Getting the House up & Running

When we first moved into this house back in August 2011, our friend John described living here as 'glorified camping'! Although it is *much* nicer than that, there are things about the house which make it a bit more difficult to live in than in the States. Our water situation is always an issue. We have piped river water which we use for laundry and outdoor use. We also have a cistern located out front which is filled by rain water for cooking and theoretically drinking. During the dry season we normally purchase rain water to put into the cistern. Moving in this time, the cistern had been drained so we purchased a few hundred gallons.. only to find that the cistern was dirty and the newly purchased water couldn't be used for drinking or cooking. That was a disappointment and a cost. SO, the next step is to have someone (Grant has volunteered!) to climb into the small opening on top of the cistern, climb down a narrow ladder into the inside of the cistern and clean it out so that we can fill it back up with clean water. (stay tuned for that fun post! :-) )

In addition, the laundry is always an issue for us. This time Grady decided to purchase a larger washer/spinner and attach a small filter onto the river water line so that our clothes come out cleaner. Already I see a difference in the amount of time laundry takes and I am SO grateful! Before we had a much smaller washer/spinner which was much less efficient. Between the larger capacity and the filtered river water things are going much smoother now! We absolutely love this house and are so grateful for the opportunity to return back to the same place. It is such a blessing that the little girls especially can settle back in so well since they both have many fond memories of this home.

My new washer/spinner

 

Grady affixed a hose to the machine as well as a valve to the pipe that I can switch off and on the water, instead of holding the hose to fill.

Great set up Daddy! Thank you!

 

 

We brought down some very ugly outdoor wicker furniture.. we decided to cover over the chipping-off paint with some new paint. Ashley takes advantage of the lovely sunny weather and spays a new coat of paint on it.

 

Looks nice Ash!

 

 

Butter is so expensive here! We found some cream on sale which Ashley and Amanda have been using to make butter at home. It is a blessing to have fresh butter

Ryan fixes the school room screened windows. There are so many fewer bugs in the house now! Thanks Rye!

 

Laura eats on the rough table

Poor Gracie is sick again..

 

Dad and Mom check out the back yard, trying to figure out a place for the dog run

Our 'chop chop' boys

Pretty fruit in our back yard

.. and flowers

 

Sitting around eating dinner

Time to finish the table!

Lots of helpers!

Yeah! Such a nice table Daddy!

Mandy takes a moment to play the piano

Our ladies decide to make the first batch of Belizean cookies!

Mmmmmmm.. oatmeal cookies hot and tasty

 

The girls get their new kittens. Grace named her kitten Mittens and Laura named hers Francis

Grant makes  himself a great shelf for his bedroom! The boys love the moderate weather here which allows them to be outside every day, rain or shine!

Ryan starts building a bridge/walkway over the muddy part of our yard

He takes off for a short sunset bike ride! (We love BELIZEAN sunsets!)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cayo Trip and Our First Day

The first morning dawned and I just laid in bed, listening to the beautiful birds. Oh how I love it here in Belize! We decided to get ready and head into Cayo to get some groceries and things that were needed for the house. After our return, Grady worked on some finishing touches on the dining table he was making for our family. The poor guy had so many projects (and still does!) just to get us functioning and up and running here.. it is a blessing that the boys are just that much older and can help so much.

Travelling Bull

Following an Old Order Mennonite

We had to stop at Mamas coffee shop for some java since there was none in the house!

The shop is located on the second story.. Mandy looks down at the street below

Next stop was the marketplace. It wasn't Saturday but there were still quite a few produce vendors

 

Look at that sky!

For a treat we stopped by one of our favorite places and shared a few plates of

Belizean chicken and rice

Even the bathrooms are colorful in Belize!

 

After returning, Grady and the children resume the table project

Even Gracie gets in on it!

I love Mr Serious being watched by the stuffed horsie!

 

We had left many things here in storage and were so pleased that MOST of our things, including this cute horse of Grace's were still here! Yay!

Almost bedtime!

 

Daddy reads the little ones one of our favorite children's books

Missionary Stories and the Millers

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our Experience at the Airport and Finally Getting Home! :-)

The travel day for us ladies was lonnnng.. by the time we reached Belize, the little girls were pretty exhausted. The prospects of going through immigration, then finding our 14 checked bags, and 2 carseats and then heading into customs to have them rifle through all of our things seemed very overwhelming. Once we stepped off the plane and started down the steep metal steps, I relaxed and thought 'Hey, this is Belize.. even if it's stressful, it'll be over soon..' I wished that Daddy would be able to come help us but I knew that we wouldn't see him until after the whole ordeal was over. He would have to stand outside and we wouldn't see him until we passed through customs. First was the LONG line. We were last in line which was fine and it gave us a chance to chat with a very sweet American girl who was heading out to a resort to work with their horses. Finally came our chance to meet with the immigrations officer who was very kind. Then on to the luggage area where we started the search for our 16 items.. all was going great until I realized that someone had mistakenly taken one of our yellow and black containers I had purchased at Costco and had accidently left theirs.. we knew that because we were the LAST person in the luggage area and my other black and yellow container was not there but in it's stead was one identical to mine but with someone elses' name on it. Well that became quite the ordeal and the United lady, who was a Belizean was SO helpful. There was a phone number on the tote so we tried calling the people.. to no avail. Well, she said, worse case scenario was that we would have to come back the next day to Belize City once they located our container (a three hour round trip!) Ok- I started finally making my way to the customs counter.. meanwhile the little girls had HAD it and were running on the conveyor belts, whining, pushing the stroller into customs agents and Mandy, Ash and I were absolutely melting. AND Laura was still in her pjs because there was no way I was about to make the time to locate her clothes at this point. I had a mountain of luggage and 8 customs agents staring at me, wondering if I was ever going to let them go home for the day. I finally cried out pathetically 'Could one of you help me?" that did it! 4 very kind and sweaty agents ran toward me and helped us wheel the 3 carts full of luggage. One of the men, whom we had dealt with before offered to wheel the girls out in the stroller to their daddy and let him know why the delay. Now, normally having some guy wheeling my daughters out of the building would completely be against my better judgement but I was desperate to get these things resolved and get out of there! I DID have Ash run after him and peek through the door to make sure daddy got them. :-) I had accidently left the identical container that belonged to the other person on my cart and so they started questioning me about why I had someone else's tote.. I went on to explain the whole story and they all got very animated! "Oh, we know who that was! She came through with many, many totes just like this.." She left a few totes at the airport side of the building because they wouldn't all fit in her vehicle! Lets go see if by chance yours was one that she left there!" So I followed the agents and as I passed from that door into the airport side, I saw my forlorn hubby standing on the sidewalk outside. He shrugged to me questioningly and I just shrugged back and grinned. This is Belize! Who knows what will happen next! Well, thankfully my tote was one of the ones which the lady had left there at the airport to pick up later! Praise the Lord! Now, the only problem was that the airport manager did not want to release the tote until he spoke with the woman who had left it. He was under strict order NOT to let them out of his sight until she returned to get them. That incited quite an argument between the customs agents and the airport workers. I am sure they just all wanted to GO HOME as we were literally the last people in the entire place. (in third world countries of course, the airport closes when there are no more flights coming in for the day) Oh boy! Meanwhile, Grady has no information except for the fact that there was a delay and that I was now on the airport side of the building instead of the customs side.. he finally broke the 'rules' and walked into the customs area and over to the airport side to find me. In stormed a very official looking customs guy who silenced the airport worker, threw our 50 lb tote over his shoulder and marched back to the customs side. He was done with this! So started the search through our bags.. and of course we were brought into the little room where we had to explain Sadie and show all of her permit and vet papers.. they also confiscated my heritage heirloom seeds that I had sought a permit for because they were not in hermetically sealed bags. Bummer. Oh well. Because we were there literally 1 1/2 hours after everyone else they only glanced at all of our things and only charged us duties on our dog and Ashley's sewing machine. $80 all together! That was A M A Z I N G and an answer to prayer. We GLADLY paid the porter (the one who had strolled the girls out 1.5 hrs earlier) to take ALL of the bags out to the van where he packed them in and chatted with Ashley, Amanda and the little girls (Laura of course still in her sleeper pjs poor thing!) until Grady and I came out. It was dark now and 2 1/2 hrs after landing. Seriously I don't think anyone has ever been there that late. They were shutting all the lights off as we drove out of the driveway and they had to remove the barrier in order for us to leave the airport. Whew! What a day! All in all, it wasn't really a stress and we all laughed about it all the way home. We are back! :-)

 

Once home, the guys told us all about their exciting trip through the States and Mexico

Daddy tried keeping it light because of the little girls but wow, I couldn't believe some of the stories he was telling us!

Laura (still in the pjs) is amazed by Daddy's stories!

Ashley is simply hysterical after such a long day! :-)

Grant was reliving his harrowing experiences and enjoying having the rest of his family back

The guys had set up all of the cots upstairs. The four olders would be sleeping in the same room until they could get the girls' room cleaned and put together.

Don't forget to watch out for scorpions and spiders Gracie!

Ryan on his big XL Cabelas cot. Time for bed. What a blessing to all be together once again!