Ecuador Day 14

Sunday Dec. 18th
We have been in Ecuador for two weeks! What did we do to celebrate? Well....I cut Adriana's bangs! And how do I learn....the hard way!!! So....Adriana now has some bangs that are a bit crooked and a bit too short really...but it's just one more way I know she's my kid! I've done it to both my girls now! LOL

We were really hoping we could find an English speaking church by now, but from what we've learned, there aren't any in Cuenca...so we had a nice breakfast and decided to head to the Mall Del Rio...it is a newer mall with about 150 shops in it....we knew going that the items in those shops would be way out of our budget as even shoes at Payless cost twice as much as in the states...but we thought it would be fun just to get out and walk around..(we had went there on our second day with Adriana but didn't get very far since we were all getting tired and hungry when we were there)

Upon leaving the apartment, we soon learned how quiet Sunday's are for Cuenca...first, the street our apartment is on was closed...it is closed for bikers and walkers on Sunday mornings...then, we found it very hard to get a taxi....later we learned there are about 2500 taxi's in Cuenca...and on Sunday's there are about 200....and on Sunday's, they can charge up to double the normal fare..so normally our taxi would have been $1.50 to the the mall..but instead it was $3! Lesson learned. We walked around both the top and bottom levels and just enjoyed some time together. It was nice to see how family oriented Cuenca is...especially on Sundays...there are a ton of people out and it is all families...the entire family...all together...very nice to see! ( last Sunday John and Carmen had driven us to a large park and we also noticed how the park was just filled with complete families enjoying time together)

We have noticed that Adriana is getting a little bored with us..she's used to having playmates 24-7.....playdough and coloring are fun for only so long I guess....so we went to the Supermaxi there at the mall and went up to the toy section to see what might help.  She loves balls and that was one of the things we got to see her enjoy playing with her friends on the orphanage...so we bought her a little kickball of sorts...all of $1.30...it has the alphabet all over it, so I figured I could double it as an educational toy as well. =)  The orphanage workers also said Adriana was always wanting to help feed the babies...so we found her a baby with a bottle, plate, and spoon...I seriously don't know how people afford to buy toys for their kids here...and there were tons of families there shopping with full carts of toys! For instance, a baby alive doll that I think is about $25 in the states is $50 here! So we started with the nicer toy isles and quickly moved to the less expensive toy isles to find this baby...It was still $15 but it fit what we hoped Adriana would enjoy playing and pretending with.  She was so excited to carry that box and was already trying to get the baby out of the box before we could get to the check out!

Before heading home, Zac had been craving a burger...poor guy, he loves his red meat, but beef is just not a big item here...so as we were walking out through the food court we saw a Burger King...so we decided to eat there...he got his burger and said it was good....Adriana and I had chicken strips and french fries...it makes me sick to my stomach thinking that we ate that much grease today, but I suppose we'll survive.  Adriana thoroughly enjoyed the french fries and I had to move them out of her reach as she was just shoveling them into her mouth as fast as she could...guessing that was her first experience of french fries...and if you know me well, french fries are my weakness.....Addie and I both love some french fries!  They definitely weren't as good as the ones in the states...but Adriana liked them.

We got a taxi home...after waiting for a bit longer than normal... Adriana wanted her baby opened now...she was so excited..I wish I could explain how she shows her excitement...we got the baby and her bottle out and she crawled up on the couch and went to work taking care of her baby.  She was feeding the baby and taking the baby to the potty and finding a blanket to put on the baby.....it was adorable!

We needed to get some laundry washed..Zac and I had plenty of clothes, but Adriana needed some clean jammies and clean undi's...so we called John to see if we could come crash at his place for a bit and do laundry. We once again had to wait a while to get a cab...we tried to put Adri down for a nap, but she just wanted to play with her baby and enjoy the extra space at John's place to run around....

Carmen later came over to John's and it was nice to get to know her more on a personal level as well instead of just our translator.  Between her and John they have both traveled a lot and have some good stories.

Tomorrow we will hopefully find out if the judge is going to see us on Tuesday for signatures....prayers appreciated that we get the appointment with the judge for Tuesday and that court will follow on Wednesday.