Well, we were now needing a place to stay one more night. We had already checked out of our room and the car was pretty packed with all our stuff. We all made a choice to be positive about our circumstances, but truthfully, I was so physically miserable that in my heart I was feeling very picked on. We went back to the hotel because that was the only place I had regular wireless internet to check for other hotel rooms. Darin went up and asked if they had any rooms available and they were booked. It was kind of embarrassing sitting in their lobby at 6 am looking for another hotel room. Then Darin did something amazing, he went back up and asked again. He explained that we were repeat customers and really enjoyed their hotel. The man just gave us our room back FOR LESS THEN WE HAD PAID FOR IT up to that point and a bottle of cold water! I don't know who lost their room that night, but I like to think they got a suite instead.
The day wasn't half bad. We walked to Waikiki and watched the tourists. We didn't consider ourselves tourists. Then we had a good rain. At the time I didn't know it would be the last rain I saw for over a month.
That night Darin took me out for the best steak I have ever had in my life. He had heard about it through Sean Hannity and wanted to test it out. Well, Sean, you know a good steak for sure. It will cost you a month's salary, but it is the best steak you will ever have.
Later we walked the strip with all the artistic people. They are not allowed to charge for anything, but you give what you feel it is worth. There was another spraypainter that did amazing work. His personality was not at personable as Wayne's was. He played nasty rap and stuff, so I felt like I had to cover Ariel's ears.
There was as huge setup these parents did and then their little (very little) girls would sing for everyone. The youngest was probably 5 or 6 and it really was precious except they sung such mature songs for them of love and such. It made it feel like they were selling the keiki (children). But I know that people struggle to make ends meet in Hawaii these days and this is one way to help do that. Both parents were there, so that says something I guess. It just made me a bit sad. I hope they don't understand the words they are saying.
Then I got into a fight with one of the venders. He was a big boy too. I had just come away from watching a guy do some really entertaining magic tricks and Darin bought the DVD for Ariel. She likes magic tricks. Anyway, he came up and wanted to know how we knew how much to pay for the DVD and I told him the guy said we could pay what we wanted but made a suggested price of $20. He got really pissed and said he was going to take him down. After some back and forth I just said, "Go ahead, ruin the fun for everyone. You have some gig where your dog just sits there for people to pet and his act is very entertaining and actually brings people to the strip and you want to run him off. Go ahead and ruin everyone's fun!" He tried to put it off on the other guy, and when I came back the magic guy was packed up but talking calmly with the big guy with the dog; so at least he didn't get beat up.
Anyway, that was our last night in Honolulu. We were up and at the ferry VERY early the next day with our reservations in hand. Ariel and I slept the entire time to avoid sea sickness. It is not the trip to Bainbridge Island in Washington that is for sure. It is across open sea and very active.
For some reason the open sea caused me to loose all the water I was retaining. By the time I got off the boat, all my swelling had gone down and I could actually move again!
So off the boat we went and into our new life on Maui. My first impressions were, "What the heck, Maui is ugly!"
Sunday, November 16, 2008
Sunday, November 2, 2008
We set a date and bought the tickets. There was no going back!
So, we set a date of October 15. I look back now and wonder if I should have set it out for later, but I only wish we had gotten one other thing done and so we are now having to deal with that from here. But otherwise, we may as well have left when we did.
We have decided that we will fly into Honolulu for three days to find a car and then take the Ferry over to Maui.
I am full of expectation for this trip. I have heard a lot from God about how exciting and wonderful it is going to be and that I am to be full of expectation "as soon as I get off the plane!" Even be full of expectation when we find our car.
Up to our leaving it seemed as though everything was just getting taken care of. It was very hectic and busy, but what needed to get done was getting done. I was full of grace. As soon as I got off the plane, it seemed to stop. My first hope was that we would get a Ford Focus as a rental and we got some ugly Dodge thing. Then I immediately blew up like an elephant. I was retaining water so badly that I could hardly bend my extremities. I felt like the fattest person on Oahu.
We got into the hotel and there wasn't the beds I had requested and so I had to sleep on the couch bed because Darin was snoring so badly. Interestingly enough, the bed fit me like a glove.
The next day we drove to the North Shore and bought a red Ford Focus for a song and FINALLY found my childhood home! It was only a shadow of it's former glory. I remembered it with such splendor and it was pretty run down. We knocked on the door, but no one was home.
That night Ariel and I went to get something to eat and happened upon a street show where a guy sray paints these amazing pictures. He does this very intertaining show with music and dancing and humor as he does the whole thing. He was super cute. It really lifted my spirits.
The next day we planned to play and relax after we got our registration stuff taken care of on the car. As we were looking for the DMV, the car started blowing black smoke and putting off horibble fumes. Darin diagnosed it as the air conditioner was going out. Ugh! Not good in Hawaii. Hmmm, not feeling blessed. I am actually feeling rather picked on.
We decide to plug through and get on the Ferry at 6:00 the next morning and just get to Maui. So we got the car registered and had a huge fight to boot. We had been spending so much quality time together and had not had any for about three weeks. There was a lot of distance between us and we were both somewhat in survival mode.
We got up at 4:30 am and piled all of our stuff in the car and drove to the ferry. Just as we were driving up they shut the gate. All the way there I had been praying for the favor of the Lord and to have the gate shut in our face with no place to go back to felt like rejection. I was trying really hard to keep a stiff upper lip, and only be positive, but I was denying what I was feeling inside. I was so overwhelmed that I couldn't really talk myself through getting my mind back on track and I didn't want to call anyone because I didn't want to acknowledge that this grand adventure we were on was not so grand after all.
We have decided that we will fly into Honolulu for three days to find a car and then take the Ferry over to Maui.
I am full of expectation for this trip. I have heard a lot from God about how exciting and wonderful it is going to be and that I am to be full of expectation "as soon as I get off the plane!" Even be full of expectation when we find our car.
Up to our leaving it seemed as though everything was just getting taken care of. It was very hectic and busy, but what needed to get done was getting done. I was full of grace. As soon as I got off the plane, it seemed to stop. My first hope was that we would get a Ford Focus as a rental and we got some ugly Dodge thing. Then I immediately blew up like an elephant. I was retaining water so badly that I could hardly bend my extremities. I felt like the fattest person on Oahu.
We got into the hotel and there wasn't the beds I had requested and so I had to sleep on the couch bed because Darin was snoring so badly. Interestingly enough, the bed fit me like a glove.
The next day we drove to the North Shore and bought a red Ford Focus for a song and FINALLY found my childhood home! It was only a shadow of it's former glory. I remembered it with such splendor and it was pretty run down. We knocked on the door, but no one was home.
That night Ariel and I went to get something to eat and happened upon a street show where a guy sray paints these amazing pictures. He does this very intertaining show with music and dancing and humor as he does the whole thing. He was super cute. It really lifted my spirits.
The next day we planned to play and relax after we got our registration stuff taken care of on the car. As we were looking for the DMV, the car started blowing black smoke and putting off horibble fumes. Darin diagnosed it as the air conditioner was going out. Ugh! Not good in Hawaii. Hmmm, not feeling blessed. I am actually feeling rather picked on.
We decide to plug through and get on the Ferry at 6:00 the next morning and just get to Maui. So we got the car registered and had a huge fight to boot. We had been spending so much quality time together and had not had any for about three weeks. There was a lot of distance between us and we were both somewhat in survival mode.
We got up at 4:30 am and piled all of our stuff in the car and drove to the ferry. Just as we were driving up they shut the gate. All the way there I had been praying for the favor of the Lord and to have the gate shut in our face with no place to go back to felt like rejection. I was trying really hard to keep a stiff upper lip, and only be positive, but I was denying what I was feeling inside. I was so overwhelmed that I couldn't really talk myself through getting my mind back on track and I didn't want to call anyone because I didn't want to acknowledge that this grand adventure we were on was not so grand after all.
Quick catch up
So it has been a very long time since I have posted and I must say, a lot has happened. Let me just say, I'm typing this in Maui. Somewhere along the line we decided to move here for no real reason than we wanted to see it because it has a great reputation for being one of the most beautiful islands in the world.
Well gosh, where to start? I guess I will back up a little. This summer has been a whirl wind of busy. We finally got the house ready to sell. We first tried for sale by owner and Craig's list. Not a single bite. So I took out an ad in the paper. Nothing. Then I listed with the MLS (the same thing the realtors use) and still nothing. We lowered the price a bunch. It was rediculous. I really didn't want to come to Hawaii with a rental on the mainland, but I only got interest with people that wanted to rent it. We offered a lease/buy option and it was snagged up in two days. They love the house.
Then it was time to set up for a garage sale. Interestingly, Darin ended up having to work all week, very long days the week I set up. Hmmmm, that sucked!
Another interesting thing, my things were worth way more than his! I mean thousands. LOL. I consider it all "our" stuff, but you know, the boy stuff and the girl stuff.
We barely got out of the house on time. There is so much last minute stuff to do and so much crap to get rid of. I had a friends and family pre-sale. Then I had the sale. The second day it all went half off and then at the end of that day I had my friends come back over and take what was left for free. And I still had a boat load of crap left over that never got put out at the sale! I have promised myself that I will never aquire that much "stuff" again.
If I were to do it again, I would have the garage sale a month before leaving and then one last one just before leaving. Don't worry about not having enough stuff to sell. If you are anything like me, you will have plenty.
Before I end this post I would like to say that originally I wanted this to be a generic post for anyone to read. However, I am feeling the need to journal my experiences more and for me that means that I have to share more about my faith because that plays a huge part in my life.
Anyway. I think that is all I will post right now. More on the trip over later!
Aloha
Well gosh, where to start? I guess I will back up a little. This summer has been a whirl wind of busy. We finally got the house ready to sell. We first tried for sale by owner and Craig's list. Not a single bite. So I took out an ad in the paper. Nothing. Then I listed with the MLS (the same thing the realtors use) and still nothing. We lowered the price a bunch. It was rediculous. I really didn't want to come to Hawaii with a rental on the mainland, but I only got interest with people that wanted to rent it. We offered a lease/buy option and it was snagged up in two days. They love the house.
Then it was time to set up for a garage sale. Interestingly, Darin ended up having to work all week, very long days the week I set up. Hmmmm, that sucked!
Another interesting thing, my things were worth way more than his! I mean thousands. LOL. I consider it all "our" stuff, but you know, the boy stuff and the girl stuff.
We barely got out of the house on time. There is so much last minute stuff to do and so much crap to get rid of. I had a friends and family pre-sale. Then I had the sale. The second day it all went half off and then at the end of that day I had my friends come back over and take what was left for free. And I still had a boat load of crap left over that never got put out at the sale! I have promised myself that I will never aquire that much "stuff" again.
If I were to do it again, I would have the garage sale a month before leaving and then one last one just before leaving. Don't worry about not having enough stuff to sell. If you are anything like me, you will have plenty.
Before I end this post I would like to say that originally I wanted this to be a generic post for anyone to read. However, I am feeling the need to journal my experiences more and for me that means that I have to share more about my faith because that plays a huge part in my life.
Anyway. I think that is all I will post right now. More on the trip over later!
Aloha
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