workin' and playin'

this is one of my favorite views.. the east side of the island

Sorry for not writing in awhile but both Bob and I have been very busy lately. Well, Bob's been busier then I have working on finishing the souvenir shop before the rainy season starts. It has been so HOT that often he comes home with his tshirt literally sopping wet. The roof is on (hallelujah) and the windows are now in. We are having a door built so hopefully it won't take too long.. although we understand that this is Honduras and there really is such a thing as 'island time'

bob up on the roof at the souvenir shop

I have been volunteering at the clinic a few days a week and am really enjoying that. I have helped in triage inputting medical information into the computer. The only tricky part about that is a couple of the doctors only speak spanish so I had to type the symptoms in spanish but I am learning. The other day I helped out in pharmacy filling med orders. Now I know why pharmacists make so much money... it is hard work counting all those little pills!!! :-)




On Sunday, after church we went to Infinity Bay to meet up with friends and went for a great snorkel. Bob saw 3 turtles in the shallows. I didn't get to see them because I was busy socializing with our friends (surprise surprise!) but later we all went out together and saw a turtle (my favorite), a few queen angel fish, lots of parrot fish, and even saw a barracuda lurking around nearby. The water was really clear and even without my contacts (they are such a pain to get in!) I could see everything so clearly.

so nice to see bob relaxing as he has been working sooo hard lately!!

Bob (on left) and Marco getting ready to go out for a snorkel. I went out quite deep to get this shot.. I kept thinking 'don't trip!' since sea water and cameras don't mix! I am happy to say I made it back to shore with my baby (camera) safe in hand!

We finally got the cracks in the livingroom repaired from the earthquake we lived through months ago. Enrique was such a good worker and I had fun spoiling him by giving him fresh watermelon, fresh island plum juice and cookies. No wonder it took so long to finish the job...!! Just kidding he finished it in the time allotted. I had fun practicing my spanish on him.

the watermelon is soooo sweet and refreshing!

We had a wonderful surprise a few weeks ago. We got an email from our friend Jeanne from Florida saying she and her new husband were coming to the island on a cruise and we enjoyed showing them around the island for the day. We had such a great day together!!

we take all our friends on the island to meet ida who has a great souvenir shop and the best prices on the island. she says.. for you, friends of debi.. good price!!!

A note from the homefront: David had to quit his job at Starbucks due to severe back pain. He is looking for a job that won't be demanding on him physically. He is living in Montreal so sometimes it is hard to find work due to the language issue. Please pray about that for him. Thanks so much. Matt is also looking for work in Digby, N.S. It isn't as easy to find work as it used to be. He plans on going back to Dartmouth and attending NSCC taking music business in the new year. Emily is in her final year at University of Victoria and we pray for her health and for wisdom to learn and retain all she needs each day

the end of another day in paradise
I am so thankful for Bob's patience for
the many times I say..
oh honey stop the car that would make a great photo!
i am glad he stopped, aren't you?
*s*

at peace

I am not sure how much you hear about the news of what is going on here in Honduras so I am sending you this link so you will be informed as to what we are facing.


http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125363138908430889.html




Starting last evening and through out today they had a curfew set up which meant that people were unable to go out, drive, and were told to stay inside. It is a means of keeping the riots down, and also a means of keeping innocent people safe.

We had the curfew on the island even though there isn't any rioting and strain here. It was a little unfortunate since Bob was hoping to get the roof on the souvenir shop and I had plans to go to a Ladies Prayer breakfast. Oh well, it was a quiet day of visiting with our neighbor, kayaking for Bob, gardening for me. This afternoon they lifted the curfew so that the needs of tourists could be serviced. Tomorrow the cruise ship comes in to port so it will be good that people will be able to come and spend the day on our beautiful island.

see those two little dots on the light green water? that is bob and marco kayaking. It took this from our deck.

How are Bob and I? Well I can honestly say we are at peace. We rise every morning and start the day in prayer. This political situation is just another of many things we have chosen to place in His hands. He is sovereign over all! And His plans and purposes will come to pass. It is my heart's desire though that innocent people aren't hurt in any way as the unfolding of the age takes place but even that is out of my hands.

I thank Him for His peace. Do not worry about us. Keep praying. May His will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

Lord bless you all!

me and my trips to the dentist!

I want to write about two different dentist trips that I had. One takes place about a few weeks ago and the other took place this morning.

A trip to the dentist has never been my favourite activity. Perhaps it would be safe to say that i am dentist phobic. When the kids were small it was actually Bob who booked the dentist appointments.. if he left it to me they would never happen.

So how did i end up going to the dentist? It started out by having something stuck in my tooth and i kept poking and poking til i managed to actually loosen some tartar and the jaggedness began to drive me crazy so i decided that a cleaning was in order. I went to Dr. Carolina, a dentist in Coxen Hole. She is a wonderful lady and made me feel right at home. The cleaning went well except for the fact that she found a cavity. Oh no, I wasn’t expecting that .

She booked an appointment for me and as it turned out I couldn’t go because there wasn’t any power that day. Hallelujah! Then a few days later i went to her and she told me that she couldn’t work because she had an eye infection. Double hallelujah!! About 2 weeks later I found myself sitting in her office with my nerves on edge and thinking.. oh my word..I don’t like this,I don’t like this one bit!!!!

I was able to explain to her “mi nervioso” and she laughed saying, no problema.

Now going to the dentist in Canada is nerve racking enough but going to a dentist who speaks limited English is even worse!! But we managed to do our best to communicate.

While we were waiting for the freezing from the needle to take we talked about where she went to school, where she met her husband, the ages and names of our children, where she got her haircut, how her husband wishes she had long hair (but mucho calor which means too hot). I was very much at ease until she began to drill and i felt it all!!! I said OW OW OW! She stopped and said, “mas medicina?”

Oh si, mas medicina!!! (more medicine) so I had another needle and more chatting and then she was able to drill and fill my tooth with no more problems. I admit though I was so nervous that I was actually shaking. It’s crazy.

The way it works in Honduras is you pay for each visit so Dr. Carolina handed me a piece of paper that said “300.00 Limpera’s” which is about 15.00. I said, “Oh Carolina mas Limpera’s” She said, “No no no.. mi amiga.” In other words she didn`t want me to pay much because I was her friend. I ended up paying her 25.00. That is all she would take.

Not a bad price for a filling.. it would have been about 4 times that much in Canada.

Okay fast forward to last evening. I was on the computer and my tooth began to ache like crazy. I could barely think and the pain was unbearable. I was on facebook and had marked my status as : Debi has a tooth ache.. .owww! I soon got several comments one of whom was from a dentist who has served on the island here as a missionary and he told me that there was a dentist in Roatan at the moment who was from Harvard and I should go see her since toothaches often mean a need for a root canal. Okay I want you to think of the scariest thing for you. It might be spiders, snakes, high places, tight places, surgery, sky diving, but for me it is root canals. That is like one of the most dreaded things in my mind!!

I had many other comments mostly saying go to the dentist etc. but one lady said this:

I am praying for a miracle.

I went to bed and while laying there I began to think about all the miracles He has done: He

has caused the blind to see, the lame to walk, the deaf to hear, and even the dead to rise so.... what is the big deal about healing a sore tooth!! I prayed asking Him to do a miracle for me.

The next morning I woke up and had no pain whatsoever!! Yippee! I almost didn't go to the dentist but Bob said this: 'Go to the dentist because once they take an xray and there isn't any problem it will confirm that it was a miracle'

So off I go.. feeling nervous. The lady who saw me was so nice. She took an xray of two teeth and there wasn't sign of a cavity, nerve damage or a need for a root canal. There wasn't anything wrong at all.

I told her about prayer and a miracle!

I want to quote my friend David, the dentist who comes here because he has said it well:

"How cool is it you needed a dentist (even though you didn't need treatment, you needed confirmation of the diagnosis) and there happened to be a highly trained one there at the same time as your need? The miracle had already occurred, even before your tooth started hurting! And if you had a raging abscess it still would have been miraculous just based on the timing. You were in what we call a win win situation regardless, you just got the "no shot option" YAY! :)"

So I am thankful for His power, I am thankful for friends who say "I am praying for a miracle", I am thankful for volunteers who come here to help out... I am just thankful!

What about you? What are you thankful for?

PS~ I am also sooo thankful that Bob has been working tirelessly (?) at the souvenir shop and they are almost ready to get the roof on. He is so committed to helping the islanders. We thought we'd be having help from a team that was coming to the island but that changed so he has been working hard with the help of a couple of island friends. Please pray for him and for help to come when it is needed.

Thanks so much for standing with us.

looked who DROPPED by!

we were sitting in the livingroom watching a movie when i heard a sound.
it sounded like a lightbulb breaking.
like a 'smack'
i looked around and couldn't see any lights that had gone out.

after a bit bob decided to go to the fridge and get something to drink.
one the way, he stopped and said, 'is that a frog?!'

sure enough it was!
that was the 'smack'.
we figure he fell from the window in the left hand picture of the collage and the smack was the sound of
him hitting the floor.

it is a fortunate thing that as a child i was a serious frog catcher.
i don't mind touching them.
but boy could this guy JUMP!
i almost lost him several times!
i think he is a tree frog because where ever he jumped
that is where he stayed.

pretty impressive actually!
the wall, the fan, but finally i managed to get him into a strainer
and put a plate over top and put him outside!

you just never know who will DROP BY!!

i think he is rather cute!

on the counter

on the counter, originally uploaded by Debi123.

I know this is a bit gross .. but it is part of life here. I have this stuff called 'combat' that kills cockroaches and it works pretty good, but I have to say the geckos do a good job too! geckos are wonderful little creatures that eat all sorts of bugs and we like them. they are allowed to co-habitat with us inside. i admit that bob has killed a few geckos and i always say, 'leave those alone they eat bugs!!!'

see? here is the evidence!!!

except it is a bit graphic to find this on my counter in the morning.
a headless cockroach!! the sugar ants (all those little bugs on the counter) were delighted with their breakfast! I must say though I couldn't stand the sight of all of them swarming around the dead cockroach so I sprayed raid and "killed them dead!"

as i am looking at this more I am thinking maybe it isn't a cockroach after all.. the legs are a bit too long and hairy but either way I am glad that the gecko won! Just need to teach him to clean up after himself and not leave 'food' on the counter.

if your place is 'bugless' then thank God!

things that i have gotten used to

shades of brown are normal and yet so beautiful to me!

living in a third world country begins to seem 'normal' after awhile and here are a few things that i have gotten used to:

~ seeing children ride on motorcycles without helmets
~ drinking from a water cooler and never from the tap
~ buying my vegetables and fruit from the back of a truck
~ cars driving on the beach
~ horses grazing on the side of the road
~ people stopping to ask me for money, or food, or whatever
~ roosters crowing at any hour of the night
~ killing cockroaches with a passion (i haven't gotten used to them.. still hate them!)
~ hearing the sound of spanish all around me daily
~ cattle drives on the road and having to wait for them to pass
~3 lane traffic on a one lane road
~ men carrying machetes
~women balancing things on their heads
~children begging on the beach
~ police carrying machine guns
~ bank guards with hand guns
~ trucks carrying at least 10 - 15 people in the back
~ sweating profusely almost all day long
~ kissing on the cheek instead of hugging
~ taxi's stopping in the middle of the road at any time to pick up someone
~ buying fresh fish from a cooler on the street
~being sticky
~hearing dogs bark all night long
~having gecko's live inside with us (they eat mosquitos and bugs!)
~shutting off my phone when i go in the bank
~snorkeling regularly
~watching TV in spanish
~going to a church where we are a minority
~passing cars on a corner, passing at any time! driving is crazy here.. i love it!
~no lines on the road
~seeing prices in limpiras.. imagine peanut butter costing 75.00L
~watching a sunset every night
~ seeing skinny starving dogs
~people selling whatever they can whether it be food, souvenirs, or second hand clothes.
~using LOTS of ice in my drinks.
~going to bed with an icepack to help cool me down
~ the fan blowing warm air in the heat of the day (at this point it is time to go outside to the sea!)
~locking up the house (we never did that in canada)
~carrying an umbrella in rainy season since it is too warm for a rain jacket
~eating rice and beans at our friend's houses
~drinking fresca!!
~the garbage truck being a dump truck that is loaded to the top and seeing men sitting on top
~never wearing jeans ever!
~only wearing flip flops
~a usual trip to the bank takes about 40 minutes to one hour.
~having most people around me not understand english
~not talking much (yes that is normal .. strange huh?!)
~begin to understand and speak 'island-ese' (they shorten all their words and speak fast)
~daily picking up avocados that fall off the tree on our deck
~having a gardener and a maid
~having fans on as a lifestyle (we have 4 fans in the main room plus 4 ceiling fans)
~seeing food products written in spanish
~hanging out clothes and having to shake off the ants when i bring them in
~seeing palm trees as common as evergreens.
~having sand in our car all the time!

the only thing that will never be normal is being so far away from all of you. seriously, i will never get used to that.. ever!!!

tour guide adventure

oh my.. .sometimes i get myself into the craziest situations. it comes from being friendly and open to strangers. last sunday i was talking to two american ladies on the beach at west bay and offered that if they ever wanted me to take them on a tour to see 'the island' then i would be open to it. they had been to roatan 3 times and hadn't seen much of the east side of the island. i found that remarkable.

so today i went over to infinity bay resort at 9:30 to take them out. it turned out that they had the use of a friend's car and wanted to go out to parrot tree to go snorkeling there and asked if i wanted to go. so much for an island tour but i decided that i would go.

click to see large

it took us almost 2 hours to get everyone there ready and by 11:30 we were on the road heading east. i should have (the most famous words ever!!) had something to eat before we left but i didn't. big mistake. by the time we got to parrot tree i was incredibly shakey and i should have had something to eat there. i am hypoglycemic and i really shouldn't fool around with it but none of the others were hungry so i set out snorkeling.

none of us had ever been there. mistake #2: don't snorkel in uncommon waters without someone knowing the water. we ended up going through very very shallow water with coral only inches from us. the two girls made it through but i panicked and managed to get quite cut up on the coral when i put my hand down. it was awful. imagine swimming in water less then a foot deep and less then an inch coral below you.. it was scraping my stomach. i ended up standing up and the waves began to knock me around. i was afraid of falling on the coral so i carefully walked.. yes i know.. i shouldn't walk on the coral I went backwards til it was deep enough to snorkel to the shore.

i went back and sat in the lounge chair enjoying the shade and the breeze and thinking... okay debi lesson #485: know your reef before going out!!!

live and learn. i have to say it was beautiful out there. the view as you can see is outstanding and my time with the girls was very enjoyable!

but so much for my "island tour"... i realized tonight that truly bob and i are unique because we really are interested in the island and the islanders and think that others will be too. confirmed that we are meant to be here. our heart is here.

yup give me zenola's porch and a glass of fresh lemonade any day!! :-)

I just want you to know

There are times when I wish the chair would not sit empty in the afternoon sun, but that you would be here. I would bring you a cold drink and make a simple meal and we would sit and talk for quite a long while as the evening cooled.

It would be good.

The hardest thing about being so far away is knowing that many of you are going through things and we can't be there for you.

So whether you are alone this evening in a marriage gone bad,
or you have just moved into a new apartment,
or you are waiting on tests,
or you are alone in a hotel,
or you've moved across the country in hopes of a new life,
or your heart is awakening to His love again,
or you had to bury your dog today then please know this:
I wish you were here or I was there.

That's all I wanted to say tonight. I miss you all in different ways.
xo