Praise and Prayer

AS life goes flying past, I thought I would stop for a moment to share some of our daily thoughts.
We have asked for prayer this year as we watched the dollar fall. It wasn't a huge concern until it dipped below R$2,00 for $1.00 ( our American dollar = $ Brazilian Real = R$) When we returned from furlough it was at about R$2,25 but a month ago it had dropped to R$1,54. This meant that the same amount of Brazilian money we spend each month was costing us almost $500 more American money. But praise God, it is starting to improve. We are at $1,80 and maybe going up a bit more.
We also asked for prayer for the roads around the school to be paved. They have been hard at work now for months, and we hear rumors that they will pave, rumors that they can't pave cause the money is not available. So we wait.

Dry season is at its worst point. Some days it is down into the single digits of humidity in the air. Often it is over 100 degrees, but we know rain will come and hopefully soon. It is hard to stay focused and on task each day, but we manage.

Emma has been sick with a high fever this week (it seems she had something similar last year at this same exact time) I hope the rest of us manage to avoid it. Scott is getting back into the swing of things. This week I think he finally has caught up on all that got behind while he was at his grandfather's funeral.

The school year has become routine. It has been fun to get to know our new students and teachers. We are slowly growing into a student body with all its quirky parts. My choir will present some hymns and praise and worship a week from Friday. It is fun with over 20 people in my choir. I have a good group of singers for each part. I love hearing the songs come together. I don't have much to work with (choir book wise) and so often I take hymns and worship songs and try to put together some nice medleys, It is more work, but eventually we get all the parts right. I am so thankful for my home church being willing to loan us a Christmas Cantata each year. I can't wait to start this next one.

thanks again for your prayers and notes of encouragement, I treasure each one.