Waiting

I am in a period of waiting. In fact, I feel like I have been for about 9 months…or really 8 months, when we found out we were pregnant with Adileen. But the past week it has become harder to wait. We can’t wait to meet her! And it’s so soon! We are ready (or so we think). We are nervous. We’re excited. But we must wait. The hardest part about this waiting time is that we don’t know exactly when it will end. Yes, we know that it won’t be any longer than two weeks from now, but she could come anytime in the next two weeks. So we continue to make plans with an asterisk beside them warning friends, yes, count us in* 

*but if our baby girl comes we might not make it. 

For the past 8 months it has been hard for me to plan or to think about our work here past January because I don’t know what life will look like as a family of three. The not knowing it has made me feel frozen—like all I can do right now is wait. 

But I want to enjoy the waiting. I want to be thankful for the waiting. I’ve been trying to find joy in the waiting because I don't want to rush it…of course we have to wait so that physically Adileen will grow and be healthy and be ready to join us in the world. But this waiting has been necessary to prepare me to be ready for this next chapter in our lives. And I don’t need to rush that.  I don’t want to rush that. Because it is in this waiting time that God has made me slow down and be thankful for today. 

Thankful for the peacefulness and quietness and rest. 

Thankful for Jeremy and the uninterrupted time we have together.

Thankful for the sleep.

Thankful that today is enough.

Life’s about to change. Our days will look different. Our nights will look different. Our family will look different. But we’re excited. And nervous. And ready. And thankful. But until then I will wait. I will allow God to use these last few days to mold my heart into what it needs to be to be momma to this baby girl He has given us.

Spades, Medicine, and Homophones

After a month of Spanish language school, I have realized a few things:

1. I cannot explain the game of Spades in Spanish.
2. I also cannot explain the U.S. medical system in Spanish.
3. The English language is ridiculous.

In the middle of trying my best to explain the U.S. medical system to Betty in Spanish (which is something I can’t do in English) I became frustrated with trying to learn Spanish. And then we had a conversation in English that made me realize how much harder it would be to learn English in all of its craziness.

My teacher for the past month has been Betty, a woman born and raised in Arequipa; growing up she wanted to be a veterinarian, but when there was not a university in Arequipa for this, she had to change her plans and so she decided to become a teacher. She teaches Spanish for a living and is fluent in Spanish, English, and Portuguese. But, as any normal person whose first language isn’t English, she would sometimes ask me to explain to her how to say things in English.

So the conversation started like this:

In Spanish you say: “Me duele el estomago” which literally means “My stomach pains me”.

In Spanish you also say: “Me duele la garganta” meaning “My throat pains me”.

However, in English it is a stomach ache and a sore throat.

But we never say a sore stomach or a throat ache.

But you can also have a sore on your leg, and be a sore loser, and birds can soar through the sky.

Different spellings, different meanings, but sound the same.

And it was in the midst of explaining this to Betty, that my already elevated respect for people who speak English as a second language grew even more, and I became thankful that the Spanish language is not as crazy as English. Because we all know…I need all the help I can get.

The Colectivo Experience

There are several ways to get around the city here in Arequipa and we have been trying as many as we can. So here I will attempt to introduce them to you in order of convenience.

Type 1: the missionary’s car. Always a good choice if available. Very comfortable, roomy, safe driving, free and everyone speaks English.

Type 2: the taxi. Although more expensive, usually costing around 4-6 soles (~$2) to get just about anywhere we need to go, it is a comfortable way to travel around the city.

Type 3: the combi. These are small buses that are made to sit 15, but in Peru can carry up to 30. So what this means is that if you are not one of the first 15 on the bus, then you stand hunched over, holding on with the other 14 people that weren’t lucky enough to catch the combi at an earlier stop. However, they are cheap, costing 80 centimos (32 US cents).

Type 4: And then there’s the colectivo. The colectivo is a cultural experience in and of itself, which brings me to my experience yesterday when Megan decided I needed to have the colectivo experience. Let me set the stage. You pay 1 sol per person. The colectivo is a taxi that has a certain route and picks up people until the car is “full”. “Full” in my North American need of personal space would be 5 people in this car made to carry…oh 5 people.

So here’s the story: This morning, Megan, her two girls, and I head out to catch a colectivo. After a few minutes a colectivo pulls up already carrying 2 women, 1 prepubescent boy, one baby, and the driver, but they had room for the four of us! And so we all squeeze into the back seat with the two Peruvian women, kids on our laps, somehow get the door shut, and all 9 of us are off!

When our stop came, the opening of the door and exiting the vehicle were simultaneous, all while holding a 3 year-old with one arm and saying gracias.

Twenty Twelve

What a beautiful year this has been.

It began as all years were meant to begin…on the slopes of Colorado. This was the 7th year in a row that Jeremy and I had been able to snowboard together and it was even better having my parents and Chris to ski with as well. 

January 8th Jeremy celebrates another birthday in Colorado, but my family had to fly back to Decatur as we found out that Emo (my dad’s mom) died.

From Colorado, I flew to Chicago to attend a review course for my PANCE, and Jeremy drove back to Memphis to board a flight for Milan. I spent the next 4 days sitting in classes while Jeremy ate pizza and Italian food in Milan (and did research for the 2012 Harding Art program). 

We met back in Memphis to get settled in our new apartment on the HST campus; but the next day, with wet laundry in tow, we made a last minute decision to go to Decatur for me to take the PANCE. Nine days later we found out that I passed and became a PA-C. 

We spent the spring semester figuring out life in Memphis, meeting new friends, and Jeremy taking a full load of classes at HST. Jeremy was also able to teach some classes  for the HIZ students in Searcy.

May brought weddings and nieces. Jeremy performed his first wedding for his sister and Jared. We spent several days with our HIZ group out at HUT, learning names and faces, preparing for the fall semester. At the end of May, we went to Decatur to welcome Emma Gunter Copeland into the world. She was 7 lbs of perfection.

For 7 weeks of the summer I worked with middle schoolers at the YMCA day camp. While I was busy with camp, Jeremy took two classes, preached at Iglesia, and continued to train for hiking Mt. Rainier. 

I worked for 1 month in Knoxville in a temporary PA position there, before we began our 5 month stint of living out of suit cases. 

After 9 months of training, the time finally came to climb Mt. Rainier. We summited 14,410 ft at 6:50 a.m. on August 5, and this summer then became known as “The Summer we Summited Mt. Rainier.”

After quick visits to Decatur and Searcy to see family for one last time, we departed for HUT on Aug. 17 with our HIZ group and then flew out of Memphis on Aug. 20 landing in Zambia on the next day. 

For the next 3 months we lived in Zambia directing the overseas program for 26 college students. It was a dream job and we loved every minute of it. At the end of our time in Zambia we traveled 21 days through Tanzania and Uganda before returning to Searcy on November 27. 

We caught up with family in Searcy then Decatur before beginning our road trip up to New York. On our drive we stopped to see Anna in Rome, GA, then the Curtis Family in South Carolina, then Caitlin in Virginia, then sightseeing in D.C. finally arriving in the Bronx, NY to stay with Seth and Rebekah for Christmas. While visiting the city we were able to see Phantom of the Opera and celebrate Christmas with the whole Daggett family on Christmas day in New Jersey. 

We drove straight back to Decatur a few days later to spend the end of the year here.

What an adventure God carried us on this year. And as a new year begins, so does a new adventure.