There is just such a quality of goodness about this friend.  She makes me want to be happier, to be kinder, to be more fun, and to enjoy life more, because that’s how she is.  As I write this I feel like there isn’t really a good way to even describe her awesomeness well enough.  So I will just leave it at that.  I am grateful for a friend who loves life and spreads that joy to me and everyone she meets.

Last night in my insomnia state my mind wandered to how blessed I am to have a variety of amazing friends.  (As a side note, how on earth does someone super sleep deprived ever suffer from insomnia?  I mean really body, you are super tired, get with the program!)  As I thought about a lot of my different friends over the years I was really really impressed with each of them, with their unique strengths and talents, with their ability to deal with life’s junk, and overall their ability to be real and people that I look up to.  Then I thought that I should really write to each of them and tell them how awesome they are, and how much they have positively impacted my life.  But then I thought about how I should do it on the blog, because then I would have a good record, and it would be fun.  Also it’s my blog so I will do whatever I please.  I won’t try hard to disguise who the friend is, but I will withhold names so they don’t have to be overly embarrassed (in the off chance someone reads this!)  In addition to these forthcoming posts, I will make a point to send a copy to the actual friend it is written about, because, duh, they might need a reminder of their awesomeness.  I should point out that I am not going in any particular order, and I will probably give up this pursuit before I complete all of my friends.  So no offenseies.  (That is a new word.  Totally going in the dictionary next year.)

Without further ramble, here is my first post:

Friend #1
This friend is perhaps my oldest genuine friend (by friendship length, not age) that I am still really friends with.  I have many fond memories of going to play at her house as a child, and because I cannot remember her moving to the area, I assume it must have been pretty young (or also me going senile).  This friend is amazing.  She is so thoughtful, so caring, and so kind.  She is smart and a great mother.  She is really put together, she is always classy and classic, both in behavior and appearance.  This friend is a great listener, and has great advice.  She is sweet and funny, and her laugh and beautiful smile both instantly make me feel happier.  This friend is strong.  She is able to take life’s challenges and handle them with grace and courage.  One thing I love about this friend is our ability to pick up as if we never left off, that things are never strange even when we haven’t seen each other in a long time.  She is also forgiving, especially of the fact that I am such a bad friend who never emails or skypes when she lives so far away.  (Did I mention that I miss her a lot and think about her often?)  She is also generous, which really goes along with her thoughtfulness.  She writes sweet cards, bakes delicious cakes & tasty food, and is a true friend.  I know that if I ever have a problem she will be there for me, that if she says she will do something she will do it (and do it excellently), and that I love her!  I often find myself wishing that she lived closer, but since she currently does not, I resolve to be a better friend and at least email her more!  The end.  Thanks friend, I really do love you.

I feel really blessed for all of the following and more:
-I already have two healthy kids and am blessed to be still growing a third
-The baby inside me did not try to come out too early
-The baby inside me seems to be quite healthy and happy
-I have not been on bed rest or had any health complications
-I have actually felt better in the third trimester than either of the other two times
-Until two days ago I could still do pretty much everything I wanted (now I am just slightly limited in that I have to not move around so much because everything hurts too badly)
-Aaron works 10 minutes from home which gives me much more help/breaks because of a short commute
-My mom came and vacuumed my house, made food, watched my kids, and other various helpful activities
-My mom is coming back on the 23rd, unless the baby decides to come out sooner (ha!)
-One million of my friends have offered to help
-My midwife is the best midwife ever

It’s kind of silly to even write this post, but generally at this point in pregnancy I am so ready to hide in my closet (ok, I still want to) and cry/scream/break stuff that it is worth noting.  Lately I have heard far too many stories of people with very sick children, people having a hard time getting pregnant, staying pregnant, other extreme life problems, etc. and I just can’t help but feel blessed at the situation I am in.  So, I guess what I am saying is I am glad to be a giant healthy whale.  Until maybe tomorrow when I go mental.  I will enjoy it while it lasts.

You may already know this, but I love you.  I love your huge cathedral with big blue domes.  I love your central park with scary stuffed horses for kids to get their pictures taken on.  I love your streets, some with huge excellent sidewalks and others with hardly a crumbling curb to perch upon.  I love your food, your soup, your aji, your exploding corn.  I love your people, and I really love your orphans.  I love walking around feeling like home.  I love the memories we have made together.  I love your car sirens and barking dogs and excessive amount of honking.  I even love your traffic.  I love your rivers and the laundry being done on the banks.  I love your fruit markets and I even can almost tolerate the smell of your open air meat markets.  I love your restaurants and the way you deep fry hot dogs.  I love your beautiful green hills.  I love your sunshine and your bursts of crazy rain.  I love your scary blue buses and your sea of taxis.  I love your lottery vendors, your ladies coming to get scraps for their pigs to eat, and your teenage sons walking down the street arm in arm with their moms.  I love your babies and I love your old people.  I love seeing giant pigs roasting beside scary guinea pigs on the side of the road.  I love how much you love soccer, and I love all the fireworks.

I guess what I am trying to say, Cuenca, is that I love you.  Let’s be BFF.

Love,
Kelsey

For example: 6 days a week I wash a load of laundry by hand.  This entails gathering laundry, adding soap and water, letting it soak, swishing it around a bunch, letting Sammy and Harmon walk on it in the tub, scrubbing it as needed, several rinses, putting it into the wringer part of the industrial mop bucket (classy! but saves my wrists), then wringing it by hand, and finally hanging it up to dry on the lines.  Oh wait, but then I have to watch the weather all day, because it rains probably 5 or 6 days a week, even if only for a few minutes, and bring all the laundry inside to find creative locations to temporarily let it dry (banister, kitchen chairs, doorknobs…).  Ridiculous, right?  But here’s the thing, it is better.  If I only have to throw a load in the washer (ok, obviously I hope to someday have a washer again) then I am bored.  What will we do kids?  Let’s go to Target for no reason…  Again don’t get me wrong, I love Target, but after purging most of our belongings it is obvious that random trips to Target were a bit out of control before we left.

Another example: going anywhere with just me and the kids.  This has been especially pronounced because Aaron is not only working during the day, but pretty much immobile the rest of the time as well.  But the kids and I cannot sit in the house all day.  Since we don’t own a car, that leaves two options: 1. Walk and 2. Taxi.  I love walking.  That is one of the many reasons I wanted to move back here, if you live near enough to town, you can walk to tons of places.  But obviously with a 2 and 3-year-old, our range is limited.  Going two blocks to the park: easy.  Going almost a mile to the downtown park with the cool huge cathedral: almost impossible.  While we could walk it, me alternating carrying the kids, most days it just seems like too much.  Taxiing here is really cheap, but if you do it several times a day and you happen to currently have zero income, it can add up quickly.  This to me at first seemed pretty limiting, how on earth am I going to get anything done/ever leave the house?  But here’s what is actually happening: I pick and choose, and end up with better choices than when I would just throw the kids in the car and drive somewhere (anywhere!) back in the US.  Now instead of hitting up the McDonald’s drive-thru just because, we plan to go to the Museum and actually go.

I guess what I am trying to get at is that although on the surface it seems like lots of things that I was accustomed to doing in the US are more difficult here, it actually makes my life better.  I am less bored, I am more fulfilled, which obviously leads to greater happiness.  And although I know I find great joy in visiting with the orphans, I think that the rest of life here really is great aside from that.  I wish that I could just choose to be like that wherever I was, that if I lived in Renton or Bellevue or South Dakota that I could just choose to do things that were fulfilling instead of just doing something to not be bored.  But as it stands I am a lazy person who is prone to sit around, so I am glad for the kick in the pants that living here is.  I obviously had an idea that it would be like this, and I am glad that it is shaping up to be what I was looking for.

I was going to write each of you a note to tell you how great I think you are, but that was going to take a long time.  But really, Awesome People, I adore you.  I am continually amazed at the things you do for me and for others.  You are constantly making my life better and easier.  Some of you seem to know when I most need a note, a call, a trip to get some forbidden dark soda, a laugh, a prayer.  Some of you write hilarious blogs that make me laugh out loud.  Some of you are so nice and so good that you make me want to be better.  Some of you have trials and problems that you handle with such grace and good attitudes that it helps me to deal better with my own much easier problems.  Some of you have provided me with the best memories that I think about on a daily basis.  Some of you are so giving, some so open, and some so smart.  Some of you allow me to let down all my barriers and be my real self, and some of you just get me completely.

I am the type of person who is quick to complain, quick to have a bad attitude, and quick to feel sorry for myself.  I am often annoyed with other people when they don’t behave exactly the way I want.  I often find it difficult to get outside myself to think about how others are feeling/why they might be acting the way they are.  But you, Awesome People, you always not only remind me that even really awesome people are human and by extension help me extend a little bit of consideration to less awesomes, but also you remind me that I am so blessed to know you.

So thanks, Awesome People.  Thank you for being so awesome.  I don’t know what I would do without you.

Seriously,
Kelsey

On Thursday we went to help move a load of dirt from outside OSSO’s new orphanage to inside for the plants. The dark clouds and lightning in the distance should have formed some sort of warning, but the group of 8 of us found shovels and three wheelbarrows and got to work. Within a minute of moving the first wheelbarrow it started to rain, and within 5 minutes it was torrential downpour. This of course only made us work faster, and turned our awesome dirt into awesome mud. Ishy proclaimed “This is the best experience of my life! We can get dirty, we can roll in the mud, and we can serve!” Way to see the bright side little man, as we were all pretty much soaked and freezing, and eventually gave up because the wheelbarrows were impossible to move across the new mud field. We then all got a nice soak with the hose as the thunder and lightning got closer and closer. Anna Maria brought us something warm to drink and then we all went home.

The other day I found a mighty large cucaracha crawing across the floor and made Aaron kill it. He exclaimed “We’re moving!” Adding another vote along with my mother (“Get the house, big momma’s coming to stay!”) for our house. Speaking of, we went to see it on Thursday and were sad because the workers don’t think working is a good idea so it still is progressing slowly. The landlords told me they were going to the shop (again) to complain, and I asked them to call if they had any news. We decided that if it is not done by next week (Thursday, latest Friday) we will just stay in the apartment until April. Well yesterday Landlord’s daughter calls and reports the workers are there working (ON A HOLIDAY?!?!) and the house should be ready in time. We continue to hold our breath and cross our fingers.

Wednesday through Sunday are the fiestas of Cuenca, and being a block off the main square we have been lucky to see lots of ultra-dangerous fireworks (from the safety of our window) and globos which are little hot air balloons made out of tissues paper that they launch into the sky. They seem to have problems and often light on fire and don’t go up, or get stuck on buildings or trees or whatever is in the way. Maybe some pictures will come later. What is really great about Ecuador is that they have little to no concern for the safety of buildings or people when using fireworks. I was thinking of the Medina Days firework show where they make you keep your boat one million yards away from the firework barge. Not here, you can walk up and touch the burning fireworks should you choose. And if you don’t choose probably one will fall right on you from the sky, either that or a burning globo of death. Isn’t Ecuador great? Good thing I have insurance now.