My dad

I know Father's Day has come and gone but I just have to give a little shout out to my dad. My dad is one of my most faithful friends. He is so great about calling and checking up on us. Sometimes you can feel a million miles away from home when you live abroad but my dad definitely shows us that we aren't forgotten. He gets so much joy from seeing Stella and hearing about our day it's just really cute. Thanks Dad! You're the best!

Jorge is the best!!!

Moving is not fun. Being married to the hardest working, non complaining, loving, supportive spouse ever really makes it not so bad. Thanks Love!!

Moving

We're moving! Our house is almost empty and we've transitioned over to my inlaws for the next week until we head back to the US. 

Stella's first night in a big girl bed and using a real pillow. It looks like a crib but it's actually a twin bed w/ railings. She was pumped she usually isn't super excited about going to bed but not tonight. 

More Beach Fun

World Cup Fever

In honor of the World Cup we' ve been training really hard and even took some Brazilian dance classes as a family, so fun. 

Ecuador tied their game today w/ France which is great because France has a really good team but it's not good enough because they don't have enough points to advance to the next round.

Seafood

Eat your heart out seafood lovers. This is what Jorge eats at the beach.

Weekend at the beach

Watching the Ecuador vs Honduras World Cup game Friday Night in Salinas. Ecuador won #gooooooaaaallll

 

Breakfast on the sun deck, it doesn't get better than that

Off to the Chocolatera, where we saw whales passing by & sea lions basking in the sun.

I can't help myself... It's too cute!

Just 3 little girls sitting on the porch...

Rafa puts her head on her sisters shoulder...

...And then Stella leaned in & I think my heart burst. 

Downtown part 2

We visited the Bahia, an indoor/outdoor flea market. You can find anything in the world that you want. 

An impromptu mid morning street side Bible study. 

Adventures in Downtown Guayaquil

Jorge took the morning off and we took an impromptu tour around downtown Guayaquil. We had so much fun! We first went to the Iguana park then we popped inside this gorgeous Neo Gothic Catholic Cathedral, you can see part of it in the first photo. The whole church was open and I even went into the crypt, that was pretty cool and slightly creepy. After the church we went to the library which was unfortunately a little sad. The childrens area was tiny and you can't take any books out of the library. However while we were there they did give us one free book which Stella loves and is a cute story about two children on an adventure in downtown Guayaquil. After the library we toured an art museum. Tonight in my art class I found out that as a class we were going to tour that museum but don't have time now because of a fire that caused classes to be cancelled on Monday. Glad we went today.

Are you kidding me, look at the size of that door.

The plaza in front of the art museum, Jorge and Stella are near the base of the statue.

Family Home Wrestling Federation

This is what our FHE looked like tonight...

Happy Father's Day Dad, Jorge & Jorge Sr..

Holy moly, I have been so blessed to be surrounded by incredible men. Jorge is just like his dad so anything that I say about Jorge really goes for both Jorge's. They are so patient, loving, thoughtful, fun, and hands on as fathers. I'm so lucky to have them here. Even though my dad may not be physically near me right now he is so awesome at keeping up with my family. He loves to see how things are going here in Ecuador, loves to see Stella and just gets a kick out of everything she does. Im so grateful that he has also been a man of faith and devotion to God all his life. I can't imagine a better gift to give to your children. Thanks dad! I love all the fathers in my life, my dad, my father in law, and Jorge. 

Jorge wearing his new tie and Stella stealing away his card because there was a picture of a monster on the cover.

The nursery kids invited in their dads and sang to them. It was really cute.

Jorge wearing the M&M lei that we made him. This was the only picture that I had of him wearing it... ;) I had to post it because I want everyone to know that I still have the Aloha Spirit. LOL

Warning: this post is graphic

So... After we bought the potty chair Stella pretended with it for the first couple of days but every time after that when I would ask her about using it she would say no. Today she sat on it again all by herself and then got up and got toilet paper and came back and pretended to wipe herself. You can see the little wad of TP in her right hand. (Yep, I'm pretty sure she's right handed) Here's to hoping that she is getting closer to being potty trained :)

World Cup Fever

There's a lot of excitement in the air... The World Cup started yesterday in Brazil and Ecuador plays on Sunday. We were at the little park in our neighborhood this afternoon and all these kids had their jerseys on and were playing soccer.

She's getting so big & independent...

La Pieta, Michael Angelo, St. Peter's Basilica, Rome

In class tonight I gave a presentation on this piece of art. We had to choose an artist from the Renaissance time period and a piece of his or her work. I looked at a lot of artists and pieces but this one stood out to me. I know that I have seen this sculpture before but today it moved me. I think it's because I am now a mother and I feel that it some small finite way I can relate to Mary. I love how real she is portrayed here, not with a crown or a scepter as you often see her depicted but as a loving mother. Her face is calm and serene almost with a confidence that this was Gods will for her son. She is bigger than Jesus and holding him in her lap which is just about as nurturing a position as possible. It doesn't tell us in the Bible if Mary had a moment like this but I really hope she did. I hope that she was able to hold him one last time...

Part 2 trip to jujan

Fausto, Priscilla's father, had his grandson cut down this ginormous pod of plantains. Here the plantain is eaten when it is green or also when it turns yellow. It can be boiled, baked, grilled or fried.

Priscilla's Family

Visit to the country ( jujan)

Today Stella and I traveled to about 45 minutes outside Guayaquil to visit the family of my friend Priscila. She cleans my house a couple days a week and we always talk about what's going on in our lives. She has shared about her dad before and how wonderful he is. We decided this past week that we would go out and visit him today. He is a rice farmer. 

Stella with some new friends and clothes.

Eating Cacao or in English chocolate. All those pods hanging from that tree have chocolate inside...Very bitter chocolate. You have to add milk and sugar and then it's becomes delish. 

We are inside a house made of something that resembles bamboo here they call it Cana. This is Priscilla's sister holding Stella.

Saturday morning pancakes

Jorge has become quite the chef these days when it comes to pancakes. He always makes them from scratch, uses whole wheat (in Boise he would use freshly ground whole wheat flour) and natural ingredients. His perfect pancake is always evolving and always tasty. Stella loves them so it's a win win for him. 

My favorite time of the day

So you would think that this is my favorite time of day because Stella's going to bed and I will finally have a little break and don't get me wrong that is nice but that's not the reason. This is my favorite time of day because we read together every night and Stella loves it. She gets excited about the books, she knows all the books by their titles. She just got a new one for her birthday last Sunday and she has already memorized the title and asks for it by name. It just makes me happy that she likes to read because I love to read. 

Cousin time

Today we spent the day with Rebeca, Renatita and Nico and we had so much fun!

Baby Amada

Today Stella and I visited a new mom in our ward. She had her baby exactly one week ago and was at church on Sunday and had her baby blessed. She told me that because her daughter had been hospitalized for an infection she really wanted her blessed. She has tons of faith. So, her and her husband and baby live in one tiny little room around the back of a house. I brought over some of the fruit that I cut up yesterday and went to put it in the refrigerator and realized that they don't have one. It's so good see how other people live, it humbled me and the things that bug me about my house vanished.

 Don't laugh... I have a cold so I wore this mask inside the house. Being that the baby already had an extended stay in the hospital I figured it was worth taking a little extra precaution. Stella kept trying to pull it off i think she thought it was a game. 

In the kitchen w/ my assistant

Today Stella and I spent some serious time in the kitchen. I had bought tons of fruit for Stella's family birthday party that was supposed to be at our house on Sunday. The party was changed to my mother in laws because I felt so sick and I didn't go :(  can I just say that I have the best in laws a girl could ever ask for. They are always more than willing to support our family in everything. Anyways so I had tons of fruit and today we dug into all of it and cut it up. Stella was the official taste tester. Here she is holding the pineapple core, she knawed on that for a little while.

Now she is helping to put away the watermelon. Notice that she has something white in her hand. Can you tell what it is?

Here she's put the watermelon on the shelf in the refrigerator and you can more clearly see what the white thing is in her hand... (Yep, it's a feminine product that she grabbed out of my bag) (I can't believe I'm posting the inside of my refrigerator)

After cutting up all the fruit we made my moms banana bread. It was a big hit! Stella thought it was cake and kept asking for "more cake". Jorge loved it too. It was a little taste of home :)