June 27-28th, 2010

A beautiful church near shopping.

Photo at restaraunt



Grace playing tea party.

A year ago today, and yesterday.
Looks like we were just going to school.
And we went out to dinner with our roomie.
We met her in Gringolandia.
Yup they really call it that.
We wanted American style foods.
It wasnt bad, hamburger and fries.....
I bought a few handwoven baskets. You can see the ones in the photos I took at the market a larger version, the ones I WANTED, yet didnt know how on earth I could bring them home. (when I knew flying home with Eric and little G, all our luggage, and immigrations paperwork..... and no papa would be an adventure.) I bought the small ones! Gave one to daughter and kept one for self. I would still LOVE to have one of those big ones like from the market.......

(If youd like to see some recent photos, heres my link on my other blog.)

Yarn along

Just wanted to share what I am knitting and reading this week.
I have been knitting on this project WAY too long. I dont want to look at my checkbook register to see when I purchased the yarn and started this pair of socks.( back in April I am thinking) I am just so relieved that its relatively easy. Its called the Weasley Homestead on Ravelry and I am using Plymouth Yarn "sockotta"..... I am knitting them for myself. I love my handknit socks and I am not sure if other people understand the time and effort that I put into it. Plus the cost of the nicer yarns. Now that I have a little one in the house again I really dont get as much knitting time as I used to have. But thats okay, I wanted my life to be like this. Full of tea parties and laughter. Mornings of snuggling in bed and watching Sesame Street.
Right now I am reading two books. (a few others but mainly these) "Early Communication Skills for children with Down Syndrome". Its a guide for parents and professionals. Since we have home schooled our first three children I am having a bit of a dilemma in the schooling dept with number four. I dont feel qualified to home school her for the long haul. But I am not ready to load her up on the little yellow bus just yet. We have been together as a family for a year, but in the states a year come August. It just feels too soon. She is doing remarkably well. Weve prayed and asked around and right now are leaning towards keeping her home this year and also checking into the services available in the public school system. Meaning Physical, occupational, and speech therapies.
I am open,
and being very careful.
The bonding and attachment process has gone rather well.
I couldn't be happier.
She is exhibiting unusual mannerisms after a week at VBS so I am keeping a close eye on her and hoping that it will subside. There are some mommy and me type activities going on in our community that I have on my "to do" list as well.Plus later in July our church will start a Wednesday night program that I will go to with her. that will give her time with other children once a week. Its hard for me to see
The second book I am "reading" is a "Painting People in Watercolor" book. I have a few paintings in the works and thought i would re visit this book for tips. If youd like to come take a peek on Friday you can see what Ive been doing during naptime. I have a book on order from Amazon,The heart of the Artist
lookie lookie!!!!
Son just brought the mail in!
I just LOOOOVE a new book to read.
I hope to be able to share with you about it next week. Its about being an artist and where that intersects with our faith. Very good topic for someone like me, struggling to find my artistic voice, learning to love ALL of me.

These two photos are just a little added bonus. Little G is signing and acting like a monkey. She loves that and kangaroo! You can see the mischief in her eyes on the other photo..... hmmm what can I do next???

It was a beautiful day for a walk

Look really closely at the left sidewalk on these two photos. This man has trained his dog to carry the bread home! After seeing so many strays this was such a sight!





Mainly this walk was not to get in shape, but for Papa to feed his caffeine cravings. He drinks espresso every morning. We had coffee with our hosts but it wasnt half as strong as he drinks at home. So every couple of mornings we would walk down to Columbia Pan to have coffee and we found these incredible treats- they are fried like a doughnut but no icing. You just sprinkle sugar on them, piping hot. The shell is about 1/8 to1/4 in thick and inside is like cake. Its not greasy at all. I cant remember how much a basket with three would cost. But breakfast was very inexpensive.

At this point we were waiting to hear word from MJB about going to court. Somehow the official abandonment decree had been lost and the judge wanted the original. We were just praying that it could be gotten in time for Paul to get back home for an important meeting on the 13th of July.
Just in case you havent seen recent pics and goings-on here is an easy link to "from the heart".

a busy weekend!!!

Im glad its Monday so we can slow down a bit! The weekend was full!!!What great times and memories.We started off Saturday taking little G out to pick blueberries. Lets just say she was not impressed.
Happy faces as we walk out to the field and taste our first berries from the bush.


My little Ecuadorian princess is NOT used to the Florida heat and humidity. She whimpered and whined after the first 20 mins. I made sure she was sitting in a shade spot where a little breeze would blow in every now and again.

Lets just say she earned the title Drama Queen with a capitol D.
She layed down on the ground and sobbed like a baby.(she rarely cries!)
Pit-i-ful.(I did have to get a pic of it though.)
thankfully she recovered enough,
just barely Im sure,
to walk up to the gazebo and sit in a chair under the fan to wait on papa to fill our second bucket.
Poor papa. He picked 3/4 of the 15 lbs that day. I want to get out a few more times.Only little G will stay home with her brother.wink wink.

We got home and fed her lunch and was going to put her down for a nap when E called to be picked up from camp. Thank God we were home. They said theyd call and it would be between 3 and 4. He called at 1:30 telling me to be up at the church at 2. It takes 20 mins to get to the church. So we loaded up and went to pick him up. Napped little G and joined some friends out at Ft Pickens for supper.


The food and fellowship was great.
As you can see they are Gator Fans.
We got a kick out of her saying "go gator go gator go gator go gator."she was pointing out each and every item with the emblem on it!
Little G has another set of grandparents now.
She even fed them grapes for dessert!
What incredible people.
We are blessed.
this was just Saturday...... Ill spare you the rest! ha ha!
(just Church, a baby shower, and playing in the pool for Sunday supper!)
I remain,
Under His wings,
Anna

June 25-26 a year ago

This photo was taken Friday the 25th at the Orphanage. The tias had found little Gs clothes so we went back to pick them up. It was such confusion. I ended up donating them plus much of what we took when we went home. If we were to go again I would know that We could have two check in bags that weighed 50 lbs plus our carry on and the stroller wouldnt count. But at the time I was misinformed and we only brought one carry on and one check in per person, G's being my carry on..... the orphanage director said she would have the clothing that we had recently sent so I took that into account and left some of what I had planned on taking. We had gone shopping and bought panties, We were told she wasnt potty trained and was just going to use pull ups the whole time, bought some leggings to keep legs warm under dresses, the economy is so different there tho. We just made do with what we brought and we were fine. I was so relieved that the Orphanage director was so patient and understanding.
Early morning playtime with Pamela. They had such a good time in the curtains.
Ladies in the kitchen,(left to right) Suzie, Nathalie, Sandra.







A house divided, us on separate sides of the Equator. (typical tourist photo!)







These photos were taken at the Equator.
We went to Suzi and her husbands house.
They have a beautiful daughter Nathalie that has actually spent time in the US. After an incredible lunch they sang music together, laughed and watched the soccer game. Remember the World Cup? ha ha! I still play the theme song off Youtube for little G.

Music in the park

I you are checking in to see what we did in Ecuador a year ago today, your guess is about as good as mine! I have 4 movie clips from school and a clip of a hummingbird. So obviously we went on a walk and went to school.
I thought I might post a few pics of what we did yesterday tho so that you could have a "little G fix".
We were invited to a play date. I dont think little G has the social skills down just yet. But hopefully after some more play sessions she will learn how to interact with her friends a little better. She was nice, dont get me wrong, she just did her own thing. These are some friends from church. I think a few months ago I posted photos of little G at her birthday party. Her uncle has Down Syndrome and is 28.....

Then we went to music in the park in Pensacola.
We got poured on. I had a small umbrella.
Little G was having so much fun though that we didnt have the heart to leave.
Son and fiance met up with us.
The rain cleared off and the sunset was amazing.I wish Id been able to get better pics.

Have an incredible weekend!

What Ive been painting this week

Ive been joining in with an incredible group of ladies at RJU studio.
Here is a sneak peek at whats going on in my "studio" this week
(in other words, drafting table in a beautiful corner of my dining room)

This is a silhouette of our little G.
I cannot take credit for the inspiration.
I had so much fun with this idea.
My husband took one look at it and knew who it was.
That really was a huge compliment.
You can see her characteristics of Down Syndrome
and I LOVE that about it.
See the bent pinki.
And her facial features.
be still my beating heart
Its inspired me to do a series of her with her shadow /Silhouette.
If you know little G at all
You know that she loves her shadow.
They are best friends.
Anywhere we go she is looking for the direction of the sun or lighting to find her playmate......




We have some great photos I took in Ecuador the day after my husband flew home. There is an incredible park in Quito that we went to since we were feeling blue without him.

Then the hydrangea painting.
Sadee Shilling does some incredible work with this technique and being a self taught watercolorist I had to google it and try it out for myself. I used to go to the library when my first three children were young, while they were in the children's section I would head over and find inspiring books to check out for myself. Since weve moved I had gotten out of the habit of going to the library and stretching myself this way. I think Ive worked on it two to three weeks off and on. I know I will dabble in it a bit more because it doesnt feel done just yet. I dont want to overwork it though. Hydrangeas are one of my favorite flowers. You can go back to yesterdays post - I thought this was a photo of her wedding gift. But I didnt look close enough. This is the one I did for my husband and I with the verse from Ruth in calligraphy around the border.( I fell in love with hers so much I felt the need to do it again!) Then hers has the verse on the mat and has a Eastern Swallowtail butterfly in the middle. I love them both. Anyhow, recently the hydrangeas have been blooming again and instead of filling me with joy its been sorrow. You can read that post if you care to "go there with me". I thought this would be a great way to bring back some happy thoughts, work it out of my system. Im not sure if its worked, but I think I will have a nice piece to show for my time.Im calling it "hydrangea Haze".

If youd like to take a peek at some other really great work go take a peek over at RJU.
Dont forget Ive been posting on my other blog too......
Until next Friday,
I remain,
under His wings,
Anna