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!