Hello and happy new year!

We had 3 splendid weeks in Majuro getting re-acquainted with friends and making new ones before we flew away to the USA for nearly a month of holiday non-revenue travel! Boy are we blessed to have airline benefits, and such kind and generous friends and family to accommodate us. We are grateful for all we were able to see and family and friends to spend time with, and feel so full of love and goodwill that we aren't homesick anymore, or even bothering to write emails/blogs/make phonecalls because we are FULLY BLESSED!

So, before the battery runs out, I will say that we are back on track here in the same anchorage we were in last year, and thankful for that too because the other anchorage has been having great difficulty with nightly break ins by some disgruntled locals?? that are stealing fishing gear and other stuff...so we are happy to have dogs on high alert. The dogs were living ashore with new friends and their dog, spoiled in an air conditioned house with daily treks to the beach while we were stateside, but we took them out to Eneko islet this weekend and we all had a great time in the sand and surf.

The other benefit of this anchorage is that it's a straight shot to shore, where Allen managed to get hired by an Aussie man that runs a surf charter biz in Indonesia and is trying to start one up here as well. After working on their 2 motor vessels' air con units and their refrigeration systems, he erected an 80 foot wind generator tower and the power house source ashore. It was quite a spectacle for everyone to come and gawk at, and I was not at all pleased when I returned from a run to find my husband up atop it, trying to untangle the massive chains and hooks for the crane to be released...this is not an OSHA job and we do not have health insurance or hazard pay! Thank goodness it all went well.

The boys are back to their schoolwork, and Morgan wrote a fantastic 8 page essay describing his amazing vacation. We spent time in Oahu's east side with our friends in Kaneohe Bay and Lanikai on both sides of the trip, and had a week in Phoenix with Allen's mother and 3 sisters. We went to San Diego twice to visit his 2 brothers whom he hadn't seen in 2 years, where friends came up from Ensenada to see us and hang out on board another friend's motor vessel in Allen's cousin's marina...we spent 10 days in freezing cold and snow in Seattle for Christmas Day and New Year's. Allen and I ran a half marathon there and his breath froze his hair it was so cold! It was all quite refreshing! The boys really loved making snowmen and having snowball fights. It was awesome. THANKS EVERYONE!

So, now we will try and go "out island" and explore soon, as well as explore our "options" on our next destinations and working to save $ when you're being requested for refrigeration and electrical work. Apparently there's going to be a lot of $$$ coming into the RMI for dealing with global warming and there may be more wind generators and solar powered things to install...right up Allen's alley. The irony of quitting and leaving in time for the recession and finding work in foreign lands is not lost on us.

We hope all is well with you and yours in the New Year, and I really hope for some feedback that I can save for re-reading when I'm homesick again and craving hearing what "normal" people do in the "real world"! How 'bout making a visit out to see us?!

Love from Love Song