La Niña Linda

We fell in love with my niece Madison.... and so did all the Peruvians. I think just about every woman and little girl stopped to say, mira la niñita hermosa (look at the beautiful little girl). I heard a lots say that she looks like a doll, and others like the Pampers baby. I guess many have only seen a baby like Madison in advertising.

Many of the Peruvians haven't seen a North American baby because those who come to visit here don't usually bring little ones. They've seen a whole bunch of gringos..blond hair, blue eyes and all, but a blond haired blue eyed baby was something really different!

After the first day, Madison took reallly well to Ricky. She actually started making a kissy noise to immitate him, something she's never done before!

thanks

i just wanted to say thanks to the people who are reading our blog, who are praying for us, and who are leaving us encouraging notes. unfortunately i'm not very blog savvy and so i have no idea how to add on friends or anything. i can just write here and plug in a few pics. maybe one day when i have some time i'll actually figure it out.

we're doing pretty good. the team has left and now we are preparing to have some visitors. well we actually already received visitors yesterday (welcome to the life as a missionary!). we got a call in the afternoon from some co-missionaries with IAM who are serving in Chile. they called to say, hi we've arrived to Cusco for vacation with some family. we knew they were coming, but we didn't have any idea what day they arrived. it was neat spending the evening with them yesterday and almost the whole day with them today. we had invited them to stay with us (again..welcome to the life as a missionary)...even though we don't have beds, blankets, sheets or pillows for 8 people. especially because we are expecting 5 of my family who are arriving friday morning. so that would mean 13 plus Ricky, Amy and I. 16 people! we invited them without thinking... hhmm...bedrooms, space...blankets...etc. but they decided to stay in a hostel near the center of Cusco. it would have been cool to have a house full, but i guess this works better for everyone.

i am SO excited that my family is coming to visit. my parents can't come because they are off on a vacation to celebrate their 30th wedding anniversary. my brother Nathan, sister-in-law Cynthia, 8 month old niece Madison, and my brothers Jonathan and Gabriel are coming.

daniel was in the hospital

Daniel spent 3 nights in the public hospital in Cusco. Apparently he had some fluid in his lungs from some sort if virus; so that mixed with the high altitude, he passed through a time when he couldn't breathe and was not getting enough oxygen to his brain. He turned white and once he actually fell over. He was really dihydrated, yelling for "Agua!!" (it's all pretty funny now)

here's his picture the day he was released. He spent 3 nights and 4 days in the hospital on oxygen treatment. poor guy. But you know, the Lord really used his time there for the better. We were blessed to minister to the children, their parents and some adults too, praying for them and sharing a little of the hope that is within us.