Books!

Even though I am consciously aware of the various items or experiences that most of the people we work with do not have, sometimes I am caught off guard when that realization sinks in on a deeper level as I witness their reaction to a new item or experience. Yesterday Luis was up in my office as I was meticulously labeling every new cleaning item that we had just purchased for the various rooms at the children's home. (Side note: As a naturally detail oriented, structured person, I have had to learn to relax and let things go in this very unstructured, "what's a detail?" culture. However, this has forced me to crave chances to manage details whenever the opportunity presents itself, such as using my Sharpie marker to label brooms, mops, gloves, sponges and bottles of cleaning product for their respective locations. It's healthy to have an outlet for obsessions, isn't it?!)

So, as I was labeling, Luis was exploring my office. I pulled a book off the shelf that had been donated awhile back and handed it to him to read as I worked. The first was an interactive Old McDonald's Farm book. Luis squealed with delight as he showed me the little "chico" that was attached by a string to the book that could walk through the pages with Luis. He laughed at every "special effect" in the book, like the flaps that covered a pool of ducks, the cow that had textured hair to feel and the barn doors that had crinkly material in them. Then it was on to Pooh's book on learning to tell time - you could turn the clock hands on each page as you watch Pooh and Piglet learn about time, and Luis was amazed by this! Fernando's Adventures showed beautiful pictures of a boy in many different places - in a field with animals, under a waterfall, crossing railroad tracks. Luis just oohed and aahed at each picture - it was so energizing to watch him come to life over such simple, taken for granted items like children's books. I realized that he had probably never seen books like this before and I was surprised to realize that, even though I consciously know that in my mind. So the world of reading has just taken an interesting turn for Luis and he can't wait to come up and read again!

Luis

In trying to think of a good title for this blog entry, I thought of many descriptions and phrases that would help to paint a picture of this little boy, but ultimately I decided that there's no way to capture what "Luis" really means to me. Luis is 3 years old. He was best buddies with Carlos, Santiago and Percy, our three little guys that were adopted out in February. Now he's the lone ranger at preschool and he's just not ready to play with the big boys in his room (6-10 year olds). In the past month and a half he's spent a lot of time playing on his own, in the world of his active imagination. The loss of his friends has slowly taken a toll on him and in the past two weeks or so we've seen the depths of Luis' broken heart. It's been heartbreaking for me to watch, but the blessing in the pain has been watching Luis' heart emerge in a way we may never have otherwise seen. Without the other three little boys running around, I've had more playtime and conversation time with Luis than I ever had before. I've had time to learn more about the way Luis thinks, what makes him hug and not let go, why he usually cries for a bit every morning after he wakes up, what brings out his sweet belly laugh that I love, etc. And as I've learned those things, I've just fallen in love with this complex little boy.

Yesterday Luis had a meltdown moment when he got home from preschool. I looked out the window and saw his limp body strung between the two girls that were trying to bring him in for lunch. He had a toothache and a strong resistance to anyone trying to get him to put anything in his mouth. He was throwing a tantrum, which summons a trip to our office for a conversation. As I sat Luis in a chair in the office, just one glance into his eyes revealed that he was moving from tantrum to meltdown. Tears filled his eyes and he began to wail. My strategies for handling tantrums and promoting learning moments were thrown out the window and I scooped him up into my arms and began to rock him back and forth. I usually don't even have a chance at understanding the kids' Spanish when they're crying, so I pretty much tuned out the sobs and just rocked away. I was thinking about little Luis and all the reasons behind his tears when I suddenly realized what Luis was crying out. "Mama, mama, mama....Mama, mama, mama..." And then Luis wasn't the only one crying. Who is he thinking of when he's calling out Mama? Does he remember his own mother that left him when he was just one and half years old? Is he longing for a new mama like Percy, Santiago and Carlos got? Is he calling me his Mama? I have no idea where his delirious words were coming from. There's a lot more to understand about Luis, his happiness and his sadness. Most likely I'll never know nor understand the depth of what his little 3 year old heart is feeling, but that moment of rocking is enough understanding for me for now.

We're back!

We've been here all along, but we've been largely out of touch with the email and blog world! Two weeks ago my Uncle Rohn and cousins Andrea and Jeff arrived in Arequipa. We had such a wonderful visit with them and while we stayed very busy the whole time they were here, we felt so refreshed by our time together. It was a nice treat to see familiar faces, socialize in English, and hear other people confirm that some of the circumstances we're living in are strange, comical and sometimes outright frustrating. It's not just us!!

Here are a few highlights from their visit:

We hosted a party for the younger boys at our house the night after our visitors arrived. They came prepared with fun games to play with the boys, and with Andrea's famous chocolate chip cookies for dessert, the night was a hit! Rohn video taped various parts of the evening and then we watched the video together before taking the boys home. It was the first time they had ever seen themselves on video, and they thought it was absolutely hilarious! Here is a picture of the boys watching themselves on the television:

We took a 2 day trip out to Colca Canyon, the deepest canyon in the world, that is just about 2 hours from Arequipa. (Okay, it was just decided that a nearby canyon is deeper by a few inches, but we figured we could dig a small hole and still call it the deepest in the world!) Here I am with a baby alpaca on our way down into the canyon. He was so soft and cuddly!

On our first day we stayed in Chivay, a small village in the canyon where many of the kids in our children's home have come from. We traveled out to an even smaller village called Tuti with Wilson, a boy who grew up at New Hope, to visit his mother that he is now in contact with. This is a view of the village from his mother's house:
This is Wilson with his mother in her home. Wilson and his brother, Jesus, were abandoned as young boys and eventually brought to Arequipa by a relative who thought they could be in better hands in a bigger city. They were placed at New Hope right away and consider that to be their home. They are now in contact with their mother and maintain a relationship with her, though they all struggle to overcome the pain of the past 12 years of separation between them.
This sweet girl lives in Tuti and was hanging around in front of Wilson's mother's house. She was bashful to start with, but eventually let me take her picture. Most children in Peru now know that most tourists use digital cameras and immediately ask to see their photo after it's been taken. This young girl didn't ask, and she seemed a bit confused when I asked her if she wanted to see her picture. I asked if she had ever seen her picture before and she said no, but she smiled when I showed her. Tuti is a very remote village and few tourists travel there, so it was special to get to spend time visiting with the people and taking in the beautiful surroundings.
We took a hike up the mountainside after visiting Wilson's mom. Small plots of land like this one were filled with rows of plants all the way up the mountain. Most families are growing enough to feed themselves and perhaps sell some extra crops to make a small income.
We stumbled upon these cute pigs as we were climbing back down the mountain after hiking to the top of a gorgeous waterfall. Their pen consisted of 4 walls made from piled up stones that you can see here in the background.
Early the next morning (as in 4:00am) we woke up and headed toward Cruz del Condor, the point in the canyon where condors soar nearly every morning between 7:00am and 9:00am. We asked about 10 people in Chivay how long it would take us to arrive at Cruz del Condor and we received a variety of answers ranging from 3 1/2 hours to 45 minutes. We didn't want to miss the condors, so we planned for a worst case scenario of 3 1/2 hours and left at 5:00am. We arrived in one hour flat and froze in the early morning chill! But it was worth it to watch the skies light up and see the clouds move through the canyon. Here are Tony and I at the lookout point.

The condors showed up at 8:00am on the dot - and while we had started to doubt if they would come at all, it was well worth the cold, 2 hour wait! One last photo of Tony and I looking out over the canyon as we started our drive back to Arequipa. As usual, the pictures cannot do the beauty of this canyon justice. The views were breathtaking, particularly at the points where the drop off was 3,600 feet!
Last but not least, another missionary family here kindly gave us a little puppy for the children's home. Here is our Great Dane puppy, Davy, sleeping in her normal spot in our office with the new puppy cuddled up right behind her. Davy's glad to have a new friend, but still figuring out how to play gently with such a little guy!
During their time in Arequipa with us, Rohn, Jeff and Andrea did so many fun things with the kids. The lavished hugs, laughter and love on the kids and made a significant impact on everyone at New Hope. The major project they undertook was the installation of a zip line, which has been so much fun for the kids. Pictures and hopefully a few videos of the kids on the zip line will be coming soon if I can expand my technological abilities this weekend...stay tuned!

Percy Sighting

Last weekend we were in the plaza, walking and observing all of the Easter weekend festivities. For whatever reason, during Holy Week women flood the street with their vendor carts, selling candy apples, candy strawberries and candy grapes. We ventured out and tried the candy covered strawberries, but with a definite consensus that they were NOT good! We subsequently gave them to a little girl that was begging on the street with her brothers, and she was quite proud to have been the one selected for this gift. She taunted her brothers for a moment before deciding to share this strange treat with them.

As we walked off laughing from this experience, we stumbled upon some familiar faces - Percy's new parents. (Percy is one of the boys that was adopted from our children's home about 3 weeks ago.) I was probably too excited to see them and they looked a bit startled when we gave them an eager greeting! Percy was wrapped around his mother like a little monkey, arms around her neck and legs around her waist, gazing into her eyes and smiling. His parents quickly recognized us and returned our warm greeting, but it appeared that Percy didn't recognize us right away. He looked at us complacently for a moment until it dawned on him who we were, then smiled and called out our names, never once loosening his grip on his mommy. We communicated with his parents through hand gestures for a moment to combat the Italian - Spanish language barrier, then gave them hugs goodbye and were on our way.

As we walked away my eyes just filled with tears as I realized just how happy and comfortable Percy is with his new family. That first moment of introduction, full of hesitation and insecurity, is now a distant memory and he hardly remembers us, the ones he clung to just one month ago! Amazing. God is so good and this little boy is finally resting in the parental love and adoration he deserves. What a joy to see that!

You be the judge!

While not a common experience, we have occasionally been asked whether we are the parents of the kids we happen to be out with from the children's home. This makes logical sense given the age of the children we're usually asked about and in many ways, yes, we are their parents.

But tonight we had to laugh when our waitress asked if Tony was Ben's father. Ben is a 21 year old American friend that has been here for several months visiting his girlfriend, Angelica. We often go out with them to play Rook, one of our favorite card games, and usually find ourselves at the same coffee shop, same table and with the same waitress. So it's not like she just saw us once and misjudged either Tony or Ben's age from a brief interaction.

Tony claims that she must think Ben is much younger than he is, because it couldn't possibly be that Tony looks old enough to have a 21 year old son. Ben claims he has too much facial hair to be mistaken for any less than 18 years old. Above is a picture of Ben and Tony together, and to the right is our latest blog feature - a poll where you can submit your vote about the matter. So, you be the judge!

1 - Does Ben look far younger than 21 years old?
2 - Has Tony aged significantly from the stress of directing a children's home?
3 - Is the waitress crazy?

Smokey the Bear doesn't live in Peru!

Our friends, Luis and Karen, were over for dinner tonight with their little boy, Luis. They brought several toys for him to play with, but eventually he grew tired of the selection and needed new sources of entertainment. He tottered around the living room, played with his reflection in the glass door and eventually needed his mother's full attention. I was dying inside when I realized that Karen had handed Luis a box of matches to play with!! I could not tune out the mantra of parents in the US, "Don't play with matches! Don't ever play with matches!" while I was watching the delight of this darling one year old as he dumped the box of matches out and spread them across the table. Even more amazing was the ease with which his mother watched on and continued to pick the matches up off the floor as they were dropped from his little hands. I had told her before that I would take some pictures of their family tonight, and I knew she wouldn't think a thing about it if I started taking photos of him playing with matches, so I grabbed my camera and started clicking away. This is one of my "We're not in Kansas anymore..." moments!

March Madness

It's the time of year when we would generally be filling out brackets and trying to catch every NCAA game possible. My dad raised me on ESPN and I enjoy watching just about every sport, thanks to him. My favorite, however, has always been NCAA basketball. Tony's done a pretty good job keeping up with sports statistics through espn.com, but I'm pretty out of it and feel pretty lost looking at the teams for the brackets, etc. I've been surprised to realize how quickly significant cultural events like March Madness, the Super Bowl and the Academy Awards lose their relevance when you're not living in the culture that makes them significant.

All the buzz about basketball upsets, favorite Super Bowl commercials (the ones we saw were all for Peruvian products and cell phone companies!), and most liked films give those events a lot of their prominence in society. The people we work with think basketball is kind of a funny sport to begin with, so after explaining the concept of a March Madness bracket they think we're quite strange! We invited a group of boys over for the Super Bowl, but because we hadn't heard much about the seasons leading up to it, the Giants upset over the Patriots didn't have the same effect as it normally would have. Last month I read on a friend's blog that Girl Scouts were canvasing the neighborhoods with boxes of Samoas and Thin Mints. Together we bemoaned the fact that there are no Girl Scouts here in Peru, thought of proposing an international distribution plan to the Girl Scout leaders, but then realized that when no one else is eating Girl Scout cookies it takes away from the "season" of Samoas and the cravings pass!

But we've managed to create a bit of our own March madness lately by keeping busy with the home and church responsibilities. We took a break over the weekend and spent Saturday morning with some friends at Sabandia, a beautiful area outside of town. We rented horses for an hour long ride - quite an adventure! Here we are, posed for a picture just before Tony's horse started kicking...

Tony has pictures on this same tree from years ago with his siblings and childhood friends, so it was fun to take a picture here now that we're married and back living in Peru.

The rainy season is coming to an end here and we're looking forward to the return of consistent blue skies and warm weather in Arequipa. The rain has created deep cracks in the dirt roads out in Pachacutec where the orphanage is located. As the weather starts to clear up the community members will start to come out and work at filling the cracks and repairing the roads. So we're looking forward to what March will bring! Enjoy some Girl Scout cookies for us!