Back to School!!

So after our 11 day huelga, and a week of spring break, we are finally back to school!!  I get to be back in class with these lovelies:)

One of our students Jacob headed to the states during the time off.  He will be finishing out the school year there while his Dad teaches a class in the states.  We are going to miss him alot!  

Liam is also back to school though his back to school is for a whole new school year!  He ended Kinder 4 at Colegio Cristiano Americano Peruano at Christmas and is now headed back for Kinder 5.  I'm really excited he will actually be having the same teacher.  Miss Marta is wonderful with him.  I'm looking forward to him having a great year!

The moms come to Peru!

What started with a random text..."When's your spring break?"  "Why?"  "Oh, we're plotting."
ended in an awesome surprise for the kids.  BOTH grandmas traveled to Pucallpa!  The moms decided to come down and spend Spring Break with us.  It was especially exciting for us since my mom swore she would never leave the country.  The grandchildren must have won out because for months we have been making plans for their arrival and working very hard to keep it a secret.  Our kids, we have discovered, are oblivious because we all slipped several times and they still never figured it out.  Everything was planned perfectly...and then...BOOM...the city decides to have a huelga and shut down.  The day before our moms were to board their flight for Pucallpa, I was ready to break down.  "What if they shut down the airport?  What if they get mobbed by protestors?  What are we going to do here for 10 days unable to get out? What on earth is my mom going to think of our home here amidst all this craziness?"  Hallelujah our God is not a God of worry but a God of control.  After hours of agonizing over ever possible situation, I finally surrendered it in prayer, knowing this was bigger than me and I could not bring a solution.  I completely laid it down at the Father's feet.  The morning of their arrival, I walked around our base and despite the honking horns of protestors outside our gate, I felt flooded with peace.  God didn't bring an end to the strike but He completely put His hand over their whole visit.  Both moms walked to the base from the airport with Mike and a mission team from Georgia that was also arriving and as they walked in the gate and my kids finally recognized who they were, Ella burst into tears.  In the first time in almost a year, I got to hug my mom!

Our week together was beautiful.  We snuck out during truce hours to do a quick drive by of the town and show my mom the center of Pucallpa, the port and where Liam goes to school.  Mostly we just stayed in though and enjoyed each other.  Then on Saturday, hours before they declared a stop to the strike, we were able to board a plane for Arequipa and spend a few days away resting and immensely enjoying Grammy and Nanny.  It was an incredible visit and I'm so glad it went the way it did!

 Enjoying a tiny bit of the jungle

 The ladies touring Santa Catalina Monastery in Arequipa

 Me and my honey...finally got him in front of the camera:)

 Out on the town

 We got to visit Dennis and Ruth our dear friends in Arequipa, and their "kids"

 Don't get to see many of these guys in Pucallpa!

 The journey back home might take awhile

Our stories

We have been studying biographies in class.  During the huelga my kids worked on their own autobiographies with these cool projects.  Along with sharing about their families and the homes they have lived in, they each drew a place that was special to them and told a memorable story.  I love this look at their lives from their point of view...I hope you do too!

On strike

Well...we are on strike.  At least the city of Pucallpa is.  Citizens here are protesting high taxes and other things with an organized "huelga."  Stores are shut down except during truce hours from 4am-8am.  Protestors have roads blocked so if you are out driving, your tires may be punctured.  And four or five times a day, long lines of motos drive by honking and waving their protest flags.  As long as you act smart and play by the rules of the huelga, there really isn't any problem.  We stocked our freezer last week when we received warning this was coming and have just stayed in.  But we worry for most people here who live day to day and can't stock a freezer or get out to work to earn money for their daily groceries. 

School is taking place via the internet.  We have been emailing assignments to our kids.  These two ladies live on the base with their teacher.  So since I miss being in the classroom, and here they are, school is in my dining room this week.