WE MADE IT TO PERU!!

We are so thankful to be in Peru!!!! What a blessing to have arrived safely!!! We traveled from Birmingham to Miami to Lima, Peru on Wed, July 28th! The goodbyes were very difficult, but we were blessed to have so much encouragement from family and friends as we prepared to leave.

The kids were a little anxious, as they have NEVER flown before! What a way to start! Marcus and I were a little anxious about all of our luggage - 12 suitcases, 6 carry-ons and 6 backpacks to deal with and get through security! We were so grateful to arrive in Lima to see all bags intact with all of our belongings. Lydia Rice, who is doing a one year internship with Peru Mission, traveled with us, and was a huge help gathering our bags. Thankfully we moved right through customs with no trouble! The kids were very helpful with all of the luggage, and they each (the older 3) pushed a large cart full of luggage from the airport across the street to the hotel. We were thankful the Lord gave them servant hearts at that moment!

On Thursday, we traveled from Lima to Arequipa, where we will be in language school for 3 months. Again, the Lord was watching over us as we traveled and all of our luggage made it. We were happy to see some familiar faces when we arrived - Steve and Dianne Hill. They also are joining Peru Mission and have been in Arequipa for 3 months already. What a blessing they have been to get our apartment set up and prepared with a refrigerator full of groceries, as well as dinner cooked for our first night!

outside of our apartment (there were fireworks going off, which is why Sam's ears are covered)

I spent the first two days shopping for items that would be simple to buy in the States - measuring cups, tupperware containers, mixing bowls, and some basic dishes. I shopped on two different trips on Friday - once with a sweet Peruvian lady who taught me what grocery items to buy and then she took me to buy a rice cooker and coffee maker. She speaks only Spanish - and I understand very little Spanish! So this was in interesting trip! Then in the afternoon Steve and Dianne Hill took us shopping again for household items and some more groceries.

My list was still long after one day - the prices are high for some basic things (peanut butter is $7 for a small jar, and a tiny pyrex measuring cup was $6), and the selection was pretty slim. On Saturday Dianne took me to a local marketplace where I had better luck finding the items on my list for a better price. Now we can get our small apartment a little more organized for a family of six to function in! We still have a need for a few basic furniture items which we'll shop for with help this week. We will post some pics later of our apartment...

We worshiped on Sunday in a non-denominational church that meets in a school auditorium, where we will go while in Arequipa. The people we met were so sweet and kind, but I'm not sure how much we learned from the sermon (all in Spanish, of course)! Ben and Luke met some boys their ages who live just a couple of blocks away, and they are a missionary family from Florence, AL!! They were pretty excited to have some new friends so fast! The boy Ben's age is also named Benjamin! They look forward to playing with them, and I am grateful for a friend as well!

We can't believe we are really here! It feels funny when we wake up and go to sleep thinking that we are so far from home! There is much to adjust to - the language, our apartment, new friends, altitude (higher here than anywhere in the US east of the Rockies), the weather (the highs get in the upper 60's and the lows about 35-40, with no heating!). The hardest things for me to adjust to right now as a mom is grocery shopping, doing laundry, and dishes. It isn't safe yet for me to go to a store alone, until I know more Spanish and learn my way around better. We walk or take a taxi everywhere, sot it's a little different than jumping in my own car to drive to Kroger or WalMart. I have to have Marcus with me, which means all four kids also. This will change as school starts, but for this week that is a challenge. The laundry is also a bigger deal - we thankfully have a washing machine but no dryer. It's very dry here so the clothes dry fairly quickly, but we only have enough lines to hang about 1/2 of a washing machine load. I am also washing our dishes in a little sink, rather than having a dishwasher. We have only enough hot water for one shower, maybe one and a half. So we need to adjust to how to work out times for everyone to get clean without screaming about the cold water! We are thankful to have these adjustments - we are learning so much about what is important and necessary. The kids are learning so much already about needs vs wants. Although we will look forward to a larger home, more hot water, a clothes dryer, etc it is good to learn we can make it and be content without!!

We are really enjoying family time and not following a schedule! It is so laid back, and we aren't in such a rush that we don't enjoy each other! This week we will continue to get settled in, do some sight-seeing, and practice Spanish. School for all of us starts next Monday!!

Thanks so much to all who have prayed for our travels and encouraged us along this journey!!! God is so good!