Kids Club today

Diana, pictured with Ruby, one of our high school students

I'm excited because for the first time in months, I'm going to return to the Kids Club at the dump this afternoon. I have really missed seeing the kids and being a part of their life, even if it is just for a few hours on Wednesday afternoons.

Diana (pictured above) is one of the girls who has been with us from the very beginning. She has sent me a few notes via the other leaders and I have written back to her. It'll be great to see her again. She has shown a lot of interest in Nathan - I think it's because she has helped raise about 3 younger siblings of her own . . . including Dyana (pictured below) who has practically come to the Kids Club since she was a little baby. . . she used to be afraid of everyone, but as you can see, she's now a happy little girl excited to participate in Kids Club.

Dyana singing along with Violeta, one of our high school students

We have just three more weeks of Kids Club with our high schoolers as they will soon be finishing out the school year. We'll take a couple weeks break and then start our summer clubs the first part of June. The tricky part is finding teams and volunteers who can come to help us each week. We have our highest attendance during the summer so we need all the volunteers we can get with around 60 kids showing up each week.

And the interesting thing is that ever since we stepped out in faith two summers ago, committed to providing a Kids Club during the summer months, we have never had to do the Kids Club by ourselves ("ourselves" meaning just a few of us adult leaders who are still around during the summer). God has always provided volunteers - whether individuals or teams! And just last night I received a phone call from a missionary here who will have a sports ministry team here the first week of June and they'd like to help with the Kids Club the first Weds of June! What a great week to kick off our summer clubs!

So God is already providing - but please pray that our schedule will fill up for the summer. We already have a couple of teams interested in doing Vacation Bible School - so maybe this year we'll have two! That would be awesome!

And you may be wondering what I'm doing with Nathan when I go . . . well, one of our missionary friends has a 13 year old daughter who is very happy to watch Nathan for me while I go . . . so today will be Nathan's first day with Raylin . . . I think he will have a good time. Raylin volunteers at an orphanage near her home so I know that she has lots of experience.

Don't forget that you that you can see photos from each week's Kids Club by clicking on the link in the column on the right. Or click right here to see more photos.

PS

and I was able to find my college transcripts just before I headed out the door - they were buried in an envelop in a drawer - the drawer that I decided to look through just one more time! YEA!

Good News!

So Santi and Nathan and I had a good trip to the US embassy this afternoon - we appreciate all your prayers! We were only there for about 1/2 hour and had all the paperwork we needed! I was surprised - I thought for sure I had forgotten something.

They told us to come back next Monday after 1:30 pm for Nathan's Certificate of Birth Abroad and his US passport! That's pretty quick service if you ask me - especially considering that the passport comes from an agency in the US and is sent down here. So I guess we can't complain too much.

It was also fun(ny) to get Nathan's passport photo - most of you probably know that the photo is very specific (2 x 2, white background, etc.). When I walked into the photo place and asked for passport photos for my son, the guy just looked at me, looked at the chair and the background screen and then looked at Nathan. I guess he had never taken a passport photo of a baby before. I convinced him that somehow we could do it - so I basically propped Nathan up against the white screen and the guy snapped the photos. When I walked out of there, $10 later, I had 6 photos for a US passport, 6 photos for an Ecuadorian passport (they are a different size than the US one) and 6 photos that are the correct size for Nathan's Ecuadorian ID. And they threw in a free 4 x 6 photo. I thought that was a pretty good deal for $10!

The Paperwork

Now that our schedule isn't full of doctor's appointments and now that it's easier to take Nathan out without him being attached to the oxygen tank, we have decided to start working on his legal paperwork. . . . this process will probably turn into a saga.

I actually started last week by taking Nathan to the US embassy here in Quito to get a "Certificate of Birth Abroad" - this is a paper from the US government that acts a Birth Certificate (even though we have an Ecuadorian one) in order to do US paperwork for Nathan.

The consul there was very kind and looked through the paperwork that I had gathered in order to do this - Nathan's Ecuadorian birth certificate, the completed application form, and our marriage certificate. Turns out that I failed to have one vital piece of information - something that proves that I (the parent who is a US citizen) have lived in the US for at least 5 years after the age of 14. She explained to me that I could bring old passports - I don't know how that proves that I have lived in the US before, but she said I could bring them, so that's what I'm going to do (and its amazing that I still have them and could find them).

Or I could get my college transcripts (it has to be my transcripts, not my diploma). I thought for sure that I have my transcripts here somewhere, but I have a feeling they are buried somewhere in a closet in my parent's house in MI. I tried to get them on-line but also found out that there is even more paperwork to do via snail mail in order to get my transcripts (what a surprise!). So I've decided to just go with my old passports as that is what she told me I could use.

Since I haven't live in the US for over 12 years, it actually is a challenge to think of something that proves I have lived in the US for at least five years - how odd is that?

Then she also asked me if we plan on applying for a passport for Nathan. I told her that yes, we do. Well, for the passport, my husband has to be along to sign the paperwork and she said that I might as well do everything at once and bring him along the next time we come.

So I think I have the correct paperwork gathered this time, and today, I'm going to take Nathan to the photo studio to get his official 2" x 2" passport photo (I have no idea how we're going to do as it there's no way he can sit on the stool by himself). And then we'll stop by to pick up daddy at work and then head to the US embassy again in the hopes that we have all our ducks in a row.

When I asked about getting Nathan a social security number, she said that we can worry about that after we get the Certificate of Birth Abroad and the passport. I can only imagine what kind of paperwork we'll need for the SSN.

Then we'll start working on the process to get Nathan's cedula (the Ecuadorian version of the SSN) and his Ecuadorian passport. Perhaps the process will be easier, I don't know. It seems like getting a passport is easier here than in the US - I know a number of people who got theirs in just a day or two.

And yes, Nathan will have both passports - he is both a US citizen and an Ecuadorian citizen at this point. When he turns 18, he will get to choose his citizenship. Having both passports will make things much easier for us as far as travel goes - he will not need a visa for either country (I don't even want to go into all the paperwork needed just to get visas and how much they cost). So hopefully by doing things this way, it will be more efficient and economical even though right now, all the paperwork, lines and confusion seem like a huge mountain to us.

We just have to remind ourselves to take it one step (or rather one piece of paperwork) at a time! And of course, our little boy is worth it!

4 months old

I couldn't resist posting this photo again as it is one of my favorites - somehow we were able to catch Nathan's happy personality . . .

. . . and little Nathan is now four months old! He had his monthly checkup with the pediatrician today. As expected, the doctor was happy with the results of the ultrasound of his heart/lungs and the fact the duct has closed. Nathan was his usual smiling self for everyone, making him a popular little guy in the office.

He weighed in at 15 lbs. 8 oz. and is just over 29 inches long (64 cm to be exact as they measure him in cm, so I'm guessing on the inches). The doctor is very pleased with his growth and development. We are too!

Nathan also had in his usual vaccines today. He was very brave and didn't cry for the first injection and barely noticed the second injection. We go back in 2 weeks for the LAST of the very expensive injections to prevent respiratory infections! YEAH!

Thanks again for praying with us and for us! We couldn't ask for better friends and family who are following along with us on this journey!

Celebrating Santi's Birthday Today!

Today, Nathan and I were invited to a special lunch at HCJB hosted by Santi's department - the Information Systems Department - or better known as ISD. The lunch was in honor of Santi's birthday and also a little celebration of Nathan's life as well. I think these photos captured the fun we had.

Here we have the ISD staff - Nathan is an honorary member!

Finally, a family photo!



Nathan just adores his daddy and loves being with him!


Nathan even got to help blow out the candles!


We were given this beautiful bouquet of flowers . . .


And Nathan was all pooped out after so much fun!

Happy Birthday to my husband!

Today is Santi's birthday! It seems we have been celebrating since this past weekend. His mom came for a visit and took us out to lunch on Sat. Then we were invited for dinner at our friends house - the Kooistras . . . where we enjoyed an evening of playing games. We also got to have cake and ice cream and blow out candles with Jacob, the Kooistra's son who had a birthday yesterday. On Sunday, Santi had planned to go to a soccer game with some friends - but was disappointed when they arrived to the stadium only to find out the tickets were sold out! And then today, there is a big lunch party at the office for his birthday!

In the photos, you'll notice the big green ball - that was our ice cream maker - we had to kick and roll it around for about 1/2 hour in order to make the ice cream! I guess you could say we got our exercise and burned up some calories so that we could eat lots of ice cream!

So HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO SANTI! Wishing you lots of love and happiness this new year that God has given you!

THANK YOU FOR PRAYING!

We want to thank all of you who prayed for Nathan and his appointment today with Dr. Davalós, his cardiologist. We are blessed to be able to report GOOD NEWS! The duct in Nathan's lung/heart has closed so he will NOT be needing another surgery! We are very grateful and relieved.

Nathan behaved very well for the appointment - as usual, he was his typical smiley self - smiling to the doctor and playing with his feet (his own feet, not the doctor's feet) while laying on the exam table. The doctor said that he could be described as "ACTIVE" and we whole-heartedly agreed - he rarely stays still for a minute while awake (yes, I hate to see what he's going to be like when he's around 2 years old - he'll probably never stop moving).

And when it was time to go to the Imaging department for his ultrasound. . . Nathan laid on the table hardly moving - it was practically a miracle! Both Santi and I were worried as to how we were going to keep him still so that the doctor would perform the ultrasound. So that was also a blessing - Nathan just laid there as calm as could be - fascinated with the monitor and all the lights.

And needless to say, we were thrilled when the doctor told us that the duct had closed. Nathan still has a little bit of high pressure - its around 30 (and should be in the 20s). The doctor didn't seem terribly concerned about it at this point - saying that the high altitude here is still having some affect as well as Nathan's young age. There is also a slight opening in one of the ventricles of Nathan's heart, but it is so tiny and the doctor expects it to close yet in the next few months and wants to check Nathan again in 3 months.

And today, I'm excited as I got to call the oxygen supplier and ask them to come and take THE TANK away! I can't wait to see that thing out of the house. No more oxygen for Nathan! Another big milestone!

So once again we are thanking you for taking this journey with us and for praying for Nathan and his appointment today! We felt all of your prayers as God gave us much peace and calm hearts. On Friday, we will be at the pediatrician's office, looking over the reports from the cardiologist, having Nathan's monthly check-up and doing his vaccines.

Thanks again!

THANK YOU FOR PRAYING!

More Doctor's Appointments

After a reprieve from having so many doctor's appointments for Nathan, we have several coming up next week and would like to ask you to join us in prayer.

On Monday, we will be seeing his cardiologist, Dr. Davalós, who will be checking to see if the pressure has gone down in his lungs yet. Dr. Davalos will also do an ultrasound on Nathan to look at the duct to see if it has closed (this is called PDA if you want to google it).

We continue to pray and humbly ask God that the duct will be closed by Monday so that Nathan will not need another surgery. We feel that Nathan is doing really well - growing and developing as a typical four-month old (he will be four months on April 25) and are trusting God to take care of the problems that he has inside his little body.

Then on Friday, we have Nathan's regular monthly checkup with his pediatricians, Dr. Jijón and Dr. Fernando Aguinaga. At that time we will talk about the results from the tests with the cardiologist and also look at Nathan's progress. We may also do an x-ray on Nathan's left lung to see how much it has developed since his surgery to correct the Congenital Diaphragmatic Hernia. And Nathan will be having some more of the routine vaccines for babies.

And then, probably a week later, he will have his final injection of the special (and expensive) vaccine of Synergis which has been so helpful in preventing any respiratory infections in Nathan.

So we'd appreciate your prayers in the next week or so as we have all this going on. Thankfully it's much easier to take Nathan out now. In fact, he seems to love being out with people! Whenever people (strangers or friends) come up to him and talk to him, he just smiles and laughs and jabbers away! We couldn't have asked for a happier baby! In fact, he rarely gets grumpy. And I'm not just bragging because he's our kid! We are so grateful for Nathan's easy-going personality - especially in spite of all that he went through early on.

And, again, we want to thank everyone for their encouraging notes and emails! Your prayers and thoughtfulness mean a lot to us! THANK YOU! And as they say in Spanish - bendiciones!

Working with Daddy

I have gradually started returning to various responsibilities at HCJB and Extreme Response. Thankfully, I'm going to be able to do a lot of my work at Extreme Response from home (if I can ever find the time!).

One of the things I have returned to is teaching the Second Level English class at the Christian Center of Communications - the three year technical school at HCJB - we are an extended campus of Northwestern College in St. Paul, MN and the students have the option to finish their fourth year and get a degree there after they have completed their 3 years here in Ecuador. Click here to read more about the CCC.

My class of 8 students meets on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 12 - 2 pm.

And my husband is a willing babysitter for Nathan . . . so on Tuesdays and Thursdays, I pack Nathan up and take him to his daddy's office where the two of them seem to get along just fine. I'm guessing that Nathan likes all the computers and stuff sitting around and spending some time with daddy . . . he's very content and happy when I pick him up after class. And we are grateful for this flexibility in Santi's work.

ExerSaucer Fun

I'm way behind on posting photos and articles. But to catch you up, I thought I'd put up these photos we took of Nathan today! We just purchased this ExerSaucer for Nathan this weekend with some gift money from various people. I think that this is probably going to be one of our best purchases for hours of entertainment for the little guy! As you can see, he was mesmerized! We admit that we were a little bit too - with all those cute farm animals and such!

Clean Water Projects

How many of us take our clean drinking water for granted? I know I do. . . we have a filter on our kitchen sink here at home and think nothing of going and filling our glasses with water.

Here in Ecuador, the Community Development department of HCJB Global has worked hard for many years to help provide clean water drinking systems for rural communities high in the Andes Mountains. Communities that normally suffered from the lack of clean water for drinking.

Below is an article from HCJB that shares a bit more about the Clean Water Projects and their impact here in Ecuador. I have had the privilege of being in several of these communities - usually during Carnaval, with our high school students when we go and do our annual ministry trip - including a VBS for the children of the community.

I can attest to the fact that these people live in very hard conditions, living on what they are able to raise and grow on the land and working very hard. They do without all the amenities that we normally think to be essentials. But they are a happy people and many have come to know the Lord and the communities' lifestyles have changed dramatically through the evangelical influence.

Here is the article:

HCJB GLOBAL HANDS OUTREACH DOVETAILS WITH WORLD WATER DAY

Source: HCJB Global

While Ecuador has made huge strides in building its infrastructure, only about 50 percent of rural Ecuadorians have access to an improved drinking water source. Many of these residents resort to using contaminated water, often resulting in disease and even death. Others spend hours each day hauling water from distant sources, expending valuable resources.

In an effort to address this problem, HCJB Global Hands operates a Clean Water Projects outreach that began in Ecuador in 1980, utilizing funds from individual donors, churches, governments and collaborating charitable organizations. The outreach dovetails with World Water Day, designated by a U.N. General Assembly resolution and celebrated annually on March 22 since 1993.

“Our goal is to facilitate the success of communities desiring to develop their basic infrastructure necessary for a healthy environment,” said HCJB Global missionary Bruce Rydbeck who directs Clean Water Projects, a ministry of the mission’s Vozandes Community Development department.

“Development flourishes and health is improved by implementing biblical values,” he added. “Training in water system management and hygiene are integral to the program as are evangelism, discipleship and pastoral training.”

Rydbeck emphasized that each benefiting community is required to provide manual labor, local materials and some of the finances for their project. The communities also build their own latrine and participate in hygiene sessions to receive the collaborative help from HCJB Global Hands.

“The local people work in the hot sun, frigid cold and pelting rain to dig many miles of pipe trench more than a yard deep by hand,” he explained.

“They haul tons of cement, sand and stone to remote building sites. They solve difficult construction issues with minimal resources. As a result, the sense of pride and ownership runs deep when they complete the project, providing clean water and sanitation at each home. They know that God empowers us when we harmonize our plans with his desires.”

This year HCJB Global Hands is collaborating with a dozen Ecuadorian indigenous communities to improve health and infrastructure for more than 1,000 homes. These include Quichua communities in Chimborazo province, Shuar communities in Morona Santiago province and Chachi communities in Esmeraldas province.

Lupaxi Grande, a remote Andean village with humble adobe and cement-block dwellings nestled among verdant fields of barley, potatoes and quinoa, is an example of a Quichua community that has benefited from this program.

More than 100 homes now receive clean, protected spring water pumped at high pressure to the highest homes, 650 feet above the spring. HCJB Global Hands helped with the technical design, secured donations for the pipe and pumps and discipled the local leaders.

At the colorful inauguration ceremony, everyone in the village gathered to celebrate the community’s first water system. The 3½-hour ceremony included speeches, prayers, songs and acknowledgments. Rydbeck took part in the ribbon-cutting ceremony and preached. Culminating the ceremony, 300 Quichua people shared a meal of quinoa soup, fava beans, corn, cheese and guinea pig, cooked over wood fires.

Why were the people so excited? “To complete the project, every family had sacrificed 60 days of arduous manual labor to build four concrete reservoirs and dig more than six miles of four-foot-deep pipe trench, providing clean spring water to each home,” Rydbeck explained. “Imagine having to lug all the water for your family uphill the equivalent of a 67-story building every day!”

A local pastor commented, “Until recently, we rose every day at 3 a.m. to haul water from the contaminated stream for our household use! Now we have both the living water that Jesus gives and clean water that will improve our health.”

Here are some online resources to learn more about HCJB Global Hands’ Clean Water Projects outreach:

- Photos of the Lupaxi Grande dedication: click here

- Overview with staffing and internship opportunities for engineers and health professionals: click here

- Video: click here

And Rain in Ecuador

All the schools here were closed today because of the rain (I guess we get "rain days" rather than snow days). The intense rains that have fallen on Ecuador this year already caused severe flooding along the coast and now the rains are affecting the mountain regions as well.

Monday afternoon a large sinkhole opened up at the intersection of 4 main roads in Quito. This intersection is one of two ways to travel from the north part of Quito to the south. (The other way, a tunnel, was briefly flooded on Monday as well.)

Schools may be canceled for the rest of the week until a temporary solution can be found for the traffic problems. There are also numerous landslides along many of the roads.

Please continue to pray for Ecuador. As I sit here at the computer, it is raining hard again. And here is a picture of the large sinkhole. It is 150 feet in diameter and 150 feet deep. For any of you who have been here to visit and have traveled south out of Quito, you probably drove through this circle to get onto the highway south out of Quito.

The Pounding

The house next to us in our condominium has been for sale and sitting empty for quite some time. The owners finally sold it and the new owners decided to do various and sundry changes - including major remodeling! The house is literally right up next to our house and so about 4 weeks ago, the daily "pounding" began! It wasn't until last week that I was able to see what some of it was about.

They started knocking out the space for this window . . . . this photo was taken right outside our bedroom window.


By the end of the day, the wall to the house next door looked like this - with two windows knocked out (one was already there making a total of three).


I must admit that the pounding gets pretty annoying to me after a while. However, it is a good motivator to get out and take a walk with Nathan when the weather is nice! Nathan doesn't seem to be bothered by it and sleeps right through it.

Hopefully they will soon be done!