Brennan Family Photo Shoot

Noah and Cate are two members of Compassion Connection from the States who have been serving here in Ecuador for the past year and a half. Together with their two boys, Phin- almost 2 and Keenan- about 4 months, they make up one of the cutest families ever. When Taylor and I had the chance to do a family photo shoot, we jumped at the opportunity to capture this great family. 

This family has been one of the biggest blessings here in Ecuador. While Noah helps teach at IBCI- a Bible training school and Cate takes care of the boys, it has been great getting to know them more, especially since know we can joke around with each other :). And besides the fact that Cate has been such a blessing for me in our women's bible study, she is a amazing speed scramble player and the we challenger her about once a week. Needless to say my spelling is improving little by little although she still does beat me by about 200 pts each time.

They are leaving in 2 days to go back to the States for the holidays. This will be the first time they have returned since they moved down a year and a half ago! I am excited that they will be with friends and family but I will miss them a lot while they are gone for a month and half :(

                         

Birthday Party, Halloween & Game Night

Last Tuesday, the 9th, was Amie's birthday, so last Saturday we had a party for her birthday and to celebrate Halloween :) Everyone dressed up besides Taylor and I because we didn't really have time/an outfit, but it was fun to see everyone else in their "disfrazes" / costumes. At the party we had a rockstar, a drum, a gangster, Thing 1 & Thing 2, and Captain Obvious. After a yummy dinner we played some Halloween games- bobbing for apples and since we didn't have pumpkins to crave the last contest was drawing jack-o-lanterns on paper plates on our heads. Noah won both games, but I think we had a little advantage since he is also the reining champ from last year's party. After the games we went back in time to watch a totally 80's movie, The Never Ending Story.We watched it with the projector so it felt like we were in the theaters, but that didn't really help it too much- sorry to all you fans (Amie & Cate) since that movie was lame. BUT the whole night was a blast and so much fun to all hang out together, although we were missing Sandi and Amber :(

 

Amie's birthday roses that were gorgeous! I love the roses here- all beautiful and cheap :)

Captain Obvious labeled himself with Spanish vocab.

Keenan Mateo:

The Little Drummer Boy... hehe that was a pun worthy of my mom and Steve ;)

Thug Life- Snoop Steve

 

Abuelo y Phin

The Rockstar! 

Phin loves 'tars' aka guitars and always tries to play the real guitars during bible study-

 its quite funny and so very cute!

Thing 1 & Thing 2

The Trick or Treat bowl- yummy yummy American goodness

apples= yummy

water= healthy

bobbing for apples=  scary

I wasn't a fan of this game... it's a little scary haha

Although Phin didn't bob for apples, he somehow got 2 of them...

A little fact about me is that I absolutely love games, finger food and hosting. So last Sunday I threw a Game Night Party for people from our bible study, ladies from Zumba, our staff and other friends. I was being a little nostalgic of Wheaton and missed my Saturday Morning Pancakes with all my friends, so I decided I should just start a weekly game night for everyone. We had about 25-30 people here in La Casa Rosada from different groups and had a blast. We played, spoons, celebrity, zoo but with fruit instead of animals, and even had a mini worship session :) We made a lot of snacks, but the favorite hit were definitely the Starbucks Pumpkin Scones! Game Night was a big success and I have already been asked by a few people when the next is :) Hopefully soon we will have a weekly one!

This is the only picture that I have from Game Night,

 but hopefully I will get more when we start having it weekly.

A Glimpse into our Daily Lives

Here is a video of one of our Zumba routines- "Down". It's not our fault if this song is stuck in your head forever...welcome to our lives ;)

This video is of our last 2 routines "Up Till Dawn" and "Stand By Me". Note: check out the little girl and the dog during the last song... it's hilarious! It's true, on any given night, we have about 20 ladies, 8 kids and prob 3-4 dogs in our class- Got to love Ecuador right?

So now you have a little glimpse into our ministry here in the Valley! Hope you enjoyed the videos and let's be honest... you totally tried some of the moves ;)

Kids, Guaguas & Yummy Goodness

Every Tuesday and Thursday Taylor and I teach English to 1-3 graders at a nearby Christian school. At first it was a little intimidating and scary, but no we are very comfortable with the kids and we aren't afraid to let them know whose boss ;) Here are just a few pictures of some of the kids and classes. There will be more to come soon!

Here in Ecuador there were holidays last week and everyone got Monday- Wednesday off. The typical drink for these holidays is called "Colada Morada" which is a thick, syrupy purple drink with chucks of pineapple made from blackberries. It is good but really thick and I think it would be better on pancakes than as a drink... The typical food that goes with this Colada Morada is call Guaguas de pan, or bread babies. These bread babies are usually filled with jam or cheese and are decorated like we would decorated Christmas cookies. In order to get the full experience, you have to eat them both together. 

So some ladies from our Zumba class made Taylor and I our very own Guaguas de pan filled with blackberry jam. But the best part of it is that they were personalized bread babies to Tay and I!! It was great to see a bread version of me, but I have to admit I felt bad/weird eating my guagua...

Taylor and I in bread form...this is probably what I will look like after I get back since I am addicted to the pan/bread here ;)

what can I say... it was yummy :)

One of the best, unexpected things about living here in San Carlos Maria de la Torre and working with Compassion Connection is our meals together. It is one of the best things here not only because our conversations are hilarious but because of the amazing food Sandi, Cate or Amie makes us!!! I promise it's like eating at a cute Italian Bistro each time! Be jealous... its worth it! So after our weekend trip to Shell for the Nate Saint House Dedication we came home to a homemade meal of red pepper bread and pumpkin soup- compliments of Sandi! It was amazing and so good! I am so thankful that she is so sweet and is teaching Taylor and I her secrets :) 

Yay for Fall food even though we don't have Autumn here :)

Zumba Zumba Zumba

This is a short little shout out to one of our best Zumba supporters... or maybe he was just too cute and I had to take pictures of him :

We were choreographing one day and he just watched us the whole time!

His nose was so soft! I love horse noses... lol

This little building is our dance studio, its where all it all goes down for Zumba :) I think our biggest class so far has been around 25 ladies, more children and more dogs... 

Soon (hopefully) there will be a video of a Zumba class! Stay tuned!