Homeless in Hawaii

The search continues on. We have now been looking for an apartment for five days with no luck. They are either too far away from Landry's job, over our price range(which started out high we thought), or in a very scary area. After staying in a hotel four nights a couple from church offered to take us in and we gladly excepted. They had company already and we planned on sleeping in their living room on our air mattress(thank you Heather and Caleb). Anything to save some bucks, because staying every night in a hotel our money was leaving quickly. "Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no where to lay his head." Matthew 8:20 This verse has a lot more meaning to me right now. I obviously have no clue how Jesus felt. We haven't even been searching for a week but I now feel as if in some small way I can empathize with him. Before the Booker's took us into their home I was starting to get concerned at how long this could go on. We can't keep paying for a hotel and we need to find a place before Landry starts to work. Jesus stayed with different people as he traveled and I think there was a good reason behind it. Tonight will be our second night with this family and I already feel so close with them just simply because they have opened up their home to us. They have fixed two meals for us and made us feel as if we were family not strangers. What amazing Christian examples they are to me. Before this experience, Landry sometimes would ask for people to stay at our one bedroom apartment in Nashville and I often said no I think its too small and they will have to sleep on the couch. But now my mind has defiantly changed. I want to be more hospitable to people.What better way to show others God's love than to welcome them into your home. We went to church again today at Pearl Harbor Church of Christ and I was so encouraged. This congregation is made up of primarily military families(probably 80%). One family was moving to another place, which is very common as most families stay 2-4 years and then there are all new families that come in. As we sang love one another everyone went to the front to say goodbye and hug the family. There were lots of tears and I had to really try to hold mine in(since it is strange because I've never even met the family). It just amazes me how quickly the love of Christ unites people. I am so excited to be getting involved with this new congregation. It is very different with lots of people coming and going, but there are no clicks. Everyone just loves each other and tries to help each other because we are in the minority as Christians here in Hawaii and we need each other. My prayer today is to invite others into my home often no matter how big or small or nice. 

All I Need Is You, Lord!

Today we decided to laugh instead of cry. The last two mornings we have gone to the front desk and asked to stay one more night just hoping that we can find an apartment. Oh yea and we have moved rooms each time with our four giant suitcases and four (to large to qualify as carry-ons but somehow we made it work) smaller bags. Today when Landry said I think we are gonna do another night they said as of now they are full. O goodness, we have been calling other hotels but the pro bowl football game is sunday and everywhere is booked. This could get really interesting. We started thinking about buying a tent and camping. Someone told me of a place called tent city when I looked it up it is more like a homeless shelter, but technically we do qualify as homeless at the time. I started laughing hysterically and Landry said "Babe, I like your attitude," that is when I said I am laughing so I don't cry. I don't know why I feel so calm when this seems to be a stressful situation. God's arms are holding me so tightly right now. More than ever in my life I feel as if every step and move I make has a purpose and God is leading me everyday to the place he wants us to be. After we got our hotel room for one more night we began frantically searching for apartments. As I have said before it is so different finding an apartment here than in Nashville. There is no main office to go in and ask someone if any are available and if you can see them. They are sold by individuals or companies and they only way to see them is to find them on the internet and call to make appointments. Plus the are way more expensive with less square feet and few amenities. We have been searching craigslist like crazy. We set up two appointments back to back. The first one we went to was a high rise right behind Landry's new job. He can walk to work everyday which is a huge bonus since we only have one car. I can then take the car to my job instead of the bus. It is on the 14th floor and has a huge picture window with  the most breath taking view. You can see all the way to pearl harbor on one side and diamond head on the other. The windows were open and the breeze was fantastic. Which is a good thing because there is no air conditioning. I never thought about it I guess, but most places here do not. I love it, how amazing a place is this that you can leave your windows open and God can keep the temperature just right for you. It is a large one bedroom with everything we need fridge, stove, and wash and dryer( which is also very rare) most apartments have coin laundry or if you do have machines they are on the outside. There are tennis and basketball courts and a pool outside which also are added bonuses. We left feeling excited and in awe of all God is providing. He is providing all we need and also several things we just want. The next appointment was did not go as smoothly as the previous. We waited a while in a pretty sketchy area for the lady to show up and I wanted to leave several times. She showed us two apartments way over our budget and neither one of them were the picture or price of the one we saw online and had called about. We viewed them quickly and were glad to check them off our list of options. Then Landry found on craigslist a guest house behind a house for rent and it is so cute. I fell in love with the picture. We called and the tenant was out of town but they gave us the address and said we could take a look at the outside and if we are interested we could see it tomorrow night. We drove over immediately. It is on a hill with a great view, has a little swing in the yard and a mango tree (how stinking cool). It is a tiny 2 bedroom one bath and yes the washer and dryer are in the back yard. It is surrounded by tropical flowers and plants and just want I envisioned living in here, but it is not as practical as the high rise apartment. The neighbors all live very close and I am not sure if it is a safe area or not which is a big concern for me because Landry works late hours and I will be alone often. It is right behind another house which means walking up the hill through their yard everyday and there is little to no parking on the street in front. I think it is more of a fantasy than a reality. We left there and rushed to our hotel to meet a couple from church that was bringing us out to eat. They picked us up and brought us to one of the military bases. He was in the navy for several years. We went to a Mongolian barbecue. You get a bowl and fill it up with fresh veggies and raw meet then put whatever sauces you choose, they cook it on the grill and then you add rice of your choice. The food was delicious and I embarrassingly devoured my bowl and Landry only ate half. I think it tasted so good to eat vegetables since we have been driving through every meal to save money. We ate in a pavilion right on the water, he told us it was the only channel to get in and out of pearl harbor and a lot of times you could see submarines come up to surface there. After supper they drove us over to a place called the "lemon lot" where when military people leave the island and don't want to ship their car they put it for sale. All the cars have a paper in the window with the price, Landry was in heaven. It was raining but he still got out and walked around looking in the window of every car. There was a mini cooper, a couple jeeps, a convertible car, a baby blue volts wagon van (that I am strangely attracted to) and lots of other kinds. They showed us around base and then brought us to the Navy Exchange, a big store with no tax that only military people can shop in. We are figuring out more and more that most people that are not local here are military and we don't fit into either category. God is opening my eyes to see how it feels to be a minority which I have really never experienced. We came back to the hotel and crashed at nine o'clock since I have been waking up between 4 and 5 am every morning still not used to the time change. My prayer today is to see past skin color and culture. Lord help me to see people as you see them.

No Car, No Apartment, No Problems

When the words, "Welcome to Hawaii" finally came out of our pilots mouth it finally felt real. We are really doing this. I couldn't wait for the over 100 people in front of us to get there carry on out of the overhead bins. I wanted to run off the plane. We walked off the plane to the smell of tropical flowers as several passengers were welcomed with fresh leis around their necks. The airport is partly open air and when we walked into one breezeway with giant trees all around us I felt butterflies, no this is not a vacation this is really our relocation can it be true? We arrived at our hotel 11 pm honolulu time which is 4 am nashville time. Grabbing our bags from the shuttle and checking into the hotel this late at night and sweating, it feels so good. So exhausted from a long day of travel, but overtaken by excitement and relief to have made it safely with no glitches. 
I am an early riser normally and it is really annoying to Landry especially on his off days when he can sleep in, but I shake him and wake him. I'm always excited to spend day time together since his work schedule usually allows for very little of that. So of course how could I sleep in when we have all day off together in Hawaii? Although I woke up a couple hours before I was able to convince Landry to arise around 7. We got ready put on shorts (which feels like a dream in January) and headed to find breakfast. We went down to the lobby and the hawaiian man behind the counter looked at us funny and said there is 2 gas stations walking distance and a wendys that opens up at 9 and handed us a tiny highlighted map. We headed out thinking he probably just doesn't understand how far we are willing to walk. As we left the hotel we realized we are in the middle of an industrial area and there is seriously no eating places anywhere close to us. Not having a car is really feeling tricky right now. We walked a couple miles just to make sure there are no options and then settled on a chevron gas station breakfast. Now the reality of this is no vacation really sets in. To our surprise we find 2 Jimmy Dean croissant sausage, egg, and cheese breakfast sandwiches in the refrigerator and some mini blueberry muffins a water and some juice and we feel very satisfied. Head back to the hotel to immediately figure out how we will be transported to pick up our rental car at noon. Since we are already seeing the importance in transportation. We booked the rent a car 3.5 miles from our hotel because we considered that walking distance. Much to our surprise the front desk worker told us we could not walk there because the was a highway we would need to cross. Ouch! Did not plan on it, but we had to call a taxi and pay 30 bucks for 3 miles. We felt like we were 16 years old again getting the keys to our first car, when the enterprise worker handed over the keys! Yet another convenience I have taken for granted every day as I normally just hop in my car and go where ever I need to go. Lord, thank you for never making transportation a problem for me. We jumped in rolled the windows down and headed to Aloha Stadium to the swap meet aka trashy flea market. Landry and I both love to find cheap things that may be trash to others but treasure to us. There were booths set up in a circle all around the stadium. Our buying list consists of ugly brown plastic sandals for landry $5 bucks (not my chose of fashionable footwear but I am working on caring less about outward appearance and those sandals really tested me haha), mixed fruit bowl with pineapple, papaya, coconut, apples, and two mystery fruits that were very interesting, hawaiian bread stuffed with cheese and several meats, and a giant coconut filled with chilled coconut water(which neither of us liked and Landry embarrassingly offered it to strangers which promptly denied us). We plan on coming back as we saw several signs and decorations that will make our apartment feel beach worthy. Now the apartment search begins! We left feeling energized to find a place to live, but quickly were deflated. We first drove to Landrys new verizon home. It is in a really cute new outdoor shopping center, which definately excited me way more than Landry. There is a movie theater, a 24 hour fitness, ross, dry cleaners, craft store(which means trouble for me), food court, pier one and several more shops. Directly behind them are 2 large apartment towers how perfect, but no not really since here there are no offices to walk in and just say we are here to find and apartments. It is only through craigslist and other companies that sell them, which we quickly learned the hard way as we followed someone in the security gate. Next we went to several grocery stores(and yes there is a wal-mart right by Landrys work yay) searching for apartment guides and finally found one, but it was no help. There were few near the location we need and all way over our budget! We rushed back to our hotel to get ready for church and arrived 7 minutes early, but there was only one car in the parking lot we pulled back out to read the sign but we were right about the service time and pulled back in. Walking up to the buildings I started to feel nervous about being new and not knowing anyone. We have been so blessed with our congregation in Nashville and all the friends we've made. The first person we meet is the preacher which Landry had spoken with on the phone last week and he told us they operate on hawaiian time which is about 5 minutes late. Perfect! Landry and I are gonna fit in just right here since we usually are always 5 minutes late. People started arriving and we had a quick devotional inside the building with the doors open and a great breeze, reminding me of church camp days. We were introduced and were asked to stand up, which anyone who knows me knows I really don't like to do, but I survived. Then we headed off to class. Of course the lesson was on money, the thing that my mind has been filled with lately...will we have enough to survive, can I be happy living "simply", will I find a good paying job?? Ecclesiastes 5:10 He who loves money, will not be satisfied with money...We discussed how the love for money and material blessings can never satisfy it only makes you crave it more. O so true I have seen this in my life so many times. Hello, wake up call. If I only buy this outfit I won't buy anymore new clothes for a while, but there is always some reason or justification in my head why I need something new even when I have a closet full. Thank you Lord for opening my blind eyes! Now the hard part is making a change. After class everyone came to meet us. My heart felt light again, how good it felt to already find new Christian friends. One couple in particular who have two children one graduated from Harding and one from Abilene really took us under their wing. She immediately gave me her telephone number and started trying to help me conquer our biggest problem now finding an apartment. She was telling me areas to look and not to look. Her and her husband invited us to dinner tomorrow night at a Mongolian restaurant. They are picking us up at our hotel. Wow there are no other people like God's people. I felt an instant connection just knowing we serve and love the same God. We left church and headed down to Waikiki because I wanted Landry to see all the street shops and walk on the beach since we hadn't even seen sand yet. We had fun, but were so exhausted from our long day we didn't stay long. God is watching over us and continually providing all we need. My prayer today is to let go of my cravings for security in money and possessions. I want to feel secure in Christ alone. Anywhere Jesus I can safely go. Anywhere, Anywhere fear I cannot know. Anywhere with Jesus will be home sweet home.

The Allen Adventures Begin!

Today is the day! Even though we only found out a week and a half ago we were moving to Hawaii, it has felt more like a month. My mind has been overflowing and I have not been able to turn it off. So much to figure out and think about! But all a long God has been whispering in my ear to have faith and trust in his plan. Every little bump in the road last week came a long with a quick solution and little stress. We flew this morning from Nashville to Salt Lake City the snow covered mountains were beautiful all around us. Our last snow to see for a while. Then we flew to Seattle, the whole plane ride as Landry laid asleep on my shoulder the word ABUNDANCE keep running through my head. Probably has something to do with the book I have been reading today on simplifying your life(which I thought was rather appropriate since we are moving to a new place with 2 suitcases and nothing else yet). As I packed my bags and cleared our one bedroom apartment I realized how abundantly blessed we are. Sometimes I have caught myself thinking of how small our apartment is and how I dream of a house one day where guests don't sleep in our living room and where I have enough counter space in the kitchen to cook more than one thing at a time. The more stuff I packed up for storage the more free I find myself feeling. I want to live an "emptier life" to have space to be filled with God and not possessions. I find myself feeling like I need more and more and I always long for a peace with everything I already have. I also have seen how abundantly blessed we have been with great friends. I have been blown away with the support and love shown to us as we embark on this new adventure. My prayer today is to trust in God and his peace as we arrive tonight 10pm Honolulu time and 2 am Nashville time. I pray to fully lean on God trust he will provide for us as he has before!