The great thing about operating in (what you perceive to be as) the center of God's will is that it's impossible to fail. I really did feel confident going into this night that if 3 people came or 30, it would be a smashing success. In the end, 16 people came, and I think they mostly all had fun. My housekeeper and my friend C came by an hour early and took over the whole cooking operation. I didn't know how much I would need them until they were in charge of all of it and I was busy doing other things.

The best part was that our neighbor M came over. His mom is a friend of ours, but he's a 21 year old drug addict. I think he put everyone else at rest. If he's here, I guess I'm safe. Surely I'm at least as spiritual as this guy! Besides that, he was a fun addition to the party. Despite his general distaste for religious stuff, he told us that he liked the video and wanted to come back next week. He might even bring a friend.

The other thing I got excited about was that our housekeeper, her teenage daughter, our carpenter, and his wife all came. Our handyman said he was going to come and bring his wife, but at the last minute something came up. I love the idea that all of these people in our normal everyday lives are showing up at Alpha. Doesn't that seem right? We pay these people to work for us, but they're also people we spend a lot of time with and hope we are ministering to (beyond the financial ministry, which I know is meaningful).

And last but not least I was excited to see my friend A (from the retreat) and her local enemy M in the same room. I remembered this week that there is hope for reconciliation, not necessarily through Alpha, but in general. I'm praying that both of them will come back and that being together in my house could be part of God putting things right. This community is desperate for the redeeming love of Jesus to erase all divisions and heal all wounds.

So in general, it was a great night. I can't think of one thing I would change, except maybe that I put milk in the tea (one of I'm sure many cultural faux pas). The social time seemed comfortable, the reactions to the message were positive, and I think we'll have most people back plus a few more. There were definitely some moments where I sensed the intervening protection of God against major problems or distractions, so if that means anything to you, keep up those prayers! We are grateful to be the on-site arm of a team of people who care about this town and are fighting for the expression of God's glory here.

I'm leaving in 15 minutes (probably 45 Latin time) for an overnight retreat with Sierra and the girls in her Bible study. There are 4 of them between 19 and 26, 2 single, 1 a single mom, 1 married with 2 kids. The kids are staying home, which is fairly remarkable in this culture I think. I know all these women, but I think at this point they know me more as an idea than a person. I'm a young female missionary. I hope that on this trip I get to know them better and get to actually enjoy my time with them. And I hope also that somehow I can be a gift to them. Their lives are not easy, and I get the impression that they could use some love. I don't have much on my own, but I'm praying I can be an open passageway for the love of God.

Taking the dogs to the beach in the morning has become somewhat of a routine lately. I love to go first thing (around 7 am). It's gray, a little misty, and would be quiet except for the roaring and crashing of the waves. Taza goes bonkers. She's running around, hopping, twisting in the air. There is a fair amount of trash on the beach, which she loves to sniff and sometimes play with. Also crab shells and starfish. Today there was a dead rat. We avoided that one. As you can see, this is not country club paradise. But it's real and it's breathtaking.

I usually take my Bible so that I can do my daily reading in front of the ocean. Somehow it seems more fitting. In that setting and all alone, I feel safe praying out loud with my eyes open, looking up at the sky instead of at the back of my eyelids. There's something precious about starting the day that way, remembering that I'm a tiny speck of a person on an insignificant planet but that God is still listening intently as though I'm the only thing going on. It's been good.

This Friday is our Alpha Course Invitation Night. We've invited a bunch of people over for tallarines verdes (dinner- which is a small meal in Peru), a short intro video (Christianity: Boring, Untrue and Irrelevant?), and a discussion time afterward. The people we've invited are mostly connected to us or our team in some way, but with only a few exceptions, they aren't people who are currently participating in the Puerto Supe Christian Community. Most of them, I think, are not "serious" about a life of faith but are somewhat interested in exploring it.

We are so excited about this possibility and really looking forward to the evening. The closer we get to Friday, the more I know that I need to be on my face before God, begging Him to do something in this town and among the young people here. Would you pray with us? Here are some of the specific requests we have:

• For God to draw a group of people together who can enjoy this time and be changed by it. I especially want to see a community of friends emerge from this course.
• For our time together with these people to be free and safe. We want people to feel open to say whatever they think and to find in our home the space to express their desires, beliefs, and fears.
• For the logistics of having a bunch of people over, feeding them, making them feel comfortable. There are so many cultural elements that we are learning still, and the possibility of a major faux pas is pretty high.
• For people to find here the basic DNA of the Christian faith, particularly that they would "get" the concepts of community (without gossip!), serving one another, the "contagious" nature of this faith, and living for something more than "me."
• For this to be a bridge for guys to come into a life of faith. In the Peruvian macho culture, Catholicism is hard enough. A spiritual life apart from that is pretty daring and puts these guys in a pretty scary place in town. We are especially praying for God to raise up men who can take leadership in the church.

Oh, in every way we are desperate for the grace of God to fall on this Alpha Course! Pray with us that God's hand would orchestrate every detail and that we would find ourselves caught up in His work around and among us. I can't wait to update you with the results of this Friday night!

Today I am enjoying a leisurely day off. I've been feeling exhausted emotionally and dying for some down time, but I didn't feel like I worked hard enough last week to deserve a day off. Much to my delight, my devotional reading last night was about resting and Sabbath rest. I took it as a message from the Lord that whether I "deserved" it or not, He was giving me today to rest. What a gift!

It's been hard for me to let go of the idea of Sunday being a day of rest. Our weekly worship meetings are now on Sunday nights, so it's really not possible to "recover" on Sundays. In addition, people here work (when they can) 6 days a week, so Sunday is the best day to find and spend time with people. Yesterday was full to the brim. Here's what I did:

• 7 am- My alarm goes off. I turn it off and fall back asleep.

• 8 am- Sierra knocks on the door and wakes me up. Glad to have her around!

• 8:15 - We show up a little late for "church." The Cubases, Sierra, Kyle and we meet together in Cesar's office to watch church on the internet. It's actually not bad.

• 9:30- We leave and immediately go to meet with a group of neighborhood people Cesar has motivated to clean the streets on Sunday mornings (for town pride and emerging tourism industry). We pick up trash and sweep dirt to the sides of the road. I'm all about trash pick-up, but sweeping dirt in the desert doesn't seem to be a great strategy. Nonetheless, on this particular morning my ministry is my presence more than my ideas. I stick around but wish I had a better attitude about it.

• 11:30- We come home and crash on the couch for a moment. I'm feeling sort of sick (I think from the fresh cheese at breakfast maybe) and Tim volunteers to make lunch.

• 1 pm- Sierra, Tim and I eat omelets and oven fries for lunch and leave the dishes for our housekeeper to wash the next morning (yay!).

• 2 pm- Sierra and I go out to visit people and deliver invitations to the Alpha Course, which begins this Friday at our house. I'll be very interested to see who comes. We've invited about 25 people and told them they can bring friends. Could be 8 people. Could be 40.

• 4:15- We return home and I for one am completely wiped out.

• 5- We leave with our instruments and all our sound equipment to go set up for the worship service and practice the songs.

• 6:20- Worship service begins. Tim shares some intruiguing words about the Lord's Prayer, we sing some songs, and for the first time yet here the sermon is member of the congregation sharing what he's learned recently about fasting. I'm delighted and encouraged.

• 7:30- Worship service ends, and various people follow us back to our house. I'm a little miffed because all I want to do is stare at the wall. Instead there are people sitting on my couch who want love and attention (and children fighting over toys on the floor).

• 8- The people go home, much to my relief. I think about how I really want to spend some intentional time with them sometime soon, because recently all my time with this family has been them dropping in on me at a time I don't want them to and me being fairly cool with them in an attempt to convince them I'm not that fun to be around and they really ought to go home. Surely that's not the heart of Jesus.

• 8:30 Tim and I eat a Twix bar and play a new card game we just learned called Casinos.

• 9:30 We call it a night. Boy am I looking forward to taking Monday off.

So far today has been everything I dreamed it would be. The housekeeper kept the house, and I've been doing everything relaxing I can think of. I listened to a sermon this morning, took the dogs to the beach, hung out with Grace and Sierra, cooked broiled eggplant with thai sauce and curried couscous pilaf (we're back to our gourmet vegetarian kitchen), washed my feet with a fancy scrub in a bin of warm water. And now I get to write, which I also find sublimely relaxing and useful for digesting this crazy life we're living.

On a completely unrelated note, today our handyman guy started painting the front of the house. We picked purple. When else in my life would I be able to paint my house purple and have it be completely normal? Plus (and this was a serious consideration) I wanted the house to be distinctive enough that I could tell people I live in "the purple house on Calle Arequipa" and they would know which one I was referring to. Here it is (work in progress).

Here's where I washed my hair last night.

The only hot water in the house is in the shower. We have some scary electric showerhead that runs all the shower water through hot coils first. It's been pretty handy over the last month. One of the complications is that the power for the showerhead can only be running when the water is on (or else the motor burns out). It was left on by accident (I think the housekeeper) and is now not functioning. No more hot water in the house. Oh well. We heated up water in the electric kettle for washing yesterday. Tim says he's going to get a new showerhead ASAP. Fortunately they're under $20.

For those of you who are unfamiliar with the object above, that is our new internet router. After waiting 4 weeks, a dozen phonecalls, ordering it 5 times and traveling to the office an hour away, they installed it yesterday. As I write this, I'm remembering that until recently there was no such thing as internet and short wave radio was the height of communication. Sometimes it's nice to be young.

Our errands yesterday took significantly longer than we had anticipated so we decided to just stay another night in Lima. What a gift that turned out to be! We dropped by to visit some friends and ended up spending the evening with them. Friends are a not easy to come by here and are therefore all the more precious to us. These particular ones, John and Heather, hail from California, were in language school with us in Arequipa, and are now in Lima with intentions to train Peruvian children's ministers.

We really intended to stop in to see them and their house, but we won them over on the idea of a slow-dinner sushi date and they managed to find a babysitter and join us. It was the first time since we've been in Peru that we had a night like that and I for one left glowing. Scrumptious sushi and sweet friends. I'm so grateful.

While our bathroom floor is being painted and drying, we're in Lima for two days. Last night we got to go on a date, which is not very easy to do in Puerto Supe. We went out for some life-changing sushi and then to see Prince Caspian. As if that sushi weren't enough (I'm sure I'll be craving it until we're back in Lima again), one of the themes from the movie left me with a desire to be different than I am.

As the Narnians are considering a plan of attack against the Telmarines, Lucy reminds Peter that it was Aslan's power that defeated the White Witch and not his. He retorts that he thinks they've waited for Aslan long enough. The attack that follows is a total failure, lots of people die, Peter and Caspian start fighting, and everyone feels crummy.

Who's power am I counting on to transform Puerto Supe? Now that I put some thought to it, I realize that I really have been believing that the good ideas and intentions of our team were going to effect lasting change there. As disappointments come from one direction or another, I feel us grabbing onto anything we can see (hmmm, there's some insight- we're fixing our eyes on what we can see). What is vision if it isn't getting a glimpse into what God is doing? I don't know that I'll find much fruit from coming up with my own plans and begging Him to join me. Disappointment always hits me so hard, but I think it's because I put my hope in my expectations or dreams and not in God.

We're at a crossroads of sorts. We want to do things right (which generally means the long way) and to wait on God. We're also aware that there are people who don't have money to buy rice and beans. Not just "people" in an abstract, far away sense, but friends and neighbors. In the end, I know there's no plan but His plan that will succeed. We're left waiting, slowing down a little, begging the Holy Spirit not to empower our plans but to open our eyes to see His, begging the Him to fill us with life, to draw us closer to Himself, to work in us His power, love, patience, goodness. It's a beautiful place to be, if not easy.

"Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit," says the Lord Almighty. Zechariah 4:6

Some trust in horses and some in chariots, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God. Psalm 20:7

My soul waits for the Lord,
more than watchmen wait for the morning,
more than watchmen wait for the morning.
Psalm 130:5-6

Sorry it's been a while. I'm not sure what we've been doing other than waiting for internet, which is mysteriously impossible to acquire. We get a new answer every time we call. Gosh, you'd think they'd want our money!

The biggest deal of the last few days is that Sierra is "home"! She is one of our teammates who will be living with us over the next few weeks. It has been so great to have her around. I appreciate her insights, humor, and easy-going personality more than I can explain. I think we feel significantly less alone now that we're digesting our days with someone outside our miniature family of 2. She's a lovely, confident, Navajo woman. She's full of great ideas and life, and I feel priviledged to have her in my home.

On another topic, I was wrong about the rain. It does rain here. Sort of. This morning we woke up to a barely visible mist. Since parts of our house are more outdoors than in, it's made for a kind of yucky day.

It's not every day you get to participate in an act of civil disobedience.

Today Tim, Taza and I stood with justice (in my opinion) and against the police as they pressed in with all their riot gear to try to take over a certain building. We managed to avoid getting hurt, although a few times it was getting close.

While I think many of the younger people were there for the scandal and a good fight, it was clear that the older and respected members of town had come to stand up for what was right. They don't want to throw insults or provoke violence. They want to protect the town from drugs and prostitution. It was exciting to see that kind of conviction in Puerto Supe and instills in me hope that that desire for righteousness could grow from these little seeds into a mighty tree.

There were quite a few flare-ups between the townspeople and the riot police, but most of the action happened in conversations between the judge and the representatives of the owners of the building (the “good guys”). Those representatives included a few of the owners and their lawyer but also Cesar (my boss) and the local Catholic priest. I was glad to see the priest there supporting the people. In a small Latin American town, that means a lot. And I'd say that when there's a disagreement between the police and the Catholic Church, you'll probably find me with the Church most of the time.

Learn to do right! Seek justice, encourage the oppressed. Defend the cause of the fatherless, plead the case of the widow. Isaiah 1:17

It's getting cold around here! I think it would help if our windows had glass in them. Better get started on that. Our list of necessary home renovations is getting shorter by the day. Tim has a guy working here 8 hours a day, which has freed him up to work on learning Spanish worship songs, his dog bed business, and planning the weekly worship service. I've been writing postcards, attending Al-Anon, planning for the Alpha course (hopefully starting June 6), and working with M on the cooking and cleaning.

I asked her today if she would be interested in working here full-time and I was surprised to find a little hesitancy. She has a 15-year-old daughter that she worries about leaving home alone too long, and school only last half a day. On one hand, I'm glad to hear her desire to care for and protect her daughter, but I'm sad she can't just jump on the chance to work full time. I know she could use the money. As could anyone else in town. She's going to think it over tonight and follow up with my tomorrow. I think there are some other good options, like having her go home during lunch and come back or having someone else do everything laundry-related (which probably would cut 8-10 hours off her work week). We'll see.

We are so relieved to be working again (not that language learning wasn't work), but this work presents a whole new host of issues. What we did in Charlotte in our free time and as volunteer work is now our job-- hanging out with people, participating in church stuff, leading worship, planning and making things. How strange is that a friend comes over and it's “work” to spend time with her? Or that everyone else is going to Al-Anon as their precious time for themselves and I'm counting it as part of my work day? It's a little confusing. On top of that, most nights we have some sort of meeting or event to attend. That means that if we work all day and go to those at night, we're absolutely exhausted. We have to start planning in “downtime” during the day. But taking a nap after lunch or watching a movie feels lazy! There's a lot to learn. One day at a time.

My friends have the most adorable children. You can see photos of them on this photographer's website. It's worth checking out, I promise. I feel a pang of sadness come alongside my joy when I remember that we're missing watching the two girls, in particular, grow up. On our way to the airport Oct 31, we saw the youngest one for the first and so far only time. She was 2 weeks old I think. For some reason, missing them feels like a bigger sacrifice than our house, a 9-5 job, the movies, our favorite restaurants. Two of my (3) sisters-in-law are pregnant right now with my first two nephews or nieces. I miss them already and they're not even born yet. We'll console ourselves with our puppies, but it doesn't take away the hurt. I'm deeply content here in a way that I can't explain, but the thought of all these precious ones brings me to the point of tears. We love you guys, big and small, and miss you more than we can say.

I have never been so thrilled than having my own personal assistant this week! M has been here 4 hours a day doing all the things I definitely don't have time to do. It took her all 4 hours on Monday to do the laundry (by hand). When she left at 2, we had run out of water. The town only gets water 2 hours a day, so we have a tank to store it the other 22. Unfortunately we used too much and couldn't wash the dishes or use our own bathroom for the rest of the day. Oops.

Continuing with the laundry story, it took M most of today to iron the laundry, something I would never have dreamed of doing but that Peruvians consider part of being a presentable normal person. They would never wear an unironed T-shirt, so we're trying our best to suck it up and wear all of ours ironed, too. Today I caught her ironing my dishtowels. Wow.

Anyway, besides 8 hours of laundry, M has been running around the house finding anything and everything she can clean and fix, preparing food for me to then cook with (I feel like I live on a cooking show), washing all the dishes, and doing anything else she can think of. I am so impressed by her work ethic, her attitude, and her smile. What a blessing she has been to me this week. I can hardly describe what a burden has been lifted and how happy I am to be doing the work I came here to do (now that I have the time!).

Tomorrow I hope to ask her if she can start full time next week (deep sigh of joy and relief).

I don't think I realized how much I missed friends until some came by this afternoon. J and C are a couple about our age with a precious 4 year old daughter. They are new believers, eager to learn and grow and love, full of questions, full of life. What struck me most today was how normal they are (although Grace reminded me this morning that when I say "normal" all I mean is "like me"!). They didn't come whining, asking for money, blabbering on about nonsense. I want my home to be a place people can come for all those reasons (maybe minus asking for money), but I need friends too! As far as I could tell, J and C came to eat cake (which they brought) and hang out. What a relief. We really enjoyed our afternoon with them and look forward (hopefully) to more. I guess I still want to proceed with caution, not expect everything of these new friends, not set myself up for disappointment, but in the meantime, I'm grateful to God for the gift He sent us today.

Friday night the ladies of the Puerto Supe Christian Community Center, on their own, organized a night out and invited Grace and me, which here means they paid our way. We took a van together to a polleria (chicken restaurant) in Barranca, enjoyed our roasted chicken, and had a drawing in which everyone received a present. That may sound like a small deal to you, but for us, it was breathtaking. Up to this point, the Community has been all about receiving, both spiritually and economically, and we were deeply moved by this gift to us. Tim and I have been brainstorming for a while about how to encourage service and giving among these believers, and lo and behold, on their own initiative, the ladies sprung this on us. I am so encouraged.

The event was in honor of Mother's Day, which is a HUGE deal in this country. I'm still a little baffled by the holiday. They have been talking about it for at least two weeks and we've have party after party in town. Mostly that means really loud music keeping us up all night, so I hope all the mothers feel super honored.

In our Community board meeting this week, one of the charity petitions was from the very ladies of the Community, asking for Mother's Day gifts since they can't afford their own. To me it seemed a little ridiculous and almost offensive, but I tried to keep my mouth shut and move toward understanding this culture rather than judging it. In the end, the board agreed to give each lady a present- a kit of "viveres," which included rice, sugar, and canned milk. I had to rethink my feelings when I remembered the needs of these families and what kinds of gifts are meaningful to them.

On another note, we talked to Sierra's friend Mery last night about working in our house this coming week. She'll be here Monday-Saturday from 10-2 to do laundry, wash dishes, clean the house, etc. I'm relieved, because we've been working ourselves into the ground and not getting all the things done we would like to. We'll see how this week goes and consider hiring her permanently and full-time.

My friend B visited again this morning with a far crazier story than any I had heard from her before. It included the “fact” that a local man infected with HIV is trying to infect all the women in the town because (everyone knows) for every person he infects, he will live longer. I just listened. What do I say to that kind of thing? Furthermore, when I don't know the truth (as opposed to the case with the above misinformation), how do I know what to believe and what not to believe in her story?

I hope that all my stories aren't communicating a desperation, because the truth is that we are happy to be here and to be hard at work. I feel positive about the relationships we're building and the work we're doing. Today Tim has been reviewing our team's spending over the last 4 months, preparing a report for our upcoming meeting, and writing out some suggested changes we could make. For him, that's about as good as life gets. I've been enjoying myself equally preparing a week of short devotionals about communion. We'll be offering communion in another week and a half at our worship service, and since it's a new thing for our community, we want to help people understand the significance of the sacrament and prepare their hearts for it.

Just as we hoped, we have started actually working this week. What a relief! At the same time, it has been busy. I feel like I hardly have a moment to breathe. It makes me realize that we probably need to hire a housekeeper as soon as possible. Contrary to what you may think, I'm not particularly excited about that prospect these days. We're pretty private people, and the idea of having a new person in our house 48 hrs a week doesn't make me comfortable. I think we're going to start with hiring someone to come halfway just for next week.

Last night I went to Barranca to my first Al-Anon meeting and didn't get home for 5 more hours. The meeting itself was 2 hours. There were 6 women there (including me), one of whom was from Puerto Supe. It was an encouraging evening for a number of reasons. The meeting was a good space for me to work on language learning, because it was a time for me to talk in Spanish about personal things without others interrupting me or rushing me and a for me to listen to others speak the same way. It was also sort of a relief to be in an environment where I wasn't expected to meet anyone else's needs. I was there to learn and think, not help necessarily.

After the meeting, the whole group went across the street to one woman's house, where we spent the next 3 hours chatting and smoking (I passed on the cigarettes). After a while, the topic of church came up. One woman mentioned that she wanted someone to teach her about the Bible, but when she went to mass, she couldn't understand the priest. At that point she turned to me and exclaimed, "But now we have you!" How's that for an invitation?

I have high hopes of starting an Al-Anon group in Puerto Supe. I think it would be a tremendous ministry (in the secular sense) to the women and maybe men of the town who are suffering so deeply from the family disease of addiction. There are strict rules in Al-Anon about not bringing in other philosophies, but I also think that it could be a good place to begin relationships with people who are seeking God. We'll see. It is clear to me that Al-Anon teaches Biblical principles in a neutral way and gives an outline for the Gospel. I think it lays a beginning foundation for people seeking God to come into relationship with God through Jesus Christ, and I want to be open to helping people make that connection through the window of Al-Anon.

Yesterday as I was making banana nut muffins for my home visit today, our team meeting today, and our worship practice tonight, Tim said to me, "You know what you're doing right now? You're cooking for Jesus." Priceless.

I think if we ever need a catalog for our dog bed microenterprise, Taza and Ellie would make good models.

We have two friends that stop by every day or two to chat. We really haven't had the time or emotional energy to pursue these or any other relationships yet, which makes these two developing relationships all the more interesting to me. So let me tell you about them. Despite the fact that I doubt anyone in this town will ever find and read my blog, I feel uncomfortable writing names. I'll just call them by their initials.

B is 22 or 23, the mother of two cute boys, and has been married for 5 years to L. In the last month, it seems like her life is falling apart piece by piece. Her 2 year old J was in the hospital with a fever of 103.5 F for three days. The doctor told her he has a heart problem and had a virus in his blood. I'm not sure what to believe. Her mother has a long-term heart problem and is in and out of the hospital in Lima (4 hrs away by bus). Her father blames her for the problem (for being born) and is not taking responsibility for the mother's care. B is traveling to and from Lima, leaving her kids in the care of a friend. L is angry with her for abandoning the family. And then this week her 4 year old L2 came down with pneumonia. She can't afford the medicines he needs and doesn't know what to do.

All that to say that B comes by often but so far it mostly seems like she's coming to complain. I'd say she has good reason, but at the same time, her life is such a mess that I'm almost skeptical. I don't know what to say, don't know how I could or should help. I don't know how quickly or deeply to jump into this friendship at my door.

Friend #2 is R, probably somewhere around our age, single and crazy about Sierra (who is definitely already "taken" by a dashing, brilliant, and loyal Ghanian in the US). R is a talker if I ever met one. He frequents our door to chat with Tim about anything and nothing. Last night he came over wanting to practice his very beginner English but ended up asking Tim when he was going to start a Bible study. Tim, who had no intentions to start one, was a little surprised but told him some about the Alpha course. We're hoping to start it by the end of this month and praying he will come.

We have a to-do list a mile long, and I'll admit that sometimes my heart sinks to hear the doorbell ring. At the same time, I know that my job here is people, not to-do lists. We feel ourselves growing in our patience and love and are glad for it. Keep praying that our hearts would be more like the heart of Jesus and that the hearts of these friends would be open to the breathtaking love of Jesus.

Twenty four hours in Lima and I'm so glad to be home. Last night we got to hang out with Sierra a little (before she left today for 2 weeks in the US), and the whole place felt right: good lighting, good friends, good drinks and a good spot to sit down.

One fun thing we did accomplish in Lima was buying fabric. We found a store that sells the leftover parts of rolls of fabric from the top-of-the-line stores, so we got to pick out some super fun designs without having to fork over too much money. The colors are sort of messed up on these photos, so imagine them all matching and you'll get the general idea.

We got these for the house (wall art, pillows, and a bed for the puppies):












And these for Tim's dog beds:

Don't you wish you had a dog bed with such a pretty fabric for the top? We'll probably also use leftovers from the fabrics we bought for the house to make more.

The workers finished the floors on Tuesday morning, so we have finally moved into our house! What a relief to put our furniture in its place and unpack our bags. I haven't seen some of those things since last August. Due to some complications with her living situation, Sierra is also moving in with us for a few weeks (and then taking over Kyle's house when he leaves to go to Pucallpa). We're excited to have her and to have a home to offer her.