February 2016: "The Georges in Peru"

I always say, "There's never a bad day for a run in Arequipa."  That's because the temperatures are mild all year round and we live in a desert, so it rarely rains.  But when it does rain, the city infrastructure is unprepared for it and this last week it rained and washed out some pipelines leaving us, ironically, without water.  Today is the Arequipa marathon.  It really didn't work for me to run even the 10K with Amy's condition, but since Lyle was here and awake at 6:30 am, I went for a run on one of my regular routes.

My brother Lyle came to visit today.  It has been raining so much here in Arequipa, many of the flights have been cancelled.   Since most years it doesn't rain, it has been deemed an unnecessary expense to install the instruments needed at the airport to allow planes to land in fog or rain.  So I was glad when I woke up at 5 am to see completely clear skies for the first time in a week and I knew his flight would come in.  It is great to have my big brother here!

Today I stopped to be a good Samaritan and help the driver of the fire-extinguisher company van who had backed into a hole.  Why is there a hole like this in the street?  I won't pretend to know.  As I was unrolling my tow rope, five other guys came by and helped push him out.  I really liked how the paint job on the van fit the surroundings!

Most people think Breakfast in Bed is a great thing.  Currently, we are in the opposite opinion.  For the first time in 3 days Amy was feeling good enough to go downstairs and eat breakfast at the dining room table!  Maybe 'Waffle Wednesday' was the impetus she needed.  Her head didn't hurt much yesterday and when I offered some pain meds she said, "No.  I'm tough!"

This morning when Amy woke up, I asked her, "How do you rate your headache pain this morning?"  "It doesn't hurt at all!" she said.  "And I'm not nauseated!"  She felt good.  She still can't walk without assistance but she feels good and even ate some mango, leftover birthday cake, and a cup of coffee.  You can probably imagine how encouraging this is to me!   Thanks for praying specifically for her headaches.

Amy has been sleeping most of the day.  She's been rejecting food, though I found some Fuji apples that were so good that we got her to eat 3 or 4 slices anyway.  We take turns sitting with Amy.  I'm typing this with her curled up by my side.  I read her a few emails that made me cry and after 2 or 3 she had to sleep some more, so I stopped reading them to her.  Thanks for all of your words of encouragement.  Sorry if I don't reply to all of your emails.

Yesterday about 10 people from our church showed up with a birthday cake for Sarah (12th), Amy (8th) and Mia (19th).  We sang some hymns and ate cake.  Amy sat with them, but was too nauseated to eat any cake.  

This morning Sarah arrived in Arequipa at 6:30.  We are soooo glad she is here.  She is such a great help taking care of her mom.  Amy is doing better today, with less headaches and little nausea.  

Amy has been suffering terrible headaches from her brain tumor and she ran out of her pain pills from the States.  The director of one of the ministries we partner with in Peru was sure she had some pain meds in their warehouse.  The problem was that they were in a collection of over 100 boxes that each had to be gone through.  Ben and Paul went with Amy and me to try to dig through the boxes.  What a nice surprise when we were met by a team of about 10 missionaries and 10 Peruvians to help carry boxes and search through them!