Tuna

So, do we have isles at the grocery store in the states that are dedicated to just tuna?? I don't remember having THAT much Tuna to pick from. Here you can find just about any kind of tuna you can dream of. Large chunks, small chunks, in water, in oil, in light oil (I didn't know there was such a thing...) etc... I'm awed by the isle of tuna, but I guess in the states we have whole isles of cereal. Each country has their thing. I'm still finding out if tuna is really Chile's thing. But they certainly like variety.

An example of a mixed breed here

When searching the adoption pedigree website for a dog, we ran across this picture of "lucky." Doug response was, "WHAT IS THAT?!?! Lucky, wasn't so lucky was he?!?!?" As many have learned from Susan Boyle from Britain's got Talent, never judge someone by the outside, only their character!

Sights, Sounds, and Customs Series Volume 3

Imagine yourself entering a large trafic circle in a city of 6 million. There are cars going everywhere! When should I pull out into this mess?? Wait, the lights about to change to red over there, so then I'll get my shot! Ok, the light's red now, these cars will pass and I'll go. The cars pass and yet I'm still waiting, and waiting. Waiting for what you may ask?.....A horse and ox cart. Yup A HORSE AND OX CART! They weer on the inside lane of the trafic circle and had to move over 3 lanes to exit the trafic circle. I don't know how these drivers and horses can handle the rattling of nerves. I don't like a trafic circle in a car and you certianly won't see me in a cart going around one anytime soon!!!

Cleaning Up

When moving into someone else's house, or what used to be someone else's house, there are changes that have to be made and things that need to be done. Our yard, in comparison to US yards, is VERY SMALL! But here, it is an average sized yard. However, our yard seems a bit bigger now, as we have begun the clean up process of overgrown trees, TOO MANY vines, and put up a small fence to keep the dog that we are doggysitting in the back yard.

Among these projects was the "small" clean up of the HUGE palm tree in our back yard. It took Doug about 10 hours in total to cut off all the dead palm frawns and later today, we hope to go into the neighbor's yard to safely reach the last 2 or 3.

Doug hidden up in the tree as he started the project.

Doug about to finish "trimming" with a view of the last 2
he can only reach from the neighbor's yard.

Doug on around the 16th rung of the ladder smiling all the way.

One thing no one told us before he started, was that these dead palm frawns are GREAT for mice and ant nest. At one point he had ants crawling all over him!

Finally Home!

While in language school in Costa Rica, we met numerous missionaries with various evangelical missions going to various countries. One such couple with the IMB (Southern Baptists) was truly a blessing to so many on campus during language school. This post from Jenny's blog (http://jennymclamb.wordpress.com/) really hit home for me, and I can't put it any better, so I thought I'd share her thoughts!

TWO YEARS AGO tomorrow (April 3) we drove away from 305 Jackson Street in Salemburg, North Carolina!! I cried as we drove away from that beautiful house, where Luke and Elijah were both born, where Caleb and Luke both took their first steps, where Caleb and John would sit outside picking pecans having “Daddy Time,” where we heard God clearly tell us that He meant “now,” the empty lot/ side yard where I had pictured grandkids coming to play one day, . . . and we headed to the parsonage to live for one month before our training started in Virginia!

And it began . . .

Once we are officially in our new house, I want to write a post to show the crazy timeline of these last 2 years, all the places we’ve lived for little fragments of time!

I’m feeling real reflective as we’re getting ready to FINALLY “start.” This is it- this is what we’ve prayed about, planned for, imagined, tried to picture, . . . My friend, Keeley, wrote about getting settled on the field and being ready to then leave their house to go out to do the work! Which sounds ironic, but I so totally get it! I can’t wait for the same thing- to hurry up and move in so we can “get after it.” Almost constant transition really sets you up to be quite inward- focused- “How are the kids? Am I ok? Is our marriage still hanging in there? Where do we buy paint? . . . . ” I can’t wait to lift our eyes and look OUT and be free to really dive in to what God has asked us to do here in Lima . . . and then, at the end of the day, come HOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sights, Sounds, and Customs of Chile Series Volume 2

In the states we say that the store is open 24/7. Well here they post 8/24. They include today in the week. So including today, it is like there are 8 days in the week. Thankfully there are still only 24 hours in a day!

"Our" Church

During prefield we visited churches and were looking forward to finally getting to the field where we could settle into a church and become an integral part of the work. However, upon arriving on the field, we were told that we have to visit almost all of the churches here. We will be working towards that, but we are going to settle down a bit. God has been directing us, since before we even got here to Trinity Baptist Church in an area called La Reina. It has a new national pastor that we can assist while getting adjusted and every time we've been there, the people ask us if we can make that our church home. This church seems uniquely suited to us and what we can offer.

In the recent past the church had lost its pastor of over 30 years, so some of our fellow missionaries, the Rubin family, took over and provided stability for the church as they searched for a pastor and called Pastor Christian. Pastor graduated from our seminary in December 2008 and is excited to guide the church. Since the Rubins are leaving for furlough and the church still looks to them for leadership, it is a great time for "the changing of the guard." Having Pastor Christian take the main leadership role, with Mark Rubin gone, we can provide "strong backup," but not be looked to by the people as the main leader.

This past Sunday was the Rubin's last Sunday before furlough so there was a nice mention and prayer during service and after a luncheon of seafood soup, of which Doug had 2 helpings!

Mark saying goodbye to the church.

Mark holding Julieanna while Jenn said her goodbyes.

Doug's first or second bowl of soup, I'm not sure which.

Mark with his other little girl. Kendra will be SO much bigger the next time we see her. Caleb will miss his 2 buddies, their 2 boys, Micah age 5 and Mattias age 7.

Celebrating Hannah's Birthday

Just before Hannah's birthday, Doug and I debated about how to celebrate. Since the kids don't have many friends yet because we've only been here a short time, and because we had just moved into our house, we didn't really think a birthday party was feasible, so we gave Hannah a few options. One of those options was a trip to the beach. That's what she chose.

Soooo this past Saturday we headed out with some fellow missionary friends to the beach. It's only about a 1 1/2 hour drive to the coast and we took a picnic lunch. Hannah had SOOO much fun! The other family has 6 kids with one more on the way, so our kids fit right in there with them and they had a BLAST!!! Hannah was SO HAPPY and truly enjoyed her birthday celebration and it was a GREAT family day!!

The Seaweed here is LONG!!!

Sights, Sounds, and Customs of Chile Series Volume 1

I've been meaning to post these thoughts for a few days. There are different sights and sounds here than any other place I've lived. I think as I come across a new one, I'll post it in the next "volume." So here is "volume" 1.

One of the first things one realizes when living in Santiago is that there are almost 7 million people here in this city, but Doug and I joke that there are a trillion dogs! People, just like in the states, LOVE dogs! However, there is no such thing as a dog pound or dog catchers, therefore dogs run wild here. We learned quickly in Costa Rica that stray dogs are actually less harmful than dogs who are seeking to protect their own territory. Stray dogs are often ignored and they simply ignore you.

However for me the sight of stray dogs isn't a new sight, but the types of dogs are a new sight. For instance the other day, I saw a large german shepard's body on a pair of little beagle legs. A couple of dogs were certainly creative one day!

For "Spanish"/Culture tutoring, I am reading a book called "Chileanismos," or chilean sayings. One of the things Chileans say when it is EXTREMELY HOT outside is...."Wow! It's raining grilled ducks. I have NO IDEA what sense this makes, but that's the phrase they use! Since we are heading into winter here, I doubt I'll have any ducks land on my head any time soon!

As we "run" across any other interesting sights, sounds, and customs, I'll post another volume!

Happy 7th Birthday Hannah

Last Wednesday was Hannah's birthday! I can't believe she's 7!

She is doing well adjusting here and loves our new neighbor girl who is 9 years old named Almendra (Almond - as in the nut).

Spanish Classes

One of the benefits for us of homeschooling, is that I have been able to arrange Spanish classes for Caleb and Hannah every Monday and Friday with a national named Julie. We all call her Tia Julie, or Aunt Julie. She has taught other MK's and is doing a GREAT job already with our kids.

Doug and I are also being tutored in Spanish. We have tutoring each Tuesday and Thursday afternoons with a newly wed couple that are Seminary students at the ABWE started seminary. Although we only started our tutoring just yesterday, it has already been hit or miss because my tutor was ill yesterday and Doug has an ABWE meeting tomorrow which means he'll have to miss. However, we are so thankful to continue or Spanish studies and know that this process will help both of us!