Let the Exploring Begin!

Now that Josh is not in school and I'll have an extra set of hands helping with the kids we have the opportunity to explore our island! Before moving here when I learned that the island was roughly 22 miles from top to bottom and 13 miles across I thought "oh you can probably drive around the whole island in a matter of an hour or two." HA! Oh naive Harmony...you were thinking of American quality roads and speeds. Island roads are much more narrow, bumpy, windy and some are very steep! There is no such thing as a straight shot direction to anywhere on the island. Going somewhere 7 miles away takes about 25-30 minutes. So even though the island isn't that large with all the mountains and hills everywhere it's easy for me to forget I actually live on an island! I know, weird.

Today a bunch of our friends who are still on the island got together and drove to Annandale Falls. (Us, Geoff & Amy, Mallory & Garrett, Alix & Dave, Eli & Kylie) It's about a 45 minute drive up into the rain forest-y area, more toward the middle of the island. We happened to go on a day when a cruise ship was in, so it was VERY busy. (But this time of year there is almost at least one cruise ship in every day, so in all the touristy spots there will be crowds. They don't bother me.) Annandale is perfect for little kids. It's not even really a hike, more like a leisurely walk to a waterfall. The pathway is paved and there is a railing down to the water. You can just walk into the water to cool off, or you can jump in off a platform that is about 8-10 feet high. Cannon decided he wanted to jump in, and I was shocked when he actually did it! He loved it so much that he did it AGAIN! He wanted Josh to go with him, which I was ok with, but he was SO brave! I would have NEVER done that at his age. I absolutely LOVE that he is getting to experience all of these things in his childhood! I feel like moving to Grenada has reminded me to LIVE life! It's so easy to get wrapped up in the routine and monotony of each day. I have rediscovered my love of being in nature and EXPLORING! It's so fun to see all the beauty around us that Heavenly Father has provided for us. Especially here, I am daily astounded by the beauty I see. I think because it is all so new to me (the trees, flowers, caterpillars, beaches,). It's like I'm a kid discovering everything that is new, so it has helped me remember what it's like to be a kid and to discover!

Anyway, after Josh and Cannon jumped in a few of us Mama's jumped in as well! It was fun and cold, but not too cold. It felt refreshing in the heat.

 We then had a picnic by the water and headed back home. But of course there was a mona monkey there! It wasn't a wild one, we have yet to see a wild one but we have seen a lot of domestic ones. Monkey's are just awesome!

   

HE'S DONE!!!

Josh is DONE!!!!!! HAPPY DAY!!!! He finished his last exam and so we went up to Cannon's school to pick him up a little early. Cannon's school was having a party and they were playing so we let the girls play on the playground for a bit while Josh played football (or soccer) with Cannon and some of his buddies. Cannon was in heaven!! The principal, Jenelle, even came up to me and said that Josh is awesome and she is looking for a recess monitor so he is hired! ;) 

On Saturday to celebrate the end of the med school wife widow-ness, we had a BBQ on the beach with some awesome friends! (Magazine beach) We had never been to Magazine beach and it is AWESOME! The waves are definitely bigger than BBC or Grand Anse, but there is so much sea life! You can be only 3 feet into the water and there are fish swimming around you if you look in, but you would never notice unless you looked! After the beach we decided to head into the Caranage to get PIZZA HUT! Yes, you heard me there is a Pizza Hut here now! It just opened a few weeks ago and we've been wanting to go. We figured it would end our celebration day perfectly! (Just ignore how much it was! But that is in EC so it wasn't as bad as it looked! But still about $40 USD for two one-topping pizzas.)  It tasted AMAZING!!! We all downed it!! But I think we're not used to eating as much processed food anymore because afterward both me and Josh had the worst belly ache! Then we had a family pajama party and watched a movie. Best. Day. Ever!

I have seriously forgotten how WONDERFUL it is to have Josh around! I have gotten so used to doing everything myself! When we were getting ready for the beach and I got myself and the kids ready and came out and he had already packed the food to take to the beach! Best surprise ever! Then after we ate pizza hut, I got the kids in the shower and he cleaned up dinner! Ah-mazing!!!

The End is Near!

It's finals week for Josh, we are SO close to the end of term 1 and we are so excited! Looking back on this term so many things have happened in the past four months, it's flown by but in the same sense it seems like an eternity. Things that have happened...

- Endured the HOTTEST weather. (Seriously... I thought I was going to DIE!)

- Played at the most amazing beaches at least once a week!

- Explored a foreign county with three kids, WITHOUT Josh. 

- Learned to accept the fact that a gallon of milk is $7.50 USD

- Been woken up by a millipede falling on my head.

- Watched my little Ruby get the WORST goose egg on her head and then fall numerous times in the 

   EXACT SAME SPOT.

- Watched a wave take out Ruby, she is still scared of the water at the beach from that one. Even though I        was right next to her and picked her up.

- Eaten many-a-burger Friday's burger at the Merry Baker in Port Louis giving me the opportunity to meet 

  people from all over the world who are sailing. I never realized that people will literally LIVE on a boat and 

  sail around from one place to another... for YEARS at a time. 

- Watched Cannon be SO brave and learn to understand the local's accent's after a couple of weeks at 

   school. 

- Given lessons in primary every week, then sometimes sharing time and singing time as well. Church sure 

   goes by VERY fast when you are doing something for the last two hours straight! 

- The local primary children taught me the song "I love you Jesus"

- Josh woke up to a cockroach crawling on his arm! (Ew!)

- Hazyl doesn't seem to mind the heat and continues to insist on taking her blanket everywhere, but then she 

   gets hot and is SO grumpy. She is FINALLY starting to believe me when I tell her she is hot.

- One night I walked into the kitchen with Ruby and the BIGGEST grasshopper jumped into my leg, causing 

   me to scream and run away, deserting my own child in the kitchen. Josh and the other two kids came 

   running out of their bedroom to see what was wrong. I know.... I know... a grasshopper, but it came out 

   of nowhere and it was huge!

- Learned to endure ants, ants, ants. (Ugh I HATE ants!)

- Had two A/C units break in two of our bedrooms.

- Dealt with a broken down car, stranded and with kids... on more than one occasion. 

- Had a centipede crawl on my FOOT!  

- Had as much as 75 mosquito bites at one time. Why do they love me?! 

- Hit a truck coming out of the church parking lot. It is the steepest driveway and completely blind coming 

   out of it. Luckily the only damage was to my car and just a broken headlight. 

- Learned to cook in a kitchen that is 90 degrees F, before turning the stove or oven on.

- While cooking pancakes on the stove a cockroach (about 2 inches big) crawled out of one of the burners I    was not using. (Ew!) Continued to finished making the pancakes then KILLED him! haha!

- Always see lizards and iguana's walking around the neighborhood and yard.

- Had crabs crawling in our yard, pretty good sized crabs!

- A cockroach lived in my bathroom sink for a few days before we could catch him. Nothing like brushing        your teeth and seeing the antennas poke out of the holes in the front of the sink! 

- Made MANY friends that are like family. It's so great to be part of such a wonderful community! 

- Had many many experiences knowing that the Lord knows about ME and my struggles and I have 

   witnessed so many tender mercies on my behalf, He knows me.... I know it. 

On the left Hazyl informed me that she is Ariel. On the right Hazyl handed me her stuffed puppy and informed me she wanted "boobs." I'm scared for her to grow up. 

We kept driving past this park on the way to Cannon's school. So today we went with our friend's (Lori, Parker, Jacob and Olivia) to check it out. It totally reminded me of the playgrounds I used to play on as a kid, and it probably has been around that long! There were rusted out holes in most of the fixtures. When we got there it was full of local kids and a little boy came up to me and said, "We never see the people white here!" I tried to be as friendly as we could but I think we still scared them all away. Only a few stayed and then I realized one was a boy from Primary! His name is Ryshlon (but he goes by Corey) and he played with us. We then heard a little ice cream truck pass by so we had to get some ice cream of course! The "strawberry" flavor tasted like pink cotton candy and was NASTY, but the vanilla was good and the kids liked it. You know you're in Grenada when there are goats and chickens at the playground with you! (Notice the goat in the background of the girl's picture.) 

I forgot to document the arrival of Bill, the elf on the shelf that comes to our family every Christmas season. He's not mischievous like other elves, but he sure does watch the kids closely and make sure they are trying to make the right choices. He even brought our stocking from home!!

Nothing is more American than corn dogs! You cannot buy them here anywhere, it's a good thing not long before moving here that I learned how to make homemade ones! I was finally able to get a thermometer to make some! They were a huge hit with the kids (and Josh) who ate one after getting home late. 

It's Beginning to Look a lot like Christmas...NOT really!

It's so weird to me that it's December. We have been listening to Christmas music for at least a month now and watching Christmas movies as well. But when it's 86 degrees outside it doesn't feel like Christmas at all. Christmas if my favorite Holiday out of the year, by far! I love everything about it! So I have been worried that I would get super homesick and down this holiday season. Now I know that Christmas is still a few weeks away, but so far so good. I think that EVERYTHING is so new that I don't really have anything to compare it to. PLUS my sister and her hubby are coming here for Christmas!! So I will have some extended family here for Christmas!! I really think that the Lord is strengthening me, and already HAS strengthened me to be able to handle/accomplish more than I ever thought I could as a mom. So even though there is no snow here and we are far away from family and family traditions, we are still feeling the Christmas spirit! 

Now speaking of accomplishing hard things.... Today I went downtown with a group of about 7 of us S.O.'s from the Branch down here. We each had at least one child and we were checking out the different shops downtown. Now downtown St. George's is hard to explain. I will have to get pictures sometime of the streets and shops and such. But the roads are narrow, people drive crazy here, and the sidewalks (if there ARE sidewalks) at narrow and inconsistent. So strollers are out of the question, so you carry your kids or they hold your hand as you walk. OR if you're like me with TWO littles, then you carry one AND hold the other's hand. Then you're walking around from little shop to little shop in the heat and after about 30 seconds you can feel the sweat start to drip... in quite literally places you didn't know was possible. Add to this the mamas that are still nursing and would have to stop and find a place to sit to nurse for a bit... I have met some SERIOUSLY AMAZING mama's! 

We were quite the spectacle in town. So many white girls and all in a group. There wasn't a cruise ship in today so we appeared to be tourists and kept getting asked if we needed a taxi and such. After a few inquiries as we walked by people kept say "SGU students. SGU students." haha We were laughing. 

When I took this picture the girls were beyond done (mostly Ruby), and Hazyl was a CHAMP and didn't complain once! Even after I had to basically throw her into the gutter to avoid a car from nearly hitting her! Let's just say that I will NEVER take for granted AMAZING sidewalks in America!! Or that MOST drivers will slow down when kids are near. 

Oh and of course there is marijuana everywhere.  We literally had to walk right by a group of men who had the biggest pile of weed I've ever seen and they were just rolling away. "Girls don't look as Mommy walks you by drugs!" :0 I've gotten used to smelling it more frequently than I would like. It is actually illegal here, but I'm not sure how strictly it's enforced. 

The BEST part about downtown are the smoothies!!! You can see the remains of what is my favorite, Chocolate, banana, peanut! Yum! Ruby enjoyed it as well! 

What's a better way to cool off after a hot day downtown?! Oh yeah Beach Friday! (Sigh) The beach just makes everything better! 

I think the kids enjoyed themselves as well! Seriously one of the best beaches ever! The sand here is so so soft! I love the color of the clear blue water, and it feels SO nice! 

It was so fun to end the day singing Christmas carols in the car on the way home from the beach, all in our swimsuits! The kids LOVED it!! 

Bill is Back!

Our elf Bill might have been a little later than normal but it's only because he brought our stockings all the way from Utah! The kids were so excited, I love seeing all of their faces fill with excitement and wonder in the magic of the Christmas season. 

Life

Life continues on here in Grenada. After my emotional breakdown in October Josh finally convinced me to hire a cleaning lady to help me around the house. I am naturally too cheap to pay someone to do something I am fully capable of doing. However, life here is different and having to wash dishes by hand every day, after every meal, for five people (plus pots and pans) adds up fast! It's not hard by any means but very time consuming. Then add hanging all your laundry and man... American's are SPOILED! ***Side note: I am normally kind of a news junky but after being here I can't keep up on all the American news. It mostly sounds like a lot of whining to me. I feel like it should be mandatory for every American to live in another country, that is NOT a first world country, for at least six months. People would sure stop complaining about little stupid things and focus more on the bigger aspects that need improvement. Ok, venting done.*** So this is the maid that Josh found. She is from Cuba and her name is Dagma. She comes once or twice a week and it's the BEST DECISION EVER! I told Josh that now the level of expectation has been met. There's NO going back now. I think I might need to sneak her in my luggage when we leave. It's SO wonderful to come home to a clean home! (Especially when you didn't have to clean it!) The girls love it when she comes and she loves to play with them. Although she is very loud by nature and I think they like her but are intimidated by her as well. My favorite is how Ruby says her name. She calls her "Ma-guh"... close sweetheart, close. Another story about Dagma... One day Hazyl told her she was really a boy because she has hair on her face! Needless to say Dagma's patch of facial hair, that is normally on her chin, was gone the next week when she came! (Ahh... kids...oops!)

The other day Ruby fell asleep on her bed while "reading" her favorite book: Dr. Seuss' ABC's. It was the cutest thing and she is SO my daughter. She will just sit and look at books for a half an hour at a time and I love it! 

This is the captivated attention that they give Daddy when he is home. When Josh is nearing his mid-terms or finals his study hours increase from about 10-12 hours per day, up to 12-15 hours per day. So even though I usually see him when he gets home and climbs into bed, sometimes it can be a few days since the last time the kids have seen him. Needless to say they cherish Daddy time...we all do! 

What do we do when it's raining outside and all the ground is wet?! We "bowl" inside with plastic cups and rolls of duct tape as "balls." (I need to invest in some tennis balls or something! Hmm... I wonder if they are sold on the island and if I have to pay an arm and a leg for them...) :)  The kids loved it and it entertained them for a good 45 mins while I did what you say? Oh yeah... dishes. 

When Grandpa Jay and Grandma Peggy came to visit they brought much needed family pictures, quotes and pictures of the Savior. I finally was able to "hang" them on the wall. The walls here are all made of concrete so actually hanging anything in a frame is out of the question. I have been on the lookout for some sticky tack to hang them, but gave up and just used packing tape. NOW it's starting to feel like home! We can now say our family is here with us in Grenada, and even though it's only through pictures, it still feels great!

This little diva cracks me up! She obviously was enjoying some of the candy brought to us by Grandma and Grandpa! 

It was just too hot to wear this skirt as a skirt...so it's now a very immodest dress to be worn around the house. 

Oh these two girls of mine. They are only 18 months apart and I feared that they would NEVER get along. But with Cannon in school most days they have learned to actually PLAY together!! Hallelujah!! Now they still have their fr-enemy moments, or cat-fight moments, but they are getting fewer and farther between! I also love how in almost every picture I try and get of these two 9 times out of 10, Ruby is looking at Hazyl. She ADORES her older sister and wants to be just like her already! Their relationship is still a work in progress and some days I just feel like a referee, but improvement is key!    

Beach Friday's!

Beach Friday's are one of our FAVORITE parts of each week! Miss Deb, a teach at Grace Lutheran, hosts it and it's so fun to go to the Grand Anse beach and play. There are usually quite a few kids from Cannon's school there and he LOVES to be able to play with his friends. Hazyl and Ruby mostly love to play in the sand. Ruby used to love the water until a wave flipped her over one time...it was a LITTLE wave, but it scared her enough that she is now super clingy to me. I just had to document some of the photos I've taken at them the past few weeks. 

Oct. 23, 2015

This is one of my favorite pictures! It's a live sea urchin. Cannon loved how it was still moving and would "stick" to his fingers when he held it under water. We looked at it and then put it back into the ocean. **Side note, the locals call these "sea eggs" and eat them. They crack them open and along the inside of the shell is what looks caviar. They eat it raw or they saute it with garlic and eat it as a dip. 

Despite Hazyl's expression here, she really does love the beach. She always gets SO much sand on her. I have just accepted there will ALWAYS be sand. Once you accept that fact.. it doesn't matter that it gets literally everywhere. We really do love it, and it's the SOFTEST sand ever! I don't think I'll ever get sick of the beach! 

One time Miss Deb changed the location of Beach Friday to BBC Beach. Cannon spent the WHOLE time on the inflatable toys. P.S. There is NO FILTER on this picture. Just another amazing sunset we get to see daily. 

 Nov 27, 2015

The girls eating their snacks on the beach. I took a picture of Cannon too, but when I got home I realized he looks drugged in it, so I left that one out. (Oops! Should have checked it before we left the beach!)

Grace Playground

One of the kids favorite things to do is play on the playground at Cannon's school, Grace Lutheran. It's basically, by far, the best playground on the island. Every once in a while when we are picking up Cannon we will stay a little later and I'll let the kids play after we get a "snow n ice." (It's basically a homemade otter pop in a baggie. The kids bite off a corner of the bag and eat it through the hole. It's a highlight to any hot day...which means ANY day! haha) 

In the pictures you can see Cannon trying to climb the pole of the swing set just like his friend Jayhem. When I asked Jayhem how he learned to climb so well is reply was, "I watch the monkey's climb the trees!" Only in Grenada... haha! 

Give Thanks

Happy Thanksgiving from here in Grenada!! I think it was a good thing that I hit my low point right before November started. I needed reminding of what to be grateful for, and there are so many things. Life might not always be paradise, even if you live in paradise, but there are usually positive things to focus on. I am so grateful for these three children that I have the opportunity to raise. We sure missed being with family today and sharing in those traditions. It was great being able to FaceTime and spend time with Framily. (Friends that are like family.)  We had a potluck style dinner with friends and Josh was even able to come!! Since it's not a local holiday he still had school today and wasn't planning on joining us for Thanksgiving dinner. About an hour before the dinner he surprised us by asking us to come and pick him up from campus! BEST. SURPRISE. EVER. The food was great and it was even in an air conditioned room, which was amazing!!! 

I may not have gotten pictures of the dinner, but this is one of the kids before we got into the car. Definitely the warmest Thanksgiving I've ever experienced. 

Optimism

op·ti·mism: 
      noun: hopefulness and confidence about the future or the successful outcome of something.

Let's talk about optimism. After my Three Month Anniversary post I probably didn't come off very optimistic, but I really am naturally more optimistic than not. After discussing the subject of optimism with some mommy friends of mine, I really have been contemplating if I'm as optimistic as I think I am. I feel like there are people that just exude positivity, do I follow under that category? 

For me, motherhood has been one of the biggest blessing of my life! I adore my three kids, and even wouldn't turn down the idea of adding to our family. In the same sense motherhood has synonymously been the hardest thing I have ever done! From the moment of growing that baby inside, to the tantrums and messes that come with toddlers and young children. Each of my children has pushed me to my limits in different ways, forcing me to grow in many areas of my life and teaching me beyond what any professor or academic leader ever could. One of my friends once put it perfectly. She said, "Motherhood has taught me that I CAN DO HARD THINGS." I feel like this is so true with the situation I find myself in on a daily basis. Yes, motherhood, as well as, living in a foreign county is legitimately hard. It's okay to acknowledge that fact (and maybe even dwell on it and feel sorry for yourself a bit), but that doesn't take away my optimism. At the end of the day I "put on my big girl panties" and make it through the next day. I do this because I have learned that, usually, my biggest blessings have come through my biggest struggles. So to answer my own question and thoughts, I'd say YES! I am an optimistic person!  I was having a hard time around that three month mark, and that's okay. Like I said, I knew it would pass and life has continued on our little island. I can once again look at Grenada and marvel at the astounding beauty that is around me each and everyday and focus on it's positive attributes. It doesn't change that--quite lenghtly-- list of things that I struggle with, but it puts things back into the right perspective. 

So I continue on in our adventurous life here and can remember that Crisis + Time = Humor. So that UN-desired bucket list event of the CENTIPEDE crawling over my toes yesterday, will SOMEDAY be funny. Or that I hit a truck coming out of the church parking lot and shattered a headlight that now has to be imported because the piece isn't on the island. But for now it's still a little too soon. ;) 

Monsoon Rain!

So it's definitely the rainy season! There are only two season's in Grenada. The dry season (from about January- June), and the wet season (from about June-December). We arrived in the hottest time of the year, according to everyone else. So as it's been raining more this past week I have been in HEAVEN!! It has rained so much that TWICE Cannon has missed school! These are pictures of the road to his school. It's kind of hard to tell, but normally there is a road where that river is. The driveway to his school is immediately after the green house on the right hand side.  

 These are views from the other direction. Coming OUT of the school. 

That grey cement building with the red windows is a Rum Distillery. When driving down the road from it you can smell it in the air. Hazyl, for the longest time, would say "Ew! What's that smell?" I told her it was Rum and that it's a bad drink that makes good people make wrong choices... :D So a few weeks later she told me that "the boy at the playground who called her stupid drank rum, because that was a BAD choice that he made." I was laughing SO hard! I corrected her and clarified that the little boy did NOT drink rum. 

So what do you do when you're stuck home and you've done your school work already?! You watch Christmas movies, of course! Even though the weather is still super warm here, we are trying to get in the mood of the season as best as possible! 

This is Halloween

Happy Halloween from the Caribbean! It's by far the warmest Halloween I've ever experienced! I'm so used to worry about snow and cold weather, it was a change of thought pattern to have to worry about it being too HOT for costumes! Little Ruby was a Weber State University cheerleader, Hazyl (along with 90% of all the other 1-3 year old girls on campus) was Doc McStuffins, and Cannon was a warrior. Cannon's warrior costume was a last minute change of plans. So right before trick-or-treating we had to make the knife out of duct tape and a paper towel roll. He loved it just as much as if it were purchased at a store! Halloween isn't really observed here, but the SO Kids Organization puts on a Halloween carnival on campus. (It was technically the day before Halloween, but we just told the kids it was Halloween.) So we trick-or-treated around campus to various offices then went to the party. There were crafts, contests, snacks and a bouncy house. We were extra excited when Daddy joined us after his class was over!! We then headed over to Options (basically an outdoor food court) for dinner. 

I made some "scary" pizzas earlier in the week and the kids thought they were super cool!

Actual Halloween was spend on my favorite beach. We ran into one of Cannon's swim teachers, Shaheem, who let Cannon try paddle boarding for free! Cannon loved it and I was a little jealous. ;)

 Panorama of BBC Beach

Ruby even took her nap on the beach... tough life, right? 

Three Month Anniversary

"Back to life...back to reality..."

Three months ago TODAY.  Yup, it was three months ago that we arrived on this little island in the Caribbean. I had heard that around the three month mark is when a lot of SO's ("significant others" of the student... trying to remind everyone of SGU terminology) start to have a hard time living on the island. I am naturally an optimistic person and look for the positive in any circumstance. Even though we have had our fare share of "trials" already in the past three months I have never ONCE uttered the words "I HATE GRENADA!"..... Until yesterday. Yup it happened.. maybe it's because I have felt like crap all week. I have this lingering cold/flu that I just can't seem to shake. Maybe it's because it's holiday season starting and fall is my FAVORITE time of year.. and I'm stuck in an eternal summer. Maybe it's because it's so stinking hot...seriously ALL the time. (Being sick I haven't been able to enjoy activities that cool me and the kids down... ie swimming at the pool/beach, etc.) Maybe it's because I know my A/C bill next month will be even more ridiculous because I have been at home more using it. Maybe it's because I'm TIRED of all the freaking bugs! I just want to go ONE day without seeing a bug IN my house! Maybe it's because I'm tired of feeling like I have to wear shoes/sandals all the time until my feet hit the bed at night. Maybe it's because I'm married to an AMAZING, wonderful, kind, loving man... that I only get to see for about an hour a day. Maybe it's because I feel like I am a single Mom. I have been ok being the President of our little family but I lost my VP and am trying to run this little family all on my own... in a foreign country, with a different culture, where the grocery store never seems to be fully stocked, and with NO fast food. (Oh McDonald's why did you have to start serving breakfast ALL day now?! Couldn't you have waited for me? Or started BEFORE I left?) I never realized how nice it was, if I was busy running around all day to be able to stop by Papa Murphy's and grab a pizza for dinner. Maybe it's because I'm tired of household chores taking me ALL day, every day and it STILL never feels clean! Maybe it's because I have no definite visitors coming any time soon. Maybe it's because everyone says it just gets harder. Maybe it's because yesterday I had to pay $700 EC to renew me and the kid's visas so we can stay until May. Yes, we have to pay yet MORE money...go into MORE debt... just to keep our family together. Maybe it's because I love to bake but my kitchen is usually at a  90-94 degrees F and turning on the oven can be torture. Maybe it's because more times than ever previously I have heard my kids say "Mom are you crying? Why are you crying?" Maybe it's because I feel like a 1st world brat complaining about all these "trivial" things when some of the locals don't even have running water. Is this what I signed up for? Was I really ok with this? Am I really strong enough to do this? I was feeling like I could, but now... I'm not so sure. Before we got here I had heard of other families where the wife ends up going back to the US and staying there until their husband finishes school. I always thought "how could you be away from your husband for such long periods of time?" I'd be lying if I hadn't already considered the idea. But in reality Josh is my rock, I couldn't be away from him for that long. Maybe that's why it's so hard right now, I'm here with him but I feel like I'm here without him.

Up until this point I have felt just fine. I have been able to accomplish things that even a year ago I thought I could have NEVER done. I have literally felt the prayers on my behalf, helping me to accomplish day-to-day tasks.  Then this sickness hit and just turned my world upside down. I feel like if I can lick this then I can get back to my normal routine and feel like myself again. Optimism and all.  I know that this is where Heavenly Father wants me and my little family right now, and I know he will help strengthen me. This doesn't mean I won't stop having hard days, or that I'll stop crying because I miss Josh. But it does mean that I know that it is a time and a season, and "this too shall pass." I find strength in one of my favorite quotes:

"Don't you give up. Don't you quit. You keep walking. You keep trying. There is help and happiness ahead... It will be alright in the end. TRUST GOD and believe in good things to come." - Elder Jeffery R. Holland

Until then I'll try not to let my kids die while I rest my aching body and attempt to get over this sickness.

Love,
Pessimistic Harmony

Hazyl was so sweet on Sunday while I was sick. This girl is a TOTAL blankie girl. She LOVES her blankie, so the fact that she shared it with me... that's true love. She wanted me to feel better and was just so sweet! So was my Cannon! He kept writing me little notes that said "Mom I love you. I wish you were not sick." I basically have the best kids ever! 

Grand Etang

This week SO Kids Organization hosted an activity where we met at IGA (the grocery store) parking lot and caravan-ed up to Grand Etang National Forest Reserve. It's located toward the middle of the island. 

It's kind of funny, because before moving here, I learned that the whole island is 22 miles from top to bottom and 13 miles across. I thought "oh I could drive around it in about 45 minutes or so." HAHA! NO! Not even close! I thought Grenada would be more flat, but it's NOT! They have mountains that are over 2,000 feet in elevation. WAY higher than I thought! Plus all the roads are super windy and so there's no "fast" way to get anywhere.

From where I live Grand Etang is about 11 miles away. Not far at all, right?! Well... it takes a good 45 minutes to get there, on narrow roads that can be SUPER steep. Now when I say narrow roads imagine a road wide enough for one car... but it's NOT a one way road. Then most of the roads are right on the edge of a cliff, we're in the rain forest here people. Everything sure is an adventure here! I have learned that living here is NOT for the faint of heart! 

After arriving, we decided to do the 20 minute hike down to the lake. The kids loved hiking through the rain forest and loved seeing the wild cats that were by the lake. Grand Etang lake is a crater lake of an extinct volcano. They say it's "bottomless" because nobody has been able to find the bottom yet. Mt Qua Qua can be hiked near the lake, but it's NOT kid friendly so I haven't done it yet. This is also where there are wild monkey's. We haven't seen any wild ones yet, hopefully one day we will. Apparently they only come out in the morning, and they like to take bananas from people. 

After hiking back toward the cars we all sat on the lawn of the visitor center to eat a picnic lunch. The kids soon found the BIGGEST bug I have EVER seen! It looked like a giant cockroach to me, or some kind of beetle. Whatever it was... seriously HUGE! The kids loved it but soon started pestering it. As mothers do, we advised them to stop. When one of the little boys didn't the bug JUMPED ON HIS BACK! Poor thing started SCREAMING and crying. But his mom was too scared to touch the bug, so another one had to knock it off his back. All the locals were dying of laughter! Poor boy... traumatized.

 Hazyl and Ruby made a new friend. Ada, which I'm sure is the completely wrong way to spell it, is just younger than Ruby. (Yes Ruby discovered her nose...)

These are some pictures of the view on the drive back. Crazy beautiful views! As you drive there are banana trees everywhere, nutmeg trees, papaya trees, coconut trees, cinnamon trees, all sorts of produce! If you don't know what you're looking for you would never know it though!

Here is a video I took with my phone on the drive back home. The video doesn't give it justice though. The road is under construction and the drop down is probably 1,000 foot drop just on the other side of the car. Reminded me of driving in the Andes mountains in Ecuador!

Overall our adventure was a success! I'm proud to say that I accomplished it on my own with three kids! Well, not fully on my own... I always have my SO's, but without Josh. Poor Josh is stuck at school while we get to experience this adventurous island! But on the plus side, he's in air conditioning while we are stuck in the heat!

Just Limin'

The heat is ridiculous... I know I talk about it all the time. But you can't describe how hot it is... it's just SO hot! So we try to cool off in the water as much as possible! Every Monday and Thursday SO's are allowed to go to the SGU Club pool. It's basically amazing. It's right on the beach and the best part about the pool is you don't have the clean up of the beach! (Don't get me wrong we love the beach, but it's definitely a process once you get home and having to clean everybody off.) 

You'll notice that there is a flower in my hair. Hazyl is constantly picking flowers and either asking me to put them in her hair, or putting them in my hair. I'm glad that Cannon is such a strong swimmer, he is a natural in the pool. He just wishes it had a diving board and slide like Grandma Peggy's. :) 

One thing that has been an awesome side effect of moving is the kids learning to play SO well together. Before moving here there were always other kids their own age to play with and they didn't play very well together. To be honest, I don't think it ever occurred to Cannon that he could play with his sisters. But when there's nobody else, he'll take what he can get. ;) Now don't get me wrong, they're still siblings and fight. But especially Hazyl and Ruby, have learned to play together! It's one of my favorite things to overhear or watch all the kids playing "pretend" together. Cannon is a natural leader and the girls will do anything he suggests, whether they should or not. Hazyl has taken to being a nurse and rips up a wipe as her "mask." It's just so much fun to see our little family grow together. I have also been surprised at how much I have enjoyed the consistent time with my kids. I was worried that with Josh gone all the time and no family around that I would go a little kid crazy.. needing a break. Now I ADORE my kids but every parent knows what a trip alone to Target, for an hour, can do for your soul. So I was concerned that I would go stir crazy not getting a regular break. But, so far, it hasn't even occurred to me to WANT a break! (Insert tire screetch...say wha'?!) With not knowing anyone here, I have been able to really appreciate each of my children and their individual personalities even more than before. I still get frustrated and loose my cool of course, but I feel like rather than me just looking forward to my "me" time I just enjoy THEM! I feel like our time here will pass so quickly and I want to remember them living here and experiencing this new lifestyle. The good, the bad, and the ugly. 

A Tale of Two (or a few) Head Injuries

Ruby is BY FAR my most accident prone child. I think it's a combination of her trying to always keep up with her two older siblings (thinking she is big enough to do what they do), a clumsy age anyway, and then you add hard tile floors to the mix. It's a recipe for disaster for any child, I guess. She has fallen and hurt her head too many times to count but I took pictures of the worst two.

This one happened when she was sitting on a chair at the desk in my room and fell off. As she fell her head hit the corner of the chair then she landed on her head on the hard tile. Poor thing... 

This next one was BY FAR the worst injury ANY of my kids have ever had! I can usually remain calm in personal injury situations. I know that if I freak out my kids will follow my example. With this circumstance I couldn't help myself... I went into full freak out mode. I was in the laundry room hanging up laundry, the kids were all playing and I had noticed that they were in the hall at the top of the stairs (just four stairs, but EVERYTHING is tile), when I heard a CRASH! I went running!! I saw Ruby was in the umbrella stroller, face down with the stroller on top of her at the bottom of the stairs. I pulled the stroller off of her and she was strapped in. I frantically unbuckled her and watched the BIGGEST goose egg appear before my eyes! It was instantaneous and I kept thinking it was going to burst open and blood would come pouring out! (Common sense doesn't exist in my mind during bad circumstances apparently.)
 I felt TERRIFIED, but let me explain why. Of course we are in Grenada, which is not considered a first world nation. So the medical capabilities on the island are... not what I'm used to. The ambulances (which I have only seen two) look like they are straight out of the Ghost-busters movie from 1984... well they are like this:

     

Yes, this is an actual ambulance and let's just say that in emergency situations nobody ever calls them. It's a known fact that if a person gets hit by a car, the person who hit them picks them up and drives them to the hospital themselves. Then there are the hospitals themselves, which I have never actually been to, but some of my friends had their babies in the PRIVATE hospitals and say they are like a hospital in the States would be... in the 1970's... so a little behind the times. Needless to say one of our current sayings we use with the kids is "don't get hurt in Grenada!" 

So here I am watching my daughters head swell up right in front of me and I start crying out, "OH MY GOSH! OH MY GOSH!" over and over again! I must have had a look of terror on my face because Cannon immediately almost started crying and started asking. "What is it Mom?! What is it?!" I knew I couldn't call Josh so I ran next door remembering that I had seen Tim out a little earlier. (He is a med student as well, but a year ahead of Josh.) I left Cannon and Hazyl, took Ruby with me, and ran to Tim's door. He answered and immediately knew why I was there. We were trying to see if her pupils were dilated when Ruby, who had been screaming bloody murder up to this point, suddenly stopped crying and laid her head on my shoulder. I then started freaking out that she was beginning to act lethargic. Tim and Laina offered to watch Cannon and Hazyl so I could run Ruby to the clinic on SGU campus. 

I ran back inside our place to tell Cannon and Hazyl that I would be leaving when I found Cannon had shut himself in his room. The fall had been his doing and I knew he felt SO bad. So I had to calmly explain to him that I was NOT mad at him, I knew he didn't mean to hurt Ruby, but I needed to make sure Ruby was ok and he needed to tell me what had happened. He came out and told me that he had helped buckle Ruby in the stroller all by himself and that he was so excited he wanted to show me. So he tried to push the stroller down the stairs and it got too heavy with Ruby in it and it slipped out of his hands. So she rocketed forward and because she was strapped in, couldn't catch herself as her head smashed against the tile floor. My heart ached for Cannon and I gave him a big hug and reassured him that I was not mad at him but needed to take Ruby to the doctor. 

I put Ruby in the car and started the drive to campus. In my haste I then realized that I didn't know WHERE on campus the clinic was!! Ahh! I then decided I could call Josh and he could tell me. I called him... no answer. I called him again... no answer. I called him AGAIN...no answer. (By this time I am becoming more and more irritated that he doesn't keep his Grenada phone in view for such circumstances. WHY does he NEVER answer?! Ugh!! In stressful circumstances, I'm not a very nice person, I have learned.) By this time I am on campus driving around trying to find the clinic when FINALLY Josh calls me back. I had already asked a student where the clinic was and was walking to it. I told Josh what had happened and he ran to the clinic to come and look at her. I was hoping that at the clinic they would have some type of an x-ray machine to see if her skull was fractured. Josh walked into the clinic as I was waiting to talk to the front desk and he looked at Ruby. Now I know he's only a first term med student and nowhere near being a doctor yet, but I also knew that he has worked over four years in an Emergency Room and has seen his fair share of head injuries. So he would know better than me if Ruby's injury was concerning. By now Ruby was actually not acting lethargic at all, she was back to her normal self. Climbing on the table and chairs in the waiting room and super excited to see Daddy! Josh went and asked if the facility had any type of x-ray machine, which they didn't (TIG) and he said she should be ok with some ice and ibuprofen. So I took her back home and relieved our neighbors of their spontaneous babysitting duties. Poor Ruby will have a bump and bruise for a REALLY long time. I just hope there's no long term effects from her fall. 

The pictures don't really give it justice. These were taken at the clinic.

These were taken later that evening and in the following days.

Side Facts, to my knowledge, about Grenada:
*There is currently no MRI machine on the island. It broke and has not been fixed (for who knows how long).
*There is no NICU on the island. So delivering babies is much more risky here.
*In the private hospital (the nicer one), when you deliver a baby you bring your own bed sheets with you. There are no sheets on the bed.
*It's not uncommon for women waiting for a room in the public hospital, to give birth in the hallways.
*If you have a doctors appointment at an office they do not set up a time. They tell you a day to come and you wait your turn. First come, first serve, by number. So if the clinic opens at 8am, people usually start lining up by 7:30 to have one of the first numbers. But usually if the clinic starts handing out numbers at 8am that means the doctor doesn't actually arrive until 9am. So you're looking at a MINIMUM wait of 1.5 hours. I have a friend who waited 5 hours to see the doctor, and this is not uncommon.

UPDATE: Jan 12, 2016
JUST as Ruby's bump was ALMOST gone, about three nights ago she fell out of bed and hit her head (we think on the nightstand and then the floor) in the EXACT same spot! I'm afraid this girl is going to have a permanent goose egg/bruise on her forehead! Poor thing!

Dra-Cannon-ula!

Before moving Cannon hadn't lost a single tooth. On the morning of our flight to move to Grenada his first tooth fell out! He is now almost up to number four! He won't let ANYONE pull it out, he has to do it himself. Which means that it basically falls out on its own! At least it's Halloween time, so he fits the "spooky" theme of this time of year! ;) 

It finally came out! Now all he'll want for Christmas is his two front teeth...  ;)