January 28-February 4, 2012 Five Months and Counting!!!

     With the dawning of February 2012, we are counting down the months until the big day! It’s been all about the business of work and regular life since our whirlwind wedding planning tour this past summer in Oregon. It seems impossible that we could just let everything lie for so long without having to do anything, but there wasn’t much else we could do until now.  With a destination wedding and only a little over five months until the event, it’s time to get invitations out and book the flights and accommodations.  So, what did we do this past week? We booked our flights, and next on the list, printing and sending the invites. Haven’t gotten around to that just yet, but it’s on my list for the weekend at home.  It’s getting very exciting now as the big day draws closer…

January 27, 2012-Quiet Morning Musings and Crazy, Chaotic Days…

     One thing I learned from my parent’s visit in December is that I need to spend more time on my back porch enjoying the warm breezes, gradual rising of the sun, and cheery chirping of the island birds.  Watching both my mom and dad spend every morning and every other opportunity they had to get away from the cold winter weather in Alabama to sit outside on my porch made me realize how much I’ve taken that space of my home for granted.  The last house I lived in was on the ocean, and I used to spend plenty of time watching the waves and listening to the water, but my home now looks out at my neighbors’ yards filled with coconut palms and green yards, and I hadn’t taken the time yet to appreciate what my new porch has to offer.  In many ways, my porch now provides more of a sense of calm than my porch on the ocean did.  My life at the ocean house has its good memories, but my association with it also carries a lot of pain, unfortunately, more pain than peace.  My current home holds nothing but peace and blessings, and I love to sit on my porch in the morning, reading my devotionals, drinking coffee, and listening to my back door neighbor’s wind chimes, the rustlings of the palms in the wind, and the singing of the birds flying overhead.  I am ashamed to say that it took my parents (in their semi-retirement) coming over 3, 000 miles for a visit to help me see what I was missing out on.  It’s especially important for me to have this kind of time in the mornings now because once I get to work, my days turn crazy and chaotic, not crazy and chaotic in a bad way, but certainly too busy and non-stop to have a quiet moment to muse over life, love, and God’s blessings.  My quiet morning musings on the porch along with my morning yoga practice is what helps me through the crazy, chaotic days, and what keeps me enjoying those days instead of allowing them to frustrate me and stress me out.  Living on an island where the weather is a balmy 82-88 degrees every day doesn’t hurt either. J 
 

January 2nd -26th, 2012 Revising my Resolutions…

     Okay, so I am like most of the rest of the world, breaking my New Year’s resolution before the first month of the year is over.  I clearly have not gotten back to blogging weekly, but seemed to have moved to monthly instead, so that’s my revised resolution. Blog at least once a month, and more as needed for my sanity and peace of mind.

     As month one of 2012 moves closer toward being in the past, life speeds on by.  My oldest son is now certified to scuba dive up to 40 feet as a Jr. Open Water diver. My youngest has all but abandoned his “patch therapy,” lacking the internal motivation to improve his sight within the offending blind eye, in which his vision has never really improved (even with the cataract removed), but he’s happy and healthy in every other way, so I guess that’s more than enough blessing to ask for this month.  One thing he is motivated to do is become a boy scout.  He’s in the Wolf Den of the Cub Scouts currently, and he spent all last weekend, working hard with my fiancé to complete Achievement #8, Cooking and Eating.  He helped plan, shop, prepare, serve, and clean up breakfast, lunch, and dinner for most of the weekend, and surprisingly enough, he actually ate the healthy meals he planned (the requirement was to have at least 3 different foods from the food pyramid for each planned meal).  This was my picky eater’s greatest accomplishment, eating green, leafy salad and chicken that was not pressed into a Burger King shaped crown.

     The other big event of the month is part of my fiancé’s Christmas present, beer-making supplies. For a man who loves to cook and try specialty brews and loves science, this is a perfect pastime. It’s hard to get anything but Bud Light here on the island, and coming from Oregon, my honey is used to having access to all the microbrews that are part of a beer connoisseur repertoire.  J  In fact, having tried some of these microbrews myself, I have become a bit of a beer snob, and I no longer wish to drink the everyday brew.  I did not know how complex brewing was until we started this process. The science of the yeast, fermentation, and carbonation is fascinating, and keeping everything completely sanitary throughout the whole process can be nerve-racking, but it will all be worth it to have our very own batch of brew, the first of which will be ready to try this coming weekend.  My Christmas present was a different kind of “brew” gift, in the form of a coffee roaster.  I am now also spoiled on specialty coffees, and the chow hall brews no longer measure up, but it’s been really fun to make all our own stuff lately.  My back door neighbor taught me how to make her homemade bread this month, and I am going to try that this weekend.  Now, if we could just do a full-scale garden in between the Coconut tress of my side yard, we’d have it all.  J  

     Someday, maybe, when we are back in the states we can go even more “organic” and natural.  My future in laws went to a relative’s wedding not so long ago where the couple lives completely off the land. I admire people who do this, although I don’t think I could go all the way back to the days of Laura Ingalls Wilder (even though there was a time as a little girl that I wanted to live like her).  So, life on an atoll has its disadvantages (not always having fresh bread or the variety of produce or other grocery products we’d always like), but you take lemons and make lemonade by figuring out ways to do it yourself, and on an island where there are not so many other distractions, you have the time and ability to do so.  Chalk it up to just one more of my varied experiences of island life.  

December 31st-January 1st, 2012- Starting New New Year’s Traditions!

     Since we had so much fun starting our Christmas Advent tradition this year, I decided we needed to come up with some New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day traditions too. As usual, from a tiny atoll in the Pacific where you cannot stop by the local bookstore or pop into a specialty or party store to see what’s available in the “starting family traditions” department, I headed for the internet. Of course, we have always had the tradition in my family of staying up until midnight to “watch the ball drop” on TV and having black eyed peas and ham hocks on New Year’s Day for good luck, but that’s it, and I wanted something more.  Plus, we can’t “watch the ball drop” because it hasn’t dropped in New Year when it’s already midnight here across the International Date Line.

     There were so many ideas, I decided to print out my favorites (or the ones I thought we’d be most likely to do), and talk to the boys at the lunch table to see which ones they agree upon.  Here’s what we did:  “Fortune Tree” and “An Ancient Tradition.”  The fortune tree consisted of everyone finding small objects around the house, which would symbolize something “fortunate,” such as a coin for wealth, a matchbox car for travel, etc…My oldest loves fortune cookies, so this was perfect for him, and he turned out to be quite good at it, writing down enough fortunes that we each had two to choose instead of just one. The idea is that you write a fortune to go with the object, then you wrap it up and “hang it on the tree like an ornament to pick out at midnight.  The boy’s objects were too big to hang on the tree, so we wrapped them all up individually in tissue paper and put them under the tree instead, and since no one (except my fiancé) was able to stay up until midnight, we moved it to a “noon day” fortune picking today.  That turned out to be my favorite tradition this year.  The others included having fondue for dinner last night (I did not realize that a lot of people have fondue on New Year’s Eve), and making not just black-eyed peas, but some “Hopping John” for our meal today.  We also made peanut butter pancakes with bananas and honey roasted peanuts on top for breakfast, but since we usually make some type of pancakes every weekend, I suppose that wasn’t so much of a new tradition. J 

     Last, but certainly not least, we completed the ancient tradition of writing down some bad habit or luck we wanted to get rid of and burned it in in our “propane fireplace” outside before making s’mores, and we wrote a “predictions/accomplishments” letter to ourselves to be opened next year and see what we got right.  And now, well I am catching up on my blog since one of my New Year’s resolutions is to get back to writing and blogging more like once a week instead of once a month.  Happy 2012!! 

December 25th-30th Getting Ready for 2012!

     Christmas morning was full of excitement and the spirit of Christmas as my parents, my boys, my fiancé, and I all opened presents, enjoyed pancakes and bacon, and relaxed all day long.  After our tradition of opening gifts one at a time from youngest to oldest (so we can all enjoy what everyone else has gotten), we had breakfast and sent the boys off to their dad’s for the rest of the day.  Then, my fiancé spent hours in the kitchen preparing our Christmas Day Feast of turkey and gravy, stuffing, green bean casserole, cranberry sauce, mashed sweet potatoes, and chocolate pie for dessert. Yum!! We even were able to talk to the rest of the family in Oregon by speakerphone. It was a memorable day.  The high of the holidays over, we continued throughout the week settling back into routines and saying goodbye to gammy and grandpa as they headed off to Hawaii for the rest of their vacation. Only New Year’s left and 2012 begins.  I wonder was the New Year has in store for all of us…

December 24, 2011-New Birth!!

     A few weeks ago, both my boys started asking about being baptized. At bedtime, we regularly talk about God and His word, and this particular night, the boys wanted to know if they could be baptized.  So, I spoke with the local protestant chaplain, who also happens to be my neighbor, about meeting with my babies.  After ensuring they knew what baptism was all about, the chaplain left it open for us to decide whether or not baptism is what the boys wanted at this time in their lives. A resounding and confident, “yes, we’re sure” from them later on was all it took for me to know God is working in their lives to lead them to Him.  We scheduled the baptism for today in the salty water of the Kwajalein Lagoon. It was a brief, but very touching ceremony surrounded by close friends and family (including my mom and dad).  I am so proud of them both! We decided upon Dec. 24 as it is not only the eve of Christ’s birth (or at least the eve we celebrate the coming of Jesus to earth), but it is now also the beginning of my sons’ new lives in Christ.  I can’t wait to see what He has in store for them.  The most comforting thought for me is knowing the King of Kings now has them firmly in the palm of His hand and will be living in their hearts from now until forever. This means whenever I cannot be there for them (and even when I am), they will have the ultimate guide and “boss” for their lives, leading them to His greater good and guiding them through all those big decisions in life. In fact, that is part of how baptism was explained to them, as making Jesus the “boss” of your life.  Following the instructions of the “supreme Boss” will never lead you astray. Even when it leads you through trials, you will ultimately come out the winner in the end if God is in it.   Thank you, Father, for loving my boys and leading them to you.  Guide them throughout their lives and make them Godly men, never afraid to humble themselves before you and recognize you at their shepherd, friend, savior, and healer in times of need and in times of blessing.  Happy New Birth, my baby boys! Always remember how much God loves you and how far He will take you into love, life, peace, and freedom if you will just let Him.
 

November 26-December 23, 2011 Speeding through the Holidays!

     After a much needed “Tom Turkey” Thanksgiving celebration with my matron of honor and her family, life sped up again.  Thanksgiving this year was more than I ever could have asked for. I’m not a big crowd kind of person, so spending the day with my immediate family + my matron of honor’s family of 4 was no less than perfectly perfect. My friend made a fabulous turkey with a scrumptious gravy, creamy mashed potatoes, and a delicious stuffing while my fiancé and I tried a couple of new things this year, such as “sweet potato pie,” not sweet potato casserole as I am used to coming from the South. We also made fresh cranberry sauce (I am now a super big fan of real cranberry sauce, although I always disliked the canned and jellied kind growing up) as I have found that fresh cranberries with a little sugar and orange juice mixed in is so good on turkey! The green bean casserole recipe from last year made it back to our feast again this year, and of course, we had pumpkin pie for dessert! I know I am leaving something out, but that’s what happens when you don’t write for a month at a time.  L In addition to the wonderful food, the company was superb. The rest of the holiday weekend was spent in decorating for Christmas and helping my oldest son through his scuba classes in the pool.  He is so excited to get into the “real water” soon and see what he can see. He’s a fish, but who wouldn’t be growing up on an island as he has. 

     On the Saturday after Thanksgiving, December began its marathon of activities around the atoll starting with Santa’s arrival and the Christmas Tree ceremony.  The following weekend was just as packed with our department holiday party, the cub scouts cub car races, and the PTO Mother-Son Luau event.  Back to work for a few days, and the second weekend in December was spent on Roi enjoying their Tree Lighting Ceremony, and a Christmas Themed Photo Scavenger Hunt around the island! As if these events were not enough, during all this, I also decided to start a new Advent Family Devotional Tradition this year, so each evening (or sometimes during our lunch hour), the boys and I would read about the events leading up to the birth of Jesus and often complete a related activity or discussion.  This quickly became one of my favorite parts of this holiday season, and I wish I had started it sooner or even known of the abundance of resources out there to enjoy the Advent season with your children while teaching them about the reason for the holiday.  I think I can safely say that my boys enjoyed it as much as I did. Praise God!

     The third week of December was not only full of holiday parties and activities for my kids as it was the last week of school before break, but it was also the arrival date of my parents! Yes, my parents came to visit for the holidays!! It is my mom’s fifth visit during my 15 years here, but my dad has never made it before, so it’s been quite an experience for him.  After a couple of days relaxing and getting over their jet lag, I made them get up and go again. This time, we headed up to Roi to learn about the WWII history there as well as the current lifestyle. My oldest son joined us after his second 2-day camping trip with the boy scouts (this time to the island of Carlos), and my fiancé and my dad had a chance to compete once again at table tennis. It’s been over a year since they played together last, and it is one of the games we have decided to include as part of our wedding reception activities, so it’s good they have had a chance to practice and “buff up” on their skills before our upcoming July event. J  We did all our usual favorite Roi-Namur activities including eating at the snack bar and chow hall, swimming at the pool, visiting the beach shack, and riding around in a golf cart. Simple pleasures…that’s what island life teaches you.  I’d rather be out in the sunshine or in the beautiful waters of the Central Pacific than tweeting or texting, that’s for sure. I do like to blog, but on my own time, in the wee hours of the morning or night when life has slowed down even more than usual.

     After returning from Roi, the Kwaj holiday event kicked in again with Scuba Santa and the Parade of Lights (boats in the lagoon showing off their electric holiday decor).  Even though I’ve experienced these events year after year, it is nice to see them still going, despite the pressures of a failing economy, declining budget, and a smaller island population than we’ve seen here in a long time.  Life still moves on, and the most important and special of traditions are kept no matter what, in the spirit of the season, keeping life on the atoll unique and worth sticking around a while longer for. So, that takes us through Dec. 23, which is my brother’s birthday stateside. Happy Birthday, Bro! Hope it was a good one.  It’s a nutshell narration, but it’s all mine, and a way to remember what my life was like in December of 2011.  It’s fun to look back at what I was doing this time last year and see what is the same and what is different.  Fortunately for me, I have all the same blessings if not more, and my life on the island goes on….much longer than I ever would have thought.  But that’s okay. God is with me here as he will be wherever he takes me next, whether that be in the year 2012 or 2020.  Speeding through the holidays is not so bad because it simply means I’ve been having plenty of fun, right?!?!