January 2016 and some NEWS

After arriving back in Belize in early January, Dennis and I have been very busy.  The weeks are flying by at very high speeds.  I wanted to share some of whats been happening!

This is a Mot-Mot!  Bigger than an average robin and it makes a soft hooting sound that is very pleasant.  Unfortunately, in this picture the rest of its tail is not showing.  The tale goes on another two inches and forms into a separate, round flat shape at the end.  This was in our walk way out in front.

Some of our first visitors when we got back.  Diego, Lucia, Michael and Diana.  They loved the new puzzles and concentration games .

Our house from the back., that is us tucked into the trees on top.  Our jungle paradise is no more.  The land behind Bridge the Gap was bought and has been bulldozed.  This of course, makes us very sad.  The good thing is that you can't see this from the other side, so Bridge the Gap is mainly unaffected by all this.

This is some of our boys flying Dennis's famous paper air planes in the front of the bungalow.  You can't see all the cleared area behind us from this side.

Elvis, Roberto, Hermalindo, and Michael.

 This is Dennis outside of Rio Frio Cave up in the Pine Ridge area.  It is worth the drive which is extremely rough.  The small river runs through the bottom but you can still walk all the way through to the other side which is visible just a few feet in from the front.

There is a trail that goes around through the bush to the other opening.  This is part of the stone wall that is just beside the opening.  I have always loved walls and cliffs like this.

I have a small reading group that I work with in the library.  We read about bats and created this poster which is a life-sized picture of a Flying Fox, which is a fruit bat found in Australia.  It has a wing span of five feet.  And don't let the stern faces fool you,  these boys totally cut up when I finished this picture.

Our Thalia and Dennis.  I am not sure she totally trusts him.  His nick name at the school is Mr. Trouble.

We got to visit with Sulma and her new baby Aleena.  It just so happened that Sulma's brother and his wife had a baby a week after Aleena was born.  I got a lot of "Grandmothering" in on this visit.  All the little ones are the neighbors who always come over when we show up.

Aleena Clarissa Sho

This is Sulma holding Aleena and I am holding Laura.  They came over for a visit and we made some awesome banana bread.  Laura is in Standard 6, she is the young lady who went to the Spelling Bee last year.  She is going to try again next week!

Two more of our girls, Roxana and Delmy.  They come to church with us sometimes.

This was a wonderful visit from Daniel and Allison Priddy.  They were cruising, literally, and spent some time in Belize with us and the Browns.  

January has flown by.  I usually wake up every Friday and remark to Dennis, "It is Friday again!"  Time seems to be speeding up as we enter into the second half of the school year.

Dennis and I wanted to let all of you know that we have decided that it is time for us to go back home to Tennessee.  It was not an easy decision, but we feel that we have done what we needed to do here in Belize.  The thing is, is that it is not over.  The foundation has been laid for lasting relationships that will continue for the rest of our lives.  We will still be coming back, hopefully as often as twice a year.  But now is when we let the seeds that were planted begin to grow.  There is nothing to do but water and tend the garden.  As the bible says we hopefully planted the seeds on fertile ground and now they must grow on their own.  They cannot be dependent on us for who they will become, that is between them and God.  We are just truly honored to be a part of God's bigger picture.

We have only five months left to share with them and love as much as we can.  It will be incredibly hard to leave, but we will be coming back for a visit in November.  So, the kids know that we will be coming back and checking on them.  We do look forward to being home with our sweet grandchildren and kids.  We miss them very much!

Love you guys!