Yep, that's me, on a zip line. Suspended hundreds of feet above the forest canopy, upside down, and traveling backwards at a high rate of speed towards an unknown destination. What a rush! (I know, I still can't believe I did it!) Anyhow, that experience pretty much sums up our last week. We have entered "uncharted territory" in our family and sometimes it feels like we are going to take a huge fall from a very high place.
Our first week with Alison was really good, but now she has begun to test our boundaries and our love. I know that she is processing a lot of grief and fear and uncertainty right now and that behavioral issues are only to be expected. We have just had to adjust our lives to prevent some of the predictable problems. We seem to have more problems when we leave our home (to do shopping or touristy things) so we are just limiting our excursions. Alison does really well outside at the park, so we are spending more time there.
The good news is that after a big melt-down last week, she is doing much better. She is also communicating with us more, so I am sure that is helping. I can't believe how quickly she is picking up English words! We celebrate each new "palabra" (word) with a big high-five and she seems really proud of herself. Andy and I are also getting better with our Spanish, and she doesn't hesitate to correct us now. I am sure she hates hearing her native language so butchered! We also use Google translate; that has helped a lot.
Although we had to cut our trip short, our excursion to Mindo last week was fascinating. It was so beautiful and we stayed at a really nice hotel that surprised me with a birthday cake after dinner.
The girls really enjoyed swimming in the big pools and watching the beautiful butterflies. We all did the zipline excursion and it really was a blast. Jenna and Alison went with guides for 5 of the 7 lines, but did two of them solo! Crazy stuff!
We did a little Christmas decoration shopping this weekend, so our home is looking a little festive. The owner of our apartment left us a nice Christmas tree and decorations. Wasn't that so nice? We now have lights and garland and a nativity that we got at the historical center of Quito last week. (I collect nativities, and I am excited to have an authentic Ecuadorian nativity.)
We went to church at the English Fellowship Church yesterday and really enjoyed the service again. We also met a lot of people and just enjoyed soaking up some familiar American culture. The highlight of our weekend was getting to know a missionary family that we initially met at the park our first day here. Allie met some nice girls, ages 15 and 13, at the park that first day and then we ran into their mom at the grocery store on Saturday. The whole family (there are 6 beautiful kids) came to visit yesterday and we couldn't have been more thrilled. We were incredibly blessed to hear their life story and how they were called into full-time missions work. They live near us and we hope to get together with them again soon :)
Today we are anticipating the arrival of some dear friends from Iowa. Although we have never met, I have been communicating with the mom, Erin, since last summer as we were both involved with the Ecuadorian adoption process. She and her husband are adopting a little girl from Cuenca (south of here). They will fly into Quito tonight and spend the night with us before going to Cuenca in the morning. We are soooo excited to see them and spend a little time with them!
I will close out for now. If you want to see more pictures, check out my Facebook :) Allie will be getting more up today. (She is my picture guru!) Thank you so much for the words of encouragement and for all the prayers that have been lifted up for us the past week. We cherish each and every one of them and know that your prayers are working. I can't wait to see what God has in store for us this week...!
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