Confessions of a Spoiled Rotten Missionary Wife

I admit sometimes I consider myself the most unlikely of candidates to be considered a missionary wife. I mean before coming to Peru I had never made my own applesauce (which I do on a regular basis now. As a matter of fact peels were flying tonight!) or even considered making my own baby wipes (this is next weeks new adventure). It is a for sure thing that I will never do cloth diapers - not because they are not awesome. I know lots of amazing women who use them but it just isn't for me. We all have our limits you know. Never before had I imagined not giving my kids a bath for an entire week, but here life is just different. No bath tub. Somtimes no power, and that changes everything now doesn't it. I never really realized how spoiled I was till I came here.

**Just for the record Peru has a lot of things. You can get lots of American products, but you will have to pay a little more for them and the trick is actually finding them - which can take forever, and who knows if you find it once, if you will ever be able to find it again. They do not really stock items here as I have found, which turns you into an impulse buyer for sure! Oh look they have corn chips, let's buy ten bags!**

I miss my high heels, having girls nights, eating fancy chocolates, and going out to high priced coffee shops for a few hours of relaxation. I long for my cowboy boots and country music. I decided not to bring my boots because I thought I would stick out like a sore thumb here, and I was right - but that does not change the fact that I miss them. John and I had really counted on being able to access Pandora while we were here too - then I could have had all the country music I wanted! Guess what?? Pandora doesn't work in Peru - really?

I miss my kids not getting sick all the time. I miss having a yard for the kids to play in with all of their toys. We have plenty of toys here but it just isn't the same. Sometimes I look at my kids and wonder if I have robbed them of the "American childhood" by coming here - or have I just given them different opportunities? In reality the kids are just fine and they are pretty much considered famous here. A guy in the super market today told us to warn people back home that are kids are going to be movie stars here - it is just so rare to see such light skinned children. I miss all of Hannah's beautifully color coordinated, ridicuosly, frivolous, girly outfits. Shouldn't every girl be gorgeously dressed? Somtimes I wonder if by coming here we have somehow managed to avoid the rat race of American culture, and maybe that is better. Since being here in Peru I have realized how materialistic I had become.

I miss hot summer nights in Missouri, grilling in the backyard (back when we had a yard), green grass that has been freshly cut, and playdates at clean parks.

I miss my dishwasher. It seems as though I spend all day doing the dishes. I miss my microwave - yes we had one but it has been out of commission since the 3rd of July. We have taken it in to the store we bought it from only to wait patiently to someday - hopefully- recieve another one. Glad we have a toaster and a TV - although like a lot of things that we've bought here, they are electrically spastic. Our TV randomly turns on whenever it wants - which is pretty creepy at 3 o'clock in the morning playing childrens DVDs. Our toaster also works when it wants to.

I really should not be complaining though becuase at least we have these things. I think of all of my friends in the Sudan who have NONE of these - these are the real missionary women. This is what I mean by calling myself a spoiled rotten missionary wife. Sometimes even with all of these amenities, I feel as though I am not cut out for this. It's true, I am not cut out for this. Inadequate - for sure. I do know one thing for sure though - God has called us to Peru. US as in both of US. Sometimes I am not sure why God has called me to a place so far and so different from home - but I know without a doubt we are here for reason. Sometimes God asks us to do things that do not necessarily make us happy, but they are the best things for us. God loves me and knows what is best for me - and for me right now it is Peru. I rest in this and in this alone because I know by myself I am a wimp - just ask John. He heard me scream tonight when I went to blend the applesauce and grabbed a worm on the blender - um that is just grose!

I am definitely no missionary wife hero - just an average, everyday, person who God has called to Peru. Not special, just doing what God has called me to in the place He has called me to.

Just so you know Peru is a beautiful country with many wonderful places to see and to visit. I think it is only normal to miss home regardless of how beautiful the country is or how wonderful the people here are. We have been warmly welcomed here in Peru, sometimes I just miss home that's all.

Here are a couple pictures of the kids I took today. Yes, Hannah is in a color coordinated swimsuit/headband that I brought from home!

A New Meaning to the Term "Porta Potty"

Here is the picture people have been asking me for. Apparently I forgot to post the promised picture! This is the bathroom of the place we decided not to rent. Can you see the hole with the blankets tied up around it in the front yard? Get it - porta potty - just dig your hole and hang up a sheet! Any idea why we made the decision to rent the other house - can you just sense the sarcasm in this comment? :)

 

Our house in Curahuasi and a trip to Machu Picchu
 

 

 

This picture is from Curahuasi on a hike up the mountain - more pictures from this hike to come in a later post.

 

Well we got back a little over a week ago from Curahuasi. We were looking for a house to fix up for our upcoming move in January/February time frame. Well fixing up a house turned out to be WAY more expensive than we thought. We looked at three places that were in need of some "fixing up", or just plain "finishing", and one that was completely finished but needed a few things to be worked on. The three fixer uppers consisted of cement or adobe blocks and wood poles. Needless to say after John introduced me to our first "fixer upper" some crazy things started running through my mind like...umm are we nuts? This house had no indoor bathroom, no indoor kitchen, no finished walls (only adobe bricks), no running water to the house, two floors but no stairs, no windows, electric wires hanging everywhere, and a giant gravel hole in the backyard. Can we say hazardous for three small children? I think once we exited the house John could tell by the look on my face that we were not going to be renting this one. I left that house thinking, " I know God never gives us more than we can handle so God must think I am one tough cookie." We went on to look at house number two. This was a cement block house with three rooms on the bottom floor that were totally unfnished although it did have one window that had glass in it - it was broken but hey, there was glass. This might sound strange but here in Peru "hallways" do not really exist. These houses all had space for a kitchen, living room and bedrooms but not of them are connected. You must exit each room and go outside to access the next room. Not really conducive for my potty training children considering the other hazards that are outside, gravel pits, electric wires, wild pigs, and loads of cactus.

The second house seemed like a better option even though the pigs were roaming around what would be the yard and the cactuses were in the multitudes, however, our hopes were dashed when were told the price to fix up the three rooms on the first floor (the second floor was not finished yet and rebar was jutting up into the air) - $10,000 american dollars - yep you read that right. We were shocked and disappointed because we do not have that kind of money and there is no way the kids and us will be living in the same room for the next three years - nope - not happening. On to house number three.

This was a little adobe house with enough bedrooms/space for us, but we were going to have to do some significant rennovating still. This included adding a bathroom (because there was NO bathroom - just a hole in the front yard surrounded by tarps...you can see it in the picture below), connecting all the rooms with hallways, redoing the stairs, making a room into a kitchen, raising the ceilings - aka digging out the floor (Americans are super tall in comparision with Peruvians and especially the Quechua people), and making a place for the washing machine. This list was just too long and the translation from English to Spanish to Quechua was just too difficult. So, on to option four.

Our fourth option was a finished duplex that had a kitchen but no counter tops. When we entered the house it stunk of rotting meat from the night before which was displayed on the table in the kitchen. Our first impression was not great but at this point things were looking good compared to our other options. This house was at least finished and only needed some minor work so we decided to go with it. We will be getting a larger water tank for the house since it is common to not have water for four or five days during the dry season. We will also be getting some counter tops and shelves so that I have a place to cook and a place to put my dishes. The best part about this house was the tiny plot of grass in the front yard. The kids will have a place to play and the yard is even fenced off! We have been told the windows leak and if that is true the landlord said he would fix it. So we now have a place! Quite the adventure.
 

These are a couple of pictures of our future place.

 

 

This is a picture of house number three, which we decided not to rent.

 

Pray for us this week as:

- We really need our house to sell

- We would really like it if our car would sell as well (an added bonus)

- That we would continue to learn the language well, which iI've found is especially difficult when I have Hudson in class with me.

- That the kids would adjust to having us back in school, and having our empleada return to help us with watching the children during our school time.

Suzanne and I ventured off to Machu Picchu while we were in Cuzco waiting to take our bus ride back to Arequipa. John so graciously stayed with the kiddos all day in a local Hostal and I bet he has some pretty awesome stories to tell you about that experience. John is such a trooper and really just an outstanding guy! Suzanne and I enjoyed our day off traipsing through the ruins of Peru. What a treat! It was more walking than I think either of us expected, even Hudson was tired! Poor John he has always wanted to go to Machu Picchu but it was just not going to be feasible with all of the kids. Hudson was only three weeks and now he can say he has been to Machu Picchu, I am sure John will never let me live this one down :) Love you honey!!! Enjoy the pictures from our trip!

Back to School...

 

Just a few more pictures of our little man. He is growing up so fast. I finally put him in a 0-3 months outfit today - getting big - out growing the newborn clothes. Hudson rolled over for the first time yesterday - quite a bit ahead of schedule than Caleb and Hannah.

 

Pray for Hudson and Hannah as they both have some kind of respiratory thing and the nights have been long. Other than that Hudson is growing well. The kids really enjoy having a new sibling and everyday it is so fun to watch them enjoy their new brother. What a blessing!

 

We have had the last month off to adjust to having Hudson around and it was also a Peruvian holiday time so school was not in session - including our language school. The timing worked out perfectly since we had the baby right before vacation time. During our time off we flew to Lima to get the kids visas and to register Hudson with the U.S. embassy. Dual citizenship sounds cool but in reality it requires a bit more traveling and quite a bit more paperwork. After our adventures in Lima we flew to Cusco and then made the supposedely 2 and a half hour drive, which took about 4-5 hours due to road closures, to Curahuasi. We will be moving to Curahuasi in January or February and we will need a house that is ready for us to move into at that time. Since things tend to take a little longer than expected we ventured to Curahuasi to find a house now so that the necessary improvements could be made before we arrive. Finding a house was quite the experience which I think deserves a blog of it's own. So hopefully sometime within the next week or so I can get that up as well. On a positive note we did find a house, and we are grateful for that!

 

We returned to language school this week. We are feeling super blessed to have our friend Suzanne here to help with this transition back to school. The kids have truly enojoyed having her around, and quite frankly I think John and I have enjoyed the extra help around the house.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bath By Candlelight

 

Constant electricity is a luxury really because most people around the world do not have it - us included. Although I really cannot complain because the electricity has only gone out a few times since we have been here and really for only a minimal amount of time. This morning just happened to be one of those mornings we did not have electricity. This just happened to be the morning we had planned on giving the kids a bath. Good thing we have a gas stove and matches. So the kids got to take a bath by candlelight. Nine pots of hot water later, they had a warm bath. Oh, the things we take for granted in life. The fact that we have running water in our house is just a blessing because there are lots of people here, even in the second largest city in Peru , who do not have this luxury. Sometimes I feel incredibly spoiled.                         

A Day With the Dinosaurs

 

For the first time in a few weeks John and I took the kids to the park this morning, but this was not just any park - it was a dinosaur park! A great deal of the parks here seem to be themed. I have seen a train park, an airplane park, and now a dinosaur park. The strange thing about the parks here is that the majority of them do not have any play equipment at all. Sometimes the parks are only open in the weekend as well. Saturdays we always go to the park but not with the intent of playing, but buying food for the week. Our park down the street has no play quipment, is super tiny, and is residence to the pack of neighborhood dogs. However early, early, early, on Saturday morning our park is bustling with people buying their food for the week. Just last week Caleb and I were buying our weekly vegetables/fruits, when we saw a pig head on the meat table of one of the vendors! Needless to say in many ways my definition of the word "park" has changed significantly.

Soo....today we went to the Dinosaur Park. Caleb has been asking to go since we got here and he heard about it from some of our friends. Our empleada, Ines, has been encouraging us to go as well, and we finally got the chance to go today. We spent a good two and a half hours there just playing on the swings, play equipment, and trampolines. Oh, the kids had so much fun! It was sort of like an miniature amusement park - at least that is the closest thing it reminded me of. Unfortunately none of the fun stuff, including the ferris wheel was running. Apparently, the park is open but the rides are only open on the weekend. It was still not a disappointment though because the kids have not played at a park with play equipment since we have been in Peru - so they were VERY excited. Hannah was exploring everything, and getting incredibly dirty. Caleb enjoyed going across all of the "rickey-rockety bridges" as he described them. We had such a wonderful, relaxing time today I almost forgot I was still in Peru. Enjoy some of the attached pictures of the kids just enjoying themselves.

We ended the day with icecream today. The kids really like icecream - who doesn't right? It is not easily accessible, or affordable, to buy a gallon and put in your fridge but it is easy to buy off of a vendor on the street. The truly special treat for John and I was watching Caleb, unprompted, share with his sister. She would go off and play with her toys, return signing and saying please, and then wait excitedly for Caleb to feed her another spoon of icecream. Caleb is such a great big brother, and we enjoy watching him grow. John has been teaching Caleb how to pray as well and this has been a daily source of enjoyment for us all.

Hudson is doing well, and the kids just adore their baby brother. Every morning Hannah joyously  screams his name when she sees him. Caleb enjoys touching his little toes, and showing him all of his airplanes. We feel so blessed to have this new little guy, and we cannot wait to see the little personality, and character God has given him.

The kids are also very excited because our friend, Suzanne, is coming tomorrow. She is about to make the flight over to Peru as I am writing this blog. Pray for her safe travel. Suzanne is coming for about a month to help us out with the children, and to check out missionary work here in Peru. The kids are very excited to have a new friend to play with, and Caleb cannot wait to go to the airport tomorrow.

 

Oh and this is how they "water" the parks here in Peru. 

A Delivery to Remember...

Not to say that every delivery is not forever, permanently marked into your memory for all time - but this one in particular, I am sure, I will NEVER forget.

Starting Monday morning around 1 am, Caleb lost his cookies. This continued  every hour or so into Tuesday morning. So we watched lots of Thomas the Train, and hung out on the couch together all night/morning long. John and I kept Caleb in his room the entire time watching movies in a vain attempt to keep Hannah from getting whatever Caleb had. As Tuesday morning rolled around, Caleb started feeling a little better and John and I were just about to walk out the door for my OB appointment when Hannah lost all her cookies on the kitchen floor. Our poor Empleada, Ines, feverishly worked to clean up the mess as we left the house for our appointment - everyday I am grateful that Ines enjoys hanging out with my children so much; even when they are REALLY sick!

 

John and I headed off to my OB appointment, and it turned out that since my blood pressure was still high, our doctor decided to induce me right there in the office. The interesting thing was that she sent me home after the induction was started to labor at home - this was nice but totally never would have happened in the States. The induction worked really well and within an hour I was having noticeable contractions. I labored at home, sleep deprived with my poor sick children - it was pretty awful. As evening rolled around the kids started feeling a little better and when we put them to bed I breathed a sigh of relief. John and I headed to bed, but by this time there was no way I was going to sleep through the contractions, and it did not matter anyway because about an hour after I went to bed Hannah was up wanting to be held. I was super grateful that at this point she was not throwing up, she was just wanting comfort. Some of you might be asking where is John in all of this as the pregnant lady is laboring with sick children - well that evening John caught the bug too - yep pretty horrible. John could not get up with Hannah because the poor guy was so sick. We did not know how we were going to make it to the hospital especially with him in the bathroom every 30-40 minutes.
 

Into the morning, at about 2 am, I finally went in and told John that we needed to go to the hospital. I think John looked at me like I was half crazy. He was still pretty out of it and I decided to go wait a little longer for him to gather himself. I remember sitting on the couch crying thinking about how I was going to do this one on my own - I know some Spanish but not enough to go through a delivery. It was looking dim. John told me later that he was praying that God would hold off my contractions until he stopped throwing up. About a half hour later I told John we really, really needed to get to the hospital or pretty soon I would not be walking and he would be carrying me. John mustered up the strength and we called a friend to come over and watch the kids. We were so grateful that our friends got us a taxi when they came over. We found that the streets of Arequipa at three in the morning were completely empty, and that would have been a LONG walk to the hospital.

 

The taxi driver drove us right up to the emergency room of the hospital, and I think John and I looked at each other wondering if it was even open. There were a few lights on and one door open - and where was everyone?? It took us a few minutes to find one of the hospital staff, and once we did they took John over for payment and me behind a small sheet in the corner to start admitting baby and I.

 

 I am not going to go into all the details here, but I will say this - privacy and asking permission are not the same here in the Peru - enough said.

 

The nurses asked for the baby clothes and blankets that I had for the baby as they dress the baby in the clothes you bring after delivery. They thought we were crazy because I did not bring super warm clothes for the baby. Back in the States we have central heating in our hospitals - yes, that is right, there was no heat in the hospital. It was about 50 degrees outside and about 60 degrees inside the hospital. The nurses were wearing down coats at work. John and I were wishing we had thought about this before, as John was only in a sweatshirt - he did not even think about bringing a jacket! They wheeled me up to the laboring floor completely covered from head to toe in blankets. I could not even see where I was going. Not knowing the language and my head completely covered, unable to see I though to myself, "What have I gotten myself into?"

 

Upon arriving in the room we received our one roll of toilet paper we would need during our stay, my one and only gown, and a bed - nothing fancy. We had the room to ourselves for a while and later we ended up sharing our room. It was so cold in the room that John asked for a blanket and they looked at him like he was silly saying: "Blankets are only for the patients." They must have had pity on us as they brought John a small blanket. I was covered in four blankets and was still freezing. One of the reasons the room was so cold was because the windows are not insulated , resulting in the wind coming right in through the cracks. As we sat and stared at the window we could see the blinds moving back and forth from the breeze - it was going to be a long, cold night.

 

Shortly after we arrived they began the induction with a gravity IV drip of pitocin, nothing like the IVs we get in the States. If I turned my arm one way I felt more contractions and if I turned my arm the other way the contractions would lessen. There were no fetal heart monitors, only a heart doppler for baby which got checked every few hours. According to the rules at the hospital, only my doctor could check my progress. Since no other staff doctors or nurses were allowed to check me, we never really knew how far along I was in the whole labor process. My doctor was actually Really Great! She was always willing to work with us. She came in when we arrived in the emergency room, and she came by before clinic that morning to see how I was doing. A few hours after she came by, my contractions were progressively getting more intense, so John checked me to see if I was making progress - they never said John couldn't check me right? I had been laboring with decent contractions since Tuesday morning around eleven and now it was nine o'clock on Wednesday and I was only at 4.5-5cm!? Not fair! The good news though was that my doctor said at 4-5 cm I could get an epidural. We had discussed this with our doctor a few weeks ago and she said we could get one. Initially we thought that we could not get an epidural, so this was good news to me!

 

So being at a 4-5 the hospital staff was going to send me down to "la sala de parto" - the delivery room where you "da la luz" or "give the light" - an interesting way of looking at it huh? We were getting ready to head down to the delivery room when the nurses looked at us and said, "Okay are you ready for your C-section?" John and I said,"NO." Apparently epidurals are so rare here that they thought if I was getting medicine, I must be getting a C-section. John thought he cleared up this problem with the nurses and we continued our trip to the delivery room. The same thing happened a couple of more times, and they even tried to wheel me into the C-section room. Thank goodness John had seen the delivery room before I was wheeled down there so he knew they were

taking me to the wrong room!

 

As we made it to the delivery room, I was wondering if I was going to survive this delivery. Once we got there they moved me to the delivery bed which had wood side rails! Not something I've seen before. Now I was  really starting to get worried. Another doctor who worked with our doctor was in charge of me until my doctor could come from clinic. This other doctor came in and checked me only to say that I was not at a 4.5 to 5 but only a 3 and she was not going to give me an epidural. She said I could not get an epidural until I was 5 or 6 or possibly 8 or 9! WHAT?!!! John was frustrated and inside I was livid! We were both confused as I knew John knew how to check me, and he would never have lied to me just to get an epidural - even if I wanted him to.

 

We sat there for what seemed like forever, which was only 30 minutes or so, until our doctor arrived. She immediately checked me and agreed with John that I was at a 5 and we could get our epidural right away. John and I were both relieved to say the least! I got my epidural - which was a little different from my last two. Instead of having a constant regulated dose, I just recieved one dose of medication and if I wanted more, I would have had to ask and get more - it was not a constant drip. So, this might have been nice to know before delivery. This explains why the end of delivery was more painful than I had remembered the others being. It worked out perfectly though. It was just enough medication to take the edge off, but I was still able to walk right after delivery. I think this is the way to go.

 

After I got the epidural my doctor broke my water, and within an hour Hudson was here! The cool part was that John got to deliver our son. John helped me make it through the last part of delivery, as there was no one there to count for me or hold my legs - just John and I. We pulled it off together. Little did I know that after John caught Hudson he nearly caught his scrubs on fire with the kerosene open-flamed heater that had been turned on to warm up the room for the baby. Apparently they had set up the heater about 3 feet in back of where John was delivering but they did not tell him. When he stepped back after delivering Hudson, he noticed that his leg was feeling quite warm. He looked down and there was the flame and three holes burned into the scrubs that they'd given him. Craziness!

 

Finallly, Hudson Elias Washburn was born on July 3rd at 1:05pm weighing in at 5lbs, 14oz. What a tiny little guy! We both thought for sure he would be bigger than that, but I did only gain 25 lbs with this pregnancy. All of the walking we did over these last few weeks kept me from gaining weight I think.

 

If you're interested in why we chose his name, we really admire Hudson Taylor and his willingness to be one of the first missionaries to serve God in central China. He inspired many people to serve God including Nate Saint and Billy Graham. There are many very interesting books about him if you'd like to learn more. Hudson's middle name is Spanish for Elijah and means "The Lord is my God". We hope that someday Hudson will make the Lord his God and that he will serve Him wherever the Lord leads him to serve.

 

So shortly after delivery they wisked Hudson away saying they wanted to keep him for observation. John explained to the pediatrician that we wanted to breastfeed, and the pediatrician said, "No problem," and that he would be right up - so three hours later Hudson still was not in our room! John had to hunt around the hospital to find our son and once he did they told him he would be up to our room at 4pm. So at 4pm he was still not there and we sure did miss him! At about 5 pm he finally arrived in our room. Things just work a little differently here - that is all there is to it.

 

We were happy to have our little guy and we left the hospital the next day. I did take a few pictures of our hospital room. We had a TV which was in purple because it was a little old but otherwise worked fine. The room had a bathroom attached with a shower, but it wasn't stocked. There were no towels or soap which made washing our hands a little interesting, but again it worked out. I cannot complain though becuase John had a couch to sleep on and I had a bed that was electric and could move up and down!

 

This was one of the nicest hospitals in Arequipa and we feel blessed to have had Hudson here. As the fourth of the July rolled around the next day I felt a much deeper gratitude and appreciation for our country.

 

UPDATE:

 

The kids have still been really sick so we started treatment for Giardia yesterday. They have definitely improved over the last 24 hours so we are hoping this solves our problem. Poor Caleb has lost a fair amount of weight, and Hannah has been super grumpy - understandably so. We have had some LONG days and nights with our sick children and our new little guy. Pray that we can all get healthy again!