Family Trip-The Pousada

Bronwyn,

We stayed at a pousada in Itajaí called Villa Balangan.

Since you are weird and like to see stuff like this I took some pictures of the place for you.

Our place (the yellow/orangish section).

Café da manhã.....

 .....where we spent some time writing in our diary......

 ......and hanging out with friends.......

 ......and doing both.

Where Garrett and Ansley slept. They alternated who slept on the floor.

Kitchen.

Where me and mom slept.

Same room but other side where Carys, Anderson and Giovanni slept.

The stairs that freaked mom out. She thought Quigs might try to go up and down by himself (he did) or that he might get up during the night and try to go downstairs (he didn't because we put all the luggage around the rails). It was, as you can tell, a bit of a steep incline.

Window view.

Bathroom/shower for seven people. Surprisingly there were no fighting over bathroom time.  It was a miracle.

These are our new buddies. It's Glaúcio, Tatiana and their daughter Luana. They are the owners.

In the picture, Luana is sitting in Sandra's lap. Tatiana told us that Sandra came to work for her mom when Tati was 3 years old and that she's been part of the family ever since. Sandra cleaned the rooms and was in charge at breakfast among other things. She always had a smile on her face. Always. They were all very nice. You would've liked them.

Carys hung out with Luana one night in their house playing board games.

The kids also made another new friend. This is Parafina. Glaúcio, Tati and Luana's dog.

One day we came back to the pousada and Parafina had a mohawk and stickers all over her body. Definitely a surfer dog.

Every time we got back to our room she would come in and with us and just hang out. You know Carys and Anderson loved that.

Glaúcio told me he would teach me how to surf the next time we go there. I'm sure I'll break something but it should be fun.

They asked us to come back soon.

It would be nice to be able to go back someday. If we get to, who knows, maybe you can go with us.

Family Trip-Mornings

Carys continued being my early morning beach walking buddy.

She, of course found lots of animals to hang out with. Okay, some were dead but you know Carys.

This year we were also able to get some other people out of bed early to go to the beach with us.

Anderson even hung out with some new animal friends.

Here is your personal beach video made by Carys as only Carys could make it.

Family Trip-Tatui

FYI: Just so everyone knows, the next few blogs are going to be especially made for Bronwyn. We are going to share about our recent family trip. It's the first one we've ever gone on without her and we wanted to share some stuff with her. Some things we share will only make sense to her. Some things no one will care about but her. We apologize to the rest of you. If you get bored just come back in a few days. We won't be offended.

Okay Bronwyn you don't have to guess what we got to eat on our first day in Tatui. It's pretty simple.

That's right. Ramilo sandwiches from Ramilo himself.

One word: Awesome.

Sorry you missed it.

Inspiration

Did you wake up today down in the dumps about something?

Did you wake up today with a bad attitude because something might not be going just the way you wanted in your life?

Did you wake up today wondering how God is working in your life or if He is working in your life?

Did you wake up today basically needing some encouragement?

Then you need to click here to be encouraged by a 12 year old.

Her faith will remind you of God's love no matter what. Her story might even embarrass and humble you (as it did me) for complaining about some things that are, honestly, stupid and trival in your life.

Whatever it does to you, I know you won't be the same after you read her story.

20

Twenty years ago yesterday (sorry I missed your day B) my girlfriend gave birth to our first child.

It's hard to believe how fast 20 years can go by.

We have a tradition. You know the deal. Here we go:

Giovanni:  "Braween at colwedge." (he says that all the time)

Anderson: "I miss her. She's one of my favorite sisters. I've always liked her. She's still nice even if she doesn't go to Inter games with me. I hope she doesn't feel sad because she's growing 20 because she thinks she's kind of old now that she's 20. I love her."

As a birthday bonus I have a little Andersonism conversation on your birthday just for you:

Anderson: "Wouldn't you be mad if Bronwyn was hiding something from you while she's in the states?"
Me: "Yes I would but Bronwyn doesn't hide stuff from us. She's never hidden stuff from us."
Anderson: "Yeah but what if she was hiding something from you and mom."
Me: "Like what?"
Anderson: "Like what if she is hiding a boyfriend. What if she didn't tell you that she has a boyfriend. Would you be mad?"
Me: "Bronwyn wouldn't hide that from us. She'd tell us if she has a boyfriend."
Anderson: "I think she is hiding it because she so has a boyfriend."
Me: "How do you know? Has she told you?
Anderson: "No. I just know that she has one."

Anything you need to tell us Bronwyn?

Carys: "I love her a lot. She's one of my best friends and I could never live without my movie partner."

Garrett: "I love her a lot and she's the best sister in the world and the nicest sister in the world and the sweetest sister in the world. I miss her a lot. And she is really hot." (Okay, he's a little weird.)

Ansley: "Hey Beebs, I miss you a lot! I love how we can talk about anything and how you always help me and give me advice. I hope you had the best day ever yesterday!!! Love you!! "

Girlfriend: "I miss you Bronwyn.  When you get home, let's sew, do crafts, go drink coffee and eat croissants, try new recipes and talk, (oh yeah, and exercise, of course...)  I hope your birthday was great!  I love you!" (check out her blog to read more of her thoughts.....click here)

Me: "Being the oldest has meant that Bronwyn has gotten lots of responsibilities dumped on her over the years. She's never flinched. She's mature beyond her years. I love how she sees the good in everyone and how she shows Jesus to everyone around her. I love that she easily laughs at herself and never takes herself too seriously. I love that she loves to go to soccer games with her brothers. I love how she values family time. I love that she doesn't try to impress or fit in with the "cool group".....she is who God made her and she's fine with that.  I love that she has a servant heart. I love that she lives for Jesus."

 We love you Dork!

Grupo de apoio

A couple of weeks ago we went around in our house church and everyone shared what we would like to see in our lives spiritually in 2011.

We aren't content to just stay with the status quo. As much as we love house church it can become what happens in bigger churches at times without us wanting it to.....a social club.

People can become very comfortable with it being just our group and forget that Jesus commands us to look outward.

So our house church talked about what we needed spiritually and what we wanted to do for Jesus both individually and as a group in 2011.

What I shared that I needed was a group of men who could get together regularly (preferably weekly) to spend about an hour together. Praying, confessing, prayer requests, etc.

I confess it was a selfish request. I'm feeling on the fried end spiritually and I need to be a part of a regular group - a grupo de apoio.

Grupo de apoio means "support group."

For the last few years I've had this in my life with some really strong brothers. I could share whatever with no fear of judgement. All the men shared lots of spiritual strongholds that our enemy had in their lives. Unfortunately for me, they've all moved away.

God created His family for a purpose. We don't need to try to walk this faith walk alone but it's very easy to just do our day to day stuff and not make getting with your family a priority.

Right after I shared this with our group, Jorge, who participates with our group but hasn't yet given his life to Jesus, leaned over to me and asked me if I wanted to start working out with him.

I told him I had no extra money to do it and he told me that this new gym allows him to bring a guest for free 10 times per month. He invited his girlfriend but she wanted to stay at the gym where she works out so he asked me if I would be interested. He goes twice during the week and once on the weekends.

He works at Dell and leaves his house about six in the morning so the only time he can work out during the week is starting at nine at night.

If you know us then you know our family crashes pretty early. I try to be in bed by ten because I wake up most days between four and five. So, as you might imagine, my first response to his workout starting at nine at night request was NO.

Then I started thinking that maybe God was using Jorge to give me the group that I shared I needed. Maybe God's purpose was for me to spend even more time with Jorge to be able to share more of God's love to him.

I accepted and we started last week. I won't lie, getting home at eleven is tough on this old man but it's worth it to be able to spend some time with Jorge.   It has been one answer to my prayer.

This morning four other men and I got together to have our first grupo de apoio.

We met at six this morning. We met at a hardware store. Three of these guys are in their twenties and the other just turned thirty in November. I thought having an early morning prayer time would be tough for them but they all jumped at the chance to do it. One got on a bus at 5:40 to make it and he's got six kids at home. It encouraged me so much to see their dedication to being a part of this.

Only one had a little bit of difficulty getting up. See if you can tell which one it is.

So within ten days God gave me two grupos de apoio.

I don't know where they will go or how long they will last but that's not even something I'm thinking about right now.

Right now it's very encouraging to me to see these young guys, the now and the future of this church family, making some sacrifices to get into God's word together.

God's Cool Family

We moved to Brasil in 2002.

At that time we had a man who helped us out with everything we needed to get settled into our new home. Car hunting, getting light and water bills for our apartment put into our names, furniture purchases...you get the picture. He was an amazing blessing to our family.

One day we were downtown with him and his daughter. His daughter was around 14ish at that time. Anyway, we walked her to a bus stop and she got on by herself to go home while we continued doing what we needed to do downtown.

My girlfriend and I both looked at each other and talked about how scary that would be to put one of our kids on a bus like that when they were that age.

We didn't grow up in big cities and we didn't know anyone who used public transportation. I think just arriving in Brasil and thinking of putting our kids on a bus by themselves was a little overwhelming to us at that time.

Bronwyn, Ansley and Garrett have now all taken city buses by themselves. In fact, Ansley now gets on a bus going downtown every week.

Why? She has a job teaching English.

She actually has two jobs with two different companies. She is taking a year off before she goes to college and so she is making some money to help with college expenses.

My girlfriend and I prayed before she got a job that God would give her the perfect job. Something that she would really enjoy. Some place that would be fun and safe. A place where she could grow.

We weren't worried about her finding a job. She's intelligent, pretty, funny, fun and mature. Great things to be when you are looking for that first job.

What we wanted was for her to be happy and she has been happy with both jobs.

Yesterday around lunch time I was at the kids' school waiting to pick them up.

I got a text mail from Ansley that said, "Say a prayer for me whenever you read this please! I'll tell you about it when I get home."

I was, to say the least, curious about what could be happening. I texted her back to let her know that we were praying and for her to give whatever it was over to God. Easier said than done sometimes.

We found out later that one of her students (a young lady) complained to Ansley's boss, Liliane, that Ansley didn't know what she was doing as a teacher. Why? She had asked Ansley to give her the rule for whatever they were studying in English.  Ansley told her that there wasn't really a rule for that and there weren't rules for everything in English the girl didn't like it and went to complain to Ansley's boss. (She is used to portuguese, a language FULL of rules to follow...)

The reaction of Ansley's boss?

She told Ansley that she was doing great and to not worry.

She then told Ansley that the only person she needs to worry about is God. That she only works for God.

I was floored when I heard this. I had no idea that Liliane was a Christian.

Ansley said she encourages her all the time and gives her hugs.

In our nine years here we've known many people who talk about God but, to be honest, it's hard to find many people who have an actual relationship with His Son.

And to find an honest boss who puts God first? Well, let's just say that is even tougher to find.

And for Ansley to happen to be working for someone who has a relationship with Christ and who is an honest and puts God first? I could not even tell you the odds of that happening in our city. But they are one in a number with a few zeros behind it.

It shows us how good God is and how faithful He was to our prayer requests.

Ansley said she and Liliane have faith conversations while at work.

It's an amazing thing God did in bringing Ansley to this language school.

We had never even heard of it before. Ansley actually found it online as she looked for jobs to apply for.

We would appreciate prayers for Ansley and her continued safety as she travels in the city teaching english.

We would also ask that you pray for her and Liliane as they continue to be the light to their students and co-workers.

She could be working anywhere but God led her to just the right place for her first job with a sister in Christ.

God's is very cool and so is His family.

Bloody Wednesdays

Giovanni is one pretty stubborn little dude. 

Two Wednesday's ago he was exhausted from pre-school but when he got home he didn't want to take a nap. 

I tried to get him to take one. Normally that's my job and he does pretty good with me. 

That Wednesday he wasn't in the mood for me. As he was laying down he started to yell for his mom. I tried to get him settled but he was having none of it. 

So as I went to get my girlfriend he got really mad. I then heard a BANG and looked around in the dark room to see our two year old smacking his head. I knew he got hurt because he was popping his head with his hand where he got hit to try to stop the pain. So in my loving, full of patience voice (cough, cough) I said, "See what happens when you flip out like that? You need to calm down and I'll get mom." 

I then looked a little bit harder in the dark room and noticed blood pouring out of his head. 

I picked him up and yelled, "BENAY COME HERE!"

She came in and saw blood everywhere. 

What happened? He tagged his eyebrow pretty good on the wood frame of his bed and opened up a nice size cut. It ended up being like a boxer's cut. The blood made it look worse than it was. It was a deep cut worthy of stitches but not as horrible as it looked at the time. 

Giovanni went with his mom and I called our pediatrician (who happens to have his office in a children's hospital). I explained to Ricardo (our pediatrician) what happened and asked him where was the best place to take Giovanni. He told me to bring him to the hospital emergency room and he would meet us there. 

He met us and took us to the pediatric surgeon to work on Giovanni. 

Oh yeah, Giovanni also HATES doctors. Doctors offices, doctors, nurses, receptionists, whatever. We enter and he begins to scream and, in general, flip out. 

He had just eaten so they couldn't give him an IV to let him sleep for the stitches. The doctor then decided that he would glue the cut. He told us that it would leave a smaller scar. But Giovanni still had to be still. Easier said than done in a hospital. 

So they gave him some medicine to make him "drunk." They said it would make him have amnesia and that he wouldn't remember anything that was about to happen. That it would only last for 1-2 hours and it would allow them to work on his cut. 

Sounds good but he had to drink it. Not easy. He puked some of it back up on Benay, because of his crying, but thankfully enough went in for him to calm down a little. Enough to make him groggy but not enough to knock him out. Just to be able to wash his eye and put the glue on took my wife laying on him and a nurse holding his head still. The surgeon called him "The Beast" because of how strong he was. 

An hour and a half later we were leaving the hospital with our little drunk baby and his glued eyebrow. 

Here is what that looked like and the fun that the kids had with him.

Mean big brothers and sisters goofing on their little brother. 

About an hour later all the medicine wore off and he was back to normal.

Then last Wednesday we were eating lunch and Giovanni was running around. We heard a "blam" and we knew he had splatted on the floor. I immediately said, "He busted his head." I'm not sure I believed it or was just thinking about the week before.

Benay went to get him and their was blood coming out of his face again. This time his mouth.

He had busted his bottom lip and inside his mouth above his top teeth.

So, as is becoming our Wednesday custom, we called Ricardo. He met us again in the emergency room but this time took us to his office to check out Giovanni.

He looked him over and, thankfully, said he didn't need stitches. We were not looking forward to fighting with The Beast again.

Ricardo prescribed ice cream for The Beast until the swelling went down. What a great doctor.

He also didn't charge us for the visit. What a great doctor.

Here's Giovanni right after we got home from the hospital showing off his cut with his bloody clown lips.

Here he is posing for us the next day.

Wonder if we'll get to see Ricardo tomorrow?

Japan

The first college I went to was a small Christian college in Arkansas.

I met my girlfriend there. When we went there there were only about 2000 students there.
Like I said.....small.

We had clubs. They were like fraternities but no one called them fraternities. I guess it sounded anti-Christian or something if you called them frats. So the school called them clubs.

Anyway, you could choose a club you wanted to be in and if the guys in the club accepted you then you had to do pledge week and then you were a part of that club.

Honestly for guys, being in a club was mainly for sports. We had pretty intense sports leagues and we always had fun.

Clubs held mixers for incoming freshmen and transfer students. It was a way for new guys to check out different clubs and for the clubs to see who they may want to be new pledges.

I went to a mixer my freshman year where the club guys asked the new guys to stand up in a chair, introduce themselves and share a little bit about themselves. Always fun.

While at this mixer a Japanese guy stood up. He said, "My name is Shin......(pointing at his shin)like a splint."

Everybody fell out laughing, including Shin. It was hilarious with his accent and his infectious laugh and everyone immediately fell in love with Shin.

I'm not sure how Shin ended up in a little town in Arkansas to go to college.

Shin and I ended up in the same club together. A year or two later another Japanese guy named Tetsuji came to the same school. He ended up getting in the same club.

I hadn't talked to either one of them for 20 years until the last year or two when we got reconnected on facebook.

I'm sure everyone has seen the horrible pictures/videos of what happened with the recent earthquake/tsunami in Japan. Scary would be a word I would use for what I've seen.

A day or two after it happened I sent a note to both guys. I heard back from Tetsuji saying he was fine but that he hadn't heard from Shin. They live in different cities but they stay in touch.

Two days later Tetsuji said he heard from Shin. He was fine and living in a high school gym.

From different notes from different people we know the following about Shin:

-He ran out of his house, which was close to the beach, after the earthquake hit and drove up to a mountain before the tsunami hit. He escaped only with his dog. He lost his house and everything in it. His wife and little girl were safe in another city.

-He's now staying in a high school gym. The last I heard he had electricity and food but no water and was really wanting to take a shower.

-He is also a volunteer fire fighter and now he is helping to look for bodies. The first day they had hoped to recover many bodies but only found six. He said he wanted to stay and help with the search until he found the body of his best friends father.

-He lives in a town that is only 50 miles from the damaged nuclear reactor.

The name of his town is Watari.

We just wanted to ask you to pray especially for Shin. I can't imagine losing, literally, every physical thing that you have in a matter of minutes. I can't even imagine how you start to rebuild a whole city like that.

We are thankful that Shin is okay.

Let's pray not only for Shin but for Tetsuji and Taro (another Japanese guy I knew from our college days), their families and for all the Japanese people who were affected by this disaster.

It's always easier for me to pray for someone if I can picture them in my mind. Here is an old picture I found on facebook of Shin (right) and Tetsuji (left) at their college graduation. Hope it helps as you pray for our friends.

Here's what Shin looks like today.

We may be a half a world away but our prayers can strengthen them as they work on rebuilding and surviving day to day.

"God loves me" is not the essence of biblical Christianity. Because if "God loves me" is the message of Christianity, then who is the object of Christianity?

God loves me.
Me.
Christianity's object is me.

Therefore, when I look for a church, I look for the music that best fits me and the programs that best cater to me and my family. When I make plans for my life and career, it is about what works best for me and my family. When I consider the house I will live in, the car I will drive, the clothes I will wear, the way I will live, I will choose according to what is best for me. This is the version of Christianity that largely prevails in our culture.

But it is not biblical Christianity.

The message of biblical Christianity is not "God loves me, period," as if we were the object of our own faith. The message of biblical Christianity is "God loves me so that I might make him-his ways, his salvation, his glory, and his greatness-known among all nations." Now God is the object of our faith, and Christianity centers around him. We are not the end of the gospel; God is.

From the book Radical by David Platt

Guy Night

Back in 1994 I went to the Ukraine on a short term mission trip.

My roommate while there was a man in his seventies. I had grown up in the same church family with him my whole life but really got to know him the best when we were roomies for close to three weeks.

One day he started talking about my girlfriend. About how pretty she was, how awesome a mom and wife she was and how God had given me her as a special gift to take care of.

I agreed. He continued.

He then told me that I needed to take her on a weekly date night. To be just boyfriend/girlfriend and not mom and dad. To get away for just a few hours a week to keep the fires lit.

Best marital advice I've ever been given.

We've had a weekly date night since that time.

We also try to have "girls night" and "guy night."

Our schedules, and budget, don't allow us to do that very often but last night was a night for me and the boys.

We decided to go to a "Mexican" (Brasilians don't do hot food so it was the best we can find in our city) restaurant and watch the Inter game. We don't have cable. The game was on cable and so it was a perfect excuse for us to hang out together.  The game started at 7:30 instead of the normal time of 9:50 so it looked to be a great time for all of us to stay awake until the end.

We ate here:

When eating Mexican food here you have to get your mind ready to the fact that it's not really going to be Mexican food. I mean they try, but it's just not the same. But after you haven't eaten Mexican food for a while our stuff can taste okay.

As we  ate the beef tacos (with no beef....just cheese) and the cheese nachos (with mainly big blobs of cheese) we agreed that my girlfriend makes the best Mexican food in Brasil and that last night wasn't about the food but about hanging out together.

We had fun.

We watched the game and ate our food.

Some of us didn't make it through the second half.

That's why big brothers are so good to have around.

It was a cool guys night out and we are already looking forward to the next one.

By the way Bronwyn, we won 4-1 against Mauro's (Machado's brother) team. We felt bad for him but were happy that we won. He was, by far, their best guy. They scored first. I love Mauro's reaction after their goal and Guinazu's reaction after our second goal. Here are your goals:

Christ's Call to Follow in His Footsteps

About a year ago I was looking at a Christian website and saw an ad for a free book. I'm all about free.

It was written by a man named K.P. Yohannan. He is founder and president of Gospel for Asia.

He was born and raised in India and he has an incredible testimony.

The free book I got was entitled Revolution in World Missions. It was an amazing book. I think I read half of it to my girlfriend out-loud. I could not stop talking about it. It really struck me deep in my heart.

It isn't a how-to book about missions. It's a book about the power of God and what we need to be doing to help the lost in Asia (and the world really).

If you want to be challenged in your faith, really challenged, then I would encourage you to get it. You can click here to get a free copy. I gave my free copy to João Spencer and I hope he now gives it to someone in Brasilia.

Our family is also a part of an amazing group of believers in Huntsville, Alabama. We get frequent emails from them about everything going on. Prayer requests, praises, videos, etc.

Last week we got a video in an email from them.

It's 4-5 minutes of K.P. Yohannan talking about the most important thing in a believer's life.

Anderson nailed it. After watching the video he said, "Man, that was strong!!"

He's right. It's definitely worth 5 minutes of your time. You will be challenged.

Last Night

Bronwyn,

Last night we went to the Inter game. That's no surprise to you but the surprise is that your mom, Carys and Ansley went.

Garrett actually asked if he could stay home and babysit Giovanni.

It was the International Day of Women game. Inter, as you know, lets every woman in for free. So all the women in the house (even Carys has to pay now) decided they wanted to go.

It was also surprising that they wanted to go because it was a night like this:

It poured rain throughout the first half which meant we looked like this:

We were barely under the overhang on the arquibancada superior but when the wind blew we got wet. Thus the need for the trash bag rain gear.

We got home and our babysitter looked like this:

They were konked out and Finding Nemo was playing.

We played great. Oscar (Ansley's new boyfriend) had an insane game and Damião scored three times.

Before the game the players honored Renan's mom. She died in a car crash last Friday. His dad was driving. He's alive but still in the hospital.

A couple of good quotes related to the game:

As the juizes were coming out onto the field (this one is mainly for Asia).
Anderson: "Whew. Okay good."
Mom: "What?"
Anderson: "The juizes aren't Chinese!"
Mom: "That would be bad if they were Chinese?"
Anderson: "Mom, the Chinese juizes are the worst!!"
Mom: "How do you know that?"
Anderson: "Didn't you watch them in the Mundial? They were terrible!"

It rained so hard in the first half that Ypiranga changed jerseys for the 2nd half. It was a green with yellow accents instead of yellow with green accents.  That led to this:
Carys: "So who is this new team we are playing against now?"
Me:"What?"
Carys: "This new team."
Me: "Uh, it's the same team. They just changed their jerseys."
Carys: "Oh.....okay."

This morning:
Garrett: "Giovanni was in his bed when you guys got home right?"
Me: "Uh no, he was in our bed."
Garrett: "But he was sleeping right?"
Me: "Yes."
Garrett: "Whew. Okay good. I thought I went to sleep before him."


Here are your highlights:

Cheaters? Of course!!

Bronwyn,

I didn't get to blog about what I wanted to blog about today. Not enough time.

So I'm improvising.

Last night Gremio won the first part of the Gauchão. They played Caxias and they played here in POA.

Caxias was winning until the 50th minute of the second half.  That's right the 50th minute.

The juiz gave EIGHT minutes of acréscimo. That's right EIGHT minutes.

It's the only thing everyone radio station talked about today. The sports show guys said they had never seen anything like that.

So, our team had to celebrate with gremio, in our own way, and, of course, it was awesome.

P.S. Grace, your team cheats.

Two jokes

Bronwyn,

You know how Ramilo likes to tell jokes right? We got him to record a couple of our favorites just for you.  

We thought these would help during exam week. 

Birthday

Today our youngest daughter turns twelve.

We've started a family tradition in our house that the birthday person gets to pick out everything that happens on that day.  Normally it's picking out things after they get out of school (lunch and an activity or two) but today is a school holiday. It's Carnival and International Day of Women. The kids are out of school because of Carnival. So Carys has the entire day planned. And I mean the entire day. 

It will consist of (and this could change at any moment): 

Handmade, homemade doughnuts. (She isn't going to come out of her room until the table is set.)

Opening presents "right after" breakfast. 

Eating lunch at McDonalds. 

Watching a movie, that we've never seen, together as a family. (Megamind)

Going to play at the game room at the mall. 

Homemade chicken strips. 

Homemade "Mammy's Chocolate Cake" for her birthday cake

Calling her grandparents and sister on skype. 

If you know Carys, then this list doesn't surprise you at all. 

We also have a tradition on birthdays of having everyone say something about the person celebrating the birthday.

Here we go:

Giovanni: "Carys is really funny. She tells me really good jokes. She makes me laugh so much. She plays with me and helps take care of me. She's like one of my best friends ever." (my girlfriend and Anderson helped translate his words)

Anderson: "She is one of the best sisters I've ever had and I love her. It's good that she's my sister."

Garrett: "She laughs a lot. I like to wrestle with her."

Ansley: "My sweet, sweet Carys... HAPPY BIRTHDAY!! You are one of my best friends in the whole wide world and I love you very much.

Bronwyn: "Carys is so sweet and funny! I love that she loves everyone. She's my favorite movie partner. I love you Keks!"

My girlfriend: "Carys is one of the most fun kids I know.  I love spending time with her and I love being her mom.  Don't grow up, Carys!!!"

Me:  "Carys is one of the funniest kids I've ever met. She loves to laugh and have fun. She makes friends so easily and there has never been a kid that she's met that doesn't like her. It's impossible to not like her. She infectious in the best way possible."

Happy Birthday Vivi!

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.

House Church

I'm biased. I realize it and I'm not afraid to admit it.

I love house church. I love everything about it.

I love the fun things and the messy, hard, real family member things. Like tough conversations, like confessing our sins, like not playing church but being the church.

I also love the spontaneity of house church.

We are going into our fall season and the weather has been amazing the last few days. Every day has been around 84 (29 C) and around 66 (19C) at night. Every day has been the same and it's been perfect.

Benay thought it would be a good idea to have house church at the city's botanical garden today.

So a couple of days ago she started making some phone calls to the people in our house church. She also invited another house church. They in turn decided to come and invited some people who aren't a part of a church family as well as people from another church.

God's creation just naturally flowed in the conversation during worship. The songs just plugged in to the conversations about life and God. We prayed together, out loud while standing and holding hands. We shared the Lord's supper and then we all shared a meal together.

After our worship a visitor told me the only reason she came was because it was outside in the nature. If it is inside she usually doesn't want to be a part of it. She told me if we had another worship time outside then she would be there.

As we ate lunch I thought about how good our time was and how this is how God's family should be. Everybody was told to bring food for their own families as we were going to have a picnic after our praise time. Everyone shared everything they brought. There was no "this is for my family" mentality. People brought extra and gave to those that had none.

As I looked around I thought how really close this was to God's kingdom.

We were outside praising God for the outside that He made. We were a group of Brasilians, Americans and Germans. We were a group of men, women and kids. We were a group of white people and black people. We were a group of single people and married people. We were a group of recovering alcoholics and drug addicts. We were a group of biracial marriages. We were God's family.

And it was amazing.

Frustration

My girlfriend and I have never lived in a city that has more frustrated drivers than Porto Alegre.

We didn't grow up in big cities and the cities we grew up in were spread out. No super big downtowns and not a lot of traffic jams.

Our city is a typical Brasilian city. Lots of buildings close together and lots of traffic.

They are predicting, because of the rapid growth in our city, that in 5-10 years the traffic jams are going to be incredible. Our roads aren't ready to support all the cars. Honestly, they can't support them now. As they planned our city years ago no one expected the growth that is now happening. There was a time when most everyone here used buses, taxis, etc to get around. Only the rich could afford cars. Brasil is changing. It has one of the fastest growing economies in the world. Now more and more people are able to buy cars.

There are 3-4 specific times during the day (our rush hours) where we do everything we can do to not be on the road. The traffic is that bad.

It's very common for people to honk here. Sometimes it's a friendly honk to let you know the light has changed but more often than not it's a very frustrated honk. You weren't responding fast enough to a light change or moving traffic, you had the nerve to let someone pull in front of you, you weren't driving fast enough, etc. You can get honked at and yelled at for any number of things. It drives my girlfriend bonkers.

We're used to all of that, and honestly we've (okay, mainly me) grown accustomed to sharing a few honks ourselves, but people's road frustrations seem to be getting worse.

No one has guns here so the American kind of road rage won't happen. I know it sounds like a "duh" statement but literally only the robbers have guns. Late at night no one stops at a red light or stop light because people can be waiting for you to stop and then they car jack you and/or shoot you if you don't get out fast enough. It's happened to people we know. At night (after midnight and until 5-6 in the morning) you literally just give a quick look for oncoming traffic and then just roll on through any sign or stop light.

Although gun road rage doesn't happen people seem to be getting more and more frustrated and are acting out.

It's bad but I've never seen it as bad as what happened here in Porto Alegre two Friday nights ago. I guy used his car to plow through a group of bikers. Why? He got impatient at the fact that they were hogging up the street and riding so slowly.

Amazingly no one died which is hard to believe after watching the video.

You can click here to read more about it and check out the video.

Seven of the bikers were taken to the hospital with injuries, but were released the same day.  The car driver hid his car and removed his license plates, trying to avoid being charged.  He is now being treated for extreme depression, in danger of suicide, in a psychiatric ward of a hospital.

Prayers Needed

Click here to find out how you can specifically pray for one of our family members here in Brasil.

Future Picasso?

This is Giovanni's first ever school drawing.

It might be worth millions one day.

Good Day/First Day

Yesterday Giovanni had a great day at school.

We thought it would be better for me to take him instead of my girlfriend. So she told us "bye" at the entrance to the school and we went in alone.

Janette asked me to sit in the corner of the classroom. I'll turn 45 this year and some things never change from my youth. I enter a school and the teacher immediately asks me to sit in the corner. Anyway, he came over from time to time to see me. I intentionally made as little eye contact as possible. I encouraged him to ask Janette the questions he was asking me. He then went back to her and asked the question.

He was so much more at ease than he was on Monday.

The only time he cried was when he tripped over my foot on the playground, fell backwards and cracked his head on the concrete. I know, I know........I'm a great dad.

Yesterday was also a first day for this young lady.

Ansley started her first job.

She got a job working downtown at an English school. Right now it's only for 2-3 days a week but there is a good possibility that she will get more hours/classes. She's got applications in at other places as well.

She had a great first day and has already made friends. I know it's only one day but she liked the place and that's always important in any job.

She is working to make money for college (she will wait a year and go to the United States in the fall of 2012). She is also getting ready to go to Ecuador in August.

She has been accepted to work at Hacienda of Hope Children's Home. From what I understand she is the youngest person ever to be accepted to go there and live. She is excited about the opportunity.

So it's been a good week already for our family. New adventures and new friends.

P.S. If you are our close friends (even if you aren't ) then you know you can be expecting a letter soon asking for help in getting our daughter to Ecuador. Keep an eye on your inbox.