An Unreal Weekend...

I don’t exactly know where to start. This weekend was a surreal experience. It was so beautiful; it was like I couldn’t enjoy it completely because I couldn’t wrap my little mind around the fact that I was REALLY there. We went to Ant Island for the weekend. Wow, um, ok so. Imagine the most incredible colors of blue you can imagine changing and stretching as far as you can see, with a blue sky full of fluffy clouds as far as you can see. It seemed as though the earth and sky met and turned into one.  Haha pretty much what I’m trying to say is that I lived in a tropical paradise Christmas snow globe this weekend. Ya know, the ones were Santa is lying on a white sandy beach with a terrible sunburn and huge smile on his face. I felt so free this weekend. At night I found myself wading out into the ocean by myself just standing in the waves with the soft sand beneath my feet staring into the night. There was this incredible mystery that accompanied the night there, it was glorious. Here I was standing in the middle of the ocean looking at millions of gorgeous stars I have never seen before, a cool ocean breeze is sweeping around me. Waves are crashing to about my waste as they continue on their way. (you could wade out for a while and it didn’t get deeper at all, so I was standing far out but still standing.) When I look back it’s a thick and haunting, in a beautiful way, jungle, and from in front of me an abyss of water and sky. It was just me and God and it was amazing. I stood there for who knows how long, soaking it all in and singing my little heart out. Truly an incredible experience. I feel like I’m experiencing so many things that people could never dream of experiencing. I truly feel so blessed to be here. Oh and Saturday was the most amazing snorkeling EVER. Wow. Wow. Wow! I couldn’t help but miss Laura haha my little snorkeling partner in crime. I found myself just kind off by myself. Haha I didn’t want anyone holding me back as I explored! It was soo fun! I’ve NEVER seen coral like that. ALL different shapes and sizes and colors too! There was bright blue, and purple coral. Soo cool! Oh and speaking of Laura haha there were these AMAZING clams! AMAZING!!!! They had the most beautiful patterns on them I have ever seen in my life. Haha it made me think of all of my fashionable girlfriends. Seriously. Like I kept thinking, oh my goodness I could SO see Laura wearing a dress with that pattern haha or wow, that would make the most amazing curtains! (I’m can’t believe I’m admitting that I thought that…) anyway, it was awesome. And I became quite attached to a few fish, I went through naming them all. Oh! haha and there was this little fish (his name was Raphael) that followed me around kissing me! I’m NOT even kidding! Haha he kept pecking at my legs and it tickled haha.

            After snorkeling I found myself lying in a hammock that looked over crashing waves with no one around, reading a great book. I was living in a postcard. Seriously. Ridiculous. Then decided to be scandalous and take off my basketball shorts (got so sick of being fully clothed all the time) and swam out to the big boat that was anchored out a little ways. Oh how I love swimming! I climbed up and layed on the front, it reminded me so much of all the happy lake memories I have! When I closed my eyes it was like I was at home J Then I took the opportunity to dive off the boat into the crystal clear water a few times, it is pretty high at the front so that was really fun. It’s very interesting. I find myself spending a lot of time by myself here. and its ok. Its like I’m discovering an introverted side of myself that I never knew I had, I think it’s really good for me. I’m happy with just being with Jesus and nature. I can feel free and alive, adventurous, or relaxed and renewed. Its all quite new to me haha but pretty cool I’m not going to lie.

Lets see here, oh another thing I never thought I’d experience haha I’m pretty sure I never want to eat peanut butter again! That is literally what Amy and I lived off this weekend. And now I feel gross. Lol. Definitely am looking forward to getting to the track tomorrow! Ooh I slept in my hammock! The first night I wasn’t really used to it, but the second night I slept like a baby. Seriously, like the best night sleep I’ve had since I’ve been here. (thanks daddy!) It was pretty great.

            The way back today was quite an adventure. Haha! At a certain point we all had to get off the big boat and climb onto the little boat. We’re talking like a little tiny boat with a motor on the back that Mr. B steers. And there were like 26 of us on this thing. It was about to sink haha and we had to cross through these shallow coral waters. One of the guys had to stand at the front of the boat with this huge stick and push us through the water (I was like, this is awesome) so we wouldn’t hit stuff, and cuz we had to turn off the engine sometimes. And THEN it started raining like crazy, and we had zero shelter haha I can for the first time say that I was cold in pohnpei. This took like forty minutes, it was definitely a bonding experience haha everyone was like huddled together and couldn’t like move or stand at all otherwise we’d all probably fall in. J but we all got back safe and to top it all of got WARM showers! Haha we never have warm or hot water. It’s just something we’ve accepted. I take like a freezing cold shower every day. Which I can’t complain too much about because I’m usually really hot and sweaty, so after the initial shock of cold water its nice J anyway, so that was my weekend.

Oh also I didn’t really mention this, but right before we left I ate this cinnamon bread only to realize after eating a piece that it had cashews in it. I had officially eaten like a whole cashew if not more. I panicked. It was terrible I sprinted to my apartment and shoved benedryl down my throat (for those of you who don’t know I am very very allergic to cashews. Very allergic.) and then tried my hardest to throw up. I could only dry heave though. It was not fun. I wasn’t even really reacting badly but I was freaking out because I knew I would and we were JUST about to leave in like on minute. Anyway, I ended up being ok, it was SUCH an answer to prayer. First of all that I decided to randomly have a piece of this bread right before we left (because I hadn’t packed any benedryl) and secondly because I didn’t have a bad attack even though I ate so much. I still don’t even understand how that happened. The cashews were cooked, a lot. Like they were bendy and almost looked like dried fruit. That’s what I thought it was at first until I looked at it closer and everyone verified that it was cashew. So the only thing I can think of is that since it was cooked so much, I didn’t react as badly and also that maybe since it was cooked it was taking longer to get into my system and the benedryl got into my system faster? I’m not entirely sure, but I know God had something to do with it. I was so scared. I ended up sleeping on the way out to the island and was pretty tired and out of it that day from the medicine but as far as the reaction went I only had like on tenth of the stomachache that I normally have. It was such an answer to prayer. Anyway, God is good, and I can’t BELIEVE how beautiful his creation is. And to think that he made all of it for me. For me to explore and soak in and enjoy. Because He just loves me THAT much. A pretty cool feeling… J I felt very loved this weekend. Miss you all, XOXO.