Tiny Kitchen

So our cottage is small. If you do a 360 turn, you will see all of it, but we like it and our enjoying it. It is very clean and although small, it fits our needs...... well most of them.

I miss my old kitchen!!! My old kitchen was a full kitchen with a dishwasher, a garbage disposer, a full sized stove and oven and lots and lots of counter space and cupboards. Our landlord here graciously put in extra cupboards when he knew a family was moving in so that doubled the cupboard space (the ones up above.) When he told me he was going to do that, I almost cried I was so happy! So when we were looking at this cottage, we liked so many things about it, the yard, close to campus, a detached home (cottage), not an apartment complex and it was new and clean. The kitchen, that was my hold up.

But I will prevail!! And I will master the art of a small kitchen. I will get better at not using my ONE counter as a junk spot. I will get good at using a power strip to plug in anything. The closest one is down by the trash can. I will get better at doing my dishes right away so the counter is cleared. I will get use to using a tiny microwave that I have to step on a stool to reach, but it was just given to us for free so I really can't complain.  I will get use to using a motor home sized oven, at least it fits my jellyroll pans. I will get use to not having a garbage disposer. And I will patiently wait till Haans has a job before I hit him up with the idea of a portable dishwasher (one that has wheels) and it will act as MORE counter space!!

So just so you have an idea we use the top cupboards and the bottom of the china hutch for food. Then we use the bottom cupboard and china hutch for our most elaborate dishes that I picked up at Goodwill, but they are Pier 1 Import dishes! I even found that crock pot and a rice cooker there. Alas, my Goodwill silverware doesn't match so yep I am still reminded of what my mom told me, "it might feel like camping but with 4 walls."

Another good thing about a tiny kitchen is that I am limited on the amount of dishes I can have. So today while making brownies, I HAD to double the brownie mix because I ONLY had a big Pyrex pan instead of a small one.  See, so there is lots to be grateful for with a tiny kitchen.

And besides with that tiny kitchen comes this beautiful view that I can see while cooking over my tiny stove!

Washing away their woes

We have now been here a whole week and we have received a lot of blessings and so we are very grateful. We found a home, which is called a cottage. It is a 600 square foot, 2 bedroom, little cottage behind a family's house. It was originally built for a aging parent (who didn't want it) and now we have it. It's clean and nice and fits are needs. It's up hill from downtown so we have a nice little view of paradise (well over a wall- you can't see it sitting on our coach, but standing up you can) :-)

                                      This is the girl's sleeping arraignments for right now!

This is after a shopping spree to Goodwill. We had this scene again after a trip to Walmart and Costco. It defiantly takes a lot of shopping to restart your life after you sell everything and move to an island. But I got new bathroom towels and bed sheets out of it. :-)

 This is our front entryway. Curly picked out her outfit today! Even the way she wore her hat.

We have gotten lost soooooo many times, even with our smartphones. We have decided the roads here were an afterthought, but we will prevail. I have heard the best way to figure out a city is to get lost in it and we sure have. The problem is when you have two screaming kids in the back seat that don't care that mommy and daddy are "trying" to figure out Honolulu. The last 2 days have been pretty rough for the girls. Lots and lots of crying. 

This is the girls trying to console themselves after crazy-tired-monster-mommy came out. <sniff, sniff> The girls have had to endure a lot of running around so to help wash away their woes, I took them to ........ the beach! Shocking I know. 

Yesterday, I decided to take them to Waikiki, and of course had to go the worse possible way because it took us through the heart of tourism. But it was beautiful and the girls enjoyed it.

Then today after we dropped Haans off at school at 6:00 pm I took them to Ala Moana (our favorite so far) for an hour and enjoyed the warm water and the sunset. It has been so hot and humid, (our butter was melting in the butter dish) so it was nice to be cooled down. My girls are so good at making instant friends, and fighting with them over their toys. Great!!

 When Haans and I realized we'd be moving away from all our friends and family and what I deemed paradise in my home town, I told him at least he was taking me somewhere beautiful. So despite some of these hard days, I do live in a beautiful place and I am grateful for that!!

Aloha

We made it to Hawaii! It was crazy and long but we survived. As my mom is always reminding me, "we can do hard things!"

Our flight was on Wed at 8:40 am and we needed to leave at 5:30 am. Of course like "Else" style, we went to bed at 1:30, so after our quick nap we got up and headed out the door in Gramp's airport shuttle. Here's what our lives look like in suitcases.

Once we got to Agoura Hills, I realize we left our double stroller at home in the garage. Drats!!! Well mom, enjoy a double stroller. :-) We ended up checking 6 pieces of luggage plus a baby car seat and carried 2 carry-ons, 3 personal items, another car seat and two little kids. Haans and I were hoping to load the double stroller up with kids and luggage but instead our arms got a good work out.

Unfortunately the plane with almost full and there were no seats near us, so Lou Who had to sit on our laps the whole way. In hindsight, we probably should have bought her a seat, just so she could have slept. Instead we "did hard things" and wrestled her for 5 1/2 hours, trying to keep her semi quiet, and from kicking the seat in front of us. (she did sleep on my lap for about 30 minutes). One thing that helped is Lou Who and I did laps around the plane several times. After we landed and were waiting for everyone else to get off so we could clean up our row, it was so cute to see how many people said good-bye to our little cutie! We survived our long flight and walked off the airplane into Paradise.

Our first task was to get all our luggage to the curb so we could take a taxi to an Enterprise near the airport that didn't have airport shuttle service. (It was the only car rental place that had an SUV left). We were turned down by three mini van taxis but fortunately an Astro van arrived and we loaded him up and drove to get our "standard SUV" that we had booked. This standard SUV was a let down because it ended up being a GMC Terrain. A nice 2012 car, but it barely fit all our luggage. Good thing we forgot the stroller because it wouldn't have fit.

 I normally would never pick McDonald's for food, but this shows how desperately tired and hungry we were when we arrived. Hopefully never again will I get that desperate. Their ice cream is always good though! And ice cream always makes me feel better.

We had fun trying to figure out how to get to the Beck's house and got lost finding it, but getting lost in Paradise isn't that bad. I have decided that if you are going to get lost in a new big city, Honolulu is the best place to do it because you are not getting honked at, the speed limit is A LOT slower here and there are so many crazy drivers doing extreme lane changing that a lost mainlander fits right in.

It was so comforting to receive a warm welcoming hug from the Becks and we have enjoyed their company so much. They have also endured our crazy daughters tormenting their dogs and leaving chaos all over their home. We were able to finally sign our lease this afternoon to our little cottage and are excited to move into our new home tomorrow! Heavenly Father has blessed us so much with so many little and big things working out. Now onto moving, setting up our home, doing a major shopping spree at Costco to restart our lives, finding a car, setting up a bank account (just learned there are no mainland banks on Hawaii), going to the beach and oh yeah, starting school for Haans!

Car Miracles

In December of 2009, our little 1986 Toyota Camry overheated. We bought it from my brother for $750 in January 2008, after it was stolen and then found a week later with the radio ripped out and the wonderful words of "f" you were scratched on the speedometer cover. Because it overheated, it destroyed the seals in one of the engine's cylinders. So basically it was now running off of 3 cylinders instead of 4. When my dad and brother confirmed what had happened. I just cried and cried. I know silly to cry over a broken old car, but it was just the final straw in a slew of other financial issues that we were having. I remember writing in my journal that day how sad I was, but also how grateful I was that I knew Heavenly Father was watching over us and all would be OK. My dad and brother told us that if we drove it carefully and avoided the freeways, it might last another 6 months. Fortunately we still had a Ford Explorer for Haans to get to work in. So the Camry became my "baby" that I drove my little infant Curly around town in. I just drove around town because I figured when it broke down, I would be able to call someone easily to pick us up.

Fast forward to December 2010, the Camry is still astonishingly running! Then one evening Haans was driving home from work right after it started raining. He took the freeway on-ramp a little too fast and the Explorer slipped, fish tailed and rolled once on the freeway. He miraculously didn't hit any other cars and walked away with only a scratch on his shoulder, a broken cellphone and a very squashed car. We had a lot of friends and family help us out till we were able to buy another car to get Haans to work since we still didn't dare take the Camry up the "Grade" on the freeway.

Fast forward again to August 2012. The Camry is still running!! A few things have happened to it in the process. The exhaust pipe rusted away and Haans and my dad were able to fix it with a soup can and wire! Talk about frugality and ingenuity. But there are other exhaust leaks and so it sounds like a "race" car as my neighbor's little son calls it. Meaning you can hear me coming down the road from a block away. A friend told me it wasn't a very good "get away car." I got used to the fact that when I drove down the road, people walking on the side of the street would stop and turn around to see what was coming down the street. The amazing thing was that in January 2011 it even passed it's smog test which we were for sure it wouldn't. It also had an oil leaking problem so I carried around a foil pan to catch some of the drips. Sorry to everyone that has some Camry markings on their driveways or in front of their houses. As my neighbor told me, it will help them remember us. Also some other issues it had was some yummy chili that my aunt gave me  rolled under the front seat and rotted away till we finally found were the stench was coming from. And also during an oil change, I didn't realize Haans put the old oil in the trunk and it spilled all over the trunk. Plus we never did replace the ripped out radio so we had this beautiful gaping hole in the dashboard.

SO I hope you have gotten an idea of the type of awesome car it is. This last week, I was able to participate in a government sponsored car retirement program. Because the Camry didn't pass this last smog check (shocker) we retired it and were given $1500. Yippee! Talk about an answer to prayer and a miracle. I still am in awe that Elvira, which is what my brother had named her, has lasted all these years. She was thought to only last 6 months and has lasted 2 1/2 years. I joke it is our "tithing" car because the Lord has promised to "open the windows of heaven" when we pay our tithing and he totally has in many ways, and especially with this car. I know we could have survived on one car, but I am so grateful to a loving Heavenly Father who cares so much about my happiness that he helped an old clunker car last all these years. It was bittersweet to get rid of it because it helped me remember so many blessings Heavenly Father has given our little family.

We were also blessed to sell our other car this last week so we are car-less now till we find one in Hawaii. But again I know it will all work out!!

In the beginning.....

.... the Endecott Adventure began.

In T-14 days we will be relocating from Southern CA to Hawaii.

 One of my answers when people ask why we are moving, is because it hasn't been warm enough in CA. For those that haven't heard, Haans was accepted to a Master's program at the University of Hawaii. He will be studying to get a Masters in Public Administration. He ultimately wants to go into Hospital Administration.



















We moved out of our home last Tuesday and have been staying with mom and dad. They have been so gracious to let us bring some chaos with us. I had hoped to be more prepared and packed when we moved, but we ended up bringing 3 truck loads with us, that was even after our big garage sale and donating the leftovers. But we have been working hard to remove the chaos from their garage and our room.

Today in Relief Society, I was asked to give a little three minute testimony on hope. One of the things I shared with the ladies was this quote from President Hinckley. He said it at his wife's funeral.

"It isn't as bad as you sometimes think it is. It all works out. Don't worry. I say that to myself every morning. It will all work out. Put your trust in God, and move forward with faith and confidence in the future. The Lord will not forsake us. He will not forsake us. If we will put our trust in Him, if we will pray to Him, if we will live worthy of his blessings, He will hear our prayers."

I really like this quote because as I look at my future, there are a lot of unknowns and so I have been quite nervous. I like my checklists and having all my ducks lined up. BUT with this move, I have had to let it go. I have been doing what I can but we are really walking into the dark. We don't have a place to live yet, we haven't sold our car yet, we need to find a job for Haans since student loans, our mode of paying for school and livelihood, isn't enough to cover our little family. But Haans and I feel good about the decision to sell everything we own and fly with one-way tickets and two little kids, towards a hopeful future.

I am excited for Haans. He has been in a very stagnant job and a bit discouraged that upon his graduation with his undergraduate, he hasn't been able to find a better job. I know he will do awesome as a graduate student and I know he will enjoy it. He is worried about more school and succeeding, but I know he will do great.

So this blog will be to encourage my "journaling" efforts in documenting the grand adventures we will be having as new Hawaiian residents!