The first week of October, I am in Brazil for the Connections renewal for missionary women, sponsored by Great Cities Missions. This is a wonderful few days of rest, teaching sessions, lots of time for silence and solitude, and time spent in small "connection" groups. The food is delicious, and the setting (a cozy hotel on a secluded beach) is beautiful, but the best part of the whole week is being with sisters in Christ! The fellowship and especially the singing (in English!) is amazing.
Rusty spends the week at home with the kids. He keeps the Facebook community entertained all week with hilarious "misadventures of a single dad" posts. This has become something of a tradition that his friends look forward to every two years. This year, my parents are there to help out, so I don't think he gets as much sympathy as he normally does.
On the day Jerica and I return from Brazil, Rusty brings the whole family to pick us up at the airport. After dropping Jerica off, we head to the Marcums' house to help my parents get settled. They will be living there "on their own" for the next few weeks and studying Spanish. We attend a church in the valley near the Marcum's house the next day and help Mom and Dad make some connections with the Christians there. Then, we say goodbye and head back to the camp.
For the next two weeks, we have a fairly normal routine. I begin homeschooling again as well as planning for several upcoming camp groups. I have several special projects I am working on for the after school program -- preparing enrichment activities for each class, taking pictures of the kids for the picture wall, and updating the bulletin boards. I have decided not to start English classes until November, so this gives me a little extra time to work on these projects. I am also working on updating Facebook photo albums for me and for the camp, and on a PowerPoint for our presentation on Camp Bellevue at the upcoming Operation Ecuador Summit.
The boys have baseball every Saturday. Elizabeth has a Field Day at her school one Saturday, so I take her to that while Rusty takes the three boys to Quito for practice and games. Alex also has his first Homeschool Teen Fellowship night of the school year. He really enjoys these times -- they are one of his only social outlets right now.
Rusty has been invited to preach at the church in Cayambe, so we attend there one Sunday, followed by lunch at one of our favorite restaurants, the Café de la Vaca. The next Sunday, we are busy with a weekend group from the U.S. spending their fall break in Ecuador serving at the children's home next door. They stay at the camp for three nights and we prepare breakfast and dinner for them each day. They leave on Sunday after church.
The next day, Mom and Dad drive out to the camp. They will be staying with the kids while Rusty and I travel to the States for a week to attend the annual Operation Ecuador Summit. We go grocery shopping and make sure they are set up for the week, then pack our bags (again) and head to the airport for our late night flight to Miami.
The OE Summit is being hosted this year by the Livonia Church of Christ in Livonia, MI, but our first stop is actually Dallas to spend a few days with the Shawnee Trail Church of Christ. This church began supporting our family in January, but we have not personally visited them yet. Our days in Dallas are full with missions committee meetings, errands, shopping, and visits with our friends the Wilsons (who recently moved back to the States from Ecuador), and my Uncle Ken and Aunt Barb, members at Shawnee Trail and our initial connection with this church.
After a few days in Dallas, we fly up to Detroit. We stay at my parents' house with the Marcum family, who are wrapping up their 4-month furlough. The OE Summit takes place at the Livonia church on Friday and Saturday, October 26-27. Rusty and I do a presentation on the camp together for the entire group. We enjoy hearing about the good things that God is doing in the other "sister ministries" of OE -- the Bible college, church planting teams, and Kumanii and medical missions.There are also scheduled break-out sessions and times of prayer for the various ministries. On Saturday afternoon, the church has planned a fun outing for all the Summit participants -- the Rouge Factory Tour followed by dinner at a wonderful Middle Eastern restaurant in Dearborn.
On Sunday, we attend church at Livonia -- Rusty and Josh co-preach. The rest of our day is filled with visits with friends and supporters, as well as the requisite shopping and then packing until the wee hours of the morning. We fly back to Ecuador on Monday, October 29th. Mom and Dad drive back to Quito the following day, while we unpack and start prepping for a large group coming to the camp this weekend.
On Halloween, we manage to procure four orange pumpkins at the market for the kids to carve into jack-o-lanterns. That evening, they dress up in their costumes and we attend Fall Fest at Elizabeth's school. We finish the night by watching "Charlie Brown and the Great Pumpkin," a family tradition.
October moments (clockwise from top left):
- Haircuts for three boys and their Babu
- Rusty and I presenting on Camp Bellevue at the Operation Ecuador Summit
- Rusty bought two Great Dane puppies -- we named them Lucy and Ethel.
- Carving jack-o-lanterns
- Halloween, 2018 -- a cowboy, Doc McStuffins, a brave and daring knight, and Bumblebee!
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