I will follow.

Ben and I have just started a new bible study with our small group called Experiencing God by Blackaby. It has been a humbling and eye opening experience and we are only two weeks into the study so far. It has allowed for alot of self-reflection and examination of our relationships with God.

Some major points that have stood out to us are: 

- We always ask God for a detailed map of our lives. We say, "Lord, if You could just tell me where I am heading, then I will be able to set my course (or GPS :) and go." When actually we just need to follow God one day at a time. We are to walk by faith and not by sight. -- Much easier said than done, by the way.

-We are to daily search out God and find where he is working and go there. Whether it is at our work, church, community, in our families/friendships...ANYWHERE!


This last point makes me think of one of my most favorite songs:

Chris Tomlin's: I will follow you. 

With our past move and this recent Bible study, we can see what God has us doing here in Hawaii. We were scared and excited all at the same time for the big move. We were unsure as to what we would be doing and how things would work out so many miles from home. We asked so many questions: When would Janell get a job and where? Where would we we live? How can we afford to live in Hawaii? Are we going to find any friends? What church will we go to? Will we be able to live this far away from all of our family and friends?

I tried to plan out all these things to help with the move: I applied for dozens of jobs, and searched hundreds of apartment listings. Nonetheless, all my plans fell through. It's our nature to try to plan ahead, right? We want to be prepared. But looking back, all the things I tried to line up, failed. It was a hard lesson to learn but once we had faith that God would provide, HE did. God quickly provided for our needs in a much bigger way than we could have ever known we needed. Seeing this happen first hand in our lives helps us realize that no matter where we end up next, God is already working to prepare us for that place. Our God is an Awesome God!

I just want to challenge everyone this week to really search out God (ex. at work, Church, in your family), and pray for an open heart to follow HIM wherever he may need you. God uses ordinary people to do extraordinary things. Don't have excuses like Moses who said, "God, I cannot speak like my brother Aaron" rather say "I am ready for where you want to send me, I will follow you!" 

Where could God be sending you? Will you be ready to go where He needs you?


Happy Monday,

Janell

PS. Happy Birthday, Kim :)

"Feast your Eyes"

We had quite the week! My family flew in to Honolulu on Thurs Jan 13th. They were jet lagged, as expected from the 4 hr time difference and being up at 1:30am the morning of to drive to Omaha for their departure.


My dad had quite the Bucket List written down of all things he wanted to see and do on the island.
We knew we would hear the phrase"FEAST YOUR EYES!" often from my dad.  This is his famous phrase that gets repeated often when we see something new in God's creation or something that is just AWE-some.

Here is the actual list of all we saw and did every day during their 10 day stay:

Thurs Jan 13th- Mom, Dad, & Chris arrive to airport around 3:45pm. We pick them up and get their rental car. My dad and I were in charge of this supposedly simple task. We get to the Alamo site, and are told we "got a free upgrade to a full size car from the compact." We say "awesome!" :) Free is good! The overweight man looks in the Alamo parking lot full of all 5 vehicles and says "You can have the Gray Suzuki." So my dad and I start walking to the car, excited to tell the others about our upgrade. We open the doors and notice some Alamo brochures, just like the ones we had received. We didn't think much about it and started to get in the car when....a very upset man came running toward the car yelling "STOP THAT'S MY CAR! WHAT ARE YOU DOING!!?!??!". We got out, stunned by the fact that we supposedly got in the wrong car when it was the only gray one in the lot. We look at the man who directed us to the car in the first place and he begins pointing in the direction of the Suzuki and saying we should take the car next to it. We were so confused by this point and weren't going to make another mistake again. We go over to the Alamo man, along with the upset Suzuki driver and asked what car he wanted us to take since he said that he initially wanted us to take the Gray Suzuki. He stated he incorrectly told us to take the other man's car and than we were to take the Red Chevy Aveo, located right next to the Suzuki. So in other words, the upgrade did not happen and we were so to speak promoted and demoted with in a 2 minute period.

So after that whole ordeal, we were glad to meet the rest of the group back at the airport and head to Kailua. Ben had to go to his first class for MCAT prep and the rest of us settled in and ate supper at Teddy's Burgers.

Friday Jan 14th- We went to Costco to get some groceries for the week, saw the Blowhole Lookout, relaxed at Kailua Beach, and ate supper at California Pizza Kitchen.

Feast your eyes

Mom & Dad

Dad and Chris with the Blowhole going off behind them

Saturday Jan 16th- The guys went to the Sony Golf Tournament and the girls went to the Swap Meet and Ala Moana Mall. Dad was giddy as he got a golf ball thrown to him personally from Iowa native, Zach Johnson. The highlight of the day for him. We also grilled burgers together at night at Mom & Dad's rental.

Sunday Jan 17th- We did an exercising tour of Lanikai. I ran and Dad/Chris did biked behind with their beach cruisers. 5ish miles round trip. Then we showered up and went to church. We were able to enjoy a Sunday meal together at church. Guys got free tickets from our small group friend, Eden and Dad/Ben were able to go the Sony Golf Tournament for another round. Mom, Chris, and I went to the beach for the afternoon and enjoyed shave ice and Island Snow Hawaii! 

Monday Jan 18th- We hiked Pillbox in the morning and went to the Polynesian Culture Center for the rest of the day. We had so much fun seeing the center, ate some great food at the Luau, and saw an awesome night show "HA, breath of life" at the PCC.

Crazy Tree Climber!

Floats representing the Polynesian islands

Luau!

Enjoying the close, VIP seating that Chris/Ben scored for us :) 

Retreiving the cooked pig from the stone pit

At the Show "HA" 

Tuesday Jan 19th- We went to Pearl Harbor, returned our Suzuki Chevy rental car, and did some souvenir shopping at Ward Center. The fam (mostly Chris) ended up with some good UH apparel.

Big Oil Leak that day.

Contemplating something about history I am sure...

We also got to see the Missouri!

 

Went to the Pali Lookout

Feast your eyes

Wednesday Jan 19th- Unsuccessfully hiked Diamond Head (not because of our physical inabilities, rather it is closed for maintenance during the weekdays), Snorkeled at Hanauma Bay, and ate a nice meal at Buzz's for supper (where we were given the "best seat/view" of the resturant. It overlooked the beach and canal). More pics to come later of this day. I let Mom/Chris be the photographers.

We caught this amazing sunset as we were leaving Buzz's. 

"The Heavens declare the Glory of God, the skies proclaim the work of His hands." Ps 19:1 

Thursday Jan 20th- with the possibility of "The Eddie" ( a professional surf competition) that later got canceled to inconsistent 25-30ft waves, we headed up to the North Shore anyways to catch the professionals practicing for the competition. We ate a hearty breakfast before leaving at Cinnamon's. We later headed back to Kailua where we went boogie boarding. After we were all boogied out, we went to the weekly Farmers Market, and ate at Maui Tacos... YUM! 

 

 Pictures don't do justice for the size of the waves

All the Pros waiting for the perfect wave

The famous pro surfer Kelly Slater

 

An interesting sight Mom and I saw while the guys were boogie boarding. 

He gave us a good laugh for sure. He must've been worried about tan lines :)  

Friday Jan 21st- We successfully hiked Diamond Head Crater,  did some more boogie boarding, and had supper with our friends Brandon and Sheena at Roy's. -pics to come.

Saturday Jan 22nd- Whale Watching Tour on the Star of Honolulu (boat), Went to Waikiki and checked out the beach and did some shopping, ate at Cheeseburger in Paradise, went to Kailua Beach, and ate some Bob's Pizza for supper.

City Skyline

"I spot a whale!"

 Diamond Head

Me "feasting my eyes" :)

Whales are tricky to capture with cameras. 

This one came half way out of the water and did a 360 spin. It was awesome!

Breathing

Sea Turtle

Sunday Jan 23rd- Family left Hawaii for -20 degree weather. (not like they had a choice! :) 

It was so hard to see them go, like it always is! My eyes well up just thinking about having to say goodbye.  But looking back on all the fun things we did, laughs we had, and bonding that took place, I cannot help but smile. We made so many memories, ate a lot of good food (hopefully didn't gain 10 in 10- as my dad was worried about. 10 lbs in 10 days :) , and had some great days of relaxation. God has definitely blessed us with a great family.  We are so thankful they had the opportunity to come out and visit us here in Hawaii! 

So back to reality and life as we know it... in Kailua. 

Hope everyone has a great week and stays warm back in the midwest!

-Janell

Ps. Many more photos to come after I get some sent from mom/chris's cameras :)