I felt an earthquake today!! It was just after lunch. I was sitting on the couch doing some charting on my work computer, when all of the sudden I felt the floor vibrating! I could see the TV moving and my laptop moving too! It only lasted a few seconds, but it was kind of weird to experience. I know it's nothing compared to earthquakes else where in the U.S., but it was cool to me! Apparently there are earthquakes all the time in Hawaii. We just don't feel most of them. At the volcano visitor's center, they have several seismometers set up monitoring earthquakes all over the Island. It's pretty interesting to learn about.
I can hear one of the neighbors mowing their lawn...Anyway, that all for now, so until next time...aloha!
Hawaiian Sunset at Hapuna Beach
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
Sunday, April 12, 2009
HAPPY EASTER!!
Well, it's time for a new entry after a lllooonnnngg absence! This is a long overdue update, so it will likely be very long...be prepared!
Today we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus...what a glorious day!! We had a very nice, quiet day. We got up early-4:30am-and got ready to go to an all community service called the "Sonrise Service." It started at 6am down at the old airport. It was such a great service! There was lots of singing-in English and Hawaiian-, hula dancers, a "human video" put on by a youth group, and 3 short sermons, one in which all the children got to go up front and be involved in the sermon. Each child got a frisbee with the words "yes He can" written on it, to remind them that Jesus can do anything for them in their lives. It was a very cool service!! After this service, we went to our church for breakfast and then had our Easter service. It was very good as well. On Friday night we had a Good Friday service. AJ ran the sound booth and I sang a duet. Yes, I know..."you sang, Lynn???" Yes, I did. I'm not sure why I agreed to it since I'm not a very good singer and I get so nervous!! But, it actually went OK. The pastor's wife sang with me and she is very good.
Jenna went to an Easter egg hunt on Saturday morning and got a bunch of candy. She put her name in for a door prize and actually won a prize!! She won a huge box kite with Disney Princesses on it! She was so excited! AJ and I got her a shave ice machine for Easter. She loves shave ice and always wants to buy one whenever we are at a certain beach. Now she can make her own. She learned how to make a "steamer," a hot, flavored milk drink when our friends from Iowa were here. Now she knows how to make hot and cold drinks...she's just a regular little barista!!
We were home from church today by 10:30am and we were tired! AJ and I took naps while Jenna found the rest of the Easter eggs and bagged up all of her candy. After we all woke up we went snorkeling for a while. Once again, we were blessed to see several fish and turtles. Jenna is pretty much independent in snorkeling now. She has improved so much in the last two weeks! It's amazing!! She wears her life jacket and goes wherever she wants. She used to hang on to one of us or lay on our back...not any more! She swims confidently and FAST!! She moves both of her legs together like a mermaid and she can really swim fast! She's so cute when she sees a big fish...she tries to talk through her snorkel! Her favorite fish to find are the puffer fish and the state fish, which she has proudly learned how to pronouce--humuhumunukunukuapua'a--pronouned "hoo-moo-hoo-moo-noo-koo-noo-koo-ah-poo-ah-ah." She likes to see how fast she can say it. She can ususally say it faster than both AJ and me!
She continues to love hula. She has improved a lot since Christmas! It's so fun to watch her. She was in a performance about a month ago and I was amazed at how much better she is! I will attempt to attach the video to this blog entry, but if it doesn't work, I will try something else and let you know what the link is. She has just finished up 3rd quarter at school and she continues to do well. AJ and I are proud to say that she made the honor roll again! We are so blessed that she catches on easily! I think she has inherited her Daddy's brain for math-thank God! She loves math! She also loves to read, which I am thrilled about! I love to read too. She has improved so much with her reading since the beginning of the year! It's such a blessing!
AJ was able to get a little time off to go into Jenna's classroom and talk to her class about honeybees. He did a great job and the kids were so interested! He brought an observation hive along for the kids to see. They loved it!! They were all leaning on their desks trying to get as close as possible! They were able to get up and see the hive up close. AJ pointed out the queen bee for them. Of course, Jenna was right there, sharing her knowledge as well. I've posted some pictures.
AJ continues to be very busy at work. He has been working 6 days a week almost every week since the beginning of the year. Every time he thinks that maybe he will be off on a Saturday, something happens during the week that causes them to need to work. The weather has been part of the problem. It's been really rainy, not only this past week, but this whole winter in general! It's really frustrating. Winter is usually a dry time of year, but this year has been unusually wet! Fortunately, they have still been able to keep up their production of queen bees, so I guess they can tolerate a little bad weather.
Work for me has been good too. We have been really busy lately too. I'm still working around 30 hours a week instead of the 20 I was hired to work. I'm still able to get into Jenna's classroom, so working extra is tolerable. I have been given more patients to manage on my own, and it has proved to be a bit challenging. Taking care of the patients is the easy part, dealing with families and other people is the hard part!! Thankfully I work with wonderful people who are very supportive and don't mind me calling with all sorts of questions! I have been taking call through the night and one weekend day so far. Thankfully, it has not been too bad. So far, I have been able to handle everything that came up!
We had a great time with AJ's Mom and her husband. Their time here went sooo fast!! They did a lot of sightseeing on their own and took Jenna with them several days while she was on Spring Break. It worked great and we were so grateful that they could watch her for us! A couple of days that I was off, I went with them sightseeing. One day we went to Hilo, on the other side of the Island. We went across the Saddle Road, the road that goes in between two of the mountains-Mauna Loa (maw-naw low ah) and Mauna Kea (maw-naw kay ah). We drove up to the visitors center at Mauna Kea and could see snow on the top of the mountain. We couldn't go up to the top because we didn't have a 4WD vehicle. It was cool driving up as far as we did! We drove through clouds and it was really hard to see for a little while, and then all of the sudden we were above the clouds! The visitors center is at 9000 ft. It was interesting to see. It had been a long time since I had been there. The Saddle Road used to be really, really rough, but they have been re-doing the road and it is actually quite nice now! We drove past the barracks where Karen's husband Dave stayed while he was stationed in Hawaii 50 year ago. That was cool to see too!
After we left the mountain, we went to Hilo to see the waterfalls. We saw Rainbow Falls and Akaka Falls. It was raining or misting the whole time, so we got a little wet, but overall it was great! It had been raining a lot in Hilo and the falls were bigger than the last time I was there. I've posted a few pictures. We drove home going north over the Island and got to see the tropical rain forests, but it was raining so hard that we really couldn't see much at all!! Oh well...no rain, no rainbows...that's what Jenna and I always say! One good thing about the rain is that it occasionally clears the vog out of the air! When this happens, the sky is so clear and you can actually see a distinct line where the sky and ocean meet. This may not seem like a big deal, but it is when it always so voggy! It's like someone lifted a veil and everything is CRYSTAL CLEAR!! It's soooo beautiful! I've posted a picture of a great sunset after the rain. We don't get see that very often any more.
We took Karen and Dave to the beach a couple of days. We saw several sea turtles and Karen even learned how to snorkel! She did great! The day we were snorkeling with them, AJ, Jenna, Karen and I were standing in the water getting ready to snorkel and a big turtle swam RIGHT IN BETWEEN AJ and me!!! I had to move or it probably would have swam right into me! Jenna was so excited to see one that close up! We also took them to a luau. It was one that we hadn't been to before and we thought it was great! The food was fantastic! AJ bought his Mom a flower lei...he's so sweet! We had such a great time with them...it was hard to see them go!
We have adjusted again to life without visitors. We are expecting our next visitors in May. We are looking forward to entertaining again. We love sharing our home and our life here in Hawaii! We have been blessed beyond measure and we are so thankful!! I'll try not to be so long in between posts! Until next time...aloha!
Today we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus...what a glorious day!! We had a very nice, quiet day. We got up early-4:30am-and got ready to go to an all community service called the "Sonrise Service." It started at 6am down at the old airport. It was such a great service! There was lots of singing-in English and Hawaiian-, hula dancers, a "human video" put on by a youth group, and 3 short sermons, one in which all the children got to go up front and be involved in the sermon. Each child got a frisbee with the words "yes He can" written on it, to remind them that Jesus can do anything for them in their lives. It was a very cool service!! After this service, we went to our church for breakfast and then had our Easter service. It was very good as well. On Friday night we had a Good Friday service. AJ ran the sound booth and I sang a duet. Yes, I know..."you sang, Lynn???" Yes, I did. I'm not sure why I agreed to it since I'm not a very good singer and I get so nervous!! But, it actually went OK. The pastor's wife sang with me and she is very good.
Jenna went to an Easter egg hunt on Saturday morning and got a bunch of candy. She put her name in for a door prize and actually won a prize!! She won a huge box kite with Disney Princesses on it! She was so excited! AJ and I got her a shave ice machine for Easter. She loves shave ice and always wants to buy one whenever we are at a certain beach. Now she can make her own. She learned how to make a "steamer," a hot, flavored milk drink when our friends from Iowa were here. Now she knows how to make hot and cold drinks...she's just a regular little barista!!
We were home from church today by 10:30am and we were tired! AJ and I took naps while Jenna found the rest of the Easter eggs and bagged up all of her candy. After we all woke up we went snorkeling for a while. Once again, we were blessed to see several fish and turtles. Jenna is pretty much independent in snorkeling now. She has improved so much in the last two weeks! It's amazing!! She wears her life jacket and goes wherever she wants. She used to hang on to one of us or lay on our back...not any more! She swims confidently and FAST!! She moves both of her legs together like a mermaid and she can really swim fast! She's so cute when she sees a big fish...she tries to talk through her snorkel! Her favorite fish to find are the puffer fish and the state fish, which she has proudly learned how to pronouce--humuhumunukunukuapua'a--pronouned "hoo-moo-hoo-moo-noo-koo-noo-koo-ah-poo-ah-ah." She likes to see how fast she can say it. She can ususally say it faster than both AJ and me!
She continues to love hula. She has improved a lot since Christmas! It's so fun to watch her. She was in a performance about a month ago and I was amazed at how much better she is! I will attempt to attach the video to this blog entry, but if it doesn't work, I will try something else and let you know what the link is. She has just finished up 3rd quarter at school and she continues to do well. AJ and I are proud to say that she made the honor roll again! We are so blessed that she catches on easily! I think she has inherited her Daddy's brain for math-thank God! She loves math! She also loves to read, which I am thrilled about! I love to read too. She has improved so much with her reading since the beginning of the year! It's such a blessing!
AJ was able to get a little time off to go into Jenna's classroom and talk to her class about honeybees. He did a great job and the kids were so interested! He brought an observation hive along for the kids to see. They loved it!! They were all leaning on their desks trying to get as close as possible! They were able to get up and see the hive up close. AJ pointed out the queen bee for them. Of course, Jenna was right there, sharing her knowledge as well. I've posted some pictures.
AJ continues to be very busy at work. He has been working 6 days a week almost every week since the beginning of the year. Every time he thinks that maybe he will be off on a Saturday, something happens during the week that causes them to need to work. The weather has been part of the problem. It's been really rainy, not only this past week, but this whole winter in general! It's really frustrating. Winter is usually a dry time of year, but this year has been unusually wet! Fortunately, they have still been able to keep up their production of queen bees, so I guess they can tolerate a little bad weather.
Work for me has been good too. We have been really busy lately too. I'm still working around 30 hours a week instead of the 20 I was hired to work. I'm still able to get into Jenna's classroom, so working extra is tolerable. I have been given more patients to manage on my own, and it has proved to be a bit challenging. Taking care of the patients is the easy part, dealing with families and other people is the hard part!! Thankfully I work with wonderful people who are very supportive and don't mind me calling with all sorts of questions! I have been taking call through the night and one weekend day so far. Thankfully, it has not been too bad. So far, I have been able to handle everything that came up!
We had a great time with AJ's Mom and her husband. Their time here went sooo fast!! They did a lot of sightseeing on their own and took Jenna with them several days while she was on Spring Break. It worked great and we were so grateful that they could watch her for us! A couple of days that I was off, I went with them sightseeing. One day we went to Hilo, on the other side of the Island. We went across the Saddle Road, the road that goes in between two of the mountains-Mauna Loa (maw-naw low ah) and Mauna Kea (maw-naw kay ah). We drove up to the visitors center at Mauna Kea and could see snow on the top of the mountain. We couldn't go up to the top because we didn't have a 4WD vehicle. It was cool driving up as far as we did! We drove through clouds and it was really hard to see for a little while, and then all of the sudden we were above the clouds! The visitors center is at 9000 ft. It was interesting to see. It had been a long time since I had been there. The Saddle Road used to be really, really rough, but they have been re-doing the road and it is actually quite nice now! We drove past the barracks where Karen's husband Dave stayed while he was stationed in Hawaii 50 year ago. That was cool to see too!
After we left the mountain, we went to Hilo to see the waterfalls. We saw Rainbow Falls and Akaka Falls. It was raining or misting the whole time, so we got a little wet, but overall it was great! It had been raining a lot in Hilo and the falls were bigger than the last time I was there. I've posted a few pictures. We drove home going north over the Island and got to see the tropical rain forests, but it was raining so hard that we really couldn't see much at all!! Oh well...no rain, no rainbows...that's what Jenna and I always say! One good thing about the rain is that it occasionally clears the vog out of the air! When this happens, the sky is so clear and you can actually see a distinct line where the sky and ocean meet. This may not seem like a big deal, but it is when it always so voggy! It's like someone lifted a veil and everything is CRYSTAL CLEAR!! It's soooo beautiful! I've posted a picture of a great sunset after the rain. We don't get see that very often any more.
We took Karen and Dave to the beach a couple of days. We saw several sea turtles and Karen even learned how to snorkel! She did great! The day we were snorkeling with them, AJ, Jenna, Karen and I were standing in the water getting ready to snorkel and a big turtle swam RIGHT IN BETWEEN AJ and me!!! I had to move or it probably would have swam right into me! Jenna was so excited to see one that close up! We also took them to a luau. It was one that we hadn't been to before and we thought it was great! The food was fantastic! AJ bought his Mom a flower lei...he's so sweet! We had such a great time with them...it was hard to see them go!
We have adjusted again to life without visitors. We are expecting our next visitors in May. We are looking forward to entertaining again. We love sharing our home and our life here in Hawaii! We have been blessed beyond measure and we are so thankful!! I'll try not to be so long in between posts! Until next time...aloha!
Saturday, March 28, 2009
Karen & Dave
Aloha! It's been a while again since I have blogged. I'm so sorry! It's been busy I guess. AJ's Mom and her husband are here now. It's been so great having them here! Jenna is on Spring Break next week and they are going to watch her for us. That is going to be great for all of them. They have been enjoying their time here so far.
Today we went to Jenna's favorite beach. Jenna and Karen played in the sand. Karen buried Jenna in the sand and of course she loved that! Karen learned how to snorkel. We saw about 4 turtles sunning themselves on the beach and several in the water. I never get tired of seeing the turtles! The whales put on a great show today! There were several of them flapping their pectoral fins and some of them breached several times in a row!! Unfortunately, I was sleeping on the beach and missed the whole thing!!! AJ said he tried to wake me, but I didn't hear him calling my name! Oh well. Thank God we live here...I have more chances to see them! I'm glad that Karen and Dave were able to see them.
Tomorrow after church we are going to one of our favorite beaches to go snorkeling. I hope that Karen does OK...there are so many beautiful fish to see there! She did great learning today-she's a natural! Sunday night we are going to a luau. That should be fun!
On Monday, Karen and Dave are planning to go to the Volcano. I'm off on Tuesday, so we are going to go Mauna Kea to see the snow on the mountain. Then we are going to go to Hilo to see the waterfalls. I'm looking forward to it! It's been 4 years since I have seen that side of the Island. I'll try and keep you posted on our adventures. Until next time...aloha!
Today we went to Jenna's favorite beach. Jenna and Karen played in the sand. Karen buried Jenna in the sand and of course she loved that! Karen learned how to snorkel. We saw about 4 turtles sunning themselves on the beach and several in the water. I never get tired of seeing the turtles! The whales put on a great show today! There were several of them flapping their pectoral fins and some of them breached several times in a row!! Unfortunately, I was sleeping on the beach and missed the whole thing!!! AJ said he tried to wake me, but I didn't hear him calling my name! Oh well. Thank God we live here...I have more chances to see them! I'm glad that Karen and Dave were able to see them.
Tomorrow after church we are going to one of our favorite beaches to go snorkeling. I hope that Karen does OK...there are so many beautiful fish to see there! She did great learning today-she's a natural! Sunday night we are going to a luau. That should be fun!
On Monday, Karen and Dave are planning to go to the Volcano. I'm off on Tuesday, so we are going to go Mauna Kea to see the snow on the mountain. Then we are going to go to Hilo to see the waterfalls. I'm looking forward to it! It's been 4 years since I have seen that side of the Island. I'll try and keep you posted on our adventures. Until next time...aloha!
Thursday, March 19, 2009
Jenna's Presentation!!
Hey, guess what!!?? I think I got Jenna's video to finally work! Praise God! Actually, my friend Julie helped me. I would have never figured it out on my own! I think if you just click on this link, it will bring to the page.
You will have to click on the title "Jenna's Presentation." Hopefully it will work. Please let me know either way. I apologize that I missed the first few sentences. (I was taking pictures of chickens, remember?!) She is explaining that her project is titled, "Can a Paperclip Float in the Air by Itself?" She says that she used magnets and how she set up her experiment. The video starts with her saying how she did the experiment. AJ and I are very proud to say that out of 12 kids her class that did science projects (the other 2 chose to do a history project), Jenna got 2nd place!! She got a nice big, red ribbon! She was so excited to tell us, she just squealed with delight! I posted a picture of her with her ribbon. I'm sorry to brag about it, but we are so proud of her and happy for her! I'm a little surprised that she was able to do so well, because we did the whole thing in such a hurry! She had her picture in the paper and a listing of all of the kids who won. I put the link to the local paper below if you care to look at it. Go to www.westhawaiitoday.com and in the search box enter "school and local." The article should come up.
OK, one more bit of bragging. Another school project that they had was for the Lions Club. The kids had to draw a picture using the title "Sight is Beautiful." Jenna drew a cute picture of a beach scene. She drew a palm tree, a hula girl, a crab, and a sandcastle. She got third place in her class. We were so happy for her! I posted pictures of that too.
Well, enough of that for today! Sorry for the lag in posting again! Life gets so busy sometimes! I will try not to have such a long time in between posts. Until next time...aloha!
You will have to click on the title "Jenna's Presentation." Hopefully it will work. Please let me know either way. I apologize that I missed the first few sentences. (I was taking pictures of chickens, remember?!) She is explaining that her project is titled, "Can a Paperclip Float in the Air by Itself?" She says that she used magnets and how she set up her experiment. The video starts with her saying how she did the experiment. AJ and I are very proud to say that out of 12 kids her class that did science projects (the other 2 chose to do a history project), Jenna got 2nd place!! She got a nice big, red ribbon! She was so excited to tell us, she just squealed with delight! I posted a picture of her with her ribbon. I'm sorry to brag about it, but we are so proud of her and happy for her! I'm a little surprised that she was able to do so well, because we did the whole thing in such a hurry! She had her picture in the paper and a listing of all of the kids who won. I put the link to the local paper below if you care to look at it. Go to www.westhawaiitoday.com and in the search box enter "school and local." The article should come up.
OK, one more bit of bragging. Another school project that they had was for the Lions Club. The kids had to draw a picture using the title "Sight is Beautiful." Jenna drew a cute picture of a beach scene. She drew a palm tree, a hula girl, a crab, and a sandcastle. She got third place in her class. We were so happy for her! I posted pictures of that too.
Well, enough of that for today! Sorry for the lag in posting again! Life gets so busy sometimes! I will try not to have such a long time in between posts. Until next time...aloha!
Sunday, March 8, 2009
Daylight Savings Time
It seems early, but Daylight Savings Time is upon us again. That means it is a FIVE hour time difference from the midwest now! It might make it a bit more complicated to call each other, but it will work out. I guess we'll have to be more aware of the time.
The weather here has been really rainy lately. We've had rain for several days in a row and the forcast is for 3 more days for sure. The average rainfall for Kona in the month of March is 1-1/2 inches and we have easily reached that already! The one nice thing about rain on a Sunday afternoon is that is makes good napping weather! I fell asleep this afternoon and AJ, Jenna and some friends of ours went to the beach to go body surfing - in the rain! I woke up and the house was totally silent. All I could hear was the soft hush of rain hitting the covering over our lanai. It was so relaxing! I think God sends rain on Sundays so we can rest and observe the Sabbath! I certainly did my best today! I slept for 2 hours...it was great!
It's been raining so much in Hilo (the opposite side of the Island from us) that they have had mud slides and road closings! AJ said they got 7-1/2 inches of rain in one day this past week. There is a ton of new snow on the mountain. AJ and some friends were going to go to the summit today to see the observatories and play in the snow, but the road to the summit was closed due to snow and ice! The ranger said it will probably be closed tomorrow too! That's so weird to think of in Hawaii!!
I'm still trying to get Jenna's presentation to upload to my blog, but unfortunately I'm afraid that I will not be able to get it to work. I'm so bummed because she did such a great job and I wanted to share it with you! I will keep trying. So, until next time...aloha!
The weather here has been really rainy lately. We've had rain for several days in a row and the forcast is for 3 more days for sure. The average rainfall for Kona in the month of March is 1-1/2 inches and we have easily reached that already! The one nice thing about rain on a Sunday afternoon is that is makes good napping weather! I fell asleep this afternoon and AJ, Jenna and some friends of ours went to the beach to go body surfing - in the rain! I woke up and the house was totally silent. All I could hear was the soft hush of rain hitting the covering over our lanai. It was so relaxing! I think God sends rain on Sundays so we can rest and observe the Sabbath! I certainly did my best today! I slept for 2 hours...it was great!
It's been raining so much in Hilo (the opposite side of the Island from us) that they have had mud slides and road closings! AJ said they got 7-1/2 inches of rain in one day this past week. There is a ton of new snow on the mountain. AJ and some friends were going to go to the summit today to see the observatories and play in the snow, but the road to the summit was closed due to snow and ice! The ranger said it will probably be closed tomorrow too! That's so weird to think of in Hawaii!!
I'm still trying to get Jenna's presentation to upload to my blog, but unfortunately I'm afraid that I will not be able to get it to work. I'm so bummed because she did such a great job and I wanted to share it with you! I will keep trying. So, until next time...aloha!
Friday, March 6, 2009
Thursday, March 5, 2009
Jenna's Science Fair project
Today at Jenna's school, they had a Science Fair. Each of the kids had to do a project and present it to the 3rd grade students and 3 judges. Jenna chose to do her project on magnets. She had to have a purpose, hypothosis, experiment (materials and steps in the experiment), results and summary. AJ and I thought this project was a little much to ask of a 2nd grader...it would be more appropriate for Jr High! The kids were supposed to do most of it themselves with little parental help. Jenna did do most of it herself. I guided her and gave her some direction. AJ was great with helping her with the presentation part of it. She asked the question...Can a paperclip float in the air by itself? She taped a string to a phone book and tied the other end of the string to a paperclip. Then she used the magnets to pull the paperclip into the air. She could pull the magnet away from the paperclip about 1 1/2 inches before the paperclip fell. We tried several magnets and measured the distance between the paperclip and the magnet. It was a lot of fun. She did her class presentation today. She did a really great job!! The teacher had a microphone for the kids, but didn't have it on for the first few kids. Fortunately she thought to check it right before Jenna started, so she got to use the mircophone. You could hear her a lot better that the other kids!
I taped it and posted it for you to watch. I apologize that I missed the first few sentences of her presentation. I had the camera in the wrong mode! I dropped her off at school and then parked and waited for the presentations to start since it was only an hour later. While I was waiting I saw a mother hen and her chicks in the parking lot. I took a picture of them and forgot to put the camera back into video mode!! Jenna started her presention and I realized that I wasn't taping. I still got most of it. You just miss her saying her name and what her project is about. You might need to turn the volume up all the way on your computer because it is kind of hard to hear. I could hear her really well in the classroom, but I guess the camera didn't pick the sound up very well. I hope you enjoy it!! I'll let you know if she gets a ribbon or something. Until next time...aloha!
I taped it and posted it for you to watch. I apologize that I missed the first few sentences of her presentation. I had the camera in the wrong mode! I dropped her off at school and then parked and waited for the presentations to start since it was only an hour later. While I was waiting I saw a mother hen and her chicks in the parking lot. I took a picture of them and forgot to put the camera back into video mode!! Jenna started her presention and I realized that I wasn't taping. I still got most of it. You just miss her saying her name and what her project is about. You might need to turn the volume up all the way on your computer because it is kind of hard to hear. I could hear her really well in the classroom, but I guess the camera didn't pick the sound up very well. I hope you enjoy it!! I'll let you know if she gets a ribbon or something. Until next time...aloha!
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