A Little FYI

Today is the national census day here in Ecuador.  Everyone in the country is required by law to stay in their houses from the hours of 7a.m. to 5p.m.  Anyone caught outside will be fined.  Here is the information sent out from the US Embassy, if you want to read it.

The U.S. Embassy in Quito advises U.S.  citizens living or traveling in
Ecuador that an upcoming census day in Ecuador could seriously impede
movement in urban centers of the country for one day, Sunday, November
28.  While details are not entirely clear at this point because the
government has not yet released the regulations, the census agency,
Instituto Nacional de Estadistica y Censo, has indicated that on Sunday,
November 28, from 7:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., all urban residents are
required to remain in their residences. At this point, this also appears
to include hotels.


There will only be limited taxi service available in the major cities
and no bus service. If you do need to travel that day, authorities
advise you to do so before 7:00 a.m. or after 5:00 p.m.  Also, please
prepare in advance for basic needs, such as food and water.  Some hotels
may have food available for their clients; check with your specific
hotel for more information.  Tourists planning travel in Ecuador that
day may want to arrange to be in rural areas on that day, November 28,
as the travel restrictions do not appear to apply outside of urban
areas.  It has also been reported that no alcohol will be sold in urban
areas the entire weekend.


Everything is closed today.  The whole city is shut down.  It's a little crazy to say the least.  


So, we slept in this morning and ate a late breakfast.  The census guy showed up around 9:30  and stayed for about 30 minutes.  All the questions were in Spanish.  I sure hope we understood them correctly.  He wanted to "see" Ethan and Megan.  And he also wanted to know how many light fixtures we had in our house (??).  Where we get our water.  If we use electric or gas.  And so on and so on.  We have spent most of the day watching movies and the kids have played the Wii a lot.  (All in our pj's.)  I am making a big pot of potato soup as I type this.  We have no plans of leaving our house after 5.  It's kinda nice to sit around and have no where to go or nothing to do.    

Giving Thanks

The night before Thanksgiving I finished decorating the mantle.  I have always wanted to decorate a mantle for Christmas.  It was really hard to find decorations here that are affordable.  They have Christmas stores (Salon de Navidad)  but they are starting to run out of stuff already.  I really wanted to make a wreath but when I went back to the store, they were gone.  There are three stores but I didn't want to run all over the city trying to find a wreath.  So, I saw this little tree and thought it would do the trick.  I think I like it better than a wreath.  I decorated it with flowers that were for a flower arrangement.  I just cut them off of the stems.  I think it worked out nicely.

We got up on Thanksgiving morning and watched The Macy's Parade.  I wanted to find something fun for the kids, but not too kiddish, and came up with Thanksgiving Day Parade Bingo.  I think we all liked it.    (Ethan looks more than thrilled.  He really did like it.)

Molly enjoying the parade.

Our first turkey.  Yes, it's big, but it's all they had.  It was really good too and cost a small fortune.  

This is kinda funny.  We were not able to put our food on the table because we didn't have anything to put it in.  No serving dishes.  I might need to put that on my list.  (But, there were less dishes to wash.) 

 This was his favorite part.

 Shannon talking to the Pruitt family in Hector, Arkansas.  This was the first Thanksgiving without grandma Pruitt.  She was such a precious lady.  I'm sure she was greatly missed.  

Skyping with Shannon's family in West Fork, Arkansas.  

Skyping with Shannon's family in Fresno, California.  

My mom and brother, Patrick (and family) spent Thanksgiving in Hot Springs, Arkansas with my Grand dad.  And my sister, Laura,  was in Germany with her new husband, Doug.  My brother, James, was in Pennsylvania.  I am thankful for my family and love them very much.  

Needless to say, we are thankful for Skype.  We had a great first Thanksgiving in Ecuador.  But, I'm not going to lie, there were tears shed.  I guess to know what you're missing out on can really get to you sometimes.  We are thankful to be doing what God has called us to do, but sometimes it's hard.  

Please pray for Shannon today.  He has been sick most of the night and is still in bed.  He is preaching tonight at a church here in Quito.  I pray that he is able to because I know I can't do it for him.  

Happy Thanksgiving to Our Friends and Family Around the World

We hope all of our friends and family have a great Thanksgiving.  We love and miss you all.  We would not be able to do what we do without your love and prayers.  We appreciate you all very much.

Hope you enjoy the video.  We decided to leave us all laughing at the beginning because that is our family at it's best.  

Surprise Letters

We got letters from the children's church from Scottsville Assembly.  There is nothing better than getting mail from home.  Here's a funny story.  We opened a post office box because we knew that it would be safer to get our mail from the postoffice, rather than going through 2 or 3 more people's hands.  You know who gets the most mail?  Ethan and Megan.  I think Shannon and I have gotten one thing and all the rest is for the kids.  I guess the kids have their own personal mailbox.  It does bring great joy to the kids to get mail.   I have had several ask for our address and if you would like it please send us an email and we will send it to you.  Thanks for thinking of us and thank you Scottsville kids.  We appreciate all of your letters!

Crazy Hair

Today is crazy hair day at school and both of the kids participated.  They are having spirit week at school this week, this short week.  I did happen to get a couple of pictures before they left for school.

It is still cold here.  Someone said, not sure if it's true, that it got down to freezing the night before last.  E and Meg did not have coats.  They have hoodies and jackets but no coats.  And it gets so cold at their school when there is no sun.  They said that they were freezing.  So after dinner last night we headed tto the mall to find coats.  Speaking of dinner.  One of our (Shannon, Susan, and Meg) favorite things to eat is Olive Garden.  We love the chicken alfredo.  So I decided to see if I could make it.  After the first bite Megan said, "Mom I think I'm going to kiss you."  Yes, it was really good and it was very close to Olive Garden.  However, now I know why it's high in fat.  Cream cheese, butter, and whole milk.

Well Thanksgiving is approaching fast and I'm getting all my ingredients together.  There is no corn meal here, or I haven't seen any, so I'm having to use a different recipe for dressing.  Hope it turns out good.  I think the menu is looking something like this:  Turkey, dressing, green bean bundles, mac and cheese (for the kids), bread, and maybe some sort of potato.  Then we will be having dessert later that night with our fellow missionaries.  So we will be making a couple of desserts too.

On the agenda for today:  Meeting the AG Superintendent of Ecuador and other board members.  Hope our Spanish is good.

A Rainy Cold Saturday

It has been a cold and rainy day.  The boys got up and went to basketball practice this morning and that is about all the action that has happened today.  Since it's cold and raining we decided to just stay in today. I  have done a little Christmas decorating, but I'm not done yet.  We had pork tenderloin and veggies for lunch and then Shannon made an apple pie.  It was the first apple pie here in Quito and we wanted to make sure that it would come out right.  And it did.  It was really a practice before Thanksgiving.  But hey I'm good with eating a practice pie.  This year will be our first Thanksgiving alone.  Our first Thanksgiving to cook a turkey and all the fixings.  We are up for the challenge.  (I will let you know how it goes)  Thanksgiving afternoon we are going over to another missionaries house for dessert.  Hence the apple pie practice.

The practice pie was really good as you can see.

Nothing like apple pie and a cup of coffee on a cold rainy day.

A little decorating.

A little hail.

A little Molly.  

Redemption Brownies

Remember these brownies?   Are these really brownies at all?  They are so burnt! 

Now, check out these brownies.

I think these look much better and they are homemade.  They are much easier to make then the ones that come in a bag.  It also helps to know how to read the oven knob.  Our oven temps are in celsius, not fahrenheit.  That is great to know!  I am so glad that I finally figured that out.  I cooked the first batch of brownies on 350 celsius.  Which was actually 662 fahrenheit.  No wonder they burnt.  I would put the recipe on here but it is tweaked for high altitude.  I'm sure I will be making these again.  Soon!

The Big Reveal

Meg had to get glasses!

Here is the story.  Parent/Teacher conferences were last Friday.  The kids did really good.  The grading scale is really hard here.  Have a look for yourself.

99-100 A+

96-98 A

94-95 A-

92-93 B+

88-91 B

86-87 B-

83-85 C+

79-82 C

76-78 C-

74-75 D+

72-73 D

70-71 D-

0-69 F

Now that is a tough grading scale.  If your child had a C- or below you had to have a conference with his/her teacher.  Or if you just wanted to talk with their teachers, you could.  Along with Megan's report card was a letter saying that she made the honor roll and  behind that letter was another letter saying that she needed to have her eyes checked.  (she had failed her eye exam) While at the mall Saturday letting the kids pick out their Christmas stockings, we saw the Lenscrafters of Ecuador,  Los Andes.  We decided to go in and see how much an eye exam was.  Guess how much?  FREE!  And they took her right back and she was done in about 5 minutes.  And the verdict was in. She needed glasses.  They were so busy that we decided that we would go back Sunday after church.  She was pretty bummed out.  But, we went back Sunday and she picked out some cute little glasses.  (she has hopes of getting contacts really soon)  We picked her glasses up this afternoon and she has been wearing them since.  She is amazed at how much better she can see.  I think she looks pretty cute.  What do you think?

Busy weekend

I just got back from the Dr.'s office and Megan got her cast off today.  She was pretty excited.  She is leaving for an overnight field trip on Thursday.  (Not sure how I feel about my child going on an overnight field trip.)  She is going to a cloud forest.  I asked her what was a cloud forest and she said that it was like a rain forest but has clouds.  Ok.  Makes sense.  (I guess)  She will be going zip lining on Friday so we had to get permission from the Doc.  He said that she should be fine but she needed to be really careful for the next two weeks.  He also said she could not play any type of sport.  If you know Megan, she is not a sporty person.  So that is not going to be a problem.

It has been raining, cloudy, and cold the last few days.  I am so thankful for our gas heater.  If we didn't have that thing, we would freeze to death.  We had a busy weekend.  Friday we had parent teacher conferences and Megan had a friend over.  I will blog more about the parent teacher conferences later.  Saturday Shannon and E got up early and went to Llano Chico for a men's devotional and breakfast.  After breakfast they all went and played soccer and something else.  I can't remember the name but it's like volley ball.  Any kind of sport and Ethan is in.  Oh on another note, Ethan is trying out for the basketball team today.  I hope he makes it because we already went out and bought him some shoes.  (Shoes are not cheap here.  Wait, they aren't cheap in the states either.)  Ok, back to what I was saying.  Saturday night the kids had a harvest festival at the school so we went to that.  That was a lot of fun.

Ethan playing something like volley ball.  

Ethan playing soccer.  He is the one with the white legs.

Sunday we went to a little church outside the city.  I think the name of the town was Carapungo.  Don't hold me to that.  I'm not good with all these names.  The church was in a garage and it was so cold.  The people were so nice and friendly.  We had a really good time.  Shannon did a great job preaching.  I told him that he was a lot braver than me.  He doesn't care if he messes up, he just jumps in with both feet.  If he had a problem pronouncing a word the people would help him.  It was great.  I was very proud of him, to say the least.

This is what we drove through on the way to church.  And we also went over 18 speed bumps.  We are thankful for our STL Toyota.

Before church a group of kids did a traditional dance.

Shannon preaching.

Home made ice cream and a Christmas tree.

We finally had the opportunity to use our ice cream maker.  We have been so busy that we almost forgot about it.  We made vanilla ice cream and then added some oreos at the end.  It was so good.  It's just a little piece of home away from home.  We are so glad that we got it and can't wait to try another flavor.

We also bought a Christmas tree this week along with everything else you need to decorate a tree.  The only ornaments that they have here are balls.  Expensive balls I might add.  I really wanted to do a girly tree but with kids that always want to help decorate, it's not possible.  But, I did get to make a bow.  My first ever bow.  This is the first year that we haven't had our Hallmark ornaments.  We kinda miss them.  It was a tradition that we did every year.  But that's ok, we will start new traditions.  Here is a picture of my first ever bow.

Soccer Game

Shannon and Ethan went to a soccer game last night with a pastor friend, Luis.  They really had a good time and Ethan can't wait to go back.  While we were in CR they went to a game and it was a really bad experience.  In CR their were bombs thrown, pee thrown, and lots of bad words.  Ethan was traumatized over the whole experience and was really afraid to go here, but Pastor Luis said that it was a good family atmosphere.  And he was right.  They had a great time.

Pastor Luis pastors a small church right outside of the city.  We have been there several times and we really like it.  The people are so friendly, the preaching is good, and the music is great.  What more could you ask for in a church?   Shannon is going to a men's breakfast there this Saturday and doing a devotional.  He is getting some good practice with his Spanish.

Pastor Luis is a big Liga fan.

Look!  He is smiling at a soccer game.  Big difference from the last game.

Kids

I love taking pictures of Latin kids.  They are just so cute.  Most of these kids come to work with their moms.  Here a few that I took.

This little girl was taking a nap while her mom worked.

I saw this group of kids on the side of the street.  Looks like they had just went to the store and bought some suckers.  I am amazed at how many kids (young kids) are out by themselves.  I really want to give money to all of them but I know that I can't.  

 These are my favorite kids.

The Market

Here are a few pictures from the market.  You can buy almost anything here. 

These are handmade finger puppets.

These are handmade chess sets.

This is how a lot of the women carry their babies here.  

These look like they should be sold in Arkansas.