Welcome To 2010

As I start this post with a picture of Hawaii from space.

I hope your first thought was, Hhmm Somewhere in the world.

This is about the sum of what I know about

HAWAII as a place in the world. Yes, I know of the stories others have told me of paradise, and beautiful weather every day, and beaches and flower lays. So with all the information I have (and Dan’s) we as a family have set a NEW 2010 Family Goal. That is to move to Hawaii. NOW just you wait to tell me "It's so expensive to live there,” AGAIN. I do hear you ALL saying that. And yet DAN and I have decided to make a goal of it.

To catch you up to the present Dan is in nursing school here in St. Louis MO. We own a home here in Maplewood MO. Have three beautiful, wonderfully behaved, and oh, so fun kids. The tale being Gwendolyn we are still getting used to having around. It is fun for us all to have a baby in our home. Azure is in 1st grade and Corban is in Preschool, he will be starting Kindergarten this fall.

Dan and I decided we wanted to blog about our Goal to move to Hawaii. To journal our progress and stay focused on the little goals to meet the big goal. We also thought we could make it fun to press through the thick of trying to accomplish a goal by blogging about how it is coming about.

To continue the catch up this goal was born a few weeks ago. When Dan did a search for the highest paid Nursing states in the US and Hawaii came up as number 2, we paid attention. Move to Hawaii has been on Dan’s dream list for a few years. California was number 1. Neither Dan nor I have any desire to move to cally. So when our previous plan was to not move from MO till it was time to attend CRNA School. Limiting the amount of moves we made, mostly because we thought being stable and settled was best for our children's education, this could be the best choice. Dan and I know there are lots of ways to cross a room. We are looking at a move to Hawaii as possibility of another way to cross the room. We will look in to how all this can be a goof education for our children. So, we are trying on this Hawaiian skirt or shirt and seeing if it fits our family.

For all those who say it's expensive we are looking at that again and again. We looked at a cost of living wizard. We know it will be expensive. We may stop drinking milk at $7 a gallon but not till we get there. And we may need to give our kids’ calcium and Vitamin D, oh silly me they will get plenty of Vitamin D in the sunshine of Hawaii. Point is we will make sure our kids are healthy but we will live within our budget and means. I am sure there are very healthy children there so we will do as the islanders do.

For those who know us we are not novices to moving. This move will be quite BIGger then we have ever done. YES it will be an expensive move. We will be saving ALL our money to make this GOAL happen. Oh, this is where I should mention our plan was to move just before Gwendolyn turned two. If we could swing it, because, that would save us one plane ticket. But, that has been bumped now; we will wait till Daniel has worked here for one year to get the experience needed for employment in Hawaii. Living here the additional six months will help prepare better for the move.

DETAILS, details, so much planning will go into this goal, another reason we are excited about the GOAL. While we continue to work these out we hope to keep you up on our progress. Saving our money, planning and working toward our goal over time, we think these skills will be valuable education for our whole family.

After telling the kids we printed out a map and showed them the island of Oahu where we plan to move. Azure of course has told her whole class and thus the cycle my father started with me has bleed down the genes. I was the girl at school who told everyone we were moving to Tahiti to live in a grass hut. Maybe seeing my Dad be blessed by his Heavenly Father to travel the way he always dreamed will inspiration that no Goal is to big or to small with the Lords help. We invited the children to pray with us to our H evenly father taking our decision to him to ask for his will and blessing and to know if it is a good decision for our family. We told Azure to listen with her heart and her mind. Following our prayer Azure immediately said," I am not quite sure what He is trying to tell me, I listened and I don't know". We explained to Azure that our answer would come but in the Lords time in the Lords way. But, when we received an answer we would know in our heart and our mind. I am excited for the Goal and all the emotions and learning and teaching to be had by it.

As we dream of hot winters, and sandy beaches. We wish you all great things to come with all of your 2010 Goals. And want you to be a part of ours!