All day!

I don't care what they say about me
It's all right, all right
I don't care they think about me
It's all right, they'll get it one day


I love you, I'll follow you
You are my, my life
I will read my Bible and pray
I will follow you all day


I don't care what it costs anymore
Cos' you gave it all and I'm following you
I don't care what it takes anymore
No matter what happens I'm going your way



Chorus:
All Day
All Day now
All Day
I'll follow You


Anyone around can see
just how good you've been to me
For all my friends that don't know you
I pray that you would save them too




Oh Lord let this be the way I live everyday!!!

Snowy Christmas!

So this morning Becca woke me up at 7 am to come out and open presents....so we did. After that we ate breakfast and were tired again so we went back to sleep and now just woke up again. Anyway I told my dad that I thought it would snow today and he was like "that's not very likely" and he read the weather report and it said rain rain rain. But I kept praying anyway and guess what?! It's snowing. Hopefully for the whole day but we'll see. I reallllly want it to stick. I love that God answers prayers.

Well I just tried to take a picture of the snow falling but there's hardly any flakes, so...we'll just have to see how it goes :-)

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

run run run

I'm getting so excited because...

My dad and I love to go on adventures together...hiking Mauna Kea (tallest Mt in Hawaii) and hiking the Grand Canyon etc...but since I'm home for only 2 months and it's winter time, there is no where fun to hike. :( BUT he is going to train me in running. He's a marathoner - and I hate to run. However I really want to learn to love it and do it. So we are doing a 5k (3.7 mi) run next month for fun and training all this month for it. Since I do not run at all we are starting from the beginning. It'll be so much fun training with my amazing dad. He's the best.

Well those are my only thoughts for now. I'm gonna go cuddle with my parents. :-) Loves

Home!

Wellll I am home now! It's exciting, I'm back in my natural habitat. Here's a pic that I took of me in MY bed using my sis' Macbook Pro (no,I'm not bitter at all).

I'm extremely tired. Right after the airport we went to washington to pick up the nephews and Meighan and I'm tired out already. But I am so happy to be home!

air planes

So in two hours I leave campus to head to the airport. It's surreal...I'm going to miss everyone incredibly and it's so hard to think of saying goodbye to some of my best friends...possibly forever?

Last night was our Love Feast and it was incredible. As soon as I get home I'll put some pics of that up as well as our roommate photoshoot that Jenna took of us. It was so much fun.

I am exhausted right now. I've been cleaning my 9 month - o- stuff cluttered room all day long. I've been making runs to the botique and the dumpster all day..barefooted so my feet are super sore. We have our room inspection in a couple of hours though and our room looks fabulous..not to mention we'll get a $50 dollar room deposit! yay. Ok I'm gonna lay down for a few or something and think about how much I'm going to miss everybody. I'm seriously excited for the plane ride though because me and Dave are sitting together and are probably going to watch Count of Monte Cristo on his laptop, I'm stoaked. He's been such an amazing friend and example of Christ to me. Ok well peace!!

*4*

Wowie!!! It's down to 4 days now until I am home. 3 until I board my plane. It's absolutely nuts.

Today was our last Monday morning worship together with the entire campus, and it was a day of commissioning all the DTS outreach teams as well as everyone else leaving. They saved SBS for last because we've been here the longest and when we got in a small circle and everyone surrounded us to pray, we played "Bamba lala" over the speakers and everyone started jumping and dancing. It was a time of celebration for sure! No more homework! This school has stretched me as well as everyone I know in so many ways. It's been so wonderful and mentally straining going through a new book or two or three of the Bible a week and doing intensive study on it. I feel freedom! Tomorrow is our last day of lecture then on Wed. we have our "test" which we don't even need to study for - must be something about what we got personally from the school.

Hm well of to Starbucks I go to work on our slideshow presentation for Love Feast Wed. night!!

HALLEJUIA

Today was my last day of homework in the School of Biblical Studies!!!!!!!!!
I've been looking forward to this day for the last 9 months. :-) Don't get me wrong, I've absolutely loved studying the word of God but after disecting every paragraph of the Bible, I am so ready for a break. Halle!!
This means it's time for the next step in wrapping up this school..packing and cleaning. Yikes. Let's not go there yet.
In about 40 minutes me and my roomies are getting a photoshoot taken and we're all matching and cute. hopefully I can put some of those up later. I've been in the computer lab on work duty for the last 7 hours and I am so weary of it. I have gone to the room a couple of times just to move my body a bit...but ugh. It makes my body sore not doing anything.
Oh and I want to give a shout out to Ray! LOL

Peace and love!

mud pie!

So for today was scheduled our last work duty meeting with our boss - work duty is a responsibility that every student on campus has to work 2 hours a day to clean up or help out the campus in one way or another. I work in the computer lab which is a very easy work duty! Anyway it is the last official day of work duty and my boss Brian came in with a delicious mud pie for everyone to share then he prayed for each of us individually. It was such a treat! Mud pie is an oreo cookie crust with about 4 iniches of coffee ice cream on it and lots of whipped cream on top. It was so amazing. Plus it was right after sun bathing so it cooled me off nicely.

It's been so nice tanning for an hour a day each day this week by the pool. I'm finally getting some color to take home with me. ;-) Ah and I really need to get back to homrwork right now. It's our last week of homework in SBS!! So crazy. As time is wrapping up it is so sentimental but it is also very stressful. I have to start packing for my departure next week, start thinking about room cleaning so I can get my $50 room deposit, I have 3 books with lots of homework with each: Ezra, Nehemiah, and Malachi. Plus I have to prepare something for our school love feast next week. It'll be so much fun but each person is supposed to contribute something for the class...ugh. Ok well back to Nehemiah I go!

7 days til I'm in my house!!!!!!!!!!!!

"Baby it's cold outside"

It was so nice today basking in the warm Hawaiian sun at the pool side...listening to Christmas music?! haha that's how it went. It was a unique experience but I feel I got the best of both worlds. My current fav is "baby it's cold outside" by Nick and Jessica, it sounds so awesome and funky.

Well tonight was a super nice evening. Leah - my bestest pal - and I had a much needed date. We walked down to Coconut Grove, bought fresh made sushi at Haishi's then sat on the wall overlooking the ocean and sunset enjoying our sushi. It was a delicious time..and not just the food! After we ate we walked around the shops downtown and it was like a blast from the past. Leah has been my best friend here since day 1 - April 5. We immediately clicked because we had such similar *situations* at the time that we both knew we needed to work through. So the day after we met we went downtown, I bought a smoothie and Leah bought an iced coffee and we went to the same spot of the ocean and put our feet in for the first time for the next nine months. It was such good memories. Leah's friendship has been such a God send to me and I couldn't have requested a better roommate from day 1 ever. She has been my other half and I will miss her terribly when this comes to an end. Only 10 more days til I'm in Oregon and she's in Indonesia on outreach. I can only pray that God will bring us together again someday. Leah if you're reading this you've been a life saver and accountibility partner that I needed and God totally had his hand in putting us together as bff's for this season. God bless you in all your missions in the future and with your 12 babies!!!!!!!

A Good Day

Today has been really nice. It started out with all campus worship (like every Monday morning) and we prayed for the Colorado victims and friends and family.
Finally the weather here in Kona is back to normal!! The storms were exciting but I like the sunshine every now and then. So today Leah and I sat out at the campus' pool and sun bathed for a bit. My goal is to actually get tan while I'm here..before I go home! I'm so stinkin white and I've lived in Hawaii for 9 months. :-)

I just ate a handful of mixed nuts and it reminded me of the holidays at my grandparent's house and I'm so excited to be going there in a couple of weeks! I get home Dec. 21 an we go to Ohio with the whole fam on the 28th. It will be a busy time but I am so ready! I think that's it for now.

Keep praying for the Denver base and New Life church in Colorado Springs.

A Serious Prayer Request

Last night my room mate Alli got a phone call from one of her friends who is currently involved with YWAM Denver (the place where she did her DTS last year). He told her that two of their close friends Tiffany and Dan had just got shot from a guy who came to ask if he could stay on the base with them. They didn't know him so Tiffany told him "no" then he shot her and Dan and two other guys, Phillip and Charlie who were with them. After surgery, Tiffany is actually now with Jesus. Her boyfriend, Dan, is in critical condition with a gun shot wound in his throat. Phillip died and Charlie is ok. This is a hard enough story without the fact that my room mate was closely mentoured by these people. So please pray for Dan's safety and protection as well as Charlie's. Keep Tiffany's family in your prayers as well as the entire YWAM base in Denver because everyone is pretty shook up right now. It's a time of testing our faith, but all we can hold onto is that God is still good and he is still Sovereign.

Strawberry Ice Cream!

Oh man, my new addiction is straberry ice cream, it is so good. For some reason I never liked fruity ice cream before unless it was sherbet but I am LOVIN the strawberry ice cream..m'm so creamy. Just thought I'd share.

Being Healthy

So I typcically consider myself a healthy person. I have studied health, exercise and nutrition for a while now and really try to be as healthy as I can right now. yet somehow I cannot stay away from junk food!! This last week or so I've been pigging out all the time on Christmas cookies and brownies and as I was just in the class room studying, I was scarffing down goldfish crackers and a diet coke. And by the way, I am supposed to be fasting caffine this week but I gave in today :-( Lately caffine has been affecting me hard core and it's been really hard for me to breathe when I've had caffine. My breathing has become quite shallow and uncomfortable and now that I had that diet coke I'm feelin it for sure.

Anyway, enough complaining. I'm lovin this time of year..Christmas is coming! It's been ironic, I think, that the past week we've had lots of rain and stormy weather here on the Big Island. It makes staying in and drinking tea with my sweats a very cozy experience. I actually think it's quite a blessing, because I've been missing 'normal' weather from home so much. I think it's helped me get into Christmas mode. Everytime I listen to my ipod now I play my "Christmas!" mix over and over. It's random artists and songs but I love it so much. I think I may be more into the holiday spirit than I normally am at home..how did that work out? Anyway, I sure am loving it.

Well I think that's it for now (cause I gots ta get studying) but here is a pic I JUST took my phone of my slippers..I wear them in the class room as I study :-) they're pretty rad. Loves!!

Freakin crazy!

The weather on this island in the pacific is absolutely crazy today. It's been a bit weird the past week or so but today is just ...curious. It's off and on rain (and I mean one minute it's raining, the next it's dry) but it's gray and cloudy and extremely WINDY! The wind has been the weirdest thing today. You can actually see the ocean all churned up which I've never seen before...except for the Oregon coast. Usually the water is nice and blue but its gray and turbulent today. Very weird. Also as I was taking a nap today after my class, the wind was so strong it was moving out mirrors around and shaking things outside. All sorts of chairs, tables and umbrellas are knocked over everywhere on campus. I'm not sure what's going on but hopefully it's not a tsunami. Hopefully I can put a pic or two up later sometime. Anyway that's the big topic right now on the Big Island.

We're studying Daniel this week so it's actually a pretty light hw load which is REFRESHING after Ezekiel, Isaiah and Jeremiah the last few weeks. I can breathe now! Not to mention the fact that it's only 16 days until I come home...I can't stand it! It'll be nice to be home for the *holdiays* I'm so excited.

Well tata for now (I feel like I'm in Jr High again lol)

CANNOT consentrate!

Oh man what a day. Today was the dreaded day where we taught the book of Jonah as well as the Inductive Bible Study method to discipleship traning school students. It has been making me nervous all week, but it ended up going super well. It was such an amazing time. The thing that sucks is after a lot of prep and energy that goes into something like that all I want to do is relax...but no. Rather I need to work on Ezekiel homework until 10 tonight when we turn it in. I'm getting tired!!!!

At least there's only 19 days of this school left! Thanks Lord.

I KNOW I AM LOVED BY THE KING!

I'm not sure how many blogs I've written about the song "How can I keep from singing" by Chris Tomlin, but I have to write another one. It inspires me so much each time I hear it and makes me cry almost everytime!

How can I keep from singing Your praise?
How can I ever say enough - how amazing is your love!
How can I keep from shouting your name?
I know I am loved by the King
and it makes my heart wanna sing!

Seriously when I am reminded that I am loved by the King of kings I get so excited by heart wants to burst out in song - so it usually does when I hear this song. I'm sad I'm not reminded of this enough in my day - to - day activities. I am recogizing it now - I am loved by the King, and it makes my heart wanna sing!

I can sing in the troubled times,
Sing when I win,
I can sing when I lose my step
and I fall down again
I can sing cause you pick me up
Sing, cause you're there
I can sing cause you hear me, Lord
when I call to you in prayer
I can sing with my last breath
Sing for I know
That I'll sing with the angels,
and the saints around the throne!

Go God!

Oh and PS to my perfect day!

Dave took me to coffee and now we're studying in the computer lab :-) He's such an amazing friend and I'm thankful for him. He has these "dave" stickers that he randomly puts on things...including my forehead.

"Under covers stayin' safe and warm"

So today was virtually a perfect day, despite the fact that I got hardly any homework done, nor have I worked on my teaching for Jonah this weekend. The good part was that first of all Alli treated me to sushi which was amazing - that girl is so generous! Then as we were eating on some outdoor tables, it started raining a bit...then pouring. It was kinda sad because we had walked there (it's about a mile away) plus I was wearing a white t-shirt...luckily I had a black tank underneth! Anyway once we got dried off after soaking through our clothes, I crawled into my loft bed and it was the best feeling ever! I had never felt so warm and comfortable in my bed. Also while I was falling asleep there was a major thunder storm that was going on for a good couple of hours. The only words I immediately thought of to describe the way I felt was in "Bubbly" by Colbie Caillat, so here it goes!

"I've been asleep for a while now,
you got me feelin like a child now.
Cause everytime I see your bubbly face,
I get the tingles in a silly place.

It starts in my toes and I crinkle my nose,
wherever it goes I always know.
You make me smile, please stay for a while now
Just take your time wherever you go.

The rain is fallin on my window pane,
but we are hidin in a safer place.
Under covers stayin safe and warm,
you give me feelings that I adore

They start in my toes and I crinkle my nose,
wherever it goes I always know.
You make me smile, please stay for a while now
Just take your time wherever you go.

What am I gonna say,
when you make me feel this way?
I just....m'mmm

It starts in my toes and I crinkle my nose,
wherever it goes I always know.
You make me smile, please stay for a while now
Just take your time wherever you go.
I've been asleep for a while now
you tuck me in just like a child now.
Cause everytime you hold me in your arms
I'm comfortable to feel your warmth.

It starts in my soul and I lose all control
when you kiss my nose the feeling shows.
You make me smile baby just take your time now
Holding me tight...wherever you go"

Now the references to him are not applicable to me right now..lol but I can't wait til they are!!! It was a cozy, bubbly, tingly, crinkly feeling! :-)

Adios Myspace!

Ohh the feeling of accomplishment, I love it. I have been thinking the last couple of months of "what if God told me to delete my myspace" and then I was thinking, oh he won't. I'm not totally sure if he wanted me to or not, but I just did it! Oh man what an amazing feeling. I realize I've spent hours everyday for the last 2.5 years looking at people's pictures - and at people's pics that I hardly even know. I found myself so caught up in other people's lives that I was not focused enough on moving on with mine. Well, I still have facebook, email and blogspot but I think myspace was my biggest downfall. I don't even really like facebook that much, so when I'm on it I can only be for a few minutes cause I don't like the layout of it, haha. Eventually I may get rid of that too but we'll see. While catching up on old friends is important, I think I can do that effeciently and more personally over email and phone calls. Anyway I'm just very happy with that right now, it feels so good.
Alli cancelled hers at the same time I did because she realized the same things I do about myspace and how much it unfortunately consumed our lives. Now we're finishing up some hw in the computer lab then going out to sushi! YUMMMMM!!
Love ya'll have a great day!!!!

God is still God

I just need to recognize and acknowledge that God is still awesome no matter what crap I'm going through in my life. No matter if my heart is broken, if things are hard for me to deal with, if relationships are broken, if my day isn't going right, if I'm scared to death of my future, all these things and more - God is still God. I seriously could not be more grateful for that, otherwise where would I be? Where would anyone be if God was not the one solid thing they could rely on? It would be a miserable state.

God, please help me turn my eyes to you during this hard time with the stuff I'm going through to only rely on you as my source. I recognize and acknowledge that you alone can fill my heart when it is hurting, and you alone can make all things new and better. I acknowledge that now, but help me to continually remember that when things get rough. God, You alone are the source of all things good, you alone are my strength and shield!! Help me be filled with you alone, not things that vanish. Thank you so much for who you are. You are the brilliant God and my Creator!!!!!

Countdown

My goodness!!! SBS is almost over, and I cannot handle it. As excited as I am to go home and live normally for a few months, I am getting more and more devastated that there are only 28 days left!!! Time flies when you're havin fun in God's Word. I've spent the majority of my 20th year in Kona Hawaii. Its just amazing to me, its so bitter sweet. I love the life I'm living here so much and I ADORE the people I live with. It's been such a special season in my life and it's hard to see it come to an end. Here's some pics of me and 3 of the 5 roommates I have! We had fun with Alli's photobooth!!!









Also I'm excited because one of these days comin up all of us roommates are going to dress cute and have a photographer (my friend Jenna) take photos of us somewhere beautiful...maybe "Queen's Bath" it's a beautiful small beach. It'll be so awesome cause I'll have something special to frame and remember forever. Nothin will ever replace this season and these friendships, and I'm challenged to remember that each time I say "get me out of Hawaii, I want to be home for the holidays" Life is crazy like that, especially the missionary's lifestyle. It's from one place to the next saying "hi" and "bye" to amazing people along the way. I think I'll learn the trick after a few more years.

Oh, and Happy Thanksgiving and birthday to Alli!!!! :-)

The Most Beautiful

"Can't get you out of my mind,
dreams about you and me all the time.
And when I look into your eyes,
I know I need to have you for all my life
For all my life, yeah

I will be yours forever, will you be mine for good?
We'll live our lives for Him together,
there's no one else I rather would
There's no one else I rather would

You're the most beautiuful of all, my darlin'
the most beautiful of all, my dove
I will cherish and adore you all my life
and I will serve you with my love
The Most Beautiful of all...

I thank the Lord for your love
and everyday I pray for you-and-me-us
I just can't praise Him enough
What a gift it is to give you love
I give you my love

I will be yours forever, will you be mine for good?
We'll live our lives for Him together,
there's no one else I rather would
There's no one else I rather would

You're the most beautiful of all my darlin'
the most beautiful of all, my dove
I will cherish and adore you all my life
and I will serve you with my love

The most beautiful of all my darlin
The most beautiful of all, my dove
I will cherish and adore you, all my life
and I will serve you with my love
The most beautiful of all."

Wow, I just can't wait to share this beautiful reality with the man of my dreams someday. I know he will appreciate me in this way because God has promised me his best. Also I desire to treat him this way, so it needs to go both ways. "What a gift it is to give you love" that is so amazing to me. Praise Him that the man of my dreams will feel this way about me for the rest of my life. :-) Thank you, Father.

Thinking about my Creator

Listening of course to Daniel Lehmann, I am reminded of how amazing MY Creator is!

"We are a people without excuse,
all that's created and all that is good,
speaks of the wonder of God!
And all that is seen and all that is heard
is proof of his unending love for the world.
The voices will never be heard,
but the unspoken truth will endure...

'Cause you are Creator, the brilliant God!
Creation's an echo of all that You are!
The night and the day whisper words from afar,
and they speak of the glory of God,
yeah they speak of the glory of God!

How can I hide from your presence, O God?
You're with me wherever I go.
I look to the sky and I'm wonderin' why,
we ever thought we're in control,
how could we ever think we're in control?

'Cause you are Creator, the brilliant God!
Creation's an echo of all that You are!
The night and the day whisper words from afar,
and they speak of the glory of God,
yeah they speak of the glory of God!

Glory, glory, glory to the Almighty God!
Glory, glory, glory to the Almighty God!
Cause You are Creator the brillinat God,
Creation's an echo of all that You are!
The night and the day whisper words from afar,
and they speak of the glory of God!
Yeah they speak of the glory of God!"

It's nice to take a break from the work I've been doing with Nahum and pause to be reminded of how huge my God is. I don't think about that enough. What's cool is that we have the choice to stop focusing on the small details of our life and look toward him and all is okay. "Take the mirror away from our faces" if you will, so that we no longer are stuck in our crap, cause otherwise we will just get depressed!!!
One thing I need to watch is using the word "awesome" too much. I've been convicted lately of the power of that word, and when I use it flippantly or sarcastically it completely defiles a word that should only describe my Creator. Hmm...food for thought.

It's officially time...

...To hit the sack!!
It's Isaiah week!! I pity those who read this and don't understand SBS lingo. Basically I have had 36 charts to do on this book (the longest book we've charted in the whole school) and it's actually been pretty good. I have to turn it in tomorrow evening and I still have 10 left, but they're pretty short. It's almost 1am and I'm in the class room waiting for Tedi to finish up so we can go to the room. When my vision starts getting blurry, I know it's time to stop studying.

On another note, me and Alli are walking to Mel's house tomorrow (our personal trainer) to spend the evening with her! I'm so excited, being able to get off campus and go to a home is really a breath of fresh air, and to be done with Isaiah as well will be absolutely amazing.

I really need to post more blogs! I thought I'd be doing it everyday, but it's not that easy with this work load. Today Alli and I went on a couple mile walk and talked the whole time about our future homes with our hubbies. It was so much fun, I love expanding my imagination and thinking about those things. God is so good, he has been giving me glimpses of my future husband so much - things about what he looks like, many of his characteristics and what not. It makes me look forward to meeting him lots but at the same time I have such peace that I'm definitely not about to rush it. It's all in God's hands and timing. It sure is fun to plan my wedding and my future home, though. It will be cool to see my life's story unfold over time and see where God takes me as far as missions and future family life. I'm so glad He is who He is!!! The Bible is rad. If you get the chance to do any sort of intensive study then do it. No matter how hard it is it is so worth it, if you keep the right focus. SBS is equevelant to 4 years of seminary!! Sorry I keep talking about it, I'm trying to spread the word though as I'm going to be staffing it next year. :-) woo hooo.

I'm going to try to put up pics sometime on this thing and update my background. Ok well I am officially pooped. Good night and I love you. (whoever this is, probably only me reading it lol).

Through Him I can do this!!

Lots of nothing

I have really been wanting to blog lately but I don't have on specific thing to write about which is sad. there is so much that goes on each day that keeps my mind so busy!

I think the biggest thing right now is that I'm down to 5.5 weeks left of this school! I was unsure if it was ok to be feeling excited about this, until I talked to a lovely Brittish woman from my school about it and she said she was very very excited as well. :o) I don't feel guilty anymore. This school has been so much work and non stop at that for the past 7 months or so, I am definitely ready for a break!!!! Woooooo home for the holidays. I could not be any more excited, I don't think.

On another note...facebook. I got one last week and its been an interesting experience. I'm feeling a little frazzled each time I get online and I have to go to gmail, facebook, myspace and blogspot. So I'm thinking its time to make some sacrifices and give up at least one of those. I'm not sure which one yet but we'll see. Definitely not blogspot, I think its my favorite thing.

Well I think I need to get goin on some hw and also let Alli use her computer. I'm tired. and bloated unfortunately. If I get something amazing to blog I will asap. Peace love and muffins!!

Haishi's!

I love sushi. It's been months since I've had it, so me and a couple of friends (Alli, Dave and Ray) are going in a couple of hours to Haishi's to get yummy sushi. I'm pumped.
My goodness I can't believe how quickly time flies, only 6 weeks til this school is over and I'm HOME! Its just crazy. Well I thought I had lots of stuff to blog about but I cannot really collect my thoughts right now. I'll get back to ya when I can!!

Facebook / gmail / myspace here I come....

The more I seek You

The more I seek You, the more I find You;
The more I find You, the more I love You;

I want to sit at Your feet, drink from the cup in Your hand;
Lay back against You and breathe, feel Your heart beat;
This love is so deep, it's more than I can stand;
I melt in Your peace, it's overwhelming

I want *warm fuzzies*

So this whole missing fall thing is really getting to me. It hit me and Apryl on Halloween when we were stuck in a computer lab doing homework WITHOUT CANDY! What kinda of sick life is that? Halloween with no candy, thats wrong. haha so we actually got some candy corn from one of our leaders, it was pretty homey. I truly miss fall. I miss the "warm fuzzies" this time of year brings to me, inside and out! Warm fuzzie sweaters are great as well as some nice new jeans (which I currently do not have any). Not to mention the literally warm things like hot chocolate, spiced apple cider, hot coffee (thats a joke here most days). I also love the feeling of being bundled up inside by a fire place chatting it up with friends or reading a book by myself. Raking leaves and jumping in the piles, taking walks around the cold / brisk neighborhood, looking intricately at one amazing leaf, lighting candles, baking and the list goes on...

Life is such a funny thing. I am realizing that on this side of heaven I am never completely content where I am, my heart is never satisfied. When I'm home I want to get away and life in paradise, when I'm in paradise I want to go home to another sort of paradise. I honestly don't think I can be completely satisfied no matter where I am. Maybe thats how we are wired? God may not want us to become too comfortable here on earth, so that we can only find our comfort in him. That will truly come to pass when we are with him in heaven - I know for certain I will not want to be anywhere else once I am there. Life is still a funny thing though. That does not change my craving to be home in Oregon....sigh....

I've been thinking a lot lately about marriage. Wow. I have come to see (through certain married friends) that even marriage does not fill the gap in ones heart for love...yet I believe a godly marriage can reflect the love relationship between the Maker and his people. Marriage is such a beautiful thing when done right, and such a disaster when not done under the Lord's guidence. I'm so glad I am waiting for HIS guidence, and that I am able to surrender that area of my life to him. I've been looking at wedding dresses, imaging the perfect songs and colors, even glanced at some engagement rings. This can be a very dangerous thing but also a very exciting thing for me. Dangerous if I dwell too much on it and choose to be unhappy that I'm not there yet. Ah I can't even tap the surface of the depths of my thoughts on this topic. I'm glad I'm single but I also will be happy to meet prince charming. I have full confidence that the man I marry will be so amazing and mysterious to me that I will feel nothing less than I am in a fairy tale...God's timing is key.

Ugh...life is a funny thing....

New routine!

So my lovely roommates Apryl and Mae are amazing swimmers, and they are taking time to teach me how to swim properly! I've never really known how to ...period ... in fact I think I dropped out of swimming lessons in kindergarten lol, cause it was too hard. Anyway I've been a wimp since then and lately I've really come to think that a workout like swimming could benefit me tremendously. It's cardio, so it burns fat, but it also tightens and lengthens my muscles! I am so blessed to have these girls be so willing to help me, they are so patient. I can't wait until I get it down and I can go swim lots of laps in my own lane. :) Such an exciting adventure. It's also a great workout because it is a couple mile walk to the public pool, plus an hour swim, then we walk back to base...NICE!
So the new workout routine for me is: Monday/Friday morning walk with Alli up and down the hills, Tuesday/Thursday weight training with my favorite personal trainer ever, Mel, and Wednesday/Saturday walk to the pool with Arpyl and Mae and swim!! Sunday rest...aka swim at the beach. I am so excited because it is a switch up each day, never the same thing. Hopefully I can keep this type of routine up when I come home in 7 weeks (CRAZY) at the YMCA. Then I come back here next March and it will be back to this routine for sure. Ah I am high on life right now! :o) I'm also drinking a 20 oz iced Americano so I am able to get through my Jeremiah homework...oh goodness I will be a crazy one today.


Loves!

Photos of the Event :o)

Girls' night in!

Last night was the night I've been waiting for all quarter...girls' night at Sonja's house! It was so much fun. We had a get together there first quarter of this school -in May I think - and it was about time to have another one. Sonja and John have such a beautiful house with a spectacular view of the ocean and the SUNSET was out of this world. I'll put up some pics asap. When we first got there she gave us each little goodie bags (she's such a susie homemaker) with candy etc. and had strips of paper, enough for each of us to write something to each woman in our class as an encouragement. It was fun..I didn't get around to writing one for each lovely lady though. But I will over this next week hopefully. Then we baked cookies!!!! YUM. Us room mates have been dying to bake basically since we got here but with no oven or kitchen really, it was impossible. She provided sugar cookie dough that we decorated and then leah and I put mixed a huge batch of chocolate chip cookie dough and m'm it was perfect! After that we had a devotional time and prayed for Leah as she is still awaiting her finances. It was a lovely time!

Ah speaking of this week coming up, I'm SCARED! We are studying Jeremiah and to be perfectly honest I haven't even read the second half yet because the first half took me so long. My eye sight has gone since I've been here, from all the reading. It's really sad actually, I'll need to check into glasses when I get home. I think thats it for now, I'll put pics up lata!

Funniest person...ever?

Oh miss Alli, where would I be without you? We have the best photoshoots in the world... this is dedicated to you ;) hahaaha

Nothing in particular...

Ah I'm in a blogging mood - not really sure what to write about, but I want to write something. Today we got basically every room on campus sprayed for bugs - which was a blessing for sure. However, first they sprayed our room - so I went to the computer lab to do my homework. Then they came in the computer lab so I had to go to my classroom. Then they came into the class room so I went back to my room. Then to the computer lab. What a cycle. But I've finished Joel - now it's on to Micah. I'm not feeling to rushed though, because we have 2 more days off this week to do hw.

I am getting excited for coming hom in two months though. I'm really looking forward to going to Ohio for Christmas, it will definitely be hard with my grandparent's conditions, but it will be nice to see all the cousins and what not. Anyway I am definitely excited to go home, I'm ready for that step I'm pretty sure.

On the other hand my situation is bitter sweet. I honestly have no idea what I'll do without my 'Hawaii family.' That being all my roommates, some classmates, my school leaders etc. Especially Leah and Alli. I've gotten so close to these wonderful people, and shared more of my life with them than probably anyone else I know. It will be weird not sleeping by them every night. I'm excited to see my friend's babies on the other hand - I am pumped for that part. This blog is pretty boring so I'm going to peace out and get back to Micah. Oh and by the way...

(6:8) He has shown you , O man what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God." Hits me every time for lots of reasons....

My chains are gone!

Wow, one thing I love about weekends is no homework, which means there is more time to think upon the things God is doing in my life. I am at a beautiful peace at this very moment in time with my relationship with the Lord. The funny thing about relationship with God is that there are so many aspects to it - just like a relationship with a person. One day I may be expressing my anger to him - and he is there to listen. One day I might just want to worship and praise him - and he is there to receive it. Somedays I might have lots of burdens on my mind and heart - and he is there to listen too! But I just listened to the current song on my myspace by Chris Tomlin "Amazing Grace" which leads into the song "my chains are gone" Here's the lyrics to the whole song:

Amazing grace how sweet the sound

That saved a wretch like me;

I once was lost, but now I'm found;

Was blind, but now I see....

My chains are gone, I've been set free;

My God, my Savior has ransomed me;

And like a flood, his mercy rains,

Unending love, Amazing grace!

We've had this song a few times for worship and everytime it gets to 'my chains are gone' I can't help but cry! It puts a new perspective on things when I look at my life that way. I no longer need to be a slave to sin, because my God and Savior has ransomed me from it! WOW. I am free to live for God - what an enormous blessing! This freedom came with a HUGE cost - the perfect son of God being destroyed for the sake of ME. Why would I ever choose to sin after I know that? It makes me sad that I still continue to sin on a daily basis, yet the important thing is that I am not a slave to those and I can turn from them and worship God with my freedom.

Thank you Lord for ransoming me! My life would be pointless if you had not saved me from the sin I was once a slave to. Thank you for this new perspective and the fact that I get to live for your name's sake. I could write about this all day Lord, I just pray you keep this fresh in my mind and sealed in my heart so I will not waiver form the amazing love and grace you so awesomely offered me! THANK YOU FOR LIFE, LORD!

Wow.

2 Kings 9:20

So I am still working on the King's assignment that I wrote about in my previous blog and it is so funny sometimes to read through the stories of the Bible. There is nothing deep or spiritual about this verse, but I just love the last part "It looks like the driving of Jehu son of Nimshi; for he drives like a maniac." haha that seriously made my day. The Bible gives some great sidenotes sometimes and I love it.

On another note, the other day my waterbottle lid broke and it was really sad / pathetic / ghetto, so I have been shopping online for a Nalgene bottle that would rock my world. So silly, I k now but when I get my mind set to something I need to know all about it. Anyway I went to walmart today and found a super cute and durable waterbottle that is like Nalgene :o) Here's a picture lol. It's good when the little things in life make me happy.

Well guess I should get back into the Word, can't get enough of it. Seriously though, before starting this school I thought I would be burnt out on reading the Bible after not too long. However, the mysterious thing about the Bible is that the more you read, the more you want to know about it. It will never get old - and it was intended for that I'm sure.

Blessings have a great day!

Sanity....please....

Oh goodness, it is about 10:30 pm and I am studying my brains out working on a detailed questionare about each king in the book of kings. Ah. I'm making pretty good progress, I think, but there's still so much to do. I'm on my 7th king out of 39 kings who ruled over Israel and Judah. I bet this blog is super exciting to everyone reading it...but I need to vent somewhere. ;o) By God's grace all this homework (cause there's still a couple of assignments besides this one and the OT timeline I did last night) WILL BE DONE BY SATURDAY AT 7PM!! Praise God.

Speaking of praising God...I really need to seek Him right now with my December + plans. I'm torn two directions. I need clarity badly.

I just went to McDonalds with Mike, Ray and Dave and I hate McDonalds, it disgusts me. But I ate a small fry which tasted OK at the time, but I am feeling like a grease monkey right about now. Ew.

So that's about all that's on my mind right now, sort of. Not to mention those 3 guys are in the room next to me doing their homework and making farting / monkey / beatboxing noises. It's pretty fabulous, I love them dearly. :o)

Pray for my sanity in this time. Thank you all who read this!

Hehe.

My outreach!

So I have been praying and praying to figure out what to do for outreach after this school is over (Dec. 19th) because we need to know by tomorrow so we can start figuring out flight stuff.

My niece Mackenzi moved in with my parents and little sis this past weekend, and it hit me ! That's what I'm supposed to do for outreach. Hang out with my beautiful 13 year old niece and try to give her some godly guidence in this crazy weird world. Here's a picture of her!

Isn't she one of the prettiest girls around? I think so! Check out that beautiful hair! Dang girl. Anyway I am so excited, and one of these days I'm gonna buy a plane ticket for December 20 back to PDX! I can't wait. It will be a nice break from Hawaii and school for about 4 months, then hopefully (I still need to press into prayer about this) I will come back here to Kona to staff SBS in April. I think God made me for missions.... :o)

ON a different note, I went to my workout class at 6am this morning like I have been the past 4 months, and either I'm getting more out of shape...or my theory is that Mel is turning it into a boot camp! haha jk but it's getting really intense. It inspires me to become healthier but its hard with all this campus food! When I go home it will all be homemade and organic foods...and lots of workouts at the Y. I've lost about 30 pounds over the last year - hallejuia - but there's still so many things I would like to work on with my body. M'm...organic food...cant wait!

Well thats about it for now. Here comes the King's timeline...wooooo!

ROOMMATE BEACH DAY!

Yay! Today me and my roomies + Amber went to Hapuna beach, thanks to Dave (who is now on outreach) for letting us use his car, and giving us $$ for gas!! It was a lovely day and I think I got some color, which was great. It was a perfect Sunday with nice relaxing...and afterward we went to Costco for some healthy food for once! :o) It was so good.

How often do you see a car full of beautiful girls ridin on the highway in Hawaii blasting worship music raising our hands outside their windows to praise God? It's rare I tell ya. Well it was a ton of fun. It was a very blessed day. Thanks roomies for being so wonderful these past 7 months...I will miss you when this special season of our lives is over in a couple of months! You all have truly been a God-send and my life would NOT be the same without you. Mwa and blessings.

Iced Hazelnut Latte

M'm Alli bought me a yummy drink at the Aloha cafe just now and I want to give her a shout out! Alli!!! You are a blessing to my life! You are so generous with your time, money and abilities. In fact right now I am using her computer because she is willing to sacrifice a few minutes for me to write a blog...and she has bought me more coffee drinks than I can even remember. So thank you girl for being so generous and selfless with the things God has given you. You would drop anything to pray for or with me no matter how you may feel. I LOVE you (1 Cor. 13), and I want to love you more. Keep up the good work. Hazelnut has been my flavor the last week or so...it's funny how that changes from time to time.

So tomorrow is the Iron Man here in Kona. I forgot to sign up to volunteer, but my roommates will and it will be good to hear how it goes. I got to do security in 05 when I was here for my DTS, it was a great time! But now with all the homework in SBS I think it will be best not to be too focued on Iron Man. This weekend Hosea is my iron man! haha no but he has quite an amazing story...God told him to marry a prostitute to represent God and his relationship with Israel who had basically prostituted themselves to idolatry. What an amazing man to follow that call despite what other people thought about him. Food for thought....

Well Alli's in a talkative mood right now so I better get off the internet and chat it up! Peace.

Charting the Prophets...

So this week is pretty intense..it is the beginning of 3rd quarter for SBS (woo hoo!!) but its sucking the life out of me. We are learning a new method of charting for the prophets (Sorry, sbs lingo is crazy - its basically another language) and my brain is very overwhelmed. My neck is very sore because I have been getting stressed and it's all going there! But God is still good, and I know that studying the prophets in my last 3 months here will be life changing, it will bring the rest of the Bible into perspective.

So about the whole missing autumn (I just realized I spelled it wrong in the last blog!) I am doing better today. Currently I am in the computer lab on work duty and I am sitting under a freezing air conditioner (one of the only few on campus) and I am actually cold! All I want is a warm latte from either Starbucks or the Aloha cafe to enjoy...hazelnut or pumpkin spice? Also all morning in class all I could think about was "I want to walk down to a close beach and get some color today" how would I be able to do that if I were at home especially this time of year? Thats a nice epiphany for me...even though there is no time in my schedule to go to the beach.

Wow I write a lot. I am seriously excited though to be able to look back at these one day and remember how I felt at a certain time. Sorry if it bores whoever reads this! :o) OH and another thing that came up today is that the possiblity of me going to Mozambique for outreach is unlikely right now, which means I need to spend some time with God to find out where the heck he wants to send me. I think I have a good idea....

Until next time,

The Britster

Ahh autmn...

So I live in beautiful Kona Hawaii, and I am super blessed with God's marvelous creation that I get to enjoy every day...too often I take it for granted.

However, I really miss autmn / fall! It is my absolute favorite season and I just adore the beauty of it. I know it seems silly to live in paradise and to want cold weather, but that is how I'm feeling right now. In fact, it is a bit of a struggle for me because it makes me homesick, which I know only God can take away from me. I miss the smell of baked goods, pumpkin spiced candles (we can't have candles in our rooms here on base) and homemade hot apple cider with cinnamon sticks! Yummmm. The closest I can get to autmn is to go to Starbucks and get a pumpkin spice latte...which I am definitely not complaining about. Those drinks are delicious. It is just hard sometimes being away from the things I love. Also for me, I am a moutain / lake person rather than beach / HOT weather person..that's just how I am. I really miss that I can't go to the pumpkin patch this year...that is one of my favorite things EVER!! Last year I went with Chad and his fam and we had caramel apples, a haymaze frenzy, pumpkin ice cream, and fresh squeezed apple cider! YUM. I miss bundling up in layers and looking cute. I think I need a Jesus attitude makeover....but before that I just want to declare "THANK YOU LORD for creating the beautiful seasons! Thank you for fall and all that entails and that it really touches my heart deeply. You have created MANY types of beauty in this world, part of which I am living in now for the past 7 months. Thank you that I get to experience different culture, and that my true home is in heaven. If my home was only my house in Oregon, I would never be satisfied."

Welcome to blogspot!

Yay I am really excited for my blogspot! It'll be easire to express myself than a myspace blog that not many people read anyway...not that too many will read this. But hopefully I will keep this site for a long time so I can remember how far I've come. I'll be posting one shortly if one of my lovely roommates lets me use their laptop so I can put some picture up. Adios!