How Life has Changed

I was sitting in Erika's room, her fresh from a bath, looking at the sweat on her temples...and thought, wow, life has changed for me.

I do not like to sweat and do not like my children to sweat.  Well, now I have to look at it as all the impurities that are being sweated out of our systems.  I cannot keep my kids cool and comfy like I could in Katy.

I do not like dirt.  I do not like dirty feet.  But, I have given up the battle.  My floors were mopped today, Erika was bathed around 7, and somehow her little feet still got dirty.  I bathe her once a day and that is all I can do:)  We all just have dirty feet now from a marble tile floor that does not stay clean since our windows are open 24/7.  Just life in Belize.

Eating out now means do we want to go to a small fast food store, where we mostly love the nachos, or chinese, where it is fried?  But I definitely take any break from cooking I can.  Any meal I don't have to cook has to be a great one.  This Sunday will be a rarity in that we are planning to go out for lunch.  Hope something good is open.

I used to wake up to Good Morning America and go to sleep with the news.  Now, we have a tv in our room that is just a decoration, and I have watched Homeward Bound more times than I would like to say.  The TV typically stays quiet until Erika takes her nap and it is a 100 degrees in the house, and the kids and I will typically watch a movie with a fan pointed on us eating a popsicle.  That is the life:)

Cold showers used to be a bad thing.  Now, that is what I take every night before I go to sleep.  And I love them.  Erika says "Mommy, I'm a Belizean now...I take cold baths!!!"
I used to tell Erika to stay on the sidewalk.  Now, I tell her to stay on the road next to me, because the sidewalk puts her little hands too close to the all the guard dogs that line our street.

An umbrella used to be used to protect us from rain, now it protects us from the neverending sunshine here.

Going to Walmart to make my once a week fill the grocery cart to over flowing trip...was exhausting.   Now, I go to the store, the market, the water is delivered, the bread store, and the chicken store.  Sometimes even the water factory to pick up popsicles.  Now that is exhausting.

My husband used to be the last one up each day.  Now  he is up with the sun, typically between 5:30-6.  But Winnie says that is because he is old:)  But I think it is Belize.

I used to think a homecooked meal was because it was warmed up at home (ie a Stouffers Lasagne).  NOW, my meals are homecooked, for real...from scratch.  And the cake I made last night didn't turn out beautiful, but at least it tasted good:)  That is now my motto.  Fill the tummies with yummy food so they will be happy for a while.

Rainstorms have a whole new meaning as well.  I no longer look at them as an inconvenience to my day.  Rather, I am thankful when God sends the rain.  It typically means a cooler rest of the day and clearing some of the smoke we constantly smell.

The way I view my world has changed a lot in 3 months.  Some of it I can explain.  Some I cannot.  There are things I no longer take for granted.  I waste a whole lot less.  I try a little harder to see people through Jesus' eyes.  I love my family  a little more.