Our new house!!

We moved to our new house about 2 weeks ago, and are finally settled in.  It is so nice!! We are about a 2 minute walk from the back gate of campus and no hills and landslides!!!
This is the front of our house:

We live on the 1st floor and have a fenced in yard for Rascal. 
These are some of the amazing flowers that we have growing in our yard.

This is a pineapple bush, I guess is what you call it.  I never knew how pineapples grew until I came here.  The pineapple grows right on top and you cut the pineapple off at the bottom of the pineapple.  We have a couple of these, but this is the biggest one.

This is our avacado tree in our backyard.  The avacados here are green on the outside and are called avacado pears.  They taste just the same and are YUMMY!! The tree bears avacados once a year and they are in season now!

You will also notice our Caribbean clothes dryer!! We are fortunate enough to have a washing machine in our new house, but a dryer is truly a luxury here.  I have learned how to judge the weather by looking for the mountains. If you cannot see the mountain, it is going to rain, no matter how pretty and sunny it is at that very moment.  My landlord calls it the Caribbean weather forecast and it has been accurate so far for letting our clothes dry.
This is our guava tree. 

It bears fruit year round and we are getting ready to have a TON of guava.  Good thing my children love guava jelly!!!  All the little green balls will grow into guavas and turn yellow and yummy!!
We also have several coconut trees or palm trees in our back yard. 
My favorite find are these.........kanips.

They are a fruit and are a juicy little morsel of sweet and sour.  They taste like sweet-tarts to me.  You bite into them to open them and they have this juicy orange center.

 



Lesson's in Dominican Life - Water Heater

We have been here for 3 1/2 months and there are certain things about the US that I miss.  My water heater is one of them.  In Dominica, there is not "one" water heater that heats water for the entire house.  Water heaters are placed in the areas where hot water is desired, i.e. shower/bathtub. 

This is a picture of our shower with the water heater.  We have to flip a switch outside the tub that turns on the water heater.  The water is then directed through the water heater and comes out the shower head, usually hot.  It's kinda scary having your water for the shower running through an electrical device before it hits your body...

In our house, as most houses in Dominica, we only have water heaters in the bathrooms, not the kitchen.  I use a electric kettle to heat water to wash the dishes with.  They make soap especially for cold water, but I just can't bring myself to wash the dishes in cold water!!

The kids have started back to school and are really enjoying the school here.  This is a picture from their first day back.

There are moments when I wonder if we have done the right thing by moving here, so far away from family and friends, and then there are moments like last night when the beauty and awe take my breath away and I hear God's voice and know that we are where we are suppose to be.
This is the sunset from last night..........AMAZING!!