Every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end"

One of my favorite things about coming to Dominica has been all the wonderful new friends I have gained. We have shared so much and supported one another through it all, wether it be encouraging words to help you jump off a 50 foot cliff in to the atlantic ocean, or someone to listen to you in a time of need, we form a close and unusual bond here. I'm sure it has something to do with the fact that we are all going through the same thing and so we become each others make-shift families. It was hard to leave my family back home, and I'm sure it was hard to watch me go. Now as the semester comes to an end I'm having to say goodbye to some of my Dominica "family".

Brittany and I at Pagua Bay -photo courtesy of Andrea ;)

Tomorrow Brittany, one of the girls I've come to know pretty well and think of as part of my "family" here, is leaving. I'm really happy for her that she gets to go home and see her family and continue on with her life, but I'm really sad that means I may never see her again. :( I wish her nothing but the best on her journey ahead. I will miss her a lot.

Braving Aba Wavine with the ladies. Heather leading the way!

Heather another member of my family is leaving on Friday. Her and her family are Miami bound. Again I'm so happy they are moving on and going back to the states, but she and her family will greatly be missed here. I will miss losing , miserably, Ticket to Ride to you! And I hope Alex's curiosity for dinosaures and paleontology continues to grow! (I want you to know its amazing a 3 year old can say that word and know what it is, cause I had to look up how to spell it!)

The Roy family at Crescent Moon

Then there is the Roy family. They leave Friday as well. They have always been a pleasure. I will always think of Jacquelle as Supermom! I hope one day I can be half the mom to one child as she is to 5, well actually 6 children. I love walking to the school and seeing them coming back from the beach and hearing about all the treasures they found there! Rocks and shells and sea glass galore! I will miss seeing all of your smiles!

But sure enough as all my new friends move on to their new adventures, a new crowd is moving in. That means more friends and family. And although None of these new mystery friends will replace any of the ones leaving, its comforting to know that there will be more smiles, and more laughter, and most likely more losing games. This is just the cycle of Dominica.

So to all my friends that are leaving here for good, I will miss you! In some way you have all left an imprint on me that will last forever and when I think back about Dominica in years to come, I will no doubt think of you as well. Lastly, good luck to you in all that comes your way.

And to all the friends I have yet to meet... Bring on the adventures!

Buns of fun!

Here's a look at our Sunday!

I made hamburger buns from scratch!

Preoven buns

Lily made a mess of the couch....again!

Then the power went out...Good thing we have head lamps!

you can't tell because of the camera flash, but it really is dark in here other than our headlamps and flashlight. Yup I'm bringing candles back with me!

Lily wondering what is going on!

good thing our stove is gas and it doesn't use electricity! Oops the buns look a little on the large side....we had a good laugh about the giant buns!

See it was really dark! Aren't we cute in our headlamps?!

We had to get Lily in on the action, she was looking at us like we were crazy with lights coming out of our heads, it was funny.

Aaron poked his finger in this one to see if it was done

Aaron and Lily getting some snuggle time in before dinner!

Just thought you would enjoy the pictures! Happy Sunday!

One mans trash is another mans...silverware tray?

One of the most important things I've learned while living in a third world country is how important it is to be resourceful. Its amazing to me how some things we take for granted back home as regular everyday items, are actually items of luxury here. For instance, a silverware tray. What a simple, yet phenomenal invention! Its something almost every person I know back home has, and doesn't really think about how helpful it is. This amazing thing organizes our drawer so that you don't get stabbed with a knife when you reach for something, so you can reach in and know exactly where your forks are, and keeps the drawer looking tidy. Finding those here is rare, and if you do you should expect to pay and arm and a leg and perhaps your first born. Another thing we often take for granted back home are canisters. Here when you buy flour or sugar or rice or anything of that sort it comes in a plastic baggie! A BAGGIE! Not even a baggie with a zip top, nope, the kind you have to put a knot in to hold it closed. Now here in the land of ants and beetles, that makes no sense at all! If leave it on your counter for longer than a minute and a half you can bet that you'll have your very own ant farm! (lucky you! And its not even your birthday!).

So I have taken it upon myself to come out with a new line of house hold products. My line is eco-friendly and very cost effective. You, yourself can start my line of household products at any time! I present to you Trashure!

Behold the silverware tray! (100% recycled cardboard of the cereal box variety)

Classy Pencil holder (milk jug cut in half.)

Stylish Q-tip and cotton ball bathroom set (cheese-wiz jar)

Beautiful hand crafted jewelry drawer (another cereal box)

Complete set of kitchen canisters (peanut butter jar, cheese-wiz jar, mayo jar, apple sauce jar, and protein powder container)

Chic counter top spoon canister (cut protein jug)

Practical doggie treat container (prego jar)

Laundry day set (cut off coke bottle and milk jug)

Modern spin on a cookie jar (top portion of a protein jug)

Is was funny when I was gong around taking pictures of all this stuff, I kept missing things because to us these things have become normal! Dominica definitely forces us to appreciate the small things in life. I hope that when I leave here I will remember all this kind of stuff, and be more grateful for the everyday "luxuries" we are so blessed with in the states.

We miss and love all of you and we're counting down the days till we come home!

One of the other spouses here named Heather, has a video of me cliff jumping on her blog. On November 12 a group of us crazies went with Victor, a wonderful tour guide here, to a place where he used to cliff jump as a boy. There was a 50 foot cliff and a 20 foot cliff. I did the 50 foot one! So here's how crazy I've become here in Dominica!

I still can't believe I did that! Thanks Heather for having that video! There is also another video I'm waiting on that shows how much talking it took to get me off the cliff! As soon as I get it I'll post it. OK, seriously I have to go get some stuff done! :)

Purple Turtle Beach

A couple weeks ago I mentioned that Aaron and Lenny had a day off and so we all went to the beach. I came across these videos that I forgot we had taken and I thought you might enjoy seeing them!

LOOKS FUN HUH! It would have been more fun if the water was a bit deeper!

Lily is doing great! We've had two days accident free so that is wonderful! This weekend in Roseau I got her a harness because she isn't used to walking outside with a leash and so she will just sit or pull back, its made it a little easier to kinda tug her and coax her in to walking. I'm also not so scared her collar is going to slip off and she'll get loose. She barked for the first time yesterday, but got told no and her nose flicked, so hopefully she learned from that. Anyway I better stop procrastinating I have a lot of cleaning to do so we can come home!!! I think we're down to like 29 or 30 days till we get home! I'm excited to see everyone, and to show off my tan of course! I know you're jealous Tonya :) I love you all and I'll write again soon!