Bye Bye 2008 Hello 2009!

So in this post we've decided to mention some of our 2008 highlights! With the year coming to a close we find ourselves reflecting on some of the great things we experienced this past year! So without further ado....here it goes!

On January 13 we were blessed with a wonderful god-daughter Kaila! She keeps growing like a weed and we miss her more than ever. We enjoy seeing pictures of her and her beautiful smile.

In January we were also accepted into the Peace Corps! We knew we were going to the Caribbean but were unsure on which country and our exact departure date. We also spent an awesome weekend at a Bed and Breakfast where we did some snowshoeing and snowboarding!

February we tried out cross country skiing for the first time...I'm not sure it's something we'll do a lot of but it was fun to spend some time with the Overstreet's in peaceful Elk River. March was a trying time for both Will and I. My great grandfather passed away... I think about him often especially when times are tough- he gives me great strength and keeps me prayerful. Will's grandmother Betty Schumaker also passed away. She will be sorely missed by all- a reminder of saintliness and kindness.

April brought final preparations for graduation. Will was busy student teaching at Troy High School having the time of his life- traveling with the FFA program and inspiring high school students.

May was extremely chaotic! On May 5 we received the news that we would be heading to Jamaica for Peace Corps! 4 days later we graduated from the University of Idaho with degrees in Agriculture! This was a huge accomplishment for the both of us. We also went camping with Steve and Annie! A beautiful place in Washington called Lake Crescent. June we packed our apartment and left the University of Idaho and our cute little apartment. This time was spent with family and friends saying our goodbyes and preparing for Peace Corps. I traveled to Las Vegas to bring my near and dear friend Erin back to Boise to begin teaching in Idaho!

July we left for Florida for 3 days for Peace Corps staging. This was our last time in the United States- we departed for Jamaica on July 3. July was filled with training, sightseeing, and making new friends. August we found out where we would be living- Santa Cruz, St. Elizabeth. We also found out we would be working with an organization called RADA- Rural Agricultural Development Authority. We were also finally sworn in as Peace Corps Volunteers. A year from the time we applied for Peace Corps to the time we were sworn in as volunteers. September October and November brought many trying times. We struggled with integration, life as a volunteer, and daily life in Jamaica. We travelled around a little bit in Jamaica. We visited Lovers Leap, frequented Treasure Beach, and Dunns River Falls and attended the Shrimp Festival (needless to say eating shrimp since then has been non-existent) In September our godson-Matthew Kudrna was also born. We have yet to hold him and actually see him but thanks to his wonderful parents we get to see lots of pictures of the little man! Finally this past month we traveled to Portland for Christmas! We had a wonderful time with our friends Josh and Jesse along with Dave and Molly. We hiked to a beautiful waterfall, baked sugar cookies, cooked an awesome Christmas dinner, watched A LOT of movies, stayed in the glass house in Long Bay, visited Monkey Island, stayed at Ivanhoes guest house, and basked in the sun at Frenchman's Cove. All in all a fabulous time- will write more of this wonderful journey in the new year!

Alas we reach today... our 2 year anniversary! We've been married for 731 days...holy moly! We've had a wonderful time together and look forward to many more years to come. Just a little reminder of our wedding day....

Merry Christmas!

Since this is the last time we will have internet access prior to December 25 we're going to wish EVERYONE a

from the wonderful island of Jamaica but more importantly from the Schumakers! As you already know we love and miss you all however we hope you have a wonderful Christmas and a Happy New Year!

P.S. We're kinda cheap so consider this your early Christmas card :)

Is It Really Almost Christmas....?

Seriously….it’s still hot, there isn’t much Christmas spirit, and WE DON’T EVEN HAVE A TREE!- this is a sin in itself for us! We love Christmas- everything about it- the tree, nativity, advent wreath, food- oh the food, spending time with our family and friends, the parties, movies, music, and just the Christmas spirit. However I like to think this Christmas will be unlike any other…We’re in Jamaica!

I’ve been asked by several family members to illustrate a typical day… this is really hard because no two days are the same however for the most part our Friday’s go something like this:
We wake up at 6:45 a.m. in the morning- for no particular reason- we don’t have to leave for work until 8:15… Below is a picture of our wonderful room...

we roll out of bed and make breakfast- every day is different. Sometimes it toast with peanut butter other times it’s a fried egg or porridge. Once we eat Breakfast Will washes dishes while I get in the shower (now mind you sometimes we have water lock off so taking a shower is not possible unless we use our water from outside to wash up). Once we both get our morning shower in we pack our lunch and walk to work. The walk takes us about 15 minutes- we like to walk slowly- we’re not in a hurry and if we get to walking to fast we start sweating…that’s no fun! When walking we like to take pictures---Behind us is the neighborhood we live in:When we arrive at work we do office tasks for the majority of the day- I might spend my time on the computer preparing lessons for my school children while Will helps Extension Officers enter crop data. On Fridays the office closes at 4 which is an hour early. We walk downtown into Santa Cruz. This is a picture of downtown Santa Cruz:We walk to the Market which isn't too far from the main road. This is one of my favorite things to do in Santa Cruz, they have an awesome market with almost everything produced in Jamaica. Everything is so fresh and the people are really nice to us. We’ve developed relationships with about 5 people at the market- these are the people we buy almost all our produce from. This particular woman is extremly nice to me- she is always really excited to see Will and I. She then proceeds to tell us how beautiful we are!We walk away with bags full of carrots, cabbage, sweet pepper, lettuce, onions, garlic, sweet potato, irish potato, cucumber, zucchini, and sometimes salt fish. We then begin walking back home- since we walked into town it takes us about a half hour to get back home. This is another slow and heavy walk. One of our favorite things when we're walking is to see this calf and his mama! They come to the fence to greet us- almost daily- I ♥ this little guys ears!Once we get home we prepare dinner- This is the best day to cook because we have all of our wonderful, fresh produce. Most nights we sit in our room or on the veranda reading or listening to music.

This weekend we’re going to our favorite spot…Treasure Beach! We’ll soak in some rays, have wireless internet, swim in the sea, and enjoy some Jack Sprats Pizza! Then it’s off to Portland for Christmas- We finally have our arrangements- we’ll be staying at a nice little guest house on the beach for two nights and then in Port Antonio for two more nights and of course with our favorite Portland friends Josh and Jesse for 3 nights. We’re looking forward to Christmas and trying to make the best of it! We’ll be thinking of everyone as they gather to celebrate the spirit of Christ! We love you all!

We've got to keep on Moving....

First of all I need to say HAPPY BIRTHDAY to WILLY! Well actually his Birthday was on December 4 but this was the earliest I could get something posted! I think, for the most part, he had a fabulous day! We were in Kingston taking care of “business” and decided to stay with our embassy friend Roger. He lives at Powell Plaza and has AC, hot water, internet, all the cable channels one can imagine, and a very comfy bed! It’s better than the way we were living in the U.S. (ahhh married housing at UI). For Will’s birthday we were able to eat at a fancy Italian restaurant- (uh yeah I said ITALIAN!) Will had pasta with smoked sausage and I had some yummy chicken alfredo with fettuccini…ahhh my mouth is watering just thinking about it! We shared this delightful experience with our favorite Tennessee”ians” We were also able to find some rainbow chip cake mix and frosting so Jesse and I baked a cake. At midnight we ate that yummy cake and Will opened his gifts!

(Josh really liked the CAKE!) -->

We returned to our site and decided that this slump we’re in needed to come to a screeching hault! This might sound easy however; admittedly this is the hardest thing Will or I have ever done…this Peace Corps business that is! We’ve decided that if our supervisor isn’t willing to work with us then we need to find our own things to do. On Friday I went to the 4-H office and was relieved to hear they needed my help. I will start working with them almost every Friday doing trainings for 4-H kids in agriculture, home economics, and the environment. On Monday we were pleasantly surprised with work…not real, tangible, Peace Corps, meeting goals work….but work! We went to a farmer’s house and helped him plant some onion seed. This leads me into my next lesson…..

Farming 101 Jamaica Style!

I watched the farmers take a machete and chop all the dead debris from the field. After doing so they raked it all into a pile, out of the field. Once finished they took their onion seed and scattered it about the field (I’m told there is a method to it). Once they spread the seed they got down on their hands and knees and used their machete to bury the seed. Carefully they would agitate the soil with their machete until they believed all the seed was covered. Once this tedious task was finished the farmers would take some guinea grass and cover all the soil.

Our job was to run a test plot and show them a more mechanized way to farm. A rotovator (commonly know to us as a rototiller) was purchased for this particular project along with a seed planter. A training session took place to show the farmers how to use the machinery and together we figured out how much time it took to till and plant 1/10 of an acre…I will go through later and do the math to figure out how long it will take to use this machinery on 1 acre. This will show farmers that by using the machinery they can cut their labor in half.

Other than that things are moving along…We’re really excited for Christmas but sad at the same time! We’re going to stay in Porti with Josh and Jesse which will be really fun however we’re going to miss everyone at home…especially the snow! I think it might be 85° here now….so cooling off! HAHA! Love you all!!!

P.S. This is the view from the top of Mandeville the mountain Northeast of us- therefore this is kind of an aerial view of where we live!

Finding the Words....

A couple weeks ago we traveled to Ocho Rios for Early Service Conference…a time to decompress and talk about the things we’ve been experiencing these past 4 months. On our way to Ocho we had quite an adventure. We reached a taxi stop in Albert Town and were told that we couldn’t go any further- the road was flooded up ahead! They told us to take a taxi back and find an alternate route. We had already been traveling for about 3 hours and didn’t really want to turn back. Thank goodness a taxi driver decided he would take us through the flooded water. They managed to cram us into a car including us 9 people in the car. Two men pushed us through waist high water for about a ¼ mile. I was laughing the entire time- I was sitting in the back of the hatchback car- Will was in the back seat with two other PCV’s Curt and Ryan. The car began to fill with water- by the time we were through the car had about 6 inches of water. They had us bail out of the car and began bucketing the water from the car. It gave me a good laugh for the day. The conference was frustrating mostly because Will and I don’t have a lot to share. We’ve had frustrations with our supervisor and finding work has been left up to us. It was inspiring though to hear that we’re not the only ones experiencing this. Another breakthrough was my husband becoming quite the singer. He decided that karaoke is his thing! He was singing some Myrle Haggerd- Okie from Muskogee and even sang- Ray Orbison- Crying Over You to me!

<-- thanks Josh and Jesse! I now have evidence!

The following week we returned to work revived and excited to try some new ways of communicating with our supervisor. On Monday we had a meeting with him. We had all of these great ideas- projects we could do within our organization and the parish. To make a long story short- we’re back at square one. We’ve even been told to do the work asked of us even though it doesn’t meet the goals of Peace Corps and then turn around and tell Peace Corps we’re doing what we’re supposed to be doing. That is not what we signed up for! I feel as though we’ve exhausted all of our resources and we still haven’t accomplished anything. We’re both mentally and physically exhausted running around in circles with our supervisor and our organization.

Living in a foreign country has had its fair share of frustrations and sometimes I just can’t find the words to describe what we’re going through on a daily basis. I mean we have internet access for the most part, we live in a nice house, we have a fan to keep us cool at night, and we’ve met a lot of wonderful people along the way. However there are times I could just pull my hair out! I understand this is all part of the experience therefore I won’t bore you with all the depressing things because I’ve come to realize that we signed up for Peace Corps. There will be bad days and really bad days. You will meet people who love the work you’re doing here and on the flip side you’ll meet people who could care less why you’re here or what you’re doing. There will be times when you’re rewarded and feel a sense of accomplishment but there will be times when you feel as though you’re useless and disposable. Don’t sweat the small stuff, love the journey you’re embarking on, let there be challenges and frustrations- they only make you stronger and build your character. Most of all have fun and take time for you!

Overall I think Will and I have decided to just let go and let Jamaica take what they want and need from us. Not for us to dictate what we give. Yet, we are also finding that you have to set boundaries and limitations to what you give, or else they will take everything you have and leave you frustrated, exhausted and longing to get away.

Thus, once again we struggle for balance and to find the courage to stay with it, because the rewards and satisfaction of knowing that you overcame a huge obstacle is what we have to remember.

As always we love and miss everyone! We really wanted to feast on some Thanksgiving turkey with our loved ones- as they say here- soon come! Love to All!