I went with the kids to the market yesterday afternoon so Annie could buy a little stuffed animal she has been wanting.  It is the time of Carnival in Curahuasi, and every weekend there is dancing with live music around a tree that has been set up in the plaza.  The tree is then cut down and people wrestle for the prizes tied up in its branches.  Imagine a very big piñata!  As I watched the festivities with David and Annie and snapped some pictures, I could not help but wonder what our kids think of life here.  How does it feel normal to them?  How does it feel different or strange?  I know they feel different from the people who are from here.  They get tired of being called “Gringo”.  They recognize that they have more money and stuff than most of the people, and they don’t really know (nor do I) how to deal with the differences.  And yet I recognize that they don’t feel completely at home in the U.S. as well.  Even after just under two years away they sometimes cannot remember exactly what life was like, and they ask us questions about the American culture.  It is a strange life that we have brought them to live in, and they did not have a choice in the matter.  I pray that God will protect them as they feel like strangers to so many things, and I have hope that he will use this experience to form them into something special and different for his purposes.