New Year's Eve

Even after 3 years here, it's hard to clearly explain the New Year's Eve traditions.  Maybe the pictures will help.  This is the hospital's version, although you can walk around Shell or any town on New Year's Eve and see even more elaborate examples.  The old year is considered an old man.  It is personified in a straw man that can take on virtually any character.  Here is one from the hospital contest where each hospital department created an old man (the old year) and a widow (his wife after the new year arrives.)

Here is another example from the Maintenance Department of the hospital.  The figure to the left is the old man's (or old year's) soon-to-be widow.  Men dress up as the old year's widow and "beg" money from people driving and walking around.  All in fun.  The man on the right is reading the old year's will, leaving various things to different hospital employees.

Time for the bonfire.  All the figures are added to the pile.  The scrubs were saved.  As Paul commented, there aren't many XL scrubs - no need to burn them!

Arahuno

In early December I was able to go into the "jungle" with several other doctors to do physicals on children in the Compassion International program.  The hospital doctors have been taking turns going to remote jungle communities to do these physicals.  I agreed to help with this one because it was drivable, rather than requiring a flight and thus able to do with only one overnight.  The most difficult part was lining up back-up for Paul with the kids since he was on call the whole time I was gone.  Once that was figured out, it was a fun trip.  However, it was definitely "jungle-lite!"  We went to a community called Arahuno.  About 7 years ago a road was built to their community and since then they have had electricity.  They also have running water, although there was a problem with the pipes while we were there that had the water shut down.  We saw about 160 kids.  Almost all of them were healthy.  The ones that had medical problems that I saw had been seen, often at our hospital in Shell.  Most of these problems seem to be orthopedic injuries.  We also saw a small group of children from a more remote community that the Compassion workers brought to us by truck.  We did all the physicals in the elementary school for the community, named for Edward McCully, one of the five missionaries killed by the Waorani over 50 years ago.

Josiah's big debut!!!

Dear friends and family (especially grandparents):

Please see the following clip featuring our budding thespian Josiah!  Recently he and his preschool classmates performed in a provience-wide expose of "preschool culture" for the community here in Shell in our local "Coleseo".  Enjoy!

The Littlest Brother

Our Baby Isaac is already two!  It's hard to believe that much time has gone by.  He is a sweet boy and we all dote on him.  His brothers love him and he loves them.  He calls Sammy "BeMul," Nathan is "Nah-Nah" and Josiah is "Yah-Yah."  He does a good job keeping up with them and they look after him.  Isaac loves slides, jello, strawberries, Baby Einstein, balls, airplanes, strawberry milk, pineapple, books, pasta, and mandarinas.  He does not like baths, swimming, being sticky or being left behind when Mommy or Daddy go somewhere, especially if we go in the car.  On our vacation in the States, he warmed up quickly to the new people he met, especially when he saw his brothers playing with them.  He also kept up with all the activities we did from sailing to the corn maze to the aquarium.  He especially liked the alpine slide which he could ride with an adult.  Every time he reached the bottom he said, "One more time!"  He is a good natured little guy and although he likes to say "No," it seems like he says "Yes" more often than the others at two.  He is very attached to both Mom and Dad and likes to be with us.  His most common phrase is "Hold you me!"  His second birthday was during out Stateside vacation, so we were able to celebrate with both sides of the family and Mom even made him a giant "2" cookie.

Things We Have Learned During Our Vacation in the U.S.

1.  Corn really does grow as high as an elephant's eye.

2.  Use turn signals.

3.  Blueberries take about 4 days to digest.

4.  Wipes always come in handy - especially after the baby throws up on the airplane.

5.  Squirrels, blueberries, water fountains (yes, you can drink the water,) trains and corn-on-the-cob produce a disproportionate level of excitement.

6.  Driving on the Interstate in New England is a pleasure.

7.  There's nothing like salt and vinegar potato chips, Dr. Pepper, triscuits, Mounds, sushi, and smoked Vermont cheddar.

8.  Ask for a clue in the corn maze sooner rather than later.

9.  It's easy to forget you know how to speak Spanish.

10. Leaf-cutter ants don't eat the leaves - they use them to make fungus to eat!

11.  Leaf-cutter ants aren't native to the U.S., but apparently don't mind native U.S. leaves.

12.  Half a bushel of apples is a lot of apples!

13.  Invisible ink books are priceless.

14.  It's okay to take a 2-year-old on the open chair lift because it's covered by the insurance.

15.  Isaac loves to slide and hates water.  He can eat his weight in blueberries.

16.  Josiah will do anything- even tube the diamonds at Schlitterbahn.

17.  Samuel completed the magic square of numbers at the science museum faster than Kim, but Kim learned something about game theory.

18.  Nathan has turned into quite a good hiker since the month in NYC 3 years ago when he often told us his legs were broken.  However, 3 hours lost in a corn maze did him in.

19.  The excitement of a train ride wears off pretty quickly.

20.  Paul can take as many pictures of the glider above the blueberry patch as the kids picking berries.

21.  The queen leaf-cutter ant is really big (1 1/2 inches) and seldom seen.  

22.  No matter how long the trip, the boys get punchy for the last 20 minutes.

23.  We're used to seeing buses on the road, not RV's and boats.

24.  Knowing where you are and where you are going isn't enough.  You need the map.  Equally true for corn mazes and unfamiliar highways.  

25.  Macs really are better.

26.  Free wireless doesn't mean what you think it means.

27.  Plymouth rock is just that - a rock in the sand.

28.  Someone else from the Shell area (or el Oriente) has been to Plymouth, MA and visited the t-shirt store where we found going-out-of business deals.

El Mayor Turns 8!

Sammy's birthday is a bit of a blur.  We celebrated a few days early with his friends at a near-by pool where the boys played, ate salchipapas and returned home for homemade ice cream cake.  On he day of his actual birthday we werein Quito picking up a team from our church.  He had cinnamon buns with a candle at the Guesthouse in Quito and lemon cake as requested with the team after our pizza for dinner, but most of the day was spent driving.  Surprisingly, he thought it was all pretty cool and enjoyed riding on the bus with the team back to Shell.  Eventually he got his presents when the team's luggage arrived 2 days later.  He was very excited about the Star Wars lego, science of space kit and the model airplane that he can put together with Dad.

We love seeing Sammy learn and grow and all his stages are new to us.  He still loves to read and has recently been reading The Hardy Boys.  He loves playing Wii and has made it through the levels in Star Wars this summer.  He enjoyed the special bonus of having a friend his age on our church's mission team this summer and did VBS in Spanish every day, translating for his friend.  He is a huge help with Isaac - gets him dressed and reads to him and he taught Isaac to say "Luv you, Be-Mul."  He keeps up in his daily children's Bible, sometime catching up during the sermon in Spanish!  He is always willing and exctied to try new things, but is also content to be a homebody as well.  He is reliably an optimist and sets a tone of enthusiasm for our family adventures.  We are so thankful that God answered our prayers 10 years ago with Samuel Paul Barton!

Texans in Shell

We have some Texas visitors in Shell this month - the Hardin family who lived here for 4 years and are back to help out for a few weeks.  They treated us to a Hoedown, Texas style.  Now I don't quite claim roots in Texas, but this sure did feel like home!  And 3 of the boys are born Texans and my husband might as well be.  So all in all, it was great fun, from two-stepping, to sunflower seeds, to line-dancin, to spittin' watermelon seeds. 

Nathan won the watermelon-seed spitting contest in the kids category!  He was thrilled because in his words, "I don't usually win things!"

Isaac was very attached to Paul all night, giving him double the work-out.

Sammy square-danced with Mom and was an excellent partner.

Josiah enjoyed the deputization of the kids and the chicken dance.