Aloha!

We found our new ward yesterday and we were greeted with Aloha! So many people took the time to say Hi, and to talk to us, and welcome us to the "family." It was really great. I was worried that our ward would be all Army and no locals, but we definately stand out with our pale skin, but we were also not the only haoles.

Mormon's don't shop around for a church, we get assigned a ward (congregation) based on our home address. Usually that is fine, but it can be a worry. We went to a different ward the first week we were here, and it was fine, but our real ward is even better! The church is HUGE in Hawaii, and there is a lot of history here - (Joseph F. Smith.) We are most excited to be so close to the temple - about 40 minutes!

When I was a kid, there was a little Hawaiian lady in our ward who whould get up at the pulpit on Fast Sunday and shout AAAALLLLOOOOOOHHHHAAAA! and then get upset if we didn't respond properly, so she would shout out ALOHA again. I was a little worried about that, and though each of the speakers start out with a friendly "aloha brother's and sister's", it is a gentle aloha and it makes me smile - especially when John said "Aloha" in response, too.

I miss reading your blogs. Sorry. I hope you don't hate me. I also need to re-insert your addresses onto my sidebar, I will, but it will take some time. My lost computer should find me in mid January.

And the Winner is:

A Payne with Wendy's Tiki Hut, Coconut Bra's and Grass Skirts Optional.

The runners up are Sand In My Shorts (so true) by Heather, Lost in Oahu by Mary, Wahooo Oahu by Deanne, and the very classy Leprosy Free in Hawaii by Millie. It was so hard to choose, and Nathan was getting sick of me asking him if I like this one or that one better. I hope you like my new name, and my address should stay the same (I hope.) I want to change the layout, but the computer at this place never lets me on, so it would be a miracle if it lets me.

A. Payne will recieve one plastic authentic Hawaiian (made in China) lei, one small paper umbrella, one baggie of actual Hawaiian sand. The runners up will recieve one baggie of authentic Hawaiian sand. If you are interested in recieving this great prize, email me at wbarrm at yahoo dot com (change the at to @ and the dot to .)

We are having a great time here in Hawaii. The flight over nearly did me in, but a few days relaxing on the beach and floating on the surf and I feel great! My hair, on the other hand is having difficulties - the humidity is making it Ka-razy! My hair has a teeny bit of curl in it, not enough to be curly, though. So it is fuzzy and puffy here. And when I get sweaty the under part of it gets curly.

We are figuring out our housing today. There are no homes available on Hickam AFB, but we will be checking out one on Schofield Barracks today. It is on the Army Post (not base) where Nathan will be working. So far I have gotten 3 "oooh, I would never live on an Army Post" comments. I wonder if they have warts or something.

The beach is great. The sun always shines. There is a fragrant floral scent in the air. The language and cultural difference is cool. And I feel almost tall here. Come on over!

White Glove Inspection

I love love love all the blog name ideas.

The winner, and the new blog name, will be revealed from the beach (later this week) Sorry for the delay, but it is going to be a tough decicion.

It's not too late to enter!!!

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We spent last week with our moving buddies (they just loved our food storage, huge old piano, and Nathan's 600+ pound lathe*) then we spent the weekend cleaning our military house to prepare for the white glove inspection. Our past two military houses have been condemned as we were leaving (coincidence?) so this is the first time we had to clean more than the kitchen appliances. It was hard work, and my dry hands are proof that we did not hire a cleaning lady.

But I have some new favorite cleaning tools: SOS pads are brilliant. They shine up a stove like no other. When I used an SOS pad to shine up my toaster, Sydney thought I had bought a new one. Magic Erasers are also divine. A while ago Nathan soaked some wood in our bathtub (to bend the wood for one project or another.) The wood left a ring around the tub that scrubbing bubbles and comet could not touch. But magic eraser cleaned it right up like, well, magic! The magic eraser cleaned finger prints off white-fake-wood-cupboards, and scuffs off of walls. I'm buying stock in that company.

This morning the inspector arrived. I had imagined a Marine in dress uniform complete with white gloves, but it was actually an older non-military woman in birkenstocks. She checked the refridgerator, pulled out kitchen drawers (and made me wipe off a few crumbs that we missed) checked the shower stalls for water spots, and the garage floor for grease. And we passed! Yippee!

Now Nathan can check out and we can get out of here.

Here is the plan for our fam. Today we are mooching off of friends - using one friend's computer (thanks Janene,) sleeping at another house (thank you Terry and Sarah,) and I'm sure the kids will be all over the place to play later today. Tomorrow at 6am our airplane will depart Rapid City "International" Airport headed for our little island home in the Pacific. Wish us luck!


* Nathan's Lathe (a big woodworking machine that can turn baseball bats or bowls or baby rattles) proved to be too big of a job for our moving man, so they called in a tow truck to take the lathe to their warehouse. I was imagining the kid of tow truck with the straps, and Nathan's lathe strapped in and rattling down the street on its two back wheels! But they sent a big tow truck with a flat bed that tilts down and can hold an entire car on the flat part. They rolled the lathe onto the truck and strapped it on with big chains. I wish I could post a picture (Nathan made me take a few) of just how silly it looked riding down the road. He was so proud.