Our home

When the boys and I returned back to Curacao at the end of October, it was to a new home!  Because of the enormous expense of living in the other house, we made the decision to move into a smaller, more affordable home.  We don't have a pool or a spectacular ocean view, but we've made it home and we are happy!  Some of you may be curious to get a glimpse into our life here in Curacao.

Part I - The House

Well...we've stuck with family tradition and are, once again, living in a YELLOW house! 

We have two bedrooms, one small room we use as storage, 2 1/2 baths and one main living area.

We have a teeny, tiny, European-style kitchen...but we've learned to make all tiny spaces work for our family in all the places we've lived!

For the past few years, living in a tropical environment, we've gotten used to having our dining room on the porch!



Part II - The Yard

One of the things we were dreading having to tackle once we returned to Curacao was our yard.  Most homes here are surrounded by landscaped yards, white gravel stone and flowering shrubs.  Our yard - to match the inexpensive rent - was a patch of brown, rocky ground that seemed only hospitable to weeds.  But, we've been determined to make this a beautiful yard that will allow future residents to enjoy it, too! 

We didn't take too many "before" pictures, since the yard was just depressing...but in this shot, on our second day here, you can see the height of the weeds in the background!

This yard has been a very visible metaphor for spiritual truths for us!  For instance, we vividly understand Adam's consequence from the Fall in Genesis 3:18-19:  "...thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you....By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread..."  It has been nothing but TOIL for us to break through this dry, rocky ground and get something beautiful established!  Even the boys understand the word "toil" now!  (Jack thinks it is great fun and pretends that we are on a farm!)

We've planted some Argentine Bahia grass seed...and it took a while, but the patches we've planted have come up pretty well.  (There was one patch already established from our friends, the previous residents.)

Watching and waiting for the seeds to sprout has also been a lesson in Biblical truth.  We've had to shoo away birds who like to munch on the seed.  It is so hot here, we've seen blades of grass sprout up, but because they have no depth, they get scorched by the sun and die. We've had to battle the crab grass and weeds, and notice that when we pick out some weeds, often times some of the good grass blades get pulled up, too.  But we do get some good seeds that produce a harvest! This is exactly the picture Jesus paints in the parable of the sower in Matthew chapter 13...and it has been a good reminder for us. 

We've planted four tomato plants, one basil plant, two passion fruit vines, four plumeria trees, two cashew trees, one pomegranate tree and a variety of flowering trees and plants - many of them given to us by our friend and former neighbor, Doina!  And, at Jack's suggestion, we saved some seeds from a watermelon one day...and now we have eight watermelon plants in our garden patch!

 

 

Part III - The View

 

While we don't have the same ocean view as our previous home, we can't complain.  When I hang out laundry on our clothesline each day, this is what I get to see...

And from our small front porch, sometimes in the evening we get to see this...

And when conditions are just right...we may just get to see this...

Part IV - The Pet

At the other house, we often had hermit crabs as our little pets.  We miss them, and we tried to keep a few here again, but we just weren't close enough to water.  The boys keep begging for a puppy...but no animals allowed in our house!  A few days in a row, I spotted this bright green creature eyeing me suspiciously when I would water the plants in our flower bed.  Finally, one day, I caught him in a plastic tub for the boys. 

When Josh came home the next day, he very matter-of-factly said, "That's a baby iguana!"  I don't know how I could have missed it...the striped tail, the chin "beard"...but it is so much brighter than the adult iguanas. 

So, we decided to release him back into our flower bed - where, unfortunately, he tends to eat the blossoms of some of the plants - and we've named him Igor.  He comes around every few days and Jack is always tempted to catch him again...but we say, "What could be better than a live-in pet iguana that you don't have to feed or clean up after?"  :-)

Part V - The Friends

What has really made this all feel like home for us has been returning to our friends!  The Lord has blessed us so much with some special relationships that help fill in for the ones we are missing out on long-distance.  At Siloam, our church fellowship on Sundays and home to the orphanage, we have adopted cousins, aunts and uncles, sisters and brothers and it was a joy to return to them! 

We also have some adopted grandparents...our "Oma" and "Opa"...who were our former neighbors in our other location.  We've been able to visit a lot and spend time with them, and the boys really view them as their Curacao grandparents.  This is a mutual blessing, since they have no children or grandchildren of their own.  Here are Oma Doina and Opa Remy with the boys.  We are so excited that we'll get to have them over for Christmas Eve dinner!

We also have a special friend in Jacquie - the wife of one of Josh's co-workers and long time friend from his days working in Iraq.  We first met Jacquie in Qatar...where Jack had no qualms about playing cars with her or having her read to him....here is a photo from March 2010.

Now she has two little friends to play with and read to...and we love when she comes to visit!

The boys have also made friends with two adorable little girls in our neighborhood, Annabelle and Lila, aged 6 and 3...but we haven't captured any photos yet. 

Part VI - Random Photos :-)

And, here are just some random photos of the last few weeks.

This one is of the boys "moon-gazing" one night when there was an almost-full moon!  Jack is so enthusiastic about all things space-related, and George has joined in the fun, too!  (Never mind having to lay on hard gravel to do it!)

The boys also love superheroes and are beginning to collect a few figurines.  We find them everywhere in the house.  But this sight was one that caught my attention - Jack had picked out a matching car for each of his superheroes!

And, last but not least, this timeless photo.  George loves to play with CARS figurines from the Pixar movie.  His favorite is Finn McMissile, which he has endearingly named, "Bobo", no one knows why.  His big car goes with George wherever he goes...in the shower, in the dirt, to bed, in his ceral bowl...you name it.  We also have a small set of cars and, once again, "Bobo" is his favorite.  So much so, that he thought he should have the place of honor in the stable instead of Baby Jesus.  Oh, George!



We are so thankful for this cozy new little home, a yard to work in together as a family, plants to tend to, boys to play with, friends to love on!  God is so good.