Home Sweet Home!

P9070276, originally uploaded by A Family On A Mission.

We have officially been in our new place for a month now and are definitely glad to have a place to call our own. You can see Ceara, Travis and Calen standing outside our living room window, above is Ceara's bedroom, as you can tell with the barbie curtains. Our place is in a closed condo with three houses and four apartments. We have three floors in our place the first floor is the laundry room, kitchen, living and dining space and a guest bathroom. The second floor is three bedrooms and two bathrooms and the top floor is an open space and a bathroom that we have made into the kids play space. It's been great having a separate place for the kids to go play and not have to worry about cleaning up every night or when company might come over.
Besides the play room the kids have lots of space outside to run around as you can see in the picture the large driveway that they can play in. The great thing is that there is a locked gate so they can't just leave the condo area and that there is very little car traffic so they can still play in the road without worry.
We have a couple that lives in the last house of the condo with a grand daughter Calen's age and she comes over to play all the time or the kids go over there too. As well there is another house that has their parking space in the condo but technically is not a part of the condo. They also have a boy around Ceara's age and he often comes over to play too. So it's been a great move for our kids being able to play a lot with the Ecuadorian kids.
We finally have all the things we need for our house like the fridge, stove and washer, dryer. They finally were hooked up so we are glad to be able to finally cook and wash our own clothes. Our couch arrived the same day as our dining room table which ended up as a surprise as they had said it wouldn't be ready till this week. And Travis and I finally got our bed frame so now we don't have to sleep on the floor. Which since I am getting up at 6am every morning to get the kids ready for school, it has been a little hard waking up since I am still a night owl, but now it's not so hard to wake up in the morning knowing I don't have to crawl up off the floor, haha. The only thing that we have to get still are the kids bed frames. I had originally made a design for their beds, a princess bed and a race car bed. We were going to get one of the church members who is a carpenter to make the beds as we knew he was in need of the work, however, they have recently moved back to his home town so we are stuck with just the designs. So now we either have to find someone else to make them or we go with a second option and buy them already built beds. It may just be easier now to buy them already built beds even though it would have been fun to make custom beds here.
Last Friday we hosted our first group of people over to our place in honor of Travis' birthday! We invited all of our team and then the families that we have been studying the Bible with. As well, Bolo's daughter Valeria is going out with Mateo and his birthday was the same day as Travis' so we had his family over too. It was great to be able to host something at our place and know that it won't be the last time. All the kids had a blast playing upstairs, it's a pretty big room but the whole floor when they were done was covered in toys. But at least they enjoyed it and they kept busy which was nice as all the adults were able to chat without having to worry about the kids.
We barbecued chicken wings and added a few new flavors that the Ecuadorians loved. I made Greek and potato salad which went over well then then to top it all off a carrot cake and cream cheese icing. That went over so well that I will now be translating the recipe to give to everyone that was there. It is funny what things we make that end up being favorites for the locals of the countries we go to. It was great having everyone over and we hope to do a few more things like that here, where people see God through the way that we live and give to others.
Another thing that we enjoy is the neighborhood that we live in. Just a block from where we live is a great park for the kids, it's one that's a little off of the main beat so the playground itself is in better condition then others. As well there is another park just two blocks away that have a few different play ground equipment's. We are also near a little store so if we find we are out of something we don't have to go far to go get it. As well, there is a great bread store near us, a hardware store and a soccer field that the kids could join. So just in this little area you can find everything you need in a 5 or 10 minute walk. It's definitely been a great move for us and we know that God is already making way for us as we continue to meet new people and make more connections here. It is so nice to have a home sweet home! Please continue to pray for us and the people that we will meet just because of where we have moved.

School Begins!

Ceara in her sports uniform!

Calen on his first day of school.

 This past week Ceara and Calen have been experiencing school for the first time in Ecuador. Ceara is in primeria basica, which is the equivalent to kindergarten in Canada. Last year she went to her first preschool class for three days a week between 9am and 12pm. This time her schedule is much different. I wake up at 6am to get her breakfast ready and then wake her up by 6:15 where she gets dressed, eats breakfast and then we head out the door to wait for her bus which comes at 6:45am every morning. She gets to school around 7:30 ish once the bus has picked up all the other kids. They have a little snack break at 10:45am and then she is done school at 12:45pm where she heads back on the bus and doesn't get home until 1:20pm. She is really enjoying her school, everyone of course speaks Spanish so she is having to learn a lot quickly. There is one exception of another girl who has recently moved to Cuenca who also speaks only English so the two of them are pretty good friends and I am sure that they are trying to learn Spanish together. But at least they aren't alone in the process. There are about 15 kids in her class so she has more chance to have one on one time with the teacher. We hear Ceara everyday speaking a little bit more Spanish. Even though she wakes up a little grumpy she always comes home with a huge smile on her face and tells us all about her day. I know she loves school.

Ceara just about to get on her bus.

Calen in his new school.

Calen in his school uniform.

 Calen also is going to school but he is in preschool. It is his first time to go to school and be away from me for a long period of time. He has always said since Ceara started school that he needed to go to but it's a little different then he realized. Calen's school is only a two minute walk from our house, one block away. We really enjoyed finding this school because it was close and because the classes are only with six kids in a class with a teacher. It's exactly what Calen needs, some friends but also some more one on one time with the teacher to learn Spanish. His teachers say he's pretty quiet in school and doesn't talk much but I know he is absorbing it all and once he feels more comfortable going every day then he will start to come out of his shell. We hear him talking more in Spanish every day so we know he is learning what he needs to. He starts school at 9am and is done at 12pm but can stay there till 1pm if we'd like. Everyday it is the same thing, "I don't want to go to school" but at the end of his time he's happy and excited that he went. He never has cried when we leave him but I think it's more that he'd like to play and enjoy a little more of his morning before he goes to school. It's been a bit of an adjustment for us to be up earlier in the day but it's been really great to see the kids grow and be excited about school. And it does give me more time during the day to do the things I need to do such as writing this blog, haha. It's hard to believe that those little kids we had in Brazil are now old enough to be in school here in Ecuador, where has the time gone? Please keep our kids in your prayers as they continue to go to school and learn more about this culture and it's language.

Calen is Three!

P8270454, originally uploaded by A Family On A Mission.

August 27th was Calen's Birthday! He turned three this year and it's so crazy. The time has flown by so quickly. I can't believe that he is already three, though most of the time he seems older. In fact he's so much taller then a three year old that most people ask us if he's four.
We decided at the last minute to have a little celebration. We decided to host the party at CEDI and we enjoyed having about 30 people come to celebrate his day. Calen was so excited that he couldn't even wait to open his presents till the end, so we ended up opening them up half way between before he ended up having a meltdown. He got lots of cars for his birthday. In fact for the whole month before his birthday he kept asking for a fire truck and a 'lofty', for those who have ever watched 'Bob the Builder' you know what we mean. So he was pretty happy when we got one of each of those. We also got a bunch of pizzas and ordered the giant size, however, it really was giant! But the great thing was we were able to give a bunch of left over people to our guest to take home, so they were all pretty happy.
Travis even got to teach the Ecuadorians how to play baseball. Overall, it was a great party and even though Calen is more introverted, he enjoyed his party!
It's hard to believe that Calen is three, I am so excited for the new things that he will learn and the ways that he is going to grow. He's a pretty quiet guy but once he gets talking, it's hard to get him to stop. He has lots of stories to tell and he's our funny man. He also is strong and can push his older sister around any time he wants. He loves cars and spiderman and playing any kind of sports. He's such a special guy! Happy Third Birthday Calen!

A Place to Call Home!

P8030340, originally uploaded by A Family On A Mission.

We have been searching since we arrived in Cuenca for a place to call our own. We have been living in a temporary furnished apartment which has been great. It is located on a very main street, across from one of the three rivers in the city and a big enough space for the kids to play and not feel too claustrophobic. It's also near a lot of things like a park, great stores, the mall, good restaurants and in walking distance from many things, including Bolo and Jenny's place.
So we have had an idea of where we want to live and have scoured the streets looking for houses for rent. Renting in Cuenca is not at all like Canada. Usually we think about looking in the classifieds or word of mouth from friends or family. Here finding a place to rent is either by word of mouth or by walking along the streets looking for a sign in the house window. There are a few classified ads but not many and very few have been anywhere near the area that we would like to live.
Even a realtor in Cuenca is not common to be able to find a place to rent. Most realtors sell houses and that is all, very few even bother to find places to rent to people. And it has only been in the past few years that realtors have even begun to sell property.
Fortunately on one of our walks, Travis happened upon a realtor company that was called New Life. He wondered if this was just the name as I suppose when you buy a house, you sort of starting a new life. But he happened to come upon four men having a bible study and asked them if they would be willing to help us find a place to live. We wonder if this was a coincidence at all or that God was bringing us to Christian people who would find us a good place to live for a decent price.
So with the help of these realtors, Bolo and Jenny and a few other people, we continued to look. Many places once they found out that we were foreigners wanted to charge us more for rent so we didn't look at a lot of places that we ended up calling. In fact we had so few options we wondered at all if we would find a place anytime soon.
During one of our days with Bolo and Jenny, we headed home walking the streets again and found a little house not far from our apartment for rent. We had Bolo and Jenny call and book a time to see it. I went with Jenny one day to look and was glad to see that it was a little small but maybe something that we could start out in. Unfortunately, once they realized who we were the price went up again and Jenny told us that we could find something better. By that time though we were going into another month at our temporary apartment and my hopes were not high on finding a house. After all we had only seen one house for rent during this whole time.
On August 8th we got a phone call from one of the realtors we had talked to before saying that he had a place that we could see. So we decided to check it out. They had told us approximately where it was located so we went walking all along that area that morning to see if we could find it. We had to wait till the afternoon to be able to actually go to the house. But during our walk we found a new park that is great for the kids so even though we couldn't really see where the house might have been we hoped it was near the park so that we'd have a place to take the kids.
That afternoon we met the realtors and the wife of the owner of the house and took a little tour. It is a three floor house with three bedrooms and four bathrooms. It is located in a gated condo which was great as the kids would be able to play outside without us worrying about cars and strangers. There are two other houses in the condo and four apartments. The top floor is a large open area which is probably what sold us the most besides the closed condo. Though the bottom floor where we would entertain is smaller then we hoped for, the top floor makes up for it.
We thanked the realtor and the wife and decided to think it over for the rest of the day. But after thinking it over we decided that it was great in many ways. One way is that is really is less then a block to that new park we found, it's right in the area we wanted, it's a quiet neighborhood, there is opportunity to meet our neighbors and it's got lots of space for the kids to play. So we called up the guys to say we wanted the place and on August 10th we signed the contract for our new place.
We are excited to be moving to this new place but for now we are still stuck in the temporary apartment, well at least until Saturday. We still have to furnish our place and buy the stove and fridge as those do not come with rentals, unlike Canada. However that has been taking us time to do that as you can always get a much better deal if you pay with cash rather then with cheque or credit card. So we are just waiting on a money transfer from Canada to our bank account here in Cuenca so that we can finally move into our place. Thanks to Carol for helping us get the transfer going, hopefully by the middle of the week we can start buying things like beds, washer,dryer, stove, fridge, table and couch, just to name a few essential things. But we praise God for a new home to be able to start making Cuenca our home away from home.
And by the way, the house in the picture is not our new place, you can see the pictures of our place on our flickr. Thanks for all your prayers on finding a house and please be in prayer that our transfer of funds goes through too.

Bible Studies and Visiting

One of the things that we are supposed to do in the first year here is to get to know the culture, language and not do too many things right away as we try to adjust to being here in Ecuador. Though these things are important we have realized pretty quickly that our adjustment time is not going to take as long as we thought it would. With Travis already knowing Spanish, speaking fluently (with  a few Portuguese words thrown in) and I already having a head start and being able to communicate decently for right now, we realize that we aren’t going to have to spend a lot of time on the language.

So one of the things that we are doing, that we usually wouldn’t do for awhile are some bible studies. We are meeting with two families right now and maybe soon a third. Jorge, Karina and their almost one year old daughter, Maria-Emilia have been going to church here for awhile and we are meeting with them on Tuesday nights along with members of both sides of their family. And last week a friend named Javier who is really open to hearing the Gospel joined the group.

On Wednesday nights we are meeting with Ivan, Betty and their daughter Angelica, and their sons, Christian and Jonathan. They actually live about three blocks away from our new house and their daughter is just about three years older than Ceara but they are already good friends. Ivan goes to the same gym as Travis and I am joining Betty at the park at nights doing Dance therapy. We hope that these things that we have in common with them will allow them to see God more clearly in their lives and how much He wants a relationship with them.

Another thing that we have done is join with Bolo and Jenny and hosted a meal after church on Sunday to visit with some members better. We invited Nelson and his wife the first meal we did. Nelson is a carpenter and at this time of year he has not had a lot of work so they have been struggling a bit with things. They have four kids and are originally from Esmeralda which is on the coast. We are thinking of hiring Nelson to make a few pieces of furniture for our place since he is really good at it. We have seen some of his work in Bolo and Jenny’s house. 

We hope to continue to have Bible studies and visit with more of the church members in the months and years to come. We are glad that this time around we can already be at work only one month into being in the country. We know that God has already been working on the lives of people here and we pray that He can continue to use us even now to make a difference in the lives of the people. Please be in prayer for these bible studies and the ones to come. 

Small Familiar Things

As we have been here awhile now, there have been times when we think to ourselves, “Oh wouldn’t it be nice if we could eat this, or get that or see this?”  But the longer we are here the more things that we end up seeing that are familiar to us in one way or another. One of the more major grocery stores in the city is called Supermaxi, this store we have found does offer some of the things that we are used to back home. And even has more selection then we used to find in Brazil. For instance, we can get Kraft dinner more expensive of course but not outrageous and for those moments of weakness we could spurge and get a box or two. As well we have syrup and pancakes, easy make muffins, tortillas and a few more things too. It is nice to think that we could make burritos for a meal if we wanted, which in Brazil we really wished we could have done more.

In the main mall in the city at another store called, Coral, we actually found that many of the toys that we have in Canada we can find here and even for the same or almost the same price. Calen is so happy to see he can get Thomas the train and Ceara is happy to see we can get the Littlest Pet Shops. Not that we have got any of them but it is nice to know for birthdays and Christmas there will be things that we can get here and not spend three times the amount for the same product that we can get at home in Canada.

As well we have been able to even watch some new movies here too, we have seen the Zoo movie with the animals that talk and the Smurf movie. The only difference is the time frame that the movie comes out and that almost all of the movies are in Spanish, something to get used to but at least when people back home talk about at movie being really good, we might actually get to watch it here.

Then of course there is the restaurants, there is always the food that reminds us most of home. We are lucky to have KFC, Burger King, Pizza Hut and Papa John’s here in the city. It is still amazing to us though that there is no McDonald’s. I am sure that one day there will be soon. But even though we get to still have some of our favourite foods, we have founds lots of great new foods to try and end up getting those more often then the foods that remind us more of home.

Even though we are glad to have these small familiar things, we are happier for the new things that we get to try, get to see and get to experience every day. 

A Trip To the Capital: Quito

IMG_1912, originally uploaded by A Family On A Mission.

One of the things that we had to do when we got to Ecuador was get registered with the government within the first 30 days of being in the country. When we got here on the first day we tried to do this before our final flight to Cuenca, only to arrive at the office 5 minutes after 2pm and the offices were not seeing any more people. Fortunately, there were quite a few other people who put up an argument and we actually got to see someone. That day they gave us a list of things that we needed in order to register, so it wasn’t a wasted trip. So with that list we made the trip to Quito once again on the 25th of July till the 27th in order to register. Hoping that we had everything they needed we got off the plane at 9am headed to the hotel to drop off our luggage and went straight to the offices, being prepared to wait a long time. Unfortunately we arrived to the offices and it was no longer there. They had moved within the two weeks that we had been in Cuenca. Luckily they had left a note to where they had relocated and the taxi driver new exactly where it was, about two blocks behind the hotel that we booked. Now headed to the right location we got out of the taxi, entered the building, waited about ½ hour which is good and were told that we had everything we needed and that they needed to keep our passports till the Wednesday morning. Luckily we had decided to stay that long, ‘Just in Case.’ So we ended back at our hotel by 10:30am with nothing else to do but return to the offices on the Wednesday morning to pick up our passports again.
With basically two days to wait for our passports, we decided to take the opportunity to visit the local attractions. We really thought that we would be in the country awhile before we got to see some of these things, so it was great to have the time to do so. So that first day we decided to go to one of the tallest mountain peaks in the city which had a lift to take you to the top. It was a very hot day outside so we had left our jackets at the hotel but once we got to the top we realized how high we were because it was so much colder. As well the whole taxi ride up to the lift just kept getting steeper and steeper and the harder it was to breath. (For those of you who don’t know, the mountains in Ecuador are extremely high and the air is very thin so sometimes it’s hard to breathe. We even struggled for the first while climbing up the stairs to our first floor temporary apartment.) At the top of the mountain they had a few areas to look through the telescopes to look at the city, it is huge and you can’t even see it all. As well we took a little hike around the top. Not all the way of course since we weren’t dressed properly and I struggled with breathing on the small part that we did, but the views are definitely worth it. We hope one day to be able to go back once the kids are a little older and we are better equipped and maybe make it to the very top.
Our second day in Quito we went to the Mitad Del Mundo, which means the middle of the world. This is where we can stand on the equator and either be in the Northern Hemisphere or the Southern Hemisphere. They have a great huge statue of the world and so many people take pictures like you are holding the world in your hands. And yes we did do this, you can see for yourself on our flickr pictures. Some of the things that you can see there is that yes the water does go down the drain one way in the North and the other way in the South. Inside the statue of the world, they now have a museum about the people of Ecuador. It was really interesting. Travis found it pretty neat to go back to a place he’d been years before and to see how much had changed during that time.
After we headed to the middle of the city of Quito where the downtown used to be, to a place called the Panicello. It is a huge statue of an angel on a small hill overlooking the downtown area. Inside the statue they had a museum showing how the statue was put together, each part was numbered on the inside, we even got to go right to the top and walk out on the outside just under the angel. And you could see the city stretched out forever. Travis couldn’t believe how much the city had grown and changed. Of course the day wouldn’t be complete without at trip to a restaurant that we haven’t been to in forever, yes, a TGI Fridays and yes it was yummy!
The Wednesday came and we headed back to the government offices to pick up our passports, we had a little longer of a wait but got our passports back without anything else being needed. So much easier and faster then when we did things with the government in Brazil. So still having time before our flight in the evening we headed to a little amusement park called the Volcano, so that the kids could play and have some fun. While we were there we met another Christian family living in a small town who worked at a Christian school. The husband was Ecuadorian but the wife was American and their two boys spoke English so all the kids had fun playing together and we were able to visit and talk about the work that brought us to Quito. It was a great trip and not as bad that we thought it could be with having to wait and get paperwork done. Hopefully every time we have paperwork with the government it goes as smoothly as it did this time.