Noah!

Join us in praising God for another boy!

Noah Clyce Hollingsworth

Born in Shell, Ecuador @ 9:33pm on Monday 23 July 2012.

Weight 3.555kg (~7 lbs 13 oz)

Length 55cm (~21.6 inches)

Leaving Hospital VozAndes with the volcano Sangay in the background. 

Noah Clyce Hollingsworth
Noah was born after about 2.5 hours of real contractions. The nursing staff was not ready for such a fast transition from strong contractions to birth. I, Taylor, almost had to catch little Noah but a doctor came in, saw me, then saw Alesha, startled, then rattled off several sentences in Spanish which was way too fast for me to comprehend, but the nursing staff certainly figured it out and in 15 seconds the room was swarming like a bee hive. The birth was perhaps the smoothest we had yet. Though Glory and I were expecting a baby girl, we are ALL very excited to finally see, play with, and enjoy baby Noah.

Noah is named after the man found in Hebrews 11:7 and Genesis 6:8-9, and Clyce was the name of Alesha's grandfather.

Mama and her five little peppers. 

Dressed in "Goin' home" clothes.

Mama and Noah at twilight with El Altar in the background. 

"By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith." -Hebrews 11:7

"But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD. ...Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with God." -Genesis 6:8-9

Enjoy!

Taylor

P.S. - The images posted here are NOT good for printing. If you would like print-quality images, please contact us. 

The Testing

When you are in school, toward the end of the year, you have to begin thinking about your final exams. Just prior to and during these exams is an extremely stressful time...at the time, this seems to have nothing to do with "real life". Well, this week, rather the Wed. through Fri., was my Final Exam Week.

It all started with an emergency trip to Quito on Wednesday. I had to deliver our official documents, visa, passports, etc. to the government, so that they could process our application for changing our visas. I left at 9am and returned by 7pm that same day - thankfully, the drive is still absolutely beautiful, otherwise, I would have been extremely bored by the end. Having missed an entire day of work during our busiest month this year, and learning that I STILL was missing some documents (why didn't they tell me this before I came to Quito??? Who knows...and YES, I asked and verified my paperwork before leaving: bienvenido a Ecuador!), I decided to make a checklist so that I could get everything done ASAP.
Here is my list:

• Withdraw money. (T)
• Obtain rent contract (T)
• Notarize rent contract
• Print 4 visa-style pics for each person (T)
• Send rent contract and photos to W.C. in Quito
• Finish lab work at Shell hospital for Taylor's driver's license course
• Print 3 visa-style pics for Taylor's driver's license (T)
• Meet with M.M. for banking transaction (T)
• Pay for truck documents (T)
• Wash the truck
• Get ready for A.L. visiting

Come Friday morning, by God's grace, I had actually accomplished most of these items (signified above with a "(T)")! For those of you who have lived in Latin America, then you know that NOTHING is trivial...oh, by the way, I do still work a full-time job. We decided against the notary (it is not the same thing as in the States - it is much more complicated, naturally). By 9am, I had sent my documents to be received by W.C. later that afternoon. After work I planned to go to Shell, but when looking at the clinic's times to be open, I learned that Friday afternoons, they were closed...so, no finishing my lab work and medical exam to start on obtaining my Ecuadorian driver's license this week (this was fairly stressful, because technically my 90-day tourist permit to drive had expired, I had to drive to Quito soon to pick up a friend from the airport, and there are frequent transit police check points looking for correct documentation along the way).

What to do next? Wash the truck of course...yes, it was raining, but only misting at the moment. I took it to a nearby place that washes and cleans for $10 ($35-value in the U.S.). While waiting and walking around, I passed by a building marked ANT (Agencia de Nacional Transito). Assuming that they would know what I should do about my driving predicament, I went in and asked.

They were the most friendly and helpful "officials" that I had met this far (just ask Glory and Levi about it next time you talk with them). After some discussion a man asked me if I was free to go with him, I was, so I did. He was very friendly. We drove for about 7 minutes and came to a very large complex which I assume houses the bulk of the transit police, general police, and military for Pastaza. He honked a friendly sort of honk at everyone and they always waved back. Once we parked and got out, we were constantly greeting people...Puyo is a small, friendly sort of town, so I did not think much of it.

We entered a building and made our way to an office of "the boss" (at least that is what the doorway title signified, though I cannot recall the exact title). My friend who drove me, E.A. introduced me to another man who spoke English; I'll call him Z. He explained to me that Ecuador DOES, in fact honor valid driver's licenses from other countries, and he gave me the form to complete, but said that it may still take a few weeks to finish the process. This was actually going to be easy! (Thank you, Lord!)

On our way back from the compound, I learned that my first friend (note, that HE used the title "my friend" when introducing me), E.A. was going to get me a temporary driver's permit so that I can drive for 30 days and be perfectly legal. But the most fun part of all of this was when I got a piece of paper that was to be my temporary permit and it was signed by my new friend E.A. who is also the Director of Transit for Pastaza!

Wow, I can only be thankful to God for orchestrating me (1) to NOT go to Shell to get the necessary documents for applying for a driver's education course, (2) get the truck washed next door to the National Transit Agency administration building, and (3) to meet with and befriend the top-dog of the agency.

*sigh* I think I'm going to sleep well tonight...finally!

Enjoy!
Taylor

Backyard Adventures

Welcome outside! (Yes, I know that most people's welcome mats face the other way, but my husband has rarely been accused of being like "most people"...so ours welcomes us out into Ecuador.)

 The kids and I had fun clearing out a little garden spot on the hill below our house. Now, this hill is technically our "backyard", but it is rather wild; secluded, but not secure - meaning that since there is no fence and limited visibility from inside our house, the kids are not allowed to play out there without supervision. It is, however, a wonderful place for adventures.

These are what we call "the ruins". They are in reality, the reasonably stable remains of an old house - in imagination, they can be almost anything, depending on the book you've been reading. :) There are also limes to pick, snails to find, BIG ant nests to avoid, etc. Taylor is already plotting what kind of amazing bow shooting course he and Levi can make out there. (Like I said, it all depends on what kind of book you've been reading. :)

We're back on line!!!

As of this last week, we have internet at the house! (Which also means our internet-based home phone number is set up and working.) We are getting to know the neighbor kids; they like to come over to play with the swords/guns, or to draw on the sidewalk with chalk.

Our kids are getting more confident in using their Spanish... proof being that they bought snacks from the vendor walking down the sidewalk with their own money the other day. :P

Though we are close to "down town" walking one way, we are also only one block from the Rio Puyo and the end of town going the other; the kids tried to "plunk" all the rocks in the other day, but there are still quite a few left.

Between various sicknesses and getting unpacked, school has been a little hit and miss this month, but we are still plugging along. One really fun project has been to learn the dialog between the Lord Jesus and Nicodemus out of the Spanish Bible...the older two acted it out as a skit for Papa today with the "help??" of Dan and Nate, who introduced them. I was the Narrator; Levi was Nicodemus, and Glory said the Lord's answers. (BTW white board marker wipes off chins just fine...in fact, Levi's beard kept sweating off before he was done with it.)

Is Everything Backwards?

Obviously, in moving to a new country one would expect differences, but I am continually humored ("humored" is the nice way to say it!) by how many things are quite opposite from the States. Here are some notable encounters: 

• The toilets flow counter-clockwise. 

• When you set a meeting for, say 3pm, instead of ARRIVING at your destination at 3pm, you should LEAVE your house at 3pm...sometimes without regard to how long the travel time is.

• Stop signs are equivalent to Yield signs in the States. 

• Red lights are strictly honored....unless no one else is coming, in which case you may freely proceed or be blasted with honking taxis from behind. 

Finally, what sparked this post:

• Refrigerators circulate cold air exactly opposite of the models found in the States. I state this last one as having some authority. As of yesterday evening, I have now serviced/repaired (in some way or another) every refrigerator that we have ever owned: Feeling confident of my ability in this subject, I opened the compartment where the fan motor *should* have been, but I did not find it. After some time(45 minutes!) hacking away at the fridge, I derived that the fridge must circulate air differently than I had expected. 

Enjoy!

Taylor

P.S. - What are some things that you have noticed that are backwards, or at least confusingly different living in Latin America? 

P.P.S. - The fridge is now functioning normally...mostly...sort of...I think....?  ;-)

My Office Space

Though it was not in "the plan" when we decided to move to Puyo, I again, have set up my office "away from home". The adequate house that we rent has a small apartment nicely separated by a small courtyard...why the landlady agreed to rent it to us for free, I am still not quite sure yet. That separate apartment was going to be my office. It has its own bathroom and shower and it is nicely sized at about 10' x 20'. As things sometimes go in Latin America, we had a dilemma in our plans. The best ISP comes via phone line (DSL-equivalent), but when I went to the phone company they informed me that there were no more numbers available for our street...no phone number = no internet.

So, praise the Lord, He helped me find an office building that had some office space available. I am on the 3rd floor, with doctors' offices below me. The office building was already equipped with internet, so after purchasing a desk, I quickly set myself up and have been working satisfactorily since coming to Puyo. The building is 4 blocks away from the house and takes me between 2-5 minutes...depending on how many times I stop to talk or enjoy the atmosphere.

I mention all this and reemphasize that working away from my house was not my desire, but then my wife reminded me that I do seem to enjoy having an office "in town". The walk to work, smelling the delicious aromas of late breakfast and lunch cooking, the various commotions that proceed on the street, and most importantly the contacts that I make along the way; all these come together to make my "office" more dynamic than if I were working out of the house.

Enjoy!
Taylor

P.S. - I have already made several invaluable contacts as a direct result of my office space. Thank you Lord for knowing my needs.

Nate had a birthday!

I know this picture should go after the cake,
 but the face was just too good not to be first. :)

Mama and Papa bought him a birthday cake...we didn't have any 
candles, but believe it or not, the matches stayed lit long enough to work out.
 (Match sticks here are coated in wax, so they burn a really long time.) 

Nate had presents that had been mailed, that had been stowed in our luggage,
 and that had been made by his siblings. All put together, he made out quite handily.

Our neighbor drove with us to the monkey reserve just outside of town...
we didn't have time to actually go through it, but we did get to see monkeys that
 weren't on "their" side of the reserve. These were checking to see if the beverage
 truck had accidentally left any open coke bottles for them. :)

For supper we made pizza...Nate doesn't know that is a 2...
but Glory had I had fun fixing it anyway. :)