New year

What have I gone and done?

I married an international man!  We are going around the world.  I have been on a sabbatical for 6 months now - to Italy, Sweden, Spain and Peru.  This man goes beyond the bounds of my little nicely packed world of Utah.

Fireworks in Lima Peru

I can imagine what life might be like, but I get a feeling that the possibilities are beyond my imaginations.  My vision is so limited and finite.  I am glad there are no limits.  I am glad it is beyond my creating, my thinking is so small.  

  Now we are two, our lives combined, our pathway one.  We are a team, a powerful partnership, establishing a foundation of love and faith.  Seeking God's will.  Letting go of my vision, I sit on the brink of my future.

Busses

There is a bus ride, we try to avoid if possible, but to some places, the yellow bus is the only one to take. To Tia Violetta's or the Zoo.  The ride, just over an hour, past the Volvo (the busiest horn honking, crazy drivers intersection), the mountain of houses. We take our seat in the back of the bus, where the husband can stretch out his long Peruvian legs. The back is bouncier over the pot-holed street. I get a window seat, a seat to watch those get on and off the bus. I put my head phones in to listen to familiar music or a BYU devotional to try and block out the sound.

 

Riding the bus in Peru, as one writer put it, at times defies the law of gravity.  With your community of fellow bus riders, gritting their teeth against the bumps and movement of the bus, we are in the hands of the driver. Has he ever been a rider?  I wonder sometimes the way he rushes ahead, trying to pass others just to come to a screeching halt at the lift of an arm at the next corner.  Does he know what it is like when you cannot firmly plant  your feet in a shoulder width stance of stability; because there are too many feet?  Maybe he understands that with the press of bodies, no one is going anywhere.

 

The tide of sky, clouds and stars travelled to me bringing opening, soaring, knowledge and joy.  Deep understanding beyond physical comprehension. 

I have been let out of captivity.  No more limits to hold back the flow of life or God.  No ceiling to stop my vision of what really is and what can be.  Full Technicolor replacing black and white.  With each individual's shades and hues; a palate of their own journey. Love and appreciation replace separation.   Acceptance and meaning replace judgment.
Freedom!  

 

Mercado Ceres

The market. 

A photographers heaven.  The sights and sounds are so stimulating with color, smell and noise. Foreign to clean packaged supermarkets I am used to.

 

Look closely, those are dead whole chickens. I have never seen the insides of a chicken; I am ready for chicken anatomy 101.  You choose your chicken and they butcher it the way you want right before your eyes.  Quick hacks get rid of toe nails for those who like to eat the feet. 

Today it is full of people making purchases for Christmas.

We buy two gifts for the kids downstairs, some figs and for our present - a mirror.  He walked through the market with this, offering to sell it for more than he bought it for.  No takers...it is ours. 

 

The real tale

This is not a fairy tale.  This is real life. 
There is a big block of time missing from my blog this summer. What was taking my attention? 

3 weeks in Italy with the Delfin's and the Moretti family.  The trip when originally planned was a 6 weeker to see if I could find a job and return in January for a year.  In the midst of preparing to leave, I met someone, Anibal Leoncio Marin Escalante (Leo). He walked up to me outside the doors of the singles ward.  I asked myself for weeks, who was this man?  He came all the way from Sweden and I was the first one he talked to as he confirmed it was the place he was looking for.

The Great Salt Lake

It took another week to hook up and to go on a date.  A spontaneous trip to the Great Salt Lake.  "Oh, you are going to Italy?  Would you consider meeting up in Sweden or Spain?" The possibilities...








Stockholm Temple

One month of quality time later in Salt Lake City, we departed on the trip of a lifetime. I went to Italy, he to Sweden to work and wait for me to join him. I did July 1st.

We spent a week in Stockholm, and two in Spain.  Culminating in getting engaged and buying a ring in Madrid.  Our plan was to go back to the states and marry in October.

Had to have one kissing pic

Torrevieja

Engaged!

European bath- Spain

 

 

 

A couple obstacles stood in the way.  He couldn't get into the country unless we were already married, I couldn't get out of Europe. After 3 attempts for me to fly home standby, we took a minute to think outside of the box.  "Why not just get married here?"  Well, what an option!  Let's pray about that one, right here in the airport. In my minds eye, I saw a big flashing YES, YES, YES sign. We both felt peace and confirmation. Three weeks later, we were married in Stockholm, August 14th.

 

Content in the unknown.  Fine because I have him.  He couldn't get in, I couldn't get out.  What left is there to do?Backtracking forward. 

 

This piece of land is where my fourth great-grandfather lived in Nauvoo Il.  I sat this day in 2003 reading his journal that talked about his desires for his posterity.  His very own journals. This is why I have been inspired to write journal after journal. This blog is calling to me...

Lima, Peru

New husband, family, another country, faith walking...


First meeting

Thanksgiving

Uncle Leoncio's birthday

Cousins

Cousins on Raquel's side