Looking

Where have you gone?
I did not know that you were going to leave me

You are not by my side
Are you playing hide and seek?

I have looked for you behind the oak tree

I have looked for you down by the pond where we first kissed

Why did you choose now to disappear?

We are never seen without eachother

Are you okay?

What did I do?

I continue to search for you

I went down to the railroad tracks but you weren't there

You always go down there when you need to think

Where are you my love?

I feel as if a part of me is gone

You complete me

I'll go up to our favorite hill by the oak tree to wait for you

I'll be there when you get back

Sitting by the tree alone I am able to think

Realizing that the whole time I thought you were gone
You were in my heart

The Kiss

As I set out on a new adventure each day

I am welcomed by a kiss

This is not a kiss by the man of my dreams

But of one who is not seen

He kisses through the warmth of the sun

The gentle breeze that blows through my hair

The sweet scent of roses that urges me to breathe in deeper

This kiss motivates me to keep living

Leaving me in anticipation for my next adventure

I know that through this kiss I am loved

Loved by the one who created the sun, wind, and roses to greet me each day

Knowing that some day my prince will come

Not only the man who will win my heart

But also the one who will take me home

I cannot wait for the next kiss

Questioning if it will be from the one above or my one true love,

Whoever he may be

Mama Kruse

It wasn’t in our plans but Mom was able to come out and visit me in Hawaii! We are having so much fun! So far she has been here for a week and she will be here for two more weeks. I got it okayed with my room mates, Doug and James, and my boss that Mom could stay with us at our villa in Ko Olina. It’s pretty nice because she is sharing my room and our villa is the size of a decent sized house so there is room. Plus she doesn’t have to pay a cent! That was also a reason why Mom is staying so long because she doesn’t have to pay for a place to stay, which can get pretty expensive.

Since Mom has been here, we have been able to go on many adventures, especially because she got a rental car: a cute little silver Mazda 3. :o)We have been taking a lot of walks around our neighborhood and down to the beach/lagoons and tanning out by the pool… I’ll have to show off my Hawaiian tan when I get home! Ha! Doug, Mom and I walked down to the J. W. Marriott, which is in the Ko Olina Resort, and looked at their tropical fish ponds and shark ponds. I really wanted to jump in and wrestle one of the sharks, but I figured the hotel wouldn’t be too happy with me. Ha! It has kind of sucked because we haven’t had that much sun because it has been cloudy. :o( We have gone out to lunch and dinner many times, twice to our favorite place in Waikiki: Cheeseburgers in Paradise. Yum! Doug was able to experience Cheeseburgers in Paradise with us the other night for the first time; it was so exciting! Last week Scott, my boss, Doug, my roommate, and I took Mom out snorkeling at Kahe/Electric Beach, which was her first time snorkeling in Hawaii. It was so cool because she had a sea turtle swim under her and she was the first one in our group to see it… that was her first sea turtle that she has ever swam with. It was pretty exciting! It was really cool because that day there was a pod of dolphins off the shore from where we snorkel and they pushed the fish down our way. I have never seen so many fish! We were literally swimming through their schools and were right next to fish, it was so neat! It got kind of scary because we saw some barracuda among the many schools of fish so we had to stay clear of them. I didn’t feel like losing a finger at that very moment! :o) After work on Friday, Mom and I went to the Punchbowl Cemetery. I was in awe and honored to be there. We shopped at the swap meet by the stadium on Saturday, which is always fun! Mom got to go to church with me on Sunday and went to lunch with Kay and I after church. We hung out with Ashley and her family many times and had to say goodbye to them yesterday because they were able to move back home to Boston today. Ashley’s husband A.J., got a job back home sooner than they originally planned, this was the reason why they were here in Hawaii for three months, for his work. I am bummed and will miss them. :o( We have been watching many of the movies that both Mom and I brought along. Mom, Doug and I went and saw Wall-E on Sunday and I loved it! Kids, you have to see it! It’s been a lot of fun because Doug has joined us on our many adventures and we have had so much fun! The other day Mom hung out at the beach while Doug and I snorkeled at Lagoon 2 at Ko Olina. We had a blast! It’s been nice to have Mom here because she has been cooking for me, and I have helped, so I don’t have to live on Top Raman. :o) I must say, I am very thankful for moms.

Modeling with our orchid in the bathroom

Sunsetting at the pool

Oooo oooo oooo aaaa! -Laura the Monkey

Punchbowl Cemetery

Can you point out Diamond Head?

Sharks at the Marriott

Oops, I don't know how to read.

Ashley and Myself

Me and Patrick (3 yrs old)

Thomas (16 months)

Lagoon 3

Snorkeling time!

Aloha!

Aloha friends and family!

I love and miss you so much! I can’t believe that three weeks have already gone by! I have been so busy and focused on work that the week days just zip by really fast. I love interning for the National Park Service (NPS) at the USS Arizona Memorial, and I just get excited for work every day. Right now Scott, the head curator at the memorial who got me this internship, has me working in the memorial’s small library. You can say I am playing librarian. I am basically starting our library over. I am currently inputting data of books that haven’t already been added into our computer system so we can get our library set up on the dewey-decimal system. The head librarian of the NPS in Seattle, Washington has been helping me a lot with that over the phone. I love this project especially because I am dealing with books all on Pearl Harbor and WWII. I have been writing down the titles and authors of books that I want so I can expand my own library when I get home. It is so hard not to stop and just look at the books. I have to remember to keep on moving on and doing my job… no slacking!

Scott gave me a tour of the visitors’ center and building 416 on the navy base (where I work). It was so interesting and fun because he showed me the coolest stuff. He even took me into the collections in building 416. I was one on one with artifacts from Pearl Harbor; I couldn’t believe it! I was seriously freaking out! I saw a huge piece of a Japanese air plane, a clock and silver from the USS Arizona, medals that men of the military received, buttons supporting Pearl Harbor, and so many other things I can’t even remember. I looked at newspapers, magazines, and pictures dealing with Pearl Harbor and WWII. It was cool because this past week I was able to work with Stan, our museum tech, in the collections and do inventory, which is where I was given a tour when I first arrived. I helped him mark off the items on the list as we checked to make sure we had what we say we have. It was so cool because Stan switched jobs with me and let me handle the artifacts while he checked them off on the chart. I handled photographs, newspaper articles, newspapers, letters, pins, medals, and magazines. My favorite was when I held the sheet music to “Remember Pearl Harbor.” Just imagine me freaking out because that was what I was doing. :o) I learned so much about the artifacts because as we looked through them, Stan talked about them. It was fun!

One thing that I love about working at the memorial is that they try to get me involved with as many events as they can while I am here. I sat in on a private tour around the memorial in one of their tour boats. They took us around Ford Island and would stop at certain spots and explain what happened during the Pearl Harbor attack. Daniel, our historian, was our tour guide… he knows so much! I attended a military funeral for a man who served on the USS Utah who had asked to be returned with his shipmates. The USS Arizona and USS Utah are both still under water and those who served aboard the ship can request to be returned once they pass on. They are cremated, placed in an urn, and returned to the ship by the park’s scuba divers. I attended the Pearl Harbor Survivor Association’s monthly luncheon/meeting. It was so great! There were about ten survivors there and they are so sweet. I was able to meet most of them and hear some stories. Some of these men are volunteers at the memorial and some only attend the meetings.

The U.S.S. Utah

Oil leaking from the U.S.S. Arizona

Kay and myself on the private tour

Even though I am loving work, I really do enjoy my down time. I am up by 6 am, leave for work by 7 am, get there by 7:30 am, work until 3:30 pm, and get home between 4 and 4:30 depending on the traffic. So I am pretty tired by the end of the day. I have been snorkeling four times since I have been here and I love it! I saw two sea turtles and three puffer fish at Hanaumna Bay and one sea turtle, three puffer fish, and a star fish at Kahe Beach. Scott said that star fish are rare in Hawaii… we were lucky ducks! At Pupukia, I saw a snowflake eel; it was a little one, no worries. :o) Thursday we went to Sharks’ Cove and I think that it has the most beautiful coral that I have seen so far. At each beach, I have seen so many different colored, shaped and sized fish. I am still looking for Nemo kids! I found a church that I am getting involved with while I am out here through Kay, who is a secretary in my building for Daniel, our memorial’s historian. I love Calvary Chapel Central Oahu. Last Friday a group of us went to a mission in Chinatown and we served 179 people hot meals in one hour. I had so much fun! My job was to fill people’s cups with fruit punch or water as many times as they wanted for an hour straight. I was kept busy. It was so cool to see how God was working in their lives and I loved seeing them smile. I also made friends with a family that lives around the corner from me. I was taking a walk around my neighborhood, and the boys were playing in the backyard. They saw me, and Patrick, the older brother, introduced himself and his brother to me and I was hooked. Patrick is three and Thomas is sixteen months. They are so much fun to play with and their parents tell me to come over and play whenever I want. I really miss my kids! I was getting so sad walking around seeing all the kids in my neighborhood because I miss the kidos I babysit. Yes, I miss you kids! You are all so special to me!

Snorkeling Trip #1: Hanaumna Bay

Beach Trip #2: Kahe Beach

Myself and Doug, one of my roomates

Beach Trip #3: Pupukia

Can you tell I am surfing?

Pearl Harbor Survivor Association Luncheon

Ray, myself, and Scott

Sterling, myself, and Uncle Herbie

Snorkeling Trip #4: Sharks' Cove

I will update you more about work and my trip as soon as I can, hopefully earlier than three weeks, not like this last time. Feel free to write me on my blog, email me at my Cal Baptist email or message me on myspace or facebook. I love and miss you!