July 27, 2009

Our last day in Roatan

Our last day in Roatan, Honduras was eventful, to say the least. We decided to start out with a quick breakfast at 7am and then straight to the beach. It was so strange knowing that it would be our last time piling into the little Nissan pick up, all windows down, kids hanging out the windows, no seat belts, you name it, we did it, only if it was something we didn't normally do in America. Too funny. To put minds at ease, there are hardly any cars and the roads are so hilly and curvy that no one can go over 40mph, seriously. So, it is not all that bad, really. We even end up picking up hitch hikers often, don't think that we have mentioned that little tid bit yet, but as we drive by and slow down a little they hop in the back of the truck and off we go. No big deal, everyone gets around here that way, like I said there are hardly any cars here. What is so amazing to us it that the hitch hikers are so polite and thankful, they say, "thank you, sir" or if it's just me and the kids, "thank you, momma" and they even say, "have a blessed day"...it is very refreshing to see such gratefulness. Anyway, we finished up at the beach and headed home from the beach for the last time, it was surreal, almost to the point of knowing that we would be back some day, hopefully soon :)
We got home to the power being out, great, we actually need to shower at this point and we have a load of clothes in the washer that have to be dried before we can finish packing....can it get any better? All we wanted was to get our last beach day in.....

Well, of course, a knight in shining armor always has been found while we have been here; Henry of lw4r, called and came straight over to grab our clothes and take them to their house to dry them for us (they still had power). How great is that? We truly do have favor in the midst of many moments that seem hopeless at first, even if it is only laundry. Henry and Frances are just like a set of parents that God hand-picked and placed in our lives while here in Roatan. What awesome role-models that we know our own parents would want right by our side in if they could not be here themselves. So, we ended up calling on Jeremy and Melissa (rchurch) for our showers, they have running water when the power is out, we do not. Gotta love crashing in on our friends with sandy kids to just shower and run, oh and say good bye. The thing is, they are just a great, normal, family that we will know for the rest of our lives and like she said, "we don't even need to go there," (of, me saying, "we wouldn't know what we would have done otherwise"). We miss them so much!

So, we get all the bags into the back of the little Nissan and off to West End for lunch with Henry and Frances of lw4r; as well as get our now dry laundry. Goodness, it does get better, doesn't it? Our lunch was much needed nourishment for the journey ahead and we were running a little behind getting to the airport. Nonetheless, the ticket agent that said he would be there, was actually there, we were the last to check our many bags, and off to pay our$34 per person to exit the country. Does America do that? Surely we have thought about doing that??? We said goodbyes and hugged and took pictures and it was a great farewell. Jeremy, Melissa and the boys showed up to see us off and help out, Henry and Frances were there and even as we were paying our fees we saw Marvin, a teenage boy that we met while working at the Colonia. What a blessing that was, he had little puppy dog eyes when he saw us leaving and I can promise you that he will never forget us for the rest of his life. He remembered all the kids' names and said goodbye to them; what an angel. He even had told me that he 'loved' the group from Roopeville, GA. that had just left a couple of weeks ago. "I love them, " he said. So, I promised to let them know that he said hi and of course will tell them every word he said. This is what it is all about, even if you only effect ONE person, you really end up having an effect on EVERY single person in that one person's life, forever.

So, we sat in the VERY back of the plane, the flight attendant nearest us was a grandmother, so of course, our awesome favor was as such, she passed m&ms when needed and we had a great flight home. Customs was a breeze and our good friends, Brandon and Fawn Creighton, picked us up at the airport. We had to go by and get our car from Trey's grandmother's house and then to our friends' house, Spencer and Karyn Ashton. They were out of town, so we just unloaded and got everyone bathed and in bed. Lord, thank you for getting us home safely, we could not have done it without you!

Sunday, we hit FOTW, our church, and then went to lunch with some friends that we usually do lunch with every Sunday. Wayne, Stacia and the kids are actually moving back to Louisiana, so this may be the last time we see them until they have their fourth baby and Craig, and Craig and Diana just wanted another excuse to go to Wings and More (right?).

After lunch, the kids stayed at Karyn's house to swim while Trey and I divided and conquered. He went by one storage place to drop off extra stuff while I went to another to pick up sheets and towels for the beach house. We left Conroe and are here in Crystal Beach, TX. We slept like rocks, all six of us, last night. It was great. Time to get our ducks in a row and figure out where we are supposed to be.

Take care and God bless!















July 24, 2009

The last Thursday and Friday in Roatan

Our last two full days have come and gone in a flash. Thursday we took it easy, knowing that we soon would be full speed ahead with packing and airport stuff and kids and all that. We met up with who else but Melissa and Jeremy and the twins to swim and go to the Iron Shore. The iron shore is an area of what looks to be dead coral or volcanic formations that formed along the seashore. Pirates hated iron shore because it was impossible to dock near these giant iron like formations. Anyway, we took the boardwalk over the iron shore to get to the edge where it meets the ocean. The waves hit it like a ton of bricks and splash way up high and fill up little tide pools among all the little cracks and crevices that it can find. There are tons of snails of all shapes and sizes all over these formations, even some little turtle shell looking things that we could not get to come off of the rocks; hopefully these creatures are not dangerous or in any danger of extinction...needless to say we were unable to remove them and we have not come down with anything. We found some hermit crabs that had totally outgrown their shells, the kids did not want to leave but we had to get home to eat dinner because Mr. Tom was coming over to talk about Alternative Missions. We had a great discussion about what the organizations does and how he started it. Pretty cool stuff. Definitely sparked some deep discussion.

Friday we started our day with a trip to the airport to get our boarding passes in order to alleviate any time that we had to stand in line with four kiddos. The agent said he would be there tomorrow for our flight and to just head down the Elite area and he would get us right through; it is so awesome to have such favor! While at the airport we couldn't resist getting a shot of the man in fatigues with his rifle sitting on his lap. Former President Zelaya is supposed to try and step foot back on Honduran soil, so security is pretty much everywhere over here, again. We even have noticed quite a few Apache helicopters patrolling the island, in pairs. We ran some last minute errands and headed home to eat lunch and get the babies down for their naps. Anna, Wiley and I headed to Gumbalimba Park to go kayaking while Trey watched the babies and did some work on the computer. The kids and I had so much fun however, I will probably be unable to move tomorrow. This evening we went to Flowers Bay to the dedication of the Dwellings House by Alternative Missions. It was a huge revival style dedication. No other way to describe it. They had a guy set up to sing with his keyboard and large speakers, lawn chairs, the family, extended family and friends all in attendance and the ladies had even prepared food, drinks and cookies. At one point everyone was jumping and clapping hands; we were waiting for someone to start doing flips like John Belushi in "The Blues Brothers". It was awesome. They said a prayer of thanks and each of the guys that had helped build the house got to say a few words, even Trey, I was so proud of him (he totally is not the center stage type guy in a big crowd). All the kids played together and had a blast, they were totally filthy and hot and tired by the time we left. Afterward we headed to West End to eat at The Dive, we had Texas style burgers. The owner is from Dallas so he takes pride in his meat, he even ships it all the way from Miami, I bet it is the only place on the island with 100% Angus burgers, made fresh. We hit the ice cream shop afterward and headed home.

We plan to head to the beach first thing in the morning for our last dip in this beautiful ocean then head home to pack up. For lunch we are planning to meet Henry and Frances of lw4r for and then we are off to the airport. Jeremy, Melissa and the twins are meeting us there too, so we will have just enough arms and eyes to help out with the kids while we get the bags unloaded and checked. We will miss everyone dearly.


Take care and God bless!

July 22, 2009

Our last Wednesday in Roatan

Keeping up the trend of 'last ofs', we have now officially had our last Wednesday in Roatan. The days are flying by and the thought of returning to reality is really unsettling...when we return, we will stay the night at a friend's house, all of our belongings are still in storage, we have to pick up our vehicles and then we will spend a few days at the beach house in Crystal Beach...trying to plot our next move. Should be interesting. Not sure if we will blog about those occurrences, but it is so tempting, jj no one would probably be interested in our 'normal' life.

So, on our last Wednesday we hit the beach first thing this morning. But first we had to make sure and get our customary chicken empenadas, delivered via moped. We were short a couple of dollars so we had to go back later and square up with the wife that does all the actual cooking right on the side of the road; portable gas cook top complete with cardboard surround. Then, off to the beach with full tummies....

Not a soul was at the beach but we could feel them approaching, it was cruise day, so at least a thousand tourists were on their way. It was clear and the water was so calm, we snorkeled, built sand castles, jumped off the pier and got eaten alive by no-see-ums. We are so not used to the amount of blood sucking bugs on this island. At least you can see a mosquito and smack it, these little sand fleas are so tiny and almost clear that you never even know what hit you. Needless to say, we should have thoroughly applied insect repellent. bugs-1, vicks-0.

Anna and I hit West End while the babies were sleeping at lunch time, she needed some mother-daughter time. It can be so hard to remember to take time for things like that when there are so many kids running around all the time. I am constantly reminding myself that if we are not there for her, someone else will gladly take our spot. Anyway, we did some shopping and ate at the Noodle House, a little 10X10 wood frame shack. It was so yummy, Thai peanut noodles with veggies and shrimp and some California rolls with spicy shrimp and mango. Get out of town, it was so good! We ended up burning up about three hours and decided to head back to check on Trey and Wiley and the girls. Both babies were still asleep and Trey was finishing up a book, "Lone Survivor", about Marcus Littrell (a former Willis Wildkat), the owner of this house was in the military and has tons of military books, small world.

This evening our last Wednesday dinner consisted of homemade fried chicken and french fries. Micheal, the care taker got the fire going in the outside adobe cooker. It is made of mud and keeps one heck of a fire going. Trey fried the potatoes and chicken and we devoured all of it, he is such a good cook, probably because he absolutely enjoys to cook, just like DV did.

Tomorrow we plan to check out the house in Flowers Bay that Trey helped get started last week. The presentation of the home to the family is on Friday afternoon, we can't wait to see everyone and try to capture the moment. In the evening we plan to meet up with Tom Hackett, the founder of Alternative Missions.

Take care and God bless!

July 21, 2009

The Official 'Last Ofs' Begin

This is the beginning of the official 'Last Ofs' of Roatan; Our last Sunday, Monday and Tuesday, etc.

On our 'last Sunday' we started out our day at rchurch, Laney spent some quality time with several of the male friends that we have made, she absolutely adores men, who of course just scoop her up and will hold her for as long as she wants; atta girl. Before the service was over, Jeremy, the pastor and our new good friend, prayed for us that our family would find our way to follow the path that He has for us, it was very moving and extremely thought provoking in that we truly are seeking that which He wants for us as a family. No matter what IT is, we definitely have come to a place in the last five weeks that has prepared us to follow. It was not a coincidence that we met so many amazing people from so many different walks of life; Henry and Frances with lw4r, the mission team from Georgia, Jeremy and Melissa of rchurch, Tom with Alternative Missions; the list could seriously go on and on. We pray that when we return home, wherever that will be, that we can stay focused and not get caught up in any of the 'land of need' stuff.

Sunday night we hit our 'last crab races and fire dancing show'. We met up with Melissa and the boys and her parents. The kids get so excited to run around on the beach and drink Fanta. The entire fire dancing family was there again and the kids just ate up those child fire dancers. It was a great time and we even had another winner in our group, two free ice creams at Ms. Vicky's ice cream shop.

Our 'last Monday' began a little rough with the power out most of the day. We tried to go into town and get some shopping done so as not to go stir crazy in the house; not only was the power off but there was no wind and it kept raining, it was more or less like a sauna in the house. Not fun. Anyway, Trey's back had been out since Sunday, he twisted or pulled something, so he was in some kinda pain and not the best person to be around, so our shopping trip was cut short in an attempt to track down the local 'back' guru, Cathy. Needless to say, we never got ahold of her so he just kept taking ibuprofen and aleve with hot compresses. Btw, he is doing much better and on the road to working it out. Monday afternoon it finally quit raining and the power came back on, so we took the kids to the beach to run off some of their pent up energy. We decided to have our 'last Monday night pizza', they have a two for one special on Mondays that we have hit for five weeks straight, brick oven and very yummy! They even have a swimming pool that you can swim in while dining, kinda like the sand boxes at some of the restaurants back home, only less messy. Well, our last Monday would not be complete without more drama of some sort, so we ended up taking it to the limit. The floors in the restaurant are wood decking with tiny little cracks in between, one would never notice them much unless they happened to drop just the right size item and it fell in the cracks. Our item was our car key, yes, we are mostly shoeless, wet from the pool, full tummies and kids ready to shower and get to bed; oh, and it's about 7:30 and after dark and there are tons of mosquitoes outside at this point. Our cell phone decides to run out of minutes, the waitress calls the rental car agency and they do not answer the phone; so, we lock up the truck and start walking down the road to get a taxi. We were quite a site to behold, swatting the bugs, kids crying because we have no shoes and the gravel, water-filled pot-holes are killing our feet, carrying the baby and all our towels and crap from the beach....that was the best $5 taxi ride ever, and we only went about 1/2 a mile uphill all the way. At least when we got home the power was on and we could shower and hit the hay. Laney ended up getting a mosquito in her room and she woke up in the middle of the night screaming and scratching at about 50 bites all over her body, bless her little heart, ours too, we got zero sleep. Our last Monday was eventful and I'd say the longest day of our trip so far.

On our last Tuesday, we all were up at about 5am and it was raining most of the morning so we stayed busy inside, playing on the computer, watching DVDs and driving each other nuts. Finally after lunch, Anna, Wiley and I met Melissa and the boys and her parents at the Butterfly Gardens. It was like the butterfly exhibit at the HMNS, but totally rustic and up close, no real rules and our guide was barefoot. They ended up having quite a collection of butterflies, a bunch of cool parrots, toucans and macaws, a baby deer and a cohote. The kids got to hold the birds on their finger, they were a little unsure of this, I'm still not sure why since they just about hugged the iguanas the other day, but they had a great time. They even got to bottle feed the baby deer, which is of the breed that is actually found on the island. After the butterfly gardens, we had everyone over for dinner, we had good food, great conversation and the kids were bouncing off the walls having a blast playing hide and seek. Laney became very good friends with Melissa's dad, Mike, he was at her beck and call, as are all men in her life. After some yummy homemade brownies, we called it a night.
We are planning to hit Gumbalimba Park and the dolphin show at Anthony's Key Resort over the next couple of days as well as have a couple more lunches/dinners with friends before we leave on Saturday.

Take care and God bless!

July 19, 2009

A Visit to Santa Helena

We are officially able to say that we have pretty much taken the kids on every possible excursion that we NEVER in our minds thought possible. Now we can add a visit to the island of Santa Helena (or Helene).

Thursday, we had to be up and out the door by 8am to get to Oakridge in order to catch our boat to the island. The getting up part is easy at this point because all of the little ones are up with the magnificent ball of fire in the sky that we call the sun, at 5:30 AM...We know that one day we will be blessed with sleeping in til noon for all of eternity....simple request. So we packed everything that we could possibly need and headed out to West End to grab Paul (a Texas boy finding his way with an internship through Alternative Missions) and then off to the gas station at French Harbor to meet Jeremy, Melissa, the boys, the parents and another family that was along for the ride. Along our way we ran into a traffic jam, a cow herder was leading his herd of cattle somewhere, it was a great tourist moment and we had to take pictures.

Once at the boat dock I discovered a small surprise, the restrooms are plumbed directly into the ocean, very different method than back at home. I was a little shocked until I learned that they do the same thing with all of the houses in Vancouver, B.C. Imagine that.

Well, our boat ride was uneventful, we got a little wet from some of the waves and the kids thought they were on a water ride at Sea World. The water was so incredibly blue out on the ocean, unbelievable, bright blue and turquoise, hard to imagine that this much beauty exists in the world all in one location. The island of Helene is separated from Roatan by a canal that is cut through mangrove swamps, the only way to get to the island is by boat. The swamps are huge and are infested with goo, bugs and crocs, thankfully we just went down the coast and not through the mangroves. The people of the island are of Afro-Caribbean decent, once were slaves that had been dropped off on the island in an attempt to hide them. Now, they have a whole little community that is very slowly progressing. No power, only generators, no sewers, no public water system, no stores, no cars at all. Yes, we would be hiking across this island with four children in tow, on foot. What were we thinking???

When we arrive we take a short hike up some dirt paths to the ocean view clinic and school that the Alternative Missions teams have built. We get a grand tour, the dental office, the clinic office, the rooms and bunks for the teams to live in while serving this community. This is amazing that these professionals and young and old adults give of their personal time to help out with a people that has no government to help them in any way, no police to monitor them, no nothing, they are existing on their own completely and with the only help that we as Christians can really give without totally interfering, hope.
So, we head out on our first of many hikes for a tour of the island, we had tons of kids tagging along, curious as to who these little people are that we brought with us. They were all so sweet and spoke with the coolest little Caribbean accent, too cute. The children and moms all wanted to touch and hold Laney, they just love 'beautiful babies.' They liked Wiley's mohawk and even commented on Max and Clay's "soft" hair; they were mesmerized with the fact that they are twins. Jeremy and Melissa actually met while serving here on Helene back in '96, so they knew everyone. People would look and take a second look and just come out of the wood works yelling for 'Jeremy' or 'Melissa', 'how long you here?' The bonds that they formed with this community are very deep and they obviously touched many lives, there are friendships there that will last a lifetime and such true respect for the work that they did while here. All of the people that we met were so happy and ready to greet us with open arms.

We hiked through paths next to the ocean front, over little foot bridges and past tiny houses and some giant houses (there is a great suspicion that some of the very successful peoples of the island are so, due to their drug trafficking). We decided to take our hike to the north side of the island and head out for our lunch that would be prepared for us. We went through jungle, up and down hills, through neighborhoods, past ferocious dogs, along the seashore, sweating our pants off. When we made it to the place to eat, we had to wait a bit and so we hit the shore front. We got to hang out with some boys (all 5-12 years in age) that were cleaning their fresh caught grouper. Wiley collected a lobster shell and a couple of dead fish, Anna and Paul found tons of conch shells that had such bright colors that they looked fake. These would fetch $20 easy in the states. We planned to bring a couple back with us, but man they stunk like the dickens. I think we ended up bringing a small one back with us. Anyway, the view was magnificent, the boys that we met probably have no idea what they are surrounded by, the magnitude of how beautiful the ocean is. They see it everyday and know nothing else. It is kind of like always having your health and not knowing what sickness is, it's truly a blessing.

So, our lunch consisted of lobster and conch, cooked island style, fried. A side note, this community fries everything and puts sugar in everything, even the baby bottles. So, needless to say, the clinic sees alot of diabetes and high blood pressure. The food was excellent and we were so full that the hike back to the clinic seemed impossible. Before we left, Parker had to go to the bathroom so we used the lady's house bathroom while we were there. We took a quick snapshot of the inside of their house, very small but all tidied up and in order. They are very proud of the few possessions that they do have and take great care of them.




Along our hike back across the island we saw all kinds of wild plants and fruit trees, even cotton. That seemed a little strange to see cotton plants blooming with cotton on an island, they used to use it for pillows and mattresses but these days those that can afford it, take a boat ride over to Roatan and buy those types of things, along with groceries and other necesseties.

After our hike, we headed to the public boat dock and swam with the local kids. They were in heaven, even on a dock that was half falling apart. It was quite an adventure, we are still not sure that our kids are aware of the fact that not many children get to experience a remote island and its people. Good thing we can show them pictures as they grow up and tell great stories of all of our adventures. We finished swimming and headed back to the boat to make it back to the main island before dark. All the kids were passing out right and left and were just exhausted, as were the adults (not passing out, just exhausted). We got to our cars and headed home. Thank God the power was on and we all got to shower before hitting the hay, at like 7:30!




That was our visit to Santa Helena, we hope to one day visit again and possibly stay a few nights to really check out island life and the gracious people. Thanks to Jeremy and Melissa for letting us tag along.




Take care and God bless!

July 15, 2009

Ten More Days

Well, once again we have had some evening power outages and this has contributed to the absence of blog posts. However, we have had some much needed rain almost every day for the past few days, sometimes a couple of times a day. We end up in the middle of the night rushing around closing windows and then later rushing around re-opening them to take advantage of the ice cold air blowing in from the ocean.
This week, Trey has been meeting up with Tom Hackett, the founder of Alternative Missions, to help with their first donated house here on Roatan. Pretty cool stuff, they build houses all over the nation with a proposed budget of $5,000, all with donated funds. Needless to say, Tom has been an amazing source for all kinds of information about missions and how incredible the process is. Today, while Trey is with the guys, the kids and I will be at the beach for a bit and maybe hit the Colonia for the afternoon vbs. Anna and Wiley beg to go see their new friends everyday.

We spent the day on Monday at the local Iguana Farm with our friends, Melissa (the pastor's wife) her twin boys and her in laws were in from Arizona. The Arch family started the iguana farm in an attempt to help with the almost extinct green iguana population here on Roatan. They have also rescued a couple of capuccino monkeys, a few parrots, a pezote (like an anteater), a squirrel, some giant tarpon fish, and of course the iguanas. They have about 3,700 iguana right now. It was so much fun getting to pet them and watch them in a somewhat "natural" habitat. Normally they will just run away from us, but in this environment they are used to humans so they were very tame. They are vegetarians so we were in no danger. While there, we got to watch them feed on banana and lettuce. The kids have a new appreciation for iguana when we see them scutter around here.


Well, we are down to the last ten days here in Roatan and we have so many stories yet to tell, we need to catch up on the posts and fill you in on the rest of the story.
Take care and God bless!






July 12, 2009

Weekend Update from Roatan, Honduras

The power was out last night, so this will be a weekend update.

Saturday was a tough one, we helped transport the mission team from Georgia back to the airport. They totally caught us off guard and presented us with the sweetest gift, a plaque with scripture that each one of them had signed and written little notes on. I had to fight back the tears, it truly was amazing how easily we bonded with this group. One of the most incredible things about them was the fact that more than half of the team of eighteen, were only 17-20 years old. They were giving testimonies, loving on kids, leading the kids and just spiritually mature way beyond their years, we applaud them and their parents for a job well done, great kids with the whole world before them. We have even already gotten friend requests on facebook and will definitely keep up with all of them. We will miss them during our last two weeks here. Funny note about the airport, this is such a small island that even a trip to the little airport ends up turning into social hour. We saw several people that we have met while here on the island, picking up or dropping off friends and relatives. Just like going to the grocery store in a small town, only this is the airport. Pretty cool.

Today we went to church, it was a packed house. There was a team in for Alternative Missions, they are building a house for a family in Flowers Bay, there was a mission team in that will be hosting a couple of domestic abuse workshops this week, as well as the team from Helene, a tiny sister island. With such a full previous week, we decided to take it easy this afternoon and so we took a stroll down West End to people watch and check out the comings and goings of the area. This particular area is a dirt road that runs next to the waters edge with tons of shops and restaurants in tiny little wooden buildings or shacks. It is home to divers, fisherman, all kinds of eclectic souls.

Then, we headed to our usual Sunday night ritual, the crab races and fire dancers at Bananarama. We ended up running into the pastor of the church we have been attending and his wife and kids, his in laws were in, so the crab races and fire dancers are a must for all visitors. We hung out with them and the kids got to play and pick out crabs together. We must be on a winning streak because Wiley's #22 won the race! He won a $20 bar tab, he and his new friends, Max and Clay, plan to belly up and splurge on a few Orange Fantas. The fire dancers had some children with them tonight and let me just say that this was by far the highlight of Wiley's stay here on Roatan. Child fire dancers! One little girl was about 12 and the little boy had to be about 9, they even had a 3-year-old with pretend fire strings, she was adorable. Parker was watching her very closely. Wiley took good mental notes and will be practicing first thing in the morning, I guarantee it. Lord, help us.

Take care and God bless!

July 10, 2009

Three weeks down and two to go...


Well, to round out our third week here in Roatan, Honduras, we finished the vacation bible school at the Colonia and went to the beach for the first time in five days. Our last day with the kids was really fun, they have really bonded with each person of the mission team as well as our family. We really had a great time getting to know the team from Roopeville, GA; they made us feel like part of the team and loved on our kids as well. There were lots of hugs, good byes and well-wishes; also the hope that each person will
return next summer. We most definitely will be back at some point.
Over the next two weeks, Henry and Frances of LW4R plan to take us into the homes of a couple of families in the Colonia that have really bonded with them. They would like us to see how their home is run and get a small glimpse of what their lives are like day to day. Without Henry and Frances to show us the way, we would not have been able to experience all that we have. They have been so incredibly welcoming and we could never say enough nice things about them and how giving they are. The people of the Colonia are very blessed to have them.

Today was the mission team's day off and we all went to Gumbalimba Park. It is a nature park with clear kayaking, snorkeling, diving, swimming pool, nature preserve, etc. Very nice and fun place. Anna and I went Snuba Diving, it was so much fun. Just like scuba diving but the tank floats above you at the surface with your regulator connected to a 25' hose. Anna was a pro and is so ready to actually scuba dive. We had a great time and saw all kinds of fish and coral on the reef; even a 'Wiley' fish that was red with a white mohawk on top.


Tomorrow we will help transport the mission team back to the airport and then hit the "big" grocery store that is about 45 minutes from the house. This is comparable to what Blair's supermarket was like back in the day; much bigger than 7-11 but not quite like Wal-Mart. I am sure we will hit the beach and enjoy some relax time. Another mission team arrives tomorrow and they will be doing some of the same things this team did for this next week. So, we may be up to our ears in sweet little angels again this week. We will be sure to keep everyone posted.


Take care and God bless!