Daniel's first year

Here is a summary of Daniel's first year!

Daniel's First Birthday

Yesterday was Daniel's birthday and sorry we didn't post photos sooner, but it has been a very busy couple of days and we have been exhausted!! Anyway, Daniel is now one and had a lovely day.
It started about 7am with cards and presents being opened...

Yummy card - thanks Auntie Liz
Ripping off the paper was really good fun!
Look at my lovely new activity cube! Thanks Grandma JeanShowing off my new walker / ride-on hippo. I can now walk along with it by myself and stop every few metres to let go and show off how I can stand myself for a couple of seconds, before I set off again.
'Cat' was what I said when I saw this present from Grandma Sue. Nearly eh!
Daddy proudly decided to wear his Leeds Rhino's rugby top today so we could be twins. What do you think?!

My friend Jordan came over for lunch and to stay for my party, which was lots of fun. A few children came with their mummies or daddies. We played lots of games, like pass the parcel and musical animal statues and then we had a piñata with lots of surprises inside before my lovely cake. (Which was yummy!)

'Rabbit' animal statues. The piñata - everyone pulls a string until the bottom comes out, dropping all the lovely sweets and toys.Look at my lovely cake!

Merk and Ana's first Peruvian wedding

This blogpost comes especially to you by Merk and Ana - also known as Mariana (just run our names together quickly and drop the 'k' to get the idea) or Max and Anita.

Last night we got a special mention on the wedding program of the couple we have been giving marriage classes to. 'Prayers: Merk y Ana' the program said. 'Do you think that is us?' Mark asked ironically.

The wedding was our first Peruvian experience and we won't forget it.

24 hours before the wedding the church had no roof (it fell down after the earthquake), there were no lights, no sound system and no cake.

Thanks to last-minute Peruvian efficiency (and Jono!) when we arrived the church looked beautiful, a marquee of beautifully folded fabrics had been erected and the church decorated with flowers. Lights had been put up under the marquee, the missing things had been acquired and a lovely three-tiered cake (made in 24 hours!) stood at the front of the church.

The first difference was that the wedding was in the evening unlike our UK law that weddings cannot be performed after dark (for fear that the wrong people might get married! - strange but true). When the wedding finally started (two hours after the time on the invitation at 8pm) we had various processions of bridesmaids and page boys, flower girls, the boy carrying the bible, the candle carriers, the family, the padrinos (godparents or sponsors of the wedding), the groom (accompanied by his mother) and finally the bride accompanied by her father. The sisters of the bride all wore identical bright blue sequined dresses, whilst the bridesmaids all looked like mini brides in strapless white dresses.

The rest of the wedding was fairly like a UK wedding without the usual slickness (I'm not convinced the guy leading the service had even read the program let alone been told what to do!) and of course everyone looked beautiful.

At the end food was served to the guests in their seats and amazingly for a Peruvian wedding, it was served even before the service had ended and it had all finished by 10.15pm.

Happy 31st Birthday Mark

Today has been a very full day!

Unfortunately part of that was due to Daniel waking up at 5.30am - what is that all about???

After Mark had another hour in bed later on, and after his 3 presents and 2 cards were opened, we went for our luxury breakfast (£5!) courtesy of Jono at the Marriott hotel, a lovely buffet brunch with a view out to sea. (The waffles with chocolate sauce and strawberries were the best!)

This afternoon we invited our friends round to share a cake and some snacks. Different friends from different churches and ex-pat friends all dropped in to help celebrate.

Singing 'appy bird-day' to Mark Baruj and Anita enjoyed playing together

Daniel loved having so many people around to entertain him

Happy Birthday Mark!

Look what I can do!

Here's a video of a few of the latest things Daniel can do since we left the UK

Man flu + Peruvians = bizarre medication

Since signing for our house we have all been ill with various illnesses and bugs - mixture of colds, flu and the common missionary complaint. Mark has had a tickly cough to go with his sore throat and cold and so headed off to the pharmacy in search of some cough mixture. Now here in Peru, you don't need a prescription to get medication and you just ask for whatever you want. Don't be fooled into thinking, however, that the pharmacy staff have received any sort of training whatsoever, so you must ask for the description to go with any drugs you buy to know how many and how long you should take something.

'I have a sore throat' - Mark says to the lady at the counter, whilst Daniel is trying to grab at anything within reach. 'Do you have anything for me? A bottle of cough medicine?'

'Si, Si' - the lady replied, disappearing into the shelves, and reappearing. 'That'll be 22 soles'.

She showed Mark two packets of tablets.

'These are for a sore throat?' Mark said cautiously.

'Si, Si' - came the reply.

With Daniel threatening to destroy the money tray with one karate whack, Mark hurriedly paid for the tablets and left.

Later on that day...

Feeling his throat getting worse, Mark heads for the tablets, downing the paracetamol-looking one, whilst throwing me the instructions.

'Why did you get tablets?' - I asked reading the description. 'I thought you were getting some cough mixture.'

'I was' - Mark replied. 'That's what she gave me'

'Mark, did you actually read the description?' I retorted, not believing what I was reading. 'Why have you got tablets for chronic bronchitus and pneumonia??'