We did it!!

The past 2 weeks have been a blur!!  We decided to make January 1st, 2010 our moving date...and then kept thinking of things we needed to get done in Lima, so we kept moving that date up.  Finally we decided that we would leave Abancay on December 28th...however...we had a HUGE garage sale on the 26th, youth group that night (Jeff preached and they did a farewell number for us), church on the 27th in the morning, another church service in the afternoon, and finally another church service in the evening!!  All of them we had to attend as a family because they were the "goodbye" services for us...it was very nice, but very exhausting.  Add to that, the entire week and a half before we left Jeff was gone every single night and we were busy most days!  So, all that to say that we didn't end up leaving until today, the 30th. 

We drove 15 hrs straight to get to Lima...our car was packed to the hilt and we sent 5 bags ahead of us by bus!!  We start our conference on Monday, and will be there at the beach for a week.  After conference, we'll head to AQP for 3 weeks...Jeff will return to Abancay to move our things into storage, so he has a big job ahead of him, but he'll do great!!

It was bittersweet to leave....we are ready for this new adventure ahead of us, but sad to leave our home of the past 6 years.  This is the only home the boys have known, so they will really miss it and miss their dogs as well. 

7 months

Solids!

What time is it?  Time for solids!  We captured her trying peas for the first time...definitely not a fan.

My little reader

Sophia LOVES books!!!  I hope she develops as much of a love for reading as the rest of us!! 

Chicken Pox & a lost tooth

The beginning of October marked a big milestone for us...Sophia got the chicken pox!!  At least that's what we think they were, they followed the typical chicken pox routine--started out looking like bug bites, then looked like they blistered over, then scabbed over, then went away.  We didn't get an official diagnosis, but that's what we suspect.

The other big news was that Jonathon lost his first front tooth!!  We were excited, except for Nathan, who can't wait until he turns 6 so he can start to lose his teeth!

6.5 months!

Big girl in the bath!!

We've graduated from the bath sling to the big girl bath chair!  She loved looking and playing with the little toys on the chair; I can't believe she's getting so big!!

Sophia & Sofia again a few months later

Here are the 2 little Sophia/Sofias!! This picture was a couple months after the first one was taken, you can see that Sofia is getting bigger than our Sophia!!  Once again, they were born just 6 weeks apart in the German hospital in Curahuasi--Diospi Suyana.

Movin' out!

Well we moved Sophia to her own room...now she seems SO far away!! She's upstairs with the boys, while we remain downstairs.  It has been nice to have our room back, to not have to whisper each time we go into the room--and Jeff can now sneeze without waking up his daughter!  You can see her little playmat, we fashioned her name out of the foam letters...and don't worry, that white cord in the background is now nicely buried under the foam pieces so it won't be a choking hazard! :o)

Go Vikings!

Vikes are doing great this season, and our sweet Sophia just wants to show her support to her Daddy's favorite team!!

September means 6 months old & other fun

Our sweet girl is 6 months old, she is a joy to watch and is such a good baby!! Her brothers ADORE her and are always wanting to keep her company--during the diaper changes and feeding times even! I am madly in love with my kids!!!

5 months old

Yes, I'm posting Sophia's 5 month pictures in November!! I really am trying to get caught up and I'm determined to stay caught up once I actually get caught up.

Road trip to Arequipa!

In August we buckled the 4 kids up and headed south...to Arequipa. It takes us about 13 hours to drive and I have to say that our kids are the best travelers on the planet!!! We listen to books on CD, listen to music (the boys LOVE the Star Wars, Narnia, & Prince Caspian soundtracks), and they just play and look out the window. Sophia did so well, she slept a lot of the time and then just watched her brothers. She only really fussed a couple times!

We enjoyed lots of fun times with friends, and I got to celebrate my birthday with our good friends, Eric & Tina VanPelt, at my favorite restaurant, Zig Zag.

We also enjoyed time with the kids at our favorite coffee house...you can see they enjoyed it as well!

Sophia & Sofia!!

These two are quite the pair...they were both born in Curahuasi, Peru within 6 weeks of each other! My Sophia was born first, but you can see that her little friend has nearly outgrown her! The other Sofia is the daughter of Alex & Laura, they are doctors that are working in the hospital where Sophia was born. We have enjoyed having these 2 girls "meet" each other, but we are bummed that we don't get together more often!

Traveling to Lima for Priscilla's wedding

I'm so behind on blogging..."wow, with 4 kids how is that possible?", you are saying. :o)

Last month while Jeff was in Chicago, I left the boys with some good missionary friends and took Sophia to Lima for Priscilla's wedding. Priscilla is one of my closest friends here, she is also a missionary and like a sister to me. I hated leaving the boys, but I wasn't going to miss this opportunity to celebrate with her and Luke! I didn't take my camera, so I'll have to get some pictures from others who took them. It was a grand time, even as hard as it is to travel to get there, it was wonderful.

Sophia & I left early on a Thursday morning, I walked a few blocks to find a taxi to take me with Sophia, my suitcase and my stroller to the taxi stop. The "colectivos" are bigger taxis that can fit up to 4 people in them (well, we've seen them fit up to 15 in them) safely. When I got to the colectivo stop, I had to wait about 1/2 an hour for the taxi to fill up with 4 people so we could leave for Curahuasi.

Curahuasi is about 1 1/2 hrs away, at that point you have to get out and switch taxis and wait until the new taxi is full before leaving for Cusco. I had to wait about 1/2 an hour there for it to fill up and then we were off to Cusco. Once arriving in Cusco, the taxi leaves you at the "taxi stop" and I had to take out Sophia, my suitcase and the stroller and find another taxi to take me to the airport.

Once at the airport, I was able to check in and only waited about 1/2 hour until we boarded. Once in Lima, I took yet another taxi to the Guest House where I stayed for the rest of my time. It's a HUGE hassle to travel here, especially since we live in the middle of the Andes mountains--I'll have to find some good pictures of the roads to get out of our town!

In any case, I stayed for 4 days, was able to get Sophia in to the Pediatrician for her 4 month shots and check up, pick up a passport for some friends from the American Embassy, and spend a lot of time with friends. The boys did phenomonal with our friends and I was very thankful for the short time away!! The wedding was fantastic, Priscilla was gorgeous and I ended up feeding Sophia all through the ceremony so she wouldn't cry!! Thankfully it was a nice, short ceremony! lol

4 months old!!

The months are flying by, and our family is getting closer and closer to leaving Peru for a time. Where we are going--we have yet to figure that out, but at the very least we'll be returning to the States for a few months while we decide.

Sophia is now 4 1/2 months old, and what a carefree life she lives! She gets so much love and attention not only from our family, but also from anyone who we pass on the street! They LOVE her big, blue eyes--they always tell me her eyes take up her whole face! ha ha I still enjoy my princess, I love dressing her up in girlie clothes, and I love the fact that the boys "need" to know where she is and what she's doing at all times! From the time they wake up, they are inquiring as to her whereabouts. When I arrive at the boys' school to pick them up, all the kids rush out shouting, "La Sophie ha llegado" (Sophie has arrived!!)...then they remember me and greet me--sometimes.

Sophia is now rolling over from tummy to back--mostly because she hates tummy time and has figured out that that is the surefire way to keep from being stuck on her tummy! She is eating rice cereal a couple times a week, and she has stopped sleeping through the night (grrrr), but is still going 6-7 hrs at a time. She smiles and giggles and "talks" nonstop and we can't stop kissing the top of her very bald head!

In the trenches...

So we've lived in this house since 2002, each year during the rainy season the heavy rains flood the dirt roads and make my kitchen look like it's been carpeted....with mud. About 2 years ago the city finally built some sidewalks and so at least now we don't have to walk in the mud to get to the bus or wherever we happen to be going. But you can see from the picture above that our street at the present moment is completely impassable! Finally, after all these years, the city is going to pave our street!



The key to paving is in the people who live on the street that is going to be paved. First of all, a lady came around collecting money, we had to "donate" a certain percentage depending on the size of our lot. Those with corner lots obviously have to pay more, but we have a pretty big lot, so we had to pay a whopping $45 to the pot. The next step is that every person who lives on the street has to dig a trench in front of their house (or in our case across the street) where they are going to put the tubes underground. Our trench is approx. 30 feet long and 4 feet deep. We're supposed to have it done by today, but well...I think the boys actually put more dirt back in the holes by walking on the dirt piles! Needless to say we won't get our trench dug today...maybe tomorrow....or maybe we'll hire some youth to come with their pick-axes and help out!

What do you see on the way to school?

On a typical school day, here's what's shakin':
7am: wake the boys up if they aren't already up
7:15am: eat breakfast--this is anything from pancakes or waffles to cold cereal or yogurt
7:25am: Devotionals with Dad
7:35am: send them upstairs to get dressed and brush their teeth
7:50am: leave for school

If I take the boys, I will usually try to catch a taxi with them. We walk down about 2 blocks and wait on the corner for one to come by. When we catch a taxi, it's 2 soles (70 cents) and takes us about 5 minutes to get there. If there isn't one coming by, we will walk on the road into town and try to find one closer.

On the way, here is what we usually see: horses & donkeys with packs of wood on their backs, a minimum of 15 stray dogs (usually roaming in mutant packs), Quechua women with their bundles of alfalfa on their backs, chickens, an occasional pig (not often), an occasional cow, many kids also on their way to school, and other random people on their way to work, the market, school or wherever they may be going.

What do you see on the way to school or work?

3 months old!!

I looked back at my posts and had to laugh that I could hardly wait "3 more days" for Sophia to arrive....and now she's 3 months old already! We are just loving her so much, she brings constant sunshine to our family & others. When I arrive at school to pick up the boys, all the kids rush out of their classroom shouting, "Sophie" and gather around her petting her bald head! It's pretty funny, though I don't get any greetings until the boys realize they haven't even said "hello" to me.

She now smiles all the time, it's a gigantic "gummy" smile that shows her bottom gums...her little nose wrinkles up and there it is, a Sophia smile. She is also talking up a storm, cooing like crazy and even making "B" sounds as she blows bubbles at us. She is, for the most part, a very happy baby...though her colic time is between 5:30-7:30pm each night. She goes to bed around 8pm and sleeps until 8am...except for the past week when she has started getting up a couple times a night. I thought it might be her 3-month growth spurt, but it's been lasting a week. UGH. Hopefully she'll return to some normal sleep habits soon.

I can't believe how much we love this little princess...she for sure completes our family!