Today is a special day. Today is my birthday. I actually believe in birthday weeks, so the festivities started yesterday with an AMAZING meal cooked by John. Beef tenderloin with a port mushroom reduction and a cream sauce, potatoes au gratin, avocado au gratin and asparagus. Yup, amazing. Today we had birthday pancakes with sprinkles and all...those are actually more for the boys....the kiddos love them. When you get the reaction from your 2 year old when he see the pancakes and says "Oh Wow" it makes it all worth it. You see, I actually believe that my birthday should be a national celebration...I love my birthday!
BUT believe it or not, that is not why today is a special day. Today we get to see our baby. Having a baby in a new country is filled with my many emotions, thoughts and new experiences. It makes having a 2nd baby a whole new adventure. Regardless, we get to see this amazing creation of God today and MAYBE find out the gender. What do you think....boy or girl??? Much prayer has gone into this new life. Its exciting to dream of the amazing plans the Lord has in store for this little one.
Whether girl or boy we are THRILLED for this ultra sound today. We will see what happens.
Pray for us today. Pray that the Lord will miraculously break through the language barrier for us (I don't know a ton of medical terminology in Spanish and V is doing AMAZING in Spanish but we still have far to go) and that we will enjoy our doctors appointment today and not be stressed out about. Pray for peace and joy.
What will we have....hhhhmmm....we will see :)
Monday, March 18, 2013
Tuesday, March 12, 2013
Not quite enough cereal
As I wrote this post (a while back, mind you) I realized how much I was wrestling with myself. I would love to tell you something more spiritual like "I wrestled with the Lord like Jacob did" but thats not true at all...not in this circumstance. This time it is just me against me. Me being selfish and ungrateful. Ouch it really hurts sometimes.
(Deep breath...here I go). I struggled. No, don't feel bad for me. Don't feel sad for me. Don't feel anything. If you do, re-read the first paragraph...I'm fought with only me.
For a few days I wallowed in my own self pity that I just don't have anything to talk about, anything to "do". John goes to work and has lots of "stuff" to do. V goes to work and Spanish school. Jenn goes to Spanish school. The boys started nursery school. I....(quiet chirps). I take care of Eli when he is home. I cook. I clean. I exercise. I go to the grocery store. I have a new life. I can sometimes struggle with finding purpose. I know I came here with one. I know its only been 5 weeks, but everyone is moving on and working into their purposes while I wait. I often feel a little behind.
So I have been praying about it. I choose not to let this get to me. I choose to believe that my value or worth in the Lord is nothing less then beautiful and exactly what He desires. I choose to believe in the calling He has instilled on me and that exactly what I do each day...whether or not it seems mundane, simple and unnoticed, is just what He wants me to do which makes it so significant and perfect.
So with that I will continue to share with you the happenings of my life. Our lives. The adventures we embark on. This one is pretty fun....
A couple weeks ago we went on an excursion! John had errands to run so we decided to make it a full morning out of it! And yes, my outing still involved a "grocery store"...sort of. We started our trip on a venture to find cheaper diapers. Diapers are crazy expensive here and the quality is not what we are used to. We heard that the "market" is the place to find them inexpensive so that is where we went. We had to get some cereal, Ronan's favorite cereal that he can't get enough of is from there...its called Trigo and my favorite cereal Quinoa Pop, so going there for those things justified our logic to make this part of our day. The market is open and there are people everywhere selling anything you can imagine. Picture endless amounts of fruit, vegetables, "cereal", meat, chicken etc! It is awesome, but warning, it is not for those with weak stomaches. I am one of those people right now so the trip came with a few almost throw up moments while passing through the chicken and meat stands. We left the market with no diapers, a LOT of cereal and a fun memory or Eli greeting a dead hanging pig ("Hello pig")!
From there we went to the immigrations office so John could do some paperwork. Fortunately for us, next to the immigrations office is a playground. Jenn decided we should let the boys go play. I hesitated knowing the battle we would incur getting them back in the car after a short time playing, but eventually decided she was right and off we went to play. The boys went on the slide, swings and had their first experience on a see saw (teter toter). They had fun. Of course, there were tears shed when it was time to leave but I think they found it worth it.
From there we drove the long way home thru different areas, then Sachaca, which is were we would ultimately like to live in the Arequipa area (if that is where the Lord guides us). Along the way we saw what the heavy rains have done to different areas in city. It has really messed up some area roads. Pray for a quick recovery for some area's. We love Sachaca. It is beautiful there. Close to the schools the boys will go to. Green. Slightly New Braunfels like. Its not real close to a lot...not super close to a grocery store, mall or movie theater but rather quiet and peaceful. A truly beautiful place.
We had a great day. It was nice to go out as a family. Enjoyed time together. Dreamt of our lives and how it will be.
It was beautiful.
(Deep breath...here I go). I struggled. No, don't feel bad for me. Don't feel sad for me. Don't feel anything. If you do, re-read the first paragraph...I'm fought with only me.
For a few days I wallowed in my own self pity that I just don't have anything to talk about, anything to "do". John goes to work and has lots of "stuff" to do. V goes to work and Spanish school. Jenn goes to Spanish school. The boys started nursery school. I....(quiet chirps). I take care of Eli when he is home. I cook. I clean. I exercise. I go to the grocery store. I have a new life. I can sometimes struggle with finding purpose. I know I came here with one. I know its only been 5 weeks, but everyone is moving on and working into their purposes while I wait. I often feel a little behind.
So I have been praying about it. I choose not to let this get to me. I choose to believe that my value or worth in the Lord is nothing less then beautiful and exactly what He desires. I choose to believe in the calling He has instilled on me and that exactly what I do each day...whether or not it seems mundane, simple and unnoticed, is just what He wants me to do which makes it so significant and perfect.
So with that I will continue to share with you the happenings of my life. Our lives. The adventures we embark on. This one is pretty fun....
A couple weeks ago we went on an excursion! John had errands to run so we decided to make it a full morning out of it! And yes, my outing still involved a "grocery store"...sort of. We started our trip on a venture to find cheaper diapers. Diapers are crazy expensive here and the quality is not what we are used to. We heard that the "market" is the place to find them inexpensive so that is where we went. We had to get some cereal, Ronan's favorite cereal that he can't get enough of is from there...its called Trigo and my favorite cereal Quinoa Pop, so going there for those things justified our logic to make this part of our day. The market is open and there are people everywhere selling anything you can imagine. Picture endless amounts of fruit, vegetables, "cereal", meat, chicken etc! It is awesome, but warning, it is not for those with weak stomaches. I am one of those people right now so the trip came with a few almost throw up moments while passing through the chicken and meat stands. We left the market with no diapers, a LOT of cereal and a fun memory or Eli greeting a dead hanging pig ("Hello pig")!
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| Cereal Area |
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| Ronan's Cereal! Maybe not quite enough? 3 Kilograms! |
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| Ro next to "his" bag of cereal...A dream realized for him! |
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| My Quinoa Pop! 2 Kilograms! |
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| Fruit & Veggie Area |
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| Veggies & Potatoes Area |
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| Meat Area |
From there we drove the long way home thru different areas, then Sachaca, which is were we would ultimately like to live in the Arequipa area (if that is where the Lord guides us). Along the way we saw what the heavy rains have done to different areas in city. It has really messed up some area roads. Pray for a quick recovery for some area's. We love Sachaca. It is beautiful there. Close to the schools the boys will go to. Green. Slightly New Braunfels like. Its not real close to a lot...not super close to a grocery store, mall or movie theater but rather quiet and peaceful. A truly beautiful place.
 |
We had a great day. It was nice to go out as a family. Enjoyed time together. Dreamt of our lives and how it will be.
It was beautiful.
Tuesday, March 5, 2013
Our "Insane" Little Community
A little while ago I shared with you some things I missed from the USA and some things I loved about Peru ("I miss, I miss not" blog from 2/21/13). In the "list" of things I missed was the gym. I am a total workout-aholic! Especially now that I'm pregnant...I call it motivation, others call me crazy. In either case I really miss the gym...until now. From what I do not have the Lord has birthed a new community. Perfect, since that is exactly what I moved here for.
John has an old friend here he went to school with. They graduated together. When we came to visit in May we were able to meet her. She was awesome and from that moment on the Lord really gave me an excitement to get to know her.
A couple weeks ago Jenn and I had her over to visit with us and so the little boys can play together (I like to call what they do Mini People Community time). We were chatting away and she asked us "out of the blue" when are we going to start training? I looked at her confused and said training for what? Spanish? She responded exercise...she then proceeded to let me know that she does personal training on the side! Awesome. So we set up a date. Things didn't exactly work out as planned for our first exercise date, but regardless a few days later we were finally able to get together.
Wednesday evening came and after just hanging out a while we decide to do a little exercising. She taught us a few Spanish dancing moves (not pictured for fear of looking like a complete fool to you). We had a blast. We scheduled to hang out again. Friday, 9:30 am, after I had had a pretty rough morning we get down to business and do some real exercising. We did "Insanity" together and really worked out hard. Afterwards we practiced our dancing moves (again, not pictured). Working out together gave us a chance to laugh together, talk together and be vulnerable in a unique sort of way.
So is the beginnings of a new community. Sharing time together doing everyday things and allowing the Lord to use that time for His Glory. Out of my lack of access to a gym birthed a time to spend with someone new. Remember we have lots of things that we "want" in this world but the Lord knows what is best for different times in our lives. Pretty fabulous.
John has an old friend here he went to school with. They graduated together. When we came to visit in May we were able to meet her. She was awesome and from that moment on the Lord really gave me an excitement to get to know her.
A couple weeks ago Jenn and I had her over to visit with us and so the little boys can play together (I like to call what they do Mini People Community time). We were chatting away and she asked us "out of the blue" when are we going to start training? I looked at her confused and said training for what? Spanish? She responded exercise...she then proceeded to let me know that she does personal training on the side! Awesome. So we set up a date. Things didn't exactly work out as planned for our first exercise date, but regardless a few days later we were finally able to get together.
Wednesday evening came and after just hanging out a while we decide to do a little exercising. She taught us a few Spanish dancing moves (not pictured for fear of looking like a complete fool to you). We had a blast. We scheduled to hang out again. Friday, 9:30 am, after I had had a pretty rough morning we get down to business and do some real exercising. We did "Insanity" together and really worked out hard. Afterwards we practiced our dancing moves (again, not pictured). Working out together gave us a chance to laugh together, talk together and be vulnerable in a unique sort of way.
So is the beginnings of a new community. Sharing time together doing everyday things and allowing the Lord to use that time for His Glory. Out of my lack of access to a gym birthed a time to spend with someone new. Remember we have lots of things that we "want" in this world but the Lord knows what is best for different times in our lives. Pretty fabulous.
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| The "Insane" Community (Note Ro at the bottom-such a clown!) |
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