Too close for Comfort.

Why I did not take pictures of the chaos of our home before we left – I don’t know and now I’m regretting. It looks like all we were doing before we left the island was playing, partying, hiking, and just overall enjoying ourselves sitting back until the dreadful day of departure.  But it was very stressful, exhausting, and difficult to say the least.  I spent my days trying to keep the yard in as perfect shape as possible before we left (if anyone knows what its like to garden a huge yard in the Caribbean its non stop!) Cleaning, Cleaning and more cleaning right until we left the house. I was trying to find ‘homes’ for clothes, food items, things to give away, and organizing stuff between what we were taking home and what we were putting in our sale - which by the way was fantastically organized and incredibly cheep. You can imagine after 3 years all of the things we had accumulated. I was trying to get my children as much quality time with friends as I could. We were trying to squeeze in as much beach time as we could and just trying to get as much of Statia as we could.

At the sale there was a great turn out at first with lost of people during the main rush when we ‘opened’ but then after it just petered down.  We sold quite a bit but still had a TON of stuff.  Over the next days following we had people trickle in here and there at their convenience. Then we had a fellow who was on the island working with one of the oil tugs or containers (something of the sort).  He heard about our sale from a fellow student who we’ve known for a while, Abdul Haq. So the fellow, from Grenada I believe, came to the house saw what we were selling and the price for each item and just laughed.  We weren’t sure what he was laughing at at first but he just said basically, “this is awesome! How can you be selling stuff for so cheep!” So with that he came back over and over throughout our last days on the island buying stuff and things.  And if any ‘spoken for’ items weren’t picked up we would just call him and ask if he wanted it and he’d come and get it right then.  It was such a blessing!! I think it was a blessing for both of us! So Anyway a very hard last few weeks but as you have seen in the pictures we tried to sneak in as much fun as we could even if it was just a couple hours a day.

Racheal, Team, and friends really wanted to get together with us to have one last barbeque before we left the island.  I was actually extremely stressed out about it because we had nothing for a BBQ!  No dishes, we sold our BBQ, really nothing!  We had our fridge still until the day we left so that was good.  I was really panicking because in the past we had always cooked everything and they would come over and eat with us.  They would however bring pretty much everything from their store – bless their hearts. But it was a lot of work, time, and in need of a functioning kitchen which I had little of.  They finally understood our dilemma and brought everything ready to cook. They even arranged for the BBQ! So we had a fantastic last evening BBQ with our dear friends from China.

Sen loved Jase.  Every time Jase would come into the store Sen would try and have a little conversation with Jase.  Sen has a boy exactly Jase's age back in China who he has not seen in 5 years. He sends all of his money home for his family to live.  It is so sad but such a selfless sacrifice so your family can have a good life.

They had made these special hearts for the kids made out of Chinese money! It is such a wonderful gift.

Us and then from the left, Sen, Team and Rachael, Chi, and then a cousin who we had never met until this night.

Going through all of our things I found some little favorite school treasures that Courtney made throughout our time here.  A few of her school work papers.  Courtney has never experienced school in Canada so these are very special as they are some of her very first school work papers. I brought some home but these were some favorites that we didn’t bring. Notice the Dutch, Euro's for money, and the Caribbean curriculum. 

Katie had made this for her Daddy

It was a lot of fun trying to take pictures of Jase and his best buddy Sharique!  We went to the Dutch Reformed Church and to the Fort to take their pictures – my available time to get things done was starting to run low.  Love these boys!  They are always so kind and respectful toward one another, a friendship that will last forever. Xoxo – We love you Sharique.

I took some clothes over to Elaine’s house because she had a wonderful project going on with young teens on the island.  I saw her two boys who had been friends with Jase and Courntey at school and had them come over for one last play date.

 Demetry Queely - Mangos!!!!!!!

D'Angelo Queely

The boys couldn’t stay long because they were headed off to the pool for swim lessons and asked if the kids could go with them.  I found out that their lesson was during public swim so it was perfect to take the kids and let them have some fun while I went back home to work some more.

Katie and Courtney have always wanted to get their hair platted on the island and I have never gotten on the ball to get it done – well done by someone else of course because I can’t platt! But thanks to Mervina Redan and her awesome gentle handy work, the girls said it never hurt at all, they finally had it done - just in time!! They looked really cute and just loved it.