Ecuador Day 22- Flor's Goodbye Party

Today marks three weeks since we have been here in Ecuador! Crazy that it has been that long and yet we have not made any progress in the legal process. Sigh. Oh well, we are learning patience...that is for sure!

Today was the big going away party at the orphanage for Flor. We were up and ready to go by 9:30 so that we could get a taxi and be there by 10. FHC is about 20 minutes away and we got there just in time. We were greeted by Jen Schneider, who is FHC's International Coordinator. She is from New York and so of course speaks fluent English. She had been home for Christmas, so we hadn't met her on our previous visits to FHC. She was so friendly and we enjoyed getting to know her. We met up with Pamela and went to the backyard of the kids' house, where the party was to be held.

The party guests were all of the kids who live in Flor's old house, plus the older babies. All in all, there was probably 15 kids, 4-5 tias, the social worker, psychologist, office workers who stopped in, the in country director, two or three volunteers, and two INFA workers. We fed the kids Ecuador's version of a cheetoh and then some cake. The kids sang some songs and that was adorable. One little boy was just singing at the top of his lungs-- it was so cute. They also sang "Happy Birthday" to Flor to celebrate her day on Friday. They lit candles in the cake we brought, plus one in the big roll we brought for her since she can't have sugar. Poor thing. She rejected the roll...but I certainly don't blame her. Instead she went from person to person attempting to get some juice. One volunteer who didn't know that she can't have sugar quickly became her best friend when he let her have his juice. Oops.

After the food, the kids played in the backyard for a while. Flor walked around and gave everyone hugs on her own, which was really cute. She seemed very happy and content; not sad at all to be at the orphanage. I really think that she is just unaware of what was going on. She did continually run over to Devin and give him hugs, mostly while her tias and some of the other orphanage workers were watching her.

We presented the tias and other workers with some gifts, then signed some paperwork with the social worker. While sitting there waiting for her to type a document, Hallie piped up, "Necesitas el bano!" to Flor ("You need the bathroom!") The social worker thought it was hilarious and was quite impressed that she speaks Spanish! We assured her that Hallie does not speak Spanish and we were quite shocked that that came out of her mouth, too. She is picking up phrases all the time and repeats them, though I am not sure if she knows what she is saying. She prefers to watch shows with Flor in Spanish instead of English, which I think is funny because she can't really be getting that much out of them! Anyway, we finished the paperwork and then went to say goodbye to Pamela, who has been so wonderful in this process. Pamela was sitting right then and there doing her report for INFA. She had the workers wait so that she could send it with them. She is so on top of things and has been so amazing to work with.

Speaking of the INFA ladies..I made casual conversation with one about getting this report done and then the next steps for court, when she commented that they have not written their report and that it would probably take a week to do so. I almost died right then and there. A WEEK!? What have we been doing this whole time?! I can't fathom waiting another week just to get into the court system...then who knows how long an actual court date will take after that. It is looking like we will be here longer and longer every day. I am sure the INFA worker could tell that I was shocked as she made some comment about it-- so I told her that we really need to get home as soon as possible and that if there is anyway they could get the report done faster, we would be so grateful. She didn't say anything then, but later told me that I should have our in country rep call on Thursday or something to see if the report is done. I am thinking I will have her call Wednesday. The sooner the better! So please, please pray with us that INFA's report will be done before a week's time. We really need to get things moving in this process.

The INFA driver was kind enough to drive us home from the orphanage, saving us a taxi ride. That was nice. Flor did not have a hard time leaving the orphanage, just as she did not have a hard time coming to the orphanage. Like I said, I really just think she didn't know what was happening. She was happy to see her friends and it was apparent that she knew and recognized the tias, yet she was not sad to leave anyone either. Probably for the best.

For pictures of the party, see facebook as there are way too many to post here, plus I don't want to break any privacy laws by posting pictures of the children. Rest assured, there are over a hundred pictures posted on FB. haha.

After a late lunch and naps, we decided to try to get to the Metropolitano Park again. This time we hailed a taxi and just our luck, he had no idea how to get there. I think he hasn't been driving for very long as he looked 15 and as a taxi driver you would think you would know where the largest park in the city is. He stopped and asked two people and we finally made it. The park is huge and gorgeous. It is very secluded and quiet. It has a ton of large, fully grown trees, walking paths, etc. We will definitely visit this park again. We didn't get to stay long as it looked like it was about to rain. We walked home, which was a good 45 minute walk.

Since our internet is being nicer today, we were able to Skype with some family members, which again is always nice.

Here are a few pictures of the later part of the day:

Just some daddy/daughter play time

Hallie decided that she wanted to hail the taxi today, so she parked herself on this flower bed clear away from the road and stuck out her finger. Not working...

At the park, we found a section with play-things, including this HUGE teeter-totter. Jace and Devin sat on one end and the girls and I were on the other. It was quite the riot.

The park also had this huge zip-line with a swing as the seat. Wahoo! Hallie and I took a ride on it together-- good thing we didn't send her alone like she wanted to...it was speedy and had a bit of whiplash involved in the end when the seat boomeranged back. Quite fun!

This park also offered really pretty views of the city as it is fairly high up. Here are a few view pictures that we took on the walk back down. I really do love this city-- it is so beautiful and unique.

And this is classic Ecuadorian as well-- if you can't afford a barbed wire fence (or even if you can, for double protection), a few broken up beer bottles on the top of the fence go a long way. This is all over the place. Always a beautiful site.

Alright, that's it for today. Thank you all for your continued support and prayers. We would appreciate further prayers that things can get moving with this process. We can feel the prayers being offered in our behalf, and we are grateful.

Ecuador Days 20 and 21

So, as you may have guessed, our internet has been out again. It finally came back on tonight and our apartment owner told us that he is having a technician come tomorrow to check things out, so we hope that things will be up and running consistently again soon. I can't tell you how much we rely on the internet here. It is our only means to keep in touch with our family, so it has become an important lifeline for us. Having no internet for two days was killer. I keep telling myself that it could be worse...but really it was rough, especially because yesterday and today have been down days with not a lot going on.

There are many things that I will not miss about being here when we leave. Don't get me wrong; we are doing everything we can to keep ourselves busy here and to get out, but it really will be nice to get home to our own house, things, food, etc. There are quite a few daily challenges we have here that we won't have at home. For one, we are living in a tight space (I should post pictures soon of our apartment...I'll try to remember to do that) with little room for the kids to play. The floors are also all tile on top of concrete, so that makes for a rough surface to get down and play around. We brought very few toys or things for the kids to do as there just wasn't room for them in our suitcases. We do have a few dolls that Flor got for Christmas/birthday, some books, some blocks, and some coloring books. But playing with the same things over and over again is getting old for the kids. We watch a lot of movies, which is generally not something I prefer for my kids, but it is what we have available. Devin and I too have little to keep us occupied, other than the internet and movies. We don't have "projects" here that we can be working on like we do at home or anything like that. I brought two books with me and have finished the first ("Growing up Bin Laden"-- written by one of Osama Bin Laden's wifes and one of his sons. It was so fascinating and I understand Al Qaeda much better than I did before...definitely recommend this one! Thanks Mille, for the book!) and have started the second, President Monson's biography. I am really enjoying it also, but trying to read it slowly as I know that when I am done with it, I have nothing else.

Another challenge is just getting anywhere. Going up and down four flights of stairs with kids, bags, stroller, whatever we come back with, etc. is exhausting. Standing on the corner with all said stuff while awaiting a taxi for who knows how long is also tough. Being able to just walk out the door and get into my own car and drive myself somewhere will be such a luxury when we get home! Feeding the troops is also a challenge. There was nothing here when we got here, so we have spent a lot of money on basics such as flour, sugar, rice, etc. and are needing to make trips to the store three times per week or more to keep the food stocked. The cost of food is much more expensive here, so while we are trying to eat cheaply and rotating the same 3 or 4 dishes, we are still spending much more than we would be at home on food.

I know that it sounds like I am complaining a lot, but really, we are trying to make the best of things and day to day we really are in good spirits. It's just that the little things can add up and seem overwhelming when thinking about doing them for another 4 weeks. The setback on Friday was especially discouraging because we allowed ourselves to hope a little bit that we would be home before our Feb 6 flights. That's the danger-- we can't let ourselves hope things like that because we end up disappointed.

I love the country of Ecuador and I love being here and sharing it with my family, so we are trying to look at the positives each day versus the hardships. And really, I know that our "hardships" are nothing in comparison to what many many people go through. We truly are grateful to be here, afterall, this is what we worked for for years. We also look forward to getting home though, and resuming our normal routines and in our normal, comfortable environment. There are so many things that we are blessed with as Americans and I hope that I take fewer things for granted upon our return.

So, enough of my discouraged rambling. Here is a recap of the last few days.

Saturday was a really sloooow day. We have had a little issue with Jace's sleeping here. I don't really know what is going on; the only thing we can figure is that the pack-n-play is hard for him to sleep in (not as soft as his crib). He has been going to bed at his normal 7 pm, but has been waking up between 5:30 and 6:30  instead of 7:30-8 like normal at home. So, by the time we have breakfast and get the kids bathed and dressed, he is ready for a nap. He will usually nap for only 45 minutes or so, then is awake for an hour, then ready for another nap. We can't get him to sleep in long stretches. So by the time the morning is over, we haven't been able to do anything because he is sleeping. After lunch is when Flor is ready for a nap. We have tried to have her nap earlier, but it doesn't happen. So, she naps while Jace is awake and then by the time she is up, Jace is ready for another nap. We need to figure something out to get them both on the same napping schedule, because as it is, we are alternating nappers all day long, which prohibits doing much. Usually we have just foregone Jace's afternoon nap to go out and about to do our activities, but then he tends to be really cranky while we are out and about. Saturday we made a trip to the MegaMaxi after Flor's nap and picked up supplies for her going away party tomorrow. By the time we were home, Jace was in full on screaming mode, so we knew that our plan to go to the park was not going to happen. So, he took a nap while the girls watched a movie (another issue is keeping them quiet during his nap time-- since the apartment is so small, he wakes up if they are too noisy). Our little house is going to seem giant when we get home! So Saturday was spent lazing around the house, watching movies, napping, reading, and playing a little. You know the day has been boring when you look forward to the kids making a huge mess at dinner so that you can spend a long time cleaning it up. :)

Today has been a much better day. We went to church this morning, which did a ton to rejuvenate me and to renew my spirits. I love that the church is the same, no matter where you are in the world. This was our first full week there as the first week was Christmas so we just had Sacrament Meeting and last week the kids were sick so we didn't go. Today, though, was really great. The kids were fairly well behaved in Sacrament Meeting. It was Fast and Testimony Meeting and it was so wonderful to hear others share their testimonies. I could understand most of it, and even though the words were in a different language, I could really feel of their sincerity and their spirits. A family behind us helped entertain Hallie and held Jace for a while, which also helped a lot. There was an English speaking Sunday School Class, and Devin and I were the only attendees with a senior missionary couple doing the teaching. We had the lesson on the introduction to the Book of Mormon, since that is what we are studying this year. I enjoyed it so much, even though there was just the four of us. We talked quite a bit with this couple as well as they are from Rigby, Idaho, so we know a lot of the same people. They are humanitarian missionaries, so they don't get as much contact with the members, but they are over the whole country and travel to bring needed supplies to hospitals, clinics, and villages. The sister took me to Relief Society and the husband showed Devin where Elder's Quorum was. In Relief Society, Jace was about done and a little old sister took him from me to entertain him (though he literally looked like he was going to knock her over when she picked him up, haha!) Everyone was so kind and welcoming.

I forgot to mention that the Primary workers took Hallie to Primary and insisted that Flor go too, though I didn't know how she would do. At home, Devin or I will always probably need to accompany her. I think there was only two primary classes, one for the younger half and one for the older half as Flor and Hallie were in the same class. The teacher spoke fluent English, which was great. Hallie was so excited to be a Sunbeam now, she didn't want to hear any mention of nursery! They colored, made crowns ("Heavenly Father says I am a Queen, so I get to wear a crown", according to Hallie), and sang songs. Hallie loved it. She came out beaming and had become friends with everyone there. As we were leaving, she turned around and shouted back down the block to say goodbye to all of her new friends, calling them by name. She is so funny and social. The teacher said that Flor did great too and said that she was quiet and well-behaved. She said that she could tell that she is a very loving spirit. Very true.

The senior missionary couple told us that there are 6 stakes here in Quito, with over 30 wards. The ward we are attending has over 800 members, though only 150 or so attend. Very interesting! The nearest temple is in Guayaquil and members from the ward make Temple trips once every three months, leaving by bus late at night, traveling through the night, then spending the day in the temple before making the return trip. We have it so easy, with a temple five minutes from us and another to be built even closer. Crazy. These members are dedicated though, and I felt a lot of their spirits.

Well, I didn't mean to go on and on about church, but it was definitely the highlight of the last two days. It reminded me that Heavenly Father is aware of me, as he is of all of his children, and that he will help us and guide us during this up and down adoption process.

The rest of today has been spent at home. Devin and I even attempted to make a cake! It turned out pretty good, despite our not having any idea what temperature our oven is on (gas stoves/ovens. You would all be proud of me that I am getting quite good at lighting the match and getting the stove lit...if you don't know, I have had a fear since childhood of matches and of fire...so this is big!) We made an applesauce cake since that is all we had the ingredients for. We almost thought we couldn't do it because we don't have any applesauce, but then we remembered Jace's baby food and substituted that in (mixed fruit instead of applesauce...it worked out just fine.) You know things are bad when we are enjoying cake made from baby food! Ha! Our snack supply is dwindling...!

Alright, enough of this novel. Sorry for the lack of pictures. We didn't really take any the last few days, but I did have a few I wanted to upload, but it wasn't working. We will take what we can get with the internet working, though, so here you go!

Tomorrow is the big going away party at the orphanage, which will definitely be the highlight of the day, so stay tuned for that.

Ecuador Day 19- Happy Birthday Flor!

 Warning: Long post filled with (some) negative commentary, potty talk, and lots of pictures. Read on at your own risk!

Today is Flor's seventh birthday, which was definitely the most exciting part of the day. I have missed 5 birthdays in between her first birthday and now and felt extremely grateful that we were able to be here in time for her 7th.

The morning did not start out well, however. In fact, this was probably our roughest morning yet. It didn't have anything to do with Flor, Hallie, or Jace, but the process. I think I posted earlier in the week saying that I had finally spoken to our in country rep about the details and processes for our case. She was supposed to arrive at our house this morning for us to sign some documents to begin the court process. Well, at the time we last spoke, she said that she would call us Thursday night to confirm her coming over this morning. We never heard from her last night, despite my attempts to reach her as well.

This morning, I waited nervously until 9 am and then decided that we had waited long enough and called her again. She finally answered the phone. I asked when she was coming over, and she said that she wouldn't in fact be coming over because of problems with our case. She further explained that the report for court on bonding from the orphanage was incomplete and needed to include a part about Flor's going away party. We just so happened to have canceled the party for today because she requested we keep the whole morning open for her, remember? I was sooooo frustrated, I can't even describe it. I shed a few tears, got pretty angry, and then started making calls.

I talked to Pamela at the orphanage (and a few other people) and Pamela was willing to bend over backwards for us and have the party today still (even though she had since rearranged her schedule to have clients all day since we were not going to be coming) and add that portion to her report. In talking to her, the social worker, and another woman from the orphanage, all reported that they had never heard of the court requiring the going away party to be included in the bonding report...if they had, they would have encouraged us to have the party earlier. Our US rep also told me that she had never heard of this requirement either. So what is really going on...we have no idea. Either the in country rep just hadn't done her portion of the work and was looking for an excuse to delay things...or, it is a new requirement that we are being subjected to. Either way, my main frustration is that MJ has not communicated with us. Why did I have to call her this morning to ask when she was showing up when she had no intention of doing so? When I talked to the social worker at the orphanage, she knew of the new problem as MJ had called her yesterday to tell her. So she told them, but not us? Doesn't something seem to be missing here? And had she notified us early enough yesterday, we could have gone ahead with the 10 am party this morning for Flor as originally planned. We will still have the party Monday, despite Pamela being ready to help us, because the orphanage had made alternate arrangements for the kids today since we canceled the party. Makes sense. Anyway, this whole ordeal is going to cost us at least 3-4 days getting to court. We have all weekend now to wait. Then the party has to be added to the bonding report, INFA has to finish their report, and then whenever MJ decides to move forward with things...I guess then we will have court.

Can you tell I am upset? Not a good start to a day that we meant to be a good day in celebration of Flor. I was pretty mad all morning but then we decided to make the most of the rest of the day anyway.

We left the house after lunch and naps and headed to the Mariscal Artesian Market, an outdoor market where tons of booths are set up with all sorts of unique and hand-made Ecuadorian items. I loved this market when I was here before, as we volunteers would walk down there (it is close to the house where I stayed) as often as we had free time.

Here is Hallie at the entrance to one of the stalls. A lot of the sellers have similar items, but that's part of the fun of it, to find who will give you the cheapest price for the same thing.

Hmmm, no one looks very pleased here, huh? Well don't worry, they all enjoyed it!

There is a large mural on the outside of the market, which has been totally re-done since my time here before! It looks pretty good.

We were able to get a few little things for the kids and some pajama pants for me, which I love. I still have a pair from six years ago at home, which is now threadbare and worn to the bone since I have worn them so many times since. After I bought new ones today, Hallie even said, "Mom, you have some of those at home." Yes, I do.

After our trip to the market, we walked back down 6 De Diciembre (yes a lot of the roads here are named after dates) to the Hospital Baca Ortiz. This is where I first met Flor as she was a patient here much of the time I was here. My friend Maria Dolores still works here (remember I met her while caring for Flor in the hospital-- she took the OSSO volunteers under her wing). We made arrangements to meet Maria Dolores at four. She took us all around the hospital, first starting on the 4th floor, where there is a large play area for the kids in the hospital. We happened to be there for a magic show that was going on . The magician was actually really good, so that was kind of fun to watch!

The outside of the hospital has been re-painted. It used to be all brown, but now it is red and white. Interesting.

Inside the waiting room. This hospital is really rather dirty and run-down, but there have been large renovations since I was there. Devin didn't think it looked too impressive still, but I was rather impressed as it has greatly improved in my view!

Maria Dolores loves Jace. When we first arrived, she promptly took him from me and disappeared for a time, leaving us in the waiting room. We presume she took him downstairs to her office to show him off to her friends. Everyone really does ogle over him as such blond haired, blue eyed babies are few and far between here.

Here are Hallie and Flor with daddy watching the magic show.

Maria Dolores helped Hallie move a little closer for a minute, but then she got scared and came back to where we were in the back. A lot of people kept trying to usher us forward and encouraged us to go up front, but we thought that was not the best idea as we are clearly heads taller than all of them and could see just fine from the back.

Maria Dolores again took Jace and put him into this swimming pool (?) filled with balls to let him play during the show. He really enjoys balls so this was right up his alley.

After the show, we made our way up to the 5th Floor, where Flor had spent her time during her stays in the hospital. This is the area where she was. It was so weird walking around there again. I pointed out to everyone the first room she was in when I met her, and then the second room when she was re-admitted. It was kind of surreal to see those places again. Like I said, everything has been re-done though, and the hospital does look a lot nicer. From my recollection, this hospital is a free hospital in Quito for children with all sorts of health problems. So you can imagine that the upkeep for a hospital making no money falls to the wayside. Not sure how the employees are paid-- Government?

Maria Dolores with the girls outside as we were getting ready to leave. She invited us to dinner next Sunday after Church, so that will be fun. I told Devin to get prepared because it will likely be chicken feet...which is what she fed Kylee and I when we were here on my second trip. It's a staple here, so he at least ought to try it, right?

After our trip to the hospital, we walked across the street to the famous KFC. This we also frequented as volunteers for the delicious 50 cent ice cream cones. Let me tell you, Ecuadorians love their KFC. We were not as big of fans, but Flor loved it and that is what matters since it is her birthday afterall. We felt bad for the woman who had to clean up our area when we were done...

That is one large plate for one little girl.

I tried to get some ice cream cones for us too, but we ended up with these huge cups of ice cream. While we were eating them, we looked at the sign to notice that they are called "American Ice Cream", so that must be why the cashier decided that that must be what we want versus a simple cone.

After the fight that is hailing a taxi, we made our way home. We had a funny experience in the taxi as the roads were really crowded and it took a while to get home. Hallie decided mid-way through that she needed to go the bathroom and that she needed to go bad. I was trying really hard to distract her by asking about her favorite shows, her friends, foods, etc. She would answer my questions, then start chanting again, "I have to go potty, I have to go potty." It got really funny when she would start rocking and hitting her leg while shouting, "I have to go potty!" I know our cab driver was alarmed...I am sure he was imagining a pee soaked seat and attempted to drive faster, though traffic didn't really allow that. I finally put a diaper under Hallie's pants, not knowing what else to do as she insisted that she was going to pee any second. Devin offered her a piece of candy if she could hold it till we got home, and that was motivation enough, though she did have a few more rocking/hitting the knee episodes before we arrived. Once we got here, Devin jumped out, sat Flor on the sidewalk (he had been holding her) and ran up the stairs as fast as possible with Hallie. It was only then that the cab driver started cracking up. It was funny as long as his seats weren't wet.

Once safely inside, we had Flor open her birthday presents. She got four books and four pairs of underwear. She liked opening the presents and wanted to read her books right away. I forgot to mention earlier that while at the hospital, a few volunteers were there giving away presents to the sick children. Well, they liked Flor and Hallie enough that they got presents too- Flor a huge sweat suit that will probably fit her in five years, and Hallie a Barbie. We felt sort of guilty taking the gifts as we know that there are many, many other people around here who could use them more than us. However, they insisted, so we are now the proud owners of a sweat suit and a Barbie. Hallie was ecstatic about her Barbie as we left all hers at home. Now she will have something to occupy her time! YAY!

Flor and her new books

And her underwear. Surely you all want to see that!

Hallie wanted to show off her Barbie too. She was dying to open it, but we made her leave it for tomorrow as it was getting close to bed time.

We had time for one book before bed. More to come later, I am sure.

The girls got these cute hats and pj pants (to match mine) at the market today. I would have had Flor pose with Hallie, but she was busy going to the bathroom (which takes up a large chunk of her time nowadays. She is doing really well with the potty training idea-- we just need to get her to tell us when she needs to go now...that would be great! More work to do, I guess!)

Alright, that's it for the long novel today. We were happy that the day was salvaged and we enjoyed celebrating Flor and her life today. We are so grateful for her birth seven years ago and to the people that brought her into this world, though we don't know them and likely never will. I thought about them often today as it is with them that her story really starts.

Happy 7th Birthday Flor! We love you and are so glad that you are (unofficially) officially part of our family now!

Ecuador Day 18

Day 18. The days are moving along! We spent the morning in the apartment, doing our "deep cleaning" and just hanging out. Since the internet was up and running again, we were able to Skype with quite a few family members, which is always great. We did the usual lunch and naps and then headed out to explore for the day.

There are just so many little places and parks to see in Quito, it never gets old. And really, the city is so huge it is confusing sometimes to even orient ourselves! I love just driving around and looking at the old buildings, the roads, and the architecture. We planned on going to the fruit and vegetable market again as we were out of produce, but as we arrived, we immediately saw that it was closed. It was really weird because it was the middle of the day and on a weekday. We thought maybe it was closed for lunch or something, but didn't really think that made sense. Instead we had our taxi driver take us to the Ejido Park, just down the road a ways.

When we went to SVP last week, on the way back we passed a park with a huge metal ball thing (you'll see the pictures below). This park is one that I have been asking taxi drivers where it is and what it is called...most have no idea what I am talking about since I would just ask if they know of a park with a huge ball. I had no other way to describe it. Anyway, on the way back from SVP, we finally passed the elusive park and asked our driver what it was. He replied that it was the Ejido Park. Well, upon arrival today at the Ejido Park, we noticed a really nice park with tons of fun play areas and toys, but no big ball. I was rather disappointed as I have wanted to visit this ball again. A few of my OSSO friends and I (when we were here 6 years ago) came to this park and climbed all the way to the top of the ball, then took a bunch of pictures. I am pretty sure it is not made for climbing- today reaffirmed that it is really rather rickety- but we wanted to climb it anyway. You can get away with much more here than you ever would in the US-- another example is that our whole OSSO group wanted to re-enact the opening scene in Friends where they are in a fountain with umbrellas, so one day we found a fountain in the middle of a really busy round about (also guarded by police, mind you) and all climbed in with our umbrellas to take a bunch of pictures. No one said a word to us. Anyway, just a few flashbacks from my time here before.

It was too bad that it was raining today as the toys at the park looked really fun. Hallie wanted to play on them really badly, but she would have been soaked, so we promised her that we would come back another day. We walked around the park and consulted with our map before realizing that there was another little park across the street....and lo and behold, there was my ball! We hiked over there just as the rain quit for a minute and let the girls play on it for a minute. Flor didn't really love it, but Hallie was getting the climbing thing down just as it began to pour again.

Here we are at the entrance to the Ejido Park.

Just walking around the park with Daddy

ahhh! The famous ball!

If you can't tell, Flor isn't great at pictures. She usually tries to hide as soon as the camera comes out. Thus, no good pictures of her here!

Here is Hals making her climb. There is a little ball inside the bigger ball that she is climbing on.

And that is a classic Hallie face, right there.

When it started to rain again, we hailed another taxi and tried to go back to the Market. It was still closed, so something must have been going on there today. We were rather disappointed as we really enjoy our trips there and the produce we get. We made a stop at the Post Office to mail our letters/pictures for our favorite missionaries, and then stopped by a nearby SuperMaxi to get some produce. I wish I knew where another market was, just in case we have days like today where this one isn't open for whatever reason. But, when asking around, that is the only one that people have referred us to. However, I know that we used a different one when I was here with OSSO, so I need to figure out what it is called.

Hailing a taxi from the SuperMaxi proved to be a challenge and we were out in the rain for quite a while before accomplishing it. If I were a taxi driver in Quito, I think I would just drive by the SuperMaxi again and again all day since there is always a line of people waiting for taxis there. Hmmm...maybe my next career? I have seen two or three woman taxi drivers so far...that's it! After we got home and had dinner, we realized that we had left our backpack at the SuperMaxi (they make you check your bags in when you enter the store), so Devin had to go back to retrieve it, which only took another hour. Whoops. Hopefully we won't make that mistake again.

We were able to Skype with my sister and Steve, Sadie, My mom, Mikey, and Lara this evening in Jennifer's hospital room...and that was so nice. Brooklyn is a beautiful little baby with tons and TONS of dark hair! No idea where that came from! Can't wait to get home so that we can hold her.

Oh...and for those of you who are wondering, Flor's going away party got moved to Monday as the orphanage already had something planned for the kids for today. We really hope that our rep comes early tomorrow so that we don't sit around all day waiting for her to come, it being Flor's birthday and all...we would like to go out and do something. Not sure what, but we will figure it out!

Ecuador Day 17

So my two loyal readers noticed that I didn't post yesterday. Our internet was out all day and it was rough, especially because it is our only means of communication with our family. After the whole day of being without, I thought that maybe I should text my sister to let her know that we were without internet, just in case anyone needed to get a hold of us. I didn't know if texting to the US would work from our pre-paid Ecuador cell phone, but sure enough, it did! And, not only that, but my sister let me know that she was in the hospital in labor! Lucky woman, she has been a full two weeks early with both of her babies so far. I haven't talked to them yet, but apparently baby Brooklyn Marie was born last night at 9:39 pm and weighs 7 pounds 1 ounce. I can't wait to see pictures! So that was the exciting news of the day!

The day here was a good one. We spent the morning at home, though Hallie and I did walk to the MegaMaxi. We got some pictures developed there to send to some of our favorite missionaries and picked up a few items while there.

We had a little snack and then put the kids down for naps. We had talked to our friend Stephanie earlier in the day and planned to go to a late lunch with her, her kids, and the Schinnerer family as Stephanie was supposed to be flying out this morning to go home. Turns out the judge in her case (Judge 10--everyone pray we don't get Judge 10!) didn't sign off on their salida to leave, like he was supposed to. He has been terrible to deal with for them the whole time, so while this was no surprise, it was very disappointing for them. Turns out they can't leave until Saturday now.

Anyway, we enjoyed our time with them and the Schinnerers very much. We met at a TGI Friday's restaurant, which is just down the hill from us at the mall and a good central meeting place for all of us. It was nice to have an "American-ized" meal, complete with a brownie sundae and all.

Hallie is really going to miss Jenna. She put some clips in her hair earlier in the day (before we were with them) and said, "Jenna is going to be so proud of my hair!" Really...

Most of the group at lunch. On the left side are Jim and Robin Schinnerer and their son Pablo. Their other three kids had to return to the US to get back to school. On the right is Alison, Stephanie, and Jenna Broaddus. I didn't get Hallie, Flor, Allie, or me in the picture. I did take another picture of Hallie and Allie, but it only uploads sideways for some reason, so we will go without.  

After lunch, Devin took Flor and Jace home for further naps as they were greatly in need of them. I went with Hallie and the rest of the crew to the Schinnerer's apartment. As you can see above, the two Ecuadorian children with us are loving the technology available to them! We hung around there for a while. I had an email with information that Robin needed for their case, but since our internet was out, I accessed it from their house for them. Hallie and I ended up staying for about 2 hours just chatting with them. It was really great for me to have some social interaction, particularly with friends who speak English! While the adults talked, the two younger girls occupied themselves by bringing out everything they could find from Jim and Robin's bedroom and presenting it to Jim. He was such a good sport about it, putting on his wife's watch, some slippers, a blanket, building a fort around him with the chairs, etc. They then moved to the kitchen and started bringing presents of food. Oh the joys of little girls!

Jim in his fort, along with every other item the girls brought out. Jim and Robin could not even identify where the chairs came from...they'd never seen them before. Great to know that my child was digging through the depths of their closets or something in order to retrieve them.

Hallie and I took a taxi home as it was getting dark and we had a large bag from Stephanie to take to FHC next time we go there. We got home about 6:30, just in time for a light dinner and bed!

 

I just want you all to see one of the most delicious things I have found here so far. Coconut balls! Mmmmm. Now if you are like Devin and hate coconut, this is not for you. But if you are like me and love it, then you are missing out!

Alright, that's all for yesterday. Check back tonight...hopefully the internet will continue to work and we can get back on track with the daily posts.

Ecuador Day 16

Today was rather slow again. Devin has been kind enough to wake up with the kids in the mornings at 6:30 ish while I sleep in until 7:30 or so. Good husband I have, huh? Hallie woke up numerous times last night and I was also awakened every time as her air mattress is on the floor right next to my side of the bed. The girl talks in her sleep, I'll tell you what. She also gets angry in her sleep. Yikes. Her reason for waking up so many times last night was that her head was too close to the bed and it was bugging her. Oh geez...a bit of a drama queen we have here.

Anyway, no throw up all day yesterday or last night, so I think she is on the mend. The D situation is also improving- thank you Pedialyte. We spent the morning lazing around the house. We watched Tangled for the 1200th time (Hallie's favorite). We had lunch and then attempted naps, which was hugely unsuccessful, except for me. I slept. I think Jace slept a little bit, but no one else did. I don't know why I am so tired all the time! Honestly, we go to bed at 9 pm every night, 10 at the very latest. We have become such old people here. ha ha.

After the attempted naps, we took our ornery brood out for a walk. We walked to a huge mall here, the Quicentro, which is just down the road from us. We really are in a prime location. The mall is very modern and generally expensive. It has three floors and has many name brand stores, like Tommy Hilfiger and Calvin Klein. We were looking for birthday gifts for Flor as her birthday is Friday. We went to a toy store first, but didn't find any books (which is what we were looking for.) We found a clothing department store next store and stopped in to get some underwear for Flor since we are taking on this potty training thing. We had looked at the MegaMaxi the other day and a pack of three was over seven dollars. YIKES. No thanks. This store in the mall had some on "clearance", meaning they were $1.90 per pair. I thought that was the best we were going to do, so we got some there. (I know, I know, most of you really don't need to have documented the purchasing of our children's underwear, but oh well, there it is!)

We did find a bookstore as well where we purchased Flor four books. We were able to find a series that has both Spanish and English translations, so that will be good for her. While in line, the clerk was asking me some information he needed for tax information (?) which was rather confusing, especially given my limited Spanish. Luckily, the man behind me in line spoke fluent English and stepped in to translate. He just told me to tell the clerks "no" when asked such information. Good to know. That was the first time it had happened. Odd, very odd.

We stopped next at a Hallmark store to try to find some wrapping paper. All they had was a Christmas roll, which (not that big) cost $8.95. Whoa. I opted for bags instead, though that didn't save me any money. One medium sized bag cost $5 and a small one cost $3. However, the store throws in the tissue paper for "free" and they also gave us 2 balloons for "free" as well. I am not sure if that is common practice or if my eyes were just so far popped out of my head due to the prices that the clerk felt bad for me, but oh well, we got two balloons.

We then headed home as the children were not doing so well, particularly Jace. He has become quite the mama's boy and if I am in eye shot, he wants me to hold him. He was in the stroller with Flor, so I tried to stay behind and out of sight during the walk home. If he spotted me, he would begin twisting in his seat and crying. Poor thing. He is probably feeling a little bit displaced and honestly I think he is having a rougher time with the changes than Hallie. I think we prepared Hallie fairly well and she understands what is going on. But Jace's little life has been thrown a curve ball and he is not the only "baby" anymore, which is an adjustment for him.

We often see these two taxi drivers sitting there playing cards on this road right by our house. I snuck a picture of them today as we went by. We wonder how they make any money?

We got home, had dinner, and put the kids to be early due to the lack of naps during the day. They were ready and so were we!

I did get this cute picture of the girls in their pajamas before bed. Hallie has taken to mimicking whatever Flor does as their method of play and Flor thinks it is hilarious. So here they are laughing about whatever it was they were doing. 

We finally have a little bit of news as far as the adoption process goes...Apparently our report from the orphanage about bonding went in mid-week last week as we were promised, but the person who is handling our case from INFA went on vacation and just got back today. Love those vacations. So, she (the INFA lady) promised Maria Jose (our in country rep) that her report would be done by Thursday this week. Maria Jose called tonight to tell us that we can't go anywhere Friday as she is going to stop by sometime with a lawyer to have us sign some documents, which then allows her to get us in the court pool to get a judge and a date for court. Of course she can't pin-point a time, but requested that we keep the whole day open. Friday is Flor's birthday and we had planned with the orphanage to have her going away party and a birthday party for her there. Of course...the one day we have anything planned! Oh well, of course we will do whatever we can to get the process moving forward. I texted Pamela to see if we can move the party to Thursday instead and she will let us know tomorrow. We hope to know our court date at the beginning of next week if all goes well. Please pray with us that all will go according to plan and that we can get this process moving along! We would sure appreciate it.

Anyway, that about wraps up today. The internet was out all day long, but luckily came back on tonight. Yay for that. It has been spotty lately. I hope that does not continue!

Ecaudor Day 15

Well, here we are two weeks in! The days seem to be going faster, which is nice. (Devin disagrees-- just because yesterday was so slow). Hallie threw up again last night after seeming fine all day. It's weird. Luckily, I know just how to get Pedialyte from the Pharmacies here, so she and Jace have begun a steady diet (and by that I mean as much as they can handle) of it.

We weren't about to sit in the house another day, so we took a trip to the MegaMaxi this morning. It is getting quite ridiculous that we have to go nearly every other day, so I proposed that we walk there, buy a larger supply of food and water, and then take a taxi home. So, that is what we did. We got 10 jugs of water versus the 3 we normally get, so maybe that will last us a week. I know the taxi driver thought we were ridiculous having him drive us just up the road, but who wants to walk 10 jugs of water, plus three kids, plus groceries up the hill? Not me. The 4 flights of stairs are fine, thank you.

After lunch and naps, we decided to head out to try to find the Metropolitano Park, which according to the map Andres pinned to the fridge for us, is just above Eloy Alfaro (the road right above us.) So, we set out to make the trek. Sure enough, we could see the park on the right side of the road up yonder, but the whole thing was fenced and barb-wired off. We continued to roam thinking that there had to be an entrance somewhere...but no such luck. The entrances must be on the complete other end of the park of something. So, we just kept walking. We ended up close to the bakery where we have been buying our bread, but had taken the long, long way to get there. It was actually quite nice just to walk around and see the scenery. We stopped in at a different bakery (across the street-- Devin says we need to "spread our wealth". Right, the ton of wealth that we have...) and had some rolls before continuing on. We caught a taxi and decided to have him take us to another large park here, the Carolina Park. This one is also close to our house in the opposite direction and a very well known park around here. However, we had walked ourselves so far that we were quite a ways from it and didn't want to keep walking to get there. The taxi driver drove us completely around the park instead of just dropping us off when we got there (I think to get some extra change from us), but finally did end up letting us out.

We made a potty break (another oddity about Ecuador: You pay for toilet paper in public restrooms) and then walked around some. The park was hopping today. There were people everywhere. It is a large park with a lot of things to do, including little carnival rides for the kids, common play areas, soccer areas, a observatory, a museum, and tons of food vendors. We opted to go to ride on the pedal-boats. I was familiar with these from my days with OSSO as we once took some of the orphanage kids on a field trip to ride in the boats. We thought this would be a fun activity for our little family and we did end up having a good time. 1/2 hour of riding cost $3.90, which isn't bad. After a half hour, we were done anyway, so that worked out great. We will definitely go back to this park again someday to do some of the other activities. By the time we were done with the boats, it was time to head home to get the kids fed and then ready for bed.

Hallie on our long walk to try to find the first park. We were up above our apartment, so had an even more incredible view of the city. We watched a plane come in from the south of the city and followed its path all the way to landing at the airport. It was cool to be able to see it all.

Another common sight here in Ecuador are these little plaza areas with statues of all sorts. This one was the Plaza of Chile, also on the path of our walk.

Here we are on the boat at the Parque Carolina. Hallie refused to smile or even look at the camera.

Flor, Jace, and I. You can't tell but Flor was sporting an awesome Deb-like side ponytail. I am having a good time doing her hair every day because it is so long. However, her hair is quite the mess. We will need to get it cut and styled cute when we get home, for sure.

Doesn't Jace just look like an old man all the sudden? He is growing up too fast and I am not okay with it! In fact, he turned 10 months old yesterday. Happy 10 months, buddy! (or as Hallie calls him, "Jacer babies")

Now she'll smile. That stink. We let her sit in the back of the boat and she was quite content.

Here is a view from our boat. I really do love this city. There are so many things to do and you never seem to see the same thing twice. It has a lot of diversity in sights, sounds, tastes, everything. We are loving the time we have to explore!

Well, that's all for today. The internet is being super slow, so it took quite a while to upload all these pictures. Let's hope that's not a trend from here on out!

Ecuador Day 14

Well, this is going to be short!

Today was a sit-around-the-house-and-do-nothing day. Hallie was up throwing up all night last night and she and Jace both have a bad case of diarrhea...so....we didn't even leave the apartment all day. We had plans to go to church, but decided it was in everyone's best interest not to. So, the day was spent playing, watching movies, eating, and reading. We did get to Skype with some family members as well, which is always great. Here's to hoping tomorrow is a better and more fun-filled day!

So for those of you who have been asking, here's some thoughts from Devin: Things are going great.  I am having a good time just spending my days with my lovely family.  Too bad it doesn't pay better or else I would make it a career.  Flor is such a sweet spirit and a wonderful addition to our growing family.

Well, that's that. Never wordy, that Devin.