Don't Blame The Water

Just the other day I was explaining to the boys (at least whichever ones happened to be at hand at the time) that it's the trials of life that test our metal so we can find out what we're made of. In my personal experience there are two approaches to unpleasant situations. One is to enumerate all the problems that stand between you and a solution, thereby explaining why nothing can be done about the situation. The other is to enumerate the solutions that stand between you and your goal, thereby highlighting the path to you destination.

Now, these aren't hard and fast rules. In fact, there was a poem from back in the day (I can't look it up right now, but that comes into the story later) that I believe was called “They Said It Couldn't Be Done”. It was about a man that took on a task that people said was impossible. He applied grit, determination, and a good attitude to his attempt to do whatever it was. In the end he failed because, as it turned out, the task was, in fact, impossible.

How do I apply this to my own life? I try to determine whether or not what I'm attempting can actually be done or not. If it's possible I do my best to give it my all. That's not always easy, nor is it always successful, but I attempt to put forth my best effort, to tighten my belt, grit my teeth, and carry on.

Moving to a tropical island is a perfect example. I collected my data, examined it, and decided that it was possible. After all, countless thousands have done it time and time again. But just because a thing is possible doesn't automatically make it worth doing.

Now, with regard to moving to the Caribbean: Absolutely worth it. We like the climate, we like the people, we like the sights, sounds, and in most cases the smells. I love South Carolina. It's the land I was raised in (I was actually born in Georgia, but quickly crossed the state line, lol) and it will always hold a place in my heart. However, this coming January when I'm able to walk around with no shirt on picking fruit I'm going to be happier here than I was back home.


Now, any of you who read the blog regularly have probably noticed that this post didn't get posted, as it was supposed to, on August 6th 2013. Why? The Internet is off again! Why? Well, it's complex. It all starts back a few blog posts ago about my woes trying to get Lime to transfer the account to my name. Well, that never happened. Through a series of unfortunate events (quite literally) I have been unable to make it to town to get the issue resolved.

Regular readers know that we have no vehicle and that, for the moment, we depend solely on brother Freddy to pick us up and take us to town. I think in the long run this won't be an issue, both because we plan to get a bus of our own and, once we're established, we should only need to go to town once every two weeks or so.

However, for the moment there's a long list of things that need to be taken care of in town. Brother Freddy has made three trips already and is going to have to make a forth. You see, I believe that, for the time begin, we're illegal aliens. We were supposed to fly out yesterday. Now, that wasn't going to be a problem because you only need to file for an extension a couple of days in advance (I actually checked this at the department of immigration twice). Well, we figured we had Friday and Monday to take care of it so it looked like no problem. On Friday Freddy's breaks went out and he was here until after 5PM, which is closing time around here. It also happened that Monday was a holiday. So, I called the police department to let them know we planned to come in Tuesday. That's today.

At this point you've probably forgotten about the title of my post. However, this is where it really matters. I no longer blame that three minute water (read my last post if you don't know what that is). You see, I woke up sick. Bad sick. Way to sick to go to town sick. So, Rachel had to go without me. She bought a pile of groceries, pots/pans, plastic cups, forks, knives, an air mattress, and our first Dominican chair (that is to say chair from Dominica, it's just an ordinary plastic chair). We've finally started building our own nest here :)


All in all she got a great deal done! However, she couldn't get the Internet switched into my name. Nor, as it happens, could she apply for an extension of stay without all of us being physically present. Now, the officer at the immigration office (part of the police station, not to be confused with the immigration department) seemed to indicate he wanted us all up there tomorrow. Now, I'm certainly willing to try, for one thing this seems to be a 24 hour bug we've gotten, but I'm not going to drive sick children thirty minutes into town and then have them wait in the car for hours while I take care of all my pending business. Plus, of course, brother Freddy wrecked his van when leaving this afternoon. At the top of the hill at the end of the driveway the bus completely lost traction. It slid down the hill and slammed into the railing on the bridge. It actually knocked the center concrete post and the railing into the river. The bus almost slid off the bridge as well, but by the grace of God it didn't. The tow trucks got the bus out around 11PM (I'm writing this on the morning of the 7th) and Brother Freddy didn't get home until around midnight. I have no idea how long his bus will be off the road. It was pretty bad, but it could have been much worse.


There are times in life (many times in fact) when you have to let go of the wheel and let the Lord drive. If we end up deported as illegal aliens (which I find highly unlikely, lol) I'll take it as a sign and add it to my list of almost unbelievable stories.

Here I want to take a moment and go through what's happened to us since we moved Thursday. First, the DSL router that I paid for cash money wasn't setup correctly so we had no Internet Thursday night. Friday I was supposed to get the Internet transferred to my name, but that didn't happen because brother Freddy's bus was out of commission. Saturday we were running low on food (not knowing about the store just down the road) and had to eat strange cakes. Sunday our cisterns ran out of water (in the middle of a rain forest in the middle of the rainy season). Monday two of our party were so sick they could barely move. Tuesday I woke up sick, the Internet got turned off, and brother Freddy's bus wrecked and almost fell off the bridge. So, it's been a rough few days and I'm pretty worn down.

Still, there have been the counter points. Thursday we got moved into the house we've wanted to be in since before we left the states. Friday we got the Internet turned on. Saturday we caught our first wild food here and got to explore the property a bit. Sunday we got to rest and made a delicious soup of local vegetables. Monday the Lord sent rain which started filling up our cisterns and our brothers and sisters came to our rescue with food. Tuesday Alec and Caleb woke up feeling better and ready to face the world. I have high hopes for tomorrow. The Lord is in control of everything and he's taking car of us.

You may have noticed that the photos don't really match the blog. That's because I'm still sick. My hips hurt from laying around all day and I've only eaten a few crackers and drank a little ginger-ale late in the day (I actually took a couple of sips of coffee this morning before I realized I was sick). I hadn't thought of taking photos until I realized it was time to start my blog. When I grabbed the phone it was dead. It's been charging while I've been typing, so we'll see what we get.

This has been a trying five days, but I figure it will show me just what kind of metal I'm made of. I have to go try to take some photos and then lay back down. For the moment, good night from Dominica!