These Last Few Weeks

  A few weeks ago I had the opportunity to go on a bit of a tour about the country. It was so much fun!! Up until this point I had never been outside of Santa Cruz, so it was very exciting for me to get to see some different places and cultures that the country has. The main cities we visited were Sucre, Potosi, La Paz, and Cochabamba, along with a few small towns along the way. Our travels were mainly on a windy road that took us through the hills of the Andes and on the altiplano, or high plains. So many views literally took my breath away! God is a very artistic Creator! I don't think I've ever seen anything so beautiful. It was interesting to see how people lived in these places as well. There were many little pueblos scattered along the road, but sometimes there would just be a small group of houses built at the foot of a mountain, or just single houses built at random on the hillside. Some were big enough to sleep in and no larger! There were terraces built in to the mountain side as well, and there were cattle and donkeys and llamas all over the place. I had to wonder how they kept track of their animals out there- some people had pens, but with so many scattered along the road I had to wonder if sometimes your animals just left and you never saw them again!  Then, in comparison, not long after this I was in La Paz, which very much reminded me of the States. I felt very out of place, though I'm not sure why. We stayed in the wealthier part of town, and I got a little tour from a girl that goes to the vineyard church there, and I just couldn't help but wonder at the difference of lifestyle between this place and the people living on the altiplano. I tried to imagine for a moment what it must be like to live like they do, but it's simply unfathomable to me.
Anyways, overall I had a lot of fun but was glad to be back home. We were gone for 9 days and drove about 1500 miles at an average speed of probably 30 miles an hour. It was beautiful, but after 10 hours in a car it doesn't really matter whether the scenery is pretty or not, you just want out! And while I loved seeing the different cities, they all seemed to be very touristy, and Santa Cruz simply feels more like home. Not sure why, but it just does. And it was good to see my kids again. I missed them! They seemed a little mad at me and were kind of "stand-off-ish" for a while, but after a full day back things were normal again, and I was thankful for it.
A little update on Esperanza- she's still hanging in there, but still hasn't had her surgery.  I was thinking through in my head what all she's got wrong with her (some of these are new, some not)- she's got a whole in her heart, she has cleft lip and pallate, she's having seizures, she may or may not have a urinary infection, she now appears to have a kidney stone, and she as of recent has bronchitis, probably from the boys who both have it as well. Holy smokes! Poor girl! But despite all the bad she seems to be gaining weight, which is a blessing from God, and she's looking pretty great (as in not skinny and sickly, but she is a little cutie in general :)  So, no surgery scheduled, but hopefully it will be soon (yes, I think that's the same as it's been for the last month or longer, but we're getting closer!!).
Hmmm, yep, I think that pretty much sums up these last few weeks...