coo coo ca choo

I guess it is more like "coup coup ca choo"..... and no, I am not a walrus.

(if you are saying "huh?", with a look on your face like I am insane, it is a Beatles song)

Yes, life as of late:

coups

bank robberies

presidents in hiding

presidents being overthrown

people driving in lanes going the wrong direction

helicopters everywhere

everything shut down.... stores, schools, and whatever else

Such is a day in the life of a Quito resident.

And I am so glad I'm here.

I say that in all seriousness!! Really!

From the moment we were told that we had to pick up our kids early from school (it was the first I heard of all this lunacy), I had a huge grin on my face. I love this! It is so cool to be experiencing this.... something so different from my cultural norm. I couldn't stop grinning (for real) all afternoon as the whole thing is just so entertaining.

Now if it goes on for quite a while, and if we can't get food and gas* like some people are predicting (are they realists or pessimists??), I might not be so happy. I'm sure you'll hear all about it if it comes to that!

The kids, however, aside from being happy that they have a 3.5 day long weekend (except for Cade - he cried tonight because he doesn't have school tomorrow! I love that!!), are having a bit of a hard time. There have been several tears for fears (sorry, I couldn't resist the 90s reference). Cade was crying quite a bit when we had to pick them up from school. While the school handled everything very well, there was a bit of chaos, lots of bells/sirens, and a lot of announcements. He was quite distressed. Poor guy.

Then there were more questions and tears from all of the kids at bed time. It is certainly a very upsetting thing for them to go through. I hardly understand what is going on and they understand even less. It is pretty frightening for them, having never gone through anything even remotely similar.

The good thing about today was that we had some of the Casa G. boys over for dinner. After dinner we watched a bunch of fun and funny videos on youtube. It provided a great distraction for the kids and was great to hang out with the guys. We love being part of this ministry. I think we benefit far more than the guys do!

Well, tomorrow, I'm just going to call the day off from school a "snow day".

In my mind there will be a blizzard howling outside and we will be staying inside, warm and cozy. Its a little early considering it will only be the first of October..... but if we can imagine that there is a blizzard, then we can most certainly imagine that it is January 16th or something like that!

*We have gas!! They came today. Soooooo thankful - especially because once we heard about this coup business, people told us we probably wouldn't be able to get any.... and then the gas shortage was making it even harder. But as we were heading home from school, I saw our gas truck/guys on the main street.... I flagged him down and asked if he was going to come to our house. He did! Of course, being that there is a shortage and they might not be able to deliver for a while, he charged about 40% more $ per tank.... but considering how cheap gas is, we really couldn't complain! It is a huge answer to prayer that we finally have full tanks, especially now. Thank you Lord!!