Happy Valentines Eve

Saipan girls

This post is because me and my friends take a million pictures and because I just LOVE them.

 Beach day at Obyan Beach

Surprise half-birthday party for our friend Amy.  We had a tea-party by the beach with cupcakes and, of course, party hats. 

Delicious hot chocolate during Friday night Pretty Little Liars. 

Waiting in line at the theater for the premiere of Breaking Dawn.  We watched all of the three previous Twilight movies in the weeks leading up to Breaking Dawn, then waited in line for over an hour at the theater... best ever ❤

 At our Friday Night Pretty Little Liars watching + pizza tradition

 Two of my past coworkers, Pearl and Donna.  Love them, and Pearl's beautiful little 2 week old baby girl, Lydia.

 At PLL night with the handsomest little guy ever, our friend Kayla's baby.

 Going to see the ballet, Swan Lake, in December.  Russian and Korean ballet dancers came to Saipan to star in the show and it was beautiful.  It was all outdoor seating, and cool, breezy weather that night. One of my students gave me a VIP ticket, so I got to sit up front with her to enjoy the show.

 Spending the afternoon at the beach- our very favorite thing to do on a Saturday or Sunday.  

 Eating lunch at Bobby Cadillacs when Kara and Grant's parents came to visit.  Best pizza on the island.

Girl's night at the theater to see New Years Day

  

I'm so thankful for these girls.  God has blessed me with the most caring, fun, and wonderful girl friends these past two years in Saipan.  I will miss them so much next year!!

God is my strength and comfort

My heart trusts in Him and I am helped. -Psalm 28:7

I've been reading through the book of Isaiah lately and have underlined or put big stars by these ones:

"In the Lord alone are righteousness and strength". -Isaiah 45:24  

This verse is so simple but strong, and reminds me that I can only find perfect peace and contentment in God.  When I spend my time seeking God, I'm spending it in the very best way.

"Even in your old age and gray hairs, I am he, I am he who will sustain you.  I have made you and I will carry you.  I will sustain you and I will rescue you." -Isaiah 46:4
This is a promise from my God who is good, and who is kind and loving.  I want to spend the rest of my days seeking Him and learning about His love.

Happy 2012!!!

Look what we made on New Years Eve!  Brian and I decided to test out our camera and try to get some sparkler shots.  We thought they turned out pretty awesome!

On New Years Eve, we joined our friends at one of our very favorite restaurants in Saipan, Wild Bill's, then took our party to the beach to set off a bunch of fireworks.

I love Saipan's US Merchant Marine ships in the background of this shot.

Here's us trying to figure out our letters and numbers backwards.

 Ready...

 Get set...

GO!

We love you in 2012, Saipan!

We spent the turn of the new year at Hyatt Resort watching their awesome firework show.

Happy, happy New Year from our island to you.

For Liz and Josh!

A year ago, our friends Elizabeth and Josh taught us how make tamales, which is a Christmas tradition in their family.  We spent a great evening cooking together... and made this little tutorial.  We miss you, Liz and Josh, and all of our fun Saipan cooking parties!

ps. the tamales turned out so delicious.

Our Navy Hill Compound

Brian and I love the compound that we live on in Saipan.  It is a big compound located on top of Navy Hill and we have lots of shade trees to keep us cool from the year-round Saipan heat.  There are about 7 or 8 other houses on our compound and we have American, Russian, Chinese, Japanese, and local neighbors.  It's pretty unique and has been really cool getting to know our neighbors.

This is the view from a field near our house.  It looks out over Garapan, Saipan's tourist district, and onto the ocean.

Living up on a hill equals an ocean breeze, and lately we have been sleeping with our windows open and our air condition off.  It feels a little humid that way, but saves us a lot on our electricity bill (Saipan's electricity costs about twice as much as electricity in the states... we try to leave our air condition off as much as we can.)

Sam loves the land around our house where she can run around.  We have a few other dogs that roam around on the compound that she tries to play with, but they are usually "too cool" for her, and nip at her when she tries to play with them :)  Guess she'll just have to stick with her dog park buddies!

Atulai "Big Eyed Scad"

Every morning for the past few weeks the locals have been gathering at the same place near edge of the reef of Lau Lau Bay.  Just before sunrise, with their throwing nets in hand, they are ready to catch some fish.  I had heard that there was a great ball of Atulai fish that had gathered in the Bay and that some of the net fishermen were pulling in almost 100 pounds of them a day.  Typically, the Atulai spend most of their time in deep waters, but almost every year they migrate in great numbers into some of the island's shallow waters. So with speargun and underwater camera in hand, my friends and I went to see what everyone was talking about.