Bacteria, protazoa and viruses

Well, the results are in. Micah doesn't have Giardia but another bacteria. Everyone's blood is fine. We have yet to produce a sample for LooneyTune's intestinal content - who cannot bring himself to eat and continues to have severe nausea/stomach pain AND, When Micah was at the Doctor's he found out that PrettyPinkPrincess' throat culture from a month and a half ago came out positive in several points! Nice of the office to let us know the results came in! Oh my. She had something (we can't read the little lab note) and they never let us know! Grrrr. Well, she might still have it so I suppose we will be taking a trip to see our doctor. Medical attention is beyond amazing here in PERU. It actually is enough to drive me crazy. I can't believe I actually had a baby here!!!!!! Our fourth, LittlestBubby is Peruvian/American, and was born in the clinic where we go for everything medical related. Besides the 5-6 doctor's offices, there are 3 hospital-like rooms downstairs w/ 6 beds and an operating room. (I wish I had pictures!) It really is the only clinic within 5 hours that is anywhere near N.American standards. When someone needs to go to the doctor, they cannot set an appointment; it is first come first served. The pediatrician's hours for example are 8am - 2pm and some days he works 5pm - 8pm and on other days 8pm- 9pm. (I'm not sure how anyone is supposed to keep track, but I digress...) So, depending on when you show up and how many people are ahead of you, you could spend over an hour with lots of other sick people in close quarters... just waiting to be seen!!!! We have tried to figure out when the least busy hours are and have had some luck. If we can manage to be first there in the morning that is usually best. But with 4 kiddies living in this less than developed city we take MANY trips to the doctor for various problems and spend WAY too much time at the doctor's office. We've tried to talk them into setting appointments, but unfortunately, they are right that the majority of the time it wouldn't work in this culture, where people are always running late, or changing without notice, etc, etc. Because Micah has been sick lately as well, he's taken the kids with him to be seen together, so I actually don't have much to complain about lately... I'm just not really excited to have to wait so long to find out with PrettyPinkPrincess what she had a month ago or might still have and possibly catching any bugs that we don't already have. Okay, there's my rant for the day. :) I should learn to be thankful for the trials in patience! Amy

Tuesday, May 30, 2006 - Untitled Comment

Posted by nsremom (71.32.254.253)

Whoa...not telling a patient about a positive lab test??? That's grounds for firing in the U.S. MAJOR mistake. What if it was serious? God Bless you guys for having a vision and devotion to our GOD that you willingly suffer such things. And you had a baby in Peru????? YOU AMAZE ME!!!!! and yes, pictures would be a great addition to this post.

Wednesday, May 31, 2006 - Untitled Comment

Posted by drewsfamilytx (64.234.0.103)

Praying for you, Amy! It's always harder when the children are sick...we'd be willing to suffer more, but hate to see the little ones hurting. Love, Marsha

Thursday, June 1, 2006 - Untitled Comment

Posted by Rebeca (70.56.19.205)

Oh, I can (kind of ) relate to the frustration (Except that I was single when I was in SE Asia and dealt with similar medical situations. I can imagine it though, with small children! Bless you all, and I do hope for quick recovery! Do you know about GSE? It really helped keep the stomach bugs at bay for me and my team who used it. Blessings, Rebeca

Wedding Pictures

Hah! I forgot to take my camera to the wedding! The wedding started at 7pm (they had put heavy emphasis on punctuality) and all six of us were ready, in the car, driving towards the church at 6:50... I was not about to go back for my camera! Oh well. But it was a most amazing and beautiful wedding. Very different from any I've ever seen. We sat around round tables during the wedding. It was set up as a very elegant reception while the ceremony took place up on the stage. It was very beautiful. Anyway, in the spirit of weddings... I thought I'd post another wedding picture from almost 10 years ago! If you click the picture you'll see a couple more... We haven't changed a bit! hahahahaha Have a great day! Amy

Sunday, May 28, 2006 - Untitled Comment

Posted by drewsfamilytx (64.234.0.103)

What great pics!!! At first I thought you were trying to be funny since it looked like a picture from a magazine! Oooolalaaaaa!!! :-) We celebrate 10yrs next month... it sure has flown by. We laugh and say that "we" have just always been...we're like an establishment! Love, Marsha

Monday, May 29, 2006 - Beautiful

Posted by JacqueDixonSoulRestES (216.241.130.245)

Beautiful Picture! I thought I would stop and say HI. Hope things are going well for you! Glad the illness is gone- or going... Take care! Jacque Mom of SuperAngel, jocelyndixon, rjdjohn316, and 4 more!

Monday, May 29, 2006 - lovely

Posted by Jimmie (222.209.176.58)

Wonderful pictures. I think that you DO look the same!

Monday, May 29, 2006 - Untitled Comment

Posted by drewsfamilytx (64.234.0.103)

Surely you jest about the guinea pig!!! I did pass on the seahorses and seals while visiting China, so I'd put guinea pig just beneath that category. Although if I were ever to visit, I'm sure I could stomach it so long as you don't tell me what it is. I draw the line at internal organs like brains, heart, liver or tongue though-- blech! blech! blech! :-p Love, Marsha

Monday, May 29, 2006 - I remember

Posted by Dad (66.93.38.148)

I was there ! Amy really looked better than in the pictures ! YES SHE REALLY DID ! (ask Micah) She even kept smiling when by my eror I stepped on her wedding dress and we both went down (to the floor) just before we went down the isle to unite with the handsome young man in the picture. Yup it has been a fast almost 10 years !

Doing much better

Thanks to Giardia medicine, which the Doctor prescribed being pretty sure that's what they had, LooneyTunes and my Dearest are feeling MUCH better (apart from one unpleasant symptom that remains which will not be described). We will get the results today to find out if that's what the rest of us might have without symptoms which I guess is pretty common.

School was sort of sporadic with so many sickies around. Since Thursday we have done all of our work for this week in three days! Wow. It was a lot. We read Tree in the Trail, An Island Story - Stonehenge, Trial and Triumph - Monica and Augustine, Baldwin's Famous 50 - Napolean and Maximilian, Burgess Bird Book - Eastern Kingbird, Redtailed Hawk and Great Crested Flycatcher, 4 Aesop's Fables, Just So Stories - Armadillo and Parables from Nature - The law of the wood. They did their narrations orally for all of these except Parables from Nature which they had a hard time comprehending this chapter.

I found two interesting bird sites while looking for our stuff:

http://www.birds.cornell.edu/AllAboutBirds/BirdGuide/

This is my favorite for pictures, description, and bird songs. You enter the bird name. There are many to choose from.

http://www.birds.cornell.edu/birdhouse/nestboxcam/

This one is an AMAZING web cam of several nests! Barn Owl, Osprey, Eastern Bluebird and several others.

I had attempted this entry a few minutes ago and as I went to save it... it didn't save! So, it was much prettier before, but now I have no time to fix it up like before. We are going to a wedding tonight, so that should prove to be an interesting cultural experience. I'll try to take some good pictures.

Amy

PS. We got a package today! We LOVE packages! Thanks Tabbal family! :)

Giardia

Well, we're pretty sure that my hubby and eldest child have Giardiasis. Their symptoms are diarrhea, severe stomach cramps and fatigue. Not fun. Please pray for us! It is possible that the rest of us could have it already or get it as it is VERY contagious. We are hoping that won't happen. Thanks for your prayers in advance, Amy

Wednesday, May 24, 2006 - Giardiasis

Posted by Dad (66.93.38.148)

Dosen't sound like fun. Hope you got medicine for your clan and your self. We will as always be praying for you all !

Wednesday, May 24, 2006 - Untitled Comment

Posted by ccmmum (58.65.139.25)

Been there. Done that. It is not fun! My prayers are with you.

Wednesday, May 24, 2006 - Untitled Comment

Posted by CTdittmar (24.145.215.42)

Praying you will remain unscathed and your dear ones will recover quickly. Your blog about the party was a wower. Those latin americans sure know how to throw a fiesta GRANDE! Five tiers of cake! Wild!

Thursday, May 25, 2006 - How odd!

Posted by EEEEMommy (209.158.248.20)

My mother-in-law was just telling me about how my father-in-law got this the day after my sister-in-law's wedding. (They'd been hiking the week before and it took a week to affect him!) I'd never heard of it before, but only he and the other Scout leader got it, none of the kids or any of the family! I will be praying and especially that noone else gets sick! My kids are passing around the stomach flu. Yesterday, I had two kids throw up on the kitchen floor within a minute of eachother. YUK!

Peruvian Birthday Party... cont'd

Saturday, May 20, 2006 - I'm a day late as far as when I thought I'd get to these pictures, and to make things worse, after I checked out the pictures on my camera, I realized I didn't really get any good ones! So, I'll tell you that there were 4 tables just as heavily laden as this one: Click the picture to see some more pictures of this event There was everything from taffy, bubba-licious, chocolate bars, cookies, popcorn, masa-mora (majorly sweet jello/jelly combo), jell-o, lollypops, animal cookies covered in chocolate, nuts, raisins and even meat sticks! Everything was on platters and circulated throughout the afternoon. At 7pm they served a full dinner to all the guests (there were quite a lot there). The party was supposed to start at 3pm. HAH! No one else arrived until 4:30 and then it went until past 8pm (we left at 8). What did everyone do? We sat around and ate! That's all that was on the schedule; that and to listen to very loud music. The kids all disappeared upstairs as the birthday boy had just received a playstation. I could NOT believe how rarely we saw them! Well, this is how they do it. I must say it seems more catered to impressing the adult friends/family more than the kids. It is the tradition of the birthday person to host such things as this. The birthday person always provides a meal for all their guests and well-wishers. Seems a little backwards from what I'm used to. I like the American way of treating the birthday person to have their special day work and worry free! Amy

Monday, May 22, 2006 - Sweet Party

Posted by Dad (66.93.38.148)

This party looks like a job for rollaids. Wow my grandson is getting so big !

Monday, May 22, 2006 - birthdays

Posted by Jimmie (202.101.79.5)

Amy, cool birthday! Glad it was a success. Birthdays are like that here too. The person having the party hosts the whole thing -- ususally a meal at a restaurant. And what I envision as a child's party always ends up with tons of adults. The idea of a children's party just doesn't work here. I'm going to try again this year. We'll see. Amy, please remember me. We're in the midst of moving. So stressful. Appreciate it, sister.

Monday, May 22, 2006 - Untitled Comment

Posted by Fiffi (196.2.124.251)

Hi there WoW....... that was some party!!! You are so right............ it is amazing how so many parties are put on, for the sole purpose of impressing the parents!!!!!! Thanks for sharing.....I really enjoy visiting your blog! Bye Fiffi

Peruvian Birthday Party, Part one

Birthday parties in this country are AMAZING... Tons of people, loud music, loads of cake, candy, popcorn, jell-o and MORE. I'll post pictures tomorrow. It is an amazing event. I just HAD to post tonight... but as my husband just got home early... I'll be gladly spending the time I would've spent blogging with him! Yay! So, I'll see you girls around! Amy

Saturday, May 20, 2006 - HI

Posted by SuperAngel (216.241.142.146)

I am just stopping at all my friends blogs. Hope you had a great week! I am having a contest too! Check it out! Take Care! Luv Kryptonite Angel SuperAngel *Rosie-Posie Iris Hardbottle* ~Luthien Alatariel Elanesse~ @M@ND@

Saturday, May 20, 2006 - I forgot

Posted by SuperAngel (216.241.142.146)

I got you from my mom's blog!

Really COOL nature study tool!

I thought I'd post a little more about the COOL online find I just discovered. You can customize a field guide to your zip code http://www.enature.com/zipguides/ To find all bird species in your area, or mammal tracks specific to what you'd find in your region, poisonous creatures or endangered species. On the bird option, after entering your e-mail and zip code you can sort the birds by family, by common name, scientific name or only those that have audio files of their songs. I LOVE THIS! Now wouldn't it be nice if I lived in the US so I could use it in our nature study? :) About that interesting feature to find the poisonous or dangerous creatures near you (includes: plants, insects/spiders, wildflowers, mammals, etc): Which would be helpful to identify if that spider on the wall really is dangerous or not! I wish this was available for South America! :) Speaking of spiders there are some very interesting pictures and descriptions - not for the faint of heart! Watch out those of you who live in Iowa for the brown recluse spider and the wood and black legged ticks! YUCK. Okay, there. Two posts in one day. That is to catch up for yesterday since I didn't post ;) Amy

Wednesday, May 17, 2006 - Untitled Comment

Posted by CTdittmar (24.145.215.42)

Sounds like you've had some wonderful educational discoveries lately. I'll have to check out this bird site. Our kids love bird study/ drawing. They would love it. Christa

Wednesday, May 17, 2006 - great recommendation

Posted by berrymorin (64.203.7.47)

Thanks for the website recommendation. You have a terrific looking blog.

My kids LOVE school!

Well, they love the stories/narration that we do with Ambleside Online! Both boys beg for Burgess Bird book every week! This is a book with Peter Rabbit getting to know the different birds that nest in the Old Orchard. -they are disappointed when I remind them that it's only scheduled every other week on the schedule we're using. Today the chapter was about a Least Flycatcher named "Chebec". While I was looking this up online, I found an absolutely awesome thing: a field guide matched to your zip code by National Wildlife Federation! Today we read "Tree in the Trail" chapters 17 & 18. This has prompted an interest in Indians, Wagon Trains, Santa Fe trail, Cowboys, Buffalo, etc, etc. Such great ideas for creative play. We also read George Wasthington and his hatchet from Baldwin's 50 Famous Stories. At first mention of George, GuerrillaGuy spoke up and said, "Hey, that's that famous war guy!" If something is somehow related to warfare or combat, I'm telling ya, my GuerillaGuy remembers it. We also read two Aesop's Fables - these aren't really anybody's favorites, but at least not a dreaded chore. As for independent reading and math they are not nearly as enthusiastic. But we trudge on because to my husband it is important that they keep up with the other kids their age. Our project for the week is to start our timeline book. I have to figure out exactly how we're going to do it, and then we'll work on putting the figures on for the stories/history that we've already done. Maybe I'll blog about that as we go along. Amy

Post A Comment!

Wednesday, May 17, 2006 - Untitled Comment

Posted by humpty (216.150.112.96)

Thanks for link to the bird in your zip and the Burgess Bird Book. I am going to buy the bird book. It looks great.

Oh the sedentary life!

I've been at the computer an enormous portion of the day. Although I did go and workout with Micah in the morning and we had a brisk walk through town (that was a highlight, I rarely get out these homeschooling days, except on our date nights - that is about to change...)

During quiet time I worked on trying to download a trial for Adobe PhotoShop Elements so that I could start my online digital scrapbooking class that a friend bought for me. After several hours of downloading (6 to be exact...we have a slow unreliable connection) and several failed downloads... I gave up. No, I didn't sit here that whole time! I have four small children... that's all I need to say, I knew you'd understand

Next, while the kids played outside with a friend who was visiting, I moved on to writing our monthly news/prayer letter. To read it, click here Micah watched the kids and did almost all of the homeschooling so that I could get these projects done for him, so, after that, for some time I edited some pictures of my Beloved: (no my Beloved is not a cow, you'll have to click the picture to actually see him, I think)

click picture to see full-size

Which of course having edited the pictures I had to put them up on the website, so, after the kids were in bed, I updated the website... (our online newsletters and prayer requests were current as of September of LAST YEAR! Yikes... so I was a little behind...)

And now I'm here. Since I have nothing else to do. So much alleged "spare" time! Whatever else could I do with myself but waste... oh, I mean... allot my valuable time writing on this blog?! Well, it hasn't consumed much, and now I will go and look for something tangible to do for the rest of the time before I go to sleep!

This has been another episode of "running on and on with my random ramblings." - I hope you don't mind!

Amy

Trip to Huanchaco

(Click the picture to see our other pictures from our trip) We got back last night from a 5-day trip to the coast. We went to discuss plans for the Bible Institute that we are helping to start. The second session of IBEM (Instituto Biblico de Entrenamiento Misionero) will be held in Trujillo in July. We looked at possible locations and talked about the website. Guess who the website's author is... drumroll... me. I feel so pleased. I asked a guy there how much he would typically charge for designing and writing a website, you know what he said?! ...around $200. So I figure my work IS worth something! My apologies to those of you who read our blog, that I haven't been posting in real time... you see, there is no such thing as wireless internet that you might log in to at Panera or your local library or whatever other wonderful place in the States that has wireless access for FREE. Matter of fact, in our hotel, they charge by the 1/4 hour for internet access. So, I was only able to read the most urgent e-mails. That's okay. We had a nice break from the norm. Speaking of Panera, anyone out there want to send me a cinnamon crunch bagel with hazelnut cream cheese? And, while you're at it, go ahead and send a Bare Burrito from Baja Fresh too - with extra red salsa! I'm drooling thinking of these places! Okay, so back to the stats of this last week: We stayed in an awesome hotel about 15min away. We kept up on school.... sort of. The kids did manage to get some math done each day, we read our AO readings for week (wk.8 of Y1 in 18 weeks). And they did a WHOLE BUNCH of nature study stuff. We found a crab and kept him prisoner for the week (very interesting), we saw lots of birds (I can't name any of them except one of them was a hummingbird of some sort - I'm new to this nature study stuff.), and the kids drew quite a few pages in their nature sketch books. FUN. There he/she is! What a beauty... LooneyTune's rendition of our friend crab And GuerillaGuy's version. Observation in action of a drowning cricket found in the pool - they fished it out themselves! This trip was so busy of a time. When we weren't in meetings or driving around looking at possible locations or whatever, we did manage to have quite a bit of fun. But, it is a 6 hour drive both ways, and one day while we were there, we were all in the car for 5 hours! So we're all glad to be back even if we ALL do miss the sunshine! We live at 2,750m above sea level in the Andes mountains, so although it isn't freezing, it definitely isn't sultry either. But we LOVE the green of the mountains! -Amy

Saturday, May 6, 2006 - Sounds like a wonderful time!

Posted by CTdittmar (24.145.215.42)

What adventures you have! It sounds like you are loving life and are encouraged. I will keep praying that God fills your cup every day. I would love to send you a yummy from Panera! It would probably be a little stale though,eh? Great post! Christa

Saturday, May 6, 2006 - Untitled Comment

Posted by nsremom (71.32.254.253)

Wonderful pictures. The memories your kids will have are priceless. Cool crab BTW. :)

Saturday, May 6, 2006 - Untitled Comment

Posted by drewsfamilytx (64.234.0.103)

Sounds like lots of learning by your kiddos-- at least stuff they will actually remember! I tried nature notebooks once, but my boys currently hate to draw. I think they just don't really know how and would like detailed instructions. So I am planning on teaching them a little basic drawing over the summer so we can actually do a notebook in the fall without crying...by both them and me! ;-) I couldn't imagine living in lush, green mountains...sounds lovely! Every day must be an adventure for you. And yes, your time is very valuable and has more worth than can ever be expressed in dollars-- so don't be discouraged, my friend! Love, Marsha

Monday, May 8, 2006 - I love the pictures

Posted by LadyPoet33 (65.100.253.249)

The pictures of the nature notebooks, and the joy on their faces. What fun you must have had. I always think that traveling as a family brings families closer together. You have some budding artists! LadyPoet33

Monday, May 8, 2006 - You are and active girl!

Posted by Fiffi (196.2.124.251)

Hi Sounds like you had fun ....but also accomplished much!! Well done! Another reason why homeschooling is #1... You can take the kids on such a trip and they would have seen you doing things for the Kingdom of God, as well as learnt a whole load on the journey!! Glad to have you back though!

Well, once again, I was not the winner...

...but please don't tell me that it makes me a LOSER!

Maybe I should have pulled out the whiny voice and said that I have never won a contest either!

Oh well. Actually, I should admit that I am grateful for these contests because they do give me something to write about!

See the winners of the contest at JenIG's blog...

Amy

10 random things about me

Jen IG is having another contest... Here is my entry: (since it's SO long, it is also my post for today!) 10 random things about me Well, I thought about researching what "random" really means... I mean, I want to get it right! But I'm not about to get out of my warm comfy spot to find the dictionary, and I don't feel like looking it up on the internet. Besides, I looked for the dictionary yesterday and couldn't find it... (BTW, I am known among my friends as someone who can 'randomly' go on and on talking about whatever is 'randomly' catching my attention at any given 'random' moment... I am terribly distractable, but it all comes from something... Something makes me think of something and that leads to something else... and so on) 1. There is a GIANT housefly flying around my head. I can feel the wind of it as it flies by. I abhor houseflies, especially the ones that are the size of a small bird. But WAY worse are the ones that are just about dead that will NOT stop landing in your hair! 2. I had braces when I was younger, but you wouldn't know it for how crooked my teeth are now. I lost one retainer, and the replacement fell out of my schoolbag and got run over by my mom's minivan, I was too embarrassed to tell my parents... thus the crooked state of my teeth. 3. I named our stateside vehicle, the Dodge Ram 12 passenger conversion van the "Tuttle Tank" because it is soooo big and it's green. It already had earned the name even before my 6yo son backed it into a 10 foot deep ditch (with his 3 siblings who were NOT belted in), the thing was sitting there and I could barely see it sticking up out of the ditch and after the tow truck pulled it out we drove it away. 4. I named our Peruvian Isuzu Trooper fairly the "Tuttle Trooper". We were stuck on the highway just after a huge landslide had happened. There were cars lined up on either side and my husband put that thing in 4x4 and you should have seen what we drove through! It was AMAZING. 5. I have played soccer in multiple countries. My team even played the Danish womens' national team (we lost). In Peru, the guys do NOT like to let the women play. Not long ago, I felt like a little kid as the LAST one picked for teams. Even as a grown woman, I cried. 6. I too am afraid of the dark, or at least of what may lurk there in the dark. It all started when I was little I would run as fast as I could from my room down the hall to the bathroom because I was deathly afraid that the Indians hiding in the living room would shoot me with arrows! 7. The aforementioned random thing is probably why I at the age of eleven had to stay in the hospital with a severe kidney infection. The doctor said it was from holding it when I had to go to the bathroom. My teacher came to visit me in the hospital... 8. When the nurse tried to put the IV in, she had to try 18 times! This was traumatizing and the cause of my phobia of all things medical... 9. I am VERY afraid of needles. So much so, that I HATE going to the dentist or the doctor or the lab or any other random person that might like to poke me with a needle. Because of my fear of needles I had all 4 of my children with absolutely no drugs or any interventions of any kind - in the hospital - believe me, the staff there were generally not 'natural friendly'. With my first they kept threatening me with pitocin and an epidural if I didn't hurry up and have the baby! 10. I met my husband when I was 12 and he was 13. He liked me, but was in love in the 'junior high' kind of way and thus was mean to me... we started dating when I was 16. We were VERY young when we got married and we would have it no other way. I was a (married) teen pregnancy with my first son! 11. I am from the Pacific Northwest and I REALLY love the rain. It's raining right now and as it usually does, it is probably dropping like a small waterfall into our living room. 12. I could go on and on as I am thinking of more things that are totally unrelated to anything else, but I think this is getting really long. Now, that was maybe not so random as I usually am, but that is my entry for this contest! Amy Cajamarca, Peru

Saturday, April 29, 2006 - Very Fun!

Posted by EEEEMommy (69.175.131.81)

Thanks for stopping by my blog and your encouraging comments! How cool to be in Peru! I'll have to read some more of your blog to find out why you're there. :)

Permanent Link Fix it Delete it

Sunday, April 30, 2006 - Untitled Comment

Posted by Rebeca (71.36.202.237)

It was fun to read your Random things! We don't have a TV at all! So I guess we missed out on Turn off Your TV Week.Now that I'm used to not having it I don't know when we'd find time to watch it. We do watch movies on our computer once in a while. And, did you know that today is Oatmeal cookie Day? I don't know who gets to declare these things! I liked you F themed newsletter! Blessings, Rebeca

Sunday, April 30, 2006 - Untitled Comment

Posted by momanna98 (69.211.48.123)

In your control panel on of the options is RSS feed. If you go into that you can turn it on. If it is on, it isn't posted on your site like most peoples are. I don't know how to get it if there isn't a place that says RSS feed.

It's Turn off your TV week

April 24 - 30 is Turn off your TV week - did you know there was such thing? - did you know there is even a website for this? (click the previous link) Is anyone doing this? What do you do instead to fill time? How much TV do you normally watch in your family? Here's an interesting anti-tv site: http://www.turnoffyourtv.com/ Here's a site that says the "grass-roots" campaign won't make a difference: http://buzz.yahoo.com/buzzlog/3694/buzz-on-turn-off-tune-out?fr=fp-buzz-title I think we should have a national turn off the computer week! Yikes, maybe civilization as we know it would come to an end! Okay, I'll settle for a once-a-month computer fast! ;) Amy

Thursday, April 27, 2006 - TV

Posted by homelearnin (66.141.254.241)

We don't watch TV, except the 700 Club at 2 p.m. each day if we're home - great news and features. We don't have cable. We have 2 computers set up in the family room, which are used most the time and 1 computer not on internet in the rec room. A computer fast at least once a month sounds good. jill

Thursday, April 27, 2006 - Untitled Comment

Posted by Anonymous (4.152.75.108)

I saw that I had a new friend and am SO EXCITED to read your blog! I can't wait to keep up with all that's goin' on! (((((HUGS))))) sandi

Thursday, April 27, 2006 - All we have is Bob Jones HomeSat

Posted by FivelittleZarcones (75.4.27.248)

If we turn the TV off- we stop schooling. We did away with "regular" TV some years ago (I can't remember how many)- I just remember my oldest (now 12) was very young and I was even finding most commercials offensive- so my husband and I decided it was easier to turn it off than to constantly screen it. Enjoyed your commentary- thanks for visiting me :) Monique

Thursday, April 27, 2006 - Untitled Comment

Posted by mistresninos (71.104.21.176)

I turn off my tv every day...sometimes several times a day. ;-) I wish my dh and I were on the same plain for this. He thinks anything is fine and I want to throw the tv out. :-D We're working on it. We used to have no tv. Now that was when life was fun. We played games every night after dinner. *sigh* the good old days. As for the computer...yes, the world would end as we know it. Shoot, we couldn't even go out to eat because none of the cashiers would be able to make change without one. hehehe

Dentists and Campesinos

Well, I began writing this last night when the kids were in bed, Micah was out doing missionary stuff, and the house was quiet... (...except for that occasional really loud annoying banging that is caused by the Sam the dog pawing the window to be let in). It is no longer quiet, but I needed to get this up this morning! My report on our weekend with a houseful of people. An Irishman, a French woman and 3 Peruvians all went to stay in the house of some Americans... No, wait a minute, that's not how it went... An Irish dentist named Tony, our friends Luis the Limeño and his French wife Anna-Laure and their two little guys, Peruvians Lizzy and Cecia, and Kate the Canadian plus our family of six Americans all in one house! Wow, that is quite the diverse multi-national group! Just see the pictures... Click the thumbnail to see my album... I tried to put this collage on here, but I think it must be about 5MB or something... so, you'll have to click the link! :) Here's my friend Lizzy and I taking down the patients' important information and a brief medical history before they got to have their teeth taken out. The dentist (Tony) wasn't able to bring ALL his stuff (I never realized how many tools dentists have!), so he wasn't able to do fillings but he was able to take them out! He took out the teeth that were just too rotten; and those were at least 75 in that one day! There were about 60 patients (I wish we would have counted exactly). And let me tell you, it was AMAZING. These people do NOT brush their teeth, and they suffer the terrible consequences... Many, many, many of them (including children), had such rotten teeth that the tooth part broke off at the root and that's all they had in their gums!! I could NOT believe it. Tony had to dig in and pull! Yuck. And you might not believe it, but seriously, the root part of the tooth is bigger than the part that you can see. I NEVER knew how seriously HUGE teeth were until now! There were only a couple faintings (the helpers- the patients were all fine), and one seriously close call (Micah had to run out of the room before he fainted). (Click picture to see Gallery of photos) Okay, well, I'll try to get more up on the Gallery if you'd like to see more (click one of the photos). I think that about does it for my summary. I guess that will fill my quoto of Peru pictures too... for awhile anyway. Amy

Wednesday, April 26, 2006 - Giving me goose bumps!

Posted by pajara (71.198.52.216)

And no not because of "dentist" pix. I looked at all the pix on the site. I love what you guys are doing there. The help you guys have been giving those people is amazing. God bless you all.

Wednesday, April 26, 2006 - fainting

Posted by Anonymous (67.189.88.12)

Micah, I think you got your athlithic abilities from your mom, but the fainting I think you got from me. HADAD

Saved by the BRAN!

NO, this is not a blog about digestive issues... I was literally saved by the bran when it came to breakfasts for my houseguests! So, the night before my guests arrived I made this HUGE batch of bran muffin batter and I'm telling you, I made A LOT of muffins each morning, (18, I think) and it lasted me the whole three days that my guest stayed! AND they're REALLY yummy! If you use my recipe, please post a comment! I may just have to publish my own cookbook someday... Here's the recipe... (as you can see, I did not anticipate scanning this when I wrote it! Yikes, my penmanship is terrible. I just copied it down quickly over the phone... it's been in our family for years...) Now, here's what I did to make it REALLY convenient. It didn't take up too much refridgerator space, and it was pretty easy for putting the batter into the muffin cups: Now you can store this bran muffin batter for like at least a week in the fridge. Thankfully for us, we have a store here that sells some imported grocery items. One of those is ALL Bran cereal! Yay. When I saw it, I bought 4 boxes or so, because we LOVE bran muffins! You never know if what they have in the store will be an item they'll be able to get more of or not, so when it's there you have to stock up! My mom has to send us powdered buttermilk though, because although there possibly is such a thing here, I have no idea where to look or even what to ask for in Spanish! I'd love to know if anyone knows this or has any ideas. I don't even know how to describe what buttermilk is in Spanish! Okay, I'll be posting several times today to catch up. Amy

Tuesday, April 25, 2006 - Untitled Comment

Posted by mistresninos (71.104.21.176)

Glad you had a nice visit and the muffins lasted the whole time. I'd make them but I'm fairly certain that Bran is "evil" in our house (my youngest son has Celiac Disease). re: your comment on my blog...you are a genius. Someone that resourceful should be a missionary. ;-)

Tuesday, April 25, 2006 - Untitled Comment

Posted by nsremom (71.32.254.253)

I started reading your post thinking it was a parallel to the woman with the oil that doesn't run out....LOL. I had no idea where your post was headed....thought it might end up on the miracle end...ha,ha. Ya know...3 days worth of Bran Muffins could be a miracle....

Wednesday, April 26, 2006 - What, no buttermilk?

Posted by KayinMaine (216.220.249.220)

I never stopped to consider the kind of everyday sacrifices missionaries make. Surely God will richly reward those of you who willingly give of yourselves in so many ways. BTW, I think your penmanship is quite neat!

Wednesday, April 26, 2006 - Homemade "buttermilk"

Posted by coffeemamma (70.49.136.58)

We don't buy it (even though our local grocery store does carry it) since I found this recipe in an old cook book of my mom's: For every cup of milk, add one tablespoon of lemon juice. Stir well, then let stand five minutes, stirring well again before using.

Thank the Lord for Power outages

Well, living in Peru, especially our city, Cajamarca, you have to get used to having all day power outages. Let me tell you how a power outage can affect our day. In keeping with DandelionSeeds Thorny Thankyou tradition, Let me just thank the LORD for the following!: First of all, I look at the clock on the microwave a million times only to keep on remembering that it doesn't work with no power. The kids' get their Math-u-see video jammed in the VCR since it doesn't come on I go to turn the computer on, but realize you won't be able to read AmblesideOnline e-texts online because the computer doesn't work without power and neither does the modem, and so you give up on doing 'school' because 90% of the stuff is online Just when I think I'll call my mom to tell her, HAPPY BIRTHDAY, and to get the recipe for bran muffins, I realize that the cordless phone takes power too After finishing cooking all the ingredients to make pesto for lunch I go to use the blender to make the sauce... and I remember I didn't buy a battery operated blender The washing machine doesn't work ...of course and neither does the water heater The cleaning lady can't vacuum the kids' CD players don't work After 6 hours, everything in the freezer is thawed out everything in the refrigerator is no longer frigid People constantly ring the doorbell and think we're not home or people who know that we're home wail away, pounding with all their might hoping that we'll hear them (Micah knocked for about 10 minutes while standing in the rain). In the morning, I asked the cleaning lady how long the power was expected to be out... she told me at her house it was out for TWO WEEKS! :) Amy

Thursday, April 20, 2006 - Untitled Comment

Posted by DandelionSeeds (209.81.100.196)

Praying for you... thank you for sharing. In Him, Amy

Thursday, April 20, 2006 - Untitled Comment

Posted by nsremom (64.233.172.35)

Oh man. 2 weeks without a refrigerator? That would truly stink. Literally as well as figuratively. The doorbell thing I can handle as well as the phone. But I like food. :) How is your husband doing with your missionary work? Is he gone most of the day? or evenings as well? Does he have a church building he goes to? I'm very interested in this. Emily

Saturday, April 22, 2006 - no power

Posted by Jimmie (222.209.219.38)

So if you had no power, how did you blog it? It's not still out, is it? Yikes! We use gas to cook and to heat our water, so at least we can cook and take hot showers when our power goes off. I think our water goes off more often that the power. But in the very hot summer, when too many people use AC, the power stations will shut down parts of the city's electricity just to conserve. You never know when it will be you. When it is, you try to find an airconditioned supermarket to shop around in. :-)

Tuesday, April 25, 2006 - Hmmm...

Posted by Phil (71.117.204.53)

Wow! 2 weeks without power! That's amazing.

Storage room/Guest room

Well, we're having **house guests! YAY! I'm really looking forward to it. However, if I'd had guests and they'd had to stay in the guest rooms as they WERE... I don't think anyone would ever come again! ...that is, IF they survived! I killed at least 20 spiders! But our guests may rest assured, I am sure that I got them all... I did a real thorough cleaning! **Our friends from Trujillo are coming tomorrow, he's from Lima, and she's from France, they're bringing their two little kiddies plus a dentist plus some girls interested in seeing our town. That makes 7 people, in 3 beds... hmm...that should be interesting! Okay, so here's the pictures of the downstairs guest room/storage/pantry: Check out all those empty storage bins and boxes!! Those are due to the fact that we move a lot. We will probably be moving again in July. Good thing I'm cleaning and organizing my house, just so that I can pack it up again, huh?! The good thing is I have a gigantic pile of stuff to 'bless' someone with, or throw away... less to pack! Amy

Thursday, April 20, 2006 - Untitled Comment

Posted by drewsfamilytx (64.234.0.103)

Wow, great job Amy!!! While cleaning for guests can be a lot of work, it is so nice to have the motivation with a deadline! We seem to get all of those little things that need to be done/fixed/cleaned/created whenever we have company. Come to think of it, maybe I need to invite someone over this weekend so I can get this mess cleaned up! heheheee... Have a great day! Marsha

Thursday, April 20, 2006 - Untitled Comment

Posted by DandelionSeeds (209.81.100.196)

These pictures are awesome!!! Good for you! My sister is blessing me by coming tomorrow to help me clean and try and find everything that was stashed from last week's showing of our house. Blessings, Amy

Saturday, April 22, 2006 - another awesome one!

Posted by Jimmie (222.209.219.38)

Wowee Zowee! Great transformation! Love those before and after layouts! Any guest would be glad to stay in there. But I do wonder where you'll put them all.

Saturday, April 22, 2006 - My Goodness!

Posted by Fiffi (196.211.157.57)

I am impressed! You really are taking the clean heart clean home quite seriously! But it is looking GREAT. Well done! I'll drop by soon.

Still no pictures on Peru... BUT yes, pictures of CHCH Challenge!!

Okay, I finished the kitchen yesterday, and it wasn't too bad. It is now organized. I meant to post the pictures last night, but I was exhausted! We had our date night last night. Very fun. Oh...I'm getting side-tracked... Here's the pics: Yes, those are dishes in the dishrack in the 'After' picture... come on, at least they're clean! I even washed the walls and the grease off the stove (let me tell ya, ...that was WAY more work than I thought it'd be!). Wow. I impress myself. I did this in about an hour and a half. I started before breakfast, and worked right through... and after breakfast, Micah did reading with the boys so that I could finish up. YAY! Mission Accomplished! Hooray for me! Amy

Saturday, April 22, 2006 - way to go!

Posted by Jimmie (222.209.219.38)

Looks great! Your kitchen is so big! Your refrigerator is so big -- normal size I mean. The refrigerators here are so tiny! I've finally gotten used to it, but it's still hard right before a big party. There's no room! So glad you have a nice place to live. Oh, and for the record, dishes that are clean still look good even if they are not put away!

Tuesday, April 25, 2006 - Untitled Comment

Posted by momanna98 (69.209.255.79)

Wow, i can't believe you did it so quickly. What a cute kitchen. It looks like a pic from a magazine. I have looked at Ambleside (sp) and I really don't get it. Am I missing an explaination page? Do I start at the beginning? Or at grade level? Maybe you could write a review... ;-) heheheh I was just skimming through it. There were a lot of words I didn't feel like sitting here a reading... (sheepish grin)

Tuesday, April 25, 2006 - Untitled Comment

Posted by momanna98 (69.209.255.79)

Oh, and you should put your rss feed on your site so I can link to you and keep up with your blog better....

Tuesday, April 25, 2006 - Amy it's beautiful!

Posted by PreschoolersandPeace (66.42.86.112)

All that light! You did a really nice job. When I stand back and admire my work after a big project like yours, I call it "work gazing":)

Thursday, April 27, 2006 - Response about my kitchen and other things...

Posted by amada (200.121.135.115)

Jimmie: Yes, our kitchen is big... our whole house is big (more to decorate, more to clean - the grass is ALWAYS greener on the other side!). Our fridge is one of the biggest models you could buy at the time. And it is okay. I sometimes still wish I had more room! Okay, it might have been like an hour and 45min, but it was super quick considering. But I always am amazed at how much I can get done when I am not distracted by a million things! momanna98: The kitchen DOES look nice, but in real life it looks nothing like a magazine, honest! I will be commenting about Ambleside for you soon! PreschoolersandPeace: I love to "work gaze" so much so that I'd rather gaze than work! Amy

Today's goals

Today the goals are: to catch up on CHCH Challenge in my kitchen. Bathroom are totally done already as I have help doing them. But the kitchen... those before and after pictures should be fun! to do really well on school- accomplishing everything not to be on the computer at all (everything computer related should wait until tomorrow)- that's why I'm here now SO early... Gotta run! Amy PS. Jimmie's inspiring me again with her great pictures... have a look! I've gotta catch up with this girl and get some pictures up from Peru... but that will have to wait for tomorrow, I'm taking a computer fast until evening, at least!

Tuesday, April 18, 2006 - try to catch up, girl

Posted by Jimmie (222.210.202.254)

Blog, blog, fast as you can, you can't catch me I'm the photobucket man (or girl!) LOL! I can't wait to see the pictures!

Tuesday, April 18, 2006 - YAY for you!!

Posted by JacqueDixonSoulRestES (216.241.137.216)

Great job on getting the bathrooms in order! I hope you accomplished your other goals, too. I know I want to be more consistent in our schooling, too. It is hard to get it all done when the pc takes so much time, huh? Many Blessings and Teachable Moments! Jacque

Wednesday, April 19, 2006 - computer fast

Posted by homelearnin (208.190.202.245)

That is a good thing to call it - I need to do those often. How nice to learn about your family and the girl with one child in China. Jill

Wednesday, April 19, 2006 - missions

Posted by esperanzavallero (69.19.14.28)

how fun to meet you, I am always on the lookout for other missionary homeschoolers, especially if they also have a big family. We are only in Rosarito, the worst of both worlds, expensive, like the U.S and so dirty. The people though are lovely and I really enjoy spending time with them. For Him, Jennifer

Wow! What a weekend!

We've had an amazing weekend starting early Friday morning. Our church had a couple's retreat over Friday-Saturday in a town 1 1/2 hours from home. We had to drive there in the morning and back in the afternoon because we couldn't find anyone we could trust to watch all 4 four of our little ones overnight... but that was okay with me. I liked the drives alone with my favorite guy. I must comment on just how amazing it is to try and leave with a group of Peruvians for any organized event... 7:30 am is the scheduled time of departure. Everyone met at the church in order to leave/travel together. Knowing that no one EVER leaves at the appointed hour, we pulled up at about 8:15. You might think that amazingly late, but believe me, we were early. We ended up leaving at 9:30!! We waited for someone who never did show up and then of course a couple of cars still had to fill up on gas. We finally did leave but made numerous stops along the way. A trip that normally takes 1 1/2 hours took 5 hours! We made it to the town just in time to turn around and come back! Well, patience is a virtue... Besides, I really did enjoy the time I was able to read my Bible, read the CHCHChallenge stuff and read some homeschooling articles I'd been wanting to read. All that and was able to have quite a bit of meaningful conversation with my man. YAY! So as a result of this weekend's conversations, we've decided: 1.) to work on patience with our kids and each other, 2.) putting some constant effort into changing the habits we have in regard to our attitudes, and 3.) making our home more joyful. I'm really excited about our plans for change. I hope you all had a great Easter! He is risen! Yes, He is risen, indeed!! Amy

Monday, April 17, 2006 - RSS

Posted by Jimmie (222.210.203.185)

Thanks! I've subscribed with Bloglines to your blog. I appreciate your help with that. I'm new to it all myself. I'm just learning as I go. Glad you had a good Resurrection Day. We did too. Very meaningful.

Monday, April 17, 2006 - Allelu.. Yes, He Has RISEN!

Posted by illiteratepoet (148.63.59.99)

Hi Amy, I tried to post a quick comment after you left a message on my blog but the site was not cooperating. I just wanted to share that I love the welcoming feel of your blog and the website and LOVE the pictures of the kids. :-) May God continue to uplift and encourage you in what you are called to do. Blessings, Annika

Monday, April 17, 2006

Posted by mistresninos (64.60.10.10)

Ah, good ole manana land. A concept no American can grasp until they've been there. I was in Guatemala for a short term mission...what a different world. I'm glad you had a good drive with your dh. You have a great attitude. I pray you will be blessed by the decisions you talked about here...I think these are all things we could all work on. Happy Easter. God Bless. Sara

Monday, April 17, 2006

Posted by nsremom (71.32.254.253)

A couples retreat sounds heavenly. Getting to sort out things that have been percolating in my brain. Even 5 hours with just your husband had to be great.

Tuesday, April 18, 2006

Posted by Fiffi (196.2.124.251)

Hi ! You seem to have the exact same problem in Peru as we do in Africa. We call ours "Africa Time". You do get used to it... you have to, or you only frustrate yourself! Good to hear though that the weekend was enjoyable! Thanks for visiting me!