A Year in the Life: November

The first weekend in November is a holiday weekend in Ecuador. Three holidays back-to-back (Day of the Dead, All Saints Day, and Cuenca Independence Day) combine to make a long weekend. This year, we have a large group from the Salvation Army at the camp for a youth retreat from Thursday afternoon through Sunday lunch. It is a busy few days.

The following weekend, the camp hosts the Women in Ministry retreat. This is a retreat planned by the Bible college in Quito and offered to all women in Churches of Christ who are involved in full-time ministry. The camp is in charge of food and housing for the weekend. In addition, I've been asked to lead a connection group, do a breakout session on personality styles, and give a keynote talk on Sunday morning. It is a busy week for me as I plan and prepare for all these different components. The theme of the retreat is "gratitude." It all goes very well and is a wonderful time of refreshment and encouragement for all the participants.

The next week, we drive into Quito to celebrate Dad's birthday. We eat at the best Indian restaurant in town and follow that up with pie for dessert at the Marcums' house. A few days later, we head back for a Friday night sleepover. The younger kids hang out with their cousins while Rusty and I drop Alex and Michaela off for Teen Night Then, we get to have a date -- dinner and movie out! The next day, we take the boys to their baseball practice and games at Cotopaxi Academy. After lunch and grocery shopping, we drive home. The camp is hosting a baby shower that evening for a young lady who has been helping with the after school program on a part-time basis and I have tea sandwiches to prepare for that.

Now that all my traveling is done and most of the fall camp groups have come and gone, I am ready to start up English classes again for the kids in the after-school program. I make name-tags for all the kids and teach my first set of classes in mid-November.

Just before Thanksgiving, Rusty has planned a 1-night getaway with Alex, Dad, and Josh, to discuss manhood and what it means to "become a man." Then, it's time to get ready for Thanksgiving! We drive into Quito for the weekend and have a nice family dinner on Thursday with the Marcums and my parents, followed by a mini-piano recital, put on by all the kids for their Nyanya. Later on, there is a time to share individual "psalms of gratitude" (a Marcum family Thanksgiving tradition), and while the kids watch a movie together, the adults have some time to visit and pray together.

The next day, all 14 of us head out of the city for a 1-night camping trip at Antisana National Park. Rusty has found a small lodge where my parents can stay, while the rest of us pitch tents by the lake. We enjoy exploring the park, hiking, and seeing several different species of birds, including an Andean Condor in the wild!

We spend one more night in Quito, attend church at Pisulí on Sunday, then have lunch at the Marcums' with the EQEB students who have been taking Dad's spiritual formation class. He teaches his last session to them after lunch, and then we pack up and head back to the camp. Mom and Dad come with us. They will be spending their last few days in Ecuador with us, and Rusty will take them to the airport.

It's hard to believe my parents' 2.5 months in Ecuador is at an end. We pass their last couple of days in Ecuador taking them to shop at the market in Otavalo, and arranging for them to see available apartments and condos in our area. (One of the purposes of this trip was to see if living in Ecuador full-time could be an option for them now that Dad has retired from full-time ministry.)

It has been a full and a busy month. We are thankful for all the wonderful family times we have enjoyed. Now, it's time to get ready for Christmas!

November moments (clockwise from top left):

1. Mom shares her "prayer album" with the Women in Ministry participants during my keynote session at the retreat.
2. Baseball has been such a fun outlet for our boys in the years we've lived in Ecuador.
3. Happy Birthday, Dad!
4. Our Thanksgiving feast
5. Three generations of piano players
6. Rusty and Alex
7. Hiking with the cousins in Antisana National Park
   

A Year in the Life: January, 2018

Our new year begins quietly. We spend New Year's Day at home as a family. After Christmas, we began a "Hobbit and Lord of the Rings" marathon. We finish that today with "Return of the King." Some other New Year's traditions are demolishing and eating the gingerbread house, drinking homemade eggnog, and watching "It's a Wonderful Life."

On January 2nd, it's time to reestablish the routines of daily life. Camp employees come back to work after several days of vacation, the after-school program starts up again, and the boys and I dive back into homeschooling. The weekly ladies' prayer and Bible study group starts meeting again on Friday afternoons after a break over the holidays. Rusty gifted the family with "The Muppet Show" (every episode ever made!) on DVD for Christmas, so we begin watching an episode or two in the evenings with the kids. Rusty and I also reestablish our more-or-less weekly lunch date, usually combined with grocery shopping. Our go-to restaurant in Cayambe is the Vaca Loca -- great food, yummy ice cream, and fast and friendly service.

I usually leave my Christmas stuff out at least until Epiphany (aka Ethiopian or Orthodox Christmas) in early January. This gives me time to enjoy it after the hustle and bustle of the holidays. This year, I have crock-pot freezer meals to prep for a pregnant friend, plus a family camping trip coming up, so I decide to pack everything away on January 6th.

We have decided to attend Sunday services at the Pisulí Church of Christ (a church plant in North Quito that we helped with several years ago) for the foreseeable future. The church is really struggling and can use our help to work through some issues. Going to church here makes for long days on Sunday -- the drive is 1.5 hours each way, so we usually leave about 7:30 a.m. and don't get home until mid-afternoon. Usually, we eat lunch out, and sometimes we do some shopping, since we are already in Quito. A fun family tradition is "brinner" (breakfast for dinner) on Sunday evenings.

During the second week in January, I put together 12 crock-pot freezer meals for my friend who is due at the end of January and begin planning for our upcoming summer groups. We also go camping for one night with the Marcum family. We camp at Chachimbiro, which has some great hot springs! We have tried several camping spots together over the years, and we all agree that being able to enjoy the hot pools right next to our campsite is a big plus!

I devote the third week in January to getting ready to begin teaching English classes to the kids in the after-school program. I am taking over this responsibility from Jerica, who is no longer volunteering at the camp. I organize, clean, and set up my classroom, familiarize myself with all the materials, and prepare for my first lesson. I also dust off the nice digital camera and spend some time each afternoon taking individual and class pictures of all the kids in the program to update the "picture wall."

We have groups at the camp the last two weekends in January. The first is just using the facilities for the day, but we still have to prepare lunch for everyone. We plan for 100 people, and 137 show up! I tell my staff that sometimes I feel like I'm supposed to be Jesus and just make more food appear as we serve it! The second group is smaller, but stays one night and so requires three meals.

Since returning from our furlough at the end of November, 2017, we have been slowly settling into the extension on our house. The extension was actually completed ("made usable" is probably a better way to say it) in the summer of 2017, but since we are so crazy busy during the summer months and then were gone for nearly three months in the fall, we haven't had time to do much with it yet. Rusty has spent a good part of his free time this month working on a backboard from old pallet wood for his dart boards. He gets that finished and hung, along with our "places we've lived" wall, which features a license plate from each country and state we've called home through the years. Shelving is also finally installed in our bedroom closets, allowing me to unpack and organize clothes that have been in storage for several months. I am then able to move a bookshelf out of our room and back to its new home in the playroom, where I can unpack and organize the five boxes of children's books I packed up when we began the process of knocking out walls to connect the extension to the rest of the house.

The final week of January finds me teaching my first English classes to the kids in the after-school program, helping set up for the "School Store," (scheduled for the first week of February), writing our quarterly newsletter, and planning our Superbowl Party. Rusty attends a wake for the sister of one of the camp employees who was killed in a tragic hit-and-run accident.

Some daily moments from January (clockwise from top left):

1. New Year's Day -- taking apart the gingerbread house
2. Homeschool -- we were studying machines, and their assignment was to sketch their bikes
3. 12 crock-pot freezer meals -- my baby gift for an expecting friend
4. Super Piano Player!
5. Catching the camp alpacas so they could be shorn was a group effort! (Shortly after this, the alpacas went to a new home.)
6. After-School Program -- the teachers made a new batch of play-dough, and the kids enjoyed playing with it for craft-time one afternoon.
7. Our "Places We've Lived" wall -- we still need to get our hands on a Japan license plate!
8. Elizabeth and her Uncle Josh, keeping warm by the campfire

Catching Up: August

We kicked off August by taking a two-night camping trip with the Marcum family to a lovely national forest about an hour south of Quito called Pasachoa. The kids enjoyed sleeping in their very own "kids tent," going on hikes, roasting marshmallows and making s'mores around the campfire, climbing trees, and building a little raft that they put in the creek near our campsite and then followed as it floated downstream.

A hike through the forest

Mmmmm, s'mores!

To roast the marshmallows, we used these awesome skewers that we purchased from the Bormans, a family in our homeschool group.

The view from near our campsite

Showing off the raft they made (with help from Josh).

Alex found lots of fun trees to climb!

We also took a trip to the zoo with the Marcums and the Brewingtons. That was a fun day, and it was our family's first time to visit the Quito Zoo, and our first zoo visit since we lived in Lisbon! The Quito Zoo is certainly not as big or as nice as the Lisbon Zoo, but it is home to several animals unique to this part of the world, like...

Galapagos turtles!

And Andean bears (also called masked bears because of the markings around their eyes).

The kids enjoyed the petting zoo...

And posing on various animal statues. Here are Michaela and Alex with the saber-tooth tiger.

Group picture in front of the entrance to the zoo.

Benjamin turned two at the end of August. We took the whole family to a free outdoor dinosaur and prehistoric animal exhibit at the Carolina Park, then followed that with lunch at Burger King and lots of time to play in the play place. That evening, we celebrated at home with strawberry shortcake in the birthday boy's honor!

I can't believe he's two!

I finished out the homeschool year with Alex at the very end of August. So, just about the time other kids were gearing up to go back to school, he was finally getting his "summer vacation!" I let him have the month of September off so I could plan and get organized for the next year, and we started back up in October. I will do a post later reviewing the curriculum we used and what I will do differently the next time around.

School around the dining room table. I wish I could say we looked like this all the time, but in all honesty, scenes like this are pretty rare!

Also in August, we started working with a group of Christians who wanted to start a new church in Pisulí, one of the poorer neighborhoods in north Quito. We began by meeting in one another's homes for Sunday worship and Bible study, followed by a meal. Over the course of several months, we were able to coach the church-planting team and equip them with tools to help them as they launched this new work. It was such a privilege to watch them come together as a team, articulate their dreams and visions for the work, pray over their dreams, and then work to make them a reality.

First Sunday with the church-planting team. We met in our home for worship and lunch. The Brewington family, who were still in Ecuador following the July medical campaign, were our special guests, and Jason gave the message.

About the same time that we began officially working with the Pisulí team, we became aware of another ministry opportunity. The Reeger family, who had been the administrators at Camp Bellevue in Tabacundo (about an hour north of Quito) for the past seven years, were taking on the administration of the Hacienda of Hope, a children's home on the property adjacent to the camp, and they encouraged us to submit our names for consideration as their replacements. We had known they were leaving and that the Bellevue Church of Christ in WA, which overseas the camp, was looking for a new couple, but had decided against applying for the position, believing the timing was not quite right for our family. However, following several conversations with the Reegers, and in light of some of the difficulties and frustrations that Rusty especially was experiencing with the Kumanii ministry, we decided to prayerfully proceed and see what would happen. The month of August was spent in conversation with both Hillsboro (our sponsoring church) and Bellevue. Bellevue decided they wanted to fly our family up to WA in September for an interview. We worked up a formal proposal for Hillsboro and tentatively approached several of our other major sponsors to inform them of a possible shift in our ministry focus. The response from everyone was supportive and positive, so we decided that if Hillsboro gave us the green light and Bellevue offered us the position, we would move forward.

Top Ten: Our Summer So Far

We've been having a fun summer around here. Besides trying to beat the heat (thankfully, there have not been many hot and humid days -- nothing like the heat wave of last summer), and waiting for Baby Three-peat to make his grand entrance, here's some of what we've been up to:

Alex had his end-of-the-school-year party at the beginning of July. He's still going to school every day, at least until the end of the month, but basically, it is just play-time and social time now -- no formal instruction going on.

Alex with Stephen and one of his favorite school friends.

 We went to the Snail Festival in Loures. Stephen chowed down on the snail curry, and Rusty decided he wanted to try the large, grilled snails that come with a garlic butter dipping sauce. Alex was less than impressed and said he liked the smaller snails better. I would have to agree. The larger the snail, the harder it is to ignore what you're actually putting in your mouth!

We took a family camping trip at the end of July. With the new baby coming, it was our last time to travel as a family for awhile. We went to Ericeira on the coast. The boys had a ball, of course, but Rusty and I were joking on the way home how it was probably one of our worst camping trips ever. It was too windy for a campfire, so that meant no s'mores, which was a bummer. Our little campstove (a recent purchase) didn't work as well as we were hoping it would and took forever to cook our food. We didn't have any of our sleeping pads here in Portugal, so that meant just sleeping bags on the ground, which was not the most comfortable thing. Thank goodness our teacher loaned us her little camp cot, which I laid claim to as the 8-months pregnant mama. It saved my back and probably my sanity as well! I still had to get up 15 times a night to traipse down to the bathroom to pee, though. I don't know what I was thinking when I agreed to a camping trip in my third trimester. At least it didn't rain.

After our first night of camping, we packed a picnic lunch and took the boys to the craft village in Sobreiro. Read more about the village in this post (scroll to the very end). They enjoyed exploring all its nooks and crannies and playing on the playground.

 

After our second night of camping, we drove back to Lisbon along the coast. We saw some amazing views, like this one at Azenhas do Mar:

Note the ocean-water swimming pool at the base of the cliff.

And we found a beautiful beach where we spent most of the afternoon digging in the sand and playing in the waves:

We also visited Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in all of Europe, and took the obligatory picture there. That was about all we did -- despite the blue sky and sunshine in the picture, it was very cold with the wind whipping around the cape:

Earlier this summer, Alex learned to ride his bike without training wheels! He is very proud of his new talent and eager to practice every chance he gets. The other night, we took the kids to the city park where there is a large plaza and some nice walking trails. Alex rode his bike, and Stephen rode his little train.

About 20 minutes after I snapped this pic, Alex managed to ride his bike into the canal / fountain around the edge of the plaza!

Stephen sporting his new buzz haircut!

Partnership Tour: Colorado Springs to Portland

The Partnership Tour continues... a week ago Tuesday, we left Colorado Springs, headed for Rocky Mountain National Park. We camped there for two nights with our team, enjoying great food and conversation amidst the beauty of God's creation. We took a hike one day through the mountains up to Lake Haiyaha and enjoyed a picnic lunch on the boulders at the water's edge. I will put some pictures up soon.

On Thursday, we said our goodbyes and began the drive westward over the Rockies. We spent Thursday night in Glenwood Springs, CO with my former college roomie, Amy, and her family. It was so great to see them again, and Alex really enjoyed playing with their two girls.

On Friday, we drove as far as Salt Lake City, UT, where we stayed the night in a motel. Then, on Saturday, we drove to La Grande, OR. We stayed with a lovely older couple, who, we found out after we arrived at their house, were none other than the grandparents of our friend and former fellow AET, Shawn Phelps! It's such a small world, especially in the Church of Christ in the Northwest!

Rusty presented about Angola and also preached at the church in La Grande on Sunday. On Monday, we drove to Central Oregon and visited some of Rusty's friends and family there. And yesterday, we drove over the mountains and into Portland. We will be here in Portland for about two weeks, visiting friends and family and talking about Angola with various area churches. Please continue to pray for us. So far, we have all been healthy, but we are beginning to feel a little worn down. All the moving around and the long days in the car have been especially hard on Alex. It will be nice to be in one place for awhile.

My First Camping Trip

So, you know this thing they call "camping?" It rocks!!! I had so much fun on our recent camping trip in eastern Arkansas. I went with Robert and Teague, Danny and Katie, and Nathan. And Jordan came for part of the day on Saturday. Oh, yeah, not to forget my parents -- they came too.

I thought sleeping in the tent was cool. Even though it got really cold at night, I was nice and toasty because I got to sleep right between Mommy and Daddy. I liked watching the campfire, and I made sure that everyone knew it was very "hot." That's one of my new words -- have I mentioned that I am talking a lot more now? I learn new words every day.

During the day, I enjoyed playing with my big green ball and making friends with the kids in the campsite next to ours. We went for a walk down to the lake, and I got to wade in the water -- it was so cold! Then my big green ball got away from me and started floating out to sea, so my Daddy ('cause he loves me so much, I guess) went for a swim and got it back for me.

We also went for a hike up this rocky mound called Sugarloaf. I rode in the baby backpack all the way up to the top and back down again. Coming down was a little scary, and I cried, but once we got to the bottom, I was okay.

Oh, and the best part of the whole camping experience? Toasted marshmallows and s'mores! Boy, were they ever good! I had several marshmallows, and then I fell asleep on Mommy's lap while everyone sang songs around the campfire.

I hope we go camping again soon!

Playing ball

Enjoying the autumn leaves

Alex and Danny

In the hammock -- love what that static electricity is doing to his hair!

The marshmallow was yummy, but I didn't like the way it stuck to my fingers!