Trip To Belize: Day 3

May 15, 2008

Well, we survived our first night. At about 5 in the morning we were woken up to the sound of howler monkeys in the distance but went back to sleep. We woke up a little before 7, reveling that we had not been killed in the night and congratulating ourselves for being in paradise. We went down for breakfast which was amazing. Actually breakfasts were my absolute favorite meal; it was buffet style and always had cereal, some kind of eggs, some kind of meat, fresh (and I mean fresh) fruit, toast/muffins/flapjacks/pancakes, and freshly squeezed orange juice. Then we went back to our cabana and got ready to go on our first day trip to the Hokeb Ha Cave at Blue Creek. Here's some pics of our cabana starting with this one that shows off the outside and the raised walkway (the entire cabanas are on raised walkways, Ewok village-style):

Here's Jobina on the front deck looking beautiful:


Here's what it looks like when you come in the door and step in a few feet. There is a private deck on the back overlooking the river with a nice couch, chairs, and hammock:


Here's the deck, my favorite place to to laze around reading my books, watch the iguanas and lizards chase each other up the trees, and enjoy the breeze off the river. Jobina and I spent many hours on this deck:


Back inside to the right of the entrance to the riverfront deck is the bathroom. The centerpiece of this bathroom is a huge jacuzzi tub/shower combo. As you can see, the shower is open style and overlooks the river. On hot nights we had the option of cooling down with a cold bath - a piece of heaven! Seriously this was the most sensual bathroom I have ever been in. Actually the whole cabana kind of just oozed sensuality:


Here's a nice mural next to the tub and sink. You can't see it, but the ship's name is "Wild Thing." Appropriate, I thought, for a honeymoon cabana:



Lastly, of course, our king size bed with mosquito net and thatched roof made of palm leaves. That thatching is layered and about 8 inches thick - completely waterproof and very quaint. The floors (like much of the cabana) are made of polished Rosewood and the perimeter of the cabana is encircled with wood shutters that can either be closed for privacy or opened to let in afternoon breezes:


So anyway, after this at about 9:30 we met up with fellow guests Dagny and Jeremy and headed out to Blue Creek and the caves. Let me just say this was probably one of our biggest highlights of the trip. The 20 minute hike down to the cave mouth was picturesque to the max and I saw a boa constrictor along the way (briefly). The sense of awe I felt as we emerged from the trail to see a massive gorge with a blue creek running out of forebodingly beautiful cave mouth stopped us all in our tracks. Sadly, we were all idiots and had not brought any camera! Rather than describe the experience, I will leave that for another day as we returned to the caves a few days later (with cameras). I should warn you though that pictures could never capture it. Anyway, after a great once in a lifetime experience, we headed home for appetizers and another four course meal. By the time dinner is over, it's pretty much dark. I don't have any night pics, but here is one at around dusk:

Later in the evening Jeremy invited me to go on an impromptu "night walk" around the property. Now, I'm no coward but this is the jungle and I was just starting to get comfortable with feeling safe in our cabana never mind traipsing around with who knows what lurking out there (Jaguars? Fer de lance snakes?)! Of course I agreed as I did not want to look like a coward. I got my headlamp and we headed down to the river. Jeremy had done the official night walk tour already so I let him lead. We looked at these cool poisonous toads that only come out at night and sit motionless on the shore until night comes up. Apparently the guide told Jeremy not to "beat the toads until the white poison on their back goes into the air as it will hurt you", so we we refrained. We did see an opossum in the trees by the river which was cool. After that we headed out to Jeremy's Jungle Cabana (which we were scheduled to spend our last two nights at Cotton Tree in) which is half a kilometer away and deep in the "real jungle." The walkway to the cabin was also a highway for leaf cutter ants which looked cool by headlamp. At the cabana it was very dark but I did manage to find 3 large tarantulas hanging on the thatching on the outside deck. Not content with this, Jeremy took us deeper into the jungle until we were even beyond the jungle cabana. Finally we stopped on the trail and looked around. "See those diamonds everywhere? Those are actually spiders out hunting" said Jeremy, matter of fact. Scattered on the jungle floor were literally hundreds of little diamonds. Great. Then Jeremy suggested we turn out our lights and listen to the jungle. We did this for about two minutes and every second that the lights are out the jungle gets louder and you hear more sounds. It's amazing how two minutes can seem like a lifetime. Finally in the dark Jeremy said "You know, it's kind of freaky out here?" "Maybe we should go back," I said as absentmindedly as possible. "Yeah" he said.

We hightailed it out of there.

Strangely when I got back to my cabana that night I no longer had any fears of anything that could be waiting there. I practically embraced the much smaller spiders that routinely came out at night - thankful that they were not like the massive ones out at the Jungle Cabana. I tried to gently let Jobina know what I had seen out there - not sure she took the tarantula thing well.

Trip To Belize: Day 2

May 14, 2008

Well, we made it to the airport OK and flew into Miami. While waiting there we had another scare as my credit card/debit card/ID holder fell out of my pocket and onto the floor. Thankfully a kind American saw it and pointed it out to me. Miami was otherwise uneventful and by mid morning we were on our way to Belize City, Belize. Now if you don't know anything about Belize allow me to give you a brief lesson:

Belize is about the size of New Hampshire and is located on the border of Mexico on the Caribbean. Belize used to be called British Honduras and was a British Colony until 1981 when it was given its independence. It has a population of under 350,000 people and falls squarely into the category of "developing" country. English is the official language, but many speak Spanish, Creole, and various Mayan tongues and dialects. Almost half the country has been set aside as Reserve and its varied ecosystem is cherished and protected. Belize has tropical rain forests, the second longest barrier reef in the world, Mayan ruins, pristine rivers, beautiful beaches, and lots of mountains. Needless to say tourism is the main industry.

After a two hour flight, we arrived in Belize City. The airport was relatively small and "quaint" for being an international airport. Stepping off the plane onto the runway we were hit by a wall of intense heat. Such heat! We were immediately perspiring. The terminal (which we couldn't take pictures in for security reasons) was very basic and marginally air conditioned. After a few minutes there we definitely felt like we were in country where old ideas of how things should work and old expectations were definitely not going to apply. Here is a picture of the airport building which includes the tower and entire terminal!


This is a picture that shows our plane loading up with passengers heading back to the States:


We checked our baggage into Tropic Air and waited for our flight to Punta Gorda, the capital "city" of the Toledo District Belize. After an introduction to Belize Time, we finally boarded our flight for PG. Jobina was a little hesitant about getting into such a small plane (I was excited) but she plucked up her courage and jumped in. Here's a pic of the 12 passenger plane:


We sat directly behind the pilot which was both comforting and scary at the same time as he kept scratching himself, looking down at the floor (even on landings), and appeared to be even hotter then we were. He began the flight by saying something completely unintelligible into his intercom to us that mentioned something about "life jackets" and "seat." Here's our view of our valiant pilot:


The views from the plane were stunning as flew along the coast and stopped briefly in Dangriga and Placencia airports, two villages on the way to PG. These airports were notable as the runways were the smallest I have ever seen and the "terminals" were about the size of the bottom floor of my townhouse! We were quite alarmed as we would take off from the airport stops as some of the runways ended with a short drop into the ocean. Below is a picture of us approaching a small runway airport for another short landing:


Although thrilling, it was a good thing when we finally got to the PG airport as Jobina was feeling pretty bad (a combination of the short choppy flights and heatstroke). We were met at the airport by Vincent, our driver from Cotton Tree whom we would get to know quite well during the week. Vincent's ride was a Toyota Hiace Van which was blessed with something that was astoundingly beautiful: air conditioning. The half hour ride to Cotton Tree with the AC on full blast was just the thing to restore Jobina to her usual self. Driving through PG and then into the countryside was like a dream. The natural beauty (ocean, forests, mountains) mixed with third world conditions (many of the homes were shacks, right next door to villas) was mesmerizing. Everything was interesting.

Finally we made it to Cotton Tree Lodge. The place was amazing! As an outdoor person I was astounded at what they done here, melding the tropical outdoors with eco-resort charm (and even luxury) seamlessly. Although extremely hot in the mid afternoon sun, we checked in and were shown to the Honeymoon Cabana. It was just so perfect and I fell in love with it immediately. I'll post pictures of it tomorrow as this post is way too long already. We wandered around the core of the 100 acre property reveling in all the beauty we saw. At 5:30 at Cotton Tree we went to the main lodge building for appetizers, part of our all inclusive package and checked out the bar which was also located there (yay, Orange Fanta in glass bottles - I felt like we had gone back in time). We met another young couple named Jeremy and Dagny who had already been there for two days as well as some of the 20 students who were doing some sort of research there. The students (from some school in the US called Transylvania - seriously) were very nice but filled us with fear about all the visitors we could expect in our cabana - like wolf spiders, tarantulas, and scorpions (one girl told us what it was like when she was stung by one: "first my hand went numb, then my arm, and then my face . . . but it wasn't that bad!). Needless to say that when we excused ourselves later from dinner we faced going to sleep in our cabana with some amount of trepidation! After an evening shower (I have never showered so much in my life), we snuck under our mosquito net (standard on every bed at the lodge) and after much prayers and inspecting our bed carefully for scorpions we went to sleep early.

Trip To Belize: Day 1

May 13th, 2008

After my usual last minute (and frantic) packing, Jobina and I left on our 10th Anniversary/2nd Honeymoon/Celebration of Grad trip to Belize. We left Winnipeg in the afternoon, full of nervous anticipation, and flew to Toronto. When we got in the first thing I noticed was that I had left my wallet at home, full of cash that was meant for the trip. A small hiccup which we paid for by being fleeced at the airport currency exchange. After that we headed to our room at Best Western to enjoy a refreshing 4 hours of sleep. Here's a picture of Jobina looking all "travelerish" (doesn't she look amazing?) before entering our room.


We had booked a basic room (although with a king size bed) so we were kind of shocked when we walked in. Unbeknowst to us, the hotel had upgraded us to a super nice suite. Instead of a little room, we were in a huge cavernous room with a jacuzzi tub area (surrounded by mirrors) and luxury galore:


Needless to say I was overjoyed:


The ironic thing was that we were staying in the kind of room that one escapes to with that special someone for a weekend of intimate moments (can you say "love nest?") but we could only enjoy it for four hours (and that included sleeping time)! Such irony! So anyway, we had to discipline ourselves to get some sleep and soon we were all cozy for the night. After a few minutes of darkness and quiet a thought popped into my mind. "Honey, did you set the alarm for AM or PM?" I asked. "Um, AM . . . I think," Jobina responded sleepily. "Maybe you should check?" I suggested. Sure enough, it was set for PM - we were that close to missing our early, morning international flight! We were so scared by this that we called down to the front desk and got a wake up call too. With that Jobina almost immediately went to sleep:


I on the other barely slept, worrying and excited about travel the next day!

Back From The Jungle

We're back! After 9 days in Belize (and two extra days for travel), Jobina and I returned to the Truth North Strong and Free and were delighted (overjoyed actually) to see our kids again. Thanks so much to Julie for being a wonderful guest blogger while we were gone. I think it's safe to say that you artfully took Random Enlightenment to explore it's feminine side much more then I ever would have! Seriously, thanks Julie. I enjoyed very much your perspective, feelings, and humor. Perhaps you will have to start your own blog some day?

Over the next few days I'm going to simply journal our little trip by posting a daily brief record of what we did and some pictures as well. Hopefully it will give you a half decent idea of what Belize is like, the places and people we met, and the impact it had on us.

On a personal note, I must say that this trip was a thing of beauty and that I feel changed as a person. Somehow, especially in the last few days I felt God really speaking into my life and touching my heart. I had planned to have a nice mix of adventure, relaxation, and reconnecting with my wife - all of which were accomplished. I had also hoped to have some decent times with God too but was not all that optimistic, most of my times with Him have been dry and confusing over these past few months. I could blame school, life, etc. but truthfully I'm not sure why. I had hoped to be able to see some refreshing in my spiritual life, maybe commune with God better in the wild.

The trip was going great but something felt missing spiritually. But in the last three or so days God blessed me by reaching my heart. It's hard to describe (ask me in person sometime and I'll try to explain it) but suddenly everything around me was pointing me to the importance of a reality that hadn't entered my mind a lot lately: "relationship." By my interaction with people, a movie I saw on the plane, my own introspection, and especially the last book I read ("The Shack") I felt like God was impressing upon me the importance of relationship with Him and with others. Something in me changed. The mystery of love (something that's been eluding me) was illuminated. Though Jobina didn't see it (sadly my pride and my English blood conspire against me) I became quite emotional. I feel like my heart is back and I am so thankful.

Just as I don't know how to describe my experience, I also don't know what it will mean for me now - I just know that it will be different and I'm excited/frightened by it. So yes, I had an absolutely wonderful vacation. Belize was, well, unBelizable! But the biggest blessing, and something I want to thank my Heavenly Father for was God directly interceding to help me with a problem I hadn't even recognized. I felt like it was gift especially for me. Anyway, I hope you enjoy my posts about our trip and feel free to ask any questions if you have them.

May Light increase!

Book Review: Grace Based Parenting

Good Morning! Yes, I know I skipped yesterday's post. I tried, I really did, but I was hit with such a bad case of writer's block that I just procrastinated until finally it's now Saturday morning! (Sorry, Mark!)


Ok, I have recently read a jewel of a book by Dr. Tim Kimmel: Grace Based Parenting. It actually is my first foray into the realm of parenting books, and it wasn't scary or guilt-tripping, as I fear parenting books could be. Before Scott and I became parents we watched other parents. How did they do it? Were they too strict or too free? We would go home and often compare notes on the pros or cons of the parenting we'd observed. One of the things we really liked was when parents would seem to know that fine balance of letting their kids discover themselves and were involved in their lives, but not so much "freedom" that the kids had no boundaries at all.
For example, if a kid was going through a strange hair phase, it seemed right to us that the parents would discuss it with the kid and allow it if it didn't violate any kind of moral issues. (How often does hair actually do that?) I found this book to be right along this line of thinking. Dr. Kimmel traces a line between extremes: parenting with boundaries in way to tight, and the other side with boundaries waay out there, maybe no boundaries at all. ( I don't have a name for this - it's not really freedom, maybe more like abandonment?) He categorizes some of the typical parenting methods he's seen as a contrast for Grace Based Parenting. The ones that have stood out the most to me are Fear-Based Parenting, and Control-Based Parenting. I think those descriptions stood out to me the most because I've seen them so clearly in others.

"How we view God determines how we parent our children." Do you agree?
When a parent believes God as Judge with no grace, their advice would include:

1. "God is watching you and so am I.
2. You may be bad, but you're better than so-and-so
3. When it comes to boundaries, their exhortation to their children would be: 'If it feels good, it's probably wrong!' "

Contrast the Judgemental attitude with the Legalistic one:

1. "You owe God, so you better get busy
2. You may be bad, but if you try harder, you can ultimately please God
3. When it comes to boundaries: 'If it feels good, stop it!' "

However, the Grace-based parents look like this:

1. "You are a gift from God; go make a difference.
2. You may struggle doing the right thing sometimes, but you're forgiven
3. When it comes to boundaries: If it feels good, examine it"

"God helps grace-based parents see what matters and what doen't matter." That is so important! I don't want to waste my time and energy on things that don't matter. So then, what really matters? "What are the fundamental, driving needs that your child was born with? ...

1. A need for security
2. A need for significance
3. A need for strength"

These three needs are answered with "a love that is secure, a purpose that is significant, and a hope that is strong."

So, if you aren't convinced yet, let me highly recommend this book to you! Dr. Kimmel has good ideas, but he doesn't just leave you hanging without the practical how-do-I-live-this-out aspect. Many of his illustrations hit my heart so hard I cried. May more children grow up in the arms of Grace.

-Julie-

mmm...Beef

Would you look at this steak?

And this burger...

And now for the Prime Rib Roast...

Now, wipe the drool off your chin and let me explain...

I grew up a cattle farmer and now it's in my blood. I'm not farming right now, but thanks to my still-farming father my deep freezer is full of beef, and I can go back anytime and help out or just look at those beauties out on pasture. There is something really neat about knowing where your food comes from. I am incredibly grateful to be in a position of such wealth, especially food wealth.

Canadian Foodgrains Bank, (and many other relief agencies) are calling out for help. They estimate that the amount of food they can provide will decline by 25%. They will need at least $5 million more dollars just to maintain their current programming.

Why have food prices risen so damatically? What a complex problem! Some suggestions as to the cause include and are not limited to:

1. Rising consumption - Population growth Can't do much about this one, I'm not about to suggest limiting the number of children someone can have.

2. Rising consumption - Alternative uses, such as the huge push for the production of biofuels This is huge, right here. Why are we as a society so much more concerned about the well being of the environment rather than the well being of humanity? I'm all for taking care of this beautiful earth, God told us too, right? But He also told us to look after orphans and widows in their distress. He always prioritizes the person.

3. Decreased production - Rising costs, unfavorable weather, etc How many farmers want to persevere through these tough times of losing money, struggling to make ends meet? It sometimes seems that they are getting hit from every side - the middle man snatches profit, the costs are rising, and the ever unpredictable weather could eliminate everything but the debt.

I'm not really sure where that leaves you and me. Are we, as rich North Americans, willing to donate enough money to feed the poor? Do we care about the local farmer struggling to make an honest living? When I'm savoring that juicy steak, I wonder where we're going...

-Julie-

My Dad is _______________

Have you ever noticed how the media portrays fathers and husbands? By far the majority of advertisements that have an adult male in them (and even some that don't!) make the man look either like a complete idiot or a fumbling loser or lazy or in some way is disrespectful to him. Sometimes it's the kids that roll their eyes and make some smart little comment that makes their Dad look like a fool. Often it's the wife being cocky, clever and all-wise and all-knowing and the husband contrasted as very, very stupid. Canadian Tire is a bad one, State Farm is also often that way, it seems to be everywhere! When I was a little girl, My mom would hate it if I brought home Berenstein Bears books. She noticed how every lesson seemed to be at the expense of Papa, he was always portrayed as the simple-minded one. It's even in our children's literature!

Honestly, it drives me absolutely mad. I will change the channel or shut off the radio if I hear or see an ad that does this. Aahh! I'm worked up just writing about it! Who really finds it funny? Is this really what wives and children believe about their men? Is this really what men believe about themselves?

It is definitely not what I believe! I respect my Dad so much. I look up to him for all kinds of wisdom and I know better than to doubt his all-around common-sense. I have learned in my marraige than it is so very important to respect my husband, too. He carries a good head on his shoulders, full of common sense and wisdom. I look up to these guys - they are smart, strong men and seem know something about almost everything! My daddy is my hero and my husband is my knight in shining armor.

I know that not all guys know how to be a "jack-of-all-trades" around the house, not all of them are good at fishing or building or sports or whatever other stereo-typical mold we want to fit all men into. But there is a huge gap between that and this stupid-man image that is so prevalent. A man should be respected even if he perhaps doesn't know how to rewire a ceiling fan or cut down a tree or score a goal or whatever!

Is this man-bashing the result of our selfish destructive natures becoming more evident? Dare I suggest that this may be a dangerous side-effect of the women's lib movement?

-Julie-

The Next Generation: Hopeless or Hopeful?

Perspective is an amazing thing! Sometimes I see and hear and read stuff about the "younger" generation and it can make me afraid. Do I want my precious little girl growing up in a world where her environment is saturated with drug and alcohol addictions, violence, self-absorbtion, boredom, suicide, sexual perversion, oh man, the list could go on and on...

There is another side to the story, another perspective. It seems God is reminding me that He is still at work in our youth and children. He is raising up a generation that worships Him and hungers after Him. If you look, you will see it!
I long to know God more and grow in Him, but I want my daughter to surpass me. I want her to build on what I'm learning and grow into God even deeper than me.

A wise friend of mine and I were talking about this today. She said that a teacher she heard recently described it like this: Our ceiling will be their floor.
What kind of ceiling do I want to leave for the next generation? How strong or high will it be? It will be their foundation. Let's not give up on ourselves or on the ones to follow.

-Julie-