regalo

I love surprises. Some of my favorite memories from high school are the “surprise” parties that my friends and I would throw for one another’s birthdays (shout out, precious Hillcrest friends! Oh how I miss those days…). The funny thing was that the surprises became a tradition – hence the quotes around “surprise.” We always knew they were coming. We just did our best to pretend that we didn’t. The special part was that our friends cared enough to surprise us. Even if we weren’t really surprised.

I wouldn’t necessarily call myself optimistic, but I definitely live life with great expectation. I get so excited about things to come that sometimes I can hardly wait … often making it hard to live in the moment. I also am a great ruiner of surprises (poor Luke!) because I am so looking forward to what is to come that I can’t possibly not try to figure it out!

And living life with great expectation – this wild and crazy and imperfect life – means that I am often disappointed. My amazing dreams of what the future holds seldom come true.

Life is a REGALO (gift). It’s in a huge box, wrapped in bright pink paper, tied with large shiny bows, and it has my name on it. What could possibly be inside?!! I work myself into a frenzy sizing it up, holding it in my hands, smelling it, shaking it, trying to figure out its contents. But when the day finally comes to open it … it’s never what I expect.

I’m working on understanding that that’s not always bad. Sometimes it’s BETTER than I expect! I am swept off my feet by the fact that the giver of this gift knew what I wanted and needed even better than I did! Other times … I hide my disappointment with a smile, not understanding the intentions behind such a gift.

But if I truly believe that God is good, would He really give me a bad gift? And if He knows me better than anyone ever, including myself, can’t I expect from Him only the best? … But what about those days of disillusionment, disappointment, when I thought I knew what was coming and it made me excited, only to arrive and find out I was wrong?

Each day of these 6 months in Peru is a REGALO. Each day of your life, wherever you are, whatever you do, is a gift.

Every day I miss my family and friends so deeply I’m not sure I can do this … but I rejoice in the miracle that my Peruvian grandmother told me last week “Te queremos” – We love you.

I had an argument with my supervisor this weekend … but the reconciliation that came afterwards has brought us closer together than we ever have been.

I cried with my host mom as she told me the story of her difficult life … but since then there is a connection between us that wasn’t there before.

I really didn’t want to go on a retreat with my coworkers this weekend because it coincided with another trip I had hoped to take … but the experiences I had in nature over those 3 days are unmatched by anything in my life before.

I swam in several rivers and LOVED it!!!









This is the "Bosque de Piedras" (forest of rocks) that we visited. Not sure how these boulders got to be this way, but we had an amazing time hiking around for hours. These sights are marvelous!!







I have yet to experience a perfect day in Peru … or anywhere else in this world, for that matter. As we experience the joy and the pain of this life, may we never forget that each day is a gift, and that “all is grace and that our only response is gratitude” (Nouwen’s Compassion). May we continue to live life with great expectation – the expectation that God is good and that He will make all things new like He promised. Who better to sweep us off our feet and surprise us with the daily gift of life?