ginormous weeds & techno music <--

BREAKTHROUGH is a wonderful thing!  And Friday was, indeed, a day of breakthrough!  Our first day on the new section of land, and it was kicking our butts!  The ground is much richer on those four and a half acres - making the trees a lot bigger and the weeds GINORMOUS!  I'm known for my exaggeration, but Derek will vouch for me when I say that some of these suckers are 20 FEET tall!  And the tall ones aren't really even the problem- now we're battling vines... they're 2-3 inches thick and wrapped everywhere; around the trees, around each other... creating this impenetrable web!  Up until this point I had been feeling pretty tough behind that weed wacker of mine. [Okay, I'll admit... I had started referring to myself as Rambo on occasion!]  But these weeds popped my happy, little bubble in NO time!  The weed wacker was getting tangled up in the weeds almost immediately and I was spending most of my time untangling it!  We pressed on like this for about an hour, and then I hit a mental wall.  I was exhausted; covered in weeds [did I mention that these new ones are prickly?!  not prickly enough to hurt, but enough to stick to your clothes, your hair and each other... wrapping you up in a nice little sticky weed package!]  I put down my weed wacker and told God that I couldn't do it anymore!  I was going to quit then and there unless He gave me some serious strength!  And He did!!  It shouldn't be a shock to me that He came through [I guess I was hoping for a reason to head to the beach early!!] but He did in a BIG way!!  All of a sudden I felt renewed, from the inside out..  I picked up my weed wacker, turned up my techno music and blazed a trail through my row in less than 20 minutes!  I was rejuvenated!  I was laughing in the face of the weeds and then plowing through them or pulling them out if need be..  I downed a bottle of water and a granola bar and then headed back in and knocked out a second row!!  Derek was working on the outside layer of weeds... the part where you can't really tell jungle from coffee field!  But after we stopped for lunch [and we may or  may not have taken a quick power nap!] he jumped in the rows with me and before we knew it we were on our eighth row! Talk about a serious change of tune from that morning when we had said we'd be happy with one cleared row that day!  I believe in a God of miracles, and I believe that those miracles can come in any shape or size... and looking out at our progress at the end of the day, I KNEW that God had done a miracle and we had witnessed serious breakthrough!!

As if this wasn't the best day EVER, we trekked down to the beach and found that the water in the showers was still gloriously hot, even though it's usually cold by that time.  Thank you Jesus!!!!

We've had an awesome weekend; did the beach bum thing all day Saturday.. nothing but snorkeling and naps in the sand for us!  Oh and Derek speared his first FISH!  It wasn't exactly the Mahi Mahi he was hoping for, but definitely a step in the right direction :)  Today we were back out on the water as soon as we'd had our coffee.  We hadn't been down there in the morning yet, and wanted to check it out.  It was calm and peaceful and while Derek ventured down into the depths in search of fish, I was in the kayak- having a date with my Papa God!  Glorious!!  We barely got out of the water in time to rinse off, put on our nice clothes and head to church... and we are GLAD we did... it was an incredible day of fellowship!  I can't even begin to explain how blessed we've been by this body of believers.  They go above and beyond to make sure everyone feels welcome and a part of the family.  They find out what you need and they do what they can to meet that need; whether it's oranges and avocados or a listening ear or some tips on where to buy vegetables (we're sorely lacking in the green, leafy department).  They also find out what you have to offer and then get you plugged in where you can use your gifts and skills!  

I can't believe we've been here for almost three weeks!!  Time flies when you're having fun.... and battling a jungle of weeds :)  Fun facts::  When people ask us what brought us here we say 'Coffee... drinking it and growing it... but mostly drinking it!' Seriously, we drink it all day, every day!  It can be 90 degrees with 99% humidity and, without a doubt, Derek will turn to me and say 'I could really go for a coffee!' haha!  The most outrageous food price we've seen yet is $9.19 for a gallon of milk!  Most used word of the week:: feral!  'Whoa, check out the feral chickens!'  'Oh my word, that gecko MUST be feral!'  And the only thing that actually does classify as feral would be the wild pig that continues to evade us... sneaky bacon!  Sometimes we hunt it in the middle of the night, but when that includes long periods of crouching in the coffee fields waiting for it to pass, I usually fall asleep... DON'T tell Derek :)  

That's all I've got for now... or maybe it's the fish and chips calling my name!! 

-B