Flying High

How can one month go by so quickly?! Kieva and I are headed home and in some ways it feels like we just left.

We jetted off to Illinois and were thankful to spend a lot of time with Great grandma Hernandez. She is as beautiful as ever and at 83 is feistier then i've ever seen her.

It was great to be surrounded by the exuberant, opinionated, beautiful and hilarious Hernandez clan. I felt so oddly

normal around them. 

These are just a few of the beauty's from our time there

Kieva went frog hunting, freaked out every time he saw rabbits hopping around and squirrels! He went fishing and even saw old friends.

Then off to North Carolina

Chatting with uncle Jason 

Receiving birthday cake # 2

Fishing with Daddy
We were blessed to see Bryan's mom and all of that side of the family.

Kieva saw his other great grandma as well. She makes 88 look great!

We saw Bryan's dad and that side of the family. And we were reunited with our friends

There were birthday parties for Kieva, scooter rides, beach days ,pool parties and the list goes on and on. 

Thank you to everyone who blessed us on this trip and blessed us for the trip. 2 years was too long to be away from our loved ones!! 
We have been blessed beyond belief by our family and friends in Illinois, and in North Carolina.

We have a new season ahead .. Kieva in third grade, trip to Germany to teach, and perhaps a few other new happenings .. Will keep you posted! 

#Oneexcitingchapterending#whirlwind3months#newchapterbeginning!

Hash tags (#) seem to be the newest craze, we use them on Instagram (which I am now a part of Mariadaughtry8), they are available on Facebook, and Twitter(haven't made it to that cyberland yet) seems to be a place of only hashtags. I am sure Blogger is next so I thought I would be trendy and incorporate them now... for those of you who think of hashtags as confusing I will make them headers! ( bridging the generations!)

# One exciting chapter ending

Here we are graduating the CBCC. They did it! Read through 12 books of the bible  many times over and did about 30 to 40 hours of outside class time work. Being the school leader was amazing! I had the opportunity to witness their understanding of the word and see how they practically began applying to their lives. I worked with great staff and hope to do it again sometime in the future.

# whirlwind three months

 I thanked my family for allowing me the time to do this. I would not see my family on Mondays and Tuesdays, my husband did most of homework time with Kieva everyday, as well as cook, clean , and laundry . Did I mention he was rebuilding a house and office on our base as well? In this time Kieva finished the second grade and couldn't wait for summer.My mom flew in to help us care for Kieva and what a blessing she has been!

On the same day as graduation last week we began painting the new little apartment we are moving into! We moved most of our stuff on Friday and are trying our hardest to finish this task! 

#New Chapter Beginning

Here's our  new beautiful view from our living room. We are right next to the mountainside and can hear the creek gurgling at night. A whole new perspective of the base we have been living on for the last 4 years! 

Our now adventure is trying to get home for the summer to see family. We have not been back to the mainland for 2 years and want Kieva especially to see his aging great grandmothers. Step one has been accomplished as we have been gifted 2 tickets purchased with miles but we need 207.00 to pay for the fees. We have been cleaning a home once a week for almost 2 years now but will not have that income when we are gone. Bryan will wait for 2 weeks and continue working on the base and with side jobs so we can pay for our monthly expenses and for our trip. If you would like to be a part of helping us get home, renting or borrowing a vehicle , etc please let us know. You can hit the pay pal button on this blog or if you would like to send a tax deductible donation write a check to YWAM and include a note stating it's for our family. You can send it to 

YWAM P. O. BOX 61700 HONOLULU HI 96839

We are on the missionfield.

A few weeks ago the Lord began to highlight to me that I am on outreach here.. sounds funny since  am a missionary in Hawaii but I see my self as  trainer of young people.. making disciples of the ones that come and stay on staff short term or long term. I see myself as helping the students have a safe place to grow spiritually and love being a part of sending them out to the nations.  Yet He began to actually let me know that the calling is even more then that.
Kieva is in the second grade and I can count on one hand the amount of times I have volunteered to help at his school. The reason being that I truly feel like a country mouse living among city mice. When I first came I tried to chat with people but could tell that I am so very different from the type of woman who lives here. I long for days at the beach, I long to be able to walk across the street to see the ocean. I want to make friends by joining an outrigger team.. and not have to fight traffic to get there. Basically I miss Maui and my friends!
The women here are city savvy, ultra scheduled, professional types who have had family roots here for hundreds of years. They mingle with one another but really socialize with others who have  graduated from the same high school as them. Some of them have known one another since birth ( literally!). Many of them being of Asian descent they are  quiet, proper, and controlled. .
 I don't think anyone would ever describe me that way!    
So as you can see volunteering amidst this can be lonely and not so fun. And yet it was like an epiphany that I am outreach everyday.  I believe everyone can be a shining light wherever the Lord has placed you.. but the difference for us is that we are  in a place we would not choose. We love Hawaii.. country Hawaii, and we are learning to love this part of Hawaii.. Life is uncomfortable and yet so full of peace, as we know He has called us here.  

     
 So today me and three young women from the base volunteered for Kieva's school. We  helped sell Haku lei's, wristlets, and headbands. They were beautiful.. each different, full of color, and made with aloha. The Haku leis were also made by volunteers and I could tell that our point person was disappointed in the quality of many of them. It seems that she has been making them since she was very young.. so she was use to a certain quality within the craftsmanship. She also was not too sure about us.... outsiders. We waited for her to let us know when we could be useful. She slowly began giving us jobs and allowing us to help. The fun really began when the children and parents came to try on and purchase the lei's. Everyone was excited about the beauty of the lei's and the beginning of the 50th year celebration of the school .By the time we left I could tell that they had warmed up to us... just a little bit. And I am sure that if I continue to volunteer at Kieva's school maybe in a few months... maybe a year, they will greet me with open arms too. But either way I will be open and I will assimilate as best as I can so others can see the light, the beauty and the aloha of our Father God.

Missing Grandma

 Today, I am missing my grandma.. I actually think about her at least once a day. She has lived up to her name.. Petra.. which means rock. She has been the anchor and source of love for her family.. she has  been my inspiration. She has taught me how to love, how to forgive, how to carry on when everyone else would crumble..and how to be humble.

 She loves to laugh and some of my most favorite memories of her are when she would watch "I Love Lucy". She would have to have the tissue box next her as she would laugh so hard she would cry. I learned how to enjoy a moment, to be present in joy.. even when everything else is stressful .. I learned how laughter could heal, and how it could soothe.. and how it made a normal day brighter.. I love to laugh.. ask anyone who knows me.. it's loud and from the deepest part of me. I think some people get upset when I laugh loud.. but that is one thing I would never trade in for the fear of opinion.. I learned from the Queen how to let it engulf me and fill me up with warmth.

I remember being at Bible College and coming upon this sketch in a friend's room.. It actually stopped me in my tracks.. Never, until that moment, had I thought of Jesus laughing. I just thought of Him as a serious man who required me to  be serious...It was a life changing moment.. to realize that humor, laughter, JOY truly did come from God.. It would still take years after that for it to sink in.. The Joy of the Lord is my strength.... no matter the circumstance.. who knew that all those years my Grandma was showing me Jesus.

Our April quarter has started and this is a phott of the CBCC ( Chronological Bible Core Course) students taking a much needed break at our Aloha Day. I am privilaged to be their school leader and to be a part of their growing process. As they study the word and contemplate the applications they can make in their own life I am praying that they will see the beauty of God. I am praying that as they are overwhelmed by the beauty of who Jesus was on earth and that it will fill their bellies up with laughter.  I pray they will be so touched by the tangible presence of God their lives will never  be the same. This laughter, this Joy.. it can change us from the inside out.. Thank you Grandma for being a 3-D picture of Jesus to me.. may I be one for others..

Newness is beautiful....

So many new things have been happening on our base, in our lives, and in our visioneering in the last few months!
In December our base leaders came to us to let us know that by the same time the next day they would no longer be the base leaders but would be handing it over to Cary and Chris Solima. We were in shock to say the least. Usually a transition takes some time.. even in YWAM but I must say that out of every transition I've been through, on a base, this seems to be the smoothest thus far. When this announcement was made there was only unity in the coming behind our new leaders and making this base even better then it had ever been.

We commissioned our new leaders and even had the blessing of Darlene Cunningham being there to pray over them.
The first new thing to happen is us moving everything out of one of the long houses that holds our office and 2 units for family housing. This building has been gutted and is being rebuilt. We believe this is also a physical sign for a spiritual issue. That the Lord is rebuilding us ( as a base) with hearts of Thanksgiving.. He wants to get rid of any of our unthankfulness that can eat away at the structure of our spiritual lives.
We are visioneering for new schools and perhaps pilot bases in the future. It is a time where visioneering and dreaming have been released ! So of course this then effects us as people individually and as families. Bryan and I are of no exception .Sooooo.....

This quarter I have taken on a new role as School Leader for the Chronological Bible Core Course. I am excited to not only see students lives radically shifted by their deep study of the word but also am excited to see how the Lord shifts my heart and my mind. Our staff training begins this week and in a week and a half our students will arrive!
I believe that the Lord is encouraging me to go back to school in the fall!! Woot!! Woot!! I have been waiting for the perfect timing of this  for awhile. I am filling out paperwork and will let everyone know as soon as the next step occurs..

My husband is considering getting his contractors license in  the  future as well. Here he is putting up a chainlink fence on our property. We do NOT believe that the Lord is moving us out of missions but is leading us to new tools that will help with the base and with our ministries as a family.

 Kieva is working on his skateboarding and requests going to the skatepark EVERYDAY! He loves music and we are praying about how to incorporate some drum/guitar playing in his life.

 

 

 

 

Newness is so beautiful ...it can be scary, it can be challenging.. and it can even be harder then the status quo.. but when we are being led by the God of love we know that we know that we know that it's all for the best. What newness is He bringing to you?

Can I "just say yes" today?

My beautiful , energetic, rambuncious boy will be 7 in about 1 week. I cannot believe it... For some reason 7 is like a new era of time. He is getting his own cereal in the mornings.. picking out his own outfits.. decorating his room with his own ideas of "awesomeness".. and of course has his own sets of opinions about... EVERYTHING. ( He must get that from his dad's side!)
Sometimes he wants to share his opinion when it's not needed.. for example;
I say " Son, it's time to clean your room." and he thinks this is a good time to comment on why this is not a good time for him.. or how he was thinking he would do it tomorrow but not today. It could be me simply asking him to change his outfit because it's dirty or not appropriate for the destination and once again I will begin hearing all of his opinions about how the shirt isnt that dirty.. or how this is a comfy shirt and he doesn't have any other comfy shirts because I haven't done his laundry lately!
Needless to say we (Bryan and I) have been tag teaming each other when these moments happen reminding him who he is and who we are. Trying to patiently remind him that this is not time for his opinion but time for obedience! Usually I end the diatribe with the same question "Son, can't you just say "yes mommy"?! " Which he then usually says "yes, mommy" but there is a difference on the days when I tell him to do something and right away he says "Yes, mommy" Sometimes I sit in stunned silence and think "that's awesome"
But this story isn't just about parenting idealogys but about me, God's kid, as an adult. Sometimes I find it hard to "just say yes" to the Lord because I have grown in Him. So I think that gives me some leeway to let Him know what I am thinking.. and Thank God ( literally) that He is a God that longs to listen to us and communicate with us in so many ways. But I do see over and over in the Bible and in my life that there are times life could of been a whole lot easier had I just said yes to Him and His way. Maybe it wouldn't have led to easier circumstances at the time or even in the long run, but the "easier" comes on the interior in the way of peace that passes all understanding.

I remember when Holly and I were living in Paia and the Lord had begun to tell me that He wanted me to move out of our house and back onto the YWAM base. He was also telling me at that time to quit my job and go back to YWAM full time. I had so many opinions and objections.. I mean I wasn't just living on support I was working myself and people "out there" would give me kuddo's for that. I wasn't living on the base I was in my house and that was a "sign" of growing up.... to all those people out there. I could have a glass of wine in my home if I wanted and would not have that freedom living in base housing.. I was living with my best friend and the girls in base housing were alot younger then me...I mean these were good reasons for me to stay in my house.. and the Lord must not be remembering me and my circumstances.. I stubbornly held out for months.. and then I finally just said yes. I remember when I was moved out and Holly and I were living about 6 blocks away from each other.. haha.. and I called her. "Holly?" "Yeah?" " I feel so much peace, more peace then I have felt in a long time." "I know.. this is the right decision".
Sometimes just saying yes to Him makes others raise their eyebrows at you.. but it's worth it when His peace inside overwhelms you.
I'm always reiterating to my son that when he is obedient we have more time to have fun and to laugh and enjoy each other. I think the Lord has been reminding me that when I just say "yes" there is so much more time to laugh and enjoy this life.
He is a trustworthy Father that loves us and when He asks us to trust His perspective we can save alot of time, anxst, and worry by just saying "yes Papa,"

I was walking the beach looking for shells and seaglass when all of a sudden I heard the Lord say "Maria  I want to show you something extraordinary. " So I started intently looking around and wondering what He was going to point out to me  when I  slowly began seeing all of these coral pieces shaped into hearts. I love these pieces when I find them but usually it's like 2 or 3 at a time but on this morning they were everywhere. Some were laying on the top of the sand, some buried so I could only see the top sticking out, some slightly covered with sand... they were absolutely  everywhere...

 and then...

 I heard Him say " My heart is ALWAYS available. You just have to look for it, be aware of it, and don't let the sands of ache or pain or disappointment in your heart cover it up." 

Aches, pains and disappointments truly can act like sand on the surface of our heart. slowly sanding away the effervescence of salvation and truth of God.
I forget at times that His heart is available to me right at the moment of pain.. or the moment of questioning. I don't even have to mull something over in my mind on my own. I can ask Him right then for His perspective on the situation, or ask for words to say, or ask for wisdom and insight. He is available at all times to influence us , to drag us out of the pit, to change our attitude..
Yet it's so interesting that sometimes we do not want our bad attitudes to go away. we don't want to be handed hope or joy. We want to carry our angst like a backpack,  to show others because that is suppose to heal us, or make us feel important, or even rightly validated.
We think ruminating in them does something..   I'm not sure what.. but something.
So my encouragement today is let the Lord trade you Joy for pain, Assurance for anxiety, Love for hate, and Healing instead of half a healing or no healing.
We serve a good God who says" I am here"  "I Love you" " I call you masterpiece, beautifully and wonderfully made" " I cry with you" and " I heal". Will we allow Him to is the question.