Belize 2008

"Even if I am to be poured out as a drink offering upon the sacrificial offering of your faith,

I am glad and rejoice with you all." Philippians 2:17

As promised... the blog about Belize! A group of 30 folks from Crosspointe spent 8 days in the beautiful country of Belize. We flew into Belize City and then drove about an hour north to the town of Orange Walk. We had 2 teams working at Josue Christian Church, a medical team and a construction team. Laura Susan was the pharmacist for the medical team, and Springer was on the paint crew for the construction team. We worked for 5 1/2 great days... hard work, but so worth it.

This is where we stayed in Orange Walk.

Springer and our friend Brandon enjoying a drink outside the D'Victoria.

This lady's chicken smelled unbelizeable... but we were warned NOT to eat anything sold on the streets. Oh the temptation...
Pretty sunset after a church service on Sunday night
Inside of the church
Someone brought a pet parrot that Springer thought was pretty cool...
Ok, so I was a little nervous about holding our feathered friend... this may be the most famous picture of the trip... thanks a lot, Brad, for sharing it on Sunday!
See, I really enjoyed it after the first moments of extreme anxiety!
Iguana... I did NOT hold him!
While setting up the pharmacy, these little guys showed up with lots of questions... mostly "Where are the bubbles?!?!"
Coke is so much better out of a bottle!
This is the pastor's daughter, telling me a joke about a duck.

Springer and our friend Jarvis taking a break from the workday for a picture
Here I'm teaching a family how to take their medications These big beautiful eyes filled with tears when I pulled out an oral syringe to show his mama how far to pull up one dose... he thought he was getting a shot!

Springer working on chairs for the children's rooms at the church
Springer and the paint crew did a great job painting the church inside and out!
Jason and Springer trying out the spearmint
Taking a break for some dodgeball... these little guys loved Brandon, Springer, Jason, and Jeremy Pharmacy Friends! Claire, Michelle, and Melanie jumped in and did a great job working in the pharmacy. I was so, so, so impressed with them! Together we filled prescriptions for over 700 patients seen in the medical clinic.

The guys lifting a beam to reenforce the ceiling and get it ready for a second story
One of the chairs we built... Marvin the pastor is an amazing artist, and he painted this one!
Springer and some of his buddies at the "Thank You" service the church gave us on Thursday
Me and my friend Letty, who is Pastor Marvin's wife... we share a birthday! I enjoyed getting to know Letty during the week.
Our team! We love these folks!
The medical bus... two of our physicians saw patients in the bus. A precious lady named Dita graciously let us have her home for the week to house the pharmacy and another physician exam room.
The paint crew, Jason, Samantha, and Springer... job well done!
On the last work day
Here we are taking in the sights at Altun Ha, some of the Mayan ruins in Belize... also supposedly a good birding spot (i.e. the binoculars), but it was raining while we were there, so no Toucans in sight.
Our friends Jamie and Claire at the top of one of the ruins
For fun on Saturday we traveled up to Ambergris Caye from Belize City for a day of snorkeling.
You can still see the imprint of our lovely snorkeling goggles... what you can't see YET is my severe sunburn... our sunblock, though claiming to be waterproof was not so... ouch
On the way back home

Overall we had a great week serving our God. We were grateful for this opportunity to follow His call to go and serve. We look forward to Him using us more and more to glorify His name in all the world!

Slow as a...

We are back from Belize! It is taking me awhile to get my thoughts together about the trip. It was really good. In the near future, there will be a blog with more details.

But for today, I wanted to share a picture that Springer snapped. A turtle on a leash! Isn't this disturbing? But somehow quite funny at the same time?

Unbelizeable stories and pictures to follow...

Belize Bound

That's right... Springer and I are traveling to Belize soon on a mission trip. For more details, send me your email address, and I'll forward you a prayer request email I sent out yesterday.

We'll be sure to post pictures and stories when we get home... but for now, I HAVE TO PACK!

Leaving the Nest

Well, I saw Spikey on my way out the door to work this morning, and when Springer came home for lunch, we wasn't in the nest anymore!

Congrats, Spikey! We hope you have a nice life, and never forget your roots. We enjoyed watching you grow up and are very proud of you.

Love, Uncle Springer and Aunt Suz

Life

Well, there's new life on the Cain front porch... baby House Finches! I wish I had taken a picture of their little eggs! Here's the little birdies with their mouths open wide. I think they thought I was momma with a worm for dinner. I took this picture sometime last week. And here, no more than a week later, is our friend Spikey! (His hair stands straight up on his head, so my friends Victoria and Charlotte decided Spikey would be a great name.) He'll be ready to spread his wings soon!
So fun to see Charlotte and Victoria today! These precious friends mean so much to me! I miss being with them so much, especially since I spent so much time with Victoria in college. She is a beautiful example of a godly woman, and I have been so blessed by her friendship over the years. Can't wait to head to Athens in the fall to see the Scarborough family more... Springer says there are 70 days until game day, so we'll be there soon!

Reconnecting

We really enjoyed Memorial Day Weekend. We went to North Carolina with Springer's parents, sisters, and brothers-in-law... and of course, Max, Jason and Elizabeth's pup. Springer and I visited the Biltmore too. My cousin Anna works for the Biltmore, so we ate lunch with her one afternoon... so good to hear her voice! We also visited with Aunt Susie, who also lives in Asheville. AND we met up with Amy, my friend that I lived with when I moved to Augusta! And she's getting married! It was really fun to catch up with her and to meet her sweetheart.
It was so good for my heart to reconnect with family and friends that I hadn't seen in awhile.
North Carolina was beautiful. The house where we stayed was surrounded by tall trees, and our room had a big window. When I woke up in the morning, I felt like I was outside because the trees were so close! (And I probably need to mention that I am quite blind in the morning without my glasses.)
Finished out the weekend with a road trip back home. We stopped at "the trees", where Springer proposed. And then we had a cookout with the Darnells in Macon to complete a wonderful weekend!

I love these girls!