Dealing with Disappointment

In the last blog I wrote I mentioned a piece of property we were looking at up on the hill in Sandy Bay with incredible views, natural jungle all around and beautiful trade winds blowing. It was a place that I really could see us living...perhaps for a long time. Well we went to visit them and walked around the property. It was all very exciting until they told us the price they wanted for their land. They were very willing to help us.. even with the financing but it is just too much for us.

I came home feeling discouraged. You know how that is when we want something so bad and then it doesn't work out. It just seemed that all week every place we looked at didn't work out. It was either a great house, but a bad location, or a great location and crappy place or... in the case of the property we wanted...just too expensive!!!

Then I remembered something I read along time ago and I will share it with you. In order to get beyond disappointment you just need to change the 'd' to an 'h'. When you do it changes from disappointment to "His appointment!"

We don't understand the times and ways of God. Some times He doesn't give us what we want because He has something better. Or it isn't the right time.

I finally had to come to the place of saying "Your will be done, not mine" May sound easy but it wasn't. We have always believed that it isn't just the place we live that matters but the people He wants us to live near by that really matters.

I am hoping that sometime soon we will find a place to live. I love living here on the beach (who wouldn't!!)

but the windows only have shutters on them so that means that the dampness gets into everything and we are dealing with some mold issues. That is the main reason we need to find another place. I am allergic to mold! But I have a mild bleach solution and I use that to wipe down the bathroom walls, books, and .. well pretty much everything!!! :-) I am thankful for the winds though because it is less damp when the wind is blowing!!

One of the hard parts about moving though will be leaving Pepsi, the dog who lives next door. He is our miracle dog.

I want a dog so badly and I think Pepsi knows that and he has taken up residence here. He hangs around on our porch and when we walk the beach he never leaves my side. When I kneel down to shell he comes and stands right beside me and noses the shells. In fact today I was taking a picture of a clam shell and Pepsi ran over and grabbed it and then proceeded to open it and eat the clam. Pretty smart island dog eh??!

See.. he has finished his clam appetizer and is now licking the "plate" clean. I have also seen him go in the water and actually dig for clams. Pretty funny to watch. And he smells the crabs that are buried in the sand and he digs and digs and digs til he finds one. He doesn't eat them though.. just likes the challenge of digging them up!

We are in the thick of the rainy season these days. In fact the people of the island are saying this is the worst rainy season in about 7 years! It is hard to explain. It isn't like a hurricane but it is a nor'easter wind that blows, creates huge waves, and strong winds.


One good thing is that the reef stops the waves from crashing against the shore and causing flooding. This photo is of the dock which is about 200 feet from the shore and then the reef is about 100 feet beyond that.


It has rained alot though! More then usual. But usually there are breaks in the rain and during that time we go out on the beach (wind means no mosquitoes!!), for a walk through town or go to West Bay to buy veggies from a guy who sells them from the back of his truck. His veggies are the freshiest on the island!!

Here is a picture of a young boy enjoying the waves at West End beach. See how dirty the water is! That is basically all the sand and sea weed being churned up!



The wind sometimes causes the power lines to go down and during the time where we don't have power we play cards by candlelight or read. Our freezer is getting lots of ice due to the outages and it defrosts and then the power goes on and it builds up. Here is a picture of Bob with about as much ice as he can handle!! We won't miss the snow this year I have to admit!


Another good thing about this season is that the winds are churning up the shells and we are finding alot of great shells on the beach. I found a true tulip the other day and for those who know anything about shelling that is quite rare. It is a dark brown shell..whereas most tulips are a light brown/orangey color. Bob has been finding cowrie shells and some beautiful murex too.
He went snorkeling the other day and brought home some beautiful shells. I will get some pictures of them later. They are soaking in bleach at the moment.

We often wake up around 6:00 and head out on the beach looking for shells. It is great because the winds means no mosquitos so it is wonderful to be outside and not be bothered by bugs. Truth be told I think the bugs are getting used to us!! They don't bother us much anything. Guess we aren't 'white meat' anymore! They say that happens on the island... the bugs really like tourists and fresh white meat. I think that basically we get a build up of deet, sweat and oil and they want nothing to do with us!!!

About the rain: it is a warm rain so we don't mind getting wet . We usually stay out until it starts to rain torrentially. It was funny today while we were on the beach it started to rain and one of our neighbors had a little grass hut so we went under there for refuge. Pepsi, the dog followed us (of course) and then suddenly he jumped up on the table under there and started to drink from the little pools of water on the table. Island dogs are really quite resourceful.

Someone asked me what is the typical island food to eat. People eat alot of beans and rice. Fresh fish. Shrimp. YUM! We buy fresh shrimp from a guy named Leo who has a cooler on the street and sells it cheap (about 4.00 a pound) and it is delicious!! I am sure it is caught that day! I love it! Most of the local food would be considered mexican. But you can buy anything in the grocery stores as they are quite american now. But like anything you will have to pay for it. Bob and I eat alot of chicken, shrimp, salad, rice and fruit. I made curried chicken last night and it was sooo delicious!! We are enjoying tangerines, grapefruit, limes, and bananas. They have this really cool fruit here called an apple banana. It looks like a banana but it tastes just like an apple. I kid you not!! They are delicious!!! You can't buy them in the market but just get it from the locals. Fortunately I know a lady who grows it on her land and she doesn't like them. I guess she ate them too much as a kid and is sick of them!! Hooray for us!! :-)

I am surprised that the cruise ships are still coming to Roatan in the rainy season, but they usually dock here a couple of days a week. It is good for the islanders who do tours, or who have shops in Coxen Hole as it is their main source of income. We went in to town last week and were shocked at the traffic. Then we both looked at each other and said, Oh no a cruise ship!! That means traffic, but instead of stressing about it I decided to walk through town. It was a good opportunity to get some photos of the shops and the people.
That is our silver Nissan in the picture. It is so wonderful to have a car to explore the island.




I want to write a bit about the different types of people on the island. Roatan used to be a british island so the local islanders are black people who used to be the servants of the british. They are the ones who speak English. It is incredible when you hear two islanders talking to each other though because it sounds like English but they shorten the words and speak so fast that I can barely understand them. It is the same as trying to figure out what two Newfoundlanders are saying!!! :-)


The other people group here are the people who are from Honduras who have chosen to come here looking for a better, quieter life. They are brown skinned and speak Spanish. For along time I thought that this was a spanish country but it is actually english with just ALOT of spanish people living here.

In the photo below you will see the blacks and the browns all mixed together. Both are beautiful!!


Well I hear Bob watching West Wing (dvd) so I am going to go join him. We often spend our evenings on the computer, playing games or watching a dvd. We rarely go out in the evenings. There isn't much to do except go to pubs (which we don't want to do). Plus the roads here are really slippery when it rains (due to all the gas and oil that has been spilt on the roads) so it is safer to stay home then to drive at night.

Take care. If there is something in particular you want to know about island life then don't hesitate to ask me and I will write about it. Life on the island is becoming normal for us which means I will probably write less often so just let me know if there is anything in particular you'd like to know about. Otherwise I will probably post pictures here.. I do take lots of those! :-)

God bless and keep you all.
Goodnight from the isle in the sea.