WE'RE BACK!

Well, Tuesday the boys and I made it back to the island. It is official that Tangra is the reason that flying is usually less than enjoyable. The boys and I had no problems what-so-ever. We really had a great time over the break. Hopefully I will be able to get some pictures posted soon so that I can catch everyone up on what all we did but for now let's just say...we were busy! It was very nice to see everyone again and if we missed you hopefully we will get to see you the next time.

Now that we are back it is time to get back at it! We got to just relax and hang out the first couple of days but it is looking to be a very busy weekend. Last night we went to Chuck and Geneva's house for some true Louisiana cookin' and it was AMAZING as usual! However, the morning diaper changes were less that appealing! Gotta love cajun! Tonight is the White Coat Ceremony for the first semesters followed by a party for everyone. Hopefully I will be able to find a babysitter so that Tangra and I can make it a date, but we shall see. Tomorrow morning is the Spouses Org Welcome Breakfast which is always good because we get to sit around and eat the buffet at Ric's! However, because the new class is rather large it is looking like it will be relatively packed so Chuck and I are having a bbq for all the male spouses tomorrow afternoon so that we can all get to know each other a little better. Sunday morning we have church and then CMDA callout in the afternoon. So like I said..."it is looking to be a busy weekend."

I'll try to take some pictures of everything and post about them later.

Take care for now,

Matt

A little catch up...

Well a lot has been happening since our last entry, so lets do a little catch up...
On June 21st Matt and I celebrated 5 amazing years together. We are so fortunate and have been so blessed. When we said "I do" 5 years ago we NEVER would have dreamed that we would be where we are today. God has given us joys that we never expected and could have never deserved.

We had a wonderful night together, and Matt suprised me (as he always does) with some beautiful island wood jewelry and informed me that he chose wood because it commemerates 5 years of marriage, just like paper is for 1 year, gold is for 50, ect....impressive huh?? I thought so!

School is going really well this semester, and I have finally figured out the whole studying thing. Since my studies are going well, Matt and I have been able to commit more time to working with some groups on the island and on campus. Matt put a lot of work into equipping the church at AUC with the tools they need to expand the service, and we have gotten heavily involved with worship. We have seen God do amazing things so far, as new students, their families, faculty, and even members of the local community are coming to the service every week.

We have run into some real challenges along the way, but God has been so faithful! We have seen that if we just do the little things that God asks us to do, He will take care of the rest. Nothing is impossible for Him!

The boys continue to grow so big!!! Noah is truly a great big brother...he is always looking out for his somewhat ornery little bro and trying to keep him out of trouble! Nolan is getting more and more independant, demanding to feed himself, walk up and down the steps, and basically follow Noah wherever he might go!

There is never a dull moment!

Our family has also gotten involved with the Christian Medical and Dental Association and coordinating outreach activities for the ICAN Children's Home, a local orphanage on the island. The children range in age from 2 to 12 years old, and you should see their excitement when we go to pick them up from the home!

It is a profound reminder of just how fortunate we are when something as simple as a day at the beach or a Dominoes pizza can be a huge thing for these children. It feels like we can only do a little, but we pray that it makes a difference.

Anyway, we are all REALLY looking forward to coming home in August! We keep reminding Noah that we will be going on a big jet soon, and he quickly starts going down the list of all of the people we are going to see, including "Chucky Cheese"...we went there twice over Christmas and for some reason it is now the epitome of all things fun. I have a feeling we will be there a lot in August!

Till then, we are thinking of you all and can't wait to give everyone hugs!

A full day of Character!

So, let me start by saying yesterday was not my best day on the island. Bare with me, I will start at the beginning. I got up and went for my run like normal and things went good but when Tangra got ready to leave for class she realized that her car had been broken into because all the stuff that was in the glove box was scattered all over the seats. Luckily for us we don't have a pot to pee in so they didn't get anything but an AUC sweatshirt. Now think about that for a minute. Wouldn't you be so proud as a thief to spend your time breaking into a car to only get a sweatshirt? After all we do live in the Caribbean where there is like 2 days a year when you can actually wear a sweatshirt! What an IDIOT! Anyway, after finding out that all they got was a sweatshirt we really weren't too upset and decided to go on with our day feeling positive and upbeat. This was obviously not acceptable for Satan so he continued his wrath. About an hour later, I went out to find that my car had also been violated by thieves. Luckily as I said before, we don't have a pot to pee in so there was very little in my truck as well. After a quick inventory, I determined that they had stolen a pair of $7 jumper cables and a half of a can of WD40. All I could think at that point was, “man this Idiot will starve if he keeps this up too much.” This too seemed almost comical and so it didn't really faze me too much.

Let’s continue...so I load the boys in the truck and proceed to start it only to find that my clutch will not disengage. (Broken Vehicle #1) Fairly certain that I know what the problem is and that I will not be able to fix it myself I unload the children, take them back upstairs, and call a mechanic. I set up an appointment for him to come over the next day and look at it and Skype Tangra to let her know that I will not be able to make it to the school to see her. Tangra then decides that she will come home and pick us up so that she can stay at the school all afternoon and study and I will have a car. She comes home and picks us up and we drive back to the school. As we arrive at the school she glances over at me and says, "oh...by the way...this thing probably needs some gas (the gauge doesn't work but it had been a while since we last put some in)” at which point the car begins to lurch and chug to a stop completely bone dry. With a slight grin and a few under my breath comments I get a hold of Chuck to have him take me to get some gas (half broken down car #2) Chuck picks me up at the school, we run home to get a gas can and funnel, and then head back to the car. After about 45 min we are finally able to get the entire 5 gallons of gas ($30 worth by the way...yeah I don't want to hear you crying about $4 anymore) into the tank. I get the car started up, drive the rest of the way to Tangra's office and we all have some lunch together. Tangra finishes up her classes and then we all headed for home. We get, I kid you not, about a mile from the school and the car just shuts off! (Completely broken down car #2) A nice taxi driver that is near by tries for a little while to help me get it running and then when we can’t he offers to drop us back at the school where we can get some help. (He was such a nice guy!)

Ok, so before I go on let us reflect on the MORNING thus far! Sweatshirt stolen out of car. Jumper Cables and WD40 stolen out of truck. Truck breaks down. Car runs out of gas. Car breaks down. Driven back to school where we are with no cars and two small, tired, children.

Let's continue. Tangra goes upstairs to see if her friend Farnaz will allow us to borrow her car. Because she is the sweetest person I know she says yes and hands her the keys. We walk out to the parking lot to her car and find it with an all but flat rear tire! Not wanting to ruin her tire I pull the car over by the schools gym where there is an air compressor and pump up the tire. However, in order to use the air compressor you have to park on a slight hill and as we are parked there the car dies!!!!! I get in and realize that it is nearly out of gas as well, but I do not have anymore gas in my can because I poured it all into broken down car #2! I let the car roll down the hill to a flat spot where the gas can get to the fuel pickup and it starts so we decided to limp the car to the gas station and see what happens. Luckily we were able to make it to the gas station and the car never died again...it only sputtered a little as we were pulling in the gas station parking lot. After filling the car with gas I continue home to drop off the family before (against my better judgment) continuing on to the parts store to try and get parts.

As I said before I knew that I could not fix the truck by myself so I thought I would try and fix the car. Knowing that the car had run completely out of gas and that after a few minutes it died from fuel starvation I figured that it was probably a clogged fuel filter or at worst a fuel pump. So off to Napa I went. I walked in thinking I would buy a relatively inexpensive fuel filter (maybe home $15-20, island $50-60) and replace it to see if that worked before getting any further involved in the repair. However, after a short conversation with the parts man and a little computer searching on his part he returned my verdict.

"The 2001 Kia Rio doesn't have a separate fuel filter. It just has a little screen on the end of the IN TANK fuel pump that is PART OF THE WHOLE ASSEMBLY which we have IN STOCK for $314 PLUS FREIGHT of $25."

Please allow me a minute to break this statement down for you as I did in my head after leaving the parts store without any parts!

---The 2001 Kia Rio doesn't have a separate fuel filter. --- What kind of crappy, ridiculous car doesn't have an inline, maintainable fuel filter!

---It just has a little screen...that is PART OF THE WHOLE ASSEMBLY--- Really?!...you can’t just sell the little screen...what a crock of crap!

---IN TANK fuel pump--- Honestly, can this be anymore ridiculous that it already is!?

---for $314--- Why yes...I guess it can be! Thanks for that one too!

---which we have IN STOCK...PLUS FREIGHT of $25--- If anyone can rationalize this one then by all means let me know!

Needless to say I left the parts store, drove straight home, walked into the house, went back to my room and went back to bed. Hopefully today I will be able to start the process of getting everything fixed and back to normal.

Thanks for letting me vent,

Matt

Block Day!

Today is Block Day! Meaning that Tangra has her block exams and we are so excited because this means we get her back for a little while. The last week or so she has been leaving for school at around 7:30am and coming home sometime between 7 and 11pm depending on what she needed to get through. (We are all so proud of her determination and drive!) I can't imagine having to study that hard. I think she studies more in one day than I did in my entire college career. (Sorry Mom and Dad, but it does explain a lot doesn't it!) Anyway, as you can imagine this is always a difficult time for the boys and me. Not that we don't love hanging out together or that we can't find things to keep us busy but there are some times when only Mom will do.


I try to give everyone their fix each day by taking at least one meal to the school for her. Usually we will pack up and go for lunch, spend about an hour with her, and then head off to concur the rest of our day. Needless to say we all enjoy the time together very much but we all hate the end.

On another note, we have really been witnessing the hands of God at work here on the island. For the last couple of weeks, we have had the opportunity to help out with the campus church service put on by the AUC Christian Medical and Dental Association. The service consists of a live worship set and then a prerecorded sermon from Cornerstone Church in Brentwood CA (http://brentwood.cornerstoneweb.org/). We have always been impressed with the sermons and really enjoy the pastor's laid back approach and sense of humor. After attending the service off and on over the last 2 semesters we saw an opportunity to get involved and we took it. Tangra worked with a group of people to start a nursery/children's church that has allowed more families to attend that otherwise could not (including us.)


I have also worked with a group to add instruments and sound equipment in order to make the live music set more inviting. Attendance has really taken off and each week we have more people excited and eager to help out in any way they can. We just ask that you would all pray that God would allow the service to glorify him and that he would continue to encourage us and help us to see ways to reach out to more and more people.

Well, I think that is about it for now. I gotta go get some errands done!

Later everyone,

Matt

Maybe I'm Not Cut Out To Be A Marathon Runner!

So, as I said before I successfully completed the mini-marathon on Sunday...my official time was 2:28:32 which I am very happy with...however since then things have went somewhat down hill. Monday I was a little sore, nothing major, but by Tuesday morning I couldn't stand up straight and had to spend most of the day on the couch. Wednesday was pretty much the same way, but I felt bad that the boys had to spend all day inside the house so I tried to take them to the Domino's playground after lunch. I thought I would get a drink and read my book while they played in the ball pit but the whole trip was miserable! I couldn't find a comfortable way to sit but I couldn't stand either. Noah couldn't understand why I wouldn't play the Lion for him, and for the first time ever Nolan decided he would like to try out the ball pit too. Which is a little deep and once he got in it he couldn't get out. After trying about 20 seconds he decided it was hopeless and just stood there screaming hysterically. I tried to get Noah to help him but Noah couldn't stand the screaming and got out of the balls instead. So I'm sure you can imagine the scene...Nolan screaming, Noah yelling at me that "Nolan is screaming!", and me trying to shimmy up a small tube slide, through a tunnel of tubes, and pulling Nolan up out of the balls to safety. All with extremely uncomfortable back pain. At which point I realized that the tubes were way to small for me to turn around in so I had to back all the way back out. To make matters just a little worse, all the screaming and commotion had drawn a rather large crowd of spectators just in time for my grand exit which appeared to be a cross between a round off back hand spring and a belly flop! Let's just say that Noah couldn't get his crocs on fast enough. After that we went back home and the boys watched movies while I iced my back.

Today I am feeling a little better and hopefully by mid weekend I'll be back to normal. I'm going to try and take them for a walk later to see if my back will stretch out a little. Wish me luck!

Matt

Let's Just Say Tangra Is Happy!

I am so proud of myself! Yesterday morning I went for 2 1/2 hours without stopping! I never thought I would be able to go that long! My record prior to that was only about 45 minutes!

Oh...you perverts...that's not what I meant!!!!!!!

I'm talking about RUNNING!!!!

Yep that's right, I ran a mini marathon yesterday for the first time in my entire life! It was 22km (13.6 miles) and took me just about 2 1/2 hours which I was very happy with. It started right across the street from our house, went all the way around the lagoon, and ended up across the street again! I even had people finish after I did! Which I might add is probably another record for me! :-) They had a person taking pictures while we ran and stuff so I will try and post them when they arive! I will also post my official time then as well.

Later,

Matt

We're All In Trouble Now!

Well, what else can be said...Nothing!

Later,

Matt

Kids Don't Miss A Thing!

So the boys and I went for dinner tonight at Ric's. After we ate our food Nolan was laying on me drinking a bottle while Noah sat in his chair and watched the hockey game that was playing. As we sat there, Nolan arched his back and screamed so I lightly swatted him on the leg. Just as I did, Noah spun around and said, "Daddy...no more spankin's!" Caught off guard I said,"what?" to which he replied, "Noah said no more!" "Don't spank him anymore because Noah lubs him!" Wow, Kids say the darndest things don't they! Anyway, in true parental fashion I replied, "Well, I love him too that's why I spank him!" "I also love you that's why I spank you!" With I slightly perplexed look he said "Noah lub you too daddy!"...and swatted me on the leg!

Red Bull Rides Again....

Little strong-willed Nolan has picked up the nickname Red Bull. This is why.....

Time to catch up!

While Grandma and Papa were here Nolan, Mommy, Daddy, and me had so much fun. Daddy has been too lazy to write about it so I figured I should tell everybody what we did.

First, papa helped daddy get his boat running.

They worked really hard. Nolan and I helped a little too.

The first thing we did once the boat was working was go through the bay...

to a restaurant called Tijuana Yacht Club.

We parked the boat right on the dock, ate a good dinner, and got some cool hats.

Nolan and me love grandma and papa. Grandma made Nolan sleepy though.

She also cleaned him in the sink!

Grandma and papa had their anniversary while they were here too. 38 years seems like a really long time!

We all went to Shrimpys to celebrate.

Grandma and papa went on a special boat ride too. Grandma was so excited!!

There was a big boat race here too. Daddy called it the Heineken Regatta. There was a big concert in front of our house on the last day of the race. Me and Grandma went down to the beach to see what was going on. I made her chase me.

I am so fast, she can't catch me!

We also went to family fun day,

which was pretty cool. I went on some rides and even rode a little pony.

We went to a special island called Pinel. We had to ride a ferry to get there!

Once we got there, grandma floated in the water. Nolan took a nap with daddy.

Chuck and Geneva came too.

They are awesome!

For Easter we had a Easter egg hunt.

We had a potluck too.

There was all kinds of food, but Nolan and I mostly ate watermelon.

The last day we took Grandma to the airport. We watched her big jet fly back home.

We were very sad that she was gone but we had a great time while she was here.

Grandma Left And It Really Blew!

First, I will appologize to all my faithful readers for letting you all down. I am sorry that I haven't written lately. There is a ton to catch up on which I will not try to do now. I will only say...what a couple months. Mom and Dad came and went and we all had an absolute blast. We did everything from watch Shaggy on the beach across from our house...

to ride scooters around the island...


...and between everything ate a little bit (or in some cases a lot) of everything!

We drove boats, we watched boats, and we even almost sank a boat (luckily it was only almost!) The boys loved having Grandma and Papa around and we were all very sad to see them go!

Now we are starting to get back to "normal" and I will try to keep everyone informed a little better. The last couple of days we have been recovering. We took Tangra to school and then got some breakfast. We played a little on the slides at the school and then watched some airplanes. After naps and picking Tangra back up from school we went to get some groceries and then Tangra and the boys went home while I went with a group of people to watch Drillbit Taylor (What a GREAT movie!!!)

Well, I think that is enough for now. The boys are getting restless so I need to go.

Talk to you all soon,

Matt

I Waited and Waited and They're Finally Here! By Noah Broge

Grandma and Papa came to my house on the Big Jet and Daddy took Mommy, Nolan, and I to the airport to pick them up. They told me they were a day late because of the pilots of their first flight not having enough sleep, but I was so excited that they were here that I didn't even notice. After we picked them up and dropped their stuff off in my room they took us to the Buckaneer Beach Bar for Cheeseburgers. It was YUMMY!


The next day we went for a walk on frontstreet in Phillipsburg. We showed Grandma/Papa all the little shops and took lots of pictures.


We went to the place where they make Guaveberry Rum...


...and I showed them where my house was on a big map!


I even got to chase some lizards...


...they were HUGE!


I had soo much fun!

The Next day we all went to McDonalds for breakfast and Nolan and I played on the slide.


After that we went home and Grandma and I went to the beach in search of shells for Madelynn. We found a lot but I decided to dump them in the water just before we came back up...Grandma was very upset!


That night Nolan and I stayed home with Grandma/papa and had popcorn while mommy and daddy went on a Date! They were so excited that they could hardly contain themselves. I guess Nolan and I can be a handful sometimes!



Well, Grandma is ready to go...she says we are burning daylight...so I'd better go!

See Ya,

Noah

For entertainment purposes only!

Over the last couple of days Noah has been gradually getting more and more little "bites" all over his body. We thought at first it was misquitos but when I layed in his bed with him I didn't get bit. Then being the Dr that she hopes to be Tangra bursted into action (after I told her I would take him to the clinic in the morning) and got on WebMD to diagnose the problem. (Side note: WebMD is the dumbest thing I have ever seen. All it does is give average people enough of what they consider information to be dangerous and waste money! Case in point our evening last night!) As I said Tangra got on WebMD to diagnose the problem and quickly determined that it must be either dust mites, scabies, or some foreign burrowing larva! One of which states can be easily diagnosed by rubbing a felt tipped pen on the surface of the skin and then washing it away which should leave a dark line where the ink has soaked into the tunnel that the little bug has burrowed under the skin. Well, needless to say that was determined not to be the problem once she had made Noah look like a long time customer of Miami Ink. The next possible cause instructed her to replace all the linens on the bed. Determined that this must be the problem she proceeded to gather up all the sheets and pillow cases on Noah's bed and stuff them in a trashbag for me to carry out to the dumpster. (Another side note: As I said I had already decided to take Noah to the clinic and fearing the WebMD diagnosis may not be completely accurate I neglected to take the trash out till after the appointment today...Thank God for rational thought!) After all the linens had been "thrown away," Noah had been drenched in OFF and dressed up like a character from the Mummy, and I was safely in bed with him to "take the bite before he did" Tangra was finally content to go to bed. Luckly for me because I think the next remedy she was supposed to try was smoking them out and I don't think we would have gotten our deposit back after that one! Anyway, sure enough I took him to the Dr and the Dr informed me that chicken pox have been going around right now and that that was surely what he had. He said that Nolan probably won't get it because he is so young but if he does it should be a very light case. Needless to say I believe there really is no substitute for Medical school and that WebMD should be labeled
"For Entertainment purposes only!"

Till Later,

Matt

Getting Back in the Swing!

Well, we have been back on the island for nearly two weeks now and we are finally getting back in the swing of things. Noah is really getting upset though because he has only been swimming once since we returned. We have just been taking care of business like crazy!

While we were gone we decided that the rental car we had was costing us too much money so we decided we would get rid of it and buy an "island car" instead. We searched around a while and finally found one that was in decent shape and our LOW price range at the same time (Amazing!) It is a V6 with 4 wheel drive which I am really excited about but we decided to sacrifice a litte right now and go with a Manual transmission (Tangra can't drive it yet but she doesn't really mind) and no AC (She's not as excited about that part!) However, the temp here is absolutely perfect and there is always a breeze so it really is nice. We will just have to figure something out closer to summer when it is not so nice. It even came with a cattle guard which may come in handy if the locals try to stop me in the golf course and take advantage of me!



I got a GREAT deal on it but I feel kind of bad because I think I took advantage of poor Muhammed. You see he came down on price because of a problem in the frontend. He explained it like this...

"...the last couple of times I drove the truck it acted a little funny. Whenever I turned it would make a clucking noise and it really wouldn't turn very sharp. It felt as though it was jumping a little."

He then continued on by saying he would "...gladly knock another $300 off the (already low) price." He also told me that I could take the car for a couple of days and drive it around to see if I really wanted it (which would allow me to experience the problem for myself and Tangra to examine the no AC thing.) I quickly agreed and we were off.

Here is where the advantage comes in! For all of you fimiliar with 4x4 vehicles you may already see it but for you who are not, I will explain. You see I've always been told that the easiest way to see if the 4x4 is working is to turn it on while you are on dry asphault and try to drive in a circle. If it works it will "not turn very sharp and jump/lurch a little." So after Muhammed was well out of eyeshot I took the truck out of 4x4 and it drove just fine! Needless to say the next day I called him and told him I would take it. I know it wasn't nice but it did save me $300!

Anyway, as you can see I am very excited about the new vehicle, but other things have happened too. For instance, we finally got Nolan a highchair that he loves! He likes to sit in it and eat Cheerios while he watchs cartoons on TV.



It has been so nice because it isn't nearly as messy that way and I don't have to constantly hold him.

Other than that we have been going to see Tangra for lunch and watching boats almost every day. Taking walks usually 2-3 times a day. And we go to the store or run errands every couple of days. My favorite part though is "chillin" at night time!



Till later,

Matt

Back Home Again in Indiana by Noah Broge

After mommy finished her tests, we went to the airport and got on a big jet so we could come home! Mommy said that Nolan and me were very good on the airplane.


When we first got home there was lots of snow on the ground so I had to help daddy shovel grandma and papa’s driveway. Me and daddy wore our matching coats and Grandma tied Wal-mart bags around my feet since I didn’t have any boots.


Grandma bought me, Nolan, and my cousin Madelynn matching pajamas so we could go see Santa Claus. It was so fun. Santa Claus scared me a little at first, but then he told me that I could have a dinosaur for Christmas and gave me a lollipop.



I got to play with all of my old toys and I even let Nolan ride my Mater. He was too little to ride on it when we left!


I got to hang out with all of my aunts and uncles. Mommy has lots of brothers and sisters so Nolan and I got lots of attention.






We also went to one of my favorite places to eat – BUCK CREEK PIZZA!! We went with mommy and daddy’s friends. They are my buddies too.


We went to the Sebald’s house and had so much fun. They made daddy a big steak. He ate it really fast.


Sarah Sebald was there too. She is so pretty, so I had to get my game on.



I hope long distance relationships work out...

On Christmas Eve we went to Grandma and Grandpa Riggle’s house. There were LOTS of people there! We had to take a couple of pictures just to fit everyone in.




Here I am with my Aunt Alexandra, my cousin Elijah and my cousin Roman. I know, it’s kinda confusing to me too.


On Christmas Eve everyone gets an early present and a flashlight that is just like the star that shone on the stable where Jesus was born. I got a Bob the Builder tractor and Nolan and Roman got trucks. They are little so me and Elijah helped them learn to ride.



Grandma and Grandpa Riggle got coupons to go out to eat. They were pretty excited.


I even got to meet my Great Grandma Marnie for the first time. Nolan liked her a lot.


I met my great Uncle George too. He plays in a banjo band. I guess he is a little nuts.


Christmas morning was so awesome. We got up very early and had so many presents. Mommy helped us open them.


After we opened our presents daddy and Uncle Zeke went outside and shot boom booms! I watched them from the window. It looked so fun!


Mommy said they had too much fun


All in all, we had a really good Christmas. Happy New Year everyone!