We've moved!!!

....And we LOVE it!!!

Here I am sitting in a house full of boxes, my husband snoozing on a mattress on the floor and the girls asleep. And outside, there are quiet voices from a sleepy party at the park next to our house. If it weren't for that, all we'd be able to hear are the waves from the ocean and the whir-whir-whir of our ceiling fans. No more Harleys.

Today we went on a walk. We used to squeeze through the outside seating of a smokey bar if we went on family walks, and then yelled in order to be heard over the roar of the cars and motorcycles and trucks whizzing by down the busy street. Today we stepped out of our place and the girls walked right by us (and I could hear everything they said!!) . They picked up giant papaya leaves, plumerias, fern leaves, and other greenery for their collection. We walked under trees bent from the weight of their lush leaves, and within a minute's time found ourselves at a beach watching a plump monk seal resting on the shore. We walked down the beach, picking up sand crabs and hermit crabs and watching tiny fish dart around the shallow tide pools.

I looked behind me and saw Kezia walking in the water, the bottom of her dress wet and clinging to her legs. The water was clear and bright turquoise. A little ways out the water turned darker as it got deeper, and a little further out there were foamy waves. It looked like something out of an ambitious travel agent's marketing kit.

We have arrived. Since the day we signed for our condo in Wahiawa, I have been wanting to move back to the north shore, and now we have, and ahhhhhhhh.......


And here's the news of the move. Really, just boring yada yada. Just for my own journaling, really.

Our move yesterday was...well, it's done. Or almost done. We heard there was supposed to be a big storm slamming the island on Saturday, so I called our good friends to help us get a head start on Friday. Another friend watched our girls and sent us home with lasagna.

We were so grateful that the next day did not bring the heavy rain that was expected (though it was raining). Nate's mom watched the girls until Sunday morning and Eric, Nate's dad, brought his truck and we brought a big load down. Then he went home to rest. I was thinking of the big job that lay ahead of us, moving everything else in just 3 hours by ourselves, which was when we were expecting some people from church who had generously volunteered to help us clean our condo (and at the same time hoping they would show up, unlike our moving crew). But a sympathetic neighbor offered his help and we got the van loaded another time. Once the cleaning crew came, Nate and some of them loaded the van twice more and after the condo was mostly cleaned, we unloaded everything and loaded up on some dinner from Kay. It was great to eat some sensible food after snacking on M&M's for the day. We figured we should get our dresser before we called it a day so we could have some clothes to wear. As we were loading it into the van, a neighbor gave us some savory slices of pizza. Once we got everything in, it was about midnight. With muscles like jello, we plopped the mattress on the floor, turned out the light and went to sleep. I woke this morning with a smile on my face. I was here!!!

We went to church, to sacrament meeting to watch a friend's missionary farewell. We had great plans of going back to at least make our place a bit livable, but we ended up at a friend's house, who must have had pity on our haggard countenances and gave us lunch and let me sleep on their bed while the girls were in primary.

Although we didn't have the help we expected for the move, we felt really blessed for Nate's parents' help, our neighbor, the kids from the church, the pizza neighbor, Courtney Pierce who watched our girls, and the Langis for the food and nap. It is great to have friends and people who serve. And now I am going to bed. Or going to floor. Whateva.