2015 Christmas Giveaway

I'm so excited to share my blogging buddies' giveaway! There's something for everyone here! I don't know about you, but I'm totally behind on my Christmas shopping! So if you win, hopefully this will get you a bit closer to having your list finished! Good luck.

Hosted by: Kay from The More The Merrier Amy from This Mamas Life

Sponsors:

Guitar Hero Live - $99.99 Value Made With Love & Kisses Blanket (Fuzzy Flurry Blue "Cool Monkey" Blanket) - $48.00 Value Peg + Cat book - $10.00 Value YOXO "Wynd" Pegasus - $29.99 Value Jamberry Gift Card - $50.00 Value Civilized Cats Book - $15.00 Value

                          GreenTreeJewelry - 3 Pairs of earrings chosen by sponsor - $44 Value

*One Lucky Reader will receive the items shown above *Prize Package Valued at More than $200.00 *Giveaway starts November 30, 2015. *Giveaway will end at 11:59pm est on December 14, 2015 *Giveaway is open to US only * You must be 18 or over to enter * Winner will be chosen at random via GiveawayTools * Winners will have 48 hours to respond before a new winner will be chosen. * The lucky winner will be notified by email at the end of the Giveaway. * Participating blogs are not responsible for prize shipment or fulfillment

Entry-Form

  *Disclaimer: The More the Merrier & This Mamas Life received the items above in exchange for reviews & this giveaway. All opinions expressed are those of our own.

Wheelchair Distribution Day

Our last day in Peru was doing the wheelchair distributions. We started off at the location where we put them together the day before, and one by one, took them down the two flights of stairs, and across the street to a soccer field.

Jenny was awesome. Initially we were all trying to get across the traffic by the skin of our teeth. Leave it to Jenny to walk out to the middle of the traffic, and stop it every time one of us needed to cross. Believe it or not, they all stopped!

We got most of the wheelchairs over when we were told we had to move them all onto the grassy field. lol That was totally ok because we were there just to help! After we had gotten them moved, I realized they had a large band there playing songs. Before the distribution, they sang the national anthem. Turns out it was about 5 minutes long. HA!

People started showing up, and the ones who needed assistance were carried in on plastic chairs. At this point, Fred's back was shot, but he continued to carry in person after person.

The process for getting a wheelchair is, they have to start off with the legal paperwork. The government is involved to make sure things are legit. From there, they hear the gospel, and then they are given a wheelchair.

The wheelchairs are fitted to each person so that they're comfortable. Here, Denny is adjusting it for Jesus (14). It was so cute and tender to watch the interaction. The children I think believed he was Santa (Papa Noel). In the 3rd frame below, he's touching Denny's beard.

He is paralyzed, but I'm not sure why. He lives with his grandma because his mom abandoned him. She's living in the jungle because she couldn't deal with his disability. Jesus goes to a special school. He can hear, but can't speak.

Paige gave us the task of getting stories from some of the people we were serving. Pastor Trent said, "Ok, pick who we're going to talk to." I saw this little girl, and he dove right in! The little girl below is Donna. She is 5 yrs old. Back in June she had an accident. While playing she touched an electrical outlet, and was electrocuted. She no longer had muscle coordination. Her mom said that she had been an active little girl, and was in school. The reason they were there to get a wheelchair was so she could get to therapy.

If you notice the first picture of the lady being carried in, this is who we spoke to next. She was such a sweetheart, and just cried and cried when we spoke to her. I don't remember her name, but she was 74, and had terrible knees. She was in a lot of pain, and her medication wasn't helping. Thankfully, her daughter lives with her, and helps take care of her.

Next we came across the cutest little baby, Matias! He had a Goofy helmet on because his head had a flat spot, but thankfully he wasn't in need of a wheelchair. He was there with his mom, who was there to help her 67 yr old mom get a wheelchair. She was on dialysis, and the wheelchair will help her get to her appointments.

Last photo (but not my last story) is 5 yr old Brisa, and her mom, Oliva. When she was 3 months old, she started having convulsions which have progressively gotten worse. She's an only child, and has to be carried everywhere. Olivia is a single mom living with her parents high in the mountains. They have no money to take her to therapy. She needs an eye exam badly. Her mom sells corn, and leaves Brisa with her mom.

I'd say the stories were overwhelming, and they were, but I just had so much joy in my heart for these people who were being loved on, and helped. I was thankful we were able to spend the day getting to pray for these families.

While we were chilling out, Pastor Trent showed me where we were serving. We were about an hour away from Lima. I had no idea the name of the town.

We weren't able to finish distributing all of the wheelchairs because we had to go back to Pastor Danny's to get all of our stuff, and head to the airport. Before we left, we were able to eat a delicious lunch! Moises went around and told each of us how we had touched his life. It was very thoughtful. I wish I had video taped it to remember his words.

When we got back to Pastor Danny's I took a picture with Denise as a farewell photo. I just really came to love this lady so much throughout the week!

And we couldn't thank Toby enough for the time and care he took with driving us everywhere. Such a pleasant guy! We were thankful to know that since the last time we'd been down two years ago, he had come to know the Lord!

We'll be back again next October! I can't wait.

Our Home Away From Home In Peru

When I woke up on our last morning in Lima, I couldn't believe our week was already gone. We were going to have a very busy day, so I knew it would keep my mind off of what was looming at the end of the day.

I think what I'm going to do is split this last day up into 3 posts. For this first post, I wanted to show you where we stayed. The Gutierrez family was so amazingly welcoming. I was so thankful for the time we stayed with them.

So this is the highest point at the house. I'd even call it a compound. There are three rooms at the very top, and they're filled with bunkbeds. That trampoline is totally American. It's from a Do It Best store! HA! It would've been cool if the pool would've been filled. lol I don't think I ever saw any other pools during all of our drives.

I don't remember the swing sitting there. I wish I had seen it because it would've been a great place to hang out in the evening. The sitting area behind it was nice to relax at and chat.

There were 7 of us who stayed up here. The ladies and our room had bathrooms in them. Under our room, which I never looked around at, there's a bathroom that the guys used. So many nooks and crannies of living space here. You would've never believed there was so much back here from the road.

This is under where the swing in the top photo is. See that gate? I sort of walked about halfway over to it, figuring it was a gardening storage or something. I really didn't get close because I didn't want to be very nosey. But really, how exciting can a garden shed be?

Welllll, let me tell you, it wasn't a garden shed. The night before I was sitting on the top step in the picture above just chilling out. I heard something at the bottom of the stairs. Not the bottom of those ones, but further down. I had been looking at my phone so I was blind looking into the dark.

I kept hearing something and thought it must be their dog. Whew, nothing to be scared about. Imagine my surprise when I saw a girl almost right before my eyes. lol Turns out, that "shed" was actually a room. The Gutierrez family has a couple young ladies living with them, and this is their room. HA! Glad I didn't get too nosey. In all of the days we'd been there, I'd never seen those girls go to bed. lol

I just loved all of the greenery throughout their home. There were spots of color every where we turned. I want our home to be like theirs. It's big enough that they're able to bless others!

I loved those purple flowers. I think the yellow and other colors interspersed is Lantana. Everywhere I turned there was more color, and birds in the trees and bushes. I could never see them though. lol

Can you imagine how much all of this stone work would cost back here in the States? Something I love about the climate in Peru, at least as an American, is that the weather is so nice, this veranda.

I can't wait to go back in less than a year!

Building Wheelchairs In Peru

Day 6 in Peru and we were ready to build wheelchairs. I think when that morning showed up, I was surprised at how fast our time had gone. One week goes by in the blink of an eye The first couple of days made me feel like our time there would last forever. Guess that wasn't the case.

I was so thankful we started our mornings off with a devotion that Fred brought for us. We'd gather together as a team, eat our breakfast, and then spend about fifteen minutes going over the devotion and praying. What a great way to get the days started.

We drove over to where the men had gone the day before, and wow, they had to carry all 150 of the wheelchair boxes up to a second floor in some really crazy traffic. Not only was there a lot of traffic, but there were a lot of people. I never really got a chance to look around because we were because from the moment we arrived, until the time we left, but I think we were above a market of some sort. We were once again warned not to walk anywhere alone.

This was our first view out one side of the building. The corrugated roofs are over the market stalls.

Paige split us up into teams of 2-3, and we set about building 150 chairs. Fred and I had built them before so we had a pretty good idea of how to build them again. The first time I had gone down, there were only about 10 of these style of chairs. Now this was all we were assembling.

When you look at the boxes, and understand how to build them, you'd think it wouldn't take long to get them together, but in the 5 hours we were building, we got 10 1/2 built. We finished up one someone had gotten started, but wasn't able to finish.

 Mark and Frieda working with Daniel, Rosa's son and another gal.

 Caillie working with one of the interns

 Pastor Chuck is doing a great job supervising his wife, Jenny, and another worker

 Molly and Dave both working with Peruvian volunteers

It was amazing to watch all of these wheelchairs come together. We were brought lunches from the outreach center. When you get into the groove of building, there's no way you want to go anywhere to get food.

Denise and Denny met this man, Sean, who was originally from Vietnam, but lived in the US. He felt called to be a missionary in Peru, and just left everything behind. He wasn't there with any specific church or with any organization. He was there because he said that's where God sent him. He was SO cool to talk to. There's another story that goes along with him, and our team, but it's personal, but just know that God's timing is supernatural!

Bernie & one of the interns working on a chair, and Fred working on one of ours while I take the picture

The final part of the wheelchair is to tighten the strings on the back. Not too tight, not too loose. The first couple we tied way too tight

 Denise and Denny getting started on a new wheelchair

Towards the end, Denny came over and helped Fred with the last chair. He was such a handy guy

Here they all are! Ok, well, they actually go around the corner in the back

You know how I've talked about dogs being everywhere? We saw cats on occasion, but as I look at this next photo, I realize I don't remember ever seeing one walking on the road. I saw these cats during our lunch break, and realized most of the time I've seen cats, they've been up high...or in the cat park. lol

As soon as we got done here, we headed out with the interns. I think we must've had time to kill because we went to a coffee house and hung out there for about an hour? It was a really cool little oasis in the middle of a busy city. I realized I didn't take a photo of the inside of the place. Check out these empanadas though. I think what's stamped around the edge is the name of the place. I can't remember though.

After the coffee house, we headed out to eat at a Chifa restaurant? I think it's Chinese food with a Peruvian twist? I know, I'm forgetting everything because it's been a month since we've been back!

Denny and Denise hanging out with the interns as we wait for Toby to bring the van

Our meal was once again family style. Our intern ordered the food, and we were wowed with what was put in front of us. Of course, I'm not going to be able to remember the dishes at this point.

The plates were large enough that we were able to all have at least one serving. Now, see that spoon in the picture above. That became a spoon that Denise and I were loving! It has this amazing bowl that made scooping fabulous. It was just a great spoon. Here she and I are conniving about pilfering this spoon, while on a mission trip. Oh my gosh, she and I were in stitches.

And, to be honest, I tried, in extremely bad spanglish to convince our server to allow me to go home with it. I didn't try very hard because I was a little embarrassed. These poor people don't understand how crazy us gringas are.

This was our first view as we came into the restaurant, and as we left. hahahaha

From dinner, we headed back to The Guitierez home for the night. Our last night. We could hardly believe Saturday was going to be our last day, and heading home that night.

You know those sugar cane pieces I had been wanting, and ended up getting an entire bag of? Well, Jenny, one of the gals who spent quite a bit of time with us, brought me a pouch of cane on Wednesday. UGH, she was so sweet! Well, as we were packing up all of our stuff, it turned out that all of it had spoiled. It had fermented! It smelled so incredibly bad. I was bummed because I wasn't able to take any home, and neither was Tammy. And I just KNEW we wouldn't find any on Saturday.

What's the most fulfilling way you've ever given of yourself and your time?