East Grand Forks MN

We have moved to East Grand Forks, Minnesota.

Hey, Jordan!

A Perfect Saturday.

I think I have just had about the most perfect Saturday possible. I got up early this morning and finished my sermon and decided to head to the beach. I figured it was my last opportunity to visit our favorite, Cabbage Beach. The beach was nearly deserted with the exception of myself and a few unnaturally tan white Bahamians. It was so peaceful! The water was almost still because the jet skiers and boaters hadn't hit the water yet. It was the most relaxing thing I could have done today. People started showing up around noon so I headed home and stopped by Potters Cay for lunch. Kurtis and the girls wanted to be sure that I got some pictures of Potters Cay before I left, specifically of the guys cleaning conch. Well, I got one picture before I got yelled at. The man in the picture dropped his knife and started yelling at me that he was not a tourist attraction. Ouch. Needless to say, I moved on. I bought a Bahamian Pear, which is really an avacado on hormones, from one of the booths you see pictured. The woman who sold me the pear was laughing as I approached. She told me not to worry about the crabby conch man, I could take as many pictures of the rest of the Cay as I wanted to. Unfortunately he was the only person cleaning conch.

I shopped around looking for my favorite form of conch, cracked conch. Come to find out, people aren't bringin in as much conch because they are fishing for crawfish and lobster. The very last place I tried had Conch and they let me take a picture of them cleaning it! The last picture is for Kurtis. Before Kurtis and the girls left, one of our missions was to find him cracked conch...we failed. So, I hope he can at least imagine how good the conch was, because oh man was it good!

Tomorrow is my last Sunday at the Kirk and while I am excited to start a new chapter in our adventure, I will miss this place and the people we have come to know and love.

Hope all is well in your part of the world.

Peace,
Keri

Last Day of Kids Up!

What a wild ride! Amazingly enough, the six weeks of Kids Up! is at an end. To celebrate, the staff planned a special day for the kids consisting of a talent show featuring the Jackson Five, The Crafty Chameleon and a play about a pig and a duck. There was also a 'puppet show', which I have to admit I was not looking forward to. But this was no ordinary puppet show. It involved loud music, including Junkanoo type drumming, party favors and lots and lots of candy. I am sure the parents were hating us when we sent the kids home crashing from a sugar high! Jackie, the director put together a slide show of pictures from our summer together and the kids loved it! Come to find out, they don't get their pictures taken very often and they are fascinated by the instant gratification of a digital camera. Our final event of the day was an all out water balloon war. We started filling water balloons on Wednesday afternoon and stored them in the fridges. They were nice and chilly by Friday afternoon. The kids love water balloon fights but they shocked by the icy water. Even our cook, Silverlene joined the fun. All in all, I think the kids managed to learn something and have some fun this summer. I consider that a success. I know that they have certainly managed to touch our lives and we will carry a part of this place with us for the rest of our lives.

Peace,
Keri

Harbour Island

We spent the day on Harbour Island,which is a two hour ferry ride from Nassau. The ride was beautiful and the Island was awe inspiring. It is SO different from Nassau. The pace is slower, the feel is more down home and the views are absolutely incredible! One of our favorite things about Harbour Island is how everyone / everything coexist. You will see a picture of our wandering chicken...they were everywhere. Walking down the road, hanging out at the beach, and they were beautiful! Never thought I would say that about a chicken. We also followed several horses as they wandered through town. No one seemed alarmed by this so we are guessing this is a normal occurrence.

The beach was the most beautiful spot we have seen in our adventures. I don't know if you can tell, but the sand is pink! The water was picture perfect, even though it was the temperature of bath water. Bahamians tell us that this is their ideal water temperature and in the winter, when the water gets 'chilly', they won't put their toes in it. Ah, can you imagine their surprise at nice refreshing dip in a Colorado lake?

We have decided that when we return to The Bahamas we will definitely make time to check out more of the family islands. They are a little bit of heaven on earth, untouched and unspoiled by the hectic pace of the 21st century.

Tomorrow Kurtis and the girls head back to Louisville. It doesn't seem possible that our time here is at an end. It has been an amazing ride and one that we will not soon forget. Back to packing!

Peace,
Keri

House Gecko

Since Jake couldn't come with us to the Bahamas we have acquired a new house pet...Geckos! We were told on our arrival that if we could stand them, we should let them live with us because they eat more than their fair share of bugs. This is the smallest gecko we have found in the house, its eyes are as big as its head! I am guessing that this little guy would be no match for the mutant palmetto bugs (aka., roaches) that they grow here. Thought he was cute...but don't tell Mekayla, we have her convinced that we only have one gecko in the house and it only comes out when we're not here...