What's Up

Sometimes I look at the date and think, Wow, I haven't posted anything in a while.

We are alive and well and oh, so busy.

This past weekend, we had the Life Advance.  We are already SOOO busy all the time with the rapidly growing church, that adding this just made things a little crazy:)  But awesome.

I asked Ms. Marion if she would make a cake for our Life Advance...and wow, what a cake she made:)

We had around 35 people attend the Life Advance.  Our prayer partners and facilitators all did a great job.  The Holy Spirit definitely showed up and we saw people receive deep ministry to past wounds in their lives.  It was a whirlwind weekend that led into our usual busy morning.  We leave the house by 9, having loaded up several things, set up, and then get home around 1, unloading and putting things away.  By lunch on Sunday afternoon, I am usually pretty wiped and thankful to enjoy a nice meal at Mexican Taco...or anywhere, as long as I don't have to cook:)

Here are some photos of our weekend.  The ones at church on Sunday are not from me, but our NEW church photographer, Debbie Scott, Alina's mom.  Wow, this family catches great shots.  We are missing Alina as she studies Spanish in Guatamela, but she still joins many of our gatherings through Facetime.  Isn't technology amazing?

But before I close, I wanted to share something very exciting.  About two weeks ago, as Lee was putting Erika to bed, she shared that she was ready to invite Jesus into her heart.  I have been noticing lately a deeper desire to worship instead of play at church.  I have noticed her asking a lot of questions.  And even her schooling spends a lot of time talking about it.  But as we began to talk to her, she really understood.  We both had tears in our eyes as we prayed with her.  Josh and Tori were awesome at coming and encouraging her and sharing their own experience.  It was a very special night for us.  She does not know yet, but Memaw and Papa will be bringing a special Bible with her name on it in a  couple of weeks.  In the front, we will write the story of her special night.  Oh, and we celebrated by ordering pizza the next day.  In the states, we would have celebrated by going to Chuck E Cheese or something, but she was still happy with what we did:)

Oh, I almost forgot something.  Something that will be such a blessing to me:)  Today, Feliciano began the process of building Lee's office out back.  His office has been in our bedroom for two years.  At first, it didn't matter as much, but as we have grown, it has been increasingly difficult to have it in our bedroom.  People need to come and meet with him, he has meetings all the time, and just the STUFF!  We don't have a building, so as we accumulate supplies for LifeNet, they go in our bedroom.  People go in our bedroom.  Anyway, it is time.  It is time for him to have somewhere to himself as well to work.  In the house, there are constant interruptions because we homeschool.  Yep, five people home all day, with lots of church business going on as well.  So it is time.  Please pray that the building goes smoothly and that once it is built, the Lord will protect it.

The Weather

for real

a real live cold front

dont know how long it will last

but plan to soak up every moment

cleaning out a musty closet

of clothes i have not worn since i moved here

two years ago

two years ago in about two weeks

love wearing socks

havent worn socks in two years

love wearing long sleeves

also two years

dont know how long it will last

but soaking it up

The Importance of Friends

Women are just different than men.  In a million and one ways.

Like friends, for instance.

Women need friends.  We need to make time for friends.  We need to make it a priority.

Lately, I have just  been so busy with church life, homeschool life, the holidays, birthdays, that I really haven't had time to just go to lunch with a friend.

Today I did that.  And we were gone about four hours.  Seriously.  But I do not feel bad.  I feel refreshed, energized, happy, ready to go on.  And it is exactly what I needed.

In Katy, life was busy for me too.  But I could occasionally meet a friend for lunch, breakfast, coffee, whatever.  Have a friend over for coffee, for that matter.  Everyone was gone all day and the days I didn't work or run errands, I could squeeze in the time with friends.

But here, I have found I have to make more of an effort.  And I really have to GO somewhere.  My home is always full and it is hard to just have someone over for a girl chat.

Today was good for me.  I plan to do this more often.  To make it more of a priority.

Oh, and guys need friends too.  But guys like to go on crazy adventures together...and that is not me.  I just want to have someone serve me (lunch, coffee), instead of me making myself.  And sit and talk and talk and talk:)

The world is so much better with friends.

Things I've learned about Homeschooling

This journey to Belize also started our family on another journey.  A journey to Homeschool Eduction for our children.  So often, people message me or ask me questions and I think, what?  I am new at this.  You should ask someone else.  But this is my third year and with each year, I have definitely gained confidence and also fell more in love with homeschooling.  I cannot imagine ever sending my children away for school again.  Well, except for college, of course.

There are many benefits of homeschooling.

You can stay in your pajamas all day.  Your kids can too.  For the most part, we get up and get dressed each morning.  But there is no rush.  And if my kids are more comfortable working in their jammies, that is fine with me.

You can have your big meal at lunch, which they say is healthier.  It is sometimes a bit more of an effort for me to make a big meal midday, but I love doing that and just having sandwiches or soup for dinner.  We really have not had that freedom until this year, because when Wini was here, I felt we needed to have the big meal when she was home.

You are flexible.  As long as my kids get their work done, we are free to take days off once in a while.  I make my kids work hard, but if we want to take a day to go explore, we can.  And I like that.  We don't really revolve around the traditional holidays that schools are closed.  We do take days off though.  And we can adjust things like Spring Break to when my in-laws come.  If my kids were in traditional school, my in-laws would come all this way and barely see them.  Now, they will get all day long with them.  Also, when teams come, my children get to spend time with them or even help what the team is doing.

You get to experience learning first hand with your children.  I love to see my kids "get it".  Especially after maybe they have struggled through something.  It is the biggest joy in the world for me to hear Erika read and watch her write.  Because I taught her that.  I do not mean that in a prideful way, just that I got to be a part of that.  And now, I get to enjoy the fruits of all that effort:)

For those who do not know, we use A.C.E. curricullum.  And then, my children are also enrolled in a school in the states that assigns me an advisor to guide me in choosing their classes, and keep record of all their tests.  It works for us.  It may not work for everyone.  The older kids do the majority of the work on their own and I am more of a helper.  And I grade their work and keep them on schedule.  Erika is less hands on the older she gets, but I still work with her alot.

The beauty is that they truly work at their own pace.  Erika is almost done with First grade.  I will continue to work with her on the things she has learned, but she will finish her formal school year in about five weeks.  I love that she could go through it faster because she was getting it.  

When my kids are done with school for the day, they are done.  No homework.  I remember the years of always having work to do after they had been gone all day.  I love that they can really relax in the afternoons.

Obviously, homeschooling is not for everyone.  But it is a huge part of my life.  And so many people ask me about it.  Yes, most days I do love it.  Some days, I do not.  But I see it working for my family in this season of our lives.  I probably would never have ventured down this road with my life in Katy.  Sometimes I miss being able to send them to school and enjoy a quiet house for a few hours.  But the thing is, my house is not this loud crazy place all day long.  At times, it is.  But right now, everyone is either finishing up their school work or resting doing something quiet because they are tired, too, from school.

Christmas Break

We had thought about taking a getaway over Christmas break, but we had some sickness going on, and it just didn't seem to work out.

But we did do a couple of things we have done before...go to Blue Hole and go to the Zoo.  Although we have done these things before, we did them with different people and enjoyed the fellowship as much as the scenery.

The day after Christmas, we headed to the zoo.  We took a few of the teens from Maya Mopan and a family that is planning to move here from Kansas next year.  The boys went one way and the girls went with us, so my pictures are only of the girls.  Oh, and a bonus was that Sara and her mom had the same idea so we got to see them at the zoo too!!!

I didn't get everyone in our pictures, but as you can tell, it was a fun day.  The day started out cold and got so HOT!!!  We were all so sweaty on the van ride home.

No sooner did we drop off the kids at Maya Mopan, did we get a phone call.  One of the families that lives WAY back in Maya Mopan in a little thatch roof house with six children, lost their home and everything inside to a fire.  It was devastating for a family who had so little to begin with.  Lee and Tori went out immediately and then we began to gather whatever we could spare, blankets, our hammock, food, extra clothes, extra plastic dishes...and as a family, we went back out that night.  We have been amazed at the outpouring of our supporters and the church locally here in Belmopan.  People we do not know have brought us bags and bags of clothes, food, etc to take to Pedro's family.  Others have paid to rebuild his house.  I must tell you, the children are overwhelmed with this love.  Their whole countenances are different. God has used what the enemy meant for evil to be bring showers of blessings on this family.  Here is a picture of four of the 6 children the evening of the fire.  The oldest girl who is 15, rescued the smaller children that were inside.  She pulled out as much as she could...but felt bad she could not save more.  We are thankful that she was not burned having to deal with the very adult scenario all alone.  Both of her parents were working on their farm.

The next few days were crazy trying to help get things out to the family.  I also am so blessed how the families in LifeNet back in Maya Mopan have helped this family.  Lee baptised their father, Pedro, back in the summer.  We are just continuing to try to pour out love to them during this time.

The following Sunday, the guys that are here from YWAM Pittsburg, and staying with Sara and Jonathan, wanted to go to the Blue Hole.  So we joined them.  It was freezing so some of us just watched while the others enjoyed the water.  Erika hates wearing her pink floatie now that she is six, but it would be so easy for her to slip from where it is shallow to where it is 25 feet deep...so we err on the side of protectiveness:)

Unexpected Nice weekend

I feel so bad that I have no pictures to upload of our day on Saturday.  I only had my Itouch, and couldn't figure out how to get those pictures here for you.  But let me tell you about our day.

After the holidays and laziness and a much needed break, it was time to get busy.  Thursday and Friday were very productive as we jumped back into school and got some things done around the house.

It has been raining A LOT.  Saturday, we woke up to another rainy day.  So, I asked Lee if we could go to my favorite place, Spanish Lookout.  We woke up our snoozing kids and headed out.  I couldn't believe all the people we knew in the store there.  I guess everyone had the same idea.  And the pizza and ice cream were especially tasty.  I enjoyed just the chatter, squabbling, laughing of my three kids.  It was a happy day.  Then, Lee had recently met an older man who runs a lumber yard.  He had told Lee to come by and visit sometime.  Saturday seemed like the perfect sometime.

It seemed like we were heading to the middle of nowhere.  But it was the most beautiful middle of nowhere to be seen.  The hilly roads took us up and down, curving through countryside with very few homes, just lots of farms.  And it hit me why I love going out there so much.  It reminded me of the town I grew up in New York.  It is about the same size too.  I love Spanish Lookout's small town feel, farms, tractors, small schoolhouse.  Just love it.  Love the big beautiful trees.

Anyway, we finally made it and the man had met us part of the way to help get us there.  He reminds us both of Lee's dad.  Retired, but still working hard!  He took us around and I began to think, "cool, unscheduled field trip for the kids."  He showed us how to plane the wood.  It looked yucky on the outside but the inside was beautiful mahagony.  It was so smooth.  He did several pieces of wood the same way and knew each kind of wood.  He said, that is what happens when you have worked with lumber for 37 years.  The kids were fascinated, especially Erika.  We saw some of the things they have built and there was actually a man working on a coffin for an older lady who had just passed away.  Just a simple wooden coffin.

Sunday was a great day at church.  There has been lots of sickness and lots of rain, two things that keep people from church here in Belize.  But, although it seemed empty at 10:30, we were quickly filled up.  We were missing some families, but still had a great turnout.

For lunch, we always do the same thing.  We go to Mexican Taco.  While I love it, its fast, easy, sometimes you want to go somewhere else.  I am always thankful not to cook...because the rest of the week, I do:)

Our friends had told us about a place that has the best Hamburgers.  This sounded good because we don't particularly like the hamburgers here.  So, Sunday seemed like a good time to go.  We loaded the van to the brim and headed out on the Western Highway.  The setting was beautiful.  There is also an equestrian school there.  So as we were eating, we got to see some little girls riding horses.  And Tori took Erika to the stable to see more horses.  The girls were definitely happy.  The food was yummy and the fellowship was sweet.  

It was just a great weekend:)

My empty ring finger

In October 1991, the week after my 18th birthday, Lee gave me the most beautiful ring and asked me to be his wife.  For over 21 years, every night before I go to bed I have put that ring somewhere safe.  Every morning, even if I am just going to be staying around the house, I put that ring on.  It is my most precious piece of jewelry.   It is symbolic of so much and is something I treasure.

I remember the night that Lee asked me to marry him (a Wednesday) when I went back to my dorm at Dallas Baptist University, there was a special "engagement" ceremony that the girls did.  I remember the night so clearly.  They passed around the ring on a candlesick, we all sat in a big circle and we sang some song. When it came to the girl who got engaged, you blew it out.  Oh, those senior girls were so mad it was a freshman.  I really don't think I even knew the millions of ways my life was about to change.  By the time my sophomore year came around, I was married, living three hours away from my family and friends, attending a new school and had a new job and was somebody's WIFE.

Over the years, I have lost two of the small diamonds that go around the big one.  I guess the prongs have just loosened and then we had to get them repaired and the diamond replaced.

Well, sometime after Christmas, I was cleaning up and somehow the towel caught on my ring.  I didn't think much of it...then...I checked my ring...and my diamond was gone.  Literally like trying to find a needle in a haystack.  We looked everywhere, but I am not even really sure when I lost it.  Did I just notice because the prong caught?  Honestly, I think it probably went down the drain or in the trash while I was cleaning up.

So...I am without a wedding ring right now.  I constantly reach down and it is not there.  I don't like it, but I really cannot wear it the way it is.  I need to get it fixed...yet would really rather do that when we go to the states.  But that is kind of a while away.  My hand feels so empty and I am so self-conscience about not having it.

But I think it is a reminder that sometimes you don't realize how special something really is to you until it is gone.