What an amazing day!

Well Matt's taxi did not show up this morning! He is not sure why it never came, but he hitched a ride with some people coming into Quito.  He said that in order for him to ride with the people coming to Quito, one of the men had to lay in the back of the truck on a mattress covered with a blanket to stay warm most of the two and a half hour trip!  Then Eduardo, the friend I met last May left the swimming pool to pick Matt up in a small town on the route to Quito and was able to join us at the park.

We just got home from spending the day with Eduardo and his wife Alexandra.  It was an amazing day!  We went to La Castilla de Amaguaña which is a huge park/club area.  It has six pools, a few little zip lines, playgrounds, horses to ride, four wheelers, racquetball, squash, basketball, soccer, obstacle courses, a spa, paddle boats, a little zoo, a climbing wall, water slides and so much more!  The kids rode horses, played on the playground, saw an ostrich, a llama, and peacocks, played soccer, went swimming, rode a little zip line and rode paddle boats.  The park is in the middle of beautiful mountains.  We ate lunch there and then after playing went to Eduardo and Alexandra's house and met one of their sons and his girlfriend.  We sat and talked and had popcorn and a different kind of mango that you suck out of the skin.  The mango was delicious and the conversation was fantastic.  Later we ate bread and cheese and drank hot chocolate.  Lucas even got to watch a soccer game which he thoroughly loved.  It really could not have been a better day!  We are all exhausted.  

All week we have been treated so nicely by people even when we had no idea what they were saying and they did not understand us.  I could not have made it through the week without so many helpful people especially getting on and off the buses.  This week and today especially, the Ecuadorian people showed us their true selflessness and compassion.
                                   This is us starting our day this morning in front of our gate.

Getting ready to play soccer

Lunch at the pool

He just jumped right on and rode around the ring 15 times

Melayna with Alexandra and Eduardo

Waiting for her turn on the horse

One view of the area

Melayna's turn on the horse

She wanted Alexandra to walk beside her horse not me or Matt

Look at that view

Day is done

One week down

Well the first week is done!  It was only four days, but long enough for a first week.  Matt missed his taxi back to Quito today, so he is going to enjoy pizza with friends.  I have to say I am a little jealous because pizza sounds great.  The kids and I had a good meal too though at the host family's house.  They seem to be adjusting well to the food here.  They have been asking for seconds many time which is unusual.  They must be working up an appetite.

Today we helped in the bigger kids room and I think my kids enjoyed it a lot.  They were able to do some art projects, play soccer and sing some songs.  The idea of an art project is very different here.  They ripped paper instead of cutting it and worked on sharpening colored pencils, but they did not draw anything.  I also noticed that many of them do not even know how to hold a pencil to write.  It goes to show that children learn what they need to in order to survive in their environment like fine motor skills for laborious jobs, and other things take a back seat like reading and writing.  I know it is probably different in different parts of the city, but these kids are from a poor area and their parents may not even know how to read and write themselves. I feel so blessed then to come home and work on reading, math and writing with Lucas.  I have been shown truly how privileged we are in all aspects of our lives this week.  Let's hope and pray for another amazing week.

Matt's first trip to Santo Domingo

Matt traveled by taxi to Centro Medico in Santo Domingo today and said it was an adventure.  He was able to see two clients in their homes, putting him in direct view of the true area he will be serving.  Much assistance is needed by the people in the area.  He said he could not have met more wonderful people than those working in the clinic, which I would agree with.  He settled in and had dinner with his host family.  I think he will do great things.

The kids and I were at the daycare again and they were amazing.  They helped in every way they could.  Lucas is especially helpful with his little sister and keeping her happy.  They are truly amazing children!  I am noticing so many things that are different culturely in how children in Ecuador are brought up, compared to what I see in the USA.  They are potty trained very early, but do not dress themselves most of the time.  They have freedom to come and go as they please from an activity, but they are not allowed to eat at their own pace.  Mealtime is the time I have a hard time with because they are force-fed food.   I know I have a lot to learn about their culture and hope to be helpful without being judgemental.  I am also astonished at the lack of stimulation they have due to their extreme lack of resources.  I gave them a bunch of crayons donated by my sister-in-law's school and they asked three times if I brought them all for them.  Wait until they see the other supplies I am bringing!  I am so thankful to have things they can use thanks to so many generous people.  I am looking forward to helping increase their ability to do stimulating activities.

On another note, tonight Melayna asked to go outside and I told her we couldn't because it was raining.  She asked me why and I said, "Well God is in charge."  Then she said, "Well ok.  That's good."  It was so pure and so true for how we should all take on life, therefore I will end this post with, "God truly is in charge."

Much better!

Today was a really good day.  Matt rode with me to help with the kids getting on and off the bus and then the other volunteer from the daycare Georgiana helped me get home with the kids.  Tomorrow I am on my own on the way there and hopefully I will have Georgiana's help on the way home.  The kids did great at the daycare.  They joined right in with the kids and helped with the meals.  We were also able to meet up with two people I met when I was here in May and they showed us around a little and told us good places to go eat and for shopping and showed us around the local mall.  They even bought us all some helado (ice cream)!  We were also able to get phones although they are in Spanish so we need a little help translating them.  Tomorrow Matt tries out the taxi to Santo Domingo for the first time so let's hope it goes really well.  Wish us luck!

Made it!

Lucas took a picture in the airport to start the trip

 Well we made it to Quito even though it was freezing when we left Columbus.  Thanks to the shuttle driver we even had a warm car to travel in.  Also thanks to my mom and dad our car made it back to freezing Ohio.  The kids did great on the trip.  Melayna even took a two hour nap during our six hour layover in Miami!  Lucas loved that he got to drink and eat on the plane and watch a movie.  We were greeted very nicely from the people running the company and from our host family.  Our place is very  nice and the host family could not be sweeter.  We are learning how little Spanish we know, but what an opportunity to learn more.  The kids did great again today even though we got lost in the rain and thought we were locked out of the apartment this morning.  We are still working out the kinks and figuring out how to get places, but that will take time.  Overall a good start to the trip.  Thank you for the continued prayers and thoughts.  We know we are truly blessed!

Ready or not here we come

This is how we rolled in the airport

Long day or traveling calls for a nap

We listened to Grandma and Papap read a book they recorded

Our view for the next few months

From the beginning

Well we are getting everything ready for our big trip.  We are getting so excited for this adventure!  The start of this whole thing goes back to when I was in high school.  I knew that I wanted to travel the world and that I wanted to help people especially children.  I became a pediatric physical therapist and in the process met my husband Matt who shared my desire to travel and to help people through physical therapy.  We started talking about doing a mission trip right after we graduated from physical therapy school.  We started to plan a trip to Africa, and then found out I was pregnant with our son Lucas and chose to postpone the trip.  Matt went back to school to get his PhD and we decided that when he finished school we would do our mission trip.  I got pregnant again and had our daughter Melayna while Matt was in school.  The year before he finished, we started making plans to go to Ecuador when he was done with school.  Things started falling into place and I was able to go to Ecuador for ten days and made plans for us to return with our kids.  With a lot of help from many different people, we found places to stay, places to work and people to show us around.  We have met some wonderful and very helpful people, and now here we are four days away from leaving for five months.  What an adventure we will have!