The storm that is no more!

Can you come pick me up on base? This was the call I received from Jarrett earlier this afternoon. What?!?!? I replied. But the tropical storm is supposed to hit in about an hour!! I hurried and grabbed my keys, and jumped into the car to avoid getting stuck on the streets in the peak of the storm. I turned the radio up and cautiously headed down the rain slicked roads. Ladies and gentlemen the storm is no more. We repeat the storm has fallen apart and all tropical storm warnings are canceled. These are the words I hear. I didn't know whether to feel totally ecstatic or slightly let down. Probably a mixture of both.

How does that happen? How does a tropical storm break up and suddenly shift to the north an hour before it's supposed to hit?? As of 12pm today, the local news stations were still reporting the storm would arrive shortly after 1pm. We had the best weather predictors in the pacific monitoring this storm. My only reasoning behind this sudden change is that this was an act of God. Amazing.

But we aren't wiping our brows and saying Wheewww quite yet. Tropical storm Melor is making its way toward the Marianas and is expected to be upgraded to a category 1 typhoon by then. We will just call this a test run for Melor which might arrive Saturday. But as you can see, things can change at any moment, even an hour before its supposed arrival.

Until then, our normal daily routines will continue until we hear more. This has been a crazy day to say the least. With the expectance of the tropical storm, to the tsunami watch we had this morning. What a mixture of emotions everyone has felt today. Thank you Jesus for your blanket of safety and relief cast over the island of Guam today.

Tropical Storm 18W

We are currently awaiting the arrival of what is currently called tropical storm 18W. We are stocked up on supplies, water, food, and seasons of Gilmore Girls on dvd, so we are ready to spend the next day or two indoors (or at least I am :-) ). Guam in located in typhoon ally, so storms like this are nothing new. We are still required to shut our typhoon shutters, secure our houses, and stock up on supplies no matter the strength of the storm. Right now it is a tropical storm, and signs point to it remaining at that strength. It is expected to hit Wednesday night (currently it is 11:30 pm Tuesday night for me) so until then, Jarrett is going to work tomorrow to finish up securing his jobsite, and I'm going to go to my Bible study and run some errands. Here are some pictures of us closing our typhoon shutters. It was kind of fun, but hopefully we won't have to do it again for awhile.

Home In a 12.5oz Jar

Yessssss!!!! They have it! I squealed. I opened the jar and closed my eyes as I breathed in the sweet aroma. Jarrett knew. He understood. With loving eyes, he grabbed the candle from me and gently placed it in the cart. A little 12.5oz, highly overpriced, halloween edition candle. Seems silly but this pretty baby is so much more than just a candle to me.

This pumpkin spice flavored candle is more like home in a jar to me. The spicy aroma reminds me of Olive cuddling up next to me as I vigorously studied my Chemistry and Biology notes; her little wet nose nuzzling my blanket. This was her signal to me to let her under the blanket. This smell reminds me of me and Jarrett, our noses burried in the pages of the Twilight series (don't tell him I told you that), and the glances we made at each other every few minutes. The I know I'm a nerd but I don't care and I love you for it glance. This scent reminds me of last Thanksgiving when my family drove to Travis and I successfully attempted to make my first Thanksgiving meal. This tiny candle reminds me of the long, honest, and loving conversations I had with my dear friend Natalie. The conversations that helped us grow from Chemistry lab buddies to lifelong friends. This smell reminds me of the home that Jarrett and I created from the tiny space we were given. A home so filled with love, laughter, and friendship, that I would have been content with a space of any size.

As I burn this candle in our new home, I am beginning to feel like no matter how white our walls are, no matter how loud our voices bounce off the white tile that stretches from wall to wall, no matter how much furniture we have (still waiting on half of our stuff), that this place is becoming our home. I can't wait to create more memories and friendships within these walls.

Birthdays and Weddings

So I'm feeling a little blue today. I'm missing two very important events going on back home and it makes me sad that I can't be there to share in the memory making. September 26th is my most wonderful mother's birthday. I always love celebrating birthdays with my family. For every birthday up until a couple of years ago, we would go to the Madonna Inn coffee shop for dinner. Then starting a couple years ago, we changed our birthday dinner destination to a little Mexican restaurant called La Palapa. I love our birthday dinners because almost every one was spent recalling memories that make us laugh, usually memories involving the birthday boy or girl. Memories recalled every year on my birthday usually consist of the day I was born and christening my dad, why i was nicknamed "smiley", and what a wonderful princess of a child I was (although my parents might beg to differ). I hope my mom has a wonderful birthday. It amazes me how she seems to look younger with age rather than older. I love you Momma.

The second reason I am feeling blue today, is that I am missing one of my best friend's wedding today. I was so elated when I got the phone call in January that Chris had proposed to beautiful Ashley up in Yosemite. And then I squealed for joy when I received a little card in the mail asking if I would be a bridesmaid. Plans changed, and as you know soon after we got orders to Guam. It was so hard for me to call up Ashley and say that I could no longer be a bridesmaid. But today is the day and I couldn't be more excited. I have been thinking about Ashley so much this week and at this time now she is probably dancing the night away surrounded by her wonderful friends and family and of course he now husband Chris. I love you Ashley and wish more than anything that I could have been there to witness the joining of two wonderful people. Have fun in Jamaica!

I think I can, I think I can

Me and change are frienemies. Yes, I get some of my vocab words from "The Hills", don't judge. Part of me likes the idea of change. Seeing new places, meeting new people, trying new things. It all sounds nice, and most often, change creates some pretty awesome memories and experiences. But then part of me dreads change. A bigger part of me. I'm stubborn. Plain and simple. Always have been and probably always will be; I'm my father's child. Well you might be thinking, "Hey you sure picked the wrong lifestyle considering you don't like change." Well yes, I think I'm pretty crazy myself for joining the military lifestyle, not for marrying my wonderful husband. That of course was not a crazy decision. Him choosing to marry me well....he might be a little on the loony side. Anyways, if there is anything that I have figured out over the past few years is that the Lord has some specific lessons that He is desperately trying to teach me in this season of my life. The first being something that I already discussed in a previous post, which is letting go of my need to plan, plan, and then oh.. plan. The second lesson I believe the Lord is trying to teach me, is that it is important to step out of my comfort zone. Not just important, more like VITAL for me to step out of my comfort zone.

This is my comfort zone: a soy chai tea latte from Starbucks, only a bean and cheese burrito with guacamole INSIDE the burrito not on the side when eating at Mexican restaurants, being outdoors but usually not joining in on the more adventurous outdoorsy stuff such as hiking, jumping in random bodies of water that are neither an ocean nor a public swimming pool (give me a towel, some sunscreen, and a magazine and I'm one happy lady!) I don't like eating meat at restaurants I'm unsure of for fear of it being undercooked. i wash my hands incessantly and to the chagrin of others, mainly my husband, I often remind those around me to wash their hands too! I talk to my family almost every day, and I need to be able to call up my closest friends at any time and know they would head over to my house in a heartbeat whether it be because I need a simple girl chat, or a shoulder to cry on. And having Jarrett by my side pretty much ALL THE TIME. This is my comfort zone.

At church a couple weeks ago, the pastor asked for praises and prayer requests. I believe God was specifically speaking to me when a young man stood up and talked about being uncomfortable. He said, "God wants us to step out of our comfort zone. He wants us to be uncomfortable because it is in these times, that we reach for Him the most and in turn grow the most spiritually and personally." I feel like I have heard these very words before, but this time it was like the Lord had formed these words into the most beautiful acoustic song (my favorite), and they have stuck with me for the past few weeks. This move has made me soooo incredibly uncomfortable in every way imaginable. The first being the fact that we moved across the WORLD. Oh Lord, please be easy on me... please? No? Ok. I have lived out of a suitcase for almost two months ( we still are actually), a month of that time spent in a hotel room with mold on the ceiling and ants everywhere and no INTERNET (gasp). I had to find my way around this island by myself for the first week, went searching for a job and turned in resumes only to be turned down, went to a ladies dinner and Bible study by myself, jumped into a small water hole and let water from a waterfall rush over my head, hiked down a steep mountain with basically no trail and cut my legs all up in the process (that certainly was uncomfortable), and ordered tuna fish tacos from a Mexican restaurant instead of a bean and cheese burrito with guacamole. Hey, the Lord doesn't discriminate, He loves for me to grow in every aspect of my life, including the foods I eat! :-) And while a lot of this stuff is still uncomfortable, however big or small it may seem, I know I am growing slowwwwly but surely. Although, I do have to channel my inner Thomas the Train Engine from time to time "I think I can, I think I can, I think I can." Remember, I'm a stubborn one.

Philippians 4:6

"Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God."

I love this verse. How simple these words are, yet so difficult to remember when I feel so consumed with worry and anxiety. This verse has been placed on my heart on more than one occasion this week. Thank you Lord for reminding me this week that all I need to do is simply give up my worries, fears, and doubts to You.
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The Caves

So this weekend, Jarrett and I hiked to some caves with some friends for a Sunday afternoon bbq! It's funny how much we have done outdoors here in Guam compared to California. We never really liked hiking or anything of that nature until we moved here. Maybe it's because most of the hikes end up at a beach or waterfall or in this case a underwater cave, and it's nice to jump in some water after a hike! So on Sunday we went to these underwater caves and went swimming. Jarrett jumped off some rocks, while I relaxed on a floatie. The weather was pretty nasty here this past week because of a lingering typhoon to the north of us, so it was nice to get outside and spend time with some people from Jarrett's shop. And now, unfortunately it's Monday and Jarrett is back at work while I continue searching for a job...without a car. Not sure how that's going to work out. The rest of our furniture still has not arrive (we only received half of it last week), so we are reading lots of books and watching movies on my computer. I've read 3 books in the past week and Jarrett's read 2! Anyways, here are some pictures from our hike. P.S. Notice the lovely bump Jarrett received on his head from hitting his head on a rock.

New house!

Well we finally moved into our house last week! We are in love with our house! We have so much storage space, especially in the kitchen, that we don't know what to do with it all! We feel really spoiled that we are able to live in a house like this. Just the other day, Jarrett and I were talking and just thinking about how blessed we are to have this opportunity and to live in such a wonderful house at the age of 22. We are truly thankful! I am really coming to love Guam. It's so beautiful here and the weather is a whole new experience in itself. We had a typhoon pass to the north of us yesterday, so the weather has been pretty nasty. Everything would be truly perfect if we had our friends, family, and Olive here to share it with! But until then....we are still happy as clams. We have really done a lot since we have been here and I will write more about our adventures in future posts. I have to make this short, but I wanted to make sure I got more pictures up for family to see!