We’re Here!

by sara

For the last few days we have been amazed at how smoothly everything went (well…all except for the bouncy bus ride). Thank you so much for all your prayers. On Tuesday we got through the airports without a problem, all of our bags made it too :0) In Quito we hopped in a taxi with a driver who knew exactly where our guesthouse was (even though we realized we did not have the exact address), a beautiful clean room was waiting for us, and we got almost eight hours of sleep!

Yesterday we spent the day in the park with three of the children that my sister Emily and I sponsor through Compassion International. We had so much fun running and playing and spending time together. As it approached evening we all said our goodbyes (and hello to some sunburn). Erin and I headed back to the Compassion office to drop off a present for a friend’s sponsored child, then went to the guest house to collect our bags.

Once again everything worked out perfectly. We got everything packed up, used the internet to send a email home for our brother’s birthday, and climbed in the guesthouse shuttle and rode to the bus station. Once there we got someone to help us with our bags, got seats on a bus leaving 5 minutes later, and had a jostling but cool ride to Shell. Right after we arrived in Shell we hailed a taxi and we arrived at our house in Shell a little earlier than we had planned. –It was an exhausting but great day.

Today we spent some time unpacking and getting our room set up, then we went to the Casa (Casa de Fe) to say hi to the kids and work on some preparations for this summer’s activities. In the afternoon we did some shopping – food is always a good thing – and then went out to dinner with some of the teachers and other staff.

It was amazing to see the kids again and see for ourselves how much they have grown and changed. While some things at the Casa have changed, so much is still the same. After three summers with the kids it kind of feels like coming home.

(No pictures today because I realized we forgot to take any! More will be coming soon)