Summer of 2012

Never a dull moment.

That appears to be our life, or maybe just life with kids, or maybe just life overseas, or maybe just life in general.

Last you heard from us we had two kids with broken left arms. Those have since healed, well, almost. Gabe will hopefully finish his physical therapy this week. Gabe ended up needing a cast for 6 weeks and Eliana had one for just 4 weeks. During that time, we were wonderfully distracted by 4 cousins and an aunt and uncle (Ryan's sister Andrea and her family). As soon as they arrived we headed to the beach for a week. Hmmm….arms in casts at the beach?? Definitely not ideal, but we'll take it. We had a wonderful time connecting, playing, laughing, spotting dolphins, eating good food, jumping waves, exploring and generally great cousin time. ( oh, and three of the Smedes came down with what we think was strep while at the beach.)

We made it back home to Lima on Christmas Eve. The kids eagerly woke up Christmas morning and opened up stockings together. It was so special to get to celebrate Christ's birth with family. Unfortunately 3 of us received an unwanted Christmas present…sickness. Gabe, Ryan and Andrea could barely get off the couch most of the day. This lasted for a few days. Those of us who were healthy did a lot of trampoline bouncing (well no broken arms on the trampoline), playing cards and other games. As we reflect on our time with the Giesbrechts we smile. It was such a great moment to share our lives with them and hear their observations on life overseas. We very sadly said good bye to them on December 29th.

During the following week we discovered that both Toby and Ryan had staph infections and that Eliana had some other health concerns including blood in her urine which required extensive testing and a lot of anxiety. While the test results included possibilities of a chronic kidney condition, it currently looks like it was a random infection that is appearing to heal itself.

Most of the summer days we have spent around the house relaxing (those who were sick or with a broken arm just wanted to lay around), staying away from people (not wanting to contaminate anyone else), and reading…lots of reading. The best thing about this time is that all our kids have grown leaps and bounds in their reading levels and interest .

In the middle of January we welcomed Angela's parents and sister, Stacey. Again, having family was a wonderful distraction from the weight of sickness. They arrived the week casts were removed! We headed south to Paracas where we stayed for a week. It was was beautiful weather and we had fun by the pool and relaxing. We also go to take them to Hucachina a natural oasis in the middle of the sand dunes. From their we went on a dune buggy ride and sand boarding. We appreciated the time to reconnect with family and share our life overseas with Stacey as this was her first time visiting us. We were sad to see them leave the last day of January.

Now we are already into the middle of February and school is quickly approaching. On March 1st the kids head back to school.

As I write, Ryan is in the Dominican Republic participating in meetings with the International Council and board of directors of FH. This council is a group of FH staff from around the world who provide advice and a diversity of perspectives to FH's board of directors. He comes home on friday and the following day we welcome a team from our home church, University Presbyterian Church as they come alongside the community of Catorce de Febrero.

I hope you stuck with me through this extremely long post. We've had a lot to share about God's goodness in the midst of some trials.

Thanks for your love and support!