Look what Mark came home with today! He says its the fruitage of the Lords work! (jokingly of course).
 Guess we will be having lobster for dinner tonight - it's such a sacrifice serving where the need is great!

Had nice visit with the kids in Cuenca and it was awesome to see Michele again. How I missed that laugh of hers!

Sadly Aaron and Amanda were sick - Aaron with Salmonella, which was a bit scary as he couldn't get out of bed for days! Amanda had a a bad chest infection - I really didn't like leaving them on their sickbeds but then again they are adults so don't really need their Mum (much).

We've been moving into the apartment over the last couple of days - of sorts that is - our wardrobe and desk are still not ready so we are still living out of suitcases. However the kitchen is now all set up and Mark said he enjoyed washing, drying and putting away the dishes without moving one step!

Hot!

Doesn't bode well for what is to come - we were sweltering last night after the meeting so we jumped into the swimming pool when we got home. It's not even in the real warm weather yet apparently  - we are told wait till next month! Shouldn't complain aye - at the moment we do have a pool to jump into! That'll change soon enough though when the bosses arrive!

This weeks shopping trip was just hilarious - we tagged a ride with the Aussies in their pickup truck to Manta along with the other car-less  gringo couple and their son. Of course everyone of us was stocking up so there were shopping bags for miles and the sort out at the end was huge.In fact I still have a loaf of bread here that isn't mine! We left at 9.30 am and by the time everyone had done their errands we didn't make it back until 4.30pm. Exhausting stuff! But I shouldn't have to do any grocery shopping for a couple of weeks at least!

Sadly though we do have to go back up to Manta today - we are still hotly pursuing raising the value of the land we brought (I know, I know - when will this saga ever end) - and we now have a piece of paper that is apparently the last bit of the puzzle that we need. It has to be signed though by the vendor and his lawyer - so we are heading up there again, this time by the bus of course. It is becoming more and more evident that a car is essential here on the coast - lets hope we find some gold at the end of a rainbow to fulfill that need.


It's getting quite a bit warmer now that we are well into December - in fact it is 8am at the moment and I have had to put the air conditioner on - we have been warned that January, February, March are the hottest of the year so I hope I don't melt in that time.


I am feeling quite homesick for Cuenca at the moment so Mark says I can go  visit with the kids this weekend which I am super excited about. Haven't seen Michele since June so that is going to be a cool reunion and of course spending time with Amanda and Aaron gets me over homesickness for NZ. Roll on Saturday!

Catch up time

So many beautiful sunsets

Its been super busy lately - hence this blog has been neglected - here's a few photos to catch you up

Party on the beach

Kids came and went

Bus trip to the One day Assembly
 ( here we are at 6.30 in the morning waiting for the bus)

Open air assembly hall

Pack horse Mark - after a shopping trip to Puerto Lopez 
(30 minutes away by bus).  I am not much help at the moment as 
my old back problem has flared up again so poor old Mark has to 
carry all the load - oh to have a car (or just not
eat so much)!

A photo to show you what the poor guy was carrying!
(You may notice a bag of prawns in the mix - $1.50lb!!)

Visitors

I don't know what the heck this thing is but it came visiting. 
The photos don't really show the size - was at least 4 inches long - 
Mark reckons  it's a type of grasshopper??

This guy lounged all day on the wall - glad he didn't climb over it
 on to our side!