Accident!

Now, Grant will be the first to admit that he was going too fast.. and later felt so badly when... they went over uneven ground and both he and Laura flipped over, he over the handle bars and she straight onto her head with her arm bent backwards.. you know *that* cry? Welp, sure enough she had it and I KNEW right away that her arm was broken. Grady and I quietly gathered some things up, told our guests which were at the house that we would have to cut our visit short.. loaded up with the guests and took them to the bus stop.. all the while Laura was mostly screaming which is really unlike her..

 

Ash giving her sissy a goodbye snuggle in the car while we gather up the company and diaper bag, ready for a LOOOOOONG night at the government hospital. After dropping our guests off at their bus stop we decided to head to the medical clinic in Spanish Lookout for their opinion. The nurse at the clinic felt her arm and informed us that yes, there was so much swelling already and that she felt a bump, like her bone had 'buckled' with what she called a probable green stick break. So our options were to have a local lady who does chiropractic wrap it up and let it heal.. or to head to Belmopan for an X ray to see how bad the break was. We didn't want to take the chance of it healing improperly so Grady decided to get an X ray in order to see exactly what was going on with it.  We were a bit concerned about the trip since our car is barely running (our parts should be in late next week from the States!)

We made it into Belmopan, thanks to many prayers and Grady nursing the vehicle which literally died at every intersection and over every speed bump.. and come to find that the only imaging place that we knew of in Belmopan had closed early for the day.. hmm.. well, we spoke with our friend who said that she was pretty sure that the BMP Government hospital had an X ray machine.. so off we sputtered across town to the hospital..

Now, upon first look it didn't really *look* like a hospital.. we had never gone there and hadn't heard the most positive things about it..

Now, this looked more official.. signs and everything.. we must be at the right place

 

It looked clean enough..

 

Thankfully the waiting room seemed pretty empty. We had heard to expect to wait 2- 3 hours just to be seen by the doctor.

We finally were able to meet with the triage nurse and was with the doctor within an hour. The doctor wrote a prescription for an X-ray and we headed over to the emergency side of the hospital

A very nice hospital attendant came with a wheelchair for Laura

 

She was so brave and looked so tiny and cute as he wheeled her off to get her X ray!! :-)

The X ray indeed showed that  Laura had a fracture in one of the bones in her forearm.. the nurse and doctor proceeded to set her up with a temporary cast until we could see the bone specialist who would set it and put her permanent cast on.

She was SUCH a trooper! Didn't cry once through the whole ordeal..

And left the hospital quite proud of her cast and her story. Meanwhile, her brother Grant was suffering back at home.. feeling so badly about the accident. Grace too was very worried about Laura's "casket" and was nervous about seeing her with it. Laura reassured her on the phone on the way home that her "cyst" wasn't that scary looking! :-) Now.... how to manage a toddler for 6 weeks with her right arm broken... eating.. writing and coloring.. dressing, bathing.. sounded a bit daunting.. We prayed that the Lord would let her heal quickly.. for her sake and ours! :-)

Current Things

Lately I have been doing more with my littlest ones in regard to schooling. It has been a blessing to see them blossom and learn. Grace is doing great at reading and Laura knows many words as well and both are learning to decode with great success. In addition we have been trying to integrate more copywork, dictation and lapbooking with the emphasis on nature. It has been fun trying to implement  the Charlotte Mason Method into our schooling. We have heard about it for years and figure that living in such a rich country, full of so many varied flora and fauna.. now is the time to implement it!We are REALLY enjoying the freedom and exploration the children are experiencing. Every outing, walk and trip, whether to the backyard, jungle,  beach or to the city becomes an opportunity to learn.

 We have enjoyed filling the school blackboard with our topic of study, in this case, dragonflies!!

 

This little guy was kind enough to show up this week! We were able to closely examine him in a glass jar. The girls really got a kick out of examining it's compound eyes, thorax, abdomen, head, wings and legs. They had learned all of the parts earlier in the week and were thrilled to see 'up close'

Laura is making great progress in reading

Grace and Mama work on the lapbooks. We took all the work that we had done together on dragonflies and glued it into a file folder. Lapbooking provides a great creative outlet for children and helps reinforce the information by arranging projects and information in an organized folder. It also provides a great little 'book' which they can show off to daddy and other family members.

Grace and Laura love helping Ashley take care of the mama goat and kids

Ryan's favorite past time. If ever anyone asks "Where's Ryan?" we all know to look here first..

While coming down the staircase Ryan spots this lovely specimen (can you see whats on the stick?)

We have literally seen 8 or 9 snakes at our house since arriving this time.. but this was the first fella that was discovered INSIDE! No worries though.. he was only semi venomous! :-)

A travelling produce man sold us this 50 lbs or oranges for $5 U.S! Can you say fresh squeezed O.J.?

Gracie working on her Spanish sticker book that Grandma gifted her with before leaving the States

Mandy has been such a trooper although sadly she is not feeling very well on some days.. we think we have some answers to why.. as we do more research about her condition we would covet your prayers. She would never complain though! What a joyful lamb!

Say CHEESE!! What cuties!

What are you up to Mr. Grant? :-)

Not sure what's going on here.. we have an 'open camera' policy here! Everyone, even Gracie is able to grab the camera and catch important moments.. its fun to look through and see what is on the card. :-)

Now, this photo may not seem very interesting.. unless you know what it is! Mandy perfected a gluten free focaccia bread recipe! By adding B and L and T it made a SCRUMPTIOUS meal!

Here I am Skyping with a very good friend. It has been a great blessing to utilize Skype this time to stay in touch with friends and family. Last time we were in Belize 2011-2012 it was blocked. Since then the restriction has been lifted! My family has to remind me to Skype early though or this is what happens.. I am so sleepy by 9 or so.. probably because of the extreme heat we are currently experiencing. On this particular night, my friend kept chiding me for yawning! :-) I kept assuring her that she was not boring me I was just SOOOOO exhausted!

Good evening Mrs. P! In the background you can see the make shift bunkbed Grady has made for the little girls. Our room is literally the size of a King sized bed plus 12".. so Grady bolted Laura's wooden toddler bed onto posts above Grace's homemade Belizean (by daddy) toddler bed and we now have a toddler sized bunk! Thanks to brother Ryan Laura even has a ladder now too!

 

The other day Grant caught a cute basilisk lizard....

 

Little did he know that later that day they would catch a HUGE iguana! (note the color of Grant's face.. they had been hiking around in the bush in the pasture at our house.. in 104 degree weather, chasing this guy for a half hour in the burning sun.. ) Originally they put this guy in their Hart trap and planned on butchering and eating him.. but then they got attached and didn't have the heart to kill it! LOL.  Rubins.. if only they had found this guy a few weeks ago!!!!!!! :-)

 

 

Goodbye Mr. Lizard! (update on this photo.. this happened 2 days ago and the fellow is still living in our huge cottonwood tree out front. After being let go, he scrambled up the tree and now refuses to move. The boys hope they didn't scare him to death!)

Grady chats with this man who was overseeing some

 work at the neighbors..

 

 

We were amazed at how this excavator just simply drove off the trailer and back onto it after its work was done..meanwhile the entire truck leaned and tipped.. I *knew* it would tip over.. but as the phrase our special friend coined while visiting here says- "In Belize, it CAN be done!"

 

We are loving it here.. we pray that the Lord will be able to change us and use us, broken vessels that we are, for him. . Please be praying for us.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Helping Out & A Giving Opportunity

We had wanted to get back to little Maria's house to help them put up the screened fabric on their windows and on their eves to prevent bugs to get into their home. Between illness and company it has been long overdue! :-)  Grady and the boys helped to start this house back in March of 2012 and it has been a blessing to help them with a few of the practical finishing necessities. Last year they experienced tons of mosquitos as well as snakes and rats. They are hoping by closing off the wide open areas (with screen) in the eves and by making frames with screens for the windows and doors that it may cut down on the pests..

 

 

They can either have their shudders open which allows for a nice breeze on hot summer days..

with bugs

Or they can keep them shut in order to keep the bugs out.. which makes the indoor temps soar..

It is such a blessing being able to work as a family. We love spending the day on little projects like this! :-) Little Maria supports her mother, daughter and sister's household, including children. (little Maria and big Maria live next door to one another) (little) Maria cleans houses M-F and receives about $15-$20 U.S. per day. With a budget like that, it is a bit difficult to purchase simple things like tack strips, caulking and screen. A very special friend in WA heard of their need and donated $100 U.S. for this project. This money was enough for everything we needed..with a bit leftover to make them a small chicken coop to protect their small remaining flock of chickens that the fox has been eating! Ryan hopes to get a start on that chicken house project tomorrow..

Grace and Laura have a fun time swinging with Maria's little girl..

What a great helper!

Laura takes the time to stop and smell the flowers..

cutting screen

Grant is there to help too!

Having a fun time visiting with Grandma Marta and 'big' Maria while the girls play in the hammock

Their back yard view

Mandy pitches in also

 

Mandy and I say goodbye to 'big' Maria.. we have to come back to finish screens on another day because we forgot that in Spanish Lookout the stores are closed Friday, Saturday and Monday of 'holy week' Grady needs more thin wood for tack strips.. the lumba yaad (a little Belizean Creole there) will open again tomorrow (Tuesday!) when we will head back over for some more screening and chicken house buildin'!

 

We also hope to get a start on big Maria's front porch steps (she currently has three dilapidated and tippy cement blocks to balance on while clamboring up onto her porch) We also plan to close in her porch in order to transfer her kitchen to outside so that her two teenage boy can have their own room apart from their teenage sister. Currently all four of them live in a one room cabin which is about 500 square feet in all, with no interior walls for privacy. If you would like to help in this project- building steps for her porch, replacing rotten boards on the porch, moving her kitchen to outdoors in order to make room for a small bedroom for her daughter, you can donate here- we figure the whole cost would be no more than $150-$200 U.S. Every little bit helps!  :-) On a side note, big Maria also has a pretty severe case of epilepsy which we are trying to help find medication for here in Belize. The whole lack-of stairs to the porch issue has us very concerned as she has actually fallen off of that porch during a seizure twice now. Please pray for this sister.. she has been through so much and is truly trying to live as a Kingdom Christian. She is always such an encouragement to me. In fact in the picture above she is thanking us so much for our help in their lives and I am explaining that she gives so much more to me than she realizes.. that she brings conviction, encouragement and joy to us ladies every time we come for a visit. We were telling her here that God must have known that we needed each other. Wow, anyone still reading this blog post should get a reward or something.. most patient reader. :-) I'll be quiet now. May the Lord bless you this day.