The day after Christmas, the stores immediately set up huge displays of fireworks. I had thought we would miss our German New Years, with lots of individual fireworks shows at midnight. But, the Hawaiians will not be out done! They started shortly before 8pm, and we heard them, nonstop, until 2am! When we returned home from our friends' the air was thick with smoke and the smell of the fireworks.
To start my fresh, clean blog, I thought I'd do a quick little post with a list of some of our high (and low)-lights of this past year:
- Just after Christmas, we found out about our orders to Hawaii, and prepared to make the big change from our 6 years in Germany to being back stateside, if not mainland. (and visions of Target danced in her head...)
- McKenna started swimming lessons to prepare for the beaches of Hawaii. She loved them, but refused to put her head under water, which of course hindered her progress.
- Dennis was deployed to Iraq from January to May, returning just in time to pack out and leave the country. While there, he was able to explore his musical tastes, meeting Charlie Daniels and rocking out as one of his faves from KISS in a talent show. I know, surprised me too...
- McKenna started gymnastics, finding a new activity that she loved. I loved that she found a new outlet for tumbling that didn't include my sofa.
- Sabrina earned her black belt in Karate Tech after 4 years of hard work. We are all proud of her accomplishment. Hayden left Germany as a brown belt, with 4 stripes, just running out of time.
- We bid a sad goodbye to Europe and many good friends we'll take with us in our hearts. Thank goodness for this age of email and blogs and Facebook, may we never lose touch.
- We were able to visit all of our our family and many friends in three states when we took leave in between stations. We stopped in Indiana, where Dennis's mother's and sister's families met us, and spent time with them and the extended Terry family. Next stop was in Denver, then Utah to see my side. It was a fabulous vacation, although lugging 10 suitcases through the airports is something I don't wish to do again any time soon.
- We arrived in Hawaii, and after some juggling, were able to move into a fairly new home on Hickam Air Force Base, where our kids have been able to make friends and feel safe and comfortable in our own home.
- When the kids started school at the end of July, McKenna started Kindergarten, thrilled to be going, but making it much too quiet around the house.
- Most recently, I was called to serve as a counselor in the Relief Society in our ward, hopefully giving me more stability and opportunities to use my time and skills in the new year.
Now that 2010 is here, I'm excited to get back into routine, and start some new ones. I'm hoping this year will continue to bring our family closer together and strengthen the bonds with our family and friends we have missed while being in Germany. We hope to enjoy the time we have together and our short time in this beautiful paradise. May the Lord bless you and your family, too!
