the dog days

I am reminded daily why Will and I decided a few years ago to spend our summers abroad,
 to flee our comfortable home,
to meet, love and serve others.
These summers are not just vacations for our family.
They have become a core value of ours.
A family mission statement.


Our time in Panama was not easy.  It was not peaceful.  It was highlighted by amazing experiences but living life on the island with 4 boys was not easy, comfortable or even safe.

But I would do it again:

Here my boys expect Chickfila everyday.
They expect 10$ bills handed to them everytime they go somewhere.
The pull of friends is endless for each of them...times 4...

Video and television win over talking and reading every time.
Im bored is said constantly.

the sugar, coke addiction is back in full swing- I cant even restrain when it is so easily accessible.

Not one of these issues was even a thought in Panama.

Home

We are back in Texas.

We are grieving.

The loss of Rebecca Bannister James is the hardest thing our family has ever walked though.

The celebration of her life at the Cowboy church in Aledo was a beautiful tribute.  A true honor for her, her husband and her children.

you can read some of her story here...

I am trying to honor all of the emotions that we all have and give them to the only one who can help us in times of trouble.

The one true God, our creator, abba father and Rebeccas keeper and the lover of her soul now.  He is it.   There is noone else.  Never before have I felt this truth then I do now.  God is God and we are not and his Glory is for his name to be known and I it is such a priveledge to say Rebecca spent all of her last days making his name known.  She knew she would be with God.  and we would be left waiting until we were with God too.

Grieving is hard, I have never walked this territory before but I know that the God I serve is a good God, who always works things for the good of those who love him.  I want to spend my days loving him more.  Even in the mess and hurt.

Thank you all for your support, prayers, patience and love.  They truely are holding us up.

Spearfishing Panamanian Style

We went to visit a beach on the other side of the island-

Starfish Beach

it was about a 20 minute taxi ride 

through the interior of the island. 

But it was well worth the time- 

Nothing commercialized about this beach.

We grabbed our spears and started snorkeling.

Starfish were huge and plentiful.

So were the dolphins 

 A few thatched huts were on the beach 

where the locals ran the 

boat taxis on and off the beach, 

but other than that there was not much going on.

We went around the island 

a bit and found this great rock jetty-  

the fish were plentiful on the reef.

Bleus first spear of the day.

Can you tell what this is?

He speared 7 of them 

in about 30 minutes.

The smallest stingrays I have ever seen.

As I look at this picture I think I must be the Worst Mom Ever.  

Not only am I letting my boys swim around 

with sharp spears in their hands

 but one is spearing multiple stingrays 

and the others are still snorkeling.

Have they lost their minds???

Off to school...

Little boys waiting for their taxi driver
 Ivan to come get them.  

The boys leave every morning at
8 and return at noon for lunch.  

It cost $1 per person for the trip.

Panamanian style school..

The school is an international school. 

 The owner Keren is from Israel, 

the teachers and students are from: 

U.S.A, ITALY, ARGENTINA, PERU, ENGLAND, AUSTRALIA, 

ISRAEL,  INDIA, BELGIUM, PANAMA, SPAIN, HOLLAND, 

GERMANY, URUGUAY, FRANCE, SCOTLAND, GHANA

They don't always want to go... same attitude different country:)

Eli loves that they don't wear shoes in the school.

We shut the gate to the courtyard so the kids are nice and safe 

and I go home to do some writing for a few hours.

Adios los ninos dicen!

A Jesus Lizard

Jesus walked on water. 

 So does this lizard found 

in the rainforest here.

Hence the name.

Bleu caught this one in his net and it didn't want to let go. 

I had to help him pry its toes and mouth out of the netting.

He's not really sure if he feels good about holding it.

They run standing up and VERY fast.  

It took Impressive hunting to grab him.

Liam choose not to partake in the holding of the huge lizard.

And now he lives in a box in my kitchen.

He eats vegetable scraps

because we haven't found any

 snake eggs yet that they love to eat.

An island Sunday...

We went hiking on Bastimentos island on fathers day 

and found this little church half way up the mountain.

The people speak  Guari Guari which is 

sometimes refered to as creole english.

A lot of them speak spanish as well.

The service was given in spanish by the pastor 

and then translated into Guari Guari.

They honored the dads as well as gave them a strong charge 

to lead their families and stay clear of alcohol, drugs and violence.  

3 of the main problems this community has.

The children in the church performed an exciting drama.  

Acting out how Satan uses drugs, 

alcohol and all types of sin to keep us down.  

Then Jesus came and a real tug of war happened, 

I mean my kids were a bit frightened on the front row, 

but in the end, Jesus won, and the sin was crushed.

Heavenly voices.  

I love their variations of songs we sing at home as well.

We sang and worshiped together 

with this beautiful little church and 

felt so blessed to be so far away from our community 

but yet surrounded by one that so strongly loves the Lord.

Surfing Horses..

We didn't really believe there were 

wild horses on the island that came to our beach and swam.

But this morning as we ate breakfast they came.

At first they were just resting in the shade of the palm trees.

I couldn't believe they let us touch them.

Then the boys decided to swim with them.  

I thought for sure they would run but they stayed out 

there for a long time with them splashing around.

Even petting them

And when the boys came in, the horses followed..