Hello from Lima.
With just a little over a month left of out first year here life is going fairly well.
I am feeling pretty good. I have my good days and my bad days, I am having more good days than bad days so that is good. I continue to work through finding the right meds in the right dosages with my doctor (Dr. Harrison) but I feel good about things. I am able to teach my class and do most of what I plan. Whereas three months ago I had so much I wanted to do but was unable to physically move enough to do those things. I also feel that I need to receive some positive affirmation that I have less than 30 days of school left and ALL my children are alive and I have not even maimed any of them! (Some days this is a major miracle...sigh)
We are gearing up for the Christmas program...here in Peru there are two big things each school year that have to be BIG. They are: Mother's Day, and Christmas. It should be fun.
Well I need to go and cash a check so I can go replenish my meds for the next month.
Hope all of those who read this are well and that God blesses you.
Thursday, November 6, 2008
Monday, July 28, 2008
Fiestas Patrias (aka Independence Day Festival!)
The last day of first semester was Friday, July 18. We then have our Winter Break for two weeks, not returning to school until August 4. BUT, Peruvian Independence Day is on July 28. So, Monterrico Christian School put on a Independence Day Program on the last day before break.
so, all afternoon on the 18th, we had our Fiestas Patrias, and what an event it was! All of Peru seems to start decorating for 28 de julio as soon as julio (July) starts, and the red and white satin decorations, banners, bunting, and flags go up EVERYWHERE. The people in the grocery stores have special outfits, red and white and more traditional, and everywhere you see 'Vive el Peru' and red and white and red and white and red and white!
We had no idea what this program was going to be; we knew that each class was a different part or group of people in Peru's history, but we didn't truly know hwat to expect. We were told that all of our kids would dress up as the people their class was assigned. Okay, great. What I didn't realize until about a week before, is that dressing up means going and renting costumes. This is just expected by the parents and children. After seeing all of the costumes, I've gotta say, I would have loved to get dressed up this way!
The program was a success and exactly what all the Peruvian parents were expecting and wanting; I was glad when it was over! It was a long afternoon with lots of waiting as each class walked to the program site only when it was their turn to perform. So, until it was our turn, everyone was waiting in the Temple (church sanctuary) until we were called out into the bright sunshine (unusual for this time of year) to walk about fifty yards across two patios to the lower patio where the awnings and seating were set up. It was interesting. Especially for Cindy, who was in a wheelchair and without her wonderful Peruvian assistant, Carmen. (Carmen's father was admitted to hospital that morning.) But we survived, and have 200 pictures to show it!
Here is a link to some of them. (Just the best ones)
so, all afternoon on the 18th, we had our Fiestas Patrias, and what an event it was! All of Peru seems to start decorating for 28 de julio as soon as julio (July) starts, and the red and white satin decorations, banners, bunting, and flags go up EVERYWHERE. The people in the grocery stores have special outfits, red and white and more traditional, and everywhere you see 'Vive el Peru' and red and white and red and white and red and white!
We had no idea what this program was going to be; we knew that each class was a different part or group of people in Peru's history, but we didn't truly know hwat to expect. We were told that all of our kids would dress up as the people their class was assigned. Okay, great. What I didn't realize until about a week before, is that dressing up means going and renting costumes. This is just expected by the parents and children. After seeing all of the costumes, I've gotta say, I would have loved to get dressed up this way!
The program was a success and exactly what all the Peruvian parents were expecting and wanting; I was glad when it was over! It was a long afternoon with lots of waiting as each class walked to the program site only when it was their turn to perform. So, until it was our turn, everyone was waiting in the Temple (church sanctuary) until we were called out into the bright sunshine (unusual for this time of year) to walk about fifty yards across two patios to the lower patio where the awnings and seating were set up. It was interesting. Especially for Cindy, who was in a wheelchair and without her wonderful Peruvian assistant, Carmen. (Carmen's father was admitted to hospital that morning.) But we survived, and have 200 pictures to show it!
Here is a link to some of them. (Just the best ones)
 |
| Fiestas Patrias: Independen |
Saturday, June 21, 2008
Here are some more pictures!
Emily here: Please see my blog for a brief written update on the weather here in Lima.
www.leinbacker.com
here is a link to some recent pics:
www.leinbacker.com
here is a link to some recent pics:
Saturday, June 14, 2008
Hello all this is Cindy
Hello all!
This is Cindy as you prolly figured by the title...you guys are SO smart! Good Job! Good English words! Er...sorry. For a minute I thought I was in my P-4 Class.
I have been having a lot of pain. From head to toe my muscles have been on fire, my joints ache, and my foot has been so painfully I can hardly walk. Thursday I broke down in morning devotions and just cried telling everyone how much pain I have been living in over the past three weeks especially. I was gently sent home to rest. That evening Ivan called and asked if I wanted to go to the Chiropractor. I said "heck yeah when!" So we went that night, Emily came along as well to get a massage. I got a massage, it hurt really badly, but I knew that it was needed. Same with the adjustment, it hurt and he hardly did much because it hurt me so badly. Friday was NOT fun. I hurt so much I didn't even want to get out of bed. I got up and took a muscle relaxer and went back to bed (after calling Nancy and telling her I could not come in.) Moving hurt so intensely. So I slept a LOT because of the meds.
This morning I woke up and glory be it didn't hurt to open my eyes! I could get up and walk to the bathroom and not want to cry!!!! It was amazing! I could raise my hands up over my head and not cry out in pain. I could bend down and touch my toes and not want to crumple into a ball and cry. It has been wonderful to feel like myself for the first time in weeks! So I am going back to the Chiropractor on Monday and I know that it will be little steps forward but I again have hope that I will be able to live my life with out constant pain, and being on constant meds everyday all day.
So I am very relieved. I am very happy that I have a faithful God. I will try to writ emore later this week.
Cindy
This is Cindy as you prolly figured by the title...you guys are SO smart! Good Job! Good English words! Er...sorry. For a minute I thought I was in my P-4 Class.
I have been having a lot of pain. From head to toe my muscles have been on fire, my joints ache, and my foot has been so painfully I can hardly walk. Thursday I broke down in morning devotions and just cried telling everyone how much pain I have been living in over the past three weeks especially. I was gently sent home to rest. That evening Ivan called and asked if I wanted to go to the Chiropractor. I said "heck yeah when!" So we went that night, Emily came along as well to get a massage. I got a massage, it hurt really badly, but I knew that it was needed. Same with the adjustment, it hurt and he hardly did much because it hurt me so badly. Friday was NOT fun. I hurt so much I didn't even want to get out of bed. I got up and took a muscle relaxer and went back to bed (after calling Nancy and telling her I could not come in.) Moving hurt so intensely. So I slept a LOT because of the meds.
This morning I woke up and glory be it didn't hurt to open my eyes! I could get up and walk to the bathroom and not want to cry!!!! It was amazing! I could raise my hands up over my head and not cry out in pain. I could bend down and touch my toes and not want to crumple into a ball and cry. It has been wonderful to feel like myself for the first time in weeks! So I am going back to the Chiropractor on Monday and I know that it will be little steps forward but I again have hope that I will be able to live my life with out constant pain, and being on constant meds everyday all day.
So I am very relieved. I am very happy that I have a faithful God. I will try to writ emore later this week.
Cindy
Saturday, May 31, 2008
Hello, we're still here.
Hello everyone. Just a quick note to say we're still alive and kicking.
School is going pretty well, and last week we both survivied our first ever experience with parent-teacher conferences. cindy's were definately much harder than mine, due to an ongoing behavioral issue is one of her boys that adversely affects a great deal of the rest of the class. It wasn't easy, but we got through. The week before that we were trying to get through our first-ever experience with report cards. wow. what an experience. but we survived that too!
i've been encouraged recently by the occurrance of several conversations during the day in class that have been true spiritual moments of revelation of the gospel. it's pretty cool to (right in the middle of math or science or english or reading) be able to explain the Book of Life and Christ's blood covering all our sin when God judges us. it's also cool to be able to ask every morning and afternoon "would anyone like to pray or shall i?" sigh. prayer in school. neat. and i've had four different kids volunteer to pray so far. and offer prayer requests.
on friday, i shared a prayer request with them, and we talked about death, and salvation and how people grieve and say goodbye. my prayer request was for my family, and for me, because my dad's cousin (Mike Ramer) died unexpectedly this week. they had sort of "met" Mike because they'd seen a picture he'd taken of me and cindy and Dad outside of Soldier Field in Chicago. Mike came with us last November to the Bears/Broncos game. It helped me get through the day, being able to share about my feelings of sadness and anger and feeling like i can't be there to be with the family, and then having an eight-year-old pray for our class, for us to have a good day, and for God to "protect Miss Leinbach's family and also Mike who died and believed in you". For the full story of my thoughts on the day of Mike's death being discovered, please read my last blog entry at http://www.linebacker.com/ or click on the link to "Life of Leinbacker" on the right.
Please pray for the Leinbach and Ramer families, especially Mike's siblings: Janet, Doris, and Jim and his nieces and nephews and their children. also for my grandparents, who have lost a niece or nephew to death for the first time. The younger generation is not supposed to die before their elders, ya know?
Thanks for all your prayers. we love and miss you all. a lot. God bless.
School is going pretty well, and last week we both survivied our first ever experience with parent-teacher conferences. cindy's were definately much harder than mine, due to an ongoing behavioral issue is one of her boys that adversely affects a great deal of the rest of the class. It wasn't easy, but we got through. The week before that we were trying to get through our first-ever experience with report cards. wow. what an experience. but we survived that too!
i've been encouraged recently by the occurrance of several conversations during the day in class that have been true spiritual moments of revelation of the gospel. it's pretty cool to (right in the middle of math or science or english or reading) be able to explain the Book of Life and Christ's blood covering all our sin when God judges us. it's also cool to be able to ask every morning and afternoon "would anyone like to pray or shall i?" sigh. prayer in school. neat. and i've had four different kids volunteer to pray so far. and offer prayer requests.
on friday, i shared a prayer request with them, and we talked about death, and salvation and how people grieve and say goodbye. my prayer request was for my family, and for me, because my dad's cousin (Mike Ramer) died unexpectedly this week. they had sort of "met" Mike because they'd seen a picture he'd taken of me and cindy and Dad outside of Soldier Field in Chicago. Mike came with us last November to the Bears/Broncos game. It helped me get through the day, being able to share about my feelings of sadness and anger and feeling like i can't be there to be with the family, and then having an eight-year-old pray for our class, for us to have a good day, and for God to "protect Miss Leinbach's family and also Mike who died and believed in you". For the full story of my thoughts on the day of Mike's death being discovered, please read my last blog entry at http://www.linebacker.com/ or click on the link to "Life of Leinbacker" on the right.
Please pray for the Leinbach and Ramer families, especially Mike's siblings: Janet, Doris, and Jim and his nieces and nephews and their children. also for my grandparents, who have lost a niece or nephew to death for the first time. The younger generation is not supposed to die before their elders, ya know?
Thanks for all your prayers. we love and miss you all. a lot. God bless.
Monday, May 5, 2008
Even the moon looks different!?!
The moon is different. Well, it looks different. It's, like, sorta sideways. There's no man in the moon unless you tilt your head sidways. (we tried it...) why? well, last friday night i woke up at 1:23 and was up until 5 a.m. due to intestinal unrest. So, i logged on and did a search for Southern Hemisphere star charts and why the moon looks different. Below is a link that shows the differences in what the moon looks like very well. You should click on the minus sign under the "speed" button on the bottom because it loads with the sun and the moon just whizzing by...
http://www.math.nus.edu.sg/aslaksen/applets/equatorialmoon/equatorialmoon.html
make sure you change the location to the equator and then to about 13 degrees south, because that's where Lima's at...
it's all about location location location!
Here's an even simpler picture, and it uses happy little moose to show you!
http://www.wundermoosen.com/WunderMoosenWeb-why-southern-hemiphere-moon-phases-are-different.aspx
now that our astronomy lesson is over, please pray this week for both cindy and i in our mental and physical health. the seasons are changing (winter has started, meaning it's not warm anymore, it's acutally chilly all day) and colds are going around. and, as i noted in teh first paragraph, i've been dealing iwth intestinal unease since early Saturday morning, continuing to today. Cindy was feeling better after a virus last monday and tuesday, but then this afternoon suddenly (and i mean SUDDENLY) became violently ill at school, vomiting and running to the bathroom. This is the last week of the first quarter, so student evaluations and report card grades are due, and this is the first time either of us have ever done anything like this, so it's a tad bit stressful to begin with, not to mention when you feel so horrible. When we were finally able to walk the three blocks home from school (it took about and hour and a half after her initial attack before she was NOT in so much pain and could walk home), cindy went straight to bed. i went straight to the restroom myself. ah, the loveliness of new and exotic bugs.
We are realizing more and more each day that this really is a case of "I can't do this, but God in me can." Our prayer is that we can stay connected to God and allow his spirit to do that work and give us strength and discipline.
Speaking of discipline, i've got lesson plans to finish! see you later! love you all!
-emily
http://www.math.nus.edu.sg/aslaksen/applets/equatorialmoon/equatorialmoon.html
make sure you change the location to the equator and then to about 13 degrees south, because that's where Lima's at...
it's all about location location location!
Here's an even simpler picture, and it uses happy little moose to show you!
http://www.wundermoosen.com/WunderMoosenWeb-why-southern-hemiphere-moon-phases-are-different.aspx
now that our astronomy lesson is over, please pray this week for both cindy and i in our mental and physical health. the seasons are changing (winter has started, meaning it's not warm anymore, it's acutally chilly all day) and colds are going around. and, as i noted in teh first paragraph, i've been dealing iwth intestinal unease since early Saturday morning, continuing to today. Cindy was feeling better after a virus last monday and tuesday, but then this afternoon suddenly (and i mean SUDDENLY) became violently ill at school, vomiting and running to the bathroom. This is the last week of the first quarter, so student evaluations and report card grades are due, and this is the first time either of us have ever done anything like this, so it's a tad bit stressful to begin with, not to mention when you feel so horrible. When we were finally able to walk the three blocks home from school (it took about and hour and a half after her initial attack before she was NOT in so much pain and could walk home), cindy went straight to bed. i went straight to the restroom myself. ah, the loveliness of new and exotic bugs.
We are realizing more and more each day that this really is a case of "I can't do this, but God in me can." Our prayer is that we can stay connected to God and allow his spirit to do that work and give us strength and discipline.
Speaking of discipline, i've got lesson plans to finish! see you later! love you all!
-emily
Friday, May 2, 2008
Pictures here!
Go to www.picasaweb.google.com/leinbacker for some great pics of our new life in Peru. Also, a few notes have been added to the individual blogs we both have; see the links at right or click on http://www.leinbacker.com/ and http://www.zeeblebop.com/ for the scoop.
We miss you all and know that we will only start missing you more as time continues and it sinks in that we're not going to see you all for many more months. So far, it doesn't feel much different than the longer stretches of living in Chicago without a visit to Indiana. As the weeks continue here in Lima, we know we will start to actually feel the separation in a very keen way.
We're still working on the Vonage phone. Please pray about that. BUT you can call and leave messages. Email one of us for the number(s) if you don't have them. We LOVE getting the messages!!!
I have added my own blogger account name as an author to this blog, so you should see that this was posted by "mle" down at the bottom. Anytime you see that, it means that I am posting. (Oh, in case you couldn't tell, "I" am Emily.)
It's 8:10 and I haven't been home from school yet, so i'm going to pack up and go home now.
With much thanks for your prayers and much love to you all,
mle
We miss you all and know that we will only start missing you more as time continues and it sinks in that we're not going to see you all for many more months. So far, it doesn't feel much different than the longer stretches of living in Chicago without a visit to Indiana. As the weeks continue here in Lima, we know we will start to actually feel the separation in a very keen way.
We're still working on the Vonage phone. Please pray about that. BUT you can call and leave messages. Email one of us for the number(s) if you don't have them. We LOVE getting the messages!!!
I have added my own blogger account name as an author to this blog, so you should see that this was posted by "mle" down at the bottom. Anytime you see that, it means that I am posting. (Oh, in case you couldn't tell, "I" am Emily.)
It's 8:10 and I haven't been home from school yet, so i'm going to pack up and go home now.
With much thanks for your prayers and much love to you all,
mle
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