Weekly Update: block week, craziness!

"Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass.
It's about learning to dance in the rain."

Life has been crazy! Stressful! Island life is challenging you would think living in the Caribbean would be " the life", not quite, I have to say it's been the most challenging adventure I've been on so far. I've done things here I never knew I could or wouldn't do back home. But I know all of the things we are experiencing here are making us stronger and I've grown from these trails thats for sure.

Let me fill you in about our long week.
Here on the island you have to get a new license plate each year rather then a sticker like we do back home. Here they call is car tax. One car costs $162.50 US per year. Any thing on the island is so unorganized even in the government building. We have spent over 8 hours trying to get our plate, so we don't get a fine for not having the 2014 plate. Who has 8 hours to wait in line. I don't work and I still don't have time with 2 kids. Plus Josh has class or needs to study. Dealing with locals always makes for a not so good experience... but we got our plate all is good....

....Well not quite. The morning I go to pick the plate up. Our brakes on our car don't work, or very very little. Something else to fix. Off to the garage to find out, we need new brake boosters, not a cheap fix for students. No garage on the island has them so they have to be order in. Making us car-less for 8 days. Which wouldn't be a big deal other then I was planning on getting groceries the day we found out we had no brakes. So no brakes = no car and no food in our house. Our only form on transportation was by foot with 2 kids. So I loaded the kids in the Chariot (stroller) and walk to the grocery store to grab some food. We actually needed quite a few things from the store this week but that didn't happen. Walking to the store in +35'C heat while the sun is beating down on you is hot and not much fun. This was also Josh's block week (block exams are like midterms, if your wondering) meaning the week before exams. So its a week of studying hard for Josh and never seeing him. So Josh couldn't help us out at all, I know he would of if he could. The kids always miss Josh on exam week... Lincoln's first words he says in the morning is " I just want daddy", but Josh is usually gone early on exam week. Lots of tears as the kids just want their dad.

Then I get asked to give a talk in church the upcoming Sunday. I was asked to speak on the Primary theme for the year which is "Families are forever". So I had to prepare a 10 minute talk. I hate giving talks, it's just not something I like doing. This talk was my 3rd talk in 6 months, so it really just felt like I gave one, which I pretty much did. Oh and did I mention that our home computer is giving us issues lately. So I had to prepare my talk on the iPad which is a bit more challenging then I thought it would be... In the end I'm glad I got the opportunity to give this talk and it made me realize how much more important our families are.


So we stayed home for the week other then our grocery trips by foot. It's a plus having a common pool in our gated complex. The beach is a 5 min drive so it is doable on foot, but why when you have a pool  right where you live so you can cool off from the heat. We tried to make of the best of our week. But I was just having a down week.

We did get to go to one of Lincoln's friends, Quinn's 3rd Birthday Party this week. Good thing we have great friends that gave us a ride so we were still able to join in on the fun. It was a Ninja Turtle theme party. Since the party Lincoln had been abscessed with Ninja Turtles. Josh even downloaded him the cartoons of Ninja Turles.

We did letter E this week. Lincoln loves learning his letters, he calls it school time. We also review the letters we have done in the previous week. So he knows A, B, C, D, and E now. He can recognize each letter and know the sounds they make... It's fun when we are out and about, he recognizes letters all around him that he never knew were there before. He loves pointing them out on license plates and store signs. Lincoln also loves watching the show " Letter Factory," to help him remember his letters.

Lacey is getting to big to fast. She's not so much of a baby any more. She loves playing games on the iPad and now knows how to use the iPad all on her own.

Lacey loves water. She gets mad when I'm doing dishes after supper and I will not let her in the sink till I'm done. I know she would climb in the sink with all the dirty dishes if I let her.

Lacey loves doing crafts with us, here she is painting a wooden plane we put together, then painted. She gets just a little excited and is so proud of her self when she is included in craft time.

These are plantain chips that we get at the chinese store, our corner store down the street from our house. The locals make then and they are so good. They aren't as sweet a banana chips.

These next few pictures are of plants/ trees/ flowers we have found around the island.

Here's a funky tree I found. I have no clue what it is. These spicky ball things are the fruit I'm assuming and.....

... this is what the trunk looks like.

Palm tree, I never realized how many different palm trees there are here. I just don't understand why all palm trees don't produce coconuts.

Here's another palm tree.

There are so many neat looking flowers here.

Here's a another neat looking tree we found one day on our morning walk.

I've been meaning to put this picture up for a while and keep forgetting to. This is our back fence in our yard. The top of it has smashed beer bottles in the cement at the top. Not something you would see back home.

Our week wasn't all that bad, if I over looked all the challenging things, it was a simple week that I got to spend with my 2 kids that I love with all my heart.

I love this quote I found.

"Don't be gloomy. Do not dwell on unkind things. Stop seeking out the storms and enjoy more fully the sunlight. Even if you are not happy, put a smile on your face. 'Accentuate the positive.' Look a little deeper for the good. Go forward in life with a twinkle in your eye and smile on your face, with great and strong purpose in heart. Love life."- Gordon B Hinckley

I do love my life and all I am blessed with! I have so much things to be grateful for.

_______________________________________________

I've had a few people ask me now about groceries/ food here on St Maarten.

Q:"Have you found that you guys have really had to change what you eat because of price and what's available?"

A: Ya and no. I hate cooking here cause its so hot.  So we do simple meals, lots of wraps and BBQing. It hard some times when I want to buy something, for example fresh strawberries but they don’t come in on every shipment each week. Not sure why,  but this is normal, its been 2 weeks before or more. So you can buy frozen as an other opinion.... But most things you can buy here. Prices vary, but usually things are a few dollars more... Food shopping is just a challenge here.

Here's a picture I found from Statia of the wives of the med students and their children. We got together every so often. In this picture we had a lunch get together at Ruth's house. Ruth's husband is was a prof of the University.