we´re all safe!!!

so, it´s ironic that i´d been planning to do a blog entry entitled ``a typical day in the life of isabel´´...because sometimes God laughs at your plans and Ecuador doesn´t let that happen. THANK YOU all so much for the messages, prayers, support! it´s been a weird past 2 days to say the least, but if you dont have time to read more, know we are all safe and just please keep praying for Ecuador.

A coup attempt?!?
so as im learning, sometimes ecuador throws you for a curveball. or two or five. yest at work, Wellington (the head security guard of RdC) and Kipp came to pick up Jessie and I, since the police were protesting on the bridge into Guayaquil. Durán is a city outside Guayaquil, the largest city in Ecuador, so this was pretty big news. We all headed home in the car (buses arent safe right now for Americans since police arent in full force) and basically spent the day waiting. Celso, Caitlin and Mark never made it to work, since they work a bit later than us, but Jon Tierney Tasha and Brendan were stuck at their workplaces for a bit. Luckily we have really caring supervisors who are looking out for us like mad -- even trying to make sure everyone had towels and toothbrushes in case they needed to stay the night! Luckily, the head security guard went out again in the afternoon and found another way to get those 4 from work, so we were all back home by dinnertime. Woo!

Meanwhile, you may be wondering what actually happened. In large part, Im not too sure. Ive been reading stuff on CNN and BBC here and there (like this http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-11447519), but my info isnt any more reliable than what you can read. The president situation was in Quito, over 8 hours away from us, though there was a bit of craziness in Guayaquil and on that bridge. Things calmed down yesterday night and seem to be just about returning to normal, though -- were keeping in touch with all our Ecua friends (security guards and work supervisors ... a few in particular are super knowledgable about this stuff). In our neck of the words, its MUY tranquilo... really just seems like business as usual. But dont worry, we arent leaving the area at all, and only leave the house in pairs or groups.


So now weve survived an earthquake and a coup attempt! What else will the year bring?!? Haha! No but really, thank you all for your prayers. It hit home yesterday when Wellington dropped off a bunch of our kids on the way back to the house. About 20 of the 80 kids at Chicos are day students, meaning many of them had to commute home. Our drive saved them some time and money on the first bus, but a bunch of them still had to walk a bit or take more buses. Granted, they do this daily and are much more used to Ecua than we are, but some still do live in dangerous neighborhoods, where things may have escalated in all of this nonsense recently. I havent stopped thinking about them (esp since my plans this weekend involved seeing them at various activities, which probably wont happen anymore since buses arent good to take right now) and just hope they made it home safe and everything in their neighborhoods is calming down too. I told my parents this felt a bit like 9/11, where there was frenzy to get home, then once we got home, just sitting and waiting. Again, were blessed to be in sturdy houses with guards and in safe neighborhoods.
love you all,
isa

p.s. nick, good luck moving to NOLA! and happy birthday to all those ive missed recently (got a list on my bulliten board, so i do think of you on that day!).

p.p.s. THANK YOU for the mail tina, dan love, claire, mara, GM, auntie barbe and uncle paul, ashley, yancey, miss val and tori, and of course mom and dad. and THANK YOU ALL for the emails, fb messages, etc. your support really helps me get through the challenges here and value so much of this experience.