Changes Are Coming Our Way!

Holy guacamole it’s been a long time since I’ve blogged! Lots of fun things have come and gone and I am sorry I haven’t been very faithful in updating my blog and sharing. However rather than feeling overwhelmed by catching up on everything, I think I am going to just start with the big changes coming our way.

As everyone knows Ben and I moved here to Honolulu last August so he could attend UH and complete a master’s degree in Japanese. We came with nothing more than 2 month old baby and 6 suitcases containing all the belongings we could fit.  This past year has been full of up’s and downs. We’ve made friends and made a life here for ourselves amid the trials we’ve faced. It’s been both a challenging and rewarding experience, but we’ve officially decided that our time here is coming to an end.

No, Ben has not graduated early and yes he is dropping out of his Master’s program, it’s unconventional and unexpected, but we ARE sure of our decision. When Ben graduated from ASU he was excited to move on from its crummy program and to get accepted by an outstanding university, he hoped by continuing his education he would be able to improve his language skills and get a better grasp on his future. However, this has not been the case. Maybe we should’ve done a bit more research before moving across the ocean, because the program is nothing like Ben anticipated. The subject matter has nothing to do with improving his language skills or understanding; instead he’s stuck analyzing the language from a third person point of view learning about theories and how people learn the language (sorry if that doesn’t clarify it enough, basically it’s something he’s not interested in at all.)  

After pushing through two semesters and trying to convince himself he’s interested in this field, we’ve come to the conclusion that the program here is simply not benefiting him or our family.  Rather than plunging through another year or more of this program where we now have learned the tuition is being raised and our financial aid is being cut, we’ve decided to move back to the mainland and search out better opportunities there.

Our current plan is for Ben to work through the summer full time to save as much money as possible, until our lease ends in August. We then hope to move to Seattle Washington.
For some reason Seattle has really been jumping out at us, and the more we follow that idea the more we are becoming convinced that it is the path we should take.

 

We are hoping Ben's current job (a Japanese tourism company that he really likes) will be will allow him to transfer to their Seattle branch. However if it doesn’t work out we still feel confident that he would be able to find a job in the Seattle area where he will be able to use his Japanese skills in his employment.

Another bonus is that there is a school in Seattle that has a program Ben is really interested in! It is a “continuing education” program for translation and interpretation. This program is ideal because its classes are all done in the evening once a week and he’s be able complete it within two years. This means that not only will Ben be able to work full time, but he’d get done only a year later than we planned! We also feel that a translation and interpretation certificate could be a lot more beneficial for Ben in the future than a Master’s degree in Japanese.

There are still a lot of questionsthat need to be answered and things we need to work out, and we figure we just need to take it one step at a time. We are trying to keep our minds open to see if there are any other possible areas we may want to consider or if there are any opportunities we are overlooking. We’ve been praying about it a lot and listened to General Conference a few weeks ago very intently. We felt the spirit so strongly and the counsel that was given has deeply impacted our decision and confirmed to us that our time here in Hawaii is coming to an end.

We feel good about what we are doing and even though we don’t have all the answers. We hope we can continue to move forward with faith and we will be blessed. We are grateful for all the love and support we have from both of our families. We hope we have your prayers and support as well!

Wish us luck!

-          Lauri