Prayer Please!

I am sitting in the same place that I was sitting this morning when I wrote about living the blessed life. I have been debating over the last 30 minutes weather I should blog about this or not. But, we need prayer.

We were suppose to pick our STL vehicle up today at 11:30. When we get in the taxi to go to the Toyota place the taxi driver informs us that the streets that would get us to Toyota are closed. However, he could take us as close as he could get and we would have to walk the rest of the way. When we asked him why the streets were closed we really didn't understand his reply. But, oh well, we were going to get our car, finally. Little did I know what we were getting into. When the taxi drops us off, all we see are crowds of people, smoke, police, and burning tires blocking the streets. We were still a block from Toyota and we were going to have to walk through all of that to get our car. We see police, so we assume it's safe. The whole time I am walking I am thinking, all this to get a STL vehicle. I mean we are walking through a war zone just to get this car. Really, it wasn't a war zone, but it is the closest thing that I have ever been to one. When we finally get into the Toyota place we are informed that because of the riot our car is not even there yet. We sit down and watch all that is going on in the streets and on the news at the same time. We still don't know exactly because it's all in Spanish and they are using a lot of words that we don't know. About an hour later we get a call from the school that the kids are being sent home and that we needed to come and get them. By this time I am a little freaked out. So, I call our missionary friend Debbie that works at the school and ask her in English what is happening. That is when we find out that the national police (which includes the military) are on strike against the President. This is where I will say no more and if you want to watch for your self go here.

We are all safe and will be staying inside until all of this is over. Please pray this will all end soon. Thank you so much for your prayers. One more thing that I might add, I am still living the blessed life. Through good times or bad God is always faithful.

Living the blessed life

As I sit here at my bedroom window looking out at this beautiful city I am overwhelmed by God's love for me and my family. The views are breathtaking. I can see a volcano from our bedroom window and one from our living room window. I have been thinking about the journey that me and my family have been on for the last 2 1/2 years. All for this moment. To be in the country where God has called us to. I think back to how much we gave up to come to this country and then I see how much more God has given back to us. It's unbelievable. I feel so blessed and undeserving of His love for me. For the last 2 1/2 years my emotions have been on a roller coaster ride. Am I really going to move my family to a different country? Am I really going to sell everything that I have? What if it doesn't work out? What if my kids don't like it? How will we start over? What if we fail? And the list goes on. I figured out that you can't follow your emotions. You have to follow the voice of God. If I would have listened to myself, look what I would have missed out on. Through this journey we have lost friendships, we have been told that we were crazy, and we have faced many sicknesses. All because we said yes to the call of God. You know what? It was worth all of it. I would do it all over again. There is no greater feeling than to be in the middle of God's perfect will for your life. If God is asking you to do something. Do. it. You will never regret it. No it's not going to be easy but it will be rewarding.

Here is the scripture that we have turned to everyday through this journey.

Psalm 121

¹ I lift up my eyes to the hills—
where does my help come from?

² My help comes from the LORD,
the Maker of heaven and earth.

³ He will not let your foot slip—
he who watches over you will not slumber;

⁴ indeed, he who watches over Israel
will neither slumber nor sleep.

⁵ The LORD watches over you—
the LORD is your shade at your right hand;

⁶ the sun will not harm you by day,
nor the moon by night.

⁷ The LORD will keep you from all harm—
he will watch over your life;

⁸ the LORD will watch over your coming and going
both now and forevermore.

Ethan turns 15

Today was E's 15th birthday. I really try to make birthdays special for the kids because we live so far from family. So, this morning we made Ethan the breakfast of his choice and I made him a birthday cake with chocolate covered strawberries. Then for dinner we went out to eat at T.G.I. Fridays. Shannon told our waitress that it was Ethan's birthday so, they brought him cake and sang happy birthday to him. To make things even better, he got to eat for free. It was really hard for me to get a good picture of him because he's 15 you know. He doesn't like for me to take his picture at all. But here are a few that I got.

Eating his cake at Friday's.

Here is the cake that I made for him.

Sticker Shock

Shannon and I had to go to the grocery store today, so I took my camera with us and took some pictures. Not of the grocery store or people but of items and their cost. These prices are crazy! Yes, it was a little embarrassing taking pictures in the "Super Maxi." I would wait until no one was looking and snap a quick pic. And yes, Super Maxi is the name of the grocery store. There is also a Mega Maxi which is like Wal-Mart.

I forgot to turn my flash off on my camera, so the price is a little hard to read. It says $13.22. I believe that I bought two of these before we left for 5 bucks.

I guess eating healthy is expensive. I mean it is in the states, why not here?

The price on the soup is $1.77. I'm not sure how much soup is in the states right now but I think this is a little high. However, it doesn't stop me from buying it for the kids.

$7.02 - I might have to buy these for a special occasion. (After I relearn to bake.)

Nope, we won't ever be buying this.

Or these!

Keep in mind, some things are expensive, but then there are some things that are cheap. Like this Cinnabon, $1.99.

And these beautiful flowers for $4.00. The roses are even cheaper, they are $2.50.

Today is the day.....

......for internet. Cross your fingers! But, I have decided who needs to pay for your own internet when I can sit in our bedroom window and get it for free. Not really, it's really undependable. So, TVCable is suppose to come to day and hook up our cable and internet. This will be the third time they have been here. Seems like it is taking three times for everything that we do. But that's ok because things are getting done. We have ordered furniture and this morning we had a curtain guy come and we should have some curtains for the kitchen in a week. I will be sure and take the before and after pictures of the curtains in the kitchen. Oh and the neighbors that can see in our windows. We will hopefully have a car by next week. We have already payed for the car but we found out that we had to have more paperwork done on our visa's before we could actually get the car. We are getting a Toyota Fortuner. I will post pictures as soon as we can. Things are getting done little by little.

Here are a few pictures of our apartment.

This is the name of our street. Can you believe that? Big bang theory?

See the big cream colored million dollar condos? Well, that is not where we live. We live in the little green/brick apartments to the left.

These are our neighbors.

Here is our apartment building. We live on the second floor, which is right behind the trees. There is another story that is hidden by the fence. Our apartment takes up the whole second floor.

I need cooking lessons here! Here is the first batch of brownies that I made. I knew that I was going to have to figure out how to bake here, so I had bought two batches of brownies. The other ones turned out great. Added a little flour and cooked them for about 7 minutes. Ethan's birthday is next week so we will see how his cake turns out.

Wait! Wait! Wait!

I feel like that is all that we have been doing since September 1st.

Wait to land: On September 1st we left Houston in a mess because we had to leave 12 of our bags behind. Oh but first we missed our turn to the Continental check in not once but twice. As soon as we missed it the first time, it began to pour down rain. We had thrown our carry-on's in the back of the truck. You know the carry-on's with our most valuable stuff? Yeah, they all got soaking wet. So upset over that, we unload all 20 pieces of our luggage, and we are informed that there is a weight limit on the plane and we are only allowed to take 8 bags. Well, how am I to choose which ones? Oh course I choose all the suitcases and leave the footlockers. So we make it through all of that and as we are sitting waiting on the plane I realize that I have left Molly's food and kennel in one of the footlockers. Great! What are we going to do now? Where was she going to sleep when we get to Ecuador at 11:00 that night. So, we make a call to Ecuador and our friends here get her a kennel. PTL! Ok onto the waiting to land part. It's around 11:00 when the captain comes on the intercom and says to prepare for landing. We get closer and closer but we are not landing. The captain comes back on the intercom and says "as of right now the airport is closed in Quito due to weather." So we circle the airport for about 10 minutes and end up flying to Guaquil (I have no idea if I spelled that right, but who cares) about a 35 minute flight from Quito. We end up setting on the plane for 3 1/2 hours. Let me remind you, I have a dog under the seat if front of me that has not use the bathroom since 2:30. At about 4:00 a.m. we head back to Quito. When we arrive, we are informed again that we could not land and that we would be flying back to Guaquil. Are you kidding me? By this time the kids are asleep so I just start crying. You know how you just have a bad day. Well, I couldn't take it anymore. We get back to Guaquil sit on the plane another 1 1/2 before we head back to Quito. We finally landed in Quito around 7:00 a.m. Our flight turned out to be about 15 hours. I am proud to say that I have the best dog in the world. She never made a peep. Thank goodness for the medicine from the vet.

Wait for our 12 footlockers to arrive.

Wait to get appliances.

Wait to get the appliances hooked up.

Wait to get cable/internet.

Wait to get money for a car.

Wait to get a car.

Wait for the transfer to go through for the car.

Wait for all the right emails to come in.

Wait! Wait! Wait!

I think God is trying to teach us something. It seems since September the 1st nothing has gone our way. And you know how your mind begins to think. Am I really suppose to be here? Maybe we should just go home? Did God really call me to this country? I think that I have thought it all! All in secret of course because I would never say anything negative in front of the kids. Yes, I know that God has called us to this country and I know that all of this just goes along with the process. But it gets old! I know that God has great things ahead for me and my family. I just can't wait to get out of this phase.

9/22/10

I forgot to mention this yesterday: We are still waiting for internet. They said it should be sometime Sunday. And we are suppose to have a car by the weekend. I'm not going to hold my breath because I don't want to be let down. Never the less, I am still thankful for God's many blessings with or without internet or a car.

Life without internet

I feel cut off from the world! When I was in language school I didn't have time to blog but now that I have time to blog, I have no internet. It's so sad! We still don't have internet. They are suppose to be coming today. We'll see. I'm so behind on blogging. I have so much to catch you up on.

Things are going pretty good. I think we are getting use to 2 mile high city. There are a lot of hills that still take my breath away. It's a good way to stay in shape, though. Who am I kidding, I'm not in shape. The kids are doing great. They are liking school. We are all enjoying our dog, Molly. I can't say thank you enough to my mom for watching her for a year. Not only that but she did so much for me to get Molly here. Thanks mom!

Ok, I haven't had a lot of picture taking time but I did get a snap shot from our rooftop of this volcano. That is not smog, it's fog. Quito is a beautiful city and I think we are going to be happy here once we get our apartment furnished and a car. (not the greatest picture. I will post more when we have internet)

Update from Quito

We arrived in Quito last Thursday morning. We were suppose to arrive Wednesday night but we ran into some problems. I will save that for another post. At this very moment I am sitting in our empty apartment waiting for our appliances to arrive. Maybe I should say expensive appliances to arrive. We have spent two nights in our apartment so far with just beds. As soon as the appliances arrive we going to get cable and internet. (right now I'm using someone else's)

Then after the cable we are going to try and get cell phones and then after that maybe a car. So much do!

We are also waiting for the rest of our luggage to arrive. We are waiting on 11 more pieces. Please pray that they arrive today because we really need them. We need towels! We did manage to arrive with 3 towels so we are making due.

Today is the kid's second day of school. Please pray that they adjust quickly!

This is all that I have time for. Maybe next time I will actually have good internet and can upload some pictures and tell you about our arrival.