hawaii baby!

June 13, 2010

hawaii baby!

June 12, 2010 (edited with more pics 6/13)

(if you just want to see pictures, scroll down)
the gist:

As most people know, I got to go to Hawaii with a group of friends this past week. Despite the little glitches and frustrations here and there, it was really fun. I really enjoyed everything we did. If you catch me in my normal state, I'm a pretty chill person when it comes to activities and plans. I was okay with whatever we did, and I had fun with everything we did end up doing. No matter how 'big' the activity was or how seemingly small and trivial, I had fun, and I enjoyed every single moment.

My favorite memories:

1. being in a car with eric (driver), andrea (navigator/dj), mike & grace. (aka the fun car :P): good convos, lipsyncing songs with andrea, listening to eric sing & interpret songs, doing silly things in the car. I enjoy sitting in cars with good fun friends & good music to chill to. I'm easily made content &happy. haha.

our car minus mike:

2. making my way through the 2008 guinessbook of world records world's largest maze with val while snacking our way through. :) we make a good team, her as the leader, me as the follower lol.

3. talking with eric about whether or not we'd be able to escape death if the volcano we were hiking up were to explode on us.

4. playing on the beaches=enjoying God's creation

(omg it's mike half nekkid!!)

5. snorkeling with andrea (and scraping up my knee on the coral T_T)

6. watching sebastian learn and do the seal tricks we saw at the aquarium

7. jet skiing at a safe and slow speed with val while the others turned out to be speed demons.

8. watching andrea throw grace off the jet ski with her speed

9. taking silly pictures on a submarine and battleship (the one they signed the ww2 truce on!) while breaking rules such as 'don't touch' and 'authorized personnel only' with anthony, eric, andrea, seb (these were all taken by breaking some rules.. after all, "rules are only suggestions" according to eric)

10. taking strolls on the beach shore while meditating on God's goodness. :)

11. intense mafia games where mike turns out to be a major liar.

12. listening to the same 5 songs over &over again on hawaii radio:

1. airplanes (b.o.b) (theme song of trip #1) (me eric & anthony's fave song)

2. california gurls (katy perry ft snoop dog) (theme song of trip #2) (grace & mike's fave song)

3. rude boys (rihanna) (eric put our lives in danger by watching me lip sync it instead of keeping his eyes on the road)

4. your love is my drug (ke$ha) (eric & mike's favorite song)

5. break your heart (taio cruz) (eric liked singing this one too)

13. nightly group prayer meetings

the meaningful:

The trip was a nice way to end the year/college. I had a good balance of time with everyone and even individual time to reflect and realize life lessons learned. I think a lot of the happenings of Hawaii helped me to realize and sum up nicely the lessons I've learned &the little things I appreciate about life & God.

1. I appreciate hanging out with friends, no matter the where, when, or how. You can stick me on an hour long bus ride with them, and I'll still enjoy it. Or hiking up a ridiculously steep volcano. I thank God for all the people He's placed in my life, for the ways they've been blessings, and for the ways they've challenged and molded my character and personality. I truly believe that there is no coincidence in the people that God has placed in our lives and as I reflect on the past four years, I'm so glad that no matter how difficult things were or how close I was to giving up, I've kept all my friendships & have not given up on any in bitterness, anger, or frustration. I'm amazed at the way my friendships have grown over the past four years, and I'm pretty freaking excited to see how my friendships will grow in the future as we continue onto different stages of our lives. :)

2. Life is so much better when approached with a 'go with the flow', chill attitude. :) We didn't really plan out all the itty bitty details for the trip, and while that caused a lot of frustrations and confusion at times, it was also really fun and nice to not be structured but to just decide things as it came. I liked the flexibility and the overall easy-going-ness of our trip, and I'm definitely learning to be more chill & easy-going in my personality. I've realized that over the past four years, I've definitely toned down a lot in stress level & general wanting to get everything done & planned out, and I don't doubt God will continue to change and grow me as I seek to learn to let go of all &rely on His plans alone.

3. I am so glad that even though in friendships, tough times come about and irritations, pet peeves, annoyances are brought to the surface, since we have committed to friendship &we value each other, we are able to accept those things that irritate us, move past them, and not let those things get in the way of growing our friendships. I feel that that is an important aspect of true and valuable friendship: being able to accept and move past all the irritations and annoyances one finds in his friends and being able to appreciate them for who God has made them to be while striving to learn to better serve, encourage, and love them for who they are.

4. Bad situations that are seemingly big at the moment, die down to be but little bumps in the road when seen in the larger scheme of things. A lot of times during the trip when I remembered messy situations, less than optimal conditions, and things I wish I could just forget, when I focused on the present moment and realized how genuinely good it felt to be with friends having fun, I'm reminded that we are to rejoice in all situations and under all conditions. And with how much God has blessed me with, how could I not rejoice in the midst of everything? And see all the 'bad' in life as but little glitches in the road that God will ultimately smooth over and make alright for me?

Hawaii was wonderful and it has reminded me of how God has carried me through so much the last four years, and how He will not cease doing that in the years to come. And with that, I feel a peace at mind and heart, that ultimately, God is in control of my future, and that while many things remain unknown and uncertain for me right now, there is certainty in that uncertainty because it is God who is orchestrating it all together, and all I have to do is learn the simple task of grasping onto nothing but God, His words, and His promises to me, and having hope in Him, not anything else.

Now pictures: (I only have a few, as I don't have all the other pictures yet; pictures to be on facebook soon!)

eric is a model: