Chocolate Chip Cookies and Parks

I'm thanking God that I've been able to spend some great 1:1 time with the kids lately. It's easy to get caught up in the craziness of daily schedules and activities. I'm realizing how important it is to show God's love to these beautiful children.

I've been able to have some fun outings with them these past couple weeks!

Bonding at McDonalds and then an afternoon at the park

Making high altitude chocolate chip cookies with 3 girls. We forgot an extra egg, added double the amount of flour and found egg shells in the batter. They came out....crunchy. 

She decided to be dish washer

Climbing on some fun playground equipment

Apparently this is a song...

Spa Day - Latacunga

We had our annual spa day again a couple weeks ago. This year, we also brought the fun to the Tias in Latacunga (our other home which is 2 hours south of Quito).

There was a team of 7 people who spent 3 weeks volunteering in Latacunga during the month of January.  They are part of a mission called World Race---they travel to 11 countries in 11 months and get to partner with various projects around the world. Nobody on the team spoke Spanish and this was their first time in Ecuador. They were going the full immersion route. After dropping them off at the beginning of January, I went back down to Latacunga couple weeks later so that we could to the spa day. When I arrived, I walked into a room with 500 roses. They explained that they had wanted to buy some roses for the Tias so they went down the street to a greenhouse. This greenhouse only exports flowers and does not sell them. Well somehow (again with no Spanish) they ended up being able to purchase 500 for $30!

The Tias had a great time and it was fun getting to know the Tias in Latacunga on a deeper level. I honestly do not know that how they do the work they do. They embody Matthew 25:40 when Jesus says ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’

A Wonderful Reunion

It’s been about five months since Jennifer was adopted. It’s rare that parents will bring their child back to the orphanage for a visit. I think a lot of times families are hesitant because they don’t know how the child will react. On the rare occasion that a young child comes back for a visit, they often cling to their parents and become very shy.

Well this past month, we’ve had an awesome volunteer from the States at the orphanage. She is the older sister of three adopted For His Children girls. She’s pretty amazing! Anyway, she made Jennifer’s baby book album (an album that each child gets when they are adopted). Before returning back to the States, she had asked if she could personally deliver the album to Jennifer and her family. So, the parents decided to come to FHC and bring Jennifer along.

When she got out of the car, I was there to greet the family. She was in her dad’s arms and was looking around a little unsure.  As soon as he put her down on the ground, she came running to me and gave me a hug---such a precious moment. I took the family into the baby house and Jennifer was right at home. She wanted to play with all the toys and check out what all the babies were doing. It was so great to see her happy and confident. It was crazy to see how much she had grown these past five months. She is now talking and even learning to count in English!

Her parents are so sweet and as I say with all of the adoptions – it’s amazing to see God place these children with their families.   

Look how big she is!

Having fun with some rings!

Jennifer with her dad

Adopted Children

Today in church I was hit by a wonderful truth. It didn’t come in the form of a sermon or a song, but as I watched a little girl dance uninhibited in the middle of the aisle next to her adoptive family.

As we sang different songs in worship, I watched as this girl brought so much joy to those around her. I have heard often over these past four years and I have had many conversations about the truth that we are God’s adopted children. But today is when it hit me. This little girl who did not have a family a week ago is now loved beyond belief and given all the attention she deserves. She can’t comprehend all that has changed in her world over the past week. She has been chosen by this specific family and they will never abandon her.

I have watched this little girl grow over the past four years I have been here. She has been waiting for a family for seven years as she came to FHC as a newborn. I realize that God can use whoever He wants, wherever He wants. I sometimes can’t believe that He chose me to play just a tiny piece in this adoption and to be able to watch pieces fall together and children claimed as a son/daughter.

We are God’s adopted children, having been given the gift of salvation that we so don’t deserve. We may have been amazed when we first heard of this grace, but over time that truth can become dull. Just like in the future, this girl will take for granted that she has the love of a family, I constantly take for granted God’s love for me.

Tonight I’m humbled that God calls me His daughter. He will never abandon us.   

Traditions in Ecuador

So a lot has happened in the last couple months. I have been neglectful of my blog, sorry!

This is my fourth year in Ecuador and I like the fact that I now have traditions around this time of year to share with friends and really any random person who crosses paths with me. Going back to the beginning of November, we had a post-Halloween party since I was still stuck in NY with the hurricane. We introduced our Ecuadorian and European friends to some fun traditions such as bobbing for apples/donuts on a string and carving pumpkins. After putting in much effort into my costume, I went as gum stuck to the bottom of a shoe. This involved me getting dressed all in blue, painting my face blue, and tying a shoe to the top of my head. People were very confused by this costume.

A few weeks later we celebrated Thanksgiving. I cooked the traditional Ecuadorian turkey again this year, but there was an added surprise. Within the plastic wrapping of the turkey, there appeared a colored pencil. I removed it before cooking. Around 20 people came for Thanksgiving dinner, including a girl I literally met about 4 hours before the meal. We played the “Where did this colored pencil come from” game and I also quizzed our non North American guests on some Thanksgiving trivia. Here were some of my favorite Questions/Responses:

Me: What was the name of the boat the Pilgrims came on?

Ecuadorian: The Titanic?

Me: What does a turkey say (looking for gobble gobble here)

Ecuadorian: No me comas? (translation: don’t eat me)

This year I got to take part in a new tradition thanks to one of our Dutch volunteers; the celebration of Sinterklass. I’m still not completely positive of what is all involved on this day. But while doing work on my computer one normal morning, I was suddenly graced with the presence of Sinterklass (Santa---sort of) himself (this was Suzan with a construction paper hat on and a blanket wrapped around her). She came bursting in the door (and I don’t use the term bursting lightly) and began throwing cookies everywhere. Apparently this is part of the tradition. I got to eat them off the floor. I found some in the corner about a week after the fact.

Another new tradition was picking out a real(ish) Christmas tree with Kathryn. We went to a local park and purchased our shrub-like tree which was pruned right before our very eyes by our very nice saleslady. We then trekked across the park with bush in arms where we loaded it into our 15 passenger van. I broke out in some random rash on my arm.

With the tree purchase, came some lovely lights. When plugged in, we discovered that the lights actually play Christmas music in a dying music sort of way. I tried to get into it and even ate dinner in front of the tree one night with the lights on, it didn’t last long. However I am happy to say that as I am writing this I am sitting besides our bush, lights are on, and no music. We cut some wires and voila-- we are music free.

At the beginning of December are the Fiestas de Quito. This is the celebration of the independence of Quito. So there are special events planned throughout the first couple weeks. To celebrate I went with some friends on a chiva. This is a bus that goes around the city blasting music and you dance as the bus goes up and down streets that are as hilly as San Francisco. Each person is given a whistle to blow throughout the ride and you are encouraged to yell, “Que Viva Quito” often.  I participated in a dance off with some Ecuadorian girls for the position of Reina de Quito (Queen of Quito). This was done against my will, I might add. I did not win.

To conclude, tonight I was reading our end of the year report concerning adoptions and 23 children have either been reunited with their families or have been adopted nationally/internationally. That’s about half of the children that we care for on a yearly basis. God is good! Psalm 68:6 “God sets the lonely in families….” God has blessed me beyond belief these last four years. I am excited to see what He has in store for 2013!

Kathryn went as a washing machine

"Gum stuck to the bottom of a shoe"

On Thanksgiving

Our feast

The Chosen Marathon

So I’ve counted that I’ve been on 41 flights since January of this year. Crazy, right?!  In the past year, fundraising for the orphanage has brought me to 7 different States and 3 different provinces in Canada. I just recently went to Texas to run in a half marathon. The race was called the Chosen Marathon and it raises money for adoptive families and orphanages. This race was a lot of fun because my sister-in-law ran with me and also a close friend of mine from high school. They both traveled from NY to take part in the race! We raised close to $4,000 for For His Children from this race. It was very inspirational to see people running for children who live literally all around the world.

After being in Texas, I was supposed to have 1 day in New York before flying back to Ecuador. That 1 day turned into 1 week due to Hurricane Sandy and my flight being cancelled. So, I got to spend some quality bonding time with my family. This included flashlight tag, board games, Halloween celebrating, and birthday celebrations.

I am now back home in Quito. Just in this week we’ve had a baby boy be adopted by an Ecuadorian family. Also a newborn baby girl who was found on the street came to our home. I have been busy working with the international volunteers. We currently have volunteers from Germany, Holland, Finland, and the States. My friend from New York and college, Kathryn, has returned to volunteer at For His Children for one year. I’m excited to be living with her and I’m looking forward to many dance parties and sing-alongs with her. God continues to amaze me as I see the people He places 

in my life for different lengths of time. 

Melissa and I post race (it was a little cold outside!)

Diane and I pre-race

Fundraising