From frost bite to mosquito bites: 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