Explosion!!

There seems to have been an explosion of activity at the Josephine house over the past few weeks. In the past 6 months or so, there have been quite a few kids who have been adopted or have gone back home to their parents, which is great, but has left us empty at the Josephine House.  A number of people have been praying for more kids to come and a few weeks ago, God opened that door wide open....

Luke…….

A few weeks ago, one of the ladies who works at the JH was walking along the street, taking her normal route to her destination. She always walks on one particular side of that street, but on this particular day, there were a bunch of dogs who seemed a bit crazy, so she decided to walk on the other side.  As she was walking down the street, she heard crying.  As she looked around, she found a baby, wrapped in a blanket and a diaper bag next to him.  Shortly after, the process to get Luke into the JH was started.  Luke was just three days old when he was found.  He is a beautiful, healthy, content baby, is growing like crazy and enjoying his sleep.

Little Luke, just a couple of weeks old

Marleni came to the JH just days old as well.  Her mom brought her because she has a cleft palate that will require numerous surgeries.  Mom would like to take her back after the surgeries are completed, but for now, she can’t care for Marlene.  As with most babies with cleft palates, feeding and getting an adequate intake of calories can be a challenge, but the mamás at the JH are working diligently with this little one to help her get enough calories so she can grow and develop well.  Other than difficulties with feeding, she’s a happy baby.

The "battle" with Marlene to get her to eat.  I lost and ended up handing her over to one of the mamás to work their magic with feeding her.

Carlitos……

This little one came one day after Marlene’s arrival.  I would imagine life has been difficult for him from day one.  This little one was brought to the JH by his mother who is an alcoholic and willingly gave him up. According to his mother, he is five months old, but he’s about the same size as the other two new babies.  After taking him to La Fuente the pediatrician said, it looks like Carlitos is probably closer to 3 months old, but he is still severely under weight.  Eating has been a challenge and sleeping as well, but he is in good hands. Since some of the feeding issues have improved, he’s a calm little baby at times.

Marlene and Carlitos

Marlene(3 weeks), Carlitos(3 months), and Luke(3 weeks)

One more…Adrean

Last Friday, I found myself at the Josephine house playing with the kids and holding one of the babies.  All of a sudden, one of the mamas came in with a naked kid(wrapped with a  towel).  They went straight to the bathroom, immediately started applying lice shampoo into the kids head and then proceeded to wash him from head to toe(he wasn’t happy about all of it, but he was good and clean…).  Adrean is about a year and a half.  He was found sitting next to his mom who was passed out from alcohol intoxication.  He’s a VERY active child who just jumped right on in playing with the other kids. Photos on this little one to come soon!

So...as you can see, the Josephine House is plenty busy these days with all kinds of fun and activity for now.  Stay tuned for more soon!!

The lion sleeps tonight....

One thing I've wanted to do before leaving Peru is visit the Amazon.  During my parents visit, I had the opportunity to visit Puerto Maldonado, a southern portion of the Amazon in Peru.  It was just beautiful.  Besides getting to enjoy a few days of summer (temps from 70’s-90’s and 70-100% humidity), it was just so cool to visit the jungle.  The few days I was able to spend there were just so much fun, even though the days started pretty early(one day we left for a hike a 0500). 

The lodge where we stayed was pretty simple.  It didn’t have electricity, so we used candles at night. Also, there wasn’t hot water, but it didn’t really matter since it was so stinkin hot outside.  During rainy season, mosquitoes and malaria are a big issue, so we had mosquito nets around the beds to protect from the mosquitoes at night.

One of my favorite adventures was the night walks in the jungle.  Our guide saw and was able to point out some pretty cool animals “hidden” in the jungle.  There were plenty of spiders and bugs to be seen, but thankfully no snakes.  I was really hoping to see a puma, but sadly they were shy and or hidden too well for us to see them.

One night we ended up going out in a boat looking for Caymans (an animal in the crocodile family). We got to see a few and some bats as well.  Another morning we went out at 6 to go bird watching and saw plenty of macaws at a feeding sight where they licked minerals off rocks. It was pretty cool! 

Overall, the whole thing was a blast and a sweet time away to enjoy other regions of Peru.

La Selva

la selva

a truly wild monkey

sunrise on the river

caymen

banana boat

a wild "pet" at the lodge

cool beetle on night hike

time to eat!!

my bed

cute little spider we saw on a night hike

cool frog

still here

Once again, it’s been way too long since I’ve written.  It’s been a busy past month with settling in with my recent move and then a visit from my parents.

Since it’s been more than a year that I’ve seen them, it was great to see my parents for a bit(they were here for about two weeks).  We did some traveling in Peru, but they also had the opportunity to see what life is like for me here.  They were also generous with their time and helped me with fixing and improving some things in my new place to make it feel more like home.  It was great to see them for so long and I’m thankful they had the time to come to Peru

So, after some fun and games, it’s back to normal life for me.

Sweet Gift

Over the past few months, I have been considering moving to another part of town, but about a month or so ago, I started searching for a new place.  I had been living in a townhouse and knew I would be looking for an apartment for the area of town I wanted to live in, so I had been preparing myself for apartment life (noises from neighbors above, no yard, etc….)

After looking at a few apartments, I found one I really liked (of coarse not perfect, but what is?), so after a few weeks of going back and forth with the owner about various things, I’m finally moved in and trying to get settled asap.

It’s a great new place for me and I’m enjoying so many things about it.  I’m so excited to live closer to other families on my team here and to be living closer to suburbia.  In my old neighborhood, I could hear cows and guinea pigs when I walked down the streets and now at the new place I see trees and grass, and plenty of cars.  It’s been quite a change and has taken some getting used to as it’s been a long time since I’ve lived in an apartment with another floor above(actually this is the first time ever for me).  My neighbors upstairs are pretty quiet, except their dog is quite lively. I can pretty much hear his nails clicking on the floors whenever he’s walking around up there. Every time the dog’s walking around, my cat just goes crazy and appears to be a bit confused, pretty funny.

All of these small adjustments are worth it though.  I’m not sure if I’m a huge fan of the orange and yellow walls, but I’m loving the wide open spaces in the living area. I now have a view of the mountains from my balcony that’s just gorgeous, lots of windows in the apartment to let the warm sunlight in, and a nice sunny space on the sofa for reading(or maybe napping....).  I’m so thankful I no longer live in a cave(my old place)  I’m also super pumped about my new kitchen and all the counter space, which means now I can cook and bake for fun! 

Relatively speaking, the whole process of finding my new place to moving in has been pretty smooth and settling in has been really nice.  All and all, this new place has been a pretty sweet gift to me! 

Any and all visitors are welcome!

Just say no.....

Since I’ve been living in Cusco I just don’t go to the center of town all that often.  Mostly because it’s a bit far from where I live and also because it’s always swarming with tourists, which means there are always people trying to sell stuff and don’t want to take no as an answer. 

When being harassed to buy something (anywhere from a painting to a foto of me with a baby llama, or a massage), I try to politely say no or not today(maybe another day...). Well, I guess I made an impression on one of the dudes selling paintings from a previous time I was in the center.  The other day, I told one of the venders no and they he proceeded to tell me, that I had said no the last time he saw me in the  center and that this time I should actually buy something.  I think I actually had spoken with him a while back.  I couldn’t help but laugh to myself….

Another day as I was walking along a side of the plaza with lots of restaurants, trying to ignore everyone trying to sell me something, there was one girl outside a restaurant who started to approach me, but before she really said much of anything, I bluntly told her I didn’t want to eat at her restaurant. All of a sudden I realized I actually knew her and she wasn’t trying to sell me anything, but was just saying hi.  Oops!!  It was nice to talk with her and hear about how she’s doing, but when we parted ways, I was glad to have seen her, but was a bit embarrassed.  I guess I should take another look at my “say no to everyone” policy…..