Easter Vacation Part 1

In Belize the public school system gets two weeks of vacation during the Easter Holiday!  It has become a favorite time for me because I get to be with the kids outside of the school setting.  Dennis says that we are busier during vacation then we are when we are working in the school!

Dennis and Maybelline just before vacation.

Although you can't tell it, this is Enil.  We always enjoy our time with him.  He  will be graduating from Standard Six in June and going on to Eden High School.  We are at the Blue Hole, which has become one of our favorite places to bring kids because most of them have never been here.  It is also easy to get to and doesn't cost very much.  And of course, it is quite beautiful!  On this day it was quite cold for us.  Enil said that he was allergic to the cold and he was shivering most of the time.

Diana and Wendy eating lunch on the back veranda.

I had planned to have two girls bible studies over the two weeks but things went a little differently than I had anticipated.  I showed up at at the school to pick up girls and there was no one there.  I drove to Wendy's house and she said she was ready.  Then we proceeded to drive around Buena Vista for at least 45 minutes collecting girls along the way.  Thanks to Wendy we ended up with 11 girls from Standard 4 and 5.  They had all been invited but they never know what their families are doing so they have a hard time committing to a date.

Karla, Kayla and Herlin.

We all fit in our little home and had a great time.  We studied the bible, sang songs, ate lunch and colored an art page.  Looking from the back to the front is, Wendy, myself, Diana, Marci, Jocelyn is right in front of me, Patricia in the yellow shirt, Herlin, Jenny, Shevaugn, Kayla on the floor in the white dress, Carla, and Carol with her eyes closed!  I love these girls and feel blessed for the time we have had together.

The art work says, "I am a Daughter of the King".  It is a message that I feel God wants me to emphasize with the young ladies here.  Like girls everywhere they live in a culture that says their value is based on what they look like.  This view comes from the guys and the girls.  One of the hardest things we have to do as Christians is to learn that our value lies in what God says about us and not what the world says.  When we know how God sees us then it brings out our true beauty that lies inside us.   We are then free to be the kind, loving, trustworthy, honest, respectful, modest and pure women that God desires each of us to be.  This is not as hard as it sounds when a person is filled with the Holy Spirit and feels how much God loves them.

Love you guys!

Look for Part 2 coming soon!

Latest News from Belize

Wow, I just looked at the photos from this month and there are a lot!  We are spending time with our kids and enjoying every minute!  Dennis and I are starting to realize how little time we have left here and we are trying not to become sad about it...trying.

Patricia, Lucy, Delila, and Evelyn.  Yea, the jackets are a big surprise.  They were freezing because the temperature reached only 73degrees on this day.  We were all a little chilly.

This is my basket o' cups.  I have a cup for almost everyone who comes to visit.  That way they are all a part of  something. They write their names on them and I keep them until the next visit.

Yes, Dennis has mellowed a bit.  He let the girls put barrettes in his beard.

Lucy, on her tip-toes washing dishes.

We washed and blow-dried, and styled everyone's hair!  That was a lot of hair!

Dennis is a "fixer" of many things, people included.  This is Ever who crashed big-time and received a large gash over his eye.  He was very brave!  I brought you this picture at great cost.  I finally started bringing my new camera to school and wanted to get a shot of Dennis as the school nurse.  So, I went running for the camera up in the library.  I was rushing back down the stairs and tripped and landed in the dirt at the bottom of the steps.  Thankfully, I was almost at the bottom when I fell.  I skid on the last three steps on my shins.  Again, thankfully, I wore blue jeans this day.  I hardly ever wear jeans to school.  I tore a good amount of skin off my legs...but, hey I finally got a picture of my Dennis fixing a student.

Having fun with the camera.  This is my "CD Cover" picture.

This is my "Never trust a kid to be cute in a photo" picture.

It is always a good day when we spend time with the kids at school or at home.  We have learned so much from them and from God in the time we have been here.  The bible says that God is love.  Therefore time spent loving people can be considered holy.  The more we love the closer we are to God.

Love you guys!

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!

Sharing Some Late Holiday Pictures

Dennis, Molly, Daniel and myself.

Dennis and I were very blessed to be able to be home for the holidays recently.  We had a wonderful time with the family.

We were building a beautiful gingerbread village!!  Look how cute Amy and Keira are with their matching dresses.

We were tickled to be able to go to Keira's school Christmas party.  The little ones stood up and sang songs for all of us.  Well, at least those who remembered the words and weren't running around the room.  Keira did great!

The teachers were wonderful.  They had the students make little plates with the children's hand prints and baby Jesus on them.  (Just a little note here about my hair...Yes it is way too short.  One of the kids in the village told me not to be worried that it would grow back.  Most of the time they kind of scrunch up their noses and ask me why I cut it.  This time is was not exactly what I had envisioned when I asked my hairdresser to make it a little shorter around the ears.)

This is Mary and Gary Merrill.  While visiting with us last year, they had gotten close to one of our girls at the school.  So that young lady drew pictures and collected things to give them as a Christmas gift.  It was precious to see the collection of items that she gave them.

Before we left Buena Vista we had most of the students sign a big Christmas card for Greater Life Church.  This is Pastor Jamie, Amy, his wife and Katie their daughter.  And, yes, that's my husband Dennis behind them.

One of my favorite things to do is spend time in the kitchen with Keira.  I don't even remember all the pumpkin recipes we made.  I can't wait for Benaiah and Aela to get old enough to join us.

We were at church for the annual Christmas program this year!  None of our grand kids are in this one but it is adorable!  It is good to remember that all over the world this still happens in spite of those who don't care for Christmas!

So, now the montage of family holiday pictures.  This is what we normally get when we try for family photos.  I love them!!

Both of our girls looked good in this one, but Daniel and Keira looked the wrong way and Benaiah was clearly getting tired of the whole thing.

This is by far, my favorite.  The only one who did well was Memory.  I am not sure that Amy and Memory knew what they were getting into when they became a part of the Lucas Family!

While we were home we didn't get to see Aela and Benaiah as much as we wanted to because they were sick, which of course, then made Ben sick also.  We were, however, thrilled to be able to be at Aela's First Birthday!  Even though it was a little early, she said that we needed to be there.

Grandpa and Aela

One of my favorite pictures of Benaiah the Dino Trainer!

He is not even afraid to put his finger in the dinosaur's mouth!

Our friend Mike from church playing with Aela and the dinosaurs.

Memory painted the dinos pink and purple!  It looked great with the green decorations!

Of course, big brother had to help open gifts!

We were laughing because Aela received three of the same present.  But, she loved them all!!

And then there was the birthday cake/cup cakes!!!

Best picture ever!!!

It is always so good to go home and be with the kids and our church family.  We had a wonderful visit.  Truly amazing how time flies!!!  We didn't get any snow, it was actually in the 70's when we first arrived.  But by the time we left it started to get a little chilly.  

Sorry this is so late.  We hit the ground running when we got back to Belize!  Really missing everybody!

Love you guys!