Our Favorite Milkman and Silly Moments

After being in Belize for a few months, Ashley decided that Ryan should take over the milking since she had so many other responsibilites around the house. After all, since the Banmans milked at night, he would only have to do it one time a day, first thing in the morning! At first Ryan was a bit resistant to the idea but soon became our faithful milkman

Some mornings, finding the cow was the most time consuming part of the whole ordeal! On this particular morning, Ryan had to include Ashley on the cow finding mission as 'the cow' was no where to be found.

 

After searching the countryside, walking acre after acre, they finally found her. Aparently this brahma-cross calf had just been born and for some reason, 'the cow' thought that it belonged to her! These two cows took turns guarding over the calf and chasing the other 'Mama' off! Finally, 'our' cow got the hint and ran off, quite humiliated!

...and headed straight into the pond to pout!

Time for the milkman to take action.. He shooed her out of the pond and reminded her that she was needed elsewhere and had better get herself in gear!

Back to the barn you crazy cow! LOL!

Now, back to work...

Thank you Mr. Milkman! You are a born natural!

~Silly Times~

Between the heat and packing, we were all a bit silly the last few days we were in Belize. I think all of us were having some strong emotions about leaving.. both positive and negative. Isn't laughter such a great way to lighten the load? The Bible calls laughter 'Good Medicine' Now Ha Ha Ashley, get out of the box and get back to packing!

Very lovely Gracie!

                                                     Uh Oh, what does that look mean?

Mandy, checking out her new camera! Now honey, out of bed and go help PACK! lol

When we did get a break from packing and final preparations, we found ourselves taking drives and enjoying the beautiful Countryside Park in Spanish Lookout. On most weekdays there is hardly anyone there! We spent quite a few evenings enjoying dinner in the lovely thatched picnic area.

The look says it all!

Our little woodsman.. are you building the palm hut here Grant?

         For our heart is glad in him, because we trust in his holy name.
                                        Psalm 33:21 ESV

Last Minute Preparations and Goodbyes (for now!)

We have been so blessed to have made so many sweet and special friends in Spanish Lookout. Those friends are sure a mixed group as some have differences of opinion on many things.. inside politics you may say. It was a blessing to make friends with all sorts of folks, regardless of where they stood on 'this issue' or that. Most of them came to help and say goodbye on those last days. It got a bit uncomfortable when one would come over who did not necessarily agree with another.. but it all worked out in the end!

On another note,  Icontinually had to remind myself that having company every minute of the day during a 'move' was cultural (both Mennonite and Central American) and that I just needed to allow our friends to jump in and help, without feeling like I had to entertain. Wow can you get a lot done when there is always a meal being brought over and extra helping hands!

 The children sit on our living room sofa while it waits to be put back into the van~ ;)

No, really.

The house gets emptier and emptier.. this is the big girl's room which is downstairs

The bathroom

Pantry

Looking toward the 'office' area and beyond is the dining room

Here is one upstairs bedroom.

The stairs leading upstairs..

The master bedroom

Dining room (notice the glass louvered windows)

Bertha comes to say goodbye (I wish we had photos of everyone but so happy we have these few!)

While at Mrs. Banman's saying goodbye, we saw dad go run one last errand.. hurry back daddy! We have to leave to catch the bus in Belize City!

Goodbye dear Mrs. Banman and your wonderful girls! We look forward to hearing good news soon about another little Banman!

Martha, we will miss you so much!

Dear Mary Hein with Amanda

The Hein girls are so wonderful with our children

Thank you so much Mary, Betty and Marcy for bring us delicious ice cream bars!

What a 'sweet' thing to do!

The Friesen family were so kind as to offer to watch Ashley's mutt. Abe jokingly told Ashley that he is reassured that truly we will be back.. since Ashley loves her dog so much!

Goodbye for now Spanish Lookout and all of the precious friends.. Lowens, Friesens, Banmans, Penners and all! We will miss our times together.

Goodbye Succotz

Why Lord? Why have we gained so much favor with you that you allowed us to spend time with these sweet children who you created? To speak your precious words into their lives.. We are so fragile and needy ourselves and most days do not feel qualified for any of it.

We do not know what the Lord has in store for our family but we do pray that whatever it is that we will be bold enough to 'go' again, wherever that may be.. Thank you Lord for the most treasured 8 months of our lives. Thank you for being faithful to us in our desperate times of need.. for holding us up spiritually during the dark days.. and practically on those days where only rice was to be found on our shelves. Thank you for teaching our children what it truly means to sacrifice and to serve. And thank you that although we are broken vessels that you allow us to serve in your kingdom. 



                                                       LAST DAY IN SUCCOTZ

A group shot of as a friend has recently dubbed them our 'distant relatives' ;)

This time grandpa was there too! He really wanted to get a photo of he and Roberta alongside our family

Uh humm.. we found Laura digging treats out of the floorboards, and EATING them!

The family had prepared us a traditional Belizean meal as a farewell thank you.. complete with rice, beans and chicken as well as coleslaw, plantains and hortchatcha which is a rice drink (and which I suppose I horribly misspelled). It was difficult to choke down this delicious meal as the rest of the family had nothing for themselves for lunch.. we were so touched by this special gift.

We had asked Anna and Rudy to find out the most needy families in Succotz so that we could hand out the last of our donated food and clothing items. What made it so special is that Rudy's family kind of took over the distribution of the items. It was so heart warming to see them serving others.

One stop we made was at Denea's mother's grave. She died just 9 months ago, leaving she and her 4 other siblings. It was heart wrenching watching she and her cousin Rudy cleaning off the cement above ground grave site. Such a heavy burden to bear for an eleven year old little girl.

Back at home, we started saying our goodbyes.. as you can imagine there were plenty of tears.

Rudy presented me with a small book of scripture verses and poems. It has been amazing to see how much he wants to serve the Lord. Please continue to pray that he finds someone to disciple him. That is one primary reason we look forward  to going  back to Belize, if it is the Lord's will.

My sweet Grant had one last gift to give. His bicycle which he had purchased from the auction in Belize and had replaced about every part which could be!  It is so special to see the Lord work in the hearts of our children. We will miss this family so much. Lord, please bring us back to Belize if it is your will..

We just want to ask you that if the Lord tells you to 'go', will you? It is worth every sacrifice. The Lord is not looking for perfect vessels. Only willing ones.