Senior year

 

Joshua and his classmates pose for a senior year class portrait. It was a time where the school celebrates the oath to the flag of Ecuador and honors the scholastic achievement of the students. 

Then and Now

Joshua needed to do an assignment for school that showed a remake of some photos from years earlier. So, here is an example of how the boys have grown from September 2012, through May 2020.

Science fair at school

A couple weeks back the boys' school had a science fair with the different ages in history represented.

Joel took part as a Roman thinker and we needed to build a column and a bust. That was an interesting project but it turned out pretty good.

Joshua took part as a Presidential guard for the Bolivarian revolution to create the Grand Colombia which included Venezuela, Colombia and Ecuador. (It is because of this history that all three countries have the same basic flag. Venezuela has some stars over the three color flag while Ecuador has a shield on the flag.)

The BIG 13!

Joshua turned 13 years-old this month. The boys were out of school Monday which worked out well for us. The Presidential Palace has a changing of the guard every Monday at 11am and we had been wanting to take the boys to see it without missing a day of school.

It was something special for both of them as they have never seen it and President Correa was there for the ceremony.

For lunch we went to Rusty's, a hamburger place here which even has Root Beer! The owner of the chain, Rusty, was also there and when he heard that it was Joshua's birthday, he gave Joshua an ice cream. So, it was a very good day!

Joshua and Joel did a doodle for the event. (This is very common. The walls are covered with napkin doodles by customers.)

Happy Birthday, Joshua!

The Virtual Fridge...

Both Joel and Joshua really enjoy art. It's funny how when we were buying supplies for their art classes (the second time, in other words, we bought the wrong stuff the first time), Joel told me, "Don't worry dad. I know what I need." and he found it too!

This is one of the pictures that Joel liked best from his paintings and drawings this past spring.

Joel posing with his painting and Joshua at the science fair at school.

Spelling Bee Champ

The school the boys attend held a Spelling Bee in English with various levels for the different grades.

For the two weeks previous to the event, Joshua would come home, do his homework, and then ask me to help test him from the list of 250 words they had given him. Some of those words were fairly difficult!

From each class only a few students were picked so I guess his practicing was paying off as he was one of those selected for the competition.

When the day of the contest arrived, Marlene and I went to watch him. There was one time when he was given a word that he had difficulty spelling the night before. I was thinking, "Only one L, Only one L." He remembered his practice and spelled it correctly.

When it came down to Joshua and one other student, they went back and forth, each providing the correct answer. But then the other student made a mistake and Joshua was able to spell the word and won his level! We all thought he would just get a certificate of achievement, but he ended up with a $25 gift certificate as well. We were telling him that all of his hard work had paid off.

Baptism of Joshua and Joel

We had the joy of seeing both Joshua and Joel be baptized on December 6. Both of them had been asking about baptism for more than a year now. The children's ministry pastor had mentioned that he was giving baptism classes to teach the kids what it means to be baptized and that Joshua and Joel could be a part of it. Both of them have expressed many times over the past couple of years that Jesus is their Lord and Saviour. They both wanted to follow Jesus in obedience by being baptized.

In the service that we normally attend Pastor Conto baptized our boys (and a fair number of other young people). It was a joy to see these young people following Jesus in baptism.

Lego Discovery Center

For those of you who like Lego, Lego Discover Center is a cool place to visit. The number and complexity of things which can be built with Lego is limited only by one's imagination.

Joshua and Joel thoroughly enjoyed their time playing with basically "unlimited" amounts of Lego.

There were some really neat models built of Toronto and of course, there was an entire exhibit dedicated to Star Wars.

They're rich!

Joshua and Joel had the opportunity to pan for gold at Fort Steele. It was an experience they will probably never forget as they both found "gold", well at least "fools gold".

Family camp 2014

 We went to family camp this summer and enjoyed a time of relaxing (yes, it is possible at camp) as a family and with other families.

The messages were based on Jesus' sermon on the mount in Matthew 5. It was both encouraging and helpful.

Joshua and Joel enjoyed being able to run around and find all sorts of things to do.

The rule was that when you heard the siren, you had to go to where the siren was. The siren indicated the start of some event or meal times. Well, they were almost always the first in-line for meal times!

Once, because they got to dinner-time before we did, they had gotten food for themselves and us as well! That was really neat!

The artist within

  

Joshua needed to do some pictures for Art class and he ended up drawing these.

Last fall we purchased the boys two "How-to" books on drawing caricatures. We try to have both Joshua and Joel draw something everyday to help them develop their skills.

They are now at the point where they normally draw things freehand while looking at the book for the character which they want to draw.

Joshua did these freehand and then decorated them with some stick-on's.

I wish I could draw like that!!

Military in the future?

Joshua got changed this afternoon, went outside, and when he came back in said that, "Now I'm ready."

I'm not sure what he's ready for, but he loves to get dressed up in military or police uniforms!

Social sciences fair

Today, Saturday, is the Social Sciences Fair at the boy's school.

Joshua has privilege of getting people entering and leaving the "changes in Latin countries".

Joel was a Chef making peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for the "nutrition" area.

Paintball!

At Mision Compartida, there was a booth for paintball guns. Of course, Joshua saw this and immediately wanted to try it.

They both enjoyed shooting their allotment of paintballs at the provided targets!

Sports day

 November 23 was sports day at the boys' school. I'm not sure how it happened, but both of them were chosen by their respective classes to be the mascots for their teams.

Which of course, meant two costumes.

Joshua was a Puffle. Don't worry if you don't know what that is. It helps to have kids in this age range! Club Penguin is an on-line game area and the puffle is a costume for the penguins. (My boys will correct me if this description is incorrect. :-)

The mascot for Joel's team was a tree.

Both of them turned out very well. Later we learned that the father of two boys at the school (one is a classmate of Joshua and the other boy is a classmate of Joel) designs costumes! If only I had known!

The virtual fridge...

Joshua watched a video about how to draw two of the characters from Veggie Tales - Lord of the Beans (which is quite funny!).

He then proceeded to draw the characters. They turned out very well. He's got more talent drawing than I do!

The first character is Jerry Gourd in the role of "the other elf".

The second character is Junior Asparagus playing the role of "Toto Baggypants".