not doing.. great

hiding away .. hoping to get better soon. matt and i play cards to pass the time

it's hard enough to keep a blog let alone keep a blog when sick. since st. helene i have been not well. that night i began to get itchy everywhere. not a gentle mild mannered type of itch but the kind that makes you uncivilized and insane. the jumping around in circles going nuts kind of itch. then the headache came, then the upset stomach, then the sore throat .. oh.. did i mention i was insanely itchy?? i keep a butter knife beside me at all times (in various rooms) because it works so well as a back scratch-er. matt gets totally grossed out by this. does he think i would not wash it before i used it to make him a sandwich??!! now there's an idea... :-)

it has been SO HOT that I have almost boarded a plane and left this little piece of paradise about 4 times already! canadian cool where are you?

so...after about 4 days of itching I broke out in a rash that covered my whole sorry body.

i finally went to the doctor that day.
he said i had a viral rash.
he gave me 3 days of prednizone (spelling) and some ointment for the rash.

it helped.

but now I am still getting the headaches and the upset stomach. did a stool sample today just to rule out some nasty bug.

so that's all folks.
i've been sick.
sick of being sick.

and oh.. don't get me started but i also think i am getting hit hard with menopause too.
yikes. hot flashes here take on a whole new scary dynamic with temperatures of over 31 C and humidity at about 80%.

let me just say it's been scary around here for matt and bob. oh yeah.. please pray... i really need it right now.

St. Helene adventures

Sorry for not writing sooner but I haven't been well lately. It has been a bit of a mystery lately as to what is wrong. I have been unbearably itchy lately.. a deep, hot kind of itch with no rash. Just about drove me insane. Plus I have had a headache that refused to go away. Needless to say computer time was put on hold and I basically laid in bed with a fan blowing warm air on me. It turns out that it is my menopause kicking into full gear (sorry guys) Oh joy!

I am posting some pictures of a trip we took to St. Helene. It is a small island just off of Roatan. It is separated from Roatan through some mangrove swamp to the eastern side of Port Royal. St. Helene is not a heavily populated area and is inhabited by English speaking locals. The power source in St. Helene is typically generated by solar power or a diesel generator. However, with the changes in our local power company, there is a projection to bring power from the main island of Roatan to St. Helene, Morat and Barbaret. The communities of the island do work together to supply water to the homes in the area. There are no cars on St. Helene at this time, so there are no real roads for vehicle traffic. People travel mostly on foot or by boat when they need to get from one destination to another.

We took a boat over with Jeremy, Melissa (who used to serve as missionaries on the island 10 years ago), their twin boys, Melissa's parents, my friend Zenola, another family of 5

The boat ride over was the craziest, roughest, fastest boat ride ever!! I don't get scared easy but I admit I was nervous!! The waves were HUGE!



a typical scene will houses and shops scattered along the shore

took this for all the "Kathy's" in our family!

Matt enjoyed the ride! I still had my camera out but had to put it away as the waves were so high that they were coming over and INTO the boat!! OH MY!

We brought our friend Zenola with us and she was able to meet some family that she hadn't seen in over 20 years!

We walked over to the north side of the island along the shore, over the ridge, through the jungle green and had an island lunch of lobster, rice, conch and cole slaw.

making our way over to the other side of the island
a very poor area of the island

it was great for melissa and jeremy to visit with old friends. here she is with one of the girls she used to know.

lunch anyone?? these boys had just caught these and were cleaning them on the beach. such is life on the island!

Zenola enjoying some shade while waiting for lunch to be ready

matt and paul making their way to the place where we had lunch. life is simple there.

we all got tooooo much sun. i usually don't burn but I sure did that day! OH MY! I didn't realize how far we'd be walking to get to lunch so didn't put on sunscreen.
you never know what Bob will find will 'beach combing' but this is a first!!

Here is a link that will give you more idea what Alternative Missions has been doing on St. Helene

http://www.alternativemissions.com/Content/Documents/STM%20Documents/Helene%20STM%20Packet.pdf

I am glad we had the opportunity to explore this little island of St. Helene. Thanks for coming 'along' for the journey with us. I trust all is well. Blessings to you all.

some good news!

Good news~! The electrician came and did all the wiring for the new well so that means fresh water!! OH JOY!! It is the simple things and we are very grateful for fresh clean water and lots of it!! :-) We found out there was a dead iguana in the well (once they cleaned it all out.. could that contribute to the smell?? yes!) ewwwwwwwwwww.

Another piece of good news is that I got some contact lenses so I can see when I snorkel and yesterday I managed to get them in and go for a test snorkel. It was amazing! WOW! I was blown away to see tiny shells, little plants the size of my baby finger thumbnail, and miniscal fish! It will open up a whole other world.


I am going to post for pictures of Coxen Hole. I love going there. I know alot of people find our main town to be too busy, smelly and hectic, but I enjoy the energy. The traffic is crazy, people are everywhere walking or trying to sell things, horns are honking! I love it! The longer we live here too it is a great place to run into people we know. It is becoming more and more common to hear someone hollering our names.. "Mr. Bob, Miss Debi... Hola!!"


They are fixing the road by the airport and I caught these guys 'working'. Two sitting and one standing around!! At least the one guy is wearing his protective head gear!! Haha. We have taken Don and Jeanette's vehicle to Kia to get the A/C fixed (a much needed thing here!) so we keep going there when we are out to see if it is ready. They have told us "it be ready at 5:00 about 3 times now"! Apparently they sent the wrong part..such is life on the island.. manana.. manana!!


It isn't every where you see bras hanging around on Main Street but it is common here!




See the screen in the top right of this photo? Bob just lifted the screen and I took a picture of the kids as we were walking down the street.




This is a very common site: woman hanging around selling something.. anything they have. Could be baked goods, fruits, tamales, pastilletos.. they are very creative in making money. Looks like this lady is taking a break though.

This is their idea of small business: if it fits on your head it is small business alright!!! :-)
Here is the challenging thing. That woman is selling bras too and I am wondering 'where is the change room??? :-) This gives you an idea of the 'busyness' of Coxen Hole. The Street is one way and yet often it is more like 3 lanes of traffic, plus bikes, plus pedestrians... plus.. plus ... plus!!

Well I should go as we are going to St. Helene for the day. It is exciting! We are going with Jeremy and Melissa (plus her parents who are visiting) and one other family. J & M used to minister as missionaries on the island so it will be good to meet all sorts of people, go snorkeling, and have a great island lunch of lobster, conch and chicken!!!

Photos will come soon!

Have a great day!

Water water water... I hope you enjoy it!
In North America you have so much that it's easy to forget the wonder of having LOTS of it.

Presently we are really LOW on water. We are on community water and when we are in the DRY season there just isn't alot of water. In fact, the water is sooo stinky that showering is a bit of a gross event. Imagine this: you get wet, shut off the shower, open the curtain (for fresh air!), wash, put on the shower, hold your breath, rinse, and get out as quick as possible. One of the challenges of living on an island I guess....

BUT here is the UP SIDE!! We had the well dug and now the guys are finally here to do the wiring and set up new pipes and soon, as of Monday (so they say!) we will have clean well water.

I am excited beyond anything!!

So please please please enjoy your water. Enjoy the excess. Enjoy being able to drink from the tap. Enjoy being able to stand out in your garden and water lavishly. Enjoy taking long hot showers and actually feeling clean when you get out. Enjoy watching kids play in it!

Our water is so gross that I didn't even want to wash clothes in it. So... I heard there was a lady in the Colonia who does laundry and I thought.. oh yeah for sure!!

I am posting a picture of a sweet girl I met that day. I am sorry I can't remember her name. She told me but sometimes Spanish names are hard to recall... Isn't she beautiful? She has such a lovely sweet spirit. When I drove up in the yard she waved enthusiastically and then came running into my arms for a big hug. I hadn't ever met this girl but she was so open.. so longing for affection. She almost melted in my arms. She showed me these adorable little chicks and was happy when I took her picture.


I asked my friend why spanish kids are so open and loving with us and she said, well, they long for affection, they get showered openly by foreigners with love and also gifts and so they associate us with love and I guess that is a good thing for us to give isn't it? I wish we could be half as open.

Nothing else really matters.
The joy she had on her face reminded me of that.
She longs for love.
She lives simply in a one room house with her family. She doesn't have alot of toys. She doesn't go to dance class or frequent a mall but she has enough. And she still has hope that someone may reach into her world and love her. And she has sweet little chicks...

Imagine if that was all we really wanted! What a world it would be!

cruise ship day!!

Wednesday is cruise ship day! It is the day the Valor comes into port.. that is one of the biggest Carnival Cruise Ships that come to the island. Outside the dock there are many different shops: the methodist market, as well as many little wooden 'shops' housing souvenirs, tshirts, lenca pottery, honduran hardwood products, shells, cigars.. you name it.. everyone is selling. As well there are people there who are looking to take people on tours.

I am grateful that many people know me on this island because I seldom get 'bothered' to go on a tour, get my hair braided, and to buy a cigar (do I look like a cigar smokin' gal??!!!)

So you may be wondering why I choose to go down there with all the mayhem and the tourists around. I go because it is one of the only days I get to visit with my friends who sell stuff and try to encourage tourists to buy from them. Now how would I do that?? Well it's easy. Being a gringo the tourist people are comfortable to speak to me. I smile and start chatting and find out what they are looking for and then I basically become a personal shopper to them.

Well today I was talking to Luma, a wonderful local artist who we met at Sonrise. He is the one who painted the mural on the church wall. So Luma and I are having a nice chat together and a lady walks by admiring his work. I smile, and says, Yes these are really nice aren't they? We talk about the ones we like. I introduce her to Luma, who is the local artist who made them. She likes that. Before long she decides on a couple of paintings that she likes, but along comes Mr. Grumpy pants (her husband) who says.. "I don't want to buy a painting. We are on a scooter and there isn't any room for that!!!!" She looks sad and slowly walks away. I just looked at Luma and said, Don't worry she'll be back. How do I know this?? Because it isn't really the painting she wants.. she wants to 'story' that goes with it .. about meeting the artist in a neat little shop in Roatan.

Sure enough she comes back .. just looking. I smile and says.. "You know what would be really great? I could take your picture with Luma and you could put it on the back of the painting" OH YEAH!! Had her hook, line and sinker!!

They buy two paintings. I take their picture. They are thrilled.. even the husband got into the whole 'encounter' at the market!! :-)

Luma is happy.
So I am.

Next stop: Ida's.

Now for those of you who have visited here you will have met Ida. Everyone who comes to Roatan gets to meet Ida.

this is an old picture when amy was visiting.. ida is the one in the middle with the obama tshirt on.. i wonder if she'd wear it now with all the stuff going politically! that is another story!

I met her at Christmas last year and she quoted me some prices for stuff and I looked her right in the eye and laughed saying: "hey how about island prices?!!" (that means the price for a local not a tourist) She burst out laughing and said, You got me! You got me! Ever since then she gives me the best prices. In fact today since it was slow I decided to buy some lenca pottery for myself and she looked at me and said, "Debi for you: FREE!!"



I laughed and said No WAY!! She said, Okay how about 100 Limpera (5 bucks) and I handed her double. The sad truth is this: these shops are only open when the cruise ships are in and right now there are maybe 2 times a week that they are open. Times are hard. For some of these woman what they make in a day depending on how much their family will eat, if their kids will get school supplies or the reco bill (electric) being paid.

So I go down to try to generate income and if I can't get any tourists to buy something then I will!

Here is a picture of some of the lenca pottery that I bought today.
I love them!!!

I need to polish up the big one.. that is the one ida wanted to give me for free.
the other two were from ingrid's shop next door. she wanted to give me a free one too. I think these woman are so grateful for the business that I bring them but still I am not there to get anything for free.

this is what we call 'small business in roatan' if you can carry it on your head it is small indeed!!

peace march

Friday July 3rd the island of Roatan gathered at the orphanage in Gravel Bay for a march to declare to the world that we stand for peace and democracy. We were pleased with a huge and enthusiastic turnout of islanders and expatriots who stood together to say to the world that we "defend our constitution" and stand for peace in Honduras.



The day was perfect. A bit overcast as we walked along the seaside in Flower's Bay. The breeze was wonderful and spirits were high. Many sang songs and chanted "viva Honduras!"
"We want peace!" in both spanish and english was declared to the world as a helicopter flew over top filming the happenings.

It is time for the world to know that what appears to be a coup is not. I believe the word is finally getting out.

Bob joining in!
Honduras - defend our constitution

Bob and Marco walking side by side.

This gentleman walked with his Bible on his head the whole walk with the Honduran flag in it. I asked him, "Biblia?" "Si, Biblia.. " Then he held it high about his head declaring that he stands for truth. It brought tears to my eyes.


Many people held up signs as you can see from the photos below.

Chavez: Honduras not for sale!

The streets were filled with people of the island, Canadians, Americans, the UK....
all standing together for PEACE.

We want democracy, peace and liberty!!
AMEN!
That is our friend Gerry holding the sign and
Edwin (the worship leader at our church)
waving enthusiasticly at me

We walked to the Ball Park for a short rally. I was moved to tears (again) when they opened the rally in prayer. We heard from many dignitaries and local people expressing the same thing: we believe in the constitution, we want a president who follows the constitution, we want things done correctly, we don't want a dictatorship.


There was sign at the peace rally in the nation's capital of Tegucigalpa that said this:

"I prefer six months of pressure to twenty years of repression."

As we were leaving the rally Bob saw the cobra from the Mainland standing by this wall so he went over to get his photo with them. The good news is that the Honduran military are standing with us and they were there as a presence only since nothing got out of hand all day.

We want to world to see that we support the Honduran Government for the choices they have made, including the interm President Micheletti. The opportunity for real democracy and peace came to life yesterday as the island of Roatan marched for peace and stood together as one!

I was proud to be a part of it!

AMEN!
Please keep PRAYING!
Thanks so much.