Well we have settled down a bit - it has been a crazy few days here, buying furniture and other stuff needed for the house but the biggest thing we did is front up to the visa office on Monday morning (we got in line at 7am). Its a funny system here - not sure how they work it out - we finally got inside the building after they had taken our passports and then after some time they announced that we could come back at 10am. This was good cause we needed to get passport photos taken and breakfast. When we got back the guy at the counter checked every paper and probably every word on our application and eventually we were called back up and he pointed out a few errors. One big error was that Aaron had a mistake on his official document saying he had left the country twice and the bloke thought that he would have to go to Quito to get that fixed up - what a pain that would have been - but after Aaron getting a little cross with the guy, he went and asked someone else who said no it was alright. Anyway, we still had to go and get the translation of Amandas birth certificate done again, get it noterized and come back to the office but shock horror -everything was right and our application has been accepted. In about a months time we will have a verdict. Exciting stuff especially for Aaron and Amanda because they have been to that office so many times over the last months sorting stuff out.
We also helped on Monday night in the construction kitchen (our congo has a remodellation of their KH going on) and on the menu was classic kiwi food - bacon and egg pie and custard squares - I think it went down ok but one funny thing is - along with the pie, mashed potatoes and salad - we had to serve up rice. If Ecuadorians don't get rice at every meal they think their world has ended.
The best part of the last view days (apart from the relief of getting our papers in) was that we caught up with our other kids, Chad and Michele. It was awesome to see them but seemed strange when it was time for them to leave and go to their own home - they should be with us still :(
I am loving this new area we are living in - the kids made a good choice - it is so close to everything - even the fresh food market which is 5 minutes walk away, perfect when you look in the fridge and don't see any vegetables for dinner. I forgot how cheap things are as well (having gotten used to the exorbitant prices in NZ) - bananas 50cents a big bunch, rockmelon 80 cents, watermelon $1.50, brocolli 3 for $1 - love it!! 