It's been a week!

Well, we've survived a week in the house with no furniture (well, except for some air mattresses, a few lawn chairs, and a folding table.) We've made it into a "home", at least until the rest of our things arrive. Our small shipment arrived on Tuesday, so now we have towels, blankets, a second TV and a few more kitchen items.

When the shipment arrived, the girls were so excited! Back in Clarksville, I gave each of them one Rubbermaid bucket and told them that they could put whatever they wanted in it. When they opened those buckets this week, it was like Christmas all over again! They spent hours in their rooms going through those buckets. It made me happy and sad at the same time. I was happy that they are starting to feel at home here - and as materialistic as it sounds, having your stuff helps you feel at home.

The sadness came when it dawned on me that this move has been hard on all of us, the kids included. We moved during a crappy time of year, our stuff has taken FOREVER to get here, and we're starting over (again). For Jon and me, this is the 6th move we've made together with the Army in our almost 14 years together. In my opinion, it has also been the hardest by far. Part of it is that the girls are older, so we have school, and them missing their old friends, etc., but there is something else, too. I can't pinpoint it, but it's just been harder.

And, this weekend our convertible was broken into. Dang!! Apparently there is a pretty high property theft problem here on O'ahu. We learned that lesson the hard way. The thief cut open the back of the roof, basically peeling away the window so they could crawl in. The funny thing was that they took only a pair of sunglasses, and left the stereo with removable face plate intact!! It was a weird event. (Luckily, my wonderful husband has the foresight to remove things from the car when he gets out. I don't always remember to do that. I will now!)

But, no one was hurt, it happened during the night. We've since found out that convertibles are targets and if you just keep your top down all the time (and remember to take your stuff with you when you're not in the car), you will be fine. A friend of Jon's drives a Jeep and said that he hasn't put the top on it in a couple of years! So, we were upset about it but it's OK now. Luckily we have great insurance.

The girls head back to school on Monday. The schools here are on a staggered schedule in order to combat the growing population and the issue of overcrowding. So, wish them luck as they make new friends and get back into the school/life routine.

Everyone please stay in touch...We've only been here a month, and things are slowly getting back to "normal", but we're still new here and it's easy to feel disconnected from those you love.

Have a great day!

Tiffany