Happy Birthday Gracie!

Grace Elizabeth McDonald January 7, 2008

We are so blessed to have this precious child to raise for our Lord Jesus. She has been such a great and wonderful gift from Him! In James he speaks of every gift being from above, from God. And definitely we see our little Gracie as such a gift. God has such wonderful plans for this precious child.. we continue to daily pray that she will continue to grow in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ and that she will commit her life to serving and following Him. May we, her parents continue to have grace, mercy and wisdom as how to raise this very special and complex blessing. Oh Gracie how we love to see you smile.. to see you serve your baby sister and choose to obey and choose the right way. We love you so much dear sweet one. May we always seek the Lord and not man for wisdom on how to raise you for Him. We LOVE you so much sweetheart!

Love, Daddy and Mommy

Greater joy have I none than this, to hear of my children walking in the truth. 3 John 1:4 ESV

A trip to the Grillhouse with the Kings

One blessing about being in a third world country is that the prepared food is usually very inexpensive.. which is nice when you are out and about with 10 hungry children! One of our favorite places to stop for a bite to eat is the Snooty Fox Grillhouse just outside of San Ignatio. They have the most delicious tacos in all of Belize.. .75 Us per taco! We can feed our family for $12! This week the Kings treated us to some delicious ribs and tacos as well as a special papaya drink. This specific place is so very clean as well as a fun place for children as they have a play area. We very much enjoyed our time, visiting and allowing the children to burn off some energy. In addition we enjoyed talking about the Lord Jesus with the young couple who runs the establishment.

♥Sweethearts sharing a papaya drink ♥

The 'twins' enjoy a cool drink of water

Grady and Jeremy took some time to speak with Chris, who runs the Snotty Fox. Very nice young man who needs the Lord Jesus in his life.

Miss Willow has been such a joy to have around! She is having such a nice time with her best friend Amanda that we called and were able to reschedule her flight.. now she is staying 2 weeks longer than originally planned! Yay!

Stephanie, always a blessing

The kids have a ball on the merry-go-round

Even Ryan gets a ride! Here comes Dad to give a BIG push!

Now it is time for the little ones to enjoy a slow ride. Gracie and Jonathan have such a sweet innocent bond.. they really are best friends. It is sooo cute! It will be hard to separate them again. (but remember, we are not talking about that yet! :) )

Delicious .75 cent tacos! MMMMM!



On a hot day here in Belize, cold cokes in glass bottles are so refreshing. A great way to finish off a day filled with friends and serving others. We are so grateful for these days with the Kings.

Iguanas, iguanas everywhere!

The San Ignatio Hotel sponsors an exibit and program entitled the 'Green Iguana Project' which today we enjoyed touring. Every year the project collect hundreds of iguana eggs which are incubated and hatched.. raised and eventually set free. It is a conservation effort in reation to the depletion of the iguana population. It seems iguana meat is a delicacy for the Belizean people. In the wild only 10% of the babies survive to adulthood. Grady, Jeremy, Ashley, Ryan, Grant, Timmy, Joshua, Gracie, Jonathon, Laura and I had a nice time on the nature walk and visiting both of the iguana enclosures.

We enjoyed a guided jungle tour on our way to the exhibit area

At one point our guide pointed out a termite nest in a nearby tree. He proceeded to tell us that termites are a terrific source of protein and if you ever got lost in the jungle that you could survive on them.. he then asked if there were any volunteers to take a taste! Grant was the first to be brave enough to agree to it.. in the end we all (except for Grace and Laura) ate at least one termite! Really they werent that bad.. tasted a bit like carrots.. or celery or cedar..

The look says it all~

Our guide, with a handful of baby iguanas



Jonna, waiting to hold a little baby iguana



Ryan holds the 'mascot' iguana. Notice his beautiful orange color~

It is mating season when the males turn this lovely color in order to attract the females

Ryan with a handful of babies. They are this lovely green color for the first year or so of their lives in order to blend in with their surroundings.. mostly leaves, vines etc




Hold tightly Ashley! During mating season the males are known for being very clumsy. This one flung himself onto the enclosure floor which was 10 feet below. In the process he 'messed up' his face (the guide's words) in order to try and get back to his part of the cage floor before one of the the other males over his territory.

Willow is a born natural!

Whats on your head Grant?

Thats better!

iguanas, iguanas everywhere! When this photo was taken, he had 6 on him!

Hold still Willow!

Laura enjoys investigating the lovely San Ignatio Hotel.. barefooted of course!

Mandy and Sister Stephanie had stayed in the van as Amanda was not really up to walking around. Here they are coming in to use the restroom in the hotel as we were coming out

Two of our guys wait as the crew of 17 load up into the van. What a blessed day. Thanks Stacey-jean for recommending this fun exhibit!

Blessed Beyond Measure

We have been so encouraged by our visit with the King Family. We are so blessed to have them here with us. In addition, they brought with them Amanda's wonderful friend Willow. Spending time singing together, serving together and being together has been like 'old times' and yet even better probably because we know that the time is short this time.. funny how much more you appreciate the most wonderful things in your life when you know that it may not be there forever. I won't think about that now though! :) For now we are having such a wonderful time with one another.. we praise Jesus that He provided for them to come for a visit!

In addition, Valley Christian Fellowship and the wonderful brothers and sisters there have made us ladies dresses as well as sent suitcases of things that we were in desperate need of: well and goodies too of course! ( :> ) Phebe and the ladies sent us wonderful things such as fabric, sponges, pans, nuts, socks, shirts and pants for the boys... SO many things which are expensive or hard to find here! Thank you so much brothers and sisters. Your kindness has been such an encouragement to us.

Also, we had food funds and 3 totes full of children's clothing donated by friends and family. We have already been able to bless a few families with both the food and clothing. We thank the Lord for his provision for the few families that the Lord has placed in our lives here in Belize. We praise the Lord that he has allowed us to be his hands and feet in their lives. And while we are able to provide some small practical needs, please pray for them who also are in desperate spiritual need. They need Jesus Christ as their provision, Lord and Savior.

Sharing a meal with the Kings at Rosa's

Willow has been good medicine for Amanda ♥

Willow and I sorting through the huge pile of clothing

Jonna and Gracie

Jeremy had originally asked if we could possibly find a house near ours to rent for the month. This would allow them to have a bit of family time and privacy. Little did all of us know that the Lord would provide a portable house which could be moved and placed just 10 feet from our house. :)

Laura and Becca enjoy the downpour

Thou shalt the Lord rely,

So safe shalt thou go on;

Fix on his work thy steadfast eye,

So shall thy work be done.- Paul Gerhardt

____________________________

Bear not a single care thyself,

One is too much for thee;

The work is mine, and mine alone;

Thy work? To rest in Me.- unknown

Fast Friends and Fun Projects

Life around here has been full of friends and farm projects. One of the things that is a blessing living here is that we are able to have farm animals; goats and chickens. Also, The Banmans and our family share the responsibility of milking the cow which is wonderful because we are able to keep half of the milk! Recently, both of our families aquired more chickens. Mrs. Banman decided that we should let the chickens out of their small chicken cage and let them run free throughout the day! We are very excited that all of our eggs will now be free range and more nutritious. Mr. Banman and the boys spent many days splitting 2 x 3's for fence posts and erecting a large outdoor area for the chickens to run around in. Grace enjoyed playing with the Banman girls while the boys and John worked on the project.

Grace is enjoying the swing that the boys made for her


Ryan, working on the chicken run project

Grace and Wanda

Grace with the Banman's 2 oldest girls


The finished wagon boxes that Grady and Jim built for the Banman family. These are replicas of the wonderful wooden wagon which is here at the house and which the grandfather handcrafted many years ago. One of John's brother's asked Grady to build these boxes in order to re-create 4 more wagons just like Grandpa's.. and give to some of the grandchildren. Here is the nice finished product! They looked very nice.

Our Visit to Washington

Here are a few snapshots from our trip to Washington. We were so blessed to have lots of company while staying at the King's house. Thank you for your continued prayer for our family and for Amanda~

The Sebens girls, Becca and both Lauras w/ Mandy

Jake Sebens with some of the children

Victoria

Mrs. Sebens


Laura S. with Mandy