ALOHA!

Aloha! Greetings from Oahu! We have been on the island for one week and three days. We have been blessed to have a free week of vacation, due to the holiday. So, it really has been a week in paradise. We are currently staying at the hotel on base, while we search for housing. This week has been AMAZING! If it is any insight to how our tour here will be, we have so much to look forward to. The weather is sunny, warm and beautiful. It is usually somewhere between 75-85 degrees with the occasional rainbow in the sky. There is always a breath taking view in sight, whether it is the enormous mountains or the endless ocean. You cannot escape or deny God’s beauty on this island.

We have gotten many things accomplished with our time here. We were able to celebrate Thanksgiving (our second one together. It’s hard to believe that last year we got engaged the day before, time flies!) While it’s challenging to prepare a Thanksgiving feast in a hotel with only a mini fridge and a microwave, we were able to do quite well (and had plenty of left-overs for the rest of the weekend, the best part!) We searched long and hard for a place to live and believe we have found our home! We fell in love with the North Shore area, specifically the small beach town of Haleiwa. We found a little beach house one mile from the beach and only 15 minutes from base. It is perfect! We are already turning into beach bums! Nic started in-processing today and will report to his new unit next Monday. Bridgett has started the search for school substitute positions and has some interviews lined up.

While things have been busy, we have managed to squeeze in some fun J. We visited the busy city of Honolulu several times and walked the world renown Waikiki strip. We spent Thanksgiving day snorkeling at Hawaii’s famous Hanauma Bay (Hawaii’s best snorkeling spot). We watched the Van’s Triple Crown World Championship Surfing Competition at North Shore. We’ve spent lots of time in our soon to be home town of Haleiwa in the town market and enjoying the local food. Speaking of food, we have eaten unbelievable well in the past week, experiencing everything from Thai from a bus, big city restaurants, the favorite local taco joint, Hawaiian shaved ice, to sidewalk whole chickens roasted on a flat bed and enjoyed on the beach watching sea turtles. Even though it is December, it has not been too cold to swim and enjoy the biggest waves we have ever experienced (roughly 25 feet high!) One thing we are very excited about, is a good church only ½ mile from our soon to be home. We went this Sunday and were welcomed as if we were family. We look forward to getting involved and serving in the North Shore Christian Fellowship Church.

Many things here are very different from back home and will take some time getting use to, such as: things are more expensive; there is no Super-Walmart (but there are regular Walmarts); the speed limit does not exceed 55 MPH anywhere on the island and the drivers don’t exceed 45 (it seems like); town and street names are unpronounceable to southern twang or new comers; the beach is only a 20 minute drive in any direction (but that we can get use to).
With that said, we will let our pictures do the talking!

Statue of Duke at Wakiki

A huge Hawaiian tree

One of the beaches a mile from our house


Hanauma Bay- Hawaii's best snorkeling spot

A Hawaiian lifegaurd stand

Snorkel gear looks good on everyone, right?

Aerial view of Hanauma Bay

One of the winner's of the surf competition

Our future beach home

Three bedrooms (we have plenty of room

for when you come visit!)

Hope our stuff arrives soon so we can decorate!

The kitchen

The bathroom

To our faithful readers, we would like to renew our commitment and promise to post more often. We love and miss you all! Please come visit soon, we have a place for you to stay!

Moving Day

Alright, here is our super fast update. We are currently sitting on our bedroom floor with just a few boxes surrounding us. The movers are in the process of loading up the big 18 wheeler with all of our "crap" (Nic's words). Of course all of our "crap" only fills up 1/4 of the big truck, but the good news is it is almost all loaded.


One week from tomorrow we will be in Hawaii!!! First we are off to be with our families. We are so excited for this up and coming road trip throughout the Southeast. The last time we were with our family was at Liberty for Homecoming. We failed to blog about our weekend there, which is disappointing because it was such a great time with friends and family. We are so blessed to have such great friends. The whole weekend was one big party. Everywhere we went they were shoving tables and chairs together and we usually took up half the restaurant. It felt so good being with so many loved ones! Thanks everyone for the unforgettable weekend! We love and miss you all.

We have to hurry, because when the movers are done loading we are hopping in the jeep and off to Durham. Then on Monday we head to "Buck-town" (once again, Nic's word a.k.a. Bristol). Following, we will be on a plane Friday. To our family, we can't wait to spend this time with you. Our prayer is that time will seem to stand still while we are together, and the memories made will get us through the time apart. Get ready to have fun :)

That's all for now. We will update you again from our hotel in paradise, our new home.


Until next time,
Nic and Bridge

p.s. We've included some fun pics



Plane tickets to Hawaii can get expensive so we are creating ways to save money.




Ready for pick-up









Our moving truck

Catching Up

Wow! Has it really been a month and a half since we last posted on our blog? Sorry for the long delay. We have not done a good job at keeping up with our posts, but we will promise to do better!

Since it has been so long, let us catch you up on everything that has happened. Nicholas has already completed two more schools and is in his third course now. First, he completed Airborne school (a three week course) with five successful jumps out of a plane. Bridgett was able to watch him jump out of the plane and caught it on video. Mom and Dad (Stevens) were able to come down for the graduation. We had such a great time! It was fun having them stay in our home for the first time (since we’ve been married). We felt so grown up. Nicholas also completed Sniper school and learned all about the sniper weapons and how to use the snipers that will be in his unit. Now, he is in Stryker school, another 3 week course. Here he learns all about Strykers, an eight wheeled all-wheel drive armored combat vehicle, which is what his platoon will travel in rather than on foot. This might be the last course he has to take. If so, that will mean we will start out-processing soon for Hawaii. However, we aren’t setting any dates until it happens. God is really teaching us how to be patient, flexible and trusting. We might not know what will happen or where we will be in the next few weeks, but God does! We are trusting in His plan (which is not always easy, but we are learning).

Jumping From a C-130 at 1,250 ft.
(VIDEO)

Sniper and his Spotter.

Our Beloved Stryker.

After mom and dad (Stevens)left, we went to the pet adoption at Pet Smart just to look at the cute dogs. Warning to the reader, if you are not in a position to get a dog, DON’T GO TO THESE PET ADOPTIONS! We fell in love with the most adorable black and tan hound/beagle mix puppy. Of course we had to get him out and play with him. Two hours later we walked out as foster parents of the coolest dog ever, with a leash, toys, and dog food. Although we were only foster parents for a week, we were happy to be able to give this puppy (we called him doggie) a temporary loving home. We could not keep him due to Hawaii’s laws of importing animals. There is a happy ending to our parting. After “doggie” left his first loving home, he was adopted by law enforcement as a drug doggie. While we wish he could have been ours, we were happy to send him off to bigger and better things!

Doggie!

On Labor day weekend, we went home to Durham, NC to spend the weekend with the family and celebrate Bridgett’s birthday. The best part was all of the Mead family was there: Dad, Mom (Mead), Ben, Brook, Bobby, us, and Brook’s boyfriend Bennet. Hopefully we didn’t scare Bennet off (because we really liked him). We had a very full house and a great time! If anything would have scared him off it probably would have been the games we played. Those Meads can get pretty competitive! Also, there’s nothing like a famiIy game of rock band. I don’t think we will be going on tour anytime soon. Sunday we went to Maggiano’s, a delicious Italian restaurant that we go to for special occassions. It was definitely one of those special times, with the whole family together again! We kept saying how it felt like Thanksgiving, because there was a house full of people, with ungodly amounts of food, and football playing all weekend. What a great time!

The Fam post-grubbin'.

We really enjoyed ourselves that weekend and probably indulged in a little too much food. But we decided that was our weekend to indulge for a specific reason. The day after we got home, we started the Body-for-Life program. This is a 12 week diet and exercise program in which we eat 6 small, well-portioned meals a day consisting of carbohydrates and proteins, and exercise 6 times a week with weight training and cardio. We are currently in week four. Things are going great! We get to eat often, so we don’t feel hungry. Our favorite part is the trips to the gym together. Whether we go early in the morning before Nic goes to work or later in the afternoon when he gets home, we find time to go together. We can motivate and push each other to do our best. So far we have seen good results. We are feeling strong and healthy! We will keep you updated on our progresses.

Last weekend we were able to go home to Bristol and spend the weekend with the family. This was such a great time because the whole family was there: Dad, Mom (Stevens), us, Daniel, (soon to be the next “Mrs. Stevens”) Lindsey, and Luke. This was the first time we’ve seen Daniel, Lindsey or Luke since the wedding! It had been too long, and it felt great to all be together again! We spent the whole weekend just being together, eating, and having fun! We think Lindsey really got a taste of what Bristol is all about at the Hunting and Fishing expo we went to. We were so glad that Nanny and PopPop were able to make it to that delicious lunch on Sunday before we left! It would not have been a complete trip without seeing them. Our favorite part of going home to Bristol is just sitting together on the patio, eating good food, being with and talking with our family for hours. One day we want to have a patio just like this, where time seems to stand still and you can just truly relax!

That about brings us up-to-date. We will do our best to not let so much time pass before our next post! Last night we enjoyed watching the presidential debate. Never have we been so into politics, but it seems like we can’t get enough of it! While we won’t get into specifics or personal preferences (right now at least), the best part of the debate was when Nicholas said, “Obama just seems like that smart kid in elementary school that made straight A’s on everything, raised the bar making it harder for the rest of us, and would probably be the first to tell the teacher if you did something wrong. We think he might have been the kid from the TV show “Smart Guy.”

Little Grand Canyon

Since we love the outdoors and hiking we decided to join the Canyon Climbers Club of Georgia in which you have to travel to four different state parks and climb the canyons. When you've completed all four climbs you get an "I DID IT!" T-shirt. (Anything for a free t-shirt, right?) Really it gives us a great opportunity to go enjoy God's creation, each other and exercise. This past weekend we went to Providence Canyon State Park about an hour away. We conquered our first canyon climb. It was extremely enjoyable with great views. They call it Georgia's "Little Grand Canyon" because it looks like a miniature version of the real Grand Canyon. God blessed us with a beautiful day! Lately the heat in Georgia has been extremely hot and humid. Our hike day was perfect: sunny, in the 80's, with a slight breeze.

So, one canyon hike down and three to go. We have about 2 months until we leave Georgia. We will keep you updated on how the hikes go and post more pictures so you can also enjoy the scenery.

Love,
Nic and Bridge

Pictures of Our Home

My first painting :)

Painting we got on our honeymoon

Our New Home

We have been married for one and a half months now and still feel like we are on our honeymoon! Married life is better than anything we could have ever dreamed of. Maybe it's because during our whole engagement we were apart and now we are just happy to be together. No matter what the reason, we are enjoying the beginning of the rest of our lives. We have heard that the first year of marriage is the hardest. Well, we are already 1/12 of the way through and if it keeps going the way it is now, looks like we have a great life ahead of us.

God has blessed us with a beautiful home! We have posted pictures so you can see what we mean. It has been so much fun decorating our home and thanks to the generosity of our family and loved ones, we have such lovely, beautiful things in our new home. I (Bridgett) love doing craft projects. So, I have really enjoyed adding to our home by painting a picture (my first ever), painting the coffee table and key stand beside the desk. Also, in the pictures you will see 2 chairs that I painted and reupholstered to match our dining table. The best part is the chairs didn't cost a thing. Someone was getting rid of them. One mans trash is another mans treasure. Not only do I like to be crafty but also thrifty. We hope you enjoy the pictures of our place, but it looks so much better in person. So come visit us soon!

One of our favorite things to do is cook! That is one of the bonds that we have always had, our love for food and eating. We both come from families that have taught us to appreciate good food, and even better, to appreciate the good company you have that food with. We are constantly finding new recipes and trying them, most have been surprisingly successful and very tasty! Our current task is trying to create the perfect homemade pizza. This is our new Friday night tradition. We make our pizza and enjoy all the delicious slices while watching the new episode of Monk and discussing what is really good about the pizza and what we can improve next week. We will keep you posted on our progress.

We have also found a church we are regularly attending that has a service on Saturday night. We really like the Saturday night service, because we can have a total day of rest on Sunday. This past month the pastor spoke on the end times. How important it is to keep looking towards the Lords return and make sure that we are prepared. Hearing his sermons really helped to keep us focused and searching God's Word for answers to our questions.

We hope you enjoy the pictures and our first post to our blog! It's hard to believe after almost settling in to our new home we will be packing up in 2 months for Hawaii. God has great things in store and we are ready for the adventure we will have together!!!

Missing you all!
Nic and Bridge