Living in an RV in Knuths' backyard...

Well, back in the country, and back to real life? We returned from Belize very early Monday morning, making it to Chaska and Mike's parents' at about 1:30am. We slept a few hours, got up at a reasonable hour, and departed for Madison, WI, a mere 5 1/2 hour drive to pick up our "house" for the next few weeks. We met Mom, Dad, Kate, and Finn in Madison, grabbed some much needed red meat and green salad together (we'd been missing those two items specifically), and then went our separate ways, Mike and I to Duluth, and the rest of the clan back to Indy.

I finally met my nephew. And he's so much of everything more than I thought. I didn't know I could feel this way about such a small person, and he's not even mine. Watching Kate be a mom, hearing in person and seeing and touching what I've missed over the past months, I am utterly struck by the flood of emotions of our growing family. I've cherished the moments that we've added brothers, but it does seem like there's a certain amount of predictability in what types of people these guys are and what they will add to our family in that we generally hear about and know them for months or even years before they are officially added. With Finn, there was a basketball in Kate's tummy and then there was Finn. Sweet, smiling, gurgling, adorable, soft, wonderful Finn. I don't even know who he is yet, or who he will be, but I know that I love him. Maybe my heart is tender to kids after this summer with so many sweet small ones, but I just want to hold him and watch him... Makes me love and appreciate my sister all the more too; so proud of you and James, Kate!

And being back, we've started to process this summer. I'll probably use the next few installments to try and give you a taste of what I think, but it's all a little fuzzy right now. Don't exactly know if this is culture shock, my introverted self recovering from so much extroversion, or just that we are that tired. We feel a little like we've lost two months of our lives, and yet at the same time, so much has been packed into those two months that it feels more like a year's worth of stuff crammed in between the rest of our life. That doesn't exactly make sense, but I don't have the descriptive powers of my next eldest and younger sisters.

I've started to have a notion of how to explain what's been happening, but I think I need to journal a little more before trying to explain it... But for now, I feel a little bit like my life is a chess board, I'm the king or maybe the queen, not sure. And there are all these other pieces that move around me and influence my game, my life. And there are things that happened five moves ago that I am only now understanding why they happened. And there are moves happening now that I'm hoping will become clear in the future. God has control of all these pieces and all these movements; He already knows the outcome of the game. It's a little bit like Searching for Bobby Fischer, for those of you who have seen that movie; Josh has to learn to see how each move will set him up for 5 or 10 or even 15 moves down the way. I can't see what's happening as only one piece, but it's being directed very specifically. More later...


And now for a poll from Mike:

Should Mike keep the beard?
	Yes
	No
	Soul Patch Baby!
Free polls from Pollhost.com

Seven Truths and a Lie Answers

Here's what you guys thought:

1) TRUTH! I nearly severed my little toe playing soccer barefoot (bad idea) on July 13th! I had to go to Dangriga Hospital to get 6 stitches put in!

2) TRUTH! We visited St. Herman's Cave, which the Mayans believed was home to the Mayan rain god Chaac because of all the dripping noises heard within the cave. They did ritual sacrifices during periods of drought in the cave as well as smash pottery, which can be seen in the cave. Supposedly you can see calcified remains as well, which we did not see since they were deep in the cave. The tour guide, with his caribbean accent, sounded like he was calling the Mayan god "Chuck."

3) LIE! I did not run over a speed bump that fast, although in Belize there are plenty of unmarked speedbumps on the highway. The incident actually happened to Janell and Brittney when they were being tailgated by our bus driver with his lights off at night (his idea of a prank).

4) TRUTH! As Amy pointed out, I did puke in my regulator during my Scuba training.

5) TRUTH! I dropped my water bottle at the top of the Xanutunich castillo. As it rolled towards the edge, a Lakeview member (most readers could probably guess who), decided to dive for the water bottle. He ended up with his shoulders and head hanging off the end of the ruin, but was stable enough to not fall off. The water bottle fell, but only got a scratch; props to Nalgene! Nearly gave Matt P. a heart attack!

6) TRUTH! Pastor Elvis lives in Valley Community, Ninja lives on Caye Caulker, and Scooby lives in Crooked Tree. Scooby's real name in Nigel, but the entire village calls him Scooby.

7) TRUTH! On the way out to Dangriga, the Hummingbird Highway was flooded. Peter (a team member from NC) and myself were very nervous to cross...we saw many cars get stuck in the middle. After much debating what to do, we ended up tailgating a bus across the river. Belizans on the bus were pressed up to the windows to watch what happened. The car following behind us got flooded and failed. However, Peter and I made it through!

8) TRUTH! There are many hills in the world that give you the impression that you are rolling up hill. Belize has one of them!

Thanks for playing! Coming Soon! A fashion poll whether Mike should keep the crazy hair and beard or not!

22 hours and counting...

We're coming home!!! Mike and I will be flying home, departing Belize in less than 24 hours!! And we are so excited to be coming home!! We've been extremely blessed; these last two weeks have been with incredible teams of amazing people so the time seems to fly. We also were able to stay on the Caye an extra day; actually worked out amazingly well because the other team opposite us working out of Ladyville (where the airport is right outside of Belize City) doesn't fly out until tomorrow as well, but Matt and his crew (their PPM staff) start another trip today. So we get to see them off on their flight. Sounds like that crew was really on fire this week; they are from SC, Charleston, I think, and they were greatly moved by the Spirit this week.

Mike and I said goodbye to our last team this week, the group from Ohio. They are a solid group, so many of them desire to go into full-time missions! They blessed our hearts thru their ministry, and witnessed to a great many Belizeans in the process as well.

Mike has really blossomed over the past couple of weeks; I think you all would hardly recognize him, and I don't mean the beard and long hair. He's really come out of his shell; gone seem to be the days when he needs months to get comfortable enough with people to open up. Pictured to the right, he and Jason Swartz (our resident "doctor") are performing the Belizean levitating worm trick... He's laughing, joking, praying, playing, and winning the hearts of all around him within hours of first encountering them. Janell, my sweet kindred spirit PPM staffer that has spent almost the whole summer with us, and I agree that sometimes it's hard for us to be in Mike's wake because everyone seems to like him the best. I'm so proud of him! I only hope he takes this home with him, especially going into school this fall. Please help me pray and support him!

While we were on the Caye, also got to reconnect with some of our beloved PPM staffers; pictured here is Brittney Johnson from Dallas,TX; her blog is linked to the right of this screen.

Not going to make this one too long; hopefully will be seeing/talking to many of you in the near future. Plus, we're still paying for internet down here, and afterall, we are poor missionaries ;) !!Love you all, can't wait to see you!!!

Still in Dangriga...

Hey to one and all!! Blessed news; Kayla and Derek Whittaker have a beautiful baby boy, Conner!! Sounds like everyone made it through okay; can't believe I have now missed two births while out of the country. I have so much baby loving to catch up on!!

Sorry about the long lapse between blogs; been more tied up than I thought we would be the past couple of weeks. We're coming home!! We fly into Minneapolis late Sunday night, July 24th!! Gotta meet Mom and Dad McGrail in Madison to pick up our new "home" for the next few weeks (aka the RV, to be parked in the Knuth's backyard!! They're the best, don't worry Kim, lots of ice cream to come, and Sarah and Kristin, bonfires whenever there's no rain?) We're in Dangriga again this week, though as opposed to last week when we commuted about an hour to the village we were working in, this week we walk about a block from the hotel to Dangriga Baptist Church where Pastor Caleb works and worships.

To catch you all up on last week as well, we worked with a great, amazing team from Raleigh, NC in a little village called Valley Community with Pastor Elvis (little hint on Mike's poll...) and his wonderful wife Geraldine. They are an amazing congregation, so filled with the Spirit, so hard-working, and so warm-hearted. And in combination with the amazing team from NC, this will be a trip we will not forget. We clicked with this team, they poured their hearts into their trip, and God did might things. A young man named James committed his life to Jesus that first Sunday night they were there in response to much previous ministering on the part of Pastor Elvis. VBS grew to overflowing with each day, we worked with morter and cement, building a side changing room on the church, painted as much as we could, and lead a bunch of church services and a men's and women's fellowship time.

Mikey did encounter a little snaffoo which I will let him tell you about at another time. But it turned into a blessing in disguise...

This week has been great too. We like Dangriga, little bigger town of about 8,000 people, right on the ocean. Little different cultural feel. Similar to San Ignacio, this seems to be a popular place for some international travelers, esp. backpackers. This is also where the Garafuna people have established themselves; they are descendents of escaped African slaves and native Carribbean people who settled here in Belize way back when. They seem to offer a much more paganistic lifestyle, definitely still prevalent today. In fact, this week is a big celebration week of some sort, during which they do much "worshipping" with native drumming and other practices difficult for us to understand. We're planning and outdoor evangelism service and concert with some local music from the church to try and shine some light in the darkness. We'll see what happens. Pastor Caleb is very excited.

I have to admit, I'm tired. Naps no longer seem to satiate the exhaustion, and I am anxious for a more regular schedule, at least for a few days or weeks. Janell and I were even talking yesterday as we planned a fellowship time for the gals on our present team, that we are even having a difficult time identifying what we are learning about God these days. I am so distraced by thoughts of sleep and rest that I feel little energy for anything else. We are blessed that this group is an easy one. They are returners from last year; this is the group from Ohio that flew in right after Lakeview last year who had lost all of their luggage and didn't get any until that Thursday of their trip; needless to say, they are excited this year about actually having VBS supplies to work with.

Think I'll wrap this one up for now. Going to take another nap before the service tonight. So looking forward to being home and seeing all of you! Love and miss you!!

One week left...

I was inspired by Eric's blog to post an online poll with several truths about my adventures down in Belize, and one lie. Your job is to guess which one is a lie. Some of you that have been paying attention to the blog may be able to eliminate some. Answer in one week:

Seven Truths and a Lie: Special Belize Addition
	I nearly severed my little toe playing soccer and had to have 6 stitches
	I have visited one of the homes of the Mayan rain god "Chuck" (Chaac)
	I ran over an unmarked speed bump on the Northern Hwy at 45 mph
	I have puked at the bottom of the ocean
	I nearly caused a team member to fall off the top of the Mayan ruin Xanutunich
	I know Belizans named: Elvis, Ninja, and Scooby
	I drove through nearly 3 ft of rushing water on the Hummingbird Hwy
	I have rolled uphill from a stop while the car is in neutral
Free polls from Pollhost.com

Last week's mission trip with Asbury UMC was awesome. We'll post more about that later. See you all in less than one week!

Post-Houston...

Hey, hey to one and all! We survived the monster trip! It was actually great, great people, great ministry, just so tiring! One hundred and twenty one people on this one, staying in the Belmopan Baptist High School, working in 3 different villages running VBS, working at 2 sites doing construction/service projects in the mornings, visiting an orphanage five different times; was just figuring it out, we worked about 17 hour days for five full days, one partial. Up at about 5 or 6 am, usually not crawling to bed until 11 or 12. People have asked if we would do another trip like that, and yeah, I think I would (don't know about Mike), but I'd have lots more PPM staff. If we could spread out the hours and the work a little more, the ministry was well worth it! Amazing what 121 people can accomplish in 5 days! And how much food they can eat! We averaged 400 kids a day between the 3 villages at VBS, in addition to leading/participating in 8 different church services. And went thru countless gallons of paint, built a thrift store for the school, took down a steeple that was rotting, laid a cement slab, and oh, so much more!

A couple of highlights from this past trip. Mike and I worked between the school and Belmopan Baptist Church; you all from the Lakeview trip '05 might remember Pastor Norman at Belmopan Baptist. He's the head pastor there and the principal at the high school. I don't know if any of you remember Sally and Suzan? We met these two missionaries while out walking that one morning in Belmopan? Suzan and her husband Roy are significant people at the baptist church there; Roy ended up being our foreman on our various projects at the church, and Suzan and I had some very meaningful and uplifting conversations about life, missions, family, and life in Belize. They are an amazing couple, following hard after God, seeking in everything that they can do to honor and glorify Him. If you happen to think of them, pray for their family, their twins who just turned 17 and are in the states with their grandparents, and they are in need of a bus for their continued ministry; Suzan has started leading, teaching, and teaching other women how to lead and teach small group Bible studies. It is amazingly blessed, but takes place in Belize City, they live in Belmopan, and they've taken on transporting quite a flock of women in the community there in Belmopan to Belize City twice a week. They are an amazing couple, and both Mike and I look forward to keeping up with them. To the right is a picture of the four of us. Just kidding, blogger isn't letting me put the picture on this post, look in the next one...

Another highlight, ironically when I tell you, is the relationships with several of our cooks for the week. We had to find an entire staff to feed so many people, and right from the start, it looked like their might be issues. We ended up having to do much of the shopping for them, transported them to and from the school three times a day, plus running various other errands for them as needed. A little more effort then we normally would like to put into meals, but so amazing to be able to spend so much time with those women. Granted, they struggle with all the same things we American women do, a little gossip, can be a little catty when under pressure, bring stress from work home with us, but they are beautiful spirits, fabulous women of God. One friend in particular stuck out; Lizbeth, about to be 27 years old, loves the Lord with all her heart, has three beautiful kids (pictured left), and has separated from her husband after he got another woman pregnant. He seems to be at least emotionally abusive to this beautiful and strong young woman. In the meantime, she is working her way thru cosmetology school in order to be able to work and raise her kids. She commutes at least an hour and a half, sometimes upwards of two hours each way to and from San Ignacio from a little village outside of Belmopan called Roaring Creek for school. She is a joy to be around; I hope to continue to see her.

We had about 18 hours off between the last trip and this one; our trip leader, Jason Swartz, treated us to a night of bowling, Subway sandwiches (the only chain restaurant in the entire country), and a movie (Pirates of the Carribean II). Sounds silly, I know, but sometimes we have to remember what it's like to be real people. To shut off our brains, sit back, and veg out. We had a blast; Jason is as talented with a bowling ball as he is on roller skates, for those of you who know what he can do on skates! And with Tatianna and Janell on board, it was a night to remember. I've pasted a couple of pictures from that night too in the next post!

Well, I know this has been a long one, and not terribly detailed, but hopefully gets you all a little up to speed. Missing you all more and more as our departure date approaches; I do love it here, esp. that Mike is here, but I miss home...

Extra Extra! Read all about it!

Just a quick post here: Kristi, my sister, had an article that she wrote for the Virginian-Pilot published online. Read all about it here.

We did survive Houston. We will describe about it at a late time. First....sleeeeeeeeeep.

T minus two hours to craziness...

Mike here again:

Well, officially certified as a open water scuba diver. The last two dives were fantastic thanks to some sea sickness drugs and a new regulator. The last two dives were at Hol Chan Marine Reserve (means Little Channel I guess in Mayan). Didn't get a waterproof camera, but the pics on the website sort of gives you an idea. We were actually diving over the reef in an area where it more or less was a canyon with beautiful coral up and down the sides, at about 65 ft underwater. Saw a sea turtle, some nurse sharks, a huge grouper that was getting its teeth cleaned, and a happy lobster.

Speaking of happy lobster, Meg has become the unofficial critic and guide on where to get grilled cheese in Belize. (Insert Mandy Cuda saying: "I WANT GRILLED CHEEEEESE!") Meg and I spent quite a bit of time trying out different restaurants on Caye Caulker for our various meals. Being that Chicken with Rice and Beans is the official meal of Belize, Meg was hankering for a bit of American food. The first grilled cheese Meg had on Caye Caulker was the Happy Lobster Grilled Cheese that Heather brought to her when Lakeview was down in Belize. Meg thoroughly enjoyed that one, even while sick, but that did not satisfy the craving. While I was trying to be adventurous and try different Belizan fare, Meg ordered Grilled Cheese Sandwiches on 3-4 occasions. To her disappointment a majority of the time, the grilled cheese came with two slices of white bread with a single slice of american cheese. Oh the humanity! So Meg highly recommends the Happy Lobster grilled cheese sandwich where the put on more than one slice of american cheese. OK...maybe I'm not being totally serious, but Meg did order grilled cheese several times on Caye Caulker. Love you honey!

Also, thanks to several fans of the blog (you know who you are), Meg posted a while back that she felt like Peanut M&M's. Lo and behold, when Lakeview came down, Meg recieved her weight in M&M's. A big thank you to the Knuth's, the Milner's, and the McGrails for smuggling a piece of Americana through Belizan customs. The Praying Pelican Staff also thank you...(just when we thought we were losing weight). Now, I have a craving for a Chipotle burrito, some Greenmill wings, and...

Don't really try to send those to Belize.

Well, the 120 that are coming down from Houston are almost here. We might be taking a short break from the blog because we will be running around like madmen (and madwomen). Please pray that all the pieces will fall into place. We're really counting on God on this one to pull us through.