Memorable Moments

Although my former post highlights some of our struggles, we are having a lot of fun also! (Especially after it cools down to 90 or less! :) ) I just wanted to post photos of some memorable moments we have had recently~~~

During this rainy season, there is always standing water.. This is the back porch where the washer and spinner are located. One of the funniest things about this house is that when I drain the washer or the spinner, an absolutely huge toad emerges from the drain to escape the deluge of water going down it. He and I have an agreement that he can watch me do the laundry as long as he does NOT get anywhere near me! :)

Grady and I had to run over to San Ignacio, about half hour away in order to get our van licensed in our name. A very nice Mennonite lady, whose name had been on the title accompanied us to town. She is such a dear sweet lady with a fun sense of humor! She showed us around a bit and even took me to a few second hand shops where we found some shirts for the boys. We all ventured over to the licensing station which also was a fun experience. Not only did the Belizean officer who helped us act as the gate guard, but also was the inspector of the car and lo and behold, was also the guy behind the desk, filling out the proper paper work. That guy gets around! :) We took Greta out for an ice cream and headed home. We look forward to taking the children back for another exploration trip to San Ignacio.

The streets are all decked out for the upcoming Belizean Independence, Sept 21st

Ashley and Ryan helped butcher a steer at a neighbor's home. The father and older son in the family are the local cowboys. When someone in the community has a cow which needs to be roped, they call these guys. On this particular butchering day, they received a call, requesting their services.. Ryan was able to go along and watch them catch this young Brahma who had a broken leg.

Grace brings Mama an exotic flower. Even our local friends here say it is unusual type. Oh how we are enjoying the beautiful flowers here!

'Schooling' Grace~ She wants to learn to read so badly so we are beginning with phonics



Ryan, tanning a cow hide from one of the steer he has helped butchered



Look who just moved in to our backyard! Ashley is in horsey *heaven* :)

Now this looks safe, doesn't it? And yes, Ryan WAS mowing while pulling his brother. A little foolishness here... (I put a quick end to it John B.! :) )

Everyone is having a wonderful time.. like the ultimate homeschooling adventure! But we are always aware of the suffering around us, just like at home. We are reminded again this week that we live in a lost and dying world which desperately needs Christ. Please pray for us as we have opportunities to not only share the gospel but that we would continue on the narrow way, living as Kingdom Citizens in a world which is not our own.

Our New 'Normal'

Hand washing dishes, using an electric washer/wringer and spinner and line drying clothes.. just those two things adds quite a few more hours to the weekly chores. BUT, we are loving it!

Mandy heading out to hang up laundry

'Down Time' (notice the clean laundry piled up! LOL!)

Ashley and Mama handwashing dishes



Being blessed with a cow for two months is another adjustment. It does take quite a bit of time out of the morning and evening.. but again, we are loving it and are taking full advantage of the 2 + gallons of milk we are getting daily. So far we have made butter, cheese, cottage cheese, sour cream, yogurt and of course a plethora of smoothies!

Here the girls untangle the little calf from a tree. In Belize many animals are simply tied out in a yard. Like for Miss Daisy in this picture.. she definitely does not need a huge pasture. Plus our friends may do this to keep her more tame.. not sure.

Good job girls!



Yummy 'Cheddar' Cheese


Schoolwork at home is difficult here as the hours seem to speed by at an enormous rate of speed! I am so grateful for the girls' help. They have been such a blessing to me in these past few weeks especially. The heat adds just an extra element to every task. I do feel as though we are adjusting fine though and making headway. We are praying that the little girls get acclimated soon and that will help with some general fussiness and acting out which we are struggling with.

A typical 'School Room' scene at the McDonald Home
(on a productive day! :) )

Ashley helps the boys with their Biology

Mama with the three youngest. I think all three of these guys are having the hardest time adjusting to all things new and missing home. Please keep them in your prayers~ Blessings from all of us!

A Tale of Two Marias

We had 2 visitors in the past 2 days.. both named Maria. The first Maria grew up in this home and her mother owns it. She had brought over 2 of her mother’s old goose down feather pillows to recover. It is such a messy job she decided to come here to the farmhouse to the little cement room out back. When she was a little girl she and the other children had the job of plucking the geese for stuffing in that very cement room. Maria told us that it takes approximately 15 geese to make one pillow! Maria showed the boys and I how she made sure to double stitch each seam with a very small straight stitch so that the feathers didn’t stick through the seam and poke through. She proudly spoke of how Mother had made each adult child 2 pillows for a wedding gift. It was a time consuming and messy labor of love. The elderly 84 year old grandmother's pillowcases were old and worn but now have been restuffed with the feathers complete with lovely bright white cotton pillowcases.. What a sweet circle of events~ It was a very sweet lesson and afternoon.


Grant observing Maria restuffing the pillows



Taking the feathers out of the old cases


The finished product!




The second Maria has been the maid to the owner of this home, 84 year old Anna. Maria comes every Tuesday still just as she has done for Mrs. T for 15 years. We thought that we could sacrifice the $15 per week in order to gain a little help on the laundry and to continue providing the earnings for Maria and her family. Yesterday, Amanda, Laura and I had the opportunity to drive her home in a downpour. Home to Maria is a small neighboring village. As we drove along in our van, it was apparent when the road switched from those maintained by Spanish Lookout. I was a bit concerned that the van would not make the trip! Washed out roads, potholes galore and having to make my way through streams which had taken over the road in places. We finally made our way to her house. Like many third world homes, it mainly consists of a large palm and vegatation covered porch where most of their living takes place. The porch had their kitchen table as well as their kitchen with an outdoor raised cooking pit. They graciously bade us to sit down and visit a while. Chickens ran everywhere.. I was so wishing I had taken my camera as it was just such a picuresqe home. Maria's father had a stroke last year and just sits on the covered porch while Maria's mother does all of the housework. Maria is in her thirties and has a 5 year old daughter but the father is not in the picture. I realized that the $15 US per day that Maria makes M-F is what this family lives on. They have so little in comparison to what we are used to and yet they are loving and warm beyond what we are accustomed to. Please pray for Maria and her sweet little family. I hope that we are able to come back to her place for another visit and next time bring my camera and the whole family.








While both Marias have very different backgrounds and families, both are such delighful ladies. Please keep both Marias in your prayers.

A Cool Evening~

The past few days have been soo refreshing and cool! One of the things that Grady has been wanting to do since we got here was to take the family down to the river. Most locals here do not visit the river during the rainy season as it tends to be very muddy. Consequently our visit to the Belize River in Spanish Lookout proved to be very private as there were no other visitors..

The Belize River

Laura had a very lovely time crunching on the sun-baked gritty beige sand while the boys and Grace made a dam and the older girls threw the ball for Molly and snapped some photos.

Dad marveled at how different the river looks now as opposed to when he visited in the dry season back a few years ago. I was not quite as brave as he was (especially after seeing the killer green-headed racer earlier in the day) and stayed at the beach while he bushwhacked and looked around.

Later in the evening I was quite thrown off when someone asked me if we had bathed while down there.. bathed? Oh, just one of those cultural differences and examples of word differences. Abe assured me that the well meaning lady meant swimming, not BATHING. Although he did tell us that sometimes his family *will* bring a bar of soap down to the river with them.. :O

Fresh Beef!

This past Saturday, Grady and the boys left early to go and help our friend Abe butcher one of his steers. The process was a bit more crude than what we are used to in the States.. but in the end, we were tremendously blessed with some delicious fresh meat and the boys were blessed with a great lesson in butchering~

A Full Day

Just as we were about to leave for a family outing, we saw our first SNAKE! Yes, I said snake. Now of course we all just KNEW it was a fer-de-lance or yellow jaw which are deadly poinsoneous. So all three of my men went running off into the grass with machetes to chop the intruders head off! They did so and then proceeded to run the body and head over to our neighbor John who informed us that we just killed a harmless green headed racer. Hey, they all are scary to us! :)

I mean really, do you see that ferocious hiss?? (sorry I TRIED turning the pic but it wouldnt for some reason!)


Our family outing that day included Reimer's bookstore which is also a thrift shop. We purchased a used shirt for Grady, a second hand dress for Gracie and a few bookstore items. One of the items was a field guide which helps you identify all of the snakes of Belize! We thought we should get a bit more educated on the subject.



http://www.rainforestpublications.com/belizeFieldGuides/index.html

Another book we picked up was a Mennonite Low German Dictionary. It has a Plautdietsch/English and English/Plautdietsch section. Also, our friend Abe F. lent us his Plautdietsch Bible. It has been very interesting to compare our KJV to it. It would be such a blessing to us as well as our children if we could pick up some of the low German. I know our Belize friends would be pleased about it as well.. :)

It really is a great little bookstore, carrying much of what you would see in the CLP catalog, Pathway readers and books, as well as a few Bercot books and many other which are favorites of ours. Quite a gem of a place really. The owner of the bookstore is also the head elder of the Shontal church which is where we are currently attending.

Really the best thing about going to Reimer's bookstore this particular Saturday is that the Reimers are our kitten connection! Mittens, Gracie's new kitten was given to us by the Reimer family. And since Mittens is such a very good kitten, we decided that we needed another one! They had a few left and so we picked out Mitten's sister who Grant has named Maya. Actually he named her Miss Maya Socks but we call her Maya. We hear cats are GREAT at keeping rats and snakes away hence the second kitten! :) (Grady has already warned me that we will not be getting a third..forth...fifth...... hey I figure we should post cats on every corner of the house! :) )

~

Home Sweet Home

Seatac Airport



Grant at Big Rock Falls, Belize



Grady on the beach in Playa Del Carmen


Little Laura, 14 months



Mandy milking the cow

Mama doing clean up

Ash at Rio On Pools

Ryan on the farm

Grace with her kitten "Mittens"

Well happily we are here to report that after about 3 looong years of praying, planning and waiting, we are here in SUNNY Belize! Thanks to the efforts of many (you know who you are..) We are so blessed to be living in a very functional and lovely old farmhouse next door to some very dear friends. It has been such a joy getting to know them better. The community that we are living in is comprised of many different churches and folks. It was originally started by the Kleine Gemeinde Mennonites back in the late 50's. There was a split in the church in the 90's. Now living along side the Kleine Gemeinde Mennonites are many different church groups as well. We have met a Calvary Chapel minister as well as a few people who belong to the Witness Lee group. There are Mayan villagers and Creole who also work in the area and do their shopping here. So far we are attending the traditional Mennonite church as they are probably the closest, doctrine wise, to our family. We have very much been enjoying getting to know all of the folk here though. And all have made us feel so tremendously welcome.

Here are 2 links to some photos.. we hope to keep this blog updated now that we have internet hooked up.

http://www.picasaweb.google.com/libertyjoyforme/Belize2011#

http://www.picasaweb.google.com/libertyjoyforme/BigRockFallsRioOnPoolsAndMore?feat=email#