40/40 Familia

We are excited that all 4 of our American 40/40s for Puerto Maldanado have arrived here in Peru! We are very excited about our group and look forward to our 2 years together. Our Peruvian 40/40s will join us after our language training when we head to Pucallpa. Thursday morning we all met up at the office and were able to get some pictures together. We were also very blessed to hear some words from Pastor Edilberto Solano. He is the current District Superintendant of the whole of south Peru and is overseeing missionary activities. Pastor Solano words brought tears to my eyes. He said that us being here is an answer to prayer that began in 2002. He spoke about how the south of Peru has been forgotten and about his desire to see the people reached but that he had no idea what the Lord has in store through Extreme. We felt extremely humbled by his words and feel blessed to be a part of this team!

Us with our 40/40 group, Pastor Edilberto and Brian Tibbs (Director of Extreme)

Wendy, Callie, Andrew & Olivia

Please pray for these young missionaries. The Lord has much work to do through them and your prayers are needed!

Prayers for Tyson...

We are requesting your prayers for Tyson. He has had the chills and a terrible headache for the last few days and last night he had a fever of almost 103. We think he must have a case of the flu and are praying he gets better soon. Our family has been very good to him and are very concerned. Last night they gave him a tea made of coca leaves and it did help his headache immediately. We later found out that is the same plant cocaine is made of...ha! Your prayers for his health would be greatly appreciated (and prayers that Kai and I don't get it as well) Here is a picture of the tea he had again this morning.

La Casa

I thought I would share a little about our family and where we are living for these next three months. We have been blessed with a wonderful family to stay with here in Peru! They are very sweet and very patient with us and our lack of Spanish. Henry is the father and he actually teaches at the school we are going to so he is good at speaking slowly for us at meals. Juana is the mother and she is very sweet, makes wonderful food and loves spoiling Kai. Their children are Renato and Regine. Renato goes to college here in Arequipa and Regine was teaching children at the school we go to but is currently preparing to leave for Germany to get married in the fall.
I can't say enough about the kindness of this family. Henry has been driving me back and forth to school each day so I can get back in time for Tyson to leave for his classes. Next week we will begin walking but it has been very nice to get a ride this week. They have been very sympathetic about Kai being sick and very understanding of his not eating the food. I personally feel terrible at the food goes to waste but they are very gracious. They are always telling us to put a coat on Kai even if it is barely cold out. They are not used to cold weather here and all the babies are bundled in layers even if the sun is outJ The other day I decided I needed to get out of the house because I was getting cabin fever. I bundled Kai up in many layers plus a hat and a rain coat and put him in the backpack to go for a walk. I looked back after half a block and saw that Henry had followed us to the sidewalk and was watching from the gate. I kept walking and looked back and he was still watching. I began to worry perhaps it was dangerous for us to be out without Tyson so I only walked a bit further (so two blocks total) and turned around. When I got to the gate he asked me where we were going and I said we just needed to get out. He looked at me and pointed to Kai and say “esta frio”. He was worried that it was too cold for Kai to be out. It was sort of chilly and a bit damp but nothing compared to Oregon. I thought it was very sweet thoughJ
I’m sure we will have more stories about our family but all in all right now I feel very blessed by their kindness and generosity. I look forward to knowing more Spanish so I can begin to know them on a deeper level but for now I am amazed by how much you can communicate without knowing the language. Renato and Regine actually speak English really well but don’t do it very often…Spanish only in the house so we can learn faster.
We feel very blessed at the accommodations we have been given. We were expecting only a bedroom for the three of us but we actually have a little apartment above the main home of the families. We have a little living room, kitchen area (with fridge!), bathroom and our bedroom. Renato also has his bedroom up here and is very seems to sleep right through most of Kai’s early mornings. The water in the home is solar heated and unfortunately there has not been much sun this week. Our shower does have a switch to turn on electric heat but we went most of the week without using it. Finally I couldn’t handle another cold shower and turned it on…that was very nice! Okay, this is a long post so I will just show some pictures and call it good!

Here is our living room...lots of studying happening here!

Our cozy little bedroom

Our armoir...storing all of our clothes plus some...hence the mess:)

El bano

Looking out from our door on our little porch

Down our stairs and then you can see the ally to the street...there is a locked gate at the end so we feel very safe here.

This is the only picture I have gotten of our street...on the day Henry was keeping an eye on us:)

Plaza de Armas

Saturday afternoon we met up with a group from Extreme at the Plaza de Armas. It is a beautiful area that looks quite different from the neighborhood we live in. It was nice to meet other people from the organization (and to have conversations in English:) We walked around, the kids fed the birds, we walked through shops and had dinner on a balcony overlooking the plaza. These are the only pictures I have taken so far and they really don't give you any idea of Peru because this area looks like it could be in the US...but, it is a gorgeous area, especially at night!

Kai with Isaiah and Landon (other Extreme kiddos:) feeding the birds.

Kai chasing the birds...but behind him is a woman in Peruvian dress...they are beautiful!

Extreme group at dinner---Olivia is the only one looking at the camera...thanks Olivia:)

Our view from dinner of the Plaza de Armas

Where to start...

I think I have been putting off blogging because I have no idea where to start...there is so much to share. First, we want to thank you all for love, support, prayers, encouraging emails and comments. You have no idea how much it means to know you are all praying for us and thinking of us back home! And it is encouraging to me to see all your comments...it brightens my day:) Thank you, thank you friends and family!

I think we will have to break things up into different posts because there is so very much to tell. The trip went really well and we met up with Olivia who will be one of the 40/40 with us in San Francisco so we were able to make the trip together. We arrived in Arequipa safely Friday night and walked off the plane into the pouring rain...it felt like home already:) We were welcomed by Daniel Duran and Ryan & Sarah Foster from Extreme. The took us to the school where we met up with our host families and headed to our new home (for the next three months). We have a wonderful host family who are so sweet and we have a great room...in fact we have a little apartment almost instead of just a bedroom which is what we thought we would have. We will write more about our home and family and post pictures soon.

It has been a whirlwind so far with a couple outings, church, many meals, and we started language school yesterday...much to learn! Peru is so very different from what we are used to. But, the people are wonderful and kind and beautiful and I am falling in love with them already. I so very much look forward to being able to actually have conversations with them soon (hopefully!)

Our family is doing well. I honestly don't know if it has hit me that we are not returning home anytime soon. I feel like I am adjusting fine so far to life here but I think it will hit me soon and I will have to begin to deal with "culture shock". Tyson thinks the culture shock has hit him already and it is interesting to hear the things he notices that I have yet to. He will have to write a post soon to share it all! Kai is adjusting pretty well. He has been sick since Saturday with a cold and it is sticking around. He is not used to the meals...not the food so much, but the times they are at and not having a high chair to keep him contained. He is not eating much but it could be because he is sick. Hopefully he will be back to himself soon. This week Tyson is taking afternoon language classes and watches Kai in the morning while I go to class. Next week we will have someone to watch him so we can go at the same time. I look forward to going together and having time together to do things in the afternoon. At this point I am pretty much stuck at the house because I don't feel comfortable taking a taxi anywhere by myself (with or without Kai). I do have to say it has been nice having the Durans here. Not only to have friends, but to have someone show you how to do things, where to go, and help us take care of things has been huge!

We will post more soon. Again, there is so much to tell so if you are wondering about something specific post a question in the comments and we will try to answer it! Thank you again for your prayers, they are being felt! God Bless!

We Are Here!

We wanted to let everyone know that we have made it safe to Arequipa! We will post more as soon as we can but we need to get an adapter for our computer plug and it is about to die so hopefully we will get that fixed tomorrow. Thank you all so much for your prayers, our trip here went really well and the family we are living with is just wonderful. More soon!

One Week!

One week from right now we will be at the airport getting ready to get on a plane that will take us to a new life, new experiences, new language, new relationships and new ways to see God's glory. We are so excited anticipating all that God has in store, sad at the goodbyes that have been said and the ones that are to come, our heads are spinning at all we need to get done...lots of thoughts, anticipation and emotions! We are still praying for a buyer or renter for our home and your prayers would be appreciated. Mostly, please pray for the Lord to continue to prepare our hearts and minds for His plans for us in Peru! We are so incredibly thankful for the support we have been given through your words, encouragement, finances and prayers! We could not do this without you. God Bless you all...

Bye Bye Beach!

This last weekend we went to the beach with Tyson's parents for a little goodbye weekend. Kai loved playing on the beach and swimming in the pool...and spending time with his Boppa and Pa. It was a great time but really hard to say goodbye. Kai has no idea. As we were getting in the card to leave he said goodbye and "see ya", not knowing it will be quite a while before we see them again. He loves them a lot and even sang a "Boppa, Pa, Boppa, Pa" song to himself in the car as we were leaving. We are going to miss you Boppa and Pa and can't wait for you to come visit us in Peru. We love you!!!

Packing and cleaning and moving, oh my!

These last two weeks have been filled with packing and moving and sorting and decisions and phone calls and paperwork and cleaning...it has been beyond exhausting to me but we are almost there. Today Kai is at the coast with Boppa & Pa (Ty's parents) and we will meet them over there tonight for a weekend of relaxing and family time. I am taking advantage of today's freedom and have spent the morning at the coffee shop reading, relaxing and blogging, and will spend the rest of the afternoon shampooing carpets...woo hoo! We still don't have renters (we are now trying to rent our house since there has been no interest from buyers). Your prayers for quality renters would be greatly appreciated...or someone to come along to just buy it:)

Through the packing we have found many thing. The main thing I am praising the Lord about is that I found Kai's plane tickets!! They had mailed us a paper ticket for some reason and then I misplaced it and was told I would need to purchase a new one if we didn't find it. After many tears and stress and prayers I found it along with some other important stuff I didn't realize I was missing;) Thank you Jesus!

I have also found an enormous amount of change that I decided would support my coffee habit for the remainder of our time in the US.

I was also amazed at the number of guitar picks I found in all sorts of places all over the house. I found the most in our bathrooms...due to the "amazing acoustics" the bathrooms possess.
We would appreciate all your prayers as we finish up our jobs next week and finish all our preparations. We leave two weeks from yesterday....crazy! The Lord faithfulness has been so evident down to every detail...it is overwhelming the love He has shown us in the little details. Thank you to everyone for their prayers, encouragement and support. We are so incredibly blessed with amazing family, friends and church family. We love you all!

Goodbyes...

Goodbyes are hard. This last weekend my sister, niece and mom came for a quick visit. They helped us with our garage sale, some packing and spent lots of time playing with our boy. It was great to see them but hard to realize it will be two years before we see them again. I love my family and even though don't tell them enough, I appreciate them and am incredibly thankful for them! I didn't cry when we said goodbye, because I don't cry when it is appropriate or expected. I cry later, when I process, when I am in the middle of a coffee shop writing about them...like now, with strangers all around and tears down my face. I love you guys. thank you for your love and support!

Kai with Auntie Wicky...I mean Vicky:)

Me and my big sis...

Kai playing trains with Grandma Julie
Me and my sweet baby niece, Jaylee...
Oh wait! She is no baby anymore! I love this girl. I remember when she was born...literally, I was in 8th grade but Vicky asked me to be in the room when Jaylee was born and it was an amazing experience. They let me babysit her when she was a baby and have always felt a special bond with her. Now she is in 8th grade...the age I was when she was born....wow! I am sad that I will miss her 8th grade graduation, her first couple years of high school and it is crazy to think she will be driving when we get back! I am proud of you Jaylee, for the beautiful girl you have turned into both inside and out, for your boldness, your humor, your honesty, for the way you love people and the way you love Jesus! I love you!
~Auntie Tracy:)