Bienvenidos a Peru

We made it to Peru, but not without our share of drama and miracles. Our luggage has yet to arrive, but we've had an awesome day. First of all, it was wonderful to see Elizabeth and Lee! Of course I cried, even though I tried not to. She did a most impressive job of driving us home from the airport in Peruvian traffic and a standard transmission to boot.

As we arrived and toured the albergue, we were greeted with so many smiles and hugs. Joel went straight to work scraping paint off one of the casitas to prep it for painting. Hallie took off with her Spanish/English picture book and made friends with several girls close to her age. HanK and I rested up for just a minute, then we set about trying to locate our luggage with Elizabeth. So many funny details such as every time E dialed the telephone number the airline gave me to check up on the bags, she reached an elderly woman instead. We really have no idea about our luggage, but we're praying and trusting that they will arrive soon.

Today was Pablo and Pedro's fifth birthday, so Hannah, Hallie and I went with Elizabeth to take them into town and celebrate with them. We rode the "public transportation" into town. I've often joked about making a "rolling stop" to let the girls off at school or somewhere, but these guys take that phrase very literally. The bus was crowded, loud and windy; but guess who went to sleep on the way into town...yep, poor Hal. (Of course we took a picture, which I will post soon.)

We took the boys to a restuarant with a play place. Hallie and I had lomo saltado...and it was delicious! HanK had an order of french fries. HUGE papas fritas. Elizabeth showed us how to mix the mayonesa with the ahi dressing to dip the fries in. She's such a native now. She ate chicken off the bone and stuck her finger in the dressing to test it...two things I don't think she would have done six months ago.

When we returned, we were met by Joel, Lee and several of the boys riding on top of a truck full of rocks. They are still unloading them, so I don't know the whole story...but I'm sure its a good one.

The girls have both been awesome. Such a long hard trip~three flights through the night and over 15 hours of travel, yet they've not bickered or complained. Which is quite the miracle in and of itself.

I asked Hallie this afternoon if the experience was anything like she expected so far. Her reply was, "Our rooms are much nicer than I thought they would be." I guess if you prepare someone for the worst, they'll be pleasantly surprised.

There are so many things I'd like to write about in so much more detail, but 1.) it would probably bore my "readers" to death; and 2.) I know if I don't do it while its fresh on my mind, I'll overthink things and never get around to writing anything. So I hope you'll please excuse me if my posts are not so well thought out or have mistakes over the next month...and if you think of it, I hope you'll pray for our family from time to time during the next few weeks. I can already tell that God is teaching us things and revealing Himself in ways that we would have been too busy and distracted to see back in the States.

Tomorrow is our first "real" day of work. It should interesting. I'll write and post pics when I can!