Biking around the island of Grenada

This Easter weekend has been jammed packed full of fun and great challenges. Friday was the start of the weekend and I had a ladies tea scheduled at 11am with my church. It was so fun, all the girls that go to CSA ( the church I go to on campus) got all dressed up and we had the guys serve us. Jess the president of CSA's church made a ton of orderves (spelling?) and a bunch of girls made stuff and brought it. Then after the luncheon, I went to Concord falls with Lisa and her parents that came in town for Easter. It was magnificant. Hiking up to the Falls and then hiking all the way back town the river bed was such fun. We met a Grenadian family on the way down and they gave us a plate of oil down to eat. It was delicious. We rode back at sunset.
Then on Saturday, Keri and I had our long run scheduled, 21 miles. It went great. It was tiring and I wanted to stop but I made it. We started running at about 5:20 and was done 3 hours later. So I had one hour and a couple minutes to rest before going out to the farm with the ophanage kids. It was great they were so excited. There was only one incident in which Kendall one of the kids got butted by a goat. It was a small goat so there was no damage it just scared him to death poor thing. All the kids got to ride a donkey. Seeing their faces as they rode was priceless. I can probably guantee none of them have done that before. After the farm we had a little Easter egg hunt outside of the farm gate. It was around 11:30 at this time and all the chocolate that was inside the eggs was melting and the kids like dove into the eggs and had chocolate everywhere it was pretty funny. After this we drove them up to campus and had pizza for them that Glover's had kindly donated. They loved the pizza. (What is it about pizza and kids, nothing beats it! Whether we are in America or Grenada) By this time I was absolutely exhausted. The kids are wonderful but they are a ton of work. We had them from 10am to close 2. That is long enough. We had actually bought water balloons to have a fight but the kids left so we decided to have one ourselves. So we all went down to Black sand beach and filled the water balloons up and then had a fight. The balloons were like invicible and would not break, so with clothes on and everything we all decided to throw eachother into the water. It was fun! Later on that night we all met again to camp out on the point near campus right next to Black Sand beach. It was Celeste, Ayumi, Lois, Laybi, Tim, Chris, and of course Kole. Tonya(my roomate from first term came and hung out for a little while)Tim played the guitar and we sang, and talked, built a little fire, cooked Somores, and sort of slept out beaneath the stars. Good times! We woke up early on Sunday to make it to the sunrise service. The service was beautiful, it sprinkled a little but not much. Regular church was at 11am so I walked home with Kole, took a shower and a little nap and was ready to go back up to church. The service was nice, Lisa's dad spoke about faith and dependance and trust in God. After service we had a little BBQ with hamburgers and hot dogs. Got some really good pictures of some people. We had a good turn out I was grateful. I left around 2 to catch the bus to Grande Anse. It was Colleens birthday party and she was having a catamaran boat ride scheduled. It was fun, relaxing on the beach and hanging out with friends. A totally diffrent group of friends. As usual the sunset was gorgeous. I got home and ate some good carbs for dinner because I had the ride around the island scheduled for the next morning. Monday. Got up early and got my bike all ready. The ride was intense. Sam, Dr. Brooke Henderson, Lisa's dad, and a Grenadian native named Pip all went. Brooke, Sam, and Pip are all professionals. They have done the ride around several times and each time they have said that it is very difficult. There are so many hills, both steep and gruadual. Some even want to make you cry. Lisa was all ready to pick her dad and me if we needed it. We rode along the West Coast first. There were some major hills. It was so gorgeous though. So worth it when I think back now and see the images in my head. You just dont as much when you drive by in a car. You definetly do not appreciate the hills like I will now. We stopped north of the island around 10:30 to refuel and take a break. I was already tired at this point. So we continued. Close to Greenville. Lisa's dad hit a wall and decided to call Lisa to come get him. He did really well. I think that if it weren't for the heat he could have made it. It was such a mental thing at this point. Honestly, I did not think that I was going to make it. At one point, I told Sam that I would not make it unless I stopped and rested for a while. So everyone was so nice and they all stopped with me. They all talked while I sat in the shade and took a little snooze. I guess it was enough because I made it!! I made it!! It was unbelievable. Some of those hills, I mean it was a mind game. Pip kept making the comment that I was training for some crazy extreme race, 21 miles on Saturday and then 60miles on bike on Monday. We asked what are you doing tomorrow, the harbor 2mile swim. I guess I did do alot this weekend. I am taking the day off tomorrow. :) It was such great fun though. This week I have got to get serious about school. I had a nice break and now I am motivated to study hard. The remainder of the day Sunday after getting back almost 8 hours later from biking was doing laundry and trying to relax. How incredilbly blessed I am to have had such a wonderful weekend and that I am health enough to do all these activities. It was not by my power that I finished the ride today. I gained my strength to him. Thank you Jesus for your endless sacrifices. I am so weak with out you and with you I am strong. Love all of you dearly. Hope that you had a good Easter. I'm out!