9-11

Yesterday was Drew´s birthday, so we´re having a pool party this afternoon for him. He is turning five. I can´t believe how fast he´s grown, just in the short months that I´ve been here.. He is into Sponge Bob Square Pants, so Leah is throwing him a SpongeBob party. I´m sure it will be a hoorah. hahaha. I spent the morning at the church, first at the prayer meeting, and then helping out with the ongoing organization of the Children´s Church building... Many teams have donated things like puppets, prizes, and costumes to the work in Sucúa. SO, this means that it all needs to be sorted out and organized so we can actually use it. The whole building is chaos.. organized chaos, but chaos none the less. Ricky is building another wall towards the back of the children´s church so that we have a storage area.. The construction is taking place amid the organization. I have a feeling that I will find myself there again tomorrow... We ate lunch at a chinese restaurant here in town. I had no idea how hungry I was until I realized I had eaten the entire plate!! I´ve been trying to get my Global University online classes straightened out but it´s frusterating.. So instead of being frusterated and getting nothing done, I just emailed them. Hopefully I can get that started up SOON. :)
Have a GREAT day!!
bekah

We took all of the girls from the Hope House on a retreat to Cuenca at the end of August. It was soo fun!! The first day we went to Cajas, a national park up in the mountains. It was freezing!! The picture on the left is us unsuccessfully trying to light a fire. We took them all to a mall for the first time. Their eyes were as big as plates. hahaha... Some of them are from VERY far out in the
jungle, two girls from as far as six days walking. We had a blast. We took them to an arcade and stayed for almost two hours. The next day we went shopping and bought nine sets of everything imaginable. We welcomed five new girls at the beginning of August into the home. So right now all nine of them and the house mom and her kids are all crammed in a four bedroom house. Thankfully, the construction on the new site of the Hope House is getting closer to being finished. Thanks to the hard work of SO many dedicated construction teams that have spent their vacation time working here for the girls. It´s been great to get to know the girls. They are each one different and each one has her own personality. The last team for August left last week, totalling nine teams since June. It´s been a busy summer with little spare time, but it´s been a good time too. It´s been really neat to meet so many new people and get to see how each church functions differently. We´re all different, but we´re all brothers and sisters in Jesus.
The pictures are of: Me, Luci, and Ela trying to light a fire in Cajas; Brigida, Daniel, Johnathan, and Leah at the arcade; Lusmila, Valeria, and me in the cabins in Cuenca; and a picture of me in Quito that I cannot delete off of here. ???

Me and Ricky in San José.
The girls from the Hope House getting warm in the sun when we went to Cajas.. It was COLD!!
Lucilla´s first Burger King hamburger and fries
Me "...improving my look..."
hahaha

It´s About TIME!!!

WEll i know all of you faithful fans and blogreaders have been sitting on the edge of your seats, waiting, expecting, and even becoming tearful in anticipation of another post..
Well I have good news for you.
I am POSTING!!!!!
(applause please!)
I always say that my spiritual gift is not email or blogspots. I think that has been confirmed by more than one witness. hahaha..
But...
Let me give you a quick (or not so quick) rundown of the last month.. And wow will it not be quick.
Since I last posted, we have hosted FIVE teams in (six and a half weeks!), went to Cuenca on a retreat with girls from the Hope House, received FIVE new girls into the Hope House, and provided hundreds of people with free medical care. Try saying all that with 3 marshmellows in your mouth.. and get your laundry done too. Not to mention that my mom (YAY!) came to visit me for two weeks of that time. We had an absolute FAB time...
She worked with the medical clinics for a week and the next week
we spent in Baños and Quito, having some much needed rest and Mom/Bekah time. It was great to get to spend time with my mom.. The day after taking mom to the airport I picked up another team and we headed back down to Sucúa. I packed my jungle-bag THAT NIGHT and early the next morning we hiked up into the jungle to do medical clinics and spend a few nights. The team of medical personell was wonderful. They were from National Community Church in Washington, DC. It was nice to have such a diverse team of people since almost none of them were originally from the DC area. It was a good experience to be with this team although I was sick most of the time in the jungle (again.. wats up with that??).
Hate to cut this post short but the internet will be closing in exactly 8 minutes.. SO..
TO BE CONTINUED AT A LATER DATE...
hopefully sooner than later... hahaha

The pictures are of some of my new friends from NCC. They are as following: Me and Dr. Reneésa; Me, Joseph, and Lezlie; and Rachel on the bus.