AJ saves the day---AGAIN!

Yes, it’s true. He did it again! Well, OK, he didn’t save a co-worker this time, but he did save 2 stranded kayakers. We had friends visiting from Darlington a couple weeks ago and we went kayaking across the Bay. We were on our way back and we saw these 2 people in the water next to their kayak. We didn’t think anything of it at first because a lot people get out of their kayaks to snorkel or swim with the dolphins. But then we thought we saw somebody waving to us. AJ decided to check it out. It turns out these people had a crack in their kayak and it was filling with water. They couldn’t get the water out because it was in between somehow. AJ tried to pull them, but with the weight of the water and the 2 people it was very difficult! He decided to pull them to shore and go back to the boat dock area and have someone bring them a different kayak. By this time, Steve, Diane and I had paddled over to see if we could help too. I took Jenna from AJ’s kayak and had the lady hang on to my kayak so AJ’s load was lightened a little. It didn’t even look like he was moving, but eventually he was able to pull the man and the kayak to shore. He pulled the kayak up onto the rocks and then we went back to the boat landing to get them help. It all turned out OK thankfully! We’re going kayaking again this coming weekend and I’m a little nervous about what we might get ourselves into!! But, on the other hand, I guess AJ has proven that he will take care of us whatever the situation!

While we were over by the Captain Cook Monument in the Bay we saw 2 humpback whales swim by! It was so amazing! They were so close to shore!! I got some pretty good pictures and I took some video. I posted some pictures and I tried to post the video, but I think it’s too big and it wouldn’t upload. Oh well. I think you’ll get the idea from the pictures. Better yet, come visit us and you can see the whales for yourself!! We have visitors here again now…our good friends Brock and Karen. We are having such a good time! I’ll try and post a summary of our adventures, and hopefully it won’t be 6 months from now!! Well, that’s all for now. Until next time…aloha!

Wacky Weather!

How is the weather on the Mainland? We are in the middle of a drought here. Winter is typically dry, but we are VERY dry! People that have lived here for a long time say this is the driest it has been in a very long time. In late December and early January we had REALLY nasty weather! We were on the Mainland so we missed most of it. We were told that there was thunder and lightening. Out in the ocean, near the airport, there were 2 water spouts spotted. Apparently, water spouts are like tornadoes, only made of water. I wish I could have seen that! That would have been scary, but cool to see!! The thought is that the lightening started fires up the mountain from us. The fires burned for several weeks. There were 2 fires--one north of us and one south of us. The smoke was so bad, you could smell it almost everyday. It was really hard on people that have respiratory problems. Most of my patients were affected in some degree. Thankfully, they are pretty much out now. But, since it is so dry, I imagine they could start again!

AJ has begun his busy season. He works 10-12 hours a day now and most all day on Saturday. It not fun having him gone so long, but we know it's only for a few weeks. Work for me is getting better. My hours have been a little more manageable. That really helps with the stress. Jenna continues to do well in school. She just got her report card and we are very proud to say that she made the honor roll!

I still need to tell you about Jenna's birthday party, and I am almost finished writing up a "2009 year in review." I hope to get them both posted this next week. We have friends coming to visit starting on Friday, and we will have people here off and on for the next 3 weeks. I can't wait! It's so fun having visitors!!

I need to run now. AJ, Jenna and I are leaving to go to a movie...Alvin and the Chipmunks, I think. AJ and I are REALLY excited about that!! I hope it's good! I hope to be back very soon. Until next time...aloha!

AJ--life saver!

Aloha! AJ had some excitement at work yesterday. A new employee started that claimed he had worked with bees before. Well, appearently he got stung a few times and didn't tell anyone. He went into the shop to sit down, but nobody knew it. Thankfully, AJ went into the shop a while later to get something and saw this co-worker lying back in a chair. He was not responding! AJ called for help and one of his other co-workers brought in an Epi-pen and they gave him a shot! They called 911, but were afraid that it would take too long so AJ got the van and he and 2 other workers started up the hill with this guy. They met the ambulance on the road and were able to stop them. AJ told the EMTs what happened and they took him to the hospital for further treatment. He stayed a few hours and then went home. AJ thinks the Epi-pen saved him because the guy was not responding at all, although he was breathing--but you never know if/when that might have stopped! Needless to say, the guy is no longer working at Kona Queen! Thankfully he was OK!! The guy said he remembered going into the shop and sitting down, but doesn't remember anything until he felt the needle of the Epi-pen going into his leg. WOW! What a day!

We also have some sad news to report from the Howery Household. Jenna's pet betta fish died on Sunday. We've had him for almost a year. Of course, Jenna being the tender hearted little girl that she is, was/is very upset. She wants to keep him and bury him at our new house if we ever buy one. We're still discussing funeral arrangements... :-) She still has her pet guinea pig, Midnight, whom we discovered is a HE, not a SHE! Jenna is glad that he has a name for a boy or a girl! :-) I pray that he lives a good long life! Pet deaths are hard for a little girl!

Well, as usual I have more to say, but it's getting late so I better get to bed. so, until next time...aloha!

Happy New Year!

WOW! I can't believe it has been one and half months since I last posted! Where does the time go?? Well, I have a really long one for today, so be prepared to sit awhile! Today is Jenna's 9th Birthday. I can't believe she is that old already!! Again, where does the time go?? We are having a party for her and 13 of her friends today. I will post about that later. Today I want to tell you all about our trip to Wisconsin over Christmas. We had a terrific time!!

Of course, it was very busy, but we saw lots of family and friends. We stayed at the new hotel in Darlington and got to see many of our friends the first 3 days. Jenna and her friends swam in the pool, which she loved, being the little fish that she is. But since she is not used to swimming in chlorinated water, her face and eyes were sore and red for several days. It didn’t bother her too much—she loves the water!!

We stayed at AJ’s sister’s house for a few days and got to relax and watch the winter weather. We enjoyed spending time with Sue and the family and got to “talk” to our niece’s baby (through her belly—but I’m sure he/she will recognize our voices some day! :-) We worked on puzzles and read and played with Eb, their big, fluffy, lovable dog.

We spent the next few days in Cuba City at my parent’s house. The days of quiet relaxation were done! There were 10 people staying the house-two of them being our niece and nephew that are 2 and 4 years old. Lots of noise and excitement!! Jenna had a ball playing with her cousins Ben, Jackson and Reese. AJ and I had lots of great family time talking and catching up with my parents, brothers and sisters. We put together a 1000 piece, nearly impossible puzzle that took several days! It was the most challenging puzzle I have ever made. My Dad is going to frame it so no one has to suffer through making it again! :-) We had “professional” family pictures taken the day after Christmas. I think it went very well. I can’t wait to see them!

I had a “pre-reunion” reunion with my classmates while in Cuba City. It was great seeing so many old friends that I haven’t seen in years! I counted 32 of 88 classmates, give or take a few! I can’t wait for the reunion planned for July 31, 2010. It will be great to see everyone again and hopefully some that I didn’t over Christmas!

We spent more time with AJ’s family for Christmas and went snowmobiling. I actually drove one and got up to almost 40mph! That’s pretty good for me! I’m a chicken when it comes to driving too fast! Jenna went sledding with her cousin Melanie and loved that too. Jenna enjoyed the snow –especially when it was snowing big flakes and she could catch them on her tongue!

AJ went home a week before Jenna and me. He was back at work the next day! No rest for the wicked I guess! :-) Jenna and I spent the remaining time spending more time with family and friends. We went to Milwaukee and stayed with my sister Lisa and her family. Jenna and I both loved having more time with the kids and Lisa and Aaron. Jenna spent some time with her friend Kaden and his family. It’s amazing to see how much the kids have grown in a year!

We spent New Year’s Eve with my friends Karen and Brock, and several other of our friends from our church in Darlington. It was a fun evening and so great to spend more time with everyone! I’m so excited that Brock and Karen will be coming to visit us in Hawaii in February!! I’m already counting the days!!

We were planning a birthday party for Jenna the day before we left, but unfortunately had to cancel it because Jenna got the stomach flu!! She starting throwing up about midnight and didn’t stop until 5am! Neither one of us got much sleep, but she was able to sleep the next day and finally starting feeling better about 7:30pm. She was really disappointed to miss her party, but she didn’t want to get everyone sick either.

Thank God she was better by Monday morning so we could get on the plane to head home. Thank God also that I did not get sick!! It was a long flight and I wasn’t able to sleep much. Jenna did. Of course. It seems she can sleep anywhere, in any position! We were really glad to be home. It was so good to see AJ. He met us at the airport with a beautiful flower lei for each of us! I think he missed us!??

It was a little weird being home. It seemed so surreal… sometimes I still have this mental battle within me about actually living here vs. just visiting. Everything looked like “home,” yet it sort of seemed like I was just on vacation and I would have to get on the plane again soon and leave. But then, the next day, I was doing laundry and getting groceries, and it was like “oh yeah, I do live here.” It took me most of the day to feel like I was really “home.” You probably think I’m really strange, but it’s hard to describe. “Home” used to be Wisconsin, and I was just there, feeling like I had never left, and then all of the sudden, here I am again…”home.” But the surroundings are VERY different! I’m weird, I know. I can say I now feel like I am “home” again in Hawaii and still loving it!

We home you have a wonderful New Year, full of God’s blessings! Until next time…aloha!

Birthday/Anniversary weekend

Well, we made it through a busy, but wonderful weekend! As most of you know, my birthday was Sunday, the 15th, and our anniversary was Monday, the 16th. We started celebrating our anniversary LAST weekend! Jenna was invited to a birthday party, so AJ and I decided to go out for dinner. It was the first time since Valentine’s Day that he and I had gone out to eat by ourselves! We went to this small bar/diner near the ocean. It was very nice and the food was great! Jenna was invited to a birthday party again this past Friday, so we went out for dinner again. It was great! I love it when I don’t have to cook! We went to Ruth’s Chris Steak House, which is similar to Morton’s Steak House, if any of you are familiar with that. It’s a restaurant where you order the entrée, potato, vegetable, etc all separate. It can be quite expensive! When I made the reservation, they asked if it was an anniversary or birthday. I told them it was our anniversary, and then after I hung up, I thought…”Oh I should have told them it was BOTH!” Oh well. They were very attentive to us. Everyone that came to our table asked how “The Howery’s” were doing. We were given glasses of champagne at the beginning of our meal and chocolate covered strawberries at the end of our meal. I also got a rose. I saw someone get a piece of cake, so it must have been his birthday. I doubt they would have given us both!! We did tell them it was my birthday too, but I guess they only let you celebrate one thing at a time! It was a very nice evening. For my birthday, we went to the beach after church. We met some friends of ours and grilled burgers and hot dogs while the kids played in tide pools. It was a very relaxing afternoon. I told Jenna and AJ that all I wanted for my birthday was for them to complete the “job lists” that I gave both of them. They both did pretty good getting everything done. What a great gift! We both worked and I ended up being on call and worked until 7pm on our actual anniversary, so I’m glad that we celebrated the weeks before! We’ve been married 13 years for those of you who can’t remember. It’s gone by fast; it’s been trying at times; but overall, it’s been great!!!
Thank you everyone for all the cards, calls, and emails. You are all so loving! I appreciate everything very much! That’s all for now…until next time…aloha!

Two months gone by...

I can't believe how fast time goes! I thought I better get another note posted before it has officially been two months since I wrote anything! I'm so sorry about my loooonnnnggg absence in writing. Believe me, I have thought about it many times, but thinking about it and actually DOING it are two VERY different things!!

Things have been quite crazy around here! My work schedule has been busier than usual the past 6 weeks. I usually work about 24-30hrs per week--48-60hrs per pay period. I had two pay periods in a row where I worked way over that! One pay period was 83hrs and the next was 93 hrs! I was exhausted, a little cranky and had a hard time finding the time to do anything else! Thankfully things have settled down a bit and the last two weeks have been better. I continue to try and be involved in activities in our church and help in Jenna's classroom once a week. It's challenging when my job consumes so much of my time, but I still try and continue all the other activities too...I guess that could contribute to the exhaustion! :-) Over all things are great and I really do love my job even if it is crazy busy and stressful at times!

AJ is also busy at work. As you may know, the bees here on the Big Island now have mites. It's a little parasite that attaches itself to the bee and weakens it. There have been mites on the Mainland for several years, but this is the first time they have been in Hawaii. It's causing a bit of anxiety for those who have never worked with bees with mites before, but AJ is handling it pretty well. The state of Hawaii has had some researchers from the Mainland over to do testing on hives on the Big Island, so Gus has learned a lot and AJ has been a reassuring voice of experience too. Of course, the mite causes more work, so Kona Queen is preparing for that. AJ and Gus and the other foreman are doing a lot of the leg work, but AJ is not worried. It will cause more work, but it shouldn't cause a decrease in production. AJ also recently bought a one-man outrigger canoe. He has taken it out in the ocean a couple of times. The last time the water was really rough! He said he had 3 foot waves he was trying to go through. He was a little worried that he might end up in Japan, but thankfully he was able to turn the canoe around and make it back safely!!

Miss Jenna continues to love school and is doing very well. We have parent-teacher conferences this week. I expect that she will do fine. I can't believe all that she is learning! She writes in cursive all the time now. She is learning multiplication, division, and just started long division with remainders!! I'm pretty sure I didn't learn all that in 3rd grade! You may have heard about "Furlough Fridays" here in Hawaii. In an effort to decrease the state deficit, the state decided to cut 17 days from the school calender this year. I think it is a terrible idea and a very poorly thought out solution! We're talking about the education of future leaders!! Hawaii is already at the bottom of the ranking for schools meeting educational standards for all the U.S.! Thankfully it only effects the public schools!! Jenna is getting a great education and I'm so thankful that we don't have to worry about missing so much school!

She just finished learning about New Zealand. The school had an event called International Day, where each class studied a country, prepared presentations and transformed their rooms into that country. It was pretty cool to see how each class decorated their rooms! Jenna's class had a volcano, a sheep farm and many other displays about New Zealand in their classroom. Jenna did her presentation on the sheep in New Zealand. She made a really cool display board and did a great job with her presentation to the class. All the kids in her class dressed like the Mowrey people of New Zealand. I've posted a few pictures of her, her presentation and some of her friends.

For Halloween, Jenna dressed up like Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz. She designed her outfit herself, with the exception of the red slippers that her Mama bought for her. I dressed up as the Scarecrow. We tried talking AJ into being the Tinman, but he didn't want to...it would have been very hot and probably uncomfortable. He took along his nerd glasses and teeth and was going to wear them, but he lost his teeth somewhere along the way! If any of you have seen his teeth, you know he didn't have many teeth to loose, so it was quite disappointing!! We had fun. It's very strange trick-or-treating when it's like summer out. We checked the weather in Darlington and figured it was about 45 degrees warmer here for trick-or-treating than it was there! Sorry, not trying to rub it in...just making an observation!!

Well, I have a lot more that I could say, but it's getting late and I need to get to bed. Just a reminder, the time difference is only 4 hours now, thanks to Daylight Savings Time. We plan to be in Wisconsin over Christmas. We're still working out the details of when and where we will be, but hopefully we will see many of you in about 7 weeks or so! Time flies, so it won't be long! I'll try and write again before then. So until next time...aloha!

ONE YEAR ANNIVERSARY!!!!

It is with great pleasure that we celebrate ONE YEAR of living in Hawaii!! The time has gone so fast! Sometimes it's hard to believe that we have been here this long already! On the other hand, it feels like we have always lived here. We are so comfortable here and we love it so much! Of course we miss our family and friends, but it amazes me to look back over the last year and a few months and see how the Lord has blessed us! From AJ getting the call to making the decision to emptying the house to packing and flying, it is really very amazing how everything fell into place! And in such a short time!!

We couldn't have done it without the guidance of the Lord and help from our families and friends! WOW! What an amazing adventure it was! AJ and I still working; trying to sort through everything we owned; deciding what to keep, what to sell, what to get rid of, what to take with us. Finding renters (which we scored big on!), deciding to leave the dogs behind (very sad time) DECISIONS! DECISIONS! DECISIONS! We were really sick of making decisions by the time we moved! Then throw in a fabulous trip to Seattle for a wedding (Yeah Karen and Issac!) and another fabulous trip to Disney (despite the hurricaine we endured!) You'd think we'd had enough! But oh no, we, apparently, are gluttons for punishment! We then had a two day garage sale AND THEN a two day party! Again THANK GOD for family and friends!! Those two ventures NEVER would have happened without their help!!

It was so hard to leave the house, the yard and the dogs. (And yes, the people too! I just mean the moment we left the driveway!) To me, it didn't seem real. It just felt like we were going on a vacation and we would be back. It didn't really hit me what had just happened until we landed in Honolulu. I remember that all of the sudden I just started crying. I looked at AJ and said, "What have we done?" I cried and he was so good to me. He assured me that everything would be alright. Of course I knew it would be, but I realized that I hadn't really taken the time to let it really sink in what we were doing. And when it did, WOW did it hit me! I suppose I was probably a LITTLE tired too! That might have had something to do with my emotions! But now, looking back, I can honestly say that is the only time I have questioned our decision to move. Of course I still miss everyone and sometimes I cope best by not thinking about the people and events that I am missing. We are slowly building friendships and memories here, which is the healthiest thing to do in my opinion. I praise God and thank Him for guiding us and paving the way here and making everything fall into place! What a blessing!!

OK. Now that I have babbled on forever, it's time for some thoughts from AJ and Jenna.

Jenna...My favorite thing about living in Hawaii is being able to go to the beach whenever I want (except when her parents say no or she has school...etc.) and making new friends. I also feel weird living on an Island in the middle of nowhere! I like to make sandcastles and tell people all I know about turtles. Turtles can get to be 100 years old. If they have a long tail, they are a male. If they have a short tail they are a female. It's pretty easy after you get to know it! I can also tell their age. And I forgot to mention how much I love to go to Captain Cook Monument and hopefully see Spinner Dolphins on the way! Aloha!! Oh, I forgot...I really miss all of you!!!

AJ...It's hard to believe that the time has gone so fast. It's hard to realize that time is getting away because we don't really experience changes in the seasons. We're happy that we have been able to build a life here with new friends and experiences. It's not that we have forgotten our other friends, it's just that we have made more friends. It's been great!

Each of us still comment that somedays it still hits us that "we LIVE in Hawaii!!" We are not just vacationing...WE ACTUALLY LIVE HERE!!! It's an amazing adventure and a true blessing. Come visit anytime...our doors are always open and you are always welcome! Until next time...aloha!