less than two weeks!

Well, quick update before I run downtown with a few friends [Marieke, Becca and Nicole] and get the supplies for the orphanages [as well as some souvenirs of my own to bring home :) ]...but its been a pretty chill past two weeks or so.  I had my final bake sale, so all my duties as Fundraising Coordinator are officially over.  I decided not to do the SO Board next term for a variety of reasons, but J also asked me to really consider not doing it, so I am glad about my decision :)  Plus, it will be nice not to be obligated to go to everything next term and kind of just enjoy what is planned without being a part of it all - it may sound lazy, but I am looking forward to that again, haha :)  It was good while it lasted, and I really did love our board this term!

Tomorrow night the SOs are hosting a turtle watching trip to the north of the island.  Right now is egg-laying time, so these huge 100 year old turtles are coming in the middle of the night to lay their eggs on the beach and conservationists are making sure the eggs are not harmed, etc.  We are hoping to be able to spot one if we can, although its not guaranteed.  I wish the men were able to come with us, but unfortunately, only SOs were allowed for space reasons. The trip will be from 6pm-2am!!!! Its going to be a looonnnggg night, and probably even longer [or shorter, I guess...depending] because you know me & my dramamine :)  A two hour bus ride in Grenada would never fly without it ;)

I will try to update after that trip, hopefully with pictures [although we can't use flash, so I don't know what will turn out...]
Anyway, I have LESS than two weeks left now!!!! I am so excited, and even though I started packing last week, this week will be in full swing as Marieke and I try to get some stuff to our friend's house so its not a big rush at the end.  Please be praying for my husband as he studies for his finals - its easy to forget in the excitement of coming home, but he is still in much need of prayer and perseverance and reliance on the Lord.  I am so proud of him, he is such a hard worker and still so intentional with me as well :)  Praise the Lord for allowing him to make the grades he does, study the way he does, etc.  J always reminds me that He enables him to do all those things whenever I tell him I'm proud of him - and I know that, but I'm still proud :)  and grateful, of course :)

Sorry for the sparse updates...really nothing too terribly exciting is going on except preparing to come home to all th people who read this blog anyway :)  Much love from Grenada...and Lord-willing, soon face-to-face!!!

Op! Knew I Should Have Waited...

Here are some pictures from the 5K that some friends posted on facebook, but I will also share here :)

Glad they thought to bring their cameras!!! :)

 Getting ready to begin!

Another shot of anticipation!

My WONDERFUL friends and helpful volunteers, Natalie and Sarah!

I think this girl was dared to wear this - hilarious!

 Most of the group that showed up to run this morning :)  Some people had left at this point, but this is a pretty good indicator :)  Can you spot me??

Some of my fellow board members: Jessie, Sarah, Stephanie, me, Natalie and Erin.

Poor Natalie and Sarah - we were all so gross!!!

 All the SO's who came out to run!  Love that there was a group of girls so spirited! :)

 There may be more that I will post later, but these are some for now :)  Don't want to get too behind again!!!

5Ks & baptisms, photographs & paintings.

Well today has already been so eventful! I organized and ran my first 5K EVER and besides stopping for some water, and for about 10 feet up the end of a hill, I ran the WHOLE time and came in at 32:43 with a friend of mine:)  Not bad for a person who just started running this term, huh??  I guess the Lord knew I should start running when the SOs weren't allowed in the gym last term and it was my only option for working out :)  I've gotta say - I'm pretty surprised at what my body can do now - there was a time when running two minutes was enough to get me wheezing!!!  And the Lord also provided GREAT running weather today - it has started to get pretty hot again, even in the mornings and at night, but today was perfect!  Of course, I got sweaty, but I was also running for a half hour, so its kind of unavoidable :)  My friend and accountability partner from Bible Study ran with me the whole way, and I was very grateful to have the company - and running accountability, too!  I'm sure I would have stopped running a few other times had I not had her there with me to spur me on - I can see why the Christian life is compared to a race, and how it emphasizes fellowship - its so much easier to keep pressing on when others are around you to encourage you to do so! :)

I also wanted to share some pictures of last weekend on Easter Sunday of most of the girls in our Bible Study.  Our sweet Stacy got baptized along with 4 other people in the ocean on Black Sand Beach.  It was beautiful and glorious, and I am so blessed to have these women in my life here in Grenada :)  It is a JOY to teach them and interact with them throughout the week :) 

 From left to right: Andrea, Stacey, Yunah, Angela [my running buddy!], me, Becca [who designed all the fabulous fundraising posters this term!], Marieke, and Christina.  We were missing about 3 more girls, but I still love this picture :)

And again, a little goofier :) You can also see Ryan in the ocean in the background, ha!

And now FINALLY, I present the Photo Auction pictures :)

 Some of the crowd that came by to check things out throughout the night...

 See someone you know?? :)  He was very supportive and helpful to me when I was somewhat flustered with everything going on...

 J really liked this picture...and he kept bidding until I told him that he could let someone else have it, since Marieke took it...ha!

 SUNDAES!!!

 Enjoying the AMAZING sundaes that really were quite a hit :) I think Mark is making a funny face on purpose - I told them to be "candid"...hmmmm....

 The really cool map of Grenada that one of the SO's painted!

This next picture is also from the photo auction, but I wanted to put it down here because I used it to draw a picture at a social event called "Painting with a Twist" - every 2-3 people who came together brought a bottle of wine and some snacks and proceeded to paint the sunset from a great view point [minus some power lines].  It was a ton of fun and very relaxing and I think they are going to do one more before the end of the term :) 

So I still had this picture on my camera when I decided I didn't want to paint another painting [after I had painted my sunset...which you will see below], but I still wanted to draw.  I tried to draw Natalie, but she was moving around too much, so I decided to draw the daughter of one of the Social Coordinators :)  She is so precious!!!  So here she is at the photo auction...

 And here she is on paper...

 And here she is in real life and with her picture :)  The minute she saw it she said, "Look! That's Abby! That's me!!!"  She was sooo cute about it - she recognized herself right away! :)

And now here are the rest of the photos from the painting night...

Such a fun idea!!

The sunset we were supposed to paint...I debated adding the beautiful powerlines...

 Sorry you have to turn your head sideways to see this one - I didn't have time to edit any of these pictures, including rotating :)  But this was my sunset...haha

Well, that's about all folks.  Oh!  We DID go see The Hunger Games last night with a big group of friends - someone petitioned to have it released here [usually it takes months and months for "New Releases" to get here!] and it was fun to feel a bit American again - AND see a NEW movie for about $3US a person!!! Can't beat that :)  So far it's been a great weekend, but we are still so ready to be home and see everyone!  

Much love from Grenada.

well, this is embarassing...

I think I will keep apologizing about my lack of blog posts until the cows come home...or more likely, til I get home to the states and there will really be no need to document the life I am living with the friends and family who read this blog ;)  But I DO want to summarize what has been happening on the Grenada side of things for the past two weeks or so...

The Photo Auction turned out well.  Not as well as I had hoped, but we still raised almost $2,000EC, and those who came said they had a really great time.  I will post pictures later because I am currently using the sketchy computer that can choose to shut down on me at any point in time...but I am hoping that if we continue to do the Photo Auction every term that it will become a bigger and better fundraiser eventually :)  Now all we have is the 5K run [next Saturday] and possibly one last bake sale... :)

Some of you know that I also started babysitting a little kiddo down here, and so that has been taking at least 5 hours of my day every day since last week.  However, his mom decided to send him home, and so he is leaving Saturday.  It was a great blessing to have a bit of income for a while, and he was/is a cute kid...

I also attended one of the bi-weekly "Breakfast Clubs" hosted by the Social Coordinators of the SO Board. It was at a little hotel called Le Paplillion [spelling??] and I LOVED it.  It was a perfect, quaint little venue and they had REAL tea cups [Mom - gold lined! Just like the chocolate place in Amstelveen!] for serving tea and specialty coffee drinks [very cute] and some great breakfast dishes.  I ended up getting a Morning Glory muffin, but Natalie got a chocolate croissant and let me try a few bites - it was AWESOME!!! Made me wish my roomies were here and we could venture over there together for our old "breakfast club" get-togethers...ah well...I can imagine ;)  And we can find something similar state-side [or I can bake some muffins for us!!!] and have eachother's company anyway - which is better than any location ;)

I have also been to the doctor's office twice since my last post.  The doc suggested I go on a low dose of hypothyroid meds since my blood levels showed up a little low.  She thought this might help my body release the right amount of hormones again and might sort things out...either way, she suggested trying it for 2 months and then to "let her know, because it's a good clinical test" - ha!!!  Anyway, I am currently finishing up the oral anti-fungal meds since the cream wasn't doing it completely afterall...but alas, I am still itchy.  So I've made an appointment with a dermatologist when I get home in the states.  *Sigh*  I am really wondering if the US will just "fix" all my health problems?? I feel quite ridiculous...

If any of you remember me talking about the art auction for the orphanages here last term, they had another one last night.  I bid on a couple things, but was eventually out-bid, but it was still fun.  I think last semester was better attended, but it was still a good time and I was glad to see a lot of the art work of kids I know from Bel Air :)  I have actually missed the last two Tuesdays of tutoring and going there since I had doctor appointments, and she was only available on Tuesdays, so hopefully all will be well next Tuesday and back to normal...

Two of our sisters [Anna and J's sister, Victoria] turned the big 2-1 this week, one day apart :)  HAPPY BIRTHDAY again, ladies!!! We hope it was great, and miss you all tons! :)

The countdown has officially begun and I have 33 days to go until I am boarding a plane and heading back home!  

Well, this seems to be a rather spastic recount of the two weeks, but I wanted to catch everyone up.  If you could all be praying for me - health wise and mentally-wise [word??] since I feel very antsy and disoriented [maybe disorganized is a better word? Mix the two...] at times...unable to sit down and focus on much at all, and just anxious, I guess.  I don't necessarily feel stressed, but I am still discouraged that the fungus isn't going away, and nervous about the thyroid stuff.  I also feel like I have been lacking good, edifying time in the Word, as well as deep fellowship.  I know that part of this is my own doing as I have been more of a home body this term, and I also feel a bit apathetic since I am coming home so soon...I don't know.  Hopefully that makes sense, but please be praying for us! J is still doing well, but he only has about 5 weeks until finals, too, so he will be busy til the end, and as always, he is in need of just as much encouragement as I am, too.  We are eager to be home and at Immanuel for a bit of a breather - what a blessing our church family is to us!  We are so grateful to know what good, solid teaching looks like, as well as what relationships should be like that spur us on towards godliness.  Pray that I can be an example of that here, and I wouldn't be lazy about it - even though we are leaving soon. 

We have a long weekend this weekend, so J is planning on spending today and tomorrow studying and then having Sunday/Monday to chill out a bit.  We are hoping to have one of our friends over for dinner on Easter as well [it seems weird that it is Easter - again, nothing changes to "mark" it for us, really, haha...] and then I don't really know what he has in mind to do.  He gets to choose, usually...since he is the one with the most limited time :)  

May your Easter Sunday be one that encourages you...

...to see God as holy and perfectly righteous

...to recognize the sin you have committed within and without, and the standing it gives you before Him

...to run to Christ, the perfect Savior who was sent to make propitiation for YOUR sin

...to recognize your need for the forgiveness He has provided through His death on the cross and resurrection three days later

...to turn to Him for full forgiveness, repenting and trusting in His work alone

...to long for His return

This is truth, and it requires a response from each and every one of us - God has provided a way...will you see your need and honor Him as Lord of your life?  

May this be true of us DAILY, and especially a gracious reminder for us this Easter!
Much love to everyone from Grenada!