Thursday, October 29, 2015
The Many Faces in Our Home
Click here for BIGGER photos!!!
After several weeks of taking photos of the family, Glory put together this slide show of the people in our house.
Enjoy!
Taylor & Glory
Monday, September 28, 2015
Lost in the Jungle
Since coming to Ecuador I have read various accounts of people getting lost in the jungle. Having hiked in the jungle a bit, I do agree that it is VERY easy to get turned around, but even after reading such stories you always tell yourself, "That'll never happen to me." . . .
We are in the process of buying a small plot of land (~10 acres) about 40 minutes from Puyo. While we are still waiting for the final paperwork approval, the owner of the land gave us permission to use and explore it in the meantime.
Last Friday, we were really itching to get out of town and go walk the border of the property (*from here on out, I will refer to this property as the "finca"), since the owner cut out a trail to make it obvious which portion he was selling. So immediately after work, we jump in the car and headed out around 4pm.
We started our hike shortly before 5pm on the far side of the finca, planning to walk around and arrive at the sugar cane area at the end. Noah has become accustom to having a bit of sugar cane after he wakes up from his afternoon nap. Though the trail was obvious and very wide (about 5 feet), it was still slow going with the smaller kids and the frequent stops to enjoy and admire the beauty and diversity of God's creation. When we arrived at the first river crossing, we found that the "bridge" had been partly washed out. Here I must make to points: 1) the river runs down in a channel about 3 meters below us and it is only about 2-3 meters wide; also, at this time it was rather low and not running very fast; 2) a "bridge" refers to 2-3 trees or strong logs felled to create a path to cross over the water. Even with the bridge partly down, we decided that it was still sufficient for us to cross and keep going.
We crossed the winding river again and arrived at the far end of the finca. At this point it was about 6:15pm and starting to get dark. We briefly considered returning the way that we had come, but we also knew that they last quarter of the trip would be easier and more familiar to us since we have visited that portion several times before. So we continued on and crossed the river again over another precarious, half-fallen down bridge. Just as we began to worry, we spotted an open field about 100 meters down the path. Beyond the open field would be a 10 minute trek through familiar trails, then the banana and sugar cane areas.
Hurriedly we walked the trail toward the open field, but about half way there we hit another river crossing, but this time with only the fallen remains of the bridge. It was now past dusk, but not fully dark. Not completely sure what to do with the tribe, I decided to see how difficult it would be to cross. While I was gone, Alesha dug through her bug-out bag, and tended to the wounded with salve for the bug bites and scrapes, used tweezers to pull out a sticker from Levi's hand, and pulled out two headlamps to use for lighting.
I had fared well, by using a fallen tree to slide down the 10-foot drop to the river. This brought me to a mostly submerged, yet very stable, fat, 2-meter long log that allowed me to cross half the river. This log made a T with another, skinnier, 3-meter long log, which then brought me to another log that I used to climb up the embankment to a spot near the path on the other side of the river! Due to crossing the logs the way that I did, I ended up about 20 meter off the path, so I used my machete to cut a little trail to reach the path, then turned around and headed back to the family. With a very brief, inspirational speech of, "It'll be tricky, but we can do it." I showed the kids the log-hoping-river-cross dance. Levi was first. With my help and the others watching via the two headlamps he made it across and waited at the opposite edge to help his brothers as they made the final climb out of the river channel. Daniel and Nate followed, but as I started helping Glory then Noah down from the first fallen tree slide, I heard, "Whoa!" followed by a splash. As I turned I heard reassuring comments and saw Nathaniel near the T-logs with his arms outstretched over the bigger log, his head staying above the water, and Daniel holding the back of his shirt. Then Nate said, "I'm OK, Papa, I can do it!"...and sure enough, he climbed back up on top of the log. While I turned to get Glory started, the boys made it safely to the other side. I'm sure that I carried Noah across, but I honestly do not recall how, though I very clearly remember being completely exhausted after running back and forth across those logs 8-10 times helping the kids get through.
We all finally made it back to the path, and from there we could see the open field only about 50 meters away. I lead the family for about 20 meters then stopped, sat down, and started to cry. There in front of me was another river crossing, wider than the previous one and with no fallen logs or trees to use. Alesha started talking about setting up a camp for the night. I checked my cell phone, thinking to call the owner of the property and let him know where we were, but there was no reception.
As we sat there, we began to think and pray. My headlamp shined on what possibly appeared to be an overgrown path. I told the kids to stay and checked it out. In less then 20 meters, I cleared the jungle trees and came out upon the open field. Apparently, the river that we had come upon was really just a U, or rather a Y, but the bottom part of the Y didn't connect to anything, so we were able to simply walk around the river. Praise the Lord!
With renewed energy, we half-ran up the hillside of the open field and took a break at the top. From that point, I was able to contact the owner and let him know that we were fine. He, had begun to worry, seeing that it might rain later on, and had started to come find us. Two minutes later he arrived. With his help, we quickly trekked that last part of the path to the bananas, sugar cane, his house lot, and finally the main road.
We were tired, dirty, fully of scrapes and pokes and bites, but no one cared, we were just glad to be out. The children were real troopers and did their part, and sometimes more!
Enjoy!
Taylor & Alesha
We are in the process of buying a small plot of land (~10 acres) about 40 minutes from Puyo. While we are still waiting for the final paperwork approval, the owner of the land gave us permission to use and explore it in the meantime.
Last Friday, we were really itching to get out of town and go walk the border of the property (*from here on out, I will refer to this property as the "finca"), since the owner cut out a trail to make it obvious which portion he was selling. So immediately after work, we jump in the car and headed out around 4pm.
We started our hike shortly before 5pm on the far side of the finca, planning to walk around and arrive at the sugar cane area at the end. Noah has become accustom to having a bit of sugar cane after he wakes up from his afternoon nap. Though the trail was obvious and very wide (about 5 feet), it was still slow going with the smaller kids and the frequent stops to enjoy and admire the beauty and diversity of God's creation. When we arrived at the first river crossing, we found that the "bridge" had been partly washed out. Here I must make to points: 1) the river runs down in a channel about 3 meters below us and it is only about 2-3 meters wide; also, at this time it was rather low and not running very fast; 2) a "bridge" refers to 2-3 trees or strong logs felled to create a path to cross over the water. Even with the bridge partly down, we decided that it was still sufficient for us to cross and keep going.
We crossed the winding river again and arrived at the far end of the finca. At this point it was about 6:15pm and starting to get dark. We briefly considered returning the way that we had come, but we also knew that they last quarter of the trip would be easier and more familiar to us since we have visited that portion several times before. So we continued on and crossed the river again over another precarious, half-fallen down bridge. Just as we began to worry, we spotted an open field about 100 meters down the path. Beyond the open field would be a 10 minute trek through familiar trails, then the banana and sugar cane areas.
Hurriedly we walked the trail toward the open field, but about half way there we hit another river crossing, but this time with only the fallen remains of the bridge. It was now past dusk, but not fully dark. Not completely sure what to do with the tribe, I decided to see how difficult it would be to cross. While I was gone, Alesha dug through her bug-out bag, and tended to the wounded with salve for the bug bites and scrapes, used tweezers to pull out a sticker from Levi's hand, and pulled out two headlamps to use for lighting.
I had fared well, by using a fallen tree to slide down the 10-foot drop to the river. This brought me to a mostly submerged, yet very stable, fat, 2-meter long log that allowed me to cross half the river. This log made a T with another, skinnier, 3-meter long log, which then brought me to another log that I used to climb up the embankment to a spot near the path on the other side of the river! Due to crossing the logs the way that I did, I ended up about 20 meter off the path, so I used my machete to cut a little trail to reach the path, then turned around and headed back to the family. With a very brief, inspirational speech of, "It'll be tricky, but we can do it." I showed the kids the log-hoping-river-cross dance. Levi was first. With my help and the others watching via the two headlamps he made it across and waited at the opposite edge to help his brothers as they made the final climb out of the river channel. Daniel and Nate followed, but as I started helping Glory then Noah down from the first fallen tree slide, I heard, "Whoa!" followed by a splash. As I turned I heard reassuring comments and saw Nathaniel near the T-logs with his arms outstretched over the bigger log, his head staying above the water, and Daniel holding the back of his shirt. Then Nate said, "I'm OK, Papa, I can do it!"...and sure enough, he climbed back up on top of the log. While I turned to get Glory started, the boys made it safely to the other side. I'm sure that I carried Noah across, but I honestly do not recall how, though I very clearly remember being completely exhausted after running back and forth across those logs 8-10 times helping the kids get through.
We all finally made it back to the path, and from there we could see the open field only about 50 meters away. I lead the family for about 20 meters then stopped, sat down, and started to cry. There in front of me was another river crossing, wider than the previous one and with no fallen logs or trees to use. Alesha started talking about setting up a camp for the night. I checked my cell phone, thinking to call the owner of the property and let him know where we were, but there was no reception.
As we sat there, we began to think and pray. My headlamp shined on what possibly appeared to be an overgrown path. I told the kids to stay and checked it out. In less then 20 meters, I cleared the jungle trees and came out upon the open field. Apparently, the river that we had come upon was really just a U, or rather a Y, but the bottom part of the Y didn't connect to anything, so we were able to simply walk around the river. Praise the Lord!
With renewed energy, we half-ran up the hillside of the open field and took a break at the top. From that point, I was able to contact the owner and let him know that we were fine. He, had begun to worry, seeing that it might rain later on, and had started to come find us. Two minutes later he arrived. With his help, we quickly trekked that last part of the path to the bananas, sugar cane, his house lot, and finally the main road.
We were tired, dirty, fully of scrapes and pokes and bites, but no one cared, we were just glad to be out. The children were real troopers and did their part, and sometimes more!
Enjoy!
Taylor & Alesha
Saturday, September 5, 2015
Birthdays at the Beach
Glory and Daniel's birthdays fell during Summer Camp this year. We all had the opportunity to go with them to the coast! This was on Dan's birthday, a few days before camp started. The little girl in the picture is Ruthy, a friend who rode with us.
Happy 7th Birthday, Dan Courage!!!
...and Happy 11th, to my dear Glory Lynn, of whom we got almost NO pictures, partly because she was almost always a happy little blob playing way out in the waves...
We found all sorts of cool stuff on the beach, including several kinds of crabs, mussels, sand dollars, and even a live octopus! (Of course, there were also lovely pebbles, shells, and sea birds that this desert girl will have to look up in a book. :)
After we enjoyed our weekend on the beach, the camp began in earnest. Glory, Levi, and Dan were official campers. Taylor helped run the daily errands between the neighboring towns; everything from daily bread pick-up to buying bus tickets, to running campers in to the medical clinic.
Nate, Noah and I came and went between the camp and the beach house.
This is an Ecuadorian soapy slip-n-slide game the kids all enjoyed at camp...
you run to the end...
...and sit on a water balloon before running back.
We are now back home, trying to find a sense of normal before we start back to school on Monday. But every once in a while, we girls put on our new sun dresses, and the boys get a drink out of the stock-piled coconuts and we remember fun times on the beach. :)
Love from us to you!
Monday, August 10, 2015
Summertime Fun (video)
Several months ago I showed Ariel how to use my GoPro POV camera. We are finally starting to reap the rewards. For all you who want to see more of our family...particularly the kiddos, check out the video that Ariel made below.
If you prefer to watch it in YouTube (recommended), here is the link:
Enjoy!
TaylorH
Wednesday, July 29, 2015
Noah
Noah's birthday was an adventure in two parts. His gift from his siblings was that they stayed up the night before his birthday blowing and
tying 70-something balloons to fill his room with. :)
tying 70-something balloons to fill his room with. :)
At lunch, he got to blow out his three candles and quickly get a piece of orange-chocolate cake, before we all got ready to head out to Ambato for the afternoon. (Because we are trading vehicles, we needed to get the belts changed, fluids checked, etc., before selling the truck, and Ambato is the closest large city.) Noah loves a good road trip, and was none too disappointed. We intended to come back later that night and finish off the rest of his birthday cake, but while we were in the city, the mud slides that the road maintenance crews have been battling all summer re-closed the road home. Praise the Lord, we were able to turn around and head back to the nearest town, where a Christian family we barely knew opened their home to us for the night. By the next morning, the road was clear again and we were able to get on our way.
A couple of days later, Taylor was given the privilege of baptizing a young man from the States, who is volunteering here for the summer. He has walked with the Lord for a while, but wanted to take this step in obedience. Consequently, we were "forced" to visit one of our
very favorite swimming holes. :)
very favorite swimming holes. :)
I may have to post more pictures of that trip later,
but since this post is Noah's, I'll try to stick to pictures of him.
...just-because Noah pictures from this week :)
Good bye! We love you!
Monday, June 15, 2015
Pictures!
Sorry for the lack of pictures lately! I don't really have a good excuse. (Unless you count that I just finished reading a really good book in all that time that I was supposed to be blogging. ;) The kids and I are trying to finish up their school year this week, which means that next week will be their exams and a backyard camp-out. We'll be saving up their "summer" vacation for the fall again this year, so school will start up again rather quickly. Nate is beyond excited to OFFICIALLY be in Kindergarten. Noah, on the other hand is still enjoying his freedom to ping-pong from school stuff inside to watching whichever young man might be working for Taylor outside. (For the last several weeks, we have had work being done on the concrete wall around the property.) Life stays nicely crazy between school and the constant trickle of teens who are here for various reasons. I love it, but it makes me grateful for times like right now, when I sit All By Myself, with even the sound of the cars drown out by the rain on the roof. :)
...way cooler than tying your tooth to the doornob.
Noah LOVES to walk around in the rain. :)
But for that matter, we all like playing in the water.
The kids and I had a lovely morning in the river...
Noah and I hung back and let the big kids do the serious exploring.
Levi took it on himself to help Nate;
it was neat to watch him encourage him along.
And finally, even though it was several months ago,
here is what I woke up to on my birthday.
Love, from "la familia de Taylor" as we have come to be called.
Sunday, March 15, 2015
Spring...
I read e-mails about snow melting and trees beginning to bud, and I have to remember that it HAS been cold, SOMEWHERE. It's easy to forget when the weather never seems to change, and your first thought when you hear "Spring", (or "Primavera" as the case may be), is that it is the name of a little town down the road. ;) However, even here, life has cycles. It has beginnings, too. Here are some pictures of things springing up around here.
Noah absolutely LOVES the rain! Good little Texan that he is. :)
Taylor and the kids have all really enjoyed having a place to wrestle...call it family bonding. :)
This spring our homeschool hosted it's first annual robitics competition. :)
Taylor brings such a good balance to my teaching style!
The kids worked really hard and had fun competing.
our Golden Retriever puppy, Laddie (or Lad)
who is growing so fast that this picture already looks outdated.
Melts Mama's heart...I've been waiting a lot of years for this first of hopefully many jam sessions. Daniel was excited to realize that he could just play A and D when Glory played those chords and could jam along. Levi is trying to learn how to play the harmonica, but this night, he wanted Glory to teach him some beginning guitar chords.
Some friends of ours took this family picture for us while we were out
at the river for a VERY SPECIAL new beginning....
See? you can have Spring in Ecuador. :)
Love from us, to you!
-the Hollingsworths<><
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