Catching Up: June

Rusty was gone to the jungle with 2 different short-term groups for about half of June, so the boys and I spent a couple of quiet weeks at home. Alex finished up the school year at Hansei. Ecuadorian schools let out at the beginning of July, but Alex's last day was June 27. There were a couple of special events at Hansei that we attended during his last month. We also continued with "English school" at home two days a week.

English Open House -- each grade performed a few songs or a play in English.

Parents' Breakfast -- breakfast was served to the parents while each class performed a song or a skit

Alex was invited to the birthday party of a little girl in his class at school at the beginning of June, so we got to experience our first Ecuadorian birthday party. It was a huge deal -- lots of food, a lady who came and did a puppet show and face-painting for all the kids, a piñata, fancy party dresses, the works! The kids had a blast, but I was completely worn out by the experience!

Captain America x2!

Benjamin was so fascinated by the puppets.

While Rusty was gone to Kumanii with the second group, Stephen fell (he was pushed by his older brother) and cracked his head open on the fireplace. I took him to the hospital where he was seen immediately and received 3 stitches, and the whole thing ended up costing about $60. (Compare that to the more than $2,000 we paid out of pocket WITH INSURANCE when Alex had a similar injury -- he got 10 stitches -- while we were in the States in 2012. Kinda makes you wonder. But, I digress.) I was very thankful to have our second car when this happened. Using public transportation or even calling a cab would have made the whole situation that much more stressful.

Brave little boy, just before getting his stitches.

About mid-June was when I began to suspect I was pregnant. I waited until I was 5 weeks before taking a pregnancy test, which was most definitely positive, and then spent the remainder of my first trimester fighting the nausea and the tiredness and trying to get over the shock of it all. I had decided I was ready to be done having babies, but neither of us had done anything "permanent" yet. We were actually discussing adoption and the possibility of adopting an older child, which is apparently easier for foreigners to do in Ecuador than adopting a baby. I guess I can be thankful that we got pregnant when we were still only in the talking stages and before we were in the adoption process because that would have made things much more complicated and stressful!

And finally, a few pictures of Rusty's time in the jungle:

Sunday worship in the new meeting hall at Kumanii

I think the baby has the most comfortable seat in the canoe!

The Kumanii fleet is loaded and ready to head downriver.