Answered Prayer

"Don't worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done." Philippians 4:6

You may remember our blog from last week. If not you can go here and read it. 

Anderson and Giovanni got to see snow for the first time in their lives last week. Anderson was so happy to see it. It wasn't much and didn't stick to the ground. The same day he decided he wanted to have enough snow to build a snowman  and have a snowball fight. 

He didn't worry about it. He prayed about it. He told God what he needed......

......and this morning he thanked Him for what He did. 

They were in it for over 3 hours. If you read the blog from last week we thank you for your prayers as well. 

We'll try to post more pictures and funny videos later. 

Prayers Needed

This morning at 3:30 my girlfriend and I were woken up by a sound of one of our kids crying.

I got up, went out to the den and found this little guy......

......bent over a chair just sobbing.

I asked if he was sick? No was his answer.

I asked if had a bad dream? No was his answer.

I then asked what it was and he pointed out the window.

What I saw was this (except it was dark):

The back yard of my girlfriend's parents house.

He said, "No snow!" and began to cry even harder.

The weather forecast said that there was a "possibility" of snow here last night. Maybe one inch. Anderson never heard "possibility." All he heard was "snow" and that it was coming.

Anderson has never seen snow and is super excited about possibly seeing some on this trip to the states.

I tried to calm him down by telling him that we don't get much snow where our grandparents live and if we do it doesn't usually come until later in the year and that we still have plenty of time here until we have to get back on the plane to go home.

His crying slowed down and he went, one more time, to look out the window.

About this time a light came on in the kitchen. It was my girlfriends mom. She came over to me and said, "Because there's no snow?" It was more of a comment than a question.

We all know how badly Anderson wants to see snow.

Feel free to ask God to bless us with some snow while we are here in the states. That would be one of the best Christmas presents Anderson could get this year.

Sick Andersonisms

Since we've back in the states some of our friends have asked us about sharing some more Andersonisms. He always gives them out and he gave us some good ones from this past Saturday.

For lunch on Saturday he ate a hot dog and cheetos for lunch. You might already be able to guess where this is going.

My girlfriend, Garrett and I had an appointment on Saturday and as we were walking out the door my girlfriend told me she needed to stay at home because Anderson wasn't feeling good.

I went in and looked at him and his face had a greenish/beige glow. He did not look good.

Garrett and I left and came back a couple of hours later. When we got home we found out he was sleeping because he had puked a couple of times.

We heard the puke conversation went like this:

Anderson: (puking.........stop) "Hot dog." (more puking.....stop) "Hot dog."
My girlfriend: "It's okay Anderson you don't need to say what you are throwing up"

Anderson: (more puking.....crying) "Mom, are you sure this is God's plan for me?"
My girlfriend: "Hey Anderson you are just sick. Sometimes people get sick. Sometimes God teaches us when we get sick. When we get sick we can remember how yucky it feels and can learn how to take care of other people when they get sick."
Anderson: "So is the devil doing this to me?"

Even when he's sick he's funny.

Later his mean uncle and cousins scared him with Halloween stories and he got so scared he puked again. Fun day.

Positive side note: Pretty soon we'll be done with hot dogs forever. Bronwyn and Garrett already don't eat them from previous puke experiences. Now Anderson has also sworn them off forever. Can't say that I'm sad.

Andersonisms

It's been a while since we've shared any Andersonisms. We know he has a following and so we share a recent one to hold you over until the next few come flying out of his mouth.

Yesterday Anderson was doing his homework. He stopped, looked at me and asked, "Hey dad, in 9 days and 3 months can I go with Lucas to play in a futebol championship? It's going to be against PROFESSIONALS, I'm going to be number 6 and it's going to be at Lucas' house."

I wish he could play against the professional players because I'd like to see who these "Pros" are and where they come from but I didn't have the heart to tell Anderson that in 9 days and 3 months we would be in the United States.

If only the tournament could've been in 9 days and 5 months then Anderson would've been able to play.

Maybe next time.

Awesome Futebol Weekend

B,

You missed an incredible futebol weekend.

First, Saturday night, the under 20 Brasilian seleção won the World Cup 3-2 against Portugal. Ansley's boyfriend made all three goals. Amazing. Especially his last goal. Here are your highlights from that game.


Then yesterday Ronaldinho Gaúcho and Flamengo came to town. We almost didn't get in (me,Anderson and Garrett) because they said they sold all the tickets. I decided that we needed to go home to watch it on tv but Garrett wanted to stay in the line to try to get one even though everyone said it was sold out. While he was in the line a friend (André S.) called me to say he heard on the radio that they just freed up 500 more tickets. Garrett was about 100 people out when it happened so he got a ticket for R$15. His persistence paid off.

Even with us playing short one man(Guinazu got red carded), the juiz cheating (as usual against teams from Rio and São Paulo.....notice the guy pushing our barreira during Ronaldinho's falta with no call and D'Alessandro getting pushed down in the área with no call), and Ronaldinho playing better than anybody in Brasil right now (except Damião)we played great and ended up tying them and almost won at the end. Damião made a bicicleta to tie it at 2. It was awesome. It was the best tie game we've ever been to. People were clapping when it was over. I've never seen that happen before. Even the Flamengo fans enjoyed it. Even Garrett, "Mr. only an Inter victory is good Garrett", didn't complain about the tie so you know it was good.
Here are the highlights from that game:


Finally, saving the best for last, your brother had a game yesterday morning.
His team won 7-1. He scored twice, almost scored again and assisted in 2 other goals. Here are his melhores momentos.

Sorry you missed the fun.

Honesty

Conversation in the car on the way to school today:

Garrett: "Hey Anderson, let's play I spy."
Anderson: "Okay."
Garrett: "Okay, I'll go first. I spy with my little eye something that is white."
Anderson: "Uh, dad's hair."
Me: "Uh, hey, what? What did you say?"
Anderson: (while Garrett is cracking up) "Nothing. Nothing."
Me: "What did you say boy?"
Anderson: (while Garrett is tickling him to tell the truth) "Okay, I said your hair?"
Me: "That's what I thought you said. Well, at least I still have more dark hair than white hair. I think I'm going to color my hair to make it dark again."
Garrett: "Serious?"
Me: "No."
Anderson: "Well it's your hair. You can do whatever you want with it."
Me: "You know who likes my white hair? Mom. I don't understand why but she does."
Anderson: "Well old people like old people hair when they get old."

Anderson is the king of honesty. He doesn't say things to hurt. He just thinks it and it comes out. We're still trying to work on the filter part of that honesty.

If you are coming to stay with us anytime soon (Traci it's your job to prepare the group and Stephen and Weston you guys have been thoroughly warned by Bronwyn) please be prepared for this little boy. He's a straight shooter.

Busy Weekend-Part 4

On Saturday evening Anderson had a futsal game. Futsal is indoor soccer played on a court that has roughly the same dimensions as a basketball court. Brasilian kids usually start off in futsal because it's smaller and not as tiring as a regular soccer field, it's easier for them to learn the basics and it quickens their reflexes. Everything is faster on the smaller playing field and many professionals who started in futsal say when they moved to the soccer field it was easier because everything seemed slower.

Anyway, Anderson had a game on Saturday. He plays for a soccer school that is affiliated with our favorite pro team.

Few schools have teams. Most kids take after school classes at various soccer schools. Some schools do have teams.

There are no school leagues where different elementary or high school teams play each other. Teams usually play lots of "amistosos" or friendlies against soccer schools. Occasionally there will be a championship but the fees are paid on top of the monthly class fee.

Anderson had a friendly against Dom Bosco. Dom Bosco is the name of a school close to where Anderson goes to school.

Knowing Anderson, if you really know him, he was anxious about playing in "their stadium" in front of "their fans."

We tried to remind him that it was just an amistoso and that he needed to just go out and have fun. He wasn't buying it. He was convinced that his team was going to get booed in front of their fans. We reminded him again to just go and have fun.

He did. His team won 1-0.

Oh yeah, he just happened to score the winning goal. That made it really fun for him.

Here is his first chance in the first couple minutes of the game:

He just missed.

And here is the goal:

I love how he looks for his mom after the goal to give her a thumbs up.

Here is the post game reaction of super excited jumpy boy:

We have to pass by Dom Bosco on the way home from our school. Every time, since that game, Anderson smiles and talks about his game and his goal.

He still can't believe he went into "their stadium" and scored a goal. As of right now, it's the place where the greatest moment in his young soccer career happened.

Pretty exciting stuff for a soccer loving, enthusiastically dramatic about everything seven year old boy.

See what I mean?

Tooth Fairy-Part 2

Guess what someone found at school yesterday?

His teacher had actually misplaced it.

Our apologies to André. He's been cleared of all wrongdoing.

And Anderson was thrilled to actually have a tooth to put under his pillow.

And the Tooth Fairy made another visit, left a little more money and left another note.

Two visits for one tooth. Not a bad deal.

Anderson's World

Thought I'd keep with the Anderson theme from yesterday.

Last week Anderson borrowed (stole) my deodorant.

Yesterday I walked by his room and saw it. I went in and asked if I could use it. He said, "Sure."

I reached for it and he said, "It's Old Spice."

As I put it on I told him that it was good to use deodorant.

He agreed and said, "Especially when it's smooth and smells good."

I finished and asked if he wanted to use it. He said, "sure."

He then began to rub it on his arm pits. wrists and neck.

He definitely smelt good at school yesterday.

It's never dull in Anderson's world and we are thankful that we get to be a part of it.

Battle Scar

There is a certain college student in the United States who mentioned to me and my girlfriend last week that we weren't posting enough blogs for her. She wants more blogs to keep up with what is going on here with her family.

The same day she mentioned this to us there was a certain seven year old in our house who instructed me to, "Take pictures of it and do a blog about that."

What was the "it" he was talking about?

This:

We (me and all the kids) were having a nice wrestling match on Ansley's bed. Me and Anderson versus Ansley, Garrett and Carys. Anderson and I were winning of course.

In the wildness Carys accidently pushed Anderson into the old mini book shelf by the side of the bed.

It made a nice little cut/scrape.

You know Anderson hit the roof with his dramatics but, after a couple of minutes, we got him to calm down. We put some ice on him and I told him how cool it was to have a battle scar. He smiled a little bit when he thought about it and then asked me to take some pictures and put it on the blog.

I asked him for his warrior pose and here's what he came up with .

Mom then put some medicine on him, but he didn't want the couch to touch his hurt spot. He also didn't want a normal fitting shirt touching his spot. He wanted a big shirt so it could be loose. This is the shirt he came up with (complete with sympathy face).

You wanted more blog posts, you got them Bonni.

Be careful what you ask for.

You've Been Warned

Conversation in our car on the way home from school this week:

Anderson: "Hey dad, could drive in just your underwear if you wanted to?"
Me: "Sure, if you wanted to."
Anderson: "And it's not against the law?"
Me: "No. I don't think so."
Anderson: "SWEET!! I am SO driving in just my underwear when I grow up!"

Birthday Mooch

We had a great day with Anderson yesterday on his birthday.

I might share more later with a video for Bronwyn but for now I'm going to mooch off my girlfriend's blog in what she shared about the day. 

Just click here to read it.

Seven

Hard to believe but Anderson turned seven today.

You know the deal.

Giovanni:  I call Anderson "Mano", which is a nickname for "brother" in portuguese.  He is my best buddy and I love to play with him and hug him.

Carys: "He's my number one A-man. He's funny and I wouldn't trade him for anything or anyone in the world."

Garrett: "He's funny and awesome and I love playing soccer with him. I hope he has an awesome birthday."

Ansley: "He is my creative imaginative silly buddy around the house! We always have fun together. Now we have 30 days of being SEVEN and SEVENteen... yes!!!"

Bronwyn: "He's so funny. I can't even remember what we did for fun before he came. I love you and miss you so much Anderson!"

Girlfriend: "I love spending time with Anderson.  He is so funny and so much fun.  He always makes me smile.  I love you a bunch, Anderson!!"

Me: "I've never met a kid who talks as much as he does. Never. And it's not just the amount of words, it's funny words. Hilarious words and thoughts. He cracks us all up all the time. I know soon he will need to filter (okay he already does) some of those thoughts but his mind is a very funny place. I am so thankful that this filterless little boy is part of our family."

A few pictures that help describe what it's like living in his world.

We love this little guy!!

Wish List

Tomorrow is Anderson's birthday.

Here is his wish list:

Andersonisms

Bronwyn told us that this week is going to be a wild school week with lots of tests and junk so we decided to dedicate this week to her to help keep her loose with funny stuff.

Honestly some things the rest of you won't get (it's in Portuguese) and some things you might understand but not think it's funny at all.

That's okay. Remember this week, except for tomorrow, is for Bronwyn.

We couldn't think of a better way to start the week than by sharing some Andersonisms.

Anderson actually has a cult following. Lots of people talk about his "isms" and email us asking when are we going to share more so today is for you guys as well.

Here we go:

Anderson (in the middle of a conversation): "It's like a duck/frog. It's a frog with a duck bill."
Me: "Uh, that doesn't exist."
Anderson: "Sure it does."
Me: "No it doesn't."
Anderson: "Hey Dad, imagination.......ever heard of it?"

Conversation while making a fire for our churrasco:
Anderson: "Dad, do you think I will ever be someone's dad?"
Me: "Sure."
Anderson: "I don't."
Me: "Why?"
Anderson: "I don't think I'm ever going to have a wife.
Me: "Why?"
Anderson: " I don't know.(long pause) Hey dad."
Me: "Yep."
Anderson: "Do you have to have a wife to be professional?"
Me: "To be professional? What do you mean?"
Anderson: "You know, to be 40 years old and to be a professional and to not have a wife."
Me: "I don't think so."
Anderson: "Good."
Me: "What do you mean exactly to be professional?"
Anderson: "You know, to be like a professional soccer player and not be married."

Anderson jammed his finger when playing soccer last Thursday and it's been, as you can imagine, a big concern of his since it happened.
A conversation about it:
Anderson: "Do we have any left-over casts?"
Your mom: "Hey dad, do we have any left-over casts?"
Me: "I don't think so. Why? For your jammed finger?"
Anderson: "Yes. I'm supposed to use a left-over cast or this (a piece of toilet paper) to put over my finger."

While watching televsion:
Anderson: "Hey dad, Abraham Lincoln looks just like you."

He's been hooked on Diary of a Wimpy Kid books. We then got him the movie and he became obsessed with getting his own journal. Your mom got him one. He goes it spurts but when he writes, as you can imagine, he definitely has interesting takes on life in general. Today he was journaling again but he didn't have much to write about. So we had this conversation:
Anderson: "Dad, what should I write about?"
Me: "With a journal you just write whatever is in your brain at that moment. Just write whatever you are thinking about."
Anderson: "Cheese?"
Me: "Sure."

I got up this morning at 5:30 and Anderson was up alone doing this:

I thought it was just a perfect fit on the day we post some of his sayings.

Car Talk

Conversation in our car this week:

Anderson: "Did you know that God + 1 = God?
Carys: "No. That's impossible."
Anderson: "Possible. Dad isn't it possible?"
Me: "I guess so. I guess if He wanted to plus Himself He could. He is God and He can do anything."
Anderson: "See Carys I told you. (short pause) Did you know that Jesus + 1 = God?"
Me: "Really?"
Anderson: "Yes. (long pause) Did you know that Lyle + 1 = Moses?"
Me: "Uh what?"
Anderson: "Nothing."

Even short trips to school can make us laugh and give us something to talk about for the rest of the day.

It is never boring in our house or in our car.

Soccer Week-Day 2

Anderson had his first ever soccer championship a couple of weeks ago.

Two different soccer schools got together to play a futsal (indoor soccer) championship.

Seven teams played all morning.

What does a normally super excited (with just normal day to day life) kid do right before his first ever game? He does this:

Two words: Nervous energy.

He played five games and in every game he played better than the one before.

In this picture he kicked so hard it only came out as a blur. It was either that or the lighting was bad inside the gym.

He didn't know any of the guys on the team but by the last games he was having a great time with his new "best friends." You can see his happiness in this picture.

He even hugged the guys, in typical Anderson fashion, after his last game.

In the last game he made a great steal and pass to a teammate. The teammate scored. They won 2-1 and finished in 5th place instead of last place. He was super excited.

He had a great time.

At the end they were presented with medals by one of their parents. You know he loved that.


He ended his "championship" day by posing for photos.

He had an "AWESOME" day.

Andersonisms

Bronwyn,

I took your little brother to the game last night (Fluminense....we played better but tied 0-0) and, because it was just the two of us with no other listening buffers, you know we had some special one on one conversations.  Here are just a few that I remember.

Anderson: "What's the difference between probably and maybe."

Me: "I don't know."

Anderson: "Probably is mostly yes and maybe is half yes and half no."

Me: "Really? Who told you that?"

Anderson: "Ansley."

Me: "Cool."

Anderson: "And pretty much is fifty percent yes."

Anderson: "Is it okay to call someone twit? Is that a bad word?"

Me: "Where did you hear that word?"

Anderson: "Sponge Bob."

Me: "Well it's not really a bad word but it might make someone feel bad if you called them that."

Anderson: "Is it just like jerk?"

Me: "Yes."

Anderson: "JUST like jerk?"

Me: "Pretty much."

Anderson: (talking about his substitute teacher yesterday) "Can you believe she's the size of a midget and she's 26 years old?"

Me: "Look at that guy above the stadium in that box (like a press box) looking at the game. I think it would be cool to be up that high to watch the game."

Anderson: "Do you think it's Falcão?"

Me: "I don't know but if it is then maybe he's got his monkey with him (remember our previous conversation?)."

Anderson: "I think his monkey died."

Inter and Anderson. It's a great combo. 

Here are the melhores momentos:

Personal Alarm Clock

Bonni,

I have no idea how you wake up now to go to your classes, to church or whatever.

Is it by alarm clock?  Is it by Asia, Shelby or some other goober screaming in your ear?

Whatever it is it can't beat the personal wake up calls you used to get here.

To help you remember how sweet those 5:30 a.m. wake up calls were I've included the following video from your birthday last year.

Enjoy:

Andersonisms

Bronwyn,

Anderson walked with me to the bank today to pay some bills.

Of course he shot out a couple of good ones on the way home.

I bought him a Twix candy bar for being a good helper and going with me. He wanted to buy another one for his new friend (one of the girls from Peru staying with us).

When we were walking home I told him to make sure he put the Twix in the refrigerator when we got home so it wouldn't melt. He said, "No way, I'm eating mine straight."

As we rounded the corner of the praça we ran into a "small" woman. Anderson made a comment that reminded me of Garrett at that age. As we walked right beside her I said hello to her and Anderson asked (in his typical loud Anderson voice), "Dad, is she a midget or is she just old?"

As you know, there are many times when we are thankful that not many people speak English here.

He then decided that she was "half midget and half old lady."

I was so proud.

Seeing her then sparked another thought in his mind.

He said he was glad that I wasn't a midget and that mom didn't marry a midget.

He then talked about mom's "could have been wedding day" with the midget. He thought of how she would kiss him.

He asked if I thought she would have to bend over or just pick him up. Great question.

He decided it would be best if she just picked him up because he said he was worried about her health and he wanted her to take care of her back.

I know you are missing these deep conversations. You know he will have lots more ready for you when you get home.

We may just let you guys (just the two of you) spend a couple of days together in December to let our brains rest.

You could call it quality time for you two.

He is one funny little guy. We aren't sure when the "don't say it out loud" switch will finally flip on in his brain. Maybe never.

I actually think I'd be okay with that.