Monthly Archives: September 2009

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Sunday Evening Ruminations

September 21, 2009 – 12:24 am

Aloha!  It’s Sunday evening and the sun has set on my bachelor weekend.  I hope my wife is proud of my conscientious Swiffer-ing efforts.  I will admit that it works wonders, but I feel like this could be an expensive habit.  Yesterday, my cousin Bri got married in Canada.  All of my family made the trip…except for lonely me.  Although I was bummed that I could not attend, I’m excited to see the newlyweds soon!

Congrats to Bri and Cathy!  We are praying for many many years of marriage filled with joy and love, as you serve each other and remember your vows on your special day!

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This picture below was taken just days before I got married.  We ate lunch at a local buffet.  My track record for buffets these days is pitiful compared to my teenage years.  Maybe I’ll be able to put on a few more pounds with plate lunches and once I get into a better cooking groove.  Speaking of food, I should start cooking dinner…A hui hou!

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By eric | Posted in Posts by Eric | Comments (1)

Moving Update #4: PICTURES!!

September 12, 2009 – 6:42 am

What a week!  Eric started work on Tuesday and I’ve been busy cleaning & unpacking in our new place.  We’ve had no Internet, no TV, and no car… on one hand, it’s been refreshing and a good change of pace, but on the other, I’m starting to go a little nuts feeling stranded and out-of-touch… so thank goodness for my parents and their hospitality!  (We’re sleeping over tonight!)  Normally, we eat dinner and go to sleep by 10:30 because there’s not much else to do (and Eric has to catch the bus early the next morning)… but tonight I’m surfing the Internet AND watching TV at the same time… so I’m quite happy.  Plus I have TONS OF PICTURES to share!!

First, here are a few photos from the farewell lunch that our friends at GCC threw for us.  Thanks again guys, we really enjoyed it!  And we miss you!!  One of our prayers is to get plugged into a good church community in Hawaii.
Farewell Lunch

Next are some random photos from our last week on the East Coast… six dusty roses from Eric’s proposal (too bad they wouldn’t have survived the trip), our eggy family, winter coats I was really happy to donate, Eric being squashed by my heavy bag of donations, penguin slippers, my general sentiment toward packing, friends!, family, and our last picture together in our first home–right before we turned in our keys.
MovingOut

Fast forward a few days and we arrive!!  This is our first picture at the Honolulu Airport!! : )
Arrival

Seeing our new home for the first time.  Thanks to my dad and brother and Lynne for picking us up (and for the beautiful leis)!!
OurHome

After dropping off our stuff, our first stop was for shave ice… YUM.  The next day we had dim sum with my grandma!  (Eric was there too, but he’s behind the camera!)
FirstStop

Look how dark Eric is only after 2 days in Hawaii!  Haha.
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Here I am assembling a futon while Eric is taking pictures, hehe… and we put our leis on again cause they were starting to go.  Friends, if you come and visit, you are welcome to sleep on our couch! 
Futon

Finally, our first dinner in our new home.  Spaghetti and broccoli may not seem like much, but when you had to clean the stove, clean the counters, clean the fridge, basically clean the ENTIRE KITCHEN (thanks Dad & Kev for your help!!)… buy the pots, buy the dishes, buy the groceries, basically buy EVERYTHING necessary to cook and eat (thanks Mom!)… clean the aforementioned pots and dishes… and THEN cook the groceries… well, then spaghetti and broccoli are a HUGE accomplishment!!  It was the best spaghetti ever!
Spaghetti

Cockaroaches aside (another post), our transition here has been pretty smooth.  We feel very blessed for the opportunities we’ve been given, and for the love that’s been shown us from friends and family.  Thank you for praying for us, and please continue to keep in touch! (Sorry we haven’t caught up with emails yet, but we will, soon!)  With that, I bid you goodnight… (Eric is already sleeping!) and much aloha from the islands!

By jen | Posted in Personal | Tagged | Comments (7)

Moving Update #3

September 3, 2009 – 1:46 pm

Eric is sleeping as I type.  This morning, however, he sleeps not upstairs in the queen-sized bed of our bedroom, but instead, on the twin-sized lower bunk of my bedroom in my parents’ home.  My mom is also asleep after a 12-hour shift, my dad is at work, and my brother on the way back to school on the East Coast.  Everything is so familiar, yet unfamliar at the same time.  The sounds of traffic and morning garbage-pickup are not new.   The bumpy rides in my family’s little green car along the Hawaiian-named streets are like they were eight years ago.  Yet now Eric is by my side.  Alongside the old, run-down buildings, there are new condominiums and retail stores popping up everywhere.  There are new traffic laws we must learn, prices we must get re-accustomed to, a new place to move into and make our home.  It’s fun and exciting, nerve-wracking and overwhelming.  I am still in a bit of shock, and I wonder what our new normal will look like once the dust settles. 

All that to say, we made it.  We are in Hawaii!  We’ve had shave ice at Waiola’s, eaten dim sum with my grandma, and been to Walmart (twice)–sign of a true local!  Haha.  I still can’t believe we survived last week’s madness of packing, selling, cleaning, goodbye-ing… I had not felt so overwhlelmed nor multitasked so furiously since the week before my wedding.  We definitely could not have done it without the help of many dear friends–friends who brought us frozen yogurt, who helped us pack & donate & throw things out, who received things that we were unable to bring, who lent me her car for an entire week so we could ship ours early (!), who helped sell my keyboard when our only interested buyer fell through at the last minute (!), who lent us a desperately-needed iMac box (!), who drove 2.5 hours with us to Jersey when we realized there was no way everything would fit into one car (!), and who rushed us to the post office so we could slip in just seconds before it closed (!).  Seriously, we are so thankful!!!  It’s as if every friend who served us and every prayer said on our behalf were pieces that God joined together to make our move possible; even one less piece would have made the puzzle incomplete and our move that much harder.  We marvel at the way things have fallen (and are still falling) into place better than we could have planned.  And now, 30 boxes, 4 check-ins, 2 carry-ons, 2 flights and 1 layover later, we are in Hawaii!!!  It is unreal.  It is by God’s grace.

Photos coming soon, once I find my camera cable.  Sending love & warmth from the Islands.  Miss you guys!!

By jen | Posted in Personal | Tagged | Comments (2)