Hiiii!!
First of all...Happy Mother's Day to all the moms out there
(especially my mom of course). You have the hardest but most amazing job ever
and I hope I can have that job myself someday :)
This past week, with both my artisan group and the community bank
in the campo (rural countryside) I decided (with the president of the artisan
group- it was her idea) to have all the ladies share a little bit about their
experience being a mom. Wow, was I humbled. Most of them became moms at 16/17
years old, and had to figure out (painfully and often alone) how to be a
mother and what that looked like. It was a really good thing for both groups-
it brought the women together around that shared experience and also allowed
them to share something they may have never talked much about before. One of
the moms in the campo who is my same age (25), has a 6 year old daughter. 5
months ago, her husband took her daughter and she hasn't seen her since. It was
so tender to hear her story and afterward as we were walking back, she held my
hand and was leaning against me, and I felt so good that she was comfortable in
my presence. Though we don't have a lot in common, my continuous presence there
is sometimes enough, and this day it was.
Mother's Day here involved church per usual, but they brought the
moms up front and prayed for them, which was great. Then I headed home, where
my host mom had killed 2 hens and we ate them with some family visiting from
out of town...soo yummy. Then when I could sneak away I headed over to Nick's
host family where they also had a ton of family visiting and his mom had bought
a good portion of a pig that weighed over 100 kilos (220 pounds!) and had
prepared a typical dish called "chicarron." SOO good! One of my
favorites. And they had prepared trigo as well, which is a wheat grain, so
healthy and tasty! I ate a ton lol. I was able to talk to my host mom in Lima
as well (who is expecting a 4th child) and my real mom in the states, so it was
a wonderful day.
Getting excited about our boys camp, which is coming up this week.
It looks like we have all the money from the grant and we may even be able to
bring more boys! I will blog afterward with pictures!
Also excited for home. I've been feeling like I really need this
break to spend time with friends and family and regroup a bit, change up the
perspective. Five weeks from Wednesday I will be back!
Anyway, hope you enjoyed that little update. I have so much more I
could say, but before I sign off I do want to thank God because He is teaching me soo
much through this crazy experience.
Ok, gonna run, start my day. Til the next time!
J
P.S. A fun pic of me and my host sister, Greysi! I just adore this girl.
