Lots to Do

Time has been flying lately! Dwight has been busy at work on the property. The group from the government that is responsible for finishing the foundation, beams & 2nd floor are getting closer to completion. Yesterday was supposed to be "the big day" for pouring the 2nd floor, but they were rained out by mid-morning. They're doing it right now....but it's still raining. Dwight walked home for lunch(about 3/4 mile) with nothing to block the rain - obviously soaked by the time he got home. He was excited though, b/c it's the first time he's felt cold here. :-) We continue to joke about Dwight doing a blog post, because it continues to NOT happen. I'm hoping after I post this, he'll feel guilty enough to do it. ha! He's taking some pictures today though, and we'll post them later. Notice I said "we".....

I am busy trying to prepare for everything before the summer hits. Our first work group, along with 4 individual volunteers, arrive May 29th. After that, we have back to back groups, along with many other individual volunteers rotating through. We are so excited to have all of these people, but if it's not organized...it could be a disaster. For the first time...We're hoping to have an organized schedule for the entire summer. Our kids don't get out of school until July, so I'm trying to create a schedule (kind of like summer camp) for June and a different one for July. It's going to be such a blessing to have all of these extra hands!

We're also excited to see how much gets done on the multi-purpose building, and we'll hopefully be moving in the fall. Keep that in your prayers, please!

I've also been busy with showers! There has been a crazy rush of people getting married and having babies in this missionary community. I've got 2 more this Saturday, and then I'll be throwing one for Chantal on the 7th! Dwight and I definitely were not expecting to have so much going on socially, but it's been great to have such a welcoming extended family here.

Last Friday night, we had 12 of the oldest kids over for a movie night. You can see the sheet we hung on the wall for our 'movie screen.' :-)

This was before we started the movie....The kids will be singing a few songs at church on the 31st, so they need to learn the actual verses to 'Come, and go with me...." They love to sing the chorus, but noone knows the verses. Dwight was practicing with them a little.

It's crazy that we're here for the kids, but we're currently both working in different areas. It will definitely be different for me after the summer, because I'll focus more on therapy after the group planning is done. Dwight and I want to be more intentional about spending quality time with the kids, so we were so glad the movie night worked out.

Dwight made them popcorn on the stove...which they're used to. BUT...Dwight put melted butter all over it... One of the girls, Jhulisa, said with her eyes really wide after she tasted it, "JONATHAN! con mantequilla (with butter)- is GOOD!" It was hilarious.

Back to the present...
I went into the baby house for something earlier and ran across Cintia.....

Notice her shirt says Trouble Maker...which is so true! It just doesn't look like it in this picture. :-) Little things like this make the day!

Weight Lifting Competition

Wow... remember that crazy weekend two weeks ago?? Yes... I still haven't finished blogging about it. :-) But....here's one more thing that happened that weekend!

As soon as the guys finished running the marathon, we walked down to the ‘coliseo’ where our kids were having a weight-lifting competition. We have 4 of the ‘big kids’ who go to the gym every day and practice with a trainer. They love it, and we were so excited to see them in action.

They had TONS of people cheering them on compared to the other competitors. You could just see their little shoulders go up a couple of inches when we would cheer for them. :-)

I was so impressed….I don’t know how they could do this!

Here's Jenifer- She's the smallest, and I don't think she's as into it as the others. She looks so petite compared to the other girls.

Rosa really enjoys it, and I think she took 1st in her division.

Jessica is a natural! Check out her legs!! We all wish that she had access to the level of competition in the states...even with gymnastics rather than weight-lifting. She is such a power-house! I'm pretty sure she always wins in her division....

Here's Angel...our oldest boy. The faces he made were cracking me up. He tries to be so macho and serious. I think he got 1st in his division as well.

This was a regional competition, and Angel and Jessica just traveled to compete in a much larger competition between 12 provinces. Jessica got 4th, and Angel got 5th. We're so proud of them!

I'm being watched...

Little Mister has been opening his eyes much more the last couple of days. He's lying in his crib watching me as I do emails this morning. :-) Here's what I keep turning my head to see...

I hope each of you has something this special to brighten your day!

Feel free to come visit if you would like to hold him. ;-)

More pictures of me...

My dad has recently informed me that there are not enough pictures of me on the blog. Before the Mother's Day post they were nonexistent. SOOOO....here you go, Daddy! These are just for you. :-)

This is the pixie face....

I could be in a Dr. Seuss movie!!!!

Very odd, wouldn't you say?

A friend here in Ecuador, Ivan, has a mac with this program on it. You can see him in the background of this pic.

All for you, Daddy! :-)

I love you~ t

Happy Mother's Day!!!

Mother's Day is a VERY big deal down here, so it's been fun to observe all of the excitement. This morning I heard two little voices yelling, "Teacher Tandy!!" from outside the fence in front of our house. :-) Two of the girls from the orphanage had brought me a little cake for Mother's Day, and they were so excited. It was too cute.

I also was treated to a huge breakfast cooked by the best husband in the world. :-) If this is what I get on Mother's Day without actually being a mom....Wow. I'm looking forward to the future ones to come. ha!

We want to say Happy Mother's Day to all of the special ladies in our lives!!! We love you very much, and we're so thankful to have each of you. We wish we could be there, but know that you are surrounded by family and people who love you.

For all of you who haven't had the privilege of meeting these women....here they are. :-)

Mom/Mrs. Martin/MeMom

Grandma Mary

Mom/Mrs. McGee

Nani....

Peggy....

Mrs. Lupe....

We love all of you very much!

John Paul

Look at this precious little face!

He’s 3 days old now. His mom came and dropped him off yesterday morning. She was very young, and it was hard to see her crying so much. She had not registered his birth yet, so her decision is final. We will fill out the paperwork, so he will be legally filed as Patti Sue’s child.

I had the privilege of changing the solid black tar diaper when we got him. :-) The joys of newborns!! He really is a good baby. Patti Sue is keeping him right now, because we don’t want him around all of the other little ones yet. I can’t wait to see how he changes as he grows.

He was 5.2 pounds! We do NOT grow them like that in either the McGee or Martin family, so I can't get over how tiny he is!

The number of kids at the orphanage changes every week.... This put's us at 56 for the moment. :-)