The Good Stuff

You ready for another one of my lists?

Things that have excited me lately:

- Stepping aside from my usual Chai Latte at Starbucks to get a Peppermint White Chocolate Mocha. It tastes like Christmas in your mouth!

- Watching 1-year-old Brookie digging through my purse, finding my camera and trying to make it work and then letting 3-year-olds Brody and Ethan take some pictures. They are too cute!

Brookie sitting next to my purse!

Brody's picture of Ethan.

Ethan's picture of Brody.

Brody and Ethan... cute, huh?

- Talking to my best friends on the phone. Even if it's just for a minute.

- Hanging out with my 3 and 4-year-old Cubbies at Awanas and listening to them recite their Bible verses. They are so smart. :)

- Walking into a clean office. We spent all day Thursday getting rid of the clutter... and we're taking bets on how long it's gonna last.

- Hanging out with the Kims. This could be an entire list in itself...

- Playing with Sissy Kim. Actually, her name is Kaimilani, but we call her Sissy. She is one of our 4th grade tweens and I love her!

- Making jewelry with Steph, Sissy's mom. She has more beads than any amount of beads I've ever seen and she makes beautiful jewelry!

- Being in their home because it's so welcoming and homey. Right now it's all decorated for Christmas and Steph is always cooking something. Last time I was their she was making soup and we drank hot apple cider and listened to Christmas music while we made jewelry!

- Decorating the Christmas tree we put up in our house! Steph saw that we didin't have any ornaments on it so she gave us some that she had in her garage. Just extras, you know! They are cute and I got home and wanted to decorate the tree at 11pm. And then I put up lights. I was too excited to wait!

Our beautiful Christmas tree!

- Dancing with the tween girls on Friday... a little bit a music and a little bit of dancing and you've got yourself a little dance party!

- And... drum roll please........ yes, OU will be going to the National Championship! Boomer Sooner!!

Here's our mascot. The Sooner Schooner! Go OU!

(I had the privilege of teaching everyone at Thanksgiving what a Sooner is!)

These are a few things I've been writing down in my journal lately so that whenever I come across a not-so-good day I can go back and read about the things that make me excited and the things I am thankful for! I call it "The Good Stuff" list. :)

Headed home in 10 days!!!

Thanksgiving Firsts

Thanksgiving in Maui was quite an experience! I experienced a lot of 'firsts' this Thanksgiving, one of the major ones being that it all happened in Maui!

Some other Thanksgiving 'firsts':

- First time to be away from home for Thanksgiving. It had to happen sometime! I called my family just after they had finished eating and I still had to finish the dessert I was making for our Thanksgiving. I missed them a lot.

- First time to go to a Thanksgiving Eve service. Hope Chapel put on an amazing service. The church was decorated in an enchanting way and my favorite part of it all was the hula. Every time we have a special occasion there is always hula and it is always my favorite. I like that every move means something and together it tells a story. It really is a beautiful and incredibly graceful dance.

- First time to make pumpkin muffins. :) Well, leave it to me to wait until the day of Thanksgiving to go to the grocery store. At least there were lots of other people there... it made me feel better for being so last minute. Of course they were out of canned pumpkin, EXCEPT in the last two Pumpkin Bread Kits left on the shelf. I contemplated buying the kit just for the canned pumpkin and still making pumpkin pie with that, but after so much time in the store I gave up on that idea and decided to make pumpkin muffins with cream cheese icing. They were good! 

- First time to eat Thanksgiving meal with 25-30 other people. Compared to the max of about 12 people that are usually at our house it seemed like a whole lot! The interns were all invited to go to the Walshes home. Four of us went and the other four went to other homes. So Kim, Joshua, John and I all joined the Walshes and several other families, including the Kims. The Kims are a family I've gotten to know pretty well since I've been here. Their daughter Kaimilani is in tweens and her mom Stephanie is always inviting me over to make jewelry with her (she has more beads than all the beads I've ever seen combined! And she makes beautiful jewelry). I love hanging out with the Kims. It was was truly a blessing to be invited to this Thanksgiving!

First time to hang around outside on Thanksgiving, let alone eat our Thanksgiving meal outside! Obviously it makes sense when you live in Maui and the weather was perfect for a meal outside. Usually I put on nice pants and a sweater for my Thanksgiving outfit, but this time I wore a dress... outside.

First time to get made fun of for "dressing up" on Thanksgiving. :) Dressing up was wearing a fairly casual, in my opinion, dress - nothing fancy. I definitely wasn't the only one to wear a dress, but it did get commented on. I could have worn shorts and a t-shirt and that would not have gotten commented on. Hilarious!

Hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Countdown till home: 3 weeks and 1 day

Christmas All Around

One month from today I will be on a red-eye flight headed home for Christmas! I don't think I am more excited about anything else but going home for Christmas. Of course, as soon as the month of October rolls around everyone starts talking about Christmas, stores begin getting their Christmas things out, Christmas songs are playing everywhere, and half the commercials on TV have a Christmas theme of some sort (like the Hershey's commercial that's been playing for years and years now where the little kisses play "We Wish You a Merry Christmas"). Even though all these things are happening here in Maui just as much as anywhere else (well, maybe not quite as much) it still feels nothing like Christmas around here. And I don't think many people here disagree with that statement...

Some of the things that make it feel like Christmas to me are cold weather, scarfs, mittens, pea coats, snow flurries, breathing in crisp air, eating warm things like oatmeal and chili and drinking warm things like cider and hot chocolate, lots and lots of Christmas lights, evergreen trees and their smell, the smell of cinnamon or cranberry, many more things, but mostly being with your family and the people you most enjoy spending your time with. 

So things are a little different here. For instance, yesterday I walked into the children's ministry building to switch out my laundry, because that is where the washer and dryer are where we do our laundry, and I immediately heard some people playing and singing in a room down the hall. The best part was not only that they were singing "Santa's Coming to Town" followed by "Silent Night" but that these songs were accompanied by the ukelele. Only in Hawaii will you hear Christmas songs being played on the ukelele. It was great and definitely made me laugh a little to myself only because I had never heard it before. So that's Christmas Maui-style for ya. :)

Counting down the days till I'm home! 

(that would be 31 in case you were wondering)

Pics from a couple years ago when we went looking at Christmas lights:

Me and Christian

Erin and Christian

Intern Retreat '08: Keanae Peninsula

It started and ended with a very windy (as in hairpin turns, not gusts of wind) drive in a 15-passenger van (plus a van for cargo) with the Hope Chapel interns, Pastor Craig, Janna, Jason and Marla. We set out for an adventure to the east side of Maui where everywhere you go it looks like your living in a postcard. We stayed in what they call the Kepler Cabin on the Keanae Peninsula, just off the Road to Hana, and spent the weekend full of hiking, swimming, cave exploring, picture taking, game playing and eating lots of food, lots!

Just to give you a little taste of what went on as we skipped work on Friday and church on Sunday to pack in a few fun-filled things that are a must when you live in Maui:

- We stayed on Keanae Peninsula - In a little cabin all twelve of us stayed and the best part was all sharing one bathroom. haha. Okay, maybe not the best part! We just got to chill together, get to know each other, play cards, and rest. Then you could just step outside and have a great view of the ocean just a few steps away.

Kepler Cabin where we stayed.

Just outside the cabin.

The group in front of our 15-passenger van.

- Hiking through the Bamboo Forest - starting out easy, squeezing through the thick of the bamboo stalks, climbing over slippery rocks in a river bed and finally finding ourselves looking at a beautiful waterfall and swimming in the pool there. On the way back we even swung on vines just like Tarzan!

Before we got to the bamboo part of the Bamboo Forest hike.

Walking along the rocks. Actually, more like crawling when you actually get going, because it's so slippery!

Girls in front of the waterfall.

Swinging on a vine!

- Exploring Wainapanapa - Swimming in a pool where there are caves to explore, swimming and feeling our way through the cave in the pitch black, and emerging into the sunlight at the top. Then just taking in the beautiful view at Wainapanapa.

In the water by the Wainapanapa caves.

- Ohea Gulch - This is also known as the Seven Sacred Pools, but apparently that's only what tourists say so in order for me to be less touristy and more local-y I will go with Ohea Gulch or the Ohea Pools. It was gorgeous. We swam around and jumped off the rocks into the water.

Seven Pools

I'm jumping off into the water (upper left).

Me and Whit

- Bird Island Hike - At first we were a little complainy at the tall itchy grass we had to walk through , not knowing where we were really headed. I looked up to see if there were birds, there were not. A little while later you realize why you will walk through itchy grass to get to the destination. Pictures cannot capture the amazing view! We hung out, had a little worship time, and the boys jumped off the cliff.

You can't really tell but this is looking out over a cliff. It was so pretty!

From here you can see Kaenae Peninsula where we were staying. It's the peninsula right behind the rock in the pic.

Looking out over the cliff... this is where the boys jumped in!

Bamboo Forest

Get together the interns and mix in a bit (or a lot) of bamboo, pretty scenery, rocks to climb up and rocks to jump off of and you get a pretty great Saturday outing in Maui:

Entering the Bamboo Forest... what an adventure!

When they call it a bamboo forest they are not kidding!

Monkeys

More bamboo

Hardest part of the hike! You had to use ropes to climb up the rock.

View from the top... it is pretty steep. And scarier going down if you ask me!

At the end of the hike there is a place where you can swim around and climb up onto the rocks where the waterfall is and jump into the water. 

Some of us decided to do flips off the rock into the water. I made John for first and here's his oh-so-graceful back flip.

There's me. I over-rotated and ended up landing on my back! It didn't feel too good, but it was still fun!

Josh pulling a front flip in some crazy kind of form.

Worship Louder.

I went and saw Body of Lies last night. It's a really great movie and Leonardo DiCaprio is in it and I think he's great. Just reflect with me for a second on all the amazing movies he has been in: Blood Diamond, The Departed, Catch Me If You Can, Romeo + Juliet! And in my opinion people just need to get past the fact that he was in Titanic. Who cares! He is still a great actor. Anyway, I have already has a few discussions about this. :)

Body of Lies is about a CIA agent (DiCaprio) who teams with an agent in Jordan to find and stop an Islamic terrorist who has been bombing civilians. Basically. It's a pretty intense movie and obviously people died. Throughout the movie I found myself feeling so sad for the people. And I'm not just talking about the innocent civilians, although that was definitely heartbreaking. What really got me was thinking about the millions of Muslims in the world that live their lives with a horribly false hope! I know it's just a movie, but depressingly these things actually happen. You know about it because you saw men kill themselves for the purpose of crashing into the Twin Towers just to kill others. There are people in this world that live just so they can die for the god they call Allah - "jihad" is what we have heard it called. 

Isn't it insane that there are Muslims out there that are so dedicated to their religion and to their god that they are willing to literally blow themselves up for it? They are so completely deceived and it breaks my heart to think about it.

And, yet, we believe in and serve a loving, kind, merciful, and gracious God who gives us salvation as a gift. All we have to do is believe! But so many times we go throughout our day without even acknowledging Him. We live how we want, we do what we want, and then we pray when things are going the way we want. We take Him for granted over and over again. Thank the Lord for grace! 

So all of this made me think... about how lucky I am and about how I am living each day. Am I living in such a way that says I'm thankful for the freedom I have in Christ?

Well, I can't quite seem to be able to piece together in words what I really want to get out, but here are two of my resulting thoughts:

- I feel greatly challenged to be even more dedicated to my God, the one true God, who offers a real hope and a real future (Jer. 29:11) and to do more than just believe for the sake of Christ. He's done do much for me so what can I do in response?

- I am motivated to pray for Muslims. All of them. Even the ones I hate with a passion, because I do. I hate what they do with a passion. Why pray for them? Because I believe there is great power in prayer. And I believe we are called to hope for salvation for all people, because Christ does (1 Tim. 2:3-4). (so don't be a bitter Jonah! If you know what I mean).

One last thing... just a little story. Yes, a story! It's partially being told secondhand and I'm not much of a storyteller, but here goes:

While I was in Israel this Spring (end of April to May) with some of my Kanakuk Institute family, we had the opportunity to spend time in Jerusalem where we roamed through the streets and alleys of what they call the Christian, Jewish, Muslim, and Armenian Quarters. There are thousands of things to bargain for from the plethora of stores that are jam-packed together. Very touristy! I can't remember where his shop was or what his name was, but there is a guy that we were told we had to go talk to to hear his testimony. When I went he wasn't there, but some of friends were a able to catch him at a later time and got to hear his story firsthand. This guy, we'll call him Zach, is part of an underground church within the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO). If you know anything about the PLO, then you know they are mostly known as a terrorist group out to destroy Israel. What I never knew was that within the PLO there are "hawks" and there are "doves." In basic terms the hawks are the ones that encourage war as the means of doing things and the doves desire to do things in a more peaceful manner. Zach's story made short is that he was once a Muslim PLO hawk and is now a Christian PLO dove. He is still in the PLO, which sounds crazy, but he has the opportunity of telling others about Christ in a way that none of us would ever have the opportunity to do. He risks his life to run a church within the PLO that if found out could get him killed! As he told my friends about his life he stopped to ask them, "Do you worship in your church?" They replied with the obvious answer, "Well, yeah, we do." His response, "worship louder." Woah. What an impacting statement. He continued to tell them of his church and how they feel so lucky to be able to even go to church, but how they also cannot worship like we can. See, when they go to church their worship is silent. Whatever they do they can never be heard worshipping the Lord. They can only dream of worshipping the way we get to worship. So, worship louder.

"For you were called to freedom, brethren; only do not turn your freedom into an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another." Galatians 5:13

Fall Musicales

Guess the musical from the lyrics:

A. "Chicks and ducks and geese better scurry, when I take you out in the surrey, when I take you out in the surrey with the fringe on top!"

B. "You can dance, you can jive, having the time of your life..."

C. "Took her bowling in the Arcade, we went strolling drank lemonade, we made out under the dock, we stayed out till ten o'clock"

D. "Take my hand, take a breath, pull me close and take one step, keep your eyes locked on mine, and let the music be your guide."

E. "I could have danced all night! And still have begged for more. I could have spread my wings and done a thousand things I've never done before" 

F. "It's all about popular! It's not about aptitude, it's the way your viewed, so it's very shrewd to be, very very popular, like me!"

G. "It's a privilege to pee!"

*answers at the bottom of post :)

Obviously, I really like musicals! I think if I lived in New York I would have to make sure I wasn't living on the streets from spending all of my rent money on going to see musicals on Broadway! Which are quite amazing in my opinion. 

In the past 27 hours I have been to the mall twice and have watched two very, very different musicals... both which took place in the mall.

Musical #1: High School Musical 3

My thoughts:

-Never heard of it? I would have to question whether or not you are American or maybe even human... it is all the craze of little girls, tween girls, teenage girls, girls (and maybe even a few young boys - in secret of course) everywhere!

-I am not ashamed to admit that I have seen all three and therefore feel like I have the right to compare them. The conclusion of this being that HSM 3 is by far the best one!

 Just a few reasons why I think so: although it's still cheesy it's not as cheesy as 1 & 2, the choreography is a lot more advanced and is actually done really well (a lot more practice and perfection and a lot more money spent, it's obvious), best story line of the three, and I could see this actually being performed on a stage... on Broadway.

-My favorite characters are Ryan Evans and Rocket Man. Not Gabriella or Troy.

-I would definitely watch it again... let me rephrase: I will watch it again!

Musical #2: Urinetown

My thoughts:

-Never heard of it? I'm not surprised in the least. I basically knew nothing about it going in except that it was supposed to be very witty and entertaining.

-It definitely had witty parts and entertaining ones, too, but it was not my favorite musical. I do have to give it quite a bit of credit though for the fact that it was put on by "Maui On Stage" and took place in a tiny theatre in the mall. Considering the circumstances it was done well!

-If you're still wondering, Urinetown is about a time when a drought has caused a huge water shortage and as a result people are no longer allowed to have private restrooms and must pay to pee in public amenities that are controlled by a corporation called Urine Good Company. It's satirical and witty yet different and somewhat strange!

-I wouldn't necessarily tell anyone to see it or to not see it, a lot of it depends on your taste and sense of humor!

All this talk of musicals makes me want to listen to a musical soundtrack. Too bad the only one I actually have is the Rent soundtrack so I guess I'll listen to that one!

Answers to above "Guess the musical from the lyrics" quiz:

A. Oklahoma!

B. Mamma Mia

C. Grease

D. High School Musical 3

E. My Fair Lady

F. Wicked

G. Urinetown

Just for the record: Today is October 26th making this two months that I have been in Maui. Only ten more months here... crazy.

Happy Mauiversary!