Just Pictures

 Paul, when writing to Philemon:  "Your love has given me great joy and encouragement, because you, brother, have refreshed the hearts of the Lord's people." - Philemon 7

Some Peruvian told us we looked like Charlie's Angels before we did this 

That's Jake, one of the Yoakum's sons. He's probably going to invent
the best thing since sliced bread

Ok, Scott, these are for you...I've had them on my iPod for a while (sorry for keeping up the suspense!). These 4 pictures are taken, quite literally, no more than 15 minutes apart! 

This dog actually "guards" our street. He's pretty good.
I've seen him chase off homeless people on more
than one occasion

This is Derek, the other Yoakum boy. He loves grass. And pretending to be a jaguar

The Thompson's kids, Corban and Kailyn
We're playing princess

I realize this picture is already on the blog, but...
I just like to think of warm, sunny weather
and the beach trips that will be happening soon

On my way to school one morning and I couldn't resist the photo-op

For those of you without Facebook (aka Dad)
Spent Sunday morning loving on this cutie

Oh ya....do you like the new blog format??? (You can say no...)

Movements

This is a band called Rend Collective Experiment that I have discovered semi-recently and like a lot! This video is pretty cool too, so enjoy :)

I wanna soar with you

Up on wings like eagles

But I'll crawl with you too

When the dark and lonely questions  come

I wanna stand true

No matter what's new or comes through

I can't stand still

Whatever hits I'll keep making movements to you 

I'm running fast and free to you

Cos your love is the movement and fight in me

I'm running fast and free to you

Cos you are my home where I wanna be

I wanna float with you 

The currents driving me

But I'll paddle hard too

When the waves and rapids overcome

I wanna stand firm

When my mind is weak and my emotions squirm

I must stand true 

Whatever hits I'll keep making movements to you

Won't walk away

I won't walk away

A New Phrase

I'm going to introduce you to a phrase - "to get Peru'd". I'm not sure how to explain this, and what I learned from iHouse is that if you can't explain something, use examples. So, here are some examples of a few situations in which we might say "We're being Peru'd" or "We got Peru'd":

• When you arrive at an event 10 minutes late and you're still the only one there for at least 30 more minutes
• When you go to a place (for example, we'll use the University) and ask a simple question, they send you to the next window, you ask the same simple question again, and the people at this window act confused and send you back to the first window, and when you are back asking the question again at the first window they tell you again you need to go to the other window, and when you look over you see the guys from the second window jetting out the back door because they apparently get off at 3:23
• When you invite someone to come eat with you and it's assumed you're paying
• When people say they will come to your fiesta and nobody shows up
• When people say they want to cook for you, but you pay for it
• When you ask someone to bring snacks to an event and they all bring Inka Cola (a nasty soda here)
• When you leave a party feeling sick to your stomach because you tried to refuse food 19864 times but the Peruvians insisted you're too skinny and for sure need more food
• When your upstairs neighbors in your apartment complex have a party for their 14 year old child ALL night, complete with strobe lights, music that literally shakes your walls and windows, and you're unable to do anything about it, because this is totally normal
• When the ice cream man's horn sounds like a "dying rabbit" (phrase courtesy of Heather Lowery)
• When your taxi driver feels comfortable enough to talk to you about his entire life and is more than happy to pry into yours
• When you've known someone for less than a day and they tell you they will be going to Machu Picchu with you very soon. 
• When someone asks if you've tried a food or drink, you say you don't like it, and they bring you a glass or plate of it so you can see if you'll like their version
• WHEN YOU ONLY RECEIVE 60 DAYS ON YOUR VISA, DESPITE PREVIOUSLY HAVING 183, DESPITE BEGGING, DESPITE SMILING SUPER CUTE, DESPITE USING ALL THE SPANISH YOU KNOW, AND DESPITE ASKING TO SPEAK WITH SOMEONE TO CHANGE IT AND STILL BEING RUDELY DENIED...

So the last one is clearly a frustration for me (Chelsey), and was my experience coming back into Peru from Chile. And now, I have to leave the country - AGAIN - before December 1st. NOT in the budget, and NOT something I want to have to do every two months while I'm here. But, I'm trying to see this as a blessing in disguise.....suggestions of where to travel next?!

Chile Pictures

Our vacation to Chile was great! The city was beautiful, the people were friendly, the food was good and plentiful, our hostel was interesting, the weather was amazing, someone only attempted to pick-pocket us once, we were able to sleep and it was overall really relaxing!

We went with our roommate Heather to renew her Visa, as she only received 60 days when we arrived in Lima back in August. Being the good roommates we are, we agreed to accompany her to Chile so she wouldn't have to go alone!

Here's our trip in a nutshell of pictures - Enjoy!

**So if some of these pictures look crazy and are messed up, sorry! Don't know what happened with the uploading but I'm entirely too tired to re-do it!**