Thanksgiving Day Parade

Sorry I haven't posted anything in such a long time! I wasn't very good about planning my internet time around the electrical outages we've been having and then lately the internet in all of Shell has just been down. I am in Quito with Eric this weekend and will going back to Shell tomorrow so hopefully the internet will be back up and running and I can get back to my regular blogging. :)

Lots of things have happened this month, but the highlight has been the parade that just so happened to be on Thanksgiving Day (for us USA people that is). In Shell, it was the celebration of "Shell Days. People come from all over to participate, the town is repainted (literally) and decorated, there are bull fights, a circus, and even a pageant for the Queen of Shell. It was such a big deal... and this year our kiddoes participated! They were soooooo excited about it... everyday they asked me "Miss Alison, when will we march? We practice today? How much time until the desfile (parade)?" So after much practice and lots of singing, on Thursday the kids got all dressed up in their typical Ecuadorian "of the coast" attire (as did I) and marched and sang these 5 songs: I Love You Lord Forever, Lean on Me, Tu Amor Hace Eco en Todo Mi Universo, I'm in the Lord's Army, and He's Got the Whole World in His Hands. I cannot tell you how proud I was of them. They did the motions, sang loud, smiled, and at least tried to stay in their lines. You should've seen the faces and heard the applauses of the people lining the streets... they were so impressed that these kids were singing in English.. and so well! Also, when they sang the song in Spanish proclaiming to the whole community that Jesus' love is everywhere and is everything to them..... well that was the best part. I know God used these precious little kids to touch of hardened hearts of many people in those crowds.

As you can see the kids looked beautiful! I am so thankful that I have these kids in my life... and you. Whether there is internet or not, electricity or not.... please know that you are in my thoughts and prayers. Hope each and every one of you had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Precious Moments

This is a day in the life of Alison Bowen at Casa de Fe. Its true, I am surrounded by the most precious creations of God.... I LOVE IT. These are a few of my favorite scenes.... Coco being ADORABLE and making a funny face (usually he's blowing kisses), Gilmar and Nicole getting ready to go to Miss Sharon's pre-school class over at the Nate Saint Memorial School, Jefferson and Ivan hugging each other randomly when the rest of the time they are running around like crazy silly kindergarteners, Veronica playing with her dolls and always looking up at me with her pretty little smile (she is SO small), and little Ana eating her popcorn during snacktime.. such a doll. I could go on and on about how cute these kids are... but I thought I'd at least share a little bit of the joy that goes on here. :)