Aloha from Hawaii

I have much to tell and some things on the plane ride that will either make you laugh or make you feel sorry for me! I cannot describe or show pictures of how beautiful it is here. You would have to actually see it to know! More later...

Derrick's Birthday

Derrick chose Fuji's sushi for his birthday meal. I can't figure out why he would expose himself to food that definitely clears the sinuses up (he likes to use a lot of wasubi). He had me eat a bite of his California roll. He knew what it was going to do to me. I...did not. I, myself, prefer good ol' country cooking, mashed potatoes & gravy, sweet tea, rolls, broccoli casserole, sweet potato casserole... But I still enjoyed my cooked stuff from the sushi place (my favorite part is the cut up oranges & cherry but the kids end up getting most of that ;) ). The kids came bearing gifts tonight. Samantha wore a white hat she had picked out for him earlier (she picked white because it's his favorite color. Bay carried his sparkling apple cider (that we like to drink & watch movies) & balloon to him. The little carrot cake is from his mama and Mitchell. They stopped by and brought that and a gift. The kids loved the pez dispensers she threw in his gift for them and Bella loved to rattle the tin can of mints (if you look close you can see them in the pictures). We watched a movie I got for him for a little bit. He had to get up early to catch a plane to go work for a couple of weeks in Hawaii (Isabella and I will join him for 5 days- 6 days here with the time change). The other night we went on a sweet date for coneys & a movie to celebrate. We thank God for Derrick's 29 years. For the next 4 months we get to be the same age.

Our New Year's Eve

For New Years we went over to the cousins house and continued the fun of playing Bible Trivia (we had played it the night before). It was so much fun! I love that game. I will not mention that Dana killed us all several rounds. This was so much nicer than playing Whovilleopoly and being brutally killed by Ryan (story of my life- he has always beat me in Monopoly but when we were younger it was not always without cheating. None of us have any luck against him. He will try to strike deals with us and act like he is on our side until we need to strike a deal of our own. Then he will bankrupt us) ;). Somehow, we always get beat by the Powell's! Derrick does not always look forward to staying up until midnight but with the help of the cappucinos Ryan made for us we were able to stay up until 1 (1:30 by the time we got home). The first night Samantha slept in Mia and Alyssa's bunk bed and Bay slept in Caden's. I don't know why I say, "slept" though because no sleeping went on. The second night we were smart and the kids slept in other places. They came over in their jammies. We ate lots of puppy chow-that stuff is good! At midnight someone shot off fireworks in their neighborhood and we got to see them. I'd love to get some comments. What did you do for New Years?

Some really good tea

Recently I have gotten to try some really good tea. I believe it is called, "teavana." One had lavendar in it and was really good. I wished that I had some because it is so nice to drink flavored tea without sugar. Honestly, I think it's very nice to drink tea with sugar and would drink sweet tea every day seeing that it is my favorite drink if it were only good for my health, energy level... I just knew that the grocery store wouldn't compare to it but I wanted to try to find a good one while I was there. So, at Target, I found some called Stash. It is decaf chocolate hazelnut tea and I love it. It is really good just by itself but I also made some with Stevia and it was really good too! So, I was excited and wanted to share that with you. I'm sure the other flavors they have are good too but have not tried any others yet.

My all time favorite tea is Teavana's Caramel Apricot Torte. It's pink and I love it!

Ryan's 30-day challenge

I have gotten some sweet comments about Ryan's blog that it is an encouragement. If you haven't had a chance to check it out you should. Also, there is a video if you go directly to ryananddana.com it should come up. It is really good. Derrick is in it as well.

Six Reasons Why the Movie "Fireproof" is IMPORTANT

Six Reasons Why the Movie "Fireproof" is IMPORTANT

Ryan and Dana's blog

My brother, Ryan, is giving himself a 30 day challenge and is going to blog about it to hold himself accountable. Every day for 30 days he is going to find someone to share Christ with and post about it. I'm excited about it! I hope that it will encourage others, as well as myself. He has already posted a day 1 that I found to be engaging. Their blog is down on the right if you want to click on it (The Powell Family, Day One) or go to ryananddana.com. and click on "Thirty Day Challenge" to check it out. They also have updated pictures of their family and current updates on their journey to be missionaries in France.