Has it really been 10 years????

John and I celebrated 10 years of marriage on the 11th! It has been a good ten years, God has blessed us with some great times, some stretching times and has always been faithful to us. We went out to dinner and we were the ONLY ONES in the restaurant the whole time we were there. Thankfully, the lack of custom was no reflection on the food. It was great. 

Here we are, about to go out - we took an Ecuadorian style shot and a regular shot...

Karine is famosisisimo....

I have made it into the local newspaper...the events page! Photographed while at a friend's babyshower. The ladies at my table are all friends from church. Ecuadorians have a baby shower for every baby they have. It's also a way to raise funds for the costs associated with the birth etc. This one was pretty extravagant, held at a function venue, lots of games, prizes and food etc. Mattias also made it into the paper, but his head is perfectly framed by the stuffed toy goose sitting in the middle of the table!

Kids

Two photos...Mattias at 5 months. He is getting 2 teeth, well on the way to crawling and hates his nappy being changed (so do I, it's hard work as he is content to lie on his back for a nanosecond). And Evie, such a little talker at times, and loves painting with glitter but mostly paints her hands. 

Have I been calling Evie a dog?

Learning a language means learning a whole new set of gestures, noises and utterances, not just regular words. And so the other day there I was speaking with a short termer on the ins and outs of hissing to get people's attention. I find out that the short, repeated hiss is to call a dog while the single long hiss is to call out to someone you know (calling out their name is rude). And my heart sinks as I realise I have been using the dog version to get Evie's attention at times for the better part of a year. At least both of us have been in the dark about that! As an aside, the fact that men use the short repeated hiss as women walk past sort of increases the level of insult I, as a foreigner feel...not necessarily shared by local women. Different context, different framework.

And so, the learning continues. To point, you purse your lips. To indicate height you hold your hand out vertically rather than horizontally. The noises you make with babies are different, a sort of clicking against your teeth. I could go on, but enough for today!