Josiah's 1st Birthday / La Playa

We would like to apologize for our lack of updates this month. It has been a very busy time for us and on top of that we were without phone/internet for five days. After two trips to the telephone company and over two hours of waiting in line it was finally fixed this past Tuesday. I'm going to try and break the updates up into a few different topics. This one is more of our everyday life and then the next one will be covering a few different ministries we took part in this past week. We have some great photos of the Chocolatadas at Puenta Piedra (Santa Rosa) and Cañate. A Chocolatada is a Peruvian tradition held during the Christmas season. Normally on Christmas Eve families (or those gathering for the festivities) eat Paneton with homemade hot chocolate (extremely sweet and delicious... nothing compares to it in the States.) After the services in Puente Piedra and Cañete we served all the kids (about 45 at each place) Paneton and chocolate and gave them gifts as well. More on this in the next update.

Josiah turned one year old on December the 6th. It is so hard to believe how the time is flying by, he is really growing into a little boy now. He is not quite walking but is adventurous just the same! He enjoyed his first birthday party and celebrated with both family and friends.

The Birthday Boy

Carmen came and helped us out with all of the decorations, she had to come two days and bring in additional help the second day. She is a wonderful sister from church, she loves to take care of Josiah.

Our little place was looking quite festive.

The table with all of the goodies.

The birthday cake from Tortas Gaby... RICCO!! (dilicious)

The Eatons came all the way from Chaclacayo.

Justin, Sarah, Ana and Kathryn

One of Eddy's niece came and did face painting for the kids.

Liam... I mean Spiderman!

Karla & Iyumi

Luciana, a daughter of one of Eddy's nieces.

Cousin Jacky with her mom Patty and her mom as well... three generations.

Of course Hadassah was there.

Josiah posing with all of his new toys.

Cake time!!

Josiah did especially well with his spoon considering it was his first time using one with food.

Kathryn gave Josiah a little help with his milk, I think he was too full to reach for it!

Looking uncomfortably full!

Just some of Hadassah & Josiah's cousins, I think there are at least five missing!

After the party we had to pop A LOT of balloons. Hadassah had fun burying Josiah in them... he was not so thrilled!

This past Friday evening after our meeting for Ica we went to spend the night at Eddy's brothers house on the beach. We stayed just until the afternoon the following day but it was a great time. The kids loved the beach and since summer officially starts this coming weekend the beach was empty.

Our Dolls

When Josiah is excited he lets out a high pitched screech... here is an example of just that!

Hadassah loved the beach and she especially loved her new sunglasses!

Father & son enjoying the beach

Jackie and Hadassah playing in the sand

Josiah trying out the slide

Jackie and Hadassah

Some updates and prayer requests:

• Since I am home this month from class I have been trying to learn to cook. Eddy's brother who was cooking for us has been gracious enough to give me some lessons to get me started. Although I do enjoy learning all of the new dishes and techniques, this kind of cooking can take a long time. Usually we need at least an hour and a half to prepare our meal. Often times we prepare even the refresco (drink) which can require cooking, blending, squeezing, cooling.... you would never guess how much work can go into preparing a simple drink. I am learning little by little as time nor children do not always permit me to take in everything.
  

Preparations for my favorite dish - Lomo Saltado.

About a kilo of strawberries for less than $1, can you believe that? We usually have fresh juice every morning with strawberries and other fruits. This is something I love about Peru, the prices of fruits and vegetables are amazing!

• Everything here takes longer, a lot longer. Just like the cooking, life here has consumed a lot more of our free time than we had originally anticipated and we continue to need prayer with the adjustment. The extra time and effort we put into doing things is not such a bother to us but it does however lessen the amount of time we are able to serve in the church. We are praying to be able to better manage our schedule in order to devote as much of the day as we can to ministry... on top of this the ministry to each other, our children and the reaching out to others such as Eddy's friends and family.


• On that note we have a request for prayer. For at least a month now one of Eddy's friends from childhood has been joining us for church services. He comes at least three times a week with Eddy but we are not sure of his intentions. We ask you to pray for him that his heart would be centered on Jesus and that if he has come to know the Lord in a personal way that he would grow in Him. We also ask for prayer for our witness to Eddy's family as we see them quite often. Most of you know that Lima Peru is Eddy's "Jerusalem" and it is our desire that we would win the hearts of his family for the Lord and plant as many seeds as we can.


• With regard to our length of stay we can only say that we are still praying. We are trying to be sensitive to the Holy Spirit and discern whether or not He is opening or closing the doors for us to stay and additional three months. It is our desire to remain here as long as possible (June at this point) but we do want to make sure that we are walking in His will.


• One thing we also want to share with you is some of what we have been learning in our personal devotions. This is the need for prayer. We need to pray so much more, and we ask you to pray for us. Sometimes it is hard for us to catch up together and have a good quality time to spend in prayer but we realize the need for it and ask you to intercede for us in this area. We feel that we are in the midst of a spiritual battle (when are we not??) and are thankful that the Lord has given us wisdom to discern this. He has been encouraging us to seek him in all things (Jeremiah 33:3) as we ask for direction in so many areas.


• We could go on and on for things that we need prayer for but we want to share some praise reports too. One is a simple one but we are thankful none the less. We have received now a handful of packages and that we know of nothing has come up missing... for this we are very thankful for. When we left we thought that we would not be able to receive things here but it has been quite to the contrary and this has been a blessing to us but more so to the kids who are able to receive presents from home.

We were very thankful that my parents were able to send their gifts for Josiah's birthday, the kids were happy too! In addition to this, the packages always seem to arrive in the perfect moment, usually the day before they are needed. The Lord is in control, is He not??

• Another praise. Hadassah has done wonderfully in school. She now loves to go to school and asks every day to go. She is speaking more and more in Spanish and her teacher says she understands everything. She also learned to dance and performed so beautifully this past Tuesday. We were very nervous because as many of you know, she is very shy. Well, if you watched the video you could she that she was quite the little ham. Again, we thank the Lord for helping her to warm and to adjust to her new lifestyle.

Hadassah's teacher Charito.

This was after the ceremony on Tuesday. Hadassah will be off for about three weeks and will then go for the summer session were they learn all kids of things like dance, cooking ect.