Spanish Lessons

Ok, so we have been in Ecuador for 2 1/2 months now and I have had my tutor for about 2 months. A friend showed us this video a few days ago and while it is funny, it also hurts a little because this video contains about 1/2 of my complete Spanish vocabulary. If you enjoy it there is also a 2nd Semester of Spanish video on Youtube.

A Bad Day to Gather Bananas

Last weekend Joe was on call Friday-Monday. When he took over the hospital there were 3 patients, when he got finished, there were 21! Yep, only my husband could multiply patients that quickly, and these weren't just normal things either.
-A boy had climbed a banana tree to harvest the banana, he accidentally fell out of the tree and landed on a spear they used to fish with. It went in at the base of his neck and remained embedded near the base of his skull. Fortunately the spear missed his brain and major arteries, but he still needed surgery.
-Another man had already cut down his bananas and was in the process of throwing them over his back to carry them home, when a snake that was in the banana bundle bit him.
-Not banana related, he delivered 6 babies, diagnosed a few people with cancer, and maybe slept 12 hours the entire weekend. But in the end, he was given a bunch of the bananas! can't wait to cook them up.

Class Mates

The 9 Ecuadorian children in Isabella's class are all from the local orphanage, Casa de Fe (House of Faith). There are amazing children with amazing stories, amazing strength and amazing love. They are taken such good care of and truly loved at Casa de Fe as well as school. I thought I would share a few pictures of them I took on the first day of school.

Isabella's First Day of Pre-School

Well, we all lived, and I think may even be better for it in the end.... I finally let Isabella start pre-school last week. She is going 3 days a week to a preschool run by a missionary. There are 11 students in the class, and only 2 are English speaking, so about 75% of Bella's time there is in Spanish. She is learning so much, without even realizing it. She is having a great time also making new friends.

Worms Don't Discriminate

Ok, so Joe has not had time to write this one, but I just can't wait any longer. He saw a kid the other day in the clinic. The parents thought he had a cold or at least cold like symptom (stuffy nose) for a few weeks. When the kid's mother looked up his nose one day she ended up pulling out a tapeworm.... yes like the kind you dog might get. And it gets better, the worm had been in his stomach and inched its way up into his nose..... now, aren't you ready to come visit us! I was telling this story to a new working visitor here and I think she summed it up well when she said, "that is sad and gross all at the same time."

Amazing Creations

God never ceases to amaze us! There are so many wonderful and amazing creatures right here in our own backyard. Just yesterday, Joe saw (and we all heard) 2 very loud blue parrots playing in the trees behind our house. Walking to get the kids at school, I saw a large vulture in the trees by the suspension bridge. We are amazed daily at the beautiful creations God has made.
Last week while having a cookout with the HCJB bunch, Sebastiao trapped this amazing grasshopper in his mud-boot. I think it is the most beautiful insect we have seen so far. Hope you enjoy.

How to Make a Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich: 8 steps (with pictures) - wikiHow

How to Make a Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich: 8 steps (with pictures) - wikiHow

Ok, so today while trying to find out how to shell peanuts, I came across instructions for how to make a pb&j. Yes, actual instructions for what my 4 year-old can already do on her own and it even includes pictures for the more sandwich challenged amongst you. So, enjoy the link and don't forget to "Wipe any residual peanut butter from the knife onto the second piece of bread."

Oh yeah, the reason I was looking for shelling peanuts was that today we got some fresh peanuts from the jungle. One of the missionaries brought back the peanuts from one of her jungle trips and is selling the peanuts for the village. Joe had an amazing idea to make peanut butter, so we are experimenting with different recipies. There is one store in the area that gets peanut butter for the Crazy Gringos, but it is almost $8 for a very small jar. I don't know about you, but I don't enjoy making $2 PB&J sandwiches for my kids, so we are going out on our own and will report back.

A Texas Drought in Ecuador

Ok, so thank you to everyone for praying for us. My mom is so funny, she asked if we brought Texas weather to Ecuador. I sure hope we didn't. We haven't gotten any rain, but the city did get their water pump working, so we do have some water for the time being. We usually use water from the hospital cistern. Now it is being pumped from the local rivers. I never thought I would be so happy to see brown, chunky water coming through my faucets, but I am very pleased! I can at least wash dishes and allow everyone to poop at home! We don't know if we will have water all day or how they are going to ration it, so please continue praying for rain, it is very much needed.

Rain Update

Please pray for rain. The water to the houses at the hospital has been completely turned off so the hospital can have water. We are able to walk to the guesthouse and take quick showers, but normal life (washing dishes, washing hands, cooking) is a little bit more challenging than normal. Please pray for patience and a sense of humor as we wait for rain.

Rain

I know this will sound like a strange request since we live at the edge of a rain forest, but please pray for rain for us. We have had a week and a half of sun, sun and more sun. We have a home-made rain guage and since we have been here, a typical week brings about 6-7 inches of rain. We have only had 1 inch at our house in the last 7 days. As a result the hospital's water system is just about empty and we are water rationing so the hospital has enough. The hospital was going to buy some water from the pueblo, but they are just about out of water also. Please pray that we can get plenty of rain and soon.

Primera Dia de la Escuela

Sebastiao started school this past Wednesday. He absolutly loves his class and his teacher. He is attendiing Nate Saint Memorial School. This year there are 7 kindergartners, 5 second graders, 4 third graders and I think 4 in the 4,5, and 6 th grade class. The classes are combinded so 2-3 are together as are 4,5, and 6. His teacher Miss Meusser has her hands full with lot of boys.

Whats the Best Way to Get Milk?

Ok, so the days of picking up a few gallons of milk in the refrigerated section of an HEB are long gone. In Shell, you milk options are either boxes of milk that don't have to be refrigerated until they are opened, powdered milk or fresh milk from someone who has a cow and then pasteurizing it. The boxed milk tastes pretty good, and when it is cold, the children don't complain. The down side to this is, however, trying to carry home enough for a family of 4. For the first month we just bought milk about every 4 days, because I didn't want to carry home an entire case from the store, and the children wouldn't volunteer to do it for me. But then our neighbors told me that they buy milk from a family who has cows and then they pasturize it themselves. Fortunatly, one of our neighbors had an extra pasturization machine we could borrow. The machine is from like 1950, but it works well and now we have fresh milk delivered to our house and I can carry home more important things from the store like coke zero!