Some beach somewhere

This was where we spent our day. Just took a drive and found this paradise awaiting us. The sand was so soft it disappeared beneath our feet, the sun was blazing and smiling, the whales were blowing puffs of air and water in the distance, dolphins were jumping and spinning right infront of us, the waves were crashing with incredible force (it was a bit scarry sometimes... I was actually slammed down to the bottom of the sea floor and drug along in the sand for a while with no idea which way was up! And half the ocean came right up into my sinuses. Yum!) Samuel body surfed for 5 straight hours! He's toasty and red tonight!

This morning I was thinking about the way life can outrun us. Sometimes it can be overwhelming. Sometimes your dreams and desires flood over you in a way that makes it hard to catch your breath. Sometimes anxiety blocks your view. Sometimes you just get tired. I felt Holy Spirit say to me "just go to the beach". Yes I'm in Hawaii... I could go to a beach whenever I feel like it, but this morning was different. It's like the verses in the Bible that talk about equipping yourself with the armor of God....... It says when you've done all you can do to stand, stand firm. I was thinking, when you've done all you can do to stand, go to the beach!

God rejoices in our joy. He loves to lavish us with His own creations and see us purly overloading on Him in simple happiness and FUN. Yes we need faith and action and prayer and vision and wisdom and strategy and on and on and on.... and we need a beach. We won't miss out on something when we're suntanning. I believe God will double that all up in our lives when we just rest in Him. We must rest in Him more. Dreams only take place when we're sleeping anyway. Rest and get God's new dreams!

Jungle Love

We just emmerged from our weekend jam-packed with road trips, beaches, body surfing, lava exploring, jungle trecking, sun burning... adventures! If pictures are worth a thousand words, I don't have much else to say...

Camoflauge orchid! So cool!

Mom and Dad!

Tonight Samuel and Dad went out boar hunting. They were equiped with bow and arrow, knives and a gun! The goal is to go out on the lava-strewn landscapes where the wild boars roam in the dark chomping on macidamia nuts. We'll see what they drag home in a few hours...

My hunting man!

Aloha from the Big Island

My Leis from Mom and Dad when we arrived!

Hello Mr Sunshine

This little girl came up to Samuel as soon as we sat down to eat lunch... "Hi Dad"... (her dad was also bald and scruffy! I think she got confused... but she was in love with Samuel)

Checkin out the surf

Jack fruit in the farmers market.. so huge it could have fed 30 people!

Mom's cute feet

Dad - the Resident Manager of Keauhu Punahele where we live.

We get a few perks from the guy in charge! :)

Half Full or Half Empty??

Well, we're just about packed up again! And this is the first time we're not pushing the limit with 100 pounds of luggage and 50 pound carry-ons... each! Every other time Samuel and I are traveling we have our whole lives in tow. Regardless, this is a particularly nice feeling. The bags must be half full :) But I can't help not thinking that I'm forgetting something.

I can't say what they'll look like coming home. We will probably try to squeeze some of the island paradise in there...

This afternoon we're headed to Gothenburg to stay with Rebekha and Andreas. They'll take us to the airport tomorrow morning... we'll fly to Frankfurt and San Francisco... spend the night in Cali and then on Thursday we'll make our way to the Island just in time for lunch! Maybe a picnic on the beach??

All I Need to do is Worship

Spend some minutes with Jesus today. Just ask Him to reveal Himself to you. He will. O it's such a sweet place of rest and peace. Such an intimate place. Safe place. Refreshing place. Set all your other things aside... He is the answer to it all.

And we're off!

Alright everyone. We are officially Hawaii bound! Samuel got his flight on Friday night and after one day and several hours on Skype with Continental... I got mine too! It was looking scary for a while there... my ticket just wouldn't register!

Again, the purpose of this trip is to get my immigration "permission to stay" papers in Sweden. Don't know how long I'll have to stay there but we're so happy Samuel is coming for 3 1/2 weeks! He hasn't seen my family in over one year! It will be a sad day when he's flying back to Sweden, that's for sure.

On the beach in Zanzibar, Tanzania

My packing must haves:

Bible

passport

application papers

eye drops

lip stick

ipod

waterproof mascara

swim suits

good book (next I'll be reading "Is That Really You, God?" but Loren Cunningham - the founder of YWAM)

journal

dresses

scarves

(I left all my sandals in Ethiopia... so flip flops will be my first buy in Hawaii!)

good tennis shoes (Mom warned me the lava is really intense in some places)

baseball gloves

ear plugs for Samuel - he loves to hang out in that spot where the waves crash... the last time we were at the beach he did just that and we ended up in the hospital three months later where they flushed large pieces of coral and shells and sand from his ears! Don't want a re-cap of that!

My goals on the Big Island:

get my permission to stay in Sweden

surf

snorkel

see my first volcano

shopping with mama

visit YWAM

get some delayed wedding photos on the beach (we never got really nice shots when we married so mom brought my wedding dress to Hawaii so we could get some there one day!)

find a job so we can save for the field!

hang out with Jesus

baseball with dad

The last time we played baseball on the beach - two years ago!

Art Linkletter

Oh so funny... pure and raw and simple humor!

Highlights Lately:

-Celebrated Semlor day... I don't like Semlors.. so Samuel ate mine. In fact he's eaten about 20 in the last 3 weeks

-Spent time with our great friends Samuel, Lotta, Elsa and Siri! Love them!

-Strandberg family weekend with the whole crew (minus Pernilla and Kayan)

- Took Samuel's parents to the train station so they could catch their flight to Thailand (to see Pernilla and Kayan)

-Samuel preached a fiery fantastic sermon on the Blood of Jesus at Pingstkrykan on Sunday!

-Realized that I understood the entire sermon... and it was in Swedish, hurrah for me!

-Samuel (not my Samuel, Lotta's Samuel) gave me his piano keyboard to hook up to Garage Band on my Mac while I'm here in Sweden! O I've missed and longed for music and worship... it's been so long since I had the opportunity to play! Thanks Samuel!

-Found some more Second hand treasures...

Fabulous piece for our hallway... just needs new knobs!

Coat tree! I've wanted one of these for years! 50 Kronor!!

Shoe rack!

The fuzzy branches are from the market in the city square every Wednesday and Saturday!

-Skyped with mom and dad... and they showed me their gecko eggs from their home in Hawaii that they want to send to my nephews in KY. Is that illegal? One of my least favorite things is lizards and everything else in that category. Going to have to do something about that when I get to Hawaii...

-Searched and searched and searched again for tickets to Hawaii... looks like I might be leaving Monday. MONDAY! Time to pull out the swimsuits and relocate myself.... again

-Realized that I have to buy two round trip tickets for myself because the name on my passport will not match the name on the ticket I'm purchasing now. (One way tickets are double the price of a round trip.. doesn't really make sense) I do feel like an immigrant lately

-Reflected on the fact that God is my Daddy... He takes care of me. Always.

That about sums it up... plus a few walks to the ocean, fikas with friends, creative cooking and baking treats, reading, planning, preparing...

Guess I should start to pack soon....

Dad surfing in Kona on the Big Island... Hawaii here I come!