Oh, boy. As I sit here I realize its been so long since I wrote I can't remember what I left you with last!
Oh yes....a bit of a cliff hanger I believe. Last update was we were feeling we need to climate control our micro greens and we were feeling a gentle tug to get ready for a move possibly. Alright, I'll take it from there. So, we are still in our same house ....micro greens are not in a climate controlled room. Seems like nothing has changes, but yes we have done much work none the less.
Business continues to grow and we seem to take on new customers other week which is awesome. If you haven't seen our product that we are selling here in Belize check it out on our business Facebook page. We  are Shoots Alive on Facebook. October and November are typically off season for tourism here and so as many...actually most of the resort on the coast close shop we took that as an opportunity to revamp and look at how we could improve our growing. We have taken the last 7 weeks off from delivering to the coast (Hopkins) but have maintained our local Cayo weekly deliveries.
So, we have deliberated and strategized over the past 7 weeks of how to conquer the this extreme heat to improve our growing conditions. We thought maybe an air conditioned climate controlled shipping container was going to what we move to next. However, the overall cost has really held us back as well as we are unsure of where exactly we should locate the business because if we move it to a shipping container we will not be able to host it here were we live.
In the meantime, as we slowly moved from hot season to wet seasons we figured the temperatures here would drop enough to enable out outdoor growing to improve on it's own. Well, with one change always brings another unforeseen change! I'd love to say the temperature are cool....but I can merely say they are "cooler". Our rainy season had been rather dry but we realize with even the less than normal amount of rain we now lack sunlight needed to amply grow the greens and we had our old mould issues return because the humidity is now back to 90% they stay too wet and don't dry out. So, we remedied this by moving most of the growing upstairs in the house under LED lights.
God provides. We have a friend at church who has started a solar business and he had wonderful tiny rolls of strip lights in exactly the lumen and spectrums that we needed. So, although we haven't been able to lower the temperature they seem to be doing well in there new location!
This week we start delivering to the coast again so we are ramping up for busy season.

We have again been amazed at how perfectly God works. We have our first potential clients flying in to scope out several lots on Nov. 29! For me this is so God showing me that when we step out in faith and have faith and live faith we see faith! Confusing concept to explain but in other simple terms. We really knew God led us to purchase this property and although common knowledge and the norm tells us to hang tight land take a long time to sell here....we have held on to and tried to speak our faith that God will provide. Sure there are moments of freak out....but my freak out moment have diminished to a short few seconds. I can't look at all God has provided and the way I see Him giving us all the desires of our hearts and not have faith that "MY GOD SHALL SUPPLY ALL MY NEEDS". Truly, truly He blows my mind every week!
You know I hesitate to talk about finances and funds because I don't want anyone to feel sorry or worried for us but I feel that I need to speak of it as a testament to what God is doing for us and how He is calling us to live and transforming our lives.
Our business is going well but especially in off seasons we are not yet making the amount we need to live off. We have been blessed  to have savings that have supplied us thus far and will provide for a short time in the future. But man, this is largely where God is showing us a "better way". Our cushion is getting slimmer and yet I have no fear. We have to be wise about what we spend but shouldn't we all? I lack nothing. I find peace, actually more peace in knowing that God will provide when we need. How is it any different than trusting that Chad was going to continue to provide and work hard so our needs could be met. Does not our Heavenly Father love us even more than that. Then yes, he will. In fact he delights in giving his children good gifts....sometimes we just don't allow Him to give us gifts. Here's a very recent example of this. My parents are coming (yeah, thank you Lord for visitors!) the beginning of Dec. I have a few school books I needed to order and for them to bring to us. So as I was on CB.com I figured you know what the kids are loving Dutch Blitz, I'm going to just order because they we play a lot of games and the number form of entertainment for us. So, I take it upon myself to order it and yes, it was not a necessity but felt it would be put to great use. Long and short. We attend our small group on Friday (the day after I placed my order) and as the kids are playing this game there the hostess says, "Hey, I actually have two extra games that are brand new....why don't you take one, your kids love it".  I chuckled to myself as I instantly and clearly see how I neglected to go to my unlimited Godly resource. Why had I not just asked Him to provide for a desire I had. I could have. I should have. Then I wouldn't have needed to take it upon my own self to get this game. Simple. Some of you might call this trivial and random or coincidence but I tell you, "Try it". Try Him. You will see that God truly seeks and delight in giving us our requests. Big, small, significant, insignificant, necessary or sometimes even luxury!

I share those stories because that is the journey we are on. We are being so transformed in our understanding and walk with God. It's fantastic, challenging, rewarding, fulfilling and freeing.

Ok, now to quickly scan through what else has been happening in our days. School is going well. The kids are amazing at daily getting to the grind. Paige continues to exude a love for learning. She wakes and starts her daily schedule before breakfast or getting out of her P.J.'s. She loves to learn and write. I look at her and see she growing into such a soft gentle young lady. That is from her Nana ladies and gentlemen! Sorry Mom (Gatt) we but we both know soft and gentle is not a Puklicz trait! No, in reality it's a God trait. She doesn't express much but she recently shared with me that she doesn't ever worry because long or get upset because she just starts  singing praise songs when she feels anything she can't handle and then she's fine. So true. Praise.
Keaton is the same energetic, life loving, helper as usual. School for him is not as exciting but he get's his work done. He's teaching me to be understanding and patient, and patient and patient. Actually, as I teach him I realize he is me. I remember the tears I shed while homeschooling because I didn't understand what I was learning or because I let someone down. He is the same. This is the hard part of homeschool. Recognizing that each child is so different and then having the patience to walk them through their learning curve. All the while trying to build them up. I struggle with this but I pray for God's grace and patience that my frustrations would not harm Keaton because he really just wants to please. He is doing well. though. He excels in Math and we have to work hard on spelling and writing.
Grady. She is studious as the rest of them. She is reading well and find delight in being able to have a school routine like the other two. They all continue to work at their Spanish and they all already know more than Chad and I.   We have recently started playing UNO in Spanish. Mostly so I can remember my colours and numbers!

Chad continues to spend a few mornings a week at the property. He's slugs away clearing the road bed or chopping trees. It's tough work in this 95 degree heat and he never complains.

School is back in so some of our volunteer jobs are back in full swing. We go to our village Learning Centre two afternoon a week and help with home work. Chad and Nery(our close friend) have started taking in 6-9 kids every week to youth group at our church. We run a feeding program through our church that feeds our local school a meal/snack every week. Let's see. The kids are putting their sewing skills to work and have decided to start a sewing business with two other girls so they can raise money to buy gifts for the village preschool for Christmas.
In my life I had the awesome privilege of assisting in our friend home birth. She births unassisted and didn't really need me but was there for support and assistance however she needed. It was awesome to see a women rely on the Holy Spirit to not give her more than she could bear and not walk with her through the birth of their son. Memorable. A healthy 10lb boy was born right before my very eyes. I continue to play keyboard at church. This is my greatest blessing. I am growing in my gifting weekly and am so amazed how God has returned this gift to me. I love being part of worship. Between school cooking, volunteer and the business that we all work at equally I have to be careful not to take on too much more.

We seem to be entering the calm before the storm. .....the visitor storm. Staying true to their words both my parents and Chad's parents are coming again this winter. We will have Chad's Uncle in the new year as well and hopefully another friend...Tyler you are coming right? We always, always welcome visitors. The way it's looking we will have about 10 weeks of company over the winter! And we will love every minute of it. What a true blessing to us that friends and family can come and stay with us. We are so grateful. Guess that leads me to a residency update. We just had our police check last week. Praise the Lord. Now they state a case for us and it goes to the capital city police station then back to immigration for approval. Still will be a few months but we rejoice in every milestone that gets us closer to coming home for a visit!

I'm sure there is so much fore to tell. I would love to commit to being more diligent but writing is not my thing. You are all laughing now thinking back on how long this post was, right? I actually told Chad I was going to start audio blogging. Talking would be so much faster. We'll see. Maybe I'll surprise you. You can all thanks Jennifer Downs for this post. She taunts me every few months when I haven't posted anything. Heck, maybe she's the only out there reading this blog!!
We do love you all. We appreciate all that read this and pray for us and write us.

I will try to post some picture this week to reward you for the lengthy posting.
Blessings

Happy Anniversary!

Wow. As the kids say, "I can't believe we've been here a year!"

A Year. What's in a year.

Leaving family and friends. Making home in a new country with 12 bins of personal belongings. New friends. New church. Relearning how to cook with new local foods. Our first year of homeschooling. Eyes opened to a new spiritual world. Heart open to receive a new way of life. Daddy home! Starting of a new church. Forging relationships with the kids in our village. Persevering through old struggles of depression. Being broken. Learning to receive God's free gift of joy and freedom again. Focusing on erucharisto (giving thanks in all things). Work permits. Hydroponic and microgreen business off to a great start.  Buying land. Applying for residence. Thinking of moving into a shipping container! Waiting with anticipation to see what God is going to continue to make out of these ruins!

Microgreens are growing

1000 mahogany trees to plant on the property

Our view .....one day



Taking in the hilltop view again



These ferns were burned only 3 months ago!



Hanging out in our jungle!

 

That's a small nutshell. There are paragraphs of words that come to mind for each of those miles stones but there is one common thread that I've been learning to focus on for all of them. Hands wide open. I'm learning to keep my hands open. Open to receive what God puts in front of us. You know how easy it is to give thanks for those good gifts and those great moments in life. Yes, we all know the joy of that gratitude. But, what about those moments that seem not so good to us. Is that a bad gift from God? Punishment?  A mistake? The enemy? I know we've all had these questions. But what if we choose to say "Yes". Yes, to what we see as bad, but is given to us to refine us, change us, give us victory, see miracles, draw us in to a closer relationship with the God? What if we have opportunity to make God greater than us, greater than we thought we could be. What if every challenge was seen as opportunity for God to arise? We might have heightened sense. We might be broken. He might be made strong in our weakness. YES!

 

In our year we have been faced with all this. I have seen miracles happen for us. We truly have realized that "there is no fear in love".

There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love. 1 John 4:18

 

So much going on in our lives and yet we have peace, confidence, and faith that He will never leave us and forsake us, (Deuteronomy 3:18) and He wants to give us his beloved, good gifts (If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him! Matthew 7:11) We don't make enough to live off yet but God shows us daily how He can and will provide for us. It's truly amazing. We are free. We are free from worry. Worry free from thinking that if we don't work hard enough or plan well enough or earn enough that we won't make it. That's not the life he wants for us. Like our earthly fathers we see that he delights in giving us his children good gifts. He wants to. But rarely before did we have room for Him to do so. We did it on our own.

 

You know, the thing that stirred us to make these major changes in our life was the fact that we were no longer chasing our dreams. Early in our marriage and relationship we were big dreamers. We stopped. We needed and wanted it back. And so we made some life changes. Can I tell you, those dreams are created in each of us by our creator. They are GOOD gifts. Now can I tell you that it brings me to tears to see God unwrapping 15 year old dreams for us. Yes! Detail by detail it is still amazing me. Even this week as we I think back before we came. Our ideal was to have a business here where maybe one day we could return to Canada for long periods. Seeing where the business is headed that could look like a real possibility. And I know those were God inspired dreams that He is fulfilling.

Chad said good bye to a well paying, secure job because we had talked about working together even before we got married. We had interests in property management, house designing and flipping, running a B&B, realestate, being self sustaining, growing healthy food, and living outdoors. Do you know what? All of these are on our horizon. Left to our own devices we would have picked "one' dream.....yielded to God's devices we are being blessed with all of them on the horizon! Seriously. I wish I had the time to be able to share every detail about what is on the horizon here in Belize for us!

 

I will, but I want you to stay tuned for the year ahead to hear about it. So for now I will leave you with a cliff hanger and tell you we are thrilled....yes, I think we are thrilled to feel that we are ready to move. On the horizon right now is the very, very fresh thought to move into a shipping container! For the past month I have been feeling that God is going to stretch me. I think he's been gracious and given me baby steps to be able to live with even less. I think I'm ready to say, "Yes". So, we may end up in a box on a hill with limited water and or power but I'm becoming excited for the opportunity to be stretched.  We do plan to move up to the top of our beautiful hill but it may take a bit of time before we have a "comfortable" home set up. Either way, we are all in. All 5 of us are eager and trusting in our ever faithful Father!

 

Because music keeps me praising when its hard and it speaks to me so deeply I will share with you the two songs that has been on my mind for the last few weeks. I have to listen to my voice as I sing it and I'm convicted of the words that I'm singing. Are they true? One chorus recites:

Because When You Speak, When You Move.
When You Do What Only You Can Do
It Changes Us, It Changes What We See And What We Seek

Can I say that it changes me? Am I letting Him change me. Am I changing in His likeness? This is my prayer. That all he does would so profoundly change who I am, what I can do, what I can give and how I can love and show grace. The other builds me up and reminds me that God is for me not against me and there is NO FEAR in His perfect Love!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lWDPJ5EslKo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q0mZuVoluFY

Blessing, Stephanie

 

Time To Tell

That's right, time to tell of all the great things that God has been doing for us. We stepped more than a year ago knowing that there was more to this life than what we could provide for ourselves and on our own we were not finding fulfilment or getting any closer to reaching the things that are souls and hearts were passionate about. One of those convictions Chad and I both felt is that we relied too heavily on what "we could provide". Sure Chad could put in a 60 work week and meet our financial needs but is that truly the faith God calls us to? To be self sufficient and self supplying of our needs? I know that God is the provider of those jobs we have that pay the bills but too easily we were gaining pride in positions and rank.

Psalm 127

¹ Unless the Lord builds the house,
    the builders labor in vain.
Unless the Lord watches over the city,
    the guards stand watch in vain. It was time to walk out on the water and see if we could have our feet say what our mouths preach. If we say we trust God to be our supply and proclaim that He will meet all our needs according to His riches (Philippians 4:19) than needing to be willing to trust him for our supply!

 

So, now it's time to tell you just how great our God is!

Our Shoots Alive company is now up and running. We have had two sold out weekends at the local market and the feedback has nothing but positive....ok, there was one stick in the mud old guys on a bike that wasn't thrilled about them but he ain't steeling my thunder! We have a lovely assortment of 6 flavours of nutrient filled microgreens selling weekly now. We have only a small green house so we are taking it slow in adding new customers. However, our first restaurant/café/resort pitch went great and they are on board for weekly delivery already.

It was nothing short of a God appointment. Our first week at the market I saved a few containers so I could stop at a very small café that is connected to one of the more "shwanky" resorts in town. You know the kind that Cameron Diaz and Prince Harry go to! Long story short as I am showing them the sprouts I have to sell they are blown away! Why you ask? Because the chef proceeds to tell me they are just revamping their menu and they are plating the new menu for all the bosses in 3 days. He says, "We've been looking for something like this and couldn't find anything close." We could only say, "Thanks you Lord for this time and this place that you put before us".

We were on a high after the first week. And he does the enemy of lies was out not liking the joy, excitement and eucharisto (thanksgiving) we were attributing to God. So, the second week in the greenhouse was satan's attempt to rob that from us.

 

John 10:10

The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.

 

We had a drastic rise in humidity and literally when we walked in the green house early in the week we had slight mold starting and the microgreens were turning to mush throughout the trays due to way to much moisture. It was heartbreaking seeing it and thinking that by the time Friday (harvest day) came we could have nothing left to sell. We did move our small fan from the house into the greenhouse but aside from that we prayed. Yes, I spoke out loud every morning I entered that greenhouse and said, "God you are the giver of life and You cause all things to grow". We thanked him daily for what He was doing and I tell you the truth Friday morning harvest day.....we had the best harvest of all but one kind of seed!

Our flesh wants to scramble and make fixes and do everything we can....which we can but sometimes we need to throw our hands in the air and cry, "Lord this is beyond me, take it. I TRUST you. I THANK you."

What did God give us. A little miracle. A blessing. A little more faith. A testimony for our test.

So simple and yet it would be so easy to claim it was our fan that saved the day!

My sight is starting to be transformed. I see through altered lenses. Or do I see more clearly now? Why do I so easily boast in other things and not in the Creator, the Giver of all good things.  I'm getting there but I need to keep my eyes open. When I open them I see all around, everyday the goodness of the Lord.

 

 

Our passions and our desires are being filled daily. As we progress on developing the 30 acres we have purchased we are in awe that all the dreams we had over the past 10 years are becoming a reality. Thanks you Lord for creating us for a purpose and filling the passion You made us for. We will soon be carving out the road bed at what we now call "Vista Del Sol" our neighbourhood building project by D9 Developers. That's us and our good friends that we are partnered with.  

I'll let the pictures do the rest of the talking but we are excited to see what appointments God has for us next.

The Burn

The property doesn't look great now but rainy season is upon us and it's already coming back to life.

It actually could look like a snowy mountain.

Planting day for Shoots Alive

This is what the breath of God breathed for us last week

Just cause she's cute!

Harvest Friday's! A family affair and everyone has a job to do!

Our desire was to work together and  that we do now every Friday.



Green things make me happy!

Micro bath....a double wash, a spin, a pat dry and......

The final product.

Yummy, yummy ready for the market

 

Blessings to all,

Stephanie 

The BIG News!!!

Hi All

It's Chad again....Stephanie mentioned some big and exciting news in her last post.  Well, here it is...We are buying property here in Belize!!!  A prayer answered by a God that surprises and delights us constantly when we give our desires over to him. 

Several months ago our closest friend here in Belize who is a very experienced real estate investor who is from Belize told us about a 33 acre property 6 minutes down a bumpy gravel road heading towards a beautiful and growing tourist area here in Belize.  Close to zip lining, cave tubing, water falls, Mayan ruins, luxury resorts and lots of adventure!  So we headed out with our families and took a beautiful and challenging hike around the perimeter of this hilly property consisting of high hills, jungle, fern meadows (the ferns are 5-6 feet high!) and dry creek beds. (it was a dry time of year).  We did bush whack with our machete up a big hill and found we had a 360 degree view of the mountains in the distance.  So beautiful.  We were in awe of the beauty of what God has created! 
Our pictures just don't do it justice.

The jungle

 The beautiful house on the property!  Just kidding.

We were immediately excited but the plan was to wait until June when the listing with the real estate agent expired.  Our partner in this found out about the property through his many contacts and thought it best to wait to save a pile of money.  We were in no hurry so we decided to wait it out.  As we were partnering 50/50 with our friend we knew many factors were involved in bring this deal to fruition so we were not getting our hopes up.  We gave it to God and said whatever your will is we are OK with it.

While my brother was here for a visit I felt compelled to take him to the property to show him what we were thinking.  The original plan was for our partner and us to each build our homes on the top of the hill and severe 5 lots or so along the road frontage below our building spots.  During our hike we found that the property has many great hill top sites.  we immediately rethought our plan to included 10 lots spread throughout the property with a fruit tree/garden area at the front and a nature trail surrounding the entire 33 acre property.  But we still weren't getting too excited because although June was getting closer it was still a long way off and our partner seemed to be waning in excitement for the property.

To our surprise our partner called 2 days later to ask if we wanted to do this deal NOW!  NOW, What!  The owner was eager to do the deal and he would deal with the real estate company to eliminate commissions.  So in 5 days from the hike with my brother we had made a down payment on the property as partners and are going through the process of purchasing the property. 

Today was a big day as we started clearing/ under-brushing the land so see what the lay of the land really looks like so we can start identifying building sites and map out a subdivision plan.   This is done the old fashion way with machete in 100 degree weather.  And yes, this white boy was working side by side with a couple of Belizeans with my machete. We are so excited for this opportunity as property development had always been a dream of ours and God has opened the door for us here in Belize. 

So if a 1-3 acre slice of heaven sounds pretty good to you then stay tuned for more info in the coming weeks and months as our project progresses. 

With the thought of building a happened to stumble across a mahogany lumber sale at our local lumber yard.  I ended up picking up 4 skids of beautiful mahogany lumber for $450 US.  This stuff is beautiful, some of it is 2 inches thick and 12 inches wide!  I sanded a small piece after it was delivered and it came up amazing.  I am looking forward to building a few tables and maybe even a kitchen with this lumber.  I am sure I will post the cool stuff we are able to create with this bargain find.

Anyway, all that to say we are super excited with what God is doing right now and our days suddenly got every busy.  We will keep you all posted as things progress, in the mean time be thinking about the tough winter you just had and the fact that it was 80-90 degrees all winter long in Belize.  Who will be the first to contact us to purchase a great investment here in Belize??!!!

The Last of the Snowbirds

So many new things to tell about but I'm going to keep you all hanging until the next post! So mean but I wanted to take some time to first reflect on our latest and last of the snowbird visitors.

 

We just spent Easter with Chad's brother and his family. The kids were thrilled to have cousins to share beds, clothes, hats, shoes, hair do's, stories, adventure and laughter with. I'm going to do very little writing this post and let the pictures do the talking. We have a good story to tell for almost every picture which  made it a truly memorable and fantastic week.

For us it was reminiscent of our cottage vacations together so it felt very familiar which is always a welcomed feeling for me.

   We toured almost every day. We wore the kids out on hikes, zip lines, swimming and the bumpy, bumpy van rides! The fair skinned red heads who just came out of hibernation from a long deep winter did amazing in the  90+ degree weather we were blessed with. We were able to take our first trip out to one of the two main islands. We chose to spend a day at Caye Caulker, the smaller of the two islands and for me it was the highlight excursion. A small quaint island town where only golf carts and bathing suits are needed! The water is every shade of teal and turquois you can image! We had an awesome paddle boarding experience over pristine water filled with sting rays, tarpons, and starfish. It was a breath taking paddle! By now Mandy is laughing because the experience didn't exactly start out that way. But I'll loose my pride and leave you with a laugh to end this post so that you can all join the laughter.

 

So, we decide to rent two boards. First Mandy and I would go out and exchange off for the boys to go out while the non boarding team watched the kids. Mandy and I got the very quick briefing of how to paddle these things. After a slightly confusing discussion about how we were planning on just handing off the boards to the guys and returning the boards at the end of our two hour rental the guys realizes that Kyle and Chad filled out waiver forms but we had not yet. As he was contemplating making up get out of the water and heading back to the shop to sign a waiver a gentleman walks up to waters edge inquiring also about renting a paddle board. In true Belize form he looks at us and says, "Oh screw it, just go". They prefer business over policy! Anyway, all that so I give the guys an alibi as to why he maybe neglected to remind or explain it was very import to get on the board the correct way. It started out easy but I got rocked off and slid back on part way getting out of the rough water. No big deal.....unless I neglected to notice I was on the board backwards! Let's just say a few of us have erased the time span from then till Mandy pointed out that my board was backwards! I was  a tad bit frustrated and that's never a pretty sight, right Chad! Got her switched around and it was smooth sailing! So, yes. A rather funny moment that we call laugh at NOW.

 

Enjoy the pictures. And feel free to be the next lucky guests to be greeted with fresh coconuts and home made tostones at the airport! Our visitor schedule is now wide open!
https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0B8ccRnYNUhrxfmFueHZxMU4tek1GbkNuTTJNZGtzQmo0OEZ1WlBOZTNkXzNSMGRTN2M4ODA&usp=sharing_eid
 

 

To challenge your thoughts!

You gotta know something is up....two blogs posts in a week, eh!

Well, you see so much happens in life and it so often is on my heart to share what goes on, what amazing things we've seen God do in our day, what struggles we have etc. However, time and as well as my lack of love for writing usually gets the better of me and I let it be a passing thought. I know my mom has challenged us to write a little more personally about the spiritual things we experience and victories, challenges and miracles that we have experienced. You know she is right....of course she is...mom's are "mostly" right!

So I want to share with you. I want you to be open to something that you maybe haven't given much thought to. Or maybe you have but you choose to avoid the thought because it's scary or it seems childish or silly. Here's the word .....or shall I say "world"!

The spiritual world. The spiritual realm. The spiritual powers.

 

I want to share with you an experience from this week that really shook my day and hopefully my life. In Chad's posting he made a mention that we were feeling a spiritual attack in the last few week. For many of you who know me you're aware of the ongoing battle I've had with depression. With my focus remaining on God and keeping in constant communion with Him it's been a fight but I keep a float for the most part and find more happy than sad days for sure. However, the past 2 weeks I have fallen prey to the lies of the enemy. He fills my mind with self condemning lies that I convince myself of and I had slid quickly into a quiet, sad, and miserable introverted person again.

Now for some of you, this may already seem weird. Blaming this power or spirit for the way I think and act....most times I think it weird too but having had the experience we had this week confirms for me that,

 " Our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms."

Ephesians 6:12

So, Chad mentioned that we had a snake and scorpion on two different occasion in the house. Not totally uncommon for Belize I know but the timing was to perfect. The kids were feeling scared on the first occasion and Chad went up and prayed with them. Chad has become very good at discerning and speaking with authority to satan lately as he definitely believes in the truth of the spiritual world. So, Chad prays with Keaton that any power of darkness or the enemy that is in the room, "leave!" He no sooner kisses the kids and turns to leave their room to see a scorpion running  out their room. For most you may think weird timing. We are coming to see it otherwise. Satan knew he wasn't welcome and true to God's word which says,

 

"Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you."

James 4:7

 

 Jesus called his twelve disciples to him and gave them authority to drive out impure spirits and to heal every disease and sickness. Matthew 10:1

 

"All the people were amazed and said to each other, “What words these are! With authority and power he gives orders to impure spirits and they come out!”

Luke 4:13

We know that satan was manifesting in that scorpion and fleeing the room. Chad killed it! He got smushed several times with my slipper!

Two days later was a similar instance when we found a yellow jaw snake in the living room. It too got machetted to death. It was after these two instances when my mom sent us a rather interesting verse that we had not seen before.

"I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy; nothing will harm you."

Luke 10:19

Wow, this was confirming that the enemy chooses to manifest in forms of snakes and scorpions!

Fast forward to this past Saturday. My sadness was as it's peak and our household was definitely feeling the effects of my defeat. As we lay in bed Chad prays. For me, for us and he prays full of hope. I however feel so defeated I can't even pray. I know if I just cry out He will come and rescue me but my chains are tight and I can't even convince myself to muster out a prayer. Satan binds us that way. But I want to be rescued from this darkness that steals my joy and hope so at the very least I cry out in my head. It's quiet outside but inside I scream, "LEAVE ME ALONE! SATAN LEAVE ME ALONE I DON'T WANT YOU HERE!"

I kid you not, immediately we hear a thud behind us. I wanting to ignore it and pretend like nothing is wrong but Chad who has so much better discernment than I turns on the light to find a scorpion in the window sill behind my head! I jump out of bed in tears and trembling fear. No, not so much because of the scorpion but because I KNOW what that scorpion is a manifestation of. The enemy.

 

We immediately prayed a quick prayer claiming authority over the enemy. As we turned from our quick prayer we could no longer find the scorpion. Ok, when I say we couldn't find him I mean we moved the bed the shipping containers which serve as bedside table the sheets the curtains the searched the closet the upstair and the downstairs. We looked everywhere. However, as were hunting for our kill Chad felt the Lord say to him that he wasn't going to find this one. He wasn't going to kill this one, this time like he had the last two. Why you might ask? Well, the answer is found in the verse following the one my mom had sent us earlier in the week.

I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy; nothing will harm you. ²⁰ However, do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.”

Luke 10:19-20

As we read in verse 20 God warns about boasting in OUR ability to drive out these spirits. Chad confessed that he was feeling a little to confident in his ability to squash satan.

Wow, is God's word not true and living for us each day!

So, needless to say it was an emotional night and I stayed up till 2:30 praying, listening to praise music and reading my Bible to get me to a place of peace enough to go back to bed.

One might think the story ends there. But the enemy does not give up that easy. He is out to destroy the work of God. The next morning, Sunday. Get to church for worship prep and our worship team leader starts mentioning about his awful night. He proceeds to tell me that at 2:30...yes, the exact time I felt peace in our home that at that exact time he woke to strange sound and he reached for his phone/flashlight he was stung twice by the scorpion sitting on it. Satan left our house and decided to move to the next member of the worship team in an attempt to discourage and take away the worship we were to give to God the next day. Crazy eh!

Well, I'm thrilled to say that God has the victory! Despite a numbed hand for our guitar player we had an amazing...actually our most moving morning of worship since the beginning of this church. Praise the Lord for the freedom and authority and victory he gave to each of us.

 

All this to say that my eyes have been opened to see the spiritual world a little deeper. It's there. We need to see it, recognize the enemy and claim the authority God has give us to drive him away! I told chad that it still feels funny to speak out loud to the enemy. It does. But it works!

¹⁶ I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers. ¹⁷ I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit^[a] of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. ¹⁸ I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, ¹⁹ and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is the same as the mighty strength ²⁰ he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, ²¹ far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that is invoked, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. ²² And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church.

Ephesians 1:16-22

WOW, has it been that long?!

Hi All
Chad here.  Time for my first post on this blog!  Lots has happened since our last update:  Work permits, new sprouting system, my parents came to visit,  another visit to Hopkins, we slaughtered chickens, building a greenhouse, fending off satan's attacks, ordering 4000 pounds of seed, we prepare for the visit of my brother and his family.  WOW, when I write it all down  I guess we have been busy.

After lots of paperwork and many trips to the capital city of Belmopan our work permit, dependent permit for Stephanie and the kids Student permits have all been approved!!!  I am used to lots of paperwork and red tape having worked for a bank but this took it to a whole new level.  We were outright asked for a bribe to make things happen quicker but after calling their bluff we were issue the permits.  This allows us a temporary permit to work for a year and then we would have to apply again unless we were granted residency by then.  We are praising God for making this happen so smoothly.

Sprouting
Our test system we first build when we got here has been working well and has been feeding our 16 broilers and 13 laying hens.  But it was time to take things up a notch.  I have partnered with a friend from church to take our business to the next level.  He became interested in sprouting after we explained the idea to him, he did a lot of research and said "I am in".  Nery is his name and he has land and experience with animals of all kinds.  He is a very handy guy and has taught me to look for out of the box easy solutions for everything.  We have designed a new much larger sprouting system which we placed in a big concrete building he has on his property.  The system is capable of growing several hundred pounds of sprouts per day.  Our first batch of barley sprouts in the new system grew amazing well and much quicker than our system located at our house.  We are now is the process of ordering several thousand pounds of seed to start growing enough barley fodder to feed several different types of animals.  We are also importing seeds to grow micro-greens and other sprouts for human consumptions. To grow our micro-greens we are building a small greenhouse out of pvc pipe and some plastic and greenhouse mesh.  Everyone we speak with has given us positive feedback on our project so we are excited to get the new seed and get things into full production.  yeah, then we can make some money!!!

 

 

The start of our new greenhouse.  The design changed part way through as you can see by the pictures.  The pvc was not bending like I wanted!

  

I wanted to build the system out of steal tubing and plastic or stainless steal trays.  Nery convinced me that 1 x 3 pine and some steal roof panels for trays would work just fine.  And he was right!  1/10th the cost of my way!!!  Lots of room to expand this system with 3 more identical pods.

Our first barley harvest from the new system.  8 days, no mold and beautiful stuff.

 

The most amazing pepper plants I have ever seen.  Inside the greenhouse of our new organic vegetable supplier and friend, Abdias.

Skype and FaceTime is so amazing to see and be able to speak with family but there is no substitute for a visit.  My parents came to visit in February and we had such a good visit.  Just as it was for Stephanie's parents when they came to visit us over Christmas my parents had a quick peace about our adventure here in Belize once they saw the network of christian friends we have developed here and all of the great things God has us working on and helping with.  My parents were able to help us feed the kids at the local school which we help with once a week.  They were also able to come with us to the Learning Centre where we help kids with their homework, play games and draw pictures.  My parents also treated us to 3 days away at an amazing resort in Hopkins called Jaguar Reef or Almond Beach.  What a great time together as a family!  The kids played hard in the pool and nana and papa got some great sun burns in the hot Belize sun!  Papa was the lobster man he was so red.  Keaton, my dad and I also ventured out to the reef for some fishing.  Unfortunately fishing was not so good that day and we only caught a few small ones but it was a great boat ride and a beautiful day on the water.   Thanks mom and dad for the great adventure and wonderful visit.

The whole crew on a traditional Cacao farm tour.  What a great time with Edgar and Victoria. 

Stephanie, Nana and the kids at the top of the Mayan Ruins.  Dad and I don't like heights.

Nana and the kids reading at the Learning Centre

Papa helping the kids with their homework

Ice Cream stop along the Hummingbird Highway on the way to the resort in Hopkins.  7 ice creams for $4.75 US!

Jaguar Reef Resort.  A slice of paradise.

 

 

 

After 5 months of tender loving care it was finally time to slaughter our first batch of 16 broiler chickens.  Commercially grown chickens are ready for slaughter in 8 weeks but we grew ours nice and slow on our home grown sprouts.  Our broilers were getting so old that we discovered that 3 of them were roosters who began to show their stuff....at 2:30, 4:30 AND 6:30 in the morning.  So we packed up the chickens in our shipping bins and carted them over to our friends place for a Saturday morning chicken slaughter party.  As a banker I have never slaughtered a chicken before and Stephanie was a little rusty from here childhood so we enlisted the help of our friends Nery and Marien.  We had a great morning chopping off heads, dipping in hot water, plucking feathers, cleaning out gizzards and chopping chicken into pieces.  The whole family was involved and we were so impressed that the kids were right in there helping out.  Then we cooked up some chicken with onions and potatoes on the fire and had a little chicken feast.  It is so satisfying to eat what you raise.

 

 

Satan's many forms: God has been so good to us throughout this journey.  He lead us here so we certainly praise him for his provision, safety and health that He has provided.  But we also know when we meet with others that have a similar story to ours (yes, we are not the only crazy ones here, there are a tonne of us!!) that Satan wants to distract, deceive and throw us off of God's plan.  Just a few weeks ago we experienced this after a great night with 2 other families that share a similar story to ours.  we had a great night of singing, playing guitars and the kids playing together.  As the kids went to bed Keaton called down to us that he was scared as he recounted a story about scorpions that was told earlier that evening.  As I always do when the kids are having bad dreams we pray together and ask God to be there with them and we command Satan out of our presence by the authority of Jesus Christ.  Yes, God gives us the authority to tell Satan to "Go to Hell".  After we prayed Keaton said he felt at peace to go to bed and as I turned to leave the room a scorpion was fleeing from me from Keaton's room and headed to Paige's room.  I must say that we have only seen 2 scorpions in the house in 7 months so this was a huge surprise to see this.  Immediately a shiver went up my spin and that told me this wasn't a bug we were dealing with but an image of Satan who was fleeing because of our prayers.  I threw a basket over it and grabbed a shoe and beat that scorpion to a pulp.  We rebuked Satan for his attempts to discourage our family and told him we would crush his head if he came into our house again.  Everyone slept peacefully that night.  Fast forward two mornings and Stephanie comes running upstairs at around 6:00 am.  "theirs a snake downstairs".  Again, we have never had a snake in the house and have only seen 3 snakes since being here in Belize.  Again a shiver went up my spin which told me Satan was here again.  Before heading downstairs we prayed that God would stand with us and we rebuked Satan for coming into our house again.  We went downstairs and pulled out couches and chairs until we found a 2 foot long yellow jaw snake curled up in the corner of the living room. (you can do the research if you wish to know how dangerous a yellow jaw is!)  With machetes in hand we cut satan in two and tossed him outside.  Again we rebuked him for coming into our presence.    We know that Satan tries to throw us off of God's plan but this is the first time i have seen such a real likeness of Satan in my presence and it was a shivering experience.   But God is good, he protected us and stands with us and helps us to recognize when we are not flighting against bugs and snakes, but the evil one himself.  I encourage all of you to also pray for God's discernment and take God's authority to rebuke Satan for being in your presence.

As we work away on all of our projects we look forward with great excitement to our next visitors.  On Good Friday we will welcome my brother and his family for a 1 week visit to Belize.  We are excited for the kids to see their cousins again and show them the sights and sounds of Belize.  We have an action packed agenda ready and waiting for them!!!  We so appreciate our visitors and the sacrifice of time and resource it takes to come and visit us.  These truly are special times!

Well, I think I was much too long winded and I may get banned from writing future blog postings so I must sign off for now.

One last picture.  La Ruta Maya is a 4 day canoe race across the country.  Who wants to race with me next year??  There was another Canadian team in it this year. 


We love you all!

Chad