On the way! Two seconds after the picture the

polar fleece jacket came out.

                      
                       
                              Had to get some supplies, fruit and vegetable stand in Spanish Lookout

Joe the shopper.

                                                Drive way to Ms Tomasita's house.
                                                Steep, rocky and not for this rental car.

                                                    Mr. Joe addressing the assembly.
                                              Lots of children!! Good to see the smiling faces.

                                        

                                          Ms. Doret, who is now the manager of the
                                          Cayo school district. Very nice lady, thanked our
                                          church for all the work that has been done to better
                                          the school building. Also for the relationships we
                                          have built with the children.

  

                                                         Anglican church in Selena.
                                                     A village with about 20 homes.

                                              


                                                  The morning view from our front porch at the
                                                  mission house.
                                                  Many mornings spent there with coffee and
                                                  devotions. The three weeks went fast but
                                                  we did get a lot accomplished.                       

                                                    

February 13, 20014 - Thursday
Yesterday..........Ok so that didn't work out very well, except for the fact that we are now back home safe.....which in the end is the only important thing.

We left Belize City at 2:30, and arrived in Atlanta at about 6:30, we were the last plane into the airport. We were scheduled to leave at 8:30, for Knoxville which was changed till 10:30, then the flight was canceled. Not good! We were able to get a hotel but cabs and shuttles were not running.
So we spent the night in the airport. Needless to say, We've slept in worse places but we are very happy to be home and looking forward to sleeping in our OWN bed.
Oh right, did I mention that most all of the food places were closed because they sent everyone home because of the bad weather. We did get in one place at the last minute and bought a sandwich. Also a pillow and a blanket for each of us.

So here we are today, they rebooked our flight for 10:30 this evening! All the morning flights had already been canceled and the one that should have gone at noon was canceled too. As I said, before most of the food places were closed because people couldn't get to work or they ran out of food. We did manage to find a Buffalo Wild Wings that was open. Breakfast was a bit unusual but it filled us up.  We were able to get on a stand-by list and the next flight out would be 1:40pm. We sat and waited for them to call our names. We were the last people to board the plane!! WhooHoo!!! So excited! Get us to Knoxville, please!!!??? And guess what!? Our luggage made it too!!!!! How unbelievable is that! Nothing broken or missing, just a lot of stinky, smelly clothes. I will be soooo happy to wash those stinky, smelly clothes in my washing machine that I do not have to use a hose to fill and dry them in a clothes dryer instead of on the line.

Pictures to follow tomorrow...............I am sorry that we were not able to print the pictures along with the blog but unfortunately there were problems that we could not get worked out.

We love Belize and the simple life that we share when we are there but there is nothing like home sweet home Knoxville, Tennessee!!
Thank all of you for your prayers and support through this 3 weeks! God is good and we are truly blessed!

February 12, 2014
We are on the move - heading to the airport. Good bye nice weather............Hello wintery mix. It will be good to be home.

We have had an awesome time! God willing we will arrive in Knoxville at 9:30 this evening, please keep us in your prayers.

February 6, 2014 - Thursday

Back to Selena for classes. Both ladies showed up with their small quilt front finished. We worked
on putting the back on the quilt. Both Reyna and Sucely caught on quickly. We began embroidery instructions and Reyna already knew a lot about embroidery but didn't have any materials to work with.
Class ran from 9:00 to 12:00, both women had to leave to fix lunch for their husbands.
This is a nice little church with a beautiful view of the jungle. We had a very heavy rain while we
were there. Lots of noise on a tin roof!!

We have a contact to fix the machines so we will see what Rev. Olivia wants to do.

We stopped at Roselly's for chicken beans and rice and worked the rest of the evening on projects
for Faye.

February 7, 2014 - Friday
Sewing Classes in Los Tambos
Making bags today! We will see what they have learned. Some of the ladies are catching on very
nicely and some need more work. It is so good to see young ladies like Ada Miranda and Jessica Baiza participating in the classes. Ada is doing very well and really seems to enjoy it.
On the way back to the mission house we picked up two machines that were repaired at Spanish Lookout and we will deliver them to Ms Faye and Ms Shanique.
On to Cayo with Ms Tomasita and three of her children. She needs to shop and her husband will pick
the family up to take them back to Los Tambos after he finishes work.
We stopped while we were in Cayo to meet Mr. Chavez, he is a sewing machine repair man who is willing to go to Selena to check out the machines.  He also owns a shop that makes clothing. We had the chance to talk to him about working with the ladies in Los Tambos to give them instructions on making uniform pants. Hopefully we will be able to make all this work.
Orange Gallery for dinner, long day.

February 8th, 2014 - Saturday
Coffee and devotions on the porch, relaxing and making plans for the day.
Ms Juanita was at her house next door and needed a ride to the market in Cayo. Packed up the 3 kids and took off about 9:30. Big market! Lots of people and VERY hot! Had to stop for ice cream! Back to the house by 12:00. Joe and Mark went to Spanish Lookout for hardware and I stayed back at the mission house to catch up on unfinished projects before Monday.
We took Ms Juanita and the kids to dinner then home. Back to the Learning center to blog.

February 9th, 2014 - Sunday
Coffee and devotions on the porch, rainy morning. Mark spent the weekend with us so he got up and started the coffee. We have known Mark since he was 4, he has grown into a wonderful young man! He is smart, respectful and really enjoys working. He is going to school at the National  4H Youth Development Center then on to high school.

We spent the morning in LosTambos, Joe and Mark at a community meeting and I spent a couple hours working with Ms Miranda showing her how to operate the sewing machine. We had to put a new battery system together for her machine. We also covered instructions for the frequency of charging the battery.
I had a sewing/quilting and machine instruction class at 2:00, while Joe and Mark went home to do Mark's laundry.

We left to take Mark back to school about 5:00, home about 6:30.
Now working to finish and organize everything, tomorrow will be our last day in LosTambos. Sad day to say good bye to all our wonderful friends. Soon we will be joining all of you in the cold weather.

February 3, 2014 - Monday
Happy Anniversary! 22 years! This is our second year celebrating in Belize. You would think I would give him the day off?? No way.
Out to Los Tambos to start the next sewing class. We are back to basics. Learning how to thread the machine, change a bobbin, change the needle and change stitch patterns. It kept them busy. We had 6 teams of 3 people and the project was to make one bag. It certainly was interesting to watch. We ran out of power at 2:00 pm so our sewing day is over and time to move on to something else.

We were invited to dinner at In His Will to celebrate our anniversary and Leroy's birthday. Very nice
evening.

February 4, 2014 - Tuesday
We picked up Ms Tomasita at 8:30 and on to Selena for our first day of classes. Rev. Olivia was ready and waiting for us. The building was unlocked and ready for us. The sewing machines were out and it looked like we were ready to rock!
I worked on the machines to see if I could find one that would work with out too much effort. The
treadle machines were received 2 years ago with little or no attention since that time. Unfortunately
like so many of the metal things in Belize the machines are rusted and tension disks are pitted. Where is the repair guy when you need one?? I can do general repair but all of this is above my pay grade.
When the first person arrived we abandoned machine repair and went into the teaching mode.
It was a little disappointing that we only had two ladies show up but we had a great time and we
were able to have a one on one class. Neither of the ladies had used a machine so we to started
with the basics of hand work. Class ended at 12:00.
After talking to the Rev. Olivia we found out that there seems to be a great deal of conflict between some of the people in the village. She felt we wouldn't be able to get more than a few there at one time. That is sad!

Shopping for supplies in Spanish Lookout for class in LosTambos tomorrow. Back to the mission house for supper.

February 5, 2014 - Wednesday
8:15 picking up Ms Tomasita. The Howler monkeys were making a lot of noise this morning. We left Ms Tomasita at the school to set up for class.
I would like to stop here and say that for those of you who don't know Ms Tomasita she is my interpreter, right hand person and a very dear friend. She is a wonderful lady who faces some unbelievable challenges every day. She has only one leg. She did have a prosthetic leg but it had some problems so now she uses a walker. Can you imagine trying to hike some of the roughest trails in the Smokey mountains with a walker? That is what she endures every day and is also raising 5 children. They do not have electric or running water. AND SHE NEVER COMPLAINS!!  To see all that she does is such an inspirational lesson for me.
Back to class............things went very well everyone seems to have a good handle on operating the machines.  We made 8 bags today using 4 machines. We had a few remakes but the ladies are in the learning stages. Finished at 3:00.

Just a couple updates from Joe - no particular order or date sequence  -
 - First attempted trip to the water pumping station ended - - -  abandoned!  Turned the corner on the road and found the road was washed out after only a hundred yards.   Maybe later! Next day with boots as a backup - I drove to the first washout section and parked the car.  With my new boots (Andy  - I got the black ones) I was able to get through the 2 washouts and walk about a mile and a half to the pumping station.  I heard a noise when I arrived and found the pipe was broken at the station and water spewing all over the place and the pump running continuously. Ran next door - quickly introduced my self to Mr. Cu and he shut the power off.  I got in touch with Francisco Miranda (Harvey's brother) and he came out later in the day and we repaired the pipe.

- First day of sewing classes we found no power in the palapa hut. Wires had been pulled loose in the top of the hut.  Ran to Spanish Lookout for repairs. And now the ultimate lie - - - -  "I did not stop by western Dairy".  Repairs done and the ladies are off and sewing.

- After driving in mud for the first few days I figured it was time to give the car a wash.  Started working on it and had a couple little volunteers from the neighborhood.  Ended up costing me 2 sodas, 2 candy bars and 50 cents BZE for a fairly good job along with playing in the water with them.

- We heard that Me. Juanita's son, Mark, has passed through Std 6 and is attending a 4-H trade school in Belmopan.  Looked him up one afternoon and really was good to see him.  Plans are for us to pick him up from school and he will spend this weekend with us. He is growing into a very nice young - 14 year old - gentleman.

- Returning from the water pumping station I met Reynaldo on his horse.  We talked for a while and he went on his way.  Later in the day I saw a car parked in the road in front of the school and once again it was Reynaldo - muffler dropped off his car.  Spent some time helping him "repair" it and he was on his way.

- It rained pretty hard for the first few days we were here - keeping the roads a mess.  After a couple days of no rain and hot weather, they have begun to grade the roads in Los Tambos.  Glad to say the road conditions have now been upgraded to "TERRIBLE".  The 3 mile drive from the school to Gonzales takes close to 20 minutes.

- Spent a couple days working with Daryl on the new addition to the Learning Center. Daryl asked if I knew Charlie (Espiritu) Told him of course I knew Charlie and he said - "That guy worked me like a dog!"  He also informed me the gloves Charlie had given him had worn out.  We got him a new pair on the next trip to Spanish Lookout..... Now get back to work! He told me to quit acting like Charlie.

1/29/14 Unitedville
Time went a little longer on the embroidery class, we were having too much fun. Last day we had 11, 10 women and 1 man. They didn't complete their projects but plan to stop by the house to let me see them this next week.

We left for Orange Walk at 4:30, only an hour and a half later than planned(Belize time). We certainly have been on Belize time since we have been here. Good trip up, stopped at Ms Tomasita's brother Camilo's house and met his family and their mother. Left there and went to her brother Bart's house and spent the night. Thursday morning, up at 6:00, her other brother Caytano picked us up to take us into Chetamul. I am glad she didn't have any other brothers we would have had to stay another day. NICE family! We had a great time and really appreciate their help in getting us in and out of Chetamul safely. We went to 3 different fabric stores and bought fabrics and notions. We came back across the border and they didn't charge us any duty after they heard how we were using the fabrics  Long trip back. We were all pretty worn out. Ms Tomasita had to use her walker so it was pretty tough for her. But she is a real trooper/

1/30/14 Friday - Los Tambos
Sewing classes begin! It was great to see all the ladies again. All the same ladies were there except for two. We did have a few new ones in the class. The project we did was a big hit!!! We made little cloth bags. Really cute, they can be used for makeup or sewing supplies.
Thank you Dorothy! Dorothy made up all of the little kits(20) to be exact so it was easy for the
ladies to get them finished. I have some great pictures and hopefully I will be able to get things to work so we can post them. We faced a few issues with the solar power but I will let Joe tell you about those.
The work tables have been a great hit!!! We're even starting to use irons now too. Thank you Joe for all your hard work.

Friday evening, we stayed in Los Tambos with the Gonzales family. Supper consisted of burritos, ground chicken with mixed sautéed veggies. Home made whole wheat tortillas. Everyone participated in the food prep.  All of this was prepared by the light of 2 oil lamps which are kept in the main area. Needless to say it is VERY DARK out there at night, no city lights, no street lights just a lot of dark. LOTS of stars! Beautiful! I have a flashlight on my phone which came in handy. I didn't get phone service but the light worked great. Needless to say everyone is in bed when the sun goes down.

2/1/14 - Saturday - Los Tambos
Beautiful sunrise seen from the top of the Gonzales' mountain.  Needless to say early to bed early to rise. Today is their Sabbath. Church will be at 9:00 at their house so we don't have to travel far.
At 10:00 people start showing up. (Belize time) We sang, then had church school and then the sermon after which we had a huge meal!! I knew 5 of the 6 songs that we sang except they sang in Spanish and I sang in English. Very interesting.  Pastor Dave translated for me which was very nice.
They always kneel when they pray. When I kneeled down  for the first time, part of my prayer was about being able to get back up.  Wonderful service especially the closing prayer. Joe will have to tell you about that.
Saturday afternoon - LosTambos
Spent the afternoon at the school sewing with some of the younger girls and working on a project for Ms Tomasita.

Saturday evening was date night in Los Tambos, packed up the family and the visitors and took off to the Dairy for ice cream. Night time in Los Tambo remember VERY DARK! Hard to say what you might see on the road at night. People, animals, motorcycles, cars? I think we saw all of them.
 I had a great hamburger and the rest had ice cream. Back to the Gonzales house by 8:00, everyone in bed by 8:30. That was a late night.

2/2/14 Sunday - back to Unitedville
Back to the house, clean up, put things away. AND lots of LAUNDRY. We do have a wash machine, doesn't work real well because we have to fill it with a hose but it is better than going to the river.
Went to Cayo Twist with Carmen and Faye and now Joe is watching the Super Bowl. Soon heading back to the mission house to get ready for tomorrow.

Another chapter in the book...........sorry