 |
| 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 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. |
No comments:
Post a Comment