North Carolina

So like I said in a few previous posts, our time in North Carolina was both physically and spiritually refreshing for both Lee and I.  We were busy most of the time...but it was different busy than our life here in Belize.  We were pampered, ate out, got to shop...things that just don't happen here...or not in the same capacity.  We are so thankful to the church that brought us.

Here are some pics of our days there:)

What a blessing to Lee and I to have Chick Fil A right in front of the hotel!

Part of the team that came last July sharing and encouraging others in the High School group to come to Belize.

Reunion

The home Billy Graham grew up in and a Library next door.  It was very moving how the Lord has used just one man.  We all are born with such potential.

Lee with missionaries from Nicaragua, Kentucky and Haiti

As we are about to leave for the Global Express...

Pastor Michelle, who brought this all together...praying together and giving us final instructions.

The food people got as they came to the Belize room.

Sweet friends who came last July and are coming back!

The kids made necklaces while Lee spoke.

We had such a great time.  It was a great trip.  Fast, yet somehow still refreshing.  Thank you Grace Covenant Church for blessing Lee and I!

Erika's Baptism

I don't need any pictures, because this video captures it all.


Wow, what an amazing Sunday to come home after a trip that was truly refreshing for Lee and I.  God is so amazing and blesses us over and over.

Worship yesterday was absolutely beautiful.  God's presence was so close, so real.  The only reason we should be there is to see and feel God:)  And then Lee's mom sang a special of How Great thou Art followed by Dale preaching an annointed sermon.  Just a perfect Sunday morning.

Then in the afternoon, we had Erika's baptism.  It was so special that I cannot even put into words.  But one of the one men in our church videoed and had it up on Facebook within just a couple of hours of us getting home.  He works for the television station here and I must say he is extremely talented.  To be able to catch the emotion.  It was if you are there watching it firsthand.

Lee's parents were here which was awesome.  Wish my parents could have been too...but its a little far.  Erika's Belizean grandma was there, though.  And she even made her some amazing cookies to celebrate...we all helped her celebrate.  We gave her a Bible with her full name engraved on it.

But one of the coolest, unplanned, wow, kind of things that happened is that it was planned on Erika's three year anniversary adoption.  So amazing and special.  To baptise her on her adoption day.  It is so neat how God works things out.

I will let the video say the rest.  We are so blessed to get to be a part of what God is doing here in Belize.  So blessed.

My heart is full

I have no pictures to post tonight.   I simply wanted to share my heart.

When we began the journey to leave our home, our life in Katy, 3 1/2 years ago, one of the lies I believed was that when we moved to Belize, everyone would forget about us.  That all the good things about my life would be gone.  I believed that lie.

God has gone out of His way to reveal a different truth to me.

Today I am in North Carolina for a missions conference.  A friend that I met because she came on a mission trip to Belize last summer, came and picked me up, took me shopping at Target so I could restock on some things, bought me a Starbucks and then took me to lunch at Panera Bread...one of my favorite restaurants.  Another friend who also came last summer met us there.   We enjoyed fellowshipping and my heart was full.

Tonight, Lee and I joined a few other missionaries in a beautiful home and enjoyed a delicious American meal with so many yummy things.  The pastor who organized all of this trip explained to us the plan for tomorrow.  There will be a neat Global Express where 600 people will come and hear about our different missions.   I will get pictures tomorrow night.  But one thing she said is that she wanted us, the missionaries, to feel loved.  I teared up as she spoke.  Feeling so loved.  Feeling so "remembered" by my Father God.

God has been so good to our family.  He has strategically placed people in our lives who just bless us, love us, encourage us.  Sometimes I get so weary.  Saturday, I was weary.  I thought how would I even prepare to come on this trip?  But the timing of this trip is perfect.  Lee has been so busy.  I have "missed" him even though we see each other all the time.  So God has refreshed our spirits, spoiled our physical by a nice room to stay in, nice food, etc.  and blessed our marriage by allowing us to have time away from phones, church, kids and business.

God has blessed us with supportive family and friends.  Lees parents sacrificed to come and care for the kids.  God has placed us on people's hearts...people we do not know...who pour into us, encourage, send us care packages or bring us care packages.

God has gone out of His way to show us how much He loves us.  And with a full heart, it gives me strength to get back to work, back to task, back to what God has called our family to in this season.  I feel refreshed:)

Lee went to the office today

After our typical morning routine, getting up, getting laundry out, getting school going...Lee just went out to the office.  It is so weird.  My bedroom is actually my bedroom.  I do still have one little corner that involves a small home office/homeschool/children's church.  But other than that, it is more back to my own house after two years of church business running out of our bedroom.

This weekend was so incredibly busy that my arms still bear the ache of it.  Saturday, we had a wedding, which truly does take the whole day...especially since it was an hour away.  Then we got ready for Sunday.  Sunday was a huge crowd and a great service.  We broke into NetGroups all over the room.  It was really cool.  Then our friends, the Auterys, came and spent the night.  The kids all had a blast and the whole family helped move Lee's office from our bedroom to the new office outside.  Truly, I cannot say what an incredible blessing that was.  And for Lee to be able to get settled was such a blessing to him.  So, yesterday involved lots and lots of laundry that I am continuing today (linens and towels for us plus 6 more:)  And moving around our room and trying to figure out how our new arrangement will work minus the office.  It is still not totally settled, but we will leave it as it is for now.  I am looking for some sort of room screen divider thing to set up  to hide my small work area:)

BUT, now we prepare for our trip to the missions conference, honing in on getting this 9 weeks of school (which is really 6 weeks) wrapped up before Lee's parents get here in only THREE DAYS!!!!!  To tell you we are excited is sorely an understatement.  We cannot wait.  Yet, there is much to be done before they arrive, so that when they are here, we can just enjoy them:)  I have shopping and errands to do today.  But first, in the midst of our business, Lee is taking me out for a Valentine's lunch.  The actual day is too busy, so it will be nice to have a little getaway from it all!

In other news, Tori began piano lessons last week, but won't be able to continue until March.  The next two weeks are just too crazy for us.  Also, last week, Tori began volunteering once a week at Heart House.  It is a tutor center run by some missionaries in our church that help children back in the village.  She loves it.  And I love that she is getting this opportunity.  It is working with elementary aged children and it is right up her alley.  It is only a couple hours a week and a blessing to her.

Joshua faithfully does our powerpoint and sound each week.  He is in the process of raising up another young man to share the load.  He also helps our at Destiny House, doing some cleaning to prepare for the kids to come and hang out on Friday and Saturday nights.  We are so proud of all our kids!

Okay, so I just stopped to help my girls with school.  But can I tell you how nice it was to help them in here...not to have to go out because Daddy  needed a quiet office.  I truly am in my happy place:)

So, some pics for you to see.  Of course, you have probably seen a lot of them on Facebook, but here they are all together.

Lee's office being built and finished:

It is being painted white to blend with the house and protect the wood.  We truly hate covering this beautiful wood.  We all put our handprints in the doorstep.  When I was resistant, Erika told me, "get over being dirty and just do it, Mom"...this girl...

The wedding on Saturday.  We did not get too many pictures, but it was beautiful and all red and white for Valentines.  It was a joy to watch two young people who are passionate for the Lord and an example to many young people they minister to in Cayo.

Sunday, we honored our LifeNet leaders with a towel that symbolizes servanthood:

The building was decorated from something else that had gone on that week...what a perfect way to celebrate the Lord!

We began in corporate worship, which was amazing, then dismissed and multiplied into NetGroups:

Yes, our beautiful daughter was one of the NetGroup leaders that we honored.  Many girls have expressed that they come because of her.  We are very proud of her heart to serve the girls.

Well, here is what is going on.  Life is busy, but good.  LifeNet now has its own office and that makes our home more calm.  Our people are growing, our times of worship are sweet.  We are so blessed that Jesus lets us be a part of what He is doing here in Belmopan.

Please Don't Judge me that I Just took a shower at 2 pm:(

This morning, around 10:30, our Worship Leader called.  He is helping me arrange for piano lessons for Tori.  It has been about 6 months since she had lessons and we are ready to start it up again.  In the near future, we will also probably start Erika too.  She is very interested.  Anyway, he had arranged a teacher for Friday mornings, which works great for us.  So, he wanted to know if he could bring her over to meet us.  I was like, um, now? Not now.  I haven't even showered yet.  And he said he was glad he called then.  All day, it has bothered me...hope he doesn't think I'm lazy.

Because today has been quite productive.  There has just been a series of events that have prevented me from "getting ready" for the day.

Usually, we wake up and are at Market by 8 on Fridays.  This morning, we were tired.  Our Thursday nights are late and it has been a busy week.  Lee woke up with a sinus headache.  So, instead, we just enjoyed the quiet house and talked.  It was nice.  It was nice to have some conversation without interruption.

But then, Erika woke up.  So her and I went out to get breakfast and make dinner for tonight.  I love how she observed, "Mom, that is real smart to put food in the crock pot all day so at night, you don't have to cook:)"  As soon as I finished that, I was about to jump in the shower.  But TORI was in her shower.  We can only take one shower at a  time...or should I say one HOT shower at a time.  Normally, she takes hers at night, but the water was turned off last night at 10, so it messed up our normal schedule.  Then Josh got in...then Lee...so I moved on with my day.

FANS...Living here the fans get really, really dirty.  For one thing, we use them ALOT.  The other thing is you can't just dust them.  The humidity makes the dirt stick.  So, I began the yucky process of taking all our oscillating fans apart, cleaning them in the sink, putting them out in the not-sunny-day to dry...and vaccuuming out the engines.  I did a load of laundry and got the kids going on school.

Once a week, I teach Erika new concepts not covered in her paces.  She is actually only two weeks away from finishing her paces for the year, so I am having to do more hands on things and teaching with her.  She is a little sponge.  BUT hands on means I am not getting anything else done.  So, we were working on school.  Josh and Tori each had a test, and I looked at the clock and it was 11:30...time for lunch...but man, I still had a million things going on.  So, Lee blessed me, and he and Josh went and picked up stewed chicken, beans and rice...a very cheap, but yummy meal here in Belize.

After lunch, I went back to my million things.  Washed dishes.  Graded the kids' work.  Hung out the laundry.  Erika and I hand towel dried all the fan pieces!!!

Tori asked if I ever was going to take a shower.  It was apparently bugging her.

So, I got in the shower.   And got right back out.  No gas...no hot water.  Another thing we deal with here.  Our gas tank was empty...Thankfully, we keep an extra one.

Lee had fallen asleep from his cold medicine, so I asked Josh to go out and switch the tanks.

Then I squeezed some Orange Juice.

Then  I TOOK A SHOWER.

Wow, I feel so much better.

Now, to make a chocolate cake...