Cars and jobs

We found a car!!! It's a 92 Toyota Camry and is in great shape! Even though it's kinda old, it drove so much nicer than some of the other (newer than 2000) cars we drove, and we feel like we got a pretty good deal. We sign papers and pick it up tomorrow, so I'll post a picture soon!

I also heard back from the Hilton and found out that I don't start working until May 15th. I was really bummed about it at first because I felt like I really need to start working now. It's not exactly cheap to live here, and mom was right when she said that money doesn't grow on trees! But I am so grateful just to have a job, and we trust God to provide for us in all ways necessary. I have to remind myself to only think about today and to enjoy and appreciate all that we have.

This also gives me the chance/time to focus on selling our cars! So here's my sales pitch...(in case you don't already know) We have a 1979 Mercedes 240D (diesel) that we would love to find a great home for (it's in Fort Collins)! It is blue with blue leather interior and matching blue hub caps. It is in great working condition! Please let me know if you are at all interested or if you know someone who might be. I also have it posted on craigslist. Okay, enough of "Kamma the saleswoman." ;)

We're also going to try and sell the Ford here; hopefully we can find a mechanic who could fix it him/herself and then it would be a great buy!

I'll end with a couple pictures of one of our little gecko friends out on our lanai the other afternoon. Michael's always trying to catch them, but they are fast little buggers! They definitely do NOT want to be caught! I keep trying to tell him this, but boys will be boys...

Love and hugs! Bye for now!

North Kohala

North Kohala is the northernmost district of Hawaii...we live in South Kohala. These are some pictures we took while driving around the area...

Roller Coaster of a Week!

Hey everyone!

Sorry it’s been awhile since the last post. The time has just slipped away I guess. I hope everyone is doing well and ready for a new week!

In lieu of a very long narrative of how the past week has been for us, I’ve decided to just give you some main points…

• Last Friday (April 11th) our car started overheating now and then through Sunday...had to add coolant three times in three days.
• On Sunday evening, as we were driving up the hill to go home from hanging out on the beach (:)), we totally overheated and had to have the car towed. Luckily, the tow guy gave us a ride home!
• Monday we found out from the auto place that we would at least need a new head gasket and a new radiator, among possible other things. This would cost us twice as much as we paid for the car! Ahh!!
• Michael was able to get a ride down to work Monday through Thursday with a guy he works with who lives here in Waikoloa…thank you God! A taxi ride down to the Hilton would cost about $15-20 one-way…
• Wednesday, I heard from the Hilton, and found out that I got the job!!! Yeah!!! I went down and filled out a bunch of paperwork. I also had my first drug screening test on Thursday morning for the job…interesting experience! As soon as they get the results from my background check and the drug test I’ll find out when I actually start…hopefully soon!
• The guy who gave Michael rides to work, Marion, is pretty amazing, and actually let us borrow his car on Friday to drive down to Kona and look for cars. Amazing, I know! Unfortunately, we didn’t find anything right away, and instead of making a snap decision, we decided to rent a car for a week and take our time to find the right one this time.
• We pretty much just hung out Saturday and spent time together. It was really nice and relaxed.
• Went to church this morning with Marion down in Kona where he and his family go, then Michael went off to work!
• We’re going to look at a car tomorrow afternoon, and it sounds like a really good match for us. Wish us luck!

Love to you all!

Sunset Stroll...

Last Friday we went down to Anaeho'omalu Beach (A-Bay) to watch the sunset...

Moving Day…

Last Friday (April 4th) we looked at 1 (ONE) apartment in the town of Waikoloa Village and knew that it was for us! We signed the lease, and moved in on Sunday. It is in a complex of privately owned condos called Waikoloa Villas, and ours is a ground floor one-bedroom, one-bathroom with a lanai and outdoor wet bar owned by a gentleman in Arizona who also owns a house on the island. These condos were built in 1979, and this particular one does show it’s age a bit, but it is really nice and feels great to us. We have a washer and dryer and a dishwasher, and there is a complex pool that is about a 20-foot straight-shot from our lanai. If we walk to the other side of the pool we can see the sunset over the ocean…amazing! Check out the “virtual tour” pictures if you’re interested…

On another note, Michael started working today (Tuesday), and I’m still looking and waiting on some interviews. I have another interview tomorrow with the Hilton as a beverage server, so we’ll see if it’s the one! I really need to find something soon, and would love to be in the Waikoloa Resort area (where the Hilton and Marriott are, as well as two large shopping centers) so we can carpool easily and not have to drive too far.

It feels really good to be in our own place now, although it was a little sad to leave Hilo and all of the people we have met and made friends with so far; however, we are looking forward to all of the new people we will meet here and all of the new places to explore. We found a small beach this morning and went swimming and sunning for a bit. There weren’t very many people there, and we had a fun time. We drove by another beach on our way home that we’re going to check out tomorrow morning before Michael goes to work at 1.

So, that’s it for now! We love hearing from you all, so please write a comment on here or shoot us an email and let us know how you are all doing. Love and blessings to you!

Merrie Monarch

We had a great time enjoying the Merrie Monarch festival! The show we went to Thursday night was the Miss Aloha Hula contest. There were 12 girls competing, it lasted until after 11 pm, and was fantastic! Each girl performed two different types of hula and was unlike anything we had ever experienced before. We tried taking pictures and you can kind of see what it was like, but none of them were very clear because they were constantly moving! Of course, it IS the hula!







We found out about the Merrie Monarch parade on Saturday morning, so we headed to downtown Hilo and enjoyed it so much! You know how I (Kamma) love parades! :) Take a look at the slide show and see some of what we saw…sort of like Missouri Day meets Hawaii!

We were invited to take a trip up Mauna Kea (the biggest mountain here on the Big Island) on Saturday afternoon/evening, but I will write about that and post pictures later on…

Kimo Bean

Michael got a job!!! He is now a proud employee of Kimo Bean coffee shop inside the Hilton Waikoloa Village Resort, which is about 30-45 minutes north of Kona. About a week ago we decided to start looking for jobs on that side of the island. We just weren’t finding anything over here in Hilo, and looking in the newspaper, there are at least 3 times as many jobs listed on the Kona side. The Waikoloa resort area is really beautiful, and that is where Hapuna Beach is located. I also had an interview at a shop inside the Hilton that I am still waiting to hear about, and I have an interview for one of the restaurants inside the hotel tomorrow. It would be really awesome if we both worked in the same area. Check out the Hilton's website; it is quite a place! We are looking for an apartment/condo to rent in the town of Waikoloa Village, which is about 15-20 minutes drive from the resort area. So, things are really starting to look up, and we are feeling great! We just found out that the airline ATA shut down today, and that is what we flew on to get here…thank God we got one-way tickets!!!

This morning we decided to visit Rainbow Falls and Pe’epe’e Falls (pronounced peh eh peh eh, not pee pee :)) here in Hilo. They are major tourist attractions, and we had not taken the time to visit them yet! Since we are probably moving this weekend, we thought we should take the chance now. They were absolutely beautiful! I had read in one of our tour books that you needed to visit Rainbow Falls in the morning when the sun is behind you looking at the Falls, so you might actually see a rainbow in the water, and we did! At Pe’epe’e Falls, just about 1 mile up the road from Rainbow, we took the trail down to the Boiling Pots and towards the falls, and it was so much fun. We took quite a few pictures and just enjoyed the beauty and serenity of the place.

Merrie Monarch is a hula festival/competition held in Hilo each year the first week in April. It is basically like the super bowl of hula, and is what Hilo is known for. Tickets usually sell out about a year before and are pretty difficult to come by, not to mention expensive. So you can imagine our excitement when a retired couple from the church we’ve visited a couple times (Haili Church) invited us to go with them tonight! It is a single women’s competition, and should be so much fun. This particular couple, Bill and Jane, also had us (along with the pastor and his family and extended family) over to their house for Easter dinner, and we are just feeling so blessed by their kindness and generosity. If we are able to take pictures, I’ll be sure to post them as soon as I can!

Thanks again to everyone who has kept us in your thoughts and prayers…we definitely feel them! We are continuing to trust God in this adventure, and know that everything works out the way it’s supposed to when you have faith and believe! And that’s just what we’re doing! Love you all…