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!

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!

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!