Pictures!

They call Avocados here Pears. They can be HUGE!

This is our watch dog! She is so sweet and loves to have her stomach rubbed!

GIANT snail Caleb found on the house!

Puffer Fish Caleb got spear fishing!

Jamaican hair!

Pretty crazy!

It's been a little while!

It's been a little while since we last wrote! It has been hard to get internet here and hard to get time! I don't even know where to start so I will try to think of what has been happening in the past couple of weeks.  We are definitely getting more settled in! I think I left off that we were trying to get our visas extended. It finally happened! On Friday September 12th which was Caleb's birthday we traveled into Kingston early in the morning hoping that our Visas would be done! We took Precious's son Nikki along with us to help us find some fabric stores in Kingston and to have someone to be with us there! He also goes to a pilot school in Kingston so it worked out nice for us all! Kingston is a crazy and very busy place! It reminds me of a smaller New York City. We arrived at immigration place at about 9:45 in the morning and we were feeling good! We gave them our receipts and then were told that Passports were not given out until 1:30! We were so sad but we got to spend some time exploring Kingston with Nikki. First we went to some fabric stores to buy Precious some fabric to cover a few chairs at the school. The stores were called Ping's Fabrics and Pablos. We spent SO much time comparing prices, styles and trying to find a fabric in our price range. It was a lot of fun. We eventually found a nice, thick fabric to cover the chairs and had money left over. We felt pretty good about our purchase! After that we sat in KFC for awhile eating our packed lunch and chatting. Then we spent the rest of the time looking for some sandals. I have been wearing Caleb's sandals for awhile and they are too big and Caleb says they look awkward on me. I didn't really care that much but now that I have a pair that fits I am pretty happy! (We found them this past week at a supermarket in Junction for 7 dollars with help from our friend Brenton. He was showing us where to get all the good deals!) In Kingston though, we looked in all kinds of stores but didn't find anything. I think I might be too cheap but I just like good deals too much!  We spent so much time walking around that 1:30 finally came! We could not wait to return to Top Hill! One thing that was really hard for me was all the people trying to sell things to you! It was overwhelming! After we went back into the immigration center we ended up waiting for an hour or more and FINALLY got our passports! We can't even tell you how happy we were! We said goodbye to Nikki and then left to go home. The drive out of Kingston can be very confusing and we ended up getting a little lost on our way home. Once we were out of the city we switched and I drove for the first time all the way home! I think I made Caleb really nervous but we did make it home safely. :) Driving was hard for me because I am not an aggressive driver at all and here the driving is aggressive! I will learn but you really have to be assertive and just do it when you are driving here. You can't stutter at all if you are going to turn you just go and they will stop for you. You also have to constantly be watching all of your mirrors and surroundings. There are people walking everywhere, huge pot holes, cars passing and stopping everywhere and just lots of unexpected things can happen! It was a great experience for me and by the time we were home Caleb had calmed down and said that I did a good job! He is much better at driving here than I am! We finally got home and my good streak off driving was over! I got stuck on the driveway. All the dorm children were watching and laughing. I was laughing too. Caleb got the car up the hill and we were finally home. We had a really nice night celebrating Caleb's birthday with Omar and Lavern who are our good friends. They are both deaf and so much fun to be around! They are so full of character! We had a lot of laughs, sang happy birthday in sign language to Caleb, ate some cake and played some card games. It was a very special birthday. The next week I spent most of my time observing in the classrooms, building relationships, doing lesson planning for teaching, learning sign language and hanging out with the children. The teachers are wonderful and treat me like a student so I feel I have been learning so much in their classes. I love to be in the classroom with the children and learning alongside of them. They are so much fun to be with! The teachers quiz me and give me lists of words to practice. Me and Caleb still have lots to learn! Caleb has been working hard! There are lots of things that need fixing here at the school. He built and put in a new window, has been working with Omar taking care of the chickens, built two football (soccer) goals for the children, and just so many projects I can't remember them all. Everyday is full of projects for him to work on! He is working very hard!
I was supposed to start teaching last week but with having the miscarriage everything changed. We were so thankful for the people here who surrounded us with love and care the night we went to the hospital and continue to surround us. It has been an emotional, confusing time for us but to feel like we have a family here has been amazing. God truly provides all of our needs. It was hard to experience so much pain and sadness with family so far away and hard for our families back home. It is so true though that even in the valley lows God never leaves us. I had a rough night that night and never experienced so much pain in my life. I truly cried out to God the whole night, struggling with the loss of something I loved so much and struggling through the pain. I know we will never fully understand but God is with us in everything we feel and continually carrying us as we continue living out his story. We know God has an amazing plan in all this and even though it's so hard when something you love so much is just gone, we know that his love for us is deeper than we could ever understand. I can't thank God enough for Caleb. Caleb surrounded me with so much love, comfort and care it was incredible. He was with me through it all praying, staying up with me to comfort me and sincerely loving me so much. Our friendship and marriage has grown so much stronger and I thank God so much for blessing me with a husband who loves God so much! I am feeling so, so, so thankful. We rested A LOT after that night and the surgery and were so happy to be home. That Saturday Brooke and Larry took us to the beach to go snorkeling and spear fishing. What an awesome experience. I didn't do any spear fishing because I am supposed to be taking it easy but I did get to snorkel. It was amazing! The ocean and the fish here are beautiful! If you know Caleb you know that he LOVES to hunt. That is one thing that he said he would really miss from home. He LOVED spear fishing! He was like a child on Christmas! He spent the whole day in the water and he speared some fish. One was a blowfish which he said blew up as soon as he hit it. He brought it out of the water and it was HUGE! I have never seen one up close before. Brooke and Larry caught a bunch of fish too and after everyone was done they cleaned them to take home and eat. We ended up taking home the blowfish but it's poison leaked all over the fish in the cooler so we had to throw them all out. It was still a really fun day!
      We have ventured out into the community and are meeting lots of wonderful people who live here in Ridge! We met two twin sisters Anik and Anika. They are so funny and fun! They have been checking on me all the time and making sure I am ok. It's been nice to have their support and understanding of having a miscarriage. We have been having a wonderful time getting to know them and hanging out with them. They also love to do hair so right now I have Jamaican hair! Caleb is not a fan of my hair like this but everyone here likes it! ( I hope.) We met a deaf man who's name is Clarke who roasts coffee beans, grinds them and sells coffee! He is so animated and so kind! We bought some coffee and man it is strong! As soon as I took a sip I felt jittery and I had lots of energy!
Sunday we had our second youth group meeting and we had a blast! There were about 7 youth at our house and we learned some new card games and ended the night with a bible study led by Caleb! It was really great to study the word with them and hear their thoughts and questions. It was reviving! We look forward to these meetings every Sunday with them.
This is a little random but Caleb really misses the food from home. He is having a hard time with the food here. Yesterday he came home and sat down and just shoved chocolate muffin after muffin into his mouth. He tells me that food is truly one of his comforts and that is very true! We ended up going out and buying stuff to make ice cream and cake. We made the ice cream and let me tell you he was a whole new person! Haha, he was SO HAPPY! I just remembered and wanted to share! :)
 This is all I can think about right now and I will try to post some pictures later! Thank you everyone so much for your continual prayers. We truly feel peace and love all around. :)

Exciting adventures!

We had a very busy weekend full of action! Sunday we woke up and went running together and if you like hills Jamaica is the place for you! It was a lot of work but felt very refreshing after we were done! It was also nice to be out in the community and say good morning to our neighbors! We came back and the children who board here at the school came running out to play with us! We started a game of volleyball with the kids and also a group that is here for stroke camp. They come and work alongside Brooke, Larry, and Beth (who are physical therapists that live here in Jamaica)and they provide free clinics for people who have had strokes. The kids are so funny and competitive! We enjoy their enthusiasm and really enjoy playing with them. They are so helpful and teach us so much sign language! We are very thankful for all their help in teaching us and all the teachers helps as well. I really feel God is opening our minds to learn sign language and we pray that we can continually learn! After awhile of playing we started to get hungry and decided to go eat breakfast. Something we have been eating almost every morning for breakfast is sliced avocado that we put on toast with salt and pepper. Let me tell you, it is AMAZING! I love avocados which here they call pears and are very common here. We went to our first church service at Ridge Mennonite! The service started at 11:00/11:30 ish and ended at 1:00 if I remember correctly. Ridge meets in the chapel that the Children meet in each morning. It's a very small church and much different then our church at home! We started by singing hymns all accapella, and then adding in clapping later on. It was beautiful and the people sang with lots of energy and excitement! I am usually not a big hymn person but I am learning to appreciate them more and more. They also used a tambourine and that was really neat to be singing and clapping with. The sermon was about not being idle and I felt thankful for the reminder that we are here to serve God with our life in all things we do. How are we working for the Kingdom if we are idle?  After church we quick ate lunch and left for Kingston. This was a long, bumpy, 3 hour drive. After arriving in Kingston and working through some unpredictable troubles we ended up at Pastor Douglass's house who is the pastor at Good Tidings Mennonite Church in Kingston. We had a great time fellowshipping with the family and by the end of the night I was ready for bed! We also got to try some traditional Jamaican wedding cake because his daughter just got married and it was strong of Rum! I took one bight and could not eat anymore! Our cakes here are light and fluffy and this cake was very beautiful but also very dense. Gloria had told us that she had a small piece at the wedding and it was so strong she couldn't wake up the next day! After we left their home we checked into a hotel. We began the next morning early and had to take our van to the "Fitness" place to make sure it passed. Here they call an inspection and fitness test. After being their for a little while we left to travel deeper into Kingston to go to the immigration center. Kingston is a busy, busy place! Their is a lot of traffic and a lot of people! It was an experience! As we got to the immigration center I was praying that it would go smoothly and quickly. I am starting to learn that life can be very unpredictable here so I really have to trust God with ALL things! We went in and got a number ticket and waited for a little bit. When we got called in we had to fill out some paper work to extend our visas. Everything went great but we have to return to Kingston at the end of this week to pick up our visas! Ah! We didn't really understand why they didn't just stamp them right there and then because everything was done but you have to be ready for the unpredictability. From their we traveled to Sister Val's home who is a wonderful, friend of Galen and Gloria's. She had a beautiful home and was so kind! We enjoyed meeting her and hope to build a strong relationship with her! Her home was the last stop and we began our journey home! Caleb got to drive almost the whole way home and he did awesome! He is so confident driving here even despite all the craziness on the road! He did great! Tuesday Caleb did some work with Galen around the school while I observed in the classes. I get to observe this whole week and then begin teaching next week! I am a little nervous but I am ready for the challenge! Pray that I will keep soaking in sign language so I can teach! We also had some time to "facetime" our families and it was so great to talk to them and be able to see them! I am so thankful that we are able to see them even though we are far away! It was very refreshing! Last night we had another traditional Jamaican dinner and here they serve the WHOLE fish, eyes and everything! I don't think I ever have eaten a whole fish like that. They told us that the head of the fish is a delicacy, but I just couldn't get my self to eat it and neither could caleb! Today I will do more observing and learning in the classrooms and Caleb is learning how to butcher his first pig today with Brenton and Omar! So far it looks like its going well! He told me its like butchering a deer! Thank you all so much for your prayers! We are very blessed to have so many supportive friends, family and church family praying for us! :)

Our friend Omar helping to butcher the pig! Caleb did a great job helping and he took the pictures. I was no where near that pig!

Caleb getting into it!



This was common when we were in Kingston to see people walking up to cars at stop lights selling bananas, news papers, steering wheel covers, flowers and many other things!

A little bit of the country in Jamaica! It's very beautiful!

Looking out from a porch overlooking Kingston!

Kingston!

Us at Lover's Leap!

It's a far way down!

Lover's Leap.....Gorgeous!

Goat that lives in our yard! He's cute and just chews grass all day!

Officially here! Yay!!!

We are officially in Jamaica!!!!! Woo hoo! Praise the Lord! :) Our flights went smoothly yesterday, we made it through customs at the Jamaican airport(which was a little intimidating) and we arrived here at Top Hill! It was a long day yesterday but it feels so good to be here! I will share about our car ride from the air port to Top Hill and also share about what we have been up to today! It stills feels so unreal and crazy but we are SO excited! OK, so yesterday after we picked up our luggage at the air port we were picked up by Gloria and Galen. They have been coming to Jamaica ever since they got married and are very connected, loved and respected in the community here. They know Jamaica and are guiding us along as we learn how to live in a new culture! The drive from the airport was about two and a half hours maybe a little longer and it was bumpy! There are tons of pot holes and everyone drives a little crazy! We learned that beeping is the way to communicate with other drivers which is funny because where we live its considered rude. We met our first friend and his name is Omar. He graduated from Maranatha and now works there. He is deaf and was teaching us sign language during our long car ride! It was awesome and we feel even more confident that we will be able to learn it! We are very thankful that he was along to teach us!  The island is absolutely beautiful and we quickly learned this as we drove across it to get to Top Hill. We drove through lots of small towns and there were LOTS of little stands alongside the rode selling fruits, vegetables, sodas and many other things. As we drove along one minute we would be seeing huge, beautiful homes and then the next would be areas of poverty. The dynamics changed so quickly. We made a quick stop at a beach along the way and the beaches here beat ALL the beaches back home! They are breathtaking. God creates such beautiful things! When we finally arrived at the school the kids were so excited and greeted us with big smiles and waves! They are all so cute! We got settled into our house and have seen some lizards, lots of ants and some other creepy crawlies! I think we are adjusting pretty well to the heat and I am realizing that I will always be sweating! Even though it is hot I am learning to appreciate no air conditioning, and I like it! We can feel the breeze from the ocean which is so refreshing when it blows through the windows, and I am very thankful for that! God is good, all the time. :)

Today began a whole new adventure! When I woke up I still felt like I was just in a dream! I felt nervous and afraid for some reason. I was reading in Matthew about the birth of Jesus and just feeling so thankful for him and his love for us and that he is walking with us each step of the way! Our confidence is in him. The sun rises at about 5:30 A.M. and so does everyone else! It was so beautiful to wake up to the sun coming through the windows and the sounds of the children outside. We hear someone playing the harmonica and we just had to smile. We began the day by joining all the children and teachers for chapel. We got to meet the other teachers who are all so sweet and so kind and got to meet the students who were also very sweet! I spent the day with Gloria doing things at the house like dishes and learning how to use the washer correctly to save water while also playing with the children, learning their names and building relationships with the other teachers. Caleb is already being put to work and says, "It was good to get up and have something to do again!" Haha, this man loves to work! We both agree that we feel an overwhelming peace and we can feel God all around us. He truly takes care of us. Tonight we traveled with Precious who is the principal at the school. We tried our first patties which were amazing. Patties are like a hamburger that is ground up and wrapped in a flaky pastry. We also ate dinner with Precious family and met "Nurse". Nurse who's name is Karen is a missionary who was called by God to move here and serve here for life! She is the sweetest lady! She manages an Eye Care office and she nurtures children who live on the mountain with her, gives them work to help them raise money for school, loves them dearly and teaches them about God. We were so blessed by her and her story! So many things happened today so I hope you can get a feel and picture of our journey so far! Pray for us as we continue to learn sign language and that our minds would be opened to learn it! Also pray that we can love these children and teachers and show them God's love! :)

The beach!

A look at a Jamaican house! 

Cows!!

Me and some of the children! They are so cute! 

Caleb going out for his first drive with Galen! 

Maranatha School for the Deaf! :) 

Craziness!

So, you are probably ready to hear an update about Jamaica but sadly we are still here! Sunday we were supposed to be on our flight to Jamaica but it didn't work out! We are currently still at home and have been through some craziness! God is good though, all the time and we know this is all part of his plan! I will fill you all in on what happened and then tell you the really, GOOD news! :) We had our plane tickets scheduled and ready to leave on Sunday at 10 A.M. Our visas and passports were being processed in Washington, D.C. at the Jamaican embassy and we were supposed to have gotten them awhile ago but we waited all day Saturday for them to come.........they never came. God is good though! We got to see our church family for one last time, family for one last time and we got to celebrate with my cousin at her baptism! How amazing and exciting! Then Monday rolled around and we decided to spend some time with some very close friends and that was truly a blessing as well! We called the embassy that day to find that they hadn't processed anything yet. We were starting to feel so frustrated! Our flight was re-booked for Wednesday so the only choice we had was to drive to Washington D.C. (which we did today) and try to retrieve the package with our items from the Fed Ex drop box. We can't even thank God enough for the ways he is working and worked out everything today, he is amazing! He always has a plan and we are so glad he does! :) With help from the amazing, Lynn Suter at VMM and a Fed Ex delivery guy who opened the box for us  we got
our package! It was awesome! We were so full of joy and excitement and are finally leaving for Jamaica! I feel God is teaching us patience, to wait expectantly and to put our faith in him. He always provides but in his time and I hope we can continue to walk with him as we begin this journey in Jamaica! We are so thankful for all of your prayers! We feel God all around us! Our flight leaves tomorrow at 8:20 A.M. We are flying out of Philly to North Carolina and then from there
to Jamaica!Woo hoo! Pray that we arrive safely and that we can share the love of Jesus to the people of Jamaica! :) We can't wait to meet them!