Thursday, March 26, 2009

My new love

Sailing...my new love. I have just recently finished a 10 week course on learning how to sail. I can now take a boat out into the harbor by myself. The course has been awesome...challenging like learning a new language and empowering in that I have accomplished something that was so intimidating in the beginning. Now I am addicted. I keep trying to plot ways to go sailing as much as possible. Last week a few of my sailing buddies and I took a boat out into the open ocean and saw whales. It has been such a great way to enjoy and appreciate God's beauty. Hawaii is the perfect place for sailing and I hope to take advantage of that for the rest of out time here. The picture above is me with some of my sailing peeps.

This is my sailing mate Melissa. We completed the course together so we feel very bonded now and plan to sail together from now on.


Here we are taking the boat out. Isn't that beautiful?

Thursday, March 19, 2009

"Can we do this every day?"

Those were Asher's exact words as we left the hospital yesterday morning and he was eating his 3rd popsicle.  It made Joel and I giggle...he was pretty loopy.  The surgery was a success and Asher did so much better than we anticipated.  I was very nervous for him because I thought he would freak when they took him away from us just before the surgery (we couldn't be with him when they put him to sleep).  We prepared him as much as we could and prayed with him many times.  He was very anxious the day before complaining about a stomach ache all day and begged to sleep in our bed that night.  The doctors did great at helping to calm him and as they wheeled him away they were pretending to be in a race car zooming down the hallway - he was all smiles.  An hour later I was with him as he woke up from the anestethia.  He was very confused and crying.  He kept trying to get out of the bed and take his IV out and saying "home", but that didn't last long.  Then it was all popsicles and TV, which prompted the desire to "do this everyday"!  He was on pain medication all day, eating ice cream and popsicles, watching all his favorite movies.  Not a bad life?!  And then he said to Poppy on the phone "Were you praying for me?"  "I knew you were because I wasn't afraid".  That made us pretty happy.

Then he said to me "Mommy, I hear music in the car!"  It was turned down very low and I was astonished.  The doctor did say the result would be immediate!  Praise God!  He is doing great now, seems to be fully recovered and hearing wonderfully.  We have a follow up appointment in 4 weeks and are hoping that with the aednoidectomy he won't need allergy medication anymore.  Thank you for all your prayers!  Asher felt them and so did we.

Tuesday, March 17, 2009

We're Home!

We were able to get so close to the kangaroos!  It was awesome.

Here we are on a koala hunt...we never did find them but it was fun trying.

A family photo at the Hunter Valley, the wine region of Australia.  That is a vineyard behind us. We did some wine tasting and saw the cellars where the wine was made.

Caleb and Joel wine tasting.

Here we are back in Hawaii.  It always feels good to be home after a trip, but it was certainly bittersweet.  Our time in Australia was magical, a dream come true.  Thank you Uncle Caleb and Auntie Amanda for such a wonderful wonderful time.  Anna's baby doll, "Gracie" unfortunately got left behind...I guess she really liked Australia a lot.  Anna is devastated over this.  We keep encouraging her that Gracie is on vacation, Uncle Caleb and Auntie Amanda are babysitting, and she will be coming home on a plane soon.  We learned that it was a mistake to say that Gracie was going to be in the mail...oh my what a mistake!  We know that if Gracie is having as good a time as we were that it will all be OK.  So I will leave you with a few more photos from our trip.  I know everyone was dying to see a kangaroo picture!  We finished the trip off with more kangaroo encounters, a rugby game for Joel and Caleb, and a trip to the Hunter Valley-the wine region of Australia were we got to travel to different vineyards and do some wine tasting.  The 11 hour flight home went better than ever.  It was overnight.  Jesse closed his eyes right before take off and didn't open them until the plane landed.  Anna and Asher got a good night's sleep as well.  Now we are just trying to adjust back to life here.

Tomorrow morning Asher has surgery to have tubes put in his ears and have his adnoids removed.  It is a simple procedure but he is really nervous.  We keep encouraging him that Jesus is with him and God would never give him more than he can handle.  Please pray that he will be filled with peace and heal quickly.  We can't wait to see how his hearing improves!





Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Goodday Mates


Hello from Down Under! This blog is filled with pictures. We have just been having such an amazing time that we couldn't wait to share it with all of you. Our flight over was a long day, but flying space available with the military is the only way to travel in my opinion! It was an 11 hour flight filled with coloring, balloon games, movies, hot wheel tracks, naps, lots of food, babies pulling on many things they weren't supposed to, and time in the cockpit. Even though it was a long flight, it wasn't stressful at all. And it was so great to see Uncle Caleb and Auntie Amanda at the end of it! So far we have spent a few days in Sydney seeing the opera house, harbor bridge, shopping, enjoyed dining on the harbor, and went to the zoo. Then we headed to Canberra, the capital of Australia and 3 hours from Sydney, which is where Caleb and Amanda live. We have seen kangaroos, had picnics, and Joel and I had an amazing hot air balloon ride! It has all been so great and we still have 6 more days to enjoy.

Asher in the cockpit with the pilots. Joel got to be up there during the landing and he was like a little kid in a candy store. He couldn't stop smiling.

Life in the cargo area of a C-17 flight.


Mary and Jess on a gondala ride over the zoo with the city if Syndey in the background.

Mary and Joel in front of the Sydney opera house.

Koalas....so cute!!!

The Thorson family at the zoo...look at that view.

Uncle Caleb, Joel, Asher, and Anna having some bumper car fun.

Asher and Uncle Caleb. Do you think Asher is ready for the left side of the road.

Joel helping the pilot get our hot air balloon ready for flight.

Our view from the balloon. It was amazing. There is a hot air balloon festival happening in Canberra right now so 50 balloons go up at a time making for a memorable experience.

We are in the air even though it doesn't look like it. It was a great way to see the country side.

Tuesday, March 3, 2009

Of C17 planes and Kangaroos


In 2 days we will be taking a "military hop" to Australia (if all goes as planned).  A military hop is free for military, dependents, and retirees as long as there is space available on the plane.  To get a hop, you just keep checking flight plans until you see a flight you are interested in and hope that everything falls into place for you to get on the plane.  You can't sign up until the day before, and you just show up in hopes there is room enough for you!  This is a picture of a C17 cargo plane which is the plane we will be hoping to hitch a ride on.  The good news for us is that are good friend is flying the plane and is working with us to ensure we know flight plans and that there is space for us.  Yes, in this is case it really is WHO you know.  We have been keeping our eyes on flight plans waiting for one to work out for us to go to Australia, and this one is planned perfectly so far.  We will be there for 10 days, spending a few in Sydney seeing the sites, and then will head to Canberra to visit with Joel's brother Caleb and his wife Amanda.  We are super excited.  The kids are dying to see kangaroos...it is all they talk about, pretend playing that they are using their passports to get on a plane to go see kangaroos.  We aren't even that nervous about the flight with 3 kids (which will be about 9 hours) because there are no "seats" in a C17 cargo plane.  We essentially lay sleeping bags out, let the kids play games, throw a frisbee.  Plus our friend's are also going on the flight so our kids will have playmates.  I am not sure we will ever be able to travel the normal way again!  Anyways, hopefully my next post will have some cool pictures from Down Under.