Monday, March 2, 2015

Different things

Often people ask, so how is Grenada different than Mississippi?  Well, there's no short answer - there are many differences --- and yet, there are way more similarities than differences.  We are all one blood.  We all have similar desires, needs and dreams.  We all need Jesus!
 
Anyway, here are a few random pictures, explanations, and thoughts.
 
 
A Grenadian man comes around every Monday morning and sells Samosas (potatoes,chicken,and spices, wrapped in a tortilla like shell and deep fat fried). Since they are fried I know they would sell well in Mississippi!  We love them.  Morgan can almost down one by herself.
 
 
 Marvin has been enjoying beekeeping again.  He learned to know a beekeeper (Tinky) here and spent several days with him.  He now has 2 hives of his own behind our house.  In the evenings, we find several bees in our house that didn't make it back to their hive.  Shawn stepped on one the other evening and limped around the next day.
 
 
On Independence Day our church made a traditional Grenadian pot called 'Oil Down' and took it to a playing field for supper.  It took 4 hrs. for 4-5 people to cut up and prepare chicken, vegies,  breadfruit (basically like a potato), and a bunch of other foods and seasonings for the 2 pots. It is cooked in coconut milk on an open fire for 1-1 1/2 hrs.   Was it ever delicious!
 
 
 
 
L-R
Kyla, Monique, Sophia, Kyle, and Conrad
Monique and Sophia are Sammy's girls (from our church)
 
 
 
Shawn had his 3rd birthday the 11th of Feb. and we started the day with a personalized pancake.
 
Then he helped mix up his cake.
 
Caleb, Nicki, and Conrad bought him this ball with their 'snow ice' money. 
 
 
This is Afia's little boy, Jessie.
 
 
One Sat. night last month we had supper with the teacher's, Euran, and Sid out by our pavilion/shelter and then we came in the house and played games for a while.
 
 
 
The lady teacher's have a Bible Study with these girls every Monday night.
 
 
Morgan is into the 'pulling out and down everything she can' stage. If you look close, you can see the custard snow ice in little bags on the stove.  That's what the children sell after school every day. 
 
 
 
 
This crew of fine men came for a week to do work projects. 
 L-R
Jared, Nick, Matt Orndorf (Leneord's son), Zac, and Scott
They were all from MD

They screened in the office and 2 bedrooms.

 
Screening in bedrooms means putting screened doors on the bedroom doors.
We are enjoying our nights with almost no mosquitos.
 
 
Shawn and Caden wanted to be involved as much as they could.

 
Pastor Marvin and Pastor Nelson fixed the fence that is in front of our house and the church.

 
Our wash line came off the wheels 3 times while the work crew was here.  They got pretty good at putting back together.

 

 
 
This is showing you what a 4 week old cast looks like.  It had soft spots already by the time we were home from the hospital.  Her elbow had a big hole in it, too. They removed it with a simple scissors.

 
And........Here's little miss Morgan at 9 months old!


Wednesday, January 28, 2015

This is what happens when...

This is what happens when...
 
Mommy is given melting chocolate and wants to share the joy with her friends...
 
 Mommy leaves Shawn & Morgan unsupervised for about 3 minutes...


 Nicki gets a little rambunctious playing bite-um (basketball) during recess...
  
Caleb goes outside and finds a new friend...
 
Daddy puts on his maintenance hat...
 
 
So I guess that's a little peak at what we're up to these days!  We appreciate your prayers!

Friday, January 9, 2015

Happy New Year

My husband says, "Instead of updating our families with emails and bugging him about updating our blog, I should just update everyone with the blog!" So, here goes my first blog post. I know I'm not as good of a writer so I'm sorry about that but Marvin just don't have the time he used to. I'm afraid I might be getting this job added to my 'to do' list- Jen
 
 
   Nov, 14, we got a sad call telling us that our niece, Jackie, passed away.  We were so shocked and couldn't imagine what Wes's were, and still are, going through.  Friends of ours made it possible for us to fly to the funeral. THANKS!!!!
 
   De.c, 4, Nicki, Morgan, and I flew to MS for my "littlest sister's" wedding.  We were so glad to be able to go but we sure felt far away from daddy and the boys. 
 
 
We girls flew home Mon., the 8th, and Conrad's birthday was Tuesday.  Due to the tired mom, his birthday party didn't happen until the next day.
 
And then Nicki's birthday was Fri. of the same week.  She was delighted when I asked her if she wanted to decorate her own cake.  Along with returning to Grenada on Monday and 2 birthday's to celebrate, there was a ladies Bible study/brunch, Christmas program, as well as cooking for the staff Christmas day on Sat.  That week was a blur!
 
 
On Dec 22 & 23, our church and Laborie church, along with some school students, did a Live Nativity play in the yard outside of the shopping mall.  There were lots of people that stopped to watch.  We pray that the story of Jesus was planted in the hearts of many people.
 
 
The donkey was suppose to cary 'Mary' to the stable but he just wanted to bite and refused to be lead around.  He loves popcorn!
 
 
Some visitors from PA brought a WHOLE suitcase packed for just our family on Christmas eve.  Thanks to the Lapp family and friends from Mine Road Church!!!  We are savoring every meal, and snack, and are enjoying the other gifts you gave.
 
 
 
This is part of our 'family' on Christmas day. Mr. Austin's parents brought ham, gourmet potatoes, and a yummy salad for our Christmas dinner, and that's only the start of lots of food they brought. It was a sad day when the week was over and their plane left the island. The first lady on the right is Caleb's teacher, Miss Jalane Miller.  The other 3 girls are Mr. Austin's sister's.
 
 
Marvin and Conrad went on a hike up a steep, muddy trail with some of the other visitors over Christmas vacation.  From what I heard, the 'slide' down went much faster than the walk up.
 
 
We are so grateful for our little family!  One of the teachers loves photography so I asked her to get a few shots of just Morgan and the siblings couldn't stay away:)
 
 
These 2 little people spend lots of time with me while the 3 oldest are in school.  Shawn loves to sing, play with his little airplane, read books, and quietly do things he's not suppose to.  Morgan is now
 7 1/2 months old.  She crawls all over the place, pulls up, loves to be outside, waves, and is very happy.  Not sure where the dimple came from.
 
 
 
 
 
And that brings us to the end of 2014 and the beginning of 2015. Our Father has walked before us and we trust Him to lead us however He chooses.  The weight of responsibility seems only to increase, especially for Marvin.  We have a complete changeover in VS staff coming up this fall with the exception of our 1st grade teacher.  Maybe God is calling you to Grenada?
 
 

Sunday, November 16, 2014

School Events/Pictures

Although there's a lot more than school going on... but thought
 we can at least share a little of what's been happening at school.
 
October was National Child Month, and as part of the special events our school students made posters and participated with 2 other schools in a local children's march around the block.  Here they are getting ready to go.
 
 
I thought they all did an excellent job making nice posters!
Here they go down the road, just across the playing field.  With the next door pre-school children and also the special ed school students, they made a long line.
 
 
After completing the march, all 3 schools came back here and our students shared a program of songs & readings for the other schools and any parents that had come.
 
 
 Ok, so this isn't a school event, or at least it didn't start that way.  We've started making custard ice & the children sell it after school.  What we thought would be a small, fun project for the children has been growing and growing.  Not sure if it's something we want to continue long term or not.
So here's the normal school garb on children.  (Orange T-shirts were for children's day)  This is Conrad's class singing some songs.

 
 
 
A few days ago, the school had their first field trip.  I didn't plan to go with them... but then one of the girls got her finger slammed in the door and needed to be taken to the hospital, so I quickly rounded up "a next bus" (another van) and helped chauffer the rest of the trip. They visited the airport fire station, a spice making place, and ate lunch at the beach. Sorry, the only picture we got of the day is one my wife took of them in the morning before they left.
Jump rope with Ms. Miller. (Caleb's teacher)
Corn hole with Ms. Lauver. (Nicki's teacher)
 
 
The Grenada Lapps
 

Thank you for your support and your prayers on our behalf.