the truth about what is going on

I want to just assure you out there that in spite of what you may be reading online regarding Honduras that we are fine here on the island. There is so much information out there that isn't totally accurate so I am posting some that I think will shed light on the situation here.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vxUGYOBrcTw&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Fprofile.php%3Fid%3D742125548%26ref%3Dname&feature=player_embedded


http://lagringasblogicito.blogspot.com/


http://www.therightscoop.com/obama-the-voice-of-democracy




Please pray for Honduras. We long for a democracy not a dictatorship. For the most part we are experiencing peace deep within. I thank the Lord for that. I am not afraid. I am a bit frustrated that the governments around the world are refusing to help or the help they are giving will not help this country at all. I think the truth about what is going on here is slowly coming to the surface.

Pray for safety for the people. For peace. For protection. Pray. Pray. Pray.

I know that many are saying this is the End Times. I agree. It is my heart's cry that His will be done on earth as it is in heaven. He raises up leaders, and He takes down leaders. He is above all. Today I read that after He died His disciples were locked in a room because of fear of the Jews and He appeared and stood amongst them and said, Peace be with you! Many are afraid here and it is my prayer that He will come and stand in our midst and give us the peace and protection we need for this time. He is King.


I want to share a song I was listening to this morning while washing the floor:
It's called Hosanna by Paul Baloche

Praise is rising, eyes are turning to You
We turn to You
Hope is stirring, hearts are yearning for You
We long for You
‘Cause when we see You, we find strength to face the day
In Your presence, all our fears are washed away
Washed away

Hosanna Hosanna
You are the God who saves us,
Worthy of all our praises
Hosanna Hosanna
Come have Your way among us
We welcome You here Lord Jesus

Hear the sound of hearts returning to You
We turn to You
In Your kingdom broken lives are renewed
You make us new
‘Cause when we see You, we find strength to face the day
In Your presence, all our fears are washed away
Washed away

Hosanna Hosanna
You are the God who saves us,
Worthy of all our praises
Hosanna Hosanna
Come have Your way among us
We welcome You here Lord Jesus

‘Cause when we see You, we find strength to face the day
In Your presence all our fears are washed away
‘Cause when we see You we find strength to face the day
In Your presence, all our fears are washed away
Washed away

Hosanna
Hosanna
Hosanna
Hosanna

I know many people are considering leaving the island for fear of what may happen. We feel called here and we will remain until He says to go. Don't worry about us. Pray for His will to be done in this beautiful land.

Hosanna... come have Your way among us, we welcome You here (in Honduras) Lord Jesus.

Amen.

out and about (said of course with a canadian accent!)

Bob has been on the Mainland the last couple of days with Marco preparing to send a container of hardwood over to the States. So Matt and I have been here on our own. We have been doing alot of snorkeling. I am amazed at how easy it is becoming for me. I am so happy that I overcame my fear of being over my head. There are alot more things to see out at the reef. I love snorkeling West Bay the most because the reefs are close to the shore and not in deep water. It isn't that I am afraid it is that I can see when the reef are about 5 ft high. Once it gets deep the reef becomes like a wall and the bottom of the reef is maybe 20 - 30 feet down and I can't see down that far. Prescription glasses are in order AND I also need to learn to dive down. Matt, bless his patient heart, has been teaching me to dive while snorkeling. Not easy for me to do. Hopefully I will learn to do it correctly. I wish you could see Matt in the water. He is a natural. He moves with a wonderful fluid ease under water. It is graceful and beautiful to watch. I am all jerky and clumsy in the water. But hey, you never know.. I might turn into a little fish someday... :-)


I want to see a sea turtle so badly but haven't yet. I have seen so many fish!! The other day at West Bay I saw a school of over 25 Blue Tangs, about 6 parrot fish, tons of angel fish, groupers, sea stars, and so many fish that I don't know the names of yet. I just follow them around. It is a glorious, colorful and astounding world down there!

Today Matt was telling me that a barracuda followed him back from the reef. It was huge!!! And it wouldn't leave him alone. Usually if you see one they just swim away but this one kept following, circling and to say it was frightening, was the understatement. He said it was more scary then the shark dive. Apparently they can sense fear and move into attack mode at that point. Note to self: avoid barracuda's at all costs!!! Or.. .stay calm, stay calm, stay calm.. ya right!!

Later on in the day Jeanette and I went to the Butterfly Gardens. It is a small little operation that has about 40 tropical birds, an aviary for toucans, and another screened in area (of course) with about 13 different varieties of butterflies. I enjoyed seeing the tropical birds: olive conures, macaws, parrots. I love birds so much!!

did i mention I love birds!??!!

I would love to own a bird here. It could live out on the deck year round. I could teach it to talk like I did with our budgie Sonny.

The butterflies were so beautiful to watch. I was thrilled to see a blue morpho as they are one of my favorite butterflies!

a blue morpho.. unfortunately it was dying but it allowed me to get a good shot of it's vibrant color!!

Later on in the evening the power went out. It seems to happen alot in the evenings lately. Fortunately I had just finished making a large chicken caesar salad. Basically Matt and I hung out on the deck seeking a breeze. Matt played his guitar and we made up lyrics to the songs. It was fun. I got out my camera and we fooled around doing long exposures (30 seconds). What that means is that the camera lens stays open for 30 seconds during which time you can capture various movements in one photo. It is alot of fun. We took alot of pictures using the flashlight as the only source of light.

You have to make the most of times when the power is out and we had a great time together.

please pray for matt
that this will be his posture.
a bended knee is the best posture for all of us
trust me....

Tonight Matt is having over some guys from Sonrise to play xbox so I best go and make some dinner. I love having him around and will hate to see him go. I would have to say the hardest part about paradise is not being close to the kids so to have them around is such a great blessing.

Matt holding the sun in his hands. Let's hold on to the SON. Amen!

singin' up a storm

Bob and I have been going to the Church of God in French Harbor for about 6 months now and we just had a wonderful opportunity to sing and play with them for their annual conference this past weekend. I have always want to sing in a black choir. Why? You ask. I love their enthusiasm and their soul. Plus I have always been teased for being 'a black wannabee' for years. This experience exceeded my expectations!!

praising His name!

Bob with the band: cedric on bass, jim on electric, russell on accoustic and augustine on piano, and bob on accoustic of course

So when I asked Edwin, the worship leader if we can help in any way, and he said he'd love to have our help to sing at the annual conference I was thrilled. We practiced ALOT and as a result not only did we learn alot of songs but we also got to know each other better.

We were responsible to sing for 5 sessions and that was alot of songs!! One thing about islanders... they love to sing and their services usually run 2 -3 hours long. I must admit it was a very tiring weekend but the blessings outweighed the rest. His presence was very real in the services and I was astounded at the hunger and the longing of the people to truly meet with Him and many many surrendered their lives into His hands. It was amazing!





We were welcomed in so sincerely into this 'world' . I feel pretty confident that we were the first white people to be on their team but we integrated so wonderfully. One night it was soooo very hot (even with fans and AC) we were melting. Loletta pulled out a paper fan and began to fan me so beautifully. She leaned over to me and said, I'm gonna take care of you, girl.
For some reason I was really touched by what she said and it brought tears to my eyes. I just put my head on her shoulder and said, thank you, thank you, thank you. That in a nutshell typifies the people here: so caring and thoughtful.

that is Loletta singing beside me in the white dress.. haha.. i mean the lady on the left.

Bob with the guys!

I also want you to meet Myra. She has the biggest heart and has become a very dear friend to me. Somewhere over the course of all the practices and the conference she began to refer to me as 'girlfriend'. We were the ones who were laughing, telling stories and sharing life experiences whenever we could. Many a time, during practice Edwin would have to give us the "shhhhh" because we were enjoying each other a bit too much!! Bob and I went to her house on Saturday (in between sessions) and enjoyed being in her home, drinking coffee and enjoying a beautiful meal of pork, beans, and potato salad. She can sing like nobodies business and she led the service Saturday night with alot of old style gospel songs. That place was truly rockin'!

me and myra.. all snazzed up for the Saturday night session!

I have to admit I wasn' thrilled to wear this outfit.. so hot... polyester doesn't work in the tropics!!

They had our outfits made by a seamstress in Coxen Hole. That was interesting. Getting measured was a first for me. Then we had to go to her shop and get fitted. Here were the instructions to her place: before you get to Carrion you will see a alley way, go down there until you see someone sewing. That is her place. I did find her but I had to ask because they forgot to say she didn't live on that little alley way but off a side road. We only wore the outfits on Sunday night which I was glad because they were so HOT! Myra leaned over at one point and said, "Girl, I am leaking everywhere in this dress!!" So then it was my turn to fan her.

Beautiful girls!!

Betty and Francis have been serving as missionaries on the island for a combination of 90 years together (40 years and 50 years) so on Saturday night we honoured them for their faithful service. It was very interesting to see the changes and to hear of the many lives they touched and influenced. What a testimony!!!! They are heading back to the States soon and many people are so sad to see them go.

All in all it was a wonderful weekend. I look forward to continuing to get to know them all, serve them and grow together in our faith. I have a burden in particular for a couple of women/young girls that I would like to mentor. Please pray for them. (the Lord knows their names.. I don't feel right about sharing that information... as I am sure you can understand) They have a passion and desire to live for God that is really commendable. They love His Word. But many of them are so wounded. There are things that have happened on this island like sexual abuse that have really held the woman down for many years. I would love to be a part of helping to bring healing and liberty to their souls. I cherish your prayers. I do.

Thanks for standing together with us from a distance. May you continue to open wide your heart to Him and your arms to those He leads you to.

Blessings.

A question I never thought I'd ask

Some conversations just need to be written down.. this is one of them. This happened while we were at worship practice on Tues. night.

D- So Lydia did you use the coconut I brought you?
L- Well not yet, no. But I be cooking iguana tomorra and the coconut milk will be good.
D- Iguana eh? *Eyebrows raising*

I need to say that the islanders know that I am grossed out at the thought of eating iguana so I think sometimes they tell me iguana stories just to see me gag or threaten to walk away. Don't ask me why it really makes me ill to think about eating a reptile but it really does. Apparently they say it tastes like chicken with ALOT of tiny (reptile) bones in it! No thanks.


But for some reason last night I was really curious about the whole iguana thing so I asked alot of questions and today, my friends I am going to share it with you...

L - ya I got me an iguana today.
D - So where do you get it? Did someone go huntin' for it?
L - Nah, a man from the east side came by with it so I gots it from him.
D- You mean he just walked up to you and said "you wanna buy an iguana" (smiling!)
L- (serious) ya.
D- Okay, so where is this iguana? Is he dead in your fridge?
L- Dead? No he ain't dead.
D- Well where he is? In a cage somewhere?
L - No he be tied up in my yard!
D- (laughing) You tied him up?!!! I wanted to say: aren't you afraid someone will steal him but
I kept that to myself.. didn't want her worrying about an iguana thief!!
D- Okay Lydia tell me, what is gonna happen tomorrow? You gonna get your husband to kill it?
L- Nah, I be killin' it. My husband he don't like iguana, but me and my kids we be loving it. So
I be killin' it, cookin' it and eatin' it.

these are authentic iguana hunters.. possible iguana sellers

Then I proceed further than I ever thought I'd go in an iguana conversation. I asked her how she plans on killing it. I don't know why I asked her but before I could take it back, or walk away (well I couldn't walk away since we were at practice)

L- There is a little hole on the head on the iguana so I get me a straw and pull back the skin and put the straw in and he be dead in no time.
D- You what??!! (shocked) That's awful!
L - (laughing)

I am wondering if that is the little flap of skin that they pull back and insert the straw? EWW!

Before I could ask anymore questions it was time to sing again. She kept looking at me smiling. I kept looking at her shaking my head in disbelief.


Let me say that today I was visiting my West End friend Ivis and I asked her about killing an iguana and she looks me straight in the eye and says: "You just poke a straw in his head !!"

D- A straw? Wouldn't a plastic straw just bend?
I- (killing herself laughing) Not a plastic straw!!

She walked over to a palm tree and ripped off part of the leaf, pulled aside the green until there was just a thin but sturdy 'straw' of the palm there. Then she showed me again how to kill an iguana.

At this point I am saying.. Okay that's enough!!
She is amused and laughing at me. I am not amused and tell her I want to talk about something else. She is still laughing!!

They love to see me squirm and get upset. I guess it is kinda fun because I just realized I am doing it to you. Maybe you aren't grossed out by such things. I truthfully hope not. I just wanted to show yet another interesting island reality. It is times like this when I realize I am a gringo through and through. I can't imagine eating an iguana or , the egg sack (super gag!) or worse, killing it. BUT, if the day ever comes when I can handle actually trying to eat iguana you will be the first to know.. but don't hold your breath. :-)

this one be too small for eatin'. lucky little fella!

overcoming

fear has the potential to paralyze us. keep us at bay. suffocate us. i know this because for years i have had an intense fear of the water. as a child i was thrown into the deep end (thinking i would just swim!) too many times... or worse pulled under by my brothers. sorry guys but it's true you really messed me up by foolin' around!

so here i am in roatan, a small island surrounded by water (of course) and i can't seem to go deeper then my waist. we have the second largest and most beautiful reef in the world here and i have a fear of the water.

i knew it needed to be tackled. i knew it needed to be faced!! so little by little i began to face the fear. i remember the first time i snorkeled bob stood about 7 feet away from me and said.. come on deb. i went but not happily because i had water in my mask and was sputtering and hoping i wasn't 'over my head!'. hard to relax in those situations.

so bob, the dear, bought me a new and smaller mask. no leaks. good start. i began to feel comfortable in the water. as long as i wasn't over my head. i would go out 'deep' for maybe 10 seconds and then panic and high tail it back to shallow water.

fear is irrational. i knew in my head that i would float. i knew i could breathe with the mask but the fear was strong. so strong. my brother rob drowned in a canoeing accident when he was 21 and that only further inforced the reality that the water is indeed a dangerous place.

so .. having said all that... i am happy to say that on June 12, 2009 i finally faced this fear and overcome it's hold over me!!

we woke up to another lovely day on the island and decided to go snorkeling at the sea dancer dock. i have become rather comfortable snorkeling but usually i stay pretty close to the shore and allow matt and bob to go to the reef. i simply say.. no you guys go! i am happy here! (liar liar pants on fire!)

well that day, in the car, matt said, mom i think you should come out to the reef with us. you can do it.

suddenly something hit me, the reality that what he said was true. I COULD DO IT!! i agreed to go. now here is the interesting part: once i made up my mind it became 'easy'. my mind was made up, my will lined up and my emotions (fear, anxiety, dread) just took a back seat. bob had suggested i wear a live jacket which was a good plan.

so we unloaded the gear and started to walk to the end of the dock. my mind was made up! today was the day. :-) i swam around for a while just to acclimate and then began to 'journey' to the reef. here is a beautiful image for you.. i am swimming along with bob on one side of me and matt on the other. they flanked me out!! it was wonderful!



now the journey is about 500 feet to the reef skimming over sea grass for the most part and then a section of pretty deep water and then more sea grass and then sandy bottom and then deep water again to the reef. it seemed to me that we were snorkeling for about a half hour but bob said it was about 5 min. can you believe that?? either way.. when i made it to the sandy bottom I jumped up and began to sing the old hymn 'victory is mine!' (without my snorkel in my mouth, of course!!)

this will give you an idea how far the reef was. this is an old photo i took of matt. i didn't have my camera the day of the snorkel.. unfortunately

what an accomplishment for me!
we began exploring around the reef and i was blown away by all the colors of the coral: mustard yellows, greens, purple! with sea grass swaying so peacefully. and fish!! oh my!! lots of fish. i was smiling inside my mask. even as i write this i get butterflies in my stomach.. the good kind! the amazing thing is i was totally relaxed!! i don't know if you believe in miracles.. but peace for me while swimming in deep water with strange things all around me and waves crashing over the reef is a miracle!!

I found these on the internet .. couldn't find anyone to ask permission.. just wanted you to see what i saw...

i have another handicap: i can't see much without my glasses. so bob and matt were my 'eyes' under there. i could see things that i snorkeled over top of but anything off in the distance or hiding in the coral was harder for me to see. at one point matt came to the surface and said, 'parrot fish.. big ones!' so we swam (oh yeah.. bob never left my side the whole time, he held my hand the whole time.. almost brings tears to my eyes.. i am so blessed) anyways, we swam over there and matt is pointing and i don't see a thing!!! i need prescription goggles in a big way!!!!!!!

finally the fish moved into the light and i almost gasped at it's beauty. imagine this.... if you can... azure blue water, white sandy bottom, colorful coral towering to the surface, brilliant green sea grass swaying, and then this huge rainbow colored fish lazily swims by. i almost screamed with delight.



lesson #1 ~~ don't scream with delight under water!

I am just so very glad that I didn't allow my fear to keep me from seeing and experiencing the wonder of the water world. We all have fears about things and I hope this will encourage you to face them so you can be free to enjoy all that He has made.

It's a beautiful, stunning, breathtaking, mind boggling world down there.

I am going again.. oh yeah!! :-)

a new look

Change is good. I thought I would change the 'look' of the blog... the black background was too much for me and perhaps you felt the same way.

I hope you like it.

A new day here is just unfolding. I was up early and watched the sky turn from pinkish grey to a light blue, the birds are chirping, the woodpecker is banging on the drainpipe (poor matt has to listen to that pecking every morning outside his bedroom window), the hummers have arrived at the feeder, the breeze is light and airy. oh breeze.... breeze thrills my soul these days. It is like heaven washes over me and for a brief moment the humidity and the heat is a distant memory.

I am not sure what this day will hold. Each day has a wonderful way of unfolding though. Bob drove a couple to the airport. People come to the island, they leave. I hope that some of you will come some day. i wish that it wasn't so far away and that it wasn't so expensive and that it wasn't such a long day's journey to get here. but you are welcome if you are so moved.

here is a teaser for you....to possibly lure you our way... :-)

pigeon cay

we moored the boat and went snorkling here.
it was stunningly beautiful

We went to barbaretta island and pigeon cay a couple of days ago with Don, Jeanette, Dave, Tracy, Kim and Jason . It is truly the most beautiful place on the island!!! The water was a blue that i have never seen before. It was truly the 'deep blue sea'... I was blown away!

yes the water was that blue!!!! the deep water makes it blue. wow wow wow!

Good news!! Matt and bob are now certified scuba divers.. congrats guys!!

Matt and Bob getting ready for a dive with their instructor, David

they also went on a shark dive. yes you read right. i don't have any pictures of the shark dive because well... of course.. i didn't go!!! (they have a video they may make it on here .. if I can figure out how to do that!) Unfortunately the water was very rough, the current strong so their stomachs were very unsettled! (i will spare you the details of HOW unsettled they were!) What an experience for them.

Bob only have 4 toes but he is okay with that. just kidding of course!

Have a blessed day.

rejoice, and again i say rejoice.. the Lord is near!!

playing tourist guide

Our friends, Don and Jeanette have their kids visiting from the States and they asked if I would go with them to the East Side of the Island as a 'tour guide'. David is an awesome photographer and since I have travelled up that way many times and know all the 'good photo ops' we had a great time stopping and catching the raw and yet pristine beauty of the island.

I figured after my last hurricane post I should put something on here that shows that our lovely island is still intact and beautiful!.

See????

Many people who come to the island only see the West Side: the beaches or the dive shops of West End or West Bay. Perhaps they will venture over to Coxen Hole or Flowers Bay, but I truly think they miss out big time if they don't make it over to the East Side of the Island.



Once you leave French Harbor the road begins to wind and climb up the hills that are covered in palms, natural vegetation with views of the ocean on both sides. It really gives you a sense that truly we are living in a tropical rain forest and I am often overwhelmed by the jungle beauty.

dave capturing the beauty

Although there are resorts up that way, it has for the most part, remained untouched. You have small villages that dot the hills with colored homes and thatched roofs. We didn't stop at Oakridge or Jonesville due to lack of time but here is a picture of the wonderful town of Oakridge which is often called the 'Venice of Roatan' since transportation around the bite is by boat only.

Oakridge

We stopped in at Yuba near Punta Gorda to watch the traditional garifuna dances and learn of their history and culture. The wanaragua dance is a typical garifuna dance that re-enacts part of their history where the men of the tribe dressed up as women and as they were dancing the enemy attacked but the men were ready with swords and they swiftly defeated them. Pretty clever strategy!

Garifuna war dance
alright men get your dresses on! it's tourist time!!

We were able to take several pictures of local people (iguana hunting!) They eat iguana here... all I can say about that is: NOT!

the stick is used to knock them out of the tree not to actually spear them.. i hope!

Once we arrived at Paya Bay we were struck by the pristine beauty, the roar of the waves against the rocks, the blue blue blue sea, and as we had lunch in the restaurant we were grateful to get the 'hummer table' so we could enjoy watching them feed and try our best to photograph
the birds!

Tracy and Dave enjoying a 'moment' by the sea

spent alot of time over lunch taking photos of the hummers.. i almost fell out a window at one point but will save that story for another time.

you never know what you see in the country... heading home perhaps?
we saw an unexpected herd of lop earred cows walking down the middle of the road

It was such a great day. Thanks to Don and Jeanette for suggesting I come along with them for the day. It was wonderful to meet Dave and Tracy. We all went home tired, but grateful for the opportunity to explore this part of the island!

a nap?? what a wonderful idea.... siesta time here for me too!