Old friends, new friends, passing friends, friends for life. This year is a crazy mix of brief interchanges and reunions with a variety of people. We have just said goodbye to our dear friends, the Mims, who came to visit us in Ecuador for their vacation. Our time with them was a gift, a blessing, and for me, a much needed boost at a time when I felt like going home. I cried as they left, feeling that the gift had been taken away. But the power of the gift remains. Today I feel nothing but gratitude. Knowing that we have such wonderful friends back home and all over the world, that our families await our return with excitement, and that we are midway through our sabbatical year, makes me appreciate this opportunity even more. The anxiety about unmade decisions - which city to live in, where the kids will go to school, what type of work Bob and I will plug into- has turned into anticipation and I look forward to the experiences which lie ahead.We have some good choices. Cuenca is