Dumb Smartphones

I’ve come to the realization that I really don’t like smartphones. I mean, they are really, really nice to have your email and a nice camera on the phone that you can pick up quick, but I don’t like them. They are SO addictive. Facebook is right there, calling you to check up on things all the time that are really not all that important in life, games (for some… this isn’t as tempting for me) that are addicting to until you see jewels or candy when you close your eyes, Pinterest is calling to be scrolled through to see what kind of awesome things to pin to try and be a ‘super mom’ that will be forgotten for a while.

I can’t tell you how many times we’ve been down at Treasure Beach for some pizza and we’ve seen tourist families, sitting at the restaurant together, each on their own handheld device, not talking at all for the whole meal. What!?!?! And I’m noticing more and more, people are holding conversations but not even looking at the person they’re talking to. Why? They are looking at their phone. I’m seeing more people who come to visit us, sitting in our swing chair and in the front room when there are others there, on their phone. (Please don’t be offended if you were one! This is not judging, just noticing!) I’m seeing myself ignoring my children because I’m on my phone. Ouch. Hard to take. The list can go on and on. You know all this! You’ve seen it for yourself!

So it’s hit me. We’ve gotta make some family rules with our phones. I do not want my children growing up thinking that the phone/Facebook/Pinterest is more important than hearing what they have to say, than playing and interacting with them, than seeing them grow up. I don’t want to miss out on their funny faces, loving smiles, silly sayings, the preciousness that they are. I don’t want to look back at when they are little and say, “I was on the phone so much, I don’t have very many memories!” Because really, is Facebook and Pinterest what I want in my memories instead of my children?! Absoultely not!

I don’t want my marriage to start being harmed by the communication slowly starting to fade away. I want to be able to continue to hold conversations looking at each other in the eye without the mind wishing we were doing something else (like checking Facebook, messanger, email, Deer Hunter, Pinterest, etc.). I do not want to let it just happen. I’m going to stand up for my family. It’s not always easy; temptation is not easy. But it’s totally worth it.

So, what rules have we set?

1. No Facebook/Pinterest/games when the kids are around.
2. No phones at the table.

So far that’s it. But it’s a start. We are committed to preserving our family and not just letting current culture habits to happen. We are committed to be purposeful about what we will do. I’m thankful we are starting this before we head back to the States in July! Before we jump into the land of smartphones!

So, what about you and your family? Do you have smartphone rules? If so, what are they? I’d love to hear from you!

Once Upon a Christmas

So I’m fully aware that Christmas 2013 has come and gone, but I’m finding time (What?!?! That is possible?!) and thought that some of our family and friends might like a glimpse into what our Christmas program here at Maranatha looks like!

Be ye forewarned: Rodney was the camera man and he will tell you too, he’s not really the best photographer, videographer, etc. He was also the proud Papa of a certain little girl who took part in the whole thing, so a lot of the pictures and video (who am I kidding, ALL of the video) was focused on her. But, if you look at the other people (when they are shown) you can get a glimpse of what it may have looked like! 🙂

It starts with a candle march. The students are paired up and walk in with a partner. This year, they formed a Christmas tree. Maya was the stump. 🙂 She was also so excited that she kicked her feet up extra high in the air. 🙂

A proud little girl to be in the candle march.

Everyone in their positions from the candle march.

Marching out…

After the march and welcome, each class presents a poem, song, etc. You will see in the video Level 1/2 performing “Angel Band” as one of their items. Their teacher, Pauline, led them while I followed along singing and playing-ish the keyboard. You’ll hear it on the video. Not my proudest singing moment, but oh well.

Then came Level 3/4, seen below. We did the song, Adore Him by Kari Jobe. I thought it was beautiful.

Level 3/4’s ribbon dance in the middle of the song.

Level 5 was the last individual class to perform. We did Jamaican Noel by Voice Male. It was fun to work together with Ms. Verica Senior, the Level 5a teacher. We split the group into two sections and each led a section for the song. It’s the closest thing we’ve had that would resemble a choir! It was fun! I wish Rodney would have videoed it, but alas, he was dealing with a 5 month old and 2 1/2 year old while trying to take pictures. Didn’t leave a lot of time to focus on much else.

Level 5 before their 2 part Jamaican Noel song.

There were some songs led in between to give the students time to get into their costumes for the play. We did the play, The Story of Baby Jesus.

Such a flattering picture…. Leading a Christmas hymn. I couldn’t accompany because I also had to lead the sign.

Herod and a messenger in the play.

Everyone did so well! I wish we had more pictures. The soldier was maybe the favorite of the afternoon. He was dressed in his soldier outfit that I had constructed from cardboard (mostly) and marched, bouncing along the way. It was really cute.

Please forgive how blurry the video is. Rodney learned how to focus while videoing after everything was said and done. 🙂 And, seriously, we don’t know why Maya was sticking her tongue out so much. ?!?! The people leading did NOT do that; I repeat, the adults do NOT keep their tongues hanging out of their mouths! 😉

You can find the video on youtube at: http://youtu.be/tOJ-huV4CnQ

I made it unlisted so you can’t search for it. You have to click on the link above. Hope it works!!!!

The two senior teachers: Pauline (sitting) and Verica (the sign language interpreter of the day).

After the play, we celebrated the retirement of Mr. Forrester who was the former bus driver and security guard, and Mrs. Pauline Bent, who had taught at the school for 27 1/2 years. Rodney made Mr. Forrester a swing chair as a gift from the school, pictured below.

Mr. Forrester’s (the former bus driver) retirement celebration.

Pauline Bent’s (teacher here for 27 1/2 years) retirement celebration.

The church was full, so people just peeked in from outside.

The Christmas program always ends with handing out gifts to the students. Gloria Lehman, who works for VMM, finds sponsors for all the students at the school and those sponsors send down gifts. I think it’s a highlight for Gloria to be able to hand them out to such excited kids. Glenroy, pictured below, is always SO excited and has the biggest grin on his face.

Every student has a sponsor who sends down a gift. Those gifts are handed out by Gloria Lehman, VMM representative.

Maya was pretty excited about her gift from the Baumans…. Devor and Javel’s family.

You can see his excitement, right?! 🙂 Gloria was kind enough to have a little something for M & M so they wouldn’t feel left out.

All in all, it was a wonderful time and afternoon. All the students did so well. It was a lot of work to put together with such little resources, but by the grace of God, it always seems to turn out! 🙂 I hope you enjoyed the peek into Christmas at Maranatha!

Creative Urges

I have discovered that I like sewing (shhhhh. Don’t tell anyone!). It’s quite an interesting phenomenon because when we lived in the States, I did NOT like it and I would break my sewing machine any time I had to use it. Not on purpose, mind you. So when we came down here and I found myself WANTING to sew, I wondered what was wrong with me. Was I sick? Was I getting some sort of tropical disease that changed my likes?!?! 🙂

I have come to the realization that I am a creative person. (My mom would say, ‘Duh!’ at this point.) In Virginia, I was expressing my creativity through music- Shekinah, our church’s worship team, etc. It was easy to find ways (besides sewing) to express myself creatively. Those things fulfilled my creative needs. Down here, though, I don’t have an outlet for my creativity in music. I can’t fully play the keyboard at church because it is such a different style and really, I don’t have the time to practice or anyone around to help me. It is not so easy to find crafty things to make. It can take quite a while to find one thing in a list of things, so at times, I start to feel the need to make something, to create something, to just get something out! I don’t know if Rodney really understands, but it really is a NEED.

So sometimes I will sew something. Other times I will bake something. Other times I will find a way to rearrange the house. Often times I get interrupted and cannot complete what I’m doing which can be a bit frustrating, but I’m thankful that even if Rodney doesn’t understand fully, he gets that I need some time just to be, and he lets me create.

First dress and binding ever made and it turned out pretty cute!

With hidden zipper. I was pretty excited it turned out!

Christmas present for Maya and Micah to sit comfortably.

Baker’s clay dough wisemen with their camel. (Made with Beuford)

Baker’s clay dough shepherd and sheep (made with Beuford).

Mary, Joseph, Baby Jesus, and Angel (made with Natalie).

I know I’m biased but I think the whole nativity out of Baker’s clay dough turned out SO cute. I was very disappointed (and maybe even shed a tear or two) when I went to bring it and some clay dough ornaments out the next year and they had all molded. I was so sad to throw them away.

I also love to bake desserts and breads quite a bit. People want to start ordering my bread but I say ‘No’, because I want to continue enjoying it. I don’t want it to start to be a chore that I HAVE to do on a certain day. I prefer to keep the enjoyment in it.

Here’s to creative urges! Now, off to feed the hungry children…..

Jayden Zane

So the newest addition to our family is now 6-going-on-7 weeks old and I’m finally having the time to sit down and tell you, HE’S HERE! 🙂

Early in the morning on Sunday, June 23rd, I started having contractions. I had them for a few hours and was getting excited that our little one was coming to meet us, but then they stopped and I slept about 4 hours or so. When I woke up at 7:30, they started again. It was really happening! I called my mom to let her know, sent Rodney and Micah off to church (Maya had pink eye), and enjoyed the morning with Maya, relaxing and breathing through contractions. The guys came home, we had lunch, the kids took a nap, and I continued to relax and breathe. Rodney was watching Larry the Cable Guy and a few times when I was in the middle of contracting, I was laughing. Let me tell you, those two things don’t go together very well!!! Our friend said, “You might be a redneck if you’re watching Larry the Cable Guy while your wife is in labor!!!” 🙂

At 4pm, our friend came and picked Maya and Micah up. The contractions were getting pretty intense, but again, I was able to relax and breathe through them. A bit before 5 I told Rodney, “We need to go now.” As we turned out of the driveway, I could feel my center of gravity had shifted down lower and my contractions were hurting in my hip bones too. Breathe and relax, breathe and relax. We got to the hospital at 5:20 pm and he was born at 6:39pm, au natural,  after not quite 8 minutes of pushing. The midwife had come into the room just a bit before and said she had another patient at the same stage as me, so she would have to go back and forth and it would be a race to see who gave birth first. Well, she didn’t even make it out of the room and he was born. I won! 🙂 (My dad thinks I’m competitive. Psssshhhh. Nah. 🙂 )

We didn’t know what we would name him yet, but Rodney called our friends who Maya and Micah were staying with and told them he was here! Once we decided on a name, we called back and told them. Our friend said, “Well that’s what Maya said his name was when you called the first time. We told her her baby brother was born and she said, ‘You mean Jayden?’ ” Crazy, eh? We had a list of 4 names that we were going to choose from and she picked the same one we did! (For the first time ever.)

                                          Proud Papa

Jayden weighed 7 lbs. 15 oz. and was 19 inches long, but wasn’t fully stretched out.  We were in the hospital a day, went and picked up Maya and Micah, briefly visited a 31 party where Maya and Micah were at, and went home.

                                           First meeting

 

                                Getting ready to go home!

Maya and Micah cannot get enough of their baby brother. Jayden puts up with them pretty well too. It’s so nice that he can sleep through their noise. One time I was feeding Jayden and his eyes were closed. Micah came up, leaned in nice and close, (I thought he was going to kiss him) and yelled, “HI BABY BRUDDER!!!!!!” Jayden never even flinched.

We have been so blessed to have Jayden. He’s already sleeping through the night and started doing that at not quite 3 weeks old. (Thank you Lord for that sleep!!!!!) He rarely cries, he puts up with a lot of little kids holding him and loving on him, he has traveled over 5,000 miles to see family and hasn’t missed a beat, and he smiles at me when I sign to him! 🙂 Well, at least the one time I lost my voice and was signing to him he did!

We love this little man so much already and can’t wait to take him back to Jamaica so he can meet his friends and family down there!!! 🙂 Welcome to the world!

Adjusting to the States….

I wish, now, that I had been in the mindset and able to pull out the camera during our trip back to the States, but I was not. I will have to try and get my mom’s pictures that she took and add a few later. But, regardless, I wanted to share with you some of the fun surprises and unexpected things that we have had to adjust to coming back Stateside.

We walked through security in Montego Bay, Jamaica, and it was a different world! There was even a Dairy Queen!!!!!! What!?!?! There was one part we walked through that had very shiny, black tiles on the floor with recessed lighting on the ceiling. Maya didn’t want to walk on it because she didn’t know what the bright spots on the floor were (the lights reflecting). Once we found our gate and got settled, I went to a water fountain to fill our water bottles. Maya tagged along and when I started she said, “Mama, what IS that?!” I told her a water fountain. “What do water mountains do?!” (Yes, she calls them water mountains to this day… no typo there!) So I had to explain what water fountains were and that they were safe water to drink. Wow! My 4 year old didn’t know what a water fountain was… but then again, how could she? We don’t have any water fountains in Jamaica! Whenever she and Micah see water fountains now, they have to attempt to drink from them. Let’s just say they’re still learning how to drink from the stream of water.

Other things that were fun, new, or surprising to us:
1. Escalators. The kids weren’t sure of them at first, but after a ride, found them to be a lot of fun.
2. Flying. Neither of them really liked the first part of taking off on the first ride, but ended up really liking flying. Micah decided he didn’t want to see being above the clouds and shut his window, but other than that, enjoyed himself. Micah was also relieved that the airplane wasn’t as loud as he thought it would be!
3. Conveyor Belts. The kids really, REALLY wanted to ride the conveyor belts that the suitcases rode on. I mean, really, who doesn’t at least one time have that thought cross their minds…’It would be fun to hop on that thing and ride!’ 🙂
4. SO MUCH STUFF. When we walked out into the Miami and Reagan airports, it was almost like I was hit in the face with how much STUFF there is! Even in the airports! There isn’t just a few things to choose from but a bazillion! We couldn’t walk by a store that had kids things or candy without Maya stopping and telling me she wanted every. single. thing. for her birthday. Her telling me that is normal… it taking so long because of how much stuff there is, is abnormal. Oh. My. Word. Consumption.
5. So Many Whities. Going through the airports and D.C., I didn’t notice it as much because of the cultural diversity, but once we got into VA and stopped at a gas station with DQ, I was a bit embarrassed of myself because the thought that ran through my head was, “Whoa! There are a LOT of whities here!”
6. No JA Accents. Also at the DQ was an African American man who started talking to Rodney because he liked Rodney’s Jamaica shirt. I had to do a double take because the guy didn’t have a Jamaican accent! Re-frame the mind, Eve!
7. Public Restrooms. A few things: there is toilet paper in all the restrooms (soooo nice), the restrooms are so clean, and we have to change our thinking and doing with the whole ‘If it’s yellow, let it mellow’ saying.
8. God’s Provision. We were so overwhelmed when we arrived at the house we are staying at. It is more than we ever thought or imagined God would provide us with! And it was stocked with the basic necessities and pantry items, AND gift cards to different stores and restaurants. I cried (surprise, surprise), and I think we were just pretty speechless by the blessings. There were oranges in the fridge… oranges here are SO orange!!! Crazy-go-nuts.
9. Carpet. What?! My kids can wrestle and tumble and whatnot and have a soft place to land? So nice. The kids think so too. 🙂 To go along with the carpet, a vacuum. The kids don’t remember seeing one before. Micah’s still scared of it, but Maya has fun cleaning with it now (score! 🙂 ).
10. Eggs and Stove. The shells of the eggs are white…. like bleach white! (The chickens we have in JA lay brown eggs). The first couple times I used the stove, I was searching for the matches to light it. Yep, it’s an electric stove. Whoops.
11. Sweet Tea. Any time we talk about sweet tea, Micah thinks we are saying ‘sweetie’ which is the name for candy in Patois. He cannot be convinced otherwise.
12. COLD. When we first got here, the weather was rainy and COLD! (I thought so anyways.) And then the AC! Whew! So I turned off the AC and kept the windows open until I was told our AC is for the other family’s bedrooms. Whoops! So it’s on, but all the vents are closed. I can’t stand how cold it is! I’m gonna be in for a hard time when we come back and it reaches to fall and winter.
13. Cooking. Cooking’s probably been the hardest thing for me, Eve, to get used to. Beef is expensive and we rarely get it in JA. So I have adapted to cooking with a lot of chicken. But now, we have a whole heap of beef and hamburger in the freezer. What in the world am I supposed to do with it all?! I don’t have any of my recipes that I would have used before we moved to JA. Slowly but surely I’m coming around. It’s been really nice to have people invite us over for so many suppers to help with that transition!
14. Driving. Just had to keep saying to myself, ‘Stay right! Stay right!’ Coming out of parking lots is the hardest to remember which side to be on.
15. Parks and Playgrounds. It’s like a bit of kiddie heaven to be able to go to the parks and playgrounds around here. Really. Maya and Micah beg to go back to the parks and playgrounds because they are so nice!

All in all, the transition hasn’t been all that bad. It helps knowing that we will be going back to Jamaica, though. Isn’t it funny that Jamaica feels the most familiar and comfortable right now? We have made it through Micah begging to go back home, some meltdowns with all the new culture (Rodney…. just kidding. 🙂 ), a MRSA scare with Micah, fever, cold, and pink eye with Maya, having a baby, and having so many new friends to play with and places to play at! We have been so blessed and have really enjoyed time to spend with friends and family! We are looking forward to more family time as we start to travel mid-July. Good thing we’ve got the driving thing down before we start that journey! 😉

Wagon Ride Fun.

Some Crazy Changes Coming

So. It’s probably going to be a pretty long blog, explaining what has been happening and the changes that have come about the last few days, so be ye warned! 🙂

A while ago, we had had a scare about the amount of time it would take to be able to get a passport for this baby to be able to leave the island and go home. We were finding it would be 3+ months. We contacted the US Embassy, asking questions and were told we can get a passport in 8 days once we apply for what’s called the Consular Report of Birth (CRB). (That is how you get a US Birth Certificate when you are born as a US Citizen overseas). So that made us feel better and the plan up until today was to have the baby in Jamaica. We were going to travel to Kingston June 10 and stay until the baby was born. A few days after him being born, we would go and apply for the CRB and then within 1 1/2 weeks, get the passport and voila! Be on our way back to the States for our much anticipated 2 month visit. My family had been planning from last year a reunion in MI the week of July 14, which we feel is very important to be at. Especially since we haven’t seen some of my family for 2 years.

Anyways, as I was reading more through the CRB application, I wanted to double check on some things. Before it listed the items needed for the application, it stated that if you don’t have some things, it is likely that it will be alright and there can be other things used in place of it. I was thinking the paper that the hospital will give us to go and register our baby for the Jamaican birth certificate will be fine in place of the birth certificate, but wanted to double check. So I emailed the US Embassy again (two weeks ago). Nope. No go there. They need the FINAL Jamaican birth certificate. So we asked around and got information (two Mondays ago) about how long it would take to get a Jamaican birth certificate. The answer we got was a minimum of 7 business days. So that’s another week and a half….. minimum. And really, this is Jamaica. We have seen that things don’t always happen when they are said to happen. We’ve also seen that with the US Embassy down here.

So. We were really struggling with the timing of it. We felt such peace about having the baby down here and the Drs and everything, but did not feel comfortable or at peace with the huge uncertainty of how long we would have to be here after the baby’s born until we could get a passport for him to travel with. (The US Embassy before had said it would be illegal for the baby to use a Jamaican passport because he would be a US citizen. Sigh.) So we felt like we needed to look at options again and other possibilities. We talked with Galen and Gloria that Monday night, asking if going home was a possibility. We really were feeling torn with what to do because we felt such peace about having the baby here. We’ve been praying for wisdom, discernment, and God’s leading and guiding especially for this situation, for a looooong time, but weren’t feeling like we were on the same page or really could discern His will for this situation. When Galen and Gloria called back Thursday night and told us that returning to the States to have the baby was an option, I think Rodney and I both felt God’s leading at the same time. After continuing to pray about it, talking to Precious Kennedy, the headmistress of the school, and talking to our parents, (and did I mention praying about it?!?! A lot?!?!), we both felt like going back to the States was the best option and what God was leading us toward.

Things that have happened that confirmed that for us:
1. When we went to go register at the hospital in Kingston on April 25, we had the money for the down payment. We could not do it because we had to pay the Dr. first and then get a letter from the Dr. and then go register at the hospital and make the down payment. Therefore, we have no money paid to anyone down here that we would have to try to get back (which was different from what we had been told earlier.)
2. We had called the place we were going to stay while in Kingston to reserve rooms.  The woman Rodney talked to said she would call right back after checking (which in the past has always happened the same day). She has yet to call back and it’s been over a week later. Very strange.
3. EVERYONE we have talked to, including Jamaicans, has been very concerned about it only being a minimum of 3 weeks. It could well be that we wouldn’t get back stateside until the end of July or later.
4. VMM has graciously said that we would have 4 weeks of family time on top of the 8 weeks of home leave.
5. Maranatha School for the Deaf has been planning on having the final exams weeks early, which they say is not normal. So I was planning to be done with reviewing and having the test given about the time we are leaving anyway. Praise the Lord!

So! That’s what’s been going on! We are planning on leaving May 30 and then returning back here  August 29. We will stay in VA until after the baby is born and plan on heading up to northern MI for the week of July 14 for 2 weeks and then head straight down to southern IN for the next 2 weeks and then end back in VA for the last 4 weeks! On our way out of the country, we will be stopping in Sarasota, FL August 26 to 29 to meet with some of our supporters down there. We had a special request from some supporters to come and visit and get some updates in person. Then we’ll be back to Jamaica in time for school to start on Sept. 2!

My pregnancy has been going very well. I haven’t had any problems with blood pressure and my ankles haven’t even started swelling! I’ve been so thankful for that! So we are praying that will continue and there won’t be any issues with my flying back home at 8 months. The Dr has said she sees no problem with it. Praise the Lord!

We would ask for prayers for us as we start to try and get everything done and in order to leave in 3 weeks. We would ask for prayers for strength, wisdom and discernment, efficiency, our visa extension to go through and happen this month, a place to stay once we are back in VA, and my pregnancy to continue without problems. Thanks again for all your prayers!

Dumb Pig

I was pretty excited today when Rodney, Monica Bauman (who is here for the final steps of getting the boys to the States…. another blog on that later), and the boys went to Junction, and I got my kiddos down for a nap. BOTH of them! Wooo hooo! Some rest time for me and maybe I would even start to make a much needed maternity skirt! Peace and quiet. What a blessing. But as I sat down on my comfortable couch, I heard all three dogs barking madly. ‘What in the world?! Who is out there!?’ I thought. So I peek out the window and low and behold, the pig had gotten out and was traipsing around the school grounds. My heart fell as I thought, ‘How in the WORLD am I gonna get a pig back in it’s pen by myself, six months pregnant, and while it’s raining?!?!?!?’ Then I saw our dear Omar Reid running after it. ‘Praise the Lord! I have some help!’ So I slipped my slippers (flip flops) on, Rodney’s jacket, and headed outside. I had tried to no avail to call Rodney. Alright. Here we go!!!

We ran up and down the hill side, slipping and sliding in the wet grass, on the wet rocks, trying to herd the pig into the pen… or even somewhere CLOSE! Omar would get a feed bucket and bang on it while I trailed behind with a stick. The pig liked that for a while, until it was close, and then it would run off in the bush. Oh my word. I just kept praying that God would keep His angels to protect me from falling! At one point, I was slipping WAY too much to wear my slippers so I took them off and ran around barefoot. After mashing my feet upon the rocks, running up and down, I couldn’t take it anymore and had to put the slippers back on. Luckily, Brandon, a community boy, was walking home from school through the grounds and grabbed a stick to help. Let me tell you, it’s SO much easier to herd a pig with three than with two. Rodney finally called back. I told him what was happening so he hurried home (as much as one can hurry on these Jamaican roads). I ran home to change into shoes and socks so I would be less likely to fall.

We continued to herd the pig and kept it to one place when we heard Rodney pull up in the bus, 10-15 minutes later. Praise the Lord! It took Rodney, Omar, and Brandon about 5 minutes to finally hold onto the pig and shove it into the pen. Mon! Rodney said his hands were hurting after just that little bit. I thought, ‘Lucky he did that because I would not have.’ After about 30 minutes of chasing this pig all around, I’m worn out and my feet hurt. But I tell you! What an adventure! I’m thanking God that I didn’t slip and fall on the rocks. It could have been very bad!

I made Rodney take some pics of the original herding duo (Omar Reid and me) after everything was all said and done. 🙂

Stick, carrot, feed bucket, and baby belly. All along for the ride of herding a pig over a loose, rocky hillside.

Dumb pig anyways! It was so tired afterwards it just laid there. Dumb pig.

The Paint Quartet

As we were in the midst of having a team of four men here from Virginia to help finish the big dorm, I had this thought, “Hey! Why haven’t I posted more of what teams do down here?!” Aie yie yie. Maybe that’s an obvious thought for a post…. it’s really too bad I’ve just now had it! So! Here it is!

Rodney had to build five concrete posts in the big dorm to make it so the roofs weren’t sagging and then, Mike, a man from our community came and rendered them. While Mike was rendering, they found that part of the ceiling was starting to fall off and it ended up in a gaping hole so that had to be filled in and fixed as well.

One of the columns, built and rendered.

4 foot (or so) hole in the roof.

Then the team arrived! Yay! Four dear friends from our home church in Virginia. It was wonderful to see them piling out of our bus when they arrived! It was Larry’s birthday, so we had a few surprises for him, including cake and a birthday sign. Homemade ice cream had to wait until the next night because it was too late and they were WIPED OUT from being awake by 2 that morning.

Compliments of Hotel Knepp

Jamaican tradition of birthday flouring! (Happy he was still smiling after that and a long day of traveling!)

Linwood tucked in and ready to sleep at Hotel Knepp

After the initial welcome, they all got down to business. After getting a paint sprayer working (it took a while…. I mean, how could it not?! It’s Jamaica!!), they headed down and started painting the ceilings white and the walls yellow. They were fast workers and had the whole first floor done the first day!

Larry painting

Omar running the sprayer

Linwood working the trim

Glen and Darren also worked on some electrical stuff. (Leave it to me to give you those kind of details…. 🙂 )

Glen doing something electrical…

Darren painting… no pictures of him helping with electrical whatever.

After the first two days of working, Linwood lead a football (soccer) camp for the teams in our community. From what I heard, it was a success!

Linwood in the blue and white… and the only whitie 🙂 leading the football (soccer) camp

Maya and Micah took part too… in their own way.

Darren, on the other hand, lead a wrestling session that the younger community boys thoroughly enjoyed.

Throughout the week, occasionally, Micah would head down to ‘help’ out. We started potty training the day the team arrived, so we were at the house for most of the time. Once he got the hang of it, though, I would let him out and about and he was SO happy!

Heading down to ‘help’ Papa and the team in his birthday boots!

I should also mention Clarke. He provided us with homegrown, fresh, roasted, and ground coffee every morning (for those who drink coffee. The others of us drank Eve’s homemade hot chocolate).

Clarke 🙂 A founding father of the deaf church and school in our community.

In the evenings, we enjoyed hanging out, playing with the kids, eating, enjoying catching up and conversation.

Glen ‘doing’ Maya’s hair.

Reading with Darren

On the phones….

On Saturday, Rodney enjoyed having the help of four extra people for butchering chickens. We were glad they’re all good sports! 🙂

From left to right: Rodney, Linwood, Omar, Darren

Showing off his skills…. whatever those may be….

The plan for Saturday afternoon was to head to the beach but it turned out to be a cold (by Jamaican standards), rainy day. So people enjoyed catching up on sleep, finding a lumber yard, and I did housework. Lucky me! 🙂 Later that night we did go to Jack Sprats to have some Jamaican style pizza, conch soup, and festivals.

Um Yum, you like ’em!

There was even a large bonfire and DJ that the kids were able to enjoy a dance party with.

Sunday brought about church and then we headed to the beach. Darren was yearning to try out his snorkeling gear. Even though the sun hid behind the clouds most of the time, I think I can say everyone enjoyed themselves.

Rodney playing with Devor

There was more work to be done Monday, with painting the floors of the dorm and touching up everything else.

Bonding in close quarters

Tuesday brought about a trip to YS Falls which I was told everyone really enjoyed. Micah and I stayed home because he was sick with fever, runny belly (Patois for diarrhea), and no appetite.

Ahhh, ahhh, ahhhhhh… (think Tarzan call). Enjoying the rope swing at YS Falls.

The guys and Maya came home to our friend, Toots, making stewed pork and callalloo. While we were eating though, they were able to experience an ant invasion. At first it started out as a few stomps to kill ants (huge ants), then progressed to Glen stomp dancing to try and kill them all, which then moved to Glen and Darren stomp dancing together in an attempt to quell the hoards that were coming through the door, and the night finally ended with gasoline and fire… trailing the ants to their nest. Maya and Micah were the stomp crew to get any runaways, and Linwood was clean up crew. Needless to say, there weren’t any ants in the house the next day! 🙂

A new version of Stomp…

Runaway Ant Crew

Looking for more ant trails while Glen recovers from a bite. Watch out! They bite hard!

What is it about gas and fire that guys love?!

Good times were had by all. We weren’t looking forward to saying goodbye, but if it meant that they could be here in the first place,  we were happy we had the opportunity!

You can tell the type of group from the ears…

All complete! They did an awesome job, right?!

We are so thankful for this group of men. We are thankful for the sacrifices they and their families made so they could come down and help Rodney out with this massive project. We are thankful for their friendships, their encouragement, their support and love for us! Thank you guys!

Larry, Glen, Linwood, Darren

Painting Fingers and Toes

I am not one to paint my fingernails… EVER. And my toe nails? Well, that’s just rarely. But since Maya received a package with fingernail polish in it, she has LOVED getting her fingers and toes painted. At first she would take it off as soon as she put it on, but it’s starting to be where she’ll let it on for a few days before it came off. Rodney used to tell her, ‘No! You have too keep it on if you put it on!’ but I told him it’s fine. Let her take it off. It doesn’t bother me any! 🙂 It’s interesting to me, though, how she loves doing this. I don’t remember ever being so enthralled with polish. Maybe I was… I’ll have to ask my mom. I’ve found, though, that even if I don’t like the fingernail polish on my fingers, I really enjoy the time together that it takes to do it. I enjoy the conversation and the play; I enjoy watching her fine motor skills get better; I enjoy hearing her reasoning and what 3 year old life is like for her, and I’m praying that during these times, she is learning from me as well.

Today we had a painting toes and fingers session. I let her paint all my fingers and all my toes… which is always a risk if you want it to look perfect. I don’t really care. 🙂 At least not right now. If I need to go somewhere where it needs to look better, I can fix it up (and take it off). Anyway, she made the comment after one hand was painted, “There! Now you’re pretty, Mama!” Now maybe I over reacted but I decided that I was gonna talk to her about what ‘pretty’ is. So we talked. I told her that God made us beautiful from when we were born and we didn’t have on any fingernail polish, any makeup, or even any clothes! And we were still beautiful! So we don’t need makeup, polish, and nice clothes to make us beautiful and pretty. God already made us that. And what REALLY makes us pretty and beautiful doesn’t have anything to do with how we look like, but how we act and treat people. God tells us that beautiful girls/women are ones who love others, treat others kindly, and love God. That is how we are beautiful. She said,’ Yeah Mama. I was NAKED when I was born and I am still pretty. 🙂 (giggles ensuing) And God says to be nice to everyone.” Yep Baby. Pretty much! I told her, now maybe polish makes our fingers look nice, but it doesn’t make us pretty or beautiful! So maybe it’s too much for a 3 year old, but I want her to grow up knowing that this stuff isn’t what makes us pretty and beautiful. Hopefully it will be a lesson I can continue to reinforce throughout her life, and one where she can see it lived out in me. (Until the middle/school teenage years. Then I’m expecting some… ‘Oh Mom! You’re SO behind the times!’ 🙂 ) So until then….

Serving

The other day, we were driving down to the beach with our family (boys included) and a few friends. As we got closer, we passed a German man riding his bicycle, looking very happy and carefree. He is one that lives in Treasure Beach and will often visit the same cove that we go to, so we have heard his story and talked with him many times. So it got me to thinking: how different a life of serving is from a life of only worrying about and taking care of yourself.

You may be thinking at this point, “She’s going to the beach and talking about service not being easy and carefree?! What is going to the beach?!?!?!!?” Well, I will tell you. Going to the beach with the four kids does NOT make it easy and carefree. There is a lot of disciplining happening…. a lot. And that, my friends, is not easy or carefree. Also, going to the beach is a way to retain my sanity and (usually) get away from the constant asking of our time, our things, our food, our whatever. It is necessary… and free. But I digress.

So I was thinking about what life would be like for us down here without serving- if we would have just moved down here for whatever reason we would do that for. It was such a strange thought 1.) because that would mean we wouldn’t be living where we are and interacting with the people that we are, 2.) because that would mean we wouldn’t have people randomly showing up at our house to hang out or use the computer or eat supper or buy eggs or whatever people show up for, and 3.) because that would mean that we wouldn’t be living out God’s calling on our lives. That is something I cannot imagine.

Sometimes serving is not easy. Sometimes is takes us to places that are uncomfortable, humbling, and quite difficult. Sometimes it puts us in relationships that we struggle to know what is the best thing to say or do. Sometimes it is so draining you just want to say, “I’m done!” Sometimes it makes you feel so incapable because you can’t meet all the needs that you see. Sometimes it makes you feel so frustrated because you see so much potential but people refuse to take responsibility, or people say they will do something and then never follow through. Sometimes serving is just plain hard.

And that’s where I am right now. I’m in the middle of where serving is hard. (Were you hoping I would say that I’ve gotten over that? Whoops. This is my reality right now.) Before we left, we were told that we would go through these phases: being in the highs and then the lows, the best of times and the worst of times. We were even told that we could end up in a corner, crying because of all the feelings we were having and such. I have yet to end up in a corner crying (Praise the Lord), but I have definitely experienced those phases, the roller coaster of feelings, the wondering if we are really doing what God wants us to be doing or why the previous couple isn’t still here.

It’s during these times that I’m so thankful for memories: glimpses of how our serving might actually be making a difference, of people serving us back, of God receiving glory and honor, of people connecting with God in ways they haven’t before, of people praying for us and supporting us and blessing us beyond words. I’m also thankful for a God who forgives, who can use us… incredibly flawed and all, and that God gives us these low times for reflection and drawing closer to Him. That’s what it’s been for me. I know that eventually I will start to be in the high phase and everything will feel fine. And I know that these are just feelings that I’m having…. feelings are so fleeting, so unstable, so undependable, so HORMONAL! So again, I thank God for His grace and forgiveness and that He is the opposite of all of those things. I thank God that He is not fleeting, that He will always be there for me, that He is stable, dependable, and not at all hormonal. So God is whom I choose to look to and depend on during these times. He “is my rock, in whom I take refuge. He is my shield, the power that saves me, and my place of safety.” Psalm 18:2

Amen and amen.

Trying to think serene…