Poisonous grapes?

I just found out that Sweden stopped importing grapes from Peru because they have so much pesticide on them that people were getting sick. I sometimes get really nauseous and dizzy for what seem to be no reason, and lately I have had a rash on my arms that itch like crazy. I am starting to think that grapes and the issues I've been having may be related, and I think I will need to give up my little purple treats. Adios uvas... Luckily there are lots of other goodies available!

Vampire

I mentioned yesterday that I spent too much time in the sun without sunscreen. I am so embarrassed to show myself in public today. People were staring more than normal... Wasn't able to go to Huara today, because being outside made my skin burn. I had to hug the walls to stay in the shade. Felt like a vampire...
I was able to check the Internet and found out my great niece will start bottle feeding this week. Great progress.

Four hours fun in the sun = pain

I was invited to watch a soccer game at a stadium this morning at 10 am. Had written down the address so I could tell a moto taxi where to take me, and I made my way there. My boy J, plays on a team with adults and other teenagers and they have a tournament during the summer months 

When I arrived, I realized I should have listened to the small quite voice that whispered "put on sunscreen" before I left my house. This was not the type of stadium with seats and shade that I am used to when I think of a stadium. It was a large grassy field, that's it... There had been a few clouds when I left home, but by the time I made myself comfortable on a spot in the grass, those clouds were nowhere in sight. 

I enjoyed a soccer game that was in progress, but there were no signs of my boy until I was just about to leave. His game ended up starting at 12 pm, so I stayed 2 more hours to watch... I moved his shirt around to cover parts of my arms and legs throughout the game, but will look horrible tomorrow. I am sure I will get blisters from this burn. I was also wearing sunglasses so I will have a nice raccoon look as well. The sun here is so much stronger than anything I'm used to on the Northern hemisphere...

The coach that had brought him from the orphanage allowed me to bring him back all by myself. I wish I had freedom to do things in the community more often. I would have loved to take him out to lunch before going back, but was afraid I would get caught and loose my good standing with the people in charge. I'm always a bit nervous that one day they will tell me that I can't come back anymore. 

Great aunt

I am a proud GREAT AUNT (!) to a 3 lb, 2oz baby girl. While I spent the past 4 days in Lima, lots was happening with my family at a hospital in Mississippi. For now, both my niece and baby are well, but for a while we didn't know if my niece or the baby were actually going to survive. We have all been on a crazy emotional roller coaster these last few days. 

so little and helpless

I did get a lot done in Lima. One night I ran into my Peruvian/Swedish friend whom I met last year. It's funny that you can run into someone in a town as large as Lima, but I guess we both spend most of our time in the same neighborhood... He was on his way home, but we went to his favorite restaurant and had a drink (coffee and juice). It was great to spend some time together and catch up. Ended up talking a lot about Swedish and Peruvian government and politics... I learned a lot that night. He also might be able to help me get a visa that would allow me to stay longer here. We talked for so long I think he might have missed his last bus home.

Caught the bus back home again today and spent the afternoon with the girls helping with homework. 

Yenny

I made a new friend today. My friend's introduced me to a woman living at the hospital. Her son lives at the orphanage and her daughter lives with the dad's mother. She has now been there for about 18 months and she is in need of constant oxygen. Her lungs are failing and her body is slowly shutting down. Can you imagine starting at the same boring walls for 18 months?? She is an amazing person, so full of spunk, despite her situation. I promised her I would start visiting her every week and she asked me to teach her English. She didn't care my Spanish is kind of crappy, but was beaming that I would be coming regularly to visit her. I am so excited to get to know her and hear her story.

Today the girls got taught about rejection and several of the older ones were crying. So many of them have suffered sexual and emotional abuse and haven't dealt with the aftermath yet... I pray this is the beginning of them finding healing and restoration.
Afterwards we took all the kids to the movies and dinner. We watched T arzan and there was a moment when we all thought the gorilla mom was dead. I believe that was really sad moment for my boy J. I think he missed his mother who died last December. He laid his head on my shoulder just then. I wish I had the power to remove all their pain so they can just be little kids...

VBS

My missionary friends from Lima came today and started doing a Vacation Bible Study with the kids. So many of them have all their emotional pain bottled up and have a faulty view of who they are and don't know how valuable they are. I loved that they were being taught truth today. My friends were teaching them about rejection and had the kids write down negative feelings they have. I hope they can begin to process these things before they become adults and get into relationships. No other person will be able to fill the wholes in their heart and soul. But that won't stop them from looking for it in every person they meet, unless God intervenes and heals them. I know this from personal experience.
Yesterday, I got play Santa Claus. I delivered the baby clothes I had scored in thrift stores in the States to two new young mothers. It was so fun, and I got to rock a baby to sleep too... sigh...

Great news from AK!

Haven't gotten to see the kids for a few days now, but wanted to give them time to settle into their new routines, and I have also had trouble catching the lady at the orphanage that I need to speak with to arrange for my future visits.
It's been kind of good to have a few days to get my affairs in order as well. I spent several hours yesterday sorting through last years receipts for tax purposes, and it was way overdue!
Today I found out that my house church in AK had collected $750 to go towards a young pregnant girl I know. The money will go toward vitamins, food, and eventually diapers, a stroller, baby clothes etc. She will know that God has not forgotten her! I can't wait to tell her that people as far away as AK cares about her and her baby.
I also went to an internet place and had the opportunity to watch most of the baby dedication from my home church. Several of my friends have recently had babies, and I was so thankful I was able to watch it online. It did make me miss them all so much more though. When I am in Lima this weekend I will try to catch up on the sermons online too... Helps me feel more connected to my church family at home.

Haircuts

When I arrived to see the boys I was met by lots of short haircuts. Everybody gets a haircut for first day back to school. Instead of English classes today, I joined them at the police station, where they had final games between the teams from summer. Unfortunately my boys didn't get to play, but we didn't find out until it was time for prices and recognition. It was still fun to watch the games with the boys, and I also had a pretty good conversation with a man that was a psychology intern at the orphanage last year, but was now working at a school. He came to watch the boys too. I was amazed how well we understood each other, but maybe it was because he had lived in Japan for 3 years and know what it is like trying to learn another language...

End of summer performance

After teaching the girls this morning, I was informed they were going to have a dance performance later that afternoon, and they invited me to come back. They had told me to be there at 4 pm, but it didn't start until sometime after 5 pm, so I had plenty of time to hangout with the little ones and help with set-up too. It turns out it wasn't just a dance performance, but a celebration of all the different summer activities the orphanage had arrange, for example craft and art projects. All the bigwigs were there. Several children got to go before the audience and describe the project they had been involved in and show off the result. I was so proud of them, even the very shy ones did really well. I got to have two of the little girls in my lap the whole time. The boys had dressed up nicely too and they smelled clean and fresh. I was officially thanked as well, as the "English teacher". Ended up being there for about 3 hours tonight, and going home I felt like I was floating on a cloud from all the precious moments I got to share with them during that time.
Several of the workers have expressed that they hope I get to continue to come and help with the kid's English homework once school starts. I am hoping that is what will happen too.

Shopping is always an adventure

I always miss the kids when I don't see them on Sundays, so I welcome Monday mornings. Saw the boys today, had a small group plus a private lesson and we got much done. Afterwards I stayed behind to play hangman because they love it. Sometimes we take turns, I'll do English words for them to guess and then we switch and they pick a Spanish one for me.
Some of the other boys were fooling around a lot, wanting to talk about certain drugs. I've had some concerns about one of them who is very withdrawn most of the time and often very angry. I fear he would be a candidate to escape into drugs to avoid his feelings and problems. He has a lot of clothing and jewelry in colors promoting certain drugs and really likes that image of himself. I shared some of my concerns the best I could, but I don't think it made much of an impact. I have seen first hand what drugs do to lives, and I don't want that life for any of the kids. I love them so much. Maybe I will get a chance later to talk to him alone. They try to be cool in front of each other, so I'll wait for an opportunity and brush up on the vocabulary so I'm ready.

A few of the boys have been making bracelets and earrings with one of the teachers and last week the girls had asked me to get them some bracelets and today I was able to buys some from them to bring to the girls tomorrow. Found them all their favorite colors!

At 4 pm I met up with my friend, the taxi driver, and he helped me buy the rest of my living room furniture. It was quite an adventure and it took over an hour to just pay for it and get them loaded up. The patio furniture set I wanted was a display set and they gave no discount for being a little dirty and dusty like they would have in the States or other places. I had brought about $360, but when I tried to pay, they quoted me about $130 more. Turns out in order to get the lower price you have to pay with the store credit card. I was bummed and thought I would have to come back another day with more money. My friend spoke with the cashier and she agreed to help us try to convince another customer with a card to let me buy it on theirs and give them the cash. I was pretty skeptical to the whole idea, but the cashier eventually succeeded in talking another customer into it. After that came the job of cleaning off the furniture and loading all 4 pieces into and onto my friend's little car. Again I was skeptical that we would manage it all in one load, but we fit the two chairs, love seat, the table and all the cushions!! Drove very slowly the 2 blocks while holding the furniture down with our hands out the windows... No ropes needed here!
I have a real home now!

Vamos a la playa

Summer is almost over for the kids, with school starting again soon. I had only one boy in my English class today, but he did really well, despite the rest of the boys playing crazily all around us. It was amazing we could hear each other at all...
After that we all got ready and went to the beach for about two hours. It was late in the afternoon, so I could handle the sun without getting too red. Ran into the girls there too, but they quickly got separated from the boys to another part of the beach. It's not often they get to interact with each other, except during celebrations.

I love to see the kids being free to be kids away from the tall walls of the orphanage. Some of the boys were catching fish by using anything they could find on the beach, cloth or plastic bags and a broken bucket... Brought back fun childhood memories of me doing the same in Sweden, but with my butterfly catcher. Others were diving in the big ocean waves. My favorite part of the day was when one of the workers dropped a wet, shivering little 4 year old, wrapped up in a towel in my lap. I got to snuggle with him until he got warm.
We also found a tangled up fishing net someone had dumped on the beach. The kids and I dug through it for crabs. One of the workers was going to eat them for dinner when she go home... No health department regulations here. I was a little nervous on her behalf, since we don't know how long they had been sitting in the sun, but she brushed me off and said they were OK to eat.
 
There are 3 little round pools on the beach, and the water is warmer and cleaner than in the ocean. The ocean here is actually pretty polluted due to all the fishing boats fishing close to the shore. I really loved watching the older boys help the little ones in the water. It's great to see them behave as a family and look out for each other. I hope they will grow up and take care of their own children, so they won't end up in orphanages and continue the cycle.

Went to the movies tonight and had a hot dog for dinner, wondering if I will regret that bold move...
There is a party on my street, so I'm shutting all my windows and plugging my ears hoping I will get some sleep before the daylight is here again.

7am surprise visit

Woke up dazed and confused at 7 am (after falling asleep around 1 am last night) by my ringing cellphone. I had spoken with my landlord 2 days ago that my water heater was not working and he had told me he would call me today about getting it repaired. Well he did call me, telling me that he was outside my door with the repair guy! Didn't quite expect that at 7 am...
They had to replace my electric motor on the shower head & I guess this new one was a bit more powerful as I got severely zapped when my head got too close to the motor later this morning. The other one used to zap me a little too, since I am a bit too tall to fit underneath, but this time I actually saw a bright light. It was a bit scary, but I learned my lesson to stay LOW!

The girls play volleyball on Wednesday mornings so I had some time to prepare for their class. Today I had them practice questions and answers among themselves and they did so well. Ended up teaching one group with 4, one with 5 and one private at the end. It makes me sad school starts next week and we won't have this much time together anymore. I'll hopefully still be able to help with their English homework.

Birthday celebrations

What an absolutely perfect day I had! I was given permission to take J and a few of his friends out for lunch for his 16th birthday. He picked 3 other boys who also had birthdays in February, which was really nice. We had to sit around and wait for one of the psychologists working at the orphanage to come and escort us, because at this point they don't trust me enough to take them out alone. I am hoping that will change in the future. We walked forever and then some, to get to his favorite restaurant. The psychologist was wearing high heels and one point she took one of the boys and went in a moto the rest of the way. I guess she trusted me enough to leave me a alone for 10 min with the other boys.
We ordered ceviche and a mixed seafood platter and they all ate until they were stuffed. I didn't really like ceviche when I first tried it a few years ago, but now I love it. Afterwards we walked down to the harbor and looked at the boats, fishermen and lots of beautiful birds. Everyone seemed to have a great time. I would have loved to go on a boat ride, but we got a call from the orphanage to hurry back. My boy's grandfather, aunt and cousin had travelled by bus to celebrate him and they brought duck, rice and a birthday cake, so we ate more food. I loved duck, especially the way they had prepared it.
It was so good to see J with his grandfather and he was so happy they had come to surprise him. They were so short and cute and now I know why he is so short even though he is sixteen. I doubt he will grow much taller. His grandfather was 74 years old, the same age as my dad, and he was a farmer, same as my grandfather. After the duck we shared the birthday cake with all the other boys.

I found out many of them and some of the girls had either the flu or food poisoning and 5 of the kids are in the hospital today. The boys who were sick really wanted to eat cake but couldn't. So sad to see their disappointment. I hope they all heal quickly!

Back to business

I am back in Peru again after a short "detour" with a wedding in AK, family time in TX and hours spent clearing out a storage unit. Brought lots of fun, sweet memories with me, but it's good to be back.
I can't believe I slept almost 11 hours even after napping a bit yesterday afternoon and on the bus in the morning too. I guess I was really sleep deprived. Hopefully this means I fully caught up on sleep now.

Had to wait until after lunch to see the kids, so I went to get some money exchanged and bought some things I needed for the household. I have been looking around a bit at furniture and I think I will probably end up getting patio furniture. They will be so much easier to haul upstairs, and I also haven't had much success finding anything comfortable elsewhere. Most of the couches I have tried are very low and very hard. It's like they are stuffed with newspapers. I like a nice comfy feel to a couch. (I K E A, you should move to Peru!) That would just make me a very happy girl.

I went to see the girls first and they were watching a Korean movie in Spanish and I hung out with them for awhile. It was so great to see their little faces again. After not working on my Spanish the 2 weeks I was gone, I did feel a bit rusty. Time to crack open those books again.
After visiting the girls I found out the boys were at the beach so I went down there to surprise them. Loved all the wet, sandy hugs I got!!! I spent a couple of hours there watching them swim in the ocean and catch shrimp and fish among the rocks. They were using pieces of mesh bags as nets and looked like hardcore fishermen. Kodak moment without a camera. The water here is a little cold so it was also fun to watch how they dealt with that. They would swim in the waves until they got too cold, then they would run to the beach and roll around to cover themselves in the top layer of the sand, which is really warm from the sun heating it all day. They would lay there until they stopped shivering and then swim and repeat. Very cute.

Tonight before it got too dark, I ran over to the market to get some gifts for J, who turns 16 tomorrow. I really want to make it a special day for him and I hope they will let me take him out for lunch to his favorite restaurant. I don't want to get my hopes up, because when I asked permission today, they didn't seem too excited about it, so I'll have to have a plan B, just in case.

E N G L I S H

I had a couple of fantastic English classes with the girls today. Last year, I played a lot of hangman after class with the boys who caught onto the alphabet quickly, and today I introduced it to the girls to give them more experience with spelling. I have mostly focused on communication exercises previously, but today they really started paying attention to sounds and spelling. It was so much fun, and they best success of the day was that a very shy girl finally participated with a smile on her face. They never wanted the class to end, but I finally had to pack up when lunch was served. I think we had a big breakthrough with their spelling today!

In the afternoon, I had to study for my online class and I a learning a lot about teaching English as a second language. For every module I finish, I have to write two essays on that particular topic. It is great to already have personal experiences to draw from. My last essays were on classroom arrangement and having multilevel students in my classroom. 

Last week I discovered that one of the 8 year old boys can barely write. I spent some time yesterday having him copy letters and words to improve. I wonder what his story is and why he is so far behind in school. I'll do my best to help him catch up.

Local girl?

A little old Peruvian lady asked me for directions today and because it was around the corner, I could actually help her! It felt so good to be asked and be able to respond. I felt it brought me one step closer to being a local girl. I know I'll never exactly "blend in", but I want to try to at least "fit in" with the people of this town.

At least by now, I am getting familiar to the police officers at the police station, especially after today. The boys had told me they had a game around 9:30 and at 11 at the police station so I got up early to be there for the first game. The police station has a walled in area, perfect for sports practice and during the summer break they have lots of activities for the kids. I think it is a great way for them to get to know the next generation of kids and build relationships with them too. 
When I arrived there were tons of kids practicing Karate, but no sign of any soccer games, so I asked a police officer about it. He informed me to come back at 11 am. Went back around 11 and waited around for about 20 minutes before leaving. This kind of thing happens all the time, so it wasn't a big deal except of course that I didn't get to hang out with the kids today. I am sure I will hear about the change of plans tomorrow. 

I was very surprised when I swept my floors today. Two days after I swept and mopped I had two handfuls of dirt in my dustpan again. I think I need to start closing my windows, to stop all the dust and sand from blowing in. I am surprised the dust can make it up to the 5th floor!

Clean beginnings

I am so happy I could laugh out loud and so tired I could fall asleep right this minute. I spent most of the day scrubbing the place clean so I could stay here tonight. I also ran around in the department store and town market to get some things I needed. I need a lot right now to get started up in a new home, but I am prioritizing. Instead of trying to figure out how to get a bed delivered today, I just bought a small roll-up mattress that will work for a while. I've spent many years sleeping on a mattress on the floor, so I'll be comfortable enough. I also found some storage cubes, a clothes rack, mop, bucket and other cleaning supplies. It was great to be able to unpack my suitcases!

Tomorrow is my first English class with the kids, so after moving and unpacking I walked to the office supply store to get a bunch of notebooks. I told them I'm going to need 30 more by Saturday or Sunday for the Monday class with the girls. Excited to get started with classes again.

Since I still don't have any cooking abilities since there are no appliances in the apartment, I got some yogurt and bread for dinner tonight. It was a perfect first meal in my new home!

Found it!

After a few intense days of walking/driving around, I found an apartment! It was even better than I was hoping for. It is in the exact area I wanted to live in, the price is almost exactly what I budgeted for housing expenses, it even has an on-demand water heater and they don’t shut off the water during the day even in the summer months! I am so blessed!
The owners seem super sweet and there are only 4 other apartments in the house. At the bottom there is a locked door with intercom buttons, so I feel very safe here. There is a cleaning lady that comes to clean the stairs once/week, so it’s clean and smells fresh and the stairs have adorable tile work. One of the favorite features turns out to be the top “deck” right above my apartment, where my private laundry room is located. By laundry room I mean a room with a sink, not a room with a washer and dryer! Turns out the room will be perfect for storing my cleaning supplies and suitcases so I don’t need to clutter up my apartment with stuff like that. What a sweet perk!
But, as I was saying, the roof area is open, with short walls around and an amazing view of the whole area, (all the way to H uara I believe), but it will be a perfect spot to check out the amazing sunsets. Thank you God!
He has also brought such amazing people into my life to help me during this sometimes awkward transition. I can get by with basic Spanish, but making phone calls and signing contracts are out of my comfort zone. Tonight I got help former my former neighbor, an 18 year old who speaks both English and Spanish very well, who took the time out of his evening in between shifts at work to come with me to sign my contract. I had a lot of questions. For example: When and how do I pay rent?, Where and how do I pay water and electric? How does the intercom and hot water switch work? Questions about my deposit etc… I am so thankful I had Jonathan with me to help us communicate! When he left the apartment he told me he was impressed how nice it was and that he didn’t think apartments like that existed here in this town! I feel super blessed it will be my home for awhile. Another person God has blessed me with is Senor Tito, one of my neighbors. A few days ago, I was walking around asking God for a home and turned down a street where I saw a sign. I went up to the window that was open, and asked if they rented out a room or an apartment. Tito was in the middle of lunch with his wife, but he came out to talk to me and tried to show me a place that had apartments for rent. One was no longer available but I got the number for the other landlord. Yesterday I was standing outside on the Big Town Square, waiting on another landlord who was a no-show. Just as I was about to give up, Senor Tito yelled my name and came over and gave me a big hug and kiss on the cheek. I explained that had problems with the landlords not showing up and that I didn’t have a phone on me. He whipped out his phone and called the landlord on his street, and 10 min later I found my new apartment! Thank you Lord for Senor Tito! He told me I can ask him for help anytime. Nice to have a neighbor like that.
I didn’t go to the orphanage today, but yesterday I hung out with the girls for awhile and then went over to play some soccer with the boys. I also got to snuggle with one of the little ones when he was crying after being picked on by one of the older boys. I wish they could all have a mommy to comfort them and love them…
This will be my last night at the hotel, so I am planning to watch as much US TV as I can possibly stand tonight! Don’t know when I’ll get another chance.

Reunion with the kids

What an amazing day 3! Went straight to the orphanage this morning and after speaking with the administration about visiting the kids and wanting to set up English classes for their summer vacation, I was allowed in to see the girls first.
Oh, I can’t even explain how amazing it felt to see their little faces, hug and kiss them and how great it was to hangout out and help them with their math and word puzzle games.
It felt like Christmas, my birthday, New Years and Easter, all fit into one day! After spending some time with the girls, I went to see the boys and stayed until it was time for them to eat lunch. I am so very, very happy to have them back in my life. Eight long months without them was really hard, but now it’s like all that time almost vanished. The only dark cloud today, was that one of my favorite boys, whom I was really close with last year, has been moved to an orphanage in Lima. I will do my very best to find out if I can visit him. I also found out some of the kids have gone home to live with their families, and I would love to see if I can locate them and check on them. 
Spent some time this afternoon with my taxi driver friend, looking for rentals. I got pretty pink today, just from being outside a little. The temperature got a little hotter. When I was in Sweden a few months ago, going through old toys and things, I found a small wooden fan which I bought in Spain many years ago. I brought it with me and it sure came in handy today!

11 hours!!

I can hardly believe I slept 11 hours last night!! I guess I had almost 2 nights of sleep to catch up. Went to the orphanage, but the lady who worked with the boys didn’t know me and wouldn’t let me in until I spoke with administration tomorrow. Since it was the weekend they are closed today. Boooo… At least I was able to see and say Hi to some of the kids through the little opening in the door. Saw several new boys I didn’t recognize. My friend came with me to look at a couple rentals. One was cute and super cheap; a partially furnished room with a shared bathroom, but no cooking allowed. There are tons of room for rent just like that, but if I am going to be here for a few years, I really want to be able to cook. Eating out and making sandwiches will get costly and boring after awhile. I think I will hold out for a real apartment.
After lunch I ran into my friend, the taxi driver, and he offered to drive me around to look for more rentals. I wrote down a bunch of new numbers to call. Tonight I am crashed out in my hotel watching the US channel. My brain is too tired to do anything else. The heat, the language, all the walking around wore me out!

Arrived in Peru

After spending a couple of days with my family in Dallas, I have now arrived back in Peru. I met a lovely Peruvian lady on the plane. She lives in the States, but comes down to visit her mom once/year for a few months. She works 2 jobs, 7days/week so that she can travel like that. She was also going to spend the night at the airport with her husband, who was on a different flight, and we agreed o find a place at the airport where we could huddle together to stay safer. It turned out that there were so many other people with the same idea, that we had to split up because there was hardly any room on the floors. Of course I couldn’t relax enough to sleep with all my luggage next to me, but stayed awake reading and doing S udoku. A coffee shop at the airport has Wifi, so I was able to call home with updates before leaving in the morning. By 7am it was light enough outside to where I felt safe enough to take a cab to the bus station. The first 2 taxi drivers offered extremely expensive rides, but I eventually talked the next one down to where I only paid $4 more than I wanted to. I made it to the 8am bus and spent the next 3 hours dozing on the bus. After a short taxi ride to the hotel I crashed for several hours. I’m so glad I found this cheaper hotel before I left last year. It will allow me to search for an apartment without being super stressed about throwing away too much money every day.
After my lovely nap I went to visit my friends. One had a baby since I last saw her and I got to meet her plump baby girl for the first time. Some of the baby clothes I had brought were too small for her. Luckily I had a few different sizes with me.
I ran into one of my former neighbors close to the beach later when I went for a walk. He is about 13 years old, but spent several years in the US, and it was great to have a conversation without having to concentrate the whole time. I walked around a bit and wrote down some phone numbers of potential apartments or rentals before heading back to the hotel. I’m so happy to be back. Things are familiar and I hope I can settle in soon and make it feel like home.
I am super happy I brought my own pillow, as the hotel pillows feel like they are stuffed with rocks. My earplugs are also one of my favorite possessions right now, since there are lots of snoring and TV noises all around me at the hotel!

Happy New Year!

2013 is gone and 2014 is here!
Lots of stuff happened in 2013; 4 months in Peru, warmest summer in AK since I moved here, experienced my first hiking/camping combo trip, spent 3 weeks in China with friends and a very special baby that I can't get out of my mind (Bennett) and I got to climb the Great Wall of China with 8 sweet Chinese children. The year ended with a month in Sweden with my mom and aunt (long overdue visit) and Christmas and New Year back in AK. I did get my white Christmas.
Tomorrow I get on another plane with a stop in Dallas for family time before I head back to Peru. I never thought I would say it but I am kind of tired of planes and airports after all that travelling and look forward to find a place to call home for awhile. It's been 8 months since I have seen the kids and I can hardly wait to see their faces again and meet the new kids too.
Welcome 2014. Let's see what you have in store...