Cross Cultural Experiences

One thing that we love about Belize is the cross cultural experience that we enjoy from day to day. We have Mayan friends, Creole friends, German friends, deaf friends, Russian Mennonite friends, American friends, Canadian friends.. it is especially fun when we hold our weekly bible study where we have Russian Mennonites speaking in their lower German with one another on one side of the room.. and a Mennonite husband translating everything into Spanish for his Spanish speaking wife.. and then on the other side of the room is a friend who is interpreting in sign language for the deaf in attendance. Literally it is not unusual to have 4 different languages, sometimes five at one time! We love the exposure that our children are having to so many cultures and languages here.

On our anniversary (May 18th) Grady and I had a blessed time attending an Amish-type wedding in an old order community. I was good and did not bring my camera (they do not like having their photos taken!) But here are a few google images of some homes in the community. Very plain, with no electricity.. they rely on horse and buggy for transportation. Truly when we go to visit families within this community we feel as though we are in a Little House on the Prairie home. Not much has changed in this group's lifestyle for hundreds of years.

Horse & Buggy delivering a house!

 

 We have recently made friends with a family who once belonged to this specific church/community but no longer attend for various reasons. They do still live within the community and despite the recently installed solar panels and a few pull string light bulbs (instead of kerosene lanterns) they still live the old order lifestyle. It is amazing to spend time with them and watch how they work without electricity ( no refrigeration!) and none of the luxuries that I am certainly used to! They grow and raise 99% of their food. They can everything they grow and butcher and make all their clothing.. and possess hundreds of other amazing skills.

 

A few Sundays we have been able to join them in a Bible Study.

When the little girls get unruly during our Bible Study time the older children enjoy taking them  outside to roam around their lovely farm. On this particular day they got to take an oxen ride. Everyone (except for Grace who just *knew* they would flip over) had a great time!

Once in a while they are able to catch a ride into Spanish Lookout and come for a visit. Those have been very special days. Recently the lovely daughter in law and half of the family came to our house while she was in labor. We took her to the clinic when it was time and she delivered 15 minutes after our arrival! Praise the Lord! :-)

 

One day they asked if we could please travel with them to the beach. They had only been to a beach one other time, literally in their lives- even though they had lived in Belize, so close to such beautiful beaches! :-) It was a great day.. experiencing new things with them such as the boats and swimming in the ocean for the first time.

 

Their adult adopted son; who had been raised in the world, is personal friends with a couple who own a small resort at Hopkins Bay. He had contacted them to ask if we could use their beach, boats and gear for the day. They were so gracious to welcome us, free of charge.

 

Ryan, Grant and one of the sons get ready to head out~

 

Somethin' about watching your boys head out into the ocean with just 2 oars to help them along. Overprotective? Maybe. But that is our family culture and also as parents, our right! Right?! We get to overprotect until at least age 20! (right Mandy? ;-) )

Ok boys that looks like a good place to fish!

Uh hem! Out a bit far there boys, dontcha think? While they were out there a dolphin joined them!

We played in the sand with the girls, pretending we weren't worried about how far out the boys were. hee hee..

Gracie is not fearful of water any more and had a lovely time! Yay!

Sweet fellowship

P. tries his hand at Ryan's fishing pole.

Special Friends

This lovely boat appeared out of what seemed like no where!

Oh yay! Look whose back from the far distant horizon!

After the boys made it back to shore safely they took their turn with the surf boards

Rye, who did a lot of the rowing, cools off with a Ginger Fanta.. MMMM!

Catch-of-the-day! (Red Snapper I think?)

Time to head to the snack bar for some afternoon coffee and sodas!

 

There were some tired young folks on the way home! It is amazing how much being in the sun wears you out. And yes, two of our children, yea three were VERY burnt after this day! I wont tell you that the UV Ray alert was at a 10 from a scale of 1-10 and I will not mention that my three oldest children didn't use sunscreen ALL day!  It was just a few days of misery though.. and a lesson learned I guess!

 

We sure enjoy spending time with all of our sweet, truly multicultural friends here in Belize. We are so blessed that the Lord has allowed us to spend time in fellowship and in the Word hearing what Jesus has to say to us all. What a joy to have brothers and sisters in the Lord here.. from such varied cultures. It is one thing we LOVE about not only "Homeschooling " our children but rather "World Schooling" our children! :-) What a blessing.

 

 

Precious Times

Well, Grady's work permit was denied and we now wait and wait for his appeal to be reviewed. The government wants to see much more in our bank account before giving him the ok to open a business. So these days are more and more precious to us. Will we have to leave and head back to the US? Not sure yet but for now we are just appreciating these precious days, filled with opportunities to serve others and preach the gospel of Jesus Christ. Here are a few photos we have taken over the past few weeks.

The first Kingdom home meeting in the small village near Guatemala~ there are 2 whose hearts are softening and asking more serious questions about counting the cost to serve Jesus..please pray!

Seeds of the Kingdom being planted..

 

The girls are excited to show off Maria's new stairs!

Nice work Daddy!

Truly a blessing for Big Maria.

One of the most wonderful things about living in this centrally-located place is that we are able to receive so many visitors. The Lord gives us so many opportunities to pray for people, pass on necessary provisions and speak about our Lord Jesus.

 

 We are so blessed to have this opportunity. Whether we are here for another month or for 10 years, we will always treasure this time. Anything less would seem so empty.

May Days

Mid May is always an eventful time of year for our family. Grady's birthday, our anniversary and Mother's Day usually fall within one week of each other.

Happy Birthday!

For breakfast on Dad's Birthday, the big girls made some cupcakes for breakfast!

Happy Birthday Daddy!

That day we literally had 4 sets of company. One was a Spanish family who travelled all the way from Succotz ( 1hr by bus one way) to bring me this beautiful cake for Mother's Day. It was a moist cake, topped with fruit with a ring of milk chocolate on the outside of the cake. She had travelled over to border to Guatemala to purchase it for me. I was so touched by that! She also brought me a rose and a whole bucket of freshly made tamales. Since we had so much company that day, Grady asked us please not to worry about making him a cake. But God provided one! :-) We were able to serve it after dinner and share it with our friends who came for dinner.

 

The guys studied some doctrinal things..

While we ladies had fun with the little ones. Our little girls are enamored with their baby. We enjoy this couple so much. She is from Costa Rica and speaks just about no English. We communicate with motions and broken speech. Talk about a great way for both of us to learn a new language! :-)

 

 

Happy Anniversary!

We had a nice day.. my mother treated us to a lunch out with the family.. on that day we also travelled to a bone specialist for Laura's arm. We had planned that he would set it correctly and put on her permanent cast. However, upon looking at her X ray, he concluded that the emergency room doctor misread the Xray and there was no fracture at all! She definitely had bone trauma from the fall but in his opinion there was no fracture! She and we were so excited. She was such a brave girl even when he accidently cut her with the scissors as he took off her temp cast.  

 

 

 

After lunch and the doctor we headed back to Spanish Lookout to Countryside Park for some family time. The older children had a nice time taking a walk while Daddy and I let the little girls ride their bikes.

Laura shows Daddy her arm

 

A bit of a bruise left behind with a band aid to cover the nick/ But oh so better than a cast! :-)

All better Daddy!

 

 

 

Time to head home!

 

Gorgeous Sunset

 

 

 

Getting Around Belize

We once heard that while living in another country, especially while doing ministry work.. that the most important thing to have, besides direction from the Lord.. is a good running car. We can say AMEN to that! Since late February our van has been growing increasingly ill.. Grady is pretty mechanical and an expert on diagnosing vehicles.. but this one has him a bit stumped. Once he finds out one problem and fixes it, something else becomes problematic or the problem remains.. thankfully most of the parts he has needed have been available here.. but we do have a diagnostic tool coming late next week and yet ANOTHER part which he hopes helps. It is hard to 'go' when you cant go. (if that makes sense!) we have had to cancel some things and change plans as of late. We can pretty much only drive around the Spanish Lookout area and neighboring villages. Sigh

 

 Oh boy! Or should I say Oh Man! Our baby boy is getting to be a man and I no longer can convince he and Daddy that he should never ever grow up. I kept my mouth shut on this day...... :-) I know, incredible. Our friend fulfilled his promise of letting Rye take a ride on his motorcycle

And he's off.. well you know, not literally.. but he's really getting the hang of it!

 

On our way home from taking little Maria to her house, Gracie asked if she could drive the dirt roads. She did great! Yay Gracie! I guess you are growing up too!

 

One morning we found this huge semi truck turning around in our backyard after unloading some bags of fertilizer at the barn..now, if you know our backyard, you may find this almost impossible to belize! :-)  but you've heard me say -' In Belize, It Can Be Done!'

 

The 'workers' clean up the huge broken branch that the semi broke off of the girls swinging tree.. in the background you can see the bags of fertilizer at the barn that they had dropped off..

Once the coast was clear and the big scary semi was out of the yard, the girls had fun playing with the bicycle cart that Grant constructed. This thing is amazing.. he constructed it out of some very strong wood, wheels off of a 24" bike. He even installed a little bench seat for the girls to sit on. Grace chided him for not putting in a seatbelt. He said he would think about it. :-)

Although intended for a bike, Grace and Laura have a fun time pulling one another around the property in it.

The four oldest children have been getting up very early for their own personal Bible Study and a walk. They have really enjoyed spending that special time together. I tell them that they will treasure these days forever. Maybe its been a blessing that we haven't been able to run all over the place for a few weeks. Times together are the best times of all!