Ramblings & revenge...

Dearly beloved, ....vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord. Romans 12:19b...No, this post is not about a great evil done to us and we are waiting for the Lord to exact His justice on the perpetrator. Rather, it is about my husband and the verse I do believe he has claimed as his personal promise from God to him...regarding me. Let me explain. Back in the States, back in the good old days, back when I used to have the freedom to drive anywhere, anytime, my husband used to frequently comment (complain) about my less-than-stellar driving abilities. Now, before you get the wrong idea and think I was a horrid driver, I really wasn't. I would bring up my near perfect driver's record anytime I felt the need to defend myself. And, I usually didn't get the opportunity to display my driving abilities to him unless he got home from work late and there were shoes to be put on on the way or maybe a plate of supper to be eaten. Which, of course, meant we were probably already running late, which, of course, isn't a real good time to display any proper driving techniques. I have to wonder why, after 15 years of marriage, he wouldn't have learned to not try to eat on the way with me driving. If  he didn't get indigestion from the stress of sitting in the passenger seat he sure didn't get much eaten between mutterings such as,

 "You know, tailing the car in front of you isn't gonna make the whole string of traffic go faster". yea, but maybe the car in front of me will get the hint to speed up alittle and move closer to the car in front him and that car will get the hint and, well, you get the picture...or,

 "That was NOT a complete stop at that stop sign!" All but!

 "Did you see that caaaaaar? yes, dear, of course I did, that's why I stepped on it...

 and, my personal favorite...(no, not his, mine:))
  The time he was talking to a customer on his phone and we approached a traffic light. Here again, we differ. My philosophy is to wait to apply the brakes until I deem absolutely necessary, especially if the light has been green for awhile and is in danger of turning yellow on me. Now, less you are picturing me losing my Christian testimony by wildly screeching through a near red light, it's not so. With the valuable seconds I gained prior to braking I now have enough time to slow down and ease my way through the traffic light, Christian testimony still intact. Again, I think he would know this by now. But anyway, this particular time he's busy wheeling and dealing with a customer on the phone and I approached the upcoming traffic light in my customary way. This time he is so horrified he became speechless and instinctively stomped an imaginary brake pedal clear to the floor. (on the passenger's side, that is). Only after his customer said, " Chris, are you there yet? Can you here me yet? Hmmm, did we get cut off?" did he come back to earth and reply, "Uh, yes. Yes, I'm still here"...while shooting me less-than- loving glances. By the way, I DID stop at that red light. I guess from previous episodes he thought I was gonna sail through it. Poor guy, being a trucker, and having had his livelihood depend on his driving makes him an extra cautious driver.
  Anyway, fast forward to this day and age on the little island of Grenada...
 Like I said before I can't drive here so I need to depend on him for most of my transportation needs. That's ok, but let me explain Grenadian driving. In Grenada everyone drives on the left side. That alone is enough to disorient me. But also, the driver and passenger sides are switched, as well as the turn signal and windshield wiper lever. The first time I went away with him, which coincidentally was the first day he was driving, I promptly started to jump into the passenger's side until he reminded me that is actually the driver's side. We headed out through and he put his turn signal on to signify which way we are turning, and the wipers blades start going. Oops. Wrong lever. Truly, the way people drive in Grenada makes my driving look good. Yellow lines are nonexistent and after seeing how they drive I realized they would be a futile waste of paint anyway. They pretty much drive in the middle of the road unless you see another vehicle coming. Around turns, in the middle of the road, no big deal, you just toot your horn to let oncoming traffic know you're headed around the corner. And, it's THEIR fought if you blew your horn and they didn't get over. Around here, it's not impolite to blow your horn, but considered rude and dangerous if you don't. There are also alot of people walking beside or, more likely, on the road. All this to say I was a nervous wreck driving with Chris the first time. Not that he wasn't a good driver but this time it was me saying,

 At a red light that's at the side of a building, not where a light would customarily be located, "Did you see that red light???!!!!" Yes, I remembered it was there from the last time we drove through here.

 "Do you see that lady walking on the road???!!!" as a  truck comes flying from the other direction...no response, but a white knuckled clasp of the steering wheel....

"You do know there's a steep drop off here and no guard rail, right???" as I peer anxiously out my window and directly down the cliff...yea, I know, kinda dangerous, right?

 "Don't you think you should get over alittle more on your side of the road?" as we round a turn...that's why I tooted my horn.." 

 That traffic light's REEEEED!" yea, but we're turning and that little green arrow on the other signal is green..."oh."

And most vehicles down here are European style with the driver on the right side but the mission truck is American style with the driver on the left side. That's all fine and dandy except where does that put me, his passenger? Yup, in the middle of the road with cars whizzing by seemingly inches from my right side. Traumatizing enough to give me gray hair in just one trip...

Or the time we were looking for a parking space...we were thinking about just parking at the side of the road but he decided to drive to the top of the hill to see if there is a better spot at the top. Only after we got the top and turned around and headed back down again did he look at me and say, "You know what? I just drove up that hill on the right side." I guess old habits die hard...especially when he's somewhat distracted. Thankfully nothing was coming the other direction!

 Yes indeed, I now can empathize with him and scary passenger experiences

.

Empathy
Definition	Understanding what others are feeling because you have experienced it yourself or can put yourself in their shoes.

                    Business administrator in training. Dan Burkholder has been great
                 at showing Chris the ropes. He had been filling in till we got here.

                               Cottage meeting one Wednesday evening. There were
                                visitors from Canada here at this time.

                                   Trying to stay one step ahead of those nasty mosquitoes!

                                                 Just a random shot of Carter showing
                                                 off his candy from his dear Grandma

                               Some visitors that stopped by for a drink of water or out
                               of curiosity or something....I don't really remember

                               This was taken about 2 weeks ago but the scars remain:(

 No, he's not a malnourished child trying to scrape the last remains of precious food out of a near empty dish. He had been begging for snow ice, the Grenadian equivalent of a popsicle, since the first day of school. He came home from school and said the students are sucking something sweet out of a bag and he wants some too. He got a piece of finger jello and wrapped it in a plastic baggie and slurped it out. I don't know if he thought anything he puts in a baggie would magically turn sweet or what. I finally got some made and it's a perfect after school snack.

                                    Was glad I had my camera handy for this quick shot.

 The children's new play house/hideout underneath our house. I try not to think of the 2' snake and 3 centipedes Chris killed behind our house. A centipedes sting is worse than a scorpion's...or so I'm told. I don't want to ever find out. And no, the toilet doesn't work:)

                                                   The entrance to their "den"

                   Fresh orange juice coming up...anyone want to try some? 
                 Get away  from  all that  ice and snow and come on down!:)

                                         Loved this sticker on one of the bus's windows

I started this post over a week ago but it remained dormant this long because of more important things like weddings and friends and fun. I will post more on that later.....
.