And off we go after surviving last week

I cannot believe we are on our way to Peru after perhaps the 5th time I had plans to get there.  One way or another each time was not the right time, but now its seems all is ready so we travel tomorrow evening.

So we are packed and  JM is ready to go to my parents for 10 days, of which he will spend 8 with his cousins.    My parents alone with their 3 grandchildren.  Both my parents could not be more excited and my mom has been preparing for weeks now and all is set.  

For Peru we  have planed the usual ( Cusco, Lima, Machu Picchu, etc) plus the highlight for me....
 we are spending Holy Thursday and Friday in Arequipa, Peru second largest city, a beautiful colonial city,  and very famous for its processions and devotions on these days.

They say they are as solemn as in Sevilla, so I hope also to spend some very spiritual days there. In preparation for our trip last night we saw the movie on the life of St Rosa de Lima whose shrine we hope to visit while in Lima (was well as St Martin de Porres another amazing Peruvian saint)

And we are happy to report we survived  last week..... there are no words to describe the whole week.  I am still exhausted from it.

From the highs of a new Latinamerican pope (a Jesuit to booth named Francisco) to the lows of family cancer and the many emotions involved with a move, start of new paths, etc.

I have been over the moon about Pope Francis.   I have very strong ties to the jesuits, having studied at one of their universities and  while there I grew close to a  very , very special jesuit who was my spiritual director for several years.    A saintly Spanish jesuit named aptly Ignacio after St Ignatius.   One of three jesuits in the same family, another brother was a  dioscesan priest,  (who was murdered during the civil war in Spain) and brother to a couple of nuns.   You can only imagine the depth of faith of his family.

And I  owe him in great part my faith.

While I know many Jesuits that are very far from the Magisterium , I also met there some very special ones whose spirituality  and adherence to the Magisterium where truly remarkable.  The ones that really take their 4th oath very seriously.
I also did several Ignatian retreats while studying there and I fell in love with St. Ignatius of Loyola.

Since his naming I  have been obsessed with Pope Francis and have seen most of the videos I could find.  They are still in Spanish in Youtube, but I hope they have subtitles soon.  They are amazing, full of depth (some even funny as he has an amazing sense of humor ) and we are truly blessed to have him as our Pope.  

So I went last week from this high to the low that my favorite aunt is dying.

My dad left Wednesday last week for Germany after finding out my aunt had brain cancer and her prognosis was not good.  My mom in the end did not accompany him and I think it was for the best as my dad needed this time alone with his family.   Please pray for my aunt and her family.  Right now the only thing to hope for is that she has closure and that the pain is lessened by the medicines.    It can be a matter of hours, days, perhaps weeks, a true roller coaster.

While all of this was going on our lives became a whirlwind of decisions and paperwork

We started the legal proceedings to sell our house  (I have been surrounded by papers for days now) , we signed the contract for a new apartment,  JM did the "test" to be able to attend  my former school  and I was very,  very late for it so I am not sure I made a mess of things due to this (I still cringe while writing this), I learned that my position at work will grow with some new projects, etc, etc.

And last we did the U/S  to see what had happened this very first cycle with Femara.   Well I had 2 very nice,  large follicles (24 cm one and the other 18 cm), one of which completely ruptured some days ago.   My CM was horrible this time, but the doctor said it might have been due to the timing of the HCG.

I am awaiting the progesterone and estradiol results of P+7, but all looks OK.

I will try perhaps a few cycles of this and then close the biological path forever.  I need the closure.

And off we go!