Still Alive

Well, we find ourselves still alive and well after a week of being "in charge". We had quite the eventful week. (No the kids didn't tie us up, thanx for your prayers there!) :) We did have a few kids challenge us, but that's to be expected. The week started off with the commercial size freezer not working before Jim and Penie left. The repair man came the day they left, Tuesday. He told us not to use the freezer and that he'd be back the next day. He still hasn't come back! The next day, it seemed to be working, so we used it...After all, there are over 30 people here; we need a freezer! Since we weren't sure it would stay working, I had to go to the store every day for chicken and chicken back. (yes, they eat the back...the bone) Anyway, going to "Paul's Market" is not one of my favorite tasks. It's no problem doing the shopping, it's parking the bus. (their 15 passenger Toyota van is called a bus here) The local taxis like to park forwards and backwards and sideways, keeping you from getting in or from getting out sometimes. I started parking in the lot across the street. It's just less complicated.

On Saturday, the electricity went out about 4:30 p.m. over the entire island. It came back on around 1:30 a.m. We were concerned about all the food in the refrigerator and freezer, so we tried to start the generator up. For some reason, it wouldn't keep running (no, it wasn't out of fuel...we checked) so we went without lights. Now it gets dark around here between 7 and 7:30, so imagine keeping 30 kids occupied until bed time. After the little ones went to bed around 8:30, the older kids conned us into playing "Murder in the Dark". That was fun...for a while. I got murdered everytime! So, the lights came back on at 1:30 AM, nice wake up call. I had to get up, wake up Adrian, the handyman, and find all the breaker boxes to turn everything back on. (No fans at night make for a LONG night!)

So around comes Sunday...off to church, that was good. I had to make two trips to get everyone there and back. On my second trip home from church a woman I've never seen and her child climb in...okay, I guess I'm dropping her off at home. It was like 2 blocks away, but sure, not a problem. After lunch, we get this killer rain storm...Miniature hurricane if you ask me...the garage floods. Yep. Floods. Remember we just had a container arrive and the garage is full. The main worry was all the bags of cement and chemicals for the pool. Sure they were sitting on a pallet, but the water is rising to almost the top of the pallet. Yep. 60-100 lb bags. Guess who got to lift all those - Me and Adrian. After about half way, I had one of the teenage boys help me as I lifted the bags UP to where Adrian was standing. Dulcie and the rest of the kids were running around sweeping water and getting boxes up off the ground. Finally, I plopped myself down in the middle of the garage and went for a little swim. Why not? I was already wet. Then it turned into a water fight and playing in the rain. It really was quite the ending to a rather "busy" weekend.

Tuesday found us cleaning, as Jim and Penie were to come home that day. The afternoon was spent...at the beach! There were stressful times, and there were a few really unpleasant times, but we made it. We survived.

It's really hard to believe that we only have about 3 1/2 weeks left. Part of me is ready, part is not. It will be hard to leave these kids after all we've been through with them this summer...the games, the fights, the discipline, the tickling, the loving, the walks, the talks, the laughter, the crying, the screaming, the chores, the pranks, and yes, even the floods and power shortages.