Our week

A lot has happened in a week but I've had technical difficulties so I'm behind.  We were eagerly anticipating the arrival of Lee Flynn and we were so happy to see him Saturday at the airport.  We have packed in a lot during his time here and had a lot of fun and fellowship.  

We had another long but wonderful time Sunday.  Brother Victor and Mrs. Daisy had us over to their house Sunday after church to eat lunch with Lee and the elders and their wives and families.  The food was amazing and the hospitality overwhelming.  I can't even tell you how much I ate but it was so good.  Menu posted in the photo below.  

Sunday afternoon fellowship-I'm telling you these ladies know how to cook! Lasagna, bbq chicken, fish, banana fritters, potato salad (made with breadfruit instead of potatoes), salad, macaroni pie, corn, rice, quiche and plantains

I don't think Mrs. Daisy sat down the entire time we were there.  I love hearing about the foods and the culture in Antigua but I'm starting to feel bad about asking questions because almost every time we ask about something, they send us home with a sample!  It's really not a problem :).  But for example, Mrs. Daisy was telling me about the finger rose which just looks like a smaller, fatter banana and when I asked her what they were, she sent me home with a bunch!  They are so good! A little bit sweeter than a banana.  Also pictured here is a sugar apple.  It is one of the most interesting looking fruits I've ever seen and I would have never thought it was food but thank goodness for Lee being here and teaching us how to eat them.  They are oddly good.  You peel back the outside pieces and then eat the middle and spit out the seed  So weird but good!

Finger rose and sugar apple

Mrs. Daisy also brought us Jamaican meat patties this week!  Yesterday, we had a passionfruit drink at lunch and it might even be better than Sunquick!!  It was mine and Will's first time to have it and then yesterday Rosie sent Brother Maurice with a gallon of juice for us!  We love trying new things and we love when sweet people bring us yummy stuff!  Walker took a nap Sunday before morning church until about 9:15 and then didn't nap again until around 5:00 that evening but somehow he was so good.  I'm telling you he has been sooo good here!

We had the privilege of hearing Lee speak Sunday night.  He has a great testimony about God's goodness and grace and we love hearing how God worked and is working is his and Bridgett's life.  

Lee speaking Sunday night

We took in a tourist attraction by visiting Shirley Heights which is an old military complex high above the water with breathtaking views.  Hold onto your children though because there is no railing! We also saw Eric Clapton's house from up there. 

We had a great group come Monday afternoon to play.  We didn't have any show up at first and we joked that of course that would happen on the day we had a visitor (Lee) but we actually ended up with 8 and it was a great time.  My friend, Jahlaine, from 2 years ago came and brought his cousin, Orel.  It was so nice to catch up with him.  He told me he still has the picture that I sent him last year when we couldn't come to Antigua and he still has the bible that I gave him 2 years ago.  It's the little things in life that make you smile and that definitely did.  

Jalaine

Here are some other pictures from last week and today

They love torturing him!

I caught Callan helping Walker get rocks out of his shoes

Beach babies!

Some of our friends

Will almost got asked to model in a store downtown! :)

Me and Kan-niajah-this was right after she bit me.  Though she be but little, she is fierce!

Fredresha and Walker-favorite line of the day and possibly of the trip-Fredresha got Walker and then said "I can't believe I'm holding a white person's baby"!!!!

Lizzie getting her hair plotted by Jemiay

Shade, Hannah and Shawntelle about to play Mother May I

The much talked about black pineapple.  Better be worth the $6 we paid for it.  We'll let you know.

                                               
                                                    Ponytail compliments of his sisters

Dinner on the beach at OJ's-beautiful scenery-food was just ok

FaceTime with Dada!

Walker playing peek-a-boo with Cordell

The kids loved the selfie stick!

Callan and Haddassah 

We went downtown looking like tourists in our t-shirts to see the cruise ship

The alley where we found Fredresha (remember our amazing God story from last time??!!)

                                                
                                       Lizzie and Walker taking a break at Shirley Heights-

 

The panoramic view at Shirley Heights

Selfie stick success (sort of)

Our family

 Lee left today.  It was great having you here!  

3 2 1...Go!!!

Cool story warning!!

I wrote this a few days ago but I have been having trouble with my pictures loading so I thought I'd go ahead and post this and then I'll work on adding some pictures soon.

We have had a great week!  Walker has been back to normal so we've spent several afternoons at the church building hanging out with kids.  We usually stop by the Villa Primary school right after school and see who we can find.  We park beside the school and usually have a few kids that come up to the van and visit with us.  We invite them to come hang out with us at the church building and we get a few randomly. Several of the kids that come around on a regular basis live right behind the church building so everyday that we get there, our girls run up to the fence at the back of the church and see who is there.  Once the kids on the other side of the fence realize we are there, some of them usualy come over to play.

Mr. Deon, the song leader at Villa, brought us a bucket of mangoes straight from his farm this week. We were at the building playing with the kids so Will used the mangoes as bait so that the kids would answer some questions about Jesus.  It was so great to see their hands flying up trying to be the first to answer.  They were so excited to receive a mango and all of them ate them right away.  We got some mango education from them!

I have to tell you a really, really cool God story.  When Gena was here a few weeks ago she took us around the Villa area and pointed out where some of the kids lived that have been to our VBS/soccer camp.  The only problem is that she didn't always know exactly which house but maybe just the road or alley on which they lived.  She told us about one girl that lived up an alley and John Oubre Henderson and Sarah Jones would always walk down this alley to get her.  She became very special to them.  We have known which alley she lived but have hesitated to go down it and try to figure out which house it was until yesterday. We were driving around looking for kids and randomly decided this day the 5 of us would walk down the alley together and look for clues (actually I'm not sure how we thought we were going to find her but we were feeling productive to at least try).  There are probably 10 or so houses down this alley and about halfway down we see a man and his 2 young children sitting in the alley eating and hanging out so we asked him if he knew her.  He didn't know her but went inside to ask his wife.  Of course we explained why we were wanting to find her and how we knew of her.  While he was asking his wife, I saw a younger girl come out of a gate a few houses down so I said I'm going to go ask her because she is more of the age of the girl we were looking for.  So I walked up to her and asked her if she knew Fredresha and she said, "Fredresha Pinnoch" and I said, "YES, that is her name!" (I had forgotten her last name so when she told me I got excited.  She then replied, "I'm Fredresha Pinnoch".

Pause for dramatic effect.....

Guys, this is crazy!!  The Holy Spirit totally went with us down that alley and God totally knew that we would have NO CLUE how to find her so he just sent her out of her house at the exact moment that we were looking for her.  How cool is that?!!!!  Long story short, she ended up coming with us and I got to meet her very sweet mother at work and her mother encouraged her to come hang out with us.  So we took her back to the church building and hung out for the rest of the afternoon.  It was such an amazing God moment and I hope you got that feeling while reading this.  We left on a high yesterday being reminded of how amazing God is and how cool his ways are.

And to top it off, this morning I got to see Jehlaine, one of my trouble maker boys from 2 years ago who found a place in my heart.  I was sad not to get to come back and see him last year (because of Walker being born) but was so excited when he remembered me this morning.  Hopefully we'll get to hang out with him soon.

We are eagerly anticipating the arrival of Lee Flynn.  His dad, Dorian, and mom, Cheri, started the Villa church of Christ many years ago so the church members are excited for Lee's visit as well.  Its always fun to see a face from back home.

Pictures to come.

                                                       3 2 1...Go!!!