Paddle Out Prayer and Remembrance

An Australian man died this month surfing at Okanda, a surf spot not too far from A-Bay. The club boys and our STN crew together paddled out and joined in a circle to pray for the family of the man that died. Flowers were thrown in the middle and the waters splashed in the air in remembrance of him.

Taking HDC Team on Safari

A Spearfishing Adventure

Cody was able to take Chris Rehrer and Pastor Scott Thibido out on a spearfishing adventure with some other local boys. They had a successful one as usual. 

Cody and George cooked up some yummy fish and chips with lobster on the side for dinner. Delish!

Teaching at the Muslim School

This is my friend Kavitha. She is the head teacher at this Muslim preschool. I have enjoyed deepening a friendship with her and I teach with her once a week. Its good for my kids to have the interaction with other kids also. I took HDC team girls to help me teach. It was a tremendous help, as we have around 100 kids and its hard to teach all of them. I had them all split up and do songs and random English teaching. 

Stephanie, Mom, and Jasmine teaching their kids

My room of cutie patooties

Singing songs

Maddison and Janie teaching the crocodile song

Stephanie teaching her class

Mom using visual aid to work on colors 

Happy Birthday Mom Sri Lankan Style!

The Surf Club boys came over to offer their help in preparation for the party. Krishantha, club president, hung all the balloons

Some of the other boys, Local, Calu, Rosantha, Babu and Atta helped make candy bags for the kids

Then all the boys played a volleyball game after they finished

Chootie Putah decorated my white board for her birthday

We did the normal water balloon toss for the kids

I took all the HDC girls to get salwa's (the local attire) to wear at the party

They looked lovely, and I tried convincing Scott and George to wear lungi's with their collared shirts ;)

Everyone was so excited to bless my mom on her birthday

Cody decorated her massive cake, and not a piece was left. We had my mom do Sri Lankan system also: First she slices the cake and feeds her closest relative, being me. The Cody and the kids. Then she gets a bite. Its like the wedding cake, but in Sri Lanka, its every birthday party! 

The boys loved my mom and everyone called her "Ama" (mom)

The girls also love her and Inoka and Rubi were even dancing, which they don't usually dance very much. They said they wanted to make mom happy :)

Surf Club boys enjoying the party

Electricity for Johnson's Parents

We spent the day with the HDC team at Johnson's parents house in the village of Komari. Cody, Babu, George and Scott worked on the installation of electricity for Johnson's parents who have never had it before. 

Johnson's family had already made most of the lunch when we got there; with the servants hearts that they have. But all the team girls and myself tried helping out cutting some vegetables and helping as much as we could cooking, serving and cleaning.

Niklas, Brenna, Tom Bauer and Chris Rehrer showed up to join us all for lunch 

My mom kept the kids entertained and did some school work 

Janie taste tested and helped as much as they allowed her to. 

The Ratnasingams are very blessed by the team and our family loving on them and giving the blessing of having electricity... lights, fans and all!

Ella With My Momma

It was so nice to get away with my mom for a few days up in the mountains. 

We enjoyed our time so much, just relaxing, talking, crying, laughing, and drinking tea.

We did have the biggest scare of our lives though, when we were informed on our way up the mountain (2 hours from A-Bay) that a tsunami was headed right toward A-Bay. Cody said that it was the scariest time of his life. I also feel that way, as I faced the fact that I could possibly be saying good-bye to my husband and kids for the last time on the phone. Cody packed up the most important items and ran with the kids to the closest hill by our friends Niklas and Brenna's house. They waited four hours until the tsunami was called off. One wave did come in, and before it did the water sucked out the way it had the last time the tsunami hit in 2004. Everyone on the hill was screaming the loudest and scariest Cody said he had ever heard. The wave was not that big at all and praise God did no damage. The warning was called off and we thanked the Lord for his protection. We are now a little more prepared if there is a next time and thankful for the tsunami sirens and alerts online.