December 30, 2010

Spent most of the day in the pool!  The weather was so nice and clear that I even spotted 2 islands that I didn't (couldn't) see yesterday because it wasn't as clear!!  Enjoyed a luau for dinner and loved all the entertainment!  Took lots of videos and some pictures.  I'll post them soon, but I'm too tired to do it now!!  Off to bed I go.....Aloha!

Hawaii!!

December 28, 2010 - After getting up at 3:45 a.m. on Tuesday, December 28, arriving to Gerald Ford Airport in Grand Rapids by 5:00 a.m., flying to Chicago (spending 3 entertaining hours at O'Hare), flying to Los Angeles and boarding yet another plane...WE MADE IT!!!!  We landed in Maui around 6:30 p.m. Hawaii time.  We rented a couple of cars, a yellow VW Beetle and a Chevrolet Malibu, and had to figure out how to cram 8 people and all of their luggage into the tiny little spaces that these cars offered....boy do I wish I had taken pictures of this process!  We made it work without anyone getting permanently injured (sorry, Chase) and arrived basically in one piece to our home for the next 10 days.  We got all settled in and crashed out since most of us had been up for just about 24 hours!  Who knew that sitting down travelling could wear you out so much!

December 29, 2010 - What a beautiful day!  We spent most of the day just relaxing in the pool, walking on the beach and just hanging out.  Chase, Anna and Dad went grocery shopping so we're all stocked up on some food, Dr. Pepper and Coca Cola!!  The important stuff :)  Some clouds rolled in early afternoon, so Chase, Anna, Blake and I drove into town to try to find some toy boats for the boys to race.  We went to Wal-Mart and K-Mart, all the comforts of home! ;)  No such luck finding some racing boats, and the sun was shining again, so we headed back home and chilled for a bit.  We ate dinner by the pool and enjoyed watching the sun getting ready to set.  After dinner, Chase got this great idea that he needed to body surf in the pool...that was pretty entertaing for a good 45 minutes!  We spent the rest of the night hanging out in the hot tub watching the sun set and the stars come out.  It was pretty good first day of vacation!!

Another miracle...

I just read an update on a friend of mine who is in the process of adopting children from Ethiopia.  Mind you I'm sitting in my world civilization class as i'm reading all the wonderful news of her and her husband meeting their children for the first time.  I have tears just reading about the miracle of life.  It doesn't matter how these children came into their lives, they are their children and they are beautiful.  There is a picture posted of them as a family of four and i have to say that one just made the tears spill over.  I am so thankful that God has paved the way for them to complete their family.  They have trusted in Him for years and He has been faithful and provided for them.  April and Brian, my heart overflows with happiness for you as your family is complete!!  God is so, so good!!!

I need....

Praying for patience, grace and mercy....My days are challenging and a little crazy, but I love my job and couldn't imagine doing anything else....

just getting started

i've been thinking that i want to start journaling for awhile now, so i'm thinking that blogging just might be the way to do it since i enjoy being on the computer so much :)  i don't know how often i'll be on here, but i plan on using this to just write down what i'm going through, what inspires me, what touches my heart, what my hopes and dreams are, what makes me laugh, cry and whatever else i feel like putting on here!  there may be days where all i post is song lyrics because music speaks to me and touches my heart and soul in ways that surprise me often

this will be a glimpse into what makes me, me...