Rachel's birthday

Rachel turned 13 today. She celebrated by working this morning in the nursery at the orphanage, then shopping with Annie, Sam, and a couple other volunteers this afternoon in Cuenca. Tonight we are having a cleaning and organizing work party at OSSO house, so we aren't celebrating then, either. I plan on making a Sunday dinner for everyone, mashed potatoes and gravy, roast, rolls, and cake, just like at home. Tomorrow when we get to go to the fruit market, I plan on buying a couple dozen red roses for her. Today I have been busy, as I was at at the special needs orphanage in the morning, and the nursery at the other orphanage in the afternoon.

Other than Rachel's birthday, the biggest news of the week is that international adoptions are open again!! Everyone anticipates perhaps the kids will get placements a little faster now. In spite of this, two kids are being adopted next week by families from Cuenca. It is hard to see these kids go because you get attached to them, but we are all even more happy they get to go to families. I did see a young mom (perhaps 17) of one of our nursery kids come by today. Her daughter is really cute, she is so fat she has a hard time smiling because of it. Perhaps she is trying to get her home.

Yesterday we went on a field trip to the waterfalls near Giron. Giron is about 1 hour south of here, in the Andes like Cuenca, and on the other side of the Continental Divide. The road to the falls was being widened, and at one point we all had to get out of the bus and walk ahead, so the bus could pass lighter, then we got back on again. The falls were beautiful. They were VERY tall, and we could see them from afar long before we ever got there. The lower falls were 125 meters high, and the upper falls were 500 meters in height. We had to hike up the mountain for a couple hours, and it was pretty steep. Going down was harder on my knees, but the views were breathtaking. So were the butterflies, flowers, and vegetation along the way. We also got to see lots of "wildlife", AKA cows (Holsteins), and the Andean farmers tending to them. It was a great day, and we didn't even have to get out of the bus and walk on the way back.

Oh, one thing I have forgotten to mention in my e-mails is that gas is $1.03 a GALLON here, and diesel $1.48 a GALLON. What are you all paying in the US now? We think it must be subsidized by the government, since the Ecuadorian president is buddies with Venezula's Presidente Chavez.

Time to get to work.

Familia Reed