Happy Birthday!

The baby girl turned 11 yesterday!

She was born the day after Christmas 2003. That meant she was 364 days old on her first Christmas and never got one of those special "Baby's 1st Christmas" outfits. They don't make them to fit almost-one-year-olds. She never did complain about that, though. And she doesn't seem to mind having her birthday so close to another big day.

 

Yesterday we surprised her with the help of some friends. They hid in the kitchen and then jumped out and surprised her. It took her a bit of time to recover from the surprise and shock, but she loved it! She also loved the sprinkle-coated cake and twisty candles and playing her favorite game with more than three people.

A special thanks to our friend Aaron for the photos.

And, just for fun, one of my favorite photos from their trip to the coast earlier in December. Salt water and air must wash away most traces of sibling rivalry.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

Our altered-Altoid-tin countdown to Christmas Day is filled, on the fridge, and ready. Some of the tins have already been removed -- believe me, Carolyn doesn't let us get behind!

 And both of my "minions" are ready for some fun! Carolyn and I decorated Andy's door while he was gone to Bible study.

Then Andy and I decorated Carolyn's door while she was making cookies at Grandma's house.

 



The trees are up and decorated (very similar to last year's forest of trees), the handprint candles are on the table, and the Snoopy table runner has been ironed and put on display. We do enjoy the season and our fun little traditions.

This year, I've been reading Preparing My Heart for Advent and I'm really, really enjoying it and feeling challenged. Yesterday I underlined this sentence: "Advent is a time to wait, anticipate, and prepare our hearts for the coming of Jesus." I marked it because that is really what I want our celebrations and funny little things to lead my children (and myself!) to -- anticipating Jesus.

TBT

Here's an old picture for ya! This was taken near Winthrop, Washington, on September 1, 1998. We were on a family reunion vacation with Dan's parents and his sisters and their families. Twenty-nine days later, on September 30, we arrived in Ecuador to stay.

My kids ask me why I was crouching in this photo -- it's because the rock was a bit slippery and I was afraid to stand up!

TBT and a Birthday

 The above photo was taken exactly 15 years ago today, even though it doesn't feel like it could have been just a few years. The photo below was taken one week ago. That boy has grown a lot!

Happy 15th Birthday, Andy!

Earthquake 5.1

Some who read our little blog may have noticed on the news that we had an earthquake yesterday. It caused a lot of dust around our house. Here is a picture taken from our bedroom window of the hill just east of our house.

 It knocked out our electricity, internet, and phone lines until 10:30pm last night. During that time, we had 9 guests for dinner. Thankfully I have a gas oven and know how to cook rice on the stovetop since there was no way to use the rice cooker! We ate by candle-light and my mother-in-law brought instant coffee since we couldn't use the coffee pot to make real coffee for dessert. We did a bit of clean up by candlelight, but had to be careful about opening the refrigerator.

Dan was up early this morning and loaded most of the dishes into the dishwasher (bless his heart as my Texan-side would say!). The kitchen is still looking like this:

but hopefully later today that will all be taken care of and most of it put where it belongs. I'm also thankful that Dan didn't use that extra package of candles he bought to take into the jungle -- I think we used all but one of them last night!

Long time, no see!

This post comes after two very busy months of end-of the-school-year activities and early summer work teams. Mid-summer has been less busy, but the days seem to fly by just the same. The kids are enjoying their last days of summer vacation before they get an early start at school on August 4. Dan is currently in the jungle speaking at a conference and performing a wedding. He has one more out-of-country trip to make before he settles in for another year of teaching at the Instituto Bíblico Misionero Ecuatoriano in early September.

Here are some photos of things we've been doing and seeing during our absence from blog-writing.

 

One last horseback ride before Carolyn's riding instructor left for the US

Celebrating two birthdays at our favorite Quito restaurant

 

making friends with Calvin the parakeet

(see a video of Calvin here and notice Dan's earplug!)

 

Andy went parasailing at the beach. The back of the life jacket says, "Jehova en ti confio" -- that sidn't give me great comfort in sending my boy off into the sky! He loved it though.

Carolyn was too small for the parasail harness, so she and her friend rode along in the boat. It turned out to be a pretty good compromise based on the smile on her face.

We visited this little church while we were at the coast.

It was hot, hot, hot inside under that metal roof. 

But, it was worth it to be encouraged seeing a couple of our Bible school students "in action." Here, Ismael lead the worship and song time. 

 

Jeremias shared from God's Word and so did Dad Rogers.

My photo of Dad is very blurry, so I'm not sharing it here.

 

Dan and Andy were VERY dusty and dirty after digging ditches

for a new waste water system at the Bible Institute. They were not

allowed to sit on anything  or come close to anybody before they showered! 

 

Esy is another of our pets (we have 3). We're noticing more and more gray on her face,

but her teeth haven't changed since she was a puppy! 

 

Carolyn and I went to the park last week to feed the ducks. She found this old tree

and begged to climb it. I didn't see any guards around, so I let her do it. 

 

And, just a fun shot of my orchid that has bloomed! A friend let me pull a few shoots

off her orchid plant a long time ago. I wasn't sure the shoots would hang in there,

but they have and I'm enjoying the little speck of color on my front steps.

 

We'll soon be back into the swing of school and a somewhat regular schedule, so maybe you'll see more news from us here on this blog!

TBT

Although I don't do instagram or hashtags, it's fun to see other people's TBT pictures on Facebook. (I had to google "TBT" to find out what it meant!)

So, here's my TBT photo:

The Rogers boys "yesterday"

And a current one!

 The Rogers boys "today"



Happy Mother's Day!

 

Mother's Day 2000

(My first Mother's Day as a mom!)

Mother's Day 2014

(That baby has gotten tall!)

Birthday Eve

Happy (almost) Birthday to me! Mmmmm...Señora Jarrin's locro,

Esther's raspberry punch, family...what a great birthday eve dinner!

 

April Fun

We had a very small amount of "fun" yesterday.

It started with Andy getting a pan of brownies for breakfast.

I was surprised to find the refrigerator items looking at me

when I opened the door to get milk for my coffee.

The other bits of fun involved balloons and a crime scene,

but we'll spare you those photos!

Coffee...

Yep, this pretty much sums up how Dan and I take our coffee!

Thanks, Beffy!

School

by Carolyn

When my family and I went to the States last month, I got to go to a private school with my cousin Elle. I know I had a lot of fun there! I learned a lot of new things, I made a lot of friends, and I just had fun. I would get dropped off with Elle a little before 9am, then get picked up around 3:25pm.



 

This is me and my cousin ready for school

 

This was the first time I've been to a school other than being homeschooled. I liked being with the other kids.

 

About 99% of girls born in Ecuador have their ears pierced the day they are born. I am in the 1% that didn't get my ears pierced the day I was born. I got my ears pierced on February 17, 2014, at the age of 10. So far, I like my earrings and haven't had any major problems.



Dayuma

Several years ago, Andy had the privilege of meeting Dayuma. He was too little to really appreciate it, but I'm glad Dan took a picture. (Grandpa & Grandma Rogers were along on that particular jungle visit.)

 

Dayuma passed away a few days ago. I never had the chance to meet her in person, but I've read and heard a lot about her. I think it's pretty cool that she even has her own entry in Wikipedia!

 

Today we have a small handful of Waorani students studying in the Bible Institute in Quito. That's a testimony to Dayuma's courage. Praise God for His faithfulness!

Three weeks ago...

We were in Graham, Washington, and the kids played in the snow! Daisy the Dog joined in on the fun.

And, a video:

Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy 2014

The first two weeks of this new year have been busy. For us, just getting a fairly good family photo can be an all-day job. We managed to get this one not only with the self-timer, but on the first try.

We are back into the swing of homeschool and BSF. Along with that, so far this year we've had one teen night, a piano lesson, two dentist appointments, a birthday dinner party for a friend, and a fellow missionary family for lunch. I don't even keep track of the hours Dan has spent trying to get my visa transferred from my old passport to my new one. We've been at it since May..of last year.

Yesterday, we went to the park for P.E. It's the second time we've been there, and maybe we'll remember to take bread for the ducks on our third visit.

(The dribbling duck had just gotten a bite of Carolyn's cupcake!)

  Andy had trouble getting "real" exercise because of his long arms and legs. :)

And me...well, I'm just enjoying having my very own minion to put to work!