We leave tomorrow (Friday) for a quick trip back to Canada. We managed to book our flights to include a night in Miami tomorrow. This should be interesting as we've never been there before. By Saturday we'll be in Abbotsford where we'll spend just short of a week. Then Kelowna and then Kamloops. We fly back to Belize on Valentine's day to wrap up our last 2 months of ministry here.
We could sure use your prayers for safety and for divine appointments as we travel
Thursday, January 25, 2007
Wednesday, January 10, 2007
Trip to Cayo District
We have a kitten…born Nov 23rd…one day before my (Cory) birthday. Her name is Koshka which is Russian for cat. Chris and I have both spent some time in Russia and like that name. We wanted to name her Sobaka, but didn’t think it was quite appropriate since sobaka is Russian for dog.
Koshka lives at one of my tutor students houses. Her cat had kittens and I asked if I could have one, but keep it at her house. So she cares for it, and I just come over and pet it…and we got to name it too. I Koshka out for visits sometimes as well.
Chris and I went on a little trip to Cayo District for a 4 day vacation. We were gone for three nights and had plans to visit: Barton Creek Cave, Rio Frio Cave, Rio On Pools, Five Sister Falls, go to a butterfly farm, and Big Rock Falls.
As we drove up Mountain Pine Ridge in Cayo District, we kept looking for a road that would lead to Barton Creek Cave. Finally we saw one: Barton Creek Cave Archeological Area. Although it wasn’t a complete sign to the cave, it did have a picture of a little man taking a hike and so we figured it could be the road. We decided to try. The road was very skinny…there was no way to turn around. As we forged on ahead, we found it getting muddy. I was concerned because I didn’t want to get stuck out in the boonies. But we kept going. Finally, going up a hill, we realized that it was impossible to go any further (we don’t have 4 wheel drive). But since the road was too skinny to turn around, we had to drive down backwards for a while. What I didn’t know is that there were banks on each side of the road with little ditches (small tiny, ditches) – looked kind of a like a bowling alley with high banks behind the gutters. But I didn’t know that. And when our two left side wheels got stuck in the gutters and Chris kept driving all that way, not realizing there were banks, I thought we were going over a cliff. I was freaking out!!! Thank God, though, there were banks! Then we hit a bump and the truck swung out of the gutters and now was across the road. Our front bumper was two inches from one bank and the other bumper was two inches from the other bank. Not only was this a skinny road, we now took up the whole road with no room to go anywhere. I was now having visions of us rolling over in the truck down the hill. (With all my parinoya, I didn’t think to take a picture, although it would have been very funny – in hindsight). So Chris inched the truck from a fifty point turn. Back and forth, two inches each time, back and forth…until finally we were facing the right direction and we got out of there.
Then we found a place to stay for the night and went a visited a butterfly farm. I didn’t quite realize that they actually raise butterflies at these farms. Here I learned how to hold a butterfly and all about the life cycle. Tragic that their lives end in 2-4 months.
The next day, we got instructions on how to get the Cave entrance. Turns out the entrance is through an Orange Grove that has no signage (actually our entrance we found yesterday was the correct one, but not the one taken when the road was impassible; the orange grove is a secondary entrance … and you pass through an Amish community this way).
This time, we had to cross a creek. We thought we could make it. Turns out that we only could get to the other side before the truck had taken in too much water. After 10 minutes, though, we were good to go again. One more creek after that (this one smaller though) and we made it there!
At Barton Creek Cave you hire a guide to take you through the cave, which is pitch black, in a canoe. We had actually brought a guide with us that we met at a different location (he was the one who convinced us that we could make it through the creek!). With a flashlight in hand, we entered the cave. Amazing adventure…a claustrophobic experience.
Going back we got stuck in the middle of the creek! When we opened the doors to get out and push, water came flooding in and soaked the floor of the cab! An Amish man with his horse and buggy was passing by and gave us a tow but he couldn’t make it up the little bit of a hill on the opposite side so a 4 by 4 who came along shortly gave us a tow from there.
We went to Big Rock Falls later that day.
Next day, to Five Sister Falls…which was amazing. You could climb the water falls, and when you got to the top, there was a whole nuther set of falls for you to climb!
We also went to Rio Frio Cave and Rio On Pools that day too. Rio On Pools was simply beautiful. Chris and I had to go and kiss under the waterfall since our first kiss (Aug 4th, 2003) was under a waterfall along Harrison Lake. Nostalgia.
Oh, and we have a phone number now: 501-624-4984. It doesn’t cost us anything to receive calls.
Koshka lives at one of my tutor students houses. Her cat had kittens and I asked if I could have one, but keep it at her house. So she cares for it, and I just come over and pet it…and we got to name it too. I Koshka out for visits sometimes as well.
Chris and I went on a little trip to Cayo District for a 4 day vacation. We were gone for three nights and had plans to visit: Barton Creek Cave, Rio Frio Cave, Rio On Pools, Five Sister Falls, go to a butterfly farm, and Big Rock Falls.
As we drove up Mountain Pine Ridge in Cayo District, we kept looking for a road that would lead to Barton Creek Cave. Finally we saw one: Barton Creek Cave Archeological Area. Although it wasn’t a complete sign to the cave, it did have a picture of a little man taking a hike and so we figured it could be the road. We decided to try. The road was very skinny…there was no way to turn around. As we forged on ahead, we found it getting muddy. I was concerned because I didn’t want to get stuck out in the boonies. But we kept going. Finally, going up a hill, we realized that it was impossible to go any further (we don’t have 4 wheel drive). But since the road was too skinny to turn around, we had to drive down backwards for a while. What I didn’t know is that there were banks on each side of the road with little ditches (small tiny, ditches) – looked kind of a like a bowling alley with high banks behind the gutters. But I didn’t know that. And when our two left side wheels got stuck in the gutters and Chris kept driving all that way, not realizing there were banks, I thought we were going over a cliff. I was freaking out!!! Thank God, though, there were banks! Then we hit a bump and the truck swung out of the gutters and now was across the road. Our front bumper was two inches from one bank and the other bumper was two inches from the other bank. Not only was this a skinny road, we now took up the whole road with no room to go anywhere. I was now having visions of us rolling over in the truck down the hill. (With all my parinoya, I didn’t think to take a picture, although it would have been very funny – in hindsight). So Chris inched the truck from a fifty point turn. Back and forth, two inches each time, back and forth…until finally we were facing the right direction and we got out of there.
Then we found a place to stay for the night and went a visited a butterfly farm. I didn’t quite realize that they actually raise butterflies at these farms. Here I learned how to hold a butterfly and all about the life cycle. Tragic that their lives end in 2-4 months.
The next day, we got instructions on how to get the Cave entrance. Turns out the entrance is through an Orange Grove that has no signage (actually our entrance we found yesterday was the correct one, but not the one taken when the road was impassible; the orange grove is a secondary entrance … and you pass through an Amish community this way).
This time, we had to cross a creek. We thought we could make it. Turns out that we only could get to the other side before the truck had taken in too much water. After 10 minutes, though, we were good to go again. One more creek after that (this one smaller though) and we made it there!
At Barton Creek Cave you hire a guide to take you through the cave, which is pitch black, in a canoe. We had actually brought a guide with us that we met at a different location (he was the one who convinced us that we could make it through the creek!). With a flashlight in hand, we entered the cave. Amazing adventure…a claustrophobic experience.
Going back we got stuck in the middle of the creek! When we opened the doors to get out and push, water came flooding in and soaked the floor of the cab! An Amish man with his horse and buggy was passing by and gave us a tow but he couldn’t make it up the little bit of a hill on the opposite side so a 4 by 4 who came along shortly gave us a tow from there.
We went to Big Rock Falls later that day.
Next day, to Five Sister Falls…which was amazing. You could climb the water falls, and when you got to the top, there was a whole nuther set of falls for you to climb!
We also went to Rio Frio Cave and Rio On Pools that day too. Rio On Pools was simply beautiful. Chris and I had to go and kiss under the waterfall since our first kiss (Aug 4th, 2003) was under a waterfall along Harrison Lake. Nostalgia.
Oh, and we have a phone number now: 501-624-4984. It doesn’t cost us anything to receive calls.
Friday, January 05, 2007
Finished my Masters Degree
After 7 long years of squeezing in courses while working full time I have finally completed all the assignments for my Master of Arts In Christian Studies. I finished my grad essay last week before New Years and now all I have left is an exit interview.
It feels great to finally be able to move past this and get on with other parts of life.
It feels great to finally be able to move past this and get on with other parts of life.
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