Bethany Hamilton - Ask Bethany. FAQs: Surfing, Faith and Friends

Q. It has been a long time since I have seen your picture. What do you look like now?

Q. How tall are you?

A. Im taller now than I was when I was attacked by the shark. I was 57 when I was 13, but now Im 510. I have blond hair and hazel eyes and an Irish Norwegian heritage.

Q. How old are you?

A. Im 20 years old now.

Q. When is your birthday?

A. I was born February 8, 1990.

Q. Where do you live?

A. I live in the town of Princeville, on the north shore of the island of Kauai, in the state of Hawaii, in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.

Q. Were you born in Hawaii or someplace else?

A. I was born in Hawaii, on the island of Kauai, in the emergency room at Wilcox Memorial Hospital.

Q. Where do you go to school?

A. I now stay home to go to schoolthat sounds funny, doesnt it? Anyway, I went to Hanalei Elementary School in the town of Hanalei, on Kauai. I started homeschooling after sixth grade so Id have more time to surf. I do my studies through American School. They have students all over the world! I pretty much have to homeschool these days because I travel so much.

Q. Are you a Christian?

A. Yes, I am. I believe in Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior and my God. I have a personal relationship with God through Jesus Christ. For more about my faith see the chapter About Faith.

Q. When did you become a Christian?

A. Ive been a Christian for as long as I can remember. I was about five when I recognized Jesus as my Savior and committed to follow him, love him, and live my life for him!

Q. Where do you go to church?

A. I go to the North Shore Community Church near my home.

Q. What color is your hair?

A. I have medium length, straight blonde hair. It looks just like my moms hair did when she was my age.

Q. I heard you have blonde hair. Is that your natural color? Do you use peroxide or anything on it?

A. My hair is thin, so it naturally bleaches out from the sun even more than most peoples hair. I like everything real and natural, so I dont use artificial products and I try to avoid chemicals as much as possible.

Q. I heard youre really cute, so I checked out some of the pics on the Web. Sure enough, you are. Lifes not fair. How come youre cute and popular, and Im not?

A. God makes us the way we are for a reason and he never makes a mistake. You were designed with his perfect love! We just have to make the best of what weve got. And besides, its whats inside us that really counts. Kindness and love are more important than looks. My mom has me look up words in the Strongs Concordance to find their deeper meaning. I found out that real beauty is more valuable if its inside our hearts. Grace, pleasant, agreeable, precious, delight, honor, and godly were a few of the words that were a part of being beautiful. Sin is what really makes a person look ugly, so be beautiful with a clean heart!

Heres what the Bible tells us about outward appearance:

The LORD said to Samuel, Do not consider his appearance or his height The LORD does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.

1 Samuel 16:7

Beauty is more about whats on the inside than whats on the outside.

Your beauty should not come from outward adornment Instead, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in Gods sight.

1 Peter 3:3 4

Q. Whats your middle name?

A. Meilani, which means heavenly flower.

Q. Do you have a nickname, or does everybody call you Bethany?

A. Bebo, B-ham, or Bethy.

Q. Whats your favorite holiday?

A. Valentines Day.

Q. Whos your favorite movie star?

A. I dont really have one, but I like to laugh, so Id say either John Heder, who plays Napoleon Dynamite, or the actor who plays Dewey in Malcolm in the Middle.

Q. Do you have any pets? If yes, what are their names?

Q. What kind of pets do you have?

A. I have a dog, a shar-pei named Ginger. Shes the most adorable little dog youll ever see! Shes been in our family for years. I used to have a horse named Koko. My mom sold her because she took too much time away from surfing, and she bucked too much.

Q. Do you take your pets with you when you travel?

A. No. Ginger hates water, so she doesnt like to go to the beach. We even had to get her a raincoat so we could walk her. (It rains a lot here.)

Q. Who takes care of your dog when youre gone?

A. Theres usually somebody in my family still back at homemy dad or one of my brothers. My entire family doesnt come along when I travel. So someone is home to take care of things, including my dog.

Q. Do you have your drivers license?

A. Yes, I have my drivers license! In the summer of 2006 I finally passed the test, and now I can drive myself to the beach and Bible study!!!

Q. I hear youve tried snowboarding. What do you think of it?

A. I really liked it. Snowboarding is a lot like surfing waves because they both require good balance. Turning on a snowboard is the opposite of how you turn on a surfboard, though. When you turn on a snowboard, you use your front foot to pivot. In surfing you use your back foot. Every time I go back to surfing waves after snowboarding, I have to change my thinking. Im a bit mixed up, and it takes a wave or two to get comfortable surfing again.

Q. Do you do any other extreme sports other than surfing?

A. An extreme sport is usually life threatening and very dangerous. I dont consider surfing an extreme sport unless you are going out in twenty-plus-foot waves. I tried bungee jumping in Thailand, which did not make my mom happy, but I loved it!