Birthday Bliss

Dear Diary....wait...no that is not right....HEY EVERYONE OUT THERE!!! :)

This week has been insane. It was one of the best birthday weeks I ever had. I was spoiled day after day.  I will try not to brag, but there are no guarantees. It comes down to being overwhelmingly blessed by those near and dear to me.  I have to give a shout-out to some of the highlights of this week.

My kids.  During our morning devo time, the kids were mentioning my upcoming birthday as a praise for a week and a half before the event. They were stoked which in turn made me super excited.  One of the students prayed this past week and thanked God for my upcoming birthday and after she said "amen" the kids were getting so upset she said something about my birthday. To which she replied, "I didn't say anything guys!" I just tried to act like I had selective hearing at the moment and avoid that awkward moment.  Well on the big day, my sweet aide (Gisela) organized a surprise party. The kids each gave me a flower, balloon, and sweet note. They read them aloud. I was a mess. It was too sweet. Then they say Happy Birthday in English and Spanish. (A great plug for working at an international school!)  We had my favorite kind of cake - it is like a milky way in cake form.  Mrs. Gisela prayed for me (even my spouse wherever he may be) and said some kind words. My students' parents blessed me with a mani/pedi from a nice salon down the street from my school. Yay for getting pampered!

My roommates.  I awoke Thursday morning to a trail of coke zero, water bottles, coffee, and Sublime candy bars from my room to the kitchen table downstairs where there was a bouquet of beautiful flowers. There were 30 candy bars to be exact! :)  Then after school, we went to a lovely Italian dinner at this chic restaurant in Larco Mar.  After dinner it was desert at Chili's for a molten lava cake. That cake was gone in 1 minute. Literally. SOOOOOO good!

Megan No. 30.  The week ended with a Chanel No. 5 themed party with all the attendees in pink, black, and white attire.  My roommates decorated the house with awesome CoCo Chanel sayings and played awesome jazz music.  We grubbed on some awesome Mexican food (my favorite) and battled in Just Dance until the sweat got the best of us.  NOT TO MENTION, that I got to sing Glee karaoke.  I put on a mini concert.  It was so many dreams fulfilled in one night. :) A shout out to my sweet friend, Terri, who was the decoy girl. She took me out get pedicures and keep me gone as long as it was needed. I know that role can be a bit stressful. :)

In summary, I have to state how blessed I am.  I don't even know if I could articulate everything I feel. I welcome 30 into my life because as I look back at the past 29 years/11 months/364 days leading up to this moment I know how deeply loved I am. I have learned some incredible (some painful) lessons over the past 3 decades.  I have been connected to some life-changing people that have encouraged me to be me and trust God in all things.  I have traveled and lived in parts of the world that different than my own home country. I may not have a ring on "that" finger or have a couple kids that call me mom, but God has given me a purpose of loving and knowing Him along this journey.  I am so excited to see where God takes me in this life He has given me. To all the birthday cards, phone calls, facebook posts that were written you have moved me with your kind words. I will treasure your words in my heart for years to come.

But hold on...there is more!!! We had to celebrate Valentine's day AND the 100th day of school on Friday. So I went to bed as a 30 year old and came to school dressed as a 100 year old. The kids were invited to dress up as 100 year olds and the teachers had to lead by example, of course!  One of my students said, "You look more creepy than old." Thanks man! :)  We had fun celebrating love and each other with exchanging our valentines.

Our new student, Mateo, is doing well adjusting.  He is opening up more with the other students. We are doing some science experiments so that could always use prayer. The kids may not remember a lot of what I tell them, but they remember what I do! Ever since the rubbing alcohol bottle exploded on my face in QUARTER ONE, the kids have brought it up 3 times this past week. Such sweethearts!  A group of us are signing up for a Color run (5k). I have always wanted to do one and I think it is pretty cool that my first one will be in Lima.

Prayer Requests:
- that I will be mindful of why I am here and not get wrapped up in this international experience
- our school has Spiritual Emphasis Week coming up next month. Either a team has to come down or the teachers will be leading.  Pray for plans as they are being made and for students' hearts to be sensitive to what God will want to share with them that week.

Enough rambling for now! 
You are loved,
Megan

 (This cake is SOOOO good! It's a Peruvian thing!)

 (We are 100...can't you tell?)

 (We love hashtags at our house.)

 (My sweet card!)

 (She is the mastermind behind the surprise! Love youuuu!!!)

 (We may be old, but we are cute.)

Kawai that Rhymes with Hawaii

Hello! I hope this post finds you well. :) Here are some of my adventures as of late!

Staff Retreat. This past week our staff trekked out to Kawai to enjoy the beach, fellowship, and worship.  We laid by the pool or beach (whichever was your pleasure) and played games till 1am. (I have learned this new game called Wizard. It's life changing. Support the Target franchise and go get it.) We had a bonfire one night and did Peru style s'mores.  It has been several days and several showers later and I STILL smell smoke in my hair. :)  I know I struggled leaving my wonderful family and friends over this break. But returning to such a great community has made it easier.  I really enjoy doing life with these people. Through all the laughter (and tears) they care about all aspects of each other - especially spiritually. We were challenged in the Word by Josh Foliart.  I actually teach his son, Lucas. He spoke about finding the vision God has called you to as well as the school's vision.  Then he wanted us to think about how are we making or going to make that vision come to life.  He also talked about the importance of discipleship.  God has kind of laid a couple of circumstances before me so I am praying about all the details of it. :)

Civil Defense.  While teachers and students were on break, ICSL has had some inspections done with the Ministry of Labor.   We came back to mandated changes in our classroom set up.  I had to rearrange my rabbit hole into a rule-following place of learning. And I am PROUD to say with the help of my teacher friends and aides, my room looks awesome. I feel like it is almost new school year. I am impressed with our creativity! Thanks be to God who kept me calm-minded. It all worked out and looks pretty fab I might add!

A Megan-ish story.  This is a typical Megan story. I had a friend, SJ, over at my house the other night. While we were talking, she noticed a spark from the outlet that my power strip was plugged into.  We unplugged everything and started to hear a clicking sound. We pulled the power strip away from the wall and heard the clicking coming towards the wall.  We turned off the power at the breaker box and still heard the clicking sound.  We moved the couch back to investigate and saw mold (typical Peru problem because of the climate).  Then we start thinking there is an electrical short, water, and a fire is bound to happen!  I called Jens (a teacher at our school who is SUPER handy - even runs the Handyman club).  He came over and removed the outlet and searched for evidence of a problem, but couldn't find anything. He DID hear the clicking even after shutting down the breaker again. After searching with his flashlight he found the source: a spider that had caught it's dinner in it's web.  The dinner was clicking. So basically all of that drama for a stupid spider. I was about to have to woo some Peruvian electrician with my limited Espanol skills. It was a great welcome back to Peru moment!  Also, I have been informed by one of my students that she has seen my facebook pictures where I am acting crazy. When she told me this, I just laughed in awkwardness as I thought SUPER quick what do I have on FB that could be THAT incriminating?!?! I mean I am a missionary after all! ;) haha!

Prayer Requests:
1. Pray for our school as we fix the issues for the Civil Defenses' expectations.  We eventually want to move to a new location so pray for funding and a building that will meet our expanding school's needs.
2. Pray for Mateo - my new student.  I am anxious to meet him and have him find his niche.

Know and experience His love and grace in a new way this week.

You are loved,
Megan