Dear Friends and Family,

   Hello from Grenada!! Yup, I am still here! lol The decision was pretty hard and after I felt that God wanted me to stay another year. I was tested a lot the last part of the school year with some staff issues that came up and made it hard for me to be ok with staying, But I learned a lot through it all. And i can gratefully say that all of that is pretty much in our past...

   There is a lot of changes around here this year. I came back to an empty house. All the staff girls last year that I was with are all home now teaching school, getting married in two weeks, and getting adjusted into living with their own families in the States. So I am the only staff girl here in Laborie. The first two weeks before school started were probable the funnest but also the hardest. I got to change the house around any way I saw fit but i also was sitting around alone with no one to help me or talk to so that was really hard and I shed a few tears but I got through it. Once school started I had plenty to do ..and people to talk to.The thing I prolly miss the most though is not having anyone to rant or stress giggle with after school and weekends use to be full of it because sometimes teaching school isn't for the faint of heart and you need a person to bounce ideas off, check to see if you handled a situation correctly, or just listen to you and, of course giggle with to release stress!  But being the homebody and introvert that I am living by myself is good for me because I get to relax and catch my breath before the next event.
Here is the Limes and LaBorie mission teacher staff this year.
LtoR Derik (from LB), Drew (LB), Me, Austin (LM), Rhonda (LM), Ryan (LB), Andrea (LM), Brent (LM)
 

This summer at 'home' was a blast! I don't know what to call home anymore. I was in Idaho with friends for two weeks and then I went to Montana to be with my family for almost 2 weeks before going to PA for a week and then back 'home' to Grenada. So it was a fast blur of nostalgia, woodsy smells and fresh air and then open spaces, fixing up the house my family is moving into, and then hanging with Stacy and a cabin and four wheeler and campfires. Here are a few pictures to show case my fast amazing summer in the States.

                 overlooking the river in Idaho. down below a lake that is a few miles away from the house we use to live in...needed some quite time to process some stuff.

                              my gang Olivia, me, and Kristi

                                            Stacy came to visit me in Idaho

                                        took her to the swinging bridge

                                  tried to take her up a mountain but.......

                                 four wheeling one day on the back roads and mountain behind the house that I use to                                    call home......that road and mountain holds a lot of memories for me!!

                               now in Montana a bookshelf plant shelf my sibling and I made for mom

                                   gate into the pasture at our new place

                                   got to peek into my chest full of all my books..... !!!!

                                              in PA we went jeeping a few times!!

                                    a green house cafe I begged Stacy to take me to.
                                      Got to see Katrina and Kayla that day as well!

                              we got to spent an afternoon together!!!

                                cabin weekend! and all the ex-Grenadians...except Ryan, Derik, and I

                                 had a blast, blasting through the woods....

                                       got to see a bear!! or bears.....it was two bear cubs.

                                        morning prep for breakfast

   Anyway that was my holiday. School started Sep. 5th and i got 7 crazy, fun kids 3 girls and 4 boys. They are a lot of fun. They love hugs, learn fast and are in general pretty good kids. And each of them have an amazing personality that is so fun to watch! And I can't believe we are over half way through the first trimester!! Cue school pictures!! 

LtoR Aprel, Shachri, Selena, Camdyn, Josiah, Teja, Anton

                                       art project to help learn the days of creation

                                          fun loving

                                     second grade drawings

                                     art class drawling pandas

                                        child month march

                                     turkeys we made for Thanksgiving....we have thanksgiving earlier
                                  down here.

                                    project we did to help learn about different animals habitats.

    As I said before living down here this year is different. But will no other missionary girls to hang out with I find myself interacting with my Grenadian friends more. Which is good! Some highlights are having a sleep over, getting food and going up to the fort to watch the sunset, hanging out and exploring on church picnics, and hanging out at my house....as you can see! 

Shivani, me, Twila, and Ramona

                                           hanging out under a bridge

                                           my grenadian Squad
                                    Ramona, Twila, Me, Ranisha, Zippy

                       celebrating Ramona's birthday with pizza down in Grand anse!
Kenisha, Yvonne, me, Ramona, Twila, and Shivani

                                  three of the girls are 6th graders in our school and I have Bible study with them after school every Monday. The other girl is a younger sister that hangs out till we are finished

                                my co-workers Ramona, and Shivani this was the week before school we had a week of teacher training.

    I realized I never introduced Twila (although she is in lot of the pictures above) ....she was down here for 6 months to help Josh and Barb after they had their baby Greyson. She was a real blessing and it was nice to have another girl down here for a while. But she went home a week ago. 

We went to the end of the airport one evening and got to watch two planes come in.

    tried to do a panorama.....

sunset we got to witness while waiting for the planes. 

Thanks so much for all you who support me as i live down here. Whether is is through prayer or money. I value each one of you and your friendship even though i don't often get around to saying it. Hope to hear from you and have a good evening!