Sorry I haven’t written in a while!! My life has been consumed with trying to leave this country for the last couple of days. I have tried to get Justin every microwaveable thing on this island so he will have some easy meals!! He has been a little spoiled having every meal cooked for him since we’ve been here. He is probably going to live off of Chef Boyardee the next week while I am gone.

I am a little nervous about the trip home by myself. Only because I have to spend the night in San Juan by myself and I will have our dog Fisher with me (a 75 lb dog with a huge crate). Please pray the following verse for me:
“Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus” Philippians 4: 6-7

Here is my schedule: I am flying into San Juan today. Leaving the airport in Dominica at 3:48 pm and arriving in San Juan at 5:35 pm. Then I spend the night in San Juan and get up the next morning and leave at 8:00 am. I then fly to Atlanta, then to Little Rock – where I drop off Fisher with Justins parents. (I will only be in Little Rock for two hours) Then I go to Cincinnati and then I fly to WashingtonD.C. – finally arriving there at 8:55 pm!! So I will literally be flying all day and switching time zones twice. Flying all day doesn’t bother me. I just want everything to go smoothly with my dog. So then after the wedding I am leaving from D.C. to go to Cleveland, Tennessee to visit my best friend from High School. I will be there for four days – leaving to come back home on Thursday, March 6th. Our first stop when I arrive in TN is Olive Garden!! Woo Hoo!!

Also – please pray that Fisher does not get sick. He did not eat this morning BUT the dogs ate twice last night – on accident. Justin and I went out last night for my birthday (since my birthday is Saturday and I wont be here) and so I fed them before I met him for dinner. On our way home I stopped and stayed at a friends house to watch American Idol while he went on home. Well when he got home he fed the dogs AGAIN. I mean – how was he supposed to know I already fed them?? I forgot to tell him!!!! We wanted Fisher to be on the flight with an empty stomach so that he wouldn’t puke everywhere. Hopefully he will poop a lot in the next 3 hours!!

Let me tell yall something ridiculous. I called the airport in Dominica yesterday to let them know that Fisher was coming. They then proceed to tell me to be at the airport 3 HOURS before the flight leaves!! Now if yall have kept up with this blog you know how small this airport is. Basically what Im saying is that it is so stupid for me to be there for 3 hours before the plane leaves. UGH

Above is a picture of my cousin Josh whose wedding I am going to Saturday!! Josh and I are very close and I am soooo happy for him! We have always had to stick by each other through the hard times during Thanksgiving (hard times meaning we were the ones everyone always picked on). Actually that shouldn’t be past tense – we are STILL the ones getting picked on – and were not even the youngest!! How does that happen?

Anyway - he is marrying a beautiful girl named Raquel who my family LOVES!! She fits in very well and in the Payne family – that takes a very special person. Our family is very large and loud and crazy and southern. Talking about them makes me sooo excited to see everyone this week (well not everyone will be there but some of them!). More people in our family need to get married so we can see each other more often. But considering the next one is a senior in high school I don’t believe that will be happening anytime soon.  

I thought I had a picture of Raquel but I couldn’t find it. Oh well – I will take lots at the wedding and will post them when I get back. Love yall and don’t expect me to write a lot while Im gone!!

Above: Justin and I in front of the boat before we left

Above: This is the boat we went on. See the nets in the front that I talk about below?

Above: A picture of me sitting on the net (yes I have a towel around me because I am cold)

Above: From left to right (Justin, me, Sarah, David) Justin is holding an imaginary cone because he had already eaten his!!

Ok – so today I will tell yall all about the Les Saints trip. We had so much fun! Other than the fact that we look like Lobsters! Not good since I am going to my cousins wedding on SATURDAY!! I hope I don’t peel.

The sailboat we were on was so cool!! It had two huge nets in the front to lay on – they were kinda bungy like – like a trampoline. We laid on those the whole way to the island! It took about 2.5 hours to get there. It was so fun. If you get seasick – definitely not the trip for you. You get tossed around by the waves a lot and the nets are really nets – like as in you can see straight through them to the ocean!! So you would get a little splashed. Well – where we sat you would get a little splashed but if you were sitting on certain parts of the net then you would get SOAKED. It was so funny when people got hit by a huge wave of water and weren’t expecting it. Yesterday made me realize even more that Justin and I were meant to be together. We both love being on a boat. We love playing on the water. We talk about the break in August all the time because we cant wait to go to the lake. Yeah were excited to see everyone – but THE LAKE we might be more excited about. Just kidding!!! We are in love with the lake. Both of us dream about living on a lake someday.

Anyway – back to the Les Saints trip. When we got to Les Saints we went straight to get something to eat! Why is it that the water makes you hungry? It makes me want mac n cheese. I think that’s because when I was little – in the summers after I would go swimming I would fix mac n cheese. Anyway – we went to some French restaurant – I don’t remember what it was called. The whole island is French and it is so frustrating because no one can understand you! Im so glad that Dominica isn’t a French island. So luckily we were with some friends that are from Louisiana so she knows a little bit of French. At least she knew enough to read the menu!! We saw tea on the menu and got so excited. So we ordered it. When it came out it was HOT tea – that we had to make ourselves. It came with little bity spoons that I had to drink out of because I have a fever blister and could not “sip” on the hot cup. This was quite amusing to Justin and our friends.

So then we figured out what we wanted to order and Justin got the catch of the day. Which we could have sworn the waiter said it was otter but later we found out it was Dorado. Sounds nothing like otter – but I guess when the French say it it does! I got chicken – im not adventurous when it comes to food. Well – actually first I asked the waiter if they had shrimp and he gave me the funniest look. He was like – “Excuse me?” I repeated myself – shrimp. He then tried to say it. The funny thing was that he tried to pronounce it like me. So imagine a French man trying to put a southern twist into the word Shrimp. It then hit me that I make Shrimp a two syllable word and make the “I” sound more like an “e”. He said no so then I just went with the chicken (which was a whole thigh and leg). Well then some peoples food beside us came out and there plate had shrimp on it. I pointed to it and told him – that’s shrimp!! He said – no those are prawns!! Oh my goodness – this was a very entertaining experience for us.

So after we ate we went to get some famous Gelato. Which is what all the people talk about who had already been to Les Saints before. It was like ice cream – but better. It was really soft. We got something like peanut butter and chocolate. Except the chocolate was called Gnutella. We walked around and tried to find wine and cheese – but guess what?? We couldn’t find EITHER!! We were pretty disappointed but oh well!! So then we left around 4:00 pmish and pulled in around 7:00 pmish. Only one guy got sick – but it was so gross. He literally had his head in a trash bag on the way home. I felt so sorry for him!

Sorry this is so long but I knew yall would want to hear about my funny stories!

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Today we went to Les Saints – a small island off of Guadelope. But I will tell ya’ll more about that tomorrow because I’m so tired!!
But I will tell you another GREAT story…..
This past Wednesday Mr. Anderson and my Dad shipped us a PRIME RIB and some hamburger meat. We were ecstatic. Well – our other DHL packages that we have received got here in three days – so we figured it would get here Friday afternoon. So I called DHL around lunchtime and I couldn’t understand a word they said because of their “dominican accent”. They just do that when they don’t want to be helpful. So I went over to Alexis’ Taxi Service – the people who pick up our packages when they come in to Roseau – so that he could call them for me. Alexis thought it was so funny that I needed him to call DHL because I couldn’t understand them. He called them and asked if he could pick up the package without the slip we get from DHL at the Post Office on campus and if it would be there for sure today. They said they would call us back later (yeah right!). So then I went on campus to tell Justin all this “wonderful” news. So then HE calls DHL and they tell him that the package will be there at 3:00 pm. So then I go BACK to Alexis’ and tell him that Justin called DHL and that it would definitely be there at 3:00. So he said – ok, Ill go pick it up!! I was so relieved! Well about 4:00 pm a driver from Alexis’ calls me and tells me that my package is not there and then puts me on the phone with the DHL guy. He said “Oh, it won’t fly in until 6:00 pm tonight”. So I was like – so can I send someone over there at 6:00 tonight to come get it? He said – No, we close at 4:00 pm!! Well – of course!! This is the point when I have a breakdown. I called my Dad and told him everything. Of course he tries to tell me everything is alright and then says a short prayer. Now keep in mind that they shipped frozen meat with a lot of freezer thingies in it and it left Wednesday and it was now Friday. So if I didn’t get it that afternoon then it would sit in the un air-conditioned airport and probably not make it!!! So after I get off the phone with Dad the driver calls me and tells me the DHL guy was going to let him pick it up on Saturday morning. THIS WAS TRULY A MIRACLE!!!! So it was here for us when we arrived back home tonight!
Above is a picture of the Prime Rib and of Justin cutting it. We haven’t gotten to eat it yet because we got in too late. But we cut it into smaller pieces and froze them so that we can eat it on different nights. We can’t wait!!!

Above pictures are of a part of the market in Roseau – the capitol of Dominica.And no – those green things are NOT bananas – they are plantains. I thought they were bananas though – and I took a picture of them thinking “Man those are some green bananas!!”. But as I was showing Justin the above picture of them and telling him how I couldn’t believe how green those bananas were – he breaks it to me that they are not bananas. You can tell they are plantains because they have a “ridge” along the sides. Roseau is where we go to get groceries that we can’t normally get here. Things like shredded cheese, sour cream, brownie mixes, etc. And actually you cant always find those things. But the chance that you MIGHT find them makes you go.

Tomorrow we are sailing on a huge catamaran to “Les Saints” – a small island off Guadelope. We will get to eat some good food and maybe buy some good steaks!! People that have been say sometimes they have steak – sometimes they don’t. Les Saints is a French island so they have good cheeses. Im not sure if the fact that they are French makes them have good cheese – but French are known for Wine and Cheese – right?? Oh that reminds me – I can get a good bottle of wine there hopefully!! The wine here is so expensive. A bottle of Yellow Tail costs $80EC (about $30US). So I buy a cheap white wine called “Pampas del Sur” – costs $16EC (about $6US). A bottle of Yellow Tail in the US is like $10!!

Also – they have one kind of beer here – called Kubuli (picture above). It is brewed here on the island and let me tell you – they are PROUD of it. Justin describes it as “OK, but tastes like cigarette water kinda”. But the thing is – that’s all you can get here. With the exception of a little Heineken. So considering the fact that Justin used to try a different beer every time we went to a different restaurant at home – he’s not too excited about the current situation. 
OK – I feel the need to write the below because we grew up in conservative southern Baptist "surroundings" and do not want to offend anyone:

Note to my little cousins reading this: We are 21 and of legal drinking age and drink in moderation because we like the taste – not because we want to get drunk. If you want to try alcohol do not try it until you are 21!! Love you!!

Also note to anyone over the age of 55 who might be close minded: Jesus drank wine – it is not a sin.

I love this picture of Fisher!! This is how he sleeps sometimes – doesn’t look very comfortable huh?! So yesterday the vet – Dr. Thomas came over to the house. A couple people have asked about Fisher and wonder why he is going home? I am taking him home on February 27th when I go back to the states for my cousins wedding in Washington D.C. I make a pit stop in Little Rock and hand him off to Justins parents. Before we left to come to Dominica we took the dogs to the vet to get their annual check up done. They run numerous tests to make sure they’re ok, etc, etc. So about two weeks after being in Dominica, Dr. Bob (our vet) calls and tells us that Fisher has heartworms – again!! So he has to go home to get these treatments over a period of about 3 months. Yes he has always had the right medicine and we have given it to him every month but our vet said that he is just in this rare group that doesn’t respond to it. So the vet was here because he had to make sure Fisher was healthy enough to leave and to give us a permit for him to get out of here. Actually I didn’t tell Dr. Thomas about Fishers heartworms – because you never know why they wouldn’t let him out of here. We just told him that he needed to go home because he wasn’t “adjusting” well to the island. Which is true. He is actually crying and whining right now because Wilber (the goat) is at the end of the pasture closest to our house and that drives Fisher crazy.

So here’s a crazy story……..
One of the spouses and her husband got broken into last semester. She has three dogs here and thankfully they didn’t hurt them. They cut the bars off of her windows and broke through the screens. So she tried to do all the right things afterwards – file a police report, etc. Well when the police came over they told her if anyone ever broke into her house again and she was there to please kill them and drop them in the rainforest or ocean somewhere. They said they aren’t going to search for the robbers after the break in and if no one saw her when she “dropped them off” she would be fine. So a gun might be our next purchase down here. I mean – we slept with a gun under our bed in Little Rock – why wouldn’t we here?

Above: the sailboats we went out on (they fit four people)

Above: (from left to right) Sarah, Me, Christa, Courtney Ive never been the shortest one in a group!

Above: the view from the restaurant we ate at last night

Me and Kelsie at Purple Turtle. I know what youre thinking -  you live in the Caribbean and youre wearing a jacket?? I was cold - it was very windy!

I had such a fun day yesterday!! We woke up around 8:00 am and Justin studied until we left to go up to campus. His test was at 1:00 pm. Sarah and I went down to the beach at 1:00 pm and then Justin met us there around 3:30 pm. So as soon as Sarah and I got on the beach we went straight to where they were sailing. One of the spouses husbands is on the sailing club so he took us out. It was soooo fun!! I want Justin to join the club so that we can go more! So then we walked up and down the beach a little and then went up to the pool for a little bit with two other spouses. And then we had to get back down to the beach soon after because the school was giving away free t-shirts!! They were supposed to start giving them away at 3:00 and we had to be one of the first in line because if we weren’t we wouldn’t have gotten the size we wanted!! So then Justin finally got to the beach after his test and then we went sailing. We hung out on the beach a little and had to go home because we were meeting Justins study group at a restaurant about 10 minutes away called Purple Turtle. They had really good hamburgers!! Then we went to The Tomato (a restaurant across the street from campus). We went because we wanted some of their REALLY GOOD chocolate chip cheesecake. But they were out (the island has been out of cream cheese for about a week). So instead we got a homemade apple crisp with ice cream. It was really good!

It was so nice to have Justin for almost a whole afternoon and night!! But now reality is back and he had to be in class at 8:00 am this morning. I doubt very many people make it to class this morning actually. If you would have been a tourist on the island yesterday you would have thought a bunch of kids were on spring break or something. It is so crazy how many people are out and about – celebrating!

So I know everyone is really wondering – HOW WAS THE TEST?!?! Justin said it was extremely hard but felt like he did “ok”. And everyone in the semesters ahead of us keeps saying that they just get harder!! As for the Anatomy Practical – he got his grade last night and did well. I am so proud of him! He will get his grade for the Mini sometime later this week. Cant wait!!!

On Friday nights Ross University usually plays a movie in one of the classrooms. This past Friday was supposed to be 3:10 to Yuma. Not a movie I was really interested in seeing but it is something to do. We were going to go but it got cancelled!! So there went our “Friday night plans”. So we went to eat pizza at Perkys Pizza and went home so Justin could study. He doesn’t feel very confident about Fridays Anatomy Practical but we will know the results sometime next week. There was a “mock” practical the Monday before the test and the people that put it on are supposed to make it harder than the real one – so when Justin did really well on it we were so excited! But he said that the mock was easy compared to the real test. How frustrating!

Friday afternoon we got ANOTHER package!!! It was some things that came from the office after the first packages were sent. It had some fun stuff in It. Like a PEOPLE magazine!! It has already made it to four other people!! I couldn’t believe how excited I was to see a magazine – how weird! It also had Justins favorite chips – Tostitos Hint of Lime. The island has been out of chips for almost three weeks now. It is driving Justin crazy – chips are his favorite thing! It also had some medicine for Justin – some anti histamines and calamine lotion for the itching. We LOVE getting packages! Thank you!

Saturday morning I went to a beach about 30 minutes away. Above is a picture of the beach/ocean that we were at. It was actually a hotel called Sunsets. We had to pay $10EC to use the beach and the pool. The pool was not very nice – kinda dirty - and the beach wasn’t any more special than the one right off of campus! I take that back – they had lounge chairs on the beach – unlike the one on campus. And then we ate lunch there which was overpriced (like most places here). So all in all I was somewhat frustrated that I had paid for something I could have done for free on campus!! It was nice to get know some different people though.

Tomorrow is the big MINI!!! The test is at 1:00 p.m. (11 a.m. central). He has been studying so hard!! Please pray for him to retain everything he has been studying for. Also tomorrow I am going sailing!! It is free the day of the mini. It’s unfortunate that Justin wont be able to go since it starts at noon but I am excited! I have never been sailing before!

Today is Justins first Anatomy Practical Exam. An Anatomy Practical Exam is where Justin will go in the Anatomy lab with all the dead bodies lying around and each one will be tagged at different parts and he has to identify them. There are also radiographs (x-rays) and CT scans that he has to identify. Above is a picture of the armpit that he had in ONE lecture. ONE!! So imagine if all that is in your armpit – think of other bigger things – like the forearm – it supposedly is very complicated also. Also realize that this was covered in one lecture – meaning he has about three lectures a day so imagine all the stuff he has to know!! So maybe you can get somewhat of an idea of why he studies all the time. I cant believe all of that is in my armpit!! OK – the correct term is “Axilla”. But anyway….
His bigger test – the Mini – is Monday. I cant believe it is already here!! A lot of people told us that the weeks before the Mini would drag on and it seemed like it would never get here. WHATEVER!! Our time here has flown by!
Justin is still having issues with his Hives. It seems to act up whenever he gets in our bedroom. We have tried everything it seems. We’ve washed the sheets, took the mattress pad off, flipped the mattress over, cleaned the fan – everything we can think of!! And nothing is seeming to work.

I hope everyone had a great Valentines Day! I wasn’t able to cook Chicken Cordon Bleu because when I was getting out all the ingredients I realized I used all my bread crumbs on the chicken that I had ruined the night before. So I cooked Chicken Fettuccine Alfredo instead. And Justin cleaned last night for me! It was so nice to wake up and not have dishes to clean! Above are a couple pictures of our Valentines Day. The first is of some strawberry cupcakes that I made yesterday with sprinkles on them. I took some to my landlord and the rest is for us! YUM! And the one below it is of Justin with cupcake all over his face! I was feeding him a cupcake and I just couldn’t resist. I did better yesterday than I did on our wedding day!!

Happy Valentines Day everybody!! I hope everyone has plans to do something special today! Here in Dominica it doesn’t really feel like Valentines Day. There aren’t teddy bears, candy, and flowers everywhere you go like in the states! Most people – even at the school – don’t really celebrate Valentines Day. Some people will go out to a nice restaurant tonight and one club on campus was taking orders for flowers a while back. Justin and I have never been big Valentines Day celebraters anyway. My birthday is about two weeks after Valentines Day so that’s why we really don’t get all into it. Tonight I am going to attempt to cook Chicken Cordon Bleu. At home I could cook some GOOD chicken cordon bleu. But here I am not having much luck with cooking. I have set the smoke alarm off four times. Like last night for instance. I was attempting to cook chicken fingers. Easy enough right? Well I learned my lesson the first time a while back when I tried to cook them that you have to put vegetable oil in the pan. The first time I tried making them – I dipped them in egg, then coated them with bread crumbs and put them on the skillet. Didn’t work too well. So this time I tried it WITH vegetable oil. What could go wrong right?? Well – somehow they turned black on one side. And Im not talking about just a little burnt – I mean BLACK – unrecognizable – chicken. And the smoke alarm went off. I wish I would’ve taken a picture but I was a little upset while in the moment of the smoke alarm going off. I chunked the chicken over our balcony before I could think to get a picture. I mean – I’m from ARKANSAS – why can I not cook fried chicken?!?! So after I ruined the first supper I still wanted to feel like I could do some kind of traditional southern cooking. So we ate fried bologna and mashed potatoes with cheese on top!!! The saying goes that when your newlyweds you eat burnt suppers the whole first year. Well – I told Justin that I needed an extension on that one!

We had a great night last night!! Around 7:30 pm (Dominica time) Justin called Dad and he invited us on vacation with him and mom during Justins first break!! We will be meeting them in Antigua and are staying at a Sandals Resort. We are going to be there from April 26th – May 3rd. Yall have no idea how EXCITED we are!! Now we just need to find someone to take care of Ellie and it will be all good!! I think we are going to use our landlords uncle. He lives up the road from us and used to train with killer dogs in the army (im not kidding) – and I know of someone who has used him and trusts him. So hopefully that will work out!
THEN – almost right after that good news Justins dad called and offered to buy his truck!! Of course we accepted and feel so blessed that his parents would offer that to us. Now we can pay for a little bit of rent! HA!!
I will be going to a place called Sunsets this Saturday with the Ross Spouses Organization (RSO). It is a nice beach with a restaurant on it. We will be gone all morning and will return after lunch. That will be good so Justin can be home alone. And I wont be tempted to bother him at all!!
Also – next Saturday we are going on a trip that The Tomato (a restaurant here) offers. We are sailing to Les Saints – a small island off Gaudelope. We leave early in the morning and get back right after sunset. The trip is the weekend after the Mini (the big test). We decided to go because it will be perfect timing for Justin to get away and relax for a day. Poor Justin – the only places he goes to are campus and home. Occasionally we will go out to dinner – maybe once a week. He works so hard!
So there you go!! Just a couple “announcements” and a little updating on what we will up to!