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. :)