I Know it is Overdue...

 

Well in all honesty blogging has kind of been the last thing on my mind these days. For the last two months the kids and us have been off and on sick with all kinds of things. In addition to that Hudson has just not been sleeping well, partly from being sick so often and partly from who knows what??? Sometimes he sleeps for a whole 4 hours but usually gets up every hour to two hours just depending on the night. Oh, and he loves to wake up for the day between 4:30 and 5:00 am. Sounds fun right? Needless to say this has been quite trying on my body over the last two months and when night time rolls around I am EXHAUSTED.

On top of all of that we have been dealing with some issues concerning Hannah's health. This is another reason I have not been blogging lately, because I really do not feel like talking about something that has emotionally exhausted me as well. A couple of months ago we decided to get some tests run on Hannah first, because she has not been growing well since we got here and second, because our niece was diagnosed with celiac disease. Through a series of blood work we have found out it does not look like she has celiac, which we are grateful to God for. Hannah's blood work did however, come back a little abnormal. Sometimes though it is kind of ironic because even though I did not want her to have celiac I was sort of hoping for a concrete answer. Now we are on what seems like a never ending quest to figure out what is going on, which is not easy in a foreign country. Currently we are talking with some docs in the States and it has been recommended that we count all of Hannah's calories for 2 weeks and see if after two weeks of pushing her to eat we can get her to gain weight. Our two weeks will end next Friday and then we will do some more blood work. If the results return abnormal again and she still is not gaining weight we will need to make a trip to Lima for an endoscopy most likely.  Now it just seems like a waiting game. I do not think about it every day any more like I used to because I know God is in control and He knew what was going on with our girl even before we did. However, the idea of whatever is going on with her just sits in the back of my mind waiting to emerge at a moments notice. I know God holds her in His hands and I also know that in reality she is not mine - she is His. At one point, okay maybe a few more than one, I got a little angry because why now? Why her? But God, who is always faithful reminded me of this verse:

"But he was pierced for our transgressions,

he was crushed for our iniquities;

 the punishment that brought us peace was on him,

and by his wounds we are healed."

 

Isaiah 53:5

 

God never promised to heal our physical wounds here on earth but He did promise to heal our spiritual wounds and for this I am eternally grateful. In my short life I have seen enough to know that God is indeed faithful and He loves us in a way we cannot comprehend. I know that every time I am breaking down in tears for my Hannah I know he aches to see me in pain. Being in Peru has developed my trust in the Lord in ways I never thought possible, if this would be the only tangible thing I could see over these three years it will have been three years well spent.

 

We are praying that we have worried in vain, but we will keep you updated when we know something. Just to ease your hearts as of right now whatever it is does not look like cancer - thank God.

 

So sorry for the long delay in posts and lack of pictures/cultural stories. There are many which I hope to write about in the future when we are not so consumed. John finishes language school next week and I will finish in 3 more weeks. Hard to believe our time here in Arequipa is almost done. Be praying for our transition time and that God would give us wisdom in what we need to do next with Hannah.

 

Here are some pics of Hudson at 3 months (now he is almost 5 months!) and a couple of Hannah. I cannot get Caleb to slow down long enough to take a photo these days :)

 

*** Can't remember if we told you guys or not but we sold our house!!! Praise be to God for yet another piece of the puzzle that He has so graciously taken care of!!!

 

 

Putting things into Perspective

A while back John and I went out on a date. We got a bite to eat at a local restaurant and then headed to "El Centro" - just the center of town. Every "center" of town here has what they call a Plaza de Armas -really historical buildings that are still used for lots of government things- and usually in front of the plaza is some type of park. The park in front of the plaza in Arequipa is quite beautiful with a huge fountain. During the day there are always lots of people sitting on benches just talking and hanging out. The little kids are usually feeding/chasing all of the pigeons around the square. All of the local vendors are selling bird feed, candy and other random things. It is a pretty busy place and when I have three children attached to me it is quite important to keep an eye on them.

Anyway, so after our date we meandored on down to the park in front of the plaza. Often times there are local vendors who sell the most beautiful roses. John and I spotted a young girl selling roses the other night and we went over to try to buy one. As we were walking over we could see that she was earnestly trying to sell one of her roses to a couple close to her. They did not seem to be interested and she continued to be patient to try to make the sale. When she turned to see us you could tell she was excited to make a sale. We bought one rose from her. A whole 5 soles - equivalent to about $1.75. As I was handing her my money, I could not help but notice the two very big feet hanging from the carrier on her back. It is very common to carry your kids across your back here horizontally not vertically. So I could see two big feet sticking out of her side, but I could not see a head. In an effort to practice my Spanish I asked her how old her baby was. She replied 2 and a half years! It was around 9:30 at night and this poor lady was carrying her 2 1/2 year old on her back while she was selling roses! You cannot help but wonder how much she makes an hour and what kind of conditions she lives in. By the look on her face you could tell she was exhuasted. The truth is, she probably works at least two or three jobs just to make ends meet. Almost everyone here in Peru works at least two jobs and maybe three just to pay the bills. My perspective is changing...

Or how about last week when the kids and I were walking to the Plaza de Armas when suddenly I hear this man yell, "Ayudame, ayudame, por favor!" I turned around to look and that is when I notice that a blind man was about to step off the sidewalk into one of the busiest streets in downtown Arequipa. I had Hudson in the carrier on my chest, Hannah in the stroller, and Caleb holding onto the side of the stroller and I thought to myself, how in the world am I going to help this man?? Then a lady came from out of nowhere, grabbed his arm and walked him across the street. I am not sure how blind people survive here in Peru. At times I think that the uncovered drainage ditches, and the 15 ft drops off the edge of the sidewalks give me more gray hair ***especially since I have young children - imagine if you were blind living here? Again...my perspective is changing...

Recently John helped with a rural clinic a few hours away from here. After he got back that night he began to tell me about his day. Quite sobering I must say. As I sat there nearly in tears as he was telling me about some of the patients he saw that day I thought my day was pretty boring in comparison. The kids were kind of rough that day, hence my day was rough too, but everything was put into perspecitive after hearing some of his stories. My day did not seem too bad as he told me about the mother who brought her 50 pound, 18 year-old son who had hardly eaten anything in 3 months and had an undiagnosed case of what was likely muscular dystrophy (which they could not do much for). Or the little 18 month-old boy who got his hand caught in a sugar cane grinder. Or the man who had been blind for 10 years (due to a car running over him) who was hoping John could restore his sight (to no avail). Or the lady who miscarried during the clinic. Sometimes being in medicine is overwhelming and difficult on the heart. Thank you Lord for putting things into perspective...

Fruit Chronicles

We are really enjoying the fresh fruit over here

and thought I might photograph some for my kitchen wall someday - whenever I find a place that prints photos and a place to buy frames. No big deal right? I will let you know when this happens :) Anyway enjoy!

This is a granadia (granadilla-not sure on the spelling here). It has seeds that are encapsuled in sack that resemble fish eggs. Not the most apetizing but very interesting to look at.

 

Okay well these are just apples so not to exciting but they photograph well :)...and they are very tasty. I buy them by the kilo, sometimes 4 or 5 kilos at a time. Just imagine me with three kids, one in the stroller, one holding the stroller, and one in the baby carried on my chest carry 4 kilos of apples (~2.5 pounds per kilo). Quite the sight I tell you.

 

Hannah has fallen in love with oranges. She makes a ridiculously large mess with them but at least she is getting some fiber.

 

We did find some blueberries this last week. I bought a TON of them. Really wishing I had some canning jars :( Still cannot find these...what a bummer. So I made some blueberry muffins, blueberry syrup and I froze the rest for now. What a treat!

Jardin or no Jardin - That is the Question!

It is considered incredibly normal and quite frankly was expected that we were going to put both of our children in the Jardin once we started language school. What is a Jardin - well I am glad you asked! A jardin is basically a daycare center for preschool/kindergarten(jardin is Spanish for garden as well). Here it is normal for Peruvian children to go to the Jardin at age two if they are wanting to get into a better gradeschool, however it is obligatory to place your child in the Jardin at age three - at least that is what we have been told. The Jardin is from 8:50-12:30 every day during the week. For most parents this works out wonderfully because they need to work to support their families. However, for us it is a little complicated. First off John starts school at 8:30 and the Jardin does not open until 8:50 so that means I would have to walk with all THREE kids a few blocks to the Jardin - which seems like a few blocks to many unless I grow another arm. There are services to taxi your kids to school but those cost money and that scares me a little bit. Another thing to think about, is that if I did actually get Caleb to the Jardin in the morning I would not actually see him again until 4:30 because I have language classes from 12:10 till 4:30. At this time I would come home cook dinner and by the time I got done with everything I would be lucky to even get 20 minutes with the little guy before he goes to bed at 7. I feel like I am not ready for this. I think to myself, am I just being selfish or is the just not the right timing? John and I would really like for him to speak Spanish, but is this out of prideful ambition of just wanting to be able to say our kid speaks Spanish or does he really need to learn it right now? I mean I absolutely agree he needs to learn Spanish but right now we have a good schedule going and I fear the emotional turmoil (on both his side and mine) we might create might be worse than not sending him to school. At this point we are not sure if he will benefit from only having a few months in the Jardin before we move to Curahuasi. Once we get to Curahuasi we do not plan on sending him to school, for a couple of reasons (1) He is still very young (2) We have not decided whether we are wanting to homeschool or not. Caleb is still very young (3 in May) so really if we were in the States I would not even be considering whether or not to put him in preschool, however we do feel a good amount of cultural pressure to put him in school here. Every week people talk to me about the benefits of putting him in the Jardin, and really the only benefit would be that Caleb would learn Spanish because realisitically I will still not be able to get more homework done. Will 4 months in the Jardin really make a difference if we decide to homeschool them anyway in Curahuasi? Will it really be that important if we come back after three years anyway? Truth be told if we come back after three years he will not really retain any of it anyway although I am sure this will make it easier for him to learn Spanish in the future. Or will we stay here longer than three years? Tough, tough, tough decisions. Please pray for us on how to go about this.

 

We do have DVDs and music that the kids have been listening to and they are learning lots of Spanish words. We also have a sweet girl who comes to our house to watch the kids while John and I are walking to language school. She stays for about two hours and only speaks Spanish to the kids which has also been helpful. We also just started attending church on Thursday nights too in hopes to get Caleb exposed to more Spanish. We visited this particular church for the first time this past Thursday. What an eye opening experience. I imagine this will be a little bit more like the church experience we will have in Curahuasi. They had two kids rooms, one fore preschool and a nursery. The preschool room was a concrete room with ten plastic chairs. They did have a boombox for music and some crayons but that was pretty much the extent of it. The nusery had two small beds, one crib and lots of stuffed animals. Normally you expect to see a child safety gate in the nursery and they had one creatively made out of material easily available to Peruvians. Kids do not need much - just love and care - and that is what they got that night. When we returned to pick up Caleb that night he was so excited that he got to sing songs and color a picture. Who needs fancy toys right?

Pray for our friend who helps us with the kids as she will be going to have surgery next week, sooner than we expected. She will need to have about 3 weeks off after the surgery and we will miss her dearly - ourselves included. She is such a blessing to our family during this time of language learning.
 

 

...The decision on whether or not to homeschool is giving me more gray hair for sure. Any thoughts on this? I have many...

Oh the Microwave...

 

After several trips to oeshle (where we purchased our microwave), one mechanical repair that gave us back our original microwave and one mechanical repair that failed, two months later we have our microwave back. Seriously when I say several times I mean 15 times - not exaggerated at all. We took the microwave in before I delived Hudson and we just got a new one this week. Not sure we will ever know why it took so long but at least we have it back. We have not had a microwave for so long now we kind of wonder why we bought one in the first place. As we have used it this week we have realized that having a microwave is much more convenient when you have three kids and saves a lot on washing dishes. The funny thing is we have gone without one for so long that Hannah walked in and saw the mircowave, she pointed her finger and with a concerned look on her face said"Uh oh...uh oh..uh oh!". We are all grateful and astonished to have our microwave back. Oh the joy of modern conveniences!

I Can't Speak in English or Spanish

My brain is getting so confused I cannot even speak my native tongue anymore. Just a few days ago Caleb asked me how to spell the word "patient" I said, "P...A...C...I...." - John just looked at me and started laughing. I did not even realize that I was spelling it the Spanish way! Oh dear...

***By the way Caleb's first word he can spell all by himself is, of course, the word "jet". This kid has had airplane/helicopter brain since as he was born!***

Learning a new langauge does horrible things to your mind. Sometimes I cannot remember the English word for things - I consistently forget the English word for "palta" which is avocado. The avocados here are AMAZING- back in the States I could never find ripes ones but here I can choose if I want one for lunch or for later in the week. They always have ripe avocados here, and we are really enjoying them.

I just have to share some of these ridiculous language learning stories. This week for me has been a difficult one with the whole learning Spanish thing but I am slowly learning to laugh at myself - and so is everyone else! During class this week I was describing a scene in my vocab book to my teacher when I said, "The people are eating the duck", when what was really happening was the people were feeding the duck - no big deal right? We got a pretty good laugh out of this one. Oh but it gets better....this week I was trying to explain to John how Hudson's baby blanket smelled like dirt. Let me clarify this - I had just washed his blanket - however it is windy here in Arequipa and when you hang your clothes over night the wind blows all the dirt on the clothes. At least the blanket was cleaner than before it was washed. Anyway, as I was trying to describe that Hudson's blanket smelled like dirt I said, "The blanket sounds like the earth." John looked at me all funny and we both busted up laughing.

Sometimes language learning is hilarious, awkward, and extremely frustrating. The funny thing about this is that I **thought** (which is the key word here) that I pretty much knew Spanish before I got here. HaHAHAAHa! So FUNNY! Everyday I spend my time working on pronunciation, grammar, and just plain stumbling over my words. Spanish is such a beautiful language and it is horrible how I just butcher it every day. Just one more example..I had been here for 5 weeks studying Spanish when on one Sunday I asked my pastor, who is a guy, how his husband was doing?! In my mind I thought, "Did I really just do that?". Yep, I did. Oh brother...

I know that with every week that passes I am getting a little (emphasis on little)  better, but sometimes I wonder if it will ever be enough. One of the hardest things about learning a language is, well, that you actually have to practice speaking - profound right? Well as a mom I think this is really hard. I cannot spend all day integrating myself into the culture or meeting/talking with people well because I have three children who need to eat. In addition to this, every time we go out, we fall into the same pattern as we did in the US - John usually does the talking and I watch the kids. This is especially easy to fall into here since John knows considerably more Spanish than I do - I mean the guy is a genius! They say that some people are left-brained (better at math and science), and some people are right-brained (better at everything else). Well it is obvious to me that John uses both sides of his brain...I mean he is a doctor, and can absorb/speak new languages like no one else I have ever seen. After this evaluation of John, I am beginning to wonder whether I am right-brained, left-brained or just do not have a brain. I will let you know when the verdict is in.

We take for granted just being able to walk into a store and communicate with someone. Yesterday I went to one of my favorite stores here in Arequipa to purchase a few small wooden toys for the kids. They had these beautiful, colorfully-designed little instruments I had been keeping my eye on for a while. When I found out they were on sale I decided to go in and get a few. I spent  a while looking at prices and finally determined what I wanted and went to the register. As the prices began to ring up something was not adding up because it came out to be more than I had intended on paying. I took my receipt back and asked the lady why the price was so high since it said right here it was on sale. She tried to explain the problem to me for a couple of minutes but it was futile. I could not understand what she was saying and more importantly why I had paid so much for something that was supposed to be on sale. I had spent twenty minutes making sure I had everything added up right only to fail miserably. I walked home pouting in disappointment because I just could not understand a word that lady was saying to me. I tried really hard not to break down all the way home because so many people were watching me walk down the street - as I am always a spectacle with the baby. I got home, told John my story, and started crying. Sometimes I wonder if I will ever be able to fully understand Spanish and more importantly have spiritual conversations - or make any sort of impact while I am here.

Everyone here is kind to me when I butcher the very language that so easily rolls off of their tongues. No judgemental words - a little laughter but hey that is just normal. When you learn a language it is like becoming a child all over again except children lack pride. With all of the silly little mistakes I have made lately I am lacking pride too - maybe that is a good thing. Oh Lord help me learn Spanish!

A break from studying Spanish!