Jay and Jenna at the top of a 4,000ft mountain in Mentasta, Alaska!

Last time we blogged, we where just getting ready to leave on our 8 week journey through Alaska, Florida, Seattle, Portland, and Canada! It was a LONG trip, but lots of fun… Below we will give a brief synopsis of each place along with some photos… ENJOY!

ALASKA

Alaska was quite the adventure! Lots of work, lots of driving, and lots of FUN! We spent 2 weeks all together in Alaska. Our team spoke at churches, did Luau shows, and we did a family camp in a small village called Mentasta! Jay ran a Brazilian Jiu Jitsu track for the kids… and I did photography for some families there and also helped out a lot in the kitchen preparing and cleaning up for over 250 people- 3 times a day (our Costco shopping trip cost $4,500!) Some of the fun stuff we got to do was climb a huge mountain (which took 4 hours- straight up!), got to shoot some guns (so Alaska!), and got to make some wonderful relationships- both in our team and from Alaska! We hope to go again next summer…

Mentasta Lake! (See that mountain... that's the one we climbed!)

Jay teaching the native kids Jiu Jitsu! The girls actually really loved it!

Jay and the coolest guy ever, Reb (short for REBEL!),living the dream with a 44!

Florida

Our trip started with a long day of travel from Alaska to Atlanta, where Jenna’s brother, Jerad, and his wife, Jenny, picked us up. Luckily, they got to go down with us and spend an entire long weekend with us in Florida! We only got 8 days in Florida, but after 2 years of not seeing most of my family, it was SO good for the soul! My baby brother is now 16 and has a drivers license! My baby sister is now 18 and graduating from COLLEGE soon! It’s so CRAZY how much they have grown… but I guess I have been gone for nearly 8 years now! I hope to be able to come home more often- 2 years is definitely too long!

My favorite people in the world- my SIBLINGS!!! I love being with them!!!

West Coast

Jay and I spent 5 days in Tacoma, Washington with his father… and then 5 days in Portland with Jay’s cousin Olivia. Jay headed home and I stayed on for another 10 days waiting to go to Canada for the wedding of one of my best friends, Suzanne! I got to spend 1 week in Canada with my best girlfriends from my DTS days, which is always amazing! I even got the honor of helping take photos at Suzanne’s wedding, which was great!

Jay and I on the Oregon Coast! So beautiful!

Me with my Besties in BC Canada!

HOME SWEET HOME

After 8 weeks away, I was definitely missing HOME! I’ve been home now for 5 week… and we have totally gotten back into the swing of things! Jay is back to speaking and serving with the youth at church (I have been getting  to go with him more often, too, which is awesome!). He ever did a baptism this past Sunday! We just ran a DAY CAMP for the local kids over their fall break. FOURTY TWO kids showed up, which was great fun! Jay ran an airsoft track, of course, where he had 12 boys who went hard out all day down in the gulch! We also have been doing a bit of remodeling on the base, so Jay has learned all about how to remodel a bathroom! I came home with even more of a desire to keep doing photography! I have purchased my domain name and designed an entirely new website! I have gotten to do 5 shoots already since I’ve been back and I’m very proud of myself for working hard to  pursuing this dream. I’d love for you all to follow me on FACEBOOK and check out my website!

Jay and some of his airsoft boys!

Some of our campers... racing, of course!

Jay getting to help baptize several of our church members!

MY WEBSITE!

Until next time! Happy FALL!!!

Love, The Vegas

]]> http://jayandjennavega.wordpress.com/2011/10/11/go-go-go/feed/ 0 imnhawaii AKscenic Jaybjj Jaygun family Portlandbeach BCgirls airsoft campgirl baptism Coverpage copy http://jayandjennavega.wordpress.com/2011/07/09/heading-off-island/ http://jayandjennavega.wordpress.com/2011/07/09/heading-off-island/#comments Sun, 10 Jul 2011 08:37:42 +0000 Jenna Vega http://jayandjennavega.wordpress.com/?p=476 ]]> Wow! 3 months goes by VERY quickly! So much has happened since our last post… it’s hard to know where to begin!

Home Sweet Home... It never gets old!

Let’s see what HIGHLIGHTS we can share:

- May 30th- June 2nd, we ran our Camp Lokahi summer camp for 9-12 year olds! Same as last camp, Jenna ran the L.I.T (Leaders in Training) program for the 13-16 year old! Whew! This time, the youth gave me a run for my money! It brought back lots of memories of my “youth group” days! I guess it’s payback! LOL! Jay ran his normal airsoft track for the boys and headed up the “Tonight’s Show” comedy hour, etc.

Our first TEEN CAMP!!!

- In addition to our normal camp, the very next week… we ran our first ever TEEN CAMP!!! It was a mix between Camp Lokahi and Mission Adventures… and we where so excited at how it turned out! We had about 18 youth join us and God really spoke to these kids through our speaker that week, Derek Schoenhoff! (Derek was the first person Jay remembers really speaking into his life as a teen and they still have a strong connection!) The theme of our camp was: BOUGHT! We wanted to get across the truth that Jesus already PAID the price for them… they are BOUGHT! PURCHASED at a high price! It was really amazing seeing these kids embrace this truth… some for the very first time! Jenna also got to run a “fashion photography” track for the girls where we talked about TRUE beauty and being confident in the woman GOD made you to be! It was a really awesome time! Feel free to check out her photography fanpage on Facebook: Jenna Vega Photography.

The BEST 4 years of my life!

- June 23rd was our 4 YEAR anniversary! It will always amaze me how times flies! We’ve been married for 4 YEARS…WHAT? 4 very challenging yet rewarding years together! Someone blessed us with some tickets to go on a SNORKEL CRUISE down in Kona and it was absolutely GLORIOUS! It was by far one of our favorite “touristy” thing we’ve gotten to do! HOWEVER, after our GLORIOUS cruise, we walked back to find our car broken into and my purse, wallet, etc (about $550 worth of stuff) was stolen from our car! It was not the BEST thing that could have happened on our anniversary… but it wasn’t the worst! It didn’t ruin our day… and come to find out… 2 days later, a CAR was stolen from the same parking lot. THAT COULD HAVE BEEN OUR CAR! My car keys where actually attached to my purse, if the thief had taken the time to look… we might have been car-less!

- We leave for our ALASKA trip on MONDAY!!! Less than 48 hours from now! YIKES! We have been super busy with so many things… but we have still found time to do some CAR WASHES and RUMMAGE SALES to fund raise for our trip! Our team has raised $550 so far to help with our costs while we are there, but we all could definitely use more… so we are doing one last CAR WASH tomorrow!

Sorry for the lack of updating… we might start updated every 3 months now instead of once a month based on the response we’ve been getting from our posts. We can still be reached on Facebook or by email if anyone ever needs/wants to get in touch with us!

Thank you so much for your prayers and support… We would especially appreciate your prayers for safe travels and the energy that only the HOLY SPIRIT can give during our next weeks of ministry!

Until next time! Jay and Jenna

p.s- Those that like to keep up with Jenna’s photography… check out and “like” her Facebook Fanpage: Jenna Vega Photography because she has a LOT of new shoots on there! Thanks!

Rest In Peace, Grandma!

This month has been an extremely trying, yet extremely rewarding. On March 11th, Jay’s Grandma unexpectedly passed away. She has kidney failure last year and had been on dialysis 3 times a week. The treatments helped, but her tiny body finally decided it had worked long enough. She was ready to be pain free and at peace in heaven. Grandma was a strong believer and instilled much of what I love into Jay through the years. At her funeral this past Sunday, Jay did the Eulogy… it was so touching to see his heartfelt tears and to hear all the stories he holds dear. I was so blessed to spend a whole day alone with Grandma and Grandpa just a few days before she passed. She shared with me all the stories of growing up here on the island and about raising a family. I will never forget those moments. She was VERY loved and is VERY missed. It was her time to die… but it’s our time to LIVE!

CAMP LOKAHI

Camp Lokahi- Spring 2011

Grandma passed just 2 days before we had to put a smile on our faces and RUN CAMP! It was so amazing to see the peace and the energy that God gave us, even though our loss, to be able to bless these kids. The camp was 26 boys and only 6 girls! HA! That has NEVER happened before.

AIRSOFT TRACK which Jay lead

Brazilian Jiu- Jitsu (one of our new tracks!)

Creative Arts & Film Entertainment (Known as Cafe!)- one of our "refurbished"tracks

Skateboarding- Our other NEW track!!

Jay and I headed up the L.I.T (Leaders In Training) program and had 14 students between the ages of 13-15. The program has been running for a few years, but this is the first time we took it over and changed it up a bit. We really pushed these kids! They served just as hard as the full time staff and it was unreal to see the transition of them going from always being “poured into” to “POURING OUT”! They got to experience first hand the joy and the rush that comes from BEING USED BY GOD! It really really blessed my heart… I think I have found my place in camp! With the LIT!

OUR LIT TEAM!

Our team POURING OUT!!!

Previously, the LIT program was all that we had in place for kids in this age group, but we have so many youth interested in this older age group now that we have to start something new! We are REALLY excited to be a part of the team creating a whole new program catered to the needs and interests of OLDER KIDS! This is RIGHT where Jay and my heart is! We have so many more details to plan out… but we do have dates set for this new camp. We will run our normal Camp Lokahi for ages 9-12 from May 30th- June 2nd… and then move on right into our older kids camp (which we are still working on a name for!) June 6th- 8th. Please pray for us as we research, plan, and organize. We want these camps to grow and be used of God! We want these kids to look back later in life and say, “That’s when I went deeper with God”!

ALASKA ABLAZE

ALASKA- HERE WE COME!!! (finally!)

SO! FINALLY, we are on our way to Alaska! As you probably remember, my emergency surgery for my gallbladder was just 3 days before we where suppose to be leaving for Alaska Ablaze last year… but NOW, we are trying again!  (In case you don’t remember, Alaska Ablaze is a “family camp” we run in the native tribe in Mentasta, Alaska.)We have just rebooked our tickets we still had to use from last summer! Praise God, the fares are MUCH cheaper than last summer, so we actually had some “ticket money” left over! We are so blessed to get to make it all the way back to FLORIDA to visit my family for 10 days before we head back to home! It has been 2 years already! We will also get to stop over in Seattle and visit Jay’s Dad and Jay’s cousin in Portland. We will actually be gone for about 5 1/2 weeks. I, however, might be gone even longer, because just 10 days after we plan to leave Seattle for home, I have to be back in Seattle for one of my best friends weddings! So… I’m looking at staying with family for those 10 days to save $ on a return ticket. The dates we have set are as follows:

• Fairbanks, Alaska: July 13th- July 27th
• Pensacola, Florida: July 27th- August 7th
• Seattle, Washington: August 7th- August 13th
• Portland, Oregon: August 13th- August 17th

As I mentioned, we where blessed to have had one year to use the tickets we purchased last year, however, we did inquire extra charges.

• $200 for change fees
• $230 extra for ticket to FL from AK
• $400 to cover inter-island flights to get us to Honolulu to catch our flight to Alaska.

We also need “ground fees” to cover our living expenses while in ALASKA. We have some fundraisers planned here locally, but wanted to share with you all our need so that if anyone felt the Holy Spirit asking you to give, you knew what was needed. If you want to donate towards our missions trip in Alaska, please contact me!

Jenna Vega Photography- SENIOR PORTRAITS!!

This month has been very exciting for me in photographic terms! I have gotten to do a few Senior Portraits sessions, which is one of my favorites!!!  I am really hoping to get more and more Senior Sessions in the upcoming years! You can always check out my photography blog at www.jennavegaphotography.wordpress.com to view my most recent work… or become a fan of my work on Facebook under Jenna Vega Photography! It is so great to be able to use my talent to bless people here in my community! I love how God works… above and beyond what we could ever hope or imagine!

FAMILY

Jennie, Toni, Jenna, & Jay = THE VEGAS

Last update, I told you that Jay’s sister, Toni was visiting… here is one of my favorite pictures from our time together! (It was so cool that Toni got to see Grandma before she passed. Toni had to go back to St. Louis just 2 days before Grandma passed.)

As always, Mahalo for following us on our journey! Life is an adventure… and we hope that enjoy YOUR personal adventure that God created JUST FOR YOU!

<3 Jenna & Jay

And the winner is....

Our “feature story” this month is about JAY’S 1st place win at his Brazilian Ju-Jitsu tournament! A week ago, Jay fought in his very first BJJ tournament in Honokaa. His Sensei warned him that most people never win in their first tournament, but JAY BROKE THAT RULE! He fought 2 matches in his weight class. During his first match, he actually caused the only injury of the day, by dislocating his opponents shoulder. His second match was against a guy from his same school, but from the other side of the island.  His opponent had done several tournaments previously, and his Sensei wasn’t allowed to coach because both guys where his students…. but JAY STILL WON! He won a first place medal… the photo you see above is at the end of his last match. It really reminds me of the ROCKY movies, which are Jay’s inspirations! His next tournament will not be until the fall, as his school is preparing for their testings in June when their school’s leader,Hobson Moura, will come up from Brazil! Keep tuned in to see more of Jay “the beast” Vega!!!

We have our Spring Break Camp Lokahi coming up in only 10 days! We have been meeting to discuss the new things we want to implement and prepping for the madness that is about to take place! We have brought in two new tracks: Ju-Jitsu  and Skateboarding. Hopefully, this will bring in a new group of kids for us to impact! Camp is always a HUGE highlight of our year… but it also calls for A LOT of prep work! It’s all worth it once the kids come… which is why we keep telling ourselves: “IT’S FOR DA KIDS”!

Lifeplan- cycle 3

My photo class- group 1

As I promised- I have some photos for my classes I do thru-out the month: Lifeplan and Photo Class. Both classes are wrapping up for the semester… but both will start up with a new groups of kids for the last semester of this school year! Jay doesn’t have any photos yet of his class… but it’s my fault because I always have the camera with my photo class kids at the same time!

Garlic Pesto Chicken Pizza from The Snack Shack

Eating lunch at The Bamboo! AMAZING!

I also worked on PART 2 of the tourism article- FOOD!!!! This article was just as much work as the last… and ALMOST as much fun! haha! A few places we interviewed gave us complimentary meals so that we could try their food for ourselves! It was such a great way to meet all the restaurant owners and talk story with them about business and how tourism effects that! In general, most locals don’t like the presence of so many tourists around… but my personal hope by doing this article, was to show our community how important those tourists are to our economy! The literally keep our small town alive! Sooo…. PLEASE COME VISIT THE BIG ISLAND OF HAWAII for your next vacation! I can tell you all the best places to go: both local finds and tourist musts! haha!

Jay’s sister, Toni, and her fiance are here right now for a short visit from the mainland! We are very excited to get to have them stay at our house this trip! Jay’s Mom, Jennie, even took vacation time from work so that we could all spend some much needed time together as a FAMILY! Family is soooo important…. it always has been to me… and I’m so glad I married a man that possibly thinks family is even more important than I do! LOL!

Tune in next month…. I’m sure we will have LOTS of pics from camp for you to view!

<3 The Vegas

It’s a New Year full of New Adventures! We are very excited to see what God has in store for us in 2011! Being the first year in a new decade… we hope that there will be lots of “firsts” for us!  January sure got things off to a great start!

Jenna Vega Photography is growing!

January 1st- New Year’s Day, I got to do a Wedding Shoot for a very sweet Christian couple who read about me in the newspaper! I was very excited by the portrait session, because it was at a gorgeous little place in Waimea called “Anna Ranch”! It was perfect weather and a perfect location to get some great images! I have a goal for myself in the area of photography–I hope to shoot 5 weddings in 2011! In attempts to do my part– I created “flyers” to put around town with my business cards! I’m pretty happy with them, but we’ll see how that goes! (see photo below)I have been getting more portrait shoots each and every month! It’s a very exciting thing for me as a photographer– PEOPLE LIKE MY WORK! I feel so blessed to get to do something I love so much! I am humbled…

“A Tourist For A Day”

My friend, and editor of  Kohala Mountain News, has been asking me to write an article regarding tourism in our small piece of paradise- North Kohala! The point of the article was to talk to tourist and here their opinion and experience of our community– I guess you could say we wanted insight on an “outsiders perspective”! It was a VERY fun article to “research for” considering I got to actually “be a tourist”! I got to go and do all the “eco-tourism” adventure related activities that our town offers! Jay and I got to go “ziplining” over lush tropical rainforest gulches and rushing waterfalls at the Big Island Eco Adventures! We got to go “fluming” on the newly opened historic “Kohala Ditch” at Kohala Ditch Adventures! Jay missed out on the last one, but I got to go on a 4 hours ATV tour in the mountains and by the ocean and even got to swim in a hidden waterfall far up in the mountains! The actual article ended up being the entire center fold of the paper plus some! It was a lot of work… but not a bad trade off for all the fun I got to have doing it! I can’t believe I live in such a beautiful place… I appreciate it even more seeing the “hidden” places that I got to see this month!

 

Lego Robotics and Photography Classes

Jay and I have the awesome opportunity of getting even more involved with the youth of our community! Jay recently started teaching a “Lego Robotics” class in an after school program and I started teaching an after school Photography class! It is very exciting seeing these kids so excited about things that we are already passionate about! Jay is actually teaching elementary age kids… and I have middle schoolers! Our programs have only just begun, but we’re both very excited to see where they go in the coming months! Hopefully, we can impact these kids lives in more than one way Photos will be posted next month!

 

Lifeplan- Round 3

The Lifeplan program is in Round 3 now! By the end of this school year EACH AND EVERY 8th grader in our community will have gone through this program! I want to share with you a bit more about what this program is:

 

My Lifeplan is a cutting edge youth development program which utilizes volunteer adult mentors who facilitate a discovery learning process to help youth design a customized ‘roadmap’ to personal success. These youth are guided in activities to help them better understand their values, strengths and dreams AND to better navigate through the choices in their lives.

 

As I have gone through this program with the kids, I realize more and more how life changing this course can be! I really wish they had this program when I was a kid! Luckily, I had a great home life, with parents who trained me right… but many of these kids don’t have that luxury. High school drop outs, teen pregnancy, and drugs/ alcohol are rampant here. I truly feel that we are playing a part in changing that by taking these kids through this program. Now, these kids have seen what “pitfalls” can hold them back from reaching their dreams and goals. In this small town, on a small island in the middle of the Pacific, we are teaching kids to DREAM and helping them set goals to get them there! I love it! Within 4 years time… all these 8th graders will be seniors in High school… I plan to be there to see them graduate and move on to the next step in their journey! Again, photos coming soon!

 

 

New Year- New Do

I turned 24 this month! I got really spoiled!!! Alisha (my best friend who recently moved here!) got me a massage at the Spa she works at– Coconut Girls! I got my hair cut… SHORT! I even got a free microdermabrasion!! If that wasn’t enough… Jay took me to the resorts for one night! We stayed at the Waikoloa Hilton (which is the same resort we stayed at for our honeymoon!) We are really blessed to be around each other most days because we work together, but it was amazing to have such quality time with no distractions… and a pool and hot tub to hang out in! I’ve decided we have to do this at least once a year!!

 

As part of my birthday gift, Jay helped me “redo” our kitchen! It is very small… and was very dark with maroon walls and dark wood cabinets. Well, let’s just say it looks REALLY different now! It’s for US- Check it out below:

 

Carrying on….

 

We have both continued to carry on with all of the other stuff we do…

One exciting thing is that Jay is getting to compete in a Brazilian Ju Jitsu Tournament in Honokaa on February 26th. This will be my first time getting to see him “fight” since he doesn’t allow me to come watch him practice! He wants to “be the best” before I see him! I will post photos and the results next month!

 

Thank you for all of your love, encouragement, and interest in our lives! We love each and every one of you and hope that 2011 hold lots of new “firsts” for you as well!

 

Jay and Jenna Vega

 

 

 

 

MERRY CHRISTMAS!! (and YES, Jay's creepy 'stach only stayed for the night!)

HAPPY 2011 from the last place on earth to get the New Year!!

Our holiday has been so full of relaxation, family, and fun!

Some highlights:

- Alisha & Tim staying for us over the holidays while they found their own place! (and getting to introduce them to how we do Christmas in Hawaii!)

- Hanging out with all of our friends home for the holidays!

- Having some R&R!!

Thank you for being a part of our lives in 2010… we can only hope that 2011 is full of so much more to share!

With all our love, The Vegas

October 4th -5th: Airsoft & Photography Tracks

Jay getting ATTACKED by all the boys he worked so hard!

Jay ran an AIRSOFT TRACK where 20 boys came for 24 hours to be “whipped into shape”! Jay taught them military strategies, discipline, and self control!  I have never seen so many tired, smelly boys not want to go home at the end of an event! Jay worked them hard… but they had a BLAST and cant WAIT for another AIRSOFT DAY! The theme of the day was to  ”get them active and excited about history”!

All the girls standing in their "positive words"

At the same time, Jenna ran a PHOTOGRAPHY TRACK where 6 girls attended! Again, for 24 hours the girls got to plan there own photo shoots as the photographer…. and then THEY got to get in front of the camera and be the MODELS! The theme of the day was “self confidence and inner beauty”!

October 27th- November 10th: Jenna’s Oregon Trip

Oregon is BEAUTIFUL!

Me and the best older brothers in the world!

My two older brothers, Jerad & Jordan, flew all the way over from Florida and Atlanta for 5 days to spend much needed SIBLING time!!! In 3 days, we drove 1,500 miles all around Oregon and even into Northern California!!! We got to see Crater Lake & Mount Hood (where it snowed!), The Redwood Forest, the WHOLE Oregon Coast (where we stopped and rode 4wheelers on the HUGE sand dunes!), and even Astoria (where the movies, “The Goonies” was filmed)! It was a GREAT way to start of my trip…. and as I said before… MUCH NEEDED! It had been a year and a half since I had seen any of my family! ;(

Me & my friend Kirstin from Vancouver, BC

I stayed several days with Jay’s cousin, Olivia, who lives in Portland and got to catch up!! During that time, one of my best friends from DTS days, Kirstin, drove all the way down from Vancouver, BC to see me for a day and half!!! SO BLESSED!

My Friend Britney's wedding day!

The original reason for me flying to the mainland was for a close friends wedding, where I was a bridesmaid- in Salem, OR. I was so lucky to get to be with her the entire week before her wedding and help her with the transition from her apartment into her hubby’s home! During that time, I also got to see several other familiar faces from earlier YWAM days… which was a surprise and a blessing!

At the end of it all though, I was VERY happy to come HOME! 3 weeks is a bit too long for me to be away from Jay… and my beloved HAWAII! Funny how things change! I use to travel ALL the time… and that was my first trip off the island in a year and half!

November 19th: Kupuna Tea Event

Just some of the many Kupuna who came out for the event!

We had been planning an event for the “Kupuna” or Senior Citizens of the community for several months! We had about 40 Kupuna from the community come out to Makapala for a fun evening where we just wanted to BLESS THEM! We served them a nice dinner, had live dinner music, and even a Luau show for them!! They where very blessed… and are already begging for another one!

It was very exciting to see how involved the community got in this event! We had several donations of food and even more donations of door prizes to give out!!!

We where so blessed to see so many people getting involved in what we’re doing here!

November 24th- 27th: Family reunion

Jay's Mom's Family- The Fukuyama Ohana

Jay's HUGE family-- all 90 something of them!

This year, we had a huge family reunion over Thanksgiving!!! It was for Jay’s Mom’s side of the family! I LOVE being a part of a huge family!!! And I am one of the only “haole” or white people in the family! I have always liked to be different! Jay’s family is VERY large… so having several days all at once to get to know everyone a bit more really helped me figure out who was who and what all the Aunty and Uncles names are!

**I also passed the biggest “Fukuyama Family Test”- BLACK FRIDAY SHOPPING!! I got all of 30 minutes of sleep…. but it was VERY fun and totally worth it!!!**

The rest of the time….

Life has carried on in all the “normal” ways…. Newspaper distribution, Church and Youth Group involvement, Luau work, photography shoots, etc!

What’s coming up:

~ Nov. 29- Dec 4th:  YWAM’s 50th ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION in Kona!

~ Dec. 7th: Jenna’s best friend, Alisha is MOVING to HAWAII!!! She and her husband will be staying with us over the holidays until they find a house of their own!

~ Dec. 10th: End of the Year YOUTH GROUP LOCK IN!!! (and also Jay’s 24th birthday!!!)

~ Dec. 13th- Jan 2nd- CHRISTMAS BREAK from Island Breeze duties!

I haven’t remembered to “document” our craziness very well, so for this month, sadly, I think I’m just going to do some bullet points! Is that alright?

AUGUST & SEPTEMBER recapped:

JENNA

- Wrote another article for the newspaper regarding local businesses. It was a great way to do some more networking!

- Began prep work for doing AD SALES with the local newspaper.

- Continued weekly work with the pregnancy center.

- Did 8 (YES, EIGHT!) photo shoots! To see images go to: www.jennavegaphotography.wordpress.com or find Jenna Vega Photography on Facebook)

- Began LIFEPLAN (a program which helps kids dream BIG and set goals of how to reach those dream) for the 8th grade class twice a week! (We will go through the whole 8th grade class by the end of the school year! SO GOD!)

- Attended and helped with a Beth Moore web cast seminar at our church.

JAY

- Continued work with the Luau.

- Continued work as Associate Pastor at the church and with the youth group.

- Began Brazilian Ju Juitsu (BJJ) twice a week! (and he is SO excited about it!)

Jay AND Jenna:

- We where a part of 2 fundraisers.

- Organized and attended a married couples evening where the movie FIREPROOF was shown!

- Got finger printed to be able to continue our involvement in the schools.

- Got “hired” by the Department of Defense for a “summer Work Program” where we supervised several other workers and served 40 hours a week! We actually got PAID!!!! PAID WELL ENOUGH TO PAY OFF OUR CAR!!!! THANK YOU LORD!

Brief preview of next month!!!

- Staffing a Camp Lokahi FUN DAY for the school’s fall break! Jay will heading up an overnight AIRSOFT TRACK… and Jenna heading up an overnight PHOTOGRAPHY TRACK.

- Jenna is going to be on the mainland (OREGON) from the Oct. 21nd- Nov. 10th. The main reason is to be a bridesmaid in a friends’ wedding… but  she will also get to see her older brothers who are flying out for a few days to visit, as well as Jay’s cousin who lives in Portland. She is SOOO excited!

Mahalo for your patience… and thanks for keeping up with us! We love you all!

Jay wheeling out a very drugged up Jenna! Day #1

Well, July definitely ended up looking COMPLETELY different than we had planned. Just hours after I (Jenna) posted the last update, I landed myself a 5 day stay in the hospital. Exciting, right? NOT EXCITING! Let me go back to when the story started… 8 months ago.

In November of last year, I started getting really intense stomach pain that slowly got worse and worse over the months. Everyone said it was “heartburn” (including my DR) but it got so bad that I was actually sick for up to 24 hours with horrible stomach pain, nausea, and vomiting. In the past several months, I have been more proactive about finding out exactly what was wrong with me because it was ruining my life. It was happening up to 3 times a week and interrupting my life in every way possible. When I would get “sick” I would be out for the entire day…

On Monday, July 12th, I had finally hit my breaking point and just went into the ER. The DR on duty was very knowledgeable and kind. He knew immediately that I had gallstones. (I guess my DR never thought of gallstones because I’m quite young to have them. )They gave me an IV and some intense painkiller (HALLELUJAH!) and kept me overnight. In the morning, I had an ultrasound of my gallbladder, where they saw LOTS of gallstones. They sent me over to Waimea hospital for surgery, but on the way there, they got my blood work back that showed that I had “Acute Pancreatitis” caused my by gallstones. A normal lipase level is under 60 and I was at 3,128!!! So, in Waimea, they put me on antibiotics for the pancreatitis and allowed me NO FOOD OR WATER! so my pancreas wouldn’t have to “work”. They did all sorts of tests (Hida Scan, MRI, Xrays, ultrasounds, blood work, etc) to rule out any other cause besides the gallbladder. Finally, on Wednesday night, my levels where close enough to normal to OK my surgery. Thursday, the 15th, I had my surgery. This was my first ever surgery and overall, it was as “pleasant” an experience as could have been expected! I had some amazing doctors and was never more blessed to have a Doctor brother!

Jay was the most amazing husband! He had to drive back and forth (30 minutes each way) every morning and every night from the hospital to our home! He was definitely a strong shoulder to lean on in a very troubling time!

How can something "so small" cause SO MUCH PAIN!?!!?

So, having come home from the hospital 36 hours  before we where suppose to be flying out for Alaska, we obviously had to skip the trip. At first, we where both extremely bummed out. We had done some much fundraising work and had been looking forward to it for so long… but GOD HAD OTHER PLANS! This was exactly what I needed for a fast and full recovery! Four full weeks with nothing expected of me except to GET WELL!  God knows me well!

It has now been nearly a month and I feel almost 100% myself! Minus the incision pain, immediately after the surgery, I felt a new lease on life! I no longer had to only eat bread and oatmeal! I could sleep laying completely flat! I can go into Kona without fearing I will get sick half way through the trip! PRAISE GOD!

Our team has been arriving back from Alaska at different intervals and we’ve already gotten to hear some great stories of what God did in Mentasta and Delta Junction! Like I said before, we wished we could have been there to experience all that God did as well, but “We planned our way, but the He directed our steps”!!!

For those of you who knew I was in the hospital, THANK YOU for the prayers and words of encouragement! I really did make a quicker recovery than expected! For those who didn’t know, THANK YOU for praying for our team in Alaska! God moved!!

Some beautiful flowers I got from my Mother!

Happy 3rd Anniversary to US!

Where has the year gone? Each month, it never stops amazing me how quickly life seemings to be coming at us! Can you believe we have been back in Hawaii for nearly a YEAR now?! June was full of lots of fundraising, photography, celebration, and surprises! Most importantly, we want to thank you all for your commitment to believing with us for our whole team to make it to Alaska! GUESS WHAT?!? God has provided above and beyond what we needed for our ENTIRE TEAM to go to Alaska… and here’s the best part! WE LEAVE ON SUNDAY! Thanks to lots of hard work fundraising, lots of frequent flyer miles, and companion tickets from several generous donors we will be flying out for Alasak on July 18th and will be gone nearly a whole month! On our way home, we get the blessing of stopping over in Seattle to visit Jay’s Dad and his cousin for 10 days! Please keep us and our whole team in prayer as we head off on this journey! We know we will be up against a lot of trials spiritually, but we KNOW that God has called us all there for this time!

*FUNDRAISING*

June 19th Krispy Kreme fundraiser! Our team raised $600 towards Alaska!

4th of July COTTON CANDY Fundraiser! $500 was raised!

We NEVER had a dull moment!

Jay also helped with FACE PAINTING!

*KOHALA MOUNTAIN NEWS*

My involvement seems to keep growing each month! Not only do I do the photos for the paper… and also do the distribution, but now I’m getting the chance to WRITE! My article was on an organization called Operation Vacation to give military families a chance to get away and reconnect after a long deployment! I also did photos for one of Hawaii’s biggest holidays, Kamehameha Day! We are honoring King Kamehameha who united our islands! There is always a parade as well as a “lei drapping” ceremony! Here in Kohala, we have THE original statue… one of 4 in the world!

Jay & Josh enjoying the Kamehameha Day Parade on June 11th!

The Lei Ceremony!

The Dennard Family was a huge part of the Operation Vacation article!

*PHOTOGRAPHY*

I am slowly but surely getting more opportunities to shoot, which in turn help me to better myself as a photography… and even get new equipment every now and again! I got to shoot a Vow Renewal of a great family from the mainland names the Lopes… and I also got to do my very first newborn photo shoot! Ed and Lis (our base leaders) had their baby girl, Daywakihaa, in the end of May and I got to do her birth announcements! I really love baby photography!

Celebrating 10 years of LOVE...

and family...

Definitely true love...

This is the one she used for the birth announcements!

Adorable!

CUTIE!

Thank you, each and every one, for your love and support! For believing in us… and for us! You really keep us going! Please pray for traveling mercies and continued financial provision for our trip! I can hardly wait to post next months update!!! There are gonna be some awesome photos, I’m sure!!