Welcome.

New Year's Eve is one of my favorite nights of the year, mainly because of the fireworks & the excitement of what the fresh start of a new year holds but the champagne toast & midnight kiss aren't too bad either.

This year we rang in 2015 with Adam's parents, which after getting up at 3am that same day to drive 12 hours from his sister's house back  in time for church, the fact that we all were still awake at midnight to celebrate was an impressive feat!

As many friends on social media have been posting all the best moments from this past year and of course things they are resolving to do differently, I considered what I would include on our list and I just kept coming back to all of the people we get to share life with each day. In 2014 we got to minister to our church communities, share life with friends and see all of our family. For 2015 I am excited for more of the same. It may sound cheesy or overly simple but it's true. Whoever your people are, I hope that you focus on how great it is to get to spend any part of a year with them. 

Romans 15:13 is one of my favorite Bible verses and I think it is so appropriate to consider as a new year starts. It says: 

"I pray that God, the source of hope, will fill you completely with joy and peace because you trust in him. Then you will overflow with confident hope through the power of the Holy Spirit."

Whatever each day of this year brings, that's my prayer. That we all would be overflowing with hope, joy, and peace that can only come through God. So enjoy your people, love God. I think we can do that right?! :)

Happy 2015 everyone!

Gratitude.

Hello long lost blog world. :)

Usually when I have not blogged for a while several things happen [1] I keep telling myself I should blog [2] I write a long post, filled with pictures in an effort to catch up and [3] I go through a period of life where I notice I am less grateful for what is happening in it every day and how God is working. End result [4] sometimes, I get cranky because I have procrastinated, I don't know where to blog to even start to 'catch up' and have forgotten things I wanted to remember and reflect on. AGH.

So today, no 'catch up' post. Know that since I last blogged I have been blessed to be alive each and every day in between then and now, and sit here humbled and thankful for that realization. 

What I want to share though, is a deep deep amount of gratitude. In this past week I have ben blessed to share life with so many dear friends, family and even my fiancé. They have all blessed me beyond what they know. This past weekend involved: 

• The company of 7 out of town guests in my 1 room apartment [ultimate girls sleepover]
• Shopping with my Mom
• The Color Run in downtown St. Louis [in the rain]
• Trying on my wedding dress for the first time [talk about overwhelming!]
• Seeing my girl's bridesmaid dresses, which just came in [awesome]
• A wonderful and thoughtfully planned Bridal Shower
• A surprise visit from Adam [WOW]
• Worshipping with everyone in from out of town
• Brewery visits
• Lots of trips back forth to the airport
• Getting ear piercings with some of my bridesmaids [spontaneous]
• Amazing weather
• A trip to the zoo [I got to pet 3 sharks, so that was sweet]
• Running and biking in the park with Adam [The best!]
• Surprise dinner night with Adam [homemade by him too]
• Wedding planning time [DJ & limo booked, invitations designed]
• So so many meals shared with dear friends
• Many many tears shed [Both tears of joy and sad tears as the goodbyes began]

Most of the first half of that list, happened on Saturday alone, whew! But each and every second of the memories on that list, are filled with moments of life shared that are irreplaceable and to an extent can not be fully described here. As I reflect on them now, I am filled with deep gratitude for friends and family who are examples to me of God's great love.

I challenge anyone reading this to cherish each part of their days - good, bad, awesome, terrible or otherwise, and rest in a place of gratitude for all that you do have.

New Beginnings

Kirkwood, MO - Home Sweet Home

As of last Tuesday evening, I officially became a resident of the lovely St. Louis suburb of Kirkwood, and as of this past weekend, I officially became the DCE Intern of Concordia Lutheran Church! 


Lots to share about all of the new beginnings going on - but FIRST...I can't wait any longer to share some of our engagement photos!!!!!!

Engagement Session: Sneak Peak

We took our engagement photos in a part of downtown Chicago known as Old Town during our last week of school in May. Our photos were finished while we were in Japan and with so much going on - there as barely been time to share how excited we are about having our photos finished!! Still lots to share - so here is a sneak peak of our engagement session :)

Photo credit: Modern Image Studios

Will share more later on, promise :)

Back to Kirkwood...

Here is how my move went down:

Step #1: Pack up all my stuff [which I left in Chicago while we were in Japan], drive down to St. Louis - with the help of Adam, my Mom, and two of my younger brothers

Step #2: Have AWESOME people & staff from my new church help my family & I move all of my boxes and belonging up to my apartment [which is on the 4th floor of my building...whew!]

Step #3: Explore some of Kirkwood & St. Louis [much needed breaks from unpacking/setting up my apartment]

Step #4: Date night with Adam :)

Step #5: Get inducted at all of my church's services over the weekend [wonderful to have Adam, some of his family & mine all here to share the excitement with me]

Step #6: Start being an intern!!! Going to camp all week with my church - will share adventures from my week upon our return this weekend!

Pictures from my new St. Louis life...

Packing for the move - Ted Drewes visit - Stop by the Seminary

Date night - cooking my first dinner in my new apartment!

Getting all set up :)

Grant's Farm & The St. Louis Zoo

First weekend at church!

Family :)

Our Last Weekend on Island

Saturday - June 9th [continued]

...so per my last post - we spent our Saturday night here combining a very Japanese activity with a very Marine one. We have been talking about getting sushi all week, so I was super excited to finally get to go and have some! John & Allison took us to one of their favorite sushi places here on the island - the Okinawa Kami Sushi Bar - we sat again at the traditional Japanese tables [which means taking our shoes off and sitting on the floor]. Since sushi was a new thing for most of the family, we left the ordering up to John & Allison. They ordered a TON of different types of sushi rolls - including one that the waiter finished making using a blow torch once it was out at the table [a Norwegian roll]. Despite some reservations about sushi in general, whether or not it would be filling or even edible, a good time was had by all and the sushi [in my opinion] was AMAZING. The company wasn't so bad either ;)


[Also: we have really stepped up our chopstick skills since getting here - Andrew has probably picked up using them the fastest/most naturally, he is kinda awesome at using chopsticks, the rest of us kinda get by so we can eat, now that its the end of the week we just drop stuff less!]

After dinner, John & Allison had gotten tickets for us to go to a concert at the the Okinawa Cultural Center and see the The III Marine Expeditionary Force [MEF] Band - Friendship Summer Concert. Quite full from dinner, we headed over to the concert - the cultural center is a building we have been driving past all week and the outside is super cool so we were looking forward to both the concert & getting to see the inside of the building. 


The concert was spectacular. Selections of music included everything from pieces by John Philip Sousa to the Bohemian Rhapsody by Freddie Mercury. The band and it's conductors & Drum Major were incredibly talented and entertaining! We saw a little bit of everything, they even started one piece with a bagpipes player. Before intermission one of the conductors introduced the band and shared with us that some of the members have been on island anywhere from arriving there THAT DAY to a couple of years. The youngest band member was 18! The concert ended with a standing ovation from the audience and the band then marched out into the audience to play Stars & Stripes. 

Our concert adventure was followed by a trip to get some ice cream to end our evening - Blue Seal Ice Cream is EVERYWHERE here and there is one somewhat close to where John & Allison live so we stopped in. One flavor they had available was called "Momo" which was some kind of peach ice cream - some of us tried that - Andrew tried to order oreos on top of his ice cream, thinking they would come as a crushed topping - we all got a little laugh when his ice cream came out with two whole oreos stuck on the top! 


5k + beach + BIG sushi dinner + concert + ice cream = BEDTIME. 

Sunday - June 10th

As of Sunday we had officially been on island for over a week! Woohoo! First thing in the morning we headed to Okinawa Lutheran Church again for just their English service this time. Very cool to see the Lutheran church in another country!

After church, we stopped by Kadena - the largest US air force base - for a quick tour and to visit some of their stores on base. Kadena was really cool to see, we have been driving past it since getting on the island and the Rodriguez's have close family friends who were stationed here on the island at Kadena at one point so it was also neat to see a part of their life when they had been in Okinawa!

Since Sunday was our last full day together and we needed to start preparing to leave - all of our activities were fairly low key - after Kadena we went to SEGA - something Andrew was really looking forward too. SEGA is kind of like Chuck E Cheese/Dave & Busters on steroids!! Very loud, but lots of fun! Some of the games were kind of tough to figure out since all of the signs & instructions were in Japanese but that was all part of the experience :)

The boys figured this game out just fine :)

The rest of the afternoon was spent packing, doing laundry, grocery store run...just general preparations for our upcoming flights home & John and Allison's week ahead. 


We enjoyed watching a movie, cooking, eating, and spending time together - including a marathon game of catchphrase which lasted until we were all too tired to figure out how to describe some of even the most simple words!

Monday  - June 11th

Today had a bittersweet start with saying our goodbyes to John before he had to leave for work this morning. We have only a few hours left here with Allison before it will be time to pack up the car and head to the airport and being our journey back to the states. What a wonderful blessing to get to see Allison & John and for them to share what their life here in Okinawa is like!! They have been such gracious hosts as we have taken over their apartment for the last week - and its been fun to see them enjoy married life together so much :)


As we head back to the states, again, please continue to keep our safe travels in your prayers - I know we are all looking forward to sharing about our trip in person with many of you upon our return! 

Welcome to Okinawa!

4.5 hour drive to Chicago + 22 hours of flying to Okinawa = US FINALLY BEING IN JAPAN!!!!!!!

We had a very smooth trip from when we left the Rodriguez's house in Indiana, all the way through to getting off of the plane in Okinawa. A few little bumps along the way - had some trouble printing boarding passes during our plane/airline switch in Los Angeles and after our very last flight Adam left his phone on the plane (whoops!) - however we eventually got our boarding passes and Adam his phone, which meant most importantly we finally got to see John & Allison!

Not too much exciting to share about our flights. Watched movies, had some snacks, tried to sleep (some of us more successful than others), ate airline food, read, tried to sleep, stretch, watch more movies....you get the idea :) Our arrival in Tokyo from LA was when we had to go through immigration and customs. The country of Japan has some awesome mug shots of all of us on file now. As part of the process of entering the country they scan your fingerprints. After they scan your finger prints you are told to look at a little mirror & screen, then without warning they have taken an awesome picture and sent you on your way to collect your bag and clear customs. The flight from Tokyo to Okinawa, was some of the better sleep we all managed during our flying portions of the trip - probably because we were so exhausted and ready to just be done traveling for a little while. The airports here in Japan were fairly easy to navigate, and the Japanese people were incredibly helpful at giving direction despite the language barrier. 

All of our flying adventures. The pictures at the top are at the start of each flight (from L to R)

By the time we got to Allison & John's, it was around 10:30-11:00pm Japan time. (Here is a useful online time converter to check out the time here vs. the US). #1. Love their apartment, they have done an awesome job of decorating and making into a home, it was really fun to get to see in real life what we have all been seeing over Skype these last 7 months. #2. One of our first Japanese adventures involved taking shots of Habu sake - which is a kind of alcohol with snake venom in it, very interesting and not as terrible as it might sound! #3. It was bed time. We were all so thankful to have arrived safely, happy to see the Snyders, and very ready to lay down and go to sleep!

Full Day #1 - Friday May 31st

8:00am: Allison has really enjoyed becoming part of a community of wives here on their base that all enjoy running and working out together, so this morning we joined her and her friends in a CrossFit workout. Basically this involved a lot of sweating as well as laughter and water drinking. 

Mid-morning: Came back, ate breakfast, showered, skyped my family, got ready to leave for the beach

Afternoon: Got a tour of some more of the area - visited the 100yen store (which is similar to the American Dollar Store as far as everything is around $1, however the 100yen store is way bigger and cooler), visited the local grocery store - so interesting to walk through a grocery store and NOT recognize most of what was available for sale and eating, and then went to the beach and had a picnic lunch. The weather today was fairly rainy, so we did not do too much else at the beach other than eat and watch the rain. After lunch, we went to American Village - which is pretty much what it sounds like. The Japanese have created a shopping/restaurant area that they feel replicates things we American like/wear/do...etc. Finally, we headed over to another military base in the area and met up with John so he and Allison could purchase wet suits they had been looking to buy since they have become scuba certified since moving out here. 

"American" 

Late afternoon: NAP.

Evening: We headed out for dinner. Ate at a restaurant called Gen - which had a little bit of everything available to eat from sushi to different kinds of soba (a type of noodles), meat, and rice. Everyone enjoyed what they ordered even though it took us a little while to eat anything due to the fact we all got a crash course in using chop sticks tonight!!!!! 

Our dinner experience tonight :)

Things we learned today about Japan/their culture...etc:

1. Yellow license plates = the car has an engine similar to what you would find in a golf cart, so don't expect them to be able to drive fast. While license plates = the car has a normal engine. A "Y" on a license plate = stands for "Yankee" and means the car belongs to an American

2. They drive on the left side of the road here - making for an interesting experience as passengers used to driving on the right side.

3. Trying to say a few words/understand some which is super challenging! 

Arigatou gozaimasu or just Arigatou = thank you. 

Hi = yes. 

Irashaimase = Welcome. (When some one says welcome to you, typically when we entered stores or restaurants it is not necessary or expected to say anything back, most polite option to say nothing)

4. There is only 1 American music radio station so they try to accommodate all interests of music. Hence we experience Country hour earlier today, and later on heard soul music and even later rap. 

Sorry for the long post - very exciting to be here and try and take everything in!!!

Tomorrow our main adventure will be going to a local brewery and winery - can't wait to share about it!

Oyasuminasai all! (good night)

Japan or Bust!!

As promised, a Japan-related post finally. This may be news to some of you...but here are the details to catch everyone up!!

Okinawa has awesome beaches that we are all looking forward to spending some time at!

Who: Adam's Parents, Adam, his younger brother - Andrew, and me! 

This is from the last time we saw John & Allison!

What: We are going to visit Allison (Adam's older sister) and her husband John!!! We haven't seen them since they first moved to Okinawa in October of last year. John is a 2nd Lieutenant in the US Marine Corps and his first major posting was - surprise - Japan!

John & Allison with us at their wedding!

Where: Okinawa, Japan - John & Allison live on a US military base there. Okinawa is one of several islands that collectively make up the country of Japan. If you look at a whole map of Japan - Okinawa is a tiny island towards the bottom of the string of islands. I found a fun map below that shows all the military bases on Okinawa. The Marine Corps bases are all in red on this map - and John & Allison live on Kinser (kinda the bottom left red dot...) Anyways - you get the idea!

When: Leaving tomorrow & staying for 2 weeks. As I write this post, we are in the middle of last minute packing and preparation. We leave from Chicago (Adam's family lives south of Indianapolis, IN). So tonight, we are driving to Chicago, then first thing tomorrow our flying portion of this whole adventure will begin. Our flights are: 

• Chicago to Los Angels, CA
• LA to Tokyo
• Tokyo, Japan to Okinawa 

We will be flying for around a total of 22 hours tomorrow (a little over 24 hours of travel time total including a few small layovers). There is a fairly major time difference between Japan and the US. Japan is 13 hours AHEAD of the Eastern Time Zone here is the US, and 14 hours AHEAD of the Central Time Zone. This basically means that when it is morning time in the US, its night in Japan (and vice versa). 

I will be blogging throughout our trip so be on the lookout for more Japan posts to follow these next couple of weeks. Please keep us in your prayers, that we have safe travels & an awesome and blessed time visiting John & Allison and seeing their new life!

-Kyla

This is real life! Part #2: Placement Weekend

Officially 1 week ago today I got engaged!! That's still fun to say!!! Today I am headed to my first bridal show - which is mainly exciting because brides get into the show for free, and I fall into the bride category now :)


The other HUGE part of this past weekend was finding out where Adam & I would be placed for our upcoming internships.


(We are both in the Director of Christian Education program here at school. It's 5 years long, 4 years of classes, 1 year of internship in a church, then graduation. For our internships we get placed by our program director and have no clue where we will be going or what we will be doing at our churches until the placement service)


Anticipation leading up to the service this past Sunday was incredibly high, both for Adam & I, our fellow classmates, and our families! Overall the weekend was absolutely fantastic and it was a blessing to be able to celebrate both our engagement and our new ministries with our families!

Friday

My roomies decorated my door! Fun after work surprise :)

I worked most of the day on Friday, which was more exciting than usual because lots of people wanted to hear about how Adam proposed :) My family came in town during the afternoon on Friday, and I got to have a sleepover with my little brothers.

We spent most of the night playing games, including a Star Wars one of course!

Saturday

Saturday morning stared awfully early, due to the little guys thinking waking up at 4:15, 5, 6...etc was a great plan. We had pancakes in our pajamas before Mom & Dad came by. Mom, Dad, and two of the little guys headed down to Navy Pier to enjoy the city for the afternoon, while myself, Adam, and two of my other brothers - ran some errands and awaited the arrival of Adam's family.

Adam's family (grandparents included!), made it in town during the later part of the afternoon, shortly afterwards my family arrived back from downtown and we enjoyed an engagement toast together! Later that night Adam & I, our families, Kevin & Jordan, and 2 of the boy's other roommates who also got placed this weekend (Ryan & Andy) - and all of their families spent time out together at a local Irish pub  celebrating.

Engagement wine from Kevin & Jordan!

Sunday

FINALLY - Sunday arrived! Our families went to church and enjoyed brunch out at a cute Italian restaurant for the morning. After brunch was over it was basically time to head to our Chapel on campus for the placement service to begin. My godparents and one of my girlfriends - Hannah - also made it in town by this point. There was a lot of excitement and nervous-ness as we all headed over to worship and learn where we would be serving the next year. I was so humbled and amazed at how many people were able to join us for the placement service - it was such a powerful thing to hear everyone sing and praise God together. It was an added blessing that the service was streamed live online so that Allison & John could still be us all the way from Japan, and my grandparents in Pennsylvania, and many others were able to see everything. 

Adam will be spending the next year serving at Zion Lutheran in Wayside, WI and I will be spending the next year serving at Concordia Kirkwood in Kirkwood, MO!

It was such an amazing feeling of joy to finally know where we would be going! We are both incredibly excited about where God has called us to ministry and again so thankful for everyone's support. 

It's hard to believe that just one week ago, I had no clue that any of this would be happening or what life would look like, but I am SO excited

:)


Anyone in the St. Louis area, what are your favorite things to do there??

Tea for Tuesday.

Life events so far this week: 

> Easter, which was a wonderful break spent with my family 

> I enjoyed a really good run today (even though it was so much colder than I thought 46 degrees would feel like)

> A paper for one of my classes today cancelled

> A quiz for last night's class cancelled

>AND I had an entire class cancelled for today (different from the classes the paper or the quiz were due in!)

Tea Time

So all in all, I am blessed to start this week leading up to finding out where my internship will be (this Sunday, woah.) on a pretty good foot! Which means I even get to blog today, extra bonus! With the end of my last college semester only a little more than a month away, I have been working on cleaning out some of my stuff in preparation for packing/moving out (and in an attempt to not have so much to pack come May, because I REALLY dread that task!).

Today, this ongoing venture involved discovering that I have TONS of tea I need to work on drinking. There are a few reasons for this:

1. I get really excited about new tea flavors and forget I have other tea I should drink up first before buying more

2. My section of kitchen cabinets is not overly organized and sometimes I genuinely lose boxes of tea amongst my other dry goods, which does not my out of sight, out of mind mentality!

Now I realize that tea is not for everyone - I get that. However, tea is a fairly awesome drink that does come with added benefits to your health both long-term (possible cancer prevention) and short-term (possible healthier looking skin). Also, drinking hot tea can add some relaxation to any day (at least it does for me). Lots of people  have written on the benefits of tea & the tea vs. coffee debate, so today I offer you my 3 favorite sets of information about this lovely beverage:

1. Fun tea vs. coffee info graphic!
2. The Truth about the Health Benefits of Tea
3. My favorites: (all 0 calories, 0 sugar)

Lipton Caffeine Free Herbal Peppermint Tea, Bigelow Chamomile Mint Herbal Tea Caffeine Free,  Twinings of London French Vanilla Chai, Bigelow Plantation Mint Tea, Salada Decaffeinated Green Tea Citrus Flavored, Salada Red Antioxidants Tea Strawberry-Orange Flavored

Lots of life.

Yikes, it was brought to my attention recently that it has been a loooooonnnnnnnggggg time since I have blogged, and quite honestly I miss it! Hopefully everyone doesn't mind a post with lots of fun pictures of life that has been happening. Here we go...

Fall Semester - a few exciting and favorite highlights:

Homecoming, we lucked out and had awesome weather, check out the blue sky behind us!

Then the Rodriguez's & the Snyder's came and spent a few days in Chicago before John & Allison left for Japan! 

(This is all of us at Harry Caray's before our bike tour of downtown Chicago)

Thanksgiving! Got to see my family and godparents and run a race with a turkey on T-day. After Thanksgiving we even got in a trip to the Creation Museum. 

Christmas!

Some highlights: Adam visiting & seeing the National Tree in DC, happening across the craziest Christmas cheer street in Baltimore, and playing lots of Star Wars Trivial Pursuit with the little boys.

Spring Semester, not finished, but here are some fun things that have happened so far:

     I hosted a bridal shower for Jordan & Kevin here in Chicago. (I had awesome helpers!)

Spring Break: Adam & I enjoyed time down south (and enjoyed tons of awesome food!)

And then most recently, last but not least, St. Patrick's Day downtown!

 Whewww. I tried to write little, since who wants to read when you can look at pictures anyways?!
More life soon + a healthy lifestyle thoughts update.


Love you all!