Catchin' up

We have still been crazy busy since Saturday so here is a brief catch-up list.

SATRUDAY: Jemulla Francois, one of  the local primary girls from the branch turned 8 last week and got to be baptized!  Her father baptized her (his first time baptizing anyone) in the Caribbean Sea and it was SO cool!  Everyone just met down at the beach, we had a little service, the baptism was performed, and they just pulled up a folding chair on the beach for Jemulla to sit on while they confirmed her a member of the church.  The Francois are such a great family and asset to the branch!

This is Jemullyn and Jemulla Francois, (fran*swaa).  All 5 kids in their family are really close and they are constantly watching out for each other, even if it's just keeping each other in line.
Here are the 4 elders on the island with the first semester students from the branch.  All of the missionaries down here are awesome, they are constantly on the go.  
After the baptism, we went with a group of friends to Secret Beach.  If you were really really ambitious, you go snorkel over there but most people hire a boat to take them there (which is what we did).  It's just a little strip of beach not far from our house that is really pretty.  The rocks are covered with snails and crabs and there are some cool places to snorkel.  A guy in the branch has a spear gun and went and caught an Angel Fish.  I had to jump at the chance to get my picture with it.  (sorry for posting so many horrible pictures of me swimming!)

These are just some more pictures from Secret Beach.  I was standing on one end of the beach to take the bottom picture.  As you can see, it's really not that big and the water is shallow for quite a ways into the ocean which makes it really green and pretty.

SUNDAY: Woke up at the crack of dawn, got ready, walked 45 minutes to church, arrived dripping in sweat, spoke in sacrament, taught in primary, sweat to death on the 45 minute walk home, ate, slept, made home made pretzels (a newly learned skill), ate, went to bed.  That pretty much sums up our Sundays. We got to speak in church for the 2nd time this semester.  I have a feeling that we will average about 2 times a semester due to lack of members. Since we've been married I haven't taken naps for longer than about an hour until we got here.  I can take a 3-4 hour nap here, it is insane!  Keith can out-sleep me by at least an hour, usually I have to wake him up for dinner around 6:00

MONDAY: We ran some errands, got Keith's Visa (finally-mine still hasn't come yet), got him a temp. driver's license, and rented a car for Tuesday.  Some of the buildings here are dirty and stuff, but the police station was easily the scariest, dirtiest building I have been in since being in Dominica.  Ironic?

TUESDAY: We had a rental car and moved to our new apartment.  We were going to move some of our things, go shopping around Portsmouth (where we live) and then into Roseau (the capital with grocery stores that have more than 5 isles)  and then finish moving in the evening. Grocery stores close between 5:00 & 8:00, so we wanted to make sure we could hit them all.  Luckily, we had all of our stuff packed up because when the cleaning lady came that morning, she said someone was moving in that afternoon and she needed us to get out as soon as possible so that she could clean.  WHAT?  I told the lady we would be out on Wednesday...  lucky for them, we were ready!  We moved and then loaded up on groceries.  We were able to get a lot of our back up water supply which makes me feel a lot better.  The water goes off randomly here and who knows when it will come back on....especially during hurricane season.    

TODAY: I'm finding any excuse possible to not unload our suitcases from moving yesterday, hence the reason for a mile long post on our  blog!   :)

I love pictures!

With Keith being out of school for a couple of weeks, we've been packing in as many things as possible. There is so much to see on this small island and we have only seen a small part. This week we have been going-going-going. Wednesday we spent a couple of hours at the pool with some of our friends, Thursday we went to Trafalgar Falls, Titou Gorge, and Champagne Bay, Friday we went to the beach with a big group of people, and today there was a baptism in the ocean and then we went to Secret Beach. Here are some pictures from Thursday, I'll try to get more pictures from yesterday and today uploaded before too long. We had a blast on Thursday and wished we could have stayed longer at every place we went! These hot springs were along the trail to Trafalgar Falls. They had a little bit of sulfur in them, but not enough to make it stink, just enough to make your skin really soft and smooth! When we got done swimming at the falls, we came back and sat in this pool.

Trafalgar Falls is behind us, it was really long and SO pretty!

We had to climb over some huge boulders and wade through water with a strong current, but it's been fun to test myself physically and know that I can do that kind of stuff. Keith was having a blast sitting here, there's a little bit of a waterfall and he was swimming around in it.

I'm getting ready to start climbing over these boulders! I couldn't believe how big they were!

Around the corner of this stair case is Titou (tee-two) Gorge. We got in the water, which was shockingly cold and swam through the gorge. At the end of the gorge is a very powerful waterfall that creates a current the closer you get. You have to swim pretty hard at the end, but once you get back there, it's awesome. Another girl and I were giggling as we stood under the waterfall. This is the same Gorge from Pirates of the Caribbean 2. When they were in the cage of bones, it falls into Titou Gorge and breaks open. It was pretty cool to be able to watch the movie when we got home and say "Hey, we've touched those walls! We stood under that waterfall!" (the waterfall in the background during the gorge scene) When it was time to go, I thought we might have to leave Keith hanging to the side of the gorge, he DID NOT want to leave!

I got this picture of Champagne Bay off of the internet. Bubbles are constantly coming up from the bottom and it looks like you are snorkeling in a glass of Champagne! (hence the name) We stopped and snorkeled for a little while and LOVED it! It was amazing! There were a variety of things from HUGE fish to schools of tiny fish and all sorts of other sea creatures. Keith and I chased a school of fish together, but weren't able to ever get them.

We stopped for a picture after we went snorkeling. We all had a lot of fun!

Pictures from English Class Party

Dennis, Meegans, Daxon, Joseph, Paul, and Lamar

Some of the guys from the intermediate class being themselves.
They are always smiling and laughing.

This is the beautiful painting that everyone pitched in to get for the teachers.

Here's the group doing the hokey-pokey. They found it pretty amusing!

This is the whole group (both the beginning and intermediate classes) and all of the teachers.

Last Days!

ONE SEMESTER DOWN! Keith finished this semester today with a final earlier this afternoon. HORRAY! (x50) I can't believe that one semester has already passed us by, it's insane! The time is going quickly, but then we think that we have at least 3 more semesters left it seems like we are going to be here forever! Anyway, good job Keith for all of the hard work and to everyone else: keep your fingers crossed that he did well! (I'm sure he did)

Today was also the last day of English Class. It has been so fun to help teach English to all of my Haitian friends. We had a big party this evening and it was really fun. We had treats, Haitian music playing (for dancing) and then we did the Hokie-Pokie (so funny!) and a group from our class acted out the 3 Little Pigs, which was very entertaining. Keith and one of the other husbands came tonight as well, which was really fun. Between everyone we got a lot of picture and video. I'll post some of the pictures tomorrow.

It was nice having Keith home all afternoon and then being able to spend the whole evening with him! I knew I missed it, but I remember just how much I missed it when we were able to spend time together without any worries of studying today! We get to relax the rest of the week and in a week from today we get to move! Our new place is nice and it has 2 bedrooms with a beautiful view and it's cheaper! Two weeks from today, my parents and sister will come to visit, which I couldn't be more excited for! Whitney will stay 3 weeks with us, I can not wait!

Primary Fun Time....

Due to lack of people in our branch, a lot of us get to double and sometimes even triple up on callings. It really is quite an experience and you get to know everyone a little bit more with every different calling that you receive, so it can be a blessing. Since it is almost between semesters and some people have already left the island and the newbies have yet to come in, the only other primary worker and I have been bouncing around a little bit. As odd as it may be, I have learned more about some of the people that I go to church with by teaching their 5 year olds than I have from spending hours with them during the week. Kids really can say the funniest things. I won't share the things I learned, but the bluntness of children can be both refreshing and humorous at times. Here is a quick look into a fairly typical sharing time from our small Dominican Branch.

Sis. Leavitt: Who can tell me who the President of the church is?
Child: Oh! Oh! (while bouncing up and down in chair) ummm..... the president? ummm....... George Bush!
Sis. Leavitt: That's the president of America, but who is the president of the church?
Different Child: Oh! It's Thomas.... Thomas.... I forgot.
3rd Child: Oh ya, it's Thomas..........Thomas Jefferson! (with a very proud grin) I knew that! Thomas S. Jefferson is the president of the church!
Sis. Leavitt: (while trying to not laugh) Close, the President of the church is Thomas S. Monson.
4th Child: Noooo, he's the Prophet!

To Be More Specific.....

For those of you that checked out "The Meanest Mom" blog, here is a list of more specific posts that I thought were amusing: (I had to dig into her blog archive, but it was so worth it to me!) Sorry for those of you who did not find much humor)

In April: *A New Flavor of Toothpaste *A Very Private Matter * *Tum-my Time! *Go Fish! *If You're Saved and You Know It
In March: *The Meanest Mom? *I've gotta go!

That's as far as I've read, but those have been some of my favorites. :)

Internet Treasures

I am very aware of some of the dangers of the internet, but I am also very aware of the treasures you can find! I spent (not wasted, mind you) a good portion of my day today reading one of the funniest blogs out there! I thought I would share the link with all of you avid blog readers so that if you perhaps have a spare minute or two and you need a "pick me up", you can join me in laughter! Keith laughed at the couple of posts that I had him read, but I was laughing out loud, again and again. I guess that says a little bit about my pitiful life, but I'm thinking that some of you will also get a kick out of it. If you read one and don't find much humor in it, read a few more, you'll bust a gut! FYI--I don't know the lady who writes it, I just saw her blog title on a website and thought that it sounded entertaining. Here it is:

"The Meanest Mom" http://themeanestmom.blogspot.com

ENJOY!

My Main Squeeze!

Keith is taking his last Mini (Exam) of the semester (excluding finals) right now and although I don't envy him, I do appreciate and admire him! I just wanted to give a little "shout out" to the man that works so hard for our family! I would love to list every single thing he does to contribute to our family, but lets be honest: It can't be done! I just want to give everyone a little peep into what he does everyday for our family, starting with his daily schedule:

*4:30--wake up and read from his French Book Of Mormon
*5:00--start studying
*6:00--work out for an hour
*7:00--shower, get ready, eat and study some more
*8:00--Class
*12:00--15 min. walk home to spend lunch with Me!
*1:00--class
*end of class--Study study study!
*7:00--Comes home to spend the rest of the evening with me. He comes home and sometimes helps with dinner, almost always helps (or does) the dishes, and just spends time with me.
*9:30--He always makes sure that we read our scriptures and pray together, every single day. He also writes in his journal ever night, without missing a single night since he started (in Oct)

Not an easy schedule to keep but he does it so well! He also keeps a positive attitude through it all and helps me to try and keep a positive attitude. Keith is a great example to me in everything he does! He studies extra hard (and early) so that we can spend time together in the evening and he always is very supportive of me. I will limit myself to 5 things I love about Keith, because I could go on and on....

***He is the most thoughtful man I know. Plain and Simple. (for proof, check previous post)
***He is a very hard worker and he works like crazy to make life better for our family
***He is very positive and can make me laugh no matter the situation (or how tired & grouchy I am)He is quite funny (no one tell him that!)
***He is truly an honest man. To me, that says a lot about his character.
***He is the love of my life and I know he's in it for the long-run! I've never questioned his love or devotion and he is constantly helping me to grow, learn, and become a better person.

So Folks, here he is, the reason I wake up in the morning, my motivation for becoming a better person, and the man that will forever hold my heart!

Here he is, holding a coconut from the market!

We were laying on the bed talking one morning and Keith was playing with these clothes pins, not really paying attention to what he was doing. He realized it when I told him to stop for a picture.

Here he is, 25 lbs. lighter than the last time any from home saw him! He's looking great!

Isn't he handsome?

Thoughtful Husband!!

Today has been such a great day! I found out that starting in June I will have a full time job for the summer at the Day School! I am going to be in charge of the Summer Camp Program for the entire summer, so I am nervous because that is quite a task, but I'm still excited! Tonight after Family Home Evening my wonderful husband asked what I wanted to do. I picked what we did for FHE so I told him it was his choice. He suggested we watched a movie and went in to get his computer. He told me to check out my IPod and when I did, I saw that he had bought the movie Enchanted for me and loaded it on my IPod this morning before I woke up. He smiled and told me "Happy Monday!" I sure do love my husband, what a thoughtful man! :)

................................

I am too tired to write much about all that has gone on this weekend, so here are some pictures instead. It was a busy weekend, but quite fun and just what I needed. Keith and I were able to spend a lot more time together than normal and I'm really excited for the semester to be over so we can spend more time together!

THURSDAY: Thursdays are my days to teach English and since we have gone over almost everything that the other teacher or I can come up with (as well as the book) we have just been practicing speaking it. Here is some of the class acting out "The Three Little Pigs." We all had a good laugh

FRIDAY: Keith and I went and swam in the ocean and for the first time ever, Keith was the first to get out! I had a blast! Afterwards, we went out to dinner, which was a nice break.

SATURDAY: We went with our friends Matt and Leigh Williams to Roseau (the capital) and walked around a little bit, enjoyed some local cuisine at Fort Young, and watched poor Matt vomit out the window of our transport!

Here we are again at Fort Young. The food was great and the view was beautiful! After we ate, we sat and talked for about an hour, it's a really nice place and it actually doesn't feel like a 3rd world country! What Keith is doing, I'm not sure, but I thought it was kind of a funny picture!

Study Buddy!

Today didn't bring a lot of excitement, but Keith and I were able to spend quite a bit of time together (compared to normal). This afternoon I helped Keith study for his upcoming tests. Tomorrow he has his 2 lab practicals, one for Anatomy and one for Histology. A week from tomorrow he has his Mini (test) 3, and then the following Tuesday (April 22) he has his final! I randomly picked some of his Histology slides on his computer and quizzed him on them, and then quizzed him with some of the thousands of flashcards that he has made. After dinner, we were able to buddy-study a little bit more, using some of the flashcards I wasn't able to get to earlier. Not that exciting, but it was fun to be able to spend time with him. We always have some good laughs as well, between me trying to read Keith's handwriting and correctly pronounce some of these huge medical terms! (I am getting better at it though) Here are some pictures from our afternoon as "Study Buddies!"

Sunny Days!

Yesterday and today were nice and sunny! Most of you are probably wondering, "If you live in the Caribbean, isn't it nice and sunny everyday?" To answer such a question: No. Almost all of last week it was pouring! Rain in Dominica is unlike any other rain I have ever seen! When it's about to pour (and I mean 'pour' in the most literal sense possible) you will feel a couple of drops, hear the rain falling, and about 3-4 seconds later it dumps. It's nice that you can hear it coming most of the time, because the few drops you feel give you warning to have your umbrella handy, and the sound of the rain coming gives you just enough warning to get your umbrella up. A few drops of rain doesn't always mean it's going to poor however, it's just a warning that it might. Needless to say, life changes a little when it rains so much. The water coming from the tap leaves quite a bit to be desired, you don't go nearly as many places (very few students have cars, so most of us walk everywhere), and although the rain cools things off a little bit, it also causes the air to be very muggy and humid. After a week or so of rain, we gladly welcomed the sunshine! The past 2 days have seemed dryer to me as well, which has been awesome, it's helped me to feel a little bit more at home!

I bought a new water bottle last week and was very excited to use it. When I went to wash it, I decided that I had better wait for a while because this is the water that came out of the tap! Yee-Haw!

Girls out on the Town!

The RSO (Ross Spouse Organization) went on a shopping trip to Roseau on Thursday and we had a lot of fun! We were able to get groceries, which is nice, but it's fun to just get out of Portsmouth and do something different. We went to the Smoothie stand and got the most amazing smoothies with papaya (which we didn't like plain), carrot, mango, banana, and sugar water. It was amazing! We had fun checking out some of the little trinket shops and getting to know each other better. We went out to lunch and just "hit the town" (as much as possible).

Here's some of our group, we are missing a couple of girls in the pictures

From left to right: Chelsie, Megdalynn, Azriah (Larissa's baby), Larissa

Left to Right: Makayla, Ralna, can't ever remember her name, Sandy

A Different Kind of Fruit Snacks

When we first got to the island it was citrus season and I was a little disappointed in the lack of fresh tropical fruit. There were juicing oranges (which make excellent juice, but they are too tough to eat) lemons, limes (great for cooking, not so much for snacking) and a few other things. Now, however, we're starting to get some great fruit and different things to snack on. The grapefruit here is AMAZING! I really really didn't like grapefruit back in the states but here, I love it! They let it ripen on the trees and the grapefruit is huge, juicy, sweet, and delicious! I was trying to pick up a grapefruit with one hand (palm it) and it was so big and heavy I couldn't really do it. We are also starting to see more mango's, "apples", bananas (of all sorts) and some other fun things. Here's some more fruit that we like to snack on:

Here we've got one of the smallest grapefruit's I've purchased on the island so far, some small mango's, and a small banana. I'm not sure what kind of bananas they are, but the are really short and sweet.
Here are some "apples", papaya, and sugar cane. I'm not sure what the "apples" actually are, but that's what the Dominican's call them. They are almost like a crabapple but not bitter and really juicy. The papaya got thrown away, we did not enjoy it at all. The sugar cane is a nice snack as well. You bite it and suck all of the juice out, it's "quite nice" as the natives would say.