Tuesdays are Egg Days

Good Day, Friends!

I've realized that I haven't shown you much of my living situation or told you much of what I do on a day-to-day basis.  So, I thought that I would tell you today, as I realized I'm beginning to get a little bit of a routine down to my weeks. Up above is a picture of "Nutmeg".  We live in Nutmeg R2C, which is 2nd floor right in the middle. So, you can only see our bathroom window in this photo. 

I've been here 6 weeks now, and Tuesdays, I decided as I was walking home carrying 96 eggs, are egg days. Every Tuesday a local man comes to campus and sells eggs 2 1/2 dozen for 17 EC, which is a pretty good price! That is $6.18 according to my computer calculator.  Today I bought 3, which brings me to 90 eggs: 1 for Emily, 1 for Ryan and I and 1 for next week (I'll get to that later).  He gave me six free eggs because I returned 6 crates today.  Emily and I were a bit behind in returning them. 

OK, So Wednesday, Thursday and Friday still don't have too much routine (except for the two bible studies that I've joined Wednesday and Friday nights), but that doesn't mean I don't keep busy!  I've just started my online MBA program, which keeps me reading a lot, and the daily chores keep me quite occupied as well.  I normally wake up around 6:30 and prep breakfast to send Ryan off.  When he leaves I work out by running or doing yoga, then I get into the word before I start lunch.  In the afternoon I usually do something with Emily before starting dinner and desert.  Then in the evening I have some down time with Ryan. Also in those days I usually end up at the beach, or pool at some point, and Emily and I are trying to hang out with the locals a bit more at Nick's Donuts once a week. 

Saturdays are grocery shopping at the Market in St. George's, which I have yet to get pictures of.  Emily and I leave around 7:30, catch a bus and get into town by 8:00.  This is the perfect time, because things haven't gotten too busy yet, and everything has just been stocked.  We usually get most things from our market friend, Cindy.  Things are all purchased by the pound. Prices are fair, but I wouldn't call them cheap.  Though now that Cindy sees us as regulars she is starting to throw in some freebies.  We haven't gone into St. George's every weekend, because it's a bit of a hassle.  So when we don't I still have to find the fresh fruit on the streets, because the produce in the stores isn't great. 

This last Saturday I bought fruit from a man named Kevin. I was thankful he had "normal" bananas.  Most of what you find in Grenada are really tiny, really dense, and really sweet bananas.  They aren't really bananas, but they are.  They call them "figs" here.  Anyways, so I struck up a conversation regarding bananas, and I ended up getting a free guava and passion fruit!  See what a little friendly conversation does?

Well, here is the guava!  I really liked it, but Ryan liked the passion fruit better.

Sundays Ryan and I go to our CSA meeting, which is church, but they don't like to call it church because we don't have a pastor or elders.  The service starts at 11:00, but we usually get there early to go to prayer meeting, help set up, or start on the worship team.  The service ends at 12:15, and as Ryan goes off to study again, Emily and I usually find ourselves baking, reading or talking again.

This is the apartment complex where Emily lives.  The apartment that we will be living in next term is the one on the top right in the front building.  Fun spiral staircase, right?

Mom, I thought that you would like that the apartment complex is "Bougainvillea".

So, yesterday was Monday.  I found myself in the routine of running, being at Emily's to read and cooking. As I was cooking I was wondering where all my time went in the day.  I don't feel very productive here ever, but my productivity should not be what defines me.  Especially when I only have a microwave and two stove tops to cook with.  I cooked for 3 hours last night! I made home made pizza from scratch and then these oatmeal "cookies" that Ryan and I have fallen in love with.  The recipe is from one of my wedding gifts, and is actually a recipe for muffins, but I don't have an oven, so I've been cooking them into cookies.  They still taste good.

These pictures are from last Wednesday:

The ball shape didn't work out too well, but they still tasted good.

This is my husband that day.

This is from yesterday.  The same oatmeal things. 

But I promise it's a different day. How can you tell? Well, no glasses, and umm, earphones, O! and there are clothes on the back of his chair. 

And my oatmeal "balls" morphed into cakes because they cook much better that way.  I experimented with a few fun shapes last night.

I'm still trying to find contentment in my new routine.  It's hard to not measure yourself by the standards you were brought up by.  But it's not those standards that count.  It's what God says of us.  God calls us new creations, redeemed, loved, chosen a royal priesthood, his sons and daughters.  My work is in loving Him with my heart, soul, mind and strength, and I'm still working on that. It's hard to do even when our days aren't as full or busy as they used to be.

Harry Potter Party & More Paper Goods

Dear Anxious Paper Inquisitors, 

I have not forgotten my quest to make as many things out of paper as possible.  In fact, quite the opposite has happened.  I have been so busy spending my time making things out of paper, I have blogged little.

This past Friday Emily and I threw a Harry Potter themed party, in honor of the final movie coming out and my husband and her love for the man.  So we made invitations with burned edges and a Hogwarts seal and wrote the invitations in the format of the Hogwarts acceptance letter.  They came out really well!

As far as the party went, we didn't want to exclude non-Harry Potter fans, so we nixed the Harry Potter trivia and played our own version of Quidditch.  We also had themed snacks, decorations and played a non-themed game of fishbowl.  I hope you all know fishbowl, because it's fun.

As for the paper decorations, I'll mostly let them speak for themselves.

1) Our Quidditch field!

2) The supporting houses.

3) The golden snitch!

4 & 5) House banners in the Great Hall.

6) Our food labels.

7) Harry Potter glasses party favor!

8) McGonogall's hat and some kitchen spices re-labeled as potions.

Chocolate cupcakes and homemade caramel :)

Soft pretzels dipped in chocolate with magical ends.

9 & 10) Luna Lovegood's paper glasses and "Quibbler".

11) Hogwart's Poster.

The final result.

My 12th I do not have a picture of, but we put a "Platform 9 3/4" sign on the front door.

So added to the count is 13 (counting the invitation) new things you can make out of paper.  My tip is not to limit yourself at all.  You can do anything with paper, and don't worry if there is writing on stuff. No one really cares! We had a great time and I think we only ended up spending about $10, and we had lots of fun decorations.   We don't really have much of anything to work with here except for scraps and paper, but I'm loving the challenge of decorating on a tight budget!

Raining, raining

This week it has been raining non-stop.  It's been quite wonderful actually!  I love the rain. It's been a huge part of my testimony through God reminding me that He is always with me.  Also, it's been such a wonderful change in our Grenadian routine...well whatever routine I have had so far!  Not that we don't like the sun, but in this heat rain is a wonderful gift!


The rain this week has been torrential: beginning almost in a split second after bright shining skies, then pouring for hours.  The ground here is so dry most of the time that when it starts to rain the water has nothing to permeate into and so everything then also almost instantly floods, and the hills don't help!  But we have had a lot of fun running between buildings and getting drenched.


I've been thinking a lot about what I think God has been speaking to me this week, and I believe that He has been convicting me of the power of prayer.  In bible studies this week we looked at the second half of Ephesians 2, and Matthew 6.  Maybe not as much Eph. 2 being a reminder of prayer, but definitely the fact that we are insufficient to live in love and unity without Him requires prayer in every moment.  Matthew 6 is one of my favorite passages of scripture.  I love how the scripture says, "when you give", "when you pray", "when you fast" then expecting us to take part in these disciplines.  These disciplines require us to feel empty and to give what we have to remember that Christ is all that we need.  He is our treasure here on earth and in heaven.  


So, what does this have to do with prayer?  Everything! Our insufficiencies can magnify Christ if we choose to surrender them to Him, and seek Him in all things.  He has promised that He hears our prayers and He loves us.  


We have also been reading through the bible, and it just so happens that this week we are reading from Daniel, a wonderful book on prayer.  Daniel does not give up prayer for anything, and prays prayers with weeping conviction over the lost nation of Israel imploring for God to restore the glory of Mount Zion!  


We must remember to have expectation in prayers.  Don't pray prayers willy nilly.  Pray prayers knowing our Lord loves you and longs to answer you and He WILL. It takes the faith of a mustard seed.


I would love to update you more on what has been happening this week, and I will tomorrow.  I will add more to the list of things to do with paper :)

A few thoughts on a lot of little things

Looking out from the southernmost tip of the island.

It's 2 o'clock on Sunday afternoon September 11th, 10 years after the attacks on New York City.  It doesn't seem like it's been that long since it happened, because I can, as I know you can remember everything so vividly that day.  At the same time, I've been thinking about all that I have been through since then and how god has grown me, shaped me and changed me, and how He continues to.  I can look back and see prayers answered and seemingly pointless struggles and suffering be redeemed for God's glory.  

A view of Grenada from campus.

I can look back and see how God has taken my parent's divorce and the bitterness I've had and used it to strengthen me and used it when I found out a friend was going through the same situation.  It may have been just those few walks around Gordon's Coy Pond, and those two short conversations on how we overcame that God inflicted suffering for, but it was worth it.  I remember the challenge of relationships and the fasting from dating that God has redeemed now to a marriage relationship that only He could have ordained.


I was trying to think about what I would write for this week's post, and thoughts came flooding to my head.  A lot of thoughts on a lot of little things that God has been teaching me this week.  Those, again, are a sign that God is alive and active and working amongst His believers.


For example:  when I was reading Ezekiel this week.  The passage of Ezekiel 37 struck me in a new way as I read it in light of thoughts about evangelizing.  At bible study one of the leaders mentioned how dead things can't move, can't breathe, can't see or hear and they don't even know they are dead!  Walking back from the study, with Ezekiel 37 fresh in my mind from reading it earlier, I couldn't help but think how I had God's breath of life in me, and the poor souls walking around me had the breath only of this earth that they don't even realize is death!  This gave new meaning to the song "Marvelous Light" by Charlie Hall when the song says, "My dead heart now is beating, my deepest stains now clean, your breath fills up my lungs, now I'm free now I'm free".


O, Lord, give us a heart for the lost!  Give us eyes to see and ears to hear how you are calling us to minister today!

Our apartment is on the second floor in the middle.

I am also realizing that I have a intense love for birds that I didn't even know until I've found that I want to write about birds in almost every blog!  But, I am blessed.  I am finding fulfillment in this season of my life in little joys and pleasures like looking out my apartment window.  We are on the second floor of our building, and just this week the tree right outside our window started budding with this unknown Grenadian fruit.  It has brought floods of little birds that I just found out are called Bananaquits and Caribbean Mockingbirds to our window.  Ryan and I have enjoyed sitting and just staring at the birds as they argue over which little bushel is theirs then begin to eat only the blackened berries of the bunch.  

Even now I can look over my left shoulder to see the birds in the tree and the Caribbean breeze is blowing in the branches. I can breathe in the warm life that God has sent me today through this breeze and the delightful chirping.  I pray that we can always remember the hope that Christ has given us through His breath that has made us alive and always remember the eternal glory that is to come even if it's in this little thought of delight that God has brought me just now.

Crab Races and the Sorts

Whenever I've talked to someone from home recently, they've asked me what I've been doing.  Quite frankly, I haven't been doing too much by many people's standards.  But, I'm grateful and glad for a time to be refreshed, relax and soak in the truth of the word through good company and study.  But I also do not want to undervalue the daily chores and errands of cooking, cleaning and supporting those in your life that you love by doing these things and being in prayer for them.  There is no need to be busy, but just a need to seek the Lord, and to be a blessing to Him and to those in your life.  


Today I did a study on forgiveness, by just looking it up in my concordance, and I am in awe of God and the meaning of love to Him.  I didn't dwell too much on how God asks us to forgive in order to be forgiven.  There are many passages in Matthew, Luke and the New Testament, where forgiving and being forgiven closely coincide.  I was reminded today the depth of my sin and Christ's love in forgiving in comparison to what I am seeking to forgive others for.  So, I am singing along with Kim Walker today:  "You are good beyond all measure and my heart longs to bring you pleasure...and all my life I will sing:  God I love you and all you do!...Amazing Grace how sweet the sound."


So, if someone asks me what I've been doing I will tell them cooking, cleaning, reading and watching movies.  I've also been scheming Christmas gifts and fun themed parties.  I've been going to the market and the grocery store and preparing for my classes next week.  And last night I went to a crab race!  Yes, a crab race.  Where people bet on crabs....

This is the crab racing ring!

This  is how the crabs begin! They are numbered with chalk.

And the finish! 

And today I've been enjoying the first overcast day this month...with the window open!

This is my season. To live simply and worship.  

The things that can come from paper.

I've made two new challenges to myself this week.  1 is to pray on my knees daily, and the other is to see how many things I can make out of paper.  I made these goals because I wanted to pray more, and also because I've been surprised at how much I can do with paper and it would be fun to see what else I can do. 


It seems like every week I'm getting a bit busier as I'm learning a routine and finding things to do and people to hang out with.  I'm still a bit confused  as to what I should be doing here every day, and what God wants from me.  But I'm learning through various things that its not so much what I do as how I do them and for what reason.  I was just listening to an older sermon by Joyce Myers and she reminded me that sometimes we worry a lot about our specific calling and forget that God has told us His will in His scripture!  We forget that His will is to love God with our whole heart, soul, mind and strength and to be thankful!  These simple things we forget.


   This week has been spent learning how to contain my budget, cook everything including flan on a stovetop, what not to eat in Grenada (more on that later), watching all of Anne of Green Gables and planning surprise parties. Emily and I have decided we are going to have monthly themed dinners, which I cannot reveal yet, because they will be secret.  We also learned on Monday that it was one of the SO's birthdays on Thursday, and she seemed a little sad that she didn't know too many people yet and that her husband would be in class all day, so we decided to make her a cake.  Mind you, we don't know too much about this girl other than her name and that she was a music teacher.  So, a music note cake it is! 

                                                                        Here is Emily frosting the cake.

 We shaped the cake with a trick my husband taught me:  bake it, then freeze it, and  while it's frozen, cut it out!  It held together very well, but we couldn't manage frosting the edges.  But, it gave it a nice 3D effect (we think). 

 And here it is my one new paper product of the week!  A 3D birthday card.  O, and we also used toilet paper as birthday cake plates.  That's not really a cute craft idea, more a poor medical student wife's idea... but it is a new thing made out of paper!

So we surprised her at the pool with the cake! And she had a birthday party with 20 girls at it.  Not bad...


Emily and I have been praying for boldness and to be a witness in our love.  We don't know exactly what to say sometimes to people when we want to tell them about Jesus' love for them. We don't know exactly how to pray.  But we are trusting that Jesus is writing our story and that His anointing and spirit in us will guide us to be a blessing.  We know His will is to love Him, to joyfully serve Him and find our identity in Him.