GUAM: Our New Home!

TRAVELS

We made it… thankfully an uneventful trip! At 1:30 am we were greeted with Hawaiian Leis from our sponsor Jim. He took us to our Japanese tourist hotel and we crashed. We woke up the next morning on a beautiful island.

LIVING

The view from our hotel elevator, we ended up with a view of the island so we love taking the elevator, one day I rode it up and then down and up and then down.

That is the beach in the top of the picture and then the ocean is just beyond that... Tumon Bay. The pools and hot tub are below and the water park is just to the right of the hotel building. We get to stay here for up to 30 days but we will soon be house hunting... this limbo business could get old very fast.

TIME

…Where America's Day Begins...

My Michigander folk… this is the easy way to figure out the time difference...
When I lived in California you subtracted 3 hours.
Now that I live in Guam, add 3 hours, flip the am/pm, and add a day.
Or you can just add 15 hours.

My California dreamers... add 6 hours, flip the am/pm, and add a day.
Or you can just add 18 hours.

(yes, I live in your tomorrow…being in the future, however, all I can really tell you is that the sun did rise and set as scheduled… sorry my gamblers)

My friends around the world… I can’t do the math right now… just this little bit has made my brain smoke as it is. Loves to you all in Africa, Thailand, Tibet, Bangladesh, Korea, Japan and where ever else you are… p.s. Can we come visit?

LANDSCAPE

Heath’s sponsor, Jim, (who also replaced him in Kuwait) took us on a 7-hour tour of the island. You would think an island that is only 50 some miles around would not take that long and if it did we will probably be bored the next 3 years because we just saw everything. That is not the case, it wet our appetite to explore and see all that there is to see and do… which there is a lot… and if we do get a little restless, then hopefully we will have saved up enough to travel Southeast Asia. Here are a few pics of our tour… enjoy.

Rocky but Beautiful Beach Line

Path to a Private Beach on the Air Force Base

Mountain View at Southern End of the Island

OUR FIRST EXPLORATION

Wrapping things up

We have had a week full of car crap, appointments, last minute errands, goodbye dinners and a big party last night. Once I figure out how to post pictures from my new camera I will.

Heath and Ben tore a hole in their wall on friday and finished it on saturday before the party. It totally made the party fabulous. We had a couple tables of poker and blackjack going on, a dance party, tons of great food and a killer bar. I made 2 huge batches of Mojitos... my new favorite.


Also,

Our move date has changed to wednesday... and ...

I just found a post from novemeber 17th that I forget to post... check it out.

flight info...

...finally!

We just got our leave date today.

We fly out of LAX on Tuesday February 6th.

Wow, this is now for real!

We Will Miss You Greatly Grandma!

On the 12th of January my lovely grandmother, on my fathers side, passed away… I was able to fly back to MI for the long weekend. I am so so thankful I was still in the country and able to make it! My family is absolutely amazing!!! 82 of the 104 children, grandchildren, great grandchildren, and great great grandchild from all over the country (9 different states) were able to drop everything and go to Standish, MI for the weekend.


It was overwhelming in a wonderful way! I am so proud to be a part of this family... we get along so well and love each other so much. It makes me think of the "idea of heaven," all loved ones in the mansion with many rooms, everyone being together, the way we love it. We have such a great time being together! I know Grandma and Grandpa were looking down and smiling as we all loved on each other, celebrated their lives, laughed at the great memories and simply as we enjoyed one another’s company!

Grandma and Grandpa did such a wonderful job of loving everyone who came into their lives, something we talked a lot about is how everyone felt like they were their favorite... and we all were! Whether we were born a miller, or married in. I want to be like that... to everyone I come in contact with to treat them like they are the greatest thing that has ever happened... wouldn't this be a wonderful place if everyone valued and appreciated one another like that?

There are so many ways I want to be just like Grandma!

And some silly little ways I am like her already... I save boxes... I do, I can't help it. There my obsession is out. I like boxes… I just never know when I will need one of a certain size. I don't collect food boxes and cut them down to organize things just like Grandma, but I do keep nice boxes, shoeboxes and when I worked at the coffee shop I would save a lot of the merchandise boxes. While I worked there I also discovered I loved order day because I liked to unpack everything and organize the back storage room so it would be of utmost efficiency. I think I got this Tetris-packing skill from Grandma as well. Silly, but handy.

I wish I could say I got her adorable, tiny nose… but no my little sissy Rachel gets that piece of her beauty… I did get her pretty nails though.

Speaking of her beauty…

I will end on one of my favorite stories of Grandma told by my Aunt Mary, her only daughter (I am telling it how I remember it.)

Grandma had asked Aunt Mary to get her dresses to try on for her funeral (which isn’t something you just want to run out and do.) She really wanted to be pretty for us… and she was gorgeous! So, after she got the dress, Grandma tried it on, smoothed out her shape, checked herself out in the mirror, and then turned and checked herself out over her shoulder and said, “Wow, I look cute!”

If I can be that confident about how I look and be able to say, (no matter how I am feeling) “I look cute,” I think that is where true beauty shines through. Plus, I will be happier and more carefree.

So, besides her amazing ability to love, I would also like her cute humor, class, selflessness and her beautiful confidence.

Super Quick Update

I missed my December update… and it is now the middle of January! Wow!
We have been a “little” busy...

I passed my last test and passed my BTSA program and submitted all the paperwork to clear my CA teaching credential.

We packed up our house… all of our things are on the way to Guam. We found renters… an amazing blessing all around, we couldn’t have asked for a better situation.

We visited our family and friends in MI for 3 weeks and said a lot of goodbyes… the most difficult were saying goodbye to fragile grandparents. I wasn't even back in CA for a week when we got the news that Grandma Miller passed away.

The funeral was today and I have a few minutes here in the airport to do a quick post. I will post more about my quick trip home, my fabulous family of 100 and my darling granmother who will be missed incredibly!

Fun with Heath's Friends from Work

Tam, Heath, Jason and Mike
enjoyed a day of fishing on veterens day.

We are so proud of all of you serving our country,
taking care of the wounded and bringing healing.
Our broken and hurting world needs more people like you
bringing peace and goodness!

You deserve to take the day and enjoy playing...


Mike and Jason's catch... or is it the bait?

Heath cought the jackpot fish of the day.

The Naval Banquet was a few weeks ago.

We had a good time hanging out with Mike and Lisa

Lisa and I were able to see where our men hang out all day...

... and how they take care of their patiants...

Worlds Apart

“Worlds Apart” has been an appropriate title the past 16 months and will continue to be for a few more years.

…Living thousands of miles from our families, this has been a place we have been able to keep loved ones posted on what we we’ve been up to…

…We started our blog on our travels to Thailand, to share our pictures and stories…

…Six weeks later Heath left for Kuwait and this was how many of us were able to communicate with him…

…Well, we have one more reason to keep the title… we are moving to Guam!

I just informed the school I teach at that my last day will be the last day of the semester in January. We have to report in Guam only 3 months from today! Heath will be taking a PT Tech position at the Naval hospital and I hope to find a teaching position there.

The past week we have been preparing the house for renting it out, we have a date scheduled for the movers to come in December and hope to have someone move in shortly after.

I can’t believe it is really happening. Time is ticking and we will be living on a tropical island in no time. In the mean time we hope to experience as much of Southern California before we leave.

Pics with the other Wilhoits

We were blessed to have Heath’s brother and his wife join us for a week from Seattle. It was very sweet of them to fly down and give up their week off to spend with us. It was our first goodbyes before we leave the country... (more to come)



We took a trip to Mexico for their famous margaritas, and small souvenirs.



It was great to spend time with Rachel; I love having her as a sister!



Most every day this is what the table looked like… our favorite game… Settlers of Catan



After they left this is what the table looked like while I studied for the week

Anniversary and Stuff

I’ve been busy studying for my last test...yikes. At this point, I am attempting to learn the geology of California... I’m having trouble collecting my info though.

My brain is overloaded so I thought I would take a break and send out a quick update:

We had a wonderful anniversary! Heath had the whole evening planned and I couldn't have been more surprised. First, our friend Danny had everything set up to give me an hour long massage (she is wonderful!), then we had dinner at our favorite sushi restaurant, then we drove to San Diego for the Jungle Fantasy Cirque du Soleil, then on the way home we stopped at the ocean and danced under the stars to a CD Heath had put together for us. It was a wonderful evening.

All last week Michael and Rachel were visiting us from Seattle. It was great to spend time with family! I'll post pics soon.

This week I have been grading tons of student work, crunching numbers and filling in report card grades. Any free moment I have I am studying for my test (it is tomorrow.) I don't quite feel as prepared for this one as I had for the other tests... and this is supposed to be the most specialized...

Life has just been so busy.

I really miss connecting with everyone, hopefully when the test is over.

Test # 5

I passed!

Wahooo!

The test I bout died taking...
The one I was sick as a dog during...
The monster I felt like was laughing at me...

Yes, this test I speak of is #5 of six...

I conquered it.
It is over.
It is finished.
It is history.

I don’t know how well I did and I don't really care. I did enough to check it off the list.

What does this mean you say?

This means that I have 2 1/2 weeks to study for my last test (the hardest and most specialized of the science tests.) And once I pass... I will be "no child left behind" compliant and will have proved to california that I know my stuff and michigan did in fact teach me the things I need to know. (This test specializes on ca geology... I haven't taken any classes on ca-anything.)

Five years after taking some of the classes that ca expects, I have worked hard to review, relearn and learn for the first time.

I am in fact, a professional.

Happy Birthday Jake

We always have so much fun with you all!

Thanks for including us on you special day!

Congrats on you new house.

Good luck Jake on your CSET test, I will be thinking about you as I attempt to pass it as well.

Love you guys!

September Update

I'll start with a funny story...

... The principal at my school stopped me and asked me if i would like to coach cross country... all I could do was start laughing... then I said, "the longest distance I have ever run is 4 miles" (thanks to my friend Lisa.) He said, "great! They only run 3." Somehow the next day I was coach. Coach of something on my own I hate to do. So i run with the kids and look at it like I am getting paid to work out. It has been fun to work with the kids but takes up a lot of energy... we have more than 50 kids signed up.

A couple of weeks ago I was fighting a nasty cold…felt like a sinus infection. It seemed to drain the life out of me. This made it challenging when I felt like I was running a circus; with teaching and coaching plus...

One more test is finished, I find out if I passed in a week… if I passed I have only one more to go. I just started studying today... I can not wait until November 4th is over!


Brooke and I at my after test #5 party

Our company has moved out. I felt like a bad hostess while they were here... all I did was study. We had two navy guys staying with is until they found their own places. Patrick was a friend of Heath’s from the ship in VA. Jason and Heath went to PT school together in TX and has been in Guam the past three years and now is at Camp Pendleton working with Heath. So it has been a lot of fun to show him around and hear his stories.


Jason, our fun friend from Guam

We were also able to see off our friends Trevor and Sam...


... they left for a far off country (I don't know if I can state where) to immerse themselves in the culture, learn the language and both train the nationals. Trevor will help them eventually get a Bible translated into their native tongue and Sam will work on the literacy end ... wow! It has been exciting to see them work hard toward their dream and now really go! We are so proud of you two!

I also went to Palm Springs for girls weekend at the end of the month... This is the only picture I have been able to upload though. So the rest will just have to be in October's update.



We had a blast! I really needed girl time!

Heath has had a lot of time to golf, surf and fish while I have been studying, coaching, teaching and away with the girls.

He had the day off, so for a coworkers birthday went out deep sea fishing ...

... and caught a big ole shark.

Now

The past month has been so busy.

I have been in school for 3 weeks. This year I am teaching three 7th grade art classes, a 7th grade Life Science class and an 8th grade Physical Science class. Amazingly, I am quite excited to be back into teaching science. Maybe it it the challenge of it, art was becoming so easy to teach. I am also working with a great team of teachers, and know I will be learning a lot!

It has been very busy being back though. I am still studying for the CA science tests. I have another one in two weeks. I think it is going to be a lot harder than the one I took in July! (Which I passed! Yeah!) And now I have to juggle studying with teaching and a bunch of other things, so I am a little more concerned about this one.

This weekend Heath and Jake are taking a trip to Mexico, to catch some of the surf a hurricane is supposedly throwing up for them. The boys are out to play, while Jess is busy getting ready to start school and I am studying for my test.

And they are off... be safe!

Picture Catch-Up and Update

We enjoyed a delicious meal after Lisa's amazing 1/2 marathon. She ran in San Diego's, Finest City's Half "Marathon. Ben and Chara, Heath and I enjoyed biking around to cheer for her.







Lisa makes me so proud! She has been and inspiration and motivation to me! She was fabulous! She looks fabulous too, this was at her 9th mile and she is gracefully acknowledging our cheering and concentrating hard on giving Heath the perfect high five.











My cousin Corey was in town, I have not seen him in about 15 years! It was exciting to meet his family. And very sweet of them to take out time on their vacation and time at Disney to meet us for dinner.



My cousin Steve was also in town back in June. We caught dinner, a walk down in La Jolla and checked out Torrey Pines golf course. It was great to hang out and catch up with him!







Our great friend Lisa, like I said above, is just fabulous! This coming Tuesday she will be leaving us to go and experience the world. She is moving to Japan for a year to teach English. Again an inspiration to me!

This is us at the beach, we cut up some food, wrapped it in foil and Heath slaved over a campfire cooking it. It was delicious!



Now, Heath is showing us how this ice cream eating art is done.














One of our favorite things to do is put on dinner parties. We were talking recently about the friendship aspect of our love. And the thing that Heath said he loves about us is that we make a great team. We think the parties we put on are so much fun... we may be a bit biased but it is something we just love to do and have so much fun! Sometime we shut the door after everyone leaves and can not wipe the smiles off our faces, we just feel so blessed to have the support system that we have here! Who knew that for the 3 years here we would have made such amazing friends... and for life! We sure do have a great collection from all over the world!

Below are a random scattering of dinner parties from the past few months (anywhere from beer can chicken to sushi to peanut butter smores on the grill)

What is it they say about 3's?

Our first week back has been rough, especially on Heath!

For me, I studied everyday for 8-12 hours for a giant certification test. If I passed, I only have 2 more to take to be "No Child Left Behind" compliant and will have my official California Teaching Credential in Geoscience and Art.
Saturday I took the test, I think I did alright, I used all 5 hours.
Heath's plan during my test was to go out on a charter boat fishing...

Which brings this back to Heath and the point of this post.

#1: Thursday, Heath was going to ride his bike to work, and home...


... on the way home... thorns in the tires. (today he got his 3rd flat)


#2 Friday, Heath was going to go golfing while I studied...


... when he opened the trunk (for the first time back from vacation), he discovered that all the metal in the trunk had began to rust and ooze.


#3 Saturday, Heath was going to go fishing...


... but on the way, he got into a little fender bender... on the way home from that he was almost hit in much larger accident.


Lets just say Heath is laying low these days...
And we are shorter on cash than expected.

Last week with friends and family :(

Don't we look happy together! Rachel (little red-head sis) and I have never had a problem being silly, and now I have 3 sisters to share life with. I love this whole-brothers marry great girls thing... Now Chase take your time, I am fine with 3 sisters for now. You obviously don't appear to be ready... wait is that my husband sticking out his tongue too?


The fabulous Russ and Amy Miller... They are so cute!


Chase and Heath grilling up something yummy!


It is something special when you love to be around the brother you used to get so mad at over washing the dishes and gas money.


Smiling to only show the so often missed bottom teeth... we are so silly! The only Thill reunion I experienced was with Nana and Gramps and my super fun, super cute cousin, Zoey, who drove 3 hours to see me! There was talk of celebrating Nana's 90th birthday while I was home, but it didn't work out, so... Happy birthday Nana. I'll keep laughing..."because Nana said so!"


It is always so much fun to see Jen and Elijah. He is growing so fast. So is his little brother or sister, whom I felt playing soccer or dancing or maybe Kung Fo Fighting in Mama's tummy. Wow!

I was glad to catch up with other friends as well, I just didn't get many more pictures.