Coming home and Raising support.

Tomorrow I will be heading back to the U.S.  I will be there until the 21st of July when I will head back to Peru once again.

Although I know that I will be back shortly it is still a little sad to go. I will be back in Peru, however I will not be coming back to the orphanage in Trujillo where I have been the last four months. Today is my going away party at this orphanage.  They do it for all the people who leave.  There will be some songs sang by the kids, a skit perhaps, and probably some cards.  I've seen the going away party or the "despedida" many times now but it's different having it be for me.  Knowing that I was only going to be at this orphanage for a short amount of time I really guarded my heart and tried not to get too attached to the kids or let them get too attached to me.  I still haven't decided if I regret this or not.

 I do of course have a close relationship with a couple kids, like Samir who I started doing homework with everyday after he became a problem in his other group.  Juliana, who is a big jokester and has almost the same sense of humor as I do.  And then John, he's only three but after a couple of the other volunteer's left he has been sad and crying a lot and then attached himself to me.  He really liked for me to read him books, and it pains me the most to think that after I leave and Liz (his preschool teacher) leaves on the same day that he will once again be very sad.  I know that these kids are sad to see me go and I am sad to go as well.  However I know that in Pacasmayo the kids are overjoyed that I will be returning and staying with them in the house as a father.  I also know that my role there as a father is much more needed right now than my current role in Trujillo as a driver/maintenance which is making the transition easy for me.

On a different but related note, you all might have seen a new button on my blog right under my picture.  The "Donate" button.  I put that there in case anyone would like to give directly to me or the kids in Pacasmayo.  If you give money through that route you will not be receiving any sort of tax deductible reciept from me.  If you are wanting to give me or the kids money and do wish to have a tax deductible receipt you can give to Gateway Church in Blue Springs and mention my name.  I decided to put this option up because I would like to be able to give more to the kids and meet specific needs.  Last weekend I realized how much I am actually spending on the kids myself and realized I can't keep going like I would want. Things like special dandruff shampoo for Yhonson, a new soccer ball, a t.v. antenna, a replacement clock for the house, or another chess board for them to practice on are all little things but start to add up pretty quick.  My budget that I would like to have is $500 a month. $150 of that would be my personal expenses.  So really anything above $150 a month would allow me to spend even more on the kids.

So if you've enjoyed following this blog in the past and are anxious to read it again in a month, I ask that you help support what God using me for in Pacasmayo.  I also want to thank once again all those who have already given either to me personally or for special things for the kids.  I love you guys!

Happy Father's day!

Last Sunday as you all know was Father's day.  For the past two years I have been the father to the kids at Casa de Paz and this past Sunday was no exception.  Friday afternoon they had their school presentation for Father's day which was great as always.  I got to see most of our kids either singing or dancing up on stage.  I received a couple presents on behalf of the kids there.  All the little kids gave me their Father's day artwork and a present to go along with it.  I now have 3 leather coin pouches, a pair of underwear, an undershirt, and scented powder.

The actual Sunday of Father's day I don't think I've ever felt more like a Father.  I woke up changed a dirty diaper (I was taking care of the baby that night), Got 10 boys fed (I made strawberry oatmeal), clothed and ready for church; fixed a leaky drain, cleaned out a shower, washed dishes and all that was before church.  It made it all worth it though when I finally was able to sit myself  down at the table to eat breakfast and Luis looked at me and said, "Happy Father's day".

Busy lately

Sorry I haven't posted in a long time I've been a little busy lately.  A group from Texas just got here this morning and for the last two weeks we have been doing a lot of painting in preparation for them to arrive. That combined with the fact that I am coming home on the 29th of June has really kept me from being motivated to write.  However I know that you guys are still reading so I feel it is my duty to continue to update.  

Like I said I am coming home the 29th of June but I will only be there for about 3 weeks.  After that I will be returning to Peru, but this time I will be in Pacasmayo.  I am saying goodbye to the orphanage here in Trujillo.  In Pacasmayo I am going to be a house dad once again.  It is truly the thing I love the most about being here.  Being able to have a close relationship with the kids and being a mentor for them.  I plan on staying for as long as it takes for a family group of siblings to be adopted.  Currently we are working on the adoption process for them, but it is tiring one. I've been making phone calls everyday for the last month just to get judges to sign papers.  But today hopefully we can go pick up a paper that has been holding up the process and deliver it to the right people so that we can continue to press on.

I'm heading to Pacasmayo early today so I can watch the kids' Father's day presentation at school.  I've been there the last two years and I wouldn't miss it for anything today.  I'll take plenty of pictures and maybe a couple of videos of it for you guys to see.  

I guess another thing that's been on my mind lately is that I haven't written in awhile because I feel like everything is so mundane and normal.  I am not surprised by anything in Peru anymore.  So for your enjoyment I figured I would make a top ten list of things that don't surprise me anymore.   

10. Hanging meat/poultry outside in the market when its 80+ degrees

9.   People walking their cows with "leashes" 

8.  Giant rats

7.  Bathrooms without toilet seats and toilet paper

6.  Stray dogs everywhere...really everywhere. 

5.  Someone holding a live chicken on a bus.

4.  Little kids riding donkeys on the side of the road leading other donkeys

3.  Having to wait for the heard of goats to cross the road before I can continue driving. 

2.  Grown men peeing anywhere anytime in full view of everybody.

1.  Women breastfeeding anywhere anytime in full view of everybody.  No use of hooter hiders or trying to cover up

Picture time

Jorge had to get some stitches. Fell down at school

Laura and Kelly with the preschoolers.  The boy in the middle is who pooped himself when I was in charge.

Painting

Painting

Fake facial hair is really awesome.

Something fishy

The weekend before last (May 28th) there was a march for all the schools in Pacasmayo.  Only our older kids went and I volunteered to take them.  Everything went pretty good, but there was a little bit of excitement.  Halfway through the Mayor's speech in the middle of the square where all the people were gathered, everyone all of a sudden started screaming and running all over the place.  I was on an elevated view point and I could see the whole crowd just instantly disperse with screaming and frantic running.  I had no idea what happened so I ran down to where the kids where.  That when I found out that everyone was running because a wave had come over the guard rail.  I guess people though a tsunami was coming.  

 

Wednesday of last week we had someone donate a fish to the orphanage.  The fish lasted three full days for the entire orphanage and it was delicious.  Below is a picture of our cook Filomena preparing it.  

This past weekend was great.  Saturday we played soccer all afternoon and then I went to Pastor Aulden and Wendy's house with Sam for some delicious meat loaf and the Best Ever Chocolate cake recipe provided by my mom.  Yesterday I pushed myself and ran with the boys to Jeque.  I made it about 5k before I was just too tired to keep going, they made it about 8k almost all the way to the river where we jumped in.  I think that was the farthest I have really ever run.  I was actually pretty proud of myself considering that I haven't ran at all in the last 2 years.  

The presidential election was yesterday.  Ollanta won.  He is considered by many to be a militant leader and possibly be very similar to Hugo Chavez in Venezuela.  Hopefully he does not turn out to be like that.  He won by a very small margin the total vote was something like 50.8% to 49.2%.  One thing that is good news is that the congress is very diverse and at this point there is no majority so getting things to quickly change will be difficult.