an exciting week as Jo and I were helping her prepare for his arrival as well as her parents' visit. They flew in on Thursday for the graduation and they were able to greet Marc as well.

On Sunday we all took out a pontoon boat on the Kaneohe bay for the afternoon. It was a dreary day but still nice to be on the water. I only did a little snorkeling. There is not as much to look at around the sandbar where we anchored. Here is a pic of Jo, Amaya and me...

It was an emotional week for all of us. Jo and I were so excited for her, yet wishing it was our time for our husbands' return. We both are very ready for their return. Jo has been going through some stress at work too so she is ready for her husband to return. I cannot imagine having children that have to cope with the deployment as well, especially a teenager and 9-year-old. It has to be a tough time dealing with the separation from their father. I know that if God has that in His plan for Daniel and I, to have kids while Daniel is deployed, He will give us the needed strength. Looking at it from an outside view of a young wife with no kids, I know it has to be difficult. We will have to deal with it when the time comes.

On a lighter note, I have been taking a great amount of joy in Project Spectrum. Basically it is a project my older sister started online. She has encouraged people to create handicrafts as well as celebrate color. She has given each month a color or pair of colors to really explore. She has about 900 participants. It is really a wonderful idea and it has delivered such a refreshing wave of artful creativity online in peoples blogs as well as on flicker where there is a photo slideshow to watch of all the amazing photos people have taken.

The other day I visited the Swap Meet, a local flea market in Honolulu, to pick up sarongs for Amaya. I had such a good time taking random snapshots of yellow and orange, this month's colors. I have to share them. I pulled into my parking space in the Aloha Stadium, where the Swap Meet is held, and lo and behold all around the stadium these beautiful trees were in full bloom. These are called simply Golden Trees (trust me I looked it up). It is native to Mexico and Central America but it has flourished in Hawaii. There was one tree that was even more full of these beautiful blossoms, but I could not get to it because it was roped off. Believe me I wanted to snoop over for a picture, but I was on a mission that morning to explore the actual Swap Meet.

Here the humahuma is celebrating Project Spectrum on a dirt shirt. Yes it is our state fish and yes I can say it three times fast correctly. :)

I also snapped some pictures of some bright yellow sarongs with dolphins and honu, or turtles on it.



I love me some sarongs!

I also took some great rainbow pics of the fake leis that were being sold at little kiosks. it made for a nice PS pic, Hawaii style!


I had to get my favorite snack that is orange: dried mango strips. They are super yummy.


Well that is all for me tonight. I am going snorkeling tomorrow with Jo, her sons and her nephew. He is here visiting from Illinois. Jo is not as big a fan of snorkeling as I am so she wants my enthusiasm for the pastime to encourage her to get out there. We are going to my favorite Hanauma Bay to see some amazing fishies. So it is an early morning for us. It should be great.

I'll write more on the move later. As soon as I have news of Daniel I will let ya'll know.