Independence Day

Happy 4th of July! Here, it was pretty much like any other day. I (Becca) did go to a get-together with all the other American missionaries that live here in Shell to eat hot dogs and watermelon. That was just about it! Sean missed the celebration because he went to teach English at our church in Puyo. He and a few of the other MAF pilots teach English classes every Tuesday night. Tonight was his first night actually teaching.

We were remembering that a year ago we were on our whirlwind (and very exhausting) trip to Panama City! In many ways that feels like an eternity ago but it is also amazing to look back at all that has happened since that trip. Isn't life weird that way? It sure gets crazy as you start moving from country to country, house to house, and life to life! On most holidays we like to look back and remember where we were for the previous year's holiday. Lately as we look back we are amazed at where we were just one year ago. It is hard for us to remember a holiday when we were just "home." Here are some stats on some of our holidays spent all over the world:

• New Year's Eve: 2005- Kansas, visiting Wyandotte Christian Church pastored by my cousin, Jared. 2006 - Costa Rica, celebrating with a missionary family that happened to invite us over when they saw us at a Chinese restuarant the day before!
• Easter: 2005 - California, in Redlands at MAF headquarters for orientation and training. 2006 - Costa Rica, we went to Denny's with friends to eat American cuisine!
• Sean's Birthday (April 22): 2005 - Mexico, a trip with other MAFers to get a real-world view of missions. 2006 - Costa Rica, just one week away from another big move!
• Independence Day: 2005 - Panama, we took a long weekend off from language school to take a drive to Panama city, horrible drive but unforgettable trip! 2006 - ECUADOR! Home at last?!

Did you know that Ecuador is the fourth country that Sean and I have lived in in our almost 6 years of marriage? First was Canada (Vancouver area as we went to a Christian University for a year), next was the U.S. (Colorado, our longest time in one place), then Costa Rica (Spanish language school), and finally here we are in Ecuador! Our life may sound exciting and adventurous and it really has been, we wouldn't trade our experiences for the world, but....we do like the thought of maybe settling into one place for a while. Of course, we both naturally have wanderlust so there will have to be some trips! Now that we have a family, we really like the idea of staying in one place....most of the time.