I see Your face in every sunrise
The colors of the morning are inside Your eyes
The world awakens in the light of the day
I look up to the sky and say
You’re beautiful

I see Your power in the moonlit night
Where planets are in motion and galaxies are bright
We are amazed in the light of the stars
It’s all proclaiming who You are
You’re beautiful, You're beautiful

I see you there hanging on a tree
You bled and then you died and then you rose again for me
Now you are sitting on Your heavenly throne
Soon we will be coming home
You’re beautiful, you're beautiful

When we arrive at eternity’s shore
Where death is just a memory and tears are no more
We’ll enter in as the wedding bells ring
Your bride will come together and we’ll sing
You’re beautiful, You're beautiful, You're beautiful

I see Your face, You're beautiful, You're beautiful, You're beautiful
I see Your face, You're beautiful, You're beautiful, You're beautiful
I see Your face, I see Your face
I see Your face, You’re beautiful, You’re beautiful, You’re beautiful

You're Beautiful by Phil Wickham

Twenty Ten~

Happy New Year! It really seems like the years get faster as I get older. Haha, that makes me sound old, but whatever. We've been really blessed this past year, so it'll be interesting what God has in store for us this year. I haven't posted any pics from Christmas yet so here they are.



We stayed here at the Victorian Inn in Blowing Rock, NC for Christmas. It was Chase's surprise Christmas present to me (that and a REALLY nice straightening iron). We were to go up to the mountains for a white Christmas and ski. What we hadn't planned on was an ice storm. This was not one of those nice ones where everything is just slightly iced and beautiful. The power lines were down so none of the restaurants were open and we really had nothing to do in our room. There was already snow everywhere. But that snow turned into huge banks of ice.



We ventured outside to see the damage and of course for me to take pics! Hanging on the veranda were these "icicle" Christmas lights that had turned into real icicles.



The snow/ice was beautiful. You can see how deep it is by the Nativity scene behind the tree. Baby Jesus is covered in an embankment of snow.



We made our way cautiously down the mountain to get some supplies like card games and our Christmas dinner of Honey buns and olive oil Triscuits. This was a hilarious irony. We definitely did NOT need anymore ice at that point....



The next morning, the owners of the Bed and Breakfast came back from the holidays and served us this yummy breakfast. They heard about our ...different Christmas iced-in and took pity on us and we got another night's stay for FREE! (It's really expensive too. :D)


So we made a day of it, eating gourmet chocolates, looking at all the quaint stores in Blowing Rock. We ate lunch at a grille on the main street. I ate a BLT with fried green tomatoes. Totally unhealthy but totally delicious. This is the hubby at the grille looking quite dapper in his flannel.


We went to one of the B &B owner's wine store for a free wine tasting~! We got to learn more about wine and sample a few. It was fun.



I'm glad God gave us this blessing of getting to hang out in Blowing Rock. It really made up for being stuck inside, but 2009's Christmas was definitely memorable. Thank you Baby! I also found out that I don't want to live in cold, icy places. ;p



This was our fireplace for Christmas. Since we were gone for most of the holiday, we didn't decorate the house too much.



For New Years we stayed in and I made a roasted spatchcocked chicken. To spatchcock basically means taking out the spine and laying it flat. It cuts the time in half for cooking. I took some herb butter and stuck it under the skin before cooking it. It was delicious.



This is the Guiness Stout Chocolate cake. It was one of the best chocolate cakes I've ever had/made in my life. It was covered in chocolate whipped cream yumminess.



This was breakfast on New Years morning. Skirt steak rubbed in chili powder with tomato, corn, and jalepeno salad. Also pretty freaking delicious.

I'll post a pic of my new hair later. I dyed my bangs hot pink and cut them. God bless you guys!

Another Hisashiburi post~!

We were married on November 7~! The weather was absolutely gorgeous and we were totally blessed by our family, friends, and guests. :D



After our honeymoon in Tokyo and Hakone, Japan, we quickly went back to Okinawa to pack my things and say our good-byes to peeps... This is about half of all the food I sent to the states. I could seriously open a store with all the Jp foods I have.



We're keeping busy here and trying to get plugged in as much as possible at church. Chase is teaching a grappling class on Sundays at noon. It's called "Grappling with the Word." They do that then a bible study that relates with the moves they've learned. I sit back with my coffee and do my readings in Systematic Theology while they're doing their thing.



The Women of CCJacksonville put together a Christmas Tea. It was a really awesome time of snacking, crafts, chatting, and a really good message. :D






I've been cooking a LOT. I get bored pretty easily with food so I've been experimenting with all sorts of food. The first one was a beef roast that I had braised pretty much all day. Behind it is a challah bread and in the front Parmesan garlic potatoes. I think my favorite in that meal was the potatoes. The picture underneath is a lox (smoked salmon) salad with a nice balsamic vinaigrette. I love salmon. <3



We're getting settled in nicely in Wilmington (NC). I'll leave you this sign (above). Does anyone know what's wrong with it? God bless you guys and Happy New Years!

Hisashiburi post!

Phew! Hisashiburi dane? I've been quite busy these past couple of months. God has definitely outdone any expectations I've ever had and has blessed me quite profusely. :D A quick update is in order, huh?



First off, I visited my then boyfriend a couple of months ago and now I'm engaged to a wonderful man of God! That's my ring on top of my piano, btw. :)





Then, the chickas threw me a bachelorette party. There was games, gifts, kareoke, and so much laughing! It was one of the best parties thrown for me. I love them. ^.^ Aaaand, yes. I am wearing a teal grass skirt over my jeans.



















This afternoon, my mom, Anna, and I went to the restaurant "Daikon no Hana" for lunch before going down to Itoman to see my obaa-chan. Daikon no Hana is an all you can eat organic place. Even after totally pigging out until you can't eat anymore, you really don't feel guilty because... it's organic? The food was delicious and I totally love the decor. It's kinda Wafu (Japanese) circa Meiji era. I think it's more of an adult place unless your kids dig eating organic foods (AKA mostly veggies). Definitely hitting this place up again.



Afterwords, we went to a couple of beaches where I tested out the new lens the fiance graciously gifted me with.





After the sun set, we saw a sign for a cafe so we explored. It was probably one of the best views from a cafe. My only qualm with the place was that the windows were open and I was definitely getting eaten. Everyone else was safe though (as long as I was around). Cafe au lait was good though.

VBS Week

We had VBS this past week. I got to hang out with the peeps from CC Montebello. I'll post pics from that later. For now enjoy the video.



And a lot of people got sick this week, including me and Anna. I pimped out her mask with an Autobots symbol.

Of Beach Baptisms, Tomas, and Cheesecake

On Saturday, God blessed us with some really awesome weather with a breeze. I, with a lot of the members of the Harbor, joined together for some beach, bbq, baptisms, and bonfire.



Absolutely gorgeous beach near Torii. We had some wicked waves that day.




Here's Mark with the seven that were baptized that day, including his cute daughter Zoey.



This is my friend, Janae, getting baptized. Praise God! (she had to keep holding Mark's hand because those waves were throwing her off balance)




A silhouette of Tara. I like this picture. :)




On Monday, since it was Umi no Hi (Or Beach/Ocean Day) and most Japanese were off from work, the Tomas invited us and the Konnos over to their house for dinner. Here Yoshi-san is explaining to Roy-san how hand-eye coordination improves the capacity of the frontal lobe of your brain. Deep stuffs.



We had dinner and for dessert my dad bought a Sara Lee pound cake and I made french cheesecake. Usually I'm not a fan of baked cheesecake, but this one was fluffy and creamy and mmmm.... makes my mouth water thinking about it.




After dinner everyone minus Joseph, Halleluyah, and Me played Mexican Train, a dominoes game.



While everyone else was playing their game... we played some Wii. Here's Halleluyah picking on Joseph. J/k. Actually Joseph smoked us in everything except Smash Bros. Brawl (I smoked them) and Mario Party 8 (Halle. won). It was definitely good times with good friends. :D

Psalms 34:3 (KJV)

O magnify the LORD with me,

and let us exalt his name together.

I shot a yamori.

So I take a million pics a day... I've been having this ongoing battle with this yamori (sci. name: Hemidactylus frenatus, common name: House Gekko) for quite some time now. I'd want to take a picture of it and then when I'd go to a) get my camera or b) switch lenses out.... he'd run away! It was so frustrating. Finally today he was in the corner and had relatively no where to run. Muahaha!



I think I'll name him Hemi. He hangs out in our room quite a bit. Doesn't really bother me too much.



He's about the length of my index finger. Maybe...3.5-4 inches?


He got really annoyed when I started using the flash at point blank of his face. He decided that it really was worth-while to run away. He ran away in zig-zags. I think I may have blinded him a little?

Psalms 104: 24-25
How many are your works, O LORD!
In wisdom you made them all;
the earth is full of your creatures.

There is the sea, vast and spacious,
teeming with creatures beyond number—
living things both large and small.