Updated Progress

Brian went to Bequia and now he's home with lots of pictures and stories. He had a nice time and some interesting experiences, but he said that everyone knew he was ready to come home to his family. We're glad to have him home. My take on the two best parts: adjusting lots of kids and having an enjoyable experience at the local Adventist church. He was invited to lunch on the beach and received a personal tour of the island. Here are a few of my favorite pictures:

The beds in the guest house had California Raisins sheets. =)

The Friendship Rose is now a tour boat.

The picture below of the girls playing with the spine is one of my favorites.

Since Brian has returned, I can share some pictures of the kitchen and dining room. We have taken a big step forward as the drywall is finished and primed. Finished is a loose term as the person we hired could have done a better job, so now we'll probably have to repair some the taped seams. 

The kitchen before drywall.

Today I ordered the cabinets. I had to see every angle several times to make sure I was making the right choices. I'm satisfied on paper, at least, and I made sure to get every discount possible when it was time to pay. We did some reconfiguring in order to fit in a dishwasher, which gives more counter space, but reduces the size of the sink. In the midst of my excitement of actually ordering the cabinets, I forgot to ask when they would be delivered. I'm guessing it will be a couple of weeks. We need to pick a paint color for the walls and get the kitchen painted and possibly get the floors refinished before the cabinets arrive. 

The makeshift kitchen is still in operation, but for now the stove is in the kitchen and hooked up so I can bake things in the oven and not have to use the hot plate. Still, the absence of running water in the kitchen makes things a little tricky.

In other news, I'm on Spring Break. Since we have to pay the babysitter anyway, Clara went to the babysitter today while I took care of the kitchen stuff. Clara likes to go shopping, but she's not one for sitting still. I also paid a visit to the Salvation Army where I found some great stuff to update my wardrobe for spring. Three super nice shirts and two pairs of shorts for $15.00. Unfortunately, while standing in front of the pajama pants I made the mistake of sneezing and re-injured my rib cage that was recovering from a serious bout of coughing last week. Thankfully Brian is home now to relieve my pain.