day thirty one - adoption

the other day Elias got adopted. I always have mixed feelings when a child gets adopted. Are the parents going to love them the way they should, are they going to teach them about the love of God, are they going to give up when it gets tough? I feel selfish sometimes in wanting all the kids to stay here, but then i remember that they don't have their own set of parents to tuck them in at night. They don't have parents to run home to at the end of the school day to give them a picture to put on the fridge. Sure, they have a home. And it's a great home. But i tend to forget how different their childhood is compared to how mine was.

ecuador and the culture of ecuador is really growing on me. I wasn't so sure at first if i would have a purpose here. I felt that i would do my time, learn a few lessons, and then go home. But i was wrong. There's a specific reason why I'm here and it's important. I don't know exactly what it looks like yet, but there's something about this place, this culture, these people, that are drawing me in.

please pray for my brother. His back has been really messed up for a while after he hit his head running up the stairs (only my brother could accomplish that). But he's in serious pain and the hospital could only schedule a test for him in a couple months.
probably the smallest lady i've ever seen in my life

hanging out one night downtown riobamba

day thirty - espiritu santo

my first spanish class didn't go so well. The teacher wasn't there so another lady tried to teach Alicia and I grammar but i was so frustrated because I didn't know what she was talking about. But next week we're going to do 2 hours instead, she felt bad the teacher wasn't there. I have never wanted to learn a language so badly. If i could have a superpower...only one...or one wish or anything like that, it would be to know every language in the world.

Every thursday we have a bible study here at the ark. One of the workers here just gave her life to the Lord so it was exciting to see her there. I don't remember how many people usually come but tonight i'm guessing there were around forty or fifty. It was unbelievable. God has really been moving. Well...he's always present of course but I've just really been learning a lot lately about how he IS always here and how we have access to the power of the Holy Spirit. It was his gift to us. We sang worship songs and i've been starting to learn some of them. I crave spanish worship music. I don't want to listen to anything else. Ron gave a talk and then we just prayed and the Holy Spirit fell on the room. I will never forget it.

Today was Cebolla's birthday so he got whipped with a belt 18 times. Happy Birthday Cebolla. One of the kids, Patricio (we all call him Teletuvie) is going back to Quito to live with his family. He has been here a few months, just working, doing odd jobs and selling candy. He has been staying with Blass but he's only 12 so they've been trying to get him to move back with his family. He's going back on Sunday and it will be really sad to see him go.
Lisa left this morning. It's back to 3 volunteers. It's kind of weird, we miss her already!
us with Teletuvie in our favorite coffee place.

I fall more in love with these kids every day. This morning when i went to wake up Romina I almost started crying because she looked so cute in her pajamas. I just picked her up and hugged her and said "i love you i love you i love you!". Some people just love like that naturally, but it's something I've been learning to do. And i'm learning that in the same way, the more i know about God, the more i am able to love him.
Tonight has been a pivotal moment here on my trip in ecuador and in my journey with God.



this video is from last night, our birthday party for Cebolla and goodbye party for Lisa. I look like i'm crying because i probably was. I love these people.

day twenty nine - bye lisa!

I can't believe it's lisa's last day here. She's flying out tomorrow morning back to her home in Salt Lake City. We're really going to miss her and we don't want her to leave. She's so much fun, and i have already learned so much from her in just two weeks. There's no way this is the last time i'm going to see this girl. The four of us are going out to town tonight for our last night together.

I have really been slacking on blog updates lately because our internet has been a bit crazy and I have just been so busy. We had such a great weekend off in Banos, i will never forget it. I can't believe it's been a month. It has gone by so fast like i knew it would, but at the same time, i feel like i've been here forever. I know i still have over a month to go...but i want it to be longer. The relationships i'm building with the Allans and the street ministry guys i feel are more than just seasonal relationships. i can't imagine never seeing them again.

I didn't get to my spanish class last week so today will be my first one and i am so freaking excited. I have been trying so hard to pick it up; asking people questions, paying attention, writing things down as much as i can. It will be so great to have an hour of solid learning. A couple nights ago one of the guys, Frejol (ya...it means bean. they have nicknames that are all ingredients of soup) was teaching me stuff and i knew when he was teaching me something wrong because when i repeated it out loud everyone would laugh at me.

here are some photos of our weekend off in banos.

quy (guinea pig). haven't tried it yet. but i am going to


this food was so amazing...we ate here three times i think

for 55 cents...everyone loves beer. haha

so many more pictures, i'll put them on facebook soon.
peace, daniella

day twenty six - we´re the dancers

i have learned a new cry. the cry of fear. The other day at the ark i was in the toddler room and a few airplanes were flying overhead, really low. It was really loud and everytime one flew over Antony started crying. But it was a different cry. Again, not one that you can just ignore. The look on his face made me put down the other kid i was holding and pick him up and just hold him and tell him that it´s ok, it´s only an airplane. I myself was scared that day. Someone I love was going for surgery and i was so nervous all day. I was having nightmares and having trouble trusting God. But when i picked up Antony, I just envisioned God picking me up and holding me and telling me that i can trust him.

The four of us girls are in baños. we arrived yesterday and stayed at a sweet hostal, Verde Vida, for 8$. we went dancing last night and it was soooo much fun and today we´re going to hike a mountain before heading back. this break was much needed and baños is unbelievably beauiful. will post pictures later, gotta run. I´m really missing my youth these days, i wish they could experience this with me.
daniella

day twenty two - baños.burns.baptisms

today was very likely my favorite day so far. actually yes. it was. but let me begin with last night. We had just found out that we were all allowed to go to baños to watch some of the street ministry guys get baptised. Baños is over an hour away. We were so excited that we talked and talked and didn't get to sleep until late, then we got up at 4:30 this morning to leave with Isaac and Naomi. We drove around picking up the other guys, i think there were about 13 of us or something like that. with 5 or so in the cab of the truck and the rest in the back. It was so awesome driving into the sunrise with the people in the back bundled in blankets.

Our first stop was in this town that i don't remember the name of. We got some fried sweet bread on the street and the guys skated for a while, then we gathered in a circle and prayed and a couple ladies watching from the street joined us.
then we carried on and drove up through these mountains with a deep ravine on one side going down to rio blanca and active volcanoes and other green hills surrounding us. it was surreal to say the least. We finally got to this house or church or something in the middle of nowhere, parked the truck and hiked through the bushes to the river. We prayed for the four guys getting baptised, then they got baptised in the river. the presence of God was so strong. This is the meaning of church. I have videos and photos that i will upload later because i need to go to bed, but it was one of the closest examples of the family of God i've ever witnessed and i'm more than blessed to be a part of it. We brought a guitar and sang some worship songs and swam in the river.

On the way back we stopped in town to get some food and again it's probably because hadn't really eaten anything yet that day but it was freaking amazing. We stopped at this little stand where a man and woman were cooking and we had rice, fried potatoes, sausage, eggs, avocado, and salad. and it only cost 1$. i could eat that every day. we also stopped at the side of the highway to check out some caves in the mountain. Then Blass asked us what our testimonies were and all of us in the back ended up sharing our testimonies. it was so powerful and amazing.

oh, and i got sunburned and i lost my sunglasses but i dont even care, i wouldn't have traded this experience for anything.
That's today in a nutshell. i will never forget it. i am more than blessed. God bless all of you!
Daniella

day twenty one - spanish class!

Yesterday Jessalyn and I went into town and we went to this language school to see if spanish classes could work out for us. Since Jessalyn is pretty much fluent and i hardly know anything and Alicia is like in between us we wanted to see if we could all take different classes but maybe at the same time. Well it ended up working out and I am going to be taking Spanish classes every Wednesday! I am really excited. After meeting people and hanging out with them, i am so ready to know beyond "hello, how are you, how old are you?". I only wish i had started them sooner but i think i will pick it up quick.

this video is from sunday night after street church. typical alicia.


So i'm pretty sure the people from the street church have confirmed that i'm insane after teaching them traditional african dances, not being able to stop laughing when riding in the back of the truck, and i think last night was the icing on the cake. I showed them that if you put an earphone in your nose and open your mouth the sound comes out. try it.

Leo is still in the hospital. He has a really weak immune system and never really gets better when he gets sick. They're pretty sure the HIV test will come back negative but please pray that it is negative and they can treat him.
a kid staring at the strange white girls on the bus.

day nineteen - yesterday's adventures

today is probably going to be pretty chill but i haven't had a chance to write about yesterday yet, which was crazy in a good way. The day started out like a normal day. I got up, got dressed, and went to the baby room to start changing diapers and pick up the ones who are crying. Then Glenda comes in and says "well aren't you going to the parade?" me- "ummm what parade?" "only the biggest parade in all of riobamba!". Apparently Riobamba has been celebrating it's independence and there's been lots of stuff going on. Dancers come from Columbia and Peru and stuff to dance in this huge parade. So i was really excited! I ran and got changed and I went with Alicia and Lisa and Cebolla to the parade. It was sooo amazing but so long. We couldn't even stay for the whole thing but i loved it.

the only thing is that it's hard to predict the weather here. I left the house wearing a sweater so i only put sunscreen on my face. well at the parade it got so hot so i took my sweater off and i got burned reaaaaally bad. It's my fault though, i need to wear sunscreen every time i go out.


after the parade we walked home. On the way we stopped at a hospital so Lisa could get a stitch taken out of her leg. She either fell in the galapagos or on her Inca Trail hike in Peru. If only i had a few thousand more dollars....

We quickly grabbed lunch at the ark then Alicia, Jessalyn, and I went into town to get coffee and go to a bull fight! The busses ended up going weird routes because traffic was so bad so we ended up on this bus for almost an hour haha. We finally got our coffee and bought our tickets to the bull fight but realized it was later than we thought. so we hopped on the bus back the ark, grabbed our coats because it gets cold at night, and Ron and Glenda were going into town so they drove us. I was a little nervous going to a bull fight, i didn't know what to expect. I don't really like animal cruelty but at the same time i didn't want to miss a cultural opportunity. It was actually really cool! It's more of a sport than i realized, with actual rules. There were about 7 fights I think, and once the bull actually won and got to live. The crowd went crazy because it's more exciting when the bull wins.

So basically the bull comes out and there's all these matadors with pink capes that tire the bull out and distract it, then a guy comes out on a horse and stabs it. this part is dangerous because sometimes the horse gets knocked down and the guy has to run and jump over the fence. then there's these other dudes that go out with no cape but with two spear things. they have to run and jump and try to stab the spears into the bull without getting gored themselves. This part is dangerous too because they don't have a cape to distract the bull. Then the official matador comes out with a red cape and this is where it's decided if the matador wins or the bull wins. I'm not sure exactly how it works though. But if the matador wins, he kills the bull with a sword and it gets dragged out with horses.

Right after the bull fight was the street church so we walked to the park and found the group. But it was so loud downtown we had to go to another place. People piled in Isaac's truck and we got a taxi. We went up this hill in a quieter neighborhood and prayed. It was really great. Then we went home and had tea.

day seventeen - power and postage

it seems like yesterday was day seven. and now it's day seventeen. i don't get it. Yesterday a new volunteer came. She's sharing our room with us and will be here for a couple weeks. We're thinking of taking a day trip next saturday with all of us to a nearby town. Lisa is really interesting. She has traveled so many places and is an inspiration to me to take every opportunity i can.
So today at around dinner time the power went out. Normally, i LOVE when the power goes out. We lit candles just like we do at home, but i realized something. The washing machines don't work. Glenda figured we change about 200 cloth diapers every day. Since we only have around 70 cloth diapers, each one is used multiple times a day. We can hardly keep up with laundry. Thankfully the power came back on in a couple hours but it just made me realize what it takes to run this place...it takes a lot.
Today i spent 26$ on postage. lame. that's about all i have to say about that.
The new baby boy has a name! Miguel Ivan.
Quite a few nights a week a bunch of guys will come over from the street ministry and hang out. It's so fun because i try so hard to have a conversation with them and obviously it doesn't work out so well, but i'm learning. They all think i'm crazy because i tried showing them the traditional ankole dance of uganda.
well im tired and going to bed. buenos noches, daniella

day sixteen - stretching

im beginning to see how my spanish is getting a bit better. it's still very limited but i decided to go into town today by myself to see how i would do and just to have some time by myself. i first went into a bakery and the guy tried to rip me off by not giving me enough change. buddy...my spanish may suck, but i can still count. nice try. I managed to get the rest of my change out of him and carried on. The coffee place we found yesterday was closed but i managed to find another cafe that actually had an espresso machine and real coffee. It was a bit of a struggle ordering and i didn't know what kind of sandwich i was ordering, but it turned out to be pretty good. And i was able to help the waitress with her english haha. it was actually really nice to just go on my own for a bit and know my way around el centro. I waited for the number 1 bus to get back to the Ark, paid my 18 cents, and sat down. Then some guy came from behind and sat down right beside me...it was Frejo one of my friends from the street ministry! he pointed to the back and there were a few of the other guys too! i was so excited to see someone i knew. They were going to the Ark too to see Isaac. So we sat in the back and I struggled to carry a conversation with them, it was great.

this video is mostly for Caravan Youth. Fred had a great time on South Beach. He's looking forward to a possible bull fight and maybe a couple days on an Ecuadorian beach.


Oh. and i just need to add something about my afternoon. We took the toddlers outside to play on the grass and i look over and anthony is leaning over to put his arm around mishel. she kind of ignores him, then he gets up and orders her to follow him (mishel just turned 3, and anthony is 2 i think). then i look behind me and miley is eating grass and daisy is piling grass on top of lucy's head. And my favorite...tito is encouraging 3 other boys to wrestle with each other, him obviously being the ring leader. They would wrestle each other to the ground and if one actually got hurt they would hug him and rub his head until he stopped crying and then they would do it all over again. Kids like Tito make me want to have boys.

Erick went home today. It was kind of sad, but it's always good for the kids to live with their family if they're able. But we got a newborn boy in here today. I don't know why here's here but he's here to stay anyways. He doesn't have a name yet and we're allowed to have input. He's so little and precious. Leo has been in the hospital for a few days. He's less than a year old, if you have a minute please pray for him.

- Daniella

day fifteen - piece of heaven

this post was supposed to be accompanied with awesome pictures from my trip to town today. but on the bus on the way to town i realized that i hadn't put the memory card back in. bummer. anyways...in town today Alicia and I found a little piece of heaven on earth. We had just walked into a food court so Alicia could use the washroom and i had sat down and was looking at some signs. I saw one for "Coffee. Exquisito aroma". I had never seen it before so when Alicia came back out we looked for this apparently exquisite coffee shop. We found it on the top floor of this food court that has an open-air court yard in the middle. There were no other customers there but the lady was friendly and greeted us. "ALICIA! I SEE AN ESPRESSO MACHINE!". golden. unfortunately the girl who knew how to make lattes wasn't there but we were quite alright to settle for a decent cup of normal coffee. It was amazing. It wasn't instant. And it was amazing. I think i may just go there tomorrow. I'm considering going by myself for the first time. It's a little scary with my limited spanish but it would be nice to just have some alone time.

I had a great conversation tonight with Jessalyn and Alicia and it's just been such a blessing to have both of them here. I told them i was thankful that they were such lovely people. Haha because really it would have sucked to try to love them if they were arrogant bags.
I've been learning about learning. Learning to be content, learning to be compassionate, learning to love, learning to pray, learning to listen. learning is humbling.

miley


erick


- Daniella

day fourteen - haircut day

Some of the boys hair was getting long so a hairdresser came to make them all look like handsome little men. For Oliver it was his first hair cut and it was long overdue!

Oliver before.

Oliver after.


Romina didn't get a haircut today but she was just really happy today. We're trying to figure out ways to stimulate her because she's blind.


Ok i know my fingers get in the way and i sound like i have a cold when i laugh...because i did. BUT that snow peaked mountain is chimborazo...and it was just beautiful up there. This video doesn't even begin to show how amazing it was.

that's about all for today, nada es impossible con Dios.
Daniella

day thirteen - success!

day twelve - village

Today was the first day i actually got to sleep in. It was glorious. I got up at 9:30 and ate cold pizza and granola for breakfast. But that's not very exciting...what WAS exciting was our trip to the village today! Ron and Glenda took a couple of their kids plus us girls to see the village life as they had to visit one of their pastor friends there. It was about a 25 minute drive on a bumpy road traveling up towards Chimborazo (the volcano in Ecuador. It's the closest point on earth to the sun). And i mean UP! my ears were popping and we were really beginning to feel the altitude. Riobamba is already really high (9000 ft). I wish i had pictures but I just brought my ipod to take video and i still haven't figured out how to get them on the computer. But it was unbelievable. We got to the church and there was a futbol (soccer) game going on in the mud. It had just rained and we were all wearing sweaters. While Ron and Glenda had their visit with the pastor, we went for a walk with one of the guys from the village. We headed up a hill to get a better view and i can't even describe how amazing it was. I laughed and said i felt like we were in Lord of the Rings. the way the sun was shining on the fields as we hiked was so perfect. All of the hills surrounding us looked like a perfect patchwork quilt of fields. There were sheep and donkeys and chickens and cows and little farms. And then the towering, snow-peaked Chimborazo looming over us. It amazed me how they utilize the few resources that they have. They collect the water coming off the mountains in reservoirs and wells, and each farmer has a certain time in the day that the water is channeled to their farm to water their crops.

Some people hike Chimborazo but you should really only go with a guide. And you can only get so far until you have to stop because of the altitude and the cold. The only people who have made it to the top have been professionals with full gear and everything.

There was this little boy that we saw on our walk. I wish i had brought my camera if only for this one shot, so i must describe it instead. He was probably four years old and super small and he was walking with his mother. They were both wearing the traditional panama hat. At first i thought he was carrying a stuffed animal, but i looked closer and he was carrying a scruffy little puppy, hugging it under it's arms with it's belly facing out and legs dangling. It was probably the cutest thing i've ever seen.

Tonight we finally had time to make our granola bars and we were so excited.....and then we burnt them. but we didn't care. we're still going to eat them.

buenos noches, Daniella

day eleven - too much fanta

I woke up this morning not feeling well at ALL. it may have something to do with the pizza and fanta i ate last night. I'm feeling a whole lot better now though. So last night we had a birthday party here for one of the Allan's sons, Isaac. They have a lot of kids by the way. Ten biological and i think two adopted? i've lost count. So we had over 50 people here from his street ministry to celebrate his birthday, and also another girls birthday from outside the Ark. I learned about two Ecuadorian birthday traditions. The first is that they get beaten with a belt, once for every year. I thought they were joking...no joke. This takes birthday bumps to a whole new level. The second is that they get their face squished into the cake...and then we all eat it. I like Ecuadorian birthday parties.





Tonight we went to a street church downtown Riobamba. It was easily one of the highlights of my trip so far. In town was pretty insane with all the traffic and people everywhere. There was a carnival going on and - hold on...ecuadorian carnival...as if canadian ones weren't sketchy enough...- there were concerts going on everywhere. Alicia, Jessalyn, and I went with Isaac downtown to meet up with the other people. There was a group of maybe 20 or something. We met in a park and sang worship songs and shared testimonies and prayed. Even though i didn't understand most of it, it was so moving. The Holy Spirit was so present. It was so noisy all around us but there was this little circle of God's glory shining in the middle of Riobamba. I loved it. It turns out one of the guys there was an undercover cop making sure we weren't dealing drugs.

After we were done it was probably twelve. We piled into Isaac's truck and we drove some people home all over Riobamba then we stopped at a bus stop somewhere and there was a man and a woman outside cooking on propane stoves. I don't know why...but there's just something about this picture i have in my head that i love so much. We got out of the truck and Naomi asked us if we wanted something to eat. He gives them food for free. Someone cleared a space for us at the table and we pulled up plastic chairs. "Do you want to try his fish soup (encebollado de pescado)? it's his specialty". It may sound sketchy but we were so hungry, i would have ate anything. It was actually SO good. I don't know if it's because we were so hungry or if i wasn't expecting anything spectacular...but i loved it. They put popcorn in their soup here. So fun! i highly recommend it. So we sat around for a while, enjoying our soup. Then we got back in the truck to drive more people home. It was actually really cold last night...it gets really cold at night, i think colder than in canada. But we rode in the back anyways, a bunch of us. If anyone knows me, they know that if you hang out with me past ten...you'd better watch out. I get pretty loopy. Apparently so does Alicia. So we were laughing so hard the entire time, with Jessalyn translating half of it to the Ecuadorians who thought we were crazy but laughed with us.
Anyways...it was a great night. We got back at two in the morning. And now it's Sunday. that is all.
Daniella

day ten - baaaaad coffee

ok..two things to note about this photo. One. Mario sitting by himself with a miserable expression on his face. he got punished for drinking out of something he found on the ground. priceless. aaaand two. the green cat billboard in the background. it's an ad for a disco. confused.


There are two things i realized (or re-realized) today...

One.
I was walking outside looking for the toddler group. I came around the corner of the building and i saw two things; the toddler group by the brick wall with a couple supervisors, and johnny (already with a broken arm) stuck in a stump a little ways off from the group. As soon as he started crying, one of the supervisors and I ran quickly to help him. I just realized that we hear so many cries every day. There are very few moments here at the Ark that are quiet. So many cries get unnoticed because we know that the child can deal with it, and we can't reward them for bad behaviour, etc. But there's a different sound to the cry of a child in pain. It's one that causes who ever is responsible for that child to drop what they're doing, run, and help them. I thought it was kind of crazy how quickly i connected this to the way God hears our cries. Of course he hears all of them, but he doesn't always rush to pick us up (although he's always by our side coaching us, encouraging us). He knows that when we pick ourselves up and suck it up, we grow stronger. However...when one of his children are truly in pain...he RUNS and picks us up. He holds us in his arms. He comforts us and sets us back on our feet.

Two.
When i got here, i don't really know what i was expecting. But i wasn't expecting to have to write down my hours on a piece of paper like a work schedule and treat it like a job. I never wanted it to be a job. But in some ways it seemed like that some days. However the past couple days i have been sick and i haven't been able to work with the babies and some shifts i had to miss altogether. Today I'm just getting back into it and I realized how much i actually want to do this. I love these kids more and more every day. I'm beginning to see their personalities, i'm learning their names, and each one of them is so unique and amazing. I feel like i have been suckered into North American culture in this way: When i HAVE to do something...i almost don't want to do it. The desire and passion to do it fades away because it's expected of me and i'll get in trouble if i don't do it. But the day I'm not allowed to do it...it's the only thing i want to do. I never thought i would say this...but thank the Lord for letting me get sick? I say it with a question mark because I despise being sick.

Today the three of us girls went to town and bought ingredients to make granola bars...i'm pretty excited to make them. Oh ya...and they wanted to get pizza somewhere and i ordered a coffee. NO word of a lie, it was the worst cup of coffee i have ever had in my life. And i'm not that picky either. It's really hard to find coffee here that isn't instant. It's really sad because such good coffee grows here! But ya, even in a nice restaurant, he brought me a hot cup of milk, and instant coffee on the side. I couldn't even drink it. I actually had to document this because i don't think i'll ever have a worse cup of coffee.

These two are hilarious. The one on the left is Filipe and the one on the right is Jose Luis but everyone calls him Suco because he has whiter skin


Daniella

day nine - thank you Nyquil

Today is a lot better than yesterday. I was so sick yesterday i felt awful...but i had a great sleep last night thanks to Nyquil and an extra blanket (and of course thank you to everyone who was praying for me). Just in case anyone is wondering i thought i would give a run down of a typical day here. Oh...it just started raining...that happens a lot. It's fairly warm, like 25 but it rains off and on.
I usually get up at 6 and start waking up the babies at 6:30. We change them, dress them, wash their hands, and bring them to the dining room for breakfast. After we feed them and bring them back to the baby room we take turns eating breakfast.
At 8:30 i help one of the Allan's daughters, Zoe, with preschool. We have 9 preschoolers and they're so cute and funny! We've been teaching them numbers, letters, and shapes. After preschool ends at 10 i have until 11:30 when im usually helping with the babies again, feeding them at lunch time. The lunch meal is the big meal of the day.
After lunch i try to have a nap because i get so tired. and i'm usually back on shift at 4:30 until 7 for the dinnertime and bedtime shift. We feed the babies dinner, then they get bottles, are changed into their pajamas and are put to bed. At 7 is the nightly meeting where Ron or Glenda speak to the kids about God. Sometimes one of the Allans play the guitar and they sing. It's one of the highlights of my day. I try to understand what i can, but it really helps when i sit beside someone who knows english and they can translate for me. Even though the talks are directed at the kids, it's been refreshing for me as well. At around 7:30 the kids say goodnight and go to bed.
In the evenings we usually eat leftovers or drink tea or coffee and watch a movie. You would THINK the coffee here would be amazing. but apparently all the good coffee gets exported.

i guess that's it for now, nothing too exciting to share but i'm so glad i'm feeling better today. I'm thinking a lot about home, but i'm glad i'm here.
Daniella

curiosity

Alicia, Jessalyn, and Me squinting in the bright sun

Alicia with Maria

day seven - jello for dinner

Well i have been fairly miserable today because i have a cold and i hate, hate, HATE being sick. I don't know if i'll be able to work with the children tomorrow which bothers me. I have been overdosing on vitamin C, and i just finished the "immune support tea" that becca sent with me. It was actually pretty good, thanks becs!

I haven't been getting enough sleep at night so i've been napping during the afternoon. Today i missed lunch so i was looking forward to supper and it was banana pancakes and jello. I was so confused. One of my favorite parts of the day though is after the nightly gathering with all the kids and they go to bed, the cook leaves for the night and we're allowed to use the kitchen. so we eat and hang out.

i can't believe i've only been here a week. I say "only" not because it feels like i've been here forever but because of the pace of adjusting i've been through since one week ago. It also seems like forever until june 7. There are still so many emotions i'm going through, i can't really pin point all of it. I guess one thing is that i'm still trying to get enough rest. Since babies poop every day of the week and eat multiple times a day even on Sundays....that means we don't get a day off either. I've managed to arrange my schedule so that i get to sleep in until 8 this saturday, and i also have the afternoon off. It's a different lifestyle that's for sure. It hasn't been hard because of the typical reasons you might think: foreign food, missing things from home, being in a third world country. Actually living here has been a lot more comfortable than i expected.

Maybe blogging at night is a bad idea because i can't really process everything properly. Oh....funny part of the day...I've been helping out with the preschool class and today we took them outside to play I Spy. Of course they got distracted by a puddle and one kid looking at the reflections in the puddle says, "the tree is falling in it!"

i don't think i've said this yet and i probably should say that i am enjoying myself here. It's just not as easy as i thought it would be and i should have expected that. Also...i think that i am comparing this trip too much with my trip to Uganda which i have idealized in my mind. But in reality Uganda was really tough too, i just tend to remember the good times more. This is a whole new experience and i'm trying to just take it day by day. I should consider myself blessed that God would choose me to go through tough times. Because it's a refining process.
Remembering to be thankful, Daniella

the school classrooms


the main building with the office, the Allan's apartment, the younger kids rooms, the kitchen, dining room, living room, etc.


dorm building with the fridge room (you guessed it...a room just for the fridges), laundry room, storage, bathrooms, older kids rooms, our room near the end, and the workshop

day six - poop

The girl in the front is Miley, the one in the back is Lucy. Lucy loves to hug and kiss me. The girl combing her hair is Michelle. The boy in the back with the helmet is Daniel (pronounced Danielle that's why here i'm called Daniella)


This is Nacho...but his real name is actually Ignacio like in Nacho Libre haha.



Sure i've changed my fair share of diapers before...but try keeping up with twenty babies who all wear cloth diapers usually with no plastic pants on top. actually...i really don't mind changing diapers. my biggest frustration right now is trying to understand spanish.

this is Johnny. His right arm is inside his shirt because it's broken and is in a sling.



I didn't think i missed home until i called home last night and they were all sitting down to easter dinner. Part of me can't wait to go home...but another part of me knows that God knew it wouldn't be easy, and he knows the outcome. Right now i'm reading "a million miles in a thousand years" by Donald Miller. Donald was in Peru to do the hike to Machu Picchu. They could choose whether they wanted to take the commercial road and get there in six hours or hike across the mountains and get there in four days. When Donald asked his guide why the Inca's recommend the long route he replied "because the more painful the journey to Machu Picchu, the more the traveler would appreciate the city once he got there."
I'm not saying it's horrible or painful here. It's just different and is going to take some adjusting.

The food here is very good. I mean...not like safeway sandwiches or anything (i've been craving one all day) but i recognize everything and it's not bland. For breakfast we've had bananas, boiled eggs, pancakes, cake, but it's all slightly different. Lunch and dinner we have rice, potatoes, salad, broccoli, beans, peas, corn on the cob, beef. But again, everything is different than in north america.

this is the room i share with the other two volunteers.

day five - happy easter?

I don't think they celebrate Easter here. I think they have some kind of holiday the week before.

Last night we went to a christian hip hop concert that some of the Allans put on with their street ministry. It was really fun! There was break dancing and graffiti and rap and even though the only words i could understand were Gracias Jesus, it was really good. Before we went to the concert the three of us girls went downtown to get ice cream and buy 1$ pirated DVD's. Probably the funniest part of the day was when we were in the DVD shop, previewing them on the tv to make sure they worked and the anti-piracy warning came on and we all laughed and the shop owner thought it was really funny too.

This morning we went to a church downtown. It was pretty boring actually haha. nothing like a Ugandan church. actually it was pretty much like a typical north american church. if i understood the sermon it might have been interesting.

it's been really good getting to know the people here better. Basically i'm just getting to know the ones who can speak english. I think i've said this before but i had no idea how hard the language barrier would be. I took it for granted in Uganda that so many people could speak english.

I'm doing a lot better now that I've caught up on sleep and I'm beginning to get the hang of things. Something i'm learning is that love doesn't always just happen. We have to learn to love. learn to be compassionate. learn to be selfless. Of course i love these kids. but since there's so many of them and there's so much to do it's easy to think of me first; how tired i am, how i miss home, how i just want to have a shower. But then i remind myself of why i'm here. These kids need to be loved. they need to be fed. they need to be shown the love of Christ. And that's why i'm here. I'm getting to know more names of the kids, especially the babies because i spend so much time with them. one of my favorite times is meal time where we feed two, three, or four babies at the same time. Romina is so funny. She's completely blind and she always falls asleep while we're trying to feed her. The babies all wear cloth diapers so we're constantly changing them, washing our hands, giving bottles, washing our hands, picking them up, etc.

well i guess that's it for today. happy easter everyone!

day two - zoo

today we took the younger kids to the Riobamba Zoo.

so people kept telling me...wear sunscreen, wear sunscreen. ya ya ya. I'll wear sunscreen. But it was almost rainy and windy and not even very warm. Well apparently there's a freaking hole in the ozone layer and you can burn in an instant. so ya. i got sunburned.
I slept pretty well last night but I'm just so tired this afternoon. Tomorrow i'm going to start my volunteer shifts which means i sign up for different time slots throughout the day and i help out with the babies or the kids and if i want to i can help out with yard work or in the kitchen. I'm still trying to get the hang of things and the language barrier is a way bigger issue than i realized. most of the staff don't speak any english and only a few of the kids speak english. i need to keep reminding myself that i only got here yesterday though.
The kids are adorable by the way.


this is Mario. He wanted me to hold his pretty flower so he could go down the slide.


the door to the ark children's home. that's jessalyn ringing the doorbell after we went to town for a couple hours.




mmmm Ecuador feet.