Naked Chickens, New Websites, Short update

Well, because the internet is so s.....l.....o.....w..... this morning, I'm going to do all this in in one post. Here's the latest around the Cannon Farm. (No, we don't really have a farm but I want one and this is the closest I'll ever get to it so I'm naming our little patch of land in the Amazon jungle "Cannon Farm." We don't have chickens of our own - but we're still awakened by the crow of roosters every morning - that's got to count for something. We do have a sweet but naughty dog and a lazy cat, three citrus fruit trees, two banana plants, and nothing better to do on weekends than play in the dirt...isn't that farming?!)

Anyway.

• I finally went to the butcher's to get some meat. We were out of everything and it just had to happen. The shop was shining in its usual bloody splendor but didn't smell quite as bad since I went early in the day. Brooklyn saw the naked, dead half chicken on the counter (it wasn't half-dead, just very dead and chopped in half) and said "Mommy, look! A dinosaur!" You know what? A naked chicken does resemble a dinosaur.
  
• But we've got ground beef, people! 6 glorious pounds of it. And a huge chunk of beef called lomo fino, and 10 lbs of chicken. All for about $40...I shouldn't complain about getting meat here when it's so cheap, should I? Well, the deed is done for another month or so anyway.
  
• Alas de Socorro (Wings of Help) is the name for MAF (Mission Aviation Fellowship) in Ecuador. Our Ecuadorian pilot, Freddy, and Sean have been working for some time at getting a website up about Alas de Socorro-Ecuador in order to introduce our Ecuadorian missionaries and staff and their ministry here in the jungle to other Ecuadorians. It's finally up! Freddy did a great job designing and writing the website. He used mostly pictures that Sean has taken in our time here - it looks very classy. You can visit the site here. It is all in Spanish but you can at least see the pretty pictures and "meet" some of our Ecuadorian staff and missionaries. There are still a few quirks with the site and the family pictures don't match up with the right names yet...they are working on that and will hopefully get those things resolved soon, so keep checking back!
• Please, please, please pray for our Ecuadorian pilots and mechanics. Without going into much detail right now, I really believe it is time for these guys to take the reins of the ministry in Ecuador. They are trying to raise support from the Ecuadorian Church right now. Freddy and Fernando are doing a presentation to two different churches in Quito this weekend. This is a big deal and they need your prayers!
  
• We had a great potluck last night. There is a group of potential missionary pilots visiting and we had some time of food and fellowship with them. Let me tell you, an MAF potluck in Shell, Ecuador, is as close to a feast as you will get this side of heaven. Wow! It was fun to get to know some missionary hopefuls and remember when we were on that side of training/support raising/more training/assignment/language school. It reminded me of all we've been through to get here and it also reminded me of my original passion to be doing the very thing we do on a daily basis here now. Cool. God is good.
• Maddie is (once again) sleeping through the nights. I realize now what I was missing when I was getting up at all hours of the night with her - sleep! Sweet, blessed sleep...ahhhhh.