THANKSGIVING ON MEMORIAL DAY

A friend sent me several things that I posted here on my blog. I hope you read them all and appreciate the truth of them!! Happy Memorial Day all you U.S.(ers) and remember those who gave us freedom!! If you know someone who has served in the military or is still serving let them know how much you appreciate their service to our country!! Especially remember those who are in the Middle East in the heat of the battle on this holiday and can't be home to have a picnic or party with their family and friends. They are making a huge sacrifice for us!!GOD BLESS THE U.S.A.!!

THE PRICE OF. . . . .

I LOVE THIS

THANKS TO OUR HEROES

AMERICAN IDOL

Out With the Old and In With the New

No, I'm not talking about a New Year here. Yesterday as the afternoon went on Dennis asked me what time I was coming home from work and I said it would be probably 4 or 4:30 as I was trying to complete a project I had been working on. He asked me to try to be home by 4:00 as he wanted to take me somewhere and I obliged! When I finally got home, I asked him where we were going. You see, since we moved here to Grand Cayman, our bed has been rather uncomfortable to say the least!! It seemed the mattress that had been on the bed was very uncomfortable for my back. We decided to switch mattresses from one of our guest rooms. Well, it seemed the longer we slept on that mattress the springs were literally poking us and it was horrible!! Dennis had a Church Board meeting on Monday night and while business was being taken care of he mentioned the poor condition of our mattress. Of course, the good people that they are said they did NOT want us sleeping on something in that condition. They told Dennis to take me and pick out a new mattress and box spring. I had no idea of this until right before we left to go shopping. I was so happy and relieved to know that we'd be getting rid of the springs and all from the old one :o) So, we went to a referred furniture store and tried out the mattresses for comfort. This afternoon, the old set went out. . . . .
and the new set came in!! It seems to be very, very comfortable and hopefully we won't have any trouble getting used to it after the old one we had been sleeping on. The only problem is I think I may have to get a ladder so I can go to bed :o) It is so high being that this new mattress is super, super thick!! I also got a new set of sheets. Check out how high the mattress is in the second picture!!

I was told last evening that the old set was probably here from when the Mission House was built which was many, many years ago. Sweet Dreams, Everyone!!

Enjoying the Skies

What can I say other than beautiful????

Still Enjoying the Skies

Another evening!!

Some Beautiful Gifts

I have made some wonderful friends here at Cayman and this week they blessed me by being so thoughtful with some beautiful gifts/cards. Some of the items were even edible :o)

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One of the ladies gave me this nice card. . . . .

Another made this awesome "bag"! It's almost too pretty to use!! I can't imagine the hours she must have put into this. She used Silver Thatch which is a type of palm tree here on the Island. I just love it and want to use it, but don't want to ruin it!!
Then apparently it is mango season as everybody and their brother are sharing them with us!

Then one day this week while working in the school office a friend brought me a pretty bouquet of fresh cut Gardenias. Some of the ladies down here call them Jasmine. Oh, do they ever smell good!!

Let me say that this week they pampered me a little bit. The gifts are all beautiful, but that's not why I like my friends. They are all genuine friends and good people!!

So Much to Post ~ So Little Time

We've never been busier in our lives than we've been in the last 4 1/2 months!!! I've so many things I want to share with you on here, but there just isn't enough hours in a day :o(( As I look at the clock on the wall it is now after midnight and we have an early morning breakfast appointment that I must get up for. Many other things are going on tomorrow BUT my intention is to get busy here on my blog. So, we'll see what happens and how my day goes. Like I said, I have lots of things I want to show and share with you. Hope to be back before too long!!

Spring Rainy Season?

Last Sunday, it started to rain and lasted for almost one week. No, we didn't have rain 24 hours a day but we had rain!! We don't get much rain here except in a short rainy season in the Spring and then I believe, in the Fall during hurricane season. It rained so hard one morning that it woke us up around 5:00 as the drops were pounding on the house and windows. It would rain hard, hard, hard for maybe up to continually 20 minutes that you couldn't hardly see any distance at all. Then it would slow down to a "normal" rainfall. Slowly it would stop ~ for a short while and then it would begin to pour down again!! It went on like this for 6 full days. There was water laying around everywhere you looked. I was going to take a picture out back where our students play kickball, etc. but forgot. It was unbelievable!! Here are a few pictures that I did snap to share with you!

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The sky at times was so black and eerie looking

It continually gushed out the rain spouts

And this is the result of all the rain and wind we had. It caused the ground to get very soft and soggy and we lost one of our banana trees. I think with the weight of the bunches of bananas hanging on that the tree just fell over!!

A better view. We had someone use a machet and cut the bunches of bananas off. Right now they are laying on the back porch hopefully riping as the days go on.

Before this tree fell over, we had another tree with another huge bunch of bananas on that the branch broke off from all the weight. They are soooooooooooo heavy!!

We Heard From Brett

Last evening, our Vonage phone rang and I went to answer it. It rang two times and went directly to the answering machine for some reason. I was sooo disappointed when I saw it was Brett calling us and I missed it. So, immediately I tried to call him back. Needless to say, I was very excited when I heard his voice!! He's doing well and left Washington on Friday evening and was still in San Antonio, Texas. The group went to the base there for lodging but there was none available. They ended up downtown San Antonio to get a hotel and it was right on the River Walk where they were staying!! I don't know if you've ever had the privilege of visiting the River Walk there in San Antonio, but it is a beautiful place!! We took a boat tour while we were down there for Brett's graduation a little over five years ago. I'm sure that Brett and the other guys were happy to be staying at such a nice place after their week in training!! He continued to tell us about the training and thankfully it wasn't as bad as it could've been. With them getting ready to be deployed, thankfully Brett and his guys weren't allowed to have any bones broken. From what I understand it was very intense training and a lot of classroom work. I'm so glad that is behind him and over. Now he'll being going to Fort Dix in the middle of August, at least that's the rumor they've been hearing. If it's like the other times he's been deployed, they keep moving the date up. I hope and pray that doesn't happen this time with the birth of the new baby getting closer!! Anyway, Brett and his friends were heading home to Tampa this morning. I'm sure that the "Little Man" sure will be happy to have his Daddy home as well as Karissa!! Caden didn't talk much to Brett on the phone while he was gone. For some reason, he just doesn't care to talk on it. Thank you all who prayed for Brett's safety while he was in training. God heard your prayers!!!

Meanwhile while the training was going on in Washington, there was a shooting in Tampa at MacDill Air Force Base. If you go here, http://tbo.ly/90KWpP you can read about it. It's pretty sad. If Brett would have been there he possibly could have been involved, because it was his flight that was working when this happened.

Thanks again for your prayers. Please continue to remember Brett and the others who will be deployed with him. Where he's going in Afghanistan is where the horrible fighting is going on right now. Just yesterday there was a bad gunfight there!! I dread this soooooo bad!!

Finally ~ Mother's Day Pictures

Finally, I'm taking the time to put a few of the many pictures that were taken with my camera on Mother's Day morning at home and during Church. I hope you enjoy them!

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Here I am with another of my new hats! I really like this one (too!).

My hat along with a beautiful card that was given to me by some very wonderful friends.

And this is what was inside my card ~ a $30.00 gift card for a store here. They are so thoughtful!!

Oops!! There's the new hat making another appearance :o)

This is just part of the congregation Mother's Day morning. I forget the total of people that were there but it was over 525, I believe!!

Some of our young people playing a song for the Mother's! They did a great job!!

Our Children's Choir performing

And there's my Pastor :o)

This dear sweet lady is 101 years young!! Dennis calls her "Sister 101"! Needless to say she received this beautiful bouquet of flowers for being the oldest Mother in attendance. In a few weeks I'm planning to do another post on here about her. She's going to perform in Church. You may remember that I had her birthday celebration on here several months ago. Her mind is so clear and sharp!! Amazing!!

This Mother received a fruit basket for having the youngest baby. He was only 2 weeks old and oh so tiny.

Here my friend, Miss Samms, is presenting me with a bouquet of fresh flowers for being the "Church Mom". I thought that was cute as I've never heard that before :o)

This bouquet was presented for something that I forget what it was. Sorry!!

The lady that is seated was presented the "Mother of the Year" award. Here she's surrounded by her family!

And here is my good friend Lorna. This was to be a surprise but somehow I think she surmised something was going on. She, too, was presented the "Mother of the Year" award. This lady does soooooo much for the Church and keeps going like the Energizer Bunny. She's amazing!! This was the first time the Church presented two of these special awards.

This was hilarious!! These three ladies did a skit about older women and the maladies they have. Did the congregation ever laugh!!

And these three did a great job on their song.

A picture of most of the Mother's on the platform singing near the end of the service "'Til the Storm Passes By'. They, too, did an awesome job!!

I love this picture of these elderly ladies! The one on the right in the purple reminds me so much of my Mother. She's a sweetie!!

Yes, I had a wonderful Mother's Day!! And the proof is in the pictures :o))

Happy Discovery Day from Cayman Islands

"Discovery Day in the Cayman Islands commerates the discovery of the "Sister Islands" of Cayman Brac and Little Cayman by Christopher Columbus in 1503. The public holiday is celebrated on the third Monday in May." Wipikedia

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Yes, today is a public holiday here in Cayman!! Yeah, no school which means no work today well at least not in the office:o)) Yippee!! We plan to take a little trip around the Island after we have lunch in a little while with our friends, the Heath's, who will be leaving the Island later this afternoon. I'm trying to do some work around our home, so I can continue to check those items off my "to do" list.

Try to Be Safe Brett

Dear Brett,

I'm sure you won't get to read his, but just in case you do, know that I'm praying for you a lot and you're sure on my mind so much!! I know it's not going to be easy, but you are strong and can make it through this terrible training!! I love you and hurry home soon!!

Mom Caden,

Daddy is working and will be home soon! I know that you and your Mommy are really going to miss Daddy this week. I hope that the two of you keep very busy and keep your minds occupied. Maybe you and Mommy will go to the park or go swimming. Wish I was there with you!! Grammy loves you and can't wait to see you before too long!!

Until I see you,

Grammy

A Mother's Concerns ~ Again

Yes, today is another beautiful sunshiny day here in Grand Cayman! The weather says it 90 degrees out there BUT feels like 104 degrees. I haven't been outside per say, but did stick my head out in the garage which was blistering several hours ago!! My built in alarm clock woke me up before 6:00 am on a Saturday morning. I got up and went right back to bed hoping to go back to sleep, but in just a few minutes I got up as I was wide awake. When I got up I looked out our bedroom window happy to see it was raining. Let me rephrase that ~ it sprinkled for just a few minutes. When I looked out our front living room windows the black top wasn't even hardly wet. We really need rain here desperately!! With Monday being a holiday here I made a list of things that I wanted to do and began checking off my list. But as the morning went on I just didn't feel too good. My stomach is rather upset and raw feeling, I'm teary eyed and have a gigantic lump in my throat!! I've been thinking about Brett a lot today and my heart is hurting for him. I talked to him on Thursday evening and he told me that he leaves tomorrow for one week. He flies out to the state of Washington tomorrow for very intense horrible, nasty training. With a hood over his head, hands cuffed behind his back, he will be lead into a room where other military guys will come in and in very nice words beat him up!! They are allowed to do almost anything to him including breaking bones!!! This is supposed to be training for when he is deployed and if the terrorists would kidnap him. Well, excuse me, but isn't there another way to train them instead of breaking bones???? We're talking the US here not Afghanistan yet!! I know they must be trained but come on!! Yes, I'm very angry about this whole thing. After he comes home from Washington, then he must go to Fort Dix in New Jersey for 45 days before leaving the States. This whole war thing makes me sick!!!! Those people over there were fighting among themselves long before we went over and will continue to fight even if and when we pull out! We along with other countries continue to lose so many of our troops, but we continue on. I know it will never happen but it's too bad some of the high ups in the government don't have sons/daughter's that have to go serve over there in the worst of it like common people do! Things might change if they did!! I look at Brett for example ~ this is going to be his third deployment in less than six years. He's married with a wife, a little boy who is almost three years old and another baby to be born the early part of August. We're just hoping and praying he'll be home in Florida for the birth of the baby. Then they'll pack up their apartment again, move Karissa and the babies to Ohio for 6 ~ 7 months and totally disrupt their lives. This is happening to thousands and thousands all the time!! It just isn't fair and believe me, when it hits this close to home it really gets your full attention. I just can't fathom how poor Caden is going to make it for the time that his Daddy is deployed let alone Karissa and the new baby. Like I said, life just isn't fair at times, but we were never promised it would be! I'm not sure what time Brett leaves tomorrow for Washington, but when you think of him, please breathe a word of prayer for him and his family he'll be leaving behind. He leaves out there next Saturday probably in the morning and flies to San Antonio, Texas. A lieutenant in his flight was killed in an accident and they are going there for a Memorial Service. Then he flies home to Tampa sometime on Sunday, if I'm not mistaken. So, again I'm asking for prayer and for Brett that he won't have to take the wrath of this training to awful bad!! Thanks so much as I appreciate it and am sure he will, too!!

Mother~Daughter Banquet May 7, 2010

On Friday, May 7th was our Mother~Daughter Banquet. Earlier in the day, I had been contemplating what I was going to be wearing for the evening. I was very excited since this was going to be my first banquet here. As I was dutifully doing my work in the office that morning, the outside door opened and in walked a man from our congregation. He and his wife (who is from the Philippines) and were gone over there for six weeks visiting her family! They are wonderful people and Dennis & I had just been talking a few days prior to this that it seemed like it was about time for their return to Cayman and here he was walking into my office :o) In my excitement to see him I walked over to the counter and he handed me a hat. Here they had brought it for me clear from the Philippines!! How very, very thoughtful of them. So, immediately I knew I had the hat for the banquet, but still wasn't sure of the dress. After finishing up my work, I hurried home and started looking through my closet and this is what I came up with!
This is our dear friend whom I was sharing about a few posts back with Dennis. He catered our banquet. I knew it was going to be good eating :o)

And with me

A view of our cafeteria and music room combined all decorated and ready for the ladies

Our dear friend and school cook, Mazie

Fixing up his delicious homemade German Chocolate Cake. I didn't have a piece at the banquet, but he gave me some before at his restaurant.

Two more super good friends who are teachers ~ Imogene and Jean. They both are from Jamaica.

Here is the plate of food that was served to me ~ beef noodle stir fry, fritters, white rice, curried chicken, lemon grouper and plantains along with my little dish of "HOT" sauce.

The two girls I adopted to take to the banquet. On the left is April who is Jr. High and Nikita who graduates this year. They are sweet girls!!

The Premier helped the men to serve. It was an honor for us that he took time out of his busy schedule to be there. His wife, daughter and grand~daughter came to the banquet.

Here are some of the men getting plates of food to serve.

This picture cracks me up ~ two bald or almost bald heads :o)

Then I had them pose for me! Garfield is a wonderful man who grew up in our Church. He retired a few years ago from being head of Customs at our airport.

One of my good friends whom I've known for several years from Youth Camp in PA.

Another of my good friends being presented flowers by her daughter. I've known them for a long time, too!! Sweet ladies!!

Here's a group shot of our waiters. Several of them are missing from this picture. Maybe they were waiting on the ladies :o)

Here are my two "adopted" daughters with me.

And another of just the two of them!

What a great evening we had and lots of good food!!