Christmas in Peru!!

CHRISTMAS IN PERU!!

It finally happened. Our entire family was able to go to Peru together. What a blessing it was to celebrate Christmas together with our friends in Peru. This was the first trip to Peru for my wife Jennifer and the kids (Rachel, Sarah, and Andrew). Here we are together standing in front of the newly dug well for Hannah's Home and Hannah's Hope. What a joy it was to visibly see it complete and to touch the coolness of the water coming out of the pipe! Thank you all that helped raise funds for Hannah's Hike!!

During the week we purchased Christmas gifts for the kids at Hogar De Ninos. We purchased a group gift for everyone which was a TV and DVD player to hang in the multi purpose room. We also went shopping in Lima and bought each child a personal toy. We invited Felix and Erika to dinner and had them help us wrap them. My kids enjoyed Christmas shopping and also helping wrap the gifts. We had Christmas dinner on Thursday night for everyone at Hannah's Home which consisted of over 50 people and then "Santa Clause" showed up over at Hogar De Nino's to hand out the presents for everyone! What a joy to see each child recieving their gift and the smiles as they opened it up.

We also spent time working around Hannah's Home. While in Lima we purchased a new refrigerator, stove, microwave, microwave cart, and counters for the kitchen. It is so cool to see the kitchen filled with appliances. We really are getting close to being open. The Christmas dinner that I told you about in the previous paragraph was cooked on our new stove! We had roast, potatoes, carrots and so much more.

So much has been done to Hannah's Hope Orphanage since my last visit. The foundation has been poured, the back wall of the building has been built, and also the columns that will support the second story. All is ready for the team from Penn State to come and build it. They will arrive on December 30th and depart on January 12th. The total team from Penn State, those from MO and OH, along with translators will be over 70 people during the two weeks. I can't wait to keep you all informed about the progress of the orphanage. Keep your eyes peeled for updates and photos while I am there.

Well, I want to add some more photos from the trip. I will write a short caption for each one. Thank you for those that helped contribute for our family to travel to Peru. We had a great time and we were truly blessed. Thank you to all of our supporters! We love you very much!

Jeff, Jennifer, Rachel, Sarah, and Andrew