Family Walks

Tom & the kids find a foot path

The sun is low in the sky. All the streets are shaded and cool. Everyone is out. Many are just sitting in front of their houses. Others are going visiting or going to play soccer or heading to the ocean for a quick dip. It is a time of day to be enjoying the outside, especially on a Sunday.

As we leave the house we greet the neighbors. As always they are curious to know where we are going, especially when we are all out as a family (not common for islanders).
-Are you going to see someone? Are you going to the ocean?
-“We’re just walking.”
-But where?
-“Around the neighborhood, we’ve never been this way before.”

Our son (with BIG leaf) and daughter stop to pose on a shady street

-There’s no way that direction, better go that way-- it goes to the ocean.
Someone whispers in their ear that we are just walking around not trying to get anyplace. The speaker looks puzzled.
-Oh, you can go that way then.

So we continue on the road “that goes nowhere” and it meanders past many houses, turning into new parts of the neighborhood we have never been. We discover a little shop tucked in a random building that sells, among other things, tupperware! Eventually we find ourselves at an intersection we recognize, but there is still a direction that we haven’t explored so the walk continues.

Our daughter holds her own. She’s a good walker now. She runs ahead and helps us pick our next turn. Our middle son often gets occupied in finding a good rock or collecting leaves (he has to find one for each member of the family!). Tom’s holding our youngest who enjoys looking back at Mommy.

We stopped to watch a local soccer match for a bit

It’s a time to be refreshed by the beauty of the island in the light of the setting sun (everything is prettier near sunset) and a time to get better acquainted with our neighborhood (both the streets and the people). We know as time passes, our responsibilities are going to increase and we probably won’t have these nice family walks-- so we’ll enjoy them while we can.

PRAYERS ANSWERED
We continue to be thankful for the warm welcome and friendliness that we feel from everyone in our neighborhood.  The meeting went well.  There was a lot of sharing and teaching and a general opportunity for getting to know one another better and to grow in love and unity.  We were also really happy to reconnect with teammates who were here for the meeting--especially Abby who was able to stay at the house with us.

Tom and our youngest pose for a picture up on the roof of our house

PRAYERS REQUESTED
Last weekend there was an attempted coup on the islands. We might not have known about it if we weren’t told, but it was a serious attempt and several foreign mercenaries are now in prison. Pray for the stability of this nation, for an end of corruption and coups.
Megan continues to suffer from leg pain.  Pray for her healing.  Pray that the good things learned and experienced at the meeting this weekend would carry on into the future.