whatever works

If blowing on your hot cob of corn doesn't cool it down fast enough, just grab the nearest fan. It'll cool that baby off like a charm! Just ask Matthew, the inventor of the awesome idea.

(The fan really was on, you just can't tell because of the super fast shutter speed of my super high-tech camera.)

an experience of a lifetime

The girls have been back from Peru for almost 2 weeks now, and in that time we still have not seen all of their photos! Yes, they took that many. I finally have few minutes to sit down and post some.


Machu Picchu. Brooke and Raegan say that the pictures don't even begin to do it justice. What an amazing place! And see that really tall mountain behind them? It's called Waynu Picchu, and they climbed to the very top of that thing!

Here they are about one bazillion feet up on the top of Waynu Picchu. Certainly not for those who are a just a little bit squeamish of heights (ie: my husband).

In my previous blog I told about Ida, the woman for whom the group build a new home (and her 6 children - the father left them). Ida's oldest son is serving a mission for the Mormon church which is a huge sacrifice for them. Ida earns a very meager amount of money by washing other people's clothing in buckets. Here is the front of her old house. It was literally crumbling apart. It had one room. That's it. One room with no plumbing, no kitchen. Pretty much no anything.

This was their toilet. It sat behind the house in the dirt with no water connected to it. It emptied into a sewer line, but they would have to dump buckets of water down it to get the......stuff to go down. Ida not only now has a working toilet but has an entire bathroom IN her house with running water.

Inside Ida's one-room home. This picture shows pretty much everything they own. It had all been pushed to one corner of the room so that the group could get in and start working on the new house. Notice the picture of Christ with the children taped to her wall. This family has so little, but yet they have more faith than imaginable.

Brooke with one of Ida's daughters.

Raegan with four of Ida's six children.

Their group was riding in a bus one day when Brooke suddenly could smell something really yummy. She looked over and saw this truck packed full of CILANTRO!

Then, out of no where, this kid pops up in the middle of it!

Apparently there are dogs in Peru. Lots of dogs. Lots of stray dogs. Lots of really UGLY stray dogs. Everywhere. (Too bad they didn't get a photo of the one with the mohawk.)

This is an alpacka. And yes, it is real. I love how it's just standing there - so astute and serious!

At the Lima, Peru temple where they did baptisms (all in Spanish, of course which Brooke said was so cool!).

Before Brooke and Raegan left for Peru, we had a conversation that went something like this:

Me: "Now girls, I trust you to be wise while you are in Peru. You remember when your cousin Zach went on this same trip last year? And we saw the picture of him hanging foolishly off of the cliff, dangling hundreds of feet above the ground?"

Them: "Yes, mom of course we remember seeing that picture of Zach, and of course we would never, EVER do anything like that. That really is something you do NOT need to worry about. We are not that crazy!"

Fast forward to night before last, as we are looking at Brooke's Peru pics on her laptop.

Brooke: "Oh! Oops. (As she quickly turns her laptop away from my viewing).

Me: "Brooke, what is that? What are you hiding from me?"

Brooke: "Nothing, just a bad picture. It's okay, you don't need to see it."

Me:"I want to see it. Show it to me."

Brooke: "No."

Me: "Uh, yes....show it to me now!" I then grabbed the computer and that's when I saw it. My two children hanging wrecklessly off of a cliff. There they were, dangling dangerously in the air over what appeared to be thousands of feet above the gnarly bottom. And it just so happens to be the exact SAME cliff that their cousin hung off of last year!

Me again: "What the.......?! You promised me!"

Brooke: "Mom, it wasn't a big deal. Really it wasn't. We were just walking along and I saw this cliff and I said to Raegan, 'Look, it's the same cliff that Zach dangled from - let's do it!'. It really isn't nearly as bad as it looks. I promise, mom, it was no big deal!

(Although apparently there was a Peruvian tour guide up there who, upon seeing their ridiculous behavior, started blowing his whistle at them to NOT DO THAT. They did climb back up, but of course not until they had their picture. Sigh....)

Some of my favorite photos (that Brooke took - she made me write that).....

salkantay, peru

Brooke and Raegan lay a stone walkway in the village of Salkantay, Peru. (Elevation 15,000 ft.)

Brooke told me how adorable the children are in Peru. And look how right she is! These two little girls just melt my heart. She said that she wants to bring ALL of them all home with her. I reminded her that she will have 2 empty suitcases when she travels home (they had donations inside), so she should be able to fit at least a few kids in them to bring back with her ;)

peru.....week one

Brooke and Raegan are in Peru for 2 weeks doing humanitarian work with Eagle Condor. Their experiences this past week in Trujillo have been both amazing and humbling. Their group built a home from scratch for a woman named Ida. She has 7 children (no father involved). She lived in a one room house (if you can call it at house) with one bed for all 8 of them. Her son is currently serving a mission in South America which is a HUGE sacrifice. He would be the only one to be like a father, to work and bring in money. So with him not there, the situation for Ida and her children is deprivable.

Ida's old house in a heap.

The work has begun. Plumbing is set (Ida has never had indoor plumbing, not even a working toilet), a new floor is poured, and the framing goes up.

Amazing to see these kids frame this home, most of which have never had ANY experience with this.

Brooke and Raegan painting the outside of Ida's new home.

Finished!

From their group leader, Adam:

"The best part of the day... we cleaned up the project, packed up the tools and gathered in Ida’s new kitchen. As the tears began to fall, she thanked each and everyone of us and told us that the Lord blesses those that serve. She said she knows this because the reason she has this new house is because her son is serving a mission and the Lord is protecting her family while his is gone. As we said our good-byes, she hugged everyone of us and now we are all a little better off."

Ida Pretell with her children.

Raegan and her group paint the front of a shop belonging to the Asmat family. They painted it a lovely "mango" color and installed a new awning above the entrance.

The job is now complete. Standing in front of the store with the owners, the Asmats.

Brooke eating a tiny Peruvian banana. This cracks me up because Brooke hates bananas! Oh well, when in Rome..... er, I mean Peru.....

Peruvian women selling at the local market.