Flamenco - Not Flamingo!

Here is my attempt at adding video to our blog. I saw this team at the library near our house. It was very fun to watch. Hannah -- do you what country that flag represents?

"The Shrine" or "Papa's Smile Door!"

Papa's office door brings a smile to any visitor walking through it!
I know it makes ME smile when I look back over the special moments of our precious little granddaughters that are posted on papa's door.
You can certainly see that not a day goes by without granny and papa thinking about our girls.
The added bonus is that you girls make us smile every day! That is a very special gift to us.

He is putting the other papa and granny's in his office to shame because they have not even started to cover their doors with their grand-baby pictures yet!

Faces of Santo Domingo

I think the grins are proof that everyone had a good time with each other! Kids are kids no matter where you go, and these pictures demonstrate that completely. Smiles and expressions communicate when language fails us. These smiles made every moment worth it!
Precious faces focused and concentrating as they helped each other with their craft project.
High school kids getting into the spirit of the assembly! Smiles communicate when language is a barrier!
This precious little girl is about 2 years old. The older children in her neighborhood watch over her very carefully.
I called this little girl Pandita, because she had some panda bears embriored on her shirt.
She was full of life and energy, which is completely communicated in her face! Don't you think she would be a fun playmate?
We didn't share the same language with this sweet little girl, but we could share a sucker! We showed her with our camera how her tongue had turned blue!
One of my favorite shots, right here! They were proud of their artwork, and proud to be brothers.
This young man was part of our local team, he helped out in many, many ways, and we appreciated all his efforts.

Just for Thom!

This picture is now by special request only LOL
We took this picture specifically for Uncle Thom, do you think he'll like it???

To Ecuador and Back!

Here's our Arizona team plus the "Hands-On" team and the local pastor and church members.
This is a view of the town we worked in, Santo Domingo. We were on the top of a mountain and the view was spectacular. We were told there are over 600,000 people in this city, but it looked to us that there were many more than that.
Papa got to speak at Primera Iglesia Bautista. His translator (on his right) is Ron Sutton.
Ron is sponsored by Trinity Baptist Church in Casa Grande and has lived in Quito for several years. He works alongside many of the local pastors and churches in and around Quito.
This is the back entrance to Primera Iglesia Bautista. They also run a Christian school, and this building houses most of the classrooms. The place where I'm standing to take the picture is their cement playground/basketball court.
Granny got to lead 100 children in Laura Flores (a barrio built in the city dump)
Everyone had a lot of fun, the kids were great, the smiles even better
The children were also very good listeners. They were very interested in learning about Jesus
There was plenty of color in the jungle, here is one of many gorgeous flowers.
Granny bought this flute - it's made out of bamboo and sounds really pretty
We saw some REALLY BIG snails in our traveling through the barrios - here's the biggest!

We're Bloomin'!

Papa's cactus has a whisker shadow, can you see it? Soon it will be a full-grown flower beard!

My singing cactus has a beautiful blossom -- soon the tips will all be covered with flowers!

Puppet Marathon!

Here is my puppet team - 12 5th -6th graders. They are holding their "amoeba", small little creatures that glow in the black light. We started at 7:45 in the morning and finished performing at 3:00 in the afternoon. THEN we had to clean up the equipment. It was definitely a full and fun day.
We did a patriotic song with flags and everything!

We performed for 23 classes in 11 shows!