For Pops

Dear Pops (aka Captain America),

We don't want to say it was like taking candy from a baby but........it kind of was.

The boys wanted to know why you keep making this same bet?

What should my answer be because I'm having a hard time trying to explain it to them?

The only thing I can figure is that you just want to bless them with more DP's.

Anyway, your name was brought up a bunch yesterday. Thanks for keeping us smiling.

Love,

Your Brasilian family

P.S. Here is a little something to help you remember your day:

One

B,

Just think, in one day you will get to enjoy what mom enjoyed last Sunday.

She went with me and Anderson to an Inter game. Ladies got in free because of Mother's Day so she hung out with us. She celebrated with Anderson after one of our goals....

.....but it seemed like she was really more interested in the pipoca doce than the game.

You get next game with the A man.

We also couldn't let you get on the plane today without sharing your favorite video. It will help get you ready for the madness:

You also need to know that Carys is now CRAZY for the group One Direction (bought the CD, posters in her room, etc.) and after about one day this song will be in your head because you will have heard it 1,000 times. You know Carys.


1,000 times might not be that big of an exaggeration. You've been warned.

We are officially ready for your arrival.

Two

B,

In two days we will be picking you up at the airport. You'll come home and get to be a part of the live versions of things like this:











And, don't forget, you'll get to have some good conversations with your little sis.



Everyone is super excited to see you and I know you are excited to make some more awesome videos with us.

Three

In three days our oldest goober comes home from college.

She's told me that when she's bored or needs a laugh at college she goes back and looks at some old videos on our blog.

So to get her ready for an overload of little brothers and sisters we thought we'd get her mind ready by sharing some videos just for her over the next couple of days.

So B, the first thing you need to be ready for is some dance time:







You also need to be ready for music and singing:



You need to be ready to goof on little brothers and sisters (I guess you didn't need to be reminded of this one)....



.....and your mom:





And even though you won't have early college classes you need to get up for we'll make sure you get up bright and early anyway. We'll wake you up to the awesome sounds of the Carys orchestra because every day you are here will be like your birthday:


And because well, let's be honest, sometimes you need help waking up in the mornings:

Mother's Day-Zero

Sunday was a very good day in our house.

First we celebrated the best mom in the world.

Carys made strawberry, raspberry and apple crepes. In the words of Anderson they were "awesome!" Garrett seemed to like them the most because he had at least three.

My girlfriend then opened up her presents. She loved everything. Handmade cards to clothes to flowers. She got lots of stuff and she loved everything. She especially loved that everything came from her kids.

We then had house church in our apartment. We were able to bless the moms present with verses from Proverbs 31 as well as a reading from Max Lucado about moms. We then put all the moms in a circle. The rest of us laid our hands on them and Adam, our US visitor, then prayed for them. We allowed the Spirit to translate from English to Portuguese. The entire time was pretty special.

Around 11:00 I got a phone call. It was from Ansley and she was at the airport. We had spoken a couple days earlier about trying to catch an earlier flight after she got to São Paulo instead of waiting for 5 hours. She was able to get one and arrive almost 4 hours earlier.

After she called, Garrett and I made up a story about getting a phone call from a friend who had a flat. We needed to go help him. We then made the 5 minute drive to the airport. We didn't tell anyone else what was happening.

We got home and decided to let Ansley go in first and act like it was like any other day instead of her being home for the first time in almost 5 months.

We were hoping to surprise my girlfriend. As you'll see below we pulled that off. We actually surprised quite a few people. Check it out.

I think we succeeded in helping my girlfriend have an unforgettable Mother's Day.

Adam and Spencer

Eight days ago these two goobers.....

......got here.

They are Adam (on the right) and Spencer (obviously on the left) and they are from our sponsoring church in Alabama.

They've been an amazing blessing to our family, our church family and God's work here in Porto Alegre.

And we've kept them busy.

In eight days here:

-They got to live with three different families that are a part of our house church family.
-They've gone out to eat with different Brasilians and experienced lots of our good food.
-They've participated in our house church worship.
-They've participated in a bible study with an entire family.
-They've visited another family and hung out with their kids.
-They visited different language schools in the city and got a chance to share about themselves, their lives in    the United States and about their faith in Jesus.
-They got to participate in an English party in our house.
-They got to travel around our city and visit other parts of our state.
-They got to know our house church family.

Another thing they did was bless our kids. Anytime our kids can be around strong Christians it's a blessing to us. Adam and Spencer fit right in with our family. Push up contests, goofing on each other, eating with us, cracking on each other, you name it and they participated.

And they blessed my girlfriend and myself. They were willing and excited to do anything that needed to be done. They were on their own, with our brother Paulo Renato, quite a bit last week because of our cookie bazaars and they didn't even blink. They just jumped in and we loved it. They laughed with us and with the Brasilians. They showed Christ in everything they did. They really encouraged us both.

The plan is that this is the first visit from people from our new sponsoring church and that more visits are to come. We already look forward to the next group and our church members have already asked when they are coming back. I love how God can bond His kids together in such a short amount of time.

We are excited that Adam and Spencer came and that we got to know them better and that they got to know their brothers and sisters here and can go home and share what God shared with them over these last few days.

We are excited to see how God will work through our church family in Alabama and our church family here to bring His kingdom to earth.

It should be a fun journey together.

For now, we ask that you pray for their safety as they head back to Alabama this afternoon.

One

Ans,

Here is our monthly appointment/schedule calendar. Carys filled it out this month.

It's filled with weekly volleyball, soccer and theater classes. It also has German classes and soccer trips.

This month is cool because she got to mark the days that you and B are coming home.

Do you think she is excited about tomorrow?

Oh yeah, you may have noticed. Carys grounded herself from the 3rd to the 24th. Carys is still Carys.

Tomorrow you get a front row seat to the madness and we can't wait.

Two

Ans,

In two days you'll be back with us. We know you are sad to leave all your kids in Ecuador so we thought we'd do a blog today to help you smile while you say your goodbyes. 

As you know, in our family we've always gotten a good laugh from the "isms" of the family. Mainly the Andersonisms. 

We still, obviously, have his but lately I've also been keeping track of other family "isms" (mainly Garrett and Giovanni) as well. 

So, to get your mind ready for the family lingo I've shared a few of the recent good ones below:

Anderson: (coming back from playing soccer with me at Sogipa) “Dad your nose is dripping sweat.”

Me: “I know. And you have a sweat moustache.”

Anderson: (touching his face) “I know and I wish I could keep it forever.” 

Anderson: (same conversation) “Have you always wanted to be sweaty your whole life?”

Me: “What do you mean?”

Anderson: “Have you always wanted to be do stuff to make you sweaty?”

Me: “Well I usually get pretty sweaty when I run.”

Anderson: “Hey have you ever tried to get a girl not to like you?”

Anderson: (at 6:30 a.m. on mom's birthday) “What do you think mom is dreaming about right now?”

Me: “I don’t know.”

Anderson: “Her birthday?”

Me: “Probably not.”

Anderson: “Gummy bears?”

Me: “Maybe.”

Anderson: “Maybe it’s about women. She normally dreams about women jumping into a pond.”  

Garrett: “Dad, I got water in my ear. How do I get it out?”

Me: “I always just hop on one leg.”

Garrett: “Which leg?”

Anderson: “Dad, where do they keep the document that Japan signed to end World War   I?”

Me: “It was World War II and I don’t know.”

Anderson: “You don’t have any idea?”

Me: “Probably in Washington D.C.”

Anderson: “Underground?”

Me: “I don’t think so.”

Anderson: “In the White House with the President?”

Me: “I don’t think so.”

Anderson: “Yeah, they probably keep it in some extravaganza building.”

(Mom singing “How Great is Our God” to Giovanni)

Giovanni: “Do you sing that at church?” 

Mom: “Yes. What’s your favorite church song?”

Giovanni: “Brother McGoofy Pants.”

Anderson: “Hey Garrett, scratch your knee with your finger. It feels soooo good!”

Garrett: (scratching his knee)

Anderson: “See! It’s like an electronic jacuzzi.”

Anderson: “Dad, when you die would you rather be buried or burst in flames?”

burst in flames=cremated

Giovanni: “My eyes are blue. They are nagical!”

nagical=magical

Anderson: (in our apartment driveway going into the garage) “Look! A dead rat in the tree!”

Me: (without even looking) “I don’t think so.”

Anderson: “Well maybe it was a baby mouse cause it was small. Or a leaf. Or a pair of monkey ears.”

Anderson: “Dad, could the President of the United States use a coupon like this: One for the price of 79?”

Me: “Maybe because he’s the president.”

Anderson: “Imagine how weird that coupon would be!”

Me: “What’s that?” (looking at a picture in a book that Anderson wrote)

Anderson: “It’s an alien.”

Me: “What’s that coming out of it? Blood?”

Anderson: “No. It’s milkus. When you shoot an alien milkus comes out of it.”

Milkus (obviously)=mucus

Garrett: “My name backwards is Ttrerrag.”

Anderson: “Mine is Nosredna.” 

Giovanni: “Mine is GIBBY!!”

Giovanni: “Hey dad, do you like Man vs Food?”

Me: “Yes I really like that show. What’s your favorite episode?”

Giovanni: “The wonderful world of gumballs.”

Anderson: (at an Inter game) “Can I have a coke?”

Me: “Not tonight buddy.”

Anderson: (about 5 minutes later) “Ohhhhh, I’m so thirsty I could drink chicken blood!”

Since you, Ans, do the best British accent of the family  I share this good one from Anderson:

Anderson: (after watching a History channel show about divers going to the wreck site of the ship Britannic and hearing the two divers talk about what they saw after being at the site for 4 hours.....the show was filled with Americans and Britons) 

“Dad, he was under the water for so long that he lost his British accent. He’s American now.” 

Me: “I don’t know if that’s what happened. Are you sure?”

Anderson: “Dad just listen to him. He had a British accent and because he was under the water for 4 hours he lost his accent. Now he sounds American.”

(Obviously confusing one of the British guys interviewed with the American who was actually doing the diving)

I end with my personal favorite over the last couple of months:

Anderson: (while watching a show on Animal Planet) “Why do eagles have to do circles?”

Me: “I think because they are looking for food.”

Anderson: “Yeah, I know but does it have to be circles? Couldn’t it be triangles?”

Two more days and you get a front row seat to this talk every day for the next couple of months. 

P.S. For you loyal readers out there: Ansley asked for your prayers today on her blog. Please take 2 minutes to go there, by clicking here, and leave an encouraging comment. It would be like a long distance hug for her. Thanks in advance. 

Three

Ans,

In three days you can watch Anderson use the comemoração, that he worked on all week before the game, after he scores a goal (sorry I missed the goal scoring part) AND team up with mom to embarrass Garrett at the same time.



Then you can go with me to watch Garrett play for Cruzeiro in one of his night games at Anchieta.

You and Bronwyn still think he's shmexy right?



Nothing better than front row seats to your brothers soccer games.

Three.

Four

Ans,

Gi (as he is now known at school) has become a comedian. He writes his own material. I subtitled it word for word just in case you needed it.



I love how he still calls everyone "he."

Four more days and you get a front row seat to this guy.

Five

Ans, Allow me to present DJ Andy:


He's the best rapper we know but he's only human so there were some goofs along the way of making the masterpiece above. Here are a couple of the flubs:



Just think, in five more days you will have a front row seat to the show.

Six

It's Ansley's final week of living in Ecuador. She gets home in six more days.

We know she'll be sad to leave her kids there but we are a little excited about her coming home. Giovanni keeps asking when he can have a sleep over with Ansley.

This week we'll get Ansley ready to come home by sharing some videos that, honestly, will mainly interest her. The rest of you guys are welcomed to share but they might be boring to you. You've been warned.

The first video is of her boyfriend.

He played yesterday and saved the game for us.

Here he is just for you:



It's the first time he's played, as you know, in a month and a half because of the stupidity of São Paulo and the judicial system.

 What did he do after he scored? This:

He cried.

It's like he just let out all of the frustration of the past 47 days. It made us like him even more. Mom said "Awwww" when it happened like she was thinking of what that would be like to watch Garrett do the same thing. A mom's compassion. After the game he couldn't even talk to the reporters because he started crying again.

Unfortunately, for you, he still made the L sign with his hand after he scored for his wife.

But the good news is you can start watching him in person again starting next week. Right after you have your sleep over with Giovanni.

The Prince and the Dragon

This video is so worth 6 minutes of your time.