We apologize

That it has been a month and a half since you have heard from us on this blog!

We have been busy busy with implementing new ideas and procedures at school and trying to make our house a home. God has been with us and has been blessing us enormously with His love and strength. Despite the fact that we've had many times of difficulty and frustration, we continually see how God has been working here in Ecuador. 

Currently, at school, we are beginning a new discipline procedure to help with classroom management. It has been a lot of paperwork, starting everything from nothing, and not having any sort of technology for our teachers. However, we feel like this will really help some of our teachers become more effective. 

At home, we've ordered some furniture so that when you come to visit us, you'll have some place to sit!  We've also been spending a lot of time with Justin & Jauna and the new social worker from Tennessee, Courtney. Ecuador is beginning to be more comfortable and like our home. 

Speaking of home. We are currently doing a fundraiser to raise money to bring our dog, Soup, to Ecuador. Her plane ticket is going to cost around $1,600 because she has to fly through cargo. A lot of you know how precious Soup is and how much she means to us. Please consider helping get our family member down to Ecuador. The Paypal account goes straight to Twickenham Church of Christ. 

https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_sxclick&hosted_button_id=HAT668TZVAXBS

During the end of October/beginning of November, Jake made a business trip to Alabama and Tennessee. He got a chance to meet with Twickenham Church of Christ and talk budget with them (oh joy!). He also had the opportunity to tour Madison Academy in Huntsville, AL to talk curriculum and ideas for improvement of our school. 

Jake also made a quick trip to one of our supporting congregations, White House Church of Christ, in White House, Tennessee. That Wednesday night he was able to give the church a powerpoint update on us and the school.  After Jake's return we were informed that the elders decided to up their contribution by $100 a month. We are blessed to have such a loving congregation supporting us! Thank you White House CoC!!

Also, thank you to all of our supporters! We feel your love and prayers!

Here are some pictures of different events going on:

 Second graders are coloring.

 We made pinwheels in Bible classes to remind us that God is like the wind…we might not be able to see Him but we can hear and feel Him!

 The kids LOVED their pinwheels!

Our new student council being sworn in.

Chapel outside. The kids where in groups, planning a skit on being brave with David and Goliath being the example.

We have some very talented students and they got to show it off at a talent show…

Our beautiful and extremely shy Maria from the Hacienda got up and sang a solo… in English! 

She sang "Blessed Be The Name" very beautifully! We are so proud of her.

How to run a school with no water...

I feel like we are going to be experts in tutorials such as, "what to do when you find yourself in a ditch", "what to do when you have no hot water or electricity" and this weeks feature, "how to run a school with no water".

Something happened to the water pump at our house Saturday night that stopped the water flow to our house  and the school. Which means... no water for food or bathrooms. Hooray! You can probably only imagine what it was like! We connected several hoses together from the main water supply tap and ran them through the school and into the kitchen so we could have breakfast and lunch. Jake also filled up a trash can full of water and we had buckets so that we could refill the toilet tanks when someone flushed. Good times!

We had a guy come out and work on the pump this afternoon and was able to fix it. Now Jake can actually take a shower!

It was a dreary day today. They say it is the start of the rainy season. Oh joy.

Now that you know what to do when you don't have water... here is what has been going on this week.

Kaden Reeger had a birthday this last week. We got to celebrate in class with sandwiches, chips and of course...cake and ice cream! 

Cristian, Kaden, Eric and Nicolas eat and chat during lunch.

We then celebrated at the Reeger's with the Casa 2 girls and homemade pizza and cheesecake!

We mentioned in our last blog post that one of our volunteer teachers, Jill, had to go to the hospital for an emergency appendectomy. Surgery went great and she is back at home recouperating. Jill is up, moving around and well on her way to a speedy recovery! We are so thankful that God was with her and the doctors working on her. We miss you Jill and hope to see your smiling face back at school soon!

While Jill was in the hospital, one of our teachers, Cathy Jones de Frances, went down to Quito to visit her for a couple days. This gave me the opportunity to babysit her ever so adorable kid, Raquel. Raquel is a wonderful 2 year old. So much so that after 24 hours with her, Jake's response was "this baby thing isn't so difficult". Moms...this is were you leave some nice comments for Jake.

 A kid after my own heart.... she loves to draw!

In the last blog post we also mention that Jake may have bruised ribs from a basketball game he played in. Turns out he actually broke a couple of his ribs. We took him to the doctor's office in Cayambe to get an X-ray and some pain medicine. He has been having a lot of difficulty moving around. Plus, it really hurts him to lie in bed so he has been very tired lately. So please say a prayer for Jake and a quick recovery of his ribs!

The doctor told Jake he could help heal his ribs faster by blowing bubbles in a cup.

To leave ya'll on a nice note. The farm land next door recently had some baby calves. They are super cute but also super vocal! Here are two of them right outside our bedroom window. We like to talk to them occasionally. I also will feed them some of the long green grass growing in our front yard!

Thanks for your continued support and love.
We miss you guys!

Nothing has happened...

At least it feels that way.
As I sit here, I am having a hard time trying to think of all that happened this last week.

It was kind of a quiet week and we aren't complaining!

This chicken comes to visit us every morning. She walks around for a few minutes and then walk back next door.

Jake has been working with the younger grades (1st-4th) the past couple of weeks. They are a bit crazy when it comes to procedures like walking in a line... or just walking in general! They like to run and scream in the hallways and during lunchtime. So Jake has given them an incentive of an ice cream party for the class who has the best behavior. Today he announced that 4th grade won and will be having a party on Thursday.

 Jake is eating lunch at the little table (with little chairs!) with the 2nd graders.

Another outside chapel with a great view of the mountain.

We had to take our car into a shop in Ibarra this week. It has the "hiccups". When we drive through the mountains (and when are we not?!) and we try to gun it to pass someone, the car shudders a bit. The mechanic said it wasn't the transmission, so at least that is good news. And hopefully we will get it back soon, fixed, because it is easy to get stir crazy being up the hill middle of no where.

On Saturday Jake played basketball with the Reegers, Jason Frances, Sean and Guillermo, a friend of the Reeger's. This was Jake's first attempt at any rigorous physical activity in Ecuador (at at high elevation). Everything was going good until Jake and Jason collided. Now, if you haven't met Jason, you should know he is a big guy! Jake ended walking away with bruised ribs. He has been having trouble moving and sleeping. I think he will be taking it easy for awhile.

Sunday we were invited the church in Cayambe. It was their first service in their newly completed church building. There were about 75 people in attendance. After service we enjoyed some fellowship with board games, a movie and then a delicious lunch.

The rainy season is upon us. This last week we enjoyed a bit of rain.  I however, always enjoy a nice sunny day, especially when the mountain peeks out. Here is a shot of the sun peeking behind Mt. Cayambe.

"I will always lift my eyes towards the Lord. With Him by my side, I will not be shaken. Therefore, my heart with be glad and my tongue rejoice. My body shall also be at rest." Psalm 16:8,9 

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LATE BREAKING NEWS:

One of our volunteer teachers, Jill Abbott, went to the hospital in Quito the afternoon with stomach pains. The doctors determined she had appendicitis and in currently in surgery. Please lift Jill up in your prayers as she has surgery in a foreign country and as our school will be without an AMAZING teacher for the next several weeks as she recovers. 

I ate too much rice...

...I will admit I have had a hard time convincing my main cook at school that I do not need that much rice with my meal.  The language barrier and me being the Director does not help the fact that I receive more.  Since I am not exactly exercising, my waistline will not handle this much rice too much longer...

It has been one day short of two months for Tanya and I living here in Ecuador.  In some ways time has flown by and in others it seems much longer than two months.  The cultural differences and structure of living in a different country definitely start to become much more real now that we are settling into life here.  I would definitely say that Tanya and I have gone through moments of frustration and joy in these two months.  Simple things like shopping for groceries, gas in the vehicle, and driving have become much more normal.  Our next step is to learn more language and conversation so that we can have better communication and more in-depth day to day living.

Tanya and I decided to not move in to Qutio to study Spanish.  We have decided to stay here on the property with the Hacienda and school and drive back and forth to another town called Otavalo to study Spanish throughout the week.  Our schedule will be determined by how much time is needed to study and practice Spanish along with the need at the school.

Speaking of school, we are definitely up and running!  We just finished the fourth week of classes and continue to progress though different procedures and organization.  We have had a good start to the school year and will continue to keep in contact so that the procedures established will become the norm at the Academy.  We have had many successes and compliments to the start of the year, but we know that there are many more things to do and it will take most of the year to establish and accomplish!
Friday was a holiday so our students and staff members (and us!) were able to enjoy a nice 3 day weekend.

On the lighter side of life, I have become better at building bigger and hotter fires.  The temperatures here at the top of the property (10,000 ft.) are generally between 38-45 degrees at night so having some heat when at home in the evening is advantageous.  It will warm up into the 60s mainly during the day, but can be warmer in the valley and Quito during the day.  I have not had to help any more calves out of our yard lately.  They have been very audible along with the hogs behind our house.  I believe though we have come to an agreement and once the sun sets, we all are able to sleep peacefully....

We appreciate everyone thinking and praying for us and the people here in Ecuador.   We appreciate the support and thoughts you have given us!  I will be working on sending out the first newsletter this weekend as well.  Of course, we have pictures below!  Enjoy and we will be in contact again soon!

We had some problems with our class schedules the past couple weeks.  A couple of our teachers were being double-booked. So we had to have people try to cover last. Two weeks ago, Tanya covered a P.E. class. The next day she covered another class and did a quick art class. Here are some of the 4th graders coloring.

Great minds must think alike. The assignment was for the student to draw his or her favorite thing that happened this week.  Here is Ms. Tanya's drawing. Below is one of a student.

Thursday we had a special assembly for the presentation of the flag of Ecuador. Our top 13th graders received the honor of bearing the flags while a few of our staff members read the significants of the colors and symbols.

The presentation of the Ecuadorian flag.

The Ecuadorian flag, the flag of Pedro Moncayo and the HOH Christian Academy flag held by Nicholas Vargas, Pamela Sandoval and Patricia Sandoval respectively.

Thanks for stopping by!

MIA

We have been Missing In Action lately.
We apologize. It has been pretty busy between school, shopping for a vehicle, me getting sick (upper respiratory infection) and then Jake getting sick. However we are still be and alive....and so is the  school!

So lets catch you up on what has been going on!

While we had a wonderful time in Peru, learning more about teaching and our English curriculm, I did not have such a great time on the return trip. I ended up getting my tri-yearly upper respiratory infection. It did help however to be able to sleep and rest most of the 48 hours  back. The only downside to all of it is because we were in such close proximity most of the time, I got several of the teachers sick plus Jake when we got back. We are still sniffling but for the most part are getting better. A good thing about being in Ecuador and being sick is you don't need a prescription for anitbiotics. We can just walk into any pharmacy and ask for what we need. A little scary but good at the same time.

We had parent night last Tuesday. It seemed to go well. We had about 100-125 parents show up. They were very interested in being involved and helping make the school a better place for their children.

We've had a lot of problems with the vans here on the property and it was getting very difficult to get things accomplished without a vehicle. So, after several weeks of search we finally found a car we like! In fact, we went into Quito yesterday and filled out all the paperwork and drove home with it. Now, to clear things up for everyone. This will be our personal car but it was purchased through funds from Twickenham. So it is technically the school's vehicle. We were very blessed to be able to purchase a nice Ford Explorer (cars here are super expensive, even used ones) that will drive well through the mountains, up the terrible potholed road to the school and it can carry lots of people. Plus it is pretty! 

Here are some pictures from the past couple of weeks:

The first couple days of school we had kids working on posters describing what it means to be: Ready, Responsible and Respectful.

 Juan David working on a poster.

 Erik made a cross.

 Pamela hangs the signs in Learning Center 5.

 A nice day to play outside on the playground.

The School of Tomorrow Lisoft in Lima, Peru.

 Conference in Lima.

Ms. Cathy, Ms. Jenny and Ms. Marcela happy about all the note taking at the conference.

 This picture was taken at Jockey Plaza in Peru....just for Jake.

Shopping at the market in Lima.

Driving along the beach in Northern Peru.

Enjoying some fruit smoothies (something VERY common here) on our travels back from Lima.

A statue of Jesus on the border of Ecuador and Peru.

These three sweet girls (Maria, Kaiden and Jenny) made some artwork during recess out of rocks and sticks.

 I just thought this was sweet... a couple kids holding hands during recess.

Mr. Hugo talking during Parent Night.

We had a few really nice days here so we had chapel outside. 

What a nice view to see and understand our wonderful Creator!

Adventures

We have had several different adventures recently.

First, we had the pleasure of hosting our first guest! Phil Pendergraft stayed with us for a couple short days. We got to catch him up on how we are doing do far, plus talk about some Ranger baseball and Fantasy Football. Jake was especially happy about those last two. 

Saturday afternoon on our way to drop Phil off at the airport, the van started to makes funny noises. Come to find out, it is overheating and the transmission was going out. The van wouldn't shift past about 3rd gear, so we slowly crawled our way to the airport so that Phil could get off in time. We then called a tow truck to tow us back. It normally is about a one and half hour drive to/from the airport. This ride in the tow truck was about two and a half hours... Sitting four people in the front seat of a 3 person truck. Good times.

On Monday, while y'all were relaxing and enjoying your day off, we had the adventure of the first day of school. It was a bit chaotic but overall, went very well. We currently have about 153 kids with the possibility of a few more registering within the next couple of days. 

I think we feel like there is a large learning curve for us. This past couple of days we have sat back a bit and watched what the "normal" routine is so we know how to approach making changes. 

I'll let Jake writ more later on the administrator perspective of the first week of school.

Right now,  am on my own adventure! There are 6 of us teachers from the English side if classes that are going to a curriculum conference. In Lima, Peru, I am currently typing while siting on a bus. It is going to be a LONG trip!

 We took a bus this afternoon from Cayambe to Quito. But it took us about 3 hours instead of the normal 1 &1/2 because we had to take a detour. There was a landslide yesterday that is blocking the Pan-American highway. It has caused a big stir in our area, especially for a few of our teachers who travel from Quito.  Anywho. Once we got to Quito, we took a taxi to the next bus station. There we ate dinner at KFC (yes, we have a KFC!) and boarded the next bus. We will be driving for 12 hours to the boarder of Ecuador and Peru. Good thing the seats lean back pretty far! Once we get to the border, we have to take a taxi across and then go through customs. In Peru, we will board another bus to Lima. The bus rise to Lima is 23 hours long! Luckily, the we got is a deluxe. It is basically sitting in first class on the airplane... Seats cline all the way back, personally TVs and WIFI! 

 So in total, we will be on the bus for about 48 hours.... For a conference that last less than 48 hours. And then we get to do it all over on the way back! I told you it was an adventure!

So, that is what is going on with us right now.

Please keep us in your prayers as we travel and also we'd like specific prayers for wisdom and patience as we continue to learn. 

It has been one month.

One month since we arrived in Ecuador. Time flies by so quickly! Only 59 more to go. Just kidding, we aren't counting.

We have been busy with teacher training the past two weeks. We believe that we have made some large strides in the right direction and are heading toward being a more productive and well structured school.

We have been through quite a few frustrations but have learned a lot. Jake has been trying to grasp the financial aspect of the school: how to pay everyone and how much income we have coming in. There are a lot of laws in regards to pay that we have also been learning about.

It has been a good time. I think we have finally stopped asking the question: what did we get ourselves into? For now at least. :)

So here is what we have been up to the past couple weeks:

I mentioned of Facebook that we saw a little girl pull down her pants and do her business... in our lawn. Well, a few days later here is what else we found in our lawn.

A stray calf munching on our grass.

My birthday was last week. Jauna Regeer was kind enough to bake me a cake. It didn't look so pretty but I promise you it was delicious! Many of you already know how wonderful Jauna is in the kitchen.

Jake bought me some flowers. 50 of them to be precise! So I want y'all to guess how much 50 roses cost in Ecuador... go ahead.
Nope. Sorry... too high.
Jake paid a whopping...
$4.
Crazy hu?

Yesterday the staff threw us (and the new teachers) a welcome party. They had prepared some delicious lunch and cake!

The cake was funny. Notice is says "Mike Welcome"? Well that was a little joked pulled on Mr. Hugo, our assistant principal. He is bad with names and has accidentally called Jake "Mike", so they decided to put it on the cake!

We have Phil Pendergraft, Elder at Woodland West, visiting us this weekend. We are excited about seeing a familiar face.

Well, some how after two busy weeks, this is all we have to report.
Enjoy this picture of Raquel (foster/adoptive daughter of Cathy Jones) playing in the grass.