March Update

I keep wanting to sit down and write a nice update on all the great things that are happening (because they are. Really) But I'm having trouble getting it all down. Life is kind of kicking my butt right now. (can missionaries say that?) And everything I try to start gets overwhelming about halfway in. I think Zoe realized this about me because she decided to be potty trained and just started telling me she had to go and that was pretty much it. That's the only explanation I can come up with because I honestly did not want to deal with it right now. Or maybe ever.

Anyway, the boys started school this month because the school year here runs March-December. Logan is doing great mostly because he's social and works better with other kids his age doing the same thing as him. The only part that is hard is homework. I thought homeschooling was tough (it was) trying to help a 4th grader do homework in Spanish is ridiculous. I could probably easily help with the homework in english but naming the tools used in a chemistry lab is a little out of my depth. Every day he asks for help and I end up telling him to ask dad when he gets home.

Timothy on the other hand has been struggling with every aspect of school but he's finally getting in the groove. Autism and sensory integration issues are not very well known here. So we are trying to teach his teacher about it while also trying to help Tim with Spanish, cursive, and anything the teacher sends home for him to work on. Thankfully we found a great tutor who doesn't speak any english but is extremely patient and seems to like working with Tim. Timothy can understand her because it's one on one with no distractions and she speaks very slowly. Every day is a new test of my creativity to help him get through different challenges. We have learned he works best with some kind of reward looming in the near future to help him push through the hard parts.  That and lots of squishing, pillow/tickle fights or wrestling are what get us through the days.  




Zoe had her second birthday. I threw my first big party in awhile for her. She adores princesses and it was all pink and princess themed just for her. She loved it even though she only kept her tutu and tiara on long enough to take one picture. I did my best to just be a part of the party so I didn't get very many pictures. But it was a lot of fun and many people who love her were there to celebrate my sassy & sweet little 2 year old. She is constantly surprising us with how much she catches. She loves to sing and dance and draw on things with magic markers. She speaks her own version of spanglish and she imitates people perfectly. She often likes to run through all the names she knows. Repeating "awella" (Manuela) her hands down favorite person in the world. Having a daughter has been an adventure and a challenge but I wouldn't trade her. She lives up to the "life" part of her name for sure.  

For the last couple weeks we have had a lot of rain. Peru isn't used to rain...at all. When I have said it rained I was referring to Peru's version which is basically a light sprinkle. The kind of thing where back home everyone would be asking "is it raining?" Because you could stand outside in it for 10 minutes and still be completely dry. But the last couple weeks it's been good, solid, flood the streets raining a little every day. Because of that we've had a few setbacks, the church and our house flooded. The roof at the church caved in and even the school Logan goes to closed for a day because they had some rain related issues. It's amazing how much damage can be done when you aren't prepared.

God has been doing some really exciting things in the midst of all of this.                                    In coming here we had a few goals.                     One of them was to plant churchES.                 We've been in Piura for 4 years now and have been steadily growing that whole time. This Sunday we will have our grand opening at Powerhouse Chulucanas.                                     The second official church plant of Powerhouse Peru.                                                                       We have a great couple that have been working with us and learning a lot about ministry.           They will run the location and we will go every so often to make sure things are running smoothly.                                                              

This has been a huge undertaking along with everything else going on.                                      But we are so excited to see what happens.  Chulucanas is about an hour East of us here in Piura. It's a beautiful little city that's kind of in the mountains. The famous black and white pottery from Peru originated there.                       The location we found is right in the center of town.                                                                    About one block from the "Plaza de Armas" it's actually about 3 times as big as our Piura location so we are hopeful it will be filled with people seeking a relationship with Jesus.                    Starting tomorrow night we will have our own version of "The glory and the fire" put on by our awesome Powerhouse Peru people!

  

Thank you all for praying for us and to those of you who send us notes of encouragement on Facebook or email or whatsapp or by carrier pigeon.

 However they come they mean a lot to us when the days are hard. 

Thank you also to everyone who supports us financially. 

Your sacrifices help us to continue the work and often come in right at the moment we need it the most. 

We thank God for you and we thank you for you! 

Love from Peru! 

The Lopez's 

A day I thought would never come

The average christian parent has certain expectations or at least assumptions that they live with. One of them being that their children will be christians and get baptized or follow whatever example they set. Even so those parents are thrilled and excited when the expectations are met. A child coming to christ is a huge celebration and the same can be said of baptism. However sometimes there is a kink. Some reason why you might set your expectations aside. For example you might have a child who has sensory issues and can't stand the idea of water on his head because it might get into his eyes. For a child like that the idea of putting your head under water for any reason sounds like a really horrible idea. (and that's putting it mildly.)

I just described Timothy. Logan is the one who led Timothy to the Lord and ever since then has been trying to talk him into getting baptized (Did I ever mention that 3 different people who don't know each other or me prophesied that Logan was going to be like John the baptist while I was pregnant with him?) Sometime last week while Jose was talking about this baptism service Timothy volunteered to be baptized. I wasn't there so when Jose mentioned it I looked something like this

I should mention that Jose and I have different kinds of faith. When we have no money or are getting close. I have gotten to a place where I just expect God to take care of it. While Jose does a lot of math. I know he's worried about money when I find sheets of paper with numbers scribbled all over them. I on the other hand really struggle to have faith that everything will work out with Timothy. In my heart I know that God is taking care of it (just like Jose knows that God will take care of our finances) But when I'm looking at it day in and out it gets easy to think that he will always be set in whatever particular way he's currently set in and will never change. But Jose doesn't have that problem. He pushes him and believes he can and will get and be better than what he settles for currently. So, I admit, I got annoyed with Logan for continuing to ask. I even told him that Timothy would do it when he was ready (which was true) but I realize now that he needed that peer pressure from his brother to recognize the importance of making that decision. 

We asked him several times if he was sure he wanted to do it. Jose mentioned it every day this week and every day Timothy affirmed that yes, he wanted to be baptized. I let him wear his swim trunks to church and he was dressed before we woke up actually. He wanted to do it first thing when we got there but alas, he had to wait. 

He literally buzzed with excitement all through church. He sat with me and kept humming and clapping and asking me when he would get to be baptized. Then the moment came. He was by the pool the second they announced it. 

I love the progression of these photos. You can see how happy and excited he is and when he comes out of the water you can see how much he hates the water in his eyes.

I have been a mess all day. A happy mess. Every time I think about it I start to tear up and think about how good God is and how proud I am of Timothy. He may not act or think like most kids his age. But he has a very real relationship with God that he is working out in his own way. 

Today my son inspired me and showed me that he (and everybody really) has the ability to push through his discomfort and obey what God is telling him to do.  

And he did it with a joyful attitude.  

He was excited about being uncomfortable.

I wonder, when was the last time you got excited about being uncomfortable?  

The Special One: Part 2

This is part 2 to read part 1 click here

As I mentioned yesterday Our Pastor had 2 people for us to talk to. The second person our pastor told us to talk to was someone from our home church named Tracey. She had the exact same specialty as the woman I had been holding back on calling. The funny thing is my friend had been telling me for over a year I needed to meet Tracey but it just never happened in my short trips to the states. Aside from that we had dinner with a couple from our home church on Saturday night. We didn't really know them but they invited us over so we went :) as we were talking we shared about Timothy and that we were spending a little extra time to get him some help. The wife told us that she had been a special ed teacher for years (and only recently left that to become a vice principal) she told us we should talk to this woman from church named Tracey. I told her you are the 3rd person to say that. Can you help me find her at church? I don't know what she looks like but I want to meet her! She promised to call her and make sure we connected.

The next day at church our pastor instructed everyone to find a partner and pray for each other. Jose and I were about to pray for each other when this woman walked up to us and said "Hi, I'm Tracey. I hear we need to talk to each other." We prayed together and she gave me a sheet of paper with her phone number and said "Tomorrow is my day off. Lets get together and talk about Timothy"  By the time I got to restaurant where we ate lunch I had 2 Facebook notifications. A friend request and a message both from Tracey. She had cleared it with the clinic she works at to do all our work with her at the clinic pro-bono. She wanted us to meet her there instead so we could go ahead and get started. We made plans to be there first thing the next morning. We went to see my friend who had suggested I talk to Tracey a year before and she mentioned that she had emailed Tracey about talking to me. Tracey responded "lol, you are the third person who has contacted me about that. I'm getting together with them Tomorrow" It was so clear that God was putting everything together in the background I was on a happy high.

Monday morning we went to the clinic where Tracey worked. I sat in the waiting room and nervously looked at all the other parents and children waiting. I had no idea what to expect and Timothy was having a rough day so far. It usually takes a little over a week for him to hit his stride when we travel to the states and that was still a few days away. Tracey came out with a big smile hugged us and met Timothy for the first time. We went back into a room and watched her play with Timothy and ask him questions. It was so hard to just watch and not help him so many times when she asked him to do something and he didn't understand or couldn't do it. I kept telling myself "just watch, let him do it, she needs to see Timothy without help" He had difficulty with so many things. At the end of the evaluation she said we needed to get a hearing/speech evaluation as well. She wasn't sure he was understanding everything she said to him which effects the test results a lot. That evaluation would be someone else so we would need to see if/when she could fit us in and that would be kind of expensive (but still less than the other specialist we had talked to initially) She managed to get us an appointment that day. Jose called his aunt and explained the situation and she completely covered the cost. At the end of the day Tracey said she wanted to work with Timothy every day while we were there so she could help us come up with a home therapy plan. Every time I received a text or message from Tracey I would find myself crying and thanking God for his goodness.    

Timothy trying to make his hands and feet work together to grab the frogs and knock something down with them

swinging one of the things Timothy could do all day long

Spinning or earthquake on this board was another favorite 

Timothy has many challenges but he has a lot going for him too. His challenges have names like Sensory Processing Disorder, ADHD, and Aspergers/High Functioning Autism. But Tracey said something to us that blessed me so much and has been brought to my mind over and over. All of those things are names and every name must bow at the feet of Jesus. I learned about my son this past month and a lot of it was painful but some of it was sweet and inspiring. Timothy is very cognitively bright and super smart. So when you ask him to do something he can't like stand on one foot he will start clowning and fall in a cartoonish way. He has a million little coping mechanisms for a lot of the problem areas he faces. He figured those out himself. As I've read about kids like him they need those things and usually need help finding them but he's pretty great at problem solving in some areas. 

I'm only a couple weeks in from really knowing what we are dealing with. I'm still processing and I randomly think of things that make me sad or worry. But I was/am so blessed to have had this experience. So many people have stepped up and been so supportive of all of us. I never wanted Timothy to be branded as "special needs" but now I see it differently. He really is so special and no name or label being given or not given changes that.

The special one Part 1

As I mentioned yesterday this trip to the states was really special. One of the things that I really wanted to happen (and have wanted for years) happened this trip. It was nothing like I expected, it was way better. For years I have been working with Tim on a lot of stuff all the while not knowing what was going on exactly. When I talked to dr.'s they said "he's just a little slower with some things. Not all kids walk/talk/etc at the same time." Then later in life they said "oh, he's just spoiled. You need to be more firm with him." But in my heart I knew there was something more. I figured out on my own that he has sensory processing disorder. Once I read about it I knew to an extent that Timothy has difficulty with many forms of sensory input. So I kept doing everything I could to help him on my own, praying for him and asking God to help us do the best we could. Last year he started doing some things that made me think he might be on the autism spectrum. But, honestly? I didn't really want to admit that. It's so common now I didn't want it to seem like I was jumping on a bandwagon. Plus I didn't want to label my kid for life.  Sensory issues can be worked through. Autism? That's a lifelong thing. 

Timothy and I just chillin' on the floor as one does

Reading pastors book

He wanted his face painted "like a lego mini figure" this is his mini figure pose

As we wrapped up the school year last year I had become so overwhelmed that we were talking about sending the boys to school instead of homeschooling.  All I could think about was "what will they do with Timothy. He just barely manages Sunday School and that is less than an hour. School is hours and they don't have special education here, plus nobody really has listened to my calls for help. What if they don't believe me and treat him badly because they think he is spoiled?" I decided we needed to get a diagnosis. Whatever that meant. I had read an article about sensory processing disorder, adhd and autism and at the end it had a link that said "if you need help getting your child diagnosed find a specialist here" I followed the link and found a list of people in Houston and 2 people in Peru. I made a few phone calls and found someone that was extremely flexible and said to give her 2 weeks notice before we went to the states and she would work us in. I started to relax, the only thing bugging me was the cost. An initial examination would be $500 and any follow ups would be $350. That may not sound like much to you but that's a pretty big chunk of our monthly budget and we didn't have any extra money to set aside. Jose's aunt had previously offered to help us pay for speech therapy because if anything that is what people recognize as an issue and she wanted to help. We talked to her about the specialist and she said she would help us. Everything was coming together. We scheduled our trip and worked out all the details but there was something keeping me from contacting the specialist. I didn't know why but I just didn't feel peace about it. Jose had the same feeling so we held off. Our first week in Houston we had the mens conference then spent a few days with family and our pastors. I really poured my heart out to our pastors. I told them all the things I had been holding back about Timothy. Immediately our Pastor had 2 names of people he wanted us to talk to. He talked to both people and scheduled a meeting with one of them. The first person was a mother of a 7 year old boy with autism. She met Timothy and said she saw a lot of similarity between our boys. We talked for about 30 minutes but she just shared her journey with us and gave us a lot of good information. I cried all the way through it. I kept apologizing and she just laughed and said she knew exactly what I was feeling. At the end we hugged and I felt a little more confident about our next step.

(Come back tomorrow for part 2)