We have arrived!

Yes, we have arrived on the Big Island, our new home!
We packed up our things for the last time on Wednesday, and flew from the island of O'ahu, which is the island where Mark lived as a child, to Hilo, Hawaii. We were greeted at the airport by my parents and have been enjoying their presence these last couple of days.
The island of Hawaii is most commonly called the Big Island for the following reason... each island is one county, ours is the county of Hawaii, not to be confused with the state of Hawaii which includes all of the islands.
Since arriving we have been super busy getting the house clean, buying the essentials that we didn't ship, and familiarizing ourselves with the new surroundings and people. I am hoping to paint a few rooms today, for it seems the previous owner was either colorblind or a 7 year old(one wall in our bedroom is purple and one wall in the living room is aqua).
Our house is located at almost 2800 feet elevation so it gets a litte chilly at night(58degrees), but warms up nicely during the day(77degrees).
We are still waiting for our things to arrive including our cars, so as you might imagine living out of suitcases is getting very old, but we are hoping our container will be here within the next 10 days or so.

Life is going to be different here, good but very different.

From Ella's travel journal:

Chapter One
The Drive to LA

Mama, do you think that the drive is going to
be boring? Maybe just a little bit.
And the other parts FUN!

Next page-


"MAMA!" Now we're on our way!
I see yellow flowers and white flowers. And my Mom sees a big bush of honeysuckle! Oh! Now we are in Mississippi! oh and Mom saw sOme pink flowers, too.

(She drew a picture of the sun and some clouds here).

And also I see orange ones, too! WOW!! That's a lot of flowers.

(then she drew a picture of our car driving down the road)


On the next page she wrote all of the states that we drove through as follows:

Alabama. Mississippi
Tennessee. Arkansas
Oklahoma. Texas
New Mexico. Aricona
California. LA.

Disney, the ultimate escape

We went to Disneyland yesterday thanks to Matt and Ellen's persistent attempts to win four free tickets for us. The kids had a blast! St. John's favorite ride was Star Wars and Ella's was the roller coaster Space Mountain. Lucy was completely mesmerized by the Pooh and Tigger characters(will post pics later!).
Disney land for me was fun in lots of ways, but at the same time it was thought provoking. As you step inside the park you quickly notice that Every little detail is perfect, but nothing at Disneyland is real. It's just a facade, it's the ultimate escape from reality. We all want that from time to time if we can afford it.
Why is it so easy for kids to COMPLETELY escape into stories and rides and movies? It's like they wisely know there is much more to life than what is on the surface, while we grown ups get so caught up in the worries of this life.



Another bit of news: We leave for Hawaii in two days!

Why do restaurants bother?

We arrived in Albuquerque this evening, very tired of being on the road, tired of eating fast food and snacks from gas stations, hoping to find some yummy authentic Mexican food. Sadly, our food was mediocre at best. So my question is, why do restaurants even bother serving boring food? Especially a Mexican restaurant in the middle of New Mexico. It doesn't seem like it would cost any more to make really good, fresh food. The only redeeming part of our meal, besides the ice water, was the sopapillas, thanks to Mark's moms suggestion. The kids especially enjoyed sopping them with thick honey before devouring them.

On a side note, I feel very tall here. Come visit, you will know what I'm talking about.

So far

So far we have:
packed up our things we want to keep,
sold or given away the things we don't want to keep,
hired movers to first drive our things across the country and then put our belongings on a barge to the Big Island,
cleaned out our house,
built a fence to help our house sell,
been totally overwhelmed by how many people love and will miss us and our children,
loaded our cars and began our drive to Los Angeles,
said goodbye to Birmingham,
gone swimming in two different hotel pools in two different states in one day, and
driven about 700 miles into the middle of Oklahoma, which is definitely not where we want to move.

And for every one thing I mentioned there are at least ten that will go unmentioned.

I will be posting from the iPad until we get set up in Hawaii, so my posts will be short and sweet and without pics since you can't upload photos from it. AND because I really hate typing on the damn thing(David if you are reading this I know you feel my pain, right?).

Too much stuff

One of the changes Mark and I want to make during our transition is to simplify. I mean, who doesn't want to simplify?
The movers came, loaded our "essentials", and went yesterday and our house is still full of stuff. Lots of stuff. How did this happen and why do we have all of it? What good is it to us?because right now it feels like a burden!
Some people, after learning that we are downsizing, ask if we are going to get a storage unit. Really?! Why are we Americans so attached to our stuff?
Studies have shown that people find MUCH more joy while spending money on experiences versus material objects. Why is that so hard to remember while I'm perusing my favorite furniture or clothing store?
We are such simple minded, short sighted creatures at times. That is why I'm thankful that as Keller says, "helplessness not holiness gives us access to God."

Hey, guess what!

We're going to Disney Land in LA on our way to Hawaii!

WOO HOO!

SJ. & I 'R' so excited.

If you've never been to Hawaii, see below.

What we are leaving

We, being Mark and I and 3 of our 8 children, are leaving Birmingham, Alabama. We are leaving a beautiful, diverse neighborhood where we can walk our kids to school, walk to parks, grocery stores, and restaurants. We are leaving some of our favorite places to share a meal: Superior Grill, Taj India, and V. Richards. We are leaving a large 4 bedroom house and lots of the stuff in it to downsize to a 2 bedroom in Hawaii. We are leaving some wonderful friends, family, and neighbors. But we are also leaving some not so good memories. We are leaving HOT summers, pollen filled springs, and colorful falls. We are leaving the house where our daughter was born. We are leaving the city our beloved dog, Atticus called home.

We are leaving so many things.

What will we be gaining? stay tuned.... the movers will be here in 3 days!