POA, A Special Visit, Day Trippin', and more waiting...

Hi all!  This week started off great as we got the Power-of-Attorney thing taken care of on Monday. (This means that I am now Andy's legal representative in Ecuador and that I can spend all his money. ha!)
We spent the rest of the day Monday eagerly anticipating a visit from the Harlan family from Iowa. They spent a short night here on their way to Cuenca where they are adopting a little girl. The mom, Erin, and I have been communicating almost daily for months; she has been such an encouragement to me. It was wonderful to get to hug her in person and share a little time together. We are hoping that they can return to Quito to celebrate Christmas with us :)

Since we got up early Tuesday to see the Harlans off, we decided it would be a good day to try a day trip. We arranged a tour company to pick us up at our apartment at 7 am to take us to the market towns of Otavalo and Cotacachi. Little Miss Alison is NOT a morning person, so that was a bit of a challenge...but we made it. The drive north on the Pan-American Highway was a beautiful. We traveled through several micro-climates and saw mountains towering over 15,000 feet on our two-hour drive.  We also passed miles and miles of rose farms. Apparently roses grow best at the Equator--because the sun stays in one place, the roses grow straight and strong.  I never thought of that! Below is a picture of Andy and me in front of Imbabura Volcano. The indigenous people here believe that this volcano is their "Father".

Along the way, we also stopped at the Cotacachi Ecological Reserve and hiked up a ridge (in very thin air,  I might add...) to overlook a huge lake that formed in the mouth of the volcano. This lake is over 180 meters deep and 1.5 km in diameter and is a remnant of glacial melt from the last ice age.  They know that the volcano is not entirely dormant as there are areas of the lake where bubbles and the smell of sulfur are observed occasionally.  I wouldn't want to be there if that thing blows!

We arrived early at the market in Otavalo and practically had the place to ourselves.  On the weekends, all the roads are closed and the place is teeming with vendors and tourists, but it was pretty quiet on a Tuesday morning. The colors of the marketplace were so beautiful.

Jenna loved trying on all the cute hats.

Alison was pretty thrilled with this llama.
She named him Bernado Jose Broaddus.

We then visited the lovely town of Cotacachi, best known for its leather goods. We ate at a great restaurant and sampled typical Ecuadorian dishes. We did not, however, order the cuy (guinea pig). But at $15 a cuy, we are thinking of going into the business!  haha  We were entertained at lunch by this three-some....the little boy could not have been more than 4 or 5!

So, after doing our best to support the local economy, we decided to call it a day and headed home. We enjoyed the scenery just as much on the way home as we did on the way there. 

We spent yesterday (Wednesday) trying to get caught up on school work for Allie and Jenna (trying...) and waiting to hear from our agency representative here (Maria José) as to whether or not we got a court date for this coming Friday. We finally heard from her at 10 pm...and she said she is still not sure. Apparently the judge has tentatively agreed to meet with us Friday morning at 8 am, but we are still waiting confirmation. We will go to the courthouse with Maria José this afternoon to see what we can do. We are fervently praying that we get our court date for tomorrow morning (Friday) as Andy is scheduled to go home on Saturday. As much as I don't want him to leave, we need him to go home and work for a few weeks. So, we are still in the business of praying....and waiting.  Please pray with us :) Thanks, ya'll!