Gardening in December

Yes, in December! It’s really weird to be planting things one week and have our Christmas the next but I’m getting used to things not being like they used to! My little garden started out like this… We had to first chop, (yes with a machete) the weeds out. Then a few weeks later when the weeds are grown back I got my plants! Dad, Nathan and I walked down one Sunday morning to the market before services and got our first little plants. They sell them in groups of 4, 6, or 8 for a dollar TT ($1USD=$6TT). So I got 4 tomatoes, 8 lettuce (which died a week later), 4 cucumbers, 4 peppers, and 6 bok choi. When buying plants the seller puts them in a bag and then you take them home! Totally different than getting them in nice little flats like in the USA! So I paid my $6TT and brought them home. That afternoon I planted them in pots….and waited till they were a bit bigger to put in the ground. Then on Friday we headed out and found a couple of nurserys that had plants and got 4 more tomatoes, 4 cabbages and some seeds…squash, beets and Bodi Beans. Bodi Beans are like green beans only about 18 inches long and have a bit of a different taste and we really like them. Then next week I planted all the plants and the squash and the beets. All the little plants loved their home…the seeds didn’t! They have not come up yet and I don’t think they will. I am going to try them again this week. I planted the beans a few days ago and after a nice rain they were up! I am so happy! Now I just need a fence for them to climb on. So that is my garden so far. I’m sure that I will be taking more pictures as they get bigger. I am so thankful that I am able to go out and garden here. It’s one of my ways of relaxing and enjoying God’s beautiful creation! I so enjoy going out in the warm sunshine and pulling weeds to my heart’s desire. I am so thankful that I can. Working is such a wonderful blessing. I am very thankful that I have a garden in December to take care of!

Blooms on our Lime tree! YAY for more limes!

Our Mandarin orange tree!

Last...is our Julie Mango tree. We are hoping that we will have some fruit off these two trees before our time here is up.

Home, that humble abode of which we live.

For the last 19 years of my life I had lived in the same house in the same town. I grew up romping about the 19 acres we had. Then I pack up and leave. Now home is in Trinidad and Tobago, West Indies. This is a BIG change. It’s hot here all year long, it’s a different culture and a different way of life. But, one thing has stayed the same. We are still together as a family. And you know, if you are with the people that you love no matter where the house you live in is located, it is home. The old saying “home is where the heart is” is not far off. I miss my old home, my dear church family at Cave Springs. But as much as I miss the old, I’m so thankful that I have this new chapter of life to write.

Here are some pictures of our house and yard. It’s so much different than the 19 acres in the US but it’s home. And I do like it.

The front of the house. The open windows are the living room windows.

Our living room. Complete with musical instruments! It's nice and roomy and we have such a nice breeze that comes through the windows. Cheyenne also likes to poke her head through the bars when we are all doing something as a family! It is quite cute!

This is the dining room. It is between the living room and kitchen. It also (as you can see) doubles as the school room.

Here is our kitchen. It has lots of cabinet space for storage and cooking. We have quite a fun time in here! =)

The girls room, complete with mosquito netting for each bed. There is also a bank of very nice drawers and closet area. (The fans are sitting in front of it).

The boy's room. They have the same set up as the girls with netting and closets.

The Office! We keep our school things and computer stuff in this room. It also is our spare room for guests.
Our back porch. The laundry "room" is on the far end and we have a nice sitting area and some pretty plants on this end. It's quite lovely to sit out there in the morning! It's facing west so we have enjoyed some beautiful sunsets too!

This is the view from the front of the house. It was very rainy that day!

The view from the side of the house, taken from the back porch.

This is the wider side of the "yard" about our house and some of our potted plants.

The other side of the house and two of our extra water tanks.

Our lime tree! It is in one end of the garden. (Pictures of the garden to come when we do some planting).

Meet Cheyenne. She is our guard dog. She is a good dog and is learning to obey us well.

This is "the Flame" outside our house. It can be seen from the kitchen window and we watch it as we cook and do dishes. It is a burn-off fire from the local oil refinery.

So that is home! It's slowly becoming "our" home as we continue to decorate it and live in it. We are so blessed and thankful that we have such a very nice house to call home!

Sunday Reflections

Today was our second Sunday here in Trinidad. As I was traveling with my family to services I got to thinking about some of the different things here versus in the U. S. In America most families (including us) have more than one vehicle. But not here. This is how today went. We all got ready to go to services and instead of going down stairs and getting in a van, we went out of our gate and started walking. We walked for oh, maybe a quarter of a mile (maybe more) to the round-a-bout. There we hardly waited any and flagged down a Maxi Taxi. We all piled in and rode to the building, paid our fare and had a wonderful worship time with the brethren.

That has become normal for us every time we want to go anywhere that we can’t walk. We are planning on getting a vehicle that will transport us, but I am thankful for this time of non-independent transportation. It really makes one count the blessing of having your own transportation. I know that there are some people here that have to travel everywhere they go just the same way as we did this morning. Knowing this makes me appreciate having a car (or more than one) of my own in a different way. We are all so blessed. Yet sometimes we don’t even know it.

So, as you ride around in your car, be thankful you are among the blessed of this world that has one.

On a totally different note, we are all settled in now and school has started for the younger ones. We are getting into the swing of going to the open market and getting our weekly veggies and some of our meat. We still have to go to High-Lo to get milk, butter and other various items. We have had the pleasure already to have some guests in our home. We hope that will continue even more so in the months to come. I have personally enjoyed the time of reuniting with old friends that I have not seen in many months or even years.

In the next week or so I hope to start my garden and do some planting of plants in our many pots, inside and out. We have been enjoying limes from our tree and I’m hoping that we will plant a Paw Paw (Papaya)) tree as well. I hope to post some pictures of our house and yard this week.

Have a great day! =)

Out with the old, in with the new.

(This was written last Wednesday the 10th of Nov. Posting is a bit late due to some internet problems.)

I have not blogged in a long time. My reason? Well I could say that I was too busy (and it would be true) but I use that for far too many excuses. So the real reason is that we have moved. Yep. We did. And it was not across town, or within the state, or even within the U.S. It was across the ocean to a small Island named Trinidad. The nation is actually called The Republic of Trinidad and Tobago. There are two islands one is Trinidad (the larger one) and Tobago (the smaller one). We are located at the bottom of the chain of the Caribbean Islands. We are actually really close to Venezuela, South America. It warm here all year long as we are only about ◦10 off the equator.

We arrived yesterday after 3 flights that went really well. I’m now sitting in my new living room typing this and listening to all the new sounds that I have to learn what are.

Our house is really nice. We have plenty of room for all our stuff (or we hope so) and today we plan on unpacking some things. There is a nice kitchen, a dining room and living room area, 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms and a sink area outside the hall bath, a computer/school/study room and a back porch. There is also a down stairs area that is where the cars are stored and also a bathroom (that needs a lot of work). We have a small garden area, a lime tree and some other small trees that we’ll have to figure out what are. The house came with two dogs, Cheyenne and Buster. Cheyenne is part Doberman and part German Shepherd and Buster is…is Buster. He is a random mix of something. (I’ll have pictures soon so come back and check again.)

I hope to Blog often about this new chapter in my life. This is such an exciting time! I have always wanted to live in Trinidad and also be in the mission field. I’m looking forward to this time and hope that I can help one person get to heaven.

Stay tuned!

Springtime beauty

I love spring! It's probably one of my most favorite seasons. It is the time that nature comes alive agian after being dormant all winter. The flowers are blooming, the birds are singing and building their nests and the weather is almost perfect! We have many flowers around our house in many different colors. We have pinks, red/purples, white, and yellow. One of my favorite flowers is lilac. They are not only beautiful, but they have a wonderful scent. I was taking pictures the other day and I took this really cool picture of the lilac before they were in full bloom. I got to thinking about them as I took the pictures and then I really got to thinking. See how there are only two small blooms that are all the way out?

They are different than the rest of the bunch of flowers. I got to thinking about how we Christians are like that. Let's say that the world is the whole bunch of tiny lilac blooms. We who are Christians are the two tiny blooms among the whole bunch. We are different, we stick out and are noticed. Then I just let this thought go a bit more...are we really that different? Does what we wear and say and do and the things we watch and listen to truly reflect us being different? We are called to be different. "But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light:" 1 Peter 2:9 God WANTS us to be different! No, we don't have to look like we stepped out of the 17th century but at the same time when we are at the mall do we look like everyone else who is there? Or are we dressed differently and walk differently and talk differently? I'm going to get on my soap box here for a minute. When talking about modesty, we need to remember that modesty is not only the way we dress. Yes, we (men and women) need to dress so that we have covered our bodies in a way that reflects Christ, but at the same time modesty is so much more! If we are dressed modestly but we walk and talk just like the world we are no different. We must make sure that our actions and our speech and even our thoughts are just as modest as the clothes that we wear. *Steps off box....

In conclusion, I'm going to try to make sure that I am like the two little blooms in the big bunch-different than the world. I would challenge you to do the same thing. Yes, it's hard sometimes but I am sure that it will be worth it in the end!

Tortillas

Last week I made tortillas for bean burritos for lunch.  As I was making them I got to thinking as one often does as they are cooking.  

So there I was rolling out tortillas and this is what I began to think about.  We are like a tortilla, spiritually that is.  God is the Maker that made us.  Our life is the filling.  What we put in makes us what we are.  Just like we chose which ingredients we add to our burrito, we get to chose which ingredients we are going to add to our spiritual burrito.  Here are some ingredients that are good to use. 

• Bible study 
  
• Prayer time
• Fellowship with other Christians
• Quality time with family
  

There are some ingredients that one should be careful of and use with much thought.  They are movies, music and books that have non Christian ideals in them and time spent with friends that may not be the best examples.  I'm sure we can all think of things that we might not want very much of (or any) in our spiritual burrito.

As we continue to live our lives for God, let us remember the things that we are putting daily into our burrito.  Check often and make sure they are what we really want to add. 

Our last outing in China, Zhangjiajie

On Friday before school started on Monday, we went to Zhangjiajie, a city about two hours from Changde. We rode the morning bus over and arrived in time for lunch. We had a very yummy lunch after talking to many restaurant owners about the price. It was a bit funny because they kept one-upping each other on the price! After lunch we headed off to see the caves, the main reason that we went to Zhangjiajie. We had a great time in the caves! I had never been in a cave like that and it was so cool! We had a bit of trouble finding where we were supposed to be but after trekking up and down the exit hall an extra time we found the right way! We went through some small parts of the cave and then a larger one. To get to the main cave, we had to get on a boat and go down the underground river. I thought it was pretty cool to be on a river UNDER the ground! We spent a good bit of time in the main cave. There was a slight overhang and we enjoyed singing together and listening to the wonderful echo. We were getting tired by now and we wanted to catch the 5:00PM bus back to Changde. By the time we got out of the cave and found someone to take us back to the city (the caves were outside the city a bit) it was to late to catch the bus. So we decided to take the train instead of having to stay the night for the bus then next day. We stood in line for a long time and finally got our tickets. We were not able to get very good tickets. We had one seat and two standing only tickets. We bought two cheap plastic stools and some food and ran off to catch the train. Leah and I started out with the standing thickets. The way standing tickets work is you get on the car and stand (or sit if you brought a stool and IF there is room to put the stool down) for the duration of the trip. And yes, some people will do this for a 18 hr ride! This does not seem like a horrid idea until you realize that there are about 75 other people on the car that are doing the same thing! The car we were in was packed! The car said "occupation 116 " and I think there were somewhere around 250 people in the car! Needless to say we were packed in like sardines! I was able to find a hole in the aisle and sit on my stool. I could not stretch out my legs and I was packed up against 2-3 chinese people at any given time. Now, the ride would be slightly passable but...every 5-10 min someone decided to move past going to another car or the restroom. AND...to top that off, every 30 min the food cart came by! So, if you were standing/sitting in the aisle, you had to get out of the way by practically standing on top of everyone else who is standing packed against the people that have seats! This went on for the duration of the trip and by the end I wanted my own space and for NO ONE to touch me again for a LONG time! Leah, a few min after we had started off, went and traded with Wade and he came down and sat/stood with me. We were supposed to arrive at 9:00PM or so but it was 10:40PM when we finally arrived. Wade and fought the crowd and he got off ok. I had a bit more trouble getting off and I could hear Wade telling the train workers that I was still on there! I had to just shove my way through the sea of people and I finally was able to get off! We did not see Leah, so Wade took off to car 16 (we were in car 8) to make sure that she got off. But she did not! This began an even more interesting end to our day. Leah did not have her phone or any money and she had the phrase book so we all felt a bit (of more than a bit) stranded. We tried to tell the train workers that Leah we still on the train and I think they maybe understood. We went to the VIP lounge and there we finally found someone who spoke English. We were able to tell them what had happened and they got in touch with the train and started getting Leah's return arranged. To make a very long story a little shorter, Wade and I waited in the lounge and kept in contact with Leah (she borrowed a phone) and the train officials. She was going to get off at the next station (an hour and a half away) and catch the next train back to Changde. She missed the first train back so she had to wait till the next one left at 1:15AM (or there abouts) Leah finally arrived in Changde at 2:45AM! We were all so tired and ready to go home! We got home, took showers (they smoke like smokestacks on the train), and went to bed! I don't think we stirred till about noon that morning (er...afternoon)!

We spent the rest of Sat and Sunday doing little. Wade and Leah spent Monday getting ready to teach on Tuesday and Wednesday. I hung around the house and did some cooking for them so they could study. Then on Tuesday I went to class with Leah in the morning. It was really neat to see her teaching. She is teaching American Culture this semester. I enjoyed getting to meet her students and talk with them a bit. We met Wade for lunch and then I stayed in for the afternoon and got all packed up. I was a bit sad to be packing but at the same time I was ready to head home! Dinner was noodles at a Muslim Noodle place. It was so good! We went to English corner that night and that was a lot of fun! English corner is where the English teachers (foreign that is) gather with any students that want and practice speaking English. Tuesday was much the same only this time I went with Wade. He is teaching Oral English. His class was different then Leah's. He has more activities and so class can be a bit more wild at times. We had English corner again that afternoon and spent the evening relaxing together. Thursday was my last day in China. We had a game night with an American couple that Wade and Leah hang out with sometimes. We had fun but did not stay very late. I had to be on the 10:00AM bus to Changsha to catch my flight.

My trip home was good once I got through Shanghai. The flight from Changsha to Shanghai was late and I had one hour to get off the plane, get my luggage, transfer to international check in, get checked in, through customs and security and to my gate before I missed the flight! I ran the whole time and part of it dragging two huge suitcases! I made it but I did not think I was going to! The flight was a bit delayed and so I was able to rest a few min and catch my breath before I got on the plane. I was ever so happy to be on that plane! The remainder of my trip went well. I didn't sleep much on the way home so I was really tired when I got into Tulsa. But, by body time it was in the middle of the day and not the night so I felt ok.

This is the end of my China adventures! I am so thankful that I was able to make this trip! I had a great time with Wade and Leah and a wonderful time traveling (even with the train trip that went bad) and seeing some amazing sights! I will remember this trip for years to come and I am so thankful that I was able to take it. I'm sure I could go on for a few more pages about my adventures but I'll bring it to a close now. I'll see you again soon! =)

Beijing, part two

Friday I headed out with different directions as to how to get to the subway on the 404 bus. I followed the directions and got on the bus and hoped that it was right! I soon spied a subway stop, but not the one that I thought I wanted. I took my chance and got off and went to the subway. It was actually a closer stop then the one that I had originally been trying to get to. I got on the subway and headed off to the other side of the city to the Summer Palace. The Summer Palace is a huge area with many old buildings and a huge lake in the middle. The emperors would spend time there floating on the lake, looking at the stars and other things of that nature. The Summer Palace also has the worlds longest Corridor, it was pretty cool! It took me over 4 hours to get through it all! I got hungry and today I chose to have more than a bag of peanuts! So I got one of those instant noodle soup bowls. They are really popular here in China. It was good! I actually liked it for what it was! I finished up and headed home. All the girls at the workshop were going to have dinner together and I wanted to make sure that I arrived back in time to join them. I took the subway back to the station that I started at and instead of paying for a taxi I was going to see if I could take the 404 back to where I started. I found the bus stop and waited for the 404. Some of the busses that stopped at the same stop as the 404 were packed! There was standing room only on some and they were packed in like sardines! I finally got on the 404 and headed off. It did not go the same way back but it stopped where I got on it the wrong way the day before! I got off and walked back to the Hotel, glad to be off my feet! They were pretty tired and sore by now! Three days of being on them all the time gets them really tired! I rested for a while and then we went to dinner. We went to Peter’ Tex Mex. It was the same chain as the one that Wade, Leah and I went to in Shanghai. The food was really good and we girls had a great time chatting and laughing! We went shopping at a foreign goods place. There were things that that I’m not sure you can get at one store in the US! It was almost like a health food store/grocery store type place. It was interesting seeing what the ladies that have been in China for anywhere from 2 years to 5 months wanted to get. It really made me be thankful for what we have in the states! Some of the same things that we get and eat every day that get once or twice a year here IF they can afford it and IF they can find it. We headed back and I again chatted with new friends till late and then went to bed.

Saturday was my last day in Beijing. I went out early again and went to the Temple of Heaven. This was probably my favorite place. The Temple of Heaven is where the Emperors would come and worship/offer sacrifices to Heaven. Shang Di (means above the Emperor) was the name that they gave to the god of heaven who is in fact the One God. The Emperor would offer sacrifices in a similar manner as the time of Moses. The Emperor would have to wear different clothing and go through a cleansing process. Only he could offer sacrifices to Shang Di. The sacrifice was early in the morning (4:00am) on December 21, the winter solstice. He would go to the alter and bow three times, three times (total of 9). He would then offer a bull and burn him beside the alter. It was all very interesting and I will be doing some more study on it when I get home. It’s amazing to see how the Chinese worshipped the same God as the Israelites and at about the same time as well. I highly recommend further research on this as I’m not able to give all the information in it’s full here. After a lunch of a tuna sandwich and a banana, I headed off to the Pearl Market. The Pearl Market is a huge shopping mall type place with at least 4 floors. There were vendors selling all kings of things! There were electronics, clothing, jewelry, purses, and of course pearls. I wandered around and told lots of people no, I don’t need an iPod or a whatever they were trying to sell me! I did get a couple of things and then I headed off to Silk Street, another shopping area. This one had much of the same things but more clothing than the Pearl Market. I also got a thing or two at Silk Street. I did not linger long for I was again tired and had sore feet. I headed off by subway and then bus back to the hotel. I rested again for a while and had some leftover Pizza for a late afternoon snack and waited till time to head off to the Acrobatics show. Leah and I were joined by Andy another teacher here in China. (Wade had seen the show twice before and decided to not go.) We arrived at the theater and found our seats. Andy, Leah and I had a great time visiting while we waited for the show to start. The show was amazing! The things that they did were amazing! I can’t imagine the things that they do to their bodies to be able to get into some of the shapes that they do! After the show we met Wade and went to a small mall and got a bit of dinner. I was not very hungry so I just ate some of Wade’s! We then got ice cream for dessert (surprisingly, I was ‘hungry’ for that!) and talked and joked as we walked back to the hostel. We needed to get packed and ready to head off the next morning to get to Changde but alas, we ended up talking till late again and then packed! I had another PBJ as I packed and we were off to get a few hours of sleep before we began our trip home to Changde.