Mele Kalikimaka!

Mele Kalikimaka ="Merry Christmas!"

Hope this finds you blog readers (all 10 of you :) doing well and staying warm this Christmas week! We actually have had our own "winter storm" of our own the past few days. We were getting 1-2 inches of rain per hour for about 12 hours. This of rain and flooding makes up a winter storm here. Much more tolerable than the typical -10 degree temps and blowing snow, I must say. I am not complaining about the rain, trust me. It was actually good timing over the weekend, since both Ben and myself stayed busy at work. There is nothing better when you work nights and get to come home to rainy weather.  It is the perfect ambiance to fall asleep too.

Speaking of work. Here is a great picture that was painted for the holidays on my hospital floor. When you travel up to 5th floor via elevators, this is what you see at the big steel doors open:

(You cannot say Santa didn't make you smile a little :)

So we have been busy work youth group, work, and small group bible study. Here are a few things we have done the past couple weeks outside of our "normal" routine.

Hiked Makapu Lighthouse trail

Enjoyed a gorgeous day at the beach!

Looked at the Christmas decorations downtown Honolulu

Making Christmas cookies to donate to the less fortunate

They turned out pretty well!

Nothing like a good glass of wine and Christmas cookies!

Christina with her "masterpiece". She was one of the best decorators BY FAR :)

The pastry chefs of the night

Sheena make a hula girl that looked like me :) So cute!

The guys took part as judges in the cookie decorating contest

My penguin (?) creation

 

As hard as it is to think of not being home for the holidays, we must remember how blessed we are to be here in Hawaii. We have an awesome small group that I cannot say enough about! They are our much needed support during the holiday season. It also doesn't feel like Christmas. The past 20 something years our Christmases have been bundling up in many layers trekking out in the snow. 70 degree weather just isn't the same. But I say again, I am NOT complaining :) So we are making the best of our situation by: enjoying the old school Mariah Carey Christmas Album (more specifically the song, All I want for Christmas),  blasting the AC in the car, keeping holiday scented Christmas candles lit every waking minute of the day (thanks mom!) and enjoying the smell of our real (3 foot) Christmas tree. Ahhhh.. LIFE IS GOOD!

We look forward to our upcoming get away to Ko'olina Beach Resort for the Christmas weekend. We decided to take advantage of our holiday weekend off. We look forward to lots of relaxation, good food,  and QT ("Quality Time"- a much discussed topic in our small group :) together. Our reservations are made,  an excellent Moscato D'asti wine is purchased, our iTunes library is recently updated with Christmas songs, and we are ready for a relaxing get away.

We also look forward to the annual Christmas Eve service at our church. Actually they put on 5 services total on the days of the 23 & 24th. We have heard it is an excellent time of celebration and worship.

But with all these things to look forward to, we must not lose sight of the true meaning of Christmas. The "Christ"in Christmas. For HE is the reason for all this celebration and joy. Not the gifts we get, the get togethers we attend, and holiday treats we eat.

We hope God richly blesses you during this Christmas season!

Janell

P.S. I am in the process of sending out Christmas cards. They are taking much longer than expected to ship to me. At this rate they will arrive to your homes after Christmas. I apologize  :)

A Week of Thankfulness!

This week was not only Thanksgiving, but also marked our 6 month anniversary of moving to Hawaii!

Looking back on all the uncertainty, and risks we took we are very thankful for God's guidance through it all. During the holiday season, its important to not let it pass us by. We shouldn't be "down" about not being able to go home for Thanksgiving/Christmas, rather we should appreciate this time and make up some new holiday traditions with friends. Does it make it easy to be gone from our family and friends, NO! But we can see how God has placed some amazing people in our lives over the past 6 months to spend the holidays with.

We were able to spend Thanksgiving with some of our small group friends and met some new ones. we ate some amazing Turkey with all the trimmings and played some Apples to Apples.

It didn't feel like thanksgiving normally feels. We didn't see our immediate and extended families, didn't feel the brisk air and the need for scarves wrapped tightly around our necks. But we felt thankful. Maybe even more thankful than we have in the past. Thankful for loving families and holiday traditions to miss.

BUT
How can we do anything but praise and thank you God for all you have done for us and blessed us with?

 We had a great thanksgiving sermon last week that I have thought about a lot lately.
 
1 Thessalonians 5:18 "In everything give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for YOU."

Here are some good reminders that Pastor Dan brought up on Sunday:

1) One must CHOOSE to be thankful.

2) How thankful we are determines the amount of joy and fulless we will have in life.

3) We are called to be Thankful in all things and not for all things.

4) We tend to think we deserve it all. If we don't get it all we are unthankful or view God as mean and unloving. If we think all opportunities/things should be ours, then we think God is not giving us what we need. But was it really a need  in the first place? Or just a want?

So in all circumstance we are called to be thankful. Thankful whether we are far away from family or close during the holidays. Thankful for the opportunities and jobs we have been given, even if we had a bad day at work. Thankful for having a house to clean, dishes to wash, and bills to pay. For all these things point to the many blessings in our lives.

God is using all these things to mold us into who HE wants us to be. It may not be easy and it may not be the way we want things to be done, but HE know what's best.

Hope everyone had a great thanksgiving~

 Janell

HI Update

So what's new in Oahu?

Life has been good here. (big surprise, huh?) We have been busy working and hanging out with Ben's grandparents. They were here last week for a week long get away. We had a great time showing them around the island. It is so much fun taking them to all these familiar places. We are so thankful they came to visit us. Thanks again for coming Grandpa and Grandma De Wit!

We look forward to the upcoming months and anticipate our next visitors: Dad, Mom, and Chris in January. The holiday season will definitely be different for us being so far away from home and family, but are blessed to have support here too. We are looking forward to getting together with our small group and maybe even "getting away" and going to a resort for a few nights during Christmas.

The past few weeks we have been able to get more involved with our church and small group. Two weeks ago we were able to go out with our group and take a pontoon boat to the sand bar in the bay. The tide was a bit high but we had a great time driving around and swimming. We saw a lot of huge sea turtles and other fish. Later that evening we went to a UH (Univ. of Hawaii) football game. It was fun to see some football and enjoy more time with friends.

I also met up with my good friend Sheena at our Church Bazaar this past Saturday. We were able to purchase some local jellies and other goodies. I even found some great books for $5 total! The best find was a Toaster Oven Cookbook from the 1980s. I had previously looked at Barnes and Nobel for one and was highly unsuccessful. I may become the next Rachael Ray of Toaster Ovens with this tool...but don't get your hopes up :) Here is my good find:

Ben has been able to become a part of the Youth Group as a leader. They have a great group of kids and leaders who meet on Wednesday/Friday nights, and Sunday mornings. Ben's work and life schedule allowed for him to make all three sessions this week. He loves getting to know people outside of work, and is even warming up his rusty guitar skills for the praise band. It has been such a blessing for him to become a part of this group.


Ben also recently signed up for a Kaplan class this coming Jan-April on Tues/Thurs nights that will help him prepare for his MCAT test. He plans to take this test after he is done with the class. He looks forward to continue "working toward" his ultimate goal of medical school.


That's our life update! I won't even tell you what the weather has been like here.  I will admit that I am going to miss the white Christmas. Just won't feel the same without the snow.

Happy Sunday!


Janell

Life Slump?

Ever feel like you are in a slump, can't get going, or have difficulty getting or staying motivated? That seemed to be my problem lately.

Today, I FINALLY got out of that slump. I think it was a combination of different things, keeping me in this slump. Trying to get back into a routine again after vacation, trying to figure out ultimately what God wants for you in certain situations, and attempting to make big life decisions.

I think ultimately, life slumps come when God isn't where he needs to be in your life. He isn't at the top of the priority list. He is somewhere in between work and relationships, paying bills and making supper, doing chores and getting groceries. That is where I went wrong. Placing Him amongst all these worldly issues instead of in above of them. But who am I kidding. It seems so much easier most days to push God aside. It takes work (hard work) some days to keep Him at the top. I am a work in progress. But progress is good.  God continues to mold me each day into more of the person He wants me to be.

So I am happy to say, that for the first time in about a month, I am finally back in my groove. Got my priorities realigned and it FEELS GREAT! So take a deep cleansing breath today and thank God for always being there for you, even when you are "too busy" for Him.

God is Good! 

Janell



P.S. More to come on the big life decisions topic... 

home.

I have officially decided: This moving away stuff (4,300 some miles away I should add) isn't for sissys

So this past week marked the much anticipated return home. This was much needed, priceless time spent with loved ones. We were gone for about 10 days but it really only felt like 3. We had mixed feelings about whole trip: anxious to see our family and friends again, fear the awkwardness of coming back after being gone (a mere 4 months), and sadness knowing we would once again, have to say goodbye  "see you later" to them all. We were able to see a few of Chris's freshman football games, catch Anna's volleyball game, get in on the harvest excitement, have Sunday dinner with both families, meet up with great friends for coffee, take the grand doggies out for walks, meet up with college friends, see all of our grandparents, and even sneak some sleep in there too. We had a packed schedule and were able to see almost everyone who wanted to see us.

It was also nice to see all the leaves changing and feel the cooler weather. We did bring one day of 90 degrees with us from Hawaii, but during the rest of our trip the weather was beautiful in the 70s.

 Here are a few pictures of home:

Monday Night football games 

 Special Teams TD! Way to GO CHRIS!

 #66  :)

Ready for the kick off

 

Anna the all star vball player

  

   

Call her the Queen of Aces!

 

 On the Farm

4 Wheeling

 The grain buggy

Grandpa B. Many, Many years of farming

Mom and Chris

 

The Combine

Looking for debris in the field after the Tornado in June

One of the many flat beds we filled with tin and wood. 

Dad on the tractor

Hard at work

A true "tailgate" meal for those working in the field

 

 Harvest time

Ben even learned to drive the tractor

But as fun as it was, we couldn't stay forever. 

Saying Goodbye, does it ever get easier?  We thought it would be, the second time around. But we were WRONG. Maybe the fact that it doesn't get easier means something. We love them so much that leaving them feels like it should be the last thing we should be doing.  It feels so good to rekindle our friendships and feel the warmth of our families again. Its hard to leave all those "good feelings" and amazing people behind. For many of them, we don't have specific dates set in the future as to when we will meet up again. That makes those goodbyes that much harder. We know we will see them again soon,  but 6 months to a year just seems too far off to think about.  It makes you teary eyed. Maybe this goodbye thing will never get easier (with this move) because we literally live an ocean apart. We can't make a quick weekend trip to see them. It's also sad to know we won't be able to be with them during the upcoming holidays. I know I haven't made all the holiday parties and get togethers when I was home the past 23 years due to my job, but knowing you can still be with family/friends during the holiday seasons is irreplaceable.

As we boarded our first plane set out to Hawaii, these thoughts ran through our minds. "Why would we ever leave a place that is so saturated with the people we are so close to? What are we thinking? " I couldn't keep it together for our first leg of the trip home. By the time we caught our second flight, I was feeling exhausted and didn't want to think about it anymore, we were heading home to Hawaii, regardless. By our third connecting flight, we were feeling better. Refreshed from some naps and caffeine, we could finally say "I am looking forward to being home (in Hawaii)."

So since we have been home, we have gotten back to work, and back into a routine. It was very refreshing, oddly enough to get back to work. Everyone was excited to see us back at work and to hear of our vacation in Iowa. It helped remind us of the work God has for us here and how these opportunities for us are here and not in our hometowns. It has been also great to see and reconnect with our small group again. It would be really hard to not have them and their support during our time here. All these things coupled with the fact that we are in this together, makes it better. It doesn't make us miss or love our family and friends any less, but it helps us to get through those difficult hours and days when all you wanted to do was to stop by for Sunday lunch, meet up with your parents/siblings after work, get coffee with a friend, see a freshman football game, or help out on the farm.

God has given us so much here,  and we cannot lose sight of that! We truly feel blessed to be given this opportunity to live here. God wants us to be here, in this place, at this time. He wants to use us here in Hawaii (and its not a bad place to be used :). Would it have been easier to say around the familiarities of our homes, friends and family? Absolutely!  But I also think that moving away has given us a new appreciation for our families, friends and each other that we might not have gained otherwise.

A few days after coming back, as we sat enjoying our  hawaiian shaved ice at Island Snow Hawaii (trust me if you visit, we will take you here.) we were finally able to say honestly that "It feels good to be back." It feels like home here once again, even if its not where all our family/friends. God reaffirmed our need to be here with a much needed sense of peace that day.

But with all that said, we want to say thank you to all of our friends and family far away for being who you are. You are AWESOME!  Thank you for making our lives that much more enjoyable and fulfilling and for making us feel "at home" again.  You can never be replaced. We miss you and love you all! We will see you again soon!

Love,

Ben and Janell

P.S. even with the 5 hour time change (soon to be only 4hrs due to daylight savings time observed in the main land and NOT in Hawaii) feel free to call us any time. We really do appreciate calls and even if we are unable pick up, please leave us a voicemail any time. We don't mind playing phone tag.  As my Grandpa Bosma reminded me today, "it doesn't feel like we are far away when we talk on the phone."  :)

September Happenings.

Life has been good here in Hawaii. Busy working and preparing for our trip home October 2 - 12. We were discussing the other day how excited we were to come home and see family and friends. Maybe even as excited as one would be to come visit Hawaii. And no, we aren't joking. I never thought we would take a vacation back home to Iowa. (nor would I ever thought in my wildest dreams would I live in Hawaii.) But we are, and are we excited or what to go home!

Where is the fall weather? Seriously?! This time of year I am used to putting on jeans and a hoodies.  They feel so good to put on for the first time. I have been wearing jeans and sometimes break a sweat while wearing them.  But it's worth it! I just cannot break the habit of wearing them in Sept. We are not experiencing that type of fall weather here yet... or maybe ever.  Actually this time of the year in Hawaii is considered to be the warmest time of the year (Sept/Oct).  Highs here range between 83-85 degrees and it gets down to 75 degrees at night. Big Deal! We are very much looking forward to that fall weather we will get when we come back home.


So I will stop the chit chat and post some pictures. That is the best part of a blog anyway, right?!

Birthday Lei  I got from my land lady

Ben by our new Zoom-Zoom

All dressed up for Eric and Fawn's Wedding

Some of us ladies

At the reception

Golf Outing to Ko'olau

Awesome Views Along the Course

Ben only chooses the best caddy! :)

Breath taking!

So we have a wild chicken problem at Ko'olau

So, I (Janell) got invited by a nurse whom I work with to go on a hike in the Kailua area.  Ben had to work in the morning so he unfortunately missed out on the adventure. Let's just say I had NO idea what I was getting myself into. It's known as Olomana Trail- 3 Peaks. As the name says, there are THREE Peaks you are to hike up. I went with a group of experienced hikers, Thank goodness!

Here is our group. Checking out parts of the island. 
 Our group made up of an ER physician, 2 Orthopedic/Surgical nurses, a Rehab nurse, and a Phlebotomist. We were safe and in good company during the hike. :) 

And here is what we saw:

On the second peak. (Note the 3rd Peak in the background)

Hiking on the second peak. As you can tell, we had a very narrow path to follow. 

It ranged from 2-5ft in width.

A view of the 3rd peak. My friend had never hiked it before. She was too scared the time she went previously. As you can see, it is very steep and challenging.

It was so steep, they had to direct me as to where good footings would be on the way down and up. The climbs on cliff/rock surfaces ranged from 10 feet to 50 feet in length. Sometimes we even needed to go down on our butts because the gravel was so loose and it was so steep that we couldn't risk losing our balance with standing up or crouching.   I have never been more physically and mentally challenged in all my life. It was quite an accomplishment to say in the least. It took 5 hrs round trip to do this hike.  
Here we are getting prepared to repel down the 2nd peak with ropes.

Here were the ropes we used. 
This gives you an idea of the type of climbing/hiking we were doing.

Me with the 3rd peak in the background!

Our Group

Survived and made it to the 3rd peak. Here is a view of the 1st and 2nd peaks we conquered. Pictures do not do justice.

Views of the 2nd and 3rd peaks.

 

 

Exhausted Hikers

  

By the end of the hike, we were all exhausted. My hands, shoulders, and legs hurt like I have never felt before. I guess it was a good work out to say in the least. The views were awesome,  the best part of the hike. God's beauty and presence was more palpable the higher and higher we hiked into the sky.  We could see for miles and miles. God's handiwork through creation was so evident.

So that is an update on our life lately! We are just a couple short weeks from being home bound, and can't wait! :)  We are praying these next two weeks go well before our trip home.  See you all soon!

Joshua 1:9b
“I hereby command you: Be strong and courageous; do
not be frightened or dismayed, for the Lord your God is
with you wherever you go.”

Blessings- Ben and Janell