Bitter Sweet

So sad...we had to tell our empleada (house helper) today that we will no longer be needing her services. She has been with us our entire first year here 1 day a week deep cleaning the apartment and folding laundry. Due to the size of our house, needing help more than one day a week, and the rate increase she gave us (we were already paying her 10-15 soles more than most maids make in a day) we had to find someone else. It's really kind of sad because we loved her a lot, but I think the new arrangement will be better for our family. Please pray for our old empleada (God knows her name) and that God will provide her another job very quickly.

Our new empleada, which we have known for about 9 months, started on Friday and she worked from 9:30 - 4:30 p.m. and did ALL the laundry (sorting, washing, drying, folding and putting away) as well as dusting, mopping, floors, bathrooms, the kitchen, etc...). We came home to a sparkling house. Her rate is 22 soles ($7.50) cheaper per day and I do not have to provide her a meal (although I will if we have it) and she will do windows as well as the laundry from start to finish. We did tell her we would pay for her bus fair. She is so happy to have the job because she will make in 2 full days at our house, what she was making working 6, 6 hour days at another job. So it helps both of us. She is an extremely strong Christian believer and knows the Word very well. She is also good with kids as she has 4 of her own. She is also a type A personality like John and I so she works fast and thorough. And honestly, at this point I don't even care about thorough. I'm just happy to have the help and not be sweeping ALL day, everyday. You can't understand the dirtiness of this city until you live here. Now we live next to some dirt mountains so the dust is exponentially worse. And on top of that, we have 4 cute kids running in and out all day tracking in more dirt. Anyway, it's kind of bitter-sweet saying good-bye to one and hello to another.

But thank God for the blessing of such affordable help here in this city. I told John I want to treat her like a queen so she'll never want to leave!