The Georges in Peru

Today Amy got a follow-up MRI of her brain.  She was scheduled to have it done on Wednesday, but yesterday she had a very bad day of nausea and vomiting, heachaches, ataxia (staggering) and lethargy so I called and asked them to do it today.  The nice thing about getting an MRI in Peru, is that it is that easy.  Plus it was only $254.  In the US, the 'retail price' for Amy's last MRI was $3700, but the insurance company haggled them down to $2700.  Still 1/10 the price here.  We will get the results tomorrow, after 4 pm.  Amy felt much better today (hardly any headache) but found that she can't send emails without help because her fingers don't go where her brain tells them to go.  Thanks for all of your emails telling us that you are praying for us.

As a Nebraskan, any time I feel the earth shake, I call it an earthquake.  Since they happen so frequently in Arequipa, the locals scoff at calling a shaking sensation an 'earthquake' until it reaches 6 or 7 on the Richter Scale.  "That's just a 'tremor'," they'll correct.  So far we've had two in the two weeks we've been here.  They always seem to happen at night when one is lying in bed wondering if he should put on clothes and run outside (or first run outside and then put on clothes!).  I have the US Geological Survey earthquake website as a bookmark on my browser so that I can check how big the earthquakes were and how far away they were from here.  Here is last night's 5.2 earthquake located about 50 miles south of here:

Today Amy has a Bible study with young women from our small church and in the evening, I'm doing a special 'marriage seminar' that our pastor had scheduled even before we came back.  

Amy's been having more headaches and has been really tired lately, so pray that she feels better.  Her headaches had gone away, but have crept back in, and she's had more ataxia (unsteady gait) lately.  She is scheduled for her next MRI on Wednesday.  

Thanks for praying,

Allen & Amy

We are pretty swamped repairing our house, buying food, filling out paperwork, etc., but I thought I'd write a quick note!  We are back in our house in Arequipa.  We were met at the airport by several friends and our pastor's family helped us unpack and drive me about to get our internet working and some groceries.  The Peats and Käsers (fellow missionaries) have already had us over for dinner, and our church had a reception with balloons and cake to welcome us back!  Our truck started on my first try and yesterday I got it insured and inspected so I can drive again.  I can go check on Alejandro the crippled man I help now.  The cats are happy to see the kids.  I've torn 10 wasp nests off of the house so far.  And it's always a good day for a run in Arequipa! 

Our pastor's family in our living room after our arrival

Since we made the decision to move back to Peru two weeks ago, we have been busy boxing up things, changing addresses, getting vaccinations and medications, etc.  This morning my sister Carolyn and her husband Neal came to our house with their stock trailer ("You know you're a Redneck when... you use a horse trailer to move") and we loaded it with all of our US posessions.  We basically have two households of belongings:  One set that we have in Peru where we live 80% of the time and another set here in the USA for our times here.  Since this is our 4th time packing everything up to go to Peru, we've eliminated the majority of the 'Why did we keep this?' sort of items.  Thankfully, everything fit in the trailer.  We'll be staying with Carolyn tonight and then my sister Alice tomorrow night before going to Amy's sister's house in Honolulu on Wednesday night!

Allen's sister, Carolyn, Ben and Amy with the loading task looming beside them.

Yesterday, Amy had a visit with her neurologist.  You're probably asking, "Why are there so many doctors?  How many more do you have to see?" Well, this is the last one.  His job is to manage Amy's seizures, which thankfully, she hasn't had any more of since the surgery.  We were happy that he suggested that after we get back to Peru and settled that Amy could try weaning off of Keppra, since the part of the brain that was causing the seizures was removed in her last surgery.  So, that is a very positive thing.  Amy's headaches have recently taken a turn for the better, though she still has yet to go a day without taking some tylenol, but yesterday was close!  Thanks for praying.

At the moment we are busy getting all of our ducks in a row before returning to Peru:  Transcripts for school, fees for Interpol, changing addresses with banks, background checks (every 3 years) for SIM, etc.  It will be a busy 2 weeks, but we like to be busy!