1-8

Has it really  been a month since we have returned from our trip to the States?!?

I was going to type "words cannot describe how busy we have been this month"... but I think that words could describe just how busy we have been. And I will attempt to do just that.

1.) When we got home from our "vacation" we had a few days of unpacking and getting our house put back together after our cats (Chancho and Pata) destroyed it.

2.) Then we welcomed our White House, TN/Orange, TX group. 
The group, made of 7 teachers and 4 other professionals, worked and loved on our school kids. They read children's books, Bible stories, and did English activities. Some of the group members also painted the once stark white classroom walls. We also were able to take our older students on a service project to visit some poorer families in the community. The groups were able to help in some homes, delivered food and clothes, sing some songs and pray over the families. It was a great time of encouragement for us and hopefully a good opportunity to learn for our students.

3.) After the White House/Orange group left, we greeted our friend Diana Foster from our home congregation for a week. Diana visited us to check out the school and see what all the commotion is down here in Ecuador.

4.) We had Kindergarten graduation. The kiddos were super cute!

5.) We had a great time celebrating the 4th of July with all the gringos. The Campbells had us over their house to grill food and shoot off fireworks. It was a grand time being with fellow Americans and celebrating our freedoms.

6.) On the 12th we had a wedding on our lawn for a new couple at church. They recently got baptized at church and decided to get married also. It was a beautiful wedding that we (the ladies at church) had the privilege of putting together. We made flower arrangements, bouquets, and a 5-tiered fondant covered cake.

6 & 1/2.) We had a couple girls, Delaney and Danielle, stay the night at our place. They are both doing LST in Quito and wanted to spend some time in Tabacundo, learning more about the school and Hacienda.

7.) On the 13th we said good-bye  to some good friends, Wayler and Mariana Frances, who moved back to Costa Rica. Wayler was one of the local evangelists and Mariana was the Hacienda and school accountant. We had to send them off in style, of course, with a special class time at church. We gave them a plaque, a book filled with memories and prayers, and of course had cake.

8.) The next day we had three ladies come in from Florida and the First City Church to help with our first ever high school graduation. We are so proud of our students. All 6 graduating seniors have all been accepted to university. We are also so thankful for Lisa, Michelle and Denise for helping us and hanging out with us. And thankfully, I didn't have to bake the cake!

So in a nutshell, those were our big events. In between and even during those times we had curriculum writing, budget working, schedule making and even some time spend with our Hacienda kids.

Making S'mores with the Hacienda kids and ASHLEY MOORE (Shoutout!)

Eating Aladdin's shwarma while Leonela is getting her hair relaxed. (Look ASHLEY MOORE...another shoutout!) 

It has been crazy this month.
I think Jake and I will take the next month off of hosting people and doing big events.
Starting in August we will get busy again with teachers coming back for training and Jake's mom coming down. Karen, Jake's mom, will be here for almost 3 months to set up our Kinder, 1st and 2nd grade English program.
This next school year is coming upon us soon...almost too soon! I am not nearly done putting together our new English curriculum. Keep us in your prayers!