Home again, home again

This is going to be a really long post with lots and lots of pictures. I thought I could condense it a little more but once I got started i just couldn't decide where to quit with the pictures so I just kept going. This trip ranks pretty high out of all my Jamaica trips. It's at least in the top two, if not the best one yet. So since it was that good, I just wanted to share all of it with everyone. So here goes...
Here is our whole group minus Erin who is taking the picture and Lisa who didn't come until Sunday night. I think the small group is what made it such an incredible trip. You get to know everyone and it really makes it a family like atmosphere.

We got in Saturday afternoon and spent the rest of the day getting settled and hanging out with the kids. Then Sunday after church we took our traditional trip to Devon House to eat some I Scream. Delicious. I was hoping to get pineapple but sadly, they didn't have it. So I opted for mango instead which was just as delicious.

We didn't have any big concrete projects this year, but they did lay a lot of block which called for a lot of mortar which called for A LOT of sand sifting.

Possibly one of the cutest kids on earth. His name is Dayne but we all called him Spiderman cause the first day we were there before we knew his name he had on a spiderman shirt. So stinkin cute. And he knew it too.

We did work. But we also had a lot of fun. Erin D sporting her homemade wire glasses.

Roger. AKA Wayne Brady. Anyone else agree?

There was a crew up on the roof all day getting a new roof all formed up. Another team will put the zinc on. Our team just got it ready.

Here's one of my kids that I sponsor- Rushede. He loves to help work. One day a bunch of just hitting puberty teenage boys were all "helping" start the cement mixer. They all tried starting it but none of them could do it. Finally he got it and his smile was a mile wide. There was no acting cool. He was proud as a peacock. And I was kinda feeling like a proud mama myself. Yep, that's my boy!

One day me and Lisa were painting some new picnic tables. Then the laundry lady chased us down. Literally chased us down, and wanted us to paint all her clothespins. So, that's what we did for the next 1 1/2 hours. Painted clothespins. We made it more exciting by naming them as we painted them. I think we had a Daryl, a Curtis, Yolanda.... it doesn't get much more exciting than painting clothespins, let me tell ya.

Every year we do a skit for the kids. This year we snagged a bunch of material from the sewing room and dressed up for it. We did the fiery furnace and the kids loved it. They called for an encore but our creative juices were drained and we never did give them one. Sorry kids.

This one shall remain anonymous. We'll just say that someone put ice in someone elses bed after the someone else dumped a bucket of water all over the first someone. And the someone else didn't discover the ice until after midnight. We stayed up late that night because the music across the street was so loud it was rattling the roofs where we were. Not so much the lullaby you can easily fall asleep to. And also, I was not one of the someones.

Beach Day! Lisa, Erin and me spent a lot of time creating a turtle in the sand. And then here we are destroying all our hard work.

We all shaped our hands into letters to spell out JAMAICA with our shadows. Only after we were home did we realize it was all backwards. Still a fun picture though.

One of God's beautiful creations

Ocho Rios/Dunns River Falls. Beautiful waterfall. I've climbed it I think four times over the years. I'm not an overachiever when it comes to climbing the falls. Some like to do it over and over. Not me. I just take pictures.

And this is the reason we climb alone, and not on a guided tour. The tour guides make their group do really embarrasing things and act stupid while everyone else walks by and laughs at them.

Beach day was Friday. Friday night was the Hands in Praise program. Here's the girls doing "Thank You". After seeing it so many times, it still touching.

After the program we gave the kids ice cream. And I went around and took a bunc of pictures. This is Cleveland. Funny funny kid. Has a great laugh and always has a smile on his face.

The girl is Tissia. The boys just hopped in the picture and I don't know their names.

I know we're not supposed to have favorites but........ I love Mickail. He's a lot of fun. And while most of the kids are rail thin and look like their bones could just snap in two, this kid is an ox. Biggest muscles I've ever seen on a kid his age.

Kemoy has been there ever since I started going nine years ago. I love seeing him. After talking to him I found out he's a computer brainiac. I was very impressed with how computer smart he was and felt really dumb because my computer knowlege is so limited. I think he thought I was dumb too.

My two sponsor kids. Cassandra is 17 and Rushede is 14. I love being able to know the kids I sponsor, and to be able to watch them grow up and keep in touch with them has been a blessing.

And now we are to the end of the week. Wow - it was so hard to leave this year. So hard. And here is the last picture I took. Out the bus window, there she stands. My good friend and sister Erin who is serving the Lord in Jamaica. Seeing you stand there crying as we left still gets me a little choked up. But I know you love it and that's exactly where God wants you and where you want you. So good to be with you!

So there you have it folks. Jamaica 09. I really should have waited until tomorrow to post because I really needed to just go to bed but I just was so excited. Congratulations if you made it all the way through and are still reading. Thanks for sticking with me. Tomorrow is back to the grindstone. I'll be struggling to be happy about being at work I'm sure, but it must be done, right? I am so thankful for this trip. I can't really think of one complaint from the whole week. It was so rejuvenating and refreshing and I loved every minute of it. As mission trips go, it's really hard to put into words. I'm still just trying to process it all. Oh, and since this is so long and it pretty late and I really need sleep, I'm not previewing and editing. So I'm sorry for all you grammar people out there who find all my mistakes.