visitors: brett's parents

Before we moved and when we had just gotten here, people would mention to us that living so far from family could end up being really good for your relationships with them. They said that while you may see your family less frequently than if you lived closer, you end up spending more quality time with them. I don't think I really believed them. :) But it seems to be coming true for us so far! Back in the States, we lived close enough to family that we didn't need to spend extended time at each other's homes. We'd usually pop in for the day (or even just a meal) with my family, and we'd spend a long weekend here and there at Brett's parents' house. However, in the past seven months since we moved to Cayman, we've had family visit for several days, a week, and, just recently, Brett's parents came for almost two weeks. And it's been so much fun!

The obligatory "watching for ____'s plane at the airport!" picture. :)

It definitely seems as though we've been getting a lot more quality time with our parents while they visit. Maybe it's because we know that time together is less frequent and therefore more precious... or maybe it's because we're eating meals together for several days in a row (and there's just something about sharing a meal together, right?)... or maybe it's because we don't have as many things/people fighting for our attention. 

Showing Grandpa the fountains at Camana Bay.

I don't know what it is, but I'm thankful that it's happening. One of the hardest things to consider when we were deciding about moving to Cayman was the distance from family. We were already spoiled in that we were within a few hours of our immediate families... and having a baby just seemed to increase our desire to be near to family. We couldn't bear the thought of Joshua not having the same kind of relationship with his grandparents that we had growing up with ours. We wanted him to spend lots of time with his cousins and make memories together. It was heartbreaking, actually. 

But... we felt that God wanted us to move. We were excited for Brett to be in Pastoral Ministry, we were excited about what God was doing at Sunrise Community Church and wanted to be a part of that, and, ultimately, we wanted to be obedient to God. We remembered Jesus' words in Matthew 19:29, "And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or lands, for my name's sake, will receive a hundredfold, and will inherit eternal life." 

So we moved... trusting that God would take care of us and praying that this move would be good for our family, in many ways.

Showing Grandma his favorite thing about our backyard...

...the lizards!

So seeing Joshua recognize and know his grandparents even after months of Skype-only interaction, watching his relationship with them grow even over a few days, and being able to spend un-hurried time with our parents... praise God. I am just so thankful. 

LOVED being chased by Grandpa!

Brett's parents visited in February, and we got to see prayers being answered before our eyes. :) Joshua recognized Grandma and Grandpa almost immediately (thank God for video chatting!) and was comfortable with them right away. He even stayed with them overnight while Brett and I had a quick getaway. (It was the first time I was away from Joshua for a night, and the first time Joshua has been put to bed by anyone other than Brett or I!) It was almost as if the distance had no effect!

At the Botanic Park with Grandma and Grandpa...
Little man on a mission.

So so thankful for this new home of ours, for our families coming to visit us, and for God answering our prayers. I can't wait to see how Joshua's relationships with his aunts, uncles, and cousins grow while we visit them this summer! :)

baby sign language

We've been teaching Joshua a tiny bit of sign language to help us communicate with each other until he learns to talk. I tried teaching him when he was around eight to ten months old, with absolutely no success. :) But since he's turned one, he has been able to pick it up so quickly! He can sign "more" (which sometimes functions as "want" or "again"), "all done", and can understand "water" (but doesn't sign it yet). I'd been thinking of teaching him something to communicate that he wanted help with something, such as the sign for "please". Today seemed like the perfect opportunity, since he kept asking me to open something for him (a container in which he was dropping magnets). He figured it out in no time.... and it might be the most adorable thing I've ever seen. :)

favorite places: rum point (and starfish point)

When Brett and I vacationed in Cayman in 2011 (having absolutely NO idea we would end up living here less than three years later), we did a lot of the "tourist-y" things on island. Because we were tourists, obviously. We took a tour of Stingray City, lounged on Seven Mile Beach, saw the Blue Iguanas at the Botanic Park, and spent a day at Rum Point. 

Rum Point was, by far, one of my favorite beaches from our visit. I spent the afternoon sitting in the shade, in a hammock, reading a book. My ideal vacation. :)

When we moved here in August of 2012, we'd mentioned taking an afternoon at Rum Point on a day off... and we didn't get around to it until just a few weeks ago!

We made a short de-tour on the way to a beach called Starfish Point which, you can probably guess, is a great place to see starfish. We hadn't been there before, but many people had mentioned it to us. And it was beautiful.

We actually didn't see too many starfish (although, I guess that's relative since I definitely saw more starfish than I have ever seen in my life prior to that day, so...) since we didn't wade out too far. But there were some people paddle-boarding that kept yelling "There's one! There's another! Look, here's one!" so I imagine there were a bunch out in the slightly deeper water.

Then we finally made our way over to Rum Point. It was close to 3:30pm by this point (since we waited until Joshua woke up from his nap to drive over, plus the stop at Starfish Point) so many people had cleared out. We found some lawn chairs in a nice shady spot and prepared to chase Joshua anywhere his little legs carry him (since that's his default activity at the beach... or anywhere, for that matter). And we definitely did a lot of chasing (to be fair, Brett did most of the chasing), but he was quite content for a little while playing with his toys right at the foot of my chair.

Then his attention turned to covering Daddy with sand.

Brett returned the favor, by burying Joshua up to his knees. :)

We also spent a lot of time in the water. This beach is really nice since it's shallow for quite a distance, so Joshua could walk around. He took a few spills and got a mouthful of salt water once or twice, but he still loved it!

We only stayed for an hour or so (I guess that happens when you don't get there until 3:30!) but it was such a relaxing afternoon. I have since learned that there is a "resident barracuda" that lives under the pier, so maybe I won't be so relaxed next time.