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I’m so thankful that the sickness seems to be over! Evan and Ellie are both feeling better today. They had a virus for a day each and it included lots of vomiting. Here they are not feeling so well.
Thanks to everyone who has prayed for them and me. God has given me extra energy for what I’ve had to face, and I can feel your prayers. So thanks.
After some cleaning and laundry this morning, we headed to a few shops and the playground. Evan and Ellie had fun as always.
This afternoon my friend Margarita and I took our children to the Alhambra Generalife Gardens to enjoy the beauty and let the children run off some energy.
Looking out over a section of the city, the Albacin
Margarita and me
There are many fountains throughout the gardens, and we happened to be standing by this one talking when suddenly Ellie fell face forward into the fountain with her arms behind her and feet in the air! A man standing close by pulled her out quickly and she sputtered and spit out some water while swallowing the rest and crying at the top of her lungs. She was ok, just soaked and gave us a scare!
Evan and Miguel
Ellie & Elisa
After the kids finished running of their energy (funny how they weren’t tired?!), we walked down the hill to Margarita’s moms for a visit. Here’s Abuela and Tito (Grandma and Uncle) playing with the children.
The day ended with Ellie laughing so hard while eating her supper (at Evan being silly with his Elephant) that she started choking on her food and threw up everywhere! The day had its moments, but was good regardless.
We said goodbye to Kevin this afternoon, as he left for a 12 day trip to Ohio to be in his good friend’s wedding. Rob Miller will marry Kelly this Saturday. As Kevin was preparing to leave today, in the busyness of getting all the bags ready to go out the door, Ellie suddenly started crying. I think she felt confused about what was happening, and certainly didn’t want to be left alone. We assured her that it was only daddy leaving, and that mommy would still be here, and that calmed her down. I (Wendy) have been dreading having Kevin gone for so long, but am trusting God to walk with me, and I am confident that He is enough for me…at least in this moment I feel that way. I would be thankful your prayers if God leads you to pray. Also pray for safety as Kevin travels and for meaningful connections with family and friends.
After endless days of sun and clear blue skies, today was dreary and rainy, matching our feelings a bit at the thought of Kevin leaving
Waiting at the bus stop
And to catch up a bit on our lives in the last couple of weeks…
Here are some foods we’ve been eating…mmm…
Calabaza (Pumkin) with Chorizo (Spanish sausage) and Croquetas (fried “nuggets” filled with a mashed potato consistency and pieces of meat, often ham)
I stopped in to visit Matilda, the mother of our neighbor, who runs the hotel where we stayed when we first arrived in Spain. She cut off a large chunk of a very large oblong shaped “pumpkin” for me. Later, her daughter Margarita, our neighbor, showed me how to cook the Calabaza in her kitchen, so I went home that night and followed her example. It was delicious! Pumpkin is not eaten as a dessert here. No Pumpkin pie! I want to try my hand at making a pie for them sometime, and see what they think!
Pescado (fish) and ensalada (salad)
Enjoyed in a restaurant
Cuatro amigos o hermanos (4 friends or brothers and sisters, as they sometimes call themselves) Evan, Miguel, Elisa and Ellie
A festival in our city a couple of weeks ago
Enjoying some hot tea on that cool evening
During that festival weekend, there were some rides set up in our neighborhood, so of course we had to check them out
Evan was so excited about the bumper cars
See if you can find Ellie and Kevin on this ride. I don’t know who’s enjoying it more…Ellie cried when she had to get off.
-Wendy
Life has somewhat revolved around Ellie this week. One peaceful afternoon, Ellie was so quietly “sleeping” in her room while our neighbors came for language practice. Near the end of our practice time, we heard Ellie rustling around in her room, and went in to get her after her “nice nap”. Instead, we found that she had discovered some wet-erase markers and drawn ALL OVER the nice white walls in bright colors. Each of the pictures below represents a different wall. Does anyone have a suggestion on how to remove this stuff?
It’s also been potty-training week for Ellie, so the week involved a lot of cleaning-up of Ellie’s messes. She has had some successes, much to our relief and delight.
Here’s one more shot of miss “innocent”
And just so the entry isn’t all about Ellie, here’s one of all of us. We did some hiking around Granada on Sunday, and this is one of the lookouts we hiked to.
-Wendy
This past weekend we traveled 8 hours north to Burgos to visit the church that gave us the invitation needed for visas to live in Spain. We were able to attend a wedding of an African couple Saturday night at the church. It was a neat mix of cultures, as most people there were Spanish, but with a definite African touch to the wedding. We also enjoyed getting to meet a lot of people from the church, and were thankful for their hospitality and love for us, as well as their patience with our Spanish.
Dennis & Connie Byler, our kind hosts, who work with the Burgos church
On the way home we saw a beautiful old castle sitting up on a hill off in the distance, and decided to take a break from the long drive and investigate. We discovered the Castillo de la Muela on the top of the hill surrounded by old windmills in Don Quixote country. It ended up being a wonderful break from the drive, and it was fun to pay only 4 Euros for our family to explore the almost deserted castle. After lunch in Consuegra, the town below the castle, we were back on the road again.
Inside one of the old windmills
The view that Ellie and Wendy are seeing outside the windmill window
Castillo de la Muela (behind the windmill)
Standing at the foot of the castle, looking out over the hill at the windmills lined up
Here we are at a restaurant in the village. We are glad that Ellie has a way of entertaining herself (at times) with only her fingers. She is playing “bugs”. Notice Evan’s comment about the guy at the table behind us who is counting coins for the restaurant. When we walked into the restaurant it was around 1:30, a little too early for lunch, but the man said it would only be about 10 minutes until food would be ready. So we sat and waited and waited, observing the waiter loitering around with seemingly nothing to do. After about 30 minutes of waiting we finally figured out that we were supposed to be sitting further back in the restaurant at different tables if we wanted to order meals. Of course, that was obvious…right…..!? So we relocated ourselves and were served immediately by the loitering waiter. The “adventures” of being a foreigner.
It’s good to be home again, and we’re getting back into a bit of a routine again this week with school in the mornings for Evan. Evan’s days also include our doorbell ringing at precisely 3:30 each day when Miguel gets out of school. They spend the afternoons playing together. Today Evan sat on the couch for ½ hour before he came, impatiently waiting, and constantly wishing to speed up time. We’re glad for a good friendship for him. Evan & Miguel didn’t see each other over the weekend of course, since we were gone, and exchanged big hugs and smiles today.
Of course we need to include a random Ellie picture
-Wendy