We are gradually finding our feet in Kona. We’ve been here for 16 days now, and it’s starting to feel more like home.

The awesome news is that we have found housing! We found a 3 bedroom, 2 bathroom condo, and we move in August 1st.  The condo is close to campus, so close we can even walk. So we think it’s going to be the perfect place to start out. Long term, we would like to own a home in Kona and put down roots.

The housing timing couldn’t have been better. We had to find a place to live quickly to give the shipping company an address of where to deliver our shipping container. We found housing just in time. Once the container is ready for delivery, you have 10 days to get the container back to the port to avoid surcharges. This 10 days ended up being August 2nd, so we will have it unpacked on the first, and back to the shipping company just in time.

Our car has also arrived on the Island, and we are going to pick it up tomorrow. It will be fun to have our car back, although Paul is eager to unpack our container and get his motorcycle out….but he’ll have to be patient, as it was the first item into the container, so it will be the last item out.

The boys are getting used to the Kona lifestyle, and are starting to make friends too. Tre is now over 2 months old, and is also adapting well to the new surroundings. The poor guy must wonder what happened, having gone from low humidity in Lynden, to super high humidity here.

Our work with the campus is going well. Paul is continuing to meet many of the key players at the campus. He is currently involved with school leader training for the quarter starting in September. Because YWAM operates schools on a quarterly cycle, the need for proper training of leaders is paramount to ensure we have successful schools. Paul’s goal is to make sure systems and procedures are in place so that as the campus multiplies, that our programs are fruitful and effective, for the glory of the Lord. Paul is also putting his accounting background to good use, and has been put in charge of the book-keeping for the cooperative school that Josiah and Austin will attend.

Here’s some pics of the kids at the beach. The pic of Lynnette and the boys is the wonderful view from the U of N campus, overlooking Kona and Kailua Bay.

Our life in the State of Washington is rapidly drawing to a close. We spent the weekend packing our container, and cleaning the house up for the new owners. We were all moved out by Sunday afternoon, and have now moved in with Lynnette’s parents for a few days. On Saturday, we head down to Seattle to spend our remaining time with Paul’s brother Dave & his family. We fly out on Tuesday the 9th.

It was great having Paul’s parents here – not only did they get to meet young Tre, who is now 6 weeks old, we also had some fun times with them, and they were a tremendous help in the packing process.

Packing the container went very well. At first, we didn’t think that all our stuff would fit into the 20 foot container, but thanks to the masterminds of Craig (Lynnette’s brother) and Lynnette, we fit it all in, and with room to spare! We were super blessed by many helpers – people who lifted, packed, cleaned, organized, delegated, got food and those who held babies. And thanks to some generous friends, we even had the use of a forklift, which was necessary to get items into the container which was 4 feet off the ground (not to mention it was a big hit with the boys).

Paul is finishing up at his work this week – he leaves with mixed feelings: sadness because he is leaving behind a job that has given him great satisfaction over the past 6 years, working with a team of great people, but also excitement because we are being obedient to the Lord in what we are embarking on.

Here’s some photos of the packing process, the truck taking away our container, as well as dinner out with Paul’s parents.