What in the ... is that?? IT IS!!

Okay, so we've determined that end of the world as we know it is coming soon. 'Why in the world would you say such a thing?' you wonder. Well, I'll tell you ... it actually rained in Lima! No joke. We were headed to church on Sunday, walked outside, and discovered that RAIN was falling on us. Now, it wasn't a hard rain ... in fact, under normal circumstances, you would barely call it a drizzle. But, the fact that it was happening in Lima was unbelievable.

Perhaps I should explain why I'm so excited. You see, I'm a Florida girl, born and raised in hot, humid summers that brought afternoon thunderstorms everyday during the summer. One of my favorite childhood memories was sitting on the front porch watching the storms and listening to the rain. And I still LOVE the smell of rain. So, given all that, just think of what moving to one of the driest deserts in the world and not seeing rain for 7 (count them -SEVEN) months can do to a person. I was just like a little kid at Disney world when I walked outside and found it raining. (Had I stopped and thought about it, I probably would've rushed out of the rain because of the amount of pollution that I'm sure was falling on my head. But I didn't want to think about it and ruin the moment.) It was definitely a great way to start off the week (and probably one of the most exciting things of the week).

You know what's funny is that I actually prayed for rain not too long ago. Silly request? Perhaps. But look at what happened. Just goes to show my God can do anything ... even make it rain in Lima!! Too cool!!

(The picture above is one my friend took ... that's RAIN on the windshield of our taxi!!)

Yep, it's true!

Well, I should point out a fact that most of you have already figured out ... I am a TERRIBLE blogger. Right about the time I get into a routine of writing on my blog (well, as much of a routine as I seem to be able to muster), something happens and I lose it all. All that hard work and effort, gone! Haha Perhaps that is a little dramatic of me, but I do feel I should apologize. I will work at getting better ... promise!

So, let's see ... where did I leave off?? Oh yes, the colonoscopy. Well, I got the results back from my colonoscopy. The doctor was a bit vague about things, but did say things were normal. When I asked what samples he took and what they were if they were 'normal', he said, "Well, they're not cancer!" Well, gee thanks Doc ... that's good to know. Didn't know that was an option. Apparently, it was, they just hadn't told me. Yikes! I'm very, very thankful they decided to withhold this tidbit of information. I imagine I would've been a bit concerned the whole weekend had he mentioned this in the beginning. So, a praise ... I don't have cancer!

Now, as far as the rest of the stomach story goes ... it's actually still going. I went back to eating normal food when we headed to Chile (a blog about Chile is still to come, I promise!), and for the most part, things went well. I had about a day where I thought my stomach was relapsing, but then it settled down and things were fine. We came back to Peru and things seem to be staying fairly normal. Then this week hit and suddenly my stomach decided it couldn't contain itself anymore. So sad! Why can't it just behave?!?! So right now, I'm actually at home, opting out of the day's activities because of my sick feeling stomach and eating plain noodles. How boring!!

So, all that to say, please keep praying for my stomach. It needs it. And for my sanity during this whole process. I'm sure I need that too! :-)

Colonoscopy

Well, I had my colonoscopy yesterday. Let me tell you how they do colonoscopies here. They aren't too much different than the States, except for one minor detail ... you are fully awake, able to see what's going on, and feel the pain. Yes, that made this whole event quite exciting.

Kathy went with me to my appointment because we weren't sure how drugged I would be when I came out of the office. We got there, found the doctor's office (thanks to Kathy ... me being the space cadet that I was that day left ALL the information at home ... I didn't even know the doctor's name ... smart, huh?), and checked in. They called me back, had me put on the very comfortable, open back hospital gown (gosh, I love those), and had me lay on the bed. I was looking around the room, intrigued by the differences between here and the States. The room was quite warm, not like the typical operating or testing room in the States. The nurse put an IV in my hand, but instead of attaching it to a bag on a pole, she just attached a syringe. She told me, in Spanish, of course, that this would make me sleepy. Well, it's more like she acted out 'sleepy', but I got the idea. The doctor came in and talked to me (in English!!), telling me that he would be back when the medicine had kicked in. I could feel the medicine as it started to take effect and I started to fall asleep. But then they started the procedure and I got to watch the whole thing on the TV screen. I was definitely groggy because I don't remember everything that was said to me (though I do remember them talking to me and me asking questions ... it's a homeschool moment even when I'm drugged up and having a colonoscopy! Mom would be so proud!). I saw (and felt!) as the camera moved through my colon. It was pretty cool to see (not fun to feel, but can't have it all, I guess).

When the test was over, they rolled me into the 'recovery' room, which was really more of a passage between two rooms. It really had the feel of privacy to it, as the nurses passed through to the office and back. (Yep, love Peru!) As I layed there, Kathy came in and sat with me, and I mentioned yet again that I was STARVING! I guess I should've mentioned this earlier ... I hadn't been allowed to eat since midnight the day before ... that means, I hadn't eaten since Tuesday night and the colonoscopy was Thursday at 11am. I WAS HUNGRY! So, Kathy whipped out a bag of M&Ms and handed them to me. I was laying on the bed, still feeling groggy, snacking on M&Ms when the nurse walked in, saw the candy, shook her head and just sort of smiled. She didn't try to stop it or anything. That's my kind of recovery room!! (Way to go Kathy ... those M&Ms were a life saver!) She asked me to sit up and see if I felt dizzy. My head sort of spun when I sat up, so she had me lay down for a little while longer. Once I finally got up and got dressed, Kathy and I had to walk the specimens that he removed from my insides over to the lab for testing. I can honestly say it was a first having to walk my own innards to the lab. :-)

After we finished up with everything at the hospital, we headed to Chili's to meet up with our team for lunch and I enjoyed a nice, juicy BBQ Bacon Burger. But Sandi, that's not on your diet! That's right it's not ... but I figured after NOT eating for over 36 hours, a hamburger is just what I needed. (Hopefully my doctor doesn't read this blog ... I promise I'm back to the diet now!)

We don't have results from the colonoscopy yet. The doctor that performed it said there were two places where things did not look normal. Those are the places he took samples from and we are now just waiting to find out what exactly "not normal" means.

During our team meeting today, I was once again reminded of the verse that seems to be coming up so much during my time here.

2 Corinthians 12:9-10

"9But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. 10That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong."

As I was considering the frustrations of being sick and the frustrations of waiting to find out what might be wrong with me, I was reminded that I need to delight and boast in my weaknesses, for in this Christ's power may rest on me and then I will be strong. That's not really the first thing that comes to mind for me when I think about being sick. I tend to think more along the lines of 'man, this is annoying', 'gosh, I hate bland food', and 'why does something have to be 'not normal'?' But then I remember that I am called to rejoice in even these things because then will I be made strong.

So this is me rejoicing ... I know God is big and going to do great things even through me being sick. And, one day, I'm pretty sure I'll be telling my grandkids about Peru and God's faithfulness ... and how cool it was that I got to watch my own colonoscopy on a video screen. :-)

War Zones, Yellow Underwear, and Luggage ... Feliz Ano!

Well, this New Year's Eve has been an interesting one, that's for sure. The evening started with dinner at Mike and Kathy's with some friends and some of Kathy's wonderful cooking. I'm still on this bland diet, so it wasn't as exciting as I would've liked ... Kathy had set aside a little bit of everything before she seasoned the food, so I got all the sad little bowls of food with no flavor ... but I still enjoyed it. We sat around and chatted for a bit after dinner and then started watching football (that's the way to ring in the New Year, for sure!). As it started getting closer to midnight, however, the number of people shooting off fireworks began to increase. If there's one thing Peruvians love, it's fireworks. By the time Mike and Kathy were walking me home, just a little after midnight, it sounded like it was a war zone. If another country ever decides it wants to invade and/or bomb Peru, all they need to do is wait until New Year's Eve. No one will ever know they are being bombed ... they'll just think it's more fireworks. Crazy!!

Also, as we were walking towards my house, amidst the crazy fireworks going off everywhere, there were people out walking with their suitcases. I had heard, though I hadn't seen it until tonight, that Peruvians take their suitcases and walk around the block if they want to travel in the new year. Apparently, this midnight stroll around the block with an empty suitcase is good luck and will bring lots of traveling. Hmmm, now where did I put my suitcases?

Another tradition that I find incredibly entertaining is yellow underwear ... I'm not exactly sure of the significance of the yellow underwear, but I believe the idea is that you wear yellow underwear on New Year's Eve and/or New Year's day for good luck. Just think, all these years, that's what has been missing in my life. Well, let's see if this year is any better because of the yellow underwear. :-)

On another note, though still related, I had another moment today where I was immensely grateful that I don't speak the language well (I've had a few of these in the last few days). When I say I am grateful that I don't speak the language, I mean I am grateful that they can not understand what I am saying. As I was walking home tonight, right after Mike and Kathy had turned off to head back to their house, about a block from where I live, I saw a kid leaning out his window with a firecracker. It looked like a sparkler and I was really hoping that is what it was. But as he let it fly and it went whizzing just above my head, I discovered that it was not. He saw my momentary frustration with the fact that it had just missed my head and decided that screaming "Feliz Ano" to me would make it better. As I said "Feliz Ano, don't shoot your stupid fireworks at my head!", I realized that, if for no other reason, God has allowed me to struggle with this language so that I would not shout at people in words they can actually understand. I'm so glad God has a sense of humor ... and that He protects me even from silly things like fireworks.

Bland diets are BORING!

In my Christmas post, I mentioned that I couldn't eat a lot at breakfast because of my bland diet. I've been having some stomach problems lately and am in the process of trying to figure out (with the doctor's help of course) what is wrong with me. While we're trying to figure all this out, the doc has put me on a 'bland' diet. By bland I mean pretty much no taste whatsoever. The list of what I can't eat is rather depressing. Things I can not eat or cook with:

- fried food
- greasy food
- olive oil (or any other kind of oil)
- dairy products
- spices of any kind
- junk food
- raw fruits or veggies (which means no fruit juice)

Basically, I can only cook with cooking spray.

I've been eating a lot of plain bread, seasonless chicken, dry potatoes, boring veggies, butterless noodles, and regular oatmeal. Food without flavor just isn't too exciting. There has been, however, one saving grace through this whole ordeal ... BUTTER FLAVORED COOKING SPRAY! Who knew that one little can of cooking spray could be so exciting. Little did I know it in the beginning, but it has now become my best friend and my one shot at flavor for every meal. Haha Praise the Lord for butter flavored cooking spray. Despite the feeble attempts to flavor my food with cooking spray, I'm still missing out so much on flavor right now and missing some of my staple foods ... please tell me, how do people live without milk and cereal, and orange juice?? I think it's gonna kill me!! It's gotta so bad I'm actually considering using soy milk so I can have cereal again (did I really just say that?? SOY MILK????). Never thought I'd see the day, but desperate times call for desperate measures. And these sure are desperate times ... haha.

I have no idea how long this 'diet' will last, but I'm hoping it will end sooner than later! I don't know how much more of this I can stand! :-)

Oh yeah ... Christmas pics!

I forgot to include this link in the last post. This is my Christmas album, full of pics of the various Christmas activities throughout the last week or so. There are pics with Santa, our team Christmas party (complete with documentation of our newest Christmas party tradition), the ESL Christmas party, and the girls night out to see the Nutcracker Ballet. Hope you enjoy!

http://ufl.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2434159&l=bd78b&id=2045616

Christmas in Peru

Well, I survived my first Christmas in Peru. I must say that it was wonderful. I got to keep some family traditions and experience some new things. I talked to my family on Christmas Eve and got to listen to Dad read our traditional Christmas Eve stories: The Christmas Puppy, ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas, and the Biblical account of the birth of Christ. It was officially Christmas once that tradition was finished. The next morning I woke up to my Skype phone ringing. Ryan was calling to wake me up so we could open presents on the phone together. I got up, washed my face, and called them back. Of course, as is tradition, Ryan and I were sitting, chatting, staring at our presents, waiting to open them, all the while waiting for Kate to finally get up and get out of bed (she’s not a morning person :-). We finally got everyone around the computer and started opening presents. It wasn’t quite the same as being at home in the midst of all the wrapping paper, but it was a close second.

After opening presents, I headed to the Weavers’ house for breakfast. Breakfast consisted of all kinds of good food (most of which I couldn’t eat because of my ‘bland’ diet) and plenty of people. I hung out the rest of the day with the Weavers. Madison and I worked on some Sudoku games, played house, painted fingernails, watched movies, practiced her new ‘skip it’ toy, and really just had a good time. It was so nice just to be able to hang out and play. And really, who doesn’t love going outside on Christmas day to play with their new toys? I know I enjoyed it, even if they weren’t my toys. :-)

Christmas really was wonderful for me this year. I am so thankful that the Lord provided me with so much peace during this time while I was away from my family. I definitely missed them very much, but He was so gracious to remind me of what Christmas is really about. It’s not about opening presents or eating lots of food or even being with my family. It’s about His birth and ultimately His sacrifice. And I amazed at how much peace He gave me about the sacrifices I am making by being here and the things I am missing out on. He helped me to see how I can truly love and cherish some traditions and still be completely at peace a world away from all of them. It’s really all about His love and helping others to see that love no matter where I am.