First Day of School

Today the kids went back to school. Our school year runs from Feb/March to December.

In the past, we have looked like this:Today we looked like this:It was a weird feeling to not have Bronwyn in the picture for the first time in 15 years.

Not to worry though. She's such a school goober and social butterfly that she even went back to her old school today and just "hung out" with some of her old friends (who also graduated last year). Weird.

All the kids had a great time. Especially Anderson. There is potential for him to have a new girlfriend as his class got a new girl. For the last two years his class of about 15 has been 14 boys and one girl. His dating options just doubled. He told his grandparents that she was weird, but pretty, and that one day she could be his girlfriend.

Please pray for them to have a great school year and to be the light of Christ to their friends.

Big Mac Compassion

This past Saturday the kids wanted to go to McDonalds. In general we aren't big McDonalds fans. Once in a while we might go there but typically we aren't big fans. But Saturday was different and we filled our house with the smells of Big Macs and french fries.So if we don't like it that much why would the kids want to go there on Saturday and get Big Macs? Because of this:This was the 20th year that McDonalds has had "McDia Feliz" our "Happy McDay" in which all the profits from the sales of Big Macs throughout Brasil goes straight to childrens' hospitals that fight cancer.

The thing that was really special for Benay and myself was that this idea came straight from the kids. Benay and I actually didn't remember that McDonalds' special day was last Saturday.

As the value of the dollar continues to drop, we aren't able to eat out as much as we used to. It actually costs us much more (in dollars) to eat at McDonalds here than it would in the states. We told the kids we loved the idea but we wouldn't be able to pay for everyone's food this time.

They didn't see this as a problem at all. They each willingly used their own allowance which for some, like Carys, pretty much wiped them out financially.

Some financial gurus might tell us this wasn't smart. To allow the kids to spend most of their allowance on food.

We will tell you we couldn't be more proud of their compassionate hearts and their willingness to try to make a difference in the lives of kids they don't even know. They realize they are blessed with good health and want to try to share in that blessing with other kids who aren't as fortunate.

It's times like these that I remember Christ telling us to be like little children.

Getting Ready for Ansley

We aren't any different than any other family that has kids. We have incredible kids who also, from time to time, have serious sibling "spats" as well. It's part of being in a family. It happens. It drives us crazy at times but we know that they love each other very much.

How do we know this? Times like these:

Yesterday they spontaneously made lots of "Welcome Home" posters for their sister. They put them all up this morning to get ready for Ansley's arrival.

Even Anderson got in on the act (both on the poster and on his face).His poster says "Gradulations Ansley".

I discovered how much they missed each other yesterday when Garrett was looking at the calender. Like any big family, it's easy to have a couple of kids that like to pick on each other. Ansley and Garrett like to "mix it up" a little bit. They know each other's buttons to push and they push them. Anyway, yesterday Garrett noticed that today was the 1st of August and he said, "Tomorrow Ansley is coming home"? I said yes and he joyfully said, "YEAH!"

Like I said, we are blessed to have kids that really love each other.