5 Days to Go!

Well, I thought I'd try to get one last post in before we leave Guam for good. It is truly bittersweet. Saying goodbye to this beautiful place and wonderful friends is hard, but knowing what awaits us at the other end makes me want to jump for joy! We've had a great two years experiencing Guam and making good friends but we're all ready to come home. I haven't been too emotional ... yet. Friday we went to Underwater World for the last time and we were able to enjoy it with Jack's preschool class. Yesterday we went to Tarza water park at the boys' request. I had to break the news that waterparks will be a thing of the past once we get home. Today is our last Sunday at church and we have to say goodbye to our Southern Christian Academy family. It is going to be very emotional, very difficult. Today was my last jog (the diving birds are out for the first time and I want to leave Guam with my head and hair intact!). This afternoon will be Cole's last outing with Mrs. Sablan, his kindergarten teacher and special friend. Haven has to say goodbye to her best friend Bella and, though Haven won't have a clue, it will break my heart. Jack will miss his friends at school and his girlfriends Logan and Avri. I need one more visit to Mt. Lam Lam for shaved ice surprise and to the mall for a tapioca ball drink and I'll be ready to get on the plane. Tom has had one foot out the door for months :)

The details: On Wednesday the movers come to take our express shipment and we check out of housing and check into the Sheraton Hotel where we enjoy one more day of paradise before flying out Friday morning. We'll be in Massachusetts just long enough to visit Portsmouth, RI, see the house we'll be renting and sign the lease. Then we'll spend the rest of the week in NY with Tom's side of the family. After we celebrate his birthday on the 15th of May we'll be saying goodbye to him. He'll come back to Guam to finish up and study for his oral boards. The rest of us will be in Massachusetts and hope to see many of you! June 23rd we'll see him again! Our lease in RI starts July 1st. Phew, that was a lot.

I wish I could post the many pictures I have taken over recent weeks but I can't get them onto this laptop. Here are a few pictures from the Perimeter Run that a friend mailed to me. I put together a team of women, the "guamamamas", and we ran a 48 mile relay around the southern perimeter of Guam. We had an amazing time and did well. Boy was it hot! You can tell the before picture by the background. We started at 4:30 AM and finished before noon.

Tarzan Pools

I wanted to post a few pictures from a hike I did with the boys a few weeks ago. I can honestly say now that we survived the jungles of Guam :) They were on vacation and I had planned on taking them to a water park only to find that it was closed that day. Cole wanted to hike to somewhere that he could swim so I decided to take them to Tarzan pools. We found the trailhead and began walking. About 1/2 mile into our hike we ran into a hunter that told us that a deer passed behind Jack just moments prior. He then told us we were on the wrong trail and took us to a gravel path that he said would lead to the pools. We hiked and hiked and all I could think about was how the downhill trek we were making meant that we had to climb it back after they exhausted themselves swimming. Right about the time I decided we would turn around Cole heard voices ahead and ran to find the pools and a group of college students enjoying the water. He came back screaming in excitement and said it was the "coolest place ever". It really was beautiful there and we had a nice time swimming. Cole went on the ropeswing a few times. They swam just long enough to tire and we made it not even 1/8 of a mile before Jack's little legs couldn't carry him any further. Thankfully Cole was able to take our large backpack so I could carry Jack. We did make it out thankfully and the boys had quite a collection of empty bullet casings filling their pockets. The next morning Jack woke up and complained that "my butt hurts". I remembered the hills we climbed and had to chuckle. Here are some pictures.

Mom and Dad's visit to Guam Jan 2008

I've been working on a video for my parents using pictures from their trip here in Jan. Finally it's finished and I thought I'd try to get it on the blog so others can watch it if they are interested. It is about 6 minutes long I imagine. Enjoy!

COMING HOME

Well, this may very well be my last blog before we move as Tom is about to do something with our hard drive in preparation for our move. Just yesterday Tom reminded me that in a little over a month we will be on our way home! We pack out of this house April 21st and will live on "boonie" furniture supplied by the Navy until May 7th. At that point we head to a hotel for two nights before we fly out the morning of the 9th. We'll spend a brief few days in Massachusetts before we head to NY to visit with Tom's family. On the 16th Tom will head back to Guam until he returns for good at the end of June. We are planning on renting a house in Portsmouth, RI starting in July. My mind is spinning as I start packing and come to the reality that, though I am so excited to be coming home, I have to say goodbye to my family here. It is going to be very difficult.

As many of you know, my cousin John Austin was in a very serious car accident a few weeks ago. His recovery has been slow but God is good. He is responding more to his loved ones daily and it is so encouraging. He is moving to a specialized rehab center in PA where he will continue to heal. Please continue to keep him and his family in your prayers as the road ahead is long and there are so many unknowns at this point.

Well, I'd like to post a few pictures from the last month. Enjoy. I look forward to seeing many of you soon!!!!!

Around and about

What I wish I had a picture of is the incredible rainbow I saw on Monday at the boys' school. I've seen so many rainbows here in Guam, but none like this particular one. The boys' school is right on the water (poor them) and when I dropped them off on Monday my friend Amy and I sat outside to do our Bible study. We looked off into the ocean and saw the rainbow with it's brilliant colors. It touched the water at both ends and in between sailed a catamaran. Then I noticed that there was a double rainbow above it, also touching the water at both ends. We were both kicking ourselves for not having our cameras, but thankful for the blessing. Above I've posted a picture of my sign class that just ended, one of my moms group, a picture of Haven and her friend Eamon goofing off at the sink during their sign class, and a picture of Haven's neighborhood buddies. On the bottom is my pineapple. A friend gave me this pineapple before she moved almost 2 years ago. I planted it and for a year it just sat there. When we had to move last summer I took all of my plants but left that one. I don't really know why. I guess I had just given up on it. My friend Tennille asked me about it a few weeks ago and I told her I left it in the garden. Lo and behold they found it with this beautiful pineapple growing. It took a while for the plant to reveal it's fruit. I just needed to be patient. Lesson learned. Speaking of patience, we're not sure now if we're heading to Jacksonville. Newport is back in the picture and hopefully we'll know more by this weekend. Stay tuned! I'll try to post some video soon and a link to Tom's Flickr pictures.

mom and dad visit

We had to say goodbye to my parents a few weeks ago after a week long visit with them here. During this visit I felt no pressure "to do", but just desired "to be" with them. They came to hug the kids (and us :) and Cole, Jack and Haven were so happy. I just loved having them here with me to sit with, visit with, enjoy the kids with, watch TV with, etc. etc. We have missed family and can't wait to come home. During their time here we stayed at the Pacific Island Club for a few days, which is essentially a giant playground for the kids. I laugh because what I have wanted to do since we arrived here dad did the first day there - windsurf. Unfortunately he couldn't go too far or he would have been lost beyond the reef. The picture of the windsurfer above is him. There is also a picture of the view of the PIC grounds from our window.

Hong Kong

For those of you that did not know, we recently took a 4 day vacation to Hong Kong. Our trip to the states left summer gave us enough miles to get the whole family there, and with miles to spare! Before we left I remember mentioning our trip to a few people who commented about the long flight (4 1/2 hours). I had to laugh because 2 years ago that just would have felt like a nightmare to avoid. However, after traveling back and forth from Guam at over 20 hours we can fly anywhere! Actually, the kids were great and we had an incredible vacation. We stayed at the YMCA and had a great big family suite that overlooked the harbor. We did a city tour on day one, a walking tour to the really neat science museum the second day, and Disney the third day. Jack kept commenting that he wanted to stay there forever. The kids loved the excitement of the city, the sights, the sounds, and of course Toys-R-Us. I would highly recommend this family vacation to anyone traveling to or in this part of the world. If we had one more day we would have made the trip to see the Giant Buddha, the largest sitting Buddha in the world. Here are a few pictures.