Grandparents+Technology=Fun

A couple of days ago Ansley and I were talking to her grandparents. Which pair of grandparents isn't important because the story is the same for both sets.

You see Skype and computer things like that give the grandparents fits at times.

Yesterday as Ansley (off camera) began laughing at the technology challenged grandparents, she ran to her computer and found a video on Youtube. She showed me the video below. We then showed it to the grandparents and they couldn't stop laughing. They wanted to fight it and deny it but ended up accepting it as fact.

It's a mirror image of what we often see when we talk to any of the 4 grandparents.

We think you'll like it and will be reminded of someone in your family.

And grandparents, don't blame me. Ansley sent me the link and so I had to post it. Blame her.

Enjoy:

No rest for the weary

We picked up my parents yesterday at 3:00 p.m. at the airport.

We didn't give my dad much time to rest. By 8:45 Ansley and I were heading out the door with him (sorry you missed it Bronwyn) to see our favorite team play soccer.  

It was a game in the South American championship. We played a team from Uruguay. We won and are now in first place in our group.

It's always fun going to see a game with Pops.  One thing he taught me, by example, during my childhood was the memories that fathers and kids can have through going to see games together and doing fun things together.  I could make a list of trips and games we saw together.  I won't ever forget those times and, to be honest, the games are what I remember the least. Having some time of just us together was really special for me.  I try to follow his good example.

It's fun for me to now have times of doing that with both my dad and my own kids. 

Here are some videos for Bronwyn and the rest of you Inter fans.  

This one is mainly for Bronwyn to matar saudades. 

This is one of the highlights.  Enjoy. 

Let me go ahead and apologize in advance to you Bronwyn. Tonight Freitas will be doing a churrasco for Papa and Grandmommy. We'll be thinking about you.

They're Here

After a little delay on their last flight, which caused some kids to have to wait an extra hour at the airport,

my parents got here safely this afternoon. 

They'll be here for a couple of weeks.  Thanks for your prayers for their safety.  

They didn't have any problems and because of the kindness of some Christian friends (thank you Machen family for making this trip possible!!!) they were able to fly for free and even got to fly first class for the first time in their lives.  

We'll have lots of fun with them.  

Sorry Bronwyn.  

Tomorrow

Okay, getting a confirmation email from my sister that the grandparents are on the plane and on their way to visit us in Brazil........check.

Our family spending the afternoon cleaning up the house, buying flowers for the backyard, fixing the hot water heater, fixing the kitchen cabinet, fixing the broken glass door, cleaning up dog mess, cutting the grass, cleaning up more dog mess and general clean up in preparation for their visit......check.

The above is otherwise known as a) trying to make the grandparents think our house is this clean all of the time; b) being thankful for visitors because it forces us to clean up and fix things that we've been procrastinating on or c) all of the above.

Whatever you call it it's been a long day. After a long day like today it's good to unwind with a buddy.

We are officially ready for their visit.

By the way, if you answered c you are correct.

Granna's Birthday

Hi, it's Benay. Today is a special day for our family - my mom's birthday. She is affectionately known as Granna around here. There are so many wonderful things that I could say about my mom. She has been and continues to be a wonderful mom and grandmother. She's a wise woman who has taught me so many things.

Here is a picture of my mom in high school. Isn't she beautiful? In her school yearbook, the phrase that was chosen by her classmates to describe her was "The Model of Propriety". Propriety - doing what is proper and right. That phrase fits her personality perfectly. She is a person who will do the right thing whether it is easy or not. I was taught by her to do what is right - even if I didn't want to.

There are so many more wonderful things about my mom that I could write, but I decided to ask the kids what are some of their favorite things about her. Here goes:

"Her biscuits!"

"I like it when she sings lullabies to me when I am going to sleep."

"I like it when she says, 'Remember, always pass the plates clockwise at the table' "

(that whole propriety thing coming out)

"I appreciate that Granna spent over 2 hours rolling my hair up and giving me a perm."

Oh the depth and sentimentality of kids.

Granna, we love you so much and hope you have a wonderful birthday. Wish we could be there to give you a hug in person.

Birthday Girl

(Kevin) Today is my mom's birthday. The number isn't really important is it? (You owe me, Mom) I thought you might like to see some childhood photos of her.......(now's your chance to turn away, Mom.) As I began looking through some old photo albums I found some really cute ones like this one of my mom as a grumpy little toddler:
I found this one of my mom and her older brother probably taken during WWII (oops....I did not say that.....for those of you who don't know, that war was fought in the 1960's) I like this picture because it reminds me of the days when it was cool to be an American and support our soldiers by allowing your sons to wear soldier uniforms. There was pride in that for both the parents and the little boys who dreamed of being soldiers. Here is another one of my mom, her older brother and younger sister. I really liked this one of my aunt. We love you, Aunt Barbara!!

Then we move into what appears to be the high school/college age years:I like this one because it reminds me of another one of my mom taken during this time where she is also dressed up but she looked like she was ready to bust someone's head. She had a rough childhood moving in an out of gangs. Everything changed when she was released from prison and met my dad.........okay that didn't happen. Is embellishing a story wrong? I do wish I had the other picture to show you. Yeah my dad married up and he knows it. Then I started finding pictures that puzzled me. Here is one of me and my parents years ago. I have a sister and couldn't figure out why she wasn't in this picture. You need to understand that I am the youngest child and so naturally my sister thought I was always the favorite, the protected one, the chosen. I've always felt, as any youngest child does, that my older sister got the better end of the deal......more freedom, could drive sooner, etc. You know, all those important things. As I began to look for more family photos I knew that finding this one without her would be a one time thing. And then I kept finding more like this one.

Could it be that there really was something to my sister's complaints about me being the chosen one? Did I have better manners? Sure. Did I obey my parents better than she did? Of course. Was I always and continue to be better looking? Sure. Did I get more hugs from my mommy than she did? Yes. Do any of those things make me better than her? Absolutely not. I love my sister and I realize that I have never introduced those on the world wide web to her. She is not the family black sheep. We are not embarrassed by her. We love her and are proud of her.

Ladies and gentlemen I would like you to meet my sister:

We together (me, my wife, our kids and my sister) are proud of my mom and we want to wish her a happy --th birthday.

Mom, you make our world better because you love us.......

You laugh with us........and take care of us........

but most importantly........ you show us Christ through something as simple as coloring with us. WE LOVE YOU MOM, GRANDMOMMY, MIMI, MI, GRANDMA (with lots of kids you gets lots of different grandmother names), MARIE!! Happy Birthday!

Grandparents Heading Home

We just put our parents on a plane and they are headed home to Memphis, Tennessee.

It seems like yesterday that we surprised the kids with their visit.

How can 5 weeks go by so quickly?

Selling Homes on Two Continents

My dad has been a real estate agent for over 30 years. My sister has been a real estate agent for about 20. They both started off in different careers but ended up selling real estate. I even sold real estate for a couple of years........let's just say that great experiment went the way of MC Hammer. It was around for a short period of time, wasn't very pretty to look at and then went away quickly.

Anyway, my dad has been the owner and co-owner of different real estate agencies. For a while he was owner of Blume Realty. For a couple years during junior high I wore a windbreaker with "Blume Realty" on the back. Okay I confess I had a little, "my dad owns his own company what does your dad do?" pride coming out when I wore that jacket.

A couple of weeks ago we took my parents to a little place about an hour outside of Porto Alegre. It's the kind of town where you have to know someone or have a specific place you are wanting to go to in that town in order to visit it. It's very small. On our way out of town we came across this sign in front of some land for sale:

That's right. It says "For Sale.......Blume Realty."

Many parts of our state (Rio Grande do Sul) here in Brasil were settled by German immigrants and we've seen lots of Blumen something names here. Blumenau, etc. But we've never seen just the name Blume before we saw this sign. We thought it was pretty cool to find this sign when my parents were here.

So, anyone need some land in southern Brasil?

The Grandparents are here and of course we make them blog too!

Hello Everyone,

Gary and I arrived on December 17th and have not slowed down since arriving. Kevin and Benay did not let the children know we were coming and it was wonderful seeing them so surprised and happy to see us (see December 25th blog). I wonder why it is so easy for our grandchildren’s happy smile to bring tears. Gary did the devotional one week during house church, with Ansley being the translator.Last week Bronwyn interpreted for a gentleman that was here from Huntsville that is originally from South Africa. It is wonderful seeing our grandchildren and the way they are also missionaries. We spent this week with everyone, all of their team and a lot of missionaries from South America, for a retreat. This was a blessing for us and fun to meet everyone. We will be leaving for home next week but I am trying not to think about it, at least for a few more days. I wish everyone who has a part of this work could come and see how God is blessing this work with the help of your prayers and support.

Marie

We originally planned to stay the extended period of time so we could look after the children while Kevin and Benay attended the missionary conference. We were blessed that it turned out the children went and so we went as well. Seeing all the families dedicated to serving the people of South America with the gospel was, for us, a great experience. We also had an opportunity to listen to men and women well schooled in the scriptures, sharing their knowledge of the Lord’s word with all of us.

Our visits remind us to be appreciative for all of you who make it possible for our children and grandchildren to be involved in this work with your money, prayers and words of encouragement. It is very inspiring to see the faces of the Brazilians we have heard about and read about who have also committed their lives to serving our Savior. Please pray for Kevin, Benay, Bronwyn, Ansley, Garrett, Carys, and Anderson that they will be kept safe, healthy and empowered to serve the people of Porto Alegre in His name.
And pray that their grandmother will be able to make it to the airport on the 20th without crying too much.

Gary

Look what the cat drug in

(Kevin) My parents arrived last week from the states. Their visit was a Christmas surprise for the kids and tomorrow we'll post a Christmas day video of just how exactly we tricked the kids. The grandparents are still adjusting to the 4 hour time difference, my dad being sick, as well as our family not giving them much of a chance to rest, but they are enjoying their first 'HOT' Christmas. It's been over 90 degrees every day. We'll try to get my parents to write a blog or two while they are here.

Happy Anniversary, Again

Christmas is such a busy time of year and there are so many things happening that we could blog about. But I (Benay) didn't want to let this day go by without recognizing my parents, Berney and Jane Waite, who are celebrating their 45th anniversary today. Kevin wrote about his parents at the end of November, and I can't help but think what a huge blessing it is to have both sets of our parents celebrating 45 years of marriage. What a wonderful heritage!

December 22, 1962 (My mom made her dress!)

I want to thank my parents for loving me and my sister and brother the way that they did (and still do!) and for raising us to love God. They taught me so many things - the importance of family, the joy of being around children and sharing in their world, to love the church and Bible study, to love music and singing, and to do the right thing always, even when it isn't easy. I learned from them that wherever you are can feel like "home" if you make it special and the people you love are there. My mom and dad have been great examples to me and they bless our family and our children so much. It is hard to be far away on special days like today, so I just want to say....

Happy Anniversary Mama and Daddy. I love you and am so thankful that you are my parents.

Happy Anniversary Mom and Dad

Two days ago my parents celebrated their 45th wedding anniversary. Here is what they looked like about 30 years ago. I tried to find an old picture of just the two of them but all I could find was this lovely family photo. Please ignore the handsome young man with the ginormous bow tie and his goofy looking sister and concentrate on the mom and dad. The man is Gary and the woman is Marie. In this day and age when the divorce rate is equal to or greater than the marriage rate I'm here to tell you this world needs more people like my parents. My dad taught me how to treat my wife like a queen and to let her know she is the most important person in my life. He taught me how to let my kids know that marriage is forever and that I will never leave their mom. My mom taught me the importance of having a mom around while my sister and I were growing up and what that meant to our growth as Christians.

They both showed me what a grace filled, Spirit led, Christian life looked like. They weren't preachy, they just showed me and my sister the love of the Jesus. We saw this flow from them in all aspects of their lives.

They disciplined when needed (which unfortunately was way more often for my wild sister than it was for myself.....okay, that may not be 100% true) and although we didn't like it at the time, we know now that this is sometimes necessary and, in fact, is part of God's plan for family.


I know and have seen the importance of having a mom and a dad at home. My parents molded and shaped my sister and myself growing up. We now have the joy of sharing our parents with our spouses as well as our kids. They are great examples to our kids and they have always treated our spouses like their own kids.


They would be the first to tell you that they aren't perfect. My sister, our spouses, our kids and myself would be the first to tell you that God could not have blessed us with better parents, in-laws and grandparents.


So here's to you mom and dad (even though it's two days late) on your special day. Our prayer is that God blesses you with many more years of service together as you continue to grow His kingdom.