We could not have asked for a better last day in paradise! Whit and I started the morning diving with sharks and said goodbye to our dear friends at Scuba School and Family Dive Center.

After that Iris and I had lunch with our friends Carrie and Charlie Stuart. Forgot to take pictures!

The day ended with a Christmas service at our church and a carnival sponsored by the church for the local kids. I had mixed feelings about spending our last night volunteering, but I am so glad I did. God really showed up in an amazing way. The children were dressed in their “Sunday best” and were amazingly polite and well-behaved. There was so much joy! Once again, thank you Sagebrush for blessing us!

And of course, one last meal at Bluewater Grill before getting on the plane!

 

 

 

 

Our family has enjoyed learning to sail while we’ve been in Belize — some of us more than others.  As a reward for our efforts, we treated ourselves to an overnight sailing trip with friends AND a captain!  We sailed down to Goff Caye, a tiny island with a few picnic tables and a dock, to moor for the night and snorkel.  It was an amazing trip.

In the dinghy to head over to the island:

Our friends, the Crulls.  Her name is Stephanie, too.  I love it when people mix us up…

Our co-captain brings us home:

And…a video:

One of the fun Christmas traditions in San Pedro is the annual Boat Parade. We were able to enjoy it from the porch of one of our favorite restaurants – The Blue Water Grill.  Of course, most of my photos did not turn out well because I was using my phone and not my “good” camera, so I have co-opted some from Facebook.

Waiting for the parade to start:

Before it gets dark, we get a surprise visit from Santa riding by on a kiteboard!  Turns out it was Mitch, one of our instructors from Passionkite!  He’s 13!  Isn’t he a good sport?

The coolest part of the parade was these guys on jetboards!  They flew, danced and flipped all over the water in an incredible “ironman-like” display.

After that, the boats were ALMOST boring…

 

 

 

The Yates family was very sad to see school come to an end here in Belize.  The children truly had a wonderful experience at The Island Academy.  The year finished off with an amazing production of “The Lights of Jingle Bell Hill.”

Julia sings a solo in “We Know Snow:”

Sam, the elf, reaches to decorate up high in “Halfway to Christmas.”

Those of you who REALLY love us, will patiently watch all of these videos of other people’s children. 😉  Julia is a toy soldier (and a snowman) and Sam is an elf!  If you only watch a couple, then I suggest “We Know Snow” and “Halfway to Christmas.”  Merry Christmas!

Man, I’ve gotten behind in my posts!  We had some good friends from West Virginia come the week after Thanksgiving and they were game to join us for a LONG day trip to the Great Blue Hole.  A four hundred foot sinkhole in the middle of shallow Lighthouse Atoll, it’s one of those bucket list items that is a “must do” for divers.  However, it’s 50 miles out to sea from San Pedro, so not an easy trip.  As a treat for completing his Open Water certification, we allowed Sam to miss school and join us on this once-in-a-lifetime adventure.  While he was not permitted to actually scuba dive in the blue hole due to the depth, he was able to snorkel in it and then join us on the other more shallow dive in the Lighthouse Atoll.  Additionally, we got to stop at beautiful Half Moon Caye for lunch and a visit to the Red Footed Booby bird sanctuary.

Sunrise departure:

Stalactites 130 feet under the water:

A reef shark swims below Whit:

Sam relaxing on the way to Half Moon Caye (yes the water is that gorgeous):

On Half Moon Caye walking to the bird nesting area:

Red Footed Booby and the Male Frigate bird:

For those of you who want to see the video:

 

One of my favorite things about living here has been our awesome church experience. Sagebrush church is a church plant out of Albuquerque, but it feels very local. We’ve really enjoyed the services, our small group, and the church leadership with whom we’ve interacted. Serving the community has been the best part for me. I’ve posted before about the bike repair ministry, but Saturday was a special day to help out the homeless and working poor.  We had food, clothes, hygiene kits, haircuts and baths for anyone who wanted it and a golf cart ride to get there!  The precious youth who did foot washing and sponge baths nearly tore my heart in two!

This is Rafe, our campus pastor in green.

Hygiene and haircuts!!

Precious girls!

 

 

 

 

We have so many things to be thankful for!  Jesus, good health, family, friends…

Today I am thankful for our neighbors Kristen and Matt, who hosted a neighborhood potluck for “Friendsgiving.”  It was a bountiful harvest full of kids running around and adults eating too much.  One of the most delightful parts of the evening was the giggling and leaping interaction between a 15 month old little boy and a very good natured toy poodle.  It’s hard to say who had more fun.

I’ll also keep it real and let y’all know that it’s not all sunshine and rainbows here in Belize.  Today we woke up to pouring rain that looks like it’s settled in for the day.  Online black Friday shopping here I come!  Well, as long as the internet stays up…

The kids did have a very soggy ride to school.  On the positive side, we finally got to use the rain suits!

Just one of the many many things I love about living here!  The Paleta stand where you can get fresh homemade popsicles in flavors like mango chamoy (look it up), cinnamon coconut, lime ginger, or pina colada.  Even better?  They cost a dollar! Hard to eat just one!

 

We’ve added another diver to the family!  So proud of Sam and his hard work to get his Junior PADI Open Water Certification.  You have to be 10 to get this certification and it’s the same course that adults take – it’s no piece of cake.  For the last month, he’s worked on his online coursework after school and on weekends.  This weekend, he did his pool work and open water dives with the Scuba School and Family Dive Center of Belize. I was able to join him for his dives.

OK, of course I did a little video…

Last Saturday we flew over to the mainland to visit one of the Mayan archaeological sites in Belize.  It is believed that there were over 1 million Mayans living in Belize between 500-1000 AD.  It’s hard to imagine that since there are now only about 350,000 people in Belize.  In this particular site, they have identified over 700 buildings and it is believed there were about 45,000 people living there at one time.  Three of the temples are open to the public while many remain buried so that they can be unearthed over time as technology and information improve.  One of the highlights of the trip is the boat ride up the New River to the Lamanai landing site.  Well, that and a hop flight over the ocean in a teeny tiny plane – that just never gets old.

Of course…I made a video.  I promise it’s not at long as the Panama one.