A few weeks ago I gave a talk in our local church meeting about gratitude. Since then I’ve had the opportunity to reflect on the principle a bit more and am realizing that too often I am expressing the negative instead of the positive about our current situation.

Change is hard. We lovingly say that “Comfort is the enemy of adventure” and in the last few months we’ve been fairly out of our comfort zone. Being uncomfortable often leads me to compare our current adventure with those from the past but I believe that robs me of the joy I can find in the present. We can look forward to cooler, dry weather, mountain biking, and snow while fully embracing the warm water, loving people, and Aloha spirit that’s here in Hawaii. I can be grateful for what I have now, knowing that our future is bright and filled with possibilities.

One of my favorite quotes discovered while studying the topic of gratitude is by President Dieter F. Uchtdor. He said:

“Gratitude to our Father in Heaven broadens our perception and clears our vision. It inspires humility and fosters empathy toward our fellowmen and all of God’s creation. Gratitude is a catalyst to all Christlike attributes! A thankful heart is the parent of all virtues.”

When we show gratitude to our fellowmen and to our Heavenly Father we also show our humility. When we are humble we are teachable and willing to change. God is able to work with us to improve and become the best version of ourselves.

This last year has been a difficult one for me. From the outside, our life has looked exciting, adventurous, and full of joy & family togetherness. It has been all of those things, but underneath the surface there has also been a lot of self-discovery, change. Something that is always more painful that I’d like it to be. Although we’ve been living a life that most people can only dream about, I’ve had a lot of pent up resentment and feelings of being trapped. This has made it even harder for me to be grateful in any circumstance, despite the fact that outwardly our family looks incredibly blessed.

After expressing some of my frustrations to a friend, she suggested I start a gratitude journal where I would record every night something I was thankful for. Skeptical, I converted my daily planner into a daily gratitude journal and began. On some days I was able to find gratitude for sunsets, meeting up with other traveling families, or spending time together as a family. Unfortunately, other days all I could come up with was “I’m grateful for Mexican food and ice cream.”

Looking back over my journal, however, I can see patterns emerge – when I consistently express gratitude daily for the blessings in my life it opens doors that lead to  happiness and joy.

So, I’d like to tell you, my dear readers, all the reasons that I am grateful to be living here in Hawaii so one day I can look back and see how much our family has been blessed:

• I get to spend time with my family exploring new places.
• By being “still” I’ve learned more about my character weaknesses (addiction to perfection being at the top of that list) and am working hard at turning those into strengths. No more running away from hard emotions.
• I’ve been able to consistently attend a meeting to receive support and love from those who also struggle with addictions of all kinds.
• My kids participate in regular neighborhood play time and have made some great friends.
• Sam has had the opportunity to learn about teaching and serving at a University and come to love the students he teaches.
• Andrew has been able to consistently attend cub scout den meetings as a Webelos which helps me not be overwhelmed by all the requirements for that rank.
• We’ve had regular internet so our kids have been able to do more of their schooling online which gives me a break.
• We’ve been immersed in a beautiful, multi-cultural community that constantly blows my mind with how thoughtful, generous, and loving they are.
• We’ve grown to love and respect the Polynesians, their traditions, and their simple way of living.
• The water is warm and I actually enjoy swimming in the ocean.
• My kids have learned to love the waves, have duck dived, boogie boarded, snorkeled, surfed, and built many sandcastles.
• I was able to purchase a SUP board and have really enjoyed learning to paddle it in the ocean.
• We’ve sat and watched the incredible waves on the north shore and stood in awe of how majestic and beautiful they are.
• We’ve tried new foods, and I’ve learned to embrace what’s available and be less concerned with eating “perfectly” balanced, nutritious meals. We will all survive if veggies are not served with every meal.
• Palm trees. Its amazing to me how incredibly useful these plants are and how much indigenous cultures depend on them.
• Shave ice, Malasadas, and pineapple soft serve ice cream.
• We’ve been able to share this beautiful place with visiting friends and family from the mainland and host them at our house. Experiencing places together has created lasting memories we will cherish forever!
• We have a reasonably priced place to live and am forever grateful to our friends for opening their home to us while they are away.
• Our home (both the condo and the Airstream) in Idaho has been safe while we are gone, and by being away we are even more excited to return.
• We’ve been able to slow down within a culture that is not concerned with materialism or appearance.  “Island time” really is a thing. I feel the full time travel community is similar so it feels like home.
• We’ve been able to slowly explore this island. While vacation can be a whirlwind of fun, there are advantages to visiting places more than once (Polynesian Cultural Center, snorkeling spots, Pearl Harbor). There’s a depth to that which I don’t think we could ever have gotten on vacation.

Thanksgiving is come soon, and I love that during the month of November there are so many who express gratitude for their blessings, for family, and for the beautiful world we live in. God has said, “And he who receiveth all things with thankfulness shall be made glorious; and the things of this earth shall be added until him, even an hundred fold, yea more.”

I can only hope, pray and work hard enough to develop and express gratitude that I’m worthy of such blessings. Mahalo Nui Loa!

We’ve had so many people comment on how we are living in paradise, or they are so jealous we get to live here for four months. Hawaii has this (deserved) reputation for beautiful beaches, palm trees, killer waves, and amazing food.

While Hawaii is definitely all that and more, day to day life is quite different than a vacation. I’m not trying to burst anyone’s bubble here, a Hawaii vacation should definitely be on your bucket list but before you change your postal address here’s a few things we’ve learned in the last month:

The Town

We are in the small town of Laie (lah-ē-ā) , which is about an hour from Honolulu. Laie is the home of Brigham Young University- Hawaii, and more widely known – the Polynesian Cultural Center. Total population is close to 6,000 and we can walk most places in 10-15 minutes.

“Spent the afternoon swimming and exploring at Waimea Valley and then topped off the adventure at Seven Brothers. So yummy! We will definitely be going back!” -@jesscurren

We love small towns (population of our hometown of Driggs is about 1700) as the general feel of the town is just slower paced and chill. Add to that the Hawaiian culture and we have simply been enjoying the people immensely. We have great neighbors and our small little faculty housing neighborhood has lots of kids that play outside every afternoon. We have never had a local community like this and are still adjusting to the idea that friends are always next door. We are pretty used to our little nuclear family so it takes a bit of effort to get outside that comfort zone and send the kids out to play with friends (strange, I know).

The Weather

I expected to completely die in the heat and humidity, but it has been surprisingly not awful. The average temperature has only been about 85 degrees. Usually there is a breeze that helps keep the humidity at bay which is helpful.

Even with that, we are generally just sticky. Our townhouse only has small window a/c units in the upstairs bedrooms which we run at night for just a few hours before bed to cool things off. We rely a lot on floor fans downstairs, try to keep the lights turned off, and when things get too hot there’s always the beach. I haven’t taken a warm shower since we got here. Instead I usually play a game of how cold can I make the water before accidentally turning it off.

Transportation

We have a little, two door “beach car” that we can drive around. Once again, no a/c and everything is manual so we crank down the two windows and make sure the girls have hair ties to keep windblown locks out of our eyes. Not that my hair is usually in anything but a ponytail anyway! The backseat is a little cramped, but luckily BYUH has a car share service we signed up for and can rent a car for a minimal amount when we need more storage space (grocery trips) or driving longer distances, etc.

Groceries

We have a decent grocery store in Laie, and when items go on sale they are fairly competitive price-wise. Believe me when I say we’ve bought groceries all over the country so I know it varies, but these are probably some of the most expensive we’ve ever bought. Turns out Hawaii is pretty far from the bread basket. Costco, WalMart and Target are all an hour away, so we try to do a once a month run, or when we drive to Honolulu for anything else we’ll swing by on the way home.

Honestly, showing up in a place for 4 months with no food is a bit of an undertaking. Our grocery bill for September was ridiculous so I’m hoping now that we’ve stocked up on essentials the remainder will be less (it’d better or we are selling our plane tickets and paddling home!).  I also feel that we just did this for the condo in Driggs a few months ago. I feel like I’m on rinse and repeat!

The temperature is too hot to bake frequently, so we are trying to keep things simple and easy while also eating healthy. We bought a small BBQ from Target to grill meat outside (apparently everyone just buys cheap ones as they rust very quickly). The struggle is real.

Outdoor Activities

This has probably been the biggest adjustment. I’ve never been a beach person as I hate being cold. We tend to hit everything in the off season while Airstream traveling, so the weather is never ideal. Sam will jump in with the kids, but I’m more of a “I’ll just sit here on my towel and read a book” type of person.  Hawaii, however, is awesome. The sun is hot, the water is warm and it feels SO good to get in! My kids have been surprised with how much I’m in the water and honestly I have too. I love snorkeling and the kids have gotten good mileage out of our boogie boards. We just started surfing lessons last week and Rachel is excited about more of that.

Still, there’s only so much sun, salt, and sand we can handle! Sounds ridiculous right? The sun is HOT and we’ve had a few painful sunburns. Salt is sticky and then we have to get home and rinse the sand out of everything. Fortunately our kids are older and can manage themselves for the most part.

“Our new snorkel masks make us look like aliens. I like it.” @currentlywandering. P.S. You can get them on Amazon here.

There is some great hiking on the island with plenty of jungle greenery and waterfalls. I feel like as soon as we get started though we are dripping with sweat. We are soon praying for a breeze and have decided it is best to hike with a small microfiber towel to wipe off ever few minutes just to keep it out of our eyes! I think because of that our energy drains quicker and we definitely don’t rack up the mileage quite as fast as we used to. I also get the feeling that a lot of the hikes with great views are along the steeper ridges with drop-offs that are not exactly kid-friendly. I’m hoping as the weather cools down slightly in the next couple of months we can do a few more of the easier hikes on my list.

I don’t necessarily feel like we need to hike to ALL the waterfalls, or swim at ALL the beaches. We took a trip to Kauai with my parents (more on that later) where we rode in a helicopter, went ziplining, kayaked a river and did some epic snorkeling. We’ve hiked to waterfalls, swam with sea turtles, and had surfing lessons. Check, check, check and check.

“Dude… Mr. Turtle is my father.
Had ourselves a pretty epic beach day this afternoon. The turtles hang out surfing in the water and occasionally climb up on shore to warm up and digest. There are volunteers who rope off the area and keep watch as we are encouraged to give them at least 10 feet of space. Probably one of the coolest things we’ve seen so far on the island!” -@currentlywandering

I feel like in a month we’ve done a pretty good job of experiencing Hawaii. Part of me is ready to move on to the next adventure and worries that the next 3 months will be a little more like a trudge than a frolic in the waves.

Life in General

Because we are stationary, we’ve added in some activities we’ve missed. Sam is pretty busy with teaching his BYUH class, his regular work, managing math for the kids, and some 3D pen/programming projects (check out his cool Paw Patrol nightlight for Cara). Rachel has a weekly youth activity now that’s she’s twelve, and Andrew has regular cub scout meetings. I’ve picked up a small customer service job, and am back working with the girls for the 365MileChallenge for 2018.

“This right here is one of the reasons we are supposed to be in Hawaii. Sam and I had the opportunity to accompany Rachel on her first trip to the temple. As a 12 year old she is able to perform baptism and confirmations on behalf of deceased ancestors and is something she’s been looking forward to for quite some time! With our house just steps from the temple she’s hoping to go weekly and we are so excited for her!” – @jesscurren

The kids are doing more online schoolwork this semester. Since we have reliable, constant internet we decided it was time for mom to have a break. We are using Time 4 Learning for science & social studies plus some grammar and writing for Cara although I don’t love it. She’s currently reading Harry Potter and well, that’s a little above 2nd grade. I need to get in and adjust her assignments to something a little more difficult.

Rachel graduated from Beast Academy (it only goes through 5th grade) to Pre-Algebra on Khan Academy and we liked it so much Andrew is reviewing 4th grade in addition to 5th Grade Beast Academy and Cara is doing 2nd grade math as well. We still have our WriteShop Jr. books, Spelling, and we simplified grammar to just Daily Grams review pages instead of starting a new year (the book is SO much smaller!). Rachel has also started learning French, and Andrew is doing Spanish through Rosetta Stone and they are loving it. Kind of makes me want to brush up on my high school German.

We pushed back our regular grammar, Story of the World, literature studies and vocabulary books until January. We figure we’ll hit a few subjects hard this fall, and then take a break on those and catch up on everything else when we get back to the mainland.

“Apparently this is how we do school now. 😂” -@jesscurren

Far from hating the schedule, we are embracing it and making the most of what’s available. We feel like maybe we can make some headway with projects that have been stacking up for years. Its nice to just sit and home at nights and watch SuperGirl with the kids, and not be out exploring everyday. We get regular beach time, but are definitely more laid back than we have been in years. I feel a little lazy, but after three and half years of constant on the go, we’ll take the relief. I think be the time we get back in the Airstream we’ll be more than ready to hit it hard!

Could We Live Here?

That’s the million dollar question and one we ask in almost every place we visit. I vacillate between total blissful love and counting down the days back to the mainland. Sometimes even in the same day.

It comes down to a frame of mind. I think we could set our minds to live anywhere we needed to. We’d adjust, make it work, and be happy.

Of all the places, however, we could plant for four months, have Sam try his hand at teaching a college course, and experience a different culture, Hawaii is definitely near the top.

We’ve happily been minimalists for the last four years. After the great purge of 2014 and hitting the road, less stuff was liberating. We enjoyed less overall consumerism and prioritizing experiences over things.

We still own stuff, its just that most of our purchases are deliberate and items tend to serve at least three purposes or be used every day to justify their existence in a small space. For example, it’s no secret I love my Blendtec Blender (in fact, it came to Hawaii with me) but I make a smoothie literally everyday. We gravitate towards outdoor gear that will hold up to the abuse we put it through, as we are out adventuring at least twice as often as your normal family. In short, we have less but usually higher quality stuff.

Our Airstream is well-oiled machine. Everything has a place, everything has a purpose and we love what we have. As our friend Ann once said, “We may not have much, but what we have is our favorite”. We analyze each purchase and if something isn’t just quite right, often we’ll replace it with something better – purging the old item of course.

We’ve done such a good job with the Airstream, that recently outfitting our condo in Idaho wasn’t too hard. We basically duplicated everything in the Airstream, added an Insta-Pot for good measure and voila! Good to go. That way we didn’t have to move things back and forth, but had our favorite salad spinner, or knife set, etc.

Turns out being a minimalist also made us into minor snobs. We don’t necessarily need expensive things, but because we have less we justify spending a bit more on what we do purchase. As I mentioned, we have dialed things in and are used to what we have and our things work well in our lifestyle. Things work, and they work well.

When we jumped on a plane and came to Hawaii, however, that all went out the window. Or into the ocean, or however you want to phrase that particular idiom. After outfitting two living spaces perfectly tuned to our lifestyle, we are suddenly in a space that is not our own on an island where the culture is much more laid back, things rust out faster than you can blink, and no one cares how nice or maybe even functional things are. It just is what is is.

You can imagine the struggle.

Its a completely different experience and one we were not prepared for. Even with Airstream travel we are used to Amazon Prime 2 day shipping. If we needed something we’d maneuver ourselves into an address and two days later we’d have whatever we needed! On Hawaii, shipping takes at least a week. If not more. And since we are out in the country most stores are an hour plus driving distance and we don’t currently have a car.

Minimalism does not equal flexibility. I used to think it did. I used to think we lived this incredible flexible lifestyle, but now I’m realizing that perhaps we didn’t. Yes our location was flexible, but we still had that comfort of “home”. The familiarity of our favorite habits or meals (cilantro is $1.50/bunch so there goes most of my easy Mexican dinners!), or knowing that my kids have a shelf full of games or a bucket full of Lego’s to pull out when they felt like it.

So we are learning to plan ahead or do without. Its a great skill set to have, and one that’s been a bit neglected the last few years. There are a few things we’ve ordered and are patiently (or not so patiently waiting) for them to arrive. We’ve also bought a few used games from some college students, and snagged a sweet deal on an inflatable SUP board for the beach. Mostly, though, we are trying to let go, to dig deep and find out what we really are made of.

It just might surprise us.