Happy Halloween

and happy happy happy birthday today to our precious niece

we love you, princess!

um yes, I will meet you in France!

we've been blessed with the very best Fathers. we love & appreciate you two so much.

..

we just got the cutest letter in the mail from my Dad that made our day,

explaining why we need to meet him & my Mom in STRASBOURG in July...

 explain NO further. I.am.there.

my Dad is planning to present & defend his thesis at the International Academy in Strasbourg, France. 

we are SO proud.

seeing & squeezing my amazing parents there would be a dream.

our hopes are fully up that it works!
how incredible, right?

 talking about France turns our thoughts immediately to wine & cheese,

so many beautiful vineyards,

and of course our trip through Provence/ Tuscany.

it was such a sweet time together.

hope you all have a beautiful weekend!

we are on our way to a friend's surprise dinner party.

sending our love to you all. xo

up north

 

we looooove traveling. even if it's just traveling on island. though i really don't mean just.

there is so much to see & do we joke we won't get to do it all while living here.

..

we were up north in motobu village and HAD to go in this awesome tower after we saw it passing by..

it's beautiful on it's own, but then we found it in an expansive garden with a spectacular view, just down the road from emerald beach.

Life. You just keep getting more beautiful.

Jonah in the belly of the fish

one of our favorite books came to life this weekend. 

Elijah, little man, {our adorable nephew} this is a shout-out post for you.

pretend like we're there reading this to you.

and totally in awe.

{because after seeing these guys in person, we really are.}

the Word of the Lord came to Jonah, "Go to the great city of Ninevah and preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before me."

But Jonah ran away from the Lord and sailed for Tarshish. Then the Lord sent a great wind on the sea, and such a violent storm arose that the ship was threatened to break up. All the sailors were afraid and each cried out to his own god. 

they asked Jonah, "tell us, who is responsible for making all this trouble for us? what do you do? where do you come from? from what people are you?"

he answered, "I am a Hebrew and I worship the Lord, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the land."

this terrified them and they asked, "what have you done?" (they knew he was running away from the Lord, because he had already told them so.)

the sea was getting rougher and rougher. so they asked him, "what should we do to you to make the sea calm down for us?"

"pick me up and throw me into the sea," he replied, "and it will become calm. i know that it is my fault that this great storm has come upon you."

...then they took Jonah and threw him overboard, and the raging sea grew calm. 

but the Lord provided a great fish to swallow Jonah, 

and Jonah was inside the fish three days and three nights.

from inside the fish Jonah prayed to the Lord his God. "in my distress I called to the Lord, and He answered me. from the depths of the grave I called for help, and you listened to my cry..those who cling to worthless idols forfeit the grace that could be theirs. Salvation comes from the Lord."

and the Lord commanded the fish, and it vomited Jonah onto dry land.

then the Word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time: Go to the great city of Ninevah and proclaim to it the message I give you." 

Jonah obeyed the word of the Lord and went to Ninevah. The Ninevites believed God. They declared a fast, and all of them, from the greatest to the least, put on sackcloth.

then the King issued a proclamation in Ninevah: "Let man and beast be covered in sackcloth. Let everyone call urgently on God. Let them give up their evil ways and their violence."

When God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways, He had compassion and did not bring upon them the destruction He had threatened.

 amen.

 ...

Do you know whale sharks can get up to 40 ft long and weigh 21 tons?
and that they live in our front yard?

it's true.
people from all over the world come here to dive with whale sharks.. in a spot located directly out in front of our house.

number one on our list after we get scuba certified :)

Island Life

we were like little kids saturday morning. 

we woke up early, packed a backpack full of snacks and our beach towels, and hopped on our bikes to go find a new beach to spend the day on until our friend's party that night..

 we could go to a new quiet beach every saturday along the road that runs from our house ~ there's so many coves and inlets to choose from.

have we mentioned lately that we love it here?!

 soo thankful & happy. 

love you guys & hope you're all doing well.

cam & mands

traveling, you, me & etsy

{island of Moorea in the South Pacific.. aka paradise}

{venezia & siena}

because of encouragement from many of you sweet people i opened a little photograph shop on Etsy.

  the main reason behind it (thanks to my lovely friend Sarah) is to give an opportunity to anyone who wants to help Japan in their relief efforts but are too far away to come volunteer. as you know, the devastation along Japan's coast is still so bad in many areas it looks like the earthquake/tsunami just happened.

..

if you buy any Japan print from my shop, half of the proceeds will go to the ongoing relief efforts.

and hopefully that photo will remind you of the many in this beautiful country who are now without homes, families, and livelihoods.

{tedake falls, okinawa}

all of these prints are available here.

and many, many more to come.

thanks for looking!!!!

{all images copyright @ amanda marshall}

Farm Roads Take Me to Cam

In the Marine Corps, bases are called camps. 

The camp that Cam works on is in the middle of miles of island farmland. 

I love going out there. Not only do I get to see my love & have a lunch date with him, but it's also a blast driving the narrow winding roads on the scooter past agrarian vistas & farmers hard at work.

 This amazing island's economy is built on what it grows on land & what it catches in the sea.

It's a beautiful combination to live amongst.

{see the hanging lights on the right? late at night, thousands of them are all lit above miles of farms and make this area a stunning sight in the pitch black}

           my other half.. blowing me kisses.