Million dollar smiles

 I live in an old house. Its not ours. I don't have a dryer so my wash is hanging all over the place on a rainy day. My boys dress in raggy pants and shirts. 

But you know what? I do not  envy the lady who has all she can possibly need but no littles to fill that empty place in her arms. No smiles to greet her with. 

A friend from Germany visited us and told us how many of the german couples there do not want to have children.

Maybe next year I will have a dryer, or maybe I will someday have a new house to live in. But what I know is that I have 5 of the sweetest blessings any woman could ever have, whether she believes it or not.

 

  I am rich, very rich.

Bible Camp Week

Last week was the long awaited bible camp for the children. It was every bit as enjoyable as last time. My brother who rents a house close to the meeting hall is away at this time, so the children and myself stayed there during the whole time of the camp. We were so happy to be able to do it. Besides saving lots on gasoline, we were right there and just had to walk a few minutes to get there on time. There was one drawback though. I have killed four scorpions last week, two of them being on the yard, and one in our bedroom on a pillow I lifted from the floor. Not that I enjoy the job, but you just cannot let those creepy things get away with their life. I didn't sleep too well after that bedroom incident but then my sister reminded me we all have angels watching over us. They did a good job, cause none of us got stung. (But you can be sure I checked under all pillows and blankets thoroughly before bedtime from then on.)

 Three smiley faces I had in one of the classes I served. (Joseph's class.) The day began with singing songs about Samuel, then they went out in different groups to separate rooms for their lessons, and after that they had a snack and came together for bible sword drill. All the children were put in four groups called Nazarites, Priests, Prophets and Judges. They were asked to stand in front in groups of 4 at a time and asked questions about the lesson. Whoever answered first, their group got points. The older ones were sometimes given a testament to see who could look up a verse the quickest. If they could say it by memory, they got big points for it. After the drill they would again separate and go to their rooms for crafts. That was it for the day. They went home for lunch, and in the evening it was the parents responsibility to review the lesson and to help them learn their verses and a bonus paragraph. It always amazes me the energy these little ones have to learn about God's word.
"And that from a babe you have known the holy scriptures which are able to make you wise unto salvation..." 2 Timothy 3:15

 

 One day I took the children to this neat little hut for supper. We ordered puposas and burritos. I like these simple affordable places to eat. 

 The last day after lunch was time for outdoor games. Here they made groups and one child from each group was hidden. The group was to find the child and carry her back to the starting point without letting go. Since one of the themes of the camp was cooperation, this was a very fitting game to play.

 

 They got lovely forest colored shirts with these words on the back.

 

 The gifts on the last day were special as always. Even the little ones got something, and the joy shows on this little guy's face. 

One morning I even went to the market. It was a rainy day... It was somewhat a rather new experience for me. You see, if you want good clothes in Belize, you might go to the market and buy gently used brand name clothes for a very good price. Belizeans open their tents in the morning before the sun is up and it is still dark, so if you want good stuff, you get up early on market day. I went at 5:30 in the morning while a friend stayed at the house with the children. You shop under a tent out of the rain, with the light bulbs overhead to lighten the 'store'. I cannot imagine putting all those tents up twice a week, hanging up all those clothes every time, setting up the tables, lights and all. Shopping is definitely very different here than in the US, buy hey, I thought it was even a little bit fun. Especially because I found pretty much everything I had on my list to buy, and the price and quality can't be beat! I hear people say that you find better options here than if you go shopping in the US, and even if I might not like it, I would have to agree.

I have taken some videos at the camp but I don't always have success with uploading them. I want to share at least this one precious little song they learned to sing in round song in four groups. It sings to the melody 

Row row row your boat.

Samuel served the Lord

Anyway he could;

Eli's sons the lazy ones

they weren't any good.

I'm not such a one

I will serve my God

Clean the glass and cut the grass

With a happy nod.

Gingerbread Houses

 For a few years I have had this on my to-do list. I just always thought it was too much work or I was too lazy or too busy, I'm not sure which. We did this yesterday, and it went real well. I would not have known that to make gingerbread houses was so easy. The dough turned out perfect, and so did the decorating. Enjoy! The photos, that is. The houses have been demolished already... :)

 

 Spice drops, smarties, pretzels, raisins, candy corn, and coconut for the roof.

Timothy's birthday

Saturday was Timothy's birthday. We are not normally much for celebrating birthdays, but this time I felt very good about inviting some family and friends (Sunday evening) and have some cake and ice cream and just have a thanksgiving night. God has been so good to us!

The children started first with churning the ice cream, then the bigger boys took over to finish the job. It was a big joke and fun for everyone to see how that antique machine could produce such good ice cream! Daniel and Carl played a few games with the children out in the moonlight, and we sang some songs indoors. It was an evening well spent...

Two long nights and one day...

As many of you know, we took Timothy to the hospital on Thursday. I might as well start at the beginning. Joseph had this brilliant idea that he was going to hitch the small tricycle to the big one with a rope, and give Timothy a ride that way. It just didn't work. The tricycle tipped and Timothy got a bad bruise on his forehead when he landed on the concrete. I thought I had seen this so often that it did not worry me much at all. In the afternoon of that day, his face started swelling near the bump and he developed a low grade fever. I was still not worried too much because I was told to watch for vomiting or unconsciousness and he had neither. But, the next day in the evening when we got together with family, it did not take long for the other expert mommies to convince us we needed to have him checked. We thought we would need to have a ct scan taken, so we were encouraged to go to the ER in Belize City, which is one and a half hours drive away. So we had to miss the family night and go to the hospital instead. When we got there, They took some blood tests, and did some x-rays. The pediatrician came and said, there was no fracture in his skull, but, he had a very serious bacterial skin infection called cellulitus, which, if not taken care of, could go to the brain. What happened is when he bruised his skin, he must have got the bacteria into the wound, which caused an infection in a matter of hours. She told us we had to stay at least 24 hours to have him on antibiotics, and to monitor him. And the fever was not due to the fall at all, but he tested positive for dengue fever on top of that. Poor little guy! In spite of all the needles and pokings he got, he was a super good boy. He would just run around in the room, playing with what he could, and didn't complain. I want to thank everyone for praying. The first night I slept poorly, cause I shared a single bed with him, and couldn't sleep when he was restless. The second night went much better.

 You can click on the picture to enlarge it.

 This shows him like he was most of the time, happy;

 The puppy Grandma sent from Winnipeg came at the right time. He clung to it once auntie Linda had given it to him.

 All that food is overwhelming!

I must say, I am very thankful today. We have a happy healthy boy again, although we still have to give him antibiotics regularly and take him to the local clinic to have him get injections. No fun, but it's all worth it many times over.  How fortunate we are!

I have learned, and would like to remind all moms out there, if your child falls and scrapes himself, take care of it immediately.  This bacteria can be anywhere. A lot can be prevented. Especially in this country, it is ever so vital.

Presentations

Every now and then some homeschoolers get together and let the students present any subject they have learned about. Here are what ours did. Not that Joseph is in any grade yet, but he really wanted to present something this time, and I encouraged him to. Jessica recited the names of the books of the Bible (almost perfect) and told us about the clock, and Joseph told us his Jonah story. Enjoy!

Our little boys

What do you do when it is January, and your little boy has a birthday and asks, "Mommy, can we barbecue chicken for my birthday?" Well, you try to make do as best as you can, at least that's what we did!

We put two tins at the sides of the stove, and put a rack on top of that, and voila, an instant barbecuer. It worked! And we enjoyed our bbq chicken, in the middle of winter.

Then we let him choose where to go for ice cream, and guess what, he picked Mcdonalds. This is probably THE first mcflurry he has ever eaten, so its ok. Once in 5 years is probably not too often.

Here is the little man, enjoying his papa.

I just love this one. He thinks he has the best place to sit!

A Good Thing

Piano Girl

Here is my little girl, after three piano classes. (Actually that was 4; what was I thinking...)I think she is doing awesome!

I love the way Joseph is listening in. Timothy, no, he's not happy, but that is because of teething; -again.

Yep, that explains all three children's characters very well...

My little Pea

Little, yet not so little anymore. He turned one! Sorry, I have no cake to prove it... :( But I DID take photos on his birthday!

I was fortunate to catch him in a great mood.

I wish I could say he's always in such a good mood, but no, not when he's working on 3 or 4 molars!

"But look Mommy, I got up here by myself! (I know I'm not wearing any pants, but Mommy didn't know I was going to climb this 5 gallon bucket with bare legs...)" Hey, I'll bet it worked better without pants anyway! Yeah, otherwise he probably couldn't have done it. Now there's one reason to go pantless.

...my little pea...

Two Peas in a Pod

My oldest two are so friends with each other. I have been thankful for that over and over. Whatever they do together, they do well.


When I started homeschooling Jessica, I soon realized one positive aspect about it that I had never thought about before. I would feel sorry for my big little boy if his sister was in school all day long and he couldn't play with her like he does every day. He will often sit patiently beside her and watch her do her homework or do some coloring beside her, and once she is done, they will run and play again.
Washing dishes can become a very interesting chore. Although I often have to intervene, I have to smile often at the ideas that can be born when two little people stand at the kitchen sink for 30 minutes every day! This includes a lot of science experiments!

He is all up in arms about protecting his sister already. They posed this way and then asked me to take a photo, and I couldn't resist.

Of Clean Windows and Flowers...

I used to be so up-to-date with keeping my windows clean. I sort of enjoy washing windows. For over a year ago since we moved to this old White House, (and that is the name of our house in case i hadn't mentioned it before) on my to-do list was washing windows. Who knows how long these windows had been dirty. Some still are. I guess back when they built these windows they must have thought what great windows! WELLLLL. They sure are hard to open and close, that's about all I know. Huge, heavy panes. Too heavy for a pregnant lady to clean by herself, which justifies why I didn't wash them until-now. I know my baby is almost 1, you don't need to rub that in!

So I was thinking, why is it so hard to get to cleaning windows now? It used to be such a breeze.

Here I started with one window. I got some help with it, and everyone who is in the same shoes knows what that means. It didn't take long for my helpers to tire of it and out of the open window they jumped, off to find something more exciting.

While washing and stewing about how much work it was and mourning the fact that I can't seem to keep my house in top shape anymore, I was distracted by my two oldest children right outside the window I was washing. Surprise! They were holding hands and some flowers.

I took the moment to 'smell the roses'. All of a sudden I understood why I couldn't get my windows clean like I used to! Back when I got all my work done so fast, I didn't have these interruptions. My eyes blurred when in a flash the children were gone again, finding something else exciting to do. Yes, I prefer these times to when I didn't have these precious blessings to interrupt me in my busyness and remind me to smell the roses. O and if you ever feel like you are the only woman who can't keep her windows clean, I hope I have convinced you that that is simply not true.

My Baby!

Well, I guess he's not so baby anymore. I decided its time to show more pictures of him. He has really been starting to do all sorts of things at 9 1/2 months. A bit slower than the other two, but he does things eventually.

Here he is wearing shorts that belonged to daddy when he was small! They are a bit too tight already, but I had to put them on him to see how it looked... Interesting, right?

He has discovered the register where the cold air blows out, and he just loves sitting there and marveling at it!

He loves green onions from the garden. Unbelievably much! I love his baby breath smelling like onion!

Here he thinks he is big, and I guess he is.

Kittens, anyone?

All we wanted was to get Jessica 2 young kittens to replace her two that had gotten lost several months ago. So how did we end up with 5?!!!

First of all we went to Grandma and Grandpa Bs to pick up two little ones.

Then we found out they were hard to catch and so it took us a while to get two, but since they were not exactly the ones she wanted the most, Daddy figured let's just get a third and have an extra one, should we lose one, or two...

You never know when a coon or coyote will decide a kitten is an easy dinner, or when one is stupid enough to wander onto the road and get run over, so a third did not sound like a bad idea... ...until it turns into a fourth, and a fifth kitten, that is!!!

Two nights ago in the middle of night Jessica came to me and said, "Do you think the kittens need anything? I hear them meowing and meowing." I mumbled something like, "No, I'm sure they're fine. Just go back to sleep. Check on them in the morning." Soon I am awakened again, this time by a meowing kitten. I get up, switch on the porch light, and look for all three of them, but they are fine. Then I hear that sound coming from outside. Must be stray cat, I dismissed... Until next morning when we heard that meowing again and we went and checked; sure enough, crouched by the wood pile is a furry little kitten.

Just look at it! Scared, lonely, needing attention... Who else but Jessica can give a kitten what it needs?! Their mama of course, but no mamas around here except my little girl.

The next morning I thought I had heard another sound from outside, but I thought, surely not! But yes, among the woodpile, another little kitten! Same size, different kind though. Now who can just dismiss the pitiful cry of a lonely hungry kitten that has somehow lost his home... So, we take it in too, feed it and love it. Well the children do, that is. I don't like cats. Never have, never will. But I can put up with them for my children's sakes. It makes them happy, and we need them to catch the mice around here, so yeah, I can put up with them.

Now, what do we do with five kittens? I have to stretch my dollars as is just to buy food for us, let alone for a family of kittens! There's Smokey, (guess which one's Smoky!!!) and Rosie, Sally, Simba and Fluffy. They are kind of cute now, aren't they though?.

Mommy, would you paint with me?

Yes dear, but not right now. How often do I find myself telling my children that! But then, what is a mother to do? Sometimes you just have to do what you have to do, but I think it is very important to take the time to do things they want to do with us together. After all, they are this small only once. Only a short little once. So, I made a painting session with both of them recently. We got out our watercolors, chairs and what we needed and found a nice spot outside to relax and see what we could paint. Little Timothy was on a blanket beside us, chewing on grass, sticks and whatever else he could find...

Here is Jessica's first painting. It was somewhat similar to mine. It is meadows, fields and sky.

Jessica's depiction of our family. When I look at this picture I feel so blessed that there are 5 people in our family!

Joseph's state of the art piece of art. I like it. You can see the watercolor so well. But I couldn't tell you what it is supposed to be. But then, that is what art is all about now, isn't it?

This one done by him is a bit more obvious what it is supposed to be. Trees, a road, a car with people in it, a rainbow, and sky...

Here is mine. I call it, A lazy day in Iowa. I might actually frame this one day, or stack it with all the ones I mean to frame some day in the future.

So, spend that special moment with your child! You might just be rewarded in several ways.

Mommy, don't forget Jesus!

Joseph told me recently, "There are 6 people in our family." Thinking he might have miscounted, I replied, "no, there are only 5." He then said, "no, Jesus is in our family too. Don't forget Him!" I felt so humiliated! Yes, of course HE is in our family, and I am so happy that I have a 4 year old to remind me of this!I took this photo yesterday when I found him sleeping on this blanket close to the garden. He wasn't feeling too well. It warmed my heart to see him lying there, a sick little boy with a dirty face and a dandelion in his hand...

Joseph and his woodpile

When Daddy was gone to Belize for his grandfather's funeral a while back, I told Joseph to bring in some wood and fill up the woodbox and maybe we could surprise Daddy. It was close to the time he should have been home, so Joseph said he would carry in wood until Daddy came. I thought, ok. Well, here he carries in load after load, and daddy still is not home. I said he could stop if he wanted to, but no, he wanted to keep it up. So he carried and carried, until he had this huge pile inside and had carried wood for over an hour. Finally he gave up, and of course Daddy showed up soon after the last piece of wood came in, but boy, he sure was surprised! I am not sure I could have carried all that myself, at least not so happily as he did.