Unscheduled

Today marks only five days left in our home away from home, Placencia, Belize.  Much like the puzzle to the left, God placed many pieces together for us in our life puzzle while here.  Can you see that there is a piece still missing in the upper right hand corner?  Walking by faith, we trust that God will reveal the last piece.  During acclimation, we learned to do without many of the conveniences we left behind.  We find ourselves asking what part of that simplicity of our Central American Walden will we take back with us.  Or, what will we continue to do without? 

We learned to go without convenience foods, with the exception of using canned beans instead of soaking my own, I cook everything from scratch.  The kids do not have programs, activities, clubs, bi-monthly homeschooling classes, or lessons without detriment.  Until recently, we did not have a vehicle, but one is not needed on the peninsula except for the rare occasion of heading out for a work issue or the days of site-seeing with our visitors. 

What we considered conveniences or necessary in the States really are not.  We discovered that many, if not all of them are hindrances to what really matters; being available and having meaningful relationships.  Our puzzles have been filled with lives and time with others.  Mom II sat on our porch daily to people watch and she always wanted to know what the people here talk about all day long.  Life. 

Going shopping more often and by foot affords me time saying hello to my neighbors.  I have conversations with my grocers and since they are the same people and not some rotating person with a name badge, I can take a real interest in their life and they in mine.  They remember that I am the oil man's wife.  They know which house is mine.  They know who my kids are.  I know the names of the waiter and waitress at my two favorite restaurants. 

The kids have been given the gift of boredom.  I do not succeed daily in giving this as the electronic devices do creep back in, but they have learned to secretly like some of it.  We took on the pet project of growing the avocado tree in the beer mug.  Look at the leaves and roots!  (Free to good home!)  My husband brought to me my favorite bouquet of all time.  Its picture is above.  He hand-crafted it from coral and tumblestones found on the caye we visited with new friends last weekend.  Before school one morning 2 of the kids were playing with these plastic bags and watching how the airflow from the oscillating floor fans, the ceiling fans and the air conditioners affected where or how they would float or land.  What child being run from play practice to lunch to school to lessons to youth group has the time to think about any of these things let alone DO them?

I looked up our calendar, that we keep online, to see what we had upcoming upon our arrival.  There were at least 5 items.  When I received an email this week about setting time aside for just one more thing, I cracked. 

Many times at home, all of us scratch our heads and say we want to get together, but can't ever find the time.  We determine that we are over scheduled with many of the things I mentioned above--much of the time even more considering we as a family on average still have half the activities as other families.  I would argue that we are simply scheduled.  What would your day look like if you had no calendar?  No activities lined up.  No band or sport practices.  No games.  No club meetings.  No youth group.  No fill in the blank.  What if you were simply available for whatever came up?  What if you were ready to have a God appointed meeting with the new couple at church and could have the time to take them to dinner?  What if you could call friends at the last minute to play cards?  What if you had the freedom to do anything that just pops up?  What if? 

We can.  My brother-in-law in Ohio put it to my husband like this, "What would you do if there were no "have-to's"?"  We create many of those "have-to's".  I've marked off all but two of those items on my calendar.  The two I kept are times we get to spend with our friends and family when we really get to visit with one another. 

Perhaps we all need to have missing puzzle pieces so that there is always room for the unexpected.  

Xunantunich (Maiden of the Rock)

What?!?!  Two posts in a day?!?!  Yep!
Here are some photos taken of our trip to Xunantunich, near the Guatemala border.  Enjoy!

Pronounced:  Shoe-nan-TOO-nich

El Castillo in the back.  

Ascending El Castillo

Another structure as seen from 1/2-way up Castillo

On top of El Castillo (the hens--I did NOT say chickens!--stayed one level down)

Determination

A couple of weeks ago I proudly announced to the ladies' group from church via Facebook, that I had begun my Christmas craft to exchange at the annual party.  Below is a picture of my progress at the time that I posted. 

 I was excited because I seemed to be plugging along and seemed to be optimizing my time since I was knitting during downtime in school while the kids needed my presence, but not my focused attention at the time.  Yay me!  But as with many things in life, just when we think we are in a good place, or that we've advanced, something else lets us know that we aren't where we thought we were.  I know, I'm speaking in code or another language to some and I do apologize for beasting around the bush (only my mother and sister will appreciate that joke), but I need to be obtuse at the moment. 

After ripping out row after row after row and restarting more than a dozen times, I have reality looking me smack in the face.  Below is all the further I am with my project after 2 weeks.

Considering the small size of the project, 2 weeks is a very long time.  I've learned many things while being in Belize and this knitting project summarizes part of that for me.  I'm not where I thought I was in life.  I've had to reorganize my time like I did with the project.  I can't knit with the kids around or I lose track of what stitch I'm on.  I have to give my full attention to some things where I thought I was succeeding before but it was due to my lack of attention and thinking I was ahead instead of observing the reality. 

How often do many of us find ourselves in this predicament?  We have a rude awakening and have to rip things apart and start over again and again.  Re-evaluate.  Try again. 

I learn over and over again that My Heavenly Father is the only One who will always love me and never foresake me.  My reality checks happen when I stop making Him the center of my day, life, marriage, mothering, (fill in the blank).  I have to have determination to pick myself up and start over again.  When I lack the will or the "want to" the Bible says that I can ask for a willing spirit to sustain me.  My verse this week is Psalm 51:12.  I've had this memorized for years.  It is written on my heart, but still I forget it in my daily life sometimes and then the ugliness of life snowballs and WHAM! I'm not where I thought I was. 

Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit to sustain me. 

My Mom II

Momma L, or as I refer to her, Mom II, is here visiting for the next couple of weeks.  Her flight landed just before Hurricane Rina was predicted to hit Belize.  The hurricane ended up being down-graded and missed Belize except for some rain. 

It has been fun re-exploring the peninsula through new eyes.  We have taken many walks and literally stopping to smell the flowers.  I remember doing that when I took my first strolls too.  I had intentionally avoided certain shops knowing that I'd love to visit them for the first time with Mom II.  Art shops, the coffee shop, some restaurants.  We have also introduced her to some of our favorites like Cozy Corner and J Dee's restaurants.  Both had recently been closed for spiffing up during the off season, but have just re-opened.  Barefoot Bar is opening tonight for their Halloween bash, so she can hear the soca and reggae that we loved when we first arrived.  Hope that the 9pm-2am schedule tonight doesn't discourage her!  It normally doesn't run that late, this is for their re-opening and for the holiday. 

Here are some of the sights we shared with her this week:

Cockscomb Peak viewed from the lagoon in Placencia Point. 

Part of Cozy Corner's renovation included a hammock station.  B is relaxing before dinner.

C in his hammock cocoon. 

KR says peek-a-boo.  One of her last 9-year-old moments.  Today she turns 10!

The beautiful skies over our beach thanks to Hurricane Rina.  We loved the pastels.

Mom II and the kids climbing the roots of this tree behind the coffee shop. 

Catch of the Day

We had company last week.  Our friend Jay came to visit.  It was his birthday present to come to Belize.  Happy Birthday, Jay!  Finally having a vehicle and someone to sight-see with added sudden activity and excitement to our household.  Due to rain, our plans flip-flopped and we ended up driving toward Cayo District for a day of spelunking at Actun Tunichil Muknal or ATM cave.  We arrived very late in the afternoon only to find out that we needed to have a guide for the tour and that the only available guides were about an hour away.  Fortunately the guard at the gate was good enough to give us a business card for a guard who came right away--an hour.  Unfortunately, I was not at my peak physically and was grumpy to boot and did not go with the family and chose rather to sit in the pitch dark in the truck in the parking area by myself while the family followed the guide into the jungle.  I do not have pictures to share, and you'll have to wait for their stories, but they are fantastic and worth remembering to ask them about.  They include fording a river 3 times, swimming 80% of the cave tour, seeing 2000 year old skeletons and Mayan pottery, etc.  Whet your appetite? 

That same weekend, we stayed with some new friends of ours who have property in Spanish Lookout, Albert and Anita.  We met them at church and it was love at first sight.  They have 3 children ages 6, 4 and 1-1/2 (I think).  A&A introduced us to the area by driving us by family plots, existing oil sites of another company, and stores with items one cannot readily obtain in our district (electronics, food, appliances, household goods, etc.). 

Next we chartered a boat to take us to the cayes (pronounced "keys") for snorkeling and fishing.  The water was very choppy.  We all had fun jumping the waves and getting splashed.  I caught all the water in the face. 

H, KR, Jay, & C waiting on the pier for our boat.

Bernard, our captain, posing with Jay's barracuda.  AKA lunch!

Look at those teeth!  H had them save some teeth for him. 

We fished around many of the cayes.  Bernard said the water was "murky" because of the waves and fishing was not easy.  Normally the water is much calmer.  B and I both had great bites, but we only have stories of "the one that got away."  (Later C had a tarpon on his line.  They are great game fish since they are great fighters, but it too got away.)  Our captain also showed us several private cayes that have guest houses to rent.  Maybe sometime we can go back and enjoy some solitude, but we were interested in getting some lunch and snorkeling.  I was interested in finding a bathroom ASAP, so I was glad that we were headed to Laughing Bird Caye next.  Because of all of the waves, it was difficult to find a place to dock and we had to make a few tries at finding a good place to anchor.  I nearly jumped over board to take care of my personal business, but Bernard was very kind and stopped long enough to allow me some privacy.  Thank you!  We all got out and walked around and splashed in the water around Laughing Bird, which is mostly coral.  It is VERY sharp and I was glad that I encouraged everyone to wear their water socks to protect our feet.  Because the water was too choppy, we didn't stay but maybe 15 minutes.  We ended up at Frigate Caye, another private island owned by a local to rent. 

K holding a conch she found on Frigate Caye.  It was only the shell.

Snorkeling fool. 

Lunch that Bernard and Ennis, the island's keeper, prepared.  

A long, but very enjoyable day on the water.  Bernard brought us to the beach at Cozy Corner, which is next to hour house.  Front door service!  We came home covered in sea salt, sunburns and smiles. 

Drive

Fits and starts.  That pretty much describes the last few days.  Fits we've all thrown (me included and quite possibly--ok really--the most) and starting over.  B picked up our vehicle this Friday.  We decided to drive to Cockscomb Preserve the following day. 

We woke up late--8:30 and after some odds and ends errands, we headed out.  This was our first outing with just our family!  I cannot tell you how weird it felt to be riding.  I took plenty of video and a few shots while we were driving.  I'll share just some of it here.

The kids find it funny that speed bumps are called HUMPS here.  There are 30+ of these from the beginning of the peninsula to our house.  

 

One of the buildings seen just as you turn onto the road into the Preserve.

I took video of driving over one of the secondary roads, but I cannot upload it right now.  You'll have to take my word for it when I tell you it was like driving in a Ford truck commercial when you are warned that the driver is a professional on a closed course.  Fun for all of us. 

While we didn't see any, this park is also called the Jaguar Preserve.  

 

 I felt stupid when we pulled up to the preserve to find out it was going to be a lot of hiking and much of it geared toward backpackers and we wore shorts and sandals. (I felt less stupid when later we ran across 3 women and one of them was wearing a dress that was above the knee and another was carrying a travel coffee mug.  Sometimes I just wonder.)  It was at least ten degrees cooler due to being inland and being in the higher elevations.  We paid for a map which had points of interest numbered coinciding with numbered posts along the trail.  On our second stop we were standing unawares in an ant hill until they began biting us.  Ouch!  (We are itching 2 days later.)  Needless to say, we watched our steps a little more closely and didn't pay attention to the signs too much afterward.  The trails were muddy and it began to rain.  Rain in the rainforest.  Uphill we walked. 

A little frog we saw at the river we had to cross.  The frog is about the size of a quarter.

Turn your head to the left.  I couldn't figure out how to rotate the pictures.  :)

All smiles at the foot of the waterfall.  There were signs granting permission to swim here, but we didn't bring suits.  

From here, we decided to take the "small hike" to the peak to lookout over the preserve.  We were told at the visitor center before taking off that it was an additional 10 minute hike from this point and that it was about .2km.  The map was wrong and so was the guy at the center, because it was almost 1-1/2miles from the falls and it was all stinkin' uphill.  I'm not sure what the grade was, but it was a vigorous hike.  B said we were at 831 km elevation.  Good thing that we stocked up on water (and Oreos) before leaving the visitor center. 

After our hike, we were famished since we got to the park at lunchtime and hadn't eaten.  It was 3pm.  We were soaked to the bone and muddy.  We found a spigot behind the bathrooms and washed off.   We found  a restaurant at the foot of the mountain that we'd passed on our way in.  What a delight.  We pulled in to the family's yard.  The restaurant was an 8-sided, thatch-roofed building, with concrete foundations and floor with panoramic views through the screens.  We were unexpected customers and we shared what they'd already prepared for their family for the day.   We were served a fresh fruit tray harvested from their yard.  Watermelon, pineapple, oranges and bananas.  Mayan chicken soup, rice, tortillas and an interesting cabbage salad with carrots, green peppers and avocados all served family style.  Wonderful atmosphere.  I could imagine a trip back with Mom II as the sights, peaceful sounds of the nature that surrounded the building and pleasant conversation with the owners and seeing their family drift in an out ranked within her Top 10 favorite things in life.  I realize that days like this cannot be repeated, but I think she'd enjoy it just the same.  I wouldn't wish being soaked, muddy, sore from ant bites, and being bone tired on her or anyone, but we were the happiest miserable people on the planet sitting there. 

Spin a Yarn

I am having a difficult time trying to come up with words to express some of my thoughts and feelings stemming from this weekend.  Some of them are intense and profound. Other thoughts and feelings are subtle and fun. 

First, I spent almost an entire morning online Saturday.  I NEVER do that.  (Of course I did get 4 loads of laundry, meals and a walk with the family in during the day, so I feel I redeemed myself.  {grin})  A few weeks ago, my mom suggested a blog site to me.  http://www.creatingafamilyhome.com/ I don't go to the site itself, instead I have the new posts delivered to my inbox, so a little is lost from the experience, but I get all of the reading and the pictures from the posts--the new stuff.  My mom knows me and I do LOVE the blog.  Through this blog, I discovered the joys of "yarn alongs".  Kelly, who posts the aforesaid blog, repeatedly mentioned "joining Ginny in this week's yarn along".  Saturday I was inclined and had the time to nibble.  I clicked on the link which only took me to yet another blog, but there was a post titled, "Yarn Along".  Come to find out, Ginny is a homeschooling mom who knits and loves to read.  Weekly she makes a post titled YA and shares her progress on her knitting project and a picture of the book she is reading AND (drum roll please) she asks others to post on her site links to what others are knitting (crocheters are accepted--yay!) and reading.  During this moment the floodgates of Heaven were opened to me and the loneliness I've felt here in Belize dissipated as I clicked on numerous links to find other homeschool moms (some also in other countries) and their projects and what they were reading.  Above I have posted a picture of my current crochet project and the book I read today.

The book I read is one that C is going to be reading for school this week.  It is thought provoking and gave me some relief to see that it has possibilities of lending some reassurance to C, as a young teen, that he too is not alone, which is a problem we all face when we are that age.  Parents who don't understand.  A foot each in childhood and adulthood and the confusion it causes with expectations of others and of self.  Hormones that mess with the mind and emotions.  I recently finished a book almost 1000 pages long and I found this 119 page book heavier and deeper and wider than anything spoken in the long book.  My mother-in-law (just the technical term because she is my mother too--Mom II) gave to me a book for my birthday this year that is similar to Guests, but on a child reading level.  The lessons are the same and given in the same manner--through story.  This is a book also written from the point of view of a coming of age Native American boy at the time of the first Thanksgiving.  I highly recommend a trip to the library to check out this book--no matter what your age, gender, or time, or how you feel about yourself.  It's never a bad time for self-evaluation. 

The comment above about my crochet project being current is slightly misleading.  In a previous post I mentioned a granny square project that I'd been working on for 12 years and that I avoided it like the plague.  This is THE project.  Perhaps the old blue Wal-Mart bag tells how long I've been dragging this thing around.  It is the perfect project to use scrap yarn.  (That is the silver lining to which I cling.)  I refreshed my memory on the number of squares needed to complete the afghan....836.  Miss K counted the squares in my bag this week and I have only topped out at a whopping 248.  Depressing!  Good news...I may run out of scrap yarn soon and all knitters and crocheters know what that means...buy more yarn for a new project!  Yay!  After seeing the Yarn Alongs this weekend, I've decided to try to knit socks, or maybe a scarf, or mittens, or hat, or...ok...maybe you should help me decide.  Now it's YOUR turn to comment.  I'd love to hear what you have to say.  Show me a project.  Spin your own yarn.  Tell me what you are reading.  Blessings.