Quito

It's been so long since I've even looked at this blog...let alone given it any love. Somehow it felt like something of the past, and yet when I went back, I was struck by how important it was to myself, of all people, to keep going with it. You see, I had started it when we first moved to New York, as a means to help keep my family posted about the happenings in our lives, and to watch the girls grow.

As I look back at it now, it is so much more than that. It is a snapshot of where we have been, and how the girls of grown, for me, for the girls, for ourselves. So I vowed to pick it back up some 2 years later and start posting again. For us.

I have another blog going....less focused on the daily ins and outs of us as a family as it is on our journey of faith and growth, but also a picture of where we've been and where we're going.
It is here:
http://sojournandselah.wordpress.com/

Perhaps running two blogs will make me an utter failure at either one, or perhaps it will spur me to write more. (And a little secret- I adore writing, so I'm hoping to hold up the latter outcome).


Here we are...living now in Quito, Ecuador. In the above picture, you can see the Basilica just to the right of Nakiah, and old Quito. It's been a great journey getting here, and we know it's a yet another temporary stop for us in this life. I don't think God wants us to get comfortable anywhere, at least not yet, as we feel stirred to keep our roots shallow and traveling shoes on.
Here we are at the zoo in Baños, about 80 miles south of Quito, with an active volcano - Tungurahua- that spews from time to time...Some volcanic activity from earlier this month is captured here:
http://earthquake-report.com/2013/03/11/volcano-activity-of-march-11-2013/
This picture was taken several weeks earlier, and we went horseback riding partway up the volcano. But no lava was flowing then.

 This monkey caught our attention, fed by another visitor despite all the signs forbidding it.

 And after a long day in the rain, we slipped away into a cafe for warm drinks and sandwiches.

 And eye-gazing.... :)

 Cielo is one of our new parakeets. Owning birds is new for us, a fun learning experience. They flutter and fly all over, and are warming up to us holding them as well.

 Moon over Quito. A nighttime view from our living room. On a clear day, a volcano can be seen in that same direction.

 A day in the park with friends from church.

Here is Tovi drinking out of a coconut. They pick off the shell and shove a straw through the hole in the top. You drink the water from the inside, and then....

 eat the rest!

 Nakiah's recent "March Madness" basketball tournament at school.

 And on an uneventful evening, the girls decided to color their shoelaces.
Love the creativity.

These are the Andes Mountains, where we currently live.  This picture was taken around 12,000 ft give or take, looking toward the valley that holds Quito. Our apartment is located around 9,300 ft. 

It's wonderful to see them happy together.

Define Friend

Noun.
Old English: frēond (from verb frēon: to love)
Just honest love.

And a little quarreling (okay, sometimes a LOT), but still completely honest.


40 years this summer. And he proposed after only a couple of weeks.


The best memory!
I just shared this photo with my cultural studies class, and how my superhero crackpot sisters can make me laugh at the worst of times.

Ellamy and Tom -
this place would feel barren without you. I don't care how beautiful the island, you glow brighter with your 'brave and honest' love and friendship.

I am not the only one who feels loved by this friend.

So much to smile about in a day.

Dad

I am thinking about renaming this blog Letters to my Father, if only because months go by and it is you, Dad, that remind me to pick it up again, that someone does meet me at the other side of my chatter and self-indulgence. I love my dad. and my mom and sisters and brothers. You are all too far away sometimes.

And it gets quiet here. I can sit for hours and watch the sun change the hues of the island across the bay, with little to disturb the view save for eagles and ravens and snowflakes. I sit on a rock in the middle of the ocean, but it this other rock, this island we watch day and night that brings me calm. In the floundering waves and storms, it is there. When I am exhausted, happy, crying, shaken, dancing, it is there. And, because I like to look into things, perhaps overly much, I see it stand for the love of a Father - unchanging, constant, and strong in its foundation, yet changing in its radiance with the light. Sometimes it is more quiet than others, like a Father's love.

The eagles remind me of my dad. Of road trips, when somewhere in Montana he would say, "Look! An eagle!" with childlike joy.
When I met Jason, I encountered that same experience frequently, except that his exclamation was: "Look! A hawk!" Why my dad always saw eagles, and Jason always sees hawks - something I am prone to over-analyze. But I always appreciate seeing both, no matter how many hundreds there are in the sky.

snow and ice

A blizzard rolled in this week and gave us good sledding snow.

And we have been trying to go ice skating every day.

Tovi needs a little support.

After a little while with the crutch (I have no idea what that thing is called), she gets confident and starts pushing it away to skate toward it.

But this time, when she went to skate to it, she surprised me.

One longing fulfilled

Our indoor rope swing is once again a reality. Tovi joi thinks she training to be a professional circus stunt girl (hence the helmet). And who knows, maybe she is. Will post a video soon.

Babies, Bread, and Bears

Just one of the photos I wish I had posted in its prime. The sky is less and less clear the closer we get to winter. But looking at this photo keeps me thinking on the beauty of these islands in the midst of the windy, rainy, gray days that are now upon us.

Two sleepy girls.

Three silly girls, happy to have each other.

Olive and banana breads.

I have managed to get into the swing of bread baking, without a machine, and no kneading, using the book Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day. I have wanted to make bread by hand for years, but have never managed to get a rhythm down that I could maintain with the rest of my life. It feels pretty good to be able to finally follow through with a bread-baking routine.

This isn't award-winning photography here, but we did spot a young bear swimming in the river one day and wanted to capture it. It was the first for the girls to see a live bear on the island.

Oh, October. How quickly you are passing. It's a month I reflect on two amazing women in my life whose birthdays fall in this time. They only age a year, but the wisdom and comfort they bring me seems to grow tenfold each year. I ache for their presence, and the distance only makes it more so. Still dreaming of a time when we will be closer.

The art of single parenting

Jason was called out of town for several days to paint a lodge on a remote bay of the island. He has been away from us for up to a week before, but I always had my sisters or mom nearby to help out during those times. Last week, I started up working full time again for the school year the same day that Jason left.

He planned to complete the job so long as the weather held out. I admit, I felt joy today at the sight of rain, and the forecast for it to continue for the next three days. Will he come home? (I hope so). Or will he have to stay through til sun breaks through? (oooh, I hope not). No way to know when he will be back, because he has no phone service.
Sigh.

This is the first time I have really experienced what it feels like to be a full-time working, single parent. Wow! I haven't had a moment to rest between waking, work, meals, cleanup, and bedtime. (Hallelujah for Saturday!)

The time with my kids is wonderful, but I appreciate my husband, and all of the things he does, large and small, soooo much!!

I think I am going to bake him a carrot cake when he returns.