a half-day in my life

I love having these "day in the life"posts to look back on, especially since my life seems to change so much from year to year.  The last time I did one of these, I just had one little boy...

 This time a half-day of documentation was about all I could handle :)

7am:  Lu's up so I'm up.  Do the diaper change/ bottle/ diaper change routine.  Put some water on to boil for baths (we don't have hot water!), and boil this morning's milk (Daniel milks our cow at 6am or so) for Miss M to drink.  Sweep the floor, wash some leftover dishes and bottles, feed the cat.  Daniel heads out.  Make Miss M's bottle.

8am: Miss M slept in today but now she's up. While she drinks her bottle, I take a quick bath.  Get M dressed, then put some more milk on to boil cause today I'm making some yogurt.  Mop the floor (M eats any dead bugs she can find so floors have to be suuuper clean) and do some dishes. Start to sort some beans for dinner, making stewed beans.  Lu falls asleep.

 

9am: Miss M is getting cranky, so take a I break and read her a story.  We go upstairs to sort some laundry, but after 10 minutes M decides she's had it.

turn the water on to do some laundry (I have to fill our machine with a hose, because we don't have enough water pressure for the machine to fill automatically).  Put Miss M in her chair and attempt to console her with food while I continue sorting beans.  Make some foster phone calls, get secretaries and voice mails.

 

10 am:  Mom calls, and we chat while I'm finally getting Miss M to eat.  Lu is awake, and gets a bottle. Culture the yogurt and put it in jars on a heating element to set.  Then I hear the awful sound of water hitting the floor-- I forgot to turn the hose off for the washing machine and it overflowed all over the bathroom floor.  I do this on a semi-regular basis.

 

11am:  Finally finished sorting the beans, and put them on the stove to cook.  Matters are not improving with Miss M (who has a cold, poor thing) so I decide we will have a youtube video dance party.  Lu looks on with glee.  Miss M gets a bottle, and put down for a nap.  I mop the bathroom floor.

12pm: Lu falls asleep.  I eat some lunch.  One hour of quiet, and then we start again....

springfield

Daniel, the babies, and I went on a little road trip a few weeks ago in search of goats.  We have a goat who is a very good milker, but is also a terrible bully.  Now we can add "murderer" to her description, because she pushed our best milker off a cliff (they like to eat around the edge of a limestone quarry we have on the farm).  So off we went in search of another goat.

There are many Mennonite communities in Belize.  They vary in how conservative they are, but they all focus on agriculture (here is a little bit about another community we've visited).  We headed to a community that we have bought goats from before hoping for good luck-- this is a very conservative community, so we couldn't call ahead.  I always forget how beautiful this part of Belize is.  If it weren't so far from Daniel's job, I would work really hard to convince him we should move there. 

The way of life in this community is so appealing to me.  There is no electricity, no cars. It is just peaceful.  The stoves are wood-fired, and everything else is horse-powered, including the saw mill.  The houses are simple and spotlessly clean, with rows and rows of canned fruit and veggies and meat lining the kitchens. Porches are wide, with hammocks and swinging benches, and everyone we have met is so friendly and inviting.  Even though we interrupted their day with no warning, friends we haven't seen in over a year all gathered to chat on the porch, and invited us to stay and eat lunch. 

And yes, we did find a goat, who was very indignant at being stuffed in the trunk of my car and hauled home.  She's happy now, though... and we are keeping a close eye on our assassin goat.