Can You Belize It!

"Can you Belize it?" is almost the national motto of Belize, and right now it is very appropriate for us. We have finally made it to Belize. We are so excited to be here and very grateful for all the prayer and financial support that helped us get here. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

We have just finished our second week here and already alot has happened. Being ready for the plane trip was a feat in itself. After pulling an all-nighter (not unusual for Charlie, but HIGHLY irregular for me) we made it through airport security with no minutes to spare to board our flight. I thought, oh, no, we'll never be able to walk all the way to the terminal in time, but our terminal was the first one after security! That's never happened before. I thought it was mandatory that one must walk 2 miles to get anywhere in an airport. :-)

I forgot to mention that due to airline regulations, I had to take my preciouses (Emmy and Iggy) to the airport the day before the rest of us flew out. That was an adventure for my mom and me to find the right cargo bay for shipping animals. Hint: it isn't anywhere near the main terminal! But all is well, and they met us the next day in Belize customs.

We had a connecting flight in Houston. When we landed we were hungry so Charlie went off in search of food. When he came we started to eat and before we were finished, we were called to board our flight. Talk about short lay-overs. We made it to Belize at 11:30 in the morning!

We were greeted by Iggy and Emmy first and then by veteran missionary to Belize, Bob Farley, his wife, Rhonda, and Belize Votech missionary, Lyle Rainey. What a blessed sight they were. It was hard to take in that we had finally made it. Praise be to God who doesn't give up on us and promises to finish what he has started.

We still had several hours to travel by road, so after lunch in the capital city of Belmopan, and a brief shopping trip, we headed on our way south in a borrowed van (Thank you, Bob and Rhonda) to our new home.

We arrived after dark (it gets dark between 5:30-6:00) to a welcome sight. Our wonderful neighbors had cut the grass, cleaned the house and made the beds. Global missionaries Cohen and Amie Ezelle had stocked us with necessary foods and with cake and ice cream to celebrate my birthday, which was the next day (15th) We couldn't feel more love and accepted.

After sleeping well, we awoke to roosters crowning at 5:30 - not a bad wake up call. Charlie was anxious to take us on a walk around the property, so off we went with Emmy and Iggy in tow. About half way through our "tour" Devon and I came across a coral snake (Charlie and the girls were a little a head) After a constrained squeal of "SN-SN-SNAKE!" the snake made a little for us and then turned into the jungle. Our property abuts a jungle, and sort of mountain. It's very pretty.

I decided that sitting on the porch might be safer, so that's what I did. Charlie and the children were in the front yard talking with a neighbor when a wild bull moseyed into our yard. The children thought that was great and started to run toward the bull, but Charlie warned them that he could be dangerous. Just then the bull started bucking his hind legs in the air and then charged our neighbor. No one was hurt and the bull eventually wandered off down the highway. Our house is right on "the highway" but really it looks just like a regular street.

About 2 days later we were having our family Bible time and reading from the book of Exodus, when Mary-Esther saw a scorpion crawling down our wall. I knew there were bats in the attic, but scorpions? Oh, well, Charlie fought it bravely, and after the scorpion stung the weapon (broom) many times and hissed its heart out, it gave up the ghost and died. One more victory!

The children were a little apprehensive about reading anymore in Exodus because they likened the incident to the story of Inkheart. If you are familiar with Inkheart, you know that characters from the books the father read came to life in our world. Poor Mary-Esther didn't want us to get read about the fiery serpents!

I have so much more to tell you, but I'll save it for another day. Right now, I have to go make tortilla from scratch.

Until then, joyful in Belize