Happy Holidays from our family to yours!

Highlights from Bolivia

So here are some of the highlights from our trip to Bolivia... Word images first. Pictures below (can you tell Enoch stole the show?)

-introducing Enoch to his Bolivian family
-silpancho 3 times in a week (and pique macho besides!)
-watching the kids play together with their friends and cousins
-mineragua almost every day
-being able to be at another family camp
-Josh and Jenny playing the guitar and harmonica together
-seeing Jenny and Erik's new place
-hearing the familiar bird calls and walking the streets of Cochabamba again
-a trip up to the Cristo statue with the Aimers
-a date with Jenny and Erik to the Joy Ride cafe
-coffee with the Sandovals
-a night at Bouganvillas hotel
-prayer time with the ladies
-staying with the Forbess family
-being able to visit with so many families in the church

Back to Bolivia

We just recently returned from a whirlwind trip to Bolivia... 7 different flights on different days + 7 different places to sleep + 2 meals a day with people in the church + a ten day travel span + four kids = I don't know... insanity? As I type it all out, I'm wondering how we did it... but I'm so glad we did! When we started talking about Josh going to Bolivia for his yearly visit to the teams/churches, I told him I thought it was really important that the kids and I go too... to encourage/see people, introduce Enoch, have more closure.

It was harder than I thought it would be... being back. Cochabamba still feels more 'familiar' than Quito... I know the streets, the shopping, the public transportation better than Quito. It was so good seeing teammates and brothers and sisters in the church, but it reminded me how much I still miss everyone.

And yet at the same time, it was good. Good to renew friendships and to talk in person. Good to see brothers and sisters remaining faithful to the Lord. Good for the kids to be able to see their friends and teachers. Good to be with family and see their new home. Good for the kids to realize this was 'home'... and now our place is elsewhere.

It was good to come 'home' to Quito and to get that feeling of relief as you walk through the door of your home. Good to see the kids excited about going back to school and seeing all their friends and teachers that they have here. Good to come 'home' to Nana and Papa being back.

Michaela had a melt down one night after we left Cochabamba. She cried and cried about how she wished she could be close to Jubilee. We talked about how she has made new friends and would miss them if she did not see them... how people's lives change. She said she wished all her friends could be together. Welcome to the life of the global nomad, my child. Only in heaven.

My sister shared this quote on one of her recent blogs and it truly expresses my heart. Alfred, Lord Tennyson: "I am a part of all that I have met; yet all experience is an arch wherethrough gleams that untravelled world whose margin fades for ever and for ever when I move.”

Michaela's rules

So Michaela came home today with a paper of rules that she and her friends had made up together. For posterity's sake, I thought I'd record them here :) See if you can figure them out.

No srimin in lunch.
No bragin.
No jumpin in pudus.
No tisin.
No fidin.
No runin.

First days of school!

Firsts for Enoch

First time in the bouncer


First horseback ride


Sitting up



First rice cereal

Travels

I am so behind on my updates with the business of school starting that I decided to combine a few posts. We haven't done a whole lot of traveling since arriving in Quito due to being so busy and having a baby, but we did get away for our 11th anniversary to San Pablo lake, and we took a few days of family vacation to the beach - combined with a work visit to the church in Santo Domingo.


Happy 11th Anniversary! A view from our hotel room of volcano Imbabura... sacred to local people.


We took a drive up to another volcano - Cotacachi - to see a crater lake - called Cuicocha (or guinea pig lake) for the 2 islands in the middle that supposedly looks like the backs of 2 guinea pigs... and have lots of wild guinea pigs living on them.


And ate lunch at a 300 year old hacienda... where Simon Bolivar used to stay. And ate off of pewter plates!

Our beach trip was a much needed few days away. We enjoyed the peace of the ocean... the girls got terribly sunburned... and we even went on a boat ride out to see humpback whales off the coast (June and July are the best months to spot whales). It was a first for me to see whales in the wild, even though I've seen a multitude of wild animals growing up in Kenya - there is something exciting about see animals in their natural habitat. Enoch did NOT like the heat though.


Michaela got her hair braided at the beach


Gotta love the ocean


Little water bug


Enjoying the waves


Playing with Daddy


Enoch's first time in the pool


Building sand castles


At the Tsachila Indian village where the local missionaries hold a weekly Bible study. It reminded me a lot of village visits we used to make in Kenya when I was a child.




Introducing the kids to Talking Tom on the IPhone


Playing Tsachila instruments

Some favorite pics of Enoch

In an effort to be fair... and in case I ever do another blog book... I thought I'd post some of my favorite shots of Enoch so far, most of which I have already posted on facebook :) Enjoy!