Let me preface this blog by saying that the reason it has been so long since I have blogged is because my computer has been dead since last Friday – October 17th! I should be getting a new one sometime next week thanks to my awesome Dad!! So I have to use Justins computer whenever hes not on it. Which is basically midnight or later! Luckily, tonight hes mostly studying notes so I get the computer for a little while. The above picture is of Justin trying to fix it. He took it almost completely apart! After he did that it worked but then died just a couple days later. 

The week after the mini on Thursday Justin went with me and some other spouses to Victoria Falls. This was my third time to do this hike! This is one of my favorite things to do on this island! The only thing that stinks about it is that it is a 2 hour drive through curvy, steep, bumpy roads. During this hike you cross through three rivers, the rainforest, and then at the end you climb up some big boulders! There are times your foot is almost above your head! Justin had to stay in the back and help some of the girls (love ya Ralna!!).

I have been busy on the weekends playing intramural sports. Softball on Saturday – volleyball on Sunday. Ive already posted a picture of my volleyball team so below is a picture of my softball team. We are the “spouses” team and we have so much fun together!! Were pretty good too!

A guy that was a youth pastor in the states who is a first semester spouse has started a youth ministry in our town. It is called inLIGHTin and our first afternoon was this past Friday. It went great. Not as planned of course but great! Please pray that we will have an impact on the youth of this community and that God will continue to provide for this ministry.

Above: The ever so popular game Chubby Bunny. Ryan and I had to demonstrate to the kids how to play!

So today I am blogging about what probably every other spouse on this island is blogging about today!! The school is closed today!! The prime minister of Dominica closed EVERYTHING on the island due to the storm surge. Hurricane Omar is like over by San Juan somewhere but somehow were getting a little bit of the effects. We had a HUGE storm this morning. The biggest one weve had since Justin and I have lived here. So since the roads are so horrible here - when it rains this bad it really affects them. Meaning you cant drive on them. Not so much around where we live though. 

So I wake up this morning and think to myself – “I hope the waters not brown – I really need to take a shower”. Because as yall know – our water comes from the river. And if the river is crazy from the rain – our water is brown. So I go to turn on the faucet at the sink and the water is still clear. Im thinking – lucky me!!! So I hop in the shower and the water is MUD pretty much. I get out and Im flipping out. Ellies going crazy cause Im going crazy. I mean – yall – I was UNDER the faucet before I realized the water was muddy. Hair and all.

So I go to plan B. I think to myself “Calm down – you can just go to the school gym and take a shower”. So I pack up all my stuff and as Im headed out the door I check my phone and notice I have a text message from Justin. It says “Im coming home the school is shut down until tomorrow”. Not five seconds later he pulls up to our house and gets out of Kelsies car. I yell out – “I have to go up to school – I just got soaked with mud water”. He says – “Nope the whole campus is shut down!!”. Kelsie is cracking up because she can literally see the dirt on my face – like I had put on selfless tanner.  

So Justin was like – “Liz you’ve got to see how big these waves are”! (Not feeling sorry for me at all that I was literally covered in dirt (hair and all remember?). So we get in the car to go check out the waves. It wasn’t raining at this point thankfully! When we got there Justin said that the waves had already calmed down a little from earlier this morning when he saw them. But they were still huge to me!! It was awesome! Totally made up for my dirty hair. 

Above: A video of what our water looks like right now. This is what I took a 10 second shower in!!

Above: Some of the waves right down by the school.

Above: This one isnt the greatest of the waves but is a good one of Ellie! I screamed because the waves came over the "bank" and splashed me unexpectedly!! There is usually a beach where the water is coming up!

My mom is in Venezuela on a mission trip until Friday. She got there this past Friday and everyones luggage and all the trunks full of stuff got there just fine! A HUGE praise! She is there with a group called Pure Joy International. They are throwing a retreat for all the women missionaries over there. Mom is speaking one night at the retreat. So please pray for her safety, Gods peace when she speaks, etc, etc!!! 

October is Breast Cancer Awareness month. As most of you know – my mom HAD breast cancer. It feels so good to write had and not has in that sentence!! She felt a lump and got it checked. Thankfully they found it before it spread. So if you feel something don’t shrug it off. GO GET CHECKED!!! I am so thankful mom is cancer free!! The picture above is of her and dad during Race for the Cure last October. A walk for breast cancer in Little Rock. Doesn’t she look great??? 

Also - a reminder that Justins first mini exam of the semester is tomorrow at 1:00 pm (12:00 pm central time). So please keep him in your prayers A LOT tomorrow. His hives came back tonight. So I think that maybe – just maybe – he is starting to admit that his hives are from stress!!

Justin is taking ALL new classes this semester. So this semester is proving to be VERY hard so far!! I think he is just nervous about the test tomorrow because this is kind of like back to the unknown again. His new subjects are the following:

Behavioral Science (Intro to Clinical Medicine is integrated into this)
Pharmacology
Pathology
Microbiology (immunology is thrown into here too)

Last Saturday I threw a little surprise dinner for Justins birthday. He thought we were going to dinner with Sarah and David and then when we got to the restaurant there were about 12 other people there!!! He was so excited! I also had a cake made for him. One of my friends who is a spouse made it and it turned out SO AWESOME!!! I seriously almost cried when I saw the cake cause it looked so good. We went to a new place in Portsmouth called Adaj. It was Italian/something else (I cant remember what the sign said). It was very good but WAY WAY overpriced. But we had a great time with good friends. Six of which this is their last semester!! Im gonna have some serious issues when they leave.

ABOVE: Justin and I at his birthday dinner.

ABOVE: The cake!! Arent yall impressed?

ABOVE: Craig, David, Ryan, Justin, Billy. Our friend Jake was also at dinner but had to leave before the picture to take a practice test.

ABOVE: Crystal, Sarah, Ashley, Me, Kelsie, Allison, Ralna

Justin spoke the day after at church. He spoke on Colossians 4:5-6 and did a great job!! We then had a volleyball game that afternoon and lost – again. I also started a spouses softball team. We played a double header Saturday and lost both games. Were actually not that bad. I think we might pull a few wins by the end of the semester! Just need to work out a few kinks. So I might be on losing intramural teams this semester but so far I have had a blast!!

I am volunteering with the prep school on campus this semester and I mostly hang out with the kindergartners. I love them!! The other day they each had a mini chalkboard to draw on. I was attempting to teach them how to write a two. Well pretty much when I was one on one with one student the other students were just playing on their chalkboards. So at one point I look up at one of the other kids whose name is Charlie and he had his face on his chalkboard (which he had covered in yellow chalk). I said “Charlie what are you doing???” And then he lifted up his head and there was chalk ALL over his face. It was so funny and I tried my hardest to act like he had done something wrong. But instead I took a picture of him. You cant really tell by the picture but there was chalk everywhere!! Also below are pictures of a few other kids on “chalk” day.