hebrews.

On a more personal note, I am continuing to read in Hebrews and I am in awe of our Savior. The book of Hebrews is written to church that is starting to drift away from the truth of Jesus. The author of this book is writing to remind them and wake them up.

 He tells them, “We must pay more careful attention, therefore, to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away.” (Heb, 2:1)

 When you don’t pay attention, don’t root yourself in the Lord and the Word of God, that’s when you drift. My favorite part is when he gets into talking about Jesus as our High Priest. In the old days, the High Priest would have to offer a bull or animal to go into the Holy place. He then took on the sins of the people and bring them into the tabernacle to God. But, we have a God who is far greater than we are. Jesus came and offered Himself and split His own blood as the final blood sacrifice. 

“How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the Living God!” (Heb. 9:14)

I love how the Lord loves us.

this week.

Hello…

These last couple of days David and I have been really busy. We had a moment when we realized we leave next week, so we have to get busy. There are things we still have to see!

Saturday, thanks to our awesome, new friend, Jeff, we went on a sunset cruise. For free. It was great. I mean, who can pass up a free, romantic dinner? Not us. In the winter, humpback whales migrate to Maui. I have decided that we definitely have to come back then. Whales are fascinating. They’re so big! I need to see one before I die.

 

Sunday, we went to jenny’s church here, Hope Chapel. It’s a neat church. Great teaching and great people. It does make us really miss Watermark (our church in Dallas) and our friends.

Yesterday, we drove to Iao Valley. It looks like a mountain that has had streams run through it to create slits all over it. Of course, pictures don’t do any of these places justice. It was a breath-taking place. All you can do is look at it and say “wow”. That’s what we did. 

haleakala.

hi loyal blog followers..
yesterday david, jenny, and i went and saw the sun RISE on top of mt. haleakala. it is a dormant volcano on the island and beautiful. i have never experienced anything like watching the sun rise at 10,000 ft. we were on top of the clouds. talk about reflecting on the power of our creator. the Lord is so amazing and He is as faithful as the sun will rise. He commands it to rise every morning, and in all it's splendor and greatness, He still loves us more. wow.

after the breath-taking morning, we went to a lavender farm. i loved it and david actually thought it was ok too. the smell as you're getting close to it just overwhelms you and makes you want to just close your eyes. it is in upcountry so the weather is really cool. the view overlooks the island and is just beautiful.

my favorite plant there. so neat,

until next time...

ps. my bday is next week so feel free to send gifts. :)

maui film festival.

 last night, the gang here went to the maui film festival. it was a really cool experience. a ton of people came and brought blankets and chairs and sat under the beautiful maui stars to watch a movie. the movie we watched was called "boy". think "napoleon dynamite" meets "slumdog millionaire". pretty hilarious though.
i would have taken pictures, but cameras were not allowed. 

Here are some photos they took...

On another note, my mom recently took a trip to Panama City Beach, FL and was there when oil started to wash up on the shore. PCB and Destin were big parts of both (david and i) of our childhoods. Sad days.

Until next time...

pineapples.

yesterday, david and i went with our new friend, jessie, and the two precious twins she nannies to a pineapple plantation. these kids are awesome and so much fun! they especially loved david. kids have a way of figuring out who the funnest person in the crowd is. he's great.

today, jenny and i did some boogie-boarding. it was so much fun! definitely a successful day at the beach.

until next time....

west maui mountains

2 entries in one days...wow.
on tuesday, david and i went on a drive around the west maui mountains and it was spectacular.
let me set the scene for you...
we were in jenny's land rover. that was good. the road winds up a huge mountain and the width of the road is not wider than our car..maybe a little narrower. at all times there is about a mile long drop off to the ocean. it is gorgeous but we were freaking out. that drive was probably my favorite thing we've done so far. we got to see some gems and scenery like this:

shhh...secret beach

hi friends!
Well, its official. David and I have discovered our fave beach. Secret beach.
To get there, you pull off the road then have to walk on this little trail over some jetty rocks. Then..voila...a beautiful, hidden treasure. We love it because there's never anyone there and the waves won't kill you.

On another note, I have been studying the book of Hebrews and it is just amazing. Reflecting on Jesus and all of His power and grace just blows me away. This has been such a neat time for David and I to take some breaths and really concentrate on our Lord.
So...read at least the first chapter in Hebrews. See what it does for you. As they say in Booster... "the world just changed, did ya feel it?"

adventures.

We have gotten to have some fun adventures in the aloha state.
This week we drove around the west side of maui to lahaina. It's a cute little town with fun shops. On our drive back, we stopped at all of the little beaches and places to pull up on the cliffs overlooking the water. It was a little scary but we did it! Here are some great pics:

Yesterday, David went paddleboarding with some friends. He did awesome! I couldn't enjoy it because my knee is still recovering. Then we went to Big Beach which is a local beach with HUGE waves that break right on the shore. I'm talking ginormous waves!

As you can tell, days in maui are long, busy, and so much fun! We went to a reggae concert last night called the maui roots festival. it was interesting, to say the least.

aloha.

Well..we made it!
We are so thankful that the Lord allowed us to get on the FIRST flight out of Dallas directly to Maui! We even convinced a girl to trade with us so we could sit by each other. We got here at 4pm Maui time but 9pm Dallas time. We ended up staying up until Jenny got off of work at 8pm. That's really late Dallas time, and for those who don't know, I dont stay up late. I've just never been good at it. I've tried, and failed.
So today we went over to Wailea beach, and hung out at the Four Seasons. Jenny got us the hook-up with some chairs and an umbrella. It was amazing.
Now, we're back at the house and we're exhausted! With our sleep schedules out of whack, being in this sun all day, and being a little dehydrated...we're pooped!
We're going to pick up Jenny from work now.
Until next time...
PS> if you've never read the book "a same kind of different as me", you should. now.

home sweet hawaii

We're off for our trip to Maui tomorrow! We have our bags packed and ready to go!

Before we leave, I have to put up some recent pictures of our lovely apt. Mrs. Kim was here this weekend and helped us make sense of our stuff.

summer...is that you?

summer is almost here!!!
being a teacher and working for booster DEFINITELY has many perks, but summer is the best! the last day of school is tomorrow then we're free! i am busy here at school packing and getting ready to move into my second grade classroom. i am so excited to get going.
for those of you who haven't heard our wonderful news, we're going to MAUI next week! we're going to stay for a month with my bff jenny sawyer. she is basically living the life and working for the four seasons resort in maui. she is the most generous person and is letting the brannens crash her place.
 david is currently driving a huge moving truck with his sweet mom to dallas. we have so much going on but so many good things.
we owe is all to the One who provides.