Yesterday

Yesterday my girlfriend, Sergio and myself ran in the Porto Alegre half marathon.

It was cool and cloudy. Perfect weather.

It was the second half marathon my girlfriend has ever run. I mentioned in Saturday's blog post that we haven't trained as much as we did for her first one last December so we were going to play this one by ear.

My girlfriend didn't feel great on Saturday and that carried over to yesterday but she muscled through the cruds and did great. She didn't stop one time and she finished within 20 seconds of her final time in December. That's crazy. A 13 mile race and she basically ran the exact same time as her last race.

Side note: For those of you ex-teammates of ours who were here years ago we were blessed to see Pablo and Dani Espíndola during our run. We got to stop, talk and hug them before getting back to the race.

We crossed the finish line and Sergio gave my girlfriend a huge hug and told her how proud he was of her. She really did great.

Before the race I told Sergio he could run his own pace because Benay and I were going to run together. His response? He wanted to run every step with us.

I  mentioned the other day that Sergio runs with joy and encouragement. Here's a taste of what I mean. Yesterday, while we ran, he sang to us, played classical music for us to listen to, he danced, he told jokes, he talked and he encouraged. He told my girlfriend that she, once again, did FANTASTIC! And, as always, we crossed the finish line and he prayed. I can't say it enough, I love running with Sergio.

Here we are about 30 minutes before the race trying to stay warm.

And here is my girlfriend after the race with her medal.

We were also happy that the name on her numbered race tag was right this time.

Last time we ran a race in Brasil my girlfriend's race tag was just a little off in the name department.

No after race photo with Sergio because he had to leave quickly to go to work for a little bit.

Later we met up with his family at a churrascaria (sorry girls) for lunch. We love this family.

After lunch my girlfriend got phone calls from our girls and my dad to find out how she did in the race. Lots of people were thinking of her and praying for her yesterday. That's pretty cool.

Later in the afternoon we were blessed with a Gre-Nal. Those are always fun. We didn't go but watched it on tv. The good guys won. (Sorry you missed it girls.)

Here are the highlights for our girls.

The day ended with Giovanni sharing this quote with me as he laid in his bed getting ready to go to sleep:

"Hey dad, blue stinks and red is happy right?"

One more Colorado.

God really blessed us with a great day.

Not a Fan

I just finished reading this book:

In the book Idleman talks about the difference of being a fan of Jesus versus being a follower.

If you want to be challenged to be a follower then I would suggest getting this book. I will also tell you that you may not like to read what he says because it might make you very uncomfortable with where you are in your walk with Jesus.  It will, at times, feel like a hit in the face but you will, if you allow the Spirit to work, see the difference between fan/follower and hopefully make some changes in mindset and actions in your life.

One of those "hit in the face"comments that shook me up and I can't get out of my mind is his fan take on the verses from Matthew 23:23-24. Here's what he said:

If Jesus were preaching this sermon today, I think he might say something like:


"Woe to you fans, if you would be as passionate about feeding the poor as you are your church's style of worship, then world hunger would end this week. Woe to you fans, if you sacrificed as much to care for the homeless and hungry in the community as you do for your church building or place of worship, the need would be wiped out. Woe to you fans, if you would be as zealous about caring for the sick as you are about a 'Christmas tree' being called a 'holiday tree,' health insurance wouldn't be a problem."


I needed to read this book to be reminded to be a follower and not just a fan. Jesus wants all of us. He doesn't need a fan club.

My prayer is that we all become followers.

Tomorrow and Sergio

You might remember that my girlfriend completed her first half marathon last December.

There is another one that we will run in tomorrow.

We haven't been as consistent in our training this time as were last year so we needed to do a long run last weekend to see where we were physically.

Our brother Sergio is also running in the race tomorrow.

God brought Sergio into our lives the first month we lived in Brasil 10 years ago. He's a real estate agent and he helped us get our first apartment. He also helped us with the legal part of getting our first house.

Over the years he and his family have become our great friends. We've shared meals together, trips together and, most importantly, studied the Bible together. I was blessed to have been asked by Sergio to share in his baptism a few years ago. He is a very encouraging brother and a great husband and dad.

He's also a runner. He, in fact, has taught me more about the joy of running than any other person in my life.

I've always been a casual runner but my running has increased since we moved to Brasil. Much of it has to do with Sergio.

He runs with joy and he runs for the Lord.

When I tried to complete my first marathon in 2005 he ran every step of the way with me. He had already completed 10 marathons before that one. He did not train for that one like he should have and so I thought that as I struggled he struggled. When I needed to stop and rest he stopped and rested. He was super patient and calm with me the entire time.

I was unable to complete that first marathon. I had to stop at the 36th km. He stopped with me and pulled out his cell phone. Did I mention that he answered a business call at the 21st km of the race and set up an appointment to show an apartment later that day? Anyway, when I had to quit he called his wife and my girlfriend to tell them where to pick us (I thought) up. He then asked me, for the 10th time, if I was okay. Even looking into my eyes to make sure I was okay. Feeling that I was good to wait for our wives by myself he said, "Okay, you wait here. I'm going to finish the race now."

The whole time I thought he was going so slow because he, like me, hadn't trained properly and was hurting when, in fact, he was just staying by my side and carrying me km after km. I knew it before but it was at that moment that God really showed me just how special this brother is. He had stayed the whole time to encourage me. He put me ahead of  him.

Because of me he was the last runner to cross the finish line. He had an ambulance behind him with sirens blaring. If that was me I would have been a little embarrassed or would have tried to explain that I was helping a slow/hurting friend and that's why I was in last place. My pride would have taken over.

What did Sergio do? He smiled and waved at everyone as he soaked in the ambulance escort. Pure joy as he runs.

I love to train with Sergio. Our schedules don't allow it as much as we'd like but it's always a pleasure to run with him.

Last week he called and wanted to run with us on our long run. I told my girlfriend how much of a blessing it would be for her to run with him.

So at 6:30 last Saturday morning the three of us met at a mall to run around the sidewalk that enclosed the mall. It's almost a mile loop.

Sergio showed up with granola bars and Gatorade for everyone. That's Sergio.

We took off and ran 11 laps. We ran for almost 2 hours. We talked the entire time. We, as usual, talked about kids, sports, God and our relationship with Him, business stuff and life in general. We also talked about how last Saturday was his dad and my grandmother's birthday. They had a 10 year difference in age and died within 4 months of each other. Sergio is close to my parents and so that parent/grandparent connection makes our family connection even more special.

We were also blessed with Sergio praying. Before and/or after you run with Sergio he bear hugs whoever is around him and prays to God and thanks Him for our run, our day and the ability to run.

While we ran he told my girlfriend how thin she looked because she is a runner now. How she did, "FANTASTIC!!" with her training run and how her calves are just pure muscle now because of her running. Like I said, he is 100% encouragement. Nothing negative ever comes out of his mouth.

He took some pictures last week so, as he said, people would believe that we actually ran at 6:30 in the morning.

Here are a couple before....

......and one after.

We are really blessed to have this guy in our lives.

And, by the way, Benay nailed her run last week. She actually ran faster than us on the last lap. I'd say she's ready for the race tomorrow.

It will be fun and something we won't ever forget.

Birthday Girl

Today this goober turned 19:

You guys know what we do on birthdays. Hope you enjoy it Ans.

Giovanni: (direct quote) "Happy Birthday. Happy Birthday. Happy Birthday to you! Happy Birthday to you!"

Anderson: "Ansley, you are one of the best sisters I've ever had. I like it that we make handshakes and you are really nice. And Awesome! Done. Dad don't type done. HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!!!!!!"

Carys: "I love you soooo much and miss you so much you are one of the best sisters ever. With you everything is soo much fun''

Garrett: "Ansley I love you so much!! You are awesome, I love doing everything with you, especially torturing Carys!! I miss you a loooooot!! Just 20 more days and you will be here!! And Happy Birthday!!!!!!"

Bronwyn:  "Ansley!!! Happy birthday! You're so cool, having your birthday in a foreign country and stuff. I hope you have a really really great day :) I am so so proud of you. I think you are the coolest person ever and I look up to you a lot. I love you!! Get here to ACU already! Duh! Sheesh."

Girlfriend: "Ansley, I hope your birthday is great.  I love you so much and I am so proud of you.  You have a gazillion talents and gifts and I believe that your experience in Ecuador has taught you not to let silly fears and lies keep you from using everything God has given you!  I know that everyone there, especially the kids, has loved having you there and will miss you so much.  But, I am ready for you to get home.  I need to crack up more, and nobody makes me laugh like you do!  I'm sorry we can't be with you on your birthday, but God will surround you with many blessings, I'm sure.  Make the most out of your last days there and then get back home!  We all miss you and love you!!

Me: "In some ways it's hard to believe you are 19 but in other ways it feels exactly right. You have become an amazing young woman who has a big heart for God and His kids. I love that. I know you are right where He wants you to be right now and you are making such a huge kingdom difference. I think a lot about the things God has blessed you with. Some of them are that you are funny, an incredible story teller, happy, a good friend, a good listener, an encourager and you share the love of Christ with people. What better people on God's earth deserve to be around someone like you than orphan kids and school age kids?  We miss being with you today but take joy in knowing that you have a bunch of Ecuadorian kids around you and that they are loving on you. I could not be more proud of you. And we are really excited about you being home in just a few days. Giovanni can't stop talking about it. Have a great rest of the day. I love you!"

One more thing Ans. As you know we normally try to have our birthday blogs out first thing in the morning. This one got out a little late in the day and you may be wondering why.

Well, when I talk about how God uses you to make a difference in the lives of others. I don't want you to think I'm just talking about kids in Ecuador, or your brothers and sisters or people in our house church family. I'm also talking about your friends in Brasil.

You are loved so much here and your friends wanted to share that love with you here as well. Fabi called a couple of days ago and asked if we could hold off on doing your birthday blog until she sent us something.

What was it? It's the video below.

You are loved and lots of people are looking forward to May 13. I think these guys are almost as excited about you coming back as we are.

Enjoy this present from your buds. We think it's pretty awesome. (Our apologies to you guys who don't speak Portuguese.)

LDU

This past Sunday around noon our American phone rang.  We have a Memphis number that rings straight to our apartment. Don't ask me to explain how it works. It runs through the internet. That's all I know.

Anyway, it was Ansley. She was calling from Quito.

She called from this place.

It's the stadium for the LDU (Liga Deportiva Universitaria de Quito) soccer team. It's called "La Casa Blanca." (Impressed Ansley?.....I did some homework)

She was watching her first Ecuadorian soccer game.

Last night my girlfriend and I got home from our weekly date. We walked in the door and Garrett tells us that Ansley had called (she has an American phone deal as well) and that she put a picture on facebook that someone had posted. I'm pretty sure he took it out of a newspaper or website. It's a picture of the players and fans from Sunday's game.

As Garrett was telling us about it we went to facebook and looked at the picture. I found Ansley in about a second. My girlfriend started laughing at how fast I found her.

Wasn't too hard to find a tall, blond haired girl in a group of Ecuadorians.

Can you find her?

How'd you do?

Need some help?

If so, then follow #3's tattooed left arm and shoulder straight up to about midway through the crowd and you'll see Ans.

She's winding down her days in Ecuador and we are thankful that she is able to have some fun, like this game, before she leaves.

By the way, LDU won 3-0. She and her buds left happy.

If following Jesus cost you everything, would it still be worth it?

Kyle Idleman

For B and Ans

Here's a video that probably only our girls (the one in the states and the one in Ecuador) will like. It's some inside footage from our favorite team and their game last week with Santos (I know that means nothing to most of you).  It was a BIG game.

Garrett and I went and, like always, had a great time.

Have I ever mentioned that I love Fernandão? Listen to him as they are in the tunnel getting ready to go up to the field. He makes me want to play.

I also love the sound after Nei made his falta. Very, very cool.

So girls, hope you enjoy it. Next month you guys will be going with us and hopefully we'll still be in the  Libertadores. Just think, we could all be together again for one more final.

Using a new favorite word of Giovanni that would be "awesome!"

EIGHT!!!!!!!!!

Anderson turns eight today. If you know him then the correct Anderson way to say it is: "ANDERSON TURNS EIGHT TODAY!!!!!!"

If you don't know Anderson here is his world: I woke up this morning at 5:15 with a really bad headache. Got up, took some medicine and decided to see if a hot shower would work to knock it out. I stayed in there longer than I normally would trying to make the pain go away. I got out and opened the bathroom door and there was Anderson with arms wide open and a huge smile from ear to ear waiting to give me a hug. I have no idea how long he had been standing there. He was waiting to give me a hug on his birthday. He didn't even wait for me to say Happy Birthday. He was just happy to see me on his birthday and ready to give me a hug. That's Anderson. He's pretty cool.

We've told you before he's just a really happy, joyful little guy and never more so than on special days.

When he first saw Garrett this morning Garrett wished him a happy birthday and Anderson smiled, walked over to Garrett and gave him a thirty second hug thanking him for wishing him a happy birthday. Simple joy.

Most days he's a walking joy bomb.

You guys know our birthday deal so here it goes:

Giovanni: (exact quote) "Happy Birthday. Nothing."

Carys: "Anderson you are so much fun to be around and i love drawing and coloring with you. i love you sooooooooooooooo much Pagogo!"

Garrett: "Anderson! You are the best little brother ever (and giovanni) I love to play soccer with you and I love to wrestle with you. You are awesome and sooo funny!!!! I hope you have an awesome birthday!! I love you!"

Ansley: "Anderson! Oh my goodness! I am so glad it is your birthday because now we get to have 3 weeks of being EIGHT and EIGHTeen! I miss you so much! You have no idea. But I get to see you soon! YAY! Thank you for being a constant ray of sunshine and happiness in our lives. Whenever I think of you, I think of your smiling face :) That is a gift from God, buddy, that I hope you never lose! KEEP SMILING! I love you:) Love, your twin."

Bronwyn: "Anderson!! You are so much fun and so funny. I still remember going to the hospital to see you. I was so proud to be your big sister! You are so sweet to everyone and, every time I'm having a sad day, I watch the 'what's up my friends, WHAT'S UP MY FRIENDS. This.' video. You always make me laugh! I love you so much and I miss you so much!"

Girlfriend: "Anderson, you are the biggest and best surprise that God ever, ever gave me!  You have always been such a blessing.  I love how you love God and are not ashamed to say it!  I love how you are a happy kid and you spread that happiness to people around you.  God has blessed you with lots of talents and gifts and I pray that you will always use what He has given you to bless other people and bring glory to Him.  We are going to have a great day and an awesome weekend celebrating your 8th birthday.  I love you so much!!!! Mom"

Me: "I can remember the exact moment we found out we were pregnant with you. We thought we were done having kids but God had something else planned for us and, like always, His way is so much better than ours. I can't even imagine our lives without you. I love how you are happy every day when you wake up. Every day! That's a blessing from God and you bless your family just by the way you wake up in the morning. You are my wake up early buddy. I smile as I think of the mornings we would both be up at 5 and we would watch Jacques Cousteau before school. I still don't know why that channel (of the 4 we could pick up) showed it in English but I'm glad they did. I love your excitement for life. I love that you are so tuned in to what the Holy Spirit is doing in your life. I LOVE that you have already given your life to Jesus. I think you are awesome! But it's not just me. Everyone who meets you says you are awesome. Stephen, Weston, Josh, Elyssa, Traci and all the Aggies and many more have told us how awesome you are. Everyone loves your heart and your spirit. People love to be around you and God is using and will use that to His glory. LOTS of people will be in heaven because of you. You just love on people like Jesus loves on people and that's the most important thing. I love you Anderson. Happy Birthday!"

One More Birthday Video

If you are thinking that Ansley forgot Carys' birthday at the beginning of this month you'd be wrong.

She made a funny video. Kind of Animal Planet style. She gave Carys, and all of us, lots of smiles and giggles with this one.

Enjoy:

21 Continued

My girlfriend and I are blessed because our kids love each other.

How do we know?

You can see it in the video, below, that Ansley made Bronwyn for her birthday. Living on two different continents can't stop them from sharing their love for each other.

I'm biased about our kids but Ansley has a gift for stuff like this. Now that I think about it that's not bias, it's a fact.

Check out her birthday present to her big sis:

21

Hard to believe but today we have a 21 year old.

That's right, it's Bronwyn's birthday. It's time to celebrate.

You guys know what we do on these special days.

Here we go:

Giovanni:  (an exact quote)  "Happy Birthday. Dear God thank you for this day, for the presents and Amen."

Anderson: "Bronwyn is like the best oldest sister ever! She is nicer than the other sisters and I love her SOOOOOOO much! (I'm sure he meant no offense Ans and Carys) And thank you for dating Stephen because he is also awesome! Happy Birthday!!"

Carys: "Bronwyn you are one of the best sisters ever and i love you and miss you so much, and i miss watching movies and musicals with you"

Garrett: "Bronwyn, Bronwyn, Bronwyn what can I say about you? You ares the bests sisters in the whole worlds, I thinks that you ares awesomes in everything you do, you are the bests, you ares my macho sister, you ares my supers-hero! Happy Birthdays Bronwyn!!"

Ansley: "Bronwyn, aka my best friend... Is it bad that I am scared at how fast we are growing up? Do you remember when it was just you and me, the two troublemakers (well, I was a troublemaker...)? I cannot believe that today you are 21 and I will soon be 19. I LOVE you, I hope you have an awesome day and I hope you eat lots of ice cream for me :) I will see you very, very soon. Love you! Feliz cumpleaños!"

Girlfriend:  "Wow, Bronwyn.  I can't believe you are 21 today.  It seems like yesterday that you were born and they handed you to me.  You were so beautiful, and you still are.  God has blessed you with so many things - compassion, kindness, intelligence and just plain ol' goodness.  All of these things make you so beautiful on the inside and it shows on the outside in your sweet smile.  I love your goofiness and how you can laugh at yourself.  You don't take life too seriously, yet you are deeply spiritual.  I am so very proud of you and so excited about everything God is doing in your life.  I love you!  Mom  (p.s.  I O U one (at least) coffee date when you get home!)"

Me: "Hard to believe that you are 21 today. I was talking to a friend today (here's your hint on who it was: "Why does she want to be a nurse and not a doctor?") and told him that in some ways it seems like it was yesterday that you were born and in others in seems that it's really been 21 years. Me and mom have loved every minute of being your parents. You are an amazing person. I love that you have always known who you are in our family, among your friends and in God's kingdom. You are strong in your faith and that is such a blessing to us. You are a great big sister. You love to spend time with each of your brothers and sisters and that's been a great example for the rest of the kids to see. You've had a lot responsibility dumped on you, sometimes unfairly, because you are the oldest and you've always handled it in a very mature and graceful way. I also love the example you've been to your friends (both in Brasil and the U.S.) and your house church family here. I know lots of people will be in heaven because of you through your actions, example and your words. You aren't afraid to step out of your comfort zone for Jesus. What more could we ask for? We thank God for you. So enjoy your birthday and go celebrate with a cold one. Hey, you are 21 now so go have fun (It's always fun to get Grandma riled up). I love you!"

Help Needed!

Yesterday Bronwyn sent us an email and asked if we would post something here from her. She's asking you guys to read this and to prayerfully consider blessing people who are fighting cancer. Here is what she asked us to share with you:

I was really lucky to get to pledge a social club last semester. I have so much fun with them! It's just a bunch of goofy girls who do fun things, and I love it. I've gotten to know a lot of girls really well, and get to be a part of their lives. This semester and last semester we have had a lot of girls with family members and friends that have been diagnosed with cancer. Some have even passed away, like a friend's grandma and a little 6 year old boy at my church here in Abilene. One of my friends has three family members that are fighting cancer right now. So we decided to do something. Our club is participating in Relay for Life in a few weeks in Abilene. Our goal is to raise $1000. Since there are so many girls, each of us only has to raise around $20 or $30, but I hope we can raise so much more. This is the website for our club's fundraiser page:

http://main.acsevents.org/site/TR?team_id=1119988&pg=team&fr_id=40612

I really hope you can help! Thank you!

So there you go readers. How about we bless this cause?!

Thanks, in advance, for reading this and praying about it. Every little bit helps. I love that these college girls are not only talking about it but are acting to make a difference. My prayer is that we/you guys will act with them as they fight for their loved ones.  

I LOVE YOU!!

This is Anderson (the little boy of course, not the super cute girl).

You all know him.

If you don't, he is our happy, super talkative 7 (almost 8) year old.

He has never woken up a day in his life unhappy or grumpy. He wakes up happy every day. Every day. He brings so much joy to us and blesses our entire family because of his happiness.

He is also our man of extremes. Every day, when I pick him up from school, I ask how his day was because I know that it was either the "Best Day of School Ever!" or it was the "Worst Day of My Life!" There is no middle ground for him.

So a couple of weeks ago he got his new soccer uniform. He trains in it at every practice and uses it when he plays in games.

The soccer school where he trains is affiliated with our favorite soccer team. Our team's colors are red and white.

Last year, I have no idea why, his uniform colors were yellow and black.

This year his teams colors were super close to the professional team. Red, white and gray.

The soccer school is run by a man named Emerson (who actually used to play for our team) and his wife Michelle.

When Michelle gave Anderson his uniform it was like she had shared with him the Good News of Jesus for the first time. Like she had given him free tickets to every Inter game for the rest of his life. Like she gave him a free pass on brushing his teeth forever with no future cavities or dentist visits. You get the picture, he was super excited.

When Anderson gets super excited, since he is a man of severe extremes, everyone around him knows it.

We are accustomed to his extremes so I sat next to Michelle and watched Anderson look at his uniform, smile, look at Michelle and smile and then look at me and smile. He then just had a kid on Christmas day smile go from ear to ear. I  knew what he was thinking......"This is the OFFICIAL team uniform of my favorite team and I'm on the team." We've had those conversations before. That's how his brain functions.

So I sat back and smiled as I watched it all unfold.

One thing we love about Brasil is the way people love on kids. If you've lived here or visited you know what I'm talking about. We love how everyone interacts with all of our kids and do so lovingly. We are used to it.

I share that to share something that Michelle did after watching Anderson's reaction. It was one of the coolest things I've ever seen.

She just sat there and smiled at Anderson. She then called him over to her, put his face in her hands and pulled him close to her face. She looked him in the eyes and said, "I LOVE YOU!" He just smiled. She then said, still eyeball to eyeball, "Do you understand me Anderson? I........LOVE..........YOU!"

What an incredible blessing, as a dad, to see this.

Anderson just does that to people. I'm biased, of course, I'm his dad but I've seen it so many times that I can't count them. Anderson just melts people with his goodness.

He is a blessing to so many and I can't wait to see how many people will be in heaven with us forever because of how Anderson will continue to share the love of Jesus with everyone he meets.

When he got home from practice he blessed one more person. He gave Giovanni (who definitely looks at Anderson as his role model) his old uniform from last year.

They both were very happy.

Need a good nurse?

This, as you know, is Bronwyn.

If you didn't know, she is our oldest kid and she's in school in Texas. She's a pre-nursing student.

She emailed us yesterday to tell us that she had been accepted to nursing school. She got accepted on her first try. Very cool. So as of this fall she is a nursing major. Put the "pre" in the trash.

Honestly we weren't surprised. Bronwyn is very dedicated and is a great student but we definitely celebrated this good news.

Feel free to leave her a comment here. I know she would be encouraged.

Way to go Bronwyn! We are very proud of you.

Back to School

Giovanni started going back to preschool about 3 weeks ago.

Yes, he is cute.

Last year he struggled for the first month or so of school. I mean really struggled. He cried a lot, didn't want to go and just hated it for the first few weeks. The language difference just killed him.

He gradually started liking and then loving school. Mainly his two teachers Janette and Talita.  Janette was also Anderson's teacher when he was 3-4 and she really is awesome with the kids.

When Anderson was a baby we were blessed with a Brasilian woman, named Vera, who came to our house to help cook and clean. She is like our Brasilian mom and grandmom. She doesn't speak English so she only spoke to Anderson in Portuguese. So when Anderson started preschool he was knew a lot of Portuguese. So the language wasn't a big deal for him.

A few years ago we could no longer financially have Vera come and help us. Whenever we have extra money we ask her to come help out. Sometimes she just shows up to help and doesn't want money. I can't tell you how many times she's done something like that and said it was because she loved us and didn't want our money. We love Vera.

Anyway, because Vera wasn't around Giovanni didn't have the luxury of listening to Portuguese every day in our house. When Brasilians aren't around we don't speak Portuguese in our house.

So, imagine sending your 2-3 year old to a school where they don't understand anything. Needless to say it's a little shocking on their systems.

But, like I said, Giovanni got to love school last year and got really good with his Portuguese.

Then we had to take him out of school to go to the states.

We ended up staying in the U.S. for 3 months which was 1 month longer than we've ever stayed before.

In those 3 months Giovanni lost all his Portuguese.

Surprisingly when we told him it was time to go to school this year he happily went on his first day. My girlfriend and I sat outside the classroom for the first 3 days and he never came out looking for us. They usually have a 1-2 week adaptation period for the kids before the parents begin to just drop them off.

On the third day his class went to the playground and he saw his old teachers Janette and Talita. After that he didn't want to go back to school anymore.

We think, in his mind, he just wanted to go back to their class and he didn't want to go back with his new teachers anymore. He has great teachers right now but they aren't his first loves.

So it's been a bit of a struggle every day to get him back in the groove. Not as bad as last year, but you can tell he isn't happy about going every morning. The worst part now is when his teacher speaks to him in Portuguese (like "Giovanni, it's time for everyone to clean up their mess.") he looks at me and says, "She's being mad at me." I have to reassure him that she isn't getting on to him and then I have to translate.

So, I type this as I sit in the corner of his big classroom. We've had to come back into the classroom so he can come around the corner every now and then to see us. He did this last year, but it went on for a month at least.

And even though we are back in his classroom, we can already see a difference this year compared to last.

He doesn't come around as much to see us and today I actually sat outside the classroom again a couple of different times, for 15 minutes each time, while he played. We've been here 3 hours and, honestly, I think he's forgotten about me. That's a great thing and a big improvement from even last Friday.

We are getting there but not understanding Portuguese is his biggest problem. But even that's gotten much better over the last few days. And we know it's for the best. We actually got off the plane in 2002 and 1-2 months later all of our kids began school at an all Portuguese speaking school. Carys was 3 and understood no Portuguese. None. That was tough, but they didn't complain and now our kids speak portuguese as well as Brazilian kids, with no accent at all.

Kids pick up another language so quickly and we aren't worried about Giovanni.

So, for now I am back in preschool. For how much longer I don't know, but I don't think it will be much longer.

We can also tell that he's getting more used to the fact that he's back in school. This morning he gave my girlfriend his customary kiss goodbye and, as we walked to the door he said, "Goodbye Benay."

I think he's getting more comfortable.

My afternoon with Anderson

Bronwyn and Ansley,

I took Anderson to the Inter-Juventude game today.

Just me and him. So you know my ear was bleeding when we got home. It's always fun with him and, as you know, he talks the entire game.

Thought I'd give you some highlights. Those that I remember.

As soon as we sat down in our seats I got this:

Like they say in Brasil "Ordem e Progresso."

First half comments:

Anderson: "Man! When are they going to start the game?"
Me: "It started a minute ago."
Anderson: "Oh." (he missed it because he was talking but the sad thing is he was looking at the field when he made the comment)

Anderson: "Do you love history?"
Me: "I love history!"
Anderson: "Do you love it more than you love popcorn?"

That juiz makes me so mad. I won't say I hate him but he sure makes me mad!

Second half comments:

Which stadium in the world does the most waves?

Which stadium has less fans than Beira Rio?

Anderson: "When can we go to another stadium?"
Me: "What do you mean? Like gremio?"
Anderson: "NO! Like Barcelona."
Me: "I don't know dude. That costs a lot of money."
Anderson: "Victor got to go to Barcelona stadium AND he parachuted into it."
Me: "He parachuted into the stadium?"
Anderson: "Well not into it but into the city of Barcelona? He said it was awesome!" (Victor is 7)

The second the game was over:

That was the best game EVER! It was SENSATIONAL!!

On the walk to the car:

Anderson: "What's your favorite food?" 
Me: "Pizza."
Anderson: "You want to know my top 3?"
Me: "Sure."
Anderson: "Number 3: Pasteis. Number 2: Coconut milk. Number 1: Doughnuts. THE traditional food."

The game, by the way, was awesome! We won 7-0. Imagine what Anderson was doing with each goal.

Here are your highlights:

Update

A couple of weeks ago we shared about Garrett and soccer. If you missed it you can click here.

We asked for prayers for him. 

The other day my girlfriend told me that I needed to give everyone, except for a certain grandparent who is getting regular phone call reports, an update since I haven't mentioned anything since. 

Since practice began he's been on a team of about 35 guys. 

We were told that only 25 will make the junior pro team. 

He practices 4 days a week for 2-2.5 hours per practice. 

He also has had games each weekend. 

My girlfriend has a board that she marks what's going on during the month. We do a lot of soccer.

On the weekends they have two games. One on Saturday for the main starters. And one on Sunday for the substitutes to start and play most of the game.

Anyway, for the weekend games, they only invite 20 guys to play in the games. 

The first weekend he was the 18th person called. I only know this because Garrett told me after practice after the coach called out each person's name. 

Garrett played about 5 minutes in the first game. He was disappointed he didn't play more but played his best for those 5 minutes. 

The first weekend, when he played 5 minutes, he was with the starters. 

Last weekend he played on Sunday. Right before the game he was given the number 10. Which is a huge honor. The number 10 is usually given to the playmaker on the team. 

Garrett said he played terrible. He felt like he needed to call the coach and apologize for how he played. 

I'm sure it wasn't as bad as he thought. 

Yesterday they played a scrimmage and Garrett didn't start with the starters or the subs. He came in and played only 5 minutes. 

He got in the car after practice and was mad. He said he played so little because of how bad he played on Sunday. 

I tried to encourage him and even told him that some coaches do mind games at times to see how their players would react. Maybe that's what happened yesterday. Who knows?

So basically after almost 3 weeks of practice we have no idea where Garrett stands in making the top 25. And even though he is bummed about the last game and last practice that all could change at today's practice. 

He is enjoying it and tells us it's the hardest training he's ever done. We like that. He's getting stronger physically and playing good and, whether he likes it or not, he's getting stronger mentally. 

Thanks for praying for him and please keep remembering him in your prayers. One request we have is that he will play with joy no matter what happens. 

This is, so far, a great experience for him. 

Last Night

Hey Bronwyn and Ans,

Here are some highlights from the Libertadores game last night. We didn't go because Garrett had a big test today and he had to study. We missed out.

The Spanish is just for you Ans. Enjoy.

An example of why all politicians make me puke

I don't do politics on this blog. It's your business and I really don't care.
I do, however, hate hypocrisy and that's the main reason I don't follow politics very much anymore. Too much lying, cheating and hypocrisy.

I don't post today's article to get responses. I don't care if you are Democrat, Republican, Independent, whatever. It's up to you to vote the way God tells you to. You vote your conscience. I'll do the same.

I do post the article because it immediately made me roll my eyes when I read it. It's why I'm sick of politicians. All of them.

They talk out both sides of their mouths.

I think the article is funny, sad, and, in my opinion, typical of politicians everywhere.
Judge for yourself:

Vice President Joe Biden addressed 87 wealthy Democrats last night attending a fundraiser at the home of Sen. John Kerry in Georgetown. As they dined on grass-fed New York strip steaks and white truffle mashed potatos underneath a outdoor tent, Biden criticized Republicans for being out of touch.

“These guys don’t have a sense of the average folks out there,” Biden said according to the pool report, “They don’t know what it means to be middle class.”

87 guests paid a minimum of $10,000-per-couple to attend the dinner.

Still Hot

We are officially ready for cooler temps. Here is what we are looking at for today and tomorrow.

Porto Alegre, Brazil Weather

Updated: Mar 12, 2012, 3am Local Time

UPDATE DATA

• Today
• Hourly
• Tomorrow
• Weekend
• 5 day
• 10 day
• Monthly
• Map

Right Now	Next 36 Hours

	Today	Tonight	Tomorrow
Fair	Mostly Sunny	Clear	Partly Cloudy
75°F	96°	70°	95°
Feels Like: 77° Get FREE weather on your desktop	High	Low	High
Past 24-hr precip is only available for the contiguous U.S.	Chance of Rain: 0%	Chance of Rain: 0%	Chance of Rain: 10%
Wind: From NE at 2mph	Wind: NW at 8 mph	Wind: NE at 7 mph	Wind: WNW at 11 mph
Short-term forecast summary is only available for the contiguous U.S.	Sunny to partly cloudy. Hot. High 96F. Winds NW at 5 to 10 mph.	Mainly clear skies. Low around 70F. Winds NE at 5 to 10 mph.	Intervals of clouds and sunshine. Hot. High near 95F. Winds WNW at 10 to 15 mph.

We wake up in the middle of the night sweating in our bed. We take 2 cold showers a day to stay cool and take the sweat off our bodies.

I'm up now because of the heat. It's 4 a.m. and it's 80+ inside our house.

It's our 10th summer here so, honestly, we are used to the heat. We are used to no air conditioning. We are used to hot/humid summers. We know how to deal with it and survive. Doesn't make it any more comfortable but we know how to stay as cool as possible.

Do we wish we had central air? Sure. Do we wish it was cooler? Sure. But here we are pushing into the back side of March (like September for our Northern Hemisphere friends) still with daily temps close to 100.

So we've had enough. We are waving our white hankies. The sun/summer wins. We give up.

Side question for our teammates who used to live here: Do you guys remember it being this hot in the middle of any March that you were here?

My girlfriend says she never remembers these temps this deep into March. I say maybe once or twice but not this consistently hot. Just curious what you guys remember.

Anyway, we know we are supposed to be content in all circumstances and not wish for the future but I'll confess that Wednesday's high temperature of 80 with some rain sure does sound good.