Has It Really Been Almost Five Years?

I'm almost ashamed to admit it's been years since I've added a post to this blog! We have continued our ex-pat journey for five years now in beautiful Cuenca, without any regrets. In all truthfulness, I couldn't remember my blog address, despite multiple attempts at trying to retrieve it. I stumbled on it a few hours ago on a friend's message board on Facebook, and I was so excited! What a blast it was going back, reliving the excitement we felt at the beginning of our journey, wondering if we were going to "make it". It seems like almost yesterday, and at the same time, ages ago. What a journey it has been! The beauty of this place still enchants us! We still live on our beloved Tomebamba River, so grateful the Lord led us to this location. We still walking most everywhere. Over the years, our area along the river has seen many restaurants spring up, much to our delight! The river walk has been further enhanced with the addition of gorgeous wall art, increased lighting, and beautiful pavers covering the walkways and bike paths. There's been the addition of a police station with a large influx of bike riding police officers patrolling the area, keeping it safe. This same police station offers free bicycles on Sunday mornings in exchange for your ID! It's wonderful watching locals and tourists alike enjoying the special beauty of this place. Friends have come and gone over the years, but we continue to enjoy meeting new people all the time. We especially love our "new" church for the past 3 years, the Adventista Sur iglesia. Our dear friend Mary led us there, and after 10 minutes, we knew we had found our "home". We were engulfed in hugs and kisses from some of the sweetest people we have ever met! That first sabbath, one of the bilingual members, much to our surprise, moved to the platform to translate the sermon for us! We have come to love singing in Spanish, listening to the mission story, and watching the beautiful ninos come forward for the children's story. Over the years we've helped teach the children English, both of us have preached not only at this church but at one of our sister churches in El Valle. We've worked with the Quiet Hour Team when they visited, and I volunteered on the pediatric unit at the local hospital. I've done vegetarian cooking classes, and our latest endeavor is evangelism to the English speaking members of our community. We continue to study our Spanish, and our comprehension has improved greatly. I'm conversant, but am not satisfied with where I am. Ken has some hearing loss, so it's much harder for him, but not one to be shy, he plunges ahead with his Spanglish and sign language, and does a very nice job of making himself understood! We have our permanent residency now, so we are able to spend a good number of months with our children and grandchildren in the States along with our friends that mean so much to us. We love every minute of our time there, and then look forward to returning to our life in Cuenca. We feel so blessed that we have the best of both worlds! We enjoy having folks visit us here, and this summer, we hope to have our granddaughter Aydan visit us for the first time! Aydan is 10 years old, and her teacher and her husband have been on mission trips to Ecuador and love it here. They have offered to bring Aydan to us and we are very excited! She is the first of our grand kids to express an interest in visiting, and we hope this will foster a love of travel! We're encouraging our little writer to do her own blog detailing her experiences while here. It is getting late, and there is so much more to share. I'm so happy to have reconnected with my "old friend", and plan on continuing this dialogue! Scratching my head, has it really been five years???