Starting Over

There is something to be said about starting over. The newness of a place, the new faces, smells, sounds, tastes...it is all very exciting. BUT! When you have left everything you knew behind, starting over is at times a little dificult.

When we left Baton Rouge, we didn't think a whole lot of selling it all and eventually starting housekeeping over. We had a huge garage sale and were so excited to "GO" that the thought of having to actually eventually purchase EVERYTHING kind of quickly entered and exited our mind. Well, this week we recieved our keys to our new, beautiful, EMPTY apartment. Now, we have the task of buying all that is needed to begin our life in this new place.

Apartments here do not come with anything except walls and floors. So we have begun shopping for everything that we did not crate. We have to purchase the fridge, stove, washer, dryer, THE LIGHT FIXTURES, living room furniture and dining room furniture. When we crated, we decided to bring our bedroom furniture to make us feel like home but felt we needed to have a living room etc that would make Peruvians feel like home, so here we are shopping till we drop, trying to fill a big empty house and make it feel warm and inviting. We have a clean slate, lets see what we can do. It almost feels like when you are newly married and a little overwhelmed with the whole idea of starting housekeeping with your new spouse.

Please pray that we make wise decisions and that the appliances that we purchase will be good and last for us for MANY years. Soon, we will post pictures of our new place for you all to see.

His.
Susie

Ben's Birthday

Well, I have waited until the day is almost over to announce the 14th birthday of Ben. Shame on me! Poor guy, it has been a boring kind of day for him but we hear that there is a bowling alley close so we plan to take him tonight. He did have a nice party before we moved from Costa Rica so he could celebrate with his friends.

So, if you get a chance, send him a birthday greeting...even if it is belated since it is my fault. You can leave your message here or send an email to ben@reapsouth.org

(SHHH, we do have a great looking cake for him for later!)

Still a whole lot a shaking

Peru is a little more famous for bigger earthquakes than Costa Rica, but don't let that detour you from coming! Last night around midnight, there was a 5.o just offshore from Lima (where we are). I didn't feel it. I guess I was sawing too many logs.

Also, our tummies have been doing a little shaking of their own for the last week. A stomach virus has been hitting us (Alisha, then Susie, then me). Pray with us that Ben or Patrick don't get it during Christmas!

I MISS WALMART!!!!!!!!!!!

Arnold and I were able to get out yesterday with one of our new friends and the Rains to do a little Christmas shopping at a really nice mall. May I say to those who procrastinate until the last minute to buy gifts...ARE YOU NUTS??? That was indeed a very stressful situation and my Christmas-o-meter went down WAYYYY below zero because I definately wasn't feeling the whole holly jolly feeling. At one point after looking for a jogging suit for Patrick with no success, Arnold said, I think we ought to just go to Walmart. ARGHHHH!

Well, with 3 kids to shop for (2 of which are teenagers and you can't find anything for them), 2 hours to shop, 10 zillion people and a mall in a foreign country, we did manage to find a few items to put under the tree but you have to wait till Christmas to hear what they are.

The funny thing is, we did receive our 5 pieces of luggage that didn't make it on the plane, BUT 5 other pieces of luggage (that have a couple of Christmas gifts in them) are stuck in the back of our bosses truck in which we don't have keys and they are in the states. How Funny is that?

Love you all! Hugs & Kisses to you all!

Have you hugged your friendly helpful Walmart associate today???

His.
Susie

Moving Day Part 2

Last night, Mike and Kathy left for the states, so we have officially moved into their apartment until our crate arrives and we can move into our own apartment. Our own apartment??? Yep, we already located and secured the apartment that we will live in for the next 3 years.

The apartment is one block from where we are staying now, and next to a park for the kids. The apartment is 1 1/2 blocks from the kids school and about 5 blocks from Arnold's office. When we get a chance, we will take some pictures and blog. We have a lot of shopping to do to buy the stuff that we did not crate, like all the appliances (refrigerator, stove, washer & dryer), all the living room and dining room furniture etc.

We have an appointment to go tour the kids school today and then we HAVE to do some Christmas shopping. We really need to get some gifts under the tree.

Love you all!
His.
Susie

First Day in Lima

Well, when I woke up this morning, I realized that it wasn't a dream, sure enough, I was in the city of Lima, Peru. We all slept really well! We are staying in the Mission Guesthouse until Wed and then we will be house sitting for our bosses while they are in the states for 3 months. During this time, we will be looking for an apartment or house and prepare to move in.

Today we spent the day with our bosses, Mike and Kathy Weaver. We went to see their apartment and it is a beautiful place. We are very honored to be able to stay there while they are away. We also got to meet Maggie. Maggie will be our temporary dog. She is so cute and the kids just adore her!

Alisha has already made a friend with one of the other Missionary teens here. They already went to the mall and to lunch. They will attend the same school together. Praise the Lord for answered prayers.

Well, tonight we went back to the Weavers house for a Welcome Party for us and the Rains. It was a special time of meeting everyone and beginning to build relationships. We will be all meeting again together for Christmas and then for an annual conference in January. What a special group of people....our new missionary family.

God is so good. As we walked the streets today getting a feel for the neighborhood where we are staying I just felt a real peace, just like all the trials and struggles of the past few years have been all worth it to get to this place right now.

HEY, can you believe it???? We made it!!!!!!!! We are in PERU!

Honey we're home!

After a very long day, we have finally made it to our final destination....Lima, Peru. The plane ride was uneventful but very nice....we watched "The Chronicles of Narnia", so that helped to pass the time. We arrived at the Lima airport right on time at 8:00 pm and had a pretty smooth transition through immigration. The only problem was that 5 of our 16 pieces of luggage didn't make it. That is ok though because it wasn't stuff that we immediately needed. After we notified the airport personnel we were finally allowed to go through customs and were relieved to receive a green light so we didn't have to have any bags searched and went straight on through.
When we exited the gate, a multitude of missionaries were there to greet us and meet us, First off with Kathy Weaver welcoming us Home! What a wonderful feeling. We are now in the guesthouse upstairs with the Rains family downstairs. We will be in here for about 4 days and then move into the Weavers house while they are in the states. Alisha already has a new MK buddy and they seem to really click.
Thanks for your prayers. The next few days will be full of lots of information so pray that all will stick!
It was dark when we got here so I can't wait till the sun comes up and the Lord shows us our new home town.
Love you all!
His,
Susie (About to sleep in Peru for the first time!!!!! Wow!)

Moving Day!

Can you believe? It is time for us to move on to Peru. We are all packed and ready to go. Our driver will pick us up in about 2 1/2 hours to go to the airport. Our flight leaves at 3:30pm and we arrive in Lima at 8:00pm. It has been a great year, but now it is time to get busy! Pray for us as we embark upon this new journey in our lives.

We will update you as soon as we can. (And post about graduation with Pictures)

His.
Susie

We are DONE!!!!!!!!!

Arnold and I just got home from our last day of school! What a feeling!!! We have had a wonderful, hard, glorious, stressful year but now all those long nights of preparing and studying for tests, practicing with ticos and giving oral presentations in class are complete. Now our real days of trials begin! We are finally heading to Peru! Thank you for each of your prayers, encouragment and support during this last year.

The kids school had a program today where Alisha, Ben and Patrick were commissioned and prayed over. What a sweet and special time. We also found out that both Ben and Alisha won prizes for their science projects. Way to go!

Well, Graduation is tomorrow! We will update you on it tomorrow. We leave on Sunday!

His.
Susie

Teen Banquet and a night with Rudolph

Saturday night, Alisha and Ben had a banquet with their youth group. While they were gone, we took Patrick downtown. There is a tradition here, where after 6, everyone throws white confetti at each other in the downtown walking street. We had a blast. Within a short period, it looked like snow everywhere.

Happy 14th (almost)

Ben's birthday is Dec 30th. Normally we celebrate it in January to get it away from Christmas a little. This year, we did it early. If we waited till Peru, chances are he wouldn't have too many special friends by the end of the month. He had a great party with 9 of his friends.

By the way, his face is healing well.

ECO's (Ek-Oh's), OPI's (oh-Pees), y Once (ON- Say) Días, OH NO!

Today we had our ECO"S which is our final oral exit exam at school. This is the most dreaded exam of the whole school year....But it is finally OVER! We should get our results by Monday. But, being with the IMB, we get the luxury (but not the joy because it is very stressful) of having one of these oral exams every tri-mester, so we were a little more prepared than those who have never experienced one. We both feel ok about how we did but it sure is stressful.

The neat thing is..when I got home, I had recieved an email at 1:01...my exam began at 1:00...the email was to let me know that there were some people praying for me and talking about me today in Florida. They didn't even know I had a test today. What a comfort to have prayer warriors like you out there. You will NEVER know how much your prayers mean to us!

OK now...tomorrow we have our OPI's, which is the last oral exam with the IMB while we are here. Please be in prayer for us to do our best, to be able to recall all that is swimming around in our little brains and to go into the interview with boldness and confidence.

We also only have once días (11 days) till we leave and we have sooooo much to do and so many goodbyes to say! Please lift us up during this whole month of transition. God bless all of you!

His.
Susie

Alisha is a MOMMY!

Yep, you read it right! Last week, Alisha became a mommy! Actually, for her science project, she and 2 other girls did a project on eggs. They made an incubator and tried to hatch chicken eggs. Well, only one of the chicks lived, another one hatched and 3 others grew in the shell but those ended up not making it. She brought him/her home last weekend so she could care for it and he is SOOOOO cute. She looked up what kind of chicken he is and the type she thinks he is, is a "naked neck chicken" and from the name you can probably gather that the poor little thing doesn't have any neck feathers. He looks like a mini ostrich. He is precious.

Today they had a science fair and everyone was very impressed by thier experiment. It ended up being a big deal around school for the 21 days it took to hatch and ever since little "Susie" has been born. Yes, he/she is named after me. (Alisha said if it would have died she wouldn't have named him/her that so I guess I can find comfort in that! ) Since we can't take the pollito to Peru with us, they will donate him to a man who raises chickens. I sure will miss him!

Ben also was in the science fair and made lye soap....kinda....it never really hardened....but I guess that is what experiments are all about trial and error and learning from your mistakes and the unexpected. He did a great job of explaining his project and what went wrong and why. Good job Ben! (By the way, he is feeling much better...he just gets a headache when he is a little too active!)

Love you all!
Susie

Twas La Nochebuena (Spanglish is my specialty)

I found the following both amusing and fitting.

'Twas the night before Christmas and all through the casa,
Not a creature was stirring - ¡Caramba! ¿Qué pasa?

Los niños were tucked away in their camas,
Some in long underwear, some in pijamas,
While hanging the stockings with mucho cuidado,
In hopes that old Santa would feel obligado,
To bring all children, both buenos and malos,
A nice batch of dulces and other regalos.

Outside in the yard there arose un gran grito,
and I jumped to my feet like a frightened cabrito.
I ran to the window and looked out afuera,
And who in the world do you think that it era?

Saint Nick in a sleigh and a big red sombrero,
Came dashing along like a loco bombero.
And pulling his sleigh instead of venados,
Were eight little burros approaching volando.

I watched as they came and this quaint little hombre,
Was shouting and whistling and calling by nombre:
"Ay Pancho, ay Pepe, ay Cuco, ay Beto,
ay Chato, ay Chopo, Maruco, y Nieto!"

Then standing erect with his hands on his pecho,
He flew to the top of our very own techo,
With his round little belly like a bowl of jalea,
He struggled to squeeze down our old chiminea.

Then huffing and puffing at last in our sala,
With soot smeared all over his red suit de gala,
He filled all the stockings with lively regalos,
None for the ninos that had been very malos.

Then chuckling aloud, seeming very contento,
He turned like a flash and was gone como el viento,
And I heard him exclaim, y ¡esto es verdad!

Merry Christmas to all, ¡y Feliz Navidad!

Debe de Ver al otro muchacho

Translated: You ought to see the other guy!

No cool-headed Ben hasn't turned school yard bully. He likes extreme sports. Last Friday, Ben, Patrick and Ben's friend Zack were at the park that has a pretty steep hill along side it. Well at the bottom of the hill, on the sidewalk there is a whopping hole, which in teenager terms means something to jump using a scooter or skateboard.

Below is the results. We spent one night in the hospital due to a contusion. Ben lost short term memory but has since been released from the hospital with all being remembered outside of a 7 hour window from the day it happened.


Thanks for those who knew about and were praying. For the rest, sorry, we didn't get word out to everyone about the accident.