grace

I've sat quietly for the past hour after dinner listening to the mummurings of students' voices in the distant kitchen. I can't understand the words and that's ok.

My 3rd week in Ecuador has begun. Week 1 was reuniting with the city, with friends Ben & Bryce, and with the loving home we have at the OMS guesthouse here in Quito. Week 2 makes me smile - the students embarked on their first homestays with Ecuadorian families and spent the days at la fundacion Davis where Ben & I lived. Everyday I struggled to pull myself out of bed and eat breakfast in one of the homes at the orphanage at 6am. In this same home at 1pm I joined them for lunch followed by chores, homework, games, and usually a pretty peaceful afternoon before 6pm rolled around and I was beckoned for dinner at my new home. One afternoon Ben & I decided to join the group of kids outside playing. At one point in time I was running my heart out listening to the laughter of Maria trying to catch me and trying to hold in my laughter in order to keep breathing! As I ran past Ben and Cesar, Ben asked me what the word for enjoy is - disfrutar, the verb to enjoy. Quite correctly, Ben was telling Cesar how he and I both enjoy life at la fundacion Davis. For me - it is a place that I find joy, I am challenged, I struggle to understand the lives of orphaned children, and where I am able to love and be loved.

It's currently pouring buckets of rain in Quito and I'm loving it... the smell, the sound, the calmness of it all. I'm going to end this post now because I want to go sit on the porch for a bit. More later :)