This Made My Day

Gerber daisies are my favorite flowers! Thank you for my surprise!

Marianas Cup Beach Volleyball Finals

Kim and I made it to the finals on Sunday. Our first game of the day was against pro-volleyball players, Fedarica and Dawn, from Hawaii. We got spanked again 8 to 21. Even though we lost I had a great time playing with them. They're really amazing to watch. What I love about them is they communicate and work well as a team. Also, whenever we made a good play they always said encouraging things. I was really cheering them on to win in the finals against the players from Japan.

Here's a picture of EJ, Feda(right) and Dawn(left)


Dawn and Fedarica battling the ladies from Japan. This game was so intense. Each team brought their game. Here's a picture of Dawn hitting.







Even though the Japanese players were shorter than the other team they still could get up just as high! This was a great play! This Japanese player spiked the ball and it hit Dawn's hands popping it back deep over the other side right over the other players! The crowd was going crazy. They're both such smart players.





This picture was game point. The Japanese player hit through the block by Dawn and the game was over! Dag nab it! The ladies from Japan won. It was such a great game!










Marianas Cup Beach Volleyball Women Champions 2008 from Japan. Saipan always flys back the winners to play in next year's tournament. They also get $3600 in cash for winning.




















Last years Champions battle it out with Randy Steele and Paul Baxter






























Saipan blogger, Randy Steele and Paul Baxter Marianas Cup Beach Volleyball Champions 2008 Congratulations to Randy! He kept up with this Pro-Volleyball player, Paul Baxter.







I took a picture with the number one AVP volleyball player in the world! Phil Dalhausseris six foot seven inches tall! Check out his vertical and jump serves!





Game on with Chris Nelson and Phil jump serving.

Marianas Cup Beach Volleyball: Day 1

The 16th annual Marianas Cup Beach Volleyball started today! What a great turn out this year. There were about twenty-five Mens teams and twenty womens teams. Our first game in the morning we played against two ladies from Japan. Man, we got spanked! They were amazing. I won't even repeat the score.

My team mate was Kim Hutchinson. Our stats for the day was two wins and two losses. Not too bad, eh? We fortunately get to advance to the finals on Sunday. Just wanted to share a couple of pictures from today. Here's a picture above of Gin and Linda getting ready to receive a serve. It rained off and on today but it was still a beautiful day.



A couple of women pro-volleyball players came out from Southern California to play. They are such awesome players. Here's a picture of Pro-volleyball player, Jen Synder, battling it out with Aubrey and Lisa from Guam. Aubrey and Lisa from Guam are short but can catch air and pound that ball. The final games are going to be very intense. I can't wait to see who wins.












One thing I love about tournaments is that you get to meet new people. Some girls come all the way from Japan and Guam to come play in the Mariana's cup. Here are some new friends I made, Jessica and Tara, from Guam.

(sigh) I'm so tired! Tune in on Sunday for the final results! Come down to the Pacific Islands Club resort to watch our games!

Support Live Theater in Saipan

Real Christian Theater will be putting on a dinner show called The Mystery of the Kiss Kiss Diamond. It will be a one time performance on Sunday, March 9. The time will be announced later. The tickets are $15 for adults. The kids have been working really hard to make this play come together. Currently we are trying to raise funds for our school trip to Palau in May. We will be performing a lot of skits for the local schools in Palau in hopes of sharing our love for drama and for God. Please come out to support us!









I watched the play "In Transit" and the "Vagina Monologues" by the Voices of the Marianas last year and it was hilarious! I'm guessing that this play will be just as good! Check them out. Bloggers, Jeff and Brad, have parts in this play.
You won't want to miss this!

SDA Youth Valentine's Day Party

I asked Judith and Mai to share a devotional for the youth at our Valentine's Day Party. Mai started off with a touching story about a father's love. He worked for a train station operating a bridge that would let the train pass through.

One day his son was with him at work. While working in the booth the father got a call that a train full of passengers was coming through. He had to put the bridge down. He looked frantically for his son and realized he was playing near the bridge. There wasn't enough time to go down and tell his son to move. He knew he had to make a decision. To make sure his son was safe by not putting down the bridge or to allow a train full of people go over the edge.

The father couldn't bare to let a train full of people go over the edge so he made the agonizing decision to put down the bridge and hope that his son would get out of the way. Sadly the story ends with the son dying but the train full of passengers safely made its way through the bridge.

Valentine's day is overshadowed by candy, flowers, and other gifts. Sometimes we forget what the meaning of true love is. God sacrificing his son's life so that we may have the chance to live eternally with Him.

We closed out the Sabbath with this devotional and to Riki jammin' on her guitar while we sang praises.
Amy helped me prepare Haystacks for dinner and for dessert we had chocolate fondue with bananas, apples, oranges, and broccoli! Yum!

Dive Snapshots from President's Day Weekend

So I kicked off my 4 day weekend with an afternoon dive with Harry at the Grotto. Funny how it doesn't take much convincing for Harry to get wet. He got a new camera and has been dying to test it out.





The grotto is probably my most favorite dive spot in Saipan. Its just so unique and I feel like I'm in heaven going through the exit holes.






The visibility was unbelievable! Probably about 50 meters across the way. We spotted a huge Napolean Wrasse much like the one that was recently caught. He didn't wait too long for us to catch up with him because he just took off! Here's a picture of Harry below me taking pictures of this turtle. Check out his blog for beautiful close up pictures.







Here's a creature that I am definitely intrigued by but too scared to get too close. The Spotted Morey Eel has really sharp teeth and I just don't want get in its face.







I was actually really surprised to see this Parrotfish. It's either a Bumphead Parrotfish or a Steephead Parrotfish. If someone knows . . . let me know!







I'm so happy that I get to share my love for scuba diving with so many people in Saipan. There is always someone to go diving with on the weekends. This afternoon Sean, Mai, Jessica, Rikki, Mark and Tammy James, Dr. Hunt, Atsuko, and I rode the Aqua Jet out to two dive sites.


This was the SDA Teacher's first dive boat experience in Saipan and they did really well! Of course they had great instructor, Judy and Dennis. Here's a picture of Sean, Riki, and Jessica Crusin' into the deep blue.






I'm going to be dreaming of Pyramid Butterfly fish tonight! Plenty in the water. Mai is surrounded by them!















You know what we were all hoping to see-Eagle Rays! And we did! Five of them! We sat perched ontop of the Ice Cream Dive site and watched the Eagle Rays come swoop into the cleaning station. They were soo close to me! It was amazing! I think one of them winked at me!





















This Hawksbill Turtle dropped right in front of us and I didn't even notice him at first until Atsuko pointed him out. I was looking for Nudibranchs and realized he was dropping right in front of me!




I found Nemo! Here's a Duske Anemone Fish.











Here's a picture of an Orange Fin Anemone Fish

Bowlines

My favorite thinking spot on Saipan is the one that I am sitting at on my banner on my blog. Its the lookout near Forbidden Island.

Its a grueling bike ride up that gravel hill . . . but when you make it to the look out
the view is incredible. Here's a picture of sunrise over Forbidden Island.

I watched the movie Bucketlist with Amy and loved it! Go see it! There is so much that I want to do. My head is spinning with ideas.

Just wanted to share one of my favorite quotes:

"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbour. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover."

-Mark Twain

Attack Plaque

Does anyone ever really remember their Dental Hygienist coming to their classroom to talk about teeth and good oral hygiene? The kids won't remember my name. They'll remember me as the lady that carries around a big toothbrush. Seriously! I have to show them how to brush with my big teeth and big toothbrush.


This morning I taught a couple classes at WSR School. They said, "gooooood moooooooorning Miss Beeeeeeev!" I tell them a silly story about the Three Friends teeth and quiz them afterwards. If they get a question right I reward them with stickers. The kids go CRAZY over Sponge Bob stickers! Geez. I had to calm them down a couple of times.








Then I ask for 4 brave volunteers and have them chew on pink tablets to disclose their plaque in their mouth. They are so cute!








They always get a kick out of that! Hey don't laugh! If I gave you a pink disclosing tablet your teeth might look like that too!

Serendipity

You can interpret this postcard in many ways. I laughed when I saw this post card on the Postsecret website. Why? Because it reminded me how pathetic I once was at a point in my life.

In a STC episode Charlotte says, "where is he?" Her friends reply, "Who?" Charlotte says, "My night and shining armor!" It was such a funny clip. But seriously, as Valentine's Day rolls around I'm sure there are many girls wondering that same thing.

It's true that in your 30's your perspective on love and yourself is much different than in your 20's. You just don't settle for anything less than what your worth.

When I have a daughter someday. . . I am going to tell her to LIVE your life and do what you love. Don't wait for love to happen because it's so true that it happens when you least expect it! ;) When you are out there doing what you love, you'll meet people with the same passion. I believe in chance encounters. I believe in Serendipity <3

Managaha Island Campout & Eagle Rays

I love camping on the beach! I really look forward to the SDA School's yearly retreat to Managaha Island with the kids. Managaha Island is just a quick 15 minute ferry ride away from Saipan.





Every time we come out here we ALWAYS say we need to come out more often. It's just really peaceful and beautiful out here.
The times that we did camp out here we were the only ones on the island besides the security guards. Where else in the world can you have a whole island to yourselves?!





The kids set up their tents on two sides of the Pavilion. The boys are on one side and the girls are on the other. I felt like I was in junior high again! Amy and I ended up sharing a tent. It rained sporadically throughout the night. We didn't have the right tarp to cover our tent so we ended up a little wet in the morning. We still slept better than we both expected.





Our tents were lined up right along the shoreline close enough to hear the waves crash at night. Like our tree decorations?!







I woke up early on Sabbath morning for a sunrise walk on the beach. Sometimes I think I must be crazy to leave all this beauty and my life here behind. I'm trying to savor the time I have left here. Life is simple and so meaningful out here.

Some of the best memories of my childhood were from my school days. My mom worked really hard as a nurse to put my brother, sister, and I through SDA private school for all twelve years at Loma Linda Academy. At every SDA school we have something called a Week of Prayer. The school schedule is modified to accomadate a special hour in the day that focuses on God. This past week was Saipan SDA's week of prayer.





Jammed together under the Pavilion we would listen to Rikki and Joy jam on their guitars as we sang praise songs to start our worship service.










All week long I heard about a pastor coming out from Florida to preach to the kids. When I arrived I introduced myself to him. We looked at each other and he said " I think we've met before!" I didn't recognize him at first because the last time I had seen him was in junior high. His brother, Greg, was my classmate and Glenn was my younger sister, Gin's, classmate. Small world!

Pastor Glenn talked about how he never thought God would call him to a Pastor. He said, "I wanted to be a dentist, but I never could pass Chemistry!" Funny how you plan your life out but God has something better and greater than you could ever imagine. I really feel that Glenn touched these kids lives. Towards the end of his sermon he invited those who wanted to give their lives to Christ. Many of these kids wanted to give their lives to Christ. Glen currently is a pastor at the SDA Church in Miami, Florida. We hope that he can come visit us again someday.







Amy planned a lot of the team building activities for the kids. She's currently the preschool director and has been a real blessing to us. She's so creative and you can really tell how passionate she is about teaching and being around kids. Here's a picture of Amy and Rikki setting up for a game called Shadow Charades! This was fun. Here's some pictures of some bible stories the kids were trying to act. I just love abstract art!





Creation! God creating the world.
















Jesus hanging on the cross.


The Israelites worshiping the Golden Calf before Moses came down and broke the Ten Commandments.



Some snapshots of the SDA teachers and the kids cooking our lunch.






































Pastor Glenn and me

















The funniest kid, Noah and his mom, Carol Paez.



During down time I walked over to the dock because I heard a rumor that you could spot Eagle Rays from the dock right before sunset and just after sunrise. Its true! I saw these three Eagle Rays around 7 am Saturday morning just hanging out around the dock! I wanted to jump in the water to get a better picture but I didn't have my underwater housing with me=( I'm really excited to see them because there's a good chance I'll see them again at the dive site Eagle Ray City on President's day weekend!






Here's a bird's eye view of the three Eagle Rays!






And to top off the camping trip I went snorkeling! I spotted an eel and tons of fish! Just love how the water is like 82 degrees=) Ahh, what a great weekend!