Sharing the love.

Introducing...the Liebster Award! This is a very exciting, well-renowned, put-on your resume kind of award, so listen carefully! 

Just kidding, that's not really true at all. In fact, you've probably never heard of it. Fortunately, I was nominated by Simply Swarbrick simply because I'm enthusiastic new blogger with an audience of primarily mom & dad (who obviously don't blog), my sister, and my fiancé, McCray. 

This award is for up and coming blogs that have less than 200 followers. So what is a Liebster, you ask? Liebster is a German word that means sweetest, kindest, dearest, cute, endearing, etc. 

Such a thoughtful award! Here are the rules to accept this award:

[1] Link back to the person that nominated you.

[2] Answer the questions from your nominator.

[3] Share 11 random facts about yourself.

[4] Nominate 5 more blogs with less than 200 followers.

[5] Pose questions for your nominees

Here are the questions I was given to answer:

1. Why do you blog?

The reason I started this blog was to document my adventures in Costa Rica this year. Lot of people wanted to keep up with my journey, so this was the solution! Since starting back in January, I've realized that I really like writing and doing all the "behind the scenes" designing, etc. As my journey in Costa Rica will be ending in December, I will most likely continue to document my upcoming Marriage and our ministry together wherever we may land! Even though normal can be good, it's not for me. If I'm going to blog, it's because I have a unique story to tell! 

2. What is your go to dinner recipe?

 Sautéed vegetables, all day long. Put a little bit of olive oil in the pan, chop them up, and you're good to go. Usually with pasta or rice. Often, I'll look up a recipe and try something different, but that its definitely my "go-to". 

3. How do you unwind after a long day? 

Cooking dinner and then snuggling up on my couch and reading a good book, having some quality Jesus time, or watching How I Met Your Mother! I am about to copy Leigh Anne @ Simply Swarbrick  and put a 'Bookshelf' tab on my blog to share my recent reads!

4. What is your favorite blog post you've written?

Wow, I have had a lot of cool adventures over the past 6 months but the best adventure is what God has been doing in my heart. He has been calling me to a life of wholeheartedness and I have been getting so rocked by what he's doing in my heart. 

You can read more about it HERE (Post title: I just want a heart that is fully in love). 

5. What tips do you have for preparing for the week? (at work or at home)

• Make lunch ahead. It is the key to eating healthy! Otherwise...I end up with some really weird lunch combinations...

• Put first things first! So, I'm not always the best at this, but when I plan create lesson plans for the week ahead of time, I am able to minister to my kids so much more instead of panicking at the last minute. 

•  Get to bed ON time! Also a challenge, but a fool proof secret to being successful. 

6. If you were given $20 to spend on anything, what would you spend it on?

Art supplies! I love to be creative. I know, since Pinterest came about, that's like the "trend" right now, but I promise, I liked it before it was cool!

7. What does your perfect Saturday look like?

Haha this varies greatly. I'm laughing because this has been a very lazy Saturday.. filled with coffee, postcard writing, blogging, and reading in my outdoor kitchenette. But more often than not, I'm traveling somewhere to see as much as I can of this little country!

8. Which season is your favorite and why?

Spring spring spring!!! Unfortunately, I missed Spring this year, because I was in Costa Rica where the only seasons are 'wet' or 'dry'. Fortunately, Costa Rica is kind of like Spring all the time! I love the time when the cold is leaving...but it's not too hot. Everything is blooming, usually including my life and love life, too. Everything is just happier to me. I even loved the smell of those stinky Bradford Pears that surrounded my high school, because that meant it was Spring!!! 

9. What do you splurge on? 

Adventures! Many of my adventures back home are free, but since coming to Costa Rica, I have had traveling opportunities that I just couldn't pass up. Of course, since tourism is the #1 industry in Costa Rica, many of those things are a little more than pocket change. Just to name a few: waterfall repelling, dolphin tours & whale watching, crocodile tours, & volcanic hot springs nights. 

10. Where would be your dream vacation spot be?

Europe. Since meeting my dear friend, Suzanne, my desires to see that side of the Atlantic have grown immensely. One of the first vacation splurges that will be on our married "to-do list" is backpacking across Europe!

11. What do you pack for lunch during the week?

Generally, it's always a varied version of a vegetable, chicken, pasta or rice, and bean combination with a side of fruit. I like hot meals for lunch and that is an easy one! 

11 Random facts about me. 

Lets be real, to me this feels like one of those Xanga or MySpace things that I did back in junior high. But here it goes anyway.

11. My eyes are never the same color. One day they're blue, the next there green, sometimes gray, or all three mixed together.

10. My favorite color is green. From what I can tell, it's God's favorite color, too.

9. My classroom is a jungle animal theme, mainly because I love zebras. Not zebra print, just zebras. And because as my old drama teacher used to say as we were leaving class, "be careful, it's a jungle out there". 

8. I am not afraid of death, but I'm afraid of old age. I'm afraid of getting old and I'm afraid of my parents getting old. I honestly don't know how I'm going to handle it.

7. I get restless when I get too much rest. Does that even make sense? I can't handle being lazy for more than one day in a row, or else I'll go crazy.

6. I feel really called to intercede in prayer for...everyone. The nations, my students, my family/friends, my future beloved whoever is on the Lord's heart... but I'm not very good at it. I need to work on that.

5. I'm a note taker. I take notes in every sermon I hear, when I'm reading my Bible, when I'm at a meeting, in a class... a lot of times I don't even read my notes later. I guess it just feels good to be doing something with my hands.

4. I seriously love rock climbing. When I return to the states, I will be finding a rock climbing gym.

3. I don't really know why I chose teaching. When starting college, I kind of felt like I was good at a lot of things but not super great at just one thing. So I guess I settled on Elementary Education because I just had to be well rounded, which I was. Fortunately, I through my Education program I fell in love with my major and haven't looked back.

2. But, looking forward, I know that teaching won't be what I do forever. Teaching is just one of my passions. I like too many other things not to try those things out one day, too.

1. I have no idea what the future holds for me after Costa Rica except for the beginning of a beautiful marriage. I can't wait to find out what God has in store!

I nominate these great bloggers for this award (lets just be real, the name Lauren is just awesome):

1. Elle Alice @ {a beautiful hope}

2. Lauren @ Confessions of my Wandering Heart

3. Erin @ Rotten Strawberries

4. Lauren @ Marked By Grace

5. and my dear friend, Jess @ SHINE

...and because I know that we all really don't have that much time, I'm only giving 5 questions. 

1. Why do you get out of bed in the morning?

2. If you were moving across the world to a place that you knew nothing about and you could only take 3 things, what would they be? 

3. What is a song from your past that has defined a certain period of your life?

4. If you knew you could do something and definitely not fail, what would you do?

5. I you were writing a letter to yourself at 16, what would you tell yourself?

Hope those aren't too hard, but I wanted to make you think. 
Because really, no one is actually going to read this if it's done the boring way. 

Whale Tales

This past weekend I was overjoyed to finally get out and experience Costa Rica again! 

We had a long weekend so my new roommate, Ashley, and I hit the road Friday morning for Uvita (Bahia Ballena), Costa Rica. First we headed down to San Jose to catch a bus to Posas Canoas 

(literally I could not pronounce that right- everyone at the bus station kept laughing at me). 

We were all set to buy our 7:30AM bus ticket...

when we found out that it was completely sold out. 

The next bus left at 11:00 AM. So, we were left with quite a few hours to kill in a not so friendly neighborhood. But we made the most of this 'inconvenient but not the end of the world' situation by enjoying some gallo pinto (rice & beans) & eggs for breakfast and practicing our Spanish.

Finally we made it to our hostel, The Tucan Hotel, in the middle of a Costa Rican rainstorm. 

It was pretty hippie style, to say the least- but we loved it!

We paid $6 to sleep in hammocks. Sounds glamorous at first, but I ended up with about 25 bug bites on my face ( I'll spare you the gory details and pictures, I promise) and my neck has been sore ever since. 

I probably will opt for the $10 room next time.

Anyway, the whole reason we chose Uvita was because it's ballena (whale) season!!! 

From July-September, whales from the Southern Pacific migrate up to the warmer waters of Costa Rica to have babies and raise their young! So we booked our tour and headed out bright and early Saturday morning.

On our boat tour, we got to see a mama whale and her baby!

And a few jumping dolphins!

The whole time I was in awe of the Lord's craftsmanship. These coves where the whales hideout are literally shaped like a whale's tale- check it out (aerial view):

AND there's an island located in one of the coves called "Whale Island". No, not because whales go there. But because there is a hole in the island so water sprays out of the island, just like a whale's blow hole. It just felt like it was all connected in a beautiful design by our Creator. 

PLUS it didn't storm that afternoon so got to spend the rest of the afternoon on the expansive beaches.

Sunday morning, we hiked up the nearby mountain at 6AM to find this hidden little gem. We were in awe of the beauty of these clear blue cataratas (waterfalls). The only way it could have been more perfect would have been if McCray was there- his heart loves waterfalls so much!

So anyway, this was just a recap of another beautiful, magical, 

and slightly unbelievable weekend in my big backyard.

Goodbyes & Hellos

So, I really shouldn't be blogging more than once today, 

but when I saw this "Hello, Goodbye" link up- I couldn't pass it up. 

Since coming back to Costa Rica, there have been a lot of hellos & goodbyes...

I'm starting with my goodbyes first because they're always the hardest!

Goodbye July- hello August!!!

Goodbye late sunsets, hello early sunrises.

Goodbye Honda CRV, hello buses & bicycles.

Goodbye Georgia rain, hello- oh wait Costa Rican rainy season.

Goodbye friends & family, hello to the students who become my family!

Goodbye wedding planning, hello lesson planning!

Goodbye Chick-fil-a, hello rice, beans, & patacones.

Chick-fil-a Cow Appreciation Day, no shame.

Goodbye sleepovers in Athens, hello sleepovers in hostels.

Goodbye swimming pool fun, hello beach time on the Caribbean!  

Goodbye twin sized bed, hello queen sized bed!!!

Goodbye American Dollar, hello Costa Rican Colones.

Goodbye procrastination, hello organization.

Goodbye Suzanne (tears), 

hello Ashely (smiles)!

Goodbye staying out late with my 

beloved-to-be, hello FaceTime.

Goodbye good intentions, hello reality.

Goodbye familiar, hello opportunity. 

Goodbye July, hello August.

Deserts will bloom in the light of your love.

To kick off the new semester and our new school-wide ecological goal, we had a "Go Green" morning where we went and planted trees at a neighborhood park that needed some life.

Not sure what happened here, but it was looking a little worse for the wear. 

So we brought some life!

My students felt a sense of pride in doing their part to help our community a little bit!

I am proud to be fostering a classroom community where we think outside of ourselves.

All of this new life reminded me of a song the I listened to last night that hasn't left my head since. It's called "Never Run Dry" by a worship leader named Nate Moore. 

His blog (natemooreworship.com) give a little description of how the song came about. Check it out:

"Never Run Dry - "Your circumstances don't limit your source." Isaiah 35 declares that "waters will break forth in the wilderness and the desert and dry places will become a pool." I grew up believing that God would set us all up to eventually burn out, run out and dry up - but the more I come into an experiential knowledge of the grace and goodness of God, the more I discover that Jesus wants the exact opposite! He has put His Holy Spirit in us like a river (John 7) so that we can always have access to His abundant life! Seasons and times of wilderness, adversity and trying situations don't have to lead us to dryness and lack if we're constantly leaning on the source of life, Jesus. This song is an anthem that declares the reality of God's abundant goodness in the midst of unideal circumstances. The heart of this song is to call the dead places to life, the sleeping places to awaken and the barren and lacking places to fruit!"

What good words for anyone who is in a desert season.

I'm not necessarily in one that I would call a 'desert' right now, but sometimes it's definitely not an easy one.

"Even in the wilderness, through confusion and barrenness, you are beautiful, God. Even in my brokeness, through this pain I will confess: You are good. Deserts will bloom in the light of your love. Valleys make room for the river of God. You never run dry."