A Little Addition to our Lives

One of my all-time favorite passages of the Bible is Psalm 139. It means a little more now.....

Psalm 139:13-17

¹³ 

For you created my inmost being; 

    you knit me together in my mother’s womb. 

¹⁴ 

I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;

    your works are wonderful, 

    I know that full well.

¹⁵ 

My frame was not hidden from you

    when I was made in the secret place,

    when I was woven together in the depths of the earth. 

¹⁶ 

Your eyes saw my unformed body;

    all the days ordained for me were written in your book

    before one of them came to be.

¹⁷ 

How precious to me are your thoughts, God! 

    How vast is the sum of them!

We announced our special news a few weeks ago on facebook, and are a bit behind in announcing it on here. We're expecting our first child in March. I'm a few weeks shy of completing the first trimester. Everything has checked out fine so far with the doctor, and shortly after finding out the news ourselves, we got to see our little one and hear its heartbeat. We're excited, but its also surreal. 

We'll be updating more on the baby as we know more! Thank you for your love and support for us!

Home for Now

We've pretty much done all we can do for now in taking care of important projects on the house, and making some spaces livable and comfortable. Here are some pictures of our home and the set-up we have for now:

Our bedroom (connected to the cool room): 

(We made a doorway between the two rooms so they can share the AC unit.)


The Cool Room/Den/Living Room:

(The passageway between the two rooms)

 The rest of the house...future warm living room, dining area, and kitchen in the back

 (Our friends are letting us borrow this table and benches until we can get our own set.)

The Kitchen:

My favorite cupboard! =)

Record INDOOR High!

Since we only have AC for two rooms of the house, the rest of the house enjoys whatever the weather outside is doing. Yesterday was a REALLY hot day, and here was our record INDOOR high so far! 

Welcome to the jungle! Who wants to come and visit us???? :-)

Hard Working Husband

I had the great pleasure and priviledge to be a part of my sweet friend Bridgette Lindsey's wedding in June. While I was gone that week (before all the driver's license drama) Marshall got busy on fixing up the home to make it more livable. (We are renting from a Peruvian family who let us do pretty much whatever we want to fix up the home, without their chipping in.....so later for the next tenants, they can raise the price....lovely). This house, though one of the largest on the street, is less rent than most homes because it needs so much work.

First project was knocking down the heat retaining, air blocking kitchen wall. He took care of that the morning after I left. (Honestly I was bummed I couldn't be there....I mean, how often do you get to knock a wall down with a sledgehammer!)

Here are the transitional shots.....

Our friend across the street helped Marshall and brought his cute kids to help pick up the pieces!

Brick remaining by the tile

Brick on wall and floor sealed with cement

No more silly wall and a smooth floor and wall!

In order to have a "Cool" room (room with AC) you need to have glass on your screened windows:

Styrofoam to help insulate the ceiling above from the immense heat:

Sealed up screens in the rooms (this is our friend Alwin who is a carpenter)

And of course, the AC unit to be installed!

 Our kitchen before Marshall left for Lima to get me!

There were many other projects he took care of that week, but these are the biggest ones. I'm very proud of him and glad I have such a handy man as a husband!! =)

Home Sweet Home

Once again I'm behind on posting on our blog, so hopefully in the next few days you'll have a good idea of our new place and the work Marshall has put into it.

Here in the jungle the average daily temperatures are in the mid 90s with a good amount of humidity. When we have those days in the US, its not too bad because we live in homes with AC's, leave those homes with AC's to get into a car with AC to go to the store or work in AC, and we don't "suffer" too much. Sure we notice the heat, and complain about it, but soon we're out of it. I (Becca) being new to the jungle, still have a lot of heat to get used to....because we only have 1 room with an AC, and AC in our car.

I've learned that houses here that are built of wood and raised off the ground retain A LOT less heat than the ones built out of brick and cement. Also living rooms with windows that open to all 3+ sides of the home also offer better air movement (hot standing air = not fun).

The only "safer" house available to us when we were looking for a place to live is in Marshall's old neighborhood. Unlike most "safer" Peruvian homes with high fences around the property, this neighborhood is open, green yards, and it is gated. (Though the watchmen open the gate to pretty much anyone.)

So here's our home....brick and cement (so essentially a sun-baking oven each day...not like the off the ground wood homes). But, its home...and after almost a year of living with other families, we're glad to have our own space!


Outside views:

Back of the house

Inside (Before) pictures:

The ridiculous wall that blocked air flow and retained kitchen heat (first project....wall taken down!)

Guest bath (better water pressure than master bath)

Transitional space...moving overseas IS fun...and challenging!

Our original bedroom....now our "cool (AC'd) room with our sofa

The back rooms of the house (later discovered to be the BAT rooms of the house)

This one was the worst BAT room...they were habitating in the space between the ceiling and the tin roof.

Walkway between the bat rooms leading to the laundry room/back porch.

Master bath (worse water pressure) But FUN colors! =)

Front screened porch....nice and breezy

Me frying up eggs for our first breakfast in our home! =)