The little things

Today, I did something I have never done before. And it was extremely moving and beautiful to me...

I had run into Walmart this afternoon with my two littlest ones, for just a few minutes to make an exchange. As I left the store and pulled out of the parking lot, I passed a woman walking on the side of the road, loaded down with several bags of groceries. She was headed the same direction I was going, but she was on the opposite side of the street from me.

Her hair was covered with a head scarf, but lots of gray strands were coming loose, blowing in the wind. And her shoulders look stooped, either from her age or her load. As I drove past her, she looked over at me and smiled. That little voice in my head said softly, "give her a ride." I was still driving, so I bit my lip and looked in the rearview mirror at her again as I kept going. My rational side started in with all the reasons I should not pick up a total stranger and give her a ride. Camille was almost asleep and needed to be home soon for her nap. Natalie was telling me a very important five-year-old story that I was having trouble focusing on.

That little voice persisted, without arguing back with my many reasons, but just saying softly, give her a ride. I had gone three quarters of a mile, down the hill to the four-way stop sign. I finally answered the voice, almost whispering "OK" out loud as I turned the car around.

By the time I got back to her, she had set down her bags, and was rubbing her wrists, like they were maybe hurting. There wasn't much room on the side of the road, but I pulled over, put my hazard lights on, and motioned to her with a shrug, and pointed at my passenger seat. She nodded emphatically, and started gathering her bags. As she approach the car, I rolled down the window and asked, "Can I give you a ride somewhere?" She nodded again, then said, "Si!!" and started rattling off a big long sentence in Spanish.

I nodded politely, and was trying to decipher any words I might be familiar with, but none of it was making sense in the least. I used my broken Spanish to tell her I really don't understand much, then in English said, "but I'm happy to give you a ride," and gestured for her to get in.

She opened up the sliding door of our minivan, and started to put her bags of groceries on the floor by Natalie's feet. What I had thought was maybe three or four bags, was more like eight or nine! I have no idea how she was carrying it all as well as she was! When she had unloaded them, she climbed in the front seat beside me, with her purse on her lap.

She started talking to me in Spanish again, and my whole heart wanted to understand her. Her smile was so sincere, and her disposition so cheerful and bright, despite what looked to be a hard situation. I just smiled and nodded, and tried to answer with the few Spanish direction words I can remember. She directed me into a nearby neighborhood, where I drove straight for nearly a mile, then turned on a side street for another quarter-mile before stopping at a small but nicely maintained house on a corner... It would have been a long, windy walk.

She got out, opened the back door, and unload her groceries into the driveway beside her. Then she leaned back into the car toward me, and asked if she could pay me some money. (At least, that's what I gathered?) I shook my head no, and smiled.

At the same time, that little voice in my head again said to me, "YOU give HER money." The truth is, I almost never have cash with me, and if I do, it is buried in some odd pocket in my purse or wallet somewhere. So I was struggling with what to do about this little voice, when it added, "in your coat pocket."

I put my hand into my pocket, and pulled out a $20 bill! I stared at it and amazement for a moment, having no idea how it got there, then I reached across the seat and held it out to her. "Para ti," I said. "For you." 

She looked at it, then looked up at me. She reached out to take it, then wrapped both of her hands around mine. When she looked up at me again, there were tears in her eyes, and in mine. "Thank you," she whispered in very broken English.

"Merry Christmas," I said.

"Merry Christmas," she said back to me, again in broken English.

She closed the door, and I backed the car out of her driveway, and then I really started to cry. Yes, I had done something kind for a stranger. But that wasn't the only reason I felt so moved, so touched; It was that undeniable feeling that I had been on the Lord's errand, helping to answer another sister's prayer today. That little voice was real, and powerful, and something that I often hear but don't always stop to listen to. I'm so glad I listened today.

Lost and Found

Last Sunday evening, just over a week ago, I took my wedding ring off before bed. My finger was feeling a bit achy, and swollen, so off came the ring. I left it on my bedside table, and meant to put it back on first thing in the morning. But I forgot! All day Monday, I was without it. And didn't even realize it until the next evening, as I was headed to bed. I reached for it, and it was not there!

I immediately pulled out the night-table from the wall, looked under the bed, down in the drawers, and all around on the floor beside the table. It was gone!

Brian came and looked with me for a few minutes, then we both headed to bed. I said a very fervent prayer that night that I could find it soon. But it did not surface the next day. I asked all the kids if they had seen it, and no one seem to know anything about it… Except Camille. I asked her if she had seen mamma's ring? And she quickly ran to our bedroom and looked on the table, where I had left it. Not good, people. When the one-year-old knows where it was, it's a pretty sure bet she's the one who took off with it! And... It could be absolutely anywhere!!

I looked in all the garbage cans, under all the couches, cleaned out the toybox, and looked in all her little hidey-holes, handbags, etc. I even got out some gloves, and emptied all the trash from our big garage trashcan, and carefully (painfully) sorted through it, because that little one does sometimes throw things away. No luck. I invited the kids to join in the search, and offered a reward of $10, to whoever found it. They looked for like five minutes, then gave up. Samantha said, "but if Camille had it, that's like searching for a needle in a haystack!

All week long, I felt like I was kind of going crazy. I was afraid to vacuum, in case I accidentally sucked it up. I was imagining that I saw it everywhere – – in every drawer, closet, crawlspace, under every bed… I practically dove under the coat hook bench by our front door, thinking I saw it one afternoon. But it was just an old dried out corn kernel from our Thanksgiving decorations. Rats!

I was mentioning it in every prayer, and asking Camille about it again, at every diaper change: "Camille, do you know where mommy's ring is?" Her typical response, after the first day: "Gone."

I shed some real tears over this one! And said some very sincere prayers, I'll tell you! And then, yesterday afternoon… I found it!! I wasn't even really looking for it at the time. But it was in our piano room, against the window, underneath the curtain. I was moving around a basket of books, trying to make room for a tote of Christmas decorations to fit by it – – and there I saw it, just sparkling up at me as I had imagined all week long!

I screamed out loud, and started shaking and crying a little bit. Then I put it on, and ran upstairs to show Brian! I keep looking at it, all day long, feeling so grateful for it and all it symbolizes!

It's interesting to me how much more meaningful it feels to me right now, after having lost it for a week. Yes, it is sparkly and beautiful. And it is by far the most expensive thing I personally own and wear. But the real reason I treasure it is because it symbolizes the beautiful covenants, promises, and blessings of my life with Brian and our little family life together. Looking at this ring right now, I feel a renewed sense of gratitude for these sweet relationships in my life. And in a way, I'm grateful for this lost-and-found experience, even though I'm most especially grateful that it is found!! :-)

More Peruvian Adventures

When Brian and I returned to Lima, we had a couple of days of sightseeing to ourselves, and some time with Randi and Saul. We figured out their public transport system – – the bus! I took this picture out the bus window, because the sign says Alicia, and I think I intended to send it on to Alicia or something? :-)

We also found our way to some very nice dessert shops around town...

Here is Brian, getting ready to take a bite of a really tasty lemon cream cake. We shared it, along with some really strong hot chocolate. Our main motive was to use their Internet connection, but a little dessert never hurt anyone. :-)

I always love seeing a good street performer. This guy on stilts was pretty talented!

These shots below are of the central plaza in Lima. They had some really cool old style architecture surrounding the Square...

From the plaza, Brian and I hopped on a bus to go to the top of Mount St. Cristobal. I took this picture from the plaza, and the mountain is in the background, behind the colored houses on the hill. There is a big cross at the top.

All the colorful houses were really quite beautiful to look at from a distance. They really brightened up the gray hazy sky.

But as we got closer to them, I couldn't help but cry for the severe poverty of the people who must live there. Our bus wound its way up very narrow streets, passing hundreds of these homes, with roof caving in, no glass in the windows, and rebar sticking out of most of the rooftops. I kept wiping away tears...

Here's a view from partway up the mountain...

Selfie at the top…

The large cross was surrounded with flowers, candles, and mementos that people evidently left there in worship.

When we got back down to the Central Square, we decided to go in the famous cathedral.

It was really ornate and well-kept inside. I don't remember the historical details. But it had some interesting artifacts. :-)

The wooden carved choir seats are one of the highlights, apparently famous for their intricate details and great preservation.

And the crypt was open, so I took a peek. I was busy looking at some small baby coffins, when I turned around to find these guys staring at me…

They had some really gorgeous mosaics, with really colorful well preserved stones. Brian and I both love mosaics, so we were impressed!

We like to visit grocery stores when we travel. It's so fun to see what other countries stock on their shelves, but the labeling and packaging looks like, etc. we took this picture, because we found it a little humorous to find new tires across the aisle from toilet paper... Now, there's a  marketing scheme, for those who drive and have bathroom needs. :-)

They had a delicious looking deli area, with some local dishes that I would have liked to try. But we had already eaten, so we passed.

We spent our last evening at a ballet performance of Midsummer Night's dream. It was really well done! The costumes alone or mesmerizing, and the dancers are really talented. They asked us not to take pictures of the actual performance, and we obliged.

But here's one of me, before the show started. :-) Fun stuff!

Machu Picchu!!

So, guess what?! Brian and I were up, dressed, and sitting in a train eating breakfast by 6:20am today! It's amazing how quickly we can move without getting six people out the door!:)

Our cute little hotel owner and his wife knew we had to catch the very early train, so they got up and made us a little bag of snacks and juice to take for breakfast, and he drove us down to the train station. This is not their high session, so they don't have many guests right now. They sure are attentive and kind to us!

This is a Peruvian fruit that was in our breakfast box. It's called maracuya, and it's unlike anything we've ever had before. Strange texture, lots of seeds, but a really good flavor. The Larsons served us a dessert the other night that had maracuya topping on it-- quite tasty!!

We had a couple of hours in the train ride, which would us along a river, through some gorgeous valleys. Here we are on the train to prove it!:)

And here's one of those really pretty valleys we got to see...

And on, to.... Machu Picchu!!! Tahdah ...

It was pretty amazing, and we took way too many pictures. But I can assure you everyone else there seemed to be taking TWICE as many!! Ha!!

Take note here: yes, Brian and I were together all day, but thus was the only picture we got of the two of us together, and it didn't even turn out very good. Oh well...

There were alpacas wandering all over the terraces. I got this pic of a cute little girl trying to pose by a baby, so cute...

Here's Brian, by the main gate leading into the complex. Everyone (and I do mean pretty much everyone) took their picture by the main gate, so we followed suit. Luckily we got just ahead of the tour group of 30+ people we'd been following.:)

The round looking building (below) was significant for some reason and was called a temple of some sort. No one really knows what all the various buildings were for, kinda like Stonehenge. But they built their city so that the buildings lined up with the sun for winter and summer solstice celebrations, also kind of like Stonehenge.

They have restored a lot of the buildings, like this one below, that was some kind of house. 

And this one here was quite restored, they think it was part of a palace or something.

The whole city was built in the 15th century, they believe. I thought it was much earlier than that. But I was wrong! It was left in ruins sometime in the 1700s, they think, and an American explorer named Hyrum Bingham discovered it in 1911. He is the guy who the character Indiana Jones was modeled after. Cool huh? Peru has an American to thank for very lucrative tourist attraction!

They say about 60% of the complex was intact when it was discovered and about 40% needed restoration work. This grand staircase was pretty much intact. 

Notice the lady at the top of the staircase with her arms outstretched... We called her selfie-lady, because we saw her several times and each time she was either taking a selfie or making her boyfriend "tomar un foto" of her and the ruins. Ha! Yep, selfie sticks were EVERYWHERE here!!

We were going upstairs when this little guy came right down the stairs and passed by us. I could have reached out and touched him. I think I may be in love with alpacas now.:)

Here's the sacred tomb. I guess they think a king was maybe buried there? No one knows for sure, though...

And, one last shot of the whole city, before we left. What a day!

I forgot to mention, after our train ride, to get up to the entrance of Machu Picchu, we had to buy $12 tix and ride a bus for twenty minutes up some treacherous, winding switchbacks. At the end of the day, we decided to take the stairs down instead of the bus. Yeah, were crazy like that. It took us a little over an hour, and we saved $24, plus we got some great views of the mountains. But I think my legs may be sore tomorrow! Here's one section of stairs-- not as steep as most of them, actually...

At the bottom, there was a nice little museum with some cool artifacts and a clean, free bathroom. Perfect!

Then we went to the market (and I forgot to take pictures of it), and ate a delicious meal. Mine was mango chicken with some kind of salty apple compote. Tasty!

Now we're on the train ride back to our hotel. Brian is working-class or maybe kind of sleeping??;) 

Hasta luego, Machu Picchu!!

San Salvador stop over, and on...

My phone was not cooperating, so I didn't get many pics of our fun stop-over in San Salvador. Maybe I'll see if I can transfer some from Brian's phone. 

And I'll start by saying, we had a great time. We rode the city autobus into the city, for only 60 cents each. But we had to stand in the isle the whole way, no A.C., And the drivers are CRAZY!! It was an adventure, and beat the $50 the taxi drivers were offering to take us on the same trip. Ha! Plus, I now have new tricep muscles from hanging on so tight on those curves! I've been feeling them all day today! Ha!!;)

We stopped in the main town plaza, where they had these cool fountains, and lots of people-watching opportunities.:)

We visited a couple of cool churches, the one above was in the town square. Then we wandered over to this funky one below... From the outside it was kind of grungy looking, then inside it had a rainbow of light through these of shaped stained glass windows. Very lovely and tranquil!

Samantha and Spencer would have loved it!

This one plaza had tons of pigeons; Spencer would have loved chasing them.:)

I look hot. (Below.) Because it was really hot!!! I really wanted to hire someone too drive us to a beach. But considering we still had a six hour plane ride ahead of us and no change of clothes, we did no beach time.:) But we did buy rambutans, Brian's favorite tropical fruit. Yum!

We took a taxi across town to a really upscale mall that had all kinds of American stuff, very expensive! The comparison between the "old," poor town center and the very ritzy shopping mall was really kind of sad and hard to believe. But we sure felt right at home! They even use American currency and charge American prices at their food court!:)

A perfect name for a cute little candy store, huh?:)

Yes, they had Burger King, in Espanol.:)

And a killer toy store. We would have broke the bank there, if the kids were with us, ha!:)

Then it was back to the bus, back to the plane, and on to Lima. We arrived in good time, after a delicious plane meal and a great entertainment package. (I love flying international!) Then our friends, the Larsons, picked us up at the airport. We stayed with then and had such a great time visiting with them. Since we had extra luggage allotment, we were able to bring then some goodies fun friends and family at home, which was nice-- things like brown sugar, peanut butter, and shortening-- that just fine taste the same here.

Anyway, my phone was nearly dead, so I took no pictures, of the Larsons, or of our dear R and her fiance, who we met today at church. Let me just say... They are adorable! And both seem soooo happy!! And we LOVED getting to be with them!! The church meetings were in Spanish, so I had a hard time concentrating, and really, I just wanted to visit with mi amiga bonita!! (She really does look soooo great, and well have to get a pic sometime soon!!)

It's bedtime here, folks. But the rest of the short story here is that we took off after church, said our goodbyes for a couple of days, and caught a plane to Cuzco. 

Then we got a ride from there to this amazing little hotel in this darling little town in the Andes Mountains called Uraybumba, or something. It was almost dark when we arrived, but here's a view I snapped out the window while we were driving...

It's lovely, with the most beautiful hand-sculpted gardens. 

We ate delicious civiche and lomo saltado for dinner at a very cute little restaurant. The hotel owner drove us there himself. It's been a great day, and now we're headed tiki bed so we can get up suuuuper early and go visit Macchu Picchu!! Soooo excited!:)