Turks and Caicos Islands

This morning I was snorkeling in the Caribbean. I ate freshly caught conch fritters for lunch. Now it is bedtime and I'm sitting at my computer in Arkansas, but I still have ocean salt in the creases of my eyelids and white sand stuck to the back of my heels.

Scott and I have never gone on a trip without our kids since Titus was born 6 1/2 years ago--not even for the weekend or overnight. On September 4th we will celebrate our 10th anniversary and with Baby #4 due to arrive September 16, I decided that we better take a trip now or it could be a really long time before we have the opportunity to do it again. Scott's parents offered to come watch our kids. (Scott's parents are actually his mom and step-dad, but they raised him and have been married for almost 30 years now.) I made the reservations that same week--before they had a chance to change their minds! :) I am so incredibly grateful to them for their sacrifice and for the value that they place on their children having healthy, thriving marriages...and for the fierce desire that his mom has to protect her grandchildren from divorce.

I chose the Turks and Caicos Islands because it is the type of place we dreamed of going on our honeymoon, but couldn't afford. Scott's only request was a beautiful beach with white sand and turquoise water. He also didn't want to go to Mexico because Mexico and Canada are the only countries he's visited outside of the U.S. and he wanted to see a new place. My "daydream" was to experience a tropical culture that wasn't too commercial or over-developed and a place that would have a combination of relaxation and adventure (as much as possible when I am 5 1/2 months pregnant). I researched a lot of places: Costa Rica, Belize, Kauai in Hawaii, St. Lucia, and St. John. I finally settled on Turks and Caicos mainly because it had the most beautiful "postcard" beach for Scott and because is still relatively unknown (therefore, not over-developed). We learned while we were there that the island didn't even have electricity until the 1980s! It was also much easier to travel there (less travel time) than many of the other places, like Hawaii. Several of you have asked me where it is, so I thought I'd post a map. It will enlarge if you double-click on it. You can see the Turks and Caicos Islands southeast of the Bahamas and north of Haiti.

Thursday, May 21--We woke up at 4:00am to catch our 5:45 flight out of XNA. I, of course, was packing until about 12:30 the night before. Then Scott and I laid in bed and talked for nearly an hour because both of us were too excited to sleep!

On our way!!! We had two easy flights from XNA to Charlotte, then from Charlotte to Providenciales, Turks & Caicos. I was so excited to have some time to read that I devoured a book I had bought for the trip and finished it right before we arrived! It is one of the top two books that I have read this year. The title is "The Furious Longing Of God" by Brennan Manning. The way this man has lived out his Christian faith rocks my socks off! I'll have to devote an entire post to it soon. I actually brought two copies of the book (one for each of us) and I ended up giving my copy to the girl sitting next to us on our second flight. I hope she actually reads it and that God uses it to radically change her view of God and our time here on Earth.

Here is a link to the video trailer for the book: http://www.tangle.com/view_video.php?viewkey=483ec483645ec809cee0

On a side note, she was originally seated in between us. When we walked up to our seats and saw her there, Scott asked if she would mind switching seats. Then Scott laughed and offered, "Or we could just hold hands across your lap." I love Scott's sense of humor and it definitely came out on our trip while he was relaxed and away from the stress of work.

Our new passports and the magazine that they gave us on the flight about Turks & Caicos (along with all of the customs and immigration forms). My old passport was expired. I hadn't used it since 1994. For someone who spent her teenage years daydreaming of being a world traveller and teaching English abroad, I haven't been out of the country in 15 years!!!

This is the sign at the front of our immigration line. I thought it was fascinating that they call the natives "Belongers" and you see it on the sign. I saw a sign a few steps later that said that we weren't aloud to use cell phones or take pictures in the immigration area. Oops!

We got a rental car (which, incidentally, looked like a soda-pop can on four-inch wheels) and had to figure out really fast how to drive on the left side of the road. Aaaah!

Here I am taking pictures of everything. We arrived right as school was getting out and in the background you can see children in uniforms walking home from school. We later learned that all of the schools, both public and private, have uniforms based on the schools colors.

The sign reads "Car Wash: The Best In Provo." We drove by this everyday and I never saw a car or a person there, so this claim may surprisingly be up for debate. :)

When we arrived at our hotel, we were exhausted and laid down for a "short nap" and didn't wake up until dinnertime. I was really thankful that I had studied the guide books because their restaurant recommendations were spot on. We had dinner the first night at Coyaba:

The food and service at this little restaurant were amazing! They served everyone gazpacho followed by raspberry sorbet before the entree. Scott had blackened Mahi-Mahi and I had Tandori Mahi-Mahi in a coconut curry sauce with mango salsa. Both were awesome. We had some divine something-or-other for dessert with a praline ice cream and carmel sauce on top. Even if I hadn't been pregnant, I would have looked it by the end of that meal. Yummmmm.

Afterwards, Scott bought a Cuban cigar in our restaurant and we walked down to the beach in the dark. It was probably my favorite memory from our trip. We walked down the beach in the dark, found some chairs, and sat and talked for 3 hours. I took in the sound of the ocean waves, the deliciously rare smell of my husband's cigar, and raw discussion about life. We mostly discussed the Brennan Manning book. I'd had Scott read the poignant parts that I had cried through. We reveled in the complicated concept of authenticity and in Brennan's discussion of "the reckless, raging fury that they call the love of God." We discussed the drone of stale religion, which would be the opposite. We dreamed of the reckless, the radical and how it would change everything: our marriage, our life, and our children's experience of God.

Okay, I was trying to save it for another post, but I can't resist putting a quote in here from the introduction to the book:

I’m Brennan. I’m an alcoholic.
How I got there, why I left there, why I went back, is the story of my life.
But it is not they whole story.

I’m Brennan. I’m a Catholic.
How I got there, why I left there, why I went back, is also the story of my life.
But it is not the whole story.

I’m Brennan. I was a priest, but am no longer a priest. I was a married man but am no longer a married man.
How I got to those places, why I left those places, is the story of my life too
But it is not the whole story.

I’m Brennan. I’m a sinner, saved by grace.
That is the larger and more important story.
Only God, in his fury, knows the whole of it.

So, I drank in this rare moment and smiled. I smiled because I knew it would be my favorite memory from the trip and because I had a feeling that my mother-in-law had been praying for this exact moment since the day she offered to keep our children.

Somehow even in the perfection of the moment, I was surprised at how much my chest ached for the presence of my children. I honestly wished they were asleep (so they weren't all needing my at once), but the mother in me longed to have them near. I suppose that was my paradox and I knew it was right.

If you actually made it to the end of this post, I'm sure you are as worn out as I am. :) Come back tomorrow for my first view of this stunning beach!