Trip to Spanish Town

Saturday October 24, 09

I think it gets daylight around 4:30 in the morning here! lol! The girls were up bright and early....did I mention early? I don’t know how when it was after midnight when I put them to bed. The first thing I saw when I opened my eyes were 2 beautiful orange roses blooming right against my window! Thank you, Lord! Everything is gonna be fine! Josh turned the water heater on so I could give the girls a warm bath. There is no hot water in the kitchen or the guest bathroom, but you can get hot water in the master bathroom, if you wait.

Oh, I found the mosquito spray!!!!

We ate crackers for breakfast...and were thankful for them! Pastor Sean came about 8:30 and picked up Josh and Mrs. Bonnie. I scrubbed my girls while they went to get some bread, peanut butter, bottled water, and lunch meat. Memaw also treated us and bought a few little packages of pastries! She paid over $5 for a package of bologna.

The view from my front porch is breathtaking!!!! It was dark when we had arrived last night, so I instantly fell in love with the crisp blue ocean landscape.

Joshua and Pastor Sean spent the next few hours getting our van into running shape and making sure it was able to make the trip across the mountains safely. Riding in the Jamaican traffic is an adventure. Alexis says, “it’s a roller coaster!” Very fitting. As we drove into the countryside and through Fern Gully rainforest, my heart just surged with love for this countryside and the people everywhere. I’m so thankful we’re finally here!

The entry into Spanish Town (our home for the next couple months) was interesting. The last few days we’ve met several Jamaicans in Miami and at the airport and when we would tell them we’re going to Spanish Town, they would be shocked and ask, “why?” Memaw was surprised at the poverty. I understand, but having been here twice before, it was good to see it through new eyes. We take so much for granted! It was so wonderful to see the Hutchens and eat supper with them. Spanish Town is a very rough and dangerous place, but the safest place to be is in the center of God’s will. There are many places I can’t go, and I’d never go anywhere alone. God has a reason for putting us here to start. It just makes me a little nervous to have the only 3 little white girls in 300,00 people. Around our home on the north shore there is a lot of tourist hotels, and it’s more comforting to not stand out quite as much. No complaints though, I’m so thankful to be here!

After we ate supper, Pastor Hutchens took us to our new home. The neighborhood isn’t as nice as our home on the north shore, but the house is large (4 bedrooms) and the set up is nice with a strong breeze blowing through. We are thankful. Mrs. Hutchens had left some pots, silverware, tp, and sheets and towels. ( I was thankful for the tp...the night before we had to use wet wipes from the diaper bag!)

There is something very cool about the house here. We are renting the 2nd story, the owner lives in the first story and we share the backyard with 2 other families. 
Well, if you go out our back balcony there is a staircase that goes up to the roof. From there you can go up one more level, then there is a metal ladder that goes up one more level. We have an amazing view from up there. We can see Kingson, and cranes at the wharf. We can even see the Sea on somedays if it’s clear. The owner used to have a telescope up here from a ship. The breeze is nice too, we hung a hammock. This house also has a gold fish pool and a turtle pond. The girls enjoy those. The owner bought 2 puppies a few days after we got here, but there still scared of us.

We did have some problems this night. There was no running water! And we were dirty and sweaty. Mrs. Hutchens (bless her soul) had filled up 2 litter bottles of water and put them in the bathrooms and kitchen. I used that and some washcloths and a bar of soap to wash the girls and scrub the dirt and grim off of them! We also forgot to get batteries for the fan to air up our mattresses, so Josh blew both of them up with his mouth. I tried to help....really I did...but he’s much windier then me. lol

I LEARNED: you can completely wash yourself and your hair with a 2 liter of water! Not that I want to make a practice of it or anything! lol!!!

We do have a room with a ceiling fan (luxury) so we all slept in that room tonight. On Monday we hope to get fans and pillows!