I quickly snapped out of it

Today was going to be a BIG day.

I was going to get my braces off.

This day has been on my calendar for weeks. As it got closer and closer, I got more and more excited. I was telling everyone - roomies, friends, family, the college students, facebook, etc.

February 27, 2010.

After a year and a half, they were finally coming off.

Last night I had a hard time sleeping. I just couldn't wait! Get these silver grillz off my flippin' teeth! I'll be able to eat whatever I want. It will only take 1 minute to floss instead of 15. I won't have to deal with rubberbands, brackets breaking, or wax for the wires poking into the inside of my cheeks. I will finally be able to smile and not feel self-conscious. I will look 20 instead of 14 (hey, any bit helps, ya know?)

After sleeping off and on, I finally woke up this morning and got ready. I drove to the office, all giddy inside. I said hi to everyone, sat in the chair, and my orthodontist came over to cheek everything out. I saw my retainers sitting on the tray next to me. This is really happening! Wheeee!

But then I hear him say, "Hmmmm."

Never a good thing to hear your ortho say.

Him: "Sarah, have you been wearing your rubberbands these past few months?"

Me: "No. You told me to stop."

Him: "Hmmm."

Me: (oh crap)

Him: "Well, one side of your mouth is perfect. Look in this mirror here. See how your teeth come down on top of each other so well? Now look at the other side. See how they are not fully brought together like they should be?"

Me: (dread creeping in)

Him: "Well, we can do one of two things. We take your braces off now and hope those teeth come down on each other properly. Or we can wait 3 more weeks and have you wear rubberbands on that side to do the job."

Obviously I chose the latter. In the grand scheme of things, I've had these on for 18 months. 3 more weeks won't kill me. And I want it to be ALL done so I never have to deal with this stuff again. But I was so sad. I had been expecting, hoping, waiting, I was ready! It's almost like a kid who can't sleep the night before Christmas because they're so excited and then they wake up Christmas morning and run into the living room and are told sorry, but Christmas has been pushed back 3 weeks.

It sounds silly but I got into my car and started crying. I was just really disappointed.

But then I got home and heard about an 8.8 magnitude earthquake in Chile.

I quickly snapped out of it.

My worries and cares are so trivial compared to what is going on in the world. I think I needed to remember that. I'm off to pray for the people of Chile.

Maui-licious

Ok, can I start off this blog by saying that this vacation could not have come at a better time?!? As you read before I left, I was a bit of a wreck. But the time in Maui helped me rest, sleep, not think, just BE. And because of that, I came back feeling refreshed with a clearer mind and a more peaceful heart. Thank you, God!

HIGHLIGHTS OF THE TRIP:

* The place we stayed in Napili. Good Lord, it was amazing. Our condos were right next to each other so we could pop in and out of each other's home. The view from our back lanai was of "turtle cove" (more on that in a minute), the beach, the surfers, the palm trees, the sunsets.

* Sleeping, napping, lounging, reading, eating.

* Riding bikes down Haleakala Volcano. This bad boy is on the south eastern part of Maui. Our tour van drove us to the top of the crater (10,000 above sea level) and then we jumped on bikes and rode 28 miles down the volcano and ended up at Paia Beach on the north shore of the island. I loved watching the scenery go by as we rode. Trees, fields, cattle, homes, small towns, smells of flowers and fresh ocean air, everything was green green green. I loved it. The ride was pretty steep and had some gnarly turns, but it was just part of the adventure.

* Making dinner and watching the Olympics every night with the fam. "Wanna go out tonight?" "No way, Apolo's on in an hour!"

* Ziplining with my sis, Emily. We got taken up into the mountains in ATVs, suited up in our harnesses, and zipped over the ridges and valleys! At times we were 500 feet over the gulches, zipping at up to 65 miles an hour. WOOT!! The longest zipline was 3,600 feet long. On one of them, they even let us go backwards. We had so much fun!



* February is apparently prime whale-watching month. The ocean was "humpback soup", according to one of our tour guides. He was not kidding! We saw humpback whales everywhere. They come down to Hawaii from Alaska because the water's warmer and the moms can birth and raise their calves. They were jumping out of the water, blowing out their blowholes, moms with their babies, tails slapping the water, tails coming up as they dove down. Mesmerizing.

* Playing with my 15 month old nephew, Judah. He is so big and cute and smart and I just want to kiss his cheeks all day long.

* Snorkeling! We took a boat to Molokini Crater out in the ocean. Fish fish fish! We rented an underwater camera and took some sweet pixs. At our second snorkeling spot, I had the option to "snuba dive" (a cross between snorkeling and scuba diving) so I went for it. I went 50 feet down to the ocean floor with my guide and she and another guide found an octopus! They let me hold it! Ahhh! I was giggling like mad the whole time.

* Ok, I must know share my absolute FAVORITE thing about Maui. Green sea turtles! You guys, I am seriously obsessed with them now. We noticed them the first day in the cove by our condos. First off, they are huge. Massive. Most of them are between 4-6 feet long. Second, they are not scared of humans. Probably because everyone snorkels down there, so they're just used to it. They would let us swim right up to them! It was magical. I couldn't believe I was swimming in the ocean with sea turtles all around me. Third, when they come up for air, they make the funniest faces. Ask me to do an impression of that next time I see you. It made me laugh every time.

I posted all my pixs on facebook if you want to check them out, but here are some highlighted ones. Enjoy!

Home Sweet Home

I'm home from Maui.

AMAZING trip.

It was very hard to leave.

Blog and pictures coming soon.

Aloha and Aloha!

Translation: Hello and Goodbye!

Yes, friends. My family and I are flying to the lovely island of Maui for 10 glorious days and I can't wait to use that word as much as possible. Hmmm...what other Hawaiian words do I know? Mahalo. Poi. Luau. Lei. Hula. Koi. Ukulele. And my favorite Hawaiian word is "pupu". It's pronounced "poo-poo" and it's a snack or appetizer. I LOVE it. I want to see that on a menu. "Get your fresh hot pupus here!" (I am such an adolescent.)

Anyway, it will be nice to get away in the midst of all this craziness at work. On one hand, I feel like it's weird timing to leave - I should be staying to sort out all the chaos. And on the other hand, it's probably really good for me to get away and rest, begin healing, spend time with my family and heavenly Father.

And it won't hurt that it is SUNNY there (I forget what the sun looks like) and the ocean water is 78 degrees.

I'll share fun pictures when I get back. Love to you all. Aloha.

Superbowl Sunday

I think the New Orleans Saints won?

Let's be honest. I only like the Superbowl for the friends, the food, and the commercials.

We had a Superbowl par-tay at our house and it was great. Some peeps brought a big ol' flatscreen so we could watch in style. We had lots of yummy food - I ate a lot. I mostly used the time to chat with friends I haven't seen in awhile. That was my highlight.

As far as commercials, I didn't think they were as funny this year. Here's the ones I remember: two commercials with people not wearing clothes, Betty White playing football, 3 guys and a killer whale, a funny Doritos one, a guy sleepwalking through Africa to get a Coke, a few commercials dissing men for being wusses, KISS and mini-KISS promoting Dr. Pepper cherry, chickens screaming, and one with some guys and T-Pain using Auto-Tune.

Thoughts on the big game? Are you glad the Saints won? Any commercials you especially enjoyed?

"Oh YEAAAAAHH!"

My students make me laugh.

One of them took the picture of the hole in the wall (that the car ran into)...and revealed the TRUE culprit!

excitement in the walls

Today was very eventful. I pulled into the church parking lot today and look what I saw:


Whaaaaaaat?!

Apparently, a lady was meeting someone at our church (for the first time) and she decided to drive around and look at the campus a bit. When she was by the intern house (where we have college group Wednesday nights), I think she accidentally hit her accelerator when she meant to hit her brake and she drove through the wall! Luckily no one was hurt - no one was in the room the car crashed into and she is ok.

View from the inside of the house. This is our meeting room Wed. nights:



View from outside, once the tow truck pulled the car out of the wall: