Videos are worth a thousand words

I've taken some pretty funny Limes videos this term but haven't posted them yet... so this post is dedicated to that :) I can't get enough of their little voices and know that years from now when I am missing these kids more than my heart can bear, I will be SO happy to have these to look back on.

This is just a short clip from my buddy Jade. Miss Kelsey was volunteer who was here for 2 years and although she has been gone almost a year I think, they still miss her very much! It just goes to show what an impact volunteers really can have on these sweet kids. He begged me to take this and said it was a very important message!

We made music makers in class this week and they were a huge hit! After they were all made, without any prompting they entertained themselves with their chanting and dancing for a good half hour or so. They crack me up!

The girls breaking it down before heading to the beach on beach day. Jada's signature move kills me! Please make her stop growing up! (I can't figure out how to rotate it better... boo!)

There are several more if only I could figure out how to get them off of my phone... hmm. Hope you enjoy their silliness as much as we do!

1/3 of the way through 4th term!!!!!

Okay so... I need to brag a little bit here.

Nick just completed his first round of 4th term exams! He had a Pathology (the huge 13 credit class) exam on Monday and a Micro exam on Friday. The weeks leading up to these exams were even more intense than usual, with him easily putting in 15+ hour study days and battling ever growing stress and exhaustion. However, all that hard work paid off and Nick brought home 2 A's!!! And, not just any old A's... but two good, solid, above average, completely rock my socks off, A's! I could not be more proud :) 

There is nothing better than seeing all his countless hours of labor, endless cups of coffee, and nights with far too little sleep, pay off! My fiancé is one hardworking and smart man! I'll steal a little credit and say it's because I keep him clothed and well fed... ;)

So, it goes without saying that after exams were done Nick deserved to let loose, have some fun, and sleep! And that is exactly what we did all weekend long! We had a perfect weekend filled with time on the water in the "donut boat", dinner at our place with friends, late night swimming at our neighbor's pool, sleeping in, big yummy breakfast, thunderstorms, napping in the hammock, church, movies, and football... LOTS of football!

Our set up for the football games. Doors wide open, breeze blowing in, thunderstorms pouring down... as close to fall weather as we will ever get here... it was AWESOME!

I am not ready to surrender Nick back over to 4th term yet, but sadly our weekend of bliss has come to an end and he was back out the door early this morning for class and studying. 4th term sure does make you cherish quality time and I am already looking forward to our next weekend of fun in about... 5-6 weeks... sigh. In the meantime, send positive thoughts and prayers his way so that he is able to not only continue chugging away lecture by lecture, but that he continues to dominate :)

"Miss I smart!"

Over the summer  Nick's mom took us to the largest flee market I have ever seen. Tents and goodies were everywhere and the prices for things couldn't be beat. There were sundresses galore, tons of random nick-nacks, and just lots of great stuff. But I hit the goldmine in the dollar store of all tents. This tent had the most random assortment of things ever.. for a dollar or less!!  It was great!! Instantly, my mind went one place- Limes.

In a matter of minutes my arms (and Nick's) were loaded with more things than they could hold. Card games. Flashcards. Dry erase doodle/alaphabet/number boards, bouncy balls, coloring books, activity books, crayons, and 60 toothbrushes. I probably would never have moved on from that tent if it weren't for the one minor issue of needing to transport all my new found goodies back to Grenada! I was so excited to take them to Limes the first day and ever since have taken my bag of "new goodies" with me each week. It is so fun to see their eyes light up during a game of Uno and to see them practice their writing on the alphabet boards. I have also been beyond amazed at how well they have (for the most part) shared these new things with each other, sat in a circle and played cards together (with minimal arguing) and their enthusiasm to learn and show off with the flashcards. I just love it!

Cutie pants! So in love with that smile!

Bradley scheming at Uno! I love watching him smile and laugh playing this game!

Jada the silly head!

Adore them! Sassiness and all!

Miss Katie and sweet Kyle girl :) Love her representin' with the Limes shirt!

We continue to be blessed with a ton of volunteers at Limes. I can't say enough how much of difference it makes and how incredibly awesome it is. Not only that, but our new volunteers are all so great with kids, many bring teaching backgrounds to the table, and so it has been fun to have so many new ideas and bodies around! Today, one of our teachers, Miss Nicci, sat and played a game with addition/subtraction flashcards with a group of boys for almost a full hour... a-m-a-z-i-n-g! Several times during the game one would come up to me and say "Miss, I smart!" then proudly tell me the answer to the problem on the card.  It was so cute! I love seeing them not only having so much fun, but learning at the same time!

Fire, fire! The yard is on FIRE!

Well, today was one for the books.

I was studying for my Social Work board exam in the bedroom, with 2 fans blowing on me from different directions to help avoid heat stroke and completely engrossed in the land of the learning... or at least trying to be.

Then Nick Skype messages me saying that they can see smoke in the LAE area from campus. Interesting. I went out of the bedroom, didn't smell anything. Glanced outside. Still nothing. And wrote it off as not being a big deal. So I sat down at the table to tell Nick I don't see any signs of smoke when our entire house becomes engulfed in smoke. And when I say engulfed... I literally mean 100% filled with smoke... I couldn't even see my feet. My first reaction was "Oh my God, it is OUR house that is on fire!!!" 

I coughed my way outside and breathed a breath of fresh air 1) for my lungs and 2) because it wasn't our house going up in flames, but rather I could see it was coming from a couple houses down. Curiosity got the best of me, so I walked down closer to the water to try and get a look. At this point I was thinking it was contained, but still... I was interested. That's when I see fire quickly moving across the dried brush of our neighbors backyard quickly approaching our own backyard. After staring in awe for several seconds, I realized I should probably do more than just stare at it and ran and got our neighbors. Dana and I proceeded to run up and down the street and called security to connect us to the fire department and Dan joined some other neighbors in throwing buckets of water on an ever spreading fire.


Since we don't have the fire department number on hand (or didn't before, but now do) we called campus security to get the number. Dana and I each talked to them once, and I thought my conversation with them was pretty comical and  pretty typical "no panic, no rush, you can't really have an emergency" Grenada, so here it is:

me: "hi, we would like to report a fire, could please connect me to the fire department or give me their number"

security: "okay, we will file a complaint"

me: "no sir, a fire, there is a fire, we need the fire department, is it possible for you to give me their number?"

security: "yes, yes we are filing a complaint"

me: "This is like a real fire, and it is quickly spreading through ours and our neighbors backyards, we need the fire department"

security: "We will send one of our officers to come and check out the situation"

me: "this is not a situation where we need security, we need the fire department. I called you because I do not know the fire department phone number, please just give me their number"

Finally, I was connected to the fire department, who acted like it was new news to them that there was a fire (even though I do believe others called it in as well). The fire department did respond relatively quickly though, which was good!

Anyways, long story short, we watched the fire spread (and inch closer) to our backyard for about 40 minutes- hour before it was finally put out.  During that time the fire truck ran out of water which required them to leave with the truck and re-fill before they could return and put it out. While they were gone, there was a Grenadian man with his 2 buckets who walked up and down the rocks throwing water on the fire and actually kept it contained relatively well... and I stood nearby and had my bucket ready to assist if necessary too of course :)

The reason it started was not because of the dry ground and overly hot sun, but actually someone was initially attempting to burn things on their own. Hot day. Lack of rain. Very dry ground. Bad decision. It could have been SO much worse, and it was not easy to get the fire out. A few more feet and it would have been heading toward our houses via a wooden fence- really fast. And I would have been running to gather a few of our belongings before hitting the hills! Counting our blessings <3 

Our house after I went running out as it filled with smoke... there were few clouds in the sky today, so yeah... the white around it... not clouds.

The first time I ran down it was burning off in the distance a little bit, but the smoke was already way intense and I could tell it was moving pretty quickly

A few minutes later when I ran back down I saw just how quickly...

At this point we were anxiously waiting for the firemen to return as the fire came within a couple feet of the wooden fence that would have been really rather disastrous if it caught on fire and made the problem SO much worse... they arrived in time and other than smokey houses, none of us had any actual property damage.

Definitely was not an ordinary day and being from Michigan- I have never experienced a fast spreading brush fire before... thankful that my first experience ended with no major damage done and simply a good story to tell! 

Oh, and so my streak of being the crazy, white girl running up and down the street gathering the troops for some crazy event continues... reality tv ain't got nothing on our life here in Grenada :) 

While the men study, the girls go to crab races!

The SOs had a wild and crazy night out yesterday for the weekly crab races! It's always a good and hilarious time, but yesterday was especially fun because we had a lot of first timers going with us. I loved re-living my first time experiencing one of Grenada's favorite activities through their shocked and amused looks that THIS was what crab races are all about. With school being busy for most students at this time of the term, the SOs pretty much took over The Owl and got to run the show, AND win all the races!!

There have been so many more SO outings, both formally planned and randomly thrown together, this term and I have really been enjoying it! It could not have come at a better time with Nick on campus studying until late into the night- every night.

Cheers to girl friends in Grenada! 

"All you need is love" (and Limes)

Limes is officially back in action! This week was our first week back holding class on Tuesdays-Thursday at 3-5pm. It's amazing how much I missed it!

"It is not enough to love children, it is necessary that they are aware that they are loved"

 - St. John Bosco.

I heard this today and I instantly thought of Limes and how true this is. To these kids hearing "I love you" is nice and for some the shocked looks on their faces when you say it shows how infrequently they hear those words, but it is also evident that more than saying that... it is our actions that have the power to speak volumes.

This does not simply have to be showering them with new toys, snacks, and fun games/activities. But also through structure, reliability, compassion, and patience. It is by those actions combined that we demonstrate to them that we truly do care about them, and that their needs and feelings are important to us. Words can be hallow, and many of these kids have learned this lesson much too well, so our actions can be more meaningful to them than a phrase. One little guy who I just love to pieces came running up to me to say goodbye one day this week. I have been bringing fun new toys and games and he was able to play with those on several occassions, but that doesn't mean the day went by without incident. The downside to new things is that no one wants to share, so this little guy and I had had several talks throughout class about sharing, listening, and following rules. Although he would end up relinquishing the toy or stop what he was doing, it was done so with a pout, and for the next several minutes I was the worst person in the world to him. However, I continued to engage him and despite it being a bit of a rocky day for him, when I went to leave I heard a shouting "Miss" and turned around to him leaping into my arms for a goodbye hug. It was so special and cute.

It is important for us to demonstrate love not only by the giving of materialistic things, although of course those things are nice, but also through our ability to look past their misbehaviors- especially on the most challenging days.

When they are acting selfish, it is important to remember what it might feel like to have very little to call our own. When they are constantly tattling or accusing others of wrong doings, it is important to remember the reasons they might be growing up with so much suspicion, distrust, and need to prove someone else wrong. When they get angry and frustrated over something seemingly small, remember what it might feel like to experience a loss of control that easily.  Amidst a thousand complaints, think about what it might be like to never be able to just be happy with how things are, and to always feel the need to find something wrong... or to rarely have your needs met and satisfied. We are all different, come from different backgrounds, living conditions, family structures, etc. and we don't know how their personal experiences have affected them, but the bottom line is the same... we all need to know we are loved!

Ohhh, children of Grenada...

how do you possibly manage to steal my heart more and more every day?!

Saturday was the LIMES beach party to kick off the term, so we met at the Limes field and walked the kids over to Grand Anse Beach. Let me just say... with 20 VOLUNTEERS this was amazingly smooth and easy. Remember back to last term when I wrote about beach day and all the craziness and worry the handful of us volunteers had steering all the kids down a main road in Grenada... well, that was far from the case this time!! There were approximately 30-35 kids and so the kid-adult ratio was amazing and that not only made the walk and time at the beach much less stressful, it made it a million times more fun for the kids and volunteers.  There was no fighting for attention because there were so many doting volunteers to spread love and silliness every child. It was seriously wonderful and made my heart so happy! Laura and Julie are the SOs who are running the Limes show this term and have done such an amazing job so far! To top off a great day at the beach they had also ordered pizza, made brownies, and had juice waiting for the kids after they were done swimming- which was obviously a huge hit. AND as if that wasn't enough each child was also given a back-to-school gift!! They each got notebooks, pencils, a pencil sharpener, and the best of  all... stickers!!!!  Great job on putting together a wonderful day for those kids Laura and Julie, you sure did spoil them silly!!!

The fun continued today as we had our first visit of the term to the Queen Elizabeth Orphanage! This is something I have not participated in as much as I would have liked to in the past, so it was really heartwarming to see the kids again for the first time in forever and it really helped me realize that I need to prioritize my time better to make sure I make it there more regularly this term.  I just love them. We also experienced an abundance of volunteers for this today as well, and actually ended up with more volunteers than kids! How amazing and unheard of is that!? The kids loved it. Everywhere they turned there was a volunteer wanting to play with them and wanting to give them undivided attention.. it was perfect!

Whether at Limes or Queen Elizabeth, these kids touch my heart in ways I never even knew possible. I don't want them to be hungry. I don't want them to suffer from illness and not have proper medication. I don't want them to turn to "thieving" or drugs, or anything bad.  I want them to get plenty of food and grow and develop into healthy teenagers and adults. I want them to get a good education and to enjoy learning. I want to teach them things. I want to play with them until they feel so secure in our relationship that they no longer crave endless attention, support, and love to a degree that is unimaginable (but yet always want to continue to provide it.) I am so thankful for this opportunity to spend time loving on them and getting to know them, and there is no doubt I am right where I need to be. Nick being in medical school here may seemed to come out of left field at first, but now there is no doubt in my mind that as much as Nick needed to be here to work toward his dream of becoming a doctor- I needed to be here too...with these kids. God always has a plan and it's amazing how things work out in ways better than we ever could have imagined :)