So much to be thankful for...

It's 5:30pm on Friday as I begin to type this.  I'm sitting on our deck, the sun has set, the breeze is blowing off the ocean, and the light is fading fast.  Our large deck is renowned in this part of the world...when we describe where we are staying to locals we hear, "Oh, the place with the amazing deck!" or "Where the last full moon party was held!"  It is a beautiful spot.  The far edge of the deck hovers about 10 meters above the rocks below, and from there is probably only 3 meters of sand and rock to the ocean....literally spitting distance if the prevailing winds weren't coming the wrong way.   Of course, it's a good thing they come the way they do, as they keep our house cool and keep many of the bugs away.

We are truly spoiled to have this place in Punta Blanca.  It's not a rental property, but when the owners are away, they allow friends (and family of friends) to use it for a great deal.

Seems impossible that we left Calgary exactly one week ago and have been in Roatan 6 days already, but that means a blog entry is long overdue.   There will be no way to summarize the incredible adventures of this past week, but here are some of the highlights:

• Jessica's worst nightmare came true at Houston airport when all of our luggage went missing.  We spent five hours touring from United to Continental to Taca and back again, through the very large George Bush Intercontinental Airport.  We eventually had to divide and conquer...they went to the gate to meet Cathy's incoming flight from Calgary while I tracked the luggage down and met it coming in from San Fran.  With minutes to spare, we all met up and scrambled to get a boarding pass for Cathy onto our flight to Roatan .  By the way, J & M handled the excitement extremely well, especially considering we all were working on about 3 hours of cramped airline sleep.
• The landing on Roatan was breathtaking.  We all leaned over those with window seats to catch a view of this jungle jewel in the middle of the Caribbean.  
• After Ed & Jami served us supper in their home (along with Steph and Carlos), they brought us here (to our new home).  It was long after dark, and we were exhausted.  As we were getting ready for bed, the power went out.  It was a moonless night, and we couldn't see a thing!  Fortunately I had my headlamp along, and after some searching (and one radio call to a helpful neighbour), we located some candles and matches. 
• On Wednesday, I enjoyed a boat ride with Carlos that I will always remember.  Awhile back, Carlos built a fiberglass dory for Ed; that's Carlos' business and he put all his skill and expertise into this little boat.  We decided to bring it from the south side of the island (where Steph and Carlos live) to the north side (where our place is).  With only a 15hp engine, that means a 90 minute end run around the eastern tip.  There's one point where the trip involves going outside of the reef into the open ocean, normally for only 10 minutes, but it took us about 30 as we managed to time it to coincide with the biggest squall of our time on the island...accidental, of course, but we could not have timed it better!  Carlos grew up on this water and he as good at driving the boat as he is at building it.  I never felt unsafe, but we did get soaked to the skin and Carlos lost his sunglasses to the driving wind and rain as he navigated us over 2m swells.  My butt is still sore!  As Cathy accurately predicted to Steph while were gone, "If Dan comes back alive, he'll have had the time of his life!"
• Probably a good thing that I did survive, as Wednesday was also our 20th anniversary!  As the girls hung with E & J for the evening, Cathy and I visited a local East End restaurant known for great food and beautiful views.  What a place to celebrate and give thanks for 20 amazing years.  
• Thursday morning we were up early for the "thrift sale".  This was the means devised to distribute some of the relief items that so many of you back in Calgary have generously donated. E & J really poured their hearts (and many days) into ensuring this day was organized, equitable, valuable and fun for the people of Punta Gorda.  By partnering with local churches and community leaders, they were able to give first dibs to those families who needed the items most.  We have previously seen first hand that dignity is removed and greed is fostered when goods are given away for free, so by charging a nominal price for the goods, parents were able to purchase Christmas gifts for their kids with their own money: everything was valued and everyone experienced love & respect.   We'll try to post some photos soon, but it really was AMAZING day.
• Speaking of E & J, we continue to be impressed by how well-respected they are in the community and how many great projects they are involved in...many more than we imagined or read about through their blog. It is a gift to connect with them, meet their friends, and see up close the work they are passionate about.
• We also continue to adjust to 'island life' and learn new things here.  Many of the sights and smells trigger memories of our time in South Africa.  If did not have that experience, it would be harder to adjust to the differences in food and banking, the bugs, the language barriers, and the ever-present economic differential between rich and poor.  Because of past experiences, our girls are quite comfortable and willing to try new adventures.
• Please keep Cathy in your thoughts and prayers.  She has been quite sick for the past couple of days with a flu and fever.  Yesterday she participated in the sale, but went straight to bed when we got home.  Today she stayed home and rested all day while Micayla and I made yet another run to the airport (45 min. each way) to check if our missing suitcase has caught up with us yet.  No such luck.  It's our third time there, and the answer is always "mañana" (tomorrow!).  At least there's nothing on that suitcase that we can't live without.
• Yesterday afternoon while Cathy slept, the girls and I grabbed our masks and snorkels and headed out in Ed's boat.  We moored to a buoy that marks the cut line through the reef...probably only 500 meters from our home...but it was our first glimpse of the underwater marine paradise that we are surrounded by.  Roatan is a mecca for divers, and we can't claim to have experienced more than the tiniest fraction of its beauty.  But in those 90 minutes of remaining sunlight, and probably only 20 square meters of near surface water that we could explore, we saw enough of the wonder and majesty of creation to know that we have lived a privileged life.
• Tomorrow looks like it will include Jami's Saturday morning basketball clinic with the neighborhood boys, then a few hours of work on the washroom project, and then perhaps an afternoon excursion to the West end of the island.  But, things are hard to plan around here, so we are learning to take each day as it comes.

It's now 4.5 hours later than when I began, and I'm sitting in bed while the rest of the house sleeps.  There's so much more that should be written, but I'll stop to get some sleep myself.  We think often of our friends & family back home and appreciate the emails and notes we have received.  Keep 'em coming.


Dan