Where I used to live...

Recently I have been thinking about a time when I didn't have anything going on, no scout camp, gymnastics, play dates, guitar and piano lessons, not even soccer practice to go to. Those days are long gone, but sometimes I long for those days. It has been almost a year to the day that I returned home with my family from the island of St. Eustatius (Statia). I still had four kids, just like now, but the island was so small and the activities so limited that me and the kids really spent some good quality time together. The one thing we did consistently was go to the beach. And boy did we go to the beach. The locals didn't go too often, other than on a few select holidays, so my kids and I typically had the entire beautiful Caribbean beach to ourselves. And when the waves were calm and the sun was out there was no place I would rather be.

My other favorite place on Statia was the Quill. The Quill is an inactive valcano that has a rainforest or jungle inside. Tyler and Hannah were able to hike with us up and down inside the valcano. Once inside there were vines to swing on, hermit crabs and lizards everywhere. It was a cooler place to be and I loved that since I was sweating pretty much the entire 16 months we lived there.

I will never forget the experience we had living in another part of the world. My two oldest kids will always remember being the only white kids in school and how that felt. They have learned to appreciate McDonalds and toy stores. I have learned to appreciate a washer and a dryer!!! I spent so many mornings and evenings hanging the clothes out on the line each morning only to take them down before bed, but always remembering to shake out each piece of clothing to get all of the spiders and bugs off. That didn't always work, but I am sure it helped.