Out on the town!!

Last Thursday night we went out for pizza before we dropped off Amy at the bus station. (She is taking an 8 hr trip to Lima so she can vote at the embassy.) The pizza left something to be desired, but the company was fantastic. After Pizza, we met up with Liz, her husband Obal and some friends from Salli Language Inst. It was a great night.

We salsa, and Cha-cha'd till our feet were about to fall off. We also got to see some authentic Peruvian dancing and some uh... interesting African dancing? Something about a candle and a handkerchief. You will have to ask me that story in person!!

Peruvian dancing is one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen. Watching the performers was like reading a page of their diary's full of love and devotion for each other.

It was a really late night, but definitely worth it!

...pictures courtesy of Sam + Lindsey :-)

An Early Treat...

Look at the corn from the garden!!

OK, I have put it off forever. Since I am sick today I don't have much else to do but sit, be bored and organize over a thousand pictures. Yep, 1,000+ Pics. We like cameras here. Most shots though, I think were taken by the kids. Here are a few snapshots of recent things I have been talking about.... check out the pics on the right of my blog too. I found a way to add some there. Also, I changed my settings so anyone can leave a comment on my blog. You DON'T need to be a member or have any account anywhere. Make sure you leave your name though... or I won't know who wrote me!


Drawing on It's face and taking out the seeds to roast later!!

Sunday I found a PUMPKIN at Wong (local grocery store, similar to Price Right)!! I had to bring it back as a surprise. We had a little improv party. Some of the girls and boys helped draw a face on, scoop out and carve up our jack-0-lantern. The kids told me it was their first time. Most dove right in while others were a little hesitant to get their hands all yucky. I think he turned out pretty great!! Sam happened to have a tea light in her room so we used that to light up his grin. Halloween came to Peru after all, and even a bit early!! Now lets see about pumpkin pie....


Carving the face. Looks kinda spooky with the knife still in the picture!!

Love of a child

For some reason my stomach hates me in Peru. It is really easily thrown off and is driving me up a wall. When you are not feeling top notch its easy for it to effect your mood as well. That was definitely the case this morning. However, when I was mending kids clothing in the Chispas this AM, Annabelle, who has only been here for about a week now, came over and watched me work. Then she reached over and gave me a huge hug and giant kiss. Completely warmed my heart. She is having a little bit of a rough time getting use to things here. She doesn't go to school yet because we have discovered she has a fear of it. Because of this whenever she has to leave her house she gets scared you are bringing her to school and will throw her self on the floor screaming and crying. I don't yet know her past, but I have been told she comes from an abusive background. She is very shy at times.

The last two days she has been talking my ear off. She will go on and on and on about who knows what. I can understand Spanish so-so when the speaker is talking slowly for me. She breezes through our one sided conversations. I pick up some words here and there. Annabelle does seem content to just talk though. When I try and learn a new word from her she laughs at me and starts to copy my English words instead. It's wonderful to listen to her laugh. I think a child's laughter is possibly the best sound in the world. Carefree, and full of love, without worry, without a history, just childlike and impish. Isn't that what every child should have?

Yesterday Allison and her helped me bring in the children's laundry. I wrapped them in about four towels each and stuck underwear on their arms and pants on their heads. We had a great time doing chores together. How great is it that David and Vickie Miller founded this place where broken children can come and receive the love, healing and education they so dearly deserve. It's a blessing the world is full of angels like them.

Please keep all the children in your prayers. They are doing so well and have come so far. With their little smiling faces it can be easy to forget that some of them come from an ugly past. Pray that the workers and volunteers will remember this and go the extra step, the extra mile to give them all the more care and love necessary for them to regain trust in man. More-so that the children can really see the light of Jesus.

Harvest and Daily Life

I think I have been in Peru long enough to finally fall into daily routine. What a day today was. I gave Alisson, a three year old a bath in a shower and only got half soaked. Talk about a messy experience!


Today was also day one of Angela and I taking over the garden. I brought Dante, Samir and Junior with me. Angela brought a bunch of her kids to. Luce (one of the cooks), Hugo (one of the workers who use to live in the Tesoro's with my afternoon boys), and Elias (one of the handy men) along with a bunch of other kids all worked together to harvest what was left of the corn and pull green leaves off for a pig they save scraps for. When that was finished, we dug up all the old stalks and weeds. It was a blast going through the corn stalks with the kids trying to find more ears. It was a great gift, bonding and working side by side with everyone.


I love Fall. It is probably the best part of living in the Northeast. The changing colors of the leaves and gentle cooling winds after a hot summer always brings a smile to my face. Well I didn't see the changing leaves, but it is cold here!! It feels like a fall day. Today in the garden, between the rows of corn, it really felt for a moment like I was back in a corn maze with my Dad so many years ago.

Some of the boys and girls thought it would be great fun to start a rotten tomato fight!! I tried staying out of the way but some spray got me too. It was not nearly as messy as that morning bath for Alisson!

I have been trying my hand at sewing these past few days. I am actually very shocked to say its going well. I started with little tears in seems worked up to holes in knees of jeans and now today.... (drum role please) I sewed a zipper back into place that was half falling off!! It actually looked like new. I was so excited that I showed the house mom, Milagros. She was so excited that she gave me hemming to do........ Ha. So that will be tomorrow's afternoon project. After garden, and before folding clothes, while I am helping with the children's homework. Wish me luck! Its a uniform for school. If I mess up, well... lets just pray I don't, OK?

I have so much more to write, but it will have to wait. Juliana (a 15yr old girl here) is on her way to have a Spanish/English lesson with me. :-)

What do I want to acomplish in Peru?

A good question. Why am I here? What am I doing with my little Spanish and longing for home?

This is what I am doing... Crossing continents and my own boundaries. Pushing myself out of the box and finding myself. Feeling out what I am called to do and searching, wanting more direction. I'm finding it. Soul searching and coming up wanting.

Teaching Math to high school girls in Spanish. Yes, I said MATH in SPANISH. The ironic thing? it's working.

Days seem to stretch on forever. It seems I can fit into one day in Peru, work that would take three of four in the states.

Walking around with my little notebook to write down needed Spanish phrases. Asking a ton of questions.

I am learning to be wiser with my money. Amazing how that happens when you stop receiving a paycheck. Its a scary thought. It does help that the US Dollar is worth three times as much in Peru.

I am pushing myself to pray out loud (this is very hard for me) in Spanish. And being supported by the children to do so. I thought I was suppose to be helping them grow closer with God?

The children are teaching me much about the definition of meaningful work. Sweeping a floor becomes so much more if it takes a burden of the Madre so that she can spend quality time with the children and really help them grow.

I am cleaning house and helping with showers, assisting with homework and supervising chores, mending clothes and giving/getting lots of hugs, building friendships and breaking up fights, scooping endless white rice and am thankful for being able to do so.

I am so thankful for my family that always supports and love me. My heart breaks for the children that are not so lucky. I am learning quite a bit about what I think will be important values to have when I have my own children.

Trying to show Jesus' love for the children and volunteers, workers. With the language barrier its not easy. It is a work in progress.

Also, I am trying to not be so much of a germophobe. I will not be sharing hair brushes anytime soon... But I definitely received a big mushy banana kiss on my cheek today. It was adorable.

What am I doing in Peru? I am learning every day. Trying to become a better person and come closer to God and fellow man. Loving other's as Jesus loves us all.

This is why I came here:

To Live. To Learn. To Love.

My Experiance as "Madre"

I had my first experience with being "Madre" on Saturday. Angela had to go to the hospital because she was bitten by a bug and her foot is now twice the normal size.

Lindsay (another volunteer) and I watched "The Amigos De Jesus". What great little boys, but what a handful! Since it was Sat, they had family visits and played outside. The kids who didn't have family visits went to the beach with Sam and Lindsay. Apparently they brought home some friends!!

In the afternoon, I started to notice the house was smelling terrible. Lindsay and I started to find crab legs throughout the house! They were on the floor, in the bedrooms, in the bathroom sink and in the trashcan. After lunch the boys have to clean their closets and have them checked before they can play outside. I was going around checking them and one of the boys kept pulling on my sleeve to check his. So, I follow him and open the door... right at eye level with me, siting on a shelf is the largest crab I have EVER seen. Mr. crab, starring at me. Suddenly it became clear why he was so eager to show me his nice "clean" closet. All the boys had a great laugh over this. I let out a little skriek to play along.

Throughout the day some of the kids had different chorse to do, such as, washing dishes and sweeping the floor. Other than that, they played outside and inside. After a big game of Futbal, all the boys showered. After dinner they had a bit more free time and chores. Before bed Angela and I did devotionals with the boys. She asked some of the boys to look up and read certain verses. It touched on Gods love and the perfectness of it. How some people may say they love us and then do something to hurt us because people are not perfect. God however, is. I think the children get allot of information on the punishing God and perhaps not enough on the loving, forgiving God. We were trying to teach that God's love is never ending. I think the older boys got allot from it. he younger five fell asleep before we were half way through.

After devotionals, we tucked the sleeping boys in and read them some stories while the older boys played for a few more minutes. All in all it was a great day. I am certainly learning allot.

I was tucking in one of the boys and he wanted to say prayers before bed. I asked him to pray because I knew my Spanish would be choppy. He insisted that I prayed instead "in English". So I prayed first in English and then for the first time ever, in Spanish. This was my first time praying with a child and I hope that he got something out of it. It was a very emotional, fantastic, and sad moment for me.

Ps... Thankfully Angela's foot is better! It took two trips to the Dr, blood tests (by a guy with someone else's blood already on his gloves!!), a urine tests and lots of medicine. It turns out it was an allergic reaction. The guilty bug is still unknown and on the loose!

Diez Cosas Para Que Estoy Agradecido

Ten things I am thankful for:

1)Family that supports me in my hair-brained ideas, no matter how out there I may sometimes seem. The love and support means the world.

2)This fantastic place of love and support that I am being allowed to stay in durring my time in Peru. It is good to know that we are all very safe and the people that work with the children have a severe love and dedication for/too them.

3)White Rice and Chicken, lots of it.

4)Pablo, the ninja-like vigilante that vanishes out of thin air. He may look a little rough around the edges, but really, knowing he is around makes us all rest easy.

5)Pepto.

6)God's love that has made this place possible and provided a way for a group of Peruvians and a strange group of American's to come together with a mutual love for children and the desire to show them God's love for them.

7)Wet sloppy kisses all over my cheeks and forehead from the rambunctious little boys. their affection truley makes me remember why I am here.

8)Email. I miss you too.

9)Cold showers. I need to focus less on the fact that the hot water likes to stop working and more on being thankful that we have running water (most times).

10)The children's (and worker's) patience with my Spanish. I am learning much and fast as well. However, there is still a very severe wall. On most days however, we are able to get along just fine. Every day, I am learning new phrases and enjoying new conversations.

De Mi Amor

I am glad that I came to Peru. I am being given a chance to really get my thoughts in order and figure out what in the worl I am supose to do with my life. It will be a great experiance and I pray that I will make a differance in the lives of the children and people I work with while I am here.

Last week however, not the best. It hit me that my loved ones were really really far away... I was kind of down and out. Why, I saw a map. I know how far I am from home and have known since the first time I came here. I just kind of forgot? Well, its far. I can't swim, jog or hitch-hike that one...


That was the first reason. The second was I was pretty sick one night. I made the mistake of eating cow's heart on a stick from a street vendor. It was great, for the moment. Later that night, not so much. So I missed my first sick day. Well, that gave me a day of laying in bed and sleeping and when I would not keep my eyes shut anymore I started to really think about those miles. A few of you got some great phone calls that night. Sorry.





The next day, I had a fantastic surprise waiting for me in my room. It was from my loving boyfriend Stephen (and my loving, but sneaky "roomie" Amy). There were three beautiful roses!! One yellow (Popop's favorite), one red (my favorite), and one very pretty white one with baby's breath.

Next to the flowers was a package that turned out to be a very sweet (and mildly obnoxious teddy bear). He sings a LONG love song in spanish VERY loudly and scares me when I hug him in my sleep. He scares Tracy too. His cheeks light up and he is very cuddly. Stephen knew I was not having the best time adjusting at first and wanted to cheer me up and make me not so homesick. He is very sweet :-) So, he used facebook to email Amy and set up this sweet pick-me-up.

I can't wait until December! Oh, and I am bringing home the bear so you can borrow it and see if it wakes you up in your sleep!!!

Spring Festival-Trujillio

Once a year the city of Trujillio throws a huge festival in celebration of Spring. Hundreds of people wear colorful costumes of their heritage, participate in dance shows while hundreds more line the streets for the parade. Angella (another volunteer who will be here for 6 months as well) and I took out Arnold and Junior for a birthday celebration. We met up with some other volunteers at lunch and Samir decided to join our group for the day.

I have never seen such a large parade! We saw some of our friends from Central Biblico (a Baptist church we sometimes go to. I think its my favorite) They had lined up some tables and placed chairs ontop. They let the kids and us sit there to watch. It was 3.5 hrs long!! It was a job watching three kids durring the parade. It amazes me how many times I experiance something here and I wonder how my parents were able to do all we did without losing me. (then again there were those two times at Disney... lol.) I am very blessed to have them as my parents.

I was very glad to meet some of the men from church. You can tell the kids have a big place in their hearts. It is very good for the boys to see positive male role models, not just the madres and volunteers. I have good faith that these men are going to make all the difference in the boys lives as they mature into young men themselves.








Since we met up with Alex, he gave us a ride back "home" on the Alberque's truck! Don't work, the kids sat in the cab. We however, got to ride on back sitting in a wicker chair! It was very exciting and muchos frio!! Taxis are scary, busses are terrifing, but the bed of a truck... what an experience!! Even durring a parade we still were stared at while passing through. I feel like Lindsay Lohan at moments...Ha!

Today was really a fantastic day!!

Wow... and sorry about my bad spelling. I am usually veryyyy sleepy when I post. It shows....