wilma is over – she hardly left a dent here in marsh harbour. we hosted people by us this time and had our own little hurricane party for 10 hours.

laura and i made sure that we got the first hand report on all that was happening...

We interviewed locals…

And put ourselves right in the action…

risked it all...

to make sure that we brought the most recent and dramatic updates possible…

we will try to publish the actually video at a later date.

in all seriousness we were truly blessed that it was nothing worse. we spent only one day doing clean up and we have heard of no major damage any where on the island.

Wilma is a commin'

the shutters are up - school is canceled. the waiting begins...

laura's family was the first visitors that we had this year. their time here was filled with lots of translation and organic food.

it felt like we were the smorgasbord family...


a trip to the hope town lighthouse was taken of course...



we made them abide by the rules...


they got to take in a bahamian sunset...


and we got in our regular saturday sunrise...


we went snorkeling with friends...


and my boo on the island...




who did get a little scandalous with his hands...


and had a picnic at a closed pete's pub...


and ended with a birthday party for laura's dad...


which we were very excited about...


i was informed that laura's brother sebastion and i would make beautful children together and if we would have a child together they would be happy to adopt it. it might be the business venture i have been looking for.



our offer for visitors is open - who is next?

"God's lap is big enough for everyone to sit on."

this is the wisdom of a 4 year old girl that brought me to tears yesterday.

so i was chatting with my girl k-love (kimmy lynn carrera) and we were wondering....nerviousness. what is this feeling? where does it come from? is it a good sign when you get nervous?

let me expound on this a little bit because kimmy is yelling through the
phone to explain. what i haven't mentioned yet that it is the opposite
sex that is making this feeling we will call nervousness.

now back to the subject. what is really killing kimmy is what goes through a guys mind when they know that they make a girl nervous?

"i don't know, it's like when i sit next to him and he brushes
against me i FREAK OUT and then have to move away."
- kimmy lynn carrera

this tingling thing that we call nervousness is mind boggling. and what i am wondering while i am sitting in the bahamas and what kimmy is wondering while she is on the phone with me sitting in chicago is your thoughts....

i don't know if we will ever get to the bottom of it but it sure keeps things interesting.

we were ridding back on the ferry from hope town today and jess - who is always pushing me to think about the things i can easily shut myself out from - asked if i was going to be hard to leave this place.

now i haven't stopped thinking about it. most of the time it doesn't feel like this is a real life. well, teaching feels like the real part of life but the rest of this feels like something you see in a movie. these friends that i have made out here couldn't even be compared to the zaniest of movie characters. laura and i watched caste away the other night and i was thinking that the last time i saw the movie i thought that most of the stuff was impossible - this time i watched it and i just though "oh yeah - of course". my feet are "man feet" put so nicely by jill because i am barefoot most of the time. tropical storms - yes please. heat never ends. bathing suits seem like the mandatory uniform. power outages - always. humming of generators. and all these things are my life.

i don't know how much i am going to miss a place that didn't seem real to begin with but i don't think i will let myself think about it to much yet.

day 2 of downpour in the bahamas.

getting to work: jess and i rode bikes to work yesterday. we thought that we could miss the swells of rain but on the way back we just got dumped on. each drop of rain felt like a bullet to the face.

listening pleasure: renee’s sleep cd. nae it is one of the best cd’s and speaks directly to my soul.

reading pleasure: the giver. I don’t know what I was reading in 6^th grade but I never realized how much depth this book really had.

goals of picture taking: the perfect mullet. this island is dripping (literally) with mullets. i don’t know what derek would do with himself if he ever made it out here but i have set a goal and the picture will be dedication to you, derek.

coffee addiction: yes please. this morning there was no fresh coffee made at school so i took the yesterdays old and warmed it over because I couldn’t wait for the fresh brew (sick)

missing: 2 a.m. tea time.

best phone call of night: mrs. kati glock.

amazing race: going for the siblings or the widow family. BUT are they ever going to leave the u.s?

bon jovi has been the inspirations for my runs as of late. him and queen that is. this morning just as i was hitting my turn around point "living on a prayer" came in.

"ohhh we're half way there - ohhhh living on a prayer take my hand and we'll make it i swear -ohhh living on a prayer."

it inspired me so much that i found myself pumping my fist in the air. i didn't realize that until i noticed that bahamian workmen, thinking i was hailing them, started to give me a shout out.

moral of story: no matter how good a song might be pumping your fist in the air is never the answer.

kimmy got me thinking and today i was walking down the beach looking for sea glass and this is what i came to:

sea glass is what i have been collecting the whole time i have been here. i didn't know why i was drawn to it so much but it has always been the most beautiful thing to me. i think that i am beginning to realize why i have this love for it.

it starts out just a piece of glass - frail and fragile. but for some reason it gets dropped in the sea and everything changes. it gets knocked over by waves over and over. it gets pounded in the sand again and again. it gets beaten and kicked around.

but in the end it comes out of it. it is not even the same recognizable piece of glass. it has changed into this completely new object. it has come out stronger and beautiful and it would never have gotten there if it didn't go through the beatings.

i think that i love sea glass because it is a survivor. and it tells me that after life's beatings we might just come out different - stronger -beautiful.