Of happiness, hospitals and hurriedness...

What brings happiness? Is it being at the perfect place at the perfect time? Is it some state on the globe or a state of mind? Circumstances or attitude? If I can't find happiness here would I find it elsewhere? These questions are rolling through my mind as I struggle to come up with answers for my daughter. Before we moved here she couldn't WAIT to move to Grenada! Surely Grenada would take care of all the perplexities of life. Now that we are here, any issues that come along would surely be non-existent if we still lived in the states. I tell her she needs to learn to be content where she is at. Even Paul said, "I have learned in what ever state I'm in therewith to be content." (Phil 4:11, slightly paraphrased) Ok, so maybe Paul wasn't talking about location here but a state of mind. Therein lies the answer. It is obviously a frame of mind.  Grass is always greener on the other side of the globe. I need to remind myself too, that it is not what area we live in but what attitude I have toward any circumstances God brings into my life.
 Today the children had off of school. I decided this would be a good time to get the focus off of us and on someone else, which usually takes care of the greener grass syndrome. There is a private hospital with in walking distance so we (Kaylah, Christi & I) packed some snacks and books thinking it would be fun to visit some of the patients and read to some of the children. I also had some ulterior motives. I have always enjoyed the hands on care of a being a CNA and was hoping that maybe I could volunteer there sometimes till school is out for the summer. I am so excited!...they said they would be happy for my help and I will start out doing that one day a week. We decided on Wednesdays and she said if that day doesn't work some weeks, just call and say which day would. I will follow the doctor and she will tell me what needs to be done. Some days are really busy there and some days there are not many patients. After I got that arranged we headed up to the second floor to see who we could find to visit with. Amazingly, they had no in-patients at this time. The nurse said that is pretty unusual. There were quite a few outpatients but none that we could really visit with, so there went our grand plan...or plan B...we could bus into Grande Anse to the public hospital. I never bused by myself before but we decided, what the world, lets give it a try! We flagged down the next bus that came along and climbed aboard. Unfortunately, after a mile or so we figured out this bus is taking the long way into Grand Anse...we sailed past our house and Chris was outside working. We tried in vain to get his attention as we sailed passed because I knew it would be quite a bit later till we get home and I had no cell phone to call him and let him know. Even if I could have borrowed someone's phone, I didn't even know his new number. Thankfully another bus was coming down the mountain and our driver was nice enough to let us off his bus and jump on that one. So now we had the second chance to try to catch Chris's attention, but again, he was too engrossed in his work to notice the 3 white heads bobbing up and down in the bus amongst a sea of dark ones. We made it safely to Grande Anse and after a 10 minute walk found the hospital. Unfortunately, children under 12 couldn't visit patients there. Another dead end. Christi thought we really should stay in Grenada till she's 12 so she can visit in that hospital...and Kaylah continued to rub it in to her that in a few months SHE will be 12 and allowed to visit. Sigh. We headed back to the bus station and found a bus that looked almost full. (A tip from Ginger. That way you don't need to sit in a hot bus waiting for it to fill) I looked in one of them and backed away after seeing it was full. In a split second the driver's assistance was there telling us," Yes! yes! there is room!" I looked in again and saw the back seat was full but they could pull 2 side seats down so we decided to board. He motioned for one of us to sit in the back seat with the 3 men that were already sitting there. I assumed he meant Christi since there was only about a 6" space between them. I was trying to get Christi quickly past me in the bus because everyone's waiting to go. "No! No! You! You sit there!," the assistance said urgently. What? That's like trying to fit a square peg in a round hole! I'll never fit! I thought. At this point I was trapped though because Kaylah and Christi had boarded and were behind me. Oh my! With no other options I ungracefully turned my body around in the teeny amount of room I had and began my slow descend onto the seat hoping God would part the men like He did the Red Sea or I would surely end up on one of their legs. By the way, these weren't the cleanest looking men either. They all had that dirty homeless look. My aim was pretty good and I managed to hit the center of the small space and with a little wiggling on everyone's part I managed to secure my tight seat. This "bus" is smaller than a van and we had 23 people crammed in if that tells you anything on how tight it was. We did survive though and managed to make it home in one piece:) If nothing else, we made some memories!

 

The private hospital where I will volunteer 

 

An ambulance parked there

 Some beautiful scenery we saw on our travels

An ambulance at the General Hospital

General Hospital

                                Posted at the General Hospital's front entrance. I think the States
                                                      would do well to post this some places too!

                                                       General Hospital

One of our bus rides..excuse Christi's cheesy grin...she 

thought she's smiling for the camera:)

Ok, so much happiness and hospitals...now for the hurriedness...

 

This is a picture of our post office. You might wonder how this has anything to do on being in a hurry...the story starts the previous day. I had made 3 trips to the post office...each time he was closed. He should have been open but, for whatever reason, he wasn't. The next day I was planning to tackle some mending and sewing. Since I was so wise I brought down my sewing machine as a carry on bag on the airplane. It weighed exactly 22 lbs., exactly what the weight limit is on a carry-on bag. Since I was so unwise, my foot pedal is at home yet, packed in a suitcase awaiting transportation down. So anyway, one of the teacher's said I can borrow hers till my foot pedal makes its way down. So after walking the children to school I went to her house to get it and lugged the heavy thing the almost a mile walk home. I sat down eager to get some sewing done since I promised her I'd have it back for her by 2:30. It didn't take me long to discover it was missing the bobbin. Since I needed that to sew I headed back to her house to retrieve the missing object. On the way, I pass the post office...and, guess what!!! He's open! Not wanting to pass up this golden opportunity I swung in to get the mail. He was with another customer at the moment so I waited about 5 minutes then had the brainy idea to run down and grab the bobbin and pick up the mail on my way back. So I told him I'll be back in a few minutes, I just need to run grab something. He smiled and snickered and said," Yea, you're from the States! Yea, I can tell! Yup! Always in a hurry! Yea, that's how they are from there!" He's a very nice guy and I could tell he felt very proud of himself for correctly analyzing how these Americans operate. I felt somewhat smitten as he quickly dug around to collect our mail so I could be on my merry way. I really wasn't trying to rush him, I was just trying to make good use of my time! 

Anyway, things are different down here. The other day Chris made an appointment at the bank because they needed to add his name to an account. He first went to one bank where they told him he has to make an appointment at another bank and all 3 other men whose name is on the account need to be there too. The next day they all went to the bank where they waited an hour and a half before they were told that the other 3 men didn't need to be there and Chris heard her mutter under her breathe, " And they could have did this at the other bank!" Oh well, Chris didn't mind having the company while they waited:) 

                                Chris made a shelf for our bathroom and a stand for towels.
                                The children had fun helping to paint it.
                                They were pretty proud of their work:)

And, of course, they had to have a crazy picture too!:)

School scramble...

 Well, the first week at a new school is history for the children. I now realize no matter what country we live in or what time they need to leave for school it's always that last minute scramble to get everything together and everyone out the door. Since they used to leave the house at 7:15 and now they don't need to leave till 8:15, I thought school mornings should be a breeze. Not so. They were all a bundle of nerves that first day and along with that comes tense irritable children. I sure hope no one was watching us too closely on our walk to school as they would have wondered what for family moved in! Carter was so not impressed to be forced to take a pink water bottle. He was sure everyone's gonna make fun of him. On the walk to school he said "Even the cars are making fun of me! They're all staring at me!" After we got to school I was talking to a teacher about it and she remarked that around here color is not a big deal. Boy's carry pink back packs all the time. After I told Carter he visibly relaxed and started smiling again. They have about a 10 minute walk to school. So far I've been walking with them to school as the road is busier in the mornings. On my first morning back I swung in at the post office. One of the business administrator's responsibilities is to get all the mail for this location and distribute it. After I came out of the post office I headed up a long steep hill, which is mostly of what Grenada consists of. I'm convinced if I could iron it out it would be 5 times as big. But anyway, back to my big hill...I trudged upward getting hotter by the second. A few men were standing out at a house and I greeted them with the customary Grenadian greeting, "G' morning!" Around here it's not, "Hello", it's either, "G'morning, g'aftanoon or g'night", depending on the time of day. But anyway, back to my big hill...I steadily plodded up it but after surveying the scenery I was convinced I was headed up the wrong hill. There was a pile of junk in one yard that looked very unfamiliar. After a few more unfamiliar sights I headed back down again only to be stopped a few feet later by a some people in a vehicle. "Pray for me! Pray for me!", the guy in the passenger seat yelled. A women, that I assumed to be his mother, yelled out, "Yes! Pray for him! His name is Theda and he has a very evil wife! Yes, a very evil wife!" ( I sorta had a feeling she may have been a jealous mother-in-law) After assuring him I'll pray for him I continued my downward trend. Again, I greeted the men with a "G'mornin!" I was almost back to the post office when I realized that I had indeed not taken the wrong road but in our haste to get to school in the morning I must have missed a large part of the scenery. I don't know if there is anything like direction dyslexia but if it is, I am sure I am afflicted with it. It's not so bad when you can just turn your vehicle around but when you have to manually rewalk your route it is much more annoying. So, with no other options, I turned around and headed up the hill. Again. And this time I pretended I didn't see the men standing in their yard. And vainly hoped they thought it was a different white women trudging up the hill with sweat dripping from her brow...

                                          Of course, we have to get pictures on the first day!

                                                Carter and his despised pink water bottle!

                                                       On and on we walk together....

                                               Meeting their classmates for the first time

                             Having chapel before class. Kaylah's sitting beside her teacher, Mr. Moses

                                           Carter's teacher is in the foreground, Miss Eberly

                            Kaylah's temporary classroom till the school's addition is finished

                              Kaylah is in a class with 5 boys. I would say she is having the
                              hardest time adjusting.  There are not many girls here her age
                                                         and she really misses her friends.
                
                                   Fourth grade is taught by the same teacher and there are
                            a few girls in that class so I'm thankful she at least has them.

     

                      Christi coloring a picture for a resident in the nursing home we sang at

                            Getting ready to leave to sing at a nursing home last Sunday afternoon

 Carter taking a snooze on the way to the nursing home. I can't believe he fell asleep with all the bumps & turns in the road! Mark Brubaker from Canada is beside him. He is here for a few weeks to help out. Chris had served with him in Texas so he was glad to see him again!

                                                 Christi and Celina getting crazy together

    Having worked at a nursing home in the States it is always interesting to me to see other homes.     This one was not quite as modern as the nursing home I worked in but was neat and clean.

                                                        Kaylah and a very sweet girl Nya.

Island romance....

There's nothing like a little time away without children, right? Even if it is simply to go to set up a bank account and get a few groceries. I was actually looking quite forward to it. Believe it or not, our time together without other people around has been scarce. Let the romantic adventure begin! Or so I thought...we were at the bank the previous day with Dan Burkholder and he had tried to help us set up our own account. We signed in at the front desk and were shown upstairs to another desk. After greeting the receptionist she showed us where to sit. We sat there for about 15 minutes before being ushered back to another room where we were told, "Sorry, you need to make an appointment to set up an account. You also need 2 forms of ID, a referral letter from your bank, and a utility bill as proof of address." What could we say...so we set up an appointment for the next day. After a ladies Bible Study in the morning we headed off, this time just Chris and I. Again we signed in at the desk and headed upstairs. Again we greeted the receptionist and she told us where to sit. Again we were ushered back to the cubicle where we would begin the process of opening up a foreign bank account. "Ok, I need 2 forms of ID, please." This time we were prepared! I got out our passports and returned to digging through my purse for the little "thing" I use to hold my license and other important information. I dug...and dug...and slowly the realization dawned on me that the little "thing" I use to keep my license in was safely tucked away in some nook or cranny at home. Chris is busy flinging papers on her desk and the lady is busy tapping away at the computer, ready to get this account set up. "Um, Chris, I don't think I have my license after all." ( At this point I was quite sure I didn't have them, but saying,"I think", seemed like an easier way to break the news to him) He didn't hear me the first time so I repeated myself and all activity stopped. Papers stopped flying, fingers stopped tapping, as all eyes were turned to me. "I,uh, don't have it in my purse after all," I stammered, wishing at this point my purse would open up and swallow me. "Do you have any other form of ID," she asked. I returned to digging through my purse in hopes that maybe some forgotten paper was lurking in the deep murky depths. In sheer desperation I handed her a prayer card in vain hopes that maybe if she could see we are together and I am his wife that would count for something! After studying it and commenting on our family my hopes rose, and then were dashed, "I'm sorry, that won't work," she replied. My husband, ever a step ahead, told her to look through everything else to make sure we have what we need when we return. Turns out the utility bill we had had the owner's name on the bill and we are just renters so that still didn't prove we live where we said we do. Now we need to find the lease agreement yet...and I need to remember my license...for our appointment tomorrow....
 We jumped in the "bus" (more like a van, but they call them a bus down here) to head to our next stop, the grocery store. The missionary ladies don't drive down here so I am almost fully dependent on him for my transportation. I could do public busing but since we were in town anyway it made more sense to stop on our way home. We pulled up to our first red light, at which I screeched out a fearful, "Do you see the red light??" to remind him not to go flying through. This light was mounted on the side of a building and is very easy to miss. He assured me he saw it and in the same second motioned for a man with dreadlocks halfway down his back to jump in. I stifled a horrified gasp as the man headed in our direction. I had precisely the amount of time it took from the time the man left the corner and headed around the front of the bus to jump in, to ask Chris, "What in the world are you doing???"  "Oh, yea, this is just how you do down here," he assured me. I didn't feel very assured and subconsciously tightened my grip on my purse. Another man, seeing the opportunity for a free ride, shouted, "I'm coming too!" So, with 2 strangers in the back of the bus, one leaning halfway over the seat so we could hear him better, we continued our journey. And instead of discussing thoughts, feelings and emotions we talked about tithing, homosexuality and the snare of riches. (Actually he talked a blue streak and we interjected a few words every time he stopped to catch his breath.) We invited him to our church but our church was much too far for him to go. He's an old man," he said...already 49! and it would tire him out way too much to travel that distance, but he's gonna come sometime cause he has a job and wants to tithe 10% because riches are of this world and they don't bring happiness and homosexuality is wrong and he don't know what to believe because Jehovah Witness's say one thing and we say another and he's gonna give us money for gas (he didn't) and Mennonites are good people and money doesn't bring happiness and he used to live in Miami and now he's a janitor at a hotel, and is our religion more like a Rod Stewert religion or a Benny Andersson religion...you know, like, "Money, money, money"...and as we bounced over the hills and around the turns in Grenada he leaned over the seat and crooned in our ears...
Money, money
Must be funny
In the rich man's world
Money, money, money
Always sunny
In the rich man's world
Aha-ahaaa
All the things I could do
If I had a little money
It's a rich man's world....
Ahhh, live entertainment....what could possibly be more romantic...

                                                Big bulging eyes stare at big bulging eyes....

                                              Chris making a shelf for the children's bathroom

 

A quick unexpected down pour.....on our way to a junior youth night, we stopped and found a little shelter under this building but still managed to attend our first event looking like drowned rats

 

Junior youth night...playing games with them

 

Dodge ball

 

  Devotions at junior youth night

 Bumps, bruises & bites....I stopped counting on Carter when I got to 100

Anywhere...

Writer's disclaimer: I will not be posting this much all the time...bear with me till all the newness wears off!:)

  Yesterday was our first church service with LaBorie Mennonite Church. Due to work on the church we are temporarily meeting under a staff member's house. It is build up on concrete pillars, kinda like an open air basement. As we sat there singing the song "Anywhere with Jesus" it held special new meaning to me....

"Anywhere with Jesus I can safely go, anywhere He leads me in this world below...

He safely led us to Grenada and for that we are thankful! Pray for protection for our children as they walk to school. Part of the way is along a busy road and there is not much of a curb.

Anywhere, anywhere! Fear I cannot know...

Of all the many emotions I dealt with I am thankful fear was not one of them...other than fear of the unknown...we feel safe and the people are very friendly! We are enjoying getting to know them.

Anywhere with Jesus is a house of praise...

Warm breezes rustled the pages of my Bible. A rooster crowed in the distance. The smell of a cooking fire wafted in on the breeze. Dogs barked. Lizards chased each other around the concrete pillars of our temporary church. Halfway through the service I realized the brown "lump" at my foot is a dog pile so I carefully nudged it with my foot under the bench in front of me (don't worry, it was pretty dried out)...yes, in some ways it was vastly different than the services we attended last back home but also in many ways it was the same. Different skin tones, but one blood...
Men's Sunday school class sat on the open veranda with men sitting on the porch rail or wherever there was available seating. Very relaxed and informal...

Anywhere with Jesus I can go to sleep, when darkening shadows round about me creep...

The other night Christi came over to our bed twice because of nightmares...she dreamed ants were chasing her and she crawled up on a trash barrel to get away from them and there were two snakes up there. Kaylah is missing her friends and lies awake at night thinking of them. Yes, she is the one that was dancing a jig the first evening we were here, but that is the wildly fluctuating emotions of my pre-teen daughter.:) The other night she dreamed somebody kidnapped me...pray for them that they can get a good nights sleep...

Anywhere with Jesus, over land and sea, telling souls in darkness of salvation free...

Our reason for being here!

                            My fruit loving son thinks an orange tree in the back yard is paradise!

                                        Playing games in our yard                     

                                       Christi crying to Grandma about the ant hill she sat in

Disorientation...

  Warning...if you don't like rambling posts you might want to jump ahead to the pictures. Writing is a way to help me process everything and also a way to remember all my many thoughts and emotions...but if you're still with me, here goes...
   As I sat on the plane so many thoughts went  through my mind. There was a dull ache in my heart as I thought of the dear family & friends we left behind...there was also excitement at the thought of making more new friends and learning a new culture.
   After a half hour drive from the airport we entered what will be our home for the next few years. We were all eager to explore it. Christi entered the kitchen and exclaimed, "Look Mom! A bird in the kitchen!" My mind immediately pictured some cute, bright colored tropical bird flitting daintily around my kitchen but when I rounded the corner I encountered a bat making frantic circles desperately trying to make its escape. Thankfully it soon found a way out! A moment later, Collin went to the sink for a drink and jumps back, "Mom! There's a frog in the sink!" We chased it around the kitchen awhile till it disappeared in some cranny. After squashing a few cockroaches and a few other unidentifiable bugs I remembered I told mom I'd call her to let her know we made it down. As I was talking to her a bug flew in my mouth at precisely the same moment I inhaled so down my throat it went. Through a coughing fit I told mom we safely arrived and we're fine!  Kaylah's dancing around saying, "I'm gonna love Grenada! I just know it!" I told her to keep it up cause right now her mother needs all the encouragement she can get!
   We woke up the next morning and began the tedious task of unpacking and trying to find a home for everything. Let me back up alittle here...we realized we share our home with a mighty army of termites that don't clean up very well after themselves so before we could put our stuff away we had to clean up mounds of what looks like sand, but in reality is termite turds. I briefly contemplated making a pile in the back yard for the children to play in in place of a sandbox. JK:) If there are two words to describe my emotions that day it would be disoriented and overwhelmed. I felt like I had the worse case of ADD ever. I started lunch and got distracted about 5 times till I got it completed. We also had numerous people stopping in which was great but slowed the process down. (back again...Selena, a dear spunky 10 year old girl we are getting to know fast just popped her head in our bedroom window. I came in here for privacy...goodbye privacy!) In the afternoon we went to a soccer (they call it football) game that the teachers get together as a way to reach out to the community children. On the way home Kaylah was extremely glum. After awhile she finally admitted she feels so out of place. I told her to give it some time but I understand the feeling. Everyone knows everyone else and we are the new  pale faced kids on the block. Less I paint an awful gloomy picture let me go to today....which is day 2...
 We are feeling much more settled in. We went to market and for a few groceries. The children were delighted at the powdered milk we purchased. Jk...I mixed some up and had to admit the smell  brought back memories of mixing up milk replacer to feed our calves when we lived on the farm. Maybe once it's good and cold it will taste better....maybe. I was feeling rather domestic this afternoon...made some orange juice with freshly picked oranges and used some of my yummy milk to make baked oatmeal...or tried to make. Chris had to light the gas oven for me cause I have this fear of it exploding in my face and being permanently disfigured. I will learn...just not today. Since I was still dealing with ADD today and had no timer to set, I completely forgot about it. About an hour later I made a horrified dash to the oven expecting to see charred remains. Instead, the oven flame had went out and there sat my pan of baked oatmeal, as cold as when I first put it in. Chris had got called away to something else so I had to wait till he came back to relight it. He showed me how to do it so I don't get in another dilemma like that again.
  The children are having fun getting to know the other neighbor children that come to play. Chris said it's gonna take some getting used to to always have children around. They are not all trust worthy which makes it harder, but we are enjoying getting to know them. Even Kaylah was making some friends and seemed to be in a better frame of mind today.
Tonight is junior youth night...we will play games with them, have devotions & snack...or so I'm told..it will be our first time there.
 Ok, now for some pictures....

 

First a bus, then a plane and now this....(Chris isn't permanently stooped from sitting too long in the plane...I just snapped the picture at the wrong time)

The girl's bedroom. We put a mattress on the floor for Christi because the bed's to small

 Chris cleaning out the millions of termite droppings...

what a delightful way to start our first day in Grenada!:)

I have a feeling the Grenadians are all peeking out their windows wondering 

what for loud monkeys moved in next door......

 

The boys housekeeping skills kicked into high drive (for an hour or so, that is) 

 

I found this on Kaylah's locked bedroom door....I guess I'll believe it...

 

The skeletal remains of the lizard I accidentally drowned with a load of wash in my washing machine

Transition...

Wow! Where to begin? I feel like time is standing still, yet in a sense yesterday seems like a year ago! I'll start with yesterday morning...around 7am our ride came roaring in the lane...thanks to icy roads we were running about 45 minutes late...but we wouldn't have been ready anyway. We thought we had most things packed and ready to go the evening before but somehow there is always lots of small details that needed to be taken care of. It was a strange feeling leaving our house for the last time. Well, hopefully not the last time, but the last time for a long time.

We got to ride in style, thanks to a kind offer from Virgil Nolt to take his bus that was converted into motor home. We were pleasantly surprised to see Joel & Monica Martin were along!

Our farewell committee we met at Dunkin Doughnuts...They had coffee & donuts waiting for us to grab and run since we were running late.

It was so nice the children didn't have to sit the whole way to the airport! We got in traffic and it took us about 4 1/2 hours instead of the 3 we were planning on to get to JFK.

Joel even had time to clean the windows while we were stuck in traffic.:)

We were beyond grateful for the all the help we had carrying all the bags and suitcases into the airport. Thanks again Virgil & Dolores & Joel & Monica!!!:) The only ones that didn't have a weight restriction were the backpacks (personal bags/purses) so we took full advantage of that! Kaylah thought she's gonna croak:)

We didn't have a minute to spare. Till we were checked in they were 10 minutes from beginning to board our plane.

Christi showing off her red mark from her heavy back pack. If they don't have misaligned spines I'll be surprised:)

 

 And here we are safely in Grenada! How ironic the dog in the bush is marking his territory at precisely the same moment I snapped the picture!:) I need to go to bed...I will try to post more soon...