Christmas 2014

Hello friends and family,

WOW!!!!!  What a year this has been!!!

We started off the year, with too many negative degree days, that it felt as if winter would never end!!

Minnesota weather

We also started off the year, hoping like mad that we would never have to experience a winter like that, ever again in our lives.  

What joy it brought us, when family members donated their flight miles, so we could hang out in Arizona for 6 weeks, during the worst of the winter. 

Caleb practicing to be a Vet Fishing at one of the parks in Apache Junction



Everyone needs a picture like this from the Phoenix Zoo

Saying goodbye to Nana and Opa - Heading back to Minnesota

Through a bronchoscopy, it was found that Ethan was culturing a fungus called Aspergillosus.   The clinic in Minnesota wanted to treat it with at least 3-6 months of steroids and anti-fungals.  This natural minded momma talked to anyone that might help and researched like mad to find an alternative.  We are happy to say that the fungus is no longer a threat and no harmful drugs were needed to eliminate it....hallelujah!!!

 Both boys are doing great health-wise.  They fight Cystic Fibrosis everyday, with treatments, high calories meals and drinks and lots of exercise.
We continue to homeschool and know each day that it is exactly what our little family is meant to do!










In May, we made a trip to South Dakota.  Mount Rushmore was the one place I wanted to visit before moving out of the Midwest.

Mount Rushmore, we actually hiked up close and were able to look
up Lincoln's nose:)

                Picnic at Sioux Falls

            

                   Custer National Park - we never expected to see so
MANYbuffalo and their calves!!!

Feeding wild burros at Custer National Park

Crazy Horse

About mid-August, a job offer came in for Joshua.  We moved from Hastings, MN to Chandler, AZ, two weeks later.
We are overwhelmed with all the blessings that have flowed through our journeys and adventures.  We trust that the adventure is not over and that there are many more blessings to come!!!

Merry Christmas

                    Blessings from The Meyer Family!!

Preparing to leave Hawaii and having LOTS of fun!!! SEPTEMBER 2012

WOW!!!  September was quite a month!!!  What do you do, when you know you are about to leave paradise???  You do as many things as you can that you always wanted to do right??



Gram came for a visit, on a very rare day, where this thing called rain was falling from the sky. 
 

The first fun of September, was celebrating Caleb's Fifth Birthday.  Joshua did an awesome job at decorating the Robin cake.  The kids had so much fun throwing water balloons and getting even more soaked on the slip and slide!



















Sunset from our Lanai at the hotel

One of the things I was interested in doing, prior to leaving the island, was check out the area south of Kona, called Keauhou. There were beaches we had never explored and some farmers market. My mom decided it would be a good idea to stay in a hotel down there for a week.  I think she did it mostly for my birthday, knowing the only way I can relax is to get away from home.  It was a perfect birthday present!   To be honest though, there are many other places on the island, I would recommend going to, if you were here for a short time.


Kahalu'u beach

Caleb and I enjoyed a date out for his birthday.  We watched Finding Nemo in 3-D. 

 

After enjoying a stay in Keauhou, Joshua and I were blessed with a trip to Kauai. This was the one island that we both really wanted to experience. With my mom in town and free flights through Mokulele, it was the perfect opportunity. We were blessed to have friends of our church offer their time share. We also found a ridiculously good deal on a rental car.

This was the first time ever, that I had been gone from the kids for three whole days.  I thought I would struggle with not being in control of their care, but I was able to totally relax and enjoy the lack of responsibility! 

While eating our yummy food at THE FERAL PIG, Joshua and I did have a conversation about leaving Hawaii.  We decided we wanted to wait another month before leaving Hawaii.  First, because Joshua felt like the job in Minnesota should be coming through any time and second, because we needed to get some medical stuff done for the boys, that I neglected to schedule earlier.  So the decision was made that the boys and I would leave the Big Island in early November.  

Waimea Canyon, Kauai

 (The Grand Canyon of Hawaii)

 

Kauai Coffee Plantation

 


Kailua Pork Hamburger at

THE FERAL PIG restaurant.

 

Kīlauea Point Lighthouse

This was the only place I desired to visit on Kauai. 

The goal was to see the blue footed booby. 

We believe we were able to see one, but

not up close.



We were sure that while Gram was visiting, Ethan would lose his first teeth.  Just days after she left he let Joshua pull the first one out and then a week later he pulled the other out himself.

The one and only thing on the Big Island left on my bucket list, was Makalawena Beach.  It is a beach that is hard to get to and anyone who has ever been there will tell you how AMAZING it is.    We were able to borrow a jeep from some good friends and headed out for a day of fun.

To make the month even better, I was able to take a trip to Maui to visit good friends and meet their baby boy for the first time.

 

September ended with a job offer for Joshua to be a First Officer flying small jets out of Minnesota.  Joshua woke me up early in the morning to tell me that he received the job offer.  He also told me he was not sure he wanted to take it and then left for work.  All day long, I prayed like mad for him, that he would make the right decision for us.  He came home and told me he was just kidding and that he already put in his two weeks and accepted the job offer.  Let the packing and adventure begin!!!!

June-August 2012 New Friends and life in serious limbo

May and June brought us new neighbors, who just happened to have 2 boys around the same age as ours. Not only were these kids boys, but they were also homeschoolers, Christian and had some likeness in diet restrictions. Needless to say, we bonded instantly.


Watching the Transit of Venus in Waimea.
 This took about two seconds and then the boys
were ready to go run around

 


The most exciting thing was finding a chameleon at Waimea Nature park!



Red, White and Blue Drinks for some pretty awesome boys!!!









Watching the fireworks at the Queen's Marketplace

July, was a month of hard conversations and lots of praying.  Joshua and I came to the conclusion that it was coming to the time where the boys needed to be on the mainland.  There is obviously tons of stress, when your child has a medical condition.  But, when you add the fact that there is no one on the island that really knows what they are doing in regard to Cystic Fibrosis, the stress level quadruples!  So the decision was made that the boys and I would move to the mainland some time in October.  If Joshua did not have a job, then he would stay in Hawaii and search like mad for a job. 

So.....just days after making this decision, Joshua was on the phone with a man that has been helping him with some stuff at work.  While on the phone, Joshua felt what he describes as a push from God, to ask this man if he knew of any job openings. This man did, in fact, know of a place that would be perfect for Joshua, in Minnesota.  Can you imagine my mind whirling, thinking of moving this Hawaiian family to Minnesota, oh my goodness!!!!  It would be a move up, flying a multi-engine plane, starting out in the right seat.  The down side was, it would be a significant pay cut, where we would be just scraping by, even if we were to qualify for some type of state assistance.  The reason we felt like this might be an absolute God thing, is that The University of Minnesota is known as one of the best Cystic Fibrosis Clinics around. 

August came, and Joshua was invited out for an interview.  The interview went great.  Long story short, they said they would contact him when first officer training was to start, around Fall.  You never know what could happen in the span of 2 or so months, so we kind of felt in limbo.  Should we get our hopes up about this job or just keep moving forward, looking for another job and getting the kids and I to Arizona in October?

Amidst all this craziness, we were able to see lots of baby animals, which quite enjoyed hanging out on our lanai.


 By shear luck, I captured a Male Northern Cardinal behind these baby francolins.



This poor baby Mynah bird was so confused,
that it walked into our house and I had to shoo it out.

Turkeys sure are a lot cuter when they are babies!!

April 2012 - A month orchestrated better than we could have ever imagine!

<sup>Since we are lacking a  Cystic Fibrosis clinic in Hawaii, we do a yearly visit to the Phoenix Children's Hospital in Arizona.  The problem is that we cannot afford a flight to Arizona.  Last year, we were blessed with Mesa Airlines helping us out with discounted fares.  This year, Joshua tried to work some magic in 3 or 4 different ways and nothing was working. 

 It came to a point where there were too many things going on in Arizona in April, that I almost knew, that somehow we were going to get there. My dad was in town from Montana. My Great Aunt and other family were in from Maine. Joshua's Family was having a reunion in Flagstaff. And last but not least, a mini family reunion on my side too. 

I had put in a little prayer request one night, just asking for God's help, if He wanted us to head to Arizona. The next morning, Joshua was awakened by his boss, at 6 am. Basically the owner of the company Joshua works for, had found out that we were trying to get to Arizona, for the boys to be seen at the CF clinic.  The owner, without any hesitation, said well lets just buy them the tickets. So there you have it, God is awesome. We were assuming we were going to be forking out at least $300 to get to Phoenix, but instead we got there for free.

The only other issue we have, when going to Arizona, is transportation.  We sent out a few inquiries to people who may have a vehicle we could use and none were available.  Then, out of nowhere, just like with our tickets, Joshua's best friend said his father mostly works out of town and had a vehicle he wanted to loan us. 

I could not have thought of a better way for all of this to work out.  Surely, this could only be orchestrated by God!!

We were extremely busy for the five weeks we were in Arizona.  I am sure I missed some of the awesome things we did in that time, but please enjoy the video, to get a taste for how blessed we are!!!</sup>

 

March 2012

We were able to do a small celebration for Ethan's birthday.

This is our most favorite walk on the island...between A- bay and the Hilton.





I was able to capture a very rare moment of brotherly love:)  They really do love each other, they just don't like each other some of the time!!

Spending some time with our very dear friend Caylyn. I do believe they were playing puppies.

We finally made it down Pololu Valley. The first time we tried, we had to turn back, because we knew the boys would not be able to handle the heat. We tried to go a second time and ended up with sickness going through the family. Finally on the third try, we made it and it was so worth the wait. If you ever end up on the Big Island, please put this on our list of things to do!!!