Goodbye Belize

 

The day had come.. we loaded up the rented vehicle..

Everyone ready?

We were definitely leaving with mixed emotions..

Laura missed her kitty but was excited to fly in an airplane again

 

Mandy already missed our dear friends..

Grace was looking forward to a gluten free hamburger from Burgerville but

would miss her Belize home.

 

First we stopped off at the clinic so we could purchase amoxicillin for poor Grady who had woke up with a seriously abscessed tooth which he feared would get infected.

Our second stop was to the Maria's house where we dropped off the last minute household items that we would not be taking with us to the airport..

Big Maria expressed to us with tears how we were just like blood family to her. That she could hardly bear the thought of us leaving.. it was so heartbreaking that both Ashley and Amanda were sobbing. Little Maria sat by quietly too in her quiet way, crying. We prayed for Maria and her family and had to leave.. it was a heartbreak for sure.

 

The next stop was Milton's house. He would be taking us the 1 1/2 hour one way to the airport.

He and Ryan rode his motorcycle to the house in Spanish Lookout where he would be returning the van later that day.. We picked them up on our way out of Spanish Lookout

Milton's sweet wife and baby kept us entertained on the ride to Belize City.

Because we were shipping a dog, we had to be at the airport 3 hours before take off!

Here we are, filling out paperwork to ship Dutch. Sadie would be coming on the plane as a service dog for Gracie

Milton and Vicky stayed the whole time before our boarding time!

 

After checking in and getting Dutch taken care of, we headed outside to a street side vendor for our last Belizean rice, beans and chicken.

Milton tried lightening the sobering goodbye by being silly. We will miss them so, so much..

An emotional goodbye

Ryan and Milton had grown to be very close brothers also

A tearful farewell..

God be with you 'till we meet again!

the girls did great on the airplane

tired boy

tired dog

tired Ash

After our arrival in Dallas, we were helped by such a sweet attendant who helped us all the way through immigration and waited with us for an hour while we waited for our shuttle.. it seemed that they were having a hard time finding room for us all.

 

they showed up finally.. with a van AND a car! :-)

Now what?

Dallas, TX welcomes us

It was late but we were starving! We took a late-night trek across the freeway to Shari's

 

                            

Thankfully it was 'children eat free night'! So Grant, Grace and Laura all got free kids meals

We got back to the hotel at 11 pm.. it had been a looong day and we would definitely be sleeping in!

We all fell asleep with Belizean events, pictures and people that we love and would miss.. :-(

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Special Meeting

Our special friends from the Friday night bible study wanted to send us off with a going away party and communion. They also wanted to invite our friends from the jungle church in Agua Viva. Milton's family has a private orange grove on the river which he secured for the event..

We were going to all meet in Belmopan, near the entrance to the grove. As our family drove down the main street, we saw the Agua Viva bus, with its back tire tettering on the edge of a ditch! It seems that the driver misjudged the turn and was now stuck.. thankfully, Milton, Glen and the Koops also pulled up at the same time. Pretty soon the guys had found a plank with which to try to get that back wheel out off of the high culvert side.

Suddenly, a passing public bus saw their plight and backed up to them, ready to help.. yes, this is Belize.. and all of the passengers on the bus patiently waited as their driver hooked up a rope with which to pull our friends out.. :-)

Yay!

With that problem solved, we all started out for the park again

Grant jumps in the back of the Koop boys

It was a short drive to the private park and citrus grove. Milton's uncle had been kidnapped from here in the early 90's. He had radio contact with his family for a few days.. and then had never been heard from again. We had never heard the entire story until Milton told us this day. It added a sobering tone to the special time together..

We then spent a nice time of singing and sharing.. then we shared in communion

We headed to the river to wash feet

 

After a while we headed back up to the picnic area for a meal together

It was a fun time of sweet fellowship

Gracie wanted to take this photo of her standing on the cliff over the lovely blue river water