We spent a great week with Benay's parents last week in Orange Beach, Alabama. We had a great time. On Monday of this week we went about an hour and a half away to Fort Walton Beach, Florida. We were going to spend this week with my parents but my dad got some kind of horrible stomach bug/food poisoning thing, was pretty sick for a few days and had to stay home.
We've really missed them this week but have been speaking with them daily. It's not the same but it's been good for the kids to talk to them and tell them of stuff going on here.
So this week we are hanging out at the beach with just our family. We've had another fun, relaxing week. It's been just what we needed.
We'll try to share some Florida pictures next week.
We leave tomorrow and head to Benay's parents house for a week. We would appreciate prayers for continued safe travels for our family.
(To all our English-speaking readers, please bear with us as we send a special post to our Brazilian family. They faithfully read our blog and try to decipher the English, so we wanted to let them know how we are doing and what we are up to. See if you can figure out some Portuguese!)
Oi para nossa família Brasileira! Estamos com muitas saudades de todos vocês. Então comecei esse blog com a idéia de contar para vocês tudo que aconteceu em nossa viagem até agora. Logo vi que não vai dar, por que tem muito para contar. Então vou mostrar para vocês algumas fotos diversas (com breve comentário...)
Enquanto Kevin, Giovanni e eu estavamos visitando nossa igreja de apoio em Tennessee, as crianças ficaram com meus pais em Alabama. Cortaram uma abóbora para Halloween.....
jogaram "putt-putt" (golf miniatura),
e se divertiram muito. (Ansley e minha mãe)
Um dia, em Nashville, encontramos com minha tia e minha prima. Adoro elas!
Também divertimos muito com minha colega de quarto da faculdade, Leigh, e a família dela. Estamos tentando convencer eles a nos visitar em Porto Alegre.
Depois das aventuras em Tennessee e Alabama, começamos uma longa viagem para visitar faculdades em Oklahoma e Texas. Giovanni fez isso muito, e realmente foi um anjo nas viagens.
Enquanto Ansley visitou uma faculdade em Oklahoma City, Kevin, Garrett, Carys e Anderson visitaram o memorial de um ataque terroista nessa cidade em 1995. O memorial é lindo e muito comovante.
Fomos para Texas para visitar alguns amigos incluíndo essa família amada. Olha a barriga!!
Giovanni gostou da futura faculdade da Bonni, porque ganhou um milkshake roxo, a cor dos times da faculdade.
Também no Texas, fomos para Six Flags (parque de diversão) onde Carys e Anderson fizeram novas amizades...
...e também viram alguns amigos antigos.
Fizemos uma longa viagem para a praia no sul da Alabama onde encontramos com meus pais e celebramos o aniversário do Garrett.
Passamos tempo com meu irmão e a familia dele. Uma família linda!
Temos muitas fotos da praia para mostrar, então vou terminar para hoje. Só para vocês saberem, estou trabalhando MUITO - como sempre! Até mais!!
Hey Pops, we're hoping this video of your favorite boy scoring the winning goal against our biggest enemy in our packed stadium will help you feel better. We're all praying for a quick recovery.
Sunday, October 25, 2009
Christ is the bread for men's souls. In Him the church has enough to feed the whole world.
Ansley was taking pictures of Giovanni the other day when we were in the car. It was on our long travel day from Texas to the Alabama/Florida border. The kids did lots of things to pass the time.
As she clicked away she was laughing out loud at his fatness. She did some major close ups to try to capture his chunkiness. We think she did a good job.
Take a look:
Ansley's photo reminded us of these happy meal toys that floated around our house a few years back.
They're cute, but we prefer our boy's fat cheeks and big pacifier.
Carys is our daredevil. She isn't afraid of anything. On our furlough two years ago (when she was 8) she rode a roller coaster at Six Flags Over Texas called the Titan. The Titan drops over 240 feet and reaches a max speed of 85 mph. She giggled all the way.
When we decided, a couple of months ago, to celebrate Garrett's birthday at Six Flags last weekend I began to really bug Garrett, Ansley and Bronwyn about riding the Titan. I was looking for a promise......in blood. Garrett was the only one to accept the challenge.
When we got to Six Flags on Saturday he was already regretting it.
Thankfully we had these guys there to help him with his fear.
More wanted to come but one was in Germany (enjoy the strudel Whitney),one was getting the flu and had to stay at A&M (hope you are better Chelsey) and two others were busy doing some ministry work (we missed you Robert and Traci).
Garrett needed every bit of encouragement these guys gave him.
We entered the park and went straight to the Titan. Garrett wanted to get it over with.
Bronwyn and Ansley were happy to babysit Anderson and Giovanni.
I think the worst part of the Titan (like any big roller coaster) is going up the hill to take you to the big drop off. The anticipation is brutal. This is our group going up.
The hill on the Titan is basically setting you up for a fall that is comparable to dropping from a 24 story building.
Good thing we got video proof that the boy actually rode it. His friends in Brasil won't believe it.
At the end of the video you can see Garrett immediately putting his hands to his face. After watching the video Bronwyn asked what he was doing. He told her he was trying to push his cheeks back in place.
All in all it was a great day for Garrett. He conquered a fear by defeating the Titan....
.....and he got his first present. An official Texas A&M soccer ball.
Our family loves all the Aggies for Christ. They helped to make Garrett's day special.
Hard to believe but we now have 3 teenagers in our house.
Feel free to leave him a birthday note in the comment section. I know he would love it as he is far away from his best buddies that normally help him celebrate.
We spent the day with our buddies from Texas A&M today. They came up from College Station to hang out with us at Six Flags to celebrate Garrett's birthday.
I found this video from another group from A&M. It's pretty incredible.
The best thing is that they, like our buddies, are Christ followers. What started off as goofing around has turned into something more. This has become a ministry for them. I thought it was kind of cool. Hope you enjoy.
If you want to see and learn more about these guys then just go here. I suggest you read their testimony. Very encouraging young men who definitely have their priorities in order.
We love Abilene. We actually lived here for almost a year in 2001-2. We have some incredible friends here. They have been a constant encouragement to our family since the first minute we met them. We love to pray, talk and be goofy with them. We have laughed until we cried with these guys on more than one occasion. We are staying in their house right now even though they are out of town. We have been blessed to spend time with their kids.
We have lots of good memories of our time in Abilene. God blessed us with lots of great, Godly friends as well as a great church family during our year here. We always look forward to getting in touch with as many of these friends as possible when we come to visit every 2 years. He also blessed us with an incredible small group that meant the world to us. This group helped us through an incredibly difficult time in our lives in relation to this ministry. Our faith in Christ grew because of this group. God put them in our lives right when we had to have them. Some of them even came to visit us in Brasil. Right before we moved from Abilene this small group literally washed all of the feet in our family and prayed scripture over us. From children to adults they blessed us. It's something we will never forget. I have honestly never lived in a city where I have felt the presence of the Holy Spirit more than I feel it in this city.
We were very blessed to live here even if it was for a short time.
This is the city where our oldest daughter will come back to live starting next August.
Today Ansley, Bronwyn and Benay spent the day at ACU taking a tour with the admissions department. It's homecoming week and there are lots of activities for the entire family. Benay and the girls are now at the homecoming musical. They've had a full, fun day.
During the visit today God really reaffirmed to Bronwyn that this is where He wants her to be next year. She is excited to begin her college career here next year.
Ansley also had a great visit and continues to like each university she looks at. The various admissions departments have really done a great job as she tours the schools. She's now looked at three and has two more she wants to visit. It's going to be a tough decision but we know God will lead her to just the right place just like He did with Bronwyn.
Tomorrow we head to Six Flags to celebrate Garrett's birthday (which is Sunday).
Sunday we head to Florida to vacation with Benay's parents.
It will be close to another 1000 miles of traveling in less than two days. We would appreciate your prayers for safety.
A retraction is a public statement, either in print, or by verbal statement that is made to correct a previously made statement that was incorrect, invalid, or in error. The intent of a public retraction is to correct any incorrect information.
So yesterday I blogged about the funny comment my son made about there being an astronaut hall of fame. I thought it was pretty funny. We all gave Garrett a hard time.
This morning we woke up and Benay said, "Uh, is there an astronaut hall of fame?"
I laughed and then did a google search and came up with this site.
Turns out there is a hall of fame for astronauts. Guess I should of googled it before I cracked on my son.
I went downstairs and told Garrett (who had endured a lot of joking since his comment). He smiled, jumped into my arms, started laughing and kept repeating, "I told you they had a hall of fame. I told you they had a hall of fame."
So this is my retraction. I do this to apologize to my son.
I also thank my wife for having me do the google search. I do not, however, thank the wise guys who have made "hilarious" comments on yesterday's blog about Garrett's dumb teacher. You can crack on me if you want but we both know that you also had no idea there was an actual astronaut hall of fame. You just googled it.
I also know who you are and that's a good thing as we can learn a new word together.....retribution.
We are home schooling Garrett and Carys while we are in the states. It's hard for them to miss two months of school back home so we decided that on this trip we would end their school years (school year goes from Feb/Mar to Dec. in Brasil) as the teachers.
Benay asked if I would teach them American history.
Today we had a review of the material (slaves, Columbus, Indians, etc) before they took a test.
There was a question that asked who they thought showed more courage, the guys that sailed with Columbus or the guys who first went to the moon.
This conversation followed:
Garrett: "The guys that went to the moon? You mean like Neil Armstrong?"
Me: "Right."
Garrett: "He's in the hall of fame right?"
Me: (long pause while trying not to laugh) "Hall of fame? For astronauts?"
Garrett: "Yes."
Me: "That doesn't exist."
Garrett: "Yes it does."
Me: "I'm telling you it doesn't."
Garrett: "Yes it does. It's like actors and their hall of fame."
Me: "Actors don't have a hall of fame either."
Garrett: "I know they do. I've seen it. It's when they get all dressed up and stand on that red carpet."
I didn't think I would like teaching in home school but I'm starting to change my mind. I'm learning lots of new things I never knew before.
Three days, four states and 1,000 miles later we finally arrived today in Dallas.
We are hanging out with my old college roommate and his family for a couple of days before we head out again to inspect more possible future universities for Ansley to attend. We've toured two and have three more to go.
Giovanni has had a tough time with all the car time but he's hanging in there......
......well, kind of.
He actually saw Benay holding the camera above her head while sitting in the front seat and made this posed face. He's fitting right in with the rest of our goofy kids.
We spent the last 11 days with this crazy couple.Both their boys were crying because we were leaving. Okay, that's a lie.
We left them yesterday. We were completely blessed to be with them and others at our sponsoring church in Franklin, Tennessee. We are already missing them.
We are on the move again. Right now we are in Fort Smith, Arkansas.
Tomorrow we will take Ansley to look at a college in Oklahoma and then it's off to Dallas.
It's going to take us forever to tell about all the things going on during our time in the states but we'll try in the next few days and weeks. Knowing us, it may take months.
More to come.
Sunday, October 11, 2009
Do not walk through time without leaving worthy evidence of your passage.
Our favorite soccer team had not won a game since we left Brasil.
They've been so bad that they fired their coach this week.
We played Wednesday night under the direction of a new coach and won.
Okay, so we played against one of the worst teams in the league and we played them at home but a victory always helps the confidence. We are currently in 3rd place.
We qualify for the biggest tournament in South America next year if we can finish in the top 4 spots of our national championshiop this year. Only 10 games left.
We haven't forgotten our favorite sports team and for those that follow our team as well we share the following highlights. Enjoy:
From time to time we share a little about how Carys's brain works. It's always interesting.
She shared a little bit more with us yesterday.
Benay and I are in Franklin, Tennessee with our sponsoring church. We've been here for a week. The kids came with us and stayed for a few days.
On Monday Benay's parents came and picked up all the kids, except for Giovanni, and took them back to their house to hang out with them this week.
Yesterday Benay noticed that Carys left her toothbrush in Franklin.
She called Carys to ask how she was brushing her teeth there (assuming that Carys would not tell her grandparents that she needed a new one) when her toothbrush was here.
She told Benay not to worry. She had in fact brushed her teeth TWO times in two days.
At the memorial service for Mammy last week Anderson saw her body in the casket and had the following conversation with Benay:
Anderson: "Did Mammy get shot with a bullet in a war?" Benay: "No." Anderson: "Was she a soldier in an army?" Benay: "No." Anderson: "Then why is she dead?" Benay: "Because she was really old and parts of her body just stopped working." Anderson: "What part?" Benay: "Her heart. Do you feel your heart beating inside your chest?" Anderson: "Yes.......So why is she not in heaven?" Benay: "Well her spirit is in heaven but her body is here on earth. Her body is just like some old clothes that she left behind but she is in heaven now." Anderson: (long pause) "So she's naked?"
Last Wednesday we had a memorial service for Mammy in Memphis. She was from middle Tennessee but for the last 15 years of her life she lived with my parents in Memphis.
It was a great testimony to her life to see how many people were there. It was pretty amazing. Many people loved her.
The next day we drove to middle Tennessee for her funeral.
It was both a time to say goodbye as well as a celebration of her life. There were songs at her funeral and we had a time of sharing. Many of her grandkids got up and shared what Mammy meant to them. There were tears and laughs as we shared stories. It was a special time.
We were able to see cousins that we had not seen in almost 20 years. It was great seeing everyone and we even talked of starting some kind of yearly or every two year family reunion. We all agreed that we didn't want to wait 20 more years before we saw each other again.
We forget sometimes that our kids aren't used to American ways of doing things in many situations. I guess I just assume, since I spent 30+ years in the states, that my kids would just automatically know the American customs with funerals. I was reminded last week that they did not. Some of the things they said or did were funny and some of the things that they saw just intrigued them.
My mom and dad took Bronwyn, Garrett and Carys to the funeral. They left a lot earlier than the rest of us did. By the time we got to the funeral Bronwyn relayed a story to us that had happened when their group arrived. They got out of the car and saw this:Our oldest son said, "Sweet......a limo!"
We don't have anything like a hearse in Brasil and he had never been to an American funeral so naturally he thought it was a limo. Bronwyn said she kind of whispered an apology to my parents but they both kind of chuckled and said it was okay. They understood that there was no way for him to have known what it was.
Another thing we don't have in our city are big open field cemeteries. You would never see the following picture in our city at a funeral. You can go here to read about our teammate Jennifer's first experience with a Brasilian funeral. It's much different than American funerals.
So, even the idea of digging a hole, lowering the casket and then filling the hole back up was intriguing to our kids. They had never seen anything like that. We took this picture because Carys literally stayed in this position watching the men until they finished filling the hole. The funeral ended with my cousin's husband playing Amazing Grace on the bag pipes. It was a great ending to a celebration of Mammy's life.
Sunday, October 04, 2009
Either sin is with you, lying on your shoulders, or it is lying on Christ, the Lamb of God. Now if it is lying on your back, you are lost; but if it is resting on Christ, you are free, and you will be saved. Now choose what you want.
On Monday of this week we went about an hour and a half away to Fort Walton Beach, Florida. We were going to spend this week with my parents but my dad got some kind of horrible stomach bug/food poisoning thing, was pretty sick for a few days and had to stay home.
Like we said.......they're more like suggestions than rules.
We love Inter. 
Both their boys were crying because we were leaving. Okay, that's a lie.
Our oldest son said, "Sweet......a limo!"
You can go 
The funeral ended with my cousin's husband playing Amazing Grace on the bag pipes. It was a great ending to a celebration of Mammy's life.