Here

the fam at Tom's Farms

We arrived on Sunday night.. The kids did relatively great on the 8 hr plane ride from Lima to LA. We have rested up a bit and have had quite a busy schedule already! We will be in Southern California until April 24th at which point we'll be in the NW with my family and in the Seattle area for a little while to see friends there. We'll be back to Southern California in mid-May.

Thanks for praying for our travels! I posted our cell phone # on facebook if you want to call us. We actually will be changing cell phones in a few days, since ours is on the fritz and refuses to cooperate. We'll repost our # when we have it.

We have been blessed beyond words this week... Thanks for your hospitality!

Love,
Us.

hugs goodbye

....as if we weren't ever coming back. I'll miss my Peruvian peeps. Even when they ask me silly questions, like, "you are coming back aren't you?" Apparently Isabella is so thoroughly excited that she kept telling people at church that, "vamos a Grandpa's house... y no volveremos mas" (we're going to grandpa's house and we aren't coming back- ever).

Isabella has been wanting to pack for over a week now. I keep entering her room to find her drawers pulled out and clothes strewn across the floor. Today her new toothbrush had a conversation with her old toothbrush that went something like this, "I'm going to Grandpa's house and to Disneyland and to Moni's house where I will have my own special bed, I'm sorry because you are my friend but you can't go with me"

I love all those goodbye hugs, which almost always involve a little whisper in my ear saying, "bring something back for me".

going "home"

I feel like I've been gone for a very long time when...

- when I am nervous about driving on the US freeways, for I don't know if I will remember all the rules of the road


- when I'm nervous about speaking in front of large groups of people, when I used to do it without any hesitation (something about becoming like the culture where you are living)


-when I'm unsure about how I'll feel about the US culture, and hesitant in advance knowing I will confront materialism at its best, insensitivity and shallowness, but need to be extra-sensitive in return and understanding with compassion.


-when I want to bring food from Cusco with me to the US, because they are comforts for me now, whereas before I would crave only food from "back home"


-when I consider my real "back home" to be Peru 


-when I know I will be culture-shocked by the busy lifestyle and maybe won't want to go so fast


-when I prefer to not use the telephone, as I don't even use my cell phone here and I can't even remember the last time I used it.


- when I know I will be overwhelmed by the mass amount of choices at the supermarket and I just may stare for a very long time.


-when I can't wait to use a dishwasher and clothes dryer again


-when I am surprised by most beautiful sidewalks in the US that no one uses


-when 9pm is super late, and 6am isn't all that early, as in Cusco life and business begins easily at 5am


- when I am awoken at night by the silence, since I have become accustomed to the dogs barking, trucks clamoring by, and guards whistling at night


-when I am shocked and dismayed at the rat-packing that has become so normal in the US, with garages that don't fit a vehicle and enormous refrigerators with food that will go uneaten. Most of our friends in Cusco don't even own a refrigerator.


-when I am thrilled to take a real hot shower and maybe even a bath! How many years has it been... I can't even remember


-when I thoroughly expect to be greeted with a kiss!


.....and so much more..... makes me realize how long I have been away from my country. There are things I do not miss, and other things I am grateful for, and still others that I am thoroughly looking forward to.