Fun in the Sprinkler

With the weather consistently being in the high 80s to low90s, the Fanco kids enjoyed an afternoon outside in the sprinkler the other day. Enjoy the pictures :-)


Teddy needed a little coaxing to get wet the first time. Meg finally just picked him up and carried him through the water.


"No Anna, you ride-scooter THIS way!"


Wet and happy- Anna's a big fan of wrinkling her nose at people now.



Banjo hiding behind a tree, safely out of the spray of the water.


OK, so I couldn't resist including the "baby wedgie" picture :-P. She's just so darn cute!

Home!

I'll write a longer post later, but I just wanted to log on and let everyone know I made it home safely today around 2:30 after more than 24 hours of travel!! I'm exhausted but it's good to be home :-) Thanks for praying!

-Elizabeth

Last Post from Peru

This will be my last update from Peru, since we'll be out all day tomorrow and then traveling all day on Tuesday- getting back to the States early on Wednesday. We had a busy day today, but I wanted to write about the girls home that we spent Friday and Saturday at before I wrote about today.

This girls home was specifically for girls ages 13-17 who had been involved in prostitution. It was run by an order of nuns and has been in existence for 130 years. At night, the nuns go out onto the streets of Lima (especially near the airport) and invite the girls to come live at the home. Sometimes they go out for months, establishing a relationship with a girl, before she'll agree to come and live there. Once the girls are in, the place is protected by high walls, guards, and barbed wire, to keep the girls from being tempted to return to their former life of prostitution.

I have to comment on the organization of this home. Maybe it is because it is run by the nuns instead of the state, and maybe it is because it has been around for 130 years, but the place was incredible. The girls are required to go to regular schooling in the morning (within the compound). They have required uniforms and cleanliness requirements. In the afternoon, after a lunch and chores, they all have to attend one of the trade schools on the premises. There is a cosmetology school, a technical computer school, and a textiles school where they learn sewing, etc. They also have a bakery on the premises that makes some incredible treats. These are sold to the otuside pubic in a seperate shop to bring in money for the school. They also have a daycare ministry there for the community, and a meals program for the elderly and disabled, where the girls cook and serve an early lunch every day for those who can't cook for themselves or can't afford to buy food.

Our projects here were medical and getting their large dining hall painted where they do their meals for the elderly. Because I couldnt be in the paint fumes, I assisted with medical (mainly doing vitals) again. There are also some single mothers here, so I helped with the babies too :-). After lunch the first day, we did relay race type games with them and a bunch of us brought nail polish that a salon in the States had donated and painted all the girl's nails. They were thrilled :-). When we were finished, we donated all 100 bottles of it (from Trade Secret) to the cosmetology school there, and their teacher cried, she was so happy.

On our second day there, the painting was mostly done and so the majority of the day was just to spend time with the girls. I had brought blankets that were donated by friends in the States. Some of them were brought to the single moms home, but I brought eveything I had left here. It was amazing how God worked it out- I had 11 left and there were 11 babies there. I even had the right number of girl blankets and boy blankets :-). I brought some clothes to a single mom who had a 2 month old, and the rest of the clothes, the girls asked if they could take to their friend in the hospital. She is 8 months pregnant and had been violently raped just before coming to the home last week. She was in the hospital recovering from reconstructive surgery on her genitals, and she was 13! All of the rest of the newborn clothes that Erica Shier gave me went in a bag to go to her in the hospital.

One of our team members did a salvation message and invitation as part of our presentation this day, and more than a dozen girls came forward to commit their lives to Christ. Like the other orphanages, we gave these girls each their own Bibles, which they were so happy about. We did music with them again, and then one of the girls from the cosmetology school braided cornrows in some of the women's hair. I got them just on top and about 1/2 way back, but only kept them in for about 24 hours because they were SOO tight!

Then, we turned some US CDs on the sound system and taught the girls how to line dance. It was quite fun :-). Then the girls wanted to turn on Salsa music and show US how to dance. I will tell you that most of us took a LOT of practice to master the coordination. Pretty much when you salsa dance, you have three different movements that you have to coordinate. Your feet have to move side to side and/ or front to back in time with the music. Your hips have to pretty much swivel in a continuous tight circle (I liken it to one of those hawiian hula dancers on a dashboard- you poke it once and the hips just keep moving and moving!). Finally, your shoulders have to move in time to the beat as well. For the longest time, I would have 2 out of 3 down, but would mess up as soon as I added the third part. Finally our translator Sylvia (who is our contact in the country who coordinated everything for us- she worked with Leslie, from Buckner Orphan Care to set up the trip), when she could stop laughing at me long enough to speak, came and worked with me until I mastered the concept. :-)

Last night we had our goodbye dinner for our translators- 7 university students plus Sylvia (who has kids in their teens) who were indispensible to us for the past 10 days. It was cool though, because Leslie (our Buckner contact from the US) had been telling us the day before that Sylvia was not a Christian, and I had really been feeling led yesterday morning to pray for her in that regard. Leslie shared with us last night at dinner that she and Sylvia had been driving together to her father's grave to put flowers on it for fathers day and had started asking questions about eternal life. By the time they got to the cemetery, Sylvia knelt at the gravestone of her father and prayed to accept Christ as her savior. I was so happy to hear this!! Sylvia and I have sat together on the bus rides all week- her teaching me spanish and me teaching her english. I told her that now, we can live next to eachother in Heaven and she can teach me more spanish :-)

Sooo, I wanted to talk a little bit about the fun stuff that we've gotten to do on our "off-duty" time. Once we have our team meeting after dinner at night, we have the rest of the night off to ourselves. There is a mall right on the beach that has an arcade and pretty much any type of store you could think of. On Friday night, I went down shopping after dinner with Shane and Elisha- the married couple of the trip. I have found that I am spending a lot of time with them because they're the only ones my age who are in the same stage of life (anyone else who is married on the trip is about twice my age). We went glow bowling, which was fun :-).

Last night, the translators took a group out to a club to go salsa dancing. I mut admit that I had an internal struggle for a bit about whether or not a pregnant, mother of 3 should be going out salsa dancing at 11PM (the club didnt open until then). Finally, I came to the conclusion that I'm 26- I'm not 46! Even though I have kids, I can still act my age and go out an have fun. The club was mostly adults, so it was a classier salsa club. I had a LOT of fun and really would like to take some more lessons in the States once I get back.

This morning we went to a church that is supported by the US church of some of our team members. They have an American pastor from michigan, and the service was incredible. I had forgotten about the level of energy in worship in Latin American countries! After church, we went out to lunch at another traditional peruvian restaurant, and then took a 3 hour historical bus tour of the city. We saw all the old spanish buildings, big castles, Incan relics, etc, which was really cool.

Tonight, we got to choose what we wanted to eat, and so most of us chose pizza :-). So, currently as I type this, I am eating pizza and breadsticks and watching the red sox game on TV... Oh the joys of technology!

Thank you to everyone who has been praying for me on this trip. It has been incredible seeing what God has been doing here in Peru! My final request for prayers would be that our last 2 days here would be uneventful and that our traveling would go well. On our day of traveling back, we have an 8 hour layover in Mexico City and will be traveling to visit the temple of the sun- the 3rd largest pyramid in the world. I love historical stuff :-)

OK, time to watch the 9th inning. Goodnight!

-Elizabeth

Busy Busy

OK, so I will start with talking about our day yesterday since I didn't type very much. Unfortunately, I have the aqful habit of starting these journal entries close to midnight, so I get too tired to write everything that I want to say...

Yesterday was home for single mothers (and I think 4 or 5 who were about ready to give birth in the next month or so). They had all been referred to this home by the court system- usually because their pregnancy resulted from incest or sexual abuse. Many were struggling with depression, some had rejected their own babies and wouldnt even care for them (this was sad to see- a caregiver would be appointed for the baby to make sure the needs were met, and the mother was continually encouraged to participate). I think there were around 35 girls there.

The main thing we did there was just to spend time with the girls. There were small work projects to be done, so the guys mostly did those while the women stayed with the girls. We held babies, we chased toddlers, we painted nails, we taught them american clapping games (like Miss Mary Mack, etc), and we talked to them. It amazed me over and over again how YOUNG these girls were (many 13 and 14 with toddlers teddy's size!). They were all still very much children themselves- I think the moms there played on their playground more than the kids!

I really got the chance to bond with alot of the girls, because they were thrilled to find out that I had little ones the same age as theirs, and that I was pregnant (so I got to connect with pretty much everyone- kids there were up to 3 years old, so not much older than teddy- and the youngest was a few weeks old). I was able to talk to one girl- her name was also Elizabeth. She was due to deliver in 3 days, and was telling me that she was afraid of going through labor and asking me about it. She also did not have a baby name picked out, but she knew that she wanted a Bible name. So, we went through names and she picked Joshua Daniel. It was cool to be part of that process.

I had been asked to share my testimony today during the presentation- since many of the girls would be able to relate to it. I did well and got through it without crying and I think that it really impacted a lot of the girls there. We also sang songs and did a puppet show for the kids. I didnt help with medical today, so it was nice to have the time to spend just talking to the girls. I can hold my own wonderfully now without a translator, which shows the truth in what I tell people "I only speak Spanish when I'm in a Spanish-speaking country!"

Today we worked in the girls home for former prostitutes, but we are going back tomorrow so I will write more about it then. Thanks for praying!

-Elizabeth

Single Moms home

This will be another quick update because its almost midnight and i need to get to bed because we're all taking a walk on the beach tomorrow before breakfast. We had an incredible day at the single moms home today, and I will expand more on that later though.
Prayer request- we were down at the shopping area by the water tonight and one of our team members had her camera stolen. The police caught the woman who took it but she had already passed it off to an acomplice, so the camera and a weeks worth of pictures from her and her mom are gone. Buckner's insurance will cover the cost of replacing the camera, but those pictures can not be replaced. Our translator offered to pay the woman if she "happens to find" the memory card from the camera. We'll see if it turns up.

I'll write about my day when I get a chance tomorrow. We will be going to a girls orphanage tomorrow that is for girls who have been rescued off the street from prostitution. Please pray for our continued witness here and that we will be able to accomplish all of our work projects.
I'll leave you of a picture of the beach by our hotel where we are going walking tomorrow morning.

Keep praying!

-Elizabeth

2nd Day at the Boys Home

Today, we went back to the boys home (about an hour and a half through the desert and along the coast to get there). This orphanage used to be a military prison, so our main task here for the 2 days was work projects. I didnt participate in any yesterday because I was helping the medical team, but last night, a bunch of the girls were up talking. Along the cement walkway connecting the buildings at the home, there were some huge gaping holes (up to 3 feet wide) and erosion had eaten away the ground under that. In some spots, this meant there was a huge hole, several feet deep and wide, that you could unknowingly fall right into if you werent paying attention.

This home, like so many others, had a high percentage of special needs boys- including some in wheelchairs and 2 boys who are blind. This was a HUGE hazzard for them and the group of women I was with last night decided to do something about it. A team member had been given $100 before we left and told to use it to bless someone, so he graciously donated it to us for the purchase of cement, shovels, trowels, etc. Today, we filled the holes with rocks from the beach (did I mention if you open the gates of the former prison, it´s right on the pacific??- we got to go out and eat our lunch there and I got a picture of my pregnant belly at the ocean :-). Once the holes were mostly filled with rocks, we had some of the guys mix the cement and pour it in, and then I did all the smoothing and leveling to match the new cement with the existing sidewalk :-). It was such a great feeling when we were done to see those holes gone, and to know that we had left a lasting impression there which would make the place safer for the special needs kids.

We also did painting projects there, repaired a wall and a door, did carnival games and relays with the kids, and did a program that consisted of songs, a drama, puppets, and testimonies. These boys just ate up all the attention- especially from the guys on the team. They need so much love and affirmation and the staff at the home doesnt have the energy or people power to provide it. Who knows how our 2 days there might impact the future of their lives.

Tonight for dinner, we went to a traditional peruvian restaurant on the ocean. After a dinner of things like octapus and squid (i had chicken- no seafood while pregnant), there was a floor show the consisted of demonstrations of Peruvian dances from all of the different areas of Peru. This was absolutely incredible!! There were dances from the jungle, the peruvian national dance, tribal dances, this incredible dance that young boys did while spinning scissors, and even one where the man and woman each have a handkerchief pinned to their butt and have to keep their hips moving to keep their partner from lighting it on fire with a candle! They pulled up members from the audience to participate with the dancers in this one, and several of our team members were pulled up. I must say, they all did quite well at not getting their butts lit on fire! After that, we went to the little arcade downtown and did Dance Dance Revolution. I had never done this before and I will tell you, it is quite the cardio workout!! We got Dr Scott to do it with us, as well as Dr Shane (who played a round with his wife), and it was a lot of fun.

Tomorrow, I will be interviewed on the radio so if you read this early, tune into www.way.fm at 8:30 eastern time to hear me (you can listen online, for the non Grand Rapids people). I´m heading to bed now. Tomorrow we go to work at the single mother´s home- for 12-15 year old single moms who have undergone sexual abuse at some point in their lives. It will be another hard day for me I know, but I feel like I will be able to relate to these girls having been a teen mom myself.

Keep praying!

-Elizabeth

Quick Update

OK, It´s late and I want to get to bed, so this will be a quick update. We went to work in a boys home today for boys who have been taken off the street by social services. There were a lot of boys with mental retardation there, and those who weren´t were at least developmentally delayed- so even though the boys were all teenagers, most acted like 7-10 year olds. I´ll fill in more on what we did when I post tomorrow, but I did want to say that I got to join the medical team today which was exciting. I got to do triage (bp, resperations, pulse, and temp) and was able to hold my own without a translator :-)

We go back to that home tomorrow, so I´ll fill in the rest then. I´d love some comments to know that people are actually reading these posts that I´m taking the time to do. Thanks!

-Elizabeth

A Hard Day

As I expected, today was an emotionally challenging day for me. After breakfast, we headed right to the baby orphanage in downtown Lima. Our team guide from Peru told us that it was the nicest orphanage we were going to see. This is because the government gives special funding to this particular one because anyone adopting a Peruvian baby from the US comes to stay here and pick up their child here- so it is designed especially to appeal to Americans. You could see this with all the bright colorfall rooms, the large play yard where the toddlers each had a bike and there was a big bright playground for the kids (I was misinformed that this orphanage only went up to 1 year olds- it went as high as 3 year olds because they still have some hope of being adoped if they´re cute enough), and there was even a ball-crawl pit for the kids.

One of our major jobs here was to do shoes for the kids like we did yesterday. Toddlers are SOOO excited to get new shoes. The first room we went to jad 6 2 year olds in it. I got to put a pair of shoes on a little boy about Teddy´s size, and the shoes ended up being the exact orange and white pair that Teddy currently owns! I got some cute pictures (though I will probably need to add those to the blog when I get back to the States). Anyway, after he got his shoes, he crawled up on my lap, put his arms around my neck, and asked me if I was there to be his mommy. I lost it right there! I had to leave the room because I was crying so hard! All I wanted to do was scoop up that little boy and tell him "yes, I´ll be your mommy! I´ll take you back to the big United States and you´ll have a brother, 2 sisters, and another baby soon!" ... But I couldnt. I couldnt even tell him no... I just had to leave.

From there, I went to find the little ones.- the ones who couldnt beg me to take them home with me or give me pleading looks. I went into the baby room with kids age 2 months to 10 months and spent the rest of the time at the orphanage there. I held babies, I rocked them to sleep, I helped feed them their bottles, and just loved on them. There was a little girl, GLoria, who I held for a long time. She was 2 months old and the worker there told me that because she was pretty, she´d likely be adopted.

There was also a little 4 month old named Sergio who was 4 months old and weighed about 20 pounds. He was the happiest little guy, and giggled the whole time we were there :-)

There are two little girls that I would like to mention especially because they are becoming my new project. The first is Miraba (means miracle in Spanish). She was born normal, but began retaining fluid around her brain around 2 months old. The pressure of the fluid began to cause paralysis in her limbs and now, 10 months later she is almost totally paralyzed. She needs a shunt to drain the fluid, but they can´t afford the operation there. She needs to come to the States for medical treatment or she will be dead in the next few months. At this point, she is living 24 hours propped up in a stroller because if they lay her flat in a crib, she will aspirate and die. The staff at the orphanage told me that they´re just "taking care of her until she dies". Our doctor on the team agreed to speak to one of his neurosurgeon buddies in Grand Rapids about doing the surgery, and we have a team member who is interested in being the host home for her, but I have to do the paperwork to get her a medical visa and raise the funds to bring her to the US. Unfortunately, Peruvian law does not allow you to request a specific child to adopt- so someone couldnt sign up to adopt and then say that they wanted her.

The other girl is Maria. When I first saw her, I thought she was a week, maybe 2 weeks old- no muscle control and weighing about 8 pounds and about 20 inches long. It wasnt until later that I was told she was actually 7 months old! She was born several months premature and only brought to the orphanage 3 weeks ago (and she had gained 2 pounds since being there!). She also desperately needs medical treatment in the US. I know many of my friends are familiar with the risks premies face- PDA heart issues, retinal issues, respiratory issues with improperly formed lungs, and upper GI issues not allowing them to get nutrients from food correctly. She needs a feeding tube and probably 3 or 4 more surgeries just to have a chance at life, but they can´t afford to do them there. She desperatly needs to come to the US, or she will also die soon. When our medical team saw her, she was battling a fever of 104- which can be deadly for a premie....

I hope to post pictures of them on here soon. I really wish you could have seen them! Maria was small enough I could have fit her in my jacket and brought her home, and believe me I wanted to!

That afternoon, we went to an orphanage for special needs kids. Picture 105 kids with Downs Syndrome, Autism, and various stages of mental retardation, and trying to do a program of music, puppets, and games with them. It was very frustrating, mainly because the kids wouldnt respond to direction and we had a real problem with kids stealing things. I ended up going and working with the medical team- taking vitals and helping occupy the kids with a puppet while Dr Scott looked in their ears, etc. A lot of the kids had some major medical issues that hadnt been addressed at all in the past, and it was good to be part of the team treating them. I have been asked to go back and help them again tomorrow (I´m the only one who can take vitals and speak spanish at the same time :-)

We went out for Chinese food tonight (excellent!) then got to walk around the mall area on the ocean front (boardwalk type place- very touristy). I am happy to report that I found a Dunkin Donuts and enjoyed a "Boston Crema" :-)

I think that´s it for now. Tomorrow we go to a teenage boys home for boys who have been taken off the street.

Keep Praying!

-Elizabeth

First Day with the kids

Well, I have finished my first full day in Peru. We had our team briefing meeting this morning after an AWESOME hotel breakfast of things like goats milk cheese and fresh pinapple. I lived off those two foods inEcuador, so I was so happy to see them at breakfast.

Our team meeting was discussing the day´s plans- we would be going to an orphanage that was specifically set up for siblings. This is one of the only homes in Peru set up like this - normally kids are seperated from their siblings and grouped by gender and age- but Buckner set up this one to allow the children to stay together.

We went out to lunch at a traditional peruvian restaurant before going to the orphanage. I got to eat a lot of south american foods I had forgotten about- yellow potatoes, fried tomatoes, carmelized milk topping every dessert, Fanta (orange soda that´s made from manderine oranges instead of regular ones). I laughed so hard though, when almost the whole team ate Qwi- and I was the only one who knew it was guinea pig (I told them all later on the bus :-)

The kids were so happy to see us at the orphanage! They ranged in age from 2-17. I was really struck by how many kids around 8 or 9 were caring for a younger toddler sibling. It got me thinking, if situations were different and something happened to Jeff and I, I couldn´t imagine Meg having the responsibility of caring for Teddy and Anna!!

We sang songs with the kids, then did a puppet show. The kids performed a traditional Peruvian dance for us . They also presented us each with a ceramic coffee cup that each of them had painted specially for us in their craft class. It was very humbling, thinking that we were going there to give stuff to the kids and do things for them, and they are so excited about performing for us and giving US gifts!

The medical team was about to see most of the 100 kids- diagnosing problems like ear infections, eye infections, and GI problems. Then, we got to do something really cool... Buckner runs a program called Shoes for Orphan Souls- so we had 200 pairs of shoes and we got to work with each kid and fit them with a new pair of shoes and socks. It kind of reminded me of Jesus washing the disciple´s feet as I sat on the ground, pulling holey shoes and socks off of the kids and fitting them with new ones. The lowest of the low, but it brought so much joy to us and the kids

There was a little 2 year old girl who really tugged at my heart. She had just turnded 2 and was there with her older brother who had just turned 3- they reminded me SOO much of Teddy and Anna (picking on eachother but also loving eachother a ton). Anyway, when we got to them, he pushed her ahead of him to make sure she got shoes first. We had one pair of light up shoes and they happened to fit her and she was SOOO thrilled. She went stomping around the yard trying to show everyone the lights and her brother proudly pointed them out to everyone.

I wanted to scoop those kids up and bring them home with me- I mean, same SIZE as Teddy and Anna too- so I would have clothes for them even! But most of the siblings aren´t adoptable there. Under Peruvian law, if the kids have any living relative- whether they´re interested in the kids or not- the kids are not adoptable. So if they have a 2nd cousin living somewhere in Peru, even if that cousin never comes to see them or sends anything for them, they can´t be adopted. This is so sad!

Anyway, we gave the kids their shoes, cross necklaces, and they each got a bible. The older ones were so eager to open them up and start reading to us. It´s great to see kids so thrilled to have their own Bible!!

Tomorrow is the day I know will break my heart- we are going to the baby home- 80 kids age birth to one who have all been abandoned. They are all available for adoption, and I know I´ll want to take them all home with me! I know so many families in the Grand Rapids area alone who would love to welcome these little children into their families! I´m excited though to bring all the blankets and clothes that so many people from TEA and our ABC at church donated!

Anyway, that´s it for tonight. I hope to walk down to the ocean tomorrow night because it´s only 2 blocks from here :-). Also, sorry about my typing- this is the first time I´ve used a Spanish keyboard!!

Keep praying!!

-Elizabeth

I´m Here!

Hi everyone! Just wanted to post a quick note and let you know that we made it into the country safely last night. We ended up getting to our hotel around 2:30 AM, so since I left home at 2 AM Saturday, it was a LONG day of traveling. Those of you keeping track of me healthwise on the pregnancy front, I can honestly say that flying pregnant is a very weird feeling (the baby wasn´t too fond of it). The doctor on the trip already has me on a new anti'nausea med though that seems to be working well.

Though we were almost detained in Mexico city, we did end up making our flight to Peru. All of our bags made it through customs with minimal problems (some questions about the quantity of meds we were carrying)' their screening process is when you get up to the front of the line, you press a button a kiosk. If it turns green, you take your bags and walk through. If it turns red, your bags are searched. Unfortunately it was mostly our medical team that was searched. We did lose one bag through the airline- so please pray that it will be found. It was the personal bag of one of our high school guys.

Anyway, sorry for the short update but I need to head to the group meeting. I will be accessing my email fairly frequently so if you would like to email me directly, you can do so at elizabethfanco@gmail.com . Thanks for praying!!

-Elizabeth

Happy Birthday Meg!

We celebrated Meg's 8th Birthday at the Holland Aquatic Center- an indoor water play area with a water slide, whirlpool, water playground, and pools. Everyone had a great time :-)