FYI

Tomorrow is my last day on the island before flying back for a holiday in the states. I fly out Aug 2nd and will be around for most of the month. Let me know if you want to get together. I would love to see you all!

Friends

For the last few weeks with all the wedding stuff that was going on I was thankful for the opportunity to hang out with friends too.

Me and Kates

Tamara, Matt, and I

There were lots of other friends... but these were the only ones I got pictures with. Janice that means me and you in Leo:)

Thank You Jesus for a few weeks of having a social life!

Meeting Sanjay

I had never met Sanjay (knowing of him only through what Blake had shared with me about him.) but knew him instantly when he showed up to Blake and Tashi's reception with grandpa's guitar. My heart smiled seeing him, but I wanted to cry as I thought of how much I miss my grandpa. Sanjay is blind but has taught himself to play both the piano and the guitar and I LOVE that he is getting good use out of grandpa's guitar. Sanjay played a beautiful song for Blake at the reception. I praise Jesus that I was there and able to listen to him play myself. After Sanjay played for Blake I was able to talk with him some and tell him about grandpa before we snapped a pictures together. As Sanjay played for Blake in my mind I could see grandpa sitting right there, I knew what his reaction would be as I could hear his laugh, see him slap his leg and say 'look at that!'

Thank You Jesus for this opportunity!

Blake and Tashi's Wedding!

Sunday was such a beautiful Day! Blake and Tashi's Wedding Day was truly blessed. I am sorry I didn't want to post their wedding pictures until Blake and Tashi could see them first, but here are a few snapshot from the day.

Getting some pictures of Tashi before the wedding
Snapping a picture with Blake...

and the new Mrs. Widmer:)

Thank You Jesus for the gift of these two dear friends in my life.

I love you Blake and Tashi.

Blessings!

Saturday

Saturday Morning we all met at the Open Bible Church in Top Hill for the wedding rehearsal.
Waiting for the rehearsal to start

all of the people involved at the rehearsal.

Once we were done with the rehearsal at the church we all drove/rode up to Mandeville for the rehearsal dinner.

Congrats Blake and Tashi! We Love You!

Listening to those they love sharing stories and advice.

Everyone hanging out at the rehearsal dinner

Kates and Ionda posing for a quick picture before everyone went home for the day.

Thank You Jesus for A Wonderful Rehearsal Day!

Friday

Friday the girls and I loaded up the car and headed to St. Elizabeth for a day of helping to get food and the reception hall ready for the wedding!
Pauline and Kris cutting up chicken.

Pauline adding the spices and vegetables to the chicken.

Mixing the chicken, vegetables, and spices


Once the chicken was cut up, and bagged we took it over to the reception hall and started prepping for the wedding there.

Kates, Elizabeth, and Abigail made bread sticks for the wedding

These girls were troopers. They did a lot of improvising when they didn't have what they needed to make the bread sticks. And it was HOT and they worked in the kitchen for hours. They did a great job and the bread sticks were Yummy!

Stephanie and Janice cutting up tomatoes

Aunt Laural cutting up cucumbers

Janice tying ribbons to the back of chair in the reception hall.

The reception hall set up and ready when we left Friday:)

Thank You Jesus for productive Days!

Thursday

Thursday morning we all got together to celebrate Tashi. We had a great turn out and so much fun at her wedding shower! I was so thankful for the house full of girls I had that were willing to help get things ready for her shower, and for Felicia who did an AMAZING job 'leading' Tashi's shower.

All the yummy food that we enjoyed at the shower

Tashi and all her "moms"

Tashi and I after a very fun shower!

Wednesday

Bright and early Wednesday morning Tamara, Janice and I were up and getting food prepared for Tashi's shower on Thursday. Once we had the Cinn. Rolls prepared and in the fridge to set overnight, and the egg casserole prepared and in the fridge for the next day, and the cappachino muffins made and ready to go

... we all loaded up and....
went to Y.S. Falls for the day!
The group that flew in on Tuesday all got together on Wednesday for a fun day at the falls.

And Tamara and I finally got our picture at Y.S.:)

Thank You Jesus that everyone arrived safely and that we had a fun day to hang out and relax at Y.S. Falls together.

Girls Night

With the wedding coming up I have gained a few roomatesfor the last few weeks. I have loved having these 'roomies'and last night for 'National Ice Cream Day' we went out for ice cream
and had a girls night together. It was Wonderful!

The girls involved in girls night
What we did that night.... we will never tell!

:D

Janice arrived!!! and brought chocolate!!!!

Yum!

JAD Workshop

Last week Monday I drove a group down to Kingston so we could attend this years JAD workshops. At first I was not that excited to go since this was taking up my only free week, and I only planned on staying for a few days of the workshops. After the first day, and really enjoying myself, I decided to stay for the entire workshop and it was totally worth it.

Everyday we started out with a main speaker, then broke off into our different groups to interact with different presenters on different topics. This was really good for me. I gained a ton of new information and awareness about things I had never even thought of before, and it pulled me out of my comfort zone (not something I always enjoy but I know is needed).

The following pictures are bad because I didn't use flash photography not wanting to disrupt the speaker but trying to be sneaky in getting pictures.

This was a demonstration Debbie and Tony did. Debbie was communicating through Austrialian sign (while her sister Sarah voiced pictured below), and Tony singed in JSL (Jamaican Sign Language) for all those who didn't understand Debbie's Austrailian sign.

A cute presenter I love waiting for her turn to speak while Sarah voices for Debbie's Australian sign.

The week was great but it was long and busy...

so this is how we felt/ended up most nights just sprawled out on the floor when we got back to Blake and Tashi's house. On the last night I was in Kingston I went to tell Tashi the shower was opened and she was cashed on the floor. (She doesn't know I took this picture:)



Praise Jesus for New Opportunites that help us learn and grow!

Meet Zetphen

This past week I had a team from Zetphen Church in MichiganThey were a fun group that spent the week fixing our machines and giving our tractors tune ups, ripping up the floors in the team dorms, and pouring new concrete ones.

Good Job Team!

Meet the Team(s)

This was one large team made up of 5 smaller teams. We had 3 groups from Florida. One consisted of a speech therapist, physical therapist, and another guy. a group from MTW, and one from Cornerstone Church. There was also some from New Jersey, and a few from Georgia.
I was thankful that even though we had a bunch of little teams that they all meshed and worked really well together all week.