Maldives

Where do I even begin?

Heaven is what Maldives is. Pure paradise from sun up to sun down. The wildlife in the ocean was breathtaking. From sharks to stingrays, from turtles to stingrays. We were blessed to be able to stay in a hut on the ocean for a few nights. This time with Andrew is pretty much indescribable. "I know this is what Heaven looks like" were words blurted out every 20 minutes. We had a ladder on our hut that lead to the ocean. I, who is scared of everything dove right in. I knew this was something I might never experience again. I have to admit I get quite emotional writing about it. Andrew and I have had a lot going on our first year of marriage. A lot of you might be thinking, yes a year of what people would kill for. As we have had amazing times it still was the hardest year of my life. Getting married and for the first few months he left for Europe every 2 weeks. We didn't feel like we had a "home." Then last March we moved away from my family, my everything to move to Switzerland. The Maldives symbolized us getting through our first year and making it on top. Andy and I were able to stay so very close during this year and it is all thanks to the LORD above. This move didn't separate us, rather made us closer.

The other beautiful thing about Maldives is how you feel completely disconnected from life. No phones equals my dream. Especially for Andy because he gets a lot of calls from work a lot. Oh, I forgot to mention this was our first week vacation ALONE in 5 years. We didn't even know what to think about it. 10 whole days with just us two. We were either going to kill each other or leave cuddly as ever before. Luckily it was the 2nd thing :)

The staff in the Maldives still makes my heart full. I honestly wanted to cry every time I had contact with them. The smiles on their faces and their willingness to do whatever they needed to do to make my time perfect, they did. I didn't want to leave them. ever. I wanted to adopt all of them as family. It was hard not to think of the Swiss people and get anxiety about what I had to return to. The Swiss don't have this love overpowering their bodies. The Swiss have everything they need so they don't bother with anyone else. It is quite sad actually. Too much money is never a good thing.

Some thoughts:
*The food wasn't great.
*Loved getting alcohol whenever we wanted! We had the all inclusive.
*The infinity pool was my favorite. It flowed into the OCEAN.
*Snorkeled with Andrew one day. UNBELIEVABLE!!! I saw more fish in 30 minutes than in my WHOLE life. I looked up at one point and there was a barracuda staring at me!!! Ahh so scary!!! I felt very close to Andy because everytime I got scared I held his hand. I was just waiting for a shark to come get me :(
*We stayed in a Beach cabana for a few nights and then a ocean hut the rest. (Ocean hut was my favorite)
*We met some neat people, some thought my name was Gabby. HAHA.
*We pretty much had the same routine everyday. Wake up, go to pool, eat, go home shower, go to dinner, and then get drinks till last call at midnight.
*Got to see Andy do a night dive. This was AWESOME. He got hit by a manta ray. CRAZY.
*The hotel had a light on a pier that attracted fish, sharks, turtles and manta rays. We went here every night to see these gorgeous creatures. This was so fun :)
*Loved looking at the stars. We could see the southern cross bc we were so close to the Equator. Stars were UNBELIEVABLE!!!
*Just in awe at God's creations. Being in the middle of the Indian Ocean led me to feel closer to God.