Through the Jungle and to the River we will go...

Okay, anyone who knows me, knows that I am NOT an adventurous person.  Come on, moving to a third world country is the top of my adventure!!

Well, we have been in the house, around Belmopan way too much lately...and I wanted to do something today.  We were very indecisive, trying to get people to join us and finally decided to go to Banana Bank, but according to the boys in this family, that is so boring.  Not boring to me, but you know?  Anyway, we picked up Jesse and then Josh asked if he could take us to the river.  Well, we were not prepared, had to go home, get the cooler and ice, snacks, stop and get drinks...the list goes on.  So forty five minutes after our original departure time, we were headed to the river and had a couple other groups of people coming to join us.

After a pretty drive into the JUNGLE, Jesse showed us where to park.  We loaded up all our stuff and headed down a much longer path and walk than I expected.  I actually had to remove my flip flops because they were making me slip.  

But, when we arrived at "the spot", it was beautiful and refreshing...and worth it all.  Soon, more people from LifeNet came and we had a great day.  Erika could not wear her float, as they said the current would sweep her away, so we had to keep her close at all times.  But it was so nice.  And so nice just enjoying the time with everyone.

So, we have no neighborhood pool, we cannot go catch a movie at the theatre, but we do get to ocassionally really enjoy God's creation...

so happy we are not at boring banana bank....what adventure can i get into here,?   Lets see...

my jungle girl

jungle man with a machete, clearing an area for us...dont worry its just jesse

and now the pugleys have arrived

sara and baby eden...sara is so much more an adventurous mama than me...

such a sweet girl...i love her

taking a little break

and now the perez family and a few extra teens are here...shelly is like me...not big on adventure, but we had ended up really enjoying the peaceful, cool water:)

you guessed correctly...tori had the camera and had to take a pic of marias ferocious dog...he barked at us the whole time

the trail home...

Heading back to the van...

Oh, and by the way, everything is STILL closed today since Thursday…so ready for everything to open back up tomorrow.  I have a special package at the post office waiting on us…that will be a Blog Post tomorrow:)

Identifying Emotions

This morning I was feeling a little not myself...really, lately.   During the service, I asked God to show me what was going on.  Well, after lunch with friends at a chinese restaurant, I came home and uploaded some pics from this morning...

As I was sitting here, just thinking about it, I think I realized what is going on.  Easter season has been racked full of emotions for me for the past several years now...

Last year, we had just been here in Belize for two months, and were definitely still getting settled.  Our first Easter, for many years, to not be with our family...

The year before that was the week after we told Life Church that we were moving to Belize.  It was an emotional day for me...knowing I was beginning all our "lasts".  Our house sold three days after Easter that year:(  And that was a very hard time for me...quickly selling most of our 18 yr build up of stuff and moving out of our dream home.  We had just adopted Erika that Feb, gone to a Missions Training for two weeks in March, then came home and began making the prep to move to Belize.  Unfortunately this picture is a little blurry, but honestly, this season in my life was a lot blurry:)  So perfect.

The year before that was a very joyful year, as it was our first Easter with Erika.  I remember I had so much fun dressing her up in a beautiful princess dress a friend had given me.  It was a dream Easter with my whole family together.

And I will only torture you one more Easter back...we were waiting on getting Erika to our home.  I had so hoped it would happen Easter weekend, but then could see that God didn't allow it until the next weekend, because I would have been so busy and it would have been hard for it to have been her first weekend with us.

But all this to say, Easter season has been an emotional, good and bad, time for me, for several years now.  I have to figure out new traditions, fun times, in the place that I am.  We are to be content where God has called us.  That is sometimes not as easy as it seems.  I miss my family.  I miss Life Church.  But, God calls us to move on, and to flourish where He plants us.

So, after church today, we went to lunch with another missionary couple and another man from our church.  And you know what?  We had a great time.  Because God has put great people in our lives here.  And I am so thankful.  And here are some pics of our service today...

LifeNet's newest baby...big sister holding her

LUNCH:)

And just a couple more pictures for anyone not on Facebook with me... A friend came and took pics with her girls with Tori's rabbits and took a couple of Erika too...they are so cute... Enjoy.

She's an amazing photographer, but she also had some real cuties to work with...

Free water Outreach and more bunnies, really???

Wednesday, I came home from the grocery store to find everyone outside...Guess what?  Even though the bunnies are separated...somehow we got five new bunnies!!!  Yes, just as we are about to sell the first batch, we have another new batch of baby bunnies.  That afternoon, we got rid of Daddy Rabbit...to a lady up the street who sells rabbits at market.  Today, we sold three of the first litter as we passed out free waters, while inviting people to LifeNet.  We passed out 550 waters in just an hour.  People were thankful and surprised...to get something for free.  It was awesome.  And we had just the right number of people to help.

Last night, we showed the Passion of the Christ at the George Price Center.  They had a good turnout. (Erika and I stayed home, as the movie is not good for her.)

It has been a busy week and I actually sit here so exhausted.  It has been very hot this week.  I had forgotten what it is like to live in a house that is 98 degrees.  It is pretty miserable and draining.  But then night comes, and you are so happy for it to get down to 86 degrees.  So, we are in the season of lots of showers, which means more laundry...but I don't mind...this is survival.  Oh, and remember our washer broke?  We were blessed that it is now fixed and working great.  So thankful for that.  Cannot imagine not having one.

Tomorrow, we have a community Sunrise service at 5:30, then will rush home and get ready for our service at 10:30.  Wonder how many visitors we will have from the Water Outreach today???

YC

Waiting for YC to start.  Don't worry, no teenagers were hurt during LEE"S favorite "kill time" game:)

These little kids were from a church in the city...they were awesome.  And I guess I forgot about my camera for the rest of it.  But these kids, talented and energetic...wanted to send Erika up there to join them.

Seriously, life has been so busy.  But good, fun busy.  This weekend, we had YC on Saturday, which is a youth conference held here in Belmopan at the UB Gym.  Josh and Tori went all day and the rest of us joined them at night.  Lee and I had a busy day full of getting some things done.  We got to the concert at 6 pm.  We ended up leaving at 11pm, and the concert was still going strong, but we knew we had a busy Sunday ahead of us.

Sunday, we had our largest attendance so far.  We passed the 100 mark and had not a seat to spare.  When the children left (and all the helpers), we could move around a little.  Our friends, the Auterys, were here from Caye Caulker.  They had brought some extra teens with them for YC, and decided to join our service on Sunday.  We were happy about that.

Oh, and I almost forgot...the electricity went out for about 30 minutes during the sermon.  It got hot in there.  And the poor kids downstairs...they were just baking!!!

  After church, we wanted to fellowship with the Auterys and their crew, so went to lunch together.  Unfortunately, for our tummies, it took about two hours for us to eat, but the time to talk and catch up was okay with me…

So, at 3, we rushed home. I had to bake two cakes.  Then at a little after 4, we were loading up, hot cakes and all, back to the George Price Center for our Net Group Launch dinner.  We were ready for everyone at 5, but didn’t actually begin serving dinner to closer to 6, as that is how long it took for everyone to trickle in.  In my rush, I forgot my camera, but it was such a nice evening for us…  We really got to spend time talking to our families, young people.  Several people brought new people.  We probably had around 75 people, a little less than we had expected.  But we were thankful for all who came.

This morning, after an exhausting Sunday, Lee and I had to wake up very early to get one last paper signed by a JP for Residency.  After dealing with all that all morning, coming home and getting the kids to join us, we finished around lunch.  We should be able to pick it up on Tuesday of next week.  We will be so thankful to have our permanent residency taken care of.

Lee and Tori went out for a very late Special Date for Tori’s 13^th birthday.   We have been working on a journal that we have both written in to give her.  And also working on updating Josh’s for his 16^th bday this week.

Lee wasn’t home long before he went to pay for and deliver our new church van to the mechanic.   It needs lots of work, but we got it for a steal.  We are thankful.  We desperately have needed it and God’s timing is always perfect.  So now, the mechanics will fix it up and hopefully soon, we can have someone else help with the driving.

Today was very hot.  90 degrees inside from before lunch til now.  It is actually just starting to cool outside, so that is where Erika and I are at the moment.  She is getting dirty, but I am just enjoying the cooler temps out here.

Today was a reminder of how the next few months will be…well, like til November.  You just sweat and sweat.  I am thankful that we have a working icemaker now.  I am thankful that we now have window fans, so at least at night, we can bring in the cooler outside temps for sleeping.  But, I had to just lie down and listen to music this afternoon for a while.  I got so hot, just straightening the house and sweeping the floors…  Just had to sit, cool off, and rest from the drain the heat takes on us.  It is so hard to explain how living without AC just wears you out.  You truly have to adjust your life to it.  And it helps me understand the culture so much more.

This morning, I woke up very early, washed two loads of laundry, hung them, before heading out.  I came back and tried to start a third load and the washer would not work.  Please pray it is fixed tomorrow.  We brought it from the states and we cannot get one this good here.  I really want the guy to be able to fix this one, not get another one.  And my laundry is piling as we speak.

God has been showing me lately how far I have come in a year.  I am still dreading the hotness of this weather upon us.  But I feel more equipped this time around.  I know not to push myself.  I know some coping mechanisms now.  I know to keep my family well hydrated.  This last year has truly taught me so much that I could only learn by walking through.  And I will really really enjoy the AC when we are in the states.

Okay, need to go get some things done now...

One more thing...

Please pray for Lee as he will be doing a commercial for Plus TV tomorrow and then on Wednesday, he will participate in a question/answer segment live on the same TV station.

Happy 16th Josh

JOSHUA AARON

How is it possible that I am once again going through photos because it is your birthday?  Where has the last year gone?  You have grown in so many ways, mainly, your height:)  Seriously, weird that you are actually taller than me now.

I am so proud of you.  I am proud of your character.  Proud of how hard you work.  Proud of the example you are to other young men.

I'm so thankful that you got a week with your cousin, Tyler, right before your birthday.  It was nice to see you guys together again.  Most memorable spring break...

I forever love this picture that Tori took of you that day we had to wait in Belize City while Wini took her ACT.  I know you hate your picture taken, but you are quite photogenic:)

I love how, of all people, your cake had the wrong name on it, but you could still laugh.  Even as we all sang, "Happy Birthday, Jash".  The Belizeans said it was creole for Josh...

Sorry you didn't get a car for your 16th bday...you can't drive til next year anyway (in Belize).  But I love how thankful you were to get a phone.  So many of your friends have gotten phones over the years much earlier than you...but I love that you are so thankful to finally have one of your own.  

Josh, the years have flown by.  You will understand someday when you are a dad.  I love you more every day.  You make me laugh every day...  Thank you for bringing joy and laughter into our home...

Happy 16th Birthday

PS, love that, like your dad, you choose the cheapest place in town to go out for your birthday...you are a true money saver, even if its not yours:)

Watching the "found" videos

Tonight, my heart is racked with so many emotions...and I drank coffee at 5 pm...never a good idea.

First of all, thinking about life 16 years ago.  Lee and I were pastoring our first church.  I was 4 days past my due date.  I was 22, Lee 25.  We were so excited waiting for this child, that we had desperately prayed for.  We literally had just found out this day that we were having a boy...and I went home and walked three miles with friends, trying to get closer to meeting this boy!!!  We had one of the most stressful business meetings ever at church...to change the name of the church and some other things.  All during the meeting, I was having regular contractions.  We went home, exhausted.  Only to be awakened within minutes because my water broke!  We rushed to the hospital, but Josh did not enter this world for several more hours...around 1:30 pm the next day, by c-section.  Just remembering the joy I felt that day...

Just now, Tori and I tried to sneak to decorate outside his door...a new tradition I have started here in Belize.  Well, it was a "fail" because I popped a balloon and almost fell off the chair because it scared me.  We all had a good laugh:)  Josh made some funny quotes from inside his room, letting us know that yes, he heard!!!

Onto other things:  Tonight, Josh loaded some videoes he had found, onto my computer.  I spent the night, watching, labeling, deleting a few.  It was an emotional night.  1.  Because I thought we had lost these, so they were a treasure found.  2.  They were of our final months in our home in Katy, TX.  It was interesting and emotional for me to watch Erika's last birthday...noone really knowing we were about to move, our last Christmas in the house...just remembering how it was bathed in sadness for me, knowing we were about to give it all up.  But also, there was laughter and joy, as we watched Josh and Tori at the awkward ages they were...I had forgotten.  To hear Josh before his voice changed.  And before maturity stepped in.  For Tori as well.  And Erika was so little...just a baby (really 2 and 3rd bday).  She still had a toddle to her step, and spoke so differently.  It included her adoption party we had at the church, where I shared our testimony of the adoption.  Yes, I cried watching it...stirring up all those emotions again.  Then, of course, my thoughts turned to old friends from Life, family, as they showed up in the video too.  All the things that we had to say goodbye to.  Yes, it was an emotional night of remembering.  But yet, that really seems like a different life now.  I can't quite explain it.  But that we have moved on.  We are settled in our new home now, our new life.

The evening ended with a phone call from Lee's brother...sharing of a blessing for our family.  God is so good to us.  He takes care of every detail for us.  And I think it was no coincidence on this night of remembering the past, that God showed me in such a powerful way, that He is in our present and future too.  Still taking care of us.  Still blessing us.

Tomorrow, we have a very busy day.  Honestly, every day seems busy lately.  That is why I drank coffee so late, so I could make it through this evening.  And now I am awake!  But we will celebrate Josh's life.  And the gift that life is to us.  We will also celebrate with our leaders tomorrow night, for completing a very long Leadership Training, with a special dinner.  Yes, tomorrow will be full.  Lee will be teaching a class in the afternoon, and I will be discipling someone.

One other thing I really have on my heart tonight is how blessed I am.  I have three amazing kids.  Really, they are.  And a wonderful husband.  We will be married 20 years in a few short months.  We have grown up together and walked through so many things over these years.  We are still walking through new journeys on a daily basis.  But I go to sleep with a thankful heart for all HIS blessings on me, my family, just overwhelmed by His goodness.

How Life is different...

Today the big kids and Lee went out on an adventure to a Mayan cave...hoping to have some pics to post later and tell you about it.

I opted not to go because (1) I'm not that adventurous, (2) Erika is too small so we would have had to get a sitter...which I am just not up for, and (3), we have a Baby Shower this afternoon for a lady in our church that I need to go to.

So, I saw this as the golden oppurtunity to spend the day with Erika.

The challenge is, that there is just not that much to do here locally:)  I can think of all the easy little things I could do with her in Katy.  Here, it is truly a challenge.

But, we have had a great day...she seems pretty happy...and it didn't set me back too much financially:)

We woke up early with the family (6:30 am).  We washed and hung two loads of laundry.  She wanted desperately to help me hang, but is just too small, so I hung and she brought me the clothespins.  It actually took me longer, but she was thrilled to help.  Then we ate some fried eggs (her very favorite breakfast) and OJ.  I washed the dishes, while she collected all the trash from the house.  She was so proud to help clean.  We watched a movie, while I prepared everything for tomorrow's children's church...as it was still too early to go anywhere.  We made our list...she loved that part...of what we were going to do....

First stop was A & R.  They have candy you can buy with a shilling (12 1/2 cents).  She had 4 shillings in her pocket and a plastic bag.  We were so dissappointed because they were out of her favorite candy.  We did find glitter play-doh for $3US for two small containers of generic, but still exciting.  We found some tiny water animals.  And a couple other misc. things I needed.  Since we didn't get candy there, we headed to another store so she could still use her shilling to buy a sucker and that made her happy.

By now, it was lunch time.  She chose to go to Antonini's because she could have ice cream for dessert.  Sadly, we drove there, and it was not open:(  So her next choice was Formosa.  We decided it would be more fun to take it to go.  So we ordered a chicken salad sandwich to share and a fancy ice coffee for me.  While we were waiting, we went to a grocery store to look at the movies.  All of them seemed like horror movies!!...but we did end up finding one children's movie...so she was happy.(less than $2US)  When we got home, we got the lunch ready, and discovered the sweet lady had put in two small brownies in with our lunch.  That made Erika's day.  I let her eat  both of them...  After all, I had my fancy coffee...

Well, I will not bore you with the rest of our day.  We are currently getting showers because we are sweating like crazy, before heading to the baby shower where we are responsible for the punch.  We have everything prepared and ready to go.  The laundry is folded and put away, house fairly clean and very quiet.  Hoping everyone comes home before we leave.

Anyway, life is different here.  I think of all the things in Katy, there were for us to do.  We would have been gone all day.  Here, there was really not much to do and we were gone maybe an hour.  It was good to get Erika out of the house.  She was happy.  But she was content being home too.   She made a cute bday card for Josh (on Wednesday) and is now taking a bath with her new sea animals.  I see how she has come to appreciate our simple life as well...