100 days of school

Friday the 15th was the 100th day of school at Nate Saint. The 1st and 2nd classes had a day long centenial celebration. As part of day, each student built or made an object with 100 items. There were buildings made out of 100 straws and 100 popsicle sticks, 100 lego vehicles, and 100 small paper hearts glued onto a big paper heart. Shea set up a tower of 100 paper cups at school (see picture) and Micah made a paper chain with 100 links. Micah's highlight of the first 100 days was the class reading 100 books together. Shea's highlight was the Christmas musical (Meet Me at the Manger) that the school did in December and the hike to Hola Vida waterfall this month.


Jodie's class was a little more low key in recognizing 100 days. It was hard for Jodie to pin down one highlight The 3rd and 4th graders have been busy in February as their "travels" across the U.S. have had them in the Southeast. They've read Mildred Taylor's Mississippi Bridge, listened to music from the region, studied and discussed slavery and racism, and had a special visit from kindergarten teacher Mrs. Blackburn to talk about her home state of Alabama*. This week the class heads up to the Midwest. They'll start writing some tall tales this week.

Jodie celebrated her birthday on the 13th. Some of the missionary ladies had a special party for her with lots of flowers, then she got a lot of love from her students and their parents at school with more flowers and cake at school. We celebrated at home with a cake. Then this past week the two of us went out on a date to El Jardin in Puyo while Beth Patton (Jod's fellow teacher) watched the kids. That was a special treat!!


My parents were here for a week and left on Tuesday the 12th. Dad got to speak at Chapel at Nate Saint and shared about being leaders. The kids even got to play follow the leader. The week went by too fast with them.


Jadyn, Luke, and I attended our first Ecuadorian birthday party last week, also. Our friend Jhonatan (son of Isaac & Aide) turned two. There were about a dozen kids and a few parents at the party and we had fun (well Luke didn't have so much fun) playing games and singing. Then we had some very yummy cake and jello punch and Luke really enjoyed that. It was a lot of fun to celebrate with Jhonatan and the rest of his family!

*Speaking of Southern states, our cat Georgia (as well as Princeton) will never give us kitty grand-babies. They had surgery at the vet's and are now recovering nicely. They've also moved out of the house to their new "home" on the back porch.

water fights and waterfall

The kids at Nate Saint school are working hard! But between all the math problems, spelling lists, reading contracts, and science lessons there's still time for some fun. There were a couple special days in the last 2 weeks for Jodie's and Shea & Micah's classes. The first was a special carnival celebration. Carnival is the South American equivalent of Mardi Gras. And water balloons are to Shell what beads are to New Orleans and fasnachts are to Lancaster County. On Friday the 1st, the whole school had a half day and the last two hours were spent on water games. I "substituted" for Jodie and was one of the faculty team captains. Everyone had a lot of fun and got pretty wet. We also said goodbye that day to Miss Halcyon who taught phys ed classes for the month of January. She had to return to her college in South Dakota.

Shea enjoyed this opportunity to dump a pitcher of water over my head


Luke and his friend Katie also wanted to get in on the water action


after the games ended, we just had a great big water fight



This past Thursday the 1st/2nd grade and 3rd/4th grade classes went on a field trip to a bird zoo in Puyo and Hola Vida waterfall (see our earlier blog about our family's trip there). Unfortunately, Jodie was a little under the weather so I got to be her substitute again (fotunately for me, though). There were 13 kids and 7 adults* that hiked out to the waterfall and back. The weather was great and we all seemed to have a lot of fun (except for the one really muddy spot). Many of the kids even braved the really cold water for a quick swim.

Grandpa, Shea, & Micah check out the ostrich


did I mention that it was muddy?


the kids in front of the waterfall



*two of those adults were my mom and dad who are down here visiting for a week. We've had a lot of fun reading, wrestling, playing soccer/basketball/chess, and talking with Mom/Grandma & Dad/Grandpa. Unfortunately, we have to say goodbye on Tuesday morning.

a whole lotta pictures

Here are some pictures that I promised in the last blog. I've categorized them w/ the number from the previous post.


9.
Micah greeting Grandma & Grandpa at the airport in Quito



Eating pizza on the floor- Christmas Eve


7.
Praying with Dewey in Tiwaeno



I joined in on the traditional dancing line in Tiwaeno




6.
Setting the "old man" on fire on New Years Eve



5.
Jodie, Shea, Micah, & Jadyn at the Palon de Diablo waterfall

The tarabita ride high above the Pastaza River



4.
The 10 of us in either the Northern or Southern Hemisphere(and Luke in both)



Jodie and Jadyn high above Quito after riding up on the telefariqo


3.
Jadyn, Abby & Alex Derrico, walk across the footbridge into Shell


Luke gets a good view of the snake Micah's holding at Fatima "Zoo"



2.
Shea setting up his derby car on the track


Micah awaiting his derby car at the end of the track

a lot of catching up to do

Well I'm back from my 6 week blogging hiatus (no, I wasn't serving a performance enhancing drug suspension or showing solidarity with the striking tv writers- I just haven't gotten "around to it" until now).

Here's a quick Top 10 list of highlights of the past 6 weeks in a roughly chronological order.

10. We took the cats to the veterinarian the first week of Christmas vacation. Based on the vet's examination, Princess and George have had their names changed to Princeton and Georgia*. They're both growing big (Princeton more so) and keeping our house lively. Just this weekend, Georgia displayed her new skill of scaling the screen in the dining room window.

9. Jodie, Shea, & Micah traveled to Quito to meet Jod's mom & dad at the airport and they all returned to our house on Christmas Eve. It was so great to have our family here for Christmas. It was rainy and cool on Christmas morning which made it feel a little bit more wintry- but just a little bit.

8.5 (I just remembered I didn't put this in). I got to go with an MAF radio tech (Rob) and pilot (Steve) to the village of Bufeo to help install a radio. It was a neat experience to work together with Rob, Steve, and the people of the village to help take down their old radio pole, install the new one, and get everything hooked up and working. MAF is providing and/or upgrading radios to dozens of villages in the Oriente region of Ecuador. These radios allow for efficient communication in the event of medical emergencies or other important contacts.

8. I traveled to Quito to meet my sisters at the airport and we all returned to Shell on December 29. We were so lucky to have 4 family members all here at the same time. My sisters showed off their basketball skills in our weekly pickup game and had Jadyn over for a "girls only makeup party sleepover".

7. On New Years Eve, the ten of us hopped into two MAF airplanes for a trip to the Waorani village of Tiwaeno. This village often hosts visitors and provided us with a look at some of the traditions and customs of this people. It was a fun visit complete with traditional dancing and having our faces painted (not counting the mud painting Luke got on his face when he fell). A highlight of the trip happened as soon as we got off the plane. An older man named Dewey (sp?) came over and prayed with us in Waorani. Dewey was one of the men who were part of the group that killed the 5 missionaries in 1956. What a beautiful image of reconciliation, redemption, and grace

6. The New Years Eve tradition in Ecuador is to burn an "old man". People stuff and dress up these mannequin/scarecrow type men and often will make them look like a politician or celebrity. Then they set them on fire at midnight. Our neighborhood had a New Years Eve party with games, devotions, and the burning of the old man. We did ours a little early so some of us could head into town at midnight to see the local festivities in Shell. That was a fun experience complete with fireworks.

5. Later that week we (the 10 of us plus Ron- our chauffeur/tour guide/travel agent extraordinaire) traveled to Banos and got to do a number of cool things. We hiked down to a waterfall, rode a cable car (tarabita) across (and high above) the river- well not everyone chose to do this one, went to the zoo, and saw the Tungurahua volcano. This volcano has gotten some international press for its increased activity recently but it's not considered imminently dangerous.

4. On Friday the 4th all 10 of us (and Ron) headed back up to Quito. This was our first extended stay in Quito and we did lots of fun things. We went to an Equator monument and got to see some cool experiments (like water draining straight down the sink without swirling), rode the telefarico high above Quito, shopped and ... (drum roll please) ... ate at McDonalds. Our first trip to the golden arches in over 5 months. Sadly though, we had to say goodbye as Dee, Beth, Mom, and Dad all had to return home.

3.5 (another something I forgot) School started again on the 7th. Jodie's class has a new 4th grade student-David. David and his family returned to Shell this month after being home in Minnesota for furlough. It's been fun for the kids to welcome David back to their class.

3. Our friends Jack and Anne Derrico, and Abby, Alex, and Rosie, came to visit us from January 14-21. We had a great time with them here. Not only did Jack help me with my Spanish a lot, but we got to do a lot of fun things and just hang out. Some of our highlights with the Derricos were going on a different tarabita ride across the river, visiting Fatima zoo again (see pics from October), and eating out a few times. The Derricos also went to Tiwaeno (without us) and Anne even saw a patient or two at the hospital.

2. Friday the 18th was the Pinewood Derby at school. It was a lot of fun to see the creativity and craftsmanship of the students (and parents). Among the contestant cars were a hot dog, ice cream sandwich, 2 Lightning McQueens and a Mader, block of Swiss Cheese, toothbrush, and lots of other really cool-looking cars. Shea and Micah worked on their cars with Grandpa and Grandma when they were down and had a lot of fun at the Derby. One of Jodie's students, Tim Edwards was the champion.

1. The school year's half over. This past Friday was the last day of the 2nd quarter. It was a sad day for Jodie's class as they said goodbye to Lydia who's returning to the U.S. with her family for furlough. She'll (and the rest of her family: Dan-MAF's program director- and Tracey Whitehead & brothers) be missed, but we're excited the Whiteheads will be back in Shell in August. And so will our family. We've decided to stay here in Shell for next school year. Despite the cultural and domestic adjustments we've had to make (and there have been some "fun" days), we've really enjoyed our first 5 months here and are excited about returning to Nate Saint School and Shell. We'll be coming home for about 2 months this summer from June through August and then heading back down here to Shell. Thanks so much to all of you who have prayed for us, written to us, called us, and financially supported us!!!!!!! It's been exciting to see what God's been doing to us and through us during our time here.

For those of you wondering "where are some pictures?" They're coming and it won't be six more weeks, I promise.

*For those of you wondering "have the Princeton Tigers and Georgia Bulldogs ever met on the football field?" The answer is no. But the mens' basketball teams had one meeting in December 1988 that Georgia won 58-54. Now you'll be able to sleep easier tonight knowing that. You're welcome.

2, 4, 6, 8

For the next 4 months and 7 days, our kid's ages will be 2, 4, 6, and 8.




Shea's 8th birthday is today. We had a sleepover party last night/this morning with 3 of his friends (Jacob, Peter, and Robby). They played games, made gingerbread houses, ate spaghetti & birthday cake, watched "Everyone's Hero" (thanks Aunt B!), and stayed up way too late talking and giggling on the living room floor. Then they got up for pancakes this morning. It's pretty humbling to be Dad to such a great young man! Jod and I are honored to be his parents.
Some other highlights from our last couple of weeks.
- We've started Christmas Vacation! Friday was the last day of school until January 7. Jodie and the boys are excited to have a break, and Jadyn, Luke, and I are excited to have Mom, Shea, and Micah around all day. Nate Saint School had their Christmas musical, "Meet Me at the Manger", on Thursday night. Shea and Micah (and everyone else) did a great job. Shea had a small solo and Micah a brief speaking part.
- Visitors are coming soon! Jod's Mom and Dad arrive next weekend and my sisters come a few days after Christmas. Then our friends, the Derricos, are coming to visit in January, and my Mom and Dad in February. We're so excited to see everyone and show them all the sights and sounds of our new home and community;-).
- We've had fun learning some Spanish Christmas Carols. Currently, I can't get "Navidad, Navidad, Hoy es Navidad" (to the tune of "Jingle Bells") & "O Santisimo, Felicicimo" (sp?) out of my head.
- Friday night was our MAF/Alas de Socorro Christmas Dinner. We ate at a nice restaurant in Puyo and I coordinated some group games. Meanwhile, the kids were home with the babysitters- 2 middle school aged brothers. It seemed like everything went well, nothing was broken at least (that's often not the case when Dad's home alone with the kids).
-I've been playing basketball in a league in Puyo. We're in the championship tournament (a 4 team, 3 game round robin) now and are 2-0 after winning our second game last night. The league is the most competitive atmosphere I've played in since high school. We have uniforms (shorts too), specatators pay admission, and there's often a fan with an air horn(last week there was a base drum, too). I'm doing alright communicating with the other guys on the team (there's 2 other Americans on our team which helps- although one week I was the only gringo in the gym). Last night one of the guys was talking and I asked Steve what he was saying. Steve couldn't tell since he was talking fast and has a coastal accent. So Henry had to translate for Steve who then translated to me.

Feliz Navidad!

November Recap

We've been busy in the last month since I last posted- here's a quick recap of some of our November highlights.

* Hola Vida is the name of a great waterfall we went to a few Sundays ago. It took about 20 minutes on the main road, 20 minutes on a dirt road, and then a 30 minute hike through the jungle to get to the waterfall. We went with some other MAFers here as well as a group from California that was here as a work team for MAF. What a beautiful day exploring our Creator's handiwork and enjoying a VERY COLD dip in the water.



* The 1st and 2nd grade (Shea and Micah's) and 3rd and 4th grade (Jodie's kids) classes combined on a Thanksgiving program and feast last Wednesday. We heard the story of the Pilgrims and the 1st thanksgiving. The 3rd and 4th graders did the narration and the 1st and 2nd graders were the actors (Shea had the role of Governor Bradford). Afterward we had a potluck traditional US Thanksgiving feast with turkey, mashed potatoes, and all sorts of other good comfort food.



* The next day (Thanksgiving Day) the MAF and ADSE (Alas de Socorro de Ecuador- Ecuadorian missionaries serving with Alas de Socorro) families left for our annual Thanksgiving weekend family retreat. What a fun weekend! The retreat was held at a resort near a town called Salcedo in the Andes. Due the mountain elevation, it was much cooler. It was a nice treat to feel cold and wear a sweatshirt. The view from our back window was pretty amazing- as is usually the case, the picture below doesn't quite capture it. We had a team come in from the U.S. to lead us in worship, teaching, and also to provide childcare for all the kids. We all had a good time relaxing, swimming, playing touch football, and hiking. Here's also a picture of our MAF-Ecuador team.



* Yesterday, was the annual Shell Day parade. All of the local schools, as well as some other groups, participate with dancing and costumes. Nate Saint School went with the Western look and danced to "Cotton Eyed Joe". Shea was a great dancer, Micah had fun "playing" guitar on the truck, and Jod did a wonderful job tossing out candy. Jads, Luke, and I enjoyed watching all the groups in the parade.





* Miscellaneous notes
- George and Princess (our kittens) are continuing to grow. They're both very active climbing, wrestling with each other, and playing with the kids.
- We put our Christmas tree up last Sunday. It's a real one and the kids had a lot of fun decorating. Micah, especially, did a great job with getting the lights on.


- The "Jungle Grizzlies", my fantasy football team in the NFL Ecuador league, are 10-2 heading into this weekend- thanks Tony Romo & TJ Houshmanzadeh.

The quarter pole

Today is our three month (quarter of a year) anniversary here in Shell and the first quarter at Nate Saint school just ended on Friday. Time to get nostalgic... well maybe I'll just give an update on things here lately.
- the biggest news in our home the last few weeks are our two new family members- George and Princess. These 2 kittens were left in a box by the hangar trash can and we adopted them into our home almost 3 weeks ago. They're very cute and it's fun watching them grow. It's not so much fun trying to protect them at times from Luke's "ignorant enthusiasm".
- Jodie's class is taking a cross country trip across the U.S.A. Well, not literally. But they recently began a social studies simulated trip in Washington D.C. and have "traveled" to Pittsburgh and Lancaster, PA. They'll "visit" Philadephia this week before heading to New York City and then Plymouth, MA for Thanksgiving. (if anyone is interested in sending a post card to the class from your neck of the woods in the U.S., let us know and we'll give you the address)
-November brings a lot of visitors to MAF here in Shell. We have 3 guys from the Nampa, ID corporate offices coming down this month as well as a work team from California. Then we all go away Thanksgiving weekend for our MAF family retreat. We're going to a conference center between Ambato and Quito and a team is coming down from Arkansas to share with our families that weekend.
-The kids continue to make things lively around here. Shea has begun to make scrambled eggs independently (he'll be the omlette chef at the Willow Valley Palm Court brunch next summer). Micah wrote and illustrated three "books" in the last week. Jadyn enjoys singing- worship songs, bible songs she's learned at preschool and even songs she's made up herself . Luke has added "hasta luego" to his Spanish vocabulary. The other night at dinner the following "random, unrelated thoughts" were uttered in quick succession.
Micah: "Sometimes I throw up"
Shea: "I hate Ice Age 2"
Jadyn: "Grandma calls my white shirts 'blouses'"
-A November traditon for our family the last few years has been making a thankful chain. Throughout the month we all think of things we're thankful for, write them on a strip of paper, and make a chain (sort of like a Thanksgiving advent). When we stop to think and document all that God's provided us with: Wow we've a lot to be thankful for.