These are a few of my favorite things.

My new friend Kelly asked how the blogging was going... and I told her I stopped. She said I should start again. And now that we have internet (3 days now!) I feel like maybe I will. Blogging is turning out to be harder than I thought.... to be honest, it feels really vulnerable. Many of the things I would blog about involve or include interactions with other people, and it feels so personal to share things that anyone could read. I'm realizing it doesn't have to be a journal or diary.... but a blog. See that? I can evolve.

So. What do I want to tell you about tonight. Maybe I will make you a list of all the things that make me happy about our life here in Hawaii.

1. We are making really great friends. Kellie, Jesse and their boys live right down the road from us, and we can walk to their house. We have plans to build a dwelling on their land. Like Johnny said, you can see whales jumping from their porch. We already feel like we've known them for much longer than a month. Jesse and Kellie, not the whales.

2. Yesterday, I took Lily and Gabe on a walk, and on our way we picked our snacks right off a tree. Tangerines! They were delicious. I love that Lily and Gabe get to eat food right from the source.

3. Today the rain came down so hard it was hard to hear each other talk. Gabe opened the door, walked right out to the edge of our patio and just stared. He seemed so mesmerized, not scared, not excited, just in awe. I stood in the door and watched him for a long time. It woke something beautiful inside me. I love rain. I love Gabe.

3. We have a tiny christmas tree. Johnny got it from a lady he did some work for. It's a little charlie brown pine, in the pot. We'd like to plant it on our friends' property and watch it grow. The best part is that we decorated it for less than 2 dollars... between gifts, thrift store finds and second hand tinsel.

4. As you probably know, I love feeling (palpating) bellies with babies in them. God must know that too, because there are a quite a few pregnant mamas who are happy to let me feel their babies. It's been really fun to do, just for fun.... so relaxed and happy I am to be in this phase of enjoying. (I think that sounded like something yoda might say?)

5. Lots of good reggae on the radio here.

6. We have plenty of work.... more than enough actually, we have been turning down a few jobs even. Our days are super full all of a sudden, Johnny and I piecing our schedules together and taking turns being home with the kids. Whoever is at home can walk to the park, store or library. Or do laundry. The kind of work we've been doing: we are both doing part time office work for a local Dr.who practices natural medicine. Johnny's been doing handyman work, as well as window washing, which could be a full time business. Cleaning vacation rentals when we have time. It's pretty laid back work, but it's physical too, which feels good.

7. We've heard that Kohala (especially Hawi and Kapa'au) has some of the cleanest air in the WORLD. I believe it. It's amazing how clear and clean the air feels. The breezes here are lovely. Tradewinds are something I never knew I loved so much. Such an amazing feeling to have a breeze blow right off the ocean into your window. Speaking of which, our windows are always open! I love that.

8. I feel inspired here. Music is integrating into my life again. I've played with quite a few people, just for fun.... or at the Kava bar in town. I've really missed playing the past few years. I wrote a new song a few nights ago.

9. Every Saturday is the Hawi farmers market, under the banyon tree. Everything from Kohala greens, which are so delicious, organic and cheap, to used clothing and handcrafted jewelry. Its everything I have ever wanted a farmers market to be. People just pull up in their truck, and sell their produce right off the back. No snobby farmer's market fees and prices. Things really are affordable, and all the vendors make a kind of circle around the grassy area, and the kids all run around.

10. Since it's a small community here, Lily knows just about every kid she sees now. So every outing we go on pretty much guarantees that she will see a friend. I love that.

11. There's not a single stoplight or chain restaurant for 20 miles.








12. Avacados grow on trees. and you can just pick them right off and make guacamole.

13. Wherever I am, things are never absolutely perfect, and I keep learning more about love. Which is all I need.

Love, Dani

The last member of our family has arrived!

Our truck arrived, I was so happy, it was a little piece of home that we brought with us and seeing it, driving it, was such a comforting feeling. It has not only alleviated the stress of needing to find a dependable car, but it has also made us some friends. Dani took the kids to the beach one morning and there were some guys that were surfing. When they came in they started talking to Dani, the subject being our Toyota. One of them lives down the road from us, and recognized the truck, even though it only arrived three days before. They were commenting on it and began talking, come to find out one of them has 27 acres of nearly ocean front property just down the street from where we are currently living. Furthermore they have a bus they have been wanting to add on to and turn it into a livable space that they can rent to supplement income. If all that wasn’t enough, they love God and have kids Lily and Gabe’s ages. In the next couple of months I will be working for them and instead of paying me all the money that I might earn will go directly towards future rent. I get to build my family a home, for who knows how long on the Big Island. We were there for dinner the other night, sitting on their porch talking about details when a huge eruption of water shoots out of the ocean, the Hump Back whales were jumping. I love this place!

- Johnny

Whale watching and window washing

It seems that everyone here has a very different mentality when it comes to work. I have yet to meet someone who has a nine to five job that gives them forty hours of work in five days. Most people in fact have multiple jobs, all the while spending lots of time with their families. It seems that the population is pretty split; there are the older folks whose kids are mostly grown and out of the house and then there is the younger generation who are just starting out their families.

So far I have been a plumber, electrician, mechanic, window washer, and for about two hours I was cleaning houses. There has been a lot of interest in my finish carpentry skills and I just dropped a chunk of change on black Friday to get all the tools I need, so hopefully something will come of that. This week I have a lot of landscaping work, which should be fun. The hard part is that there is a lot of driving involved, at least thirty minutes each way, but if there was anywhere to have to commute the big island is the place to be. The 20 minute drive to my landscaping job is breathtaking. It is winter here as well, and even though there is no snow and cold, there are still signs to tell us that it is winter. The signs here are far more delightful, at least for me. First there is the winter swells, waves get huge in the wintertime, so big that they close down beaches and don’t allow people to surf or swim. Another is that the whales are returning. It seems mystical that these mammals of prehistoric size are swimming just a few miles from us off the coast. I have seen a couple already, but my first was the most amazing. I was driving home from a window washing job and looked over at the sun starting to go down over the ocean when I saw this spout of water shoot up out of the ocean six or seven feet high, and then again, and again. I couldn’t believe it I wanted to turn to someone in the car and shout, but I was all alone, I even looked in the review mirror and in front of me to see if I could signal another car to see what I was seeing, but I was all alone in the car and on the road. It was as if this whale had appeared just for me. It got me thinking about the experiences I have had on this island. I have seen and been so many different places thanks to the type of people that we are meeting on this island, and I realized that anything is possible. I don’t need a lot of money, or a fantastic career to be able to experience the amazing things that this island has to offer… it is available to everyone. Not to mention that even the wealthy folks that live here are very down to earth. They shop in the same grocery stores and farmer’s markets that we do and go to the same community events. We have met many new friends who have large pieces of land, and we have gone to their homes for dinner and to see what they are doing. Yurts, solar panels, windmills, huge gardens, mac-nut farms, outdoor showers… the majority of people we meet here are living unique and exciting lives. The fact all this is available to us, it is really exciting, I have never felt like so much was at my fingertips ready to grab.

Yesterday we went to church with some friends that we are going to work on their land in trade for a place to stay, there are some awesome details surrounding that but that I think is for another post. Anyway it was an old Baptist church that I think it’s maximum capacity is maybe 75, that might be standing room only. There were around 30 adults and 20 children. After worship all the kids are invited to the front where they have a little Sunday school lesson while everyone in the church sits and listens, then the kids go outside and play while the pastor delivers the sermon. Did I mention that everyone is barefoot in shorts and t-shirts? We were lucky enough to hit the last Sunday of the month and it was the Sunday that they had potluck so we got to fellowship over food, which is always awesome. To top it all off a tall elderly Scottish man in the circle with all of us holding hands blessed the food. It has to be the most unique church service that I have ever attended and I loved it. The whole morning I was reminded over and over the simplicity of who God is...Love. My kids were so loved and my family was so welcomed. I was nearly brought to tears more than once in the morning, thank you God, I am so loved.

- Johnny