Visiting & Visitors...

 Last week I decided to visit Miss *Susan, a dear lady that attends our church. I had met her twice before, the first time at church and then again after she was admitted to the hospital for a blood clot in her leg. After I heard she was discharged from the hospital but needs to take it easy for a few weeks I thought this would be a good time to visit her at her house. I was never there before but after asking around I got a general idea of where she lives. It was quite the walk...about a mile uphill. I was stopped on the way up by a young fellow asking why we wear "the black thing on our head", dresses and what the Mennonites believe and how our beliefs compare to Pentecostal, Jehovah Witness's, Catholic and Rasta. After explaining things to the best of my ability I continued my upward climb. Up and up and up...until I got to the point where the main road makes a sharp left. This was the place where I was told it is soon after that turn and I should, "just ask someone, they'll tell you." I saw a few people milling around and called out, "G' mornin'! Do you know where Miss Susan lives?" "Yes! Yes!" They all tried to tell me at once where she lives but one man's directions seemed the easiest to follow so I decided to listen to him. "Go past the yellow house on the left and the next house is hers. The green and white one. On the left." Sounded easy enough so I headed on up past the yellow house on the left and, sure enough, there's the green and white one. "Hello! G' morning!" I called out after seeing her sitting out on the front porch shelling pigeon peas. I headed up her steps and opened the gate and left myself in. After she declined my offer to help with peas I settled comfortably on the veranda wall resting my tired back against the post with my aching legs stretched out in front of me. It was a beautiful view from her veranda and I made myself right at home. "So, how are you feeling by now? How's your leg?" I asked, noticing she still was using a walking stick. "Oh, pretty good, but after that fall 2 weeks ago it's been acting up again," she said as she gingerly rubbed the offending knee. "So when did you come home from the hospital?" I asked. "Oh my, let me think", she replied, " I don't exactly remember! The older you get the harder it is to remember things!" I didn't tell her but I did notice she aged considerably since her hospital stay. Instead I assured her even at my age we forget things! We chatted comfortably about the beautiful view from her veranda, family, weather, recipes and faith. She talked and talked and talked. I listened and through the course of conversation she revealed to me she is 88. I about fell off my wall to the concrete drive a good 15' below. There are numerous people on this island that have shocked me with their ages but this one topped all. The first time I saw Miss Susan I would have guessed her to be in her 70's, at the most. Must be the tropical weather, I concluded. She had a bandana covering all her hair this time but I did see a few stray gray hairs escaping. After chatting a good half hour I decided it's time to head south. I gave her a good-bye hug and she clutched my hand tightly and said, "It was so good visiting with you! My name's Josephine. What's yours?" It's a good thing I wasn't sitting on the wall at this point or I would still be laying on the driveway below. I tried to hide my surprise and said, "Yes, it was good visiting with you too!" I didn't tell her I thought she was someone else. (Here is where I'll insert my feeble excuses for my mistake.)
Excuse #1. I did think something looked different about her but when I visited her in the hospital I thought the same thing, I concluded her medical condition was taking a toll on her.
 Excuse #2. After visiting with the "correct" Miss Susan I found out this lady is her great-aunt so maybe there was some resemblance?
Excuse #3. This lady had a sore leg too...
 Excuse #4. She had a bandana covering all of her hair so I couldn't see her hair color.) And I guess God knew she must have needed a friend that morning that I made the mistake and visited the "wrong" person.
I headed out her drive and, wouldn't you know, a few houses down there was a yellow one and, you guessed it! The next house was a green one....
*Name changed  
 Ok, here's some pictures...some are a few weeks old already...

I almost could forget I'm in Grenada with all these familiar faces. Thanks Angie, for getting married and giving these people a good reason to head south. I know you did it all for me...

                          Lauren & Nick went to school one day with the
                         children which was a real highlight for them!

                         Miss Janisa, all bright & colorful. This day they were celebrating
                         Independence Day. The students all wore colors of the Grenadian flag.

                          Carter loves basketball, or any sport, for that matter. Here he
                          is playing with some of the students and Mr. Coutain and Mr. Moses.

                                                And he even managed to score!

                               This is what Michelle thought of octopus. I don't think
                             her mother will need to put it on her grocery list anytime soon...

                                       Just hanging out

The reason for the (wedding) season. I didn't get lots of pictures
 for some reason. Probably because I hated to make them pose for one more picture....

I was telling someone how the Grenadian children will take as many bags of snack mix and lollipops as they can get from the punch table. No sooner were the words out of my mouth when I turned around and saw my Grenadian American son with snack bags and lollipop papers littered around him. Sigh...had me a large slice of humble pie...

         

                                       Chris was glad for Dwight's help this week.
                                     Here they are making a platform for crusades.

                                   Lauren celebrated her 13th birthday in
                                  Grenada. Kaylah decorated a cake for her

                               We played lots of games this week. Hopefully they
                               didn't cause any permanent marital stress...(Krista?)

                          

                                       

                              Some pics from another week...

 I invited Celina and her brother Keondra inside to bake one Friday afternoon. As a general rule the children are not allowed inside our house without permission. One of the first days I found Celina wondering through our house and, on the advise of others, told her she needs to ask permission before she comes inside. She steps outside the doorway and says, "Ok, may I come in now?" Ummm, not really what I had in mind. While we certainly want our children to interact with the Grenadian children we do want them to have a place to go if they feel the need to "get away." So anyway, I told Celina we will set a date to do some baking together. She was thrilled and Friday couldn't come soon enough for her.

Celina mixing the cookies. I needed to remind her to keep the hand mixer in the bowl after having cookie batter sprayed over my microwave and surrounding areas.

This scene unfortunately is not as peaceful as it looks. I made the grave mistake of telling Kaylah she cook bake on Friday too, thinking, mistakenly, that her and Celina would work together at baking cookies. Instead it was a real power struggle with who gets to do what and this pan is mine and this pan is yours, ect. Sigh!

                          Trying to relight the oven. It goes out about every 10 minutes:(

This picture doesn't look as funny as it really was. Kaylah baked "her pan" of cookies first and offered some to the men. The whole pan disappeared within seconds. Celina got "her pan" out offered some of hers to the men. They looked excited till they saw the underbaked lumps of warm dough. Dan bravely got a glob and ate it, I believe more for Celina's sake than his own:)

 

This game gets played alot

And that's all for now! We are going to a "wake" (funeral) tonight. That will be another new experience. Thank you for all the prayers and support. It means so much!