A few visuals...

I thought it might be nice to share a few photos that help to communicate our experiences here. The first is the view of the Andes Mountains out of the airplane window on our way back to Arequipa from Lima. They are dry, dry, dry and above tree line, so the view of the peaks and crevices is breathtaking.


During an afternoon of shopping with my mom in the plaza we realized that it was senior citizen's day in Peru. There was a big parade and lots of singing and dancing - my mom says she felt rather welcomed by all the festivities! This is one of the Quechua women dancing in the square with her traditional top hat, shawl, and pleated skirt.

Here is the "deli section" in the local market - no refrigeration necessary. We love the cheese here - we call it "squeaky cheese" because of the way it squeaks against your teeth. Sounds appetizing, doesn't it? Trust us, it's good!

The first batch of chocolate chip cookies was baked at the orphanage last Thursday. At first they didn't believe me that the dough is as good or better than the actual cookies, but here you can see that they caught on eventually!

These little cars (Tico's by Daewoo) make up 95% of the taxis here in Arequipa. You can tell how small they are by the fact that I'm hunched over trying to see in the window to talk to the driver. They have now banned any additional Tico's from entering the country because they've started to take over the streets! They can squeeze through almost any tight space in traffic and have even been known to drive on sidewalks when a traffic jam is at its worst.

These photos give some taste of the flavor of life here. We love the people of Peru, the beautiful land, and the stories of their history. There are many things about their culture that don't make sense to us, but we love the opportunity to live among the people and learn their stories and their ways of thinking.

Home sweet home?

After arriving in Arequipa 10 days ago, we are starting to feel some semblance of "home" here. We now have a bed, living room couches and dishes - though we're still working on a table, desk and several other items that will make this feel a bit more like home. We've established some sense of routine with our morning walk to the corner to catch a taxi, daily duties at New Hope, and the process of catching a taxi from rural Pachacutec that will take us back home at the end of the day. Here is a photo of New Hope, the view as we enter the gate each morning:It was wonderful to have my mom here with us for the first 10 days. She helped us settle into the house and was able to spend a lot of time simply getting to know the people that we will be living, working, and attending church with while we're here. She was able to get a glimpse of what our "normal" life will be this year, which I believe will bless us all as we try to communicate the experiences we're having here in Arequipa. We went to a local market with a new friend that lives here in Peru - an experience not soon to be forgotten! The meat market was incredible - cow and sheep heads lying on the counter, intestines of every kind piled up (and for sale) and whole, hung chickens lining the aisles. Out of consideration, we've decided to post a photo of the fruit section rather than the meat market for you all to see!

This week we are anticipating the arrival of three girls from Ica whose parents were killed in the earthquake. We do not yet know their names or ages, only that they are between 5-10 years old and are now without family because of the devastation in their area. These girls will fill the 3 spots that are currently open in our home, bringing the number of children to 50 exactly.

We hope to post again this week with several additional pictures and reflections on the process of settling in. We would love to have you leave a comment if you're reading to help us keep in touch with you individually. Thank you for your many prayers for our travel and work here in Peru.

And then there was one...

Another month has passed by, full of many memories and significant moments leading up to our departure for Peru. Tony flew out of Denver on Thursday night and has safely arrived at the orphanage. There were tearful goodbyes with dear friends and family before he left, and then he was off on his journey - Denver to San Francisco, San Fran to San Salvador, San Salvador to Lima, and finally Lima to Arequipa. All those extra stops just to save $50 on the airfare!!

Here are a few pictures of Tony on his last night in Denver:

No extra space in these bags!!

One last photo with Nora before Tony leaves!

So now there is just one Bolos left in Denver for these next 10 days. In many ways Tony's departure seems to be leading to the climax of this chapter in our story - we've had months of details, emotions, and preparations leading up to our departure but his leaving is the first tangible step towards the goal. For me, his departure has signaled that my time here is drawing to a close as well. It's always interesting to experience two markedly different emotions at the same time - grief over leaving family, friends, and familiarity, but also joy and excitement about this long-time dream becoming a reality. I'm continually learning how to hold the two in tension without discounting or stifling one of them. It is intriguing and comforting to recognize that God understands that tension. Jesus must have experienced those same conflicting emotions during his time here - the agony of knowing he would be crucified, along with the intense love for all of creation that led him to the cross. Is our grief so extreme as this? Certainly not, but how comforting to know that having experienced that ultimate grief, he understands our grief as we leave to serve the children in Peru out of the love we receive from him.

Road Trip!

After completing my last retreat with Women of the Harvest, I flew home to spend one day in Denver preparing for our Denver to New York road trip. We were headed to New York to visit Tony's family - our first visit back as a married couple.

We made our first stop in Aurora, Nebraska to visit my grandparents one last time before we leave. We squeezed a lot of fun, food, and visiting into the 15 hours we had with them! Tony got to tour the corn fields with Grandpa Gus while the ladies stayed behind to talk and look at pictures of Nora, their new great-granddaughter.

Next it was off to Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania and finally NEW YORK!! Tony was strict about our 5:00am departures every morning - a preview of family road trips in the years to come, I'm sure. : ) We were able to stop at Niagara Falls as we passed through Buffalo - it was beautiful! (Here we are at the falls - notice my humidity-frizzed hair!) The main theme of our NY trip was definitely pizza!! We had pizza every day we were there - even for breakfast one morning. And this is apparently normal for upstate-New Yorkers.



We were able to spend an afternoon with Tony's Uncle Pete and Aunt Sandra at their home in
Tony has wonderful memories of visiting Uncle Pete at his cabin when he was younger, so it was fun for me to get to spend time there with him. Remsen, NY. They have a beautiful lake-front cabin there, set in the most serene environment.







Tony made an attempt at water skiing for the first time in his life - a brave soul! He got up on his second try and even went outside the wake before taking a hard crash into the water. He tried it again later but has determined that he prefers snow skiing to water skiing, hands down.



Here's Tony as he was cruising out of the wake!!






The night before we left, we handed the keys to Tony's Camry over to his younger brother, Josiah. (We're trying not to take it personally that once we arrived with the car, Josiah's first question to us was, "So, when are you guys leaving?") Tony was blessed to be given that car when he moved to Denver and it was fun to pass it on to Josiah as we are heading to Peru.

We had a great time in NY and will cherish the time we had with grandparents, aunts and uncles, parents and siblings during our trip. Thanks Bolos Family!!