Sunday, June 30, 2019

A House to Call Home


The front of our house.
Shortly before we moved here, we had the opportunity to go to Mass at the new chapel right at Big Woods (where Intake was held). After Mass, Sarah, the new Executive Director, approached me and said she received pictures of the house that had been arranged for us to move into once we got to Peru.  We had been told that there wasn't much available housing in our small pueblo so I felt grateful that we would arrive and have a place already waiting for us. Naturally, I was excited to see the pictures. As I was looking through them, though, I was thinking, “Hmmm. This looks... a little rough.” But still I smiled and expressed my excitement to Sarah and asked her to forward the pictures to us. [The following pictures in this post are the ones she sent to us].
 
The living room

Bedroom 1
 
Bedroom 2
 
Kitchen.  Yes, that's right. This is the kitchen.
As the day went on, and as I kept going back to look over the pictures, it started to sink in. This is where we're going to be living?? Does it even have electricity? Is there a toilet? Our kids will never be clean again with dirt for a yard! And...yep. That's the kitchen. A counter and a sink. Jesus, are you for real right now? If it was just Robert and I, sure. But we have seven kids, one being 5 months old! How can we possibly live here?
 
I knew we obviously weren't going to be living in a place that came anywhere close to an American standard of living. I've seen how people live in other first-world countries (much less 2nd or 3rd world), and it really is “bigger and better” in America, what with our seemingly endless amounts of potable water, 3-car garages, and half-acre yards. I expected our house to be poor and simple because we were going to living among the poor after all! But expecting something and seeing what that “something” really looked like were two different things.
 
Dining Room
Dining Room with door leading to backyard.
I felt silly, maybe even guilty, asking Jesus “How can we possibly live here.” The privilege that reeks behind it wasn't lost on me. Obviously people around the world and throughout the ages have lived and raised children in much worse living conditions. Besides that, I was asking Jesus, who Himself was born in a barn among livestock and lived His entire life in poverty, how I could live in a house without lights and a fridge. But, He quickly reminded me that there was no shame in how I was feeling. I've never lived in such impoverished conditions before so naturally there would be some fears. I was comforted at least in knowing that the Lord would meet me where I was at and that my feelings were valid.
 
Later in the day, as Robert and I looked over the pictures together, he put me more at ease when he shared ideas he had to try to fix it up a bit and make it more homey. Thanks be to God for a husband who could also meet me where I was at. At that point, we only had a few days left and a long list of to-do's before our move, so I put any concerns about the house to the side and focused on the tasks at hand.
 
Covered patio in backyard.
The outdoor bathroom - toilet and shower through door on right.
By the time we arrived in Peru, I wasn't feeling overly concerned about our house anymore. I had since found out that the house indeed had electricity and a toilet, which put my greatest concerns at ease. Still, I wondered how I was going to feel after seeing the house in-person.
 
When we drove into our pueblo the day of our arrival, I felt excited and thankful for finally getting to the place that I had been praying for for nearly 4 months. We were blessed to have tons of kids coming out of the woodwork to welcome our family and play with the “gringos.” And as we walked into our house for the first time - lo and behold! - it didn't seem so bad! It needed a good cleaning and it obviously didn't meet American standards (completely open “windows” for anyone to climb through, a shared bathroom and backyard with our neighbor, etc.) but by the grace of God, I could see the house through rose-colored glasses and its potential.
 
I started writing this blog post 2 months after we moved here and it's now been 4 months! It's been a whirlwind of activity since we got here and we still have yet to paint the walls, which will make a world of difference in making the house look nicer. But nevertheless, our house already feels like home. We may not have nice furniture, curtains or pictures up on the walls, we may have critters and bugs galore, but we have a roof over our heads that doesn't leak (a real blessing around here)! We have dirt in our (big!) yard, not dirt for our floors (like many of our neighbors). We have an actual bathroom with a shower and toilet that both work, which we now realize is somewhat of a luxury.
 
Without seeing a picture of the toilet, I wasn't
sure if there was one!
It's funny – already now when I look at these pictures that Sarah sent to me before we moved here, I see them with different eyes. I look at them and just see my home, not some scary, hard place to live. I look at them and think that one day, after God calls us to move to another place, I'm going to look back fondly at these pictures and I'll miss so many things about this house we call home.
 
 
 
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.” Proverbs 3:5-6

“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life...Can any of you by worrying add a single moment to your life-span? But seek first the kingdom [of God] and his righteousness, and all these things will be given you besides. Do not worry about tomorrow; tomorrow will take care of itself. Sufficient for a day is its own evil.” Matthew 6:25, 27, 33-34
 
Backyard complete with coconut tree & chicken coop.
"I know indeed how to live in humble circumstances; I know also how to live with abundance. In every circumstance and in all things I have learned the secret of being well fed and of going hungry, of living in abundance and of being in need.  I have the strength for everything through him who empowers me." Philippians 4:12-13

I was excited to see that there was a hammock. LOL

The following pictures were taken a few weeks after we moved in...

Annabelle in bedroom 1, which is now the kids' room.
This was dubbed "the Spider Room" right after we moved here
because of all the spiders and spider webs we found in it.
Bedroom 2, which was and still is being used as Aaron's
bedroom and a place to keep our clothes. 
It's also since become the catch-all room for storage.
Our mess of a dining room.  We now have a table! PTL!
Notice the lovely family reunion poster our landlord
graciously left for us on the wall.  LOL
The kitchen prior to buying a fridge and 4-burner gas cooktop.
I was using a crockpot that I brought from home to cook
whatever I could in it (even scrambled eggs, which I don't recommend).
  I was grateful for that thing until it got fried from the 220 v
electricity that comes out of the outlets here.  We ate a lot of ready-to-eat
foods and ate out quite a bit during this time.

The living room became our family bedroom as we had to
wait for bunk beds to be made for the kids.  This room is
currently being used as Robert's and my bedroom.
 
Once we get the house painted and better organized, I'll post updated pictures!

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