The Second Tsunami- This Time Caused BY The Government: A Sad Day In Arugam Bay

More pics of the destruction

 Owners and locals watching, yet most of them say "what to do?"

(if you didn't read this in our newsletter)

The Second Tsunami- This Time Caused BY The Government: A Sad Day In Arugam Bay

After devastation wiped out this country 7 years ago with a horrific tsunami, many begged and pleaded that nothing like that would ever happen again. Though no lives are lost this time like last, the hard earned work and toil to rebuild their lands, homes, restaurants and cabanas is now in vain. Many NGO's helped out most of the business owners to rebuild what was taken away 7 years ago. This devastation this week comes from their own government. The government came with bulldozers 3 days ago and took away the local people's land and all that was on it. They took 10 meters inland from the first vegetation on the beach. What we thought would be good for the locals, with surf contests and such, has caused the government to want their share in all the tourism. They have their own plans with big roads, huge hotels, etc. What has been our quaint little fishing and surfing village will now be turned up-side down. Most of the tourists are angry and appreciate the small cabana, local feel of A-Bay. Many of the locals are trying to send tourists this info to somehow get their opinions heard in the government in hopes to demolish their plan. 

To bring it a little more home for some of you, this is Asanka's Place, where we have continued to build a great friendship with him and his sisters and family (Johnson's family). This is Asanka as he looks on at what damage is left behind from the tractors. The sad thing is that they don't give them money for taking their land, but instead a bill that they have to pay for what it cost to run the tractor and the amount of work they had to do. Please pray for these families that have experienced loss. Thank you.  

Family Trip to Ella

After a rough five months of ups and downs; from finding out my dad had stage 4 cancer to flying back to America for 2 months, a hard good-bye and right back into the "call" on our lives in Sri Lanka. Needless to say we were desperate for some much-needed fresh air and family processing time. We drove our motorbike to one of Sri Lanka's highest mountains, where the air is a little cooler and the silence is epic. 

We stayed at the Ambience, where the STN teams stay for few days when they come out. This is our balcony from our room that overlooks the valley below. 

This is the view from the bathroom window. The room looked like a typical cabana room, but the shower had hot water! It was so nice!

 Out on the patio of the restaurant having our morning tea

 The boys waiting for their tea

 We hiked to a waterfall 

Watching a parade go by 

 Drinking our tea in the evening on our balcony

 Cavanum (careful) Kenai

 Sunrise

 Watching sunrise with my bebes! It was so nice to wear a sweatshirt and blanket and feel the cool air

Another waterfall on the way down the mountain 

The hardest thing about taking a motorbike on a 3 hour trip, was that our kiddos wanted to sleep to the soothing sound of the engine. Not such a good idea on a bike. At one point we had the two kids in between us both and I had one arm holding up each kids head, gripping Cody's shirt for dear life :) We found a spot finally on the side of the road, an abandoned fruit/vegetable stand. We had the kids take their nap there. Cody and I played Uno. 

It was a great 3 days to just breathe and refocus. All we can do is take each day at a time and let God lead. 

Sri Lankan Barbeque

I used to barbecue everything in America. Its not so easy in Sri Lanka. Cody had this barbecue welded from a trash can. But instead of having coals or propane, we use coconuts.

 It takes a long time for the coconuts to heat enough before you can even start cooking anything. 

The Fishing Boat

We were so excited to be able to buy a fishing boat! My mom and dad kept telling Cody, "Just use our support money and get a fishing boat" after they had found out he was fishing from a stand-up paddle board in the middle of the ocean. We are not only excited for Cody to have a boat to fish from (avoiding sharks- if you know Cody at all), but that he can also take guys on spearfishing trips, which you usually need a boat to get to those locations. We are also excited that by having a boat, it will provide jobs for several of the local fishermen that cannot afford to buy boats. Another use the boat will be for some fun recreation. When we were in California, we bought an innertube to pull behind the boat; we're stoked to take kids on their first innertube rides ever! We'll also do some wakesurfing behind the boat for fun and exercise. We did try to save some money by getting a fixer-upper. Wow, we didn't fully know what we were getting ourselves into. Cody has already put so much time and hard labor into it and there is still so much to do. He is re-fiberglassing a lot of it and trying to make it sea worthy since fishing season is now beginning. Pray for him as he works so hard on it.  

Once we get it all painted, we are going to put the last names and organizations of those that sponsor us monthly (our team). We are all a partner in this together!

A Girlie Party

I decided to have a girlie party, where all of girls brought all of our nail polishes together (which the local girls have polish from what I brought them from Malaysia and America); we all chose from the pile and had a painting party. It was so much fun. The girl in the front left side is Terese. She is a Sri Lankan girl that was adopted by a Swedish family. She is here visiting her biological family.

Dilke's Birthday Party

We had a birthday party for my friend Mona's little girl Dilke. Cody of course decorated a cute cake for her. I found a strawberry shortcake sticker to go on it :) (That's my special touch)

 I found some pink balloons and used my teaching board to make a birthday sign

Dilke and her family  

We did the usual: water balloon toss, cake, presents, snacks, and face painting

Family Day Adventure

After arriving back from California, it had been a while since we had enjoyed a family day, alone. We hopped on the motorbike and drove to a explore a new beach a ways away. We played and enjoyed the day together climbing rocks, finding water holes, and laughing together. 

Our journey was a little different then planned. Our motorbike got a flat. So Koda, Kenai and I hung out with the bike, on the look-out for elephants and waited for Cody (after waving down a tuk-tuk) to return with a new tire. We got a new tire and made it home safely.

No matter what adventure comes our way, as long as we are together... our adventures are always a blast!