2019 {Year in Review}

I am grossly behind on my annual recap. 2019 was an incredible year of new experiences for us. We spent five months living in Ecuador, one month in Colombia, then ended the year with a roadtrip from Florida to Ohio and Tennessee. While living in Shell, Ecuador, on the edge of the Amazon, we experienced earthquakes, and learned when you hear a "train", you run for cover, because that is the sound of serious rainfall headed your way! Asher and Journey attended an actual school for the first time ever, which of course was in Spanish! This freed up Daddy and I to be able to volunteer at ITEC Ecuador, helping with anything from cleaning to accounting to building canoes and airplanes! At school the kids learned to play futbol, and found you don't have to speak the same language to be friends. 

We spent time in the "ring of fire". Rode a tram 10,000ft up a volcano where we then explored on horseback, enjoyed lunch from the rim of one of only two inhabited volcano craters in the world.

We explored Cotopaxi National Park by car, on foot and on horseback and experienced blizzard conditions when we tried to hike up the snow-covered mountain.

In Mindo's cloud forest, we rode a cable car over a deep valley then hiked a popular trail past 7 waterfalls. I saw a Cock-of-the-Rock and a Long-Wattled Umbrellabird. 

Nicole and I spent a week birding like mad from the cloud forest, to the paramo of Cayambe Coca, to the Amazon jungle tallying 380 species of birds, while staying in numerous interesting places, meeting incredible people and improving my spanish. 

We spent four days in the Amazon learning what life is like for the Waodani people. We met Mincaye and Kimo, men who killed our friend's grandfather. The bigger shock is that same friend actually introduced us to these men who are now totally changed Christ-followers. We saw firsthand the power of redemption, forgiveness and true love. I watched Mincaye, hunched in his old age, walk barefoot thru the jungle holding the hand of his bride. If you only knew how she became his, you'd understand why I still get emotional thinking back to this memory. 

With the Waodani we planted crops (plantain and yucca) and ate monkey, piranha, wild boar and chontacuro (palm grubs- Asher) in the jungle. We experienced culture shock when we arrived, and again when we traded jungle life for a high-rise in Medellin. A visit to Comuna 13, one of the most dangerous locations at one time, gave us a new perspective on life and how much can change in a short time, both for the bad and the good. 

Back in the states, I had the pleasure of attending Night to Shine with my buddy, Lisa. We milked a cow for the first time at the Fugate homestead. The Obrien's showed us around Chattanooga and treated us to the aquarium. Daddy finally bought another Jeep Wrangler and began outfitting it for overlanding. 

In Florida the kids took classes in Batik art, archery, volleyball and tried indoor skydiving for the first time! They witnessed the birth of 8 puppies and observed their development and helped with their care. They also learned thru fostering that saying goodbye is hard, but it's still worth doing. Numerous trips to Tallahassee and Sarasota gave us time to spend with family. In Ohio we visited Chrissy & Shaun, toured Shawshank (Mansfield Penitentiary) and attended J's annual Halloween bash. When we left Ohio we had no way of knowing it would be two years before we'd be able to return (upcoming covid pandemic).