A lot of pictures

Here are some pictures of our trip, etc. We are very thankful to God for keeping us safe during our flight, travel, etc. We made it to Florida safely and left there on Monday the 27th to drive to North Carolina. We made it safely here after 11 to 12 hours of driving time. Everything went well and we thank the Lord for that. please pray with us to know God's direction in our next step that we are to take. The mission is wanting us to consider a few things and we are praying about those things. So we ask the everyone please pray with us.



Here is a picture of some of the kids the day before we left. They were playing one last time. There is Jenny, Larry, Trevor, Dan, Breon, and Tanner. Those were the only ones I could get to pose for the picture. The others ran off!

The night before we left Mesha was so gracious to spend a couple of hours braiding Alexis's hair. Alexis wanted her hair done so that her friends could see it all braided up with the beads. Alexis is already asking when she can get her hair braided again.

Tyler and Rodney together one last time.

Alexis and Erianna. Eri has become such a part of our family that we hope she will come and spend some time with us at some point.

On Tuesday, Aprils 21st we were leaving the islands. We don't understand why God works things out in some ways that we would like to be done differently. But we trust God to know what is best and so we are resting in that. He will show us His direction on what to do when He wants to show us.

In this picture are a couple of American guys that Tim got to know during the hurricane, They happened to be there at the airport the same time we were, so they helped load our stuff into the plane. one of the pilots is helping also. We got to know Wes also during the hurricane, He stayed at our home some. The kids enjoyed getting to see him again and we were thankful that we knew one of the pilots.

Tim unloading the van.

A family picture in front of the DC-3 plane that MFI ( Missionary Flights International) fly. We are very thankful that we were able to fly with them. It ended up being much cheaper and we were able to take a bit more of out things with us.

Alexis on the plane.

Trevor on the plane.

Tyler on the plane.

Tanner on the plane.

While in Florida Tim and I celebrated out 15th wedding anniversary. I am so thankful to God for allowing me to marry such a wonderful guy. He is the love of my life and I'm thankful that my love for him grows every day.

I like the Willow Tree figurines and so Tim got me the one called Promise. I only have three of these figurines, but this one means a lot to me.

I got Tim some cologne. I had broken his in the islands by accident.

While in Florida we were also able to go out on a date. A college student, that is like a daughter to us watched all of the kids one evening. Thanks so much Alicia.

Then the kids in our home church in North Carolina had sent us some money to buy shoes for our kids. they had given this to us a week or so before we left the islands, but we thought we would hold on to it until we got to the States and went shopping at Walmart. So here are the kids new shoes. They love having them!!

Safe and sound

Just a quick note to let everyone know that we made it to Florida safely. The flight went well and we thank the Lord for His protection over us. As soon as a computer will let me I'll upload some pictures of the trip. We will be heading to North Carolina sometime around Monday morning Lord willing.

Please continue to pray for us. We have some decisions that need to be made within the next couple of months and we need God's direction in this.

Thanks to everyone for your continued prayer and support during this time.

God bless

Going to the States

Please pray for us today as we travel to Florida where we will be staying for about a week before heading to North Carolina. We've been very busy and we are tired. We need the strength to make it through the next couple of weeks especially. We have many prayer requests at this time.

- our safety, etc. as we travel.
- the church here in Provo
-our friends here in the islands.
- God's guidance in knowing what He wants us to do.

Thanks so very much to every one. We will try to post some pictures later on of us going to the States.

God bless

God answers even the small prayers

I am so glad I serve a God that cares about even the "small" things. Last night I started doing up some of the laundry. I got four loads done and hung on the line. Off and on we could smell the smoke from the dump. When the wind shifts it is awful and can make it hard to breathe, everything smells like smoke, etc. I really didn't want to rewash all of those clothes. Doing laundry here is a chore, I don't mind doing laundry for the most part, but it is very hard to do here. And so I was not looking forward to having to rewash all those clothes. Another option was to take everything off of the line and hang it up in the house. I almost started to do that, but tim said to just wait a bit and see if the smell would go away. I really started praying that God would take the smoke smell away, change the wind direction or something. And HE DID!! We did not smell smoke any more last night or so far today (i'm still doing up the rest of the laundry). So I praise God for answering my prayer.

Youth Retreat

The Caribbean youth retreat was held this weekend here in Provo. The youth from Middle Caicos and here in Provo attended. They worked very hard over the past year to raise money to cover expenses of this retreat. Their hard work paid off and thank the Lord they had a good time. We also had some businesses that donated money to help with the cost. Our youth leader, Ulma Walkin, worked very hard at organizing and getting things going for this. We are so thankful to God for this wonderful lady and the work that she puts into the youth here in the islands. I know God will bless her for her efforts. We had ten children and four adults attend. Everyone met here at the church around 12:30 pm Friday afternoon. Once every one and their things were loaded up we headed into town. A fun day was planned for them. We all went out on a glass bottom boat for a tour of the reef. First stop was on iguana island. The boat dropped us on the island and we were able to walk through and see many iguana. The kids were excited to spot one or hear one running through the bushes, etc. Some of them were even under the wooden walkway that we walked on and once in awhile an iguana would run out from underneath and scare the kids. Once we were out to the reef, the ones that wanted to were allowed to dive and see what they could see. Some saw sting rays, etc. They seemed to enjoy that. Then after we got back to the dock we left to pick up some pizza and headed to the Seven Stars Resort. This resort is fairly new and very nice. The only reason we were able to stay here was because God allowed all of us to get a very special deal. God really helped in this youth retreat and we give Him all of the glory and praise.


Some of the boys on the boat headed out to sea.



More of the boys.

And the girls

An iguana. They were neat to watch. I enjoyed it.

Cecelia Forbes and our youth leader Ulma Walkin. Two very special ladies which we had a lot of fun with. thanks so much for your help. We appreciate it so very much.

Tanner diving out by the reef.

The boat we went on.

Here in the hallway in the main part of our room. We stayed in two rooms, when I say rooms, meaning that it is really like a mini house. This "room" has three bedrooms, four baths, a living room, kitchen area and three balconies . Very nice place to stay and we are so thankful to God for allowing us a special deal.

Living room, dining area and looking out to one of the balconies

Kitchen

One of the bedrooms.

View from our balcony. Beautiful water!!

Seven Star Resort.

Shamille, Sharla, Trevor, Rodney and Tyler, Alexis and Tanner are in the front.

Once again, we are so thankful to God for His blessing and help during this youth retreat. Without His help this would not have happened. The devil did not want this and he put many obstacles in our way, but God is all powerful and He overcame those obstacles and worked things out for His glory!!!! Praise God. We serve a wonderful Savior and especially at this time of year may we remember that He died upon the cross for our sins. He suffered so much so that we may be free from sin. I am so thankful that God did that for me. I am rejoicing in His love and forgiveness of my sins. I am thankful that I know that I will go to heaven and see Him one day because of my sins being forgiven. Thank you Jesus!!!

Going Away Party

Last night was a fun night for us. We have become good friends with the James and Marjorie Dean family. The whole family has become an extension to our family. We have enjoyed many times together and will miss them very much. We thank them so much for getting every one together for this special time of fellowship one more time before we leave.


Getting the fire started.


Mr. Dean and Tim have many talks together and here they are talking about something.





Here is Tino and his girlfriend. Tino and Tim have become good friends. They go diving and fishing together quite often. Each time they come back I find out about who won the competition on the fish, conch or lobster that day.

Alexis's dear friend, Erianna. she is a permant part of our family and we hope she will come and see us sometime. I have a awful time getting a good picture of her. But she is such a sweet little girl and we are going to miss her.

Marjorie Dean. She is a special lady to all of us.

Sivil (Erianna's mom) and Alexis. Alexis has spent many hours with Sivil and her family. Thanks so much for taking her and Tanner into your family.

Me, Marjorie, Sivil and Marjorie's sister. I can not remember her name right now.

Here is Mesha. Alexis absolutely loves her! Mesha is the one that braids Alexis's hair.

Alexis playing with one of the babies. She loves babies!!

Erianna's sister Sivetra. She is a sweet girl also.

Tanner with his buddy Breon. They have spent many hours together playing.

Here is a picture of just part of the kids that were there. they had a lot of fun playing in the sand and running around.

We are so thankful to God for allowing us to meet such wonderful people here in the islands and to make some dear friends. We are going to miss them very much.

Family Day

Mondays are usually are day to go and do something as a family. This Monday we decided to go to Coral Gardens. We wanted to dive here one more time before we leave. Lots of visitors, etc dive here so the fish are use to people. As we swim the fish follow along behind us. The younger two kids really enjoyed seeing the turtle eating on the bottom of the ocean. I wish I had had an underwater camera to take some pictures. It is beautiful and clear under the water.

Here is a picture of Tyler. The building in the back has stopped construction. It has been quiet at the building for quite some time. things are getting harder here.

Tanner buried in the sand.

Here is a sand turtle. The kids enjoy making these.

Trevor buried in the sand.

Alexis buried in the sand.

Furlough

Due to many recent changes both here and in the United States, we will be returning to the US on April 21, 2009 on furlough. Please keep us in your prayers during this unexpected turn of events in our lives. If you have any questions please leave us a comment and your email address and we will try to get back to you through your personal email address. Please continue to check back on our blog as we will continue to keep updates on our family.

A Clean up

Yesterday and today we were cleaning up the back yard. This is something that some in the church has wanted to done for awhile. Everything would get piled up on the edge of the woods. So the kids, Tim and I and also Peguy helped by cleaning and picking up all of the debris. Everyone worked very hard to get this done. And it looks very nice. I forgot to take a picture of how it looks now, maybe I'll try to do that another day.


Here is Tyler cleaning up.



Trevor tearing some boards apart to be thrown away.



Tim and Tyler carrying a large log to the dumpster. Tyler is a big help to Tim now that he is older. I tried to carry one end, but just couldn't do it.

Here is part of the pile. Some of it had already been cleared.

Alexis raking up debris.

Tanner is up on the dumpster.

The worse part of all this was the bugs and roaches that would crawl out and get on you. The kids did much more of the work then I did because I was busy doing other things in the house, etc, but I did have a roach get up my skirt and it was not fun. I was laughing at the boys earlier by the way they acted when they had them crawl up their pants, but I wasn't laughing when it happened to me!! Yuck!!!