Holy Cow it’s been awhile

Here is a little picture montage of the past month or so…..

We went to Fright fest…it was fun…food was gross…. wes got sick…Flew….

Tasha Graduated College…woohoo…now she is back in Camarillo and I get to see her…but not for too much longer she is moving…i dont know where to but she does not want to be in Camarillo

In laws showed up randomly….quick cleaning and social during the week not my favorite things to do, but it was fun and wes was way happy…this picture is missing three people….

My Mother….nuff said

Disneyland on Halloween… that was way fun….ate clam chowder….saw cute costumes….slept well the next day

Well thats about all I have for now….soon to come….Disneyland {bats day}, The Great High School Hunt,  new WOW expansion Day, Disneyland {Tami’s B-day}, baby Shower, Thanksgiving, Black Friday, and Operation Christmas Child….

Picture Frames

You know I never thought that filling a few picture frames would make the apartment feel so much more cozy. And I never knew how incredibly difficult it would be to find the correct pictures to fill these frames. It was quite a weekend but we finally decided on what picture to put in the frames and they look great.

We still have more frames to buy. And more well to decorate, and a bookshelf to purchase, but after that I think our apartment will be done, besides all the laundry that needs to be folded.

Where has time gone?

Well it has been 6 weeks since I have returned from Peru and how that time has flown by. Not much has really happened in my life since I have returned. Here is what has been going on since the return…

• Wes’s work schedule has been crazy and sooooo inconvenient.
• Wes is still looking for a job and keeps getting nothing in return
• I am still dealing with my job and there have been a few new changes around my job. I am not sure how they will all work out.
• The school year started and the youth group has been flipped upside down, and we working so hard to re motivate kids to come to youth group and events. We have learned that Volleyball is the new soccer.
• Wes and I have been put “as leaders” of the college/young adult group at church….which I believe to have been a great thing for both Wes and I {Rob Bell always knows what we need to hear}
• I have started a D group with three of the girls from youth group. It is a definite change for me and a great way for me to reach out to other girls
• My kids are all in college now {5 have moved away}
• Wes and I are attempting to get into better shape….key word attempting….
• Wes and I finally bought decorations for the apartment. Woohoo…it feels more like a home
• We both miss our Washington families a whole bunch……
• We are going to plan a vacation to the Grand Canyon {that was my idea, Wes has never been there}
• The new season of TV has started…Monday= Jon and kate Plus Eight, Tuesday= NCIS, Biggest Loser, House, Little People Big World, Without a Trace and Law and Order SVU….that is 6 shows in one night…thank you DVR,  Wednesday= Private Practice, Pushing Daisies, CSI:NY, and I think Law and Order, Thursday= CSI{woohoo} Grey’s Anatomy Friday=What not to Wear Saturday=Nothing Sunday=Extreme Makeover Home Edition, Desperate Housewives, and Brothers and Sisters….I think thats all of them…or man…no life.

So that is our life as of now….It is hard to go on with my life when all I can think of is these guys…..

Oh well life will go on…Please keep Wesley in your prayers…he needs it…and on top of all the work stress for him he has a cold…figures…

Oh yeah one last thing…We saw the Angels smash the Mariners…sorry Sis

This was one of my best days so far being back from Peru….Amazing….Okay here’s a game try and Find me..

Thats right I’m the white one with the bright orange shirt….what was I thinking…Oh man….

Peru #6- Nueva Jerusalen

Well as you have read the community we worked was name Nueva Jerusalen. Which means New Jerusalem in English. The community is based on a hill. This hill helped my exercise routine for the week. Unlike in the United States as you go up the hill the houses become more run down and evidence of more impoverished situations. The houses at the bottom of the hill are owned by those with more money. The church is located kind of towards the bottom of the hill, but it was still a hike to get to it. It was really fun when we had to walk up and down the hill when it was “raining.” “Rain” in Nueva Jerusalen is a very heavy nasty mist. It got kind of annoying cause I just really wanted it to rain or be dry. Oh well, it just made for some slip slide adventures. Well anyways the church that we worked with is named Iglesia Rios de Agua Viva, which means Church of the Living Water. Which is a great name for this church. The community consists of I think it was 250 families. I could be wrong but that number sounds familiar. We had the opportunity to take a short tour of the community the first night we got there. So many hills. I guess since the last group had been there from our church they have built all these really really steep stair ways leading up and down the hill. Oh man my calves were killing me by the end of that night. It was great. The Community is kinda of confusing. All these random paths leading to random places. The community for the longest time did not have running water. There has been a constant battle between leaders of this community about this basic necessity. There has been a lot of work with community leaders and residents to install pipes and tubbing for water. There are pipes installed at most of the houses but the water just hasn’t been turned on. When we were there the last the residents heard was in two weeks we will have water. Hopefully they should have it now or so very soon. This community is filled with hurts and pain as is most communities in the world. Please keep all the members of this community in your prayers

Peru #5- Energy

Working with the church in Nueva Jerusalen required a lot of energy. Not just physical, but mental energy. There was so much movement going on with everything. Whether it was people walking around, dogs running through the church service, dancing in front of the stage, kids running up and down the isle, or Angel running around making sure that everything was going correct. It was amazing. the sense could hardly take in all that was going on. Every time a new song came on it required a new dance. I thought that was amazing. And it was amazing to watch a group of gringos getting up in front of the whole church to dance. Here are a few little snapshots of the energy that was required for the team.

Peru # 4- My Sister

I was sent on this trip with one mission. And that was to find the girl with the pink star on her shirt and give her copies of pictures with my sister. I thought to myself that should be easy. I will just find her at the camp. Sure no problem….well yeah she didn’t go to the camp. I told a bunch of people on my team to be on the lookout for this girl. No remember that this picture is 2 years old. So find this girl and add two years…sure no problem kids don’t grow quickly. So when we got to the community I ask Kami {our community go to person } do you know who this is. She says nope. She old me to go ask Angel. I said sure no problem I’ll go ask the man who speaks no English…it was easier then I thought. I went to him pointed to the picture and he says oh thats Jazmin. I said oh Jazmin. Is she here and if not where does she live. I had to accomplish my mission. Oh no she is not here she lives all the way down the hill. So off me and Kami went to her house. Down the really steep hill. We get to her house and her I think it was her grandmother says oh no Jazmin is not here she is at the church…..WHAT!!!!! i was just there…really….so up the hill Kami and I went…we found some of the girls and asked have you seen Jazmin, they were like she is sitting right there. the whole time oh my goodness, Well anyways we called her over and I handed her the pictures.

Her face was priceless, the words es Erin came from her mouth. I knew what that meant. She totally remembered Erin. She then asked why isn’t she there. i said it’s because she just had a baby and she had to stay home. Her face was amazing. The whole time she had a stare like oh my goodness Erin, that is Erin’s sister. It was great. I was watching her the whole time. She continued to look at the pictures in amazement. I then took some pictures with her.

When we had our going away ceremony thing Pastor Antonio said okay it is time to take pictures with the Camarillo people and the first person to me was Jazmin. We took some pictures together and there were a lot of hugs. She told me to say hello to Erin and that she misses her and that she needs to come next time.

Erin you continue to amaze me. You are such a big dork, and yet you are an amazing person. Thank you for giving me this special task for my trip. I miss you and I love you.

Peru # 3- My Friend Tammy

As most of you may know my good friend Tammy Terzian has been living and working in Lima, Peru for about a year now. She went down there to help work at a Christian school that her church supports. Last school year she taught 5th grade and this coming school year she is teaching 12th grade economics. Tammy and I met in high school. We weren’t that close in high school, but as we went into college we became great friends. She was one of my wonderful bridesmaid in my wedding. And she has been a great person in my life. When I found out she was moving to Peru i was so sad, because she was my only friend left in Camarillo. iI was sad, but I knew it was what she wanted to do and God really opened up a lot of doors for her. When I found out that our church was going to take another trip to Peru I got so excited. before this trip I told myself I am going down with no expectations, but I really wanted to somehow see Tammy.

When I got a few details about the trip I told Tammy what I knew about the trip and were I thought we would be staying. Well as it turns out we were about an hour away from our original location. That made me so bummed. I told Danger {our FH rep} that I wanted to see Tammy and she said she will do her best to arrange a chance to see her. I was ecstatic. I called Tammy a few times while I was down there but she never called me back. Then on Friday I got a hold of her and she talked to Danger and they arranged everything. Tammy was going to meet Danger at Starbucks {go figure} and they would take a taxi to the FH office and thats where we would be. So Sunday morning came and we arrived at the FH office and we waited about 5 minutes. Then I turn around and there’s my Tammy right outside the bus. I nearly jumped out of the bus to give a huge hug. I was so excited.

Well Tammy got on the bus and off we went to the church. Tammy was only able to hang out with me for half of the day, because she had not finished her lesson plan for the next day. We walked into the church and I gave her the grand tour. And then it was time to sing and dance. We were there to lead a kid club type thing that required entertaining about 50 or so children of all ages. It was great. Tammy got a hold of my camera and took some great shots of my dancing. Thanks Tam. And then it was time to teach all of the kids how to make God’s Eyes. Oh man its fun communicating with what seems like 5 billion kids who don’t speak English. Oh well I did my best and a lot of the kids caught on quickly. I was amazed.

After the kids club thing we piled on the bus and went to lunch. This is when we ate at Roky’s for the first time. Chicken and fries. It was good. What made it better was eating it with my friend Tammy. Oh yeah I forgot to say before I left for Peru I told Tammy that I was bringing a box of cheeze its with me and she was like yumm cheez its. I knew what that meant. i had to bring her a box too. So I did. The smile on her face was priceless. I was also able to give her a card from our friend Tasha and a picture of our friend Brittany’s Baby and lots of hugs from Denise and Tasha.

I had to say goodbye to Tammy at the restaurant. She had to wait for a taxi from there. Before I got on the bus she took me to a corner stand and bought me a Sublime…it was a chocolate bar. it was pretty good. No complaints. We then took some pictures and said goodbye. It was a great visit with my friend and I can’t wait for her to come home in December. I know she does not want to.

Peru #2-The Team

This is my team that went to Peru. I will now share a little bit about each one and how God worked though them this trip.

Nate Bradshaw: One word to describe Nate would have to be compassionate. Nate is a very caring person, who really focuses his life on building relationships and helping other see the love of Christ. He kinda helped keep me sane when I needed a bit of help.

Paul Dempster: Big Kid…enough said, no he really has a passion from spreading the love of Christ to all especially the younger kids. He know when to be goofy and when to be serious. he is able to connect with all of the students and he is able to entertain the younger kids with his funny accessories. I love going on trips with him. And Yes the shirt that he is wearing lights up when you talk.

Anna Espinoza: Before the trip God put her in a situation where she was able to work and organize the crafts and activities for this trip. This was a large help. Her love for children was also noticed on the trip. She was able to really connect with the moms in the community also. This is such a blessing.

Jeff Gin: the master…No words can express the amount of things Jeff is able to do. No words can express the amount of love he poors into both the team and the Peruvians. No words can express the gratitude I have towards him….You would think after all these years of working with him I would be sick of him, but nah …I look forward to many more missions trips that he leads…. Thx Jefe…

Sorry about the delay I started this post on Tuesday, but had surgery wednesday and am able to work on it a little at a time…

where was I lets see who was next….

Erik Hurtado: I have know Erik for a long time and it was a provilege to go on this trip with him. He has always been the quiet type around large groups of people {cept when we were in high school he got louder}, on this trip he really shined through. He was on the Yellow team and when we were making cheers he was yeling louder then the rest of them. And on the soccer court he was pretty good. Poor guy sprained his ankle while playing and they gav him a shot for the pain…nothing like peruvian medicine. He really found a bond with the kids and it was amazing to watch.

Justin Kiraly: The annoying little brother that I never wanted, but I am glad he has been in my life. He drives me crazy most of the time but while he was in Peru I saw a whole different side of him. He really bonded with the kids. I think it was his extreme goofiness or his soccer”skills” The kids really clung to him. He had his possy of kids. Justin took a lot from this trip. It was a great experience for him and I know he has many stories to tell.

Tanner McCarey: When we first arrived to Peru Taner volunteered to be the official unofficial photographer for the trip. Jeff didn’t mind handing off the camera. Tanner was everywhere with the camera. I believe he took about 1000 pictures with it. I can’t wait to see all of those pictures. I think Tanner had a good time taking the pictures, the kids would follow the guy with the camera. It was pretty entertaining.

Ann Miller: Ann is the mother of Katie Miller. I will talk about her later. When I fould out Ann was going on this trip I did not know what to expect of her. One thing I learned about Ann was her incredible amout of patience. It turned out that her and Katie’s baggage did not make it to Peru. Ann was so patient and understanding it was amazing. I would have been a little upset, but she had no worries. Ann is a second and third grade special Ed teacher in Camarillo. She has incrediable skills with the children. She really created friendships with a group of the students. It was great to witness all of this. I am so grateful that Ann was able to go on the trip and I look forward to seeing what else God has in store for her.

Katie Miller: I have known Katie since she was in 6th grade. And now she is in college. She has grown up to be such a great young woman. I ws kind of worried about Kaite on this trip. There have been some past drama issues with others in the group. I belived that she did great on this trip. The look on her face when she received her luggage back was priceless. I believed that she hugged he bag for about 5 minutes. The workst part of it all is her luggage didn’t make it back to LA when we got home. And she was fine with it. Katie really bonded with some of the kids and a lot of the boys. At our ending ceremony thing she went to take a picture with one little girl and as soon as the picture was take there were ten teenage boys in the picture. It was funny. I really enjoyed going on this trip with Katie and hopefully it will encourage her to come to more events.

Travis Ritchie: Who does not know Travis? Travis is Mr. Peru. This was hs third trip to there. When we arrived we were told that all of the kids were asking for Travis. He was way excited. Tarvis has this extreme goofy side and an extreme serious side. Sometimes it is hard to tell which one he is on. But it is usually the goofy side. Travis has this ability to entertain the kids in a very stange way. I think travis’s figures were about to fall off when he ws taching all the kids how to do lanyards. That was pretty entertaining. I have enjoyed watching Travis grow up. He is a great leader amonst the yougner hgh school students and now that he is college I can’t wait to see him grow into an adult. I am feeling really old.

Jose Rodriguez: It was truly a blessing for Jose to go on this trip. He went as a representative of his family. I believe this trip was the most emotional for Jose. The love from the community for him and his family was truly evident. There were gifts of love from everyone around him. The church made him feel at home. It was great to be with him through all f this. He also had a good time bonding with the students from our group. I know they all really enjoyed having him there.

Rachel Servin: The youngest member of the group. She is new to the youh group this year. She did an amazing job with all of the kids. They were amazed that she wanted to play soccer with them. She was also able to bond with the younger girls from the church. I can’t wait to spend more years in he youth group wtih her, and I can’t wai to see the changes that will happen in her life becuase of this trip

Glenn Walker: The best way to describe Glenn is Walker. He is one of five boys. I have had the great priviledge and honor to get to know all of them. I went to High School with the two eldest. Graham the middle just graduated this year and Gabe the youngest was in EDC and was one of my students when I substituted. This family is an amazing family. They all have a great passion for Christ and sharing his love to all. On this trip Glenn was the humor. He brought joy wherever he went . From day one he made friends instantly. He had his same group of guy friends sitting with him at every meal. He couldn’t speak a word of spanis, but he was able to communicate with them in his own way. Kind of weird.

Then there is ME….

I am the master at making God’s Eyes. I believe I helped the creation of about 200 of them this trip. I was amazing..hehehehhehehehehheheheheh

My good friend Tammy took this picture. I will talk more about her later…..

Peru # 1

I will now attempt to post about my trip to Peru. It will take me about a week to post only a few of the stories from the trip. My first post will focus on the food. Before we embarked on the trip we were told that we would not be eating much and our calorie count would be down. I think throughout the whole trip I was hungry once, and that was only for about 20 minutes. Here are a few pictures of food that I ate. I should have really taken pictures of all the meals I had but I don’t think I could fit them into one post. Food for me was either hit or miss. I ate all I could, but only about 85% of what I ate agreed with my weak stomach. Obviously I ate what I was told to ate and I did it with a happy heart. Some of the food was OMGosh the best food, so was not. Here are a few pictures.

This is the team and our FH people eating at a restaurant called Roky’s . Pretty much their only meal there is Half a roasted chicken with French Fries. Oh man so much food. And As you see Inca Cola that everyone ordered. I actually got a Fanta. For some reason Inca cola and I don’t see eye to eye. I am not a big fan of my soda tasting like cotton candy and going flat immediately after opening.

When the team had a little free time we decided to walk to the local market to buy some treats. Well this is the treat that Nate and I split. As you can see it may look like a normal cream filled donut, but no this thing was heaven on a plate. lets just say the “donut” was a fabulously baked circular piece of bread. It was a mix between donut and bagel. It was oh my goodness. well it took me awhile to finish it due to it’s richness but I did and oh man.

This next dessert was purchased the next day. I had a little sample of something like this while we were at the camp, so I had to buy myself another one. As you can see the top is jello, and the cake is cake. But the white stuff may look like frosting but it is far from it. It is a very thick creamy yummyness. It kins melted in your mouth. Oh man yet again another fabulous dessert for me.

While we were in the community we went for house visits. I will get more into to this later, but one of the houses served us this delicious dish. You may not be able to tell what this dish is, but it is fried cheese wontons and fried bananas. It was delicious to eat, but it wasn’t delicious later that evening. The whole fried and cheese thing definelty did not agree with my tummy. But oh well it was good food, and I am grateful that the family made it for my group.

Cuy- Guinea pigs (called cuy, cuye, curí) were originally domesticated for their meat in the Andes. Traditionally, the animal was usually reserved for ceremonial meals by indigenous people in the Andean highlands, but since the 1960s it has become more socially acceptable for consumption by all people. Guinea pig meat is high in protein and low in fat and cholesterol, and is described as being similar to rabbit and the dark meat of chicken.^[2][130] The animal may be served fried (chactado or frito), broiled (asado), or roasted (al horno), and in urban restaurants may also be served in a casserole or a fricassee.

Peruvians consume an estimated 65 million guinea pigs each year, and the animal is so entrenched in the culture that one famous painting of the Last Supper in the main cathedral in Cusco shows Christ and the twelve disciples dining on guinea pig. {I HAVE BEEN THERE}.

CUY!!!!!

Enough Said….

That was just a taste of the food I have eaten in Peru. On a scale of 1-10 I give the Food I ate an 8.5…

Good Bye Friend

Well yesterday was a sad day in the land of the Cooks. Wesley has been employed at the Camarillo Starbucks for over three years now. he transfered there from an Orange County store {which is closed} the summer after his junior year at Chapman. Wes came into this store as Steve Davis as his manager. Over the years Steve has been a big support in both of our lives. He has been the most flexible boss around. He was there each and every time Wes left the store and came back. He understood that Wes was only holding this job until he found something else to do. {I won’t get into that topic} He has been a great encouragement to Wes when he was having a bad day. His jolliness really made me laugh. When I found out that Steve was leaving the store I cried. I was able to cry with all the female employees at Starbucks. I felt like I work there. Anyways Steve has been a great person for Wes and I, but in the words of Wesley well “I enjoyed you being my boss, but I looked forward to you being my friend and a customer.”