Rat 2. Mindy/Amber 0.

My upstairs neighbor and teammates hates spider.  I hate rats.  So we made a deal when I moved in that I would take care of the spiders in her apartment, if she'd take care of the rats in mine.  I'd never had a rat in my apartment.....until tonight.

I was sitting peacefully minding my own business working on email and watching TV when Ricky the Rat (as my father has affectionately named it) ran across my floor.  I jumped up on the couch and screamed, just like they do in the movies, and yelled for Amber.  I thought Ricky ran out the front door instead of in my bedroom, but I wasn't 100% sure.  Amber checked my bedroom and bathroom like a champ and couldn't find Ricky.  All seemed safe.

Maybe 45 minutes later, Ricky ran back in my kitchen and hid under my stove.  I'm sure he was after the popcorn that I made the other night that fell behind the stove and I had been too lazy to clean it up.  Amber came down to my rescue again and chased Ricky behind the refrigerator.  She tried and tried to get him to come out, but it's like he magically disappeared.  We have no idea where he went.

So hours later, here I sit on the couch hoping he would show his little face so we (or Amber) could chase him away.  What would I do without my awesome neighbor?

Maybe tomorrow the score will change.  Something like Rat=Dead.  Amber=Victorious.

Thankful Thursday

I had an idea yesterday as I was blogging about how much I wanted to blog this year.  Each week that I'm home on Thursday and not off somewhere in the mountains or jungle, I'm going to post about something that I'm thankful for.  The Lord is always showing me new things and hopefully it will be encouraging too.

For today...
I'm thankful for the friendships that the Lord has given me in Peru, with teammates, volunteers, hotel clerks, translators, and vendors at the artisans market.  These are the people that I looked forward to seeing when I returned two weeks ago and a huge part of the blessing of living in Peru.

Happy New Year!

Happy (belated) New Year!  

I realize that I've been absent from the blogworld for a couple of months, but I decided to take a hiatus while I was in the US.  Now that I have returned to Peru after a glorious 2 months with family and friends, it's time to kick it back into high gear.

Every January I like to set new goals for the year.  Some financial, some spiritual and other lifestyle related.  This year I added a new category...the blog.  You all can help keep me accountable to this, but my goal for the year is to post 5-7 times a month.  For some, that doesn't seem like very much, but for me, it's a challenge!  We'll see how it goes!