a whole lot of shaking going on....

Most of you have heard about the earthquake that happened here on the island but I got up early this morning to write about it from our perspective.

Last Thursday our whole island was shaken up and shaken up hard! I had just woken up at around 2:15 am to go to the bathroom and I heard Moto, the dog whining and crying outside the gate. I stood at the window and contemplated going outside to let him inside and than thought well if he got out then he can get in. I crawled back into bed and the moment I laid down, in fact I still had my glasses on, the bed started to shake. At first I thought that I was having a bout of severe vertigo, but it kept shaking, then the power went off, and the whole house started to rock. It was intense. In fact I don't think I have ever been more afraid of anything in my life. Bob instinctly rolled over and covered his arms and hands over my head in case the roof fell in. How sweet is that?? We laid there in each other arms crying out to the only One who could save us! The sound!! My goodness the sound was intense: creaking,cracking and roaring like a train passing through. I kept saying we need to get out, we need to get out. But Bob held me down saying that we needed to stay put til it was over. I just wanted to get outside and NOW! As soon as it was over Matt came running into our room saying, What was that??

None of us had ever experienced an earthquake before but we knew enough to get outside and quick. We found flashlights, which were fortunately handy due to the power outage the last evening, but we were surprised at the amount of broken glass as our place rocked and rolled everything off the shelves and onto the floor. This place we are renting has a lot of beautiful Honduran pottery vases, large turtle shells, heavy wooden carvings, and they all went crashing to the floor off the top shelf in the kitchen. We had to try to make our way through with bare feet in order to get to the door.


Once we were outside, we were greeted by our gardener Raymond who was really upset and jabbering in Spanish. We woke up our neighbors, found out they were all okay, and then stayed outside in case there was another quake. We didn't even think to go to higher ground. We needed to hear if there was any news so we went in the car and listened to the radio and managed to find out that it was a 7.1 earthquake. That was incredible. We found out later that it was 39 miles off shore but the good thing is that since the epicentre was so near us there wasn't a risk of a tsunami.

Here is one of the most remarkable things about that night. The stars!! My word, the stars were outstanding. In fact I have never seen a night sky like that. Mattie pointed out that we could clearly see the milky way. We stood there in awe and gratitude for the Lord preserving us through one of the most remarkable natural phenomenons. We have lived through a hurricane in Nova Scotia, a twister in Saskatchewan, lightning storms in Ontario but I will say that an earthquake is by far the most frightening ever. Possibly it could have been because we had never been through one before. I think it is the fierce force by which they show up unexpectedly at your door, and the possibility of being buried under rubble. Also the reason I was so deeply disturbed by this was because of my inner ear/vertigo issues... it was as if my whole vernacular system was shaken and I couldn't shake the feeling of being 'off' for most of the day. A bit dizzy and sick to my stomach.

Once we went back inside we were able, with the use of lights to survey the damage. I think that since this place has such a high cathedral ceiling that the shaking was more intense because we had alot of things break, whereas some of our friends didn't really suffer the same amount of damage as we did. Either way, later in the day we had a big job of cleaning up. As I mentioned earlier, stuff on shelves fell off and broke, pictures flew off the walls, my shell wreath was found laying broken on the floor (which I can repair since I have lots of shells to use.. I think I will fill it up with roatan shells in memory of the quake). Even stuff in the cupboards was knocked over, cans, glasses, my spices etc. We have some drywall damage at the top of the wall in the livingroom and in the bathrooms. The door to the deck needed to be 're-aligned' since all that rocking had shifted it so badly we couldn't close the door.

this is the stone steps outside.. see the crack...

Throughout that day we experienced quite a number of after shocks. It was a bit disconcerting. But by this time I had done enough research and talked with friends to know what to do in case of another one and felt more prepared.

One thing I am so grateful for is that we didn't experience any deaths on the island here. The damage to homes was minimal. I was really concerned about the people in the Colonia since they live up on a high hill and many of their homes are sitting precariously on the edge. But no one was hurt (as far as I know) and homes weren't destroyed. We have much to be thankful for.

I heard on local TV that someone said that perhaps this was the judgement of God on the island. I think just the opposite. I believe it is the mercy of God. It could have been SOOO much worse. In fact the Mainland got it worse then we did. They had bridges that were destroyed, splits in the roads, and unfortunately 5 deaths. If He was trying to get our attention well He did!! I also believe that we are living in the end times and we need to expect this happening more and more. Roatan has never experienced an earthquake of that magnitude ever. (oh just felt another tremor.. still happening 3 days later.. I read that they can happen for along time afterward) I think that we will see more of the 'unexpected' happening in these days, and need to be centered on the reality of His care.

Jesus answered: "Watch out that no one deceives you. For many will come in my name, claiming, 'I am the Christ, and will deceive many. You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of birth pains."

Oh my if that was birth pain then we need grace upon grace when the earth begins to labour heavy and hard over His coming.

I took this the evening of the quake.. it carries alot of weight for me..speaks of His faithfulness and greatness

But either way, my heart is grateful for protection and care. I must say that going to bed that night was a bit nerve racking since we were still experiencing tremors. I laid in bed and asked Him for a verse and He brought Psalm 46 to mind:

God is our refuge and strength,
an ever-present help in trouble.

² Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way
and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea,

³ though its waters roar and foam
and the mountains quake with their surging.
Selah

⁴ There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,
the holy place where the Most High dwells.

⁵ God is within her, she will not fall;
God will help her at break of day.

⁶ Nations are in uproar, kingdoms fall;
he lifts his voice, the earth melts.

⁷ The LORD Almighty is with us;
the God of Jacob is our fortress.
Selah

⁸ Come and see the works of the LORD,
the desolations he has brought on the earth.

⁹ He makes wars cease to the ends of the earth;
he breaks the bow and shatters the spear,
he burns the shields with fire.

¹⁰ "Be still, and know that I am God;
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth."

¹¹ The LORD Almighty is with us;
the God of Jacob is our fortress.
Selah

(italics mine)

I went to bed knowing that whatever happened that He was my refuge and I had no fear in me. Bless His name, now and forevermore. He settles my soul. Yes indeed.

Oh I should mention that Bob and Matt were in the process of getting certified for scuba diving and they went diving the next day. I personally thought that was a crazy idea but apparently being in the water is the safest place to be. (ya right!) Anyways around 3:00 there was another aftershock and they experienced it at 20 metres under the sea. Very cool they said. :-) My husband, the ever adventurer!!

the wonder of the cashew.....

Ever enjoyed a handful of cashews while watching your favorite movie? Well here is something to ponder ~~ how do they get from the tree to the store??

I thought today I would do my best to share the process from the beginning stages of them flowering to the point of roasting them. Many of us love cashews and wonder why they are expensive. Maybe this will help you to appreciate it the next time you open up a can! It is no wonder that they are so expensive in the stores!! (although of course i know they are factories to do the work and here on the island it is all done by hand!)

These are the flowers .... pink and delicate

Within several week we began to see the beginnings of green 'nuts' forming.

Maybe you are like me and didn't have a clue what a cashew tree looks like. I always thought they'd be like little bushes. Nope. They are huge. As I said we have about 8 trees on the property, and thus ALOT of cashews!!!



Once they drop to the ground, we had our gardener Raymond pick them up, separate the fruit from the nut, put them in the sun for a few days to dry (hoping the dogs and the neighboring kids don't traverse over them tooooo many times!)

The islanders are not wasteful so many of them use the fruit (the yellow part) to make juice.

this is our harvest of cashews!

Roasting is very dangerous because of the arsenic that is emitted during the roasting process so we opted to take ours to a 'roaster' in mud hole. She roasts them in a huge caldron, all the while careful that none of the 'juice' goes on her because if so it will burn her skin. Which means, while roasting, she wears long sleeves and long pants and in this heat that makes the job even more tedious and draining!! She normally does 2 buckets a day and we had the equivalent of 15 buckets.. alot of work!!

This is Anita, she is breaking the shell off using a stick. Since the cashews are roasted they are black and this job is very time consuming and dirty!

Once the roasting is done she takes the blackened shells and whacks them at least 3 times with a stick , just so, because you want to crack the shell without breaking the nut inside. Imagine doing that 10,000 times by hand!!!

That is why broken cashews are cheaper then whole ones!!

We haven't got our cashews back but when we do we plan on selling them and some of the money will go towards the souvenir shop that we are building. We are excited to be able to build this shop since it will give employment to artisans on the island. If you want to help with this project financially we welcome any help. Just drop us an email.

Have a great day! The next time you buy cashews think of Anita who roasts them, and pray for her strength and safety.

it 'just so happened' ....

oh canada.. beautiful canada!

As some of you know we had originally planned on going to Canada in mid-May to put some of our things in a container that was being shipped from Calgary to Roatan. Then our friends asked if we'd come earlier. So we quickly booked our flights, packed and got ready to go. Since there was no time to plan well ahead, as Bob is accustomed to do...we took a lesson from God that we are learning more fully in Roatan, and just trusted God to do the planning and reveal it to us along the way!
I had just said to Bob, "Where do you think we should stay in Vernon?" when I 'happened' to get an email from our friends Carolyn and Doug saying that when we come in May they'd love to have us stay with them. So I emailed them back and told them we were coming early (like in two days!) and they were happy to accommodate the change. It was just the beginning of the unfolding of His plans.
In Roatan you pretty much have to let things unfold and not worry, since things happen very differently than in our culture. Things happen and get done when they do, rarely as they are planned, and our Canada trip shows many examples of how we trusted and He worked everything out.

When we got to Vernon one of the first things we did was to try and secure a truck for Monday so we could drive to Calgary with our stuff. There wasn't anything available for Monday. We didn't worry we just thought, "Well, He must have something else for us." We met at our storage container on Saturday (thanks Richard and Gervin for your help!) and began the process of going through our things to decide what to send to Roatan.

the pile on the left is what i went through.. still didn't bring down all that i had marked 'roatan' realize we really don't need alot of 'stuff' down there

At the end of the morning we had planned on taking it to someone's garage and sorting through it more, repacking (since I had opened up many boxes and only took out what we needed) but none of the guys with garages showed up. So there we were, closing the container, and standing there with a large pile of belongings in the parking lot. Then God reminded Bob that there was a Budget rental on Main Street, so off he went, leaving me in the parking lot. One hour later, Bob drives in with a 17 foot box truck from Budget...the only one they had, which was only a one-way designated truck, that they had made an exception for us to go two ways for less than a one way fare. This meant we had plenty of space to sort through and pack items on board instead of having to put it into someone's garage and stuff it into a panel van (our original idea)...thanks God!

have truck will travel!!

After having a wonderful time sharing and visiting with people at church, and lunch with some of my family and Doug and Carolyn (and what a fun lunch that was...we laughed sooo much!) we headed off to Banff, with no place to stay.

me and my sister,Kathy

Here is where it starts to get tricky. We weren't able to get a hold of any of our friends in Banff by phone so we didn't really know what we were going to do. But we trusted and drove down. We don't have a cell phone in Canada that works so we just used the direct Line to God a lot!! Everything worked out. We stayed with our friend Florence who we knew back in 1980. It was wonderful to see her. She is 88 years young!! Thanks for everything Florence.

our friends Paul and Betty in Canmore

Dan in Calgary couldn't load the container until 5:00pm the next day, so that gave us great opportunity to visit our friends in Canmore, get shopping done in Calgary at just the right stores that were right on the route to the container. When we were all done, we noticed that it was 4:45pm and we had a ten minute drive to the house where the container was located. It all worked out beautifully!!

Doug, Dan and Bob loading the container to be shipped to Roatan

Although there was snow we didn't have any trouble traveling...except for being frozen to the toes! It was a very quick trip but it was enjoyable for us since it brought back many memories winding our way through the mountains. We met in Banff 27 years ago, Bob proposed in a canoe on the Vermillion Lakes, we did a lot of hiking in the area, we married in Banff, church planted in Canmore, both Emily and Matt were born there so we did much reminiscing as we traveled along those roads!! Remember when.. remember when... ? It was precious.

Bob climbed this mountain back in his younger years!! I stayed home and prayed!

Castle Mountain - we both climbed this mountain... was amazing!

We left Calgary around 6:30pm (still not knowing where we'd stay on the way back through Banff (didn't want to impose on our dear Flo again) We had wanted to see our friend Clara and she just happened to get back from a cruise the night before and was more than willing to have us stay with her. All of our plans were made as we were going. I believe He ordered our steps. It was so stress free. Truly. We are learning to 'watch what He will do'. There isn't anything wrong with planning. It is good. But without a phone or internet we realized that we really needed to allow Him to take care of the details and He did!! It was wonderful.

Here is still another little story that shows this well. Once we got back to Vernon Bob realized that he had forgotten to pack the fence and guide that goes with the table saw he had sent. Don't know what a fence is? Don't feel bad.. neither did I. Basically it is the guard used so that they can cut straight. Very important part of the saw. Okay now here is the deal: it is in the storage in Vernon somewhere!!! But where? The storage is packed pretty much from floor to ceiling. Bob went and started to search, climbing all the way to the back, moving large pieces of furniture but couldn't find it anywhere. He then prayed, Lord I need you to help me find that fence please. Well, right in the very front of the container on the floor was a long box labeled 'shelves'. The Lord prompted him to open it, even though he knew it was just plastic shelves for the work bench. So he opened it up and sure enough... there it was!! Cool huh?!

Now here is second part to the story: how to get the box from Vernon to Calgary without driving it again ourselves!!! (it is too big to fit in the suitcase). Well...Bob's friend Greg 'just happened' to be driving from Victoria to Calgary and 'just happened' to be spending the night in Vernon that very night...and 'just happened' to call Bob just as he was about to call Greg again!! Can you believe that??! Bob had been trying to get hold of Greg for days (we had thought we'd see him in Calgary) and he had left messages with the number where we were staying. It all worked out again!!! Bob left the box at the Best Western...even booked the room for Greg!

We are presently staying in Victoria for the week at our daughter Emily's place... still trusting for this week.. .watching God unfold our final week here as we visit with the kids, and possibly even bring Matt back to Roatan with us.

enjoying spring here!

david and bob waiting for the bus. bob was saying 'debi quit taking pictures!' i was fooling around with night shots and the flash and it was really a bit much for them after about 20 shots later!! tee hee.

bob and i celebrated our 27th anniversary last evening

Again we thank you for your prayer and your support.