Natasha's birthday surprise!

He that despised Moses law died without mercy under two or three witnesses; Of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace? For we know Him that hath said, Vengeance belongeth unto me, I will recompense, saith the Lord, And again, The Lord shall judge His people. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. Hebrews 10:28-31

I love the book of Hebrews with its warnings and continual pointing to the cross of Christ.

What do you do when you just met a girl 2 months ago, and you have become closer to her faster than anyone you have ever met in your life.....I mean we have lived together and shared everything....we have gone everywhere together and been through a lot....we have explored together and been worried together....don't get me wrong, we have had our moments but....this is the girl I stumbled lost in the dark with holding hands....this is the girl that I have laughed with, cried with, prayed with and shared with for two months! So what do you do when you know you will be parting ways in just a few short days....leaving the places and things we have both come to love....

Well you avoid talking about it at all cost...but its still in the air, we know its coming....
Then you talk about it and become melancholy....
Then you enjoy every last minuet God had given you together....

So after spending the morning with the babies we headed out to meet Sebastian and go to the teleferiqo, something that we have trying to do ever since we got here but we have always gotten rained out! But this time we made it! So after spilling my water bottle in my purse and all over the taxi floor.....getting in a taxi with a broken passenger seat....and waiting in line for 30 minuets while they fixed a system error and after finding out that Ecuadorians get a cheaper rate and a special line...we finally were off!

Starting off....

Can you tell we are excited??? (yep he is the Ecuadorian that got in cheaper...pretty hard on a friendship!)

We are too, just not quite so "out there" about it....

On our way to the top, it was about 4,000 meters, I believe.

 I couldn't have survived Ecuador without these two!

leaving the city behind....

It was pretty foggy, but the sun was shining and it was beautiful out!

The special girl!

It was simply gorgeous out and wonderful to be in the mountains...

The church in the valley...

Then the fog started really rolling in and it got a little chillier..

You can just barely see the mountain...

This is how bad the fog was by the time we got back, it was crazy!

So then we start walking down back to the city, and Natasha thinks we are done for the day....but I stop and pick 23 wild flowers then give her my announcement...It's a birthday surprise!! You see her birthday is just a couple days after she goes home, and how could I miss out?? So then Sebastian takes over leading us around the city....

The first bus we hop on a two little girls get on and start selling candy, it's so heartbreaking to watch, little girls, maybe 7 & 9, professional little sellers, yet they are only children, how can this be? They hop off after they are done and rush off, holding hands in the city, looking out for each other and anyone else that benefits from their money. So small, yet so grown up....somethings I would never get use to no matter how long I was here, but then I don't think it would be a good thing to become accustom to some things.

So our first stop was an Indian restaurant for some shawarma, its chicken that is packed onto a stick then continually cooked over fire all day...so when you order it they just chop some off the big rod and make you a little burrito thing. It had the chicken, lettuce, tomato and it was served in traditional Indian bread, which is absolutely amazing! It was simply amazing!

 Here is the happy birthday girl enjoying her lunch! Believe me, we all enjoyed it!

Then we headed to a botanical garden right next to a huge park! The same park that Covi is in, if you remember that ministry....it is such a beautiful place!

Natasha was very pleased with the surprise and we were very pleased with our choice!

It was so beautiful!

This leaf was so huge!

We had to do a size comparison, much to Sebastian's embarrassment, but he is such good sport!

The fuzzy/fury tree that looks a little ape like....

Another size comparison...these plants are so amazing, huge and beautiful!

We had some camera trouble....Natasha's wouldn't work and mine was a little wet from the incident that started out the day....

But after the garden and the annoying cat that followed us all over, we ended our little adventure with some real chocolate cake and ice cream!

She has been such a blessing to me, I'm so thankful that we have shared this time together and I was so thankful to have even a little opportunity to show her how much she meant to me!

So after a quick stop at home, we headed back to the our favorite place....the orphanage....

To our great surprise, all the boy's got handsome little hair cuts today!

It's so good to see their smiling faces....

Natasha hugged them all up!

haha I love this happy boy!

Sleepy...

He is still in shock about his haircut....

Showing off...

and happy to do it!

He even got a hair cut!

Waking up...

Feeding bottles....it never gets old!

Sweet little girl....

We have so enjoyed spending time with the tias....

We had a very wonderful day, but we also had a few sad moments...

I know that there will be some tears shed in the coming day's, I think these last days will be some of the hardest, but I'm so thankful for the time we have had!