Welcome Home!

We arrived back on Roatan Saturday afternoon. Our good friend, Dennis, picked us up. We were happy to see that all four 50 lb. bags arrived safely. We hope this is the last time we have to bring so many bags. And none of them contained clothing!

Our yard/hillside looked great! The rainy season has everything looking very lush and, well, tropical. I was so happy to see that my favorite bush, Pride of Barbados had recovered from the severe pruning one of the gardeners gave it. It is once again peeking over the deck.

I was dismayed to see how dirty the house was after being shut up for two months. Those little geckos were quite busy pooping all over. We had covered all the furniture but still had a big cleanup facing us. Our first job was to remove the hurricane shutters so we could open up the house and air it out.
But before we could do that, we had to go up the hill and borrow Dennis' ladder. Merlin and the dogs were so happy to see us. The puppies have really grown! Merlin now has two parrots in cages on her side patio. She's actually watching them for a friend who has told Merlin that if she likes the parrots she can probably keep them. They make so much noise in the morning that they have attracted the attention of some wild yellow naped parrots who now come to visit. She did get rid of all the rabbits, giving away many of them; the rest escaped when the torrential rains washed a gully underneath the fence around their hutch.

We got the shutters down, groceries put away, clean sheets on the bed, floors swept and decided to call it a day. We had been up since 2:30 a.m. and were feeling pretty darn tired, so tired that we didn't even want to go out to eat and certainly didn't have the energy required to clean up the kitchen so that we could cook. We had cheese and crackers and called it good enough. We were in bed and sound asleep by 7:30 p.m.! And we slept through until 5:50 a.m.

We were going to go out to breakfast (again to avoid cleaning the kitchen), but our car was up at Colin and Kaleen's, their gate was still locked and my Honduran phone needed to be charged. So we ate protein bars.

We did get the car in time to go to church. Our Sonrise church friends were happy to see us again and there were quite a few new faces as well, one of the interesting things about this church. The worship leader, Donnie, had left the island to go back to California. Chuck had an awesome (and convicting) sermon about how our attitude reveals the Holy Spirit to others and if we're busy being irritable, angry, impatient (guilty!!!) then what does that say about us and our relationship with the Lord? What are we revealing to others, the fruit of the spirit or a spirit of negativity? If we are to be a reflection of the Light of the world, how can we shine when we are focused on negative emotions?

We didn't stay for lunch; they had quite a crowd to feed without us. We stopped by the Oasis for a fabulous black angus burger with blue cheese - yum! Their incredible South Carolinan cook had quit and left the island, but the food was still great.

We have spent the past few days cleaning. Despite bringing back four 50 lb. bags of household items, books, movies, etc., I neglected to bring more cleaner for my Hoover Floormate. Don had enough to scrub the tile floors in our quarters. I had to use a string mop and Dr. Bronner's to clean the guest quarters/kitchen. The kitchen and bathrooms got a good cleaning and are now safe to use. Everything is unpacked and put away, the new DVD player works well and we have new movies to watch. (Still no television reception; gotta work on this.)

Strange things have been happening. The propane tank for our gas stove ran out just as I was starting dinner last night. Of course the sun had just set, it was dark, and the propane tank sits under the house. Don had to manuver down the steep incline in the dark carrying a 40 lb. propane tank and flashlight. The under-house lights didn't come on under the kitchen side, the flashlight stopped working, the gas regulator started leaking just when the flashlight went out. Don was expressing negative thoughts. We decided to forget it until daylight. We ate the cold boiled shrimp and cole slaw I had prepared earlier in the day.

More strange things. The wireless router suddently quit working yesterday, the driver's side window in the Rav4 refused to work today. A gas valve on one of the stove burners began leaking when Don replaced the regulator and hooked up the new tank . How is that even possible? Nothing else leaked. He couldn't get the top off of the stove and finally had to just seal the valve and superglue it closed. Fortunately, this stove has, or had, 6 burners. Uh oh. Don just informed me that another burner has a very slow leaking valve, so slow that he doesn't think it matters. He did get the router working again, just unplugged it, waited a few minutes, then plugged it in again and it worked.

But hey! Let's not dwell on the negative! The weather is fabulous, the sun in shining, gentle breezes are blowing, and it is a beautiful day. I'm sitting in the porch swing taking it all in.