Well Hello There

This is Michael. Coming to you live from a hotel room in Kansas City, Missoura...USA. We leave for Thailand bright and early tomorrow morning. We'll be "burning daylight," as they say. I chose to do a selective for two weeks in Bangkok and Ao Nang, and we will be traveling around for an additional week and a half, hoping to not get malaria. The selective entails rotating throughout the hospital in Bangkok for a week and doing more Eastern practice in a rural setting for the following week. Jessica will busy herself as always and make my trip much more enjoyable...maybe I should wait till after the trip to say that...just kidding honey bunches of oats; it'll be great!

Year one of med school is officially over, and I am quite pleased with my results, even if I feign disappointment in my first-term anatomy performance! Time is flying by very quickly. This time next year, with God's help, we will be readying ourselves for the second leg of this journey, and doing so here in the US. I can't wait! And I know it won't be easy.

Thank you everyone for your support and prayers so far. Please keep them coming. It was wonderful to see the friends and family that we have seen over the past couple of days, but as always it has been too short-lived and chaotic. There will be a brief window of time when we are back from Thailand when we will get to hopefully relax and fully enjoy people's company. But that too will be short-lived, as the ever dreaded third term begins in the wee hours of July. We look forward to seeing anyone that we can when we are home at the end of June, and also look forward to seeing our friends and "family" in Grenada when we are back and recharged. So until then..

"Did that really just happen?"

Well we had an interesting night!!!  This was written by my friend Joanna.....

Jess picked me up and we go over to Nicoles for a little while. Around 9PM we were headed home. As we were driving down the road, I notice a car that has stopped in the middle of the street and turned its lights off. I kind of chuckle and a say, "Ha, that car just........" I stop because I realized that "that car" was MY car!!!!!!!!! Sure enough, we get right past it and Jess stops. Of course its my car!!! E's seat in the back, crunched trunk, the whole nine yards!!! The mechanic has taken MY car out for a joy ride at 9PM!!!!!! Again, baffled. Now, I can understand taking the car *during business hours* to check on things while driving. This test drive would of course take place *around the place of business.* The mechanics shop is in Woburn which is about 20 minutes away from where we currently were. Not cool dude, not cool. So, Jess backs up just a little bit and asks the guy what he's doing. The conversation went a little like this. 

Jess - Hey, what are you doing?

Guy - *no response*

Jess - Hello, what are you doing?

Guy - *dear in head lights look*

Jess and Me - Excuse me, what are you doing?!?!!

Guy - Oh um..hi. I'm the mechanic. 

*Jess looks at me. I'm trying to figure out what is going on.*

Jess - Ok, well why are you driving her car?? That's her *pointing at me* car!!

Guy - Oh, yes yes. Hi!! I'm the mechanic. Hi!! *Waving at me as if he knows me. I've never met this guy....*

*By this point, I'm a bit nervous because I have no idea what's going on. I have E in my lap, its 9PM, a strange guy is driving MY car, and he's not giving me a reason to really trust him.* 

Jess - Ok, well that's great but maybe you need to take the car back to where you are working on it. 

*I'm a bit scared as to how this could play out. Two girls yelling at this guy who's driving MY car. I just don't know what to do.*

Me - That's my car dude. I don't know what you're doing. Let's just go Jess. I don't know what to do......

As we drive away, I'm trying to wrap my brain around WHAT JUST HAPPENED?!?!!!!! I'm sure you're wondering why we didn't just get the car back from him then. We were two girls and a baby on a dark street trying to not argue, but certainly arguing, with this local Grenadian. I was scared and didn't think getting in the guys face was probably my smartest move. If I did not have E with me, I would have certainly jumped out of the car and demanded for my keys since *obviously* he's fixed the car. We get home and Matt immediately calls Musa to tell him the situation. I guess Musa calls the mechanic because we got our car back yesterday. Who knows if it's actually fixed tho!!! I'm sure praying that it is. We will DEFINITELY NOT be taking our car back to that guy!!!


Hahaha, (Jessica here) oh my goodness! I think we were both just in shock we didnt know what to do!!! I wanted to just follow the guy back to wherever he was planning to go! But by the time I dropped Joanna and baby off he was gone (as I expected)....  Well as she said she got her car back the next day, so thats better than the alternative :)  Yet another adventure and memory from Grenada!!

BitterSweet

This may sound weird to some of you but this is all true....
Last week while I was looking at my painting on the wall, God told me I needed to sell my painting and give the money to someone/something in Grenada.... Selfishly I was like, ummmmm NO!!!!! :(  What are you talking about???? When?? Where???? How??? That is just crazy.  I'm not going to sell my first painting,  and it makes no sense.... I dont get it, I dont want to get it!

One Saturday a month I volunteer with an organization called ECIP.  We work with disabled children for 3 hours, working on mental, physical, intellectual etc. things to help them improve.  This Saturday we were informed that on may 10th there will be an art auction to sell the kids paintings to raise money for ECIP...... The plan is to sell the kids paintings at a set price so the parents can afford them if they want them but they wanted to sell a few more paintings to raise more money (silent auction I think).  My stomach sank, my heart started pounding out of my chest, and God says "this is it, you need to give them your painting"........

Bottom line, the painting is going on Mon!  I was selfishly sad but amazed at the Lord!  I just pray the money made and the person who gets my painting will be blessed.

Senarighi Boys In Grenada

March 19th, Tue night the boys showed up! Dad and Drew were pretty much the last ones through customs, just like they are ALWAYS the last ones out of the lockers room after hockey! It was so good to see them and im sure for them to finally make it! They were traveling for like 25hours... We threw everything in our little Grenadian car and headed to the apt! We got in, they met Vera, unpacked a bit and headed to Prickly Bay for Pizza and a drink! Michael met us later after he was done studying, it was midterms week so lots of studying for him. We came home, boys were tired after a long day of travel so we hit the bed early!

Day One-Drew woke up on the tile floor... he slept on an air mattress that I guess had a hole in it.... ouch! We started our day by checking out the scenery at the end of LAE (that is the "town" we live), then went into town.

 We made a few stops on our way, took some pictures, walked through the cruise ship mall & met Rhonda at the spice market!! This was a special day,  This was the day we met GEORGE! George scouted out my dad in the spice shop and knew he was a beer drinker, so he brought us over to his little bar, North Pole Bar.  How fitting!!

 We chatted with George and Ester for a bit then were on our way to see the fish market. Before heading back the guys kept asking for some Grenadian food, so we had lunch at the restaurant above the grocery store. It is very local food with lots of options to choose from.  We headed back to the apt to pick up Vera and get into our swimming suits cause we were headed to Magazine beach, where the boys had a nice dip then got a shot at the Aquarium Bar. After Beach time, we ran home again, changed into clothes and went to volunteer at limes! Dad and Drew had a blast with the kids! Dad brought down a bunch of mardi gras beads we brought with and some extra tattoo's I had from the orphanage, they were a BIG hit!

After running around getting all sweaty I brought the boys up to Check out campus and see Mic! We ended the crazy busy first day with a Grenadian game of Bingo at Prickly Bay.  Drew is using our couch cushions to sleep on..... Good thing he had a couple beers at bingo!

Day Two- Drew woke up not loving his couch cushion bed!  I gave dad a haircut while Drew was still sleeping.  We soon realized there was no cruise ship in so we called up Leroy (our taxi driver) to see if he could take us to Seven Sisters waterfall, so we woke Drew up and packed a backpack and headed out! Good thing dad woke up early and brought Vera on a walk!

 On our way to the hike.

 Hiking down to the waterfalls!

At the falls we met some people from Wisconsin, such a small world!

After our hike we stopped to see the monkeys, only one was out, and he LOVED dad!!!

Drew wanted to monkey to climb on him so bad, but when it finally did, it snatched the banana and ran!  Haha! love the action shot!

 

When we realized what time it was we raced home so we could go to limes and see the kids again, but we stopped at the school store since we had to pick up the car on campus and long story short, they gave us someone else's credit card last night at the bar, so we rushed over to Prickly Bay and they knew exactly what we were talking about, it was such a relief! We then rushed to limes for the end of the Easter party! After Limes we went to get a yummy smoothie, then home to clean up after a crazy busy day! We ended the night by going up to Fort Bar where they had live music then rooftop bar where dad and drew tried curried goat.... and dad had a midnight swim at Grand Anse Beach! I would say it was a great day :)

at Fort bar

Day 3-We started out the morning with a walk and swim at the beach just down from our apt. Boys did a little exploring! 

By the time we got back Michael came home from his LAST midterm!!! Drew and I made breakfast, we ALL ate together then went to jump the cliff!!!!

 After "The Cliff", we got smoothies and headed to the Beach! The boys had fun in the sand!

Hahahaha, nice and relaxing day! On our way home we stopped and shared Burgers from G Burger, guy who sells and makes burgers out of his van.... They were actually the Best burger we have had in Grenada!

We headed home to clean up, nap up and then Leroy came to get us to bring us to Fish Friday. Fish Friday is a market where they have different vendors that sell different local foods and fish, takes a good 45-min to 1hour to get there!

Day 4-  Deep sea fishing day,!!! We woke up pretty early and had to be to the marina at 730AM.  Drew and I were pretty worried about getting sea sick, we both get really bad motion sickness.  So Drew and I both took dramamine the night before and the day of (our uncle told us it works better that way).  So lunches were made, sunscreen was on, and we headed out for our 8 hour fishing day!!  We started out pretty good, Drew fell asleep pretty quick, I felt more sick when I closed my eyes so I just tried to stay awake as much as possible.  We drove out quite a ways! They let the lines out and the captain was looking for the birds (I guess thats where the fish usually are). Three hours in and still nothing, except a TON of dolphins!!!!!! It was amazing, it was totally a gift from God, he knew just what it would take to make my day!  Even Drew got up and saw the dolphins..... then about 20 min later he was throwing up over the side :( That continued the rest of the trip!  Not soon after we caught the first fish!  Dad reeled in a 50lb Sailfish!

We cant keep Sailfish so we tagged it and let it go. At least the excitement was enough to stop Drew from throwing up for a little bit!!  We did end up catching one more fish.  Michael reeled in a Black Fin Tuna, that was our dinner!

After that catch we headed towards land.  Drew was still over the edge, very burnt and full of salt water splashing on him. We did not catch anything else on our way back.  We got in a little early, nobody was feeling great from the LONG day!  The captain cleaned up the fish for us and we headed home to relax.  Micheal made the fish we had for dinner, it was AMAZING! After dinner we were all feeling a bit better and played a game of Rummikub.  During the game Michael looked a little concerned as he didnt know where his wedding ring was, so we took a break and all looked for it.  No sign of it anywhere, during cooking and cleaning we took the trash out, Michael was curious if somehow it got in the garbage, so....  Michael and Drew went dumpster diving..... and they came back with the ring!!!!! I guess it was at the bottom of the bag ICK!  I really thought we were going to be getting him a new ring in town the next day! Happy ending to a crazy day on the water!

Day 5- Andrew wanted to get a few things for friends and family so Mic, Drew, dad and I went into town (st.Georges).  On our way we stopped at Pandy Beach this is where we find all the sea glass :)  We then stopped at the cruise ship mall, the only reason it was open on a sun is because a ship was in, and not even all the stores were open! We picked up a couple things then stopped over to see if George was around.  As we rounded the corner we were bummed but not surprised to see the bar was closed, just as we were about to turn around dad sees a head over by the bar and yells "GEORGE" and sure enough it was George,  we made his day!  He could not believe we came back to see him!!

 We sat around and chatted for a bit before we headed out.  We already had our suits on so we went to the beach by the restaurant the owl.  we had a drink and enjoyed the sunshine!!!

We went back to the apt to clean up Michael headed to campus to study. We played some Rummikub, and had a couple visitors stop by! Our friends Ashkon and Bekah stopped by after there hike of hog island!  After relaxing a bit we took Vera on a walk and went to check out the sunset, the boys had a last dip in the ocean. OH MY was  the sunset AMAZING!!!! Most beautiful sunset I have ever seen!  And not to mention Vera met a new friend on the beach, im glad for that or we probably wouldnt have stayed as long to see the sunset!  This picture does not even give it justice!

After our walk, we headed back, Michael just got back from studying so we all my dinner together then finished the night at Aquarium for dessert!!!!

The next morning they left...... not excited to leave and not excited for their 24hours of travel ahead...

I've gotta say these are some pretty interesting sad faces!!! Haha, they make me laugh to say the least!

well.....

This was our busy week in a nutshell, I am so blessed and glad you guys were able to make it!  It meant so much to me that you took time out of your busy schedules to come see us!  You are more than welcome back!  We love you both so much!

The Smiths

Kylie

Kylie Update....

The Drs explained to Cindy that Kylie has Gorlin Syndrome.  Basically it sounds like this is going to be a lifelong battle for her. Cindy said the Drs spoke with her about a 5 year life span expectancy and her response was that God is in control and her baby is a fighter. Please keep this sweet girl in your thoughts and prayers! Her last radiation treatment is on the 10th. She will then have her first round of chemo there before coming home, but we still do not have that date yet. Please keep Kylie and Cindy in your prayers!!!

Schuster's In Grenada

We have been having SO much fun! So the in-laws got in sat bright and early at 7am!  Beth came over and helped us pick them up from the airport because our car is too small to fit everyone and the suitcases! We brought them back to our HUGE apartment :) and had a nice breakfast! After Breakfast Carla and Darrell really wanted to check out campus so we brought Mic back to school, saw "the cliff", got smoothies and just enjoyed the beautiful land around us!! As we headed home we stopped and got some fresh fruit. We went home to check on Vera and Carla and Darrell took a nap. Then i brought them out to end of LAE and LAE beach to see the sunset! Michael came home and we played many games of rummikub! I would have to say it was a fun action packed first day!



























Sun, we headed to church on campus.  After church Michael brought them to umbrellas for lunch! When they came back we did some hair and then locked ourselves out of the house while going to magazine beach......! It was quite a problem, both the car key and the house key got locked in the house (Darrell and my fault). But we had Vera so we couldnt just get on the bus with the dog! Luckily my landlords are great and sent someone to come help us!  We eventually made it to the beach, Vera had a great time, and Carla and Darrell enjoyed a new piece of Grenada! We then came back to grill dinner and played more Rummikub!

Mon, went into town, first stop was the Bakery, then went to spice market to meet Rhonda and fish market to meet Maureen. Then went to orphanage, C and D wanted to experience some of my day to day volunteering! After a qweezy ride back we headed home to make dinner and early bed!

Tue, we rented a car to drive around the WHOLE island, So much fun!!! We stopped a few places along the way, poor Vera got car sick and threw up :( poor pup, but besides that we had a fun, action packed day with LOTS of Laughs!! We stopped at the north end of the island at Bathaway Beach to have lunch at Aggies,  I even held a live lobster here..... idk how I felt about that though... haha! After a busy day on the road I dropped C and D off at Grenada Grand the resort they are spending a couple nights at! I headed to Bible study and then when Michael was done studying, we met up at the Hotel to check out the room and see the rents before bed!

 Love having them here! I feel so blessed to have such wonderful in-laws!!!!

Wed we had a very lazy and relaxing day by the pool at Grenada Grand, Joanna and Elora even got to come hang out for a bit :) After enjoying the sun a bit  I went home to run Vera and get ready for the night, we were taking the Schusters out to Aquarium for dinner! We were celebrating Carla's retirement and wanted to thank them for ALL they do for us back home! The atmosphere was Beautiful the food and company were fantastic!
Thu we sat by the pool again, Carla and Darrell both got fried the day before ... So we were not out long, it was still nice to be out and enjoy the weather! We checked out and went back into town.  On our way we stopped at Pandy beach for sea glass, then into town to get fish (we met Michelle) Darrell wanted Wahoo so we got that and he grilled it for dinner, Very Yummy!! We brought Michael dinner on Campus!
Friday, last full day :(. We got up, Leroy came to get us at 9am to see Annendale falls and the monkeys. We got a great history lessons on of the forts, Fort Mathew, Fort Fredrick and Fort George! After a 3 hour "tour" we came back, C and D napped while Vera and I took a walk to the beach! We had a full filled night ahead of us at Fish Friday! Carla explained Fish Friday as a smaller, Grenadian
'taste of MN". Then of course we finished the night off with a game of Rummikub with Michael!
Sat.... boo saturday they go home.... I didnt want to get out of bed today, I figured if I didnt get out of bed then it wouldnt be sat.... well anyways, we had a relaxing morning, Carla and Darrell took spoiled Vera in there bed the night before (and she loved it, we usually kick her out and she sneaks back up in the middle of the night)! We went to BBC beach for a couple hours (which Carla said it was her favorite beach so far) then we went to Umbrellas for lunch and came home to finish up the packing and see Michael for about an hour till we got them to the airport... :(
 After dropping them at the airport Michael went back to campus to study and Vera and I waited and watched them fly out :(

What a wonderful week we had, I feel so blessed to have such caring people in my life! Thank you Carla and Darrell for taking time out of your schedule to come visit and see what life is like down in Grenada, We love you guys soooo much!

After a LONG day of traveling they are home safe!

GOD IS GOOD!!

Busy busy

We have been busy getting ready for VISITORS!!!! Yayy for family coming to visit!!! Love them! There has been LOTS of Volunteering at the special needs school this week, this week is the kids sports, so like relay races and stuff! Myself and some awesome SO friends have been helping out, it has been a blast, these kids are great!!! Headed there any minute! Pictures to come :)

Oh and Michael is kicking butt in school!! I'm so proud of him! He has been studying EXTRA hard this week so he can spend some time with the family next week!! I am a very proud wife!