As I walked up the stairs just now with one under each arm, I felt like the mom of twins. I won’t be carrying both for long, though. Our new puppy Ellie will be the size of a lab at 3 or 4 months and full grown will probably weigh 110 lbs. Right now she is 4 weeks old, which will come as a shock to any of you who know something about responsible dog breeding. We have done our research, considered the options (pet shop, backyard breeder or $1000 show dog), and have a plan for how to care for this little girl. She is weaned and wasn’t living with the mom anymore, so Taza is now in charge of teaching her the ropes. So far it’s a good match- they are having fun playing together, but Taza is also showing Ellie what is and isn’t allowed for dogs and Murrays. Tomorrow we hit the vet for deworming, vaccinations, and advice.

While the people who sold Ellie to us are far from professionals, they are a nice young Peruvian couple who love their dogs. They have two Mastiffs from a previous litter (full siblings to Ellie) and two Pekineses, so we got to see first hand that tiny and giant breeds can live together happily. They have recently started a Mastiff play club with their friends and were sad to hear we’ll be leaving so soon.

It’s amazing to see how different Taza and Ellie are. We got Taza at 6 weeks (she’s now 4 months), and I can barely imagine how small she must have been at 4. Ellie is already probably 2/3 the size of her. Taza loves to prance and run around. Ellie is a miniature beast with a tough bite and a solid body. Plus there is the age difference. It’s fascinating how much Taza has learned in the past 2.5 months, not just responding to commands but also familiarity with us and the way our lives work. I feel like I have a relationship with her, but so far all I see when I look at Ellie is Gollum with fur. Tim is thrilled with her. I’m a little weirded out (but nonetheless excited).

Here's what we have done since we got to Lima (Monday):

• Bought all the junk you need for a house-- trashcans, a rolling pin, sheets, overhead lighting fixtures, etc. Really we bought it for a second time, because we have most of the same things in storage in Charlotte. Only this time we bought more or less the cheapest available of everything.
• Trapsed around the city to find all available options for wood furniture. Today we landed on what I think is the best idea, to commission most of it from a carpinter.
• Began working on obtaining our Peruvian ID cards.
• Got a Neopolitan Mastiff puppy this afternoon- more on that later.
• Seen some very ritzy parts of town (think SouthPark mall) and some very sketchy parts (the housekeeper here is mad we went).
• Spent the better part of each day in taxis.

Here's what we haven't done yet:

• Found any feasible options for sofas.
• Responded to many phone calls or emails (sorry!).
• Rested much. We are taking tomorrow "off" and really looking forward to it. Hopefully that will also give me a chance to update this blog with more thoughts about what's going on and also with some photos of the new puppy!

PS Happy Birthday to my dad (60) and to Jenny (26?)!

As you might have guessed from our absence, things are pretty crazy around here. We visited Puerto Supe Sunday and Monday and I think would have a lot of digesting to do (mentally) after the visit, except that we haven't had a moment to stop and think. Since Monday we have been in Lima getting things for the house and trying to get our ID cards. Since they put my Peruvian visa in my maiden name, things have been a little more complicated. The buying process has been a little frustrating since we are furnishing an entire house with the cheapest options available. The remodeling of our house continues to go well, although as anyone who has done it can attest, the price seems to keep rising inch by inch but through the roof.

This week has felt like a complete whirlwind. I'm not sure where our time has gone, except maybe taxi rides. It's amazing how big this city is. We covet your prayers for progress in this process and even more that we would be at peace.

After five months I'm now very comfortable speaking in Spanish. I still make plenty of errors but I usually can tell I'm saying something wrong and am able to correct myself or ask how to say it correctly. In addition to this, I now understand most anything someone may say to me.

Fortunately Spanish tends to have many similarities to English and I thought I'd share a few.

car = carro
incredible = increible
possible = posible
hiking = trekking
full = full
stickers = stickers
flash (for a camera) = flash

In addition to this, one of my new favorite things about the language is diminutives. The idea is to communicate something smaller/special/endearing and is also used for names (kind of like Timmy for Tim). This is generally done by adding a -ita/-ito/-cita/-cito to the end of a word. For example, a town is a pueblo and a little town is a pueblito and our house brother Pablo is often called Pablito.

The strange thing is people here will use diminutives for virtually anything and although it can be endearing, it also can get carried away, especially when they start using it for adjectives (the other day when I was getting my hair cut the guy said I'm going to be guapocito = little handsome). Here are some more examples:

Jesucito = sweet little Jesus
Chiquitita = chica is little and I think chiquitita is itty bitty
Cansadocito = little/poor tired thing
Felicita = little happy thing
Rubiocito = precious blond person
Asustadocito = scared, but in a lovable sort of way
Tacita = very small teacup or a fluffy prancing toy poodle

Tonight I found out there is an even another level of this, -ititititito. This means really itty bitty teenie weenie thing. I can now call Hannah "Anitititita" which would mean my really special precious tiny lovable wifey. If you have trouble saying it, just start with the first part, stutter a while and end with an a or o.

Tim and Pablo (our host brother) are at the bus station trying to get all of our junk sent off to Lima. Taza is downstairs trying to provoke the other dogs to play with her. My voice echoes off the walls in my room. It's feeling pretty empty and lonely up here. You'd think after all the leaving we've been doing I'd get better at it. It doesn't seem that way.

This leave strikes me as particularly difficult for a surprising reason. I am leaving a place where I don't really have deep friendships and going to another place I don't really have deep friendships. I do know people in both places, people I care about and who I think care about me, people I enjoy spending time with, but I when it comes to sharing hearts and lives, I'm batting pretty low. It reinforces the transience of all of this. When we left Charlotte, we left something significant behind. I felt the same way about leaving my work, leaving my family, even a little about leaving CIT (missionary training). This time I don't feel that in the same way, and the absence of sorrow makes me a little sorrowful.

Will Puerto Supe be different? Oh, I hope so, and I have high hopes that it will be. I believe 100% that God wants to craft of my missionary team not only coworkers but friends. And I believe also that He will give me unique and significant relationships with Peruvians that will be not only a place of ministry but also a place of mutual support and love. If and when we leave Puerto Supe, my hope (strangely enough) is that it will not be easy, that we will have relationships that make leaving painful.

Once again I'm looking at a stack of all my treasured possessions packed up in big black bags. It only took about 5 hours to pack, actually, and I feel a huge sense of relief having done that. I also feel much more clearly that we are really leaving. Because of the weight of all of our bags, we're sending them tomorrow as cargo on a bus and picking them up on Sunday when we arrive on a plane. At least that's what we hope will happen. Lima, here we come!

Sally (the boxer), Chovis (the dachsund) and Taza are providing us with more than a few smiles these days. This morning we took the three of them on a walk and then let them run around the park to play. Sally went running at a wall that was 1 ft or so on the approach but 5 ft down on the other side. She fumbled across the wall when she realized what she was getting herself into but managed to land on her feet. After a second of contemplating carrying her weight to the vet, Tim was glad to see her success. Before we could intervene, Chovis then ran straight after her and made quite a jump for a short little dog (also successfully). Taza didn't dare.
Taza, by the way, is growing very quickly. She is of course still a pretty small dog (3 lbs?) but to us seems huge, heavy and tall. We left her with the family when we went to Lake Titicaca and came back to find that they had fed her a week's amount of food in 2 days. No wonder she's growing! Now that we're home, she's back to her normal routine- morning walks, ½ cup of food per day, crate time, naps on the bed while I work- and seems happy about it.


We've been researching dog breeds and available dogs in Lima for a guard dog for the house. While the need for a guard dog seemed a little questionable to me before, it's growing on me. I won't try to convince you, but I know I will feel safer leaving the house, safer at night, and safer when I'm home alone if I have a reliable guard dog. Nonetheless, I never dreamed before of owning what it now seems we will be adding to our family in a week or two: a Neapolitan Mastiff puppy!

We originally intended to get an adult dog, but since a Mastiff is the size of a boxer or so at 2 months, that eliminates the problem of waiting for its guard dog potential. By getting a puppy we think we will have a lot better chance of having a well-behaved dog- socialized and comfortable with other people and animals, trained in obedience, not coming to us with bad habits. From what we have read, the breed is peaceful and steady, doesn't bark, affectionate with family and anyone accepted by the family, has low energy, and is basically a fierce looking couch potato (with the ability to get up and protect you if needed). The down side is that they can be willful and need a strong leader. We're committed to the work.

We still need to talk over the idea with some US breeders or trainers, get some time with the dog, see how we and Taza get along with her, get her checked out at the vet, etc. but we're becoming more and more settled with this idea that seemed ridiculous and crazy at the beginning. And we're looking forward to a family photo with a toy poodle and a mastiff.

We had a super relaxing weekend away at Lake Titicaca, despite the two 6 hour bus rides. Saturday morning we went out on the lake to see the floating islands. They are part tourist trap I think, but since some of them don't allow visitors, they must be "for real" too. The inhabitants build the islands with layers upon layers of reeds. They say it takes about a year to build one and that the new ones are about 2 meters deep. They continue to pile on more reeds over time, so they grow to be much deeper. It's pretty amazing to think that people live out there without any amenities- electricity, running water, etc. Hey, it just occured to me that their drinking water is from the lake (not boiled either) but they also must use the lake for sewage (where else would it go?). Hmmmm.

Can you believe it? Davidson almost made it to the Final Four. They lost by 2 points to Kansas. Not too shabby. I expect the world will quickly forget about Davidson's athletic skills, but I doubt the memory of free laundry service will fade so fast. It seems to be mentioned in about every article and is far more unique and noteworthy I'd say.

As I prayed today, I tried to envision God in that very moment. Where is He? What does He look like? What is He doing? What is He thinking? I realized all of the sudden that I have no idea. I can imagine, but I don't want to. People all over the world are imagining God, making up someone to talk to. I want to know the real God, not one I imagine out of pictures I've seen, books I've read, the desires in my heart.

The whole concept has sort of thrown me for a loop today and left me a little lost. Is that all this is- imagination? Is God real or have I just imagined Him? Even as I ask the question, it seems ridiculous. I know all the right answers, but for some reason the questions won't go away. I think also that I'm not ready for them to go away, that I need to sit with them a little longer and see where they take me. I'm not scared of the questions, because part of me knows the answers already and knows that this God I'm banking my life on isn't threatened by my questions either. He'll bring me through this stronger.

I feel like I'm in first grade again, starting all over at this life of faith. What have I been doing for the last 8 years? Right now it seems like I've been learning a lot about God without knowing Him. Even to write that word- Him- startles me. I guess the word God has become familiar and easy from too much reading and writing. I am unsettled to remember that He is real, a person in one sense, and then again, not a person at all.

I'm remembering the first time I had a glimpse of transcendence, as I stood at the edge of Canyon de Chelly at 12 or so and wondered at such a vast expanse, space unending. I feel myself there again, standing at the edge of Mystery-- a little scared, shaken in to the depths of me, on the brink of tears because I don't have any other ideas for how to express this strange and penetrating emotion rising up inside me. If it takes my whole life, I want to know Him. Not to learn about God but to really know Him, the real One, to be caught up in this Mystery so far beyond what I can grasp with my mind.

It seems like anyone living in the US knows about my alma mater Davidson College by now. At least I've been getting emails about them from everyone I know- my brother, Dad, brother-in-law, college friends and the college itself. We always were a very proud bunch, so we take any chance we get to make ourselves known.