We returned 28 days ago from a trip to Thailand! We spent 3 weeks visiting old friends in Chiang Mai. The Fredericks are missionaries to the Thai people. Their website is located at http://thaimissions.org.
Atalie graduated 1133 days ago as the Valedictorian!
We are proud of our daughter's accomplishments
We returned 1187 days ago from a trip to California
We just got back from a trip to California. Visited Mom and Dad and brothers and sister. We caught a military flight out March 26 to Travis AFB. Arrived Sunday night, got a place to stay then took the kids bowling on base. Drove to Rodeo Monday to visit my sister. Picked up my Mom and Dad and drove to Monterey. Did some sightseeing, spent the night there, then drove down Tuesday to Port Hueneme in Ventura County to see my brothers. We took a day Wednesday and visited Knottsberry Farm. Atalie and Keren rode all the "5" rides. I rode a "4" and it made me a little sick. Eddie liked it though. Time went by quickly and we drove back up to Travis AFB to try to get a flight out. Spent one night sleeping in the car, then one night with my sister then decided to fly out commercial from Sacramento. The plane broke down and we didn't get out till 6 hours later then scheduled. We finally got back Monday night--April 3. It was a fun trip but it was great to get home
December is here again. God continues to bless. In March I moved back to Ft. Shafter doing work with the US Army. I work with a program called Altiris. Very powerful and very complicated. Learning a lot here at this job.
We were a little short of funds this week and the family was not going to get anything as far as presents. I felt a little bad but it made me truly realize just how much God has done for us. We have our health, my family is serving God and we have all our needs. My wife and children are saved, born-again, and that is what really matters to me. I praise the Lord for my salvation. I praise the Lord for my family's salvation. He is good.
Friday afternoon, my boss gave me an unexpected gift, a Christmas bonus. I thanked my boss, and I held back tears as I thanked my Lord and Savior. He provides more than just our needs. Well, that's where Armi and the kids are now, one day before Christmas, out buying presents. Presents aren't bad...The greatest present of all is the Lord Jesus Christ and his death on Calvary's Cross. I praise God for that gift.
We returned 1472 days ago from a trip to Okinawa. We only spent 15 days over there (arrived 7 June 2005 and departed 22 June 2005). We saw the new church building and all the improvements to the serviceman's center. We were able to help out a little with the teen rooms and some painting.
We saw a lot of old friends and saw a lot of the places we used to eat at and visit. The fellowship was most enjoyable.
Another December in Hawaii. We praise the Lord for His goodness.
The past several months we have been spending our Saturdays doing homeschool to finish up last year's classes for Keren and Atalie. The end is in sight. Atalie has one paper left to write and we'll be done. They started all going to Koolau Baptist Academy in August and they are all doing very well.
I've gotten a few consulting jobs which have helped pay for our expenses with the office. I am also scheduled to teach a Microsoft Office 2003 class this January with Wayland Baptist University. I also have had interviews and responses from University of Phoenix and Hawaii Pacific University (Some on resumes from a year and a half ago). God's timing is perfect.
We've also picked up our first supporting church for the ministry -- See http://thegospel.ws/ministry.
I no longer work for CSC at PWC Pearl Harbor, the contract there ended July. I was there for about 14 months. In June I made a move to SMF -- a company contracting out at the Pac-TNOSC at Fort Shafter. Worked for the Army helping out with the NT 4 to Windows 2003 migration for about 3 1/2 months then they lost the contract. I have learned so much about Active Directory in that job. I moved over to ISS working on the PACMERS project at the help desk and with IT issues. I started there on September 20 and things look like they are going good.
Through hopping from one job to the next, the Lord has taken away the fear of being jobless. The Lord has also given me the opportunity to learn a variety of different technologies at each location.
Armi is working now as a teacher's aid at our church school. All the children go there now (after 7 years of homeschooling). She seems to be enjoying it.
Someday soon -- Lord willing -- we plan to go full time with our ministry of using technology to get the gospel out over the internet. See http://thegospel.ws/ministry
This Christmas as we look back on the year, we are especially grateful for how good God has been to us.
In January we knew we were moving to Hawaii so I changed my records to show Hawaii as state of residence. Of course Hawaii started taking their cut from my pay immediately.
At first the Air Force said that they would not move us here-until we looked into the regulations a little and found out they could. We departed on terminal leave (20 years in the Air Force) in March and arrived here in Honolulu March 22. The Air Force paid for everything except for our lodging.
If you are looking for a place to rent here in Hawaii, it is very hard. It took us a while to find a place. In the meantime we bounced between 10 days in Hickam billeting (http://www.hickam.af.mil) to 3 days on the beach at Barbers Point, to 10 days in Hickam billeting again to 7 days in a hotel at Waikiki, till we finally found a place to stay in Aiea in April. Now try that with 4 kids and all associated baggage :). Yes it was an experience!
We spent a few months until June waiting for our furniture and household goods to arrive. Sleeping on futons and working off a plastic backyard table reminds me how spoiled we are with all our comforts. We are blessed.
Fortunately, the Lord provided a job within 2 weeks of getting here. April 7, I started a job with CSC as a Sys Admin working with the US Navy at Public Works Center Pearl Harbor (http://www.pwcpearl.navy.mil).
We also found a good church at Koolau Baptist Church in Kaneohe (http://koolaubc.org)
In July we finally sold the house we had in Hesperia California and used the proceeds to purchase equipment to get our business started (http://okiweb.com). If the funds had not come at this time we would not have gotten this going. It is mostly evenings right now but I do web and network training. I also do consulting. In the near future I am looking forward to full time work on the business.
On behalf of our family I wish you all the best at this time when we commemorate the birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and I wish you all the "peace that passeth all understanding" in knowing Jesus came to be born but also came to die on the cross that we may have eternal life.
Ed, Armi, Atalie, Keren, Edward Jr, Kezia (The Habal Family in Hawaii)
Please browse through the page for links to current pictures.
Welcome to the Habal homepage. This is the latest update on our family.
Here are pictures from our trip to Washington DC and the Gamboas. Pictures
We returned 2604
days ago from a trip to Europe. We only spent one week over there (arrived Friday 10 May 2002 and departed Friday 17 May 2002). It was a very memorable experience. See http://www.okiweb.com/habal/europe/ for more details.
I retired on 1 June 2003 and we arrived on Hawaii
2295 days ago. This is our new home. We drove across the Continental United States and saw friends in TN, UT, CA, NV and HI (when we got here by plane). We are praying about our plans. Armi will be taking classes again and I am looking for some more consulting work. See http://www.okiweb.com for information on my teaching/consulting business.
I got a job with Computer Sciences Corporation doing System Administrator work for the US Navy. Plan to do more consulting and some teaching also part time. We are starting a business teaching HTML, ASP and eventually ASP.NET. See http://www.okiweb.com. I plan to orient my consulting towards Christian ministries to help them get the Gospel of Jesus Christ out to the world. I have also set up a site to reach the world with the Gospel--see http://thegospel.ws.