Some of the faces of the villages of Peru

This family hitched a ride with us as we traveled up river since our boat was much faster.

The older children take care of the younger ones.

The men are very strong and hard workers.

Tonia and some of the many children that came to our medical clinic.

This girl has parasites as shown by the distended belly. Our clinics brought medicine for this and the wells will help prevent them in the future.

This girl gave us this bird as a gift.

The children are happy, curious and friendly.

^{Psalm 92:12}

The righteous will flourish like a palm tree,

they will grow like a cedar of Lebanon;

¹³ planted in the house of the LORD,

they will flourish in the courts of our God.

¹⁴ They will still bear fruit in old age,

they will stay fresh and green,

Trees

Above is one of my favorite pictures and below are some other favorite tree pictures.

There are definitely two layers in the jungles of Peru. I love the way the tall trees tower over the lower layers.

BOOK I : Psalms 1-41

¹ Blessed is the man
who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked
or stand in the way of sinners
or sit in the seat of mockers.

² But his delight is in the law of the LORD,
and on his law he meditates day and night.

³ He is like a tree planted by streams of water,
which yields its fruit in season
and whose leaf does not wither.
Whatever he does prospers

Medical Clinic pictures

Click on the Peru link on the side to see the latest posting of the medical clinics for Peru 2009.

So Blessed

Last night as I went to bed I just was reflecting on how blessed I am. We had just returned from an evening at church celebrating 50 years as a congregation and reflecting on many of the mission opportunities that are available. Hearing the Philippine pastor speak reminded me of how much we have spiritually and physically and financially here in America. Yet when we visit other countries I see how often they are more generous and loving than myself.

When I was checking Facebook and the blogs last night I was thinking of how I haven't blogged much but there is so much that has happened even the last two weeks. So I will try to blog some of our Peru trip experiences and before that list a few of the blessings we've experienced in the last two weeks (not necessarily in order).

--It was very fun to be able to shop with Laura and Teresa for Laura's wedding dress. She liked the first one she tried on and the bridesmaid dress looked nice on Teresa as well. (sorry we can't post a picture... you will have to wait until the wedding or see it at Laura's apartment)

--Another blessing was actually having the money to pay for the dress even without dipping into savings. God has truly provided abundantly for us even during this economy.

--Along that line is that Teresa told us yesterday that she finally found an internship and that this new one is actually paid. It has been a stressful process thinking she had two possible internships but never actually getting hours after waiting for background checks and training and assignments within departments. Now she will be doing research on adoption and setting up a webpage I think. The teacher approved it and there is hope of completing the requirements by the end of the semester which is only 8 weeks away and gaining quickly.

--Saturday we went garage saling with Laura and Rikki and found some furniture for Rikki and some large shelving units for our garage. This meant cleaning out our messy garage to make room for them. I have accomplished a good portion of this and even got the lawn mowed yesterday. Chris had weeded a large portion of the front yard the week before but we had to wait for the opportune time between the rain showers for the lawn.

--Chris has been able to get some fishing in and finally caught a fish which tasted very good.

-- Monday night I went to the quilting guild and saw some beautiful quilts and got inspired. I have worked on my tree quilt a few times since returning from Peru and Laura, Rikki and I have sewed one block and gone to a Saturday sampler.

-- I am thankful for my job. It has been slow at work and I was wondering if it was just the economy but was told that they are actually making the doctors take their vacations and earned time. What a concept.... an employer making us take a vacation. We are blessed. I remember 8 years of no paid time off and really appreciate my earned time pay. It really makes it much more possible to do things like go to Peru and on missions trips.

--At work we were offered a training class over two days on Crucial conversations. I was reflecting on how blessed I am to live and work around people that are loving and respectful to each other. Not everyone is so lucky. This class offers tools on turning conversations around to be less stressful and more productive and respectful. And I didn't have to pay for the class and actually got paid to attend. Amazing to me how blessed I am.

--I enjoy so much the pictures and communications on Facebook... just being able to be able to connect with family and friends.

Thank you God and you in my life that bless me so much.

WELL DRILLING AT PUERTO AMERICA, PERU

I am pleased to report that we returned home yesterday October 3rd after having a succesful trip to the area of Iquitos, Peru. We gave medical relief to 4 remote villages and drilled wells in two of them. A third well that we raised the funds for will be drilled soon.

Above is a video of me taking my hand at the back-breaking work of drilling the well. There are a lot of stories and photos of our adventure that I will add in the following days.

Celebrating 33 years together

For our anniversary we decided to do a hike and see some waterfalls. We started the day with a few garage sales and then had a brunch at McDonalds on the way to the hike. We drove to Cascade Locks and Eagle Creek. We had to hike a half mile from the main parking lot to the trail head because the close parking was all taken. The first falls observation site was at 1.5 miles along the trail. We made that in about 45 minutes since it was a good uphill grade. The next falls lookout was at mile 2. There we had a choice to go down to the river or up to see more falls. We chose to go up. We knew the next one was at 3.3 miles in on the trail. This was a longer stretch than we would have liked but it was beautiful. The actual falls were often quite a bit in the distance and not very well marked but we did find them. The way back went faster and we were back at our car by 4:35. (Our goal was 4:30 so we weren't far off). Next time we will bring more water and head down to the creek at the second fall observation point. We recommend the hike.

Since we planned to go to The Olive Garden for dinner and Chris was pretty sweaty from our trip we decided to purchase some clothing he needed for our Peru trip and change before dinner. So we hit the outlet stores along HWY 84 on the way to the Olive Garden and got two pairs of pants and a shirt.

We had a short wait for dinner but knew exactly what we wanted so ordered quickly and then sat back and rested and enjoyed the good food. We made it home about 8 and then watched a movie. All in all a good day. Enjoy the pictures.

My favorite sampler quilt
I was going to use this type of sashing and borders for my tree quilt but may change my mind.

One of the more realistic landscape quilts.

I think we need on of these for the parade to go with the Chia car.

This morning we drove from Albany to Sisters for the quilt show. These are a few of our favorite quilts. Chris liked the style above. There were several in various colors. I'm not sure which was his favorite color but this was my favorite of this style.

I have been wanting to do a tree quilt and thus liked this one. I may try a variation of this one. This was hanging in the pizza parlor we had lunch in. Otherwise we would have missed it.

This one is made entirely of wedding dresses

Friday Chris and I headed down to the Oregon Gardens on our way to Sisters. We spent the night in Albany to shorten the 4 hour trek to Sister's Quilt show.Below is one of the plants Chris would like to add to our garden at home. It is a hosta.

On Wednesday we tried to redeem some of our vacation and ended up at the beach. We had lunch at Pier 11 in Astoria and then played minature golf and looked at shops in Seaside. We walked out on the beach but it was too windy to stay for long.