Holidays in Motion

After getting through Halloween and being in charge of the haunted house at the kids' school,  we barely got a breath of air when we began the journey into Thanksgiving.  Our church hosted a HUGE potluck dinner at a local resort.  It was absolutely beautiful with tons of food and fellowship, the kids swam and played while we all ate more than our bodies could possibly handle. We were not sure what to expect of a Thanksgiving in Honduras, but a great time was had by all along with many new memories.  We actually spent Thanksgiving day at the beach with the kids.

First game of fall balll for the colonia Pirates

This afternoon we had our first game with a local team from West End, the Westenders.  They had a world of experience compared to our kids but our guys amazed everyone watching!  Our team hit the ball, ran the bases, had double plays, etc; all of it absolutely defying everything these kids knew.   Trey was in awe of what these kids were able to accomplish with what seemed as so little training...commiting to something they just learned to love and following through with it...and they have immediate results!   Wow! 

We thought our guests had ceased for a time, however, they had other plans....

Apparently, when you live on a tropical island for the better part of a year, there are a whole host of guests that creep into your life.  We have had friends, family, honey bees, tarantulas, geckos, monkey lalas, mice, rats, ants....what are we forgetting here?  Oh, that's right, BOA CONSTRICTORS!  How on earth did that not top our list of guests?  The two sweeties were perched above our washing machine, hissing due to the fact that we had spoiled their slumber.  Yes, hissing at me after I had finished what was my fourth load of laundry....I am guessing they were pretty peaved at that point.  Ezekial, the gardener of the house we rent, called his brother to come and help remove the boas and of course get rid of them.  Little did I know that they were about four feet long and pretty much harmless unless you are a small animal or child.  They put them to rest and we later found out that most locals do not appreciate visitors killing the animals of the island.  We should have simply bagged them and released them elsewhere....yeah, right.  In Texas we kill snakes, sorry, but that is what we do.  Grab a shovel!

We have had about five weeks straight of rain and a handful of tropical storms come over the island.  The pool overflowed continuously but we always had water in our cistern.  Non-stop rain on an island is not fun with four kids, let's just say that God knew we needed the sun, bad.  The morning after or latest tropical storm, full-on sun and perfectly flat turquoise water, heaven. 

On another note, it is with great pleasure that we announce that it has taken almost a year for friendly little blood-sucking lice to attack us.  What a nightmare, trash bag the pillows and clothes, wash everyone's hair with toxic chemicals, wear shower caps to bead, comb and pick at eachother's heads....a ton of fun.  Actually reminded of the scene from that movie "Switch".  So funny.  Needless to say, we were able to get rid of this without any problem.  We ended up helping a couple of the kids in our youth group get rid of it too, this stuff spreads like wild fire and won't go away on its own.  Good times here in Roatan.

Take Care and God Bless,

Connie and Family