Hope in a Lunch Box (edited)

Well through a series of events I brought the kids to school today. Usually Christian brings the kids and I stay home to let in our house helper and give her instructions for the day (before you all start wondering way we can pay a maid here it is because it is expected, for one, for two, it costs us the same to have her clean, iron, and cook for what it would cost for 2 coffees and a cookie at Starbucks - honestly, I can't do it all with out help here.) Anyway . . . Christian stayed at home this morning and I took all the kids on the combi (public bus) to school. Taking the combi is interesting because the combi's job is to pick people up and drop them off but they don't like to stop for anyone. The bus is fast and crowded. When it was time to get off, two blocks from school, I was counting heads, back packs, and lunch boxes. It appeared that everyone and everything was in order as they rapidly exited the bus.

We crossed the street and started up the hill when I noticed that Gavin was missing his lunchbox. "Gavin, where's your lunchbox?" "I don't know. Maybe I dropped it.", he replied. Dropped it? You just dropped your lunch? Really now, how is that possible? Another student from the school passed us on the corner and said that there was a lonchera back across the street. So I sent the kids up the hill to school and went back for the lunch. Of course it was gone. Not to be found - some Peruvian experienced pumpkin pie for the first time today. I went to the school and ended up buying Gavin a nutritious meal of yogurt, chips, Gatorade, and clemintines from the corner store. The kids all went to class and so did I.

My teacher and I went to the police station in Yanahuara, to pick up my denuncia that states I was robbed and I need to get a new ID. All went very well and then we were off to converse over coffee. Christian stayed home because he wasn't feeling great but at noon met me and some friends for a quick lunch and then we were off to the second hand clothing market. It was in a part of town I had never been to before and very interesting - it was strange to rummage through all the American "throw away" clothes, some of which were VERY nice. We couldn't stay long because we needed to get back to the otherside of town to pick up the kids after school. So off we went. Everyone had a great day at school, we took the combi home and had lunch - In Peru they eat their big meal, lunch, between 2 and 4ish. We ate and got ready to leave because we needed to go out and find a new lonchera for Gavin.

That may seem like an easy thing to do but at this time during the school, no. If it were March you could find them on every street corner but this time of you you have to seek out the source and find out who sells the loncheras year round. We had to choices: San Camilo or Siglo XX. The San Camilo area I know pretty well now. It is not the best part of town but you can find EVERYTHING there. I had only been to Siglo XX once before but they have everything, too, so I picked to night as the night to learn. We found a taxi larger than a Tico and made our way out there. When you see the street Siglo XX you might not think there are very many stores, but there are hundreds! You enter one shop and it leads to another, which leads to another, and pretty soon you realize that the entire block is all shops. It can be intimidating and overwhelming at first but we now find it quite interesting.

The first isle we went up we found just about everything on our list. Then we were free to just wander around the shops. We were in the second block of stores when we found ourselves in the computer section - all used, referbished, and most of them probably stolen. Christian, half joking, said, "Keep your eyes out for our stolen computer." and then approached a random vendedor in his 5'x5' cubicle of a store to ask how much used laptops go for. As he was chatting he noticed a Dell Studio Laptop up on the shelf. We asked to see it and the guy wouldn't let us. He lied to us about the brand (said it was a Toshiba - it says Dell right on it) then he lied about the color and also that it wasn't his. Someone had dropped it off to be fixed. We told him we didn't want any trouble and if we could just verify that it WASN'T ours we would be on our way. He continued to refuse so Beth and I left to find the police. We prayed that if God wanted the Police involved that he would let us find one - there was one, only one that I could see for blocks. I explained to him the problem and he can back to the tienda with us. He made the vendedor show us the computer. It was blue, not silver like he said, and had other options that ours had.

Christian went to the tienda across the hall and paid them to use the internet and get our serial numbers for our Dell. (We happened to have them because our new computer broke and we had it serviced Friday. The service tech told us to get the numbers from Dell and if he ever ran across our stolen laptop he'd return it - before Friday we didn't have these numbers in our posession) - Christian printed the e-mail and it was a perfect match. It was OUR Dell. You have to understand that there were over 200 cubicle-like computer tiendas in this block and Christian "just happened" to talk to the guy that had our computer? It was a direct act of God - a miracle.

At this point the police man said the vendedor didn't want trouble and the police man is implying that we should pay the man for our computer to settle the matter. No, gracias. So we, all 10 of us, went to The police station Santa Marta. Here you pay for the taxi to take you and the police man to the station. After much talking amonst them selves (I really don't think the police knew exactly what to do) we went to a different police station, another taxi ride. Again, confusion, and we went back to station SM. Finally, after I realized I had told them the wrong date for the robbery of our house back in March, we all went to police station Y (where I had been in the morning) and finished the paper work there.

Long story a little shorter, the vendedor said he bought the computer from someone and can prove it so tomorrow we have to go to the Y police station again to show the special judge lady our paperwork. Once all of this was done, hours into the process the vendedor decided he would like to just give us the computer if we would drop the process. I f we drop the process the computer goes back to him there is no garantia he would return it. So we are going to continue with all of this in the morning. So we may get our computer back tomorrow. Vamos a ver!

Tonight was long and tiring for all of us (at one point the 5 kids, me, 3 police men, and 2 Peruvian friends were all in the same small SUV! Two police up front, 4 kids, me and a police in the backseat, and two adults and Gavin in the back hatch. I was balancing on one leg with my bottom off the seat to avoid sitting on the policeman's lap.) Lucky for us Dominos was having 2 for 1 pizza night. We didn't eat till 10:30p.m. The kids were exhausted, but it was good for them to expirience all of this first hand. So the appointment is for 9 a.m. We may get it back, we may not, but either way this has encouraged us greatly! God is reminding us of his power -and that bad can be used for good by him. So we went out insearch of a luch box and came home several hours later with a new lonchera and a lot of hope. Not hope for the computer but for all that God can and will do.