Before we left

We were so busy before leaving that I left a few things out.

Black Jack was adopted days before we had to leave.  He lives with a wonderful couple now.

We had an early Christmas with my family and the kids performed their solos and duet wonderfully on the keyboard and guitar.

We found a hermit crab living in a pipe.  Madison offered him a selection of shells and he quickly ditched the pipe for the whelk shell :)

We had another unexpected visitor in our chicken coop, but this time it wasn't a dog . . . it was a dove :)

And the kids worked very hard preparing the boat to leave.  I was very proud of them.

Finally we were underway, plants and chickens too!

Anchored in Abaco!

Finally, after a very long, rough night, we have anchored in Abaco.  We spent days prepping for the trip and my crew loaded our entire workshop into the lazarets, helped put on the sails and every other one of the million items it takes to get our ship moving.

The kids really enjoyed the trip - especially since they spent most of it sleeping :)  This morning a surprise arrived on deck, along with a soaking for me.  When the sun rose a . . . flying fish was lying right in front of me on deck.  He was beautiful.  The kids loved checking it out and it made a great addition to Madison's Birthday breakfast - flying fish and grits a la Joshua Slocum.

That's right - after two pre-parties it is finally Madison's birthday!  She is officially ten years old.  Her new American Girl, Jewel, joined the crew this morning as we enjoyed a peaceful sail through the sea of Abaco.

We did some last minute Christmas shopping in Marsh Harbour, enjoyed some delicious homemade peach ice cream, and we are ready to leave in the morning for Manjack Cay :)

Faith

I appear to be finding God.  Finally.  It seems to have taken a long time.  When I was younger, I questioned religion just because I questioned everything :)  As I got older I became cynical and used science as an excuse for not having faith.  It took losing Gordon five years ago to open my mind, heart and soul to the real possibility of something more, to start to accept and believe without knowing.  I have had experiences since losing Gordon, Aleda, Elsie and Ron that simply cannot be explained away as coincidence.  I have felt led (I can’t explain it any other way) to use my blog to reach out and to learn, and I have found explanations of prayer, of worship, that speak to me in others’ writings.  I realized that I have been praying for a long time without accepting that I was simply talking to Him.  This morning I prayed on purpose – out loud – I prayed for my foster dog, and for the people who wanted to meet him, that it would work out for both their sakes – not for mine.  It worked!  He listened to me and answered my prayer.   When I first saw the photo of this dog I fostered something inexplicable tugged at me and made me take him into my life.  I wondered why.  Maybe this is why.  I feel silly and self-conscious posting this, but I want to be honest here on my blog.  Merry Christmas everyone.

Decorated!

We finally finished decorating our tree!  Although, to be honest, it took longer for me to coordinate the photo shoot than it did to finish decorating it :)  We loved the memories that our favorite decorations brought back of family and of Christmases past.  Last year we made hand-print reindeer and it was fun to see how the kids' hands have grown.  We have special ornaments that were Nana's, and the angel on the top is a very special angel from a tree I put up for Gordon in the hospital over five years ago.

 

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

Oh Christmas Tree . . .

We bought our tree today.  For most people this is pretty simple but when you live on a boat it is pretty funny.

 First you pick out a perfect tree . . .

Then you have them chainsaw it  . . .

In half!

So it is the perfect size for a boat :)

Driving home, we stopped by the new Bahamar development and enjoyed the nature reserve.