Greetings from beautiful Kona, Hawaii! This past week should (hopefully) go down as one of the more eventful string of days in our lives...
On Sunday, with the help of our dear church friends, we moved the contents of our home into a storage facility and passed the house keys off to the new owners. The mid-90s temperature made for very pleasant moving conditions.
On Tuesday, after staying with Angie's parents, Russ and Kathy Fuller, for a couple of relaxing days, we loaded our suitcases into the truck and drove down with Angie's parents and sister Amy to Portland to meet up with Russ who was on business. We enjoyed a final Banzai Burger at Red Robin that night as a family.
On Wednesday morning, we flew out of Portland airport at 10:30 PST for our flight to Maui. After a 2-hour layover, we hopped to our final destination in Kona. Sam and Katie were pure champs during the travel. We were very proud of them. Since we were arriving one day early, we spent the night in a local hotel.
Today (Thursday), we were able to spend the morning at the hotel pool. The kids had a great time. Then this afternoon, we arrived at the YWAM base here in Kona. The staff and residents have welcomed us so graciously. It felt like home the minute we arrived. Sam quickly attached himself to a group of older boys who were playing tetherball outside. Our room for the next three months is perfect. Very simple accomodations with a kitchenette, bed in the living room for Angie and me, and a loft for Sam and Katie (pictures to come later). Angie has already begun to add her decorators touch to the room.
The rigor of this week finally caught up with the kids tonight. They both began to realize that we are not going home for a while and, even when we do come back to Seattle, it won't be to the home that they know. Sam had a good sad cry and really missed Tiger our cat. Please be praying that they adjust to this new environment quickly.
Tomorrow (Friday), we begin our first day of classes and orientation. We are really looking forward to getting into the groove and to meet all the people we will be spending the next five months with.
More updates to come!
