Wow. We made it. At this point it feels like barely. We are tired. We arrived at our apartment in Kona at about 6:00 p.m. Hawaiian time, which would be 11:00 p.m. in Arkansas (CST). We got up about 4:00 a.m. CST and left our house in Arkansas at 5:00 a.m. to begin the trek across the U.S. and halfway across the Pacific Ocean with our three children, a stroller, two car seats, 9 carryons and 10 checked bags.

Praise God for the hospitality of Dawn Gauslin here in Kona. She greeted us with a big smile, hugs, and a 15-passenger van. We loaded all of the above into that and drove the 7 miles to the place we will be staying for the first 10 days here. She helped us unload everything and had our apartment ready with food, drink, flowers, candy and a card.

She then took me to go get her car and left us with the keys. We have a car to use for the first few days to help us find something more permanent.

God was also very hospitable to us because after we had gotten all settled in a beautiful, refreshing rain began falling that fell throughout the night. It was much more hospitable than the greeting we received from our downstairs neighbor. She didn't come to ask us how we were or anything about being new... she just let us know we were being too noisy. :) oops. What was scary about that was that we were so tired I didn't think we had any children bouncing off the walls, but perhaps we did.

The apartment is clean and bright. It is a little bigger than our last place but still mostly a studio feel. It has the big beautiful sliding shades to separate off a single bedroom from the pull out couch. It isn't air conditioned but the night breeze keeps things fairly temperate. The place is about 1/3 of a mile from campus, down the hill.

Friday we met with Loren to learn a little bit more about our next three months. I met one of the people I will be working with with regard to some of the accounting aspects of operations. it sounds like it is the hope that we can have a team of people who will focus on various aspects of operations, including finance, policy, strategy, etc.

After that meeting we visited the preschool where Keaton and Regan will attend. We are excited as Loren's daughter, Karen, will be Regan's teacher. The preschool is topnotch and is rated the highest on the island. This is an area of prayer as there are costs associated with their attendance and we could use some support in this area of our budget. We are also hopeful that some of Tara's work with the school will help as well. Tara got a little teary eyed anticipating their move to SCHOOL as neither Keaton nor Regan have ever attended school or even been hardly to mother's day out! She is excited for them, though, and looks forward to working with me and others on campus to support the exciting ministry of the University.

Today we spent time on a beach. A much needed respite. Look up Hapuna. It is one of the world's prettiest beaches. It is 30 minutes north of where we are.

We can't connect to the internet at our apartment, but we can here on campus. I am in the campus library taking a little break before dinner to write this. I feel very out of touch. I did see in an email from Tara's parents that the Hogs beat Vandy. I'd forgotten about the game altogether. Amazing. Not that the Hogs won, but that I'd forget about football. :)

We will move on campus in about a week. Please keep praying for us. We are glad to be here because we know God brought us, but we are beaten up. He's blessed us with many little things even since being here, but we are reminded often how much we must desperately cling to Him.

We love you. Please email us with your prayer requests, happenings, news, and needs. Or call. We definitely need your prayer support and the support of hearing from you. Thank you so much!