Friday, May 21, 2010

Our Trip Down

I decided to take a step back and write a little about our trip down to Belize. We drove one car with trailer down to Oklahoma, where we stayed two nights, then Daniel took us to Dallas to the airport where the children and myself boarded a plane to Belize, and he went on down to AL to ship the car, and then back to Iowa to drive the truck down to AL to have it shipped, and then he took a plane down as well. There. I've said it. I hope you understand it. Here are some photos of it. Sometime soon, I want to write all about the little House on the Prairie that we visited in KS, for all those who are as crazy about the "Little House" stories as I am...

Thank goodness for these times.


Getting those legs stretched.

Cooking breakfast along the way. As busy as I was packing at the end of our time in Iowa, I really wanted to be able to do some cooking on our trip. It was well worth the effort to pack food for that. Homemade food tastes especially good on a trip. I had a nice table to cook on, too!

I saw this tree in Kansas. I thought it was just too beautiful! Flowers growing right out of the trunk.

Cracker Barrel, our almost most favorite restaurant and store.

I don't know about this. I honestly don't know which is the better country to live in, Belize or America. But right now I know I sure feel like I would rather be anywhere but here! It's the humidity that is so hard to get used to.

We stopped at a friend's house in Oklahoma, and man, did the children have fun riding this thing.
They have already asked if we are going back there someday. I hope to, someday. I thought east Oklahoma was very beautiful when we drove through it, and yes, I would love to see our friends more often. :)

Monday, May 10, 2010

Farm life and health care

Today went pretty well until my big boy came home with a bloody face. His cousins took him along to get some compost for the garden when he had jumped and fallen on the trailer and cut his forehead. I rushed him to the clinic to have him taken care of. I sure hadn't expected to do something like this so soon! but living on a farm one has to be ready for incidents like this.

One bad thing is, Joseph cut himself on a rusty steel edge, so they want me to take him back to give him the tetanus shot. I always knew that would be one shot our children might not be able to avoid if we live on an active farm, and I think in this case we might have to 'err on the side of caution'.

They don't have any doctors at the community clinic, but the nurses are taught to do a little more than first aid services. It took only two stitches. Here's the great thing; they only charge 4 Belize dollars for one stitch, which would be 2 US. Altogether I only paid $19.oo US for the whole procedure. Talk about a great health care system!

Other than that incident we are all doing great; no more weather complaints around here.

Thursday, May 6, 2010

Finally, an Update!

Hi! Now that we live in a third world country, internet access is not so easy anymore, so that's the reason I am not writing lots lately. I hope it will improve soon. I still have some to share about our last times in the US and some about the trip.

The children have been sick. Cough, diarrhea, and today Jessica fell down pretty hard with a bicycle. Lucky she still has all her teeth. Now and then the children just want to cry, and I know I need to be very patient with them as I understand it is very hard on them to have made this move. The good thing is, they already have lots of friends so that makes it easier for them. They are getting settled, and I think by now they would prefer to live here instead of moving back. I wake up happier each day lately as well. There is so much reason for us to be happy here. Daniel is very much enjoying his new job here.

Our stuff and our cars won't arrive before another 2 weeks or so, so until then I have to busy myself with other things. I am already working on getting a garden plot started. Let's hope the officials won't mind letting me take some seeds into this country, as I took some 'peaches and cream' sweet corn seeds along. Some things just aren't easy to come by here, and there is no guarantee that I will get it from the store once I want to plant it, and they might only have very limited choices, if any at all.

Enjoy the photos! It's a great life, at least on photos it is! :)


We decided to go for some fast food on the street; rice and beans with chicken. UM YUM.

That green tea tasted pretty good that day. The red cheeks say it all.

And, here's another good thing, when it gets so hot and we have time, we go swimming! We've got great rivers for it, and it is a good pastime.

Doesn't that look inviting???

My nephew and niece enjoying the picnic at the river.

In the morning the cows wake us up, or the birds, or the neighbor's chickens...

This chicken can get into the house, but not to worry, he is usually shooed out. It's my niece's pet, by the way... And I don't think I need to explain the no-pants issue here... it's too hot for that.

Today I watched my brother in law plow their garden... Uum, Uum, I wouldn't exactly recommend this!!! It seemed as if the plow wasn't heavy enough.


Ok, that's it for today. I will be sure to update when I have time or access, so be sure to stay in touch.