Back to School!

Monday was Katie and Danica's last first day back to school in Cusco.  Katie is in the 6th grade and Danica is in first grade.  Certainly a bittersweet day for  us!  

Here is their picture before they left on that rainy morning.

And yesterday Hannah went back to school to help teach the 4 & 5 year old English classes.  She is still plugging away at her homeschool curriculum and is excited to be able to help at Promesa in this way.  Here is her picture:

Happy Birthday Adeline!

Not sure how our baby girl is already two, but it's gone by fast!  She is talking a lot more now and letting us know exactly what she needs/wants.  She is pretty good with names, but calls Danica, Dala.  She is quite polite most of the time, saying "peas" and "tank you."  She loves to play with play dough and her baby dolls as well as color with her crayons and markers.  

We had a nice little birthday party for her with our friends and teammates, the Harrison family.  

Adeline loved her cupcakes and blowing out her candle.  Here are a few pictures of our evening.  

She is always on the run as you can see in the photos below!  And we certainly enjoyed the nice Peruvian summer weather for her special day.

And lastly, we just went on a trip to Trujillo, a beach town in the north of Peru.  Well, it was hot and humid, so Adeline had her first ice cream cone from McDonald's there.  Here's the play by play of how to polish off an ice cream cone with complete cuteness.

¡Feliz Navidad!

Promesa Clausura!

School's out for the summer for Katie and Danica.  Hannah is still studying away with her homeschool, but the other girls are now on break from school until March.  Here is a little snippet from the Christmas program from Katie and Danica had this past Monday morning.

Here is the link to watch Danica's dance....

https://youtu.be/deN5Jj4LWxw

And here is the link for Katie's dance:

https://youtu.be/H0RplCHBSiM


Enjoy and we wish you and your family a very blessed Christmas!

Danica's Promoción Program

The end of the school year here in Peru is upon us.  Wednesday night we were attended Danica's program to celebrate her completion of the 5 year old class, which is the equivalent of kindergarten in the US.  All of Danica's classmates were dressed up, all the girls in fancy dresses and some of the boys were wearing suits and ties.  Danica had a special hairstyle compliments of our house helper Aurora.  The tables were all decorated and there were lots of balloons.  

  Below is a picture of the students and the teacher is introducing them and reading their favorite foods and what their hobbies are.  Danica wants to be a policewoman when she grows up and her favorite pet would be a unicorn.  

The last thing before the clown came out for entertainment was a presentation of frames with individual graduation pictures along with a picture of the class together.  We were also excited that my mom could be here to celebrate with us.

Christmas in Chuyllullo!

This past weekend I had the opportunity to go with Chris and Gloria out to the mountain village of Chuyllullo to do the end of the year program for PROSIM, also known as the clausura.  We left our house at about 4am Saturday morning and headed to pick up Gloria and then the pastor from Chuyllullo, Ronald.  Danica went with us on this trip because I had been gone from her when I was in the States and she was in need of some mommy time.  Needless to say, Danica did great and enjoyed some quality time with Chris and I.  It has been quite some time since I have taken a trip out since being pregnant, then nursing Adeline, but I was happy and excited to go.  This was the first trip that Chris and I took without all the girls.  But we were able to leave the girls in the good hands of our teammates, the Harrison's and the Sommers'.  

We arrived in Chuyllullo around 8:30am and since there is only one road that goes through town, Chris had to turn around in the plaza.  (I will show you pictures of it later.)  We then began unloading our supplies and food and of course the presents for the children.  Chris and I were able to buy school supplies in the States with money that had been donated from my brother Jon's church, First Mennonite Church.  We brought back Crayola crayons, markers, colored pencils, pens and regular pencils along with eraser tops and pencil bags.  We also got some coloring books for the little ones.  Gloria had come over Friday morning and we packed the bags with all the school supplies along with notebooks that she had purchased here in Peru.  (Gloria had a lot of extra  help from Adeline.)

It didn't take long for the kids to gather around and for the moms in the program to trickle in.  Gloria took attendance and then we had a short review of the year and what lessons they had covered.  Gloria reviewed the importance of hand washing, how many times they should be brushing their teeth a day, what causes parasites, balanced nutrition and the prevention of sexual abuse in children.  It was wonderful to hear the children answer questions and be engaged in the education.  Then, Chris was able to share a short message from Titus 2 and Proverbs 31 with everyone.  It was a wonderful opportunity because not everyone in the program is a believer.  Gloria has been very pro-active in trying to include everyone in the community, not just the church members and in this way she is able to share the good news of the gospel message along with the education of good health practices.

Below is a picture of the kids and adults eating a snack of fresh mangoes and bananas.  The church is to the left and you can see the rabbit cages to the left as well.  

Little did Chris and I know, but Gloria had assigned a little craft to the moms in the program to help teach them responsibility and also to give them motivation and confidence.  They were each given supplies to make a small table cloth.  Chris and I were the judges of these cloths.  We judged them on cleanliness, creativity and they were supposed to be dry.  The reason they were supposed to be dry is the part about responsibility.  These women knew they were to turn these projects in on the morning of November 26th, so they needed to be prepared and plan to wash them ahead of time so that they would be dry for the judging.

Below are all the moms from the program with their finished projects.

The winners above, 1st in the middle, 2nd place to the right and 3rd on the left.

Below is the town plaza where Chris turned his truck around.  Lunch wasn't ready yet, so we all headed there to play a few games.

One of my favorites from the weekend.  Chris heading back to the church with some of the children.

We ate lunch when we got back and then Gloria gave the children their gifts.  Our teammates Ryan and Kristie had received donations of children's books, so we added that to their gift and they loved them!  Below is a picture of Chris reading Cinderella to them.  Above is the entire group holding up their books and saying gracias!

We have been so blessed to be a part of this life changing program.  We would love to see it continue but we need financial support to make it possible.  If you are interested in giving please go to www.emm.org and click on the orange Give tab in the upper right, then go to the left to Support a project and click on it.  From Support a project, scroll down to give remote villages access to health education.  From there you can click on the Read more tab and at the bottom of that page you can donate on-line.  If you would prefer you can send a check to our home church Providence Mennonite Church, just be sure that it is designated for PROSIM.  If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask!  As always, we covet your prayers and appreciate your continued support!

Happy Thanksgiving! ¡Feliz Acción de Gracias!

Adeline and I just got back to Cusco on Wednesday morning around 10am.  We were excited to be able to make a quick two week trip to Indiana to visit family and friends as I was invited to speak at the Ladies Day at Providence Mennonite Church.  It was a privilege to be able to share the message of missional motherhood and how Jesus himself was a perfect example of how we can and should be missional and nurturing the spiritual lives of others.  If anyone would like to watch/listen to the event you can go to www.inhisprovidence.com and click on the menu button at the upper right hand corner, scroll down to media and then click on streaming.  The ladies day event should be there.  

Yesterday, we were able to celebrate Thanksgiving with fellow missionaries from Cusco.  We had all the yummy fixings, including turkey and mashed potatoes which are a few of my favorites.  We all enjoyed a time of fellowship and singing and sharing what we are thankful for.  We want to say that we are thankful for you and your continued support!  We love and appreciate you all and hope that you had a happy thanksgiving too!