Seventh-day Adventist Churches

Since we arrived in September, we've been trying to visit all the Seventh-day Adventist churches here on the island.  Surprisingly for a small island, there are many S.D.A. churches. Mike thinks it's because people often walk or take buses to get to church, so they try to meet close to their homes.  That results in many small churches spread throughout the island.  We've had very positive experiences with each one of them so far.  It's pretty obvious to everyone that we are the visitors as soon as we step inside.  One kid even came up to me after a church service and kept touching my cheek and my arm.  I didn't think much of it until we got in the car later and Mike said, "We are probably the first Asians he ever talked to!"  It's a very interesting experience to be the minority.  

At the Old Road S.D.A. church.
They usually don't meet in the Elementary school, but it was a special Sabbath.

An amazing lunch provided by the church!
Not sure what they were, but we know that it was vegetarian and it tasted great! 

Cayon S.D.A. Church

The "Crusade" went on for six weeks!
All the churches came together to meet at the "tent" every Sabbath and a few nights a week.
Mike spoke every Wednesday night for a few minutes giving dental health advice.  

It's important to keep hydrating because it's still pretty hot under the tent!

Phillips-Molineux S.D.A. Church

Friendly kids at church.  They loved playing with Megumi.

The white building is the S.D.A. Sandy Point Zion church.  

Megumi, you are suppose to be paying attention to the Children's story!

Megumi seems to make friends the quickest our of the three of us.  As soon as we sit down, she is smiling and waving at people around her.  Often resulting in her "talking" to other kids, or forcing the person next to her to play a little game of "pass things back and forth".  One Sabbath, she walked up to the lady who was sitting in front of us and climbed onto her lap!  Megumi sat with her the whole church service.  Later we found out that she wasn't Adventist but had come to listen to the Crusade meeting.  I am thankful that God uses our little Megumi to provide us with opportunities to talk to people.    

We definitely miss Azure Hills church in California that we attended for the past four years.  But as I was reminded this morning at church, it's so neat to be a part of a global church.  I'm thankful we are able to get together with our "church family" all the way out here in the middle of the ocean to praise and worship God!  We are excited to continue visiting the different churches and to eventually find our "home" church.

"Romney Manor - Home of Caribelle Batik"

"Old Road"-on our way to Romney Manor!

Last Friday afternoon, our little family visited one of the popular tourist spots on the island: Romney Manor, home of Caribelle Batik.  "Batik", I've never even heard of the word until I came to St. Kitts.  Inside the store, we enjoyed the demonstration of how they use the hot wax and colorful dye to create patterns on the cloth.  The store is filled with beautiful pictures, bags, dresses, kids clothes, ties...all made of Batik.  It is a wonderful place to find little gifts from St. Kitts.   

 After walking through the store, we spent some time taking pictures in the beautiful surrounding.  Megumi had a blast running around in the grass.  I know that this sounds silly, but it's really hard to find a "park" here.  So it was such a treat for her to run around on the soft, green grass!

We can't wait to come back with friends.  I think a little shopping followed by a picnic outing would be a perfect afternoon.  We are trying to visit all the tourist spots before our family and friends come over (Hint Hint!).  Romney Manor will definitely be included in "The DuVall's St. Kitts Tour"!  

Thanksgiving...Island Style!

I've been meaning to post pictures from our Thanksgiving weekend for a while now.  Tonight is the perfect night for it.  Besides, I better post these pictures since Christmas is just around the corner!  This Caribbean weather is really throwing me off with my sense of time...

Our first Thanksgiving on the island did not start out well.  I came down with a fever the Saturday night before Thanksgiving.  For the next five days, I was on a soup diet since everything else hurt too much to swallow.  I was miserable.  I was homesick and I was keenly aware that my family and friends were miles away from me.  It's amazing how when you are physically not well, it puts a damper on your emotional and mental state.  Thankfully Megumi and Mike did not get as sick as I did.  Megumi only had a fever for a day and Mike had sore throat for couple days.  I realized "good health" is something our little family had taken for granted.  Not anymore.

Thanksgiving day was the first day after being sick that I was able to FINALLY eat something other than soup!  I think everything tasted EXTRA tasty.  Although they don't really celebrate Thanksgiving here in St. Kitts, we were invited to join a special Thanksgiving lunch at the Prep. School where I teach piano after school to few students.  Although we were all sweating, it was cozy and we enjoyed good food amongst great company!  It was a little strange that most of the people that attended the Thanksgiving lunch had to go back to work afterwards. (Not Mike though! The dental clinic was closed on Thursday and Friday.)

Although we were invited to another Thanksgiving dinner that evening, we decided to stay home and "take it easy" and enjoy a quiet family time.  Since we really didn't have time to prepare for a Thanksgiving dinner, we decided to forget the traditional food and make pizza!

                           

"Mom, are you going to share any of that with me?"

However, on Saturday evening Mike did have cravings for Thanksgiving food, so he made mashed potatoes, gravy, corn, green beans, and we had vegetarian hot dogs instead of turkey! (a little random I know but you have to be flexible when your choices are limited!)  Then I made pumpkin bread for dessert which we enjoyed with some vanilla ice-cream.  We concluded our weekend by listening to Christmas songs and writing Christmas cards while our ceiling fan kept us from sweating too much!    

Was it strange to spend Thanksgiving without our family? Yes.  It was strange and we definitely missed sitting around a big table with everyone.  However, our hearts were still filled with thanksgiving.  Although it almost felt like a regular day, perhaps that's how it's really suppose to be.

Everyday, we should count our blessings and remind ourselves of the ways God has been faithful in the past.  Everyday, we should give thanks to how He is faithful in the present.  Everyday, we should rejoice in how we can trust that He will continue to be faithful in the future.

It won't literally be Thanksgiving everyday (although that would be super cool!).  But at least I hope Mike and I can strive to build the "atmosphere of Thanksgiving" in our home...everyday.    

Discovering the beauty of St.Kitts

It's been exactly 2 months since we arrived here on St. Kitts.  We are slowly adjusting to making this place our new "home".  There are days I feel totally comfortable with the island life and there are those "other" days that I don't think I'll ever get used to living here.  This weekend started with one of those "other" days.

Fall is my favorite season of the year.  The soft sweater wrapped tightly around you; the steaming hot (decaf) pumpkin spice latte warming your hands; and the cold crisp air that refreshes your spirit as soon as you step outside!  Of course, we can' t forget about the orange, yellow, and red leaves that seem to transform your usual neighborhood into a breath-taking dream land.  I was missing every bit of fall.  Now, I haven't forgotten that we live in a "tropical paradise".  I am reminded of that every morning when I look outside the window out to the Atlantic ocean.  But oh how easy it is to want what you don't have instead of being thankful for what you DO have.

On Sabbath afternoon, to get out of our house for a little while, we went on an "animal scavenger hunt" around the island (which simply consisted of Mike driving and me attempting to take pictures of various animals through the passenger window).  Here are some of the animals we were able to "capture".

 

Sunday morning we drove out to Brimstone Hill, which is one of the historical landmarks of the island.  It started raining right as we got there but we were able to take shelter in the fort.  The rain shower quickly passed and we were able to enjoy the magnificent view of the island from the top of the hill.

Brimstone Hill on the left above the town of "Old Road"

Our day concluded with Mike baking his famous French bread and me trying out the new "pull-apart cinnamon bread" from Pinterest.  Although my bread didn't quite turn out like the picture online, it still tasted good!  Baking seems to be the new entertainment for the DuVall family on the weekends.  It's really out of our selfish cravings for baked goods since they are not really available here on the island.  If you want to eat it, you have to make it!  But it has led us to try out some really fun recipes that we never tried before.      

 

Although I am still missing the fall season tonight, my heart is content.  I am thankful for the beauty that is unique to St. Kitts.  I am thankful for the wild life (okay, maybe not the cockroaches or the centipedes...), the gorgeous green hills, and the multi-blue colored ocean that surrounds us.  But most of all, I am thankful for the simple joy of baking and eating home made bread with my husband and daughter.  I have a feeling there will come a day when I will miss how I spent my "Fall" here in St. Kitts.
 

Christmas in October

Christmas came a little early to the DuVall household this year.  Instead of on a sleigh that was led by Rudolph the red nose reindeer, our gifts arrived in a 20 ft. container on the bed of a truck.

Living out of nine suitcases was getting old really fast.  Thankfully most houses on the island come fully furnished with most essential things in the kitchen.  However, we had asked our landlord to take out most of the furniture to make room for our own furniture that was coming in the container.  So our house looked pretty empty.  We had been sleeping on the "guest bed" but we were ready to have our own bed back!  We had finally found our place to live and we were anxious to make it our "home".

At first, our container was suppose to be here on the week of the 11th of September.  Then we heard the week of the 20th.  Finally, we received some updates and found out that our container was stuck in the Bahamas.  We didn't even know why.  For all we knew, our container was taking a little vacation!  Then we heard at the beginning of last week that the reason our container was in the Bahamas was due to the "ship breaking down".  That did not sound good at all!  I gave up trying to figure out when we would have our belongings.  It was part of getting used to the "island time"...right?

On Friday, October 5th, only about a week after we found out about our "ship breaking down", Mike told me very casually that our container had arrived here in St. Kitts.  I stared at him and replied "No way, you are joking?!"  But it was true.  He was not joking and our container was really here!  I couldn't believe it!  All of a sudden, I started hearing Christmas music!  Just kidding.  But we definitely felt like little kids who all of a sudden found themselves under a Christmas tree full of presents!  We quickly called the person in charge and made arrangements for our container to be delivered as soon as possible.

Tuesday, October 9, 2012 at 9:00am, our container was delivered.  After an hour and a half of unloading (thankfully they had people that were hired to help!) and checking off each items off the list for customs, we found ourselves standing in the living room surrounded by 200+ boxes.

Christmas was really here and I'm surprised we didn't put Christmas music on while we opened boxes one by one.  We were ecstatic to find all the "goodies" inside!  We had almost forgotten what we packed over 4 months ago!  Mike was thrilled to find a Costco box of Famous Amos cookies and I was glad to finally find my box that said "cleaning supplies" (You can tell where our priorities are).  Of course, our Megumi was babbling on and on over her board books and her long lost toys she had found at last!

I know that our container came just at the right time.  With five diapers left, God had sent me my boxes of diapers just in time!  Could I have gone to the store here and bought some diapers?  Sure, I could've. They may not have had the correct size available and I would've had to pay almost double the price compared to the States.  However, I did not have to do that.  Coincidence?  Perhaps some would argue that.  But I like to believe that it was another small way God was showing me just how He is in control.   It makes me smile everytime I see the diaper boxes.  I'm glad He cares about little things in our lives as well as the big things.

Yey for more diapers! (and my cloth diapers are here too!) 

One of the first things Mike did was to sit on our "couch".

Boxes and boxes...it's a maze through our house!

Four days later, the novelty and excitement of the boxes are wearing off very quickly.  I am still sitting here surrounded by boxes and I am tired of looking at them.  Our living room and kitchen still looks like a tornado went through and I am so ready to have everything put away!  But it is easier said than done.  I under estimated how long it takes to unpack with a 15 month old by yourside. Especially with Megumi going through a "cling on to mommy" stage, I can hardly get anything done during the day without Mike.  So what we found ourselves doing is unpacking after Megumi goes to bed at 7:30pm to about midnight.  Those hours were very productive but definitely left us exhausted.

Why is it that such a blessing and a big answer to prayer can seem to be the source of your stress all of a sudden?  Perhaps seeing all the familiar things, I am painfully aware of just how much I miss my friends and family.  Oh how I wish they could be here with me! (and yes, to help me unpack! haha)  However, as I write this, I am reminding myself of last month when we prayed and prayed for our contianer to arrive.  Yes, these boxes that I can not seem to get out of our living room, each one of them is an answer to prayer.  No more complaining and no more stress!  Instead, I will crank up the praise songs and will rejoice in the fact that I DO have boxes to put away and my belongings to unpack!  So after my Sabbath rest, I will go back to unpacking with a renewed spirit.  I will rejoice.  I will praise.  I will be thankful.  

  

Come here the story of one in a distant land...!

Jordan and Dan...the amazing teachers/actors!

"Come here the story of one in a distant land...come here the story...of one brave man!"  Yes, I'm not talking about St. Kitts.  I'm talking about Robin Hood.  My family (more specifically Mike and I, but I'm sure Megumi would've joined us if she could!) has been humming the tunes of Robin Hood songs all week long.

About two weeks ago, I was asked to play the piano for the little musical the prepartory school on Veterinary school campus was putting on.  There were two gentlemen that came representing the Missoula Children's Theater.  They travel all across the states as well as internationally working with children to put together a musical production.  They get to travel AND work with children.  Not to mention the acting and singing!  I think it's one of the top five coolest job in the world!  What's really impressive is that they put together this show in four days.  Yes...FOUR days!  From the little "stinkers" known as the skunks to our beloved Robin Hood, all the students at the school worked together.  It was so neat to see the process of assessing and assigning roles on the first day to the dress rehersal only four days later.        

We were a little nervous after the dress rehersal but the kids did an incredible job performing the show twice in one evening.  It's amazing what nervousness and excitement put together can do to you!  We were all thrilled to be a part of this wonderful production!  It was so fun to be working with kids again and it was a great opportunity to meet some neat people.  It gave us an excuse to get out and enjoy some yummy meals at local restaurants while getting to know the staff from the university.  It's so nice to feel like Mike and I are making friends!

Yey for Indian food!

Our little restaurant on the side of the road.

Not sure what I ate...but was assured it was vegetarian.  It was tasty!

The students called me "Mrs. Yuki" and it made me miss my kiddos back in Collegedale, Tennessee (that's what my students there called me because my maiden name was too long!).  I have a feeling we are not going to get the Robin Hood songs out of our heads anytime soon.  But that's okay, because just humming the tunes somehow brings a smile to my face.  Hip hip hooray for Robin Hood!