A few things to know about living in Belize.

Some critters are good and some not so good.  Almost all the critters that you find on or under the ground are really scary and ugly.  Tarantulas can be considered ugly or kinda cute.  And they are our friend because they are the eaters of the scorpions.  Scorpians have no redeeming value in my book.  They are not seen too often but they are here sneaking around and being all pinchy-snappy like.  People do get bit by them here and they say it’s like a bad bee sting.  I only hope that I can always take their word for that.  Geckos are funny and chirp a lot.  John says they poo all over the place but I haven’t seen it yet.  Apparently they fall from roofs and doorways on occasion and scare the begeebers out of who ever they land on.  Yesterday as I was walking around the corner of the dorm I heard a hollow ploppy sound next to me.  I looked down and there was a 3 inch gecko.  They are an ugly grey and I found out later that they are poisonous.   I was just wondering if they don’t jump down on humans on purpose.  Maybe they sit up there and dare each other to do it. 

Looks kind of small until he wants to stretch...or run after you.

Dennis scooped him up and we set him free to run and play and eat scorpians!

I am currently trying to make friends with the iguana that lives in the front yard of the women’s dorm.  I see him watching me and then he dashes into his little burrow.  I think he is a scardy-cat.  I think that it is Daniel Priddy’s fault because he teased him when he was here in July.  I think iguanas remember and know that we are all from the same church family.  I think maybe I shouldn’t try to be his friend after all.

There are many other kinds of lizards here, but my favorite so far is a little green one that lives on the steps up to the men’s dorm.  The green is really bright.  After I started taking pictures of him I do believe that he started to pose for me. 

Danielle Warren, I would like for you and the GLK to pick out a name for the green lizard on the steps.  Let me know on facebook and I will report it back here on the blog.

Digging a trench for electrical wires!

Hurray, there is sheet rock going in!

This is Billy helping Dennis

Dennis and the guys have been working very hard on our house.  All the power is off because they are hooking it up to the house.  They are doing this in between down-pours.  This is the start of the rainy season and almost every afternoon a storm comes over and blesses us with copious quantities of precipitation.  Last night we all ate dinner in the main building and there was lightening all around us!  The heat has been a real challenge.  Poor Dennis is a mess, but he doesn’t let it slow him down.

(The power just came back on!  This is good cause now the fan can run again.  I am sweating like crazy!)

Dennis and I spent some time out at the school in Buena Vista.  Went to a staff meeting and met all the teachers.  Next week I offically get to start being in the school with the kids.  Dennis has his work cut out for him as far as maintenance work.  There is no school janitor or maintenance man here.  The students clean the rooms every afternoon.  There are a lot of cultural differences that could separate us but I am believing that God can bring us together.  We could have more in common than we think!

Friends of John and Beate

This butterfly looks like it was designed by an artist...wait, it was!!!!

Bear, the best Security this place has.  He is awesome!!

These are the apple-bananas that we talk about when we come home from our short tearm missions trip.
We can eat them all day...

Any one who stayed at Mr. Leslie's knows what this is.
It is called a noni and this is beside our driveway.
John says it is a cure for diabetes.
Mr. Leslie says he will live to 110 because he drinks the juice everyday.
Ask Jake Warren how it tastes!

Much going on here.  We miss all of you very much.  I wanted to tell Katie that we saw a bat the other night.  She is really missing out here!

Be back soon!  Love to all.

Before We Got Here

The Lucas family is officially embarking on our “new normal”.  Dennis and I are now in Blackman Eddy, Belize.  Daniel is off to college for his sophomore year in Nashville.  Sam still hasn’t arrived home yet from the Army.  Amy and Keira have moved back home to the Lucas house and are waiting for him to come home.  Ben and Memory are making efforts to move to a bigger place.  And Dee/Grandma/GG is packing up to move in with Dennis’ older brother Ron.  The entire Lucas family is in the process of a   “new normal”.  I can say that the last few weeks have been some of the most stressed out weeks we have ever experienced.  Transition of this magnitude is over the top difficult. 

           I have spent each day trying to take in all I can of each moment, knowing that they are precious.

          I have danced and laughed and played with Keira, my 18 month old granddaughter, for hours. 

 Keira, Ben, and Benaiah

Keira is trying to get Benaiah to do Itsy Bitsy Spider

Memory and Ben

My Daughters-in-Law,  Amy and Memory

Daniel, my youngest.  He is Keira's FunkleD!

  I have held little baby Benaiah until my arms ached.  Even spent an afternoon teaching Amy and Memory, my daughters-in-law, how to make Crème Brule.   Dennis and I have spent as much time as we could with all the family until it was finally time for us to go.

     

And go we did!  But not before our church family made a commitment to support us financially and in their prayers spiritually.  I can also say that they have committed to support us emotionally as well.       So many came forward to tell us they will watch out for our kids and grandkids.  Each of the kids told me that they were offered any kind of help if needed,  even threatened if they didn’t ask for help when they should, (thanks Dean).   God has all of this covered.  He’s got our back.  He knows how much it hurts when I think of missing my kids.  On the days I cry I can feel God is there.  All the missed events and giggles and hugs will come back to Dennis and I multiplied.  That is a promise from God and I am personally holding him to it!

I would like to say Thank You with all my heart to my friends and family who are following us on this great adventure.  Just reading this blog has made you a part of it.  When your prayers go up to the Lord you are connecting to us, so just keep the prayers coming.    

Benaiah David Lucas being dedicated on the same day that we were commissioned as missionaries to Belize.

More blogging to come.  We've only been here for 3 days!!!  Look for cool spider pixs next time!

God Bless you all for now!!!!

Leaving Soon!

United Flight 6334 will be leaving Memphis Airport on August 29th with Dennis and I on it.  Our first one way ticket ever!  We are so excited to see the date closing in.  I feel joy in knowing that God has chosen Dennis and I to do His work in Belize.  I also feel sadness at leaving my family behind.  God has really been working on me, teaching me that I have to take my hands off of everything around me.  I am not to worry about all that is left behind.  Worrying is not trusting God.  All that is here is in the hands of God, my family, my house, my pets, my church...everything.  It's not so much that they all need me to live on this earth,  it's that I have needed them.  Now as I take my hands off of it all, I press in to my God to sustain my emotions for the separation that is to come.  I am leaving nothing, I am just going to be somewhere else.

Dear Lord, thank you for your blessings.  We have been given much and now we give much in return.  You are here with me now and I know you will never leave me.  You give me strength and you are developing peace in my heart for my life ahead.  I love you Lord.

Luke 18:29-30
"I tell you the truth," Jesus said to them, "no one who has left home or wife or brothers or parents or children for the sake of the Kingdom of God will fail to receive many times as much in this age and in the age to come, eternal life."

Our Little Bungalow

On July 2, 2013 Dennis Lucas, Pastor Jamie Sprayberry, Cody Sprayberry, Jake Warren, Dean Rice, and Daniel Priddy met at the church at 3:00am to head to the Nashville Airport. The guys went to Belize to build a home for Dennis and I.  It is amazing to see how this path is unfolding.  Three of these guys have never done any mission trips and here they were heading out to do their part in this great epic plan that God has started in our church. Listening and being obedient to what you hear is crucial.  We are becoming the hands and feet of Jesus.

This is not just a journey that God has given to Dennis and I to follow.  This is about an awesome group of people that God has brought together in Lexington, Tennessee.  Now we are a church body.  Now we are a family.  Now we are the Bride of Christ.  Now we are a reflection of Jesus on this earth.  I can just imagine God waving his arms like an maestro for an orchestra.  He waved his arms and he brought people from all over the United States to this one little church.  Greater Life Church has listened.  We have been down on our knees in prayer and waiting to be a part of this orchestra.  It is coming together.  We are just beginning to hear the music.  It has past the beginning stages of contemplation and inspiration and now the sounds are building.  Now God is fashioning his instruments and with great anticipation, we are just warming up. Soon there will be melodies and choruses. 

Thanks to John and Randy this was already there
when the guys arrived.

John Vandermark and Pastor Jamie Sprayberry.

My first wood floor.  This would be considered exotic wood.

You can see our neighbors just down the hill.

Notice the green jungle and beautiful sky.

I'm sure that Daniel did more than this.

The team worked very hard in some pretty intense heat.

Lots of humor to get through the heat and sweat.
Pastor Jamie and his son Cody.

We have walls!

This is Randy, very smart and lots of fun to work with.

Ryan, a very good worker!

Gringo, Red Neck, Cowboy, take your pick.
This is Dean Rice and there are more people in Belize sporting
cowboys hats today because of him!


    

Really beginning to take shape.

This is the bathroom added on.  Aren't the jungle plants incredible.

It is still sinking in that this is where Dennis and I will be living.  We are so excited!  You know, we laugh and cut up a lot when we are together doing work like this.  I would just like to say how much all of you guys mean to Dennis and I.  You are truly men of integrity and honor.  We appreciate the time, money and sweat that you guys put into this effort.  May God bless your obedience.  Thank you!

A Reality Check

My reality checks seem more surreal than real.  I am leaving very soon to live in Belize.  Dennis and I are leaving most of our possessions (stuff) with our three grown sons and their families.  Not really caring about most of the stuff, it's the leaving part that has hit home today.

I was alone in my car at the Shoe Show parking lot.  I had just picked up a pair of shoes for a friend in Belize and found some really cool Star Wars socks for Benaiah for Christmas.  Then it hit me, Dennis and I aren't going to be here for the holidays with our children and grandchildren.  That didn't quite register before now, sitting there holding socks for the baby.  I cried.  God saw my tears.  Thank you for your promises Lord.

So, I met this really handsome guy while working at JimBoys Tacos in downtown Grass Valley, California.  I was fresh out of high school seriously considering the Air Force as my next stop in life.  Dennis changed my plans.  I remember calling my recruiter, "You found some guy didn't you," was his response.  Well, as matter of fact....July 17th, 1982 we were married.

A few years back Dennis and I found ourselves in a conversation with friends about our past.  We kind of laugh because God has done such a work on my Dennis that he is not the same man I married, and that is quite alright with me.  Dennis was having a hard time coping with the pressures of life and the stress of his job on the California freeways. He was not a nice person.  We refer to that Dennis as the "California Dennis."  Every once in awhile California Dennis tries to reappear but New and Improved Dennis beats him back, with the help of the Holy Spirit and a very patient wife.  He is not perfect but God is still pushing and pulling and molding him towards perfection.

God is all about redemption and grace and Dennis is an example of both.  God has redeemed his life and made him into a new man.  Our God is a God of second chances and has given us a second chance at making our marriage and our lives pleasing to him.  God's grace now shines on my husband's face when he speaks of moving to Belize.  The grace that has been given to him is freely being giving to others.  California Dennis would have said "Not a chance in **** could you get me to go to a third world country.  I don't even like people, let alone little kids."  But God had already been working on my husband.  Dennis had been restless and felt like there was a higher purpose to life.  The first time he was asked to go to Belize he really wanted to say no.  But the Holy Spirit was working on him and he went reluctantly.  After the second visit he came home and said that he had found the higher purpose.  God had clearly laid out a path for both of us.  I guess that God and I were just waiting for Dennis to take the lead.  Actually, I'm sure God had all this worked out years ago, he is like that you know.