Happy 28th wedding anniversay mom and dad!!!! love you two with my whole heart- and am so thankful for your faithful love for the Lord and for each other. I love that you two still make each other laugh and giggle-

Saturday~

Surf lesson with the pastors and elders!

We all got up!!!

Costco Run- yay for food, and most of all...coffee!

Dinner with pastors and their families at $38 mill. maui home- beautifully stunning!

Sunday~

Church

High School parents meeting

Beach Volleyball til dusk...most incredible sunset! And fun to talk with some people from church and the guys in the high school group- they are a kick. Especially "Oolah", or "Hawaiian boy
or "olah" or "the brown one"!

aloha!

I'm here! I'm still in shock i think- i flew in yesterday afternoon and just am humbled and so thankful at God's gracious love and for how He comforted my heart. My mom took me to the airport yesterday bright and early and we got to sit and talk over coffee for an hour before i left, which is our favorite thing to do! That's what i miss the most whenever i go away ~ coffee dates with my mom. BUT! I got to be bumped up to first class and sat next to this man who looked like the evil one on "Enchanted"- the one with the big eyes who tries to get the princess to eat the apple! haha He wasn't evil at all though- super nice. Flying into Maui it was so cloudy, you couldn't see anything. But then right when the clouds broke open, the island appeared- lush and green- and this hug rainbow! It was the most incredible thing I've ever seen! And so of the Lord- it was as if He was saying "Welcome Alyssa- don't worry, you are in my hands and I will never leave you"
The youth pastor Brandon and his wife Amy and their new baby picked me up from the airport with a pink lei of plumeria! That's all i was hoping for! And let me tell you, i'm convinced that's what heaven is going to smell like~
we went to Paia, the hippy town, for lunch and got fish burgers which was maybe the best thing i've ever put in my mouth! And then we got gelato- it was just such a blessing being with them. I absolutely love them both- and their three adorable kids- and feel so at home with them. They drove me around the island a bit- in Brandon's convertible jeep (my dream car!).

Last night, we had youth group- the Furnance- and they had a welcoming beach party for me! I was really nervous to meet the kids, fearing that they wouldn't like me- but they were the most welcoming bunch of kids i've ever been around. All the girls came up and introduced themselves and were so talkative and excited for this next year. Eden, one of the girls, kept saying she can't wait to have girl time! Girl, I am so up for that! They even had a hula for me last night too~
I can't wait to get to know them more.
The only bad thing was that my rainbow flip flops (or slippers as they call them here) got stolen at the beach- i guess rainbows are a hot commodity here- but that's totally okay! But, if you ever come to hawaii, know not to leave your slippers behind!

Then today we had intern training and we all have our own desks and little offices! crazy- and the church is awesome! The staff are so welcoming, and our head pastor Craig is a big teddy bear- he's taking us surfing tomorrow!

I love and miss you all~ grace and peace

it's the eve of!

Today- Washington celebrating my wonderful Dad's 59th birthday!!! (CRAZY- 59! If any of you know my dad, you would think he's in his 40's- young at heart that man is!) and tomorrow...maui, hawaii! I'm flying into Kahului, which everytime I say, I think I'm really saying "Hock a loogee"!

Kahului, Hawaii

As soon as I get into Maui, I'm meeting with Brandon Smith, my youth pastor, for lunch and then I get to see my new home! Then tomorrow night I get to meet all the high schoolers at a Beach Party at 7pm...which will be 10pm your time 'cuz we're 3 hours behind! This is crazy Lord! I have to admit that these past few days have been pretty emotional; it's been extremely hard to say so many goodbyes, and then to think of saying goodbye to my parents tomorrow just breaks my heart. BUT! I know more than ever that God has a purpose for me there and I praise Him that I can serve there for this season. I remember Mark Tatlock saying once in chapel that you find what your passion is, your gifts and talents, and then you go wherever they can use you the most- thank you Lord for making that so! I just have to step forward in faith...please pray for strength and hope for my parents and I in these next few days- I know the Lord is good, and I'm excited to see what He has in store- but it is bittersweet. God gives and takes away, but my heart will choose to say "blessed be Your name"

BUT! Today! Happy birthday Daddy! May I just tell everyone that my dad is a STUD! He loves Jesus with his whole heart and longs to be with Him in heaven- I'll always think of my dad as a man who longs to be with His savior. He is the hardest working man I know- waking up at 3:30am every morning and not getting back some days til 7pm- and He loves my mom and I with his whole heart- he's ever faithful and compassionate. And he always makes me laugh! haha Just yesterday he pulled a stunt with my mom and I- he came up to me and with the most serious face I've ever seen gave me a 100 dollar bill, telling me not to tell mom, but that it's for Hawaii...then I saw that it was a fake 100 bill from comcast!!! oh father! I love you daddy! HAPPY HAPPY HAPPY BIRTHDAY to the best dad in the world! muah~

Stacey's Wedding

Baby Colby at 3 months! What a butterball

Sweet Friendship

Today was sweet! I love how God reunites friends- My dear sister Stacey is getting married (!!!!!) on Saturday so today a bunch of us girlies who all grew up in the same youth group helped set up for the wedding. (And may I say it's going to be GORGEOUS! That Dory Green is INCREDIBLE!) I was so encouraged by Stacey, the bride-to-be; for her gentle heart and her excitement to marry the man that we have all prayed for and dreamed of who he was going to be for years! My favorite was hearing her whisper to her mama a couple of times throughout today, "Mom, I'm getting married!!" And then her cute squeel...

Oh! And my mama treated me to a pedicure today, which was fantastic! We only go on special occassions and we always go to the same place- so for prom, high school graduation, our family vacay to Mexico, college, and now me going to Hawaii and for the sake of my mom's toes not seeing much sunlight after August...
i love sitting in those big massage chairs and having girl talk with my most precious mother!

OH! But I almost forgot the BEST part of the day...and that was this morning . I woke up early this morning and so my mom and I sat out in the living room reading our bibles with of course...you guessed it! Our big mugs of coffee :) Then towards the end, we got to talk about what we're learning from our Proverbs study, and it was soooo sweet! I can't even tell you. I just love hearing what the Lord shows my mom and the insight she has. We were talking about friendship in Proverbs...(Lord I love you! That was a theme throughout today!!!) and one of the verses talks about not being close friends with one who sings songs to a heavy heart. I never really knew what that meant- I always took it literal! But my mom was saying it's not being sensitive, caring, or thoughtful to someone's burdens and heartache- for not weeping when they weep- we need to have compassion and a tender heart.

A sweet day for sure!

I'll post more about hawaii a little later- but! Let's just say I will be on the beach of Maui this time next week- CRAZY!

This Joy of my life comes today!!!!!

This weekend my parents and I went to good ol' Spokampton (Spokane!) to visit my grandparent's. I forgot how beautiful Washington is- the whole way over and back I was mezmerized at God's beauty- there were billions of trees and beautiful mountains and lakes- God is an amazing Creator! It was so good to see my grandparent's- I wish we could have stayed longer. Here's the weekend in a nutshell:

Sat:
1. Wolfy's (50's diner) for lunch- they gave me one of my grandmother's books that she had written in from the 1800's- the book, not my grandmother! I couldn't love anything more- i greatly admire and love my Grandmother Shirley, even though I never got to meet her. She died when my mom was 19. She was a woman after God's very heart, who spent her life sharing the gospel and discipling women.
2. The best nap of my life!
3. Looked around at Mel's (cutest furniture shop) with my mom and dreamed of what we could do to our home.
4. fell in love with sweet onions at dinner :)
5. watched "Amazing wedding cakes" with mom- and they were amazing!

sun:
1. coffee and bible reading!!! my absolute favorite thing in the world!
2. ran
3. church
4. took my grandma to see "Julie & Julia"- SO ADORABLE! It made me real hungry :) And it inspired me to write on this here blog
5. Found out that one of my old roomates is dating a boy and couldn't be more overjoyed for the two of them ;)
6. talked with my dad and mom for awhile as we piled on my bed before going to sleep


mon:
1. breakfast with the fam
drove home...
and realized that I need to rely on and trust the Lord much more than I do- everything I have and all that I am is because of Him.

" Thank you Jesus for providing for my every need and for your steadfast love and patience. Thank you for changing me to be more like You- may I be a sweet reflection of You."

For Real This Time ;)

I know I started to do a blog when I was in Israel last fall (I can't believe that was already a year ago!) but I didn't keep up with it at all- I'm sorry! However, I am going to keep up with this one, so I hope you will visit it here and there and enjoy seeing what the Lord is doing in my life!

So...if you haven't heard yet, I am moving to Maui!!! Yep- pretty amazing! I am leaving August 27th at 8am- and according to my mom we have to be there eeeeaaarllly! I was excited, thinking it was because we'd have our last starbuck's date ;) (which I'm sure we will!), but actually i just need to be early to see if i can bump up to first class...apparently since I've flown so much I'm an MVP! I'm not totally sure what that is, but it is fantastic!
So back to Hawaii- it is such an answer to prayer and a gift that our gracious Father has blessed me with. Hawaii is wonderful- I've always wanted to go, but I am so thankful to go and serve the Lord there because it's EXACTLY what I want to do! I'm going to be interning at Hope Chapel with the high school youth group. Right now, I think I'm going to be helping the youth pastor with whatever he needs, and then hanging out with the girly-goos and going to bible studies, etc. There's 6 other interns who are serving in different ministries, and all of us serve 10 hours of the week at the church with cleaning, the book store, etc. I still am just in awe that the Lord gave me this opp- all I want to do I've decided is disciple girls- and however that looks, I'll do it! So Praise God for this opportunity! I'm so excited to meet the girls in Hawaii and am praying that their hearts would be open to me as my heart would be wide open to them.

I just found out this week who the other interns are, where they are from, and that we'll be living in two condos instead of with host families! As great as host families would have been, I'm excited to stay with the girls and get to know them! It'll be fun :) The other interns are from Indiana, Canada, Kansas, Colorado, and another girl from Washington!

Okay, love to you all!
ps- I found this pic of Leanne, Caitlin and I on the Jordan River today! haha Thought you girls might enjoy this- so funny! I MIIIIIIIIISSSSSSSSSSSSS YOU TWO!