Back to the Mundane

Yes that is where we are at now. Even Tigey is enjoying life in the slow lane. I try and follow his lead, but it is really hard to go from running to sitting, so we are taking it a day at a time. I hope soon I can sit down for more than a half hour at a time without starting to feel like I should do something. But in the meantime you should see my floors!!!! They are really starting to shine. I have spent hours just scrubbing stains out of the tile, and I am getting a good workout while I am at it. It does make me less likely to want kids hanging out, so I am trying to find a balance.

The other day we took off with all the kids and went to the city. It was nice to get out of town. I think the last time we all went somewhere together was..... I can't even say. We took Emma and Laney to Brasilia when we picked up my sister, and Jonathan and Laney with Charis to a waterpark, but all 5 of us, it has been way to long. We took them to see a movie, Burger King and Walmart, how fun is that?? I forgot how nice it is to just be together as a family.

Emma enjoyed everthing, but the picture taking.

We also spent a day with daddy in Anapolis. While he was working, we visited with friends. It turned out to be a lot longer day then we plan, but everyone seemed to enjoy the day, and my house stayed clean. This is my summer plan, go away as much as possible, so that the house stays clean. Word of Life has a nice retreat center that is very inexpensive for missionaries to stay at. We have to go during the week as they have retreats running most weekends, but that is okay. We will try and get away for a few days in June. The nice thing is it's just 2 hours drive away and the reason we go there?? They have naturally hot water to fill the pools so it is fun to swim. Remember it is acutally winter down here and our summer it is usually too cool to swim, at least swim and enjoy it, as the water gets down right chilly this time of year. The sun can be bright and warm, but even the air is cool. We do love this time of year ( if you ignore the dust - we are already a month into dry season, only 4 or 5 to go and sometimes that means little to no rain the entire time ) the sky is clear blue and the air is nice and cool.

Things I never mentioned about last week

In the midst of craziness a couple very strange things happened. The week before banquet Scott and I had finally gotten to bed. It was later than usual, after 11, he was working on printing the year book. Anyway, we had just fallen asleep when I heard "Call the police" - in Portuguese, being yelled in a paniced voice. The person was running and yelling this, and then we heard "Scott get out here now" - in English. And our brains were still fuzzy - it had been all of 5 seconds since it had begun and we were trying to figure out what was going on. The man who yelled for Scott was our neighbor ( who I am related to in a sister's is married to .... way) so we jump out of bed and Scott is trying to get dressed when we here "Scott get out here, and call Miles - the man resposible for these situations - and tell him to call the police I've got a man here". Scott gets dressed then tells me to call Miles and runs outside. I am shaking like a leaf - we have no clue what is going on outside - and I call our neighbor. "Call the police and tell Miles to come over to our house", I say then hang up.
Well come to find out the next day when we are all awake, was that a man, drunk, had stumpled onto our neighbor's porch, fallen asleep in their hammock, maybe tried to take it with him, and they heard him. Our neighbor jumps out of bed and charges after this guy, pins him down in our backyard, and this is where the story begins.
So that was our first bad night. Then the two nights following the banquet there were big concerts at the plaza downtown and they went on until 3. With the air clear and dry, the sound travels, so we couldn't get into a good sleep until it ended. The second night was worse cause the group couldn't sing, so we sat in bed wanting to cover our ears with our hands. Then at 5 am Monday morning someone walked through town ( it took about an hour ) and threw firecrackers into peoples yards and into the streets. You could hear the booms for a whole hour. GRRRRR Woke up my friends little kids, that started a bad day. Then on Thursday - they day of the graduation. THey did it AGAIN!!!! a whole hour 5 - 6 am with crackles and booms!!!! Incredible. So we were really sleep deprived by the end of the week. What I can't figure out is why no one stops these people, then come to find out it is the town's way of announcing the next up coming event. Fine, but 5 am???!!!!
Let's just say I am glad it is vacation!!!

Pictures again

Here is Laney's birthday pictures that were on Scott's camera, I finally got them on my computer so I could upload them. That cake isn't the prettiest cake, but boy was it gooooood!! Coconut with coconut cream filling!!!
What a beautiful girl!!! And Emma (who hates the camera will pose if it means she gets to be like Laney)

Anika, Laney's friend at school here. They have lots of fun together. I am glad she still likes to play dolls and house, those days I am sure are going to be gone very soon. Anika is one of the girls that is often at our house.

Jonathan on his first time around the land ( only 5 more laps to go to finish the 5 k. He jogged it and almost broke the record, next year, we will actually practice for the race)

Here he is at the end, just a bit tired...

Soccer , and what a game! He scored all 4 of his teams goals, and the barely lost.

But boy does he not like losing, took him all day to get over it!!!

Laney's PE teacher graduated. She is really going to miss Elena. They were becoming good buddies. At least she will be around a couple months this summer before she heads to College.

Laney and Jessica pose for a picture with their teacher.

I can't believe the year is done. We were pretty tired by the end. But it is fun. I guess I will write more later, I still need to find some pictures from the kids play (Horton Hears a Who) So you will have to wait, too

Busy Day!!!

When it is 9 pm and my bed isn't made, and no dishes have been washed for the whole day, I know it was a killer!!! I started the day with coffee, of course. Then went to turn on my computer. Well, it decided today to pull one of those " I am not in the mood" things so it was a half hour and a little gentle thumping (we have to get this thing fixed - some loose wire ) before it kicked in. I finally got that cup of coffee at 7:30 then proceeded to see what next I needed to do. I had the play tonight, and also my home ec class was going to have on display their sewing projects. So we should probably finish those bears. I also needed to get together all the short stories my English students had read and get them into their plastic slip cover to put on display for the open house.
It is 8 now and I am putting on heads and sewing an ear ( we lost one) hot gluing ears on, and sewing a couple scarves.
8:30 I run off to where the huge base garage sale is and quickly pass messages on, come over girls and finish your bears. Hey kids, practice at 12:30, high schoolers, choir at 2:00. Then back to the house to get my little baby (Hudson - he is leaving in two weeks, and I don't want to miss him if I don't have to)
9:00 some giggle time with Hudson then put him down for a nap, time for breakfast, then,back to the bears, and stories.
10:00 off with Hudson to pass to his Daddy and meet Karla at the Chapel to get the stage set up for tonights play.
11:30 we are done, run home get ready for lunch, off to the Cafeteria for lunch, so glad someone else is feeding us today.
12:30 we start practice, only 2 kids are missing, oh, they are having a barbeque??? I don't care, they have to be here now!!!
1:30 we let some leave early after running through the songs and play once (first time with all the props and set )
2:00 choir time, half of the people are here, run call, now we are ready, so we sang for 20 minutes, and just one more practice to go on GRad day, and then we sing on the BIG night!!!
2:30 back home, sit down for 5 then try and clean up a bit (and I mean like one room - the first room people see )
3:00 the girls show up to sew their bears shut, and chat about the week, it was nice to have a little more time with them.
4:00 they are on their way, I sit down, then get up, sit down then get up.
5:00 time to get ready, try and find an outfit, can find that shirt, don't like that look, finally decide on what to wear get Emma dressed, and hair brushed
5:25 off to the chapel. Everyone is there on time, we got started on our last run through.
6:30 almost time, we are ready, set go.
it was perfect!!! Everyone did a great job, and Scott captured it all on film.
8:00 after receiving my roses, (thanks kids) and saying thanks to everyone I head home - it is locked, go next door call Scott he comes over, "NO Keys"!!! Where are the keys, check all around the house and car, walk to the Chapel looking on the ground, try to break in the front door and finally at 8:30 we find a window that isn't latched well, and in we go. (Jonathan had the keys with him - Daddy told him to put them in his pocket!!! )
And I didn't even tell you what Scott was doing today - a run to the city for more ink - left by 7:30 back by 11:30 with ink, and busy printing all afternoon, but stopped to come for choir practice. Then off to buy roses, film play and he is back at the office printing away!!! Friday, come soon!!!!!
Thanks for your prayers, it was a busy day, but really special, and I had lots of help and enjoyed the time I spent with so many people. Thanks for reading about this day, I just had to write it down or I wouldn't even know what happened!!!

Banquet, a grand success

So the secret is out, it is a castle!!! The entrance was quite dramatic, but I forgot to get a picture. I will try and get one today. We had the moat, and drawbridge and everything. If you look in the right of this photo you will even see the stocks. Lots of fun pictures were made with people in those!!! The portraits in front were of each of the seniors done by a German man that attends the home church of our German family here - they head to the Amazon next month, Portuguese study behind them, we will miss them and their kids immensely. Lisa their oldest stays she will be a Senior next year and wants to finish with her class. The rest will attend at the boarding school on the Amazon.
The highlight of the evening. Our roasted big. Marcy our cook did a wonderful job on everything!!! We ordered Roasted Chicken from down town, the rest she did. We had a salad bar, fried onion rings and loaded fries, Dark Brown earthy bread served on wooden cutting boards, then pig and chicken, mashed potatoes and gravy, corn and peas for the main course, and Eclair Cake - the Randolph's favorite dessert!- for the finishing touch. BJ our jester served the pig. Of course, the king, our only guy who is a Senior had first pick of the pig. I think BJ's only wish he didn't get was making everyone eat with thier fingers!!!

It really was fun, watching them enjoy this lovely animal.

I was amazed how well the carved almost all the meat out to our 80 guests.

We had some jousting tournaments, even Scott got into the competition. But as you can see his bear (red beany bear) was knocked of his shoulder, by our friendly jester

Here is one of our Seniors posing with the darts. Another highlight of the evening. Most everyone at some point in the evening enjoyed a friendly game - or as friendly as one can be with dangerous weapons in their hands.

The juniors worked hard, and made all their dreams come true. It was a lovely evening. I think all who attended really enjoyed the night. Scott wrote a story using the names of the princesses, and king in it and added locals to it. Mr. Whipcracker, ( he made the sound of a whip) and Mr. Smoothover ( he said lets all be friends), animals that made sounds (clodhopper the horse- whinnied) the king and princesses had things to say, too when their names were read, it was quite the laugh. Scott told his story with his best fake British accent, wish you could have been there!!!

I can say I am so glad it is done. We still have to take it all a part, but no great rush. We will have it down by Thursday night - Graduation.

pictures

40 years old and still cool!!!Do you think he likes being surprised??
my idea, a cake with a hill he is the truck headed down the other side, I am the nice car, not on the hill yet, or at least I want to think that :o)

Emma and Jonathan having fun together

don't you wish you were a cat??

My senior girls, really going to miss them. The one on the left, she is my favorite - don't tell the others. But that's mostly cause I have know her the longest. She was just Laney's age when we came almost 8 years ago!!! Her mom is my friend in the city near here where we use to live.

Laney's dress up party, very fun!!!

April / May news

Dear friends and family,
Have you missed us? Well, I know I miss hearing from all of you. It has been so busy, and because I have a blog and find that I often put all my thoughts down there, I haven't been as faithful to send out notes to keep you all updated to what we have been up to.
I know you got Scott's letter that shared about our future plans, and we are excited to see how that will all come together. Of course, right now we are just trying to make it through the next two weeks without exploding. It is the usual end-of-year activities, and they are always busy for us as Scott is busy making shows about each of the Seniors (5 in this year's class) and he is also finalizing the yearbook and preparing to print (900 pages) and send off to be bound. But to top it all off, we are the Junior Sponsors so we have been working all year with them to pull off an amazing Junior-Senior Banquet. Because of how life is on a school base this becomes the event of the year. Everyone involved here at the school is invited, and we also let the Seniors invite close friends and family. There is a theme and a set that is put together that creates a whole " feel" for the evening. Last year it was a soccer field and cup winners (their countries ) were represented in the menu. I would love to tell you what it will be this year, but you have to wait until the 17th - it is a BIG secret!!! So Scott is busy with the construction team of Juniors and parents, I am busy with the cook planning the menu and food prep, and decorating with the Juniors. It is fun, but yes, a bit of pressure.
Scott is also extra busy this time of year as he has personal presentations to finish for the families heading to the states (3 this year). It would be nice if he could have done these earlier, but honestly he hasn't had a minute, so it gets put off until it has to be done. They will be done in time, and he will crash afterward.
I am also busy planning a night event for our final week (the 20th). The elementary kids are putting on a play and performing 3 choir numbers. I am also organizing other specials, piano, music etc. It is fun, and we do so enjoy seeing the kids use all their talents, and they really shine during these days.
Last night was our final home ec. supper, a five course meal. Wish we could have invited everyone, but just 10 was a crowd. I have enjoyed getting to know these girls on a more personal level. They have done a lot of work in different areas, sewing, and cooking. I love seeing how much they have changed and grown this year. I could almost ( I said almost) leave it to them, but I did just kind of tell them when to do everything, and I didn't have to give them much instructions besides that. We have 2 classes left and we are hoping to make some teddy bears during that time??? I might end of finishing them.
Life would be stressful enough with all this going on, but you wouldn't believe what else we have had to deal with these days. In Maine, the banks had a real mess when one of the grocery stores was hacked into, and then the fraud was seeming to be perpetrated here in Brazil!!! So they shut down our bank cards, and this after months of barely making it from month to month (certainly no extra money here that we could use to make it through these tough days.) The dollar has been falling daily, and our support has dropped. Then after that we had a month with almost no extras left after we paid our bills at head quarters. The worst part, though, if you can imagine. Was our computer's power supply burned out ( due to the dust) and we were without a computer just when we needed it most. This last week!!! We needed to write to some churches and contact people to find out where our money was and we had no e-mail address at hand. But amazingly, God gave us peace through these days, and we are finally starting to feel like it will all work out. Some extra money has come in, and we might get all our bills paid. It has been a lesson in trusting and resting that is for sure.
Pray for us when you think of us these next weeks. They will be busy. Scott preached this morning about finishing strong and loving each other through these stressful days. It was an appropriate message for these days.
Thanks so much for your part in our lives. For your love and support. We couldn't be here serving Him and his people if it wasn't for you!!
Love
Jenny for the family

For my Mother

Make a Smilebox slideshow

beautiful weather

Yes, this is my favorite time of the year, it is cool and crisp in the morning and sunny all day. The evenings are short as it is dark soon after six, but it is nice to snuggle up in a blanket and watch a favorite show or movie. Tonight is American Idol and we are a week behind the states, so we try not to find out who will get kicked off early, but sometimes it gets out, then we just watch for fun. It has been a fun night to get together with girl friends and just hang out.
just 7 days of school left, the choir piece has come together nicely, and the play is coming along. I really do hate the set design aspect of the play, but we are going to keep it simple.
I have 9 short stories to read and correct so they can print the final copies to have out for open house at the end of the year.
Scott is busy, busy!!! 4 personal presentations to complete. 5 Senior montages to put together for Banquet, Year book to finalize and then print 900 pages!!! And then banquet is in a week and 3 days. That is a big set to mount, the theme is a secret, so we are trying to get all the last things done without anyone finding out what it will be until the end.
But come the 23 of May and life will be nice and quiet again.
Pray for us, we have had some difficult days with our finances, but God gives us peace as we rest in His hands through it all.

back in the shop

Just wanted to post quickly that our computer is back in the shop. Hopefully just the power supply again, but pray that if there are any other problems they can help with those, too.
Scott's birthday party was fun, big surprise (40 years!!) and I will post video and pictures soon,
Thanks for all your prayers, it has been a busy month, and I am afraid it is just starting, but June will come soon, and life will get calmer. Pray for our finances, some checks we were expecting were delayed, and so we have had to scratch and call friends to make a couple payments that come out first of the month, but God is faithful and we rest in that.
more soon,
Love you all
Jenny