Tuesday, May 29, 2012
Sophia--age THREE!!
She's sassy and spunky, but most of all she's the sweetest little girl ever. We can't get enough of her cute sayings, her awesome smile, and the joy she brings to our family!!
Lima's Magic Circuit Water Park
One of the fun things of summer nights is going to the Water Park near downtown Lima. It's an amazingly large structure inside a city park, with a gazillion fountains of water, and a pretty cool laser light show against a backdrop of huge water fountains. There are a couple fountains that you can run through, so the first time we remembered to bring a change of clothes...but forgot the towels. :( The second time we managed to remember both and the kids loved it!
Love me some Pacific Ocean
I. Love. The. Ocean. It is unbelievable to live on the ocean, and while we are across the city from the actual beaches, it's only about a half-hour drive (on a good traffic day) to get to the beautiful "Malecon" from our house. I think they have made the ocean drive and the area up on the cliffs an absolutely beautiful place to spend time. Sophia and I spend every Tuesday and Thursday mornings enjoying the play area overlooking the ocean...we watch the surfers down in the water, look for dolphins (we've actually seen some!), and just enjoy the vastness of the Pacific Ocean. It's so amazing.
Parental visits are so awesome. My parents came to visit in February, it was summer here so a great break for them from the North Dakota winter! The boys went back to school on February 1st, so it was up to me to entertain the folks--a good balance between getting to know Lima and just hanging out relaxing with them. Some of the things I enjoyed most was my new Kitchen Aid mixer, spending time drinking coffee, hanging out at the ocean, touring Lima via a red double-decker bus, and laughing. Good times were had by all.
SLC
Each year all of the families who work in Peru with SIM get together for our annual SLC. The kids love it because there is a program especially for them. The parents love it because someone is taking care of the kids. :) I love it because it's at the beach and I'm with friends. We typically have a bungalow with bunk beds and plastic mattresses, we can sit outside on our little patio and watch the waves roll in. Sometimes we can even see dolphins swimming in their little pods.
One of the highlights for the kids is that they get to catch crabs at night with flashlights on the beach! They love that!
One of the highlights for the kids is that they get to catch crabs at night with flashlights on the beach! They love that!
Thursday, December 8, 2011
Ministry in Peru
Jeff just finished his first semester teaching at SEL, the Seminario Evangelico de Lima. He had a great time, learned a lot about teaching in a higher institution, and learned that plagiarism isn't a big deal here...before he came. :o) He will be teaching 2 more classes starting in March and is looking forward to that as well.
I took over a new job with our mission, and am now the official Personnel Coordinator for SIM Peru. It's a great job, gives me lots of Administrative duties which I enjoy, but of course there is the people side of it that is dealing with conflict--which I don't enjoy quite as much. Overall, I'm super excited to be in this role...if I can just get caught up on the emails!! :o) I did have this role prior to our return to the States last year, but it was quite different than it is now.
One of my colleagues works in the women's prison here in Lima. She works with the expat/foreign English-speaking population in the prison, teaching, encouraging, and helping them when they get out. Most are in for drug trafficking, sometimes when they get out they aren't allowed to leave the country, they can't get jobs because they don't have the right visa, etc. Anyhow, I had the opportunity to help Mary and some of the ex-prisoners wrap up some Christmas gifts to take into the prison a couple weeks ago. I made 60 Christmas tags to put on the bags of shampoo/conditioner, soap, toothbrush, toothpaste, and body spray. I was amazed to hear that Mary got all the bags into the prison without the officials wanting to open up every bag and check it!!
I took over a new job with our mission, and am now the official Personnel Coordinator for SIM Peru. It's a great job, gives me lots of Administrative duties which I enjoy, but of course there is the people side of it that is dealing with conflict--which I don't enjoy quite as much. Overall, I'm super excited to be in this role...if I can just get caught up on the emails!! :o) I did have this role prior to our return to the States last year, but it was quite different than it is now.
One of my colleagues works in the women's prison here in Lima. She works with the expat/foreign English-speaking population in the prison, teaching, encouraging, and helping them when they get out. Most are in for drug trafficking, sometimes when they get out they aren't allowed to leave the country, they can't get jobs because they don't have the right visa, etc. Anyhow, I had the opportunity to help Mary and some of the ex-prisoners wrap up some Christmas gifts to take into the prison a couple weeks ago. I made 60 Christmas tags to put on the bags of shampoo/conditioner, soap, toothbrush, toothpaste, and body spray. I was amazed to hear that Mary got all the bags into the prison without the officials wanting to open up every bag and check it!!
Lima
I never thought I would drive in Lima, but I have surprised even myself by somewhat enjoying the chaos that it brings! It's a strange sort of chaos though, you have to be constantly on guard, watching in front, on the sides, in your blind spots, and in back...much more quickly and much more often than even city driving in the States. If I turn to look behind me, someone could be cutting into my lane within seconds with no signal, so it's a constant state of vigilance...yet somehow fun. (sorry some of the pictures are super small--taken on my phone)
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