They landed in Lima Wednesday evening, where they spent the night. On Thursday afternoon, they flew into Arequipa. After checking in to the hotel, they began working at one of the local parks.
Yesterday (Friday), they spent the morning at the church plant in El Mirador. Half of the group worked at the VBS; the other half did light manual labor at the church. The afternoon was spent back at the park.
Today they will be going to a local orphanage.
We've not heard from Holly (and don't expect to), but there is a glitchy wireless connection that some have accessed. One posted a few things on facebook; some updates can be found here.
Saturday, July 30, 2011
Wednesday, July 27, 2011
Tuesday -- she's off!
Hard to imagine today is finally here!
Holly is so brave, I can't imagine doing the many things she's stepped out and done this year. I started feeling quite overwhelmed by all of it this morning, until I realized she doesn't actually leave for Peru until tomorrow!
She packed everything up with special care to keep her bag well below 50 pounds. She was quite happy that she could squeeze her beloved Sozy in her suitcase. Usually Pumpkin (Holly's cat) gets quite upset before Holly leaves; she was fine this time, perhaps not recognizing that Holly was using a different suitcase than usual.
We drove out to Lynchburg and met up with the other people from this church who are going. People are coming from two or three other Calvary Chapels in Virginia. Everyone's bags were weighed just to be sure. Our friend Brett brought a suitcase just for twenty something bags of balloons and a bunch of Spanish Bibles. We laughed at what security might think if the bag were searched. Robert quipped that they were bringing the balloons in to fill with drugs, swallow, and return to the U.S.
Good thing we weren't at the airport.
The group was prayed over once again--that will surely be constant for the time they are gone. They climbed into the van, with Holly planning ahead to grab a back corner spot, hopefully a quieter spot. We watched them take off for their three and a half hour drive to Washington, DC. They'll stay in a hotel tonight, when a local CC pastor will speak to them, and then they'll fly out Wednesday morning.
They have a brief layover in Panama City and will be in Lima Wednesday night. They'll be spending a night or two at the Calvary Chapel Bible College in Lima before heading to Arequipa.
Oh my goodness, she is so sweet. She even remembered to take the last link of her paper chain, the one that's supposed to be opened tomorrow.
Any contact with the group will be extremely limited. I am going to miss her so much.
Holly is so brave, I can't imagine doing the many things she's stepped out and done this year. I started feeling quite overwhelmed by all of it this morning, until I realized she doesn't actually leave for Peru until tomorrow!
She packed everything up with special care to keep her bag well below 50 pounds. She was quite happy that she could squeeze her beloved Sozy in her suitcase. Usually Pumpkin (Holly's cat) gets quite upset before Holly leaves; she was fine this time, perhaps not recognizing that Holly was using a different suitcase than usual.
We drove out to Lynchburg and met up with the other people from this church who are going. People are coming from two or three other Calvary Chapels in Virginia. Everyone's bags were weighed just to be sure. Our friend Brett brought a suitcase just for twenty something bags of balloons and a bunch of Spanish Bibles. We laughed at what security might think if the bag were searched. Robert quipped that they were bringing the balloons in to fill with drugs, swallow, and return to the U.S.
Good thing we weren't at the airport.
The group was prayed over once again--that will surely be constant for the time they are gone. They climbed into the van, with Holly planning ahead to grab a back corner spot, hopefully a quieter spot. We watched them take off for their three and a half hour drive to Washington, DC. They'll stay in a hotel tonight, when a local CC pastor will speak to them, and then they'll fly out Wednesday morning.
They have a brief layover in Panama City and will be in Lima Wednesday night. They'll be spending a night or two at the Calvary Chapel Bible College in Lima before heading to Arequipa.
Oh my goodness, she is so sweet. She even remembered to take the last link of her paper chain, the one that's supposed to be opened tomorrow.
Any contact with the group will be extremely limited. I am going to miss her so much.
Tuesday, July 26, 2011
Monday night
In an effort to take up some of our Monday and not FREAK OUT about Holly's leaving for her Peru trip today, we distracted ourselves.
Holly began packing, and we went to Dairy Queen for Happy Hour. Okay, so it's ice cream drinks, but that's good enough. Mr. Misty Floats are no longer on the menu, but DQs will make them when asked. Sometimes they have no clue what they're doing, but they make a good effort anyway! We also stepped at the library and WalMart. After dinner, Holly and I dropped Trevor off at CAP and headed to the mall.
Holly tried on fun shoes, while I worried she'd end up in the emergency room with a broken ankle.
We snacked.
We hung out at Barnes & Noble and read magazines.
A nice way to relax and avoid making another trip to go back to town and pick up Trevor.
Holly began packing, and we went to Dairy Queen for Happy Hour. Okay, so it's ice cream drinks, but that's good enough. Mr. Misty Floats are no longer on the menu, but DQs will make them when asked. Sometimes they have no clue what they're doing, but they make a good effort anyway! We also stepped at the library and WalMart. After dinner, Holly and I dropped Trevor off at CAP and headed to the mall.
Holly tried on fun shoes, while I worried she'd end up in the emergency room with a broken ankle.
We snacked.
We hung out at Barnes & Noble and read magazines.
A nice way to relax and avoid making another trip to go back to town and pick up Trevor.
Friday, July 22, 2011
Trevor and the solar oven
We (meaning *I*) have wanted to try this for several years. I have great intentions, but at some point, my kids will be too old. I made a spur of the moment decision last week that we'd have hotdogs for dinner the next day. Since I'd be working, Trevor could cook them in a solar oven during the afternoon while I was gone.
Sometimes I'm just brilliant!
Directions for the oven were simple. They called for a pizza box, but who wants to use an old pizza box, blech. So we substituted a small box we had from amazon. Trevor and his friend cut the lid to make a flap and covered the flap with foil. They stuffed newspapers in the sides of the oven to help as an insulator. We stuffed an 8x8 pyrex dish into the box (you could cook on dark colored construction paper too).
Trevor's directions were to put the hot dogs in, tape plastic wrap over the hole, set the box in the sun, and position the flap to reflect more rays into the box.
But it was overcast. Terribly. All afternoon.
I got home at 6, and he said he'd finally put the box out at 5:30. Not enough time to get things heated up.
So we ate dinner at the regular time. At 8:30, Trevor and his friend opened the box and enjoyed the steamy hot dogs.
Pretty much a success, especially considering we didn't have a lot of cooperation from the sun. And who wouldn't want to eat hot dogs for an evening snack?
Sometimes I'm just brilliant!
Directions for the oven were simple. They called for a pizza box, but who wants to use an old pizza box, blech. So we substituted a small box we had from amazon. Trevor and his friend cut the lid to make a flap and covered the flap with foil. They stuffed newspapers in the sides of the oven to help as an insulator. We stuffed an 8x8 pyrex dish into the box (you could cook on dark colored construction paper too).
Trevor's directions were to put the hot dogs in, tape plastic wrap over the hole, set the box in the sun, and position the flap to reflect more rays into the box.
But it was overcast. Terribly. All afternoon.
I got home at 6, and he said he'd finally put the box out at 5:30. Not enough time to get things heated up.
So we ate dinner at the regular time. At 8:30, Trevor and his friend opened the box and enjoyed the steamy hot dogs.
Pretty much a success, especially considering we didn't have a lot of cooperation from the sun. And who wouldn't want to eat hot dogs for an evening snack?
Thursday, July 21, 2011
Signs of the times
Sage advice from a local middle school.
"A book or two," seriously? After graduation, you might could get a job down the street at the fire station.
I drove past this gem for three or four days before it was finally changed.
"A book or two," seriously? After graduation, you might could get a job down the street at the fire station.
I drove past this gem for three or four days before it was finally changed.
Wednesday, July 20, 2011
Wining
Robert and I used a Groupon a few weeks ago for winetasting at a local family winery. It was a gorgeous day, low 90s, but a little too humid to be perfect. We drove about 20 minutes a bit further back into the Appalachian mountains. We didn't know what to expect, as we didn't need reservations, and we've never done anything like this before.
There were half a dozen cars out front and people sitting out on a covered patio. We went into a garage building that was set up inside like a small store. With air conditioning. Thankfully.
At a bar-type counter, we sampled about 15 different wines. It was hilarious to stand there and pretend to know what we were doing, holding the glass in our hands, swirling the wine, and tasting it. (No, I skipped the sniffing, I'd probably sneeze.)
I don't like wine. I even skipped two of the offerings, waiting to get to the sweeter white wines. By then, I was puckering at all of it.
But the crackers were good.
When we were done, we each chose a glass of which wine we'd like to drink on the patio, and we were given a box of cheese and crackers.
We wandered across the driveway to take pics of the vineyards.
And we had a really nice time. It was close and convenient, and we appreciated that. It was fun to take off with Robert for a few hours and do something we've never done before, to kind of be around other people but not really have to socialize. There are several small places wineries nearby, and now it won't be so intimidating to do this again.
There were half a dozen cars out front and people sitting out on a covered patio. We went into a garage building that was set up inside like a small store. With air conditioning. Thankfully.
At a bar-type counter, we sampled about 15 different wines. It was hilarious to stand there and pretend to know what we were doing, holding the glass in our hands, swirling the wine, and tasting it. (No, I skipped the sniffing, I'd probably sneeze.)
I don't like wine. I even skipped two of the offerings, waiting to get to the sweeter white wines. By then, I was puckering at all of it.
But the crackers were good.
When we were done, we each chose a glass of which wine we'd like to drink on the patio, and we were given a box of cheese and crackers.
We wandered across the driveway to take pics of the vineyards.
And we had a really nice time. It was close and convenient, and we appreciated that. It was fun to take off with Robert for a few hours and do something we've never done before, to kind of be around other people but not really have to socialize. There are several small places wineries nearby, and now it won't be so intimidating to do this again.
Tuesday, July 19, 2011
If it's . . .
1:30, it must be lunchtime.
Holly's lunch on this day: 5 pretzels, a spoonful of peanut butter, and chocolate chip cookies.
Brain food.
Holly's lunch on this day: 5 pretzels, a spoonful of peanut butter, and chocolate chip cookies.
Brain food.
Tuesday, July 12, 2011
Book Reviews
A Mile in My Flip-Flops by Melody Carlson
A year and a half after getting dumped, Gretchen is still depressed. She watches a lot of HDTV and gets the brilliant idea to flip a trashed house with the help of her dad. Her dad has a heart attack and asks her to get advice from a single man he tried previously to set her up with. No need to tell the rest of this way-too-boring, way-too-predictable story. A huge disappointment from a "Christian" author. (Acknowledgment of God in a book does not make it Christian fiction.)
Heaven Is for Real by Todd Burpo
Another boy-goes-to-heaven-and-lives-to-tell-about-it story. I was more doubtful about this story and didn't care for it as much as the one I read a few weeks ago.
Does the Noise in My Head Bother You? by Steven Tyler
Oh my. I so wanted to like this book. It was possibly the worst written autobiography I've ever read. Steven writes how he speaks--everything just sort of falls out, and if it actually makes sense, well, it's a miracle.
A Time to Embrace by Karen Kingsbury
A beautiful and believable tale about commitment and the healing of a marriage. In the middle of this book, I realized it's the second in a series. I'm now reading A Time to Dance but finding it not as gripping as this sequel.
Riding Rockets: The Outrageous Tales of a Space Shuttle Astronaut by Mike Mullane
Fascinating, unprofessional, sobering, gossipy, patriotic, whiney, detailed, disrepectful, sincere. For as much as there were parts I didn't like, there were other parts that I did. A little bit of everything here.
Dreams of Joy by Lisa See
A sequel to Shanghai Girls, this story continues with the life of daughter Joy. While at Chicago University in the late 1950s, Joy is seduced by thoughts of the new socialist China, where she flees to find her birth father, work at a farming commune, and fall in love.
While I've often read Chinese historical fiction, I've never read anything from this time period. It was gripping, and many of the parallels we see in today's American government were shocking, an eye-opener.
The story was fast paced, and I found it hard to put this book down. I have enjoyed everything I've ever read by this author, with the exception of Peony in Love.
Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen
I tend to avoid popular fiction but finally succumbed and read this book. Now elderly, in a nursing home, and generally forgotten by his children and grandchildren, Jacob reminisces about his post-college life working in a Ringling Bros.-like carnival. It was an okay book, interesting in that it kept me reading, and memorable mostly due to the unusual subject (circuses).
The Geeks Shall Inherit the Earth by Alexandra Robbins
Interesting and informative non-fiction read which follows six high school students from around the country, each belonging to a different clique/social group. Interspersed in their stories is commentary regarding the psychology behind being popular and being an "outcast." Part way through the book, each student is given an individual challenge to change how they are seen by classmates, and are followed as they work through their challenge.
I highly recommend this book. It should be required reading for any parent, teacher, AND teen. I'm a little sad to have finished it.
A year and a half after getting dumped, Gretchen is still depressed. She watches a lot of HDTV and gets the brilliant idea to flip a trashed house with the help of her dad. Her dad has a heart attack and asks her to get advice from a single man he tried previously to set her up with. No need to tell the rest of this way-too-boring, way-too-predictable story. A huge disappointment from a "Christian" author. (Acknowledgment of God in a book does not make it Christian fiction.)
Heaven Is for Real by Todd Burpo
Another boy-goes-to-heaven-and-lives-to-tell-about-it story. I was more doubtful about this story and didn't care for it as much as the one I read a few weeks ago.
Does the Noise in My Head Bother You? by Steven Tyler
Oh my. I so wanted to like this book. It was possibly the worst written autobiography I've ever read. Steven writes how he speaks--everything just sort of falls out, and if it actually makes sense, well, it's a miracle.
A Time to Embrace by Karen Kingsbury
A beautiful and believable tale about commitment and the healing of a marriage. In the middle of this book, I realized it's the second in a series. I'm now reading A Time to Dance but finding it not as gripping as this sequel.
Riding Rockets: The Outrageous Tales of a Space Shuttle Astronaut by Mike Mullane
Fascinating, unprofessional, sobering, gossipy, patriotic, whiney, detailed, disrepectful, sincere. For as much as there were parts I didn't like, there were other parts that I did. A little bit of everything here.
Dreams of Joy by Lisa See
A sequel to Shanghai Girls, this story continues with the life of daughter Joy. While at Chicago University in the late 1950s, Joy is seduced by thoughts of the new socialist China, where she flees to find her birth father, work at a farming commune, and fall in love.
While I've often read Chinese historical fiction, I've never read anything from this time period. It was gripping, and many of the parallels we see in today's American government were shocking, an eye-opener.
The story was fast paced, and I found it hard to put this book down. I have enjoyed everything I've ever read by this author, with the exception of Peony in Love.
Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen
I tend to avoid popular fiction but finally succumbed and read this book. Now elderly, in a nursing home, and generally forgotten by his children and grandchildren, Jacob reminisces about his post-college life working in a Ringling Bros.-like carnival. It was an okay book, interesting in that it kept me reading, and memorable mostly due to the unusual subject (circuses).
The Geeks Shall Inherit the Earth by Alexandra Robbins
Interesting and informative non-fiction read which follows six high school students from around the country, each belonging to a different clique/social group. Interspersed in their stories is commentary regarding the psychology behind being popular and being an "outcast." Part way through the book, each student is given an individual challenge to change how they are seen by classmates, and are followed as they work through their challenge.
I highly recommend this book. It should be required reading for any parent, teacher, AND teen. I'm a little sad to have finished it.
Monday, July 11, 2011
Smooth road
When we moved into this house, the driveway was in serious need of repair. I could only park my little car on one side of the garage, and we had to back the van out of this side v-e-r-y slowly when everyone was in the car to keep from bumping the frame.
We've been patiently waiting all spring for the weather to warm up. The dip was removed, filled in, and retarred, and we had the whole driveway resurfaced.
It took a few weeks to get used to not having that big bump when going in or out of the garage.
Yes, the driveway is wet here
The other surprise is that, for six months, I successfully managed to avoid hitting the pole for the basketball hoop. Now that I'm parking on the other side of the garage, I no longer have to worry!
We've been patiently waiting all spring for the weather to warm up. The dip was removed, filled in, and retarred, and we had the whole driveway resurfaced.
It took a few weeks to get used to not having that big bump when going in or out of the garage.
Yes, the driveway is wet hereThe other surprise is that, for six months, I successfully managed to avoid hitting the pole for the basketball hoop. Now that I'm parking on the other side of the garage, I no longer have to worry!
Sunday, July 10, 2011
Spoils of the night
Now that Holly and Trevor will stay up later than me, I find myself waking up to this in the mornings.
To be clear, everything in the dishwasher is clean; these dishes have nowhere to be "put away." But it always surprises me in the morning to realize people are up and about in my house while I am deep in sleep.
To be clear, everything in the dishwasher is clean; these dishes have nowhere to be "put away." But it always surprises me in the morning to realize people are up and about in my house while I am deep in sleep.
Saturday, July 09, 2011
I finally caved . . .
and joined the crowd. Everybody here has personalized plates. Well, maybe not EVERY body, but we have the highest percentage of personalized plates in the country, because they are so cheap ($10/year).
I was totally inspired by my long time loopy friend Liz. Okay, I was more than inspired, I shamelessly took these words from her old signature line. But she doesn't mind.
------------------
P.S. No, if EVERY body jumped off a cliff, I would not.
I was totally inspired by my long time loopy friend Liz. Okay, I was more than inspired, I shamelessly took these words from her old signature line. But she doesn't mind.
------------------
P.S. No, if EVERY body jumped off a cliff, I would not.
Friday, July 08, 2011
4th of July
Trevor'd had a friend spend the night, and we hung out at home for most of the day. I'd been leaning toward Lettuce Wraps for dinner, but Holly suggested we eat American food (!). A huge storm rolled through, torrential rains for an hour or so, but the sky cleared up. We bbq'd hamburgers for dinner, and ate pasta salad, corn on the cob, and deviled eggs.
I'd searched the internet for over an hour for the best "scoop" to avoid crowds yet see a nice fireworks display. We decided to go to the town of Bedford. Its Welcome Center is right off the highway, and the easy in-and-out was appealing.
We had a spectacular view of the D-Day Memorial.
The Peaks of Otter could be seen through the trees.
It turned out that the large, grassy field in front of us (to the left of the above photo) was part of the fallout zone. We literally had front row seats. We saw a little of the falling debris, but it was several hundred yards away.
This was the longest fireworks display we can ever remember. It lasted well over half an hour, probably closer to an hour.
When it was over, we walked just a few steps to our car, waited a short time to get out of the parking lot, and then were on the road home.
This was such a pleasant surprise, and a wonderful way for our family to celebrate July 4th!
I'd searched the internet for over an hour for the best "scoop" to avoid crowds yet see a nice fireworks display. We decided to go to the town of Bedford. Its Welcome Center is right off the highway, and the easy in-and-out was appealing.
We had a spectacular view of the D-Day Memorial.
The Peaks of Otter could be seen through the trees.
It turned out that the large, grassy field in front of us (to the left of the above photo) was part of the fallout zone. We literally had front row seats. We saw a little of the falling debris, but it was several hundred yards away.
This was the longest fireworks display we can ever remember. It lasted well over half an hour, probably closer to an hour.
When it was over, we walked just a few steps to our car, waited a short time to get out of the parking lot, and then were on the road home.
This was such a pleasant surprise, and a wonderful way for our family to celebrate July 4th!
Thursday, July 07, 2011
In a fog
We woke up this morning to dense fog. It's unusual enough that we enjoy it.
It's incredibly humid out, already burning off as I type.
It's incredibly humid out, already burning off as I type.
Friday, July 01, 2011
Counting the days
Holly leaves for Peru at the end of the month. We took some time a few days ago to make a paper chain to count down the days.
We're praying for safe travel, lives to be changed, and a few administrative things--oh, little last minute details such as translators and one more flight from Lima to Arequipa!
We're praying for safe travel, lives to be changed, and a few administrative things--oh, little last minute details such as translators and one more flight from Lima to Arequipa!
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