Well it's finally starting to cool down here a bit so we have started going to the beach and of course Nick is back into lots of fishing. Candace was stung by a sting ray yesterday though, but she was very brave. Fortunately we had just visited the Clearwater Marine Aquarium and learnt all about them so we knew they were not poisonous just painful. We think we have found a house to buy just a couple of streets away. Not big but with lots of potential for expansion.
Business is back to normal now we are working on it regularly instead of from internet cafes and the new business we have started here is also going very well.
The congregation is lovely and we had a fantastic assembly where we saw loads of old friends that we hadn't seen for years. The girls got thoroughly fed up of being told how much they had grown!!
We do miss France and are looking forward to visiting in January and then hopefully coming back next year for the summer. I don't think we could live here year round, we love French life too much to give it all up. Need to think of a way to import the delicious Australian wine we have been drinking here though!!
We finally (after all these years) got around to taking the girls to Seaworld about a month ago. We had a wonderful couple of days and felt really privileged to have seen these amazing animals up close. One of the highlights was feeding the dolphins and being able to touch and stroke them. The shows were breathtaking but I couldn't help comparing it to other places we had visited and feeling sad that so many wonderful people we had met could never even imagine seeing anything like this. One just that day hundreds of people like us had no problem dropping a couple of hundred dollars on just two days entertainment, never mind the extras like food and souvenirs. It just reminds you how uneven and unfair the world is.
Sometimes I find it hard to spend out on things that I didn't think twice about before. Things that I didn't consider not buying, now I realise that I don't need them. I guess that is why taking this kind of trip is considered life changing, it really makes you think about what is really important in your life. In the western world we are brought up with things, even if we don't have them someone else does. The people we met are just happy to be clothed and have food and shelter. They don't care about brand names and what car they drive, most of them can't afford more than a moped anyway.
We are looking forward to lots of things at the moment. Our trip to the Bahamas at the beginning of October and the Clearwater Jazz festival at the end, our assembly (another one!) at the beginning of November and a trip somewhere, hopefully Arizona, around Thanksgiving.
What are we missing at the moment? - Family, friends, Candace - her books in storage in France, Me - my shoes in storage, esp. my Campers, Nick - his precious watch collection, Lara - her Polly Pocket collection (in France) as she has made a fortune on ebay selling the ones she had here!
ANYWAY.............next update from the Caribbean!!
Love y'all xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
