Jungle

A little trip to Sucúa to minister in a youth service.

This is only the second time that I've been to the jungle and I must say, I like it.  It's probably due to the fact that it's a lot smaller than Quito and it reminds me of good ole Hector.

Doesn't it look a lot like Arkansas?  Our kids loved the river.

This is the daughter of another AG missionary that lived in Sucúa.  I just love this picture.  

 This is Shannon preaching the youth service. 

These next few pictures were taken on the way back to Quito.  It is a beautiful drive.  Ecuador is so beautiful.

This is in Baños Ecuador.

It was a great ministry trip, great views, and a great visit with great friends.  There's nothing better than getting together in the jungles of Ecuador, eating BBQ and drinking sweat tea with Southerners.  A great big thank you to Joil and Leah for having us.

Craft Projects

Here I ago again saying that "we've been busy."  We really have.  

On January 1st I had the opportunity to make a quick trip to the states to see my mom and pick up some much needed things, like gluten free flour.  And since being in Ecuador Shannon has lost 30 pounds and had no clothes to wear, none.  I mean, he wore clothes but they looked awful on him.  And our computer went out and it was going to cost way too much to get it fixed here.  We were very thankful for airline miles for this trip.  

When I got home I caught up on some much needed housework and crafts.  haha!  

Here are a few things that I've done.  (I have such the gringo house)

Last week we welcomed a new missionary family to Quito, the Penleys.  So, we spent the end of the week helping them move into their apartment and find appliances.  

I think the Penley kids like Ethan already.  I mean, who doesn't?

We are still in the process of buying land for our church.  We've found a lot of options but haven't found "the one" yet.  I don't think we realized that this would be so hard.  Maybe by my next post I will have a better update on this land purchase.  If you still want to give to this project, it's not too late.  We are still needing money for this purchase.  You would not believe how much land is here.  Our church is outside the city, kind of like the suburbs, and most of the land is being bought for housing developments or factories.  Inside the city there is no room for anything like this, therefore the prices are high because it's in demand.  But we are confident that the Lord will provide.

We've been a little busy.

I know it's been a while since my last post but we've been busy. I'm not sure when we are going to slow down. It always seems like our lives are in fast motion and I really find myself tired. Have you ever been tired and not really know why you are? Then I think back at our crazy lives and say, "oh, that's why."

We've purchased 200 Bibles for outreaches that we will be doing this summer.  Thank you LFTL!

We helped make candy bags for our church for Christmas.

I passed my drivers test in Spanish with a 100.

Shannon passed his test too, just not on the first time.  He went back the next day and passed it.  In all fairness the test wasn't the same test that we studied for.  And I still can't get over the fact that they actually have driving laws here.  For those that have been here, their driving laws are almost the same as the states, can't you see that?  haha!

We've made gluten free brownies.

The gluten free diet- It can be terrible at times, sometimes you just want bread.  We are slowly but surely learning how to make things gluten free.  It's really a trial and error situation.  Some things are good and some things are bad.  And it's really hard to find things here that are gluten free to cook with. Like they only have rice flour here, nothing more.

Ethan was sick and missed four days of school before the Christmas break.

The picture of Ethan looks worse than it really is.  Shannon and I were up ready for church (Dec. 15th) and Ethan got up with a fever and I looked in his throat and saw pus and knew that he needed an antibiotic.  So, we took him to the ER to get started on some medicine.  Ethan thought they were going way overboard by making him lay in that bed.  Oh, and how dare them make him put that gown on.

Shannon and Meg making Christmas candies.

Christmas 2013

Shannon and I wanted to go to the beach for Christmas because we thought that it would be easier for all of us to keep our minds off of Christmas and missing family.  But, the kids didn't want to go.  Can you believe that?  I can't either.

Megan and I were goofing off after we made our "serious" picture.

All in all, we've had a pretty busy last two weeks with trying to get things done and finally settle in for the next four years.  Our drivers licenses were the last things that we needed to do,  now we can finally breathe a little.

We are looking forward to 2014 and all that it has in store.  

Happy New Years to you all!

Basketball 2013

Just a few pics of Ethan playing basketball this year.  By the way, these pictures are really hard to take, so they aren't perfect.  He's #11 in the red.

I have had so much watching him play this year.  Not going to lie, the rules here are not the same as the states and it gets a little frustrating at times.  This team that they played didn't even have real refs, their refs were two guys from their school.  Fair, isn't it?  They did not call one foul for our team.  We did not shoot one free throw and every time there was a jump ball the other team got the ball, every time.  See, not fair.

(blurry because I was too far away)

This has nothing to do with Ethan but I love this guy's face.

Is this not a foul?  Hello?

Thanksgiving Fun

We flew to Cuenca Ecuador last Wednesday night to spend Thanksgiving with our missionary family. We had a great time and laughed a lot. Our first term here we spent Thanksgiving alone, so let me just say, this was so much better. 

We all cooked together Thursday. Yes, even Shannon helped cook.

Megan and Karley

Lots of good food.

Ethan and Megan

The "adult" table.

Friday the ladies got up and went to a ceramic sale and the men went hiking.  After the sale we went to a coffee shop.

Pumpkin Spice Latte

Here are some pictures from the hike.  Looks beautiful!

We all met for breakfast Saturday morning.  We were waiting in the park for the restaurant to open.  Megan and I had gluten free french toast and it was the best thing that we've eaten for breakfast in a long time.  Yes, we bought some gluten free bread to bring home with us.

Cuenca is beautiful!

Kylie and Shannon and breakfast.

After breakfast Megan and I went walking.  There are so many beautiful colored doors in Cuenca.

Megan's $5 manicure.  She was so happy about these nails.

View from the plane.

Shannon, the tourist.

We hope you all had a great Thanksgiving!