Me, A Gardener??

Well maybe not, Josh did the planting; I just make sure they get water and sunlight. Here's what they look like so far.

Tomato Plants

Onion Plants

4th Semester Happenings

Well Josh is now in his 4th semester at Ross University, which marks the almost half way point for his schooling on the island. This time next year we will hopefully be getting ready to make the transition to a state school. So far this semester is 1000x's better than 3rd semester. Josh's classes seem to be moving more toward application/hands on, which he likes much better then the straight memorization of the past three semesters. So in short, he is actually enjoying a couple of his classes this time. He has also become very active with the Equine/Bovine Club. He has been able to help with some AI (artificial insemination) of the school's cattle. This has been a wonderful thing for him because it not only provides a break from studying, but it is what he loves to do. He hopes to one be able to provide this service as a part of his practice. So for Josh, the semester is going pretty great!!

I have, of course, been a little less busy. However compared to this time last year, I have a different life. My week by days, Sunday: Church in the am, soccer in the afternoon, women's bible study at night; Monday: St. Christopher Chorale Society practice at night; Wednesday: Bible study at one of the missionaries homes; Thursday: practice for the worship team at church; Friday: volleyball in the afternoon for Josh. Fill in some of the days with the beach or pool and you have a pretty busy girl. I am, however, becoming very use to my down time and am kind of worried about when I actually have to go back to "normal" life in a little over a year!! lol!! But just like this adventure, the next will be just as exciting because it will be moving us closer to the finish line of school and finally settling down back in the great state of TN!!!

Junior

This semester we finally were able to purchase a car, thankfully!!  I have taken some pictures of our lovely vehicle for your viewing pleasure.  Here are Junior's stats: 1996 Suzuki Vitara, 4 wheel drive, lots of miles, no back seat, new tires, rust throughout, small holes in the back floorboard, soft top that is broken and held on by bungee cords, holes in the exhaust pipe (which allows exhaust to come into the car), BUT it starts and get us around the island so we love it!!!

Thanksgiving in St. Kitts

Last Thursday Josh and I celebrated our first Thanksgiving in St. Kitts.  We attend a small student lead church service on Sunday morning called Caribbean Christian Fellowship, and every Thanksgiving they do a huge potluck for Thanksgiving.  There was a sign up sheet sent out and decided I was going to make sweet potato casserole and fudge pies.  I had been craving sweet potato casserole at the time the sign up sheet went out so I thought that it was a great idea for me to make it, plus Josh loves it!!  Oh boy was I ever wrong about it being a great idea.  It was the most stressful, nerve racking thing I could of picked.  First of all after I got to thinking about it, I realized that I had NEVER seen sweet potatoes in the grocery store and I was going to need to feed a HUNDRED people.  Now I knew that I could not actually feed that many people, but the southern girl in me made me feel the need to at least give it my best effort because I could not stand the thought of not taking enough for everyone.  Well the weekend leading in to the week of Thanksgiving I found sweet potatoes, and I could kick myself for not taking a picture of them.  Some of them where as big as cantaloupes!!!  They are different from the ones at home, but tasted the same.  So the Wednesday before Thanksgiving a peeled and cooked my sweet potatoes, which took forever as I only have one medium size pot!!!  And on Thursday morning I put the marshmallows on top of one of the casseroles and made the nut topping for the other casserole, which is Josh's favorite.  All in all they turned out great.  I however cannot say the same for my fudge pies.  I followed my mom's recipe exactly as it said, not opening the oven door until they had cooked for 45 minutes.  But the pies never set up much to my disappointment.  Oh well at least the sweet potato casserole was good and there was plenty to go around!!  Here are some pictures from the night.  Regrettably I forgot to get a picture of all the food before, so you will only get to see the aftermath.

2 month Vacay in the States

So on July 20th I took the plane out of St. Kitts to head north to the good ole' USA.  I was there for a total of two months and just wanted to share some of the things that I did while at home.

First on the agenda was my 10 year high school reunion.  I went with two of my very best girlfriends and longtime teammates in soccer.  It wasn't quite what I expected, but we topped the night off with my first of many trips, while I was home, to Sweet CeCe's.

Oh yeah, earlier that day was spent with some great friends the Byrnes and their family at Center Hill Lake.  Here is the sweetest of the Byrnes group!!!

During this time I also visited the girls at my old job and was able to go back and work for about a month and half.  This was a complete blessing for my and Josh as neither one of us have a job.  I like to say we are living on love and loans!!

I went to the Birthday Celebration for our oldest godchild, the very much grown up Sadie Baxter.  Here are a few more pics from the party.

The future Mr and Mrs. Silas David Baxter.  Sorry Andy!! 

A couple of weeks at work and then Josh was home for his two week break between semesters.  During that time my church choir and our children's choir sang at the fair.  Here is the children's choir. 

I am happy to report that Josh successfully made it through 2nd semester and is on to 3rd.  When Josh got home we were headed out with my mom and dad to the Smokey Mountains.  Here is the trip in pictures.

Titanic exhibit.  Very fun and interesting, but expensive!!

Yummy Pancake Pantry

My mom and dad

Ripley's Aquarium.  This was Josh's favorite thing!!

After we got back, Josh and I both worked, me at WBT and him at Kinslow's.  We spent time with our friends and family, went to our home church, celebrated our youngest godchild's birthday Samuel Jacob Baxter, and enjoyed the A/C even through it almost froze us!!

Josh's mom had a get together with all of the brothers and sisters and their kids the night before Josh went back to St. Kitts.  Here are two of our silly, funny, crazy, adorable nieces and nephew Brady and Emma!!!

So I stayed for two more weeks after Josh went back so I could do Sherry's Run.  It is a 5k that I do every year that benefits cancer patients and their families.  This year I got a new recruit, my brother Stuart.  And wouldn't you know we didn't even get one picture of us together. (sad face)  But we did finish, neither one of us killing over, in a respectable time. 

I also went to the Cheesecake Factory with some fabulous ladies from church.

Well that about sums up the highlights of my two months home.  Of course there were the shopping trips and drive thru dinners at Taco Bell and Sonic, but the best times spent at home are always with the one's I miss the most, my family and friends!!! 



5 Year Anniversary Dinner

So for mine and Josh's 5 year anniversary we went to a restaurant on the island called "The Beach House."  Although we were a week late going out because of Josh's need to study for exams the coming week, we had a great time and eat some incredible food.  Here are some pictures from the night.

 View from our table.  Nevis is in the background.

Happy Anniversary!!!!

Volcano Hike

So for those of you that don't know, we live on an island that was created by a volcano.  It is an inactive volcano, but a volcano nonetheless.  A little over a month ago Josh and I were invited to go on the hike to the rim of the volcano, and decided we had never been so now was the perfect time to go.  Josh was informed by one of his close friends that it was a moderate hike, no big deal.  WRONG!!!!  The guy that got the hike together hired a guide to pick us up at the school and to take us up the volcano.  Something should have tipped me and Josh off when we found out that our guide hikes the volcano 2-3 times a week, but it didn't.  After an adventurous van ride to the starting point, we were off!!!  I was the one who started off carrying the backpack with the water and snacks, as this was a three to four hour hike round trip.  Well we took off up the volcano like we were running from the police, and it was straight up!!!!  At our first stop I kindly handed over the backpack to my super, great husband, who carried it the rest of the way up. 

Tree at our first stopping point.  Supposedly 1/5 of the way done!!

A little over an hour later we were nearing the top.  Josh and I were both so happy to hear that the climb was almost over!! Here are a few pictures heading to the top and looking down into the crater.

 That is the highest you can go without going to the summit, which is like another 1000ft and it is climbing with ropes.

 This is the pond in the middle of the crater.

 That is the summit.

 The rim of the volcano.

Rim.



After some talking, the group decided they wanted to go down into the crater and swim in the pond.  We were told that it was quite a difficult climb down, as it was pretty much straight down while lowing yourself down with ropes.  I decided I didn't want to be a cry baby so I reluctantly went with the group.  Well I got not even an 1/8 of the way down and decided that if I continued with the group they might be having to get me out of there on a stretcher.  Although I have never doubted the strength of my legs, I am much less confident in my arm strength.  And as it had been raining the night before it made the climb even that much more difficult.  So I told Josh that I was headed back up to wait on them, so I could avoid a broken neck!!  Here are the pictures from the climb down into the crater and some of the group swimming in the crater pond.  Although I wish I could have gone all the way down, the pictures are good enough for me!!!

 Heading down.  Not me!!!

 Crater pond.

Our guide and the group getting ready to head back up to where I am waiting.

After returning to the where I was waiting, I was informed by a couple of people including my husband that I was the smart one not to climb down into the crater.  Josh said that it was crazy!!!  Now the task of having to make our way back down the volcano lay before us.  This was quite a bit faster, but not any easier then climbing up because by now everyone's legs were mush. 

 Josh and I after he returned from the crater.

 Headed back down!!!

 Huge ferns!!!!

 Finally at back to the van.

That little tiny rock sticking out right in the middle of the picture was where we were at.

So we survived the volcano hike and have vowed never to do it again!!!  I wish I would have had a recording of Josh while we were on the hike because you get a kick out of him.  He kept saying the whole time how he was lied to because he was told that it was not a hard hike.  He complained the whole way and so did I!!! Haha!!!!  Although the group said that they would never forget the hike as long as they lived, not because of the beautiful views, but because Josh was so entertaining!!!!  And to finish off this entry, here is a picture of injury that I sustained during the hike because as Josh puts it, "I am weak!!"

I was concerned that I might be on an episode of "Monsters Inside of Me."