From All Over The Island

Today was the island wide fellowship for the Church of Christ in Dominica. It's basically an all day affair, but we decided to leave early just because we have to keep up with so many children. From the very beginning I wasn't sure about us staying the entire day and had voiced my concerns to Dilian earlier in the week. Having thought about it he decided that I had a point and arranged for transportation to take us home shortly after the main service. He dropped by last night to let us know that everything was setup and that we just needed to be ready to head out at the normal time.

Shortly after he left Granny got to talk to a few of the kids. They had a fair amount to say to her. :)


I got up late (the phone that acts as my alarm was turned off), but still had plenty of time to get ready for Church. In fact, I let everyone else sleep for another hour (except for Elizabeth who was already up). Brother Freddy was here to pick us up a little after 9AM and I think the bus was full and headed for Castle Comfort (where the fellowship was being held) by 9:30 or so.

They have a much larger building than Scotts Head (which is hardly surprising considering how close to Roseau they are). It's also a very beautiful building. The tile work on the floor was very interesting.


Brother Dilian was main speaker and the topic was “Complacency”. The sermon was well thought out and well delivered. All Dilian's sermons have been good, this one was excellent. I missed bits and pieces chasing after this child or that and I had to watch from outside because the building was packed and I thought it best to keep the kids outside. (There was actually a crowd out there with us. As big as the building is it wasn't big enough for everyone who was there. Especially considering how warm it was today, lol.)

The services ran about an hour longer than normal. After that there was a dinner. We had been gone for over five hours by the time we got home (Castle Comfort is about 20 to 25 minutes from here). It wasn't a problem at all, but we had left Ben home. He had a little stomach trouble this morning and thought it would be best if he stayed home. He's old enough to make those kind of decisions, so we left him. When we got home I asked him if he had been worried. Amazingly he said “Yes, I was. What took you so long?” I figured he wouldn't even have known what time it was, lol.

As soon as we walked in we got ready and headed down to the sea. Isaac was asleep and Rachel wanted to come so Ben stayed home and watched Isaac and Titus with Alec. (Neither of them wanted to go anyway. In fact, I think Alec went and took a nap.)


Once we got down there I pulled out the underwater camera. I was looking for things of real interest rather than the same old same old. While I was looking around Gabriel spotted a Lion Fish. (That boy has got some good eyes.) We hadn't seen one yet and I went to try to snap a photo.


He saw it from about that far away. Can you see it? (Keep in mind he didn't know it was there, lol.) I did get some closer shots for people with less powerful eyes.


Then I swam over to see if that little lobster was still in it's little hangout. It was.


Here's Abby diving, a fish that was bigger than it looks in the photo, and a great shot of a sea anemone that closed just as I took the picture.


Patience is a virtue, however, and the second shot caught it in “full bloom”.


To wrap up I snapped a pipe fish (I think), a flounder who thought I couldn't see him, and a school of small fish I thought were pretty.


At the moment I am worn down and burned out, but it was a great day. Tomorrow looks like it's going to be super busy. I have to go to town and try to get the Internet hookup ordered for the new house. We want to file for our extension before the end of the week and move Saturday. It's going to be a little Robinson Crusoe for a week or two, but I think we'll be alright.

Either way, I hope you enjoyed this post. It's time to bring it to an end. So, goodnight from Dominica!