Aloha!

We're in Hawaii!!!! 

I warned ya'll that these crazy blog posts were coming. My weekend started fantastic with Impact360 Alumni Reunion [which so completely deserves it's own blog post that it will get it] and some of my best friends, continued with me in an airport for several consecutive hours [saved only by several phone calls from some special people] and ended with me arriving in Hawaii to spend a week with my family!!! Hawaii has always been on our 'we must go here before we die' family vacation list...and we're finally checking it off!!! So yes, there will be a lot of these crazy blog posts. There are too many memories happening to skip this part :) So Day 1....go! 

Firstly, jet lag stinks. My day started at 4:50 because my body convinced my brain it was actually 10:50. I finally gave up trying to force myself back to sleep around 5:45 and dragged myself out of bed to the back porch. Although I sulked about it, this actually ended up being a huge blessing in disguise. I got to do my quiet time to the sound of the ocean as the sun came up over Hawaii. I'd say that's a definite win ;) 

We ended up walking to breakfast [since it was right across the road] and I got to barely explore a few pieces of the beautiful place that's going to be home for the next 6ish days. Needless to say, it's unlike much else I've ever seen before. 

The colors here are vibrant and living, and it's impossible to turn anywhere without feeling like God was probably showing off a little bit when He created this island. 

Hawaii is well known for it's white & black sand beaches, so we spent the rest of our afternoon beach hunting! I think the original plan was to visit as many of the white sand beaches as we could before we headed to black sands, but we walked down our very first beach and decided not to leave. Ironically, the one we chose used to be an old military training ground...so they warned us explicitly that we were not to touch any left over weaponry that might be lying around! The boys were only slightly disappointed ;) 

The highlight of our day was not only the beach...but the animals it included. And by animals I mean sea turtles. I got to swim with a real life, wild, it was trying to swim away from me, sea turtle!! I even got to pet it...although after I tried it turned around and kind of gave me a 'girl, back off' look. After that I left well enough alone. But this was definitely the highlight of my day :) 

After we absorbed as much sand at the beach as we possibly could, we headed back to the hotel & jumped straight in the pool. With this event comes a confession: I'm probably the most sunburned I've been in a VERY long time as a result of these decisions. I refuse to post a picture, because I'm hoping it will turn into a tan before anyone realizes it's happened :D 

 Now we're fixing frozen pizzas for dinner [which honestly are just about my most favorite things ever] and settling in for a night of family movies. I'm sitting out on our balcony typing this blog post, which is quickly becoming my favorite place in the hotel. It's quiet and peaceful and you can barely hear the ocean in the background...the perfect environment for writing & praying & journaling in the morning :) The time change is a little crazy...starting your evening right around the same time your best friends are ending theirs' gives you a very small conversation window. But I am thankful for friendships that continue, even over long distances! :)

Day 1: complete!!! Tomorrow we're planning on doing a LOT of driving, so here's to long hours in the car and lots of roadtripping music :) Aloha! 

In matters of housekeeping, I'm linking up with the following lovely ladies today!! Click, follow, and make some new friends!! :) 

Lakefront Brand of Lazy.

The family has been out on the lake for the past 4 days, and it was lovely. I love the lake. I always claimed the right to be a beach girl, and I still hold to that definitely, but I will openly admit the lake is growing on me :) We kind of follow our own schedule, which I guess can really only be expected when you put the weekend, sun rays, boating and beautiful sunsets all in the same place! Weirdly enough, I actually missed blogging :) So here is the typical, catch up, let me put my pictures in a blog post, post!

Israel: For those who don't know, my family spent 5 years of our life living in a neighborhood called Kfar Shmaryahu in the country of Israel. I really should blog more about it. Surprisingly, since we've moved back to the states there hasn't been very much slowing down long enough to actually miss living there, at least on my part. But I actually took the time to sit down and sift through some old pictures the other day, and I officially MISS IT. Big time.

Heart Cities: I think I jokingly told somebody once that while my heart would always be in Texas with my family, I'd lost it completely as soon as I stepped into the Savannah city limits. I've recently discovered that I might not have been joking at all. Savannah held the title as favorite city of all time up until last April, where it now has to share (probably forever) with the beauty that is Charleston, South Carolina. In the middle of the upcoming realization that school is about to start and I'm about to move away from my family, it makes me smile to think that I'll be moving back to two of the most peaceful places I've ever been privileged to be.

Trucks: I very seriously told a friend of mine once that Hummer Trucks were perhaps one of the ugliest cars I've ever seen. Maybe it's the fact that I've seen a bajillion & one of them over the course of this summer, but I take it back. They're kinda growing on me.

Luxury: The lakehouse finally has furniture!!! "Bethany, it took you this long?" Yes. Yes it did. But after a weekend of sifting through Mamaw's old barn, various antique stores and a couple of flea markets, we've found the beginnings of our vintage home away from home!

 Hobbitses: We finally introduced Baby Brother to the Hobbit on Friday night. I know. I was shocked and appalled that he had yet to see it too. BUT he loved it, and on the drive home today he picked up the book and decided he just might read that too. Needless to say, I was impressed :)

#InstaAddict: I might have a problem. Let's just go ahead and admit it.

Last Minute Memories: It's beginning to finally sink in that "3 months at home" doesn't feel like 3 months at home, and is in fact almost at an end. Which is very, very, very, very sad, no matter how much I miss my roommates and CIU friends. However, in an effort to round summer off with a bang, I fly out Friday to reunite with my Impact 360 family, just before flying out to meet my family family in Hawaii. That'll do it ;) There really aren't words to describe how excited I am to get to the end of this week!!!!!!

BucketList: I CAUGHT A LIZARD! This was an item rather hastily placed on the summer bucket list, that got checked off right before we pulled out from the lake this evening. Needless to say, I was pretty excited. It's the little things. We named him Jaws the 5th (even though there was never a 2nd, 3rd or 4th) and he was pretty dang threatening.

Inspiration: I'm pretty picky about the classic Christian novel series...only because I've picked up so many that start off well and just end cheesy. Like...cheesy in an unexplainable, holes in the storyline, made Christ & the Gospel seem incredibly cliche & bedtime story-like, cheesy. But, at the suggestion of the SisterFriend, I picked up A Voice in the Wind and was hooked by chapter 5. Lovely, well written, and she doesn't make the Christian life seem easy....one of those books that made me turn around and take a look at how I was living, and what it said about Christ :) 

Music: I leave you with The Stella Sisters. You're welcome. again, this is the SisterFriend's doing...and these incredibly talented girls (The oldest is TWELVE ya'll) have been the soundtrack to my week :)

August is around the corner, Poptart is almost  17, school is almost here, my friends are back in my life, God remains faithful and crazy good, and I am beyond excited to see what the next few weeks has in store :) Let's go!! 

day 2: dreams.

Posting on the later side of the afternoon because I've been in a car driving all day coming back from Mamaw's house...with the upside of that being today is my Mamaw's 85th birthday!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO HER! 

But anyways. On to business :) Today's a word and the word IS: 

[dreams]

I love listening to people talk about their dreams and what they're passionate about. Not only is it ridiculously interesting for me, but it's a pretty straight shot into someone's heart :) When people start to talk about someone they love or something they hope to accomplish one day, their eyes light up in a whole different way. If you can keep them talking long enough & it's something they're genuinely passionate about, eventually they forget to keep up the version of themselves they think you want to see, and they just TALK. And I love it :) 

Unfortunately, dreams can be scary too. And this isn't so much the "hopefully one day I'll go here and do this" dream as the "I fell asleep and couldn't wake up" nightmare. I don't have bad dreams very often...which is a huge blessing & gift from the Lord because I think if I ever had a dream bad enough I'd just never go back to sleep. I can't even handle super scary movies. But I have a couple of very close friends who have bad dreams ALL the TIME. And not like....'I went to school without my pants on' bad dreams. Awful, scary nightmares. But the ability of these people to get up the next morning and smile like nothing happened and they slept like babies amazes me. They have a kind of mental strength I'll never understand, and it connects to a strength of character that I continue to admire in both of them :) 

Dreams for me are simple, and they get captured in two words: "bucket list". And the items on that list are a whole lot less important than who I accomplish them with. Charles Martin, an author that I LOVE (if you're looking for something new to read, he's it!) put this quote in one of his books, and it's stuck with me for a really long time... 

"The problem with a wish list was what it told you about the person who wrote it. If it's honest, it's a rock-bottom, bare-bones, clear shot all the way to someone's soul." 

[it's from Where The River Ends, IF you're wondering :)] 

I've been called an open book, and it's true. My bucket list items are simple, easy to accomplish, and to most people probably not all that extreme or exciting. And they don't include EVERYTHING. One day, I hope to be a mother with children of my own. I long to be married to an incredible, Godly man and show him off to my friends and family. I want teenagers to pour into and mentor, and finally send back to their own families and out into the world. But for all the simple ones....that's them :) 

If you're wondering, my list so far is here! 

Yes. It's pinterest ;)