Solid in September

 We are solidly back in the swing of things.  We get up early to observe early morning seminary classes.  Work on our lessons in the middle of the day and teach institute at night.  On Thursdays, we add in an afternoon adaptive needs seminary class.  We love our assignments!  The work energizes us while we are doing it but exhausts us when we get home at the end of the day.  

Janice is getting better on her new knee.  She is starting to walk around a little without her cane and definitely without her walker.  She is able to walk further and we are just about ready to start walking around the block.  At church today, one of the women in her Relief Society meeting snuck up behind her and gave her this beautiful lei.

Janice with one of her Tongan friends

We are still no closer to knowing our fate at the end of December.  Our institute director would really like to keep us as missionaries until April.  He is trying once again to get approval for that to happen.  We worry that our name will be put on the "This couple is a lot of trouble" list.  We really don't want a fuss to be made.  I have already applied for the BYU Hawaii faculty position and have that as a backup to stay here one more semester if we cannot stay as missionaries.  I would be teaching EDU 305 (Technology in the Classroom) and be supervising some student teachers.  I would be pretty excited to do that.  Janice could get her other knee replaced and we would be all fixed up and ready to go when we returned home in April.  We will just trust in the Lord and it will work out.  He has taken pretty good care of us so far.  

We made it a priority to spend some time on the beach this Saturday.  We just needed some relaxation time away from our responsibilities to recharge our batteries.  We found a small point out on Haleiwa Bay and enjoyed watching the turtles, kayakers, and snoozing while the palm trees swayed a lullaby around us.

Nice place to relax near Haleiwa

Kayakers near our beach Saturday

We spend most of our time on the North Shore of Oahu.  If we have to go shopping (Walmart, Costco, Goodwill) or get some Mall time in, we go to Pearl City.  This is also where Janice had her operation and physical therapy.