MARRY Christmas!

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Make a Smilebox scrapbook

My little brother is getting married!!! I'm SO excited! I've been keeping this information to myself for too long and I was about to pop! I talked to Adam for a long time on the web cam a couple of nights ago and he showed me the ring. Here are a couple of pictures/videos I took while we were talking. Adam had no idea when he planned to ask Theresa to marry him on December 17th that Ryan and I also got engaged on December 17th three years ago! Out of 365 days in a year the Warren kids got engaged on the same day! We are very excited to add Theresa to our family!


http://elfyourself.jibjab.com/view/bnIc0HuA8HWA1j3kYuyp

Please click on the above link to see how we celebrate Christmas in the South! :)

Celebrating Ryan

Ryan's birthday was December 5th. He wanted to go to Sisters to watch the sunset and then have a home-cooked dinner at our apartment.

Here we all are playing games after dinner.

The birthday kids! Ryan and Sophia have the same birthday. Guess what kind of cake Ryan wanted...funfetti!

The boys throwing rocks in the ocean at Sisters.

The shell sink that we think is so cool!

Ryan's favorite Christmas cookies! Sugar cookies with buttercream icing.

The birthday menu included: soft pretzels and marinated cheese for appetizers, salad, focaccia bread, homemade pizza, lasagna, birthday cake, Christmas cookies, mint brownies, and peanut butter cookies. We ate ourselves to death! We had a kids table set up in our bedroom where William, Sophia, and John Walker ate and watched Christmas movies. As I looked around at the faces at the dinner table I really felt like we were having a family dinner. I'm so thankful for the friends we have made here. I know I say it all the time, but they are what has made this experience so great!

Dominican Survey

Courtney tagged me so here goes...
What is the:
First Thing that Shocked You After Arriving The First Time: I was wide-eyed as I rode from the airport to our apartment. I was scared riding on the left side of the road and flying around those narrow curves. I was also scared when I saw everyone walking around with machetes.
Most Beautiful Place in Dominica: Ryan and I think that Sisters at sunset is one of the most beautiful things you can ever see. Emerald Pool is also beautiful. Like a scene from Peter Pan's Never Never Land.
Most Memorable “Only in Dominica” Moment: Choose one?! I was driving home one day this week and a cow was standing on one side of the trail (up a hill) and his rope/leash was tied to a bush on the opposite side of the trail. I couldn't drive under the rope because it was hanging too low and I couldn't just run into it because it would have choked the cow (and probably caused it to fall on top of my car). I sat there trying to assess the situation and finally a local came along and cut the rope with a machete. Only in Dominica. One more story...I had a Christmas Cookie party at my house this week. The day of the party I woke up and was out of propane, the water was turned off, and the ATMs were out of money. SO, I couldn't cook, I couldn't wash dishes or clean (or shower), and I had no money. About 20 people were coming to a party at my house and I didn't even panic because I've been here 16 months and know how to pull off a party with nothing going my way! I used my neighbors oven, the water came back on a couple of hours before the party, and luckily, Ryan had money. Again - only in Dominica.
Food I Missed the Most While in Dominica: steak, fountain drinks with lots of ice, berries (strawberries, blackberries, raspberries, etc.), peaches, salads, and every kind of meat other than ground beef, chicken, and fish, and ice cream...definitely ice cream!
Favorite Item I Brought from the US: a VCR and blank tape (it acted as my TIVO) and a body pillow
Most Useful Skill Learned: I learned how to cook everything! And I learned substitutions for substitutions. I can now make my own ricotta cheese, any kind of bread I want, sour cream, etc.
Favorite Tropical Food: cannips, guavas, and fried plantains
Worst Part of Living in Dominica: Missing family and friends!
If I Had to Do it Over Again, What Would I Change: I would have bought a car at the beginning of first semester rather than at the end. Purchasing the car was the turning point for me.
Favorite Hike: Well, since I went to Titou Gorge 4 times, I guess that must be my favorite. It's definitely a unique experience. Another favorite spot is Screw's Sulphur Spa (went there 3 times).
Article of Clothing I Lived in: Flip-flops for 16 months! Even though it's not an article of clothing, I also lived with my hair in a ponytail/knot for 16 months.
Describe a Typical Evening in Dominica: Lots of cooking followed by lots of washing dishes. Our nightly ritual is to watch an episode of House while eating popcorn and M&Ms. We're all caught up on House, which has thrown off our nights for the past couple of weeks.
Scariest Moment in Dominica: When undercover police officers (only we didn't know they were police officers) were hiding on our trail wearing all black and carrying machine guns. I never blogged that story because I didn't want to scare our parents. It was 2nd semester.
Strangest Thing I Saw: I can't think of anything. I don't think anything seems strange anymore. I would have to say that at first it was very strange to see cows and goats walking freely around. It was also strange having huge crabs walk down the trail beside me.
Most Valuable Kitchen Tool: I would say my bread pan since Andrea and I couldn't have started Daily Bread without it. Also my big, sharp knife that I used to slice the bread. Ryan wanted us to ship a toaster, which I thought was a waste of space, but we ended up using it practically everyday.
First Thing I’ll Do When Back in the US: I'm getting excited just thinking about it! I'll walk on clean carpet barefoot, I'll lay on soft furniture and soft beds, I'll eat delicious food that I didn't have to cook, and I'll watch Christmas movies while laying in front of a fire. Oh, and I'll be cold!!
What Will You Miss Most About Dominica: My extended family! I'll miss the people the most. I'll miss the fact that Ryan is never more than a half mile away from me and that we get to have every meal together everyday. I'll also miss the simplicity of life here. "Keeping up with the Jones" doesn't exist here. We're all living in 1 bedroom apartments and it's completely acceptable to wear a Tshirt, shorts and no makeup everyday.

I tag Katy, Brianna, Liz, and Andrea. That means you have to start blogging again, Andrea!!!

What spouses do to stay busy...

We have been so busy and I do mean SO busy! So this weekend while Ryan was studying I went river tubing with some spouses. Not river tubing like we do in Tennessee. It's more like a lazy river with occasional rapids. The pictures are thanks to my friend who had a waterproof camera. This was my 3rd time to go river tubing with Wacky Rollers. I love it!

We have to dodge all of these rocks!
Just relaxing before the excitement began.
They gave us paddles...and we had a little fun with them.
Now for the serious picture.
I used my paddle to keep the other girls in line. Sarah was causing too much trouble!
Our family picture at the end of the day. Just to clarify, I have on a strapless bathing suit!
As we approached the end of the river we were all hanging on to each other's tube.
We stopped halfway to relax, swim, and take pictures.
Lovely Dominica. :) The Wacky Roller guys would yell "Wacky" and we had to yell "Rollers" and then they would yell "Lovely" and we said "Dominica"! Our fun day on the river almost didn't happen. The ATMs have been out of service, so half of our group didn't have cash when we started the trip. We all counted our cash and realized that together we could afford for everyone to go. Theo drove us to where we were supposed to meet WR (about 30 minutes) and when we got there nobody was there. We called them and nobody answered. Theo drove us about 10 minutes to their offices and, surprise surprise, nobody is there either. We call again and nobody answers. The interesting thing is that not one of us seemed surprised or worried. We were all just kind of like "huh, what do you know". That's what 16 months of island life does to a person. If this happened in the U.S. people would be furious that they had planned a fun day and nobody showed up to fulfill their end of the deal. But here we realize that we are completely out of control and if they feel like showing up they do and otherwise it is just our tough luck. As Theo was driving down the road a crazy looking local was walking and Theo slowed down and said "Wacky?". The local turned and said "yeah?" and Theo explained that we were supposed to tube the river. The local said "Oh, ok, you gotta call Phillip, you got his numbah?". (I'm trying to help you talk with a Dominican accent...number would be pronounced numbah.) Well we all died out laughing because the local just expected that Theo would have Phillip's number. Theo doesn't know Phillip, but I guess he thought everybody in Dominica has everybody else's phone number. So then the local man says "Ok, go down the road a bit and you will see elephant washing a van. Talk to him.". As we pulled away I said "so we're looking for an elephant washing a van?!" Theo died out laughing because the man's nickname is elephant. When we found "Elephant" he was washing a van in his underwear. Not boxers, not briefs, and not tighty-whiteys...nope, he was wearing big red granny panties. We all turned our heads the other way because we were embarrassed to be there. Elephant made a few calls and said some people were on their way to take us tubing. We waited about 20 minutes and people finally showed up and we were on our way! Just a typical Dominican day!

Our Dominican Thanksgiving

It took me a while...but here is the Thanksgiving post you have all been waiting for! Well, maybe not ALL of you. Maybe just my mom! :) The first picture is of the ladies in my family at my Grandmother's house on Thanksgiving. We could insert a picture of me wearing a sun dress and sweating at my Thanksgiving in Dominica! This next picture is of the 2 most wonderful people in Dominica - Ed and Cindee. They are missionaries on the island and they keep RCF going for all of us. I don't know what we would do without them!

Here is a picture of the 4th semester students at RCF that attend the morning service.

This is my first turkey ever!

Now to our Thanksgiving...We all went to Craig and Ralna's again this year. Ralna figured there were between 125-150 people. I don't know how it worked, but it did and we had tons of food left over! I took turkey, cornbread dressing, rolls, deviled eggs, hashbrown casserole, peach casserole, fudge, and chocolate cheesecake.

Everybody in line to get food!

The girls sitting outside on the balcony.

William's turkey. In case you can't read it, he is thankful for "oxygen, shelter, transportation, our Heavenly Father, food, friends, family members, and teachers". My favorite is oxygen! Ralna said that ever since they moved to Dominica and were walking everywhere William has been very thankful for transportation. :)

The unbelievable sunsets that we will miss most of all. You can't capture the actual beauty with a camera.

There were 3 tables of food, a turkey table, and 1 dessert table.

Here is a quick clip of how crowded the apartment was. We had a wonderful Thanksgiving and are thankful we had so many friends to share the day with us. BUT, we are very thankful that this was our last Thanksgiving in Dominica!