Neighborhood Guide

When we got married, Katie already had a higher income than I have been able to achieve in the 15 years since. When Maddie was born, we followed our spiritual feelings at the time and Katie quit her job and stayed home to raise kids. She kept working part-time from home all along, but with income quite diminished. Having her home was a great blessing. As was the additional income.

Always she has talked off going back to full time work at some point but while living overseas it just wasn't practical. And then we decided to have another baby and I recall Katie saying soon after we learned in early 2016 that she was pregnant that we had just postponed her return to full time work by several years. She was sad about this, but we both felt spiritually right about the baby decision and have never had the slightest regret. Michael is a beautiful blessing.

Then, with me feeling consistently frustrated with my work environment, with my bosses unwilling to even discuss our reasonable complaints about our most recent housing and post assignment, and with family developments back home, I followed a spiritual feeling to activate a job search function in my LinkedIn account.

I ignored most of the notifications but responded to a spiritual feeling about a Melaleuca posting. The recruiter replied and we scheduled an interview. Four interviews, including a trip to Idaho, resulted in a job offer. We had been praying for guidance all along and knew that we would accept an offer as long as the salary was in a particular range. It was.

Then we began researching neighborhoods in Idaho Falls. We did a lot of research. There was a time I would have said, "We don't need all this research because the Holy Ghost will guide." But I've learned that we need a lot of research precisely because the Holy Ghost will guide. We asked a lot of questions. We sent my parents to inspect. We had our real estate agent stake out streets and tell us how many kids were playing, and so forth. We followed a spiritual feeling to Stonebrook.

And we followed a similar pattern to this house. It is not a perfect house. Lots of quirks. Lots of evidence of inexperienced DIYers. But it felt right and continues to feel right.

Then our neighbor, who we met because we chose this house in this neighborhood, reached out to Katie because, after meeting us and asking some questions, he knew Katie had specific skills and experience that he needed at work and that are rare in Idaho Falls. Skipping many specifics of the story, Katie is now employed by that neighbor with generous pay and generous flexibility to still be home when needed. Had we not followed spiritual feelings, he never would have known about Katie. He could not have hired her.

God asked Katie to be willing to sacrifice her career. She was. Accordingly, God blessed her with a career she had not imagined. That's how that works...as we sought and responded to spiritual impressions based on sound research.

And it is worth mentioning that I am very satisfied with my new job as well.

Apple A.I. Gratitude

I am a lot more thankful for my life than I deserve to be. Apple's Photo app automatically generates memory slide shows. Over the past few weeks it has given me my year in the Philippines, the trip to Paris, mom's 70th birthday in Austria and Southern Germany, Christmas in Cairo, New Years in Berlin. And I smile. My life has been better than I have deserved. The memories are all happy.

So that last sentence is weird though. Because I remember being not happy several times over the time periods covered by these photos. In some cases, I remember times when I was very unhappy, or really mad at Katie, or super remorseful over how dumb I can be in my parenting. Yet, despite this, all my reflections bring me a sense of contentment, peace, and happiness. I am thankful for gratitude.

I am not any kind of great or special person. I can't even really take credit for choosing gratitude, though I suppose I've tried my best. It came to me as a gift. I am even a bit surprised by the extent of it. I am thankful. I am convinced this gratitude is a gift came from a loving God.

Some say there is no evidence of God. Oh, it's everywhere. There is only to look.

Meanwhile, I am in Shanghai this week and I visited this very fun market today and got Katie some possibly real pearl earrings. They might be fake. But they might be real and they look great. I made sure to get a pic of the garbage sweeper. This market is basically like Nordstrom. People come up to you and ask what you want and you can say almost literally anything under the sun, and then they will take you to that thing. Like having a personal shopper. Then, they pester you about getting more things and it gets a little annoying, but whatever, it was totally fun.

Tim's Favorite Things 17

Though I suspect few have missed it, the blog is back with my favorite things I discovered or experienced for the first time in 2017. Enjoy.

1. Home ownership--I now have only one hobby: being a home owner. I suspect the novelty will wear off at some point, but I have very much enjoyed Saturdays of yard work, learning to change shower cartridges and leaky faucets. Raking leaves and shoveling snow was less awesome, especially since I have trees that lose leaves at different intervals. So on my third pass of raking up leaves I apprehended the necessity of a leave blower. Similarly, minute 138 of shoveling brought a revelation about snow blowers.
2. Living in a neighborhood--My kids ride their bikes unsupervised! Friends drop over spontaneously! We rode around in the back of a firetruck singing Christmas carols! High-rise living was not for us.
3. Hillbilly Elegy--It even taught me about my own life in unexpected ways.
4. iOS 11--The AI-generated slideshows set to music are just the best. But I am somewhat less committed to the Apple ecosystem than I have been.
5. Dunkirk--Best film in years, IMHO.

The Idahoan Harts of Boston

I've been thoroughly pre-occupied by my new job, house hunting, car shopping, furniture shopping, moving in to new home, watching eclipses, lawn mower shopping.

Here is the house:

All told, I feel like we have been expert shoppers. We held out at the Toyota dealer until they offered $5k off a brand new 2016 Sienna to make room for soon-to-arrive 2018 models. Now they are eagerly awaiting the arrival of our 2014 Highlander from Manila and are talking like they want to make me a very good offer for it such that I could walk away with a 5- or 6-year-old Camry (or similar) without any debt (to accommodate my 7 mile daily commute).

Meanwhile, we got the house at about 5 percent below comparable per-square-foot prices in the neighborhood. It has an "unfinished" basement that is already framed, wired, and plumbed. So we can easily add two more bedrooms an entertainment room. We paid no closing costs and received a $5k cash rebate from the seller at closing, which converted one bedroom from old, hunter green carpet to new hardwood and bought a very nice washer/dryer set with enough left over for the upcoming purchase of a very comfortable couch.

I bought a Honda lawn mower. Brought it home, set it up. Pushed it from garage to grass, decided I hated it, returned it, drove to my parents' house, put dad's lawn mower in aforementioned Sienna, mowed my lawn for free. I don't like self-propelled lawn mowers but apparently that's all they sell in Idaho Falls.

We watched the eclipse.

It was better than advertised. The difference between 99 percent and total eclipse cannot be overstated. Whatever you were planning to do on April 8, 2024, change that plan and get to the path of totality. Worth it.

Michael likes his new backyard.

Indeed, we all love it. The peace and quiet of Idaho Falls is such a welcome contrast to the noise and crowded bustle of Manila. We just love it.

So Much Grateful

As the Filipinos say, I am so much grateful for our year here. There were stressful elements, to be sure. Traffic in Manila is truly a nightmare. No, seriously, you have no idea. I work five miles from home and have a 90 minute commute, 3 hours if it's raining. Walking is not a viable option for reasons I will leave to your imagination.

But Filipinos, as a group, are really the best; optimistic, hard-working, respectful. And they are always so much grateful for everything.

Katie and the kids are gone. As of Friday, the house is packed out and completely empty except for a couch, a bed, and two suitcases of basic living items. Just me and the cat (who is turning out to be a pain to get back to the states). Lots of time to reflect.

With the house empty, as it was when we first arrived, I recall all the excitement of those early days here. And it reminds me of what we liked about this lifestyle that we are leaving behind. I enjoyed the constant excitement of a new place and a new challenge. I will miss that. I will miss getting to know new peoples and cultures.

And in this case, I will miss specific people. Katie hired Tin as a household helper. Katie hired her over more experienced candidates because she felt right about her. A year later, Katie and Tin wept as they said goodbye. When the others were gone, I thanked Tin for taking care of my wife this year. She wept again. At the end of each day she would say, "I go-wing now, sir."

And I will miss my Boy Scouts. I almost didn't accept the new job out of loyalty to these great young men. We had them over every Tuesday night and they comprise a uniquely outstanding group.

I am so much grateful. I go-wing now.

Annual Hart Family Brand Relationship Post

You can see the top 100 brands here: BrandZ. 

Since many of the brands are American icons, I figure it is appropriate to post this on the 4th of July as part of my celebration of America. Instead of a list, I tell the story of our year in brands.

One year ago today, we got caught in a crazy rain storm on our final day at Disney (18) World. We spent about 30 minutes hiding under the faux rocks near the Animal Kingdom entrance before deciding to just run for it. We got drenched and five minutes later, the rain stopped. Life, right?

Disney World to us is more like a competition than a vacation. We gained considerable advantage this year with Katie's new iPhone (2). We knew all the wait times and scheduled our fast passes through the phone. And we totally owned Disney World.

We had a devil of a time getting to Manila last summer, with visa complications and flight confusion. And of course, as vanity demands, we posted it all to Facebook (5). I got to take a crazy same-day round trip from Boston to New York via Amtrak to resolve our visa fiasco. It was during the return trip that I discovered Stranger Things on Netflix (92). We are big fans. A few days later I got to fly to Manila without Katie because of the "how pregnant are you" disaster with Cathay Pacific. Loved that so much.

The kids attended The International School of Manila (ISM), which uses Google (1) as its primary teaching platform. Caleb especially took to the Google user interface and became the first member of the family to question our loyalty to Apple's walled garden. As the year progressed, Caleb's gaming interest picked up. And now he talks of owning a device with a Microsoft (3) OS. I mean, he is a Broncos fan, but Microsoft?

We added Manila (several locations), Tagaytay, Subic, and Tokyo to our impressive list of cities in which we have eaten McDonalds (10). Amazon (4) and Walmart (31) provided steady shipments of comfort food--and Pampers (42)--from home. Yes, Pampers. I almost forgot that we had another child this year. Katie sometimes says to me, "Tim, can you take this?" as she hands Michael to me. As far as I can recall, he is the first child to be regularly referred to as "this."

I fully embraced LinkedIn (79) for the first time this year with the happy result of a new job in my hometown. So I guess I like LinkedIn.

With such bad traffic in Manila, our outside time decreased. Thus, this was the year of YouTube (65). I could live without ever hearing DanTDM's voice again. It got to the point that I was begging my kids to actually play a video game instead of watching YouTube videos of other people playing video games. I think I actually said out loud at one point, "You should do something real, like play a video game."

Homeward Bound

I'm coming home. Katie and the kids depart Manila tomorrow with a 10-day stop in Boston en route to Idaho Falls. I will stay behind for 10 days to finish pack out and exit procedures. We will all be in good ole IF by July 15. It is crazy.

I am very excited about my new job as Internal Audit Manager with Melaleuca. I enjoyed the interviews so much. Really great people. Great opportunity. And I loved growing up in Idaho Falls so I figure my kids will as well. Idaho Falls is really good at 4th of July (thanks in large part to my new employer), Halloween, and Christmas.

On the other hand, I love my current work. I have really taken on the identity of "Guardian of the Taxpayer" as I audited US government programs overseas. We enjoyed living in Cairo, Frankfurt, and Manila. I am thankful for so many wonderful friends and experiences.

Caleb Hart News

Memorial Day

We woke the kids up at 5:30 am to go place flags at the Manila American Cemetery in honor of Memorial Day. Henry, understandably, was disagreeable. "We're doing what? That's stupid."

We were able to persuade him. Indeed, he and I departed before the rest of the family. As we entered the cemetery, which Henry had not seen before, I started to explain what we were doing. We have to place flags at all of these burial markers.

"What even are burial markers?" he asked. By then, we were on a hill and could see thousands of markers spreading in all directions. I explained that each marker was someone who died fighting for his freedom. He looked around for a moment. Then his jaw dropped and he said, "This place is amazing. There are so many of them."

Henry gets it

It is totally amazing. It is a sacred place. We proceeded to place hundreds of flags, including on behalf of friends and family with relatives memorialized here. It was a beautiful morning.

Meet Pascual

I wrote this little Easter story for my kids. They got a kick out of it. Perhaps your family will like it as well.

Meet Pascual, Order of the Lagomorph. He’s a rabbit. Well, technically, he’s a hare, but he thinks that sounds too fancy. In fact, most people call him a bunny, which is fine with him.

Pascual, like any rabbit, enjoys hopping and eating vegetables, but he is not any rabbit. For one thing, unlike other rabbits, Pascual is more than two thousand years old, but I’m hopping ahead.

When Pascual was born, he was a normal animal. Only he was, perhaps, a bit more curious than a typical rabbit. He didn’t always run away, as rabbits do. He would watch things.

One day, his curiosity brought him to a most curious scene: a woman atop a donkey, led by a man. The woman’s belly was big and round. Pascual decided to follow them.

They stopped first at a busy house and it was very loud. Then they ended up in a manger. The man helped the woman down. He was very careful with her. Pascual was very curious.

You may have already guessed what Pascual saw that night in the manger. You see, the lagomorph is a kind of rabbit that lives near Bethlehem. The woman was Mary. The man was Joseph. And a special baby was born that night.

Yes, Pascual was there for the first Christmas morning. It was a magical morning. And, it turns out, a bit of that magic got into Pascual. He was no longer just a rabbit. He understood who the baby was and he loved him.

Pascual stayed by the manger, more curious than ever. Soon, there were visitors. They brought gifts, as you know, of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. A gift, of course! Why didn’t he think of it?

So Pascual, knowing little of what humans value in a gift, found an old basket that had been left in the road. He filled it with the most interesting rocks he could find and placed it in the manger for Mary.

When she saw the basket full of rocks, Mary threw the rocks out and kept the basket. And so it became Pascual’s tradition to bring the family a basket every year for the child’s birthday.

As Jesus grew up, Pascual watched him. He watched him learn Joseph’s trade as a carpenter. He watched and listened when Jesus taught. One day, Jesus, still a boy, was teaching in the Synagogue.

Mary and Joseph didn’t know where he was. They were looking everywhere. Pascual saw that they were worried but, being a rabbit, he couldn’t tell them where Jesus was.

So he decided to show them. Pascual gathered berries and made a trail to the synagogue. Mary and Joseph followed and found Jesus teaching the grown ups, which Pascual found very amusing.

Pascual observed miracles from Jesus. His rabbit heart leapt with joy when Jesus raised the daughter of Jairus from the dead, and healed the sick, blind, and deaf. What a joy it was to be a rabbit in the days of Jesus.

But all was not to remain happy. Confused and heart broken, Pascual watched as Jesus died on a cross at Calvary. There was such sadness all around. Such despair. What could a rabbit do?

Three days later, Pascual was still wondering what he could do when Jesus appeared, risen from the dead, to Mary. His little rabbit heart leapt with joy again to see his friend, and to learn that death was not the end.

And then Pascual decided what he would do. You see, there is a little part of the story that I left out earlier, and that it took Pascual himself a long time to realize: Pascual had become a magic rabbit.

Pascual didn’t get old. He didn’t die. And he had other magic as well. So every year, on the day when Jesus was resurrected, Pascual delivers baskets to the kids of the world, like the baskets he used to give Mary.

And he leaves jellybeans because they remind him of the berries he used to help Mary and Joseph. Pascual wants us all to find our way to Jesus.

He replaced rocks with eggs in the baskets because he realized humans don’t have much use for rocks. And the eggs, a shell from which life can emerge, remind Pascual of Jesus breaking out of the tomb.

Yes, as you have surely figured out, Pascual is the Easter Bunny.

You might wonder how I know all of this. Well, Pascual wasn’t the only animal in the manger on Christmas morning.

Peanut

He's already so huge compared to these two-week pictures.