Happy Birthday, Emma

Yes, it is her birthday, and she is 3 years old. I know every mom says this but where did the time go?? She is changing so much these days you can hardly keep up. She talks in complete sentences, yet it was just yesterday she had about three words that she used, now you can hardly keep up with all her words.

We had a fun day, first our friends are traveling to the states for a three month break so they brought over their outdoor toys for us to use while they are gone, that was like Christmas!!! Then we had a birthday party, with lots of kids to join in the fun. I actually decorated a cake, aren't you proud of me Sue? And then we had the sprinkler to play in since the pool is still cold (cause it is winter and somedays we hardly get above 80 and it is so cold out!!!).

Emma was quite cute today as she opened her presents, which she called prizes. All day she kept saying "Go Party?" instead of the thing I hear all day "Go Potty". She liked all her presents, but the Dora minatures and her Dora backpack were the best part of all!!! She got books, too, which she really enjoys looking at or being read to. Aren't birthday's fun???

State of Washing Maching

While I was off playing /working all day. My dear husband babysat, watered all my plants, and tried to fix my washing machine. The final word was that it needs a professional, but in the meantime, I can do a few loads, just unhook the hose in the back when I am ready to drain, and Wah Lah, it will drain!!! Isn't he smart!!! (Lucky me, it sits on our back porch and will just run off into my already dry lawn)
So tomorrow I will sit and read my book while babysitting my machine and doing a few loads of wash. I do hope the repair man is not busy or on vacation next week.

Crop Day

Crop day

I am sure my husband and my friend's husbands wondered what we needed 10 hours for to spend just working on scrapbooks, but we barely scratched the surface. It was such fun spending the day sharing paper and stickers, food and drink, and sweet fellowship. But the best part was sharing our memories.

Thanks Sarah for all the things you showered us with. We had such fun, and they were perfect for so many of our pages!!!

We had little space, but somehow we managed

to stay out of each others way.

This is what productive looks like!!!


One of the pages put together and enhanced by

stickers and more that came in the mail on Friday!!!

My friend had been sent some paper that was from the

same company as the garden stickers were, they

made her page!

4 th fun

My 4th of july cake, that was fun and yummy!!!

And guess who couldn't wait to get her fingers

on that cake?

My Baby girl and her buddy

favorite thing to do together...

watch TV!!!

so it goes

Yesterday my washing maching decided that it wasn't going to drain anymore. This isn't the first time it has acted up, so I decided to wait it out and see if it would change it's mind. So today, needing desperately to do a few loads of wash done, I decided to work with my lovely friend. I figured since it could still agitate I would let it wash the clothes, then I would wring out the clothes and put them in my bathtub ( a very large rubbermaid container with a hole drilled in the bottom the size of a common plug here) to rinse. So I did managed to get a couple loads done, and am so thankful for my dryer as at least they will get dry.

I would ask my dear husband to help me, but he of course is a week behind on his work (I wonder why) and the other guys here on the base are working like mad men to get the 7 apts ready for the new group of families arriving in a week to start Portuguese study. So maybe I will just have to hand wash things for another week or so before I get it fixed.

There is a local guy we can call but he has a tendency to take your machine for a month or two before you get it back. So I am going to try and wait out this busy time.

Is it wrong to ask you to pray for my machine to get it's act together???

Nothing like rain in a parched land

Yes, after two months of not a drop of rain, it rained last night. I don't even know if you could call it rain. It was just enough to knock all the dust in the air onto the ground. But the smell that came with the rain and the coolness to the air was heaven sent. Some of you who live in areas that have had more than their share of rain lately I am sure would like to trade places for a few days, but I must tell you that the dryness that sets in here is exhausting. And knowing it will be a good 4 months of no or very little rain makes it harder.

They say that this area of Brazil gets down to a humidity level of about 6 percent (lower than the sahara desert). So as I water my plants around the house daily, if not twice a day, I thank the Lord for all the rain he sent us earlier in the year to get us through these dry seasons.

Now this is definitely the place where I humbly point out that it is kind of like our lives. We have some wonderful times in our life where God is just pouring down rain on us, but it is also a reality that there will be some dry days. But again, the cool part is that as we grow deeper in our knowledge and understand of him, we have those wells of water that we can drink from during the dry times. His Word is the best well that we can count on, that will never go dry.

I love that our well here in Brazil is an artesian well, a kind that just bubbles up from the ground with clear pure water. Oh that my life might be that to those around me. Even in my dry seasons might His water bubble out from me.