March 2019

The Happenings of March 2019

This month gave us much to be thankful for. As we close out another ‘season’ and begin another, we were so blessed to be reunited with family and friends that are like family, and to be reminded of who we are and what we’re working towards. Having them here also helped make time go faster for me!

And somehow, we’re now right at the halfway point for our time on Oahu — in a way it seems like it’s been so much longer, but on the other hand I can’t believe we’ve made it this far. I’m thankful for the passing of another month, which reminds me that each trial will pass and I need to enjoy each season for what it is.

On the other hand, this month we watched a dream die right before our eyes. For the past 6 months, we had our hopes set on Curtis applying for a new program within the Navy. If he was accepted, it would have us leave Hawaii a year earlier than planned — meaning we’d move back to the mainland this fall. We know that the military (and life in general) is supposed to give you trials and challenge you and help you grow, but when we heard of the program, we saw it as a way to take control of our future and remove some of the ever-present uncertainty that comes with being assigned to an active boat in the Navy. We started praying that God would provide a way to make it possible. For a while, right up until January of this year, it seemed like Curtis had the support he needed and that things might work out. But over the past month the situation changed, and during the week with our friends this month it was basically confirmed that it wasn’t going to happen.

We’re disappointed, but continuing to persevere on, believing that God has a purpose for keeping us here even though we still don’t understand it. When I think about it, living in Hawaii really hasn’t been that hard for me and being here that extra year isn’t going to be that bad. The real trials have come through Curtis’ job (though I suppose that’s going to be affecting me more now that he won’t be home as much). I think I’ve just grown restless having been here for a year and a half, and I crave the newness and excitement that moving from state to state provides. Would a new state and location actually make things better, or more exciting? Maybe, but once the newness fades I’m sure I’ll start realizing how much I take for granted here. Such is life!

Anyway, now to the happenings of March 2019. Not a lot happened besides hosting our friends at the beginning of March and family at the end (a post about that is coming soon), but here are some things worth noting:

— Curtis and I attended the USO free event day at the Polynesian Cultural Center up in Laie. We had put off visiting this attraction knowing that this event would someday happen, and we’re glad we waited. We had a nice time, but the whole place encompasses 2 things we generally try to avoid: high prices and crowds.

— We enjoyed another year of not suffering from ‘springing forward’ for Daylight Savings Time. However, just like many people on the mainland, I’m enjoying the increasingly longer days. There have been so many days that it’s still light outside when Curtis gets home, and we’ve been enjoying more sunset walks together!

— I’ll always think of our order modification and PCS to Hawaii as the most stressful time of my life, or at least in my first 25 years of life. Now that we’ve been here a year and a half, I really thought all that stress was over…but it turns out I was wrong. This month, we found out the Navy “lost” all our paperwork that Curtis filled out upon arriving on island, and now claims we owe them thousands of dollars. Right, like we’d just go and move to Hawaii without them ordering us here with the promise of covering all our expenses…. Curtis is resubmitting paperwork to get it sorted out, but all this just makes me want to share a tell-all of our crazy military life stories even more…

— Curtis’ work schedule is intensifying and changing every day, but my ray of sunshine through all of this has been having a new friend move to the island — and not just anywhere on the island, but actually close to where I live! The timing couldn’t be better, and I’m looking forward to having someone else here to both commiserate with as well as enjoy island life with together!

— Thanks to having visitors and doing more hiking with them, I managed to hike 142 miles this month, putting me at 405 miles for 2019 — that much closer to my 1000 mile goal for the year! (In case you’re wondering, I’m not upping my goal if I reach it early. I’ll just be done hiking/jogging for the year. 😉 )

— I’ve mentioned this before in the past couple posts, but it’s worth noting again that this month we finally crossed 2 major things off our Hawaii bucket list: swimming to Chinaman’s Hat and Snorkeling! Now that we’ve done these, it seems so much easier to plan and go do them more often.

That’s it for now, happy April everyone!