A New Stevens

Welcome William Thomas Stevens, born at 5:16 a.m. on December 3rd, 2010. He's 21 inches long, and 7 pounds, 12 ounces.

I'll post pictures later.

Tammi and Will are doing very well.

We mourn the passing of Gregg Alpert

Bill here...

We are home after a week at my sister's home following her husband (and my close friend) Gregg's untimely death from a heart attack. I am wiped out physically and am starting to recover emotionally.

I have a sincere appreciation for the Jewish tradition of Shiva (look it up) to put some distance between the death and the time when the surviving family is alone. In that time so many of the Alpert's friends and associates became an army of angelic helpers. Most of us family rarely needed to lift a finger, and we never lacked food or drink. And their Rabbi, John Linder, was such a blessing.

I miss my friend and my heart aches for my sister Julie, who lost her best friend, her true companion.

Please continue to lift up her family in your prayers.

Ecuador wrap-up

We arrived in Green Valley last night, July 30th from our trip. I thought I would write about our last days in Ecuador. Where I last left off we were going to Shell, on the edge of the Oriente, the Amazon rainforest in east of the Andes in Ecuador. That’s where Steve & Pauli McCracken are moving for Steve’s new assignment with HCJB. That morning (Monday) we were having lots of difficulty leaving. There were lots of household items they were trying to get on the McCracken’s moving van, I was not feeling well, one of the cars wouldn’t start, then on our final bathroom run I discovered some a little blood where a pregnant mom should not have blood. The van at that point was finally loaded and taken off with all of the McCracken’s stuff and our stuff for the week on it. The car had finally started. We weren’t sure what to do about me. I had heard of having a little bleeding during pregnancy, so I thought if I were able to rest in the car for the 5 hour trip to Shell that would be fine. So that’s what we did.

The trip down was uneventful. As we got within 2 hours of shell we saw more and more rainforest, lots of waterfalls along this lush beautiful canyon, and many tunnels. Holly thought there were “11teen” of them. The tunnels were different than any I had experienced before. They were basically holes blasted through the mountain with roads put through them – none of the finishing touches one would see in most tunnels here. There were no lights, and one could barely see the road and the dividing markers – it felt like we were in a mine. The most non-comforting part was the water that was coming through the ceiling falling on the car as you drove through. I just pictured water eroding through the earth above the roof. These adventurous tunnels did cut off a lot of time and winding roads so I was grateful for them. By the way, we did see someone pass another car coming out of the tunnel leading out to a blind curve.

When we arrived in Shell Pauli had already called ahead to the hospital to get a sonogram for me. The short version of this is the doctor, Becky Brice, thought she might see a heart beat but couldn’t see the baby. So I was to go the next day to Puyo (the next bigger town over) to get another sonogram. Well, with in an hour of leaving the hospital more and more blood kept coming out which hadn’t happened all day. Then it started coming out too fast. I started to get dizzy and passed out in the bathroom. Bill & Pauli were in there with me at that point. Pauli called to Steve to call Becky. Bill said the way I looked after fainting gave him a flash back to seeing his father dad die (Just a year before). I put my head back, turned white and made choking sounds. It did not help that when I came to I was saying, “That was such a nice dream, I want to go back to that dream.” By the way, it was not a dying dream. It was just so much better than the misery I was feeling before. By the time I came to, Dr. Becky (living three houses away) was there with here roommate Denise (the hospital administrator) in their pj’s. There was a stretcher there also they had called over from the hospital 200 yards away which they were putting me on. They walked me right over. In the hospital room, I delivered a very tiny little baby with tiny little arms. I was in the hospital another 2 days and nights. To sum it up... lots of blood, a blood transfusion with Bill as the donor, a D & C procedure, with some sort of reaction or anxiety attack afterwards, then lots of sleep. My doctors were American, but my nurses were Ecuadorian. They would ask me things in Spanish, when Bill wasn’t with me. I would tell them, “No comprendo. I don’t understand” so they would repeat it more slowly. I still didn’t understand, but to get them out I would say, “Si. Yes.” Bill and I laughed at what kinds of things I could have signed myself up for. From my bed I could see the kids playing on the play set between the houses on the HCJB missionary compound by the houses. They each came to visit me one by one.

I was blessed by people I didn’t even know (mostly the missionaries) in the area coming to pray for me, talk to me, reading me Bible verses, and bringing me cookies and other goodies. I loved to see God’s Hand of protection in all of the circumstances. Even if I were at home in Arizona no one could have been there as fast as the doctors were there (sorry Chuck Wunder - your emergency crews are fast, but not that fast) And what If I had stayed behind in Quito? Or it happened on the way to shell? If something like this had to happed, Gods timing and comfort for me couldn’t be better. The e-mails from home poured in as soon as the prayer request was sent out. Thank you all. I am truly blesses with dear friends.

The day I got out of the hospital (Thursday) I also rested. At home I might have rested a little more, but I had a rainforest to explore and not many days left to do it.

My Birthday was Friday the 25th and we decided to go to this “Zoo” about 20 minutes out of Shell. We drove out of town on a little country (rainforest ) road. It was so beautiful. It was also the first time on the trip I was not nauseous (bitter sweet). We saw a big sign by a little rainforest hut “Zoologico.” We assumed it was announcing the zoo up the road a bit. Then 5 miles later we realized that little hut was the “zoo”. So we turned around to park. A man with a very large snake around his neck came to meet us. Along side him was his little tour guide helper, a coatimundi. This little guy followed us around the whole time. At one point I caught Jake sharing a peach with him. Jake would take a bite where the little coatimundi took a bite off the same spot. Jake looked puzzled as I tried to explained to him how to rip off a piece to share not give him a bite. Grace also loved him. She would put food on her shoulder so he would climb up on her.

The man walked us back into the rainforest. First we saw lots of caged turtles right next to the alligator pond. Emma and I thought it funny when he explained how he cages the turtles so the loose alligators don’t eat them. He told us finding the alligators, was like Where’s Waldo and who ever found them fist would win. Well I looked first by my feet. They turned out to be across the pond. I was only slightly relieved. As we went deeper into the jungle we saw some large caged rodents (no capybaras though). He pointed out an animal track that was the size of my hand. It led us to a tapir. This animal is part of the horse family but looks kind of like a pig with a droopy snout. I stands about as tall as Jake. We found it in a muddy corner and anyone who had boots could go pet it. From that day on I never went anywhere in the rainforest with out my boots. I didn’t want to miss anything. After leaving the tapir we came across a band of loose squirrel monkeys. If you had food they were right there crawling all over you. They could hear the zipper open on our backpacks, and would come every time we opened them. We all loved it. It was so cool! I would say that was one of my favorite days!

Saturday we went to Baños (about 1 hour out of Shell, at about 6000 feet elevation). To get there we got to go back through those lovely tunnels. This place has stand after stand of sugar cane product (juice, chunks, candy…) It is also known for it hand-made taffy (“melcocha”). Over half of the shops had guys pulling large chunks of taffy in the doorways, like this: (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ldUbzN4MEGM) They would then rip off little samples to pass out. I believe I tried every one. This one stand had Mora flavor (blackberry). We thought that was the best one. So we bought some fresh from them. For lunch that day we found some Cuy (roasted guinea pig) for Jake, Steve and Bill. The rest of us ate chicken.

After lunch Pauli, Grace and I shopped around while the boys took the rest of the kids on a waterfall bus ride. On the waterfall tour they got to see bungee jumping, went on a ride in a cable basket (“tarabita”) far above the canyon and Rio Pastaza, and did see some water falls too. The kids loved it.

Sunday after church we went to this tree house that was about 10 minutes away from their house in shell. It was 11 stories high. At the top 3 levels there was a room on each level you could sleep in. We had questions like, what about having to go to the bathroom with lots of ideas coming from Jacob about what you could do. Again the construction was not OSHA approved. Many times I was pointing out holes in the floor to watch out for. Jake had to carefully put his foot in each one and say, “this one mom?” I don’t think he was being a smarty, just trying to mentally and visually take note. It was a little high for me. I felt comfortable on floor 8. Jake said he likes is one story tree house in North America better. We also found another friendly monkey a little bigger than the ones we played with earlier, and some beautiful macaws. The kids loved a very tiny monkey we could see inside the window of the hut of the man who lived on the propriety. We thought it was a baby, but he told us it was a different kind of monkey.

Later that afternoon, we walked over to an orphanage in Shell called La Casa de Fe (the House of Faith). This American gal, Patti Sue Arnold, was giving foster care to one baby and then stared one by one to take in little ones as needed as her own children then at 10 children she realized maybe God wanted her to open an orphanage. Now she has 47 children. She has about 80% special needs kids. She explained that when a child was born with special needs in those parts the parents use to just kill the baby or child, but since there have been so many missionaries there, they don’t do that so much any more. Yet, they still don’t want them. Some they drop off there. A couple they have found living with the dog under the house. Many, many heart breaking stories. She explained how some of the kids that have been taken away from the government can’t be put up for adoption so she will have them through college. The kids loved the baby toddler house. They played with and held the little guys for a long time. As we left they were begging to take some of them home with us. There were two little girls who were malnourished when they found them. They were 5 & 6 years old and presently both smaller than our 2 ½ year old Holly. I enjoyed playing with the older kids. Dioselina taught me lots of Cats Cradle games (games you play with string) Patti Sue has decided to home-school the kids this year, because of the lack of discipline and Character learning in the Ecuadorian schools, public & private. So I got a tour of where that is happening, on the roof. The kids sit on boards & brick benches, and in front is a white board. Pauli & and I are working on a plan to get some more school stuff to them. If you would like to check the place out here is the website: http://lacasadefe.org/. We were touched from the outset by what God is doing for those precious, otherwise unwanted little children in the orphanage through Patti Sue and her very special helpers.

Before coming to Ecuador we had read some books to the kids on missionaries in Ecuador (Nate Saint, Rachel Saint (Nate’s sister) & Jim Elliot) There is also a great movie we watched, “End of the Spear” About the missionaries who were martyred while trying to make contact with the Huaorani Tribe http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huaorani . We saw many of the places talked about in these books. We saw the MAF (Mission Aviation Fellowship) airstrip and hanger and Nate Saint’s house. We drove through Mera where Rachel lived and I believed was buried. Monday morning we got to get a tour of the cute little Nate Saint School. This school was dedicated on the 10th anniversary of the missionaries’ deaths. Nate had wanted to have a school for missionary kids. There are 20-25 kids in the school this year with 3 teachers. This year the grades range from K-5th grade. I love how the different ages mix and interact with each other, and the great class sizes! We walked there from the McCracken’s new house. At one point we had to go over a high suspended bridge over a creek. Again I was holding hands tight. This is not a bridge I would let my kids walk by themselves to school on. I hear that usually the kids pile into a car, because of the rain. This was the dry season and it rained on and off all day and night. I guess what makes it the dry season is that there would be 2-4 hours of sun between showers.

After that we headed to back to Quito. We stopped in Baños for more cane juice, taffy (from our favorite stand) and to see another zoo. This zoo was built into some steep (non- wheelchair accessible) cliffs. There were lots of animals, but mostly all in cages. Where is the freedom in that? I am definitely spoiled by the last zoo where we got to interact with the animals. I did have a monkey try to take my camera while I was taking a picture of it. I got a great shot with its face and hand coming towards me.

Tuesday was packing and last minute stuff like mailing post cards. Not an easy task in Ecuador. The mail system is not trusted and therefore not used much. There is a lot of hand delivery going on. One of the missionaries even gave us some stuff to mail from the states.

Wednesday we flew out. We woke up at 3:00 to catch a 6:30 flight which we found out was delayed until 1:30 because of volcanic ash spewing some place. Three hours of that time we spent waiting in line to put our bags on the plane. 2 hours we ate breakfast with another family we met in line with four little girls 6 weeks old to 6 years old. They were missionaries moving back and were having some trouble getting their baby (born in Ecuador) out of the country. At one point we all took a taxi to the park to play for a couple of hours. Then back to the airport for some lunch and more paperwork and baggage (carry on) checks. We got on the plane when our seats were called thinking we would see our friends on the plane, but the plane took off and they never made it on. I can’t wait to hear what happened. That poor family has to try the whole ordeal again. :(

The flights were everything you can imagine spending 8 hours in the air with a two year-old: Several spills and lots of entertaining to be done, not much napping.

My dad and Kathy picked us up and we were blessed and welcomed with a welcome home banner, Flowers and fruit at our house.

It’s a treat to be home, and I’m loving it, but I definitely need to return to Ecuador some day!

Tammi's notes from Ecuador (Mindo and Papallacta)

Here is the latest from Ecuador:

Monday was pretty uneventful. Pauli and I jammed packing the McCrackens’ house. We even got to Steve’s massive computer equipment which he did amazingly quickly. The other thing that happened was that evening we had the Bath’o’thon. For each level of boiled water the kids take a bath. First Grace & Holly bathed at a low - level not too hot. Then Emma bathed, a little hotter and higher. Then me, perfect level, lots of hot. Finally Jake, the dirtiest and the one who takes the longest. When Jake came out of the tub, I noticed a little cut on his chin. I asked him what happened. He told me, “I just cut myself shaving.” I proceeded to lecture him about not touching razors when he informed me that he never cut himself when he shaved before. GreatK I have done a little more talking to him, and I think he gets it now.

Tuesday we loaded up the car to take a trip to Mindo, about a 2 ½ hour trip west of Quito. (Map: http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=mindo,+Ecuador&sll=-0.229498,-78.524277&sspn=0.3392,0.455246&ie=UTF8&ll=0.041199,-78.774719&spn=1.356779,1.820984&z=9&iwloc=addr )

About 1 ½ hour into our trip we pulled over and took a guided great rainforest hike. It was great. We had studied the rainforest for school. The hike reminded me of our little one we had set up in our basement. Large trees, big leaves, colorful flowers, some neat insects, and beautiful waterfalls. This was pretty impressive to me, but this was just mini compared to deep in the Amazon rainforest. As we left it started to rain. I guess that makes sense (the rainforest). The rain continued all of the way to Mindo. We went to see the butterflies at Mariposas de Mindo (http://www.mariposasdemindo.com/english/) . However the butterflies like the sun so they were unavailable for us to see. So we looked into spending the night.

Bill and Steve found a cabin 200 meters up the road for both families to share (you can see the cabana on this site: http://www.quindepungo.com.ec/indice.swf ). There were one bed and two hammocks below, and 4 beds in the loft. Of course the large hole in the floor where the ladder lead up top was not “OSHA approved.” I only relaxed when the unhinged board was put over it. Some parts of the windows were only screen, so you could hear the rain and the river out side. I loved falling asleep to the sounds! The river sound kept Pauli awake, along with 1 ½ year old Kyle, who has trouble sleeping away from his own bed. Again, there were cool rainforest plants everywhere. In the morning, on our way to the lodge where breakfast was served (another hike on a trail through the rainforest), Bill even caught a cut little frog.

After breakfast (Wednesday) we got to spend a lot of time with the butterflies. Jake and Holly were horrified, but the rest of us loved it! I think they didn’t like the randomness in which they would fly past or on our heads. When I looked at the trees and could see the eggs, I longed to raise some butterflies of our own. We’ve raised Painted Lady butterflies at home, but the Painted Lady caterpillars and the butterflies were puny compared to some of the ones we saw. Later we spent a little time in the town of Mindo looking around. We found this cool juice stand. We all sat on these fun bamboo swings, drinking our favorite fresh tropical juice mixtures, mine pineapple coconut, at $.70 each.

My only other memory of this rainforest trip was that Jake LOVED the puddles, walked through everyone, and could not stay dry. We even had to buy him a pair of rubber sandals, because we didn’t want him to get sick wearing his wet shoes all day.

That night when we got home we did a major load of laundry and packed for our two day trip to Papallacta 2 hours east of Quito & over the continental divide in the Andes. (Map: http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&ie=UTF8&msa=0&msid=107841345159433272593.0004525eb4b842e4c7516&ll=-0.019226,-78.137512&spn=1.35678,1.820984&z=9 )

On the way we stopped at a lake to fish and eat trout for lunch, but the restaurant was closed. It didn’t matter. We loved walking around the little lake, enjoying the views and cool llamas.

Papallacta is a very small town with a great thermal bath resort and a hydroelectric power plant owned by Ecoluz, a for-profit subsidiary of HCJB Global. The town sits at about 10,500 feet. We stayed that night at the Ecoluz / HCJB guest house. (More later) We checked in there then went to the Termas Papallacta thermal baths at 10,824 feet (http://www.papallacta.com.ec/termales.htm ). They were great! Bill, Emma, Grace and Steve “enjoyed” jumping into the icy cold river then back into the thermal pools. I lay with my head between pools floating (tummy out) while the kids played “hair salon.” It was very relaxing and got my mind off the nausea that comes with pregnancy. I’m afraid more and more I don’t feel that good. This was a great distraction. We spent about 3 hours there.

The next morning (Thursday) we got a quick but really neat tour of the hydroelectric power plant. This power plant made up of two turbines and the river generating them. It generates up to 6 megawatts and powers all of the needs of HCJB Global in Pifo (the short-wave radio towers we visited on the 4th of July) and Quito (the broadcasting buildings and the Hospital Vozandes). Excess power is sold via the Ecuadorian power grid, and proceeds go to fund HCJB’s mission. What an operation!

Part of our experience was our first taste of fresh sugar cane juice at a little stand on the way out of town. Of course we had to try it out. What a treat. We got to watch them wash the cane (looks kind of like bamboo), cut it with the machete, run it through a hand cranked machine, and watch the juice come out. Really neat! Jake is going to get one of those machines for his pirate ship someday. The lady served some straight and some with lemon juice. It was super sweet as you can imagine. The one with a little lemon was like extra sweet lemonade. That’s the way Grace and I liked it. We bought some chunks of raw sugar cane to chew and suck on for the road. I liked that too! It was neat to talk to the kids about how this was the plant we get sugar from when we cook. Bill was offered an extra serving with an added shot of home-made aguardiente (sugar cane alcohol). Oh well, when in Rome…

We stopped for lunch when we returned to Quito. Behind the restaurant there was the most amazing playground right on the premises. There were lots of things to climb on, slide on, swing on, merry-go-round on, tight rope walk on, and (the favorite) zip line on. There were two zip lines. One that Jake and Kendra liked and a huge one that even Bill & Steve went on. It looked like a thrill. I might have even tried if I felt better. They would climb the rope web to a tall platform, sit on a little rubber circle attached to a rope on a pulley attached to a wire; then down the zip line they would go. The only part I didn’t like was at the end, the top where it was connected to the wire, would hit some tires and jolt the kids jetting them like a big push on the swing. Kendra almost went upside down (of course there was only hard dirt under them). I guess it’s the mother in me.

Tonight we got an e-mail from the folks whose house we are staying at. They had been reading our e-mails and gave us some advice on the cold bath situation. Tonight we got hot baths with water from the faucet. What a blessing! Thanks McFarlands!

Tomorrow (Saturday) we venture to the Quito on that busy bus without Pauli. Bill has a lot of confidence in his ability to get me to the market to shop and get us back home alive. I’m glad!

Please pray for us! Pray for continued safety and that I would be feeling well. Grace & I have little colds too. Please write to us too. I look forward to hearing from you all. It takes my mind off of not feeling so great thinking about all of you.

More road safety… I’ve twice seen kids standing upright in the back of a moving pickup truck, on the busy highway, holding large pieces of glass, as it was being transported. Someone was fixing something on the top of a pole, on the side of the busy street, standing on a long ladder, leaning against the pole. Don’t worry though; there was a singular orange cone in the street to warn the cars to be careful of it. J

We were waiting at red light (the green light didn’t work). So when it went from red to nothing. So we assumed we could go.
Next Tuesday we go with the McCrackens as they move to Shell, Ecuador, on the edge of the Amazon rainforest.

Tammi's Ecuador news to date, working backwards

Date: Mon, 14 Jul 2008

Subject: More from Ecuador

Hi Gang!

Thanks to all of you who have been writing to us! We miss you all so much and look everyday to see who has written to us!

On Friday we helped the McCrakens pack for their move to Shell next week. In the pictures you may see kids doing a painting project in the grass. In between the kids "helping" us pack, this project kept them pretty busy. On
Saturday we went to Otavalo, a town about two hours from here (more if I were driving, more about that later). On the way we stopped at this beautiful lake for a little bit to eat at the restaurant over looking it. There was a playground and more llamas. We love those guys! We also stopped at another equator line monument. It reminds me we are in Ecuador and not Mexico. I still can't believe we are so far from home. At this spot they were roasting Guinea Pig. Jake was so ready to eat it. He was so frustrated when he was told he had to wait. He will get his chance and the pictures will be great.

When we arrived in Otavalo the boys dropped Pauli, Emma, Keilah, Holly and I off for shopping. It is known for a HUGE open air market. Before we arrived, Steve asked how long I would need... an hour, two? We were there for at least 4 hours. When Bill came back to meet up with us and saw it he said, " I'm surprised my wife got through it in such a short amount of time." (Bill shopped 5 minutes for a Panama hat (yes, Panama hats are made in Ecuador) and remarked
that much shopping had made him light headed). Well I did get through the main plaza, but I didn't get to the side streets. I was pretty wiped out by the end. At the beginning I was trying to communicate in Spanish. By the end they would tell me $12 in Spanish and I would say in English, "What number was that? Did she say $10?" Half really not knowing, half just wanting to get down to the price I knew was reasonable. At one stand in particular a lady sold us some
adult size sweaters. After the sale was made, she asked if we needed any furry llama rugs. That stand was right next door. Well Emma had been eyeballing them all day. They were all either too big or too small or too decorated. She wanted plain white. So I told her what we wanted and she pulled it right out. After that sale she asked if we needed any bags pointing to the stand across the way. I did think they would make nice presents and had been asking prices on them as I saw them. I asked her how much she was selling them for. The price was good so I bought some of those. After that sale she asked what else I needed. So I asked about little kid sweaters. I showed her my girls and told here what I liked. She had me sit down and ran off. Minutes later she came back with a pile of them. After that sale I thought I would challenge her. I asked for a bow and arrow set. Pauli just looked at me and laughed as she saw the questioning look on the women's face as she translated. I said, "Well she had everything else." Then she said, "Sit down, I'll go get it." Pauli and I just looked at each other and laughed some more. No way. I told her we would come with her. As we walked there she said in broken English, "He sells them for $8, but he'll take $6. When we arrived I asked how much, and it was just as she had said. It was like Ecuadorian Walmart, but even better service and prices. Oh yeah, she also told us where we could get Ice cream. Pauli was so helpful translating and helping with my very active little Holly. Anything Holly wanted to do Pauli had her say in Spanish, which Holly calls "Puppy Talk."

I'm sorry you won't see many pictures of the Otavalo experience, because Bill took the
other kids on a volcano adventure. When he met up with us later he did take a couple of pictures, but they were already taking down all the booths and merchandise. Basically it was a maize of booths. There was no orderly way to approach it. Many times I questioned weather we had already been in that area before. The only bad thing that happened is at the end of the day we left my backpack full of goodies at the pie shop. It was only one of many bags of goodies. It has local phone numbers on it, but we have not heard anyone trying to get it back to us. The next day Pauli's sister was going there and checked into the pie shop, but no one turned it in. Oh well. I guess I need to go out for another round of shopping at some other market we find sometime. Poor Bill.

Bill & Steve took the rest of the kids onward to Laguna de Cuicocha, a lake at 10,000 feet elevation in the crater of an active volcano. They took a boat ride around the cinder cone island in the middle of the lake. When we met up the kids were so excited and had so much fun.

In this next section I would like to describe for you are some unwritten driving rules I learned about on our 4 hours of driving to and from Otavalo. First clue was Pauli told Bill to drive because she won't drive out of the city. Bill and I could not figure it out. We concluded maybe she knew something we did not. Little did we know. The biggest most common difference is those double "No passing" lines mean nothing. Our phrase we kept saying was "NO Passing? NO
problem!" ANY opportunity to pass was taken. At least two times I saw a sign at the side of the road in addition to the double lines and I would see 3-5 cars pull out to pass all at once. At one point we were passed on both sides at once driving in our single lane of the two lane highway. For all of you moms and Grandmas out there who may have concern, know that Bill is sensible and an excellent driver. Many times Bill say, "No Way! I'm not going to try that."

In addition to that we saw someone trying to pass an ambulance with lights flashing and siren waling. A car to our right, turned left in front of us on a red light. On the way home on the dark highway we were talking between towns we saw groups of men, wearing furry chaps playing guitars and drums with people around them clapping and singing holding up that side of traffic. Is that equivalent to cars having to share the road with bikes in the U.S.? There are plenty of licensed taxi drivers, but if you want to make some extra money just write TAXI with marker on a piece of paper and put it in your dash window. Speaking of cars Pauli told me they were thinking of making car alarms the national bird.

At the end we filled both tanks of gas for $40 that's $2.19 for the expensive
stuff. The lowest grade is $.50 cheaper.

Over all I have a new appreciation for emissions testing. I will never complain again. The air is thick on the streets especially for someone already a little nauseous.

Sunday we went to Church and a crepe restaurant.. Today we will help with a little more packing. On quiet days like today and yesterday Bill has been reading to the kids - currently a great biography on Daniel Boone.

Keep praying for us! I often don't feel great, but it is much better than other pregnancies. =============

10 July 2008

Yesterday we went to see the Compassion International Project. We rented a bus for the day. It took us about 45 minutes into the south of Quito. There was a lot of new housing going up. Mostly by squatters. Every now and then you would see a huge house in the mist. Our tour guide, Roberto, told us that often the parents would go and work over seas, mostly Spain. Then would send back money and have a house built. The Grandparents, who stayed with the children, didn't feel comfortable in such a big house. So they would put their animals in the big house or it would remain empty. I maybe saw two such houses. Roberto works for Compassion taking people to see there sponsor kids. He has been to most of the 200 projects in Ecuador. he said he had never been to the ones reached only by plane in the jungle. He would very much like that some day. We loved spending the day with him. He kind of reminded me of Mikee. He was easy to talk to, a great translator and asked excellent questions of the people we were there to visit. He was also very enthusiastic about his love for Jesus and his work in his life. We first went to see the church where the project was set up. The lady in charge of the project, Marisol, showed us around. It was a small, but nice church with a very enthusiastic pastor. There were 4
small classrooms, a kitchen, and a little medical office. During the school year the kids go to a school in a different location. They come here after school for a hot lunch, playing and school tutoring. Since it was summer there was no school. They still came at noon for lunch. Instead of tutoring, they had summer VBS (Vacation Bible Study) activities for the kids to do. About every 6 months a doctor would come and give all of the kids check ups. Then would return in between
occasionally to follow up on the special needs of the kids.

After our tour we went to a hose of a family that consisted of a 18 year old mom 6 months pregnant, and a father , who works for the transportation system. They had the sweetest, happiest little 20 month baby boy. He looked very healthy too! They wanted to show us this part of the program (Child Survival Program) geared to mothers with kids too young to be sponsored. Kids can be sponsored at 4 years old. They actually like to catch them during pregnancy. They come once a week to their house to teach them how to make healthy food and how to care for themselves while pregnant. They even tell them to talk and sing to their unborn babies which surprises most of the moms to be. When there is a little baby is involved, like this family, they have a packet of activities for the mom to do with her children. Each week is a new page of activities. The Compassion representitive does the activities with the child and the mother to model how they can be done. She sang with the little boy, showed him some games that could be done with simple items around the house. Like putting beans in a bottle or playing
catch... They were very knowledgeable about what these act ivies were good for, like fine motor skills... They also give the moms some ideas of things they could make and sell. This mom learned to make beaded cell phone cases that you could hang around your neck. She didn't have any available to sell, because she was waiting to save enough money for some more materials. The house, $55 a month, was one room with a short wall as a divider for a stove a little counter
for a kitchen. The house was very clean. Outside of this room was a common area to do laundry washboard style, which was the only place I saw running water.

Later we got to go to a home on the out skirts of town. I was a grey block house, no stucco. Two families of 6 People each shared this house. It was two separate living areas with stalls for pigs and storage in between. The family we were there to visit was a mom and dad and their three boys 14, 11, 9 and a little girl 8 years old. The sister of the dad and here family were in the
space in the front we didn't see. This family's house had a very small room (about 10'x10') lined with chairs around the edge that we all sat in together as right inside the door. off to the side was a "kitchen" basically a dirt floor with one shelf mounted to the soot blackened wall. The door to the bed room was closed. The mom had herd about the program from a neighbor, but was embarrassed to send her kids. the neighbor told the Compassion people and they came to her
to tell her about the program and encourage her. Her kids have been in the program for 3 years and she feels so blessed. The dad said he feels proud of his kids and that his kids get to be a part of such a wonderful program and that he is glad that his wife feels supported as a mom. They showed us pictures of their sponsors (in United Kingdom & Canada) and letters from them. The kids all had goal of what they wanted to be when they grow up, like accountant, mathematics teacher... Later Roberto told us how if they did well in school Compassion would pay for their college (as a follow-on toCompassion's Leadership Development Program). Roberto asked such good questions and at one point asked where they slept. They seemed embarrassed and rushed into the room to tidy it. I told him that it wasn't important. They didn't have to show us that if they didn't want to. When they came out they assured us it was okay. The parents slept in a twin bed. The 3 boys slept in a bed no bigger than a double. The girl slept in a white baby crib with one of the sides off. The padding was a bunch of clothes piled up. the slats of the crib made her bed look like a princess bed. I told her so. I asked her if this was her bed. she nodded yes. Then I told her how beautiful it was (which I really did think so) a huge smile came across her face and I got a huge hug. Now I have a friend for life. She continued to hug me throughout the day. Grace gave her a bracelet she made that matched one she was wearing. The girl loved that too. As the day went on Grace said, "My new friend keeps smiling at me and waving to me."

After the visit we took the kids to the compassion sight, which was not close, that they usually "walk & run" to. Both places Emma was eager to play with the kids. She brought out bubbles we had brought as gifts. They would play then she would give them new ones of their own to keep. Back at the Church many kids had arrived and were playing while they waited for lunch. Emma brought out more bubbles and our bag of beads and string. Both Emma & Grace were enjoying
interacting with the kids blowing bubbles and stringing beads. When the bell rang for lunch. The Emma & Grace went to serve the kids lunch. I stayed with the girls who didn't want to stop beading, Holly (another avid beader) and Jake, who was busy collecting bottle for his Root beer making business and collecting plants to use as herbs in his nightly bell pepper cooking project. (More later on that.) Eventually the beaders had to go to lunch. We cleaned up and went out for more play. Emma didn't skip a beat and was out playing with the kids again. Without the beading project Grace stuck pretty close to me. She would venture out every now and then to give one of her hand made bracelets to a girl who didn't look too intimidating. I had a large group of kids around me who couldn't get enough of Holly. Jake would come over to me every now and then and say something like, "These boys keep following me and I don't know what they are saying."

I loved the visit, and Compassion is doing more that I ever knew. The kids seemed so genuinely happy and enthusiastic about their future. If any one out there is, or wants to sponsor a kid I highly recommend visiting someday. (Learn more at www.compassion.com/sponsor/index.asp?referer=81561) You will be encouraged, blessed and feel the reality of the situation and the kids you are impacting for a life time. Our little ones are in Ghana. The kids write back and fourth every month. We are excited to meet them some day.

Today we went on this tram to the top of a very high mountain. Steve McCraken said this will probably be the closest we will ever be to the sun.. It was so cold we would never guess it. First there was a 2 hour wait in a tightly pack line where Holly was crying or screaming for at least 50% of the time. I was so frustrated. Unfortunately some of my tricks were depleted or missing from my backpack (Granola bars, something to write on, a small baby...) The ride up was awesome. At the top we had 4 cups of chicken broth and 4 barley warmed mini pizzas ( the last they had) . Bill took off for a little hike while we ate. After that we found a place with some very satisfying Hot Chocolate, which we drank before going down the Hill again.

I have not been feeling very good in the evenings. I long for my not-cold house and a hot bath with little effort. I'm trying to remember that I would feel this way at home too. Last night there was what seemed to be a lot of disharmony (I think we are a little tired and stretched) Tonight how ever the kids set up a restaurant. They set two tables in the dinning area. They made hot tea which we received upon being seated at our tables. Jake & dad at one, and Holly & I at another. Jake cut up bell peppers and added some fresh herbs I bought for him at the store to use instead of the ones he had been collecting over the past few days. Bill got up to help a couple of times as I drank my tea. Once because Grace was complaining about Jake trying to add his own spices, and once when Emma tried to heat up the rice in a metal pan in the microwave (oops). The servers were delightful and worked very well together. Jake, though sitting with dad reminded us he was the owner of the restaurant and the cook of the pepper appetizer.. After dinner they decided to open the hotel portion of their business. Emma hurried to prepare the beds and pick up the hotel (house). Grace & did dishes (and started the boiling the bath water).
Daddy and Jake were instructed to not peak. As the bath water boiled Emma gave Holly a bath, Put on her pajamas and brushed her hair and teeth. Then as round two of water was done, she took a bath. By round three of water was done I took my bath (By round three It is full enough for me to sit in.) Emma read to Holly in the Queen bed all three girls were going to share tonight. Grace was setting up the bed for Jake to sleep on the floor next to them. They are all presently asleep on their mega Sleep over. What a blessing for a mommy not feeling very well!!!



From: lovingtolearn@cox.net

Sent: Tuesday, July 08, 2008 7:53 PM
Subject: Re: Quito, Ecuador trip July 2008

Hi Guys!

Here is the latest update...

Saturday we relaxed, played cards, did lots of reading and playing around the house. In the afternoon we went to this sports park where Mr. Mc Craken had basketball practice. There was also a soccer game going, several little playgrounds, a goose and some llamas wandering around. Very interesting combination:). That night we went to Pauli's nephews Graduation and
reception at her sister's house. It was neat seeing the graduation, though we couldn't understand what was being said (except for Bill). It was also a fun game trying to figure out when we should stand or when just the parents should stand. The best part was at the reception. Jake just gabbered on and on in English to the other two boys there, Carlos 10 years, and Sebastian 6 years. Nether of whom spoke English. (Though 3 times Sebastian told us in Spanish that he got a 10 out of 10 on his English test in school. Very cute) They ran around playing together. I kept checking on them. After about a hour Carlos asked me in Spanish "How do you say I don't speak
any English.' I fed the right words to him as he said them to Jake, who had apparently not figured that out and looked suprised. So Jake rattled off the few phrases he knew in Spanish. Then he was ready to go home. Carlos really liked Jake, and spent the rest of the night asking asking me how to say things to Jake in English.

Sunday morning we went to a great English speaking church, where the McCrackens and lots of their HCJB friends attend. Then we spent the rest of the day at the La Mitad del Mundo (Middle of the World). This is where you can stand in the southern and northern hemisphere at the same time. We had lunch there. There was a very cool museum of the native people of Ecuador,
music, ice cream and lots of different playgrounds. The boys (Bill & Steve) made good use of these playgrounds while Pauli and I went shopping. I believe we went into every shop (Bill, after reading this, can definitely confirm that). The girls and I got sweaters at the jacked up prices of $6 Holly, $10 Emma & Grace & $12 for mine. We had to get them because, you see, July in Ecuador gets cold. Sorry all of you in hotter weather. On Saturday we are going to a big market 2 hours from here. Where the prices are more reasonable. The sweaters are beautiful and I can't imagine paying less. I didn't know we would be shopping on the equator so I spent every
last penny Bill and I had. I got to scope out may goods there and can't wait to do some Christmas shopping on Saturday! Meanwhile, the favorites on the play ground were this merry-go-round swing and a rubber tire zip line (Bill says it's a good thing I didn't see how it worked - less than OSHA approved, to say the least).

Monday we stayed home, did more reading, more cards, and a little walk to get some pastries. There are bakeries every where. Four in our neighborhood alone.

Tuesday (today) Pauli took us to Old Town Quito. We got on a very crowded trolley-bus to a station a couple blocks away.There it completely emptied. The bus driver let us stay on the bus rather than making us get off an immediately back on after he changed directions to head back south. We quickly took some seats as the bus pulled a few feet up. We barely sat down in a mad rush as hundreds of people, literally, pushed there way on the bus. It took seconds. I don't know how we would have gotten on the bus with the 6 little ones with us. The door could barley close. We stayed on the bus for quite some time. I thought the load might lighten as we got closer to our stop, but it didn't. I really did not know how we were going to get off the bus. It was packed. Before our stop, Pauli told Bill to go first and we each were in charge of grabbing a couple of kids (Holly was on a pack on my back). She said when the bus stopped to stand up and just push towards the door. In my mind there was no way we were going to make it off the bus without loosing somone or hurting someone. The bus stopped. We stood up and immediately people climbed into or seats before we were even in the aisle. We pushed thorough the rest of the isle packed with people and we all made it out in time. All I could do was laugh. I couldn't believe we made it! That was such an unusual adventure. That Just doesn't happen in Green
Valley. I'm so glad Holly wasn't in a stroller!

That was just getting there. The first place we went was this HUGE gray Gothic church at the top of a green hill (La Basilica del Voto Nacional - see page 75 of the Lonely Planet Ecuador guide). Holly, on my back exclaimed. "Look mama, a castle!" That is just what it looked like. I've
never seen a bigger church. On either side of each stained glass window were animal gargoyles, Iguanas, turtles, anteaters (Jake's favorite - he is sure he is going to come home with a live one), amazon fresh water dolphins, alligators... First we looked around inside, including the Mary Wing. The windows were beautiful. Then we decided to go into the towers. The elevator was broken. So we first climbed up maybe 10 stories of stairs, Then waked over a rickety, narrow wooden plank/bridge over the top of the building to a metal ladder. Unbeknownst to us that was the first of maybe 6 ladders we would go on to get to the top. I tried not to look down. Holly,
however, still on my back, was looking around every where. She was making lots of comments. "This is so fun mama" "I'm so glad you think so Holly!" "Look at that Mama." Which I assuredly didn't. "I like this fun adventure mama..." We finally made it to the top where we took in the view on the peeling rusted floor we stood on. It was sturdy enough, just didn't look right. Let's just say none of this was OSHA certified. Down three ladders and over there was another tower a little higher. I opted out of this one. I really don't like ladders. Holly was mad. She really wanted to go. Bill took the other three up. With in minutes I heard Bells ringing and Bill saying, "No! don't touch that." At the end of the day Emma said her favorite part was ringing the bell:) I was glad for the trip down. We proceed to the plaza where we saw people yelling outside of the Presidential Palace and several, very elaborate churches, up to 500 years old. We got a great tour of this one church in which every last part of the wall was gold leafed. It was very detailed and very neat! As we walked in we said "Look, Jake, a castle full of treasure." (Holly called all of the churches castles. Jake was sure to correct her saying, "They were not castles, but churches." ) With in a few minutes Jake said, "I want to leave. This place is full of Idols." Kids:-)

We took the trolley back, which was crowded, but not as much as the morning. We stood most of the way. Several people offered Bill a seat, because he was holding Holly. Very nice He finally took someone up on it! Which is good becasue the whole time we were keeping an eye on his pockets. One hand was holding the bar and the other Holly. We had been warned the bus was a
good place to get pick-pocketed, because of the crowedness and distractions. Paui showed us where to get off, but stayed on to get home herself. The final adventure of the day was when we got off. We realized in all of the shuffle we got off not knowing where to go next. We looked around and didn't know where we were. After a few minutes Bill thought a certain direction and I thought a red building looked familiar. We walked that direction and within a block we knew where we were.

Six blocks later, with a pastry in my hand, we arrived home from a very fun day. By the way it rained on and off all day. The locals didn't care for it , but we loved it. Especially Jake the "puddle magnet." Sorry all of you in the heat of summer.

Well, I'm off to boil water for my bath. Good night!

Tammi

Date: Sat, 5 Jul 2008 10:28:18 -0700

Just wanted to let you know we are doing well. We are staying in a cozy house in the very busy city of Quito. The house is gated all around and locked at all times. So the kids can freely play in the very cute little back yard with a tree to climb, a soft grey and white cat, and lots of flowers. It is a little oasis from the dirty, traffic filled, city. Emma & Jake share a bed in one room, Holly & Grace are in buncnk beds in a girl's room, and Bill & I in another room. We boil water at night for our baths as the water randomly goes hot and cold. That is a fun adventure which Grace loves to help me with. The second day we were here she wanted to wash our clothes on the old fashioned cement wash board in the back yard. I talked her into using the washing machine and hanging the clothes on the clothes line.

Our flight was long and uneventful. We were glad to see Steve and Pauli at the airport to meet us Late (11:30) Tuesday night. Pauli had food in the refrigerator for us to eat the next morning. Very Sweet! The next day she took us to a big grocery store in a mall. We picked up lots of known as well as unknown fruits while there amongst some other basics. When we got home she
showed me how to wash everything so we would not get sick. Basically we soak everything in a mixture of water and this bacteria killer for 10 minutes, then rinse. We have eaten the first round of foods and so far so good.

Wednesday night we went over to the Mc Cracken's (Steve & Pauli) house for dinner. She showed me how to make some of these unknown fruits into juice. Jake has been cheerfully my "guinea pig" as I try to make them a new juice every day since.

Thursday the maid that has been taking care of the house we are staying at for the last 8 years came. She is so sweet and smiley. She speaks only spanish. Since Grace & I had already done laundry, and Bill & I already washed the fruit, we had her make some traditional food for us for dinner that night. What a treat to be gone all day and come home to a clean house and the good smell of food cooking! All for a woping $10 for the maid (6 hours) and $16 for the food she bought which feed the both the Mc Craken family and our family that night plus leftovers. While she was doing that the whole gang went over to HCJB which is the head quarters of which the McCrakens are missionaries through. Since the 1930s HCJB has sent Christain short-wave radio broadcasts to 80% of the populated world. One interesting story the guide told us is when the iron curtain came down they found hand written Bibles that people wrote listening to the Russian broadcast on HCJB. Daily some one would just read the bible in Russian and people would copy it down since there was no way of getting the Bible into there country. They used to do T.V. too, but dropped that part because radio broadcast can be more private with the uses of ear phones and in some countries that is important. So people come from all over the world to broadcast in their language. They are also busy training the Latin Americans to become missionaries to the Middle East becasue they are more accepted there than Americans or Europeans based on coloring and history (dating back to the invasion of Spain by the Moors.) On a lighter note, they are in the process of dubbing all of the Veggie Tales into Spanish. Any way that is just a little snippet of our 2 hour tour.

For the Fourth of July we went to the HCJB antena forest about 1 hour out of Quito. This is a huge amout of guarded land. It is beautiful. Vast amounts of grassey fields surrounded by beautiful mountains (including a volcano) . This is where the grid of antenna wires shoot off their signals to the world. there was a play ground, fire pit, and several very big and high tree houses. The missionaries had a 4th of July picnic there. There was some food and some very wimpy fireworks. Jake loved what he called the "South American Fireworks" because "they weren't SO big" though he still preferred to watch them from the car with his stuffed dog "Puerto Rico who loves fire works too." There are about 9 missionary families who live on that proporty. Not at all a shabby place to be a missionary!

God has kept my nausia to a level 6 (ona a scale tof 1-10) or below. I take a nap every day as I start to feel sick around lunch time. So I eat and nap right away which helps. Then again at night the same routine.

I look forward to getting out of the city to explore!!!

Thanks for your prayers!


Love,
Tammi

Bound for Ecuador

The whole Stevens clan will spend the Month of July in Ecuador for a combination vacation and short term mission trip. We'll be spending the month with Steve & Pauli McCracken (www.themccrackens.org ). Steve works with HCJB Global Radio (www.hcjb.org). While we are there, the McCrackens will move from Quito to Shell, at the edge of the Amazon Rain Forest.