i love it.

i love reading. it seems i never have much time for recreational reading during the school year. unfortunately my nose is usually always in some exciting boring textbook. no fun. so i am thrilled that this summer in my downtime here in belize i've been able to read books that i actually want to read. reading for fun?...what a novel idea! [pun intended]

here's a list of favorites so far...

1. eat, pray, love 
don't judge. i know, at times she can be annoying and petty and very self-centered.  yet, overall i really enjoyed this book. i was able to see some things from a new perspective that i've never considered before and it was an entertaining read.

2. the sunflower
here is a classic, albeit somewhat cheesy romance.  it may or may not be about a girl who goes on a humanitarian trip...(sound familiar?)...to peru and meets an attractive jungle man/used-to-be doctor and of course falls in love. okay, okay, i know...but in my defense it is based on a true story {which i feel makes it legit} and it was a fun, easy read and yes, i am now determined to find a beautiful, machete carrying man named paul and fall in love in belize.

3. the road of lost innocence
for sure my favorite so far.  this is the autobiography of somaly mam.  a woman who, as a child was sold into sexual slavery in cambodia.  she escaped this life in her early twenties and has gone on to save hundreds of thousands of girls just liker her.  it was so inspiring that it made me want to do something to help her cause...in fact something is now in the works to do just that...stay tuned to find out how we (i and a few of my new friends i've met here volunteering) are going to help in her fight against human trafficking.

4. the pioneer woman-black heels to tractor wheels
anyone who knows me well, knows that i have an obsession with cowboys. i mean, let's be real, they are the manliest of men. a.t.t.r.a.c.t.i.v.e. so this book was a winner for sure. just a feel good, happy love story about the perfect [cowboy] man...who i realize does not exist, but sometimes that's why we read right?...to escape reality. loved it.

i've noticed a trend in my summer reading...all of these books are true stories or at least closely based on true stories. i think it just makes it that much more interesting to know that what you're reading about really happened. i highly recommend all of these books. you won't be disappointed. promise.

next up...

based on a true story events...of course.

guate-freaking-mala

amount of money spent yesterday = $100 US [$200 BZ...$700 GTQ]

number of mosquito bites acquired yesterday and counted on my body as of 10:00 am this morning (during spanish sunday school) = forty-seven

zip-lining through the guatemalan jungle and exploring ancient mayan ruins in the pouring rain = priceless

tikal...

cooking with kay.

so...there is this lady. her name is "mamma kay". she is our adoptive mother here in belize. she cooks a-m-a-zing food and we love her. she came over on tuesday night and taught us how to make the most delicious flour tortillas of my life and the most amazing black bottom banana cream pie (yes, "black bottom" does imply chocolate)...sounds heavenly doesn't it?

just because i'm awesome...yes. i am going to post this scrumptious recipe:

mamma kay's black bottom banana cream pie

crust:

1 ½ c. (crushed) graham crackers 

¼ c. sugar 

1/3 c. butter (melted)

...crush graham crackers and mix with sugar and melted butter.  Mold into a pie pan and then bake at 350 degrees for 8-10 minutes...

*the crust recipe makes 1 crust but the below recipes make enough for about three pies*

black bottom:

·         ½ c. sugar

·         1/3 c. cocoa powder

·         2 Tbsp. corn starch

·         ¾ c. milk

·         3 oz. milk chocolate

·         1 Tbsp. butter

...mix ingredients in a pan over the stove on low heat, stirring consistently, melt chocolate and butter mixing them in slowly.  pour mixture into bottom of pie crust...

cream filling:

·         1 egg

·         ½ c. sugar

·         2 Tbsp. corn starch

·         1 c. milk

·         1 Tbsp. butter

·         1 tsp. vanilla

·         4 oz. cream cheese

·         3 bananas (per pie)

...mix ingredients in a pan on the stove over low heat until the mixture thickens... 

dice bananas and spread on top of chocolate layer then pour cream filling on top of bananas and then top with a thick layer of cool whip and drizzle chocolate syrup on top if desired.  then put in the freezer for at least 2 hours to harden…ENJOY! 

mmm, mmm...good

the reason why...

although it probably doesn't appear to be so from my blog, sometimes it is actually really hard to be here in belize.  i miss things back at home...like a legit shower, not sweating all the time, eating apples (oh, how i miss apples), having a bed to sleep in, drinking water from the tap, and my family and friends. but then i remember why i'm here...

this is a sign posted at one of our favorite restaurants here.  delicious food and encouragement all in one stop.

geckos and...baptisms?

little tidbit-geckos tend to fall from ceilings...in case you didn't know (we discovered this at the kitchen table one night...the hard way). so when we discovered a baby gecko chillin' over our beds last night we decided the only logical thing to do was try and scare it into running away by throwing a tennis ball at it. obviously. 

[[video should inserted here but due to technical difficulties it must be posted at a later date]]

p.s. it didn't work, but when we woke up our gecko friend was gone. i don't really even want to know where he ended up. ignorance is bliss.


in other news: emer got baptized yesterday. it was again...so special. he looked so happy and so precious all dressed in white, a huge smile on his face. we took some pictures after (he's the older one in green)

brothers? yes. i know, they look nothing alike...

tell me this isn't the cutest little boy you have ever seen. you can't, can you?

lastly...drum roll please. we finished the garden {well, minus making the sign} but essentially we're done. many, many hours of hard work and lots of help from the students...and it's complete. we're pretty proud of our creation. now let's just hope things actually grow. otherwise richard says we're going to jail.

i've always wanted a machete of my own

i officially love gardening. but really though.

marco polo

marko got baptized!  our little friend marko has been taking the discussions with his family and last week his mother gave him permission to be baptized  his older brother emer is getting baptized on june 18th.  these boys are going to be great members and we are so excited for them. 

with my favorite boys...marko and emer

only real ladies ride home in the bed of a pick-up in their sunday beeest

so happy for you marko.

thumbs up...

so last week dani, kayla, michelle, and i got the opportunity to go to one of primary schools and teach about nutrition.  we taught 7 classes of kids ages 5 to 10 years old.  they were in a word...adorable.  it took everything inside of me to refrain from stealing one of them to take home with me.  we talked to them about eating more fruits and veggies and less cookies and soda.  did they listen?...who knows, but we tried and it was a blast.  we played a game with them where they had to close their eye's and smell a fruit and then guess what it was.  they were all more than eager to volunteer..."miss, pick me! pick me!" like i said...adorable.  then we played another game where we held up pictures of food and they had to give us a thumbs up if it was healthy or a thumbs down if it wasn't very healthy.  they loved it. and we loved them.

so yes, we have been working as well as playing. the square foot garden is coming along quite nicely.  it amazes me how hard these kids work. amazes me and breaks my heart.  today we got to the school and we were a little late.  the kids had arrived there at 8:00 am sharp.  there was no one there to tell them what to do and yet they just looked around and figured out what to do. they built one of the garden beds completely on their own. it was the cutest thing i've ever seen...

after hours of hard work they got to eat lunch and head home.  the kids helping us are part of the feeding program at this school.  they are kids that can't afford to eat so they are helping us and in exchange they get a discounted lunch.  it was obvious that these kids have grown up working hard. they just kept going and didn't complain once.  one of them was telling us all about how he loved to garden and how he was going to be a scientist when he grew up and that his favorite thing to do [while not gardening with us of course] is watch the discovery channel.  really? i just kept trying to picture doing this at a school in the states...wouldn't happen.  watching them scarfing their lunches and eating every last bite made me want to cry. we knew they were hungry and there wasn't much we could do.  this garden will help but i wish there was more we could do.  our little helpers...

our new garden friend and mascot: crush

TA-DA...almost done building!