Today is the day

Yes, we survived the rehearsal practice, it went much better than last year, but still full of energy, itchy kids and light and sound challenges. But we are ready to go at 7 pm (4 pm eastern time) and I can't wait for it to be over and done and a success.

Today when I weighed myself I was just 2 pounds from my goal, I have lost 14 pounds and love the feeling in my clothes. Finally all my Emma weight is behind me and if I keep it up only 6 pounds more and I am down to my pre-pregnancy weight. It really has surprised me that I could do this.

One other thing. The family that has the dog Ginger that we called our own for a few months is not sure they want to keep him - they are moving- and asked if we want him back. Boy, I just don't know, he is quite nervous and I am afraid that this back and forth business will not have helped. The kids miss him, though so we are praying about it... They are also planning on sending their kids here starting in January and another family is moving onto the base and will send their kids and care for this family's kids. One of the families is with TEAM the other is with a camping ministry. It is exciting to see how we are spreading our wings and accepting more people and having a bigger part in helping the Gospel go forth here in Brazil. I will have 2 new students in my English class, that should keep me busy. I have 7 research papers to grade this weekend, and that is plenty, now I will have nine of everything to grade, wow, it is getting busy that is for sure!!! These additions will also be good for Laney has there will now be two girls here close to her age, she will really like that, and I think it will be good for her. Gone are the days that her only friend was Lucas, but he is still her favorite.

Christmas

There are moments in Brazil that I absolutely love being here. I usually walk each evening around 7 pm and last night like many nights all I could do was watch the clouds change colors and the sun set. It was beautiful!!! The birds are swooping around also. I love watching them some climb so high in the sky you almost lose them, but the come back down. It is usually just the perfect temperture and peaceful. I try to never miss those moments. Especially these days when life is just going from crazy to insane!!!
After I got home last night we decorated our tree. I was reminded as I opened the box that last year when we left the states, my favorite family heirloom ornaments had been accidentally stored. I had made some and bought some simple balls, but what amazed me was instead of being heartbroken again, I was remembering how much fun I had last year as I decorated my tree "from scratch". My mom also saved the day by sending some snowflake ornaments and streamers. I can't wait till I get home and get a chance to dig through storage and get my hands on those things, but until then, I am enjoying my simple tree.

Fun pictures

Cuter by the day!!!

Having eggs with daddy. Whenever we make our breakfast

you have to plan that half of it will get eaten by someone else

Thanksgiving twice

It has been a couple busy weeks that is for sure. On the 15th we celebrated Thanksgiving with all the folks here at the base. It was fun. We had 82 people together, kids, teachers, and all the Portuguese students and staff. We didn't have turkey, but chicken which quite a bit cheaper, but other than that, there wasn't anything missing from the tables lined with food and desserts.

The rest of the day was spent playing baseball, and visiting with those we don't get to see very often.

The hard part was going back to school Friday. Boy did that feel wrong. This week was a busy week. I worked on the set for the play and finalized the costumes. I am teaching the girls taking home ec to sew and we are working on the bag I showed earlier. Of course they want to make them for gifts for family and friends so we have the pressure now of them coming out perfect. This is their first sewing project!!!!! and they are supposed to be perfect??? So I had to address that one this week, we are doing our best, but they can't get so worried if their stitch isn't perfectly straight.

Church was really good on Sunday. Scott is getting quite comfortable in the roll of pastor here on the land. We had a missionary of 30+ years share about his experiences of working with a tribe up in the Amazon jungle. That was cool. He also has a ministry in a small town (all the houses are on stilts and have no bathrooms or plumbing) that is on the banks of the Amazon, there are almost 400 children and they all call him grandpa. It was really neat hearing his stories.

This week started well, and I was getting ready for my Thanksgiving dinner. I had invited 16 people to come and share the meal with us. The two single ladies, my friend Gina and her family, and the lady that runs our special ed dept. and their two dorm girls and her husband (it was also her birthday). I had all the trimmings I think for the first time ever since I came to Brazil, down to celery, black olives and cranberry sauce. I had prepared my fresh beans ahead of time, cooked the squash, made the pies, cut up the bread for stuffing (everything here comes unprepared) and all I had to do was get that bird in the oven make the rolls, and peel the potatoes. Then of course, just put it all together and make sure it was ready by 11:45. That was the scary part. I couldn't be late. So my turkey was out of the oven by 10:15 and thankfully everything else came out right. It was a ton of work, and the hardest part was that it was a school day. I had class at 2 to get ready for. But it was worth it as everyone really enjoyed the meal, and made the day special. I can say without a doubt a good time was had by all. It was worth all the effort. I miss my family so much on these days, but having a crowd around and being a blessing to those also homesick, sure does fill the day with memories!!! I don't have a copy of pictures others took, but I will get one soon!!!

And after all my complaining last week about the rain, we have had a gorgeous week this week with most of the rain hitting while we slept. That was a welcome change. We even got to go to the pool.

Things I miss about dry season

Yes, I know after all my praying for rain, and constant complaining. I have realized there are things about dry season that I really miss. For instance...
1. The SUN!!!
2. towels that don't feel like someone else already used them.
3. The SUN!!!
4. Not having to unplug everything whenever a thundercloud appears on the horizon ( we have had some major hits on the base, and we don't want to lose another modem - our school office even lost their computer last year)
5. The SUN!!!
6. not so many bugs everywhere you turn.
7. The SUN!!!
8. Not feeling cold one minute, then as soon as I get up and move around I am covered in sweat.
9. The SUN!!!
10. The track not being covered with moss and too slippery now to walk on (where we were kicking up dust a month ago)

The one thing I don't miss about dry season??? THE DUST!!!!! It makes all these inconveniences worth the change.

about prayer

I have been reading Philipp Yancy's book on Prayer. I am just getting started, but already I have been convicted about how poor my prayer life has been lately. We have really struggled this year financially (due to the dollar dropping drastically, not due to lack of support as that has actually gone up a bit this year). I find that though I do everything I can think of to help our financial situation, I often forget that I prayed about it, and need to keep praying about it, leaving it in His hands, but continuing to discuss with Him my concerns. Just as I talk to my husband about things, I need to talk to my heavenly Father about things.
Another thought I had this morning was how so many of our prayer supporters have gone to heaven. Dear women like Venise, and Miriam Wittermore, Mrs. Winter, and others. They are such treasures in our life. We stand on the front lines, and the attacks we battle daily, through discouragement, people problems, financial, homesickness, etc. I know these were softened by these dear ladies who constantly interceeded for us.
Do you pray for the leaders around you? Do you pray for your missionaries? Do I? I know that prayer works. Without a doubt I know this. Now I just need to keep talking with God. I should find time to set aside for serious and deep conversations, but even if I chat with Him throughout the day, that would be good. Besides, that is who I am. I like a quick chat about something on my mind at the moment. And I think He knows that. He made me who I am , and he loves me. He doesnt' expect me to pray like Scott, nope, he just want my to talk to Him.

This and that

Wow, It has been a while since I sent out an update. I guess being sick for a week counts as a good reason. I could feel it hit last Thursday as I finished up my last class substituting for a teacher who was traveling. Now finally I would only have my classes to teach, and Wham I got hit with a bad cold. But I am feeling good now and glad to have my mornings free after nine and then only a class a day in the afternoon or evening.

I finally braved the costume closet and dug out what I would need for my play. There are still a couple things I need to find, but most of what I needed was right in the one chest marked Bible costumes. Thanks to the work put in over the summer it was not as unpleasant as I thought it would be.

I am almost done with all my Christmas cards. I really love making them. It is hard to decide which is my favorite, I usually make 4 or so different designs, I must say that the last one I made is edging into the lead.

We are done with cooking in home ec ( now that it isn't a hundred degrees out) and we are on to sewing basics. We spent this week just learning the basic hand sewing stitches and the seams on the machine. Now we are going to make a bag. I found a simple pattern at http://www.morsbags.com/ Click on Make one for the pattern. I think the girls will enjoy this simple but productive project. I love my bag, and actually found some great fabrics at our local fabric store.

Now I am on to quilting. I forgot how much I love putting together small quilt projects. I made a simple runner for the table, and just need to quilt it now.

I am also dreaming of my next project. I found this in a book my friend had, it is a snowflake quilt. Oh, I can't wait to dive into that one!!!

It has been quite cool and rainy. If the sun peeks out it warms up a bit, but we are definitely into the full rainy season. It is nice, and makes Christmas prep fun. I am ready to decorate!!! We have a Thanksgiving dinner here on the land with all the folks (about 82 people this year) next Thursday (15th is a national holiday). We don't get the actual Thanksgiving day off, but I plan on making a scaled down version of our Thanksgiving dinner at least on the official day. So after that, we usually start to get into the fun of the Christmas season.