Settling In and Stranded!

With Amanda sick we have taken a break for 2 weeks from schoolwork. That is a shame because we really were on a great schedule which school had worked well in. Then we had a lot of company and Mandy got sick.. :( Sadly, the boys will have to work a bit into the Summer. But, we are grateful that we do have that flexibility. I cannot imagine having them do school work while running to the doctor, making phone calls, caring for Amanda etc. We plan to start back up again next Monday, Lord Willing! We are slowly getting used to day to day life here. On Saturdays we enjoy going to the market in San Ignatio. This is where we purchase our weekly produce and sometimes yogurt and eggs. In addition, our friends the Inions told us of a great meat market on the main road out toward San Ignatio which we did stop at this week to purchase reasonably priced fresh beef and pork. During the week we fill in with the other necessities at the local grocery store, Farmer's Trading Center here in Spanish Lookout. We really enjoy our Saturday outing.. and this week we decided that we would take Amanda along even though she doesn't have much energy. She rode the half hour to 'town' in the back of the hatchback where we had made up a little bed for her. Once we got to the market, we took her to the open food venders where we plopped her in a chair and she ate a yummy tortilla meal while Ash, the 'babies' and I shopped for the weekly fruits and veggies. We then joined the crew and enjoyed a delicious lunch which ended up costing us somewhere around $8 US.





There are so many dogs roaming the market. Last week, we witnessed a dog bite a child.. we have been a little more cautious about letting the children pet these strays since! This skeletal mama dog was scrounging all over the market place, snacking on this and that. The girls and I felt so sorry for her that we saved one half of a tortilla for her. We searched her out and when we finally found her and tossed her the tortilla, she looked at it distastefully and slunk off to find better pickings! Well! A picky starving dog! Whoever heard of such a thing?

Grant's treasure that he purchased for himself at the market. It is a little coin purse~

Ashley in the car on the ride home~

Mandy in the car on the ride home~ yes, we all agreed it ended up being too much for her. Although she did not do much walking around, she overdid it and paid for it later. She slept the whole rest of the day! :(



We stopped in here at this meat shop.

One more stop on the way home was to purchase a yummy watermelon from this Old Colony Mennonite. This is the intersection where we turn off to head out to Spanish Lookout~

And as we approach the bridge, this is what we saw.. Grady motioned to this car "no, you go first" we really didn't know if our very low-clearance van would make it through this. This is a bridge which links civilization to Spanish Lookout. As the photo shows, due to flooding the river is over the bridge by about 6 inches. As I write this post, the water level remains about 6 feet above this bridge.


Phew! We just made it! This is Ashley looking out the back window at where we had driven. Grady says that if it would have been an inch or two more we would have been stuck on the otherside..

More rain to come! Just how long will it take for the river to recede? No one can tell us for sure but we pray it does before Thurs.. as mentioned in the other post, we have to take Mandy in for her halter test with the heart moniter. We continue to rest in the LORD.

Rain With a Chance of Sunshine

We have been told that it is very unusual to have more than 3 days without sunshine here. As of late the weather has been more like WA rather than Central America! Well except for the fact that although it is drizzly and rainy the temp does hover right around 85 with a heat index of 95! But it has been dark, cloudy and rainy for quite a few days now.. which, due to heavy rain both locally and in Guatemala has caused the river to rise. So yes, we currently are stranded in Spanish Lookout with the bridge 6 feet under water! Now, there *is* a road which can take you out of here but it adds an hour to the trip to the main road and our van is very much unable to make the bumpy, pothole road. Theoretically we could hire a 4 wheel drive to take us out which we may end up doing in order to make it to Amanda's doctor's appointment in Belize City on Thursday. Meanwhile, we enjoy the stormy skies and appreciate the sun when it does peek its head out here and there!

Grant weed eating for the first time!

He did such a splendid job! He and Ryan are quite the landscaping team


Gracie watching Mom run out to grab some blankets which were still on the line!
A black rain cloud is threatening to drench the laundry.



Just in time~ :) Thankfully we have clothes lines under cover as well..

On this particular day, it was rainy off and on and cloudy all day long

UNTIL about 4 pm. Then the sun started shining and we have one hour of beautiful sunshine.

Grady works on Gracie's new bed

Our thoughtful Princess










I love this photo of Laura just a few minutes before sunset.


From the rising of the sun unto the going down of the same the LORD'S name is to be praised!
Psalm 113:13

The Latest Update on Amanda

She is still exhausted and literally cannot stand up for more than 5-10 minutes at a time although she has been able to sit on the sofa or in a chair for 1-2 hrs.. She basically has zero energy and not much of an appetite. When we took her to the new doctor this past week, he told us that she is experiencing tachycardia pretty much on a constant basis which is tiring her out.

Tachycardia comes from the Greek words tachys (rapid or accelerated) and kardia (of the heart). Tachycardia typically refers to a heart rate that exceeds the normal range for a resting heart rate (heart rate in an inactive or sleeping individual). It can be dangerous depending on the speed and type of rhythm.


In addition, he thinks her borderline thyroid numbers indicate that she probably has a thyroid issues which will need medication potentially. It seems like whatever illness that caused the fever and edema, worsened the tachycardia and thyroid conditions. In a way, it is probably a blessing as it caused us to do all of this testing. So now we are waiting until next Tuesday when her antibiotics are finished at which point she will be hooked up for 24 hrs to a heart moniter to see how erratic her heart rate is and be put on medication for that.. also retesting her thyroid to see specifically what needs to be done about that. Thank you so much for your prayers.
Blessings, The McDonalds

Life Goes On

I sit here with my two middle girls very ill. It seems strange to do something as petty as blogging right now but Gracie has finally gone to sleep and both Ashley and Amanda have encouraged me to keep up on the blog. I appreciate that my girls have been so helpful to snap photos for me since arriving in Belize.. if it were not for my 2 favorite photographers, we wouldn't have photos TO blog! Thank you girls ♥

The weather has been much nicer these past few weeks. It has gotten down to the mid 70's a few of the days! Of course with the heat index the 'real feel' even on a day like that is in the upper 80's but even that feels cool to us now.. The children have been enjoying the sunshine and moderate temperatures. The boys have been working on projects around the house and keeping the beautiful trees and yard trimmed with their machetes. The little girls have been playing happily on the back 'porch', driveway and carport. Both of them have settled down a bit and seem to be so much happier these days!

Anyone who knows Ashley, knew *this* was inevitable!

Our precious 15 month old.. (still not walking! A typical McDonald baby)


At the hospital


Ryan was such a help keeping the 'babies' happy during our time in Belize City



Gracie met a new little friend during the long wait for test results.. they are poking at a little turtle which is hiding in the bushes.



This poor mother did all she could to pry her son away from Gracie. She finally left to get her test and left him with us for a while.. such is Central America! ;)

Mandy with some special visitors

Grant with his homemade bow. Good job buddy!

Bath- old fashioned style!

Looking down our driveway toward J. Banman's shop and the main road

*Sweetness*

♥

Where do the years go? Weren't Ashley and Mandy just this age? As my best friend from home says "These ARE the good old days!" Lord, thank you for these precious days..

Changing Seasons (warning! long post)

(disclaimer: the content of the following post includes some complaining and whining. Continue reading at your own risk! :)

We have had a few different seasons here so far in Belize~ We had the first season which was a season of SHOCK that included very fussy children, heat stroke and rashes, insect phobias, culture shock and disorientation. During this season we found it difficult to perform the simplest of tasks such as grocery shopping. I could not even think of what sorts of meals we used to make in Washington and what to put on a shopping list. I know that sounds strange but for the first few weeks, cooking was a stress and a burden. Checking the mail, getting gas, cleaning the house, visiting with strangers and even driving were rough. We felt like we were babies.. just learning how to do all things new.

Then came a season of EXCITEMENT~ we are finally in Belize! We made it! And people even talk to us and want to be our friends. No one is glaring at us or posting 'GET OUT' signs in the front yard yet. People are actually friendly and want to talk to us. They have time for relationships and pretty willing to lend advice to us 'gringos'. We just might be able to make it here! A local shop offered Grady a job. He even agreed to allow Grady to work 4 days a week to enable him to spend more time with the family and to continue to settle us here. It did not pay a lot but enough to pay the bills and put gas money into the gas tank for weekend get aways with the family to village and jungle. We felt like the Lord was leading us.. During this time we also had some opportunities to share the gospel and serve.


Then came our season of DISCOURAGEMENT~ After our 30 days here we got a stamp on our passport which changed things quite a bit. "Permitted to remain on condition that the holder does not enter into employment paid or unpaid. Does not engage in any business or profession without the consent of the director of immigration." We did not realize before coming that we would need to apply for a permit in order to receive any income. Now came the decision what type of permit to apply for. We decided to try and apply for a missionary permit which would cost much, much less than a work permit and easier to get than a work permit. Or so we thought. Because we do not have a 'sending church' we are finding it difficult to obtain a letter of recommendation (of sorts) .. also the thought of us being missionaries became a question also.. ARE WE MISSIONARIES or not? Ok~ we haven't gone to Bible School and aren't the brightest tools in the shed but do we not all have the ministry of reconciliation? Are we not as Christians ALL missionaries? Here is the Websters 1828 definition of missionary :MIS'SIONARY, n. One sent to propagate religion. Christian missionaries are called missionaries of the cross. Ok so we feel alright calling ourselves missionaries regardless of our lack of a piece of paper which assures the country of Belize that fact. So now which way to go? Work permits cost $750 which we do not have. In addition, we have heard that a work permit can be difficult to obtain if it can be proved that you would be taking a Belizean's job.

Missionary permits cost $25. More up our ally. We were assured that if you hold a missionary permit you are also able to do odd jobs to support your work which would fit into Grady's plan on working here. So we are not quite sure what to do next. We can continue to pay the $200 a month to remain as tourists until our 12 months are up at which time we can apply for residency where permits no longer are an issue. BUT you cannot earn money as a tourist. This is the position we are currently in. We would appreciate your prayers for wisdom and I don't know if anyone is even still reading this and if I made the dilemma clear?.? But all of this has lead to quite a bit of discouragement.

Next came 2 seasons at once~ the seasons of DISORDER and ILLNESS have come in with a rush. All in one week we had so many things here in the home go.. . One laundry day was particularly hectic and it wasn't until that evening that I realized the old wringer washer had leaked oil onto most of our clothing.. ok. The next week we realized that we were getting rust stains from the water on the clothing also. For someone who makes most of the dresses etc this was just such a discouragement. So even though I had a small electric rinser/spinner that kinda worked in place of the old wringer, I cannot use the water for laundry until we figure the rust situation. Then our cistern ran out of water.. it took a few days to figure out which cistern was full of which kind of water.. we filled our empty rain water cistern with river water from another cistern. This proved to not be too good as that river water was brown and a bit smelly. Fine for the toilet and maybe even showering but not for dishes and everyday use. So I couldn't do laundry or wash the dishes without boiling water and using brown boiled water. But the Lord provided and a brother told us about someone who sells rain water! Yay! So came a truck driver with 800 gallons of rain water which we pumped into the cistern after draining the river water out of it. Then came the realization that our Berkey water filter had failed and while we had been using the river water in the house, we had also been DRINKING the brown river water! SO, we now are purchasing clean drinking bottled water for the time being, not able to do laundry here but we at least have semi-clean water for dishes (the cistern rain water).. When the shower head broke off we had to just laugh.. who wants to shower anyhow? But then the toilet? Ok that may be too much..? We weren't surprised when the radiator on the car broke and we found out that there isn't one in stock in all of Belize. But thankfully stopleak fixed that problem, at least for now! But then the car died all together.. ironically while rushing our daughter Amanda to the hospital. Our season of ILLNESS entered into our lives and that is where we remain now. Although we have some of our household headaches resolved (and still working on some of those things thanks to the help of many kind and helpful folks..) our daughter Amanda remains in bed with a fever and a mystery illness. After spending 24 hrs in the hospital where the Lord had his hand on her, she returned home and we are waiting until her antibiotics run their course when we will will pursue a few other tests. She remains in good spirits.. The Lord is sustaining her and is her rock. She is such a good testimony to us all. Then came this morning when our little Gracie woke with a 104.5 degree fever. Apple Cider Vinegar applied to the forehead as well as tepid baths kept the fever down a bit throughout the day but she also remains very sick with an unknown illness. I don't think I have seen such a sick toddler for many years. We suspect it may be because she was found drinking the piped river water yesterday.. We will see how she feels tomorrow before seeking medical advice as we do know many childhood illnesses also can present themselves this way.. we are praying she wakes in the morning with a broken fever, back to her endearing self. Please keep her in your prayers, as well as Amanda.

Grady and the boys add an extra pipe from the downspout into the rain water cistern in order to collect more of the rain water.. to give us a greater supply. They put it up just in time.. we are currently having a huge rainstorm! ;)

Amanda's usual spot these days..


She has been blessed with notes of encouragement from new friends and old.. and lots of visitors, including these 6 small one day old chicks! Brought today by 'Grandma Anna' (these are for you J.B. We are taking good care of them! ;) )



We do not know what this next SEASON may bring but we do know this "We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not destroyed: ...11 Corinthians 4:8


Thank you all for your prayers, gifts and notes of encouragement. Truly we are so blessed that we do not have more to complain about. We are blessed with a lovely home to live in, at least for the time being.. that is such a blessing in and of itself! When we are feeling discouraged, we think of our new friends who have a daughter who is gravely ill and another new friend whose husband died 18 months ago, leaving her the job of running their business and raising their 6 sweet children alone. We think about those in the world who are without a relationship with our Lord Jesus Christ.. without the guidance of the Holy Sprit in their lives..
truly we are so blessed beyond explaination. Let us all keep our eyes on the eternal and not the temporal. May God receive the glory he deserves from our lives!

An Update on the Update

Always a smile.. what a sweet special girl

Here is our latest update on Amanda~ Please keep praying for her! We have already seen the Lord work a miracle in her life. Please join us in prayer that it would be made known what is causing the additional symptoms.. if it is the Lord's will. The Lord is great and greatly to be praised!

"We are so grateful to the prayers of the saints~ yesterday Amanda was admitted with an irregular and extremely high heart rate and debilitating chest pain. She had also been suffering from acute edema, exhaustion, low grade fever and loss of appetite. At the point of her appointment there were 2 suspicions; thyroid issues or potential heart failure. After getting the blood work back and seeing that the ...thyroid was completely normal, the doctor immediately admitted her to the hospital. Grady took the other children home, 1.5 hours away and I stayed with Mandy. They did an ekg, chest x-ray, more blood work, and an ultrasound. Last night after the doctor looked at the chest x-ray he came in to tell me that it appeared that Amanda's heart seemed to be unusually small which would explain many of her symptoms. He told me that he was 'gravely concerned for Amanda' and that we needed to start considering more tests and prepare ourselves for the worse. This morning we agreed to an echocardiogram. Grady, still being here at home with the other children prayed as we headed into the Cardiologists office. It wasn’t long before I heard the words 'I am looking at a perfectly formed heart here' Praise the Lord! Her heart is in perfect condition! We are so amazed by the Lord's hand in her life today.
Amanda remains listless and in pain. She has an infection of some kind.. her white blood count is elevated and she is still suffering from some swelling. Those things still have the doctors concerned and still searching for potential answers. She has been tested for all of the tropical diseases, iron levels, thyroid, calcium levels, and cannot seem to find the missing link. She is on complete bedrest until next Friday when she goes back in for a few more tests and to see the doctor again. PLEASE continue to pray for her and wisdom for the doctors.
Praising God for answered prayers,
The McDonald Family"

UPDATE ON AMANDA--

UPDATE ON AMANDA- Basically the doctors are very concerned that Amanda's heart is too small and that she may be in early stages of heart failure. They have ordered an echo cardo gram this morning. They are planning on discharging her this evening with a plan on what to do next. It is pretty much beyond them now. We are praying for wisdom and guidance~ Thank you all for your coveted prayers! ♥ Ashley