Anniversary

June 22nd marked 3 years of marriage!

Looking back three years ago, I cannot believe how young we were when we got married. We have made it through 2-3 years of college and a huge move. Looking at the picture below makes me realize how young we looked. These changes also make me think back on the way we have matured emotionally, socially, and spiritually together. (And how awesome it has been).

Of course there have been rough days and even weeks throughout these years, but those have helped mold us into the couple we are today:

(we are working on the whole photogenic thing)  :)

So, Ben had the day off and we decided that a snorkeling trip would be a great way to celebrate! We found some cheap snorkel rentals from town and found out the great snorkeling locations by the North Shore. And for those who are wondering: No, we did NOT snorkel amongst those crazy waves that one thinks of when you mention THE North Shore. Right now is the quiet season there for surfing and the perfect season to snorkel.


Here are some pictures:

Here are some pictures of the beach we snorkeled at:

Crazy, awesome "Sand." It was so soft and upon closer examination, we realized they were tiny, polished stones:

We ran into the famous "Turtle Bay" golf course. We had to check it out. Ben was in heaven....

It was gorgeous and Ben appreciated the green, green fairways. It is his dream to golf here in the future. Not as a professional, rather as a resident. :)


After a successful day of snorkeling, sack lunches on the beach, and slightly sunburned bodies, we decided to go out for  a nice dinner to celebrate our anniversary and me landing a job.

We have seen this restaurant near the Kailua Beach often on our bike and running outings. It's called BUZZ'S. It is a rather famous steakhouse. So we made our reservations for 6:15pm and took our bikes 1/2 mile down the road to the restaurant. (Parking here can be pretty crazy, as we had observed previously, so we decided to just bike :) 

Upon arriving, Ben realized he forgot to bring his wallet, or possibly dropped it on the way over. Without even thinking about me carrying my purse that evening, he quickly biked back home to get his wallet. By the time he had left, I realized I had my wallet along, but had no means of getting a hold of him about this. (I decided to have a "cell-phone free" date night). SO, needless to say, I was one glass of wine in and had a very sweaty husband arrive to the restaurant with wallet in hand 15 minutes after our previous reservation. You can only get by with situations like this on your 3rd year anniversary and not care. It would not make a good impression on a first date.

We had a good laugh, enjoyed exceptional food (that we were able to enjoy even a few nights later), and called it a great anniversary. As my father reminded me, "Most couples do not get to celebrate 3 years of marriage in Hawaii. Most have to wait for their 10th, 15th, 25th, or 50th annivesaries to do so." My dad is so good at putting things into persepective for me. Love you, Dad! :)

We both feel so blessed to be living here right now and pray to never take it for granted!

Family Farm Update

Early this evening (June 25th)  I found out that a Tornado that passed through my parents' farm. My mom had texted me that they were in the closet in the basement because of a tornado near by and that they could hear debris hitting the house. This had to be a very scary situation. I cannot imagine.

THANKFULLY,  no one was hurt and the house was NOT damaged. My dad's hog nursery was however completely destroyed. As my mom said, "it is a total loss and the destruction is unbelievable." But as she reminded me, the building is replaceable. They will be up early in the morning to move all the pigs to other buildings and start the clean-up process. Ironically the pigs were unharmed and unaware of the destruction around them. So far, all of the other farm buildings seem to be unharmed.

I just wanted to ask for prayers for my family during this  time. I wish I could be there to help them out, but my mom said she did not need me to fly home at this time. I am thankful there are lots of aunts and uncles and family members that were around tonight after the storm and will be there the upcoming week to help them. You just feel helpless when you are so far away and this happens to your family. Keep them in your thoughts and prayers. THANKS! - Janell

Where we live.

Kailua

I thought I would give everyone a little taste of Kailua. I previously shared pictures of our cottage so I decided to share pictures of our church and community.


We live about 1/2 mile from the beach and about 1 mile from main street. The main street of Kailua is pretty small, but contains a few gems, such as: Starbucks, Coldstone, and MACY'S! :) When I first drove through I thought to myself, "I am definitely not in Sioux Center anymore." I am still not used to living this close to these stores, but that is probably better for our budget. I hope to make Starbucks more of a habit in the near future,  after I get my first paycheck.  :)

First Presbyterian Church of Honolulu at Ko'olau (http://www.fpchawaii.org/)

"It feels like HOME." Those were the first comments we made after attending our first church service at First Prez. This church is home to 1,300 members from all over the island of Oahu. It is a bit more contemporary than what we are used to but we love it! The praise and worship singing is excellent and really prepares your heart for the message. We also appreciate the genuine enthusiasm and joy we see in the congregation and pastor at church. Being "excited to be at church" is rather refreshing. Ben first came across it before I moved down. He was looking for a job at a golf course and found the church. How does that work?!  The church actually owns the whole golf course and the building on it which is used for a proshop, banquet hall, and church.

It is located in the most beautiful place in the entire world. At the base of the mountains. Unfortunately the pictures do NOT do justice to the beauty of God's creation here.

        

Our Church

First Prez

We have been blessed to have quickly found this church and become involved in a Young Couple's group. We have had the opportunity to meet some of the couples in our group this past Sunday and join them for lunch at the church. It felt good to begin meeting people in our community.


Here are some more pictures of the scenery. I promise, it never gets old!

Ben getting in some practice swings.

Overlooking the Golf Course

Overlooking  Kailua

Castle Medical Center (large white building)

We drive through the mountains to get to the other side of the island. 

Beautiful views from the Pali Lookout

What a GREAT day!

June 21st.

(First I need to apologize for no blog updates for a bit. Our laptop crashed on Thursday and our parents had to ship our desktop to us. We just got it in the mail this afternoon after not expecting it to come for a few more days! What a blessing! :)


I had another job interview. It was at the same hospital I had previously interviewed at, but on a different floor.(Med/Surg) The nurse manager was not very "excited" about the floor he managed. That gave me a bad vibe about the interview. It also only took 30 minutes when the other interviews took an hour or more. The manager also told me that they had all the isolation patients on their floor, (NOT my most favorite to take care of, no offense :) because the surical/ortho and oncology couldn't have infected patients because of the risk. The other two interviews ended with, "you are our top candidate for the job" or "we are really interested in you." This one ended promptly with a: "thanks for the interview" comment.

So, that interview made me realize that any of the other two positions I interviewed for would be perfect for me! Those nurse managers were so excited to interview me and about the floor they worked on. I appreciated that.

I decided to call my nurse recruiter after that interview to just "touch base" with her about the other positions. Susan told me that she needed to quick look into things and call me back. Because the hospital I interviewed at was on the other side of the island, and Ben had a day off we decided to stay and hang out at Waikiki beach.

While we were there soaking in the sun, I received a call and a job offer from Susan for a full-time position at Straub Hospital in Honolulu. We were so excited I got the job, and so soon after I moved down. I don't officially start with orientation until July 12. It's called corporate orientation and they only offer it twice a month, that is why I start in a few weeks. It pretty much is the basic hospital orientation that everyone needs to attend. It will be a day of policies, mission statements, safety, and benefits. After this day, I will get into the computer training orientation for the floor. It is potentially the same computer system we were getting into at Orange City, called EPIC. I know there is different forms of this but it may be somewhat familiar.

So that is the newest job situation for me! Not sure if I mentioned this before but this position is on a Surgical/Orthopedic floor where the surgeon does "minimally invasive" replacements. The manager told me that the length of stay was dramatically reduced with this procedure and patients with total knee procedures stay only one to two nights! That is incredible.

So I cannot wait to see what God has in store for me with this new job. This is such a huge blessing for us. Living on one income in Hawaii isn't the easiest.

So many have been praying for us and for this to fall into place and we are so thankful for that! Thanks again to everyone!

Job Update

So after waiting a long week after my two interviews I finally got some relief today. Most of this waiting was related to paperwork and politics. Who ever would have put those two together when talking about healthcare?! :) So the position I heard back from today is one a surgical/ortho floor. From what I understand, they HAD to give the first position I interviewed for to an "internal applicant". They explained this was the facility policy. Initially I was disappointed but the nurse mgr then told me that another full time position would be avaliable for me! I just needed to watch for the position to come avaliable online then apply for it. Because I previously interviewed for this position I would not need another interview and should hear about the job the beginning of this coming week!

So the nurse recruiter for the hospital (Straub Hospital) called me this morning to let me know the job was posted and I should apply for it because "they really want you to work there." That gave me confidence that this job thing should work out sooner than later. Hopefully before rent is due :).

Don't get me wrong, I am definitely enjoying my time off here in Hawaii, but I am ready to make some money and get in a routine. So I will continue to do my best with being patient and see what this next week brings!

Beach Running?

As I write this, my calves are still burning and I am regretting the decision I made this morning to run along the beach.

Here is where I came up with this idea to run along the beach. We have been to the beach almost every day since we have moved here to Kailua. Kailua beach is known as one of the most beautiful beaches in the world.

Something else that rocks your world about this beach is the people on it. People are very laid back and don't care what anyone things about them. Case and Point:

Very frequently there are women literally running down the beach in their skivvies or skimpy swimwear. They aren't trying to imitate a Baywatch scene, rather they are doing it as a work out! This just rocked my world (and Ben's :). It made no sense to me why someone would wear that during a run!? So me, the one who enjoys running, took this on as a challenge! I tried out this beach running, but ran in much more than my skivvies. I also ran barefoot, which is very common.

So, I made it four miles and finished with a few blisters. During my run, I learned a lot. I learned to dodge all the small jellyfish washed up on shore, watch out for the crabs burrowing in the sand, run on the firm sand as long as you can, and that running on sand can be a great exfoliant for your feet and can cause blisters at the same time.

One of the most refreshing things during these beach runs, is that occasionally the water will come up higher on the shore than you expect and the coolness on your feet will refresh and cool your entire body. It is glorious! Seeing God's creativity this morning through his creation in the waves, white sandy beach, and the sunrise was definitely worth the blisters! :)

And one final note: I think I have convinced Ben to join with me next time :). I will let you know when that happens!

Have a great Wednesday!

Our New Home: Kailua

Wow! I (Janell) finally arrived to Hawaii on Saturday. After a first class flight from Sioux Falls to Minneapolis, then an 8 1/2 hr flight from Minneapolis to Honolulu, I was here. I was reunited with my husband! The beauty of the mountains and ocean stole my attention as we drove from the west side (Honolulu) to the east side of the island (Kailua). I soon realized, "I am definitely not in Iowa anymore." No more cornfields or flat roads that go on for miles. That is okay though, It is good to experience another part of God's creation. And where better than Hawaii?!





Here are some pictures of our living quarters: One bedroom cottage.
We also have two outdoor patios ("lanais").











So, what have we done since we have been here so far?

Went to the beach:

Had a relaxing evening with a cheap glass of wine:

Let's just say it took some creativity to get a bottle of wine opened without a bottle opener!




Swept our Lanai:




And enjoyed a good night of grilling and "real" food:


The Grill Master:



Here are some FAQ I will address:

What is the weather like?

-80-85 degrees and sunny. It usually rains every day for about 10 minutes a day. There are occasional windy days, depending on the trade winds. The most windy months of the year are June-Junly. Today the winds were in the 20-25mph range.

What are the people like there?

-Laid back, less hurried than we are used to. You rarely see people on their cell phones. In fact, I got in trouble for using my phone on my 1.5hr bus commute home from my job interview on Monday. Who knew!?

-Let's also say for the record that blond hair, blue eye women are few and far between in this area. Ben does tower over a majority of the population here, but his looks fit this culture more than mine do.

So that's all for now! I had a job interview on Monday and hope to hear something Wednesday about if I got the job or not.

Continue to pray for us and this huge transition we have made. It is great here and every day is feeling more and more like "home" to us. ~GOD IS GOOD, ALL THE TIME!~

Our address: 256 Aumoe Road, Kailua, Hawaii 96734