We hope that this letter finds you all doing well and being blessed by the Creator. We pray that God is growing you all spiritually and growing your families and perhaps your finances as well.
We are blessed in too many ways to count. We wake up everyday feeling energized since we are living in such a beautiful country with such clean air. Most days are perfect in temperature, with a few days being slightly chilly. Yesterday it was 74 and sunny. Today, the skies are a little overcast and it is about 70 degrees.
We are growing! We have completed the new greenhouse, and have planted 50 heads of lettuce, 30 cabbage, green beans, 30 strawberries, and 35 spinach plants. We used plastic rain guttering to hang on the North side of the greenhouse which houses the strawberries. We found some Bamboo that is 6 meters long and about 5” in diameter, so we cut open the top and hung that below the gutters which houses the spinach. This takes advantage of some of the vertical space in the greenhouse (pictures attached.) We have planted in two outside gardens, about 40 more heads of cabbage, more lettuce, and about 20 spaghetti squash plants. We have no idea when the best time is to plant, so we just keep planting more in hopes that we will learn as we go. In this sub-tropical climate, things seem to grow year-round so it is hard to tell seasons like back in Texas. In Texas we had two seasons, blistering hot and freezing cold! We are planting more banana plants, coffee plants, apple trees, pear trees, mango, and mandarin orange. We are also planting some flowers and herbs. Gardening keeps us busy.
They are making progress on the Casita They have painted inside and out and are now waiting on windows. I think they will start tile by the end of the week. At the same time, there is a crew that is stripping all the old lacquer finish off the exterior of the windows and doors of the main house. The former owners had just kept putting more on every year and it was gummy and dripping down the frames. It is all having to be stripped off by hand. There is a crew working on it for a week now and we are not even half way done. There is dust all in the house from the sanding, and yes Lisa and my allergies are affected by it!
Lisa and I put a new motion sensor light at the front door with LED bulbs this morning. It looks great! We also climbed up a ladder in the living room and scrapped the window clean. This window is very pretty, and it has rock work in the shape of a sun. However, the previous owners had taken a liquid material and painted a pagan sun-god image in the middle of it and it looked quite tacky. We spent an hour scrapping and polishing and it looks nice now.
We are both in good health, and both of us have managed to get BP down and under control. We are also both continuing to lose weight. We feel pretty good all in all. I still can’t jog to the top of our mile-long driveway, but I am working on it. Speaking of the driveway, we were cleaning out one of the drainage tubes that carries water under the drive about half way up and I turned around and noticed the nicest view of the mystical Mondango Mountain. I snapped a quick pic and attached it to this email. We never get tired of staring at these mountains! Our driveway just happens to be part of a hiking trail that goes all the way to downtown Vilcabamba. It is on the hiking maps which are given away by the local Hosteria’s. That means I get to meet new and interesting people when I am standing in my driveway! Yesterday was no exception, as I met a nice couple from Germany who are here vacationing and hiking. They had all the usual questions about what possessed us to move here and so on. It was a delight talking to them for a few moments.
I introduced myself to the local Chiropractor yesterday, his name is Jim Braman. He and his wife Debbie are from the Carolinas. He gives adjustments in the park every Saturday morning. They seem to be nice Christian people and maybe even a little on the conservative side (a rarity here for sure). I hope I won’t need his services anytime soon, but it is good to meet them anyway.
Our daughter-in-law Amanda is still pregnant and doing well. She and BJ have sold their home in Belton and are moving into a rent house temporarily while he waits to ship out to Ft. Rucker in November. The baby is a boy and is expected to arrive between October 25th and November 5th. We are going to try and be there for the birth. Yes, we are both so excited we can’t stand it! We are shopping for baby strollers and all sort of things, so we can get a heard start on spoiling this grandchild!
Lisa’s Visa has still not been approved. It seems the Visa offices are overwhelmed with Venezuelans who are flooding into the country. It is tragic what their government has done to them. The ones we have met so far seem to be sweet people. Columbians, not so much.
So, our family is growing, friendships, crops, Spanish skills, and our knowledge of Ecuador is certainly growing. Fortunately, our midsections are shrinking! Our faith in God and our understanding of all His creation continues to grow as well. We pray that yours does as well.
Until next time,
Dios te Bendiga!
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