Saturday January 20th, a typical day at the Market.
 We bought our produce for the week and headed back out of town. Home to do laundry and clean house.

Sunday January 21st, once again back at St. Andrew's Anglican Church. Beautiful little church.
Today we had a special treat, the children of the congregation had a special lesson about how God is the Potter and we are the clay. They also sang several songs. They certainly were not shy! 

Sunday has also become our car wash day. The guys did such a fantastic job we decided to go back.

A black car and the Belizian mud and dust is not a very good combination. We had enough rain on Thursday to really make a mess. The guys earned their money. $15.00, cleans inside and out. That's $7.50 US.  

We walked to the Tortilla Factory while we waited on the car to be finished. Bought a supply of corn tortillas for the week. That's all they sell. No flour tortillas, just corn. It is interesting to stand by the window and watch them being made.

Not much excitement on Sunday. Relax and prepare for Monday classes.

In class on Monday January 22nd.  
We have a few to finish and we will wrap up the skirts on Wednesday.










They are all excited to be working on projects
 instead of the fundamentals. It's always nice
to see a project finished.

Friday January 19th. 
Sorry that we have been a little slow on some of our posts. We have been without internet off and on for two days.
So here we are on Friday. Laundry day and cleaning house.  It turned out to be beautiful with a little rain late this afternoon.

Tomorrow is Market day and get organized for next weeks classes. Joe has somethings to post about
the progress in Los Tambos. I have several photo pages to do too.
So God willing and the internet works we will have more for you tomorrow.

I think we are 100 percent settled in now.

Here we are Wednesday January 17th.  Back in Los Tambos for sewing classes. Still no electricity.
We borrowed the neighbors generator and we are in business. Today we have a selection of fabric for the ladies to make skirts or faldas in Spanish. Each lady chose a number which corresponded with a fabric and that was her fabric for her skirt. In the picture you see on the right Ms Magdalena. She is the instructor. She is showing the ladies how to make a skirt without a pattern. Believe me I was paying attention too. I've made a lot of things with out a pattern but nothing I would wear.

Flory is the new mother on the right, in that little tub is her baby. This makes the little one very portable. They are all so very creative on ways to bring their children to class.

We have 10 ladies in the sewing class.  Six of the ladies are the ones who made the school uniforms for this year so they are very familiar with the machines.
We have 4 ladies who have not sewn much at all. The experienced ladies are helping the others. NOW that's what it is all about. By the end of next week we will be well on our way to have our skirts finished. 

 Thursday January 18th, we are in Buena Vista. It was raining when we woke up and it rained all day. Good  day to stay inside and sew.

It was an exciting day for the girls. We have been working on the fundamentals of sewing which can be very boring. Practice sewing circles, straight lines, X in a box, reverse sewing and button holes. OVER and OVER again BORING, BORING. BORING.  Surprisingly enough they all came back after lunch. I did a demonstration on what fancy stitching sewing machine can do and they were amazed. They have all sorts of ideas now on how to use the stitches. To see the look on their faces as they watched the machine begin to make intricate patterns as they stepped on the peddle. That's another " what it's all about".  They were so giddy they didn't want to go home. I'm excited for them.







Next Tuesday we should have some good pictures of their creations.
God has given all of them a lot of talent they just don't realize that yet. I am                                          very blessed because I get to be a small part of all of this.
Thank you God!
                                                       

While mommas sew, kids just sit and behave.
WRONG. You can see from
the picture what a wide open

area they have to run and play. We gave them
"sit down order" during devotion which lasted
about 3 cookies worth. In Belize...where momma
goes so go the children. Everyone was working except for me so I was the"child crowd" control.

 Three cookies worth isn't a lot of time but we did get in our devotion and prayer before the ruckus started again.





This little guy's name is Chris he was with us last year but smaller of course with no bicycle to run people down. He has only one volume and that
                                                                                    extremely loud.

This young guy is Brandon and he is Chris's cousin. Everything Chris does Brandon does louder. Now picture yourself in a room that echos with these two boys, 4 sewing machines going, music playing, cell phones ringing and two other children trying to yell above the mommas talking. I am attempting to give a sewing lesson in Spanish and English. Who said God doesn't have a sense of humor???
 

 Here is my "little crowd" under control........
guess we will do selfies the rest of the afternoon.

Natalie was with us last year during class but she is now in school.
She is also related to the other children. Both mommas are the special
ones who are in charge of the group and they do a fantastic job. They help with instruction during the year and keep the building clean.
This group is growing together helping one another as they connect over one thing they have in common. The love of sewing. 

Life happens in Belize as it does at home and no matter how messy it gets God is in the middle of all of it. Each and every day I am blessed to serve.

Monday morning! 
A beautiful sunrise!  
Time to start the first day of classes.

 Preparation for lunch 10 PBJ sandwiches, an American delicacy....... YUM! It's a favorite in Los Tambos. We were suppose to have six for class but 10 showed up. Good think I made 10 sandwiches.

 Our morning started with no electricity at the school and 3 broken machines. That was ok because In His Will ministries donated four totes of fabric and sewing supplies and we took the opportunity to go through                                                                    everything and organize it.       

Mrs. Ramos and Mrs. Irma are hard at work sorting buttons and threads.
We have a good cross section of supplies now.

Flory Goday brought the newest and youngest member of our group. Her two month old daughter didn't really care about all the excitement around her.........just sleep.

Lunch and organizing is over so now is the time for shopping. Shopping certainly is a universal language.
Rose is trying on new Easter bonnets.This one looks like a great choice. We are all a little giddy getting to shop at Farmer's Trading for fabric. Whoo hoo!

Farmer's Trading doesn't have as much fabric as what you would find at JoAnn's
but it has enough to make the decision difficult.

Pow Wow on who is getting what fabric.
This is a unique experience for the ladies.
Their sewing fabrics usually come from leftovers and scraps that someone didn't want. Food comes before spending money on fabrics. What a privilege to be able to share this experience with them. 

I think everyone looks tired, ready to head back to Los Tambos. 

Great day! and a busy one. 

We are SO blessed!

 Generous contributions have provided sufficient funds for the materials to construct a concrete Block/Chain link fence around the perimeter of the Los Tambos compound - approx 800 linear feet. Mr. Pedro - a local resident - is the General Contractor  - and along with about 15 of us will provide the labor.  Footings have been dug and the concrete poured and a good section of the block has been put in place.  There is still a long way to go - but the goal is to have this entire block wall and fence complete by mid February.  Pretty optimistic goal - but with what they have completed in the last week..... don't bet against it! Add to this the fact that Mr. Pedro has a severely injured leg so he has to use crutches to get around and lay brick. The injury occurred on January 4th and his comment is - "I already know it is hurt, why go to the Doctor and have him tell me the same thing?"  He is quite a gentleman and a real asset to the community.

 On Wednesday the gate for the entrance was delivered to the site.  A really nice piece of metal work from Spanish Lookout.

Power lines have  been run throughout the village and hookups to the individual homes has begun.  This is going to be quite a change in Los Tambos.  The school has been wired and the access pole planted.  As soon as the proper approvals are secured - hook up will occur and the school will have electricity for the first time.  Plan is for this to occur in the next few days!!

Plenty of "STUFF" to keep Joe occupied while the ladies sew!!

Saturday is market day in San Ignacio. They offer more fruits, vegetables and other stuff than you can imagine.  Compared to prices in the States, this produce is just about free -  fresh and top quality.  Just about an every Saturday trip.

This spread from our trip on Saturday totaled US$7.50.  If you insist on spending - go to the general store and pick up a small container of Tide laundry detergent - US$16.50.  I tried to convince Linda that wearing dirty clothes is an alternative - but no go on that idea!

Saturday again

Here we are on Saturday again. Thursday and Friday slipped by doing a lot of preparation for
Monday when classes start. I have visited both schools and the ladies have put together a plan
for the projects they would like to work on. We'll have more about that later.

Friday morning was laundry day........................starting with rain. 
The dryer is not working so this is done the old fashion way.

  It's nice to have an extra room 
on rainy days. 

Speaking of doing things the old fashioned way............when you don't have a toaster and you want toast...........fry your bread. I know, I know I didn't invent this.

Officially I can say that we are now up and running and totally ready to roll. House in order, things where you can actually find them and a plan in place for our classes. God is so good.