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. :)

Tu Amor Hace Eco en Todo Mi Universo

So "Tu Amor Hace Eco en Todo Mi Universo" means "Your Love Echoes in All of My Universe". It is such a great song and I will post the lyrics in Spanish and English. My students had to plan a project to help someone, and they decided to do something for the preschoolers. They memorized the words to this song, made up motions, and painted a poster depicting each thing that the song says God is. They did such an amazing job! I tried to take a video of them singing, and sadly it didnt work! I'll have them sing it again and post it another time. This picture is of my 7 students and I in front of the pre-school classroom at Nate Saint Memorial School (where our pre-k kids go as well as some of the missionary kids). The poster behind us is the one they created. After the kids sang, they helped the pre-k kids paint stars and encouraged them to be leaders in the classroom (so cute). Before leaving they sang "Lean on Me" in partners. My kids are so precious!!!

Lyrics to the song in Spanish: (sorry I have to go to class... I will translate it in another post but pretty much it says God is EVERYTHING and He echoes in all of my universe!)
En la cruz se lavó todo lo que mi alma tanto cargó
Fuiste tú, mi Jesús quien pagó el precio de mi perdón
Y no hay palabra que quiera hablar
Ni hay canción que se me antoje cantar
Pues si no es para ti
No hay razón para poder existir
Coro
Eres el aire, la lluvia
La risa de los niños
La fuerza, la calma
La guía en el camino
Misterios, estrellas
Galaxias y sorpresas que llenan
Eres la noche, el día
La luz que me ilumina
Destino, pasado
Tesoro más preciado
La llave, la puerta
La voz que me alimenta y alienta
Tu amor hace eco en todo mi universo
Eres tú la razón por la cual perdido ya no estoy
Mi dolor se marchó por la fuerza de tu abrazo y calor
Y no hay palabra que quiera hablar
Ni hay canción que se me antoje cantar
Pues si no es para ti
No hay razón para poder existir

Our Newest Little One... Nanki

This is precious little baby Nanki. Nanki is the Ashuar word for "spear". He is 15 days old in this picture (taken 3 days ago) and I fell in love with him the moment I laid eyes on him. Every day after school all I want to do is go over to Patti Sue's and hold him. His parents brought him to her because they have six other kids and he needs some special medical attention that they can't provide. He was born with a club foot and a femor that didn't quite form correctly. So, Patti Sue is trying to find doctors who can operate on him when he is strong enough... and praying for the money for the operations. He is SUCH a good little baby... good eater and good sleeper. And even at a little over 2 weeks old you can already tell he is going to be quite the little heartbreaker! :) God is so good. I am so thankful for this little boy!

My little Gilmar

This is my little 4 year old crush, Gilmar. He is the quietest 4 year old I've ever met but has the cutest smile and HAIR( its really curly and just long enough to comb over) you'll ever see. He is Alejandro's (the baby I talk about in my newsletter) big brother. He also has an older sister, Ana, who is in kindergarten and an older brother, Javier, who is 8. Their dad still comes to visit them every once in a while but he cannot take care of them. They are a good-looking bunch of kids, not to mention smart and loving, and I am so glad that God is capturing their hearts at such a young age!

Haircut!

I said when I was 16 that I would never get bangs ever again..... well here I am 23 years old, living in Ecuador, and I got BANGS again. LOTS OF BANGS. Melissa cuts hair and she gave me my daring new layers and blunt bang look. I was ready to do something different with my hair. The next thing I am thinking about is dying it ... I wanted to go black but maybe just chocolate brown or dark red. It's not that I'm itching to change my hair color, but more that I want chemicals in my hair! (They say that lice don't like treated hair). What do you think???

Painting

Here are some more pictures of my kids painting in art class. (SEE POST BELOW).