The Henry Family Blog: July 2011

Isaiah and Josh at the horse races at Beaumont Park, St. Kitts

I can't believe it's been so long since I've blogged and I apologize! Things have been a bit crazy around here. I have been doing some occupational therapy consulting work for the university, doing presentations on proper positioning and ways to prevent injuries, and also conducting some workstation evaluations and making recommendations to faculty, staff, and administrators on changes to make to keep employees more protected from injury. It's been fun, but has been taking up most of the free time I did have on Mondays and Wednesday mornings while Isaiah is at school. We also had a great time last week when my Mom and Aunt Karen came to St. Kitts for a visit. They are, sadly, our last set of visitors to St. Kitts and we were so thankful and excited they came! We had a great time while they were here and also managed to squeeze in some work too! We packed up 3 suitcases of our belongings and they so graciously took them home for us!

Probably the only picture I have of BOTH Isaiah and Beau looking and smiling at me!

The gates were moved into place for each race by the tractors...the boys loved watching the tractors as much as the horses!

Jessie, Beau, Josh, and Isaiah watching the horses get set for the race

Josh, Isaiah, Jessie, and Beau

If I was a bettin' woman, I would've bet on the horse with the orange socks for Uncle Lee!

It was a beautiful horse

Beaumont Park sign

Chelsea & Josh

Isaiah, Beau, and Josh checking out the horses before the race

Isaiah supporting the USA on the 4th of July in St. Kitts!

Things have been going well here, even if they have been busy. I'm starting to get anxious about getting everything sorted and packed. I know what I need to pack and what's going where (i.e.- coming home with us for good, going to school sales, or going with Josh to his new place) but the problem is that we're still using most of it in our day to day lives and so I'm getting nervous that it's going to be a lot of last minute packing!!! Oh well....as long as we get most of it home and we all make it in one piece, that will be the important thing!

Mimi and Isaiah in front of the fountain at Caribelle Batik

Mom and Karen soaking up some sun at Reggae beach on Saturday

Worn OUT!

Isaiah with Wilbert, the island pig!

There are some fun pictures for this blog post, starting with the ones from the Kittitian horse races at Beaumont Park a few weeks ago. We decided to go since it was the weekend after mid-terms and Josh didn't have to spend the entire weekend studying AND it was FREE admission, which is always great for a family on a tight budget! The skies looked pretty gray, but it hadn't been raining, so we headed out following Autum who supposedly knew the way! We only got lost a few times on the way there and managed to drive the entire way around the island which we hadn't done since we first arrived which was fun. It rained on us a few times on the drive, but we figured we were already on our way, so we might as well try it. We did get to see a few races and Isaiah LOVED seeing all the horses and being outside, so the day was well worth it, even if it poured almost the entire time we were there. We were soaked by the end, but so happy to have had the day together and to watch our son having a wonderful time!

Sunset from SpratNet where we had dinner Saturday night

Isaiah wanted his picture with the boats in the water...he loved the green one!

My sweet boy

Isaiah at Piranha Joe's at Port Zante

Mimi and her 'favorite grandson'

View down the peninsula from the Marriott beach

Isaiah doing some digging in the sand

Most of the other pictures are from Mom and Karen's visit. We didn't do too much touristy stuff and mostly stuck to hitting the beach and pool. We did visit Caribelle Batik for a few souvenirs and I even purchased a watercolor painting of a part of St. Kitts we have seen many times just over the hill from where we live to have as a reminder of the past 2 years and all the growing we've all done in St. Kitts! We also did a little shopping at Port Zante and made sure everyone got something to take home. We even found Isaiah a couple of adorable St. Kitts shirts to wear when we're home in August. We had a great time visiting and relaxing with Mom and Karen and were so blessed to have them with us for the week!

Isaiah standing on the excavator we found parked near Buddie's where we had dinner on Mom and Karen's last night in St. Kitts

The excavator was HUGE!

Isaiah and his Mimi

Sunset at Timothy Beach

Mimi and Zay checking out the boats in the ocean

I can't believe Isaiah and I will be leaving St. Kitts in 24 days. It is definitely bittersweet. We will of course be so happy to be back home with our families and the United States where Wal-mart and Target are never too far away! But we will definitely miss some of the parts of our Kittitian life. It is sad for me to be leaving a place where my baby boy did so much growing and changing and taking him from the only home he really knows. I know he will adjust and will be fine, but it's a little bit daunting to turn your child's world upside-down! We will also miss our wonderful friends and our church family here. They have been a huge blessing to our lives (and probably the only thing that's kept me sane for the past 2 years!). I know it is time for us to leave and I'm ready for whatever God has in store for us next, but that still doesn't make it easy to drastically change your life and the lives of your family. It feels a lot like it did when we left the U.S. 2 years ago. I wondered how everything would be, how we would live so far away from everything we always knew, but we trusted God and he provided for us beyond our greatest hope, so I am trusting in Him once more to get us through this transition. So--family/friends back home, know that we are excited to spend time with you that will last longer than a few weeks and can't wait for all the fun we'll have this fall! And to our St. Kitts family/friends, know that it has been an amazing 2 years that I would never trade for anything and will always hold close to my heart. We will never forget you.