Burrr!!!

Today confirmed it. Like it or not, Winter is definitely HERE!!! My walk to work today brought back memories of walking to school on those super cold days as a kid. Maybe the memory was triggered by the fact that I actually was walking to a school today. As the weather has gotten cooler I think I've adapted to the Peruvian way off dressing....At the beginning of they day I've got about 5 or 6 layers of clothing on and by mid days is down to about 4 layers and then by evening is up to 6 again. What is happening to me?!? At least I get to wear all my favorite clothes multiple times each week.

I'd have to say I'm a bit jealous of all of you who are enjoying that 80 and 90 degree humid weather in Baltimore. All of you Baltimore people out there, enjoy!!

Changes

Well, since I've been working full time at the clinic I haven't been spending as much time at la Casa Josefina. A lot of the kids have been coming to the clinic sick as cold and flu season has started here. Pretty much when one kid gets sick, it's only a matter of time until lots of the other kiddos gets sick. So, earlier this week, one of the other nurses from the clinic and I went to do some teaching on flu, colds, deciding when the kids should come to the clinic for that sort of stuff, hand washing, etc.... It was a good time to teach the women who work in the home and to check up on the kids as well.

After seeing Zoe, I discovered that it really had been a long since I'd been there. About a month or two ago now, she had her first of three surgeries to repair her double cleft pallet. Here's the before and after, she looks like a different baby. It's just amazing what they can do with this surgery!!

Oh yeah, and here are some pictures of some of the sweet kids of La Casa Josefina....

Kids of the Casa Josefina....

Sisters!!

Veronica and Fabiola

Fabricio, one of my best buddies!


Juan Carlos



Jose, Carlos's brother, sadly has been sick and just isn't happy with life these days....


Just pure silliness!!

Breaking Ground

It's finally happening!!! I don't know if I've mentioned it before, but in the very near future, five new families will be joining our team in Cusco. They all work in various medical disciplines and will be involved in campus ministry at the local medical school but will be spending some of their time working in the clinic as well.

One of the new team members is an Ophthalmologist and he has plans to build an eye clinic behind La Fuente. There's been lots of talk about the plans(and timing) for this building over the past months. Well,they finally broke ground yesterday!! It's a bit strange to look behind the clinic and see the huge pile of dirt and imagine what the next couple of months will bring.

And.... the fist new family will be arriving in Cusco later this week. All in all, it's pretty exciting!!

Buen viaje!!

Sometimes it’s just nice to go out of town, at least that’s the case for me. I’ve always enjoyed going out of town for the weekend in the States and I feel the same way here. At times, it’s just nice to have a change of scenery and get away from what you see every single day. I guess there are some things that never change….

This past weekend I went to Cotabumbas, which is about six hours outside of Cusco. It was nice to go back after being away for a few months this winter to continue with the community health project. It was good to see all the moms and kids show up for the “reunion” on Saturday so we could continue our teaching and our relationships with the moms in this project.

I have also come to understand that there is never a dull moment here and ANYTHING can happen at any time. The last time I traveled to Cotabumbas our car broke down and we ended up staying in a little town an extra night because of it.

Well….before I left Cusco, I was told that the van was in good shape and we should be good to go for the whole trip. After rainy season the roads ended up being pretty bad, as expected. But.……we did end up breaking down on the way home. Our kind driver did end up doing a makeshift job of fixing the car after about an hour or so of work, but we ended up checking it every hour on our journey home. Thankfully we did get home at a very early hour and when we did get back to Cusco. I was so glad to be home!!!