Of Boils, Boas and Baking...

"IF we ever need to get another dog, it will surely be a male and we will not pay a cent for it!!!"
What we declared back in the day and age that Diamond was still with us, has come back to haunt us. A male means no unwanted puppies to deal with, and financially, well, you should be able to get any mutt for free in Grenada. So we were told.
 We hoped we would never have to go on another dog hunt again, but after Diamond was killed, we realized the sooner we get another dog, the sooner the children will get over losing her. So began another puppy search on the island.
 A few leads turned up. And then a few dead ends.
A cute litter seen at the market!! But the fluff balls were $500. Too much dough for a ball of fluff. Some neighbors that have some cute ones!! But only females. Oh no, we're much too wise to get another female!
 Yes, older and wiser. Basically, we want a male. For free. Shouldn't really be that hard.
 But it was. I guess there were more people around that wanted a male puppy. For free.
Then came the day we came across two adorable, little, short legged, long eared puppies! It didn't take us long to find the bleary eyed owners sitting there.
 "Are these your puppies?" we asked. That woke the one guy out of his drunken stupor in a hurry!
 "Yes! Yes! You want?"
Ummm, yea, we want, but now that we are older and wiser, we're gonna play the cool game.
"How much?" I asked. As soon as the words were out of my mouth, I thought, duh! That's not how I was going to start! I was going to ask if we can have one, and not even hint at the thought that we would even consider paying for one! But the words were out and there was no way to retrieve them. I could see his eyes light up at the thought of making a little money. For a mutt!!
 "Well, I have two I NEED to get rid of. I'll sell you both of them for $40."
"Or not!" I thought.
"No, we only want one," I said. There was no way I was gonna feed 2 flea-infested, worm-bellied puppies.
 "Well then, one is $100," he said.
Now I have never obtained a degree in advanced calculus, but I don't think 1 for $100 or 2 for $40 quite makes mathematical sense. If he is so desperate to get rid of both of them, he would surely be willing to give one away or even sell 1 for $40.
"No, we're not paying $100 for one dog," I said.
"Well, that's my price. One for $100 or two for $40."
Back and forth we haggled. I was NOT going to give in. Just then my husband walked up and asked the all important question I had forgot to start with.
"Are they male or female?"
"Both females."
Well, that answered that. No matter how cute they looked, how long their floppy ears were or how adorable their short little legs were, we were NOT in the market for females.
It was then that he informed us that the animal clinic at the university will spade them for free. "Oh yea!" he said. "Spade, wormer and vaccinations. All for free!"
Hmmm, it made sense to us. Students at the university, desperate for animals to practice their medical skills on, willing to spade our dog for free. Well, if that's the case, then, male or female, it really doesn't matter!
But now we're back to the price again. Here we are firm. Already feeling foolish for even thinking about paying for an unwanted mutt, we stick firm to $40 for one or none. Seeing we were set in our price, he finally agreed to one for $40.
We told him we'll be back in a little bit to pick one out. I stopped back later and they informed me which one I should take. I was ready to head out when I was stopped by a question.
"What's that thing you wear on your head?" they wondered.
I explained a little bit on who we are and what we believe and turned to go.
"Wait!" he called. "That means you're a Christian, right?" A light bulb moment for him.
"So, Christians are supposed to help people, right?"
I knew where this conversation was headed, but what could I say?
"So!" he continued, looking at me incredulously, "My friend here needs help to get rid of this other puppy. And you call yourself Christian and you don't even help him by taking the other puppy??"
 "Well, I'll help him by taking one of them," I replied.
That wasn't the answer he wanted to hear and after a few more barbed comments on my incredibly poor Christian testimony I was leaving, I turned to head out.
"Wait! I want to ask you another question!" he sets down his cold bottle of Carib and looks seriously at me. "Your "organization", what's it called again? Yes, Mennonite. Do they have any available widows?"
 As a hint of a smile tugged at my mouth, his steely gaze bore through me. "I'm serious!" he said. "I'm soon heading back to England and I need  a good women to cook and clean for me. Now I would never steal someone's wife, that's why I need a widow. Do you have any? Do you know of any?"
Well, I knew of a few, but I didn't think they'd consent to going across the seas with a stranger. They might like to cook and clean, but not in England.
"No, we don't have any that would be interested in that," I replied.
 "Do you have any names to give me? I need one really bad! Can I come visit your church sometime?"
As I eyed his scraggly grey hair and blood shot eyes, I thought, "Sir, you need so much more than a good woman! First you need to get right with God, find a church (for the right reasons!:)), and then maybe you won't be so desperate for a "widow" to cook and clean for you!"
I didn't say much, just clutched the scared little, flea-infested mutt to my chest and walked away.
The next day at the hospital, I was telling the ladies how we found another puppy. They laughed when I informed them it's another female. They remembered me telling them our next dog will be a male. They laughed even harder when I admitted we paid $40 for it. But after I told them that the seller said the university spades dogs for free, they really laughed.
Yea, we were had. Again.
So. The NEXT time we're are in the market for a dog it will NOT be a female and we will not pay a red cent for one! 
 (At least, I think so)

                                                       Love at first sight! Genuine puppy love!

               This mutt was beyond gross...tons of fleas, scaly patches outside and I am sure a
        host of worms inside. I don't think a dog ever got so much wormer in so short a time!

                             I Spy....something that doesn't belong on my book shelf....

                                                       Yea, she can be quite charming....

 Carter is such a fruit eater! After this hang of bananas was ripe, I told him he can eat as many as he wants. I took back my words after he picked up the whole hang and headed to his room. Not really what I had in mind.

                            I told Kaylah she can bake chocolate chip cookies...for unknown reasons,
                                 she added extra flour and made them into cut out cookies

I never thought I'd be a blogger, but I always thought if I ever would be, my aim would be to depict real life. I read one too many blogs where I could almost get depressed over some people's picture perfect life. Children all neat and clean...houses beautifully decorated and sparkling while mother and daughter have tea parties with (homemade, of course!) intricate pastry's....golden sunshine streaming in the window creating a halo around the little child's golden curls making the scene appear almost magical. Children that are too busy memorizing Bible verses to even think of fighting, but if they ever would, mother would never lose her patience, but point out their error, which they would quickly recognize and repent of. If you've ever felt this way, the above picture is for you. Real life. It should make you feel just pretty good:) (Oh yea, and they fight sometimes too! Gasp!)

 It looks like autumn around here....leaves are falling and the landscape has gone from a lush green to a drab brown. We've had a few rains recently, but not enough to change the parched, brown landscape.

                                 Another beautiful sunset...there is still some color around!

                            Some random pictures taken while driving to pick up people
                                  for crusades...something we did a lot of this past week

 Planting our huge garden...I don't know how I'll ever keep after it! Why, I believe it measures 8' x 10'! Ok, it's microscopic compared to the gardens back home, but around here you make do with what you have...it's a small raised bed that was here when we moved here. We planted beans, corn & watermelon...we'll see whether it produces or not. Surprisingly, the things I get most hungry for are things I never thought were that special back home...things like corn on the cob (be still, my beating heart!), strawberries! blueberries! Corn! (oh, did I say that already?) beans, (yea, green beans, plain old green beans!), peaches...ok, I'll stop now before I start drooling on my key board....

  Crusades...last week was Limes crusades, so that is where you would have found us every evening. They couldn't find a place to have them till the week before, then somehow this abandoned church miraculously showed up. Was so nice and it even had bathrooms! Terry Meyers was our speaker from Indiana and we were so blessed by his simple vivid way of presenting God's truths. Or as one Grenadian lady said..."thanks for the messages! They were short, spicy and sweet..."

                          The "headless" man...children's meeting on faith...just because 
                               you can't see something doesn't mean it's not there!

Bill Coutain needed help for a children's meeting lesson so Collin volunteered...he had a list of instructions he had to read and follow...like finding Sammy Mapson and shaking his hand, finding Pastor Terry and saying, "God bless you,"...this took him pretty far out of  his comfort zone and a few times he was pretty close to tears when he couldn't find the person he needed...he managed to get done though and was rewarded with a bag of candy!:) Lesson Aim...follow God's instructions, the Bible, and you will be rewarded in the end.

Say,"God bless you," to Terry Myers...

                                                   Grilling chicken....mmmm!

                           The 2 oldest Meyers boys helping James make school furniture

The Terry Meyers family

 What's life without a few good jokes??:) This meal was plotted as revenge on the teachers for all their (good-natured) teasing about the many flops I served them. For some reason, every time I had them for a meal, one or two or three and yes, sometimes even four, of the things I made would not turn out right! Knowing this was hard on my pride, they continued to harass me about my failures. So, when my turn rolled around again to have them for supper, I informed them that I am sooo tired of making things that don't get right, therefore, I am keeping this meal very simple. I microwaved hotdogs (the cheap skinny kind) for 10 minutes to give them that wrinkly, blown apart at the ends, look, put a loaf of bread & a bowl of popcorn on the table. How I would have loved to read their thoughts! Of course, they were much too polite to say anything negative about the unappetizing meal!:) After prayer, Ryan bravely starts getting a piece of bread for his hotdog....above pic....below: After I informed them they've been tricked...I had garlic rolls, chicken lasagna & peas waiting in the oven. (I did have this fear my "real" meal would flop & the joke would be on me!)

Ok, in the end the joke WAS on me! I don't know what it was but the rest of the evening I lay on our bed in a cold sweat with the worst stomach cramps I ever had! Christi gave me this lovely get well note.

                                       Birthday party at Amy's house for Felicia & Alanna.
                                          We are going to miss them when they leave!

        Had the privilege of babysitting these cuties one Saturday evening. Sammy & Janna's girls

I got to be a substitute teacher a few times...I always had high respect for teachers but after spending some time in the classroom, my respect rose a few notches higher!

Mother/Daughter Tea...we had so much fun this morning! We each shared a memory of our mother or for some, the mother figure in their lives...Menu was...breakfast pizza, french toast, egg casserole, potato salad, fish, fruit, muffins and coffee cake and, of course, tea!

Boas...The children were excited to inform me that the teachers killed a "serpent" at school. It was hiding in the top post of the swing set, of all things! "No big deal, though. It was "only" 5' long. Just a boa, you know. Oh yea, and the funny thing was, they noticed a big lump in it, so they cut it apart and found a rat inside." Shudder!!!! There are some science experiments that don't come in the form of books! Jim Weaver and Tim Stoltzfus were here for breakfast this morning. Both former missionaries in Grenada. They told the children they shouldn't have killed it because it will eat rats! Hmmm....not sure what I prefer...rats or snakes? Can I pick neither?
 They also informed us of a way you can tell how many years missionaries served on the field. One year...you find ants in your food and you throw it out. Two years, you find ants in your food, you pick them out and eat the food. Three years, you find ants in your food, you just eat everything, ants and all. I was horrified to realize we are a year ahead of schedule...what will I be doing till our third year? Deep frying them and serving them as a side dish?

Boils...Christi is suffering from a painful, infected one. After giving it the biggest, hardiest squeeze that I could, I decided I'm going to research online what to do about them. Yea, all the info said, DON'T squeeze them! I talked to some Grenadian ladies last night to see what their advice would be. "Don't squeeze it!" they said. Oops. They suggested heating a pepper leaf with a candle and putting it on it or smearing butter on the leaf and applying it. Out of curiosity, I'm going to try it. It makes sitting very painful, if not impossible, so she's been dragging her big bed pillow to school to sit on and sitting lopsided elsewhere. What fun to have the week of crusades!

Baking...something I love to do!:) We had been thinking lately...what could we do to get out and meet more people? What could we do to put ourselves more on the "same page" as the Grenadians? After Dan & Amy wondered if we'd have interest in their "baking route" they started a few months ago, we thought that might be an answer to what we were looking for. I don't know where all it will take us yet, but we won't know till we try! Basically, I will bake here and then we will deliver them to several shops that would sell them. They love muffins, which are very easy and quick to make, so that will be the main item. I will probably try some other things till we figure out what goes well and what doesn't.

Blues...Insomnia and paranoia...the few weeks after Jared died were some of the hardest yet. I couldn't even figure out my own thoughts and emotions...all I know is I don't ever want to feel that way again. It was an awful feeling of impending doom. The feeling that something is about to happen, I just don't know what and when. I'd tense when the children left to walk to school, just waiting for the phone to ring, telling me one of them has been hit by a bus. After about 15 minutes, I'd relax again, thinking, ok, I guess they made it there alright. But then the feeling would hit again when it would be time for them to be home. If they would only be a few minutes late, I'd panic, thinking something awful has happened. Every time Chris would leave, I'd almost hate to answer the phone for fear that it would be someone telling me something happened to him. The one time he left to go to Thaddeus and shortly after I heard sirens. Of course, I wondered if it was him, but I really panicked when the phone rang about 10 minutes later. It was Thaddeus wondering where Chris was. I knew he should have easy been there by then so my wild imagination went into overdrive. I picked up the phone to call him, already picturing the worse. When he answered I was so relieved I could hardly talk.
  Every time, we'd drive somewhere I'd tense up with each glare of oncoming headlights, just sure that vehicle is going to veer over to our side and hit us.
 If anyone knows me, they know very well I am usually the last one to worry about something and there are some people that I'm sure think I should worry more:) It's not my nature and I hated feeling this way. I am so thankful to say those feelings have all but disappeared, but I will say, I never want
to take the blessing of health and life for granted again!

Again, I want to say many thanks for all the prayers! We don't know what the future holds but we want to trust in the One who knows!