Hangin' With the Guys

Thomas (on the left) and his band

We've been busy.
It's not easy to keep up with all the young "folk" here
but we certainly do enjoy trying!

We were invited to go see Thomas' band play at a local book store.
Of course we met up with some of our friends from the church
for an evening of good music,
food and laughter.

watching the band play: Brad, Doug, Laura, & someone we don't know!

As we were leaving at the end of the evening I commented to Warren
that I had realized that our friends were young enough to be our kids.
And yet, once again, we had hung out with them the whole evening
and they had treated us as one of them.
We were blessed. We are blessed.

We have made such good friends here.

The wire opera house.

Then last week we spent a day with Ricado and Marcela.
They showed as around the town, looking at all the beautiful parks,
having coffee & the best carrot (rabbit, as Ricado called it
in trying to explain in English!) cake ever,
spending time at their house (working on Portuguese and English together),
and then out for a soup dinner.

the ceiling in the wire opera house

We had the best time with them.

Now you must consider the fact that when we met them
neither of them could speak English - at least not much.

Then Ricado kind of got pushed into the learning process when he
drove me around to doctors,
helped Warren with the painting at the church,
came to the church to oversee the electricians, etc.

We saw a lot of the two of them
and they began to carry around a Portuguese - English dictionary.

Or we always made sure there was an English speaking person around!

Now we communicate with a mix of English, Portuguese and hand & body motions!
(I must admit, they do better with English than we do with Portuguese)

Curitiba has a lot of natural beauty and beautiful parks.

We have laughed together and cried together.
(well, at least the women have cried together!)

They have become wonderful friends to us.

A rodent that is common in the parks.
I asked if they would hurt a person and Ricado
just told me if they turn and start coming after me to run.
Then he laughed. I still don't know if they would hurt a person. :)

Marcela

a Ukrainian church made out of 10" square timbers

Jardim Botanico

We arrived at the gardens just as it was getting dark.
It took my breath away to come up over the hill and see this sight.
Amazing.

Someday we want to go back when everything is blooming.
We are in the middle of winter here, ya know.

inside the greenhouse

A couple days later

(after they both made sure we had everything we needed
while they were gone - Marcela even arranged that our sheets would be
washed since she usually does them!)

they left on vacation.

We're happy for them. But sad for us.
We really do miss them.


And now to show you one of the projects
we worked on while John
was gone:

Stripes!!!!!

We love how they turned out.

Side note: Please continue to pray for my knee. Although it is better
I am still under the direction to stay off of it and limit the use.
I know God has a purpose it's just hard to see it sometimes.
But then, that is why we are to walk by faith and not by sight.

We also have decided that God would have us stay in Curitiba
for much of our remaining time in Brazil this year.
Much prayer went into that decision and truly our deciding factor
was peace.

We are hoping to visit several of the churches for short visits
before the leadership conference in Oct.

Please join us in prayer as we seek God's heart in this.

Enjoying the View

Outside the office window

I just walked outside of the office door
(where we spend a lot of time when it's cold outside
because we can heat up this room fairly easily)
and it hit me:

GARLIC

Warren had made breakfast this morning and on a whim
decided to make scrambled eggs with
green peppers, cheese and garlic.

Now, don't get me wrong,
I like garlic and I am very happy that Warren
has been taking such good care of me
while I am down with this bum leg
of mine....
but....
we have church tonight - here.
and the smell is pretty strong, no, make that
very strong!

And I know of no quick fix
to rid a place of garlic smell.

(the eggs were wonderful though!!!)

waiting for the results of my MRI

We've been in Brazil for 7 weeks now.
(5 of the days we spent in Iguassu
the rest of the time in Curitiba)

It hasn't gone as we had anticipated.

It never does.

Most of you know that I have had some problems with one of my knees.
The day we were leaving Cleveland for the airport I noticed that it hurt to go
down the stairs at our house.
It continued to get worse as time progressed until one day
some of the girls here in Curitiba insisted that I go to the doctor
that very afternoon.
Making a long story short, I ended up having an MRI
and found out that the cartilage in the knee was impacted.
(not sure how it happened but probably in the packing process)
There was fluid on the knee and inflammation
so shots, medicine, ice, heat and no walking
were the prescriptions for healing.

Then the doctor added
"it takes a long time to heal".

And it has.

Although we were so very thankful that no surgery was needed
it has been hard to be sitting most of the time, with the leg up!

It has changed what we would normally do while
stationed in a place like
beautiful Curitiba.

We haven't been able to do much exploring.
Making for few pictures when you sit around most of the time.


But it's been good.

It's been great.

Really.

Ju's birthday party!

And I must say that the people have been the greatest
in caring for us.
Humbling, really, as they drove us around and made
arrangements for doctors, taken us out to eat,
watched movies with us,
cleaned the church for us,
made sure we had clean sheets and towels
(and anything else we could possibly need),
translated for us
and
(the greatest gift of all)
spent time with us.

I know that we cannot possibly give back to them
all that they have given to us.

No, these aren't my feet. Oh, I wish!

look at those heels on the dancing feet of the birthday girl!

And I can't say enough about Warren.

Servant hood.

For seven weeks.

How does that sound to you?!
(and, really, without complaining)



But we have had some excitement:

one way to let the sun in!

Imagine being in the study, talking with two of the guys
from the church,
and all of a sudden hearing an awful noise that doesn't
seem to stop!

We (at least the other 3 people!) ran out to the
sanctuary to see what happened
and find this.
With two legs sticking out from above!

One of the electricians had fallen through the roof
and the wood ceiling!

thankfully, he wasn't hurt

Ricado holding the roof tile.

and all of the repairs were made yet that day.


Earlier this week we had Ben, Melissa, Moriah, Daniel
and Julia Lyon here for a visit.

They had recently sold their belonging
and took the step of faith to move to Brazil.

Last year at this time we were doing exactly the same thing.
Okay, not exactly.

We did not bring along 3 children and I was not pregnant!

They were on their way to Foz do Iguassu where they will
participate in the Missions Training Program
for 2 months.
It was a joy to spend time with them.
(I can't believe I didn't get a picture!)
Please pray for them as they adapt to a new country,
find a doctor for Melissa and the baby,
and make decisions,
life changing decisions,
for their family.

We are praying about whether God
would have us join them for the
training program.

Please join us in that prayer.

Although we think it could be a valuable thing for us
we also are aware that it would take the remainder of our time
here in Brazil this trip
(other than the last week of a leadership conference)
and would mean not making a trip to some of the other churches.
All in all, we just want God's best.


Before I sign off, with you believing that we do nothing here,
let me tell you-
ministry has been sweet.
We have had time to devote to study, prayer, counseling
and fellowship like never before.

I believe that is why God has allowed
this trial in my life.

And for that we are grateful.

I've got to go. Some of the girls are treating me to "spa day" this afternoon
(they are just that great)
and I just remembered the garlic.

Anyone know about a quick and easy way to get rid of garlic breath?!

We Walk Not By Sight....

Sometimes we don't have to have eyesight to really see.

I was reminded of that as Warren, Jason, Kellie, Brett and I stood in the driveway of one of our neighbors. The man of the house, Steve, had lost his eyesight because of MS about 6 years ago. He lost it quickly, without much warning. As a matter of fact, he was driving home from a vacation when he had to pull to the side of the road telling his wife that he just couldn't see well enough to drive anymore. Hard stuff.

He told us last night that after going through the tough questions (the why, God?) he finally came to the place of realizing that his choices were going to affect not only him but the rest of his family.

And his relationship with the Lord.

He now uses his disability to share with others the spiritual truths that he has learned because of this disability (although I don't know that he would call it that anymore). Amazing man, amazing family. We are looking forward to getting to know all of them a little bit better when we get back from Brazil. We're already blessed for having met them. He promised to pray for us and I believe he will - he doesn't seem like the kind to be negligent in anything he says he will do.

For those of you who don't know - we are headed back to Brazil in a couple of days (the 27th). Our return tickets are for Oct. 18th. We are still on a tourist visa.

We fly into Curitiba where we will be for a couple of days and then our plan is to take an overnight bus to Iguassu (we have some of our things there to pickup) where we will get to spend about 5 days with our friends that we made last year. Looking so forward to that!

From there it is back to Curitiba where we will move into John and Flavia's house while Warren fills in for John at the church for a couple of months. (They will be in the states) Not sure what the plans will be from there but we know that God is always faithful to reveal the next step to us when we need to take it.

After all, Warren met Steve (our neighbor) the other day when he (Steve, not Warren) was out mowing the lawn on a riding mower using his sight stick to guide him.

I figure that if he can do that then I can surely trust my God,

who is able to see all things, to guide us.

I'll be back to regular posts while in Brazil. Please keep us in prayer.

And don't forget: I love comments!!! :)

The Sound of Silence

I KNOW - I've been silent for way too long.

I didn't intend for it to be this way.

I just lost interest.

Not in you, my faithful readers but rather in trying to answer questions

that I really haven't had an answer to.

I still don't know all of the answer to all of the questions

but I will tell you what I know (however uncertain it may be!)

We are in Tennessee right now,

about one and a half miles from Kellie and Jasons' house,

in our very own house.

That's right - we bought a house.

NO, we weren't looking to buy one.

It hadn't even crossed our minds.

We were walking one morning when we came across this house

with a small for sale by owner sign.

It was a sad, empty, worst house in the neighborhood kind of house.

I LOVE THAT KIND OF HOUSE!

After about two weeks of talking and praying

we decided to go and look at it.

We saw possibilities.

We waited. And prayed.

Two weeks later we went to see it again

and took along a friend that is familiar with the housing market here.

We made an offer - it was accepted.

A week later we owned a house.

We left for Oregon (for a month) 3 days later still in shock!

Had we really bought a house? And what was God doing?

Where were our plans for Brazil in all of this?

We have had much confirmation that we have heard God in this and yet,

once again,

we are waiting to see all that He has in His heart for this house.

Will we live in it part time or rent it out? We don't know.

It needs cleaning up, painting, updating, etc. but it is livable.

(We are living here and so enjoying it for the time being!)

At this point we are planning on going back to Brazil next month sometime.

We are still on our tourist visa (the last year until it expires) and will use that once again.

We can be there for 6 months during the year.

We then plan to come back here and apply for a new visa -

which one we do not know yet.

We do not feel that God has given us any direction regarding that.

We do know that having moved to Tennessee we are now 2 hours

from the Brazilian Consulate in Atlanta (which was just opened within the last year!)

and we have cut out 1 day of travel between here and Brazil (counting airports and layovers).

We are so enjoying our fellowship here with Calvary Cleveland and, of course,

we love living close to Jason and Kellie.

We do miss the rest of our family in Oregon,

our good friends and our church body there.

We plan to still call Calvary Corvallis our home church.

They are, after all, our sending church.

We find in scripture that God's ways are not our ways.

We do not always understand what we feel He is directing us to do

but we know that we have always found Him faithfully looking out for our spiritual best.

So, once again, you find us waiting.

And, though it is unsettling at times, it is a very good place to be.

And YES, we still feel called to Brazil.

a Wish to be Illegal....

So much for thinking that we didn't need Tim and TaLisa's help so much. Since they have been back TaLisa has added us to her long list of things to "take care of". We are grateful but humbled. Very, very humbled.

It doesn't feel good to have to be looked after. Even the smallest of things seem to have become things that we need help with - at least that is how it feels. (TaLisa reminded me that what I am feeling is pride - that crushes!)

Life has changed drastically in this little house with the additional 4 people living their lives here this last week. It's been a blessing to us - a fun busyness - but it is busy! So far this week we have been gone every single evening and many of the days. Plus there have been the job of getting kids back to school, putting away the treasures from their trip to the US and connecting with all the friends they had left here for a couple of months. Busy is putting it mildly.

Add to it our visa quest.

Yesterday, after TaLisa had made an appointment for us (and herself) to see a lawyer, we headed off to find out about a new permanent visa that we had heard about. Sounded too good to be true and it was. For us anyway! After going with the lawyer to the Police Federal we were informed that it is only for those that are residing in Brasil illegally. Once every 10 years they issue visas for illegal immigrants to make them legal. We didn't fit the criteria. Then we asked about a missionary visa. (the irony of asking about information of an illegal visa to asking about a missionary visa!) It's recommended that we try for a visa from Paraguay at the Brazilian Consulate. TaLisa is checking on that for us today when she takes the kids to school. It's our prayer that they will allow us to do that as it would be faster and a much easier process.

All in all, we must remind ourselves that God has a plan and is aware of everything involved.

Again, we find ourselves learning to walk by faith.

Discoveries

The makings of whip cream. We blame this on Larry because soon after we got here he informed us that we had to have coffee at this particular restaurant. Not only was the food good but with the coffee came w/ this frozen cream on the top. Heavenly. Well, we did go there and we did get the coffee. No frozen cream sitting on the top for us!
But it did give us an idea. We have since kept whipped cream in the freezer waiting for our treat each
day to share with our Portuguese teacher right after lessons. It would be a crime to forget....

--------------------------------------

Today marks the two month anniversary of the day we left for Brazil.
It doesn't seem possible.

And as we are here at this mile stone mark we find ourselves packing for the next leg of our journey. And it's hard to go.... we have come to love it here and especially the people.

Peanut begging to go along as we take off for the store.

I just missed the picture when her head was back in a full howl....

-----------------------------------

I thought I would capture some of the things we have seen on pretty much a
daily basis or at least a regular basis, that maybe seemed strange in the beginning
but now are pretty much a part of life for us.

Warren doing a much too familiar thing - trying to communicate with someone who doesn't understand English! He was trying to find out if they had batteries at that particular store. He left not knowing. "But," he said, "I didn't see any." And he did get a few smiles from her as he tried to make the appropriate motions for batteries.....!
----------------------------
I think the biggest thing that I have come to realize is that I am the very same
person here that I was in Corvallis. Maybe that sounds strange. Of course you are, you say. Well, maybe I should have known that or maybe I did but just hoped to be different.
(you know, like hoping that God would give me the gift of tongues in Portuguese!)
I mean, I want to be this dynamite person for the Lord
but instead I find myself with the same struggles,
the same insecurities and the same selfishness
that I hoped would somehow disappear along with the miles
between here and there. They didn't.

So my words of wisdom:
Don't leave for the mission field thinking you'll be different once you're there.
If anything, these things about myself that I loathe have been magnified.
(and new ones added!)
Thankfully, I have a patient, loving God! (and husband!)

The recycling guy. Usually it's done with these carts
but sometimes you do see a horse-pulled cart.
---------------------------------------
I have also found that I love leading the ladies Bible study but that I suck at it. Yes, no kidding.
Studying is hard for me and wanting so bad to honor God's Word
sometimes feels overwhelming.
But in my weakness I did experience God covering for me. Giving me insight and scriptures that I wouldn't have had on my own. Being amazed by Him.
And week after week I realized how much I needed Him. It was worth it for that.

Our neighbor sweeping the sidewalks in front of her house.

A man mowing the grass. I hope you can see the mower. It's small and old.
However, this is not the usual. Most lawns are mowed with a lawn trimmer.
We have even seen the city guys mowing the lawn that way along big expanses of highway.

Another neighbor, across the street on the side of us. He is always outside doing work around his house or yard.
We liken him to my Dad. He must have the best kept place in the neighborhood and he does!

This is the garbage can! Their version of it anyway. The garbage men come here three times
a week. It's all gathered by hand, put in the road and then the truck comes by and
it's thrown in the truck. Nothing automatic about this.

Delivering propane. Much of the deliveries are made on motorcycles.
People also get their water jugs , take out food and groceries delivered this way.

We pretty much go to the grocery store every day or every other day. We look forward to it. We always walk. We had tried the larger grocery stores downtown. And while they may have a little bit more selection we didn't find that their prices are that much better. We liked this store. Lider is it's name. (Leader) We became known by the clerks there and though we couldn't say much we always got a smile and a few words.

And yes, Warren grocery shops too. Times have changed!

Not sure what he does with this truck but I thought it was cute and as soon
as he saw me ready to take a picture he got out and posed!

Studying for our Portuguese lesson. although we take the class together Warren is more advanced than I am. Today it was really a nightmare for me as we worked on telling time.
Oh, Jake, where are you when I need you?!

He's working on his homework. Counting and writing numbers. Don't get too smug.
It's not as easy as it looks. Unless of course you speak Portuguese!
And she checks for spelling too....

Laundry.
TaLisa is much taller than I so I am actually standing on a chair to hang up the clothes.
I will have a shorter line. You can count on it.

This has been home.
And it has been a good one.It's been a great 2 months.
What felt different and scary at first is now comforting to us.
We will miss this home and these people. But we feel the nudge to move on and besides...
the Rogers get home in 2 days and

they want their house back!

Side note: Brett, Rob, Jess and Amanda arrive on Friday and we couldn't be more excited. They will be in Foz until Tues. morning and then leave for Campo and Curtiba. From there they will go to Rio where we will meet up with them again. We are planning to stay in Rio for the month of Oct. We have return tickets to Foz on the 31st.

Please continue to pray about our visas.
Also that God will use us in Rio in spite of ourselves.

All of the pictures in today's post were taken today as we walked. That is how common of a sight it all is.

What's up?

I can't believe how fast time goes nor how little I have written lately!
Sorry about that.
I have kept up with Facebook and I am glad to see many of you there! :)

We're still having the same computer problems and Warren is using the lap top as I write this so no pictures with this post. We've had the computer fixed a couple of times with it doing the same thing within 20 minutes of use.... love/hate

For those of you holding your breathe,
waiting to hear of our next step.....

It's looking like our next home is Rio for at least the month of October. We only found out (from the Lord!) a couple of days ago. And though we cannot quite imagine leaving all these people we have come to know and love here in Foz do Iguacu - now that the decision is made we find ourselves excited to see what God has in mind for us in Rio.

Brett will arrive here (can you imagine my excitement!) at the Falls with Rob, Jess and Amanda on the 18th of this month. They will remain until the following Tues. when they will visit a couple of the other churches. Our plan is to leave on the 25th for Rio where they will fly in on the next day. The pastor from the Rio church is finding Warren and I a small apartment to live in while we are there and says he has many plans for us that he cannot share on the e-mail or the telephone!!!! Only in person! Most of you know that we have been to Rio 3 previous times and already love the church body there.

Going back in time - a couple of weeks ago we found out that not only do we have to leave Brazil in December we will also have to be out of the country for a year (we had thought 6 months) if we do not have another visa in place or in the process by then. We have decided to go after a volunteer visa (hopefully a two year) because that will be faster than seeking a more permanent one at this time. We are trusting that one will be granted to us as we don't believe that the Lord brought us through all of this only to go back home so soon. Of course, His ways are not our ways and so; however it turns out, we know that God has only His best in mind.

Having found this out we, of course, do not want to rent anything long term (besides we have no idea even where we would do that!) and feel it would be a good time to visit and spend time at some of the other churches. Maybe during this time God will reveal His plan to us.

I know that we are continually asking for prayer and we're not stopping yet!!!! We need Alex to find us a safe, affordable place to live while in Rio, provision for the expenses of the travel, someone to continue to teach us Portuguese, the visa process and that we would be quick and willing to do all that God has on His heart for us. We have felt the prayers of all of you during this transition and know that they have sustained us. We are very, very grateful. We also are so thankful for all of the e-mails, skype calls and facebook messages! They have helped tremendously to curb the homesickness!

Next time pictures and stories - I promise!

One month and Counting....

The houses across the street from us. I say houses because, even though
they have a common wall, they are owned by two different people.

Sorry that it has taken me so long to post something. We are still having problems with our computer. Yesterday we had a guy from church come over and in less than 5 minutes he had it up and running...

Only to have the very same problem 20 minutes after use again.

Technology - it's a love/ hate thing at this house!

Peanut: another love/hate relaltionship!

We have now been in Brazil for over a month. Looking back the time has flown by and has gone as slow as a turtle. I know, that doesn't make much sense but truly that is how it feels. We have enjoyed so much our time here in Iguassu Falls while at the same time missing so many things about our old life. It doesn't feel as if we have just gotten here and yet a month is a relatively short time in the scheme of things. And it's a long time yet until we plan to see those back home...

While the following pictures take you on yet another walk through our neighborhood I'll give you some insight into what we have discovered about ourselves since we are here, about our life here in Brazil and about our dreams.

I expected the first month to be harder than it was:

Now that is a good expectation to have not met!!!! We have missed people very much (and tears are still much closer to the surface than what I am comfortable with) but the change in life style,
the longings for the old life and the language barrier have not been as heavy as I had tried to warn myself they would be. Not that they aren't a challenge!

The language: We are having private lessons 5 days a week. Some of it has been interrupted, first by my health and then by our teacher's Grandmother's health. All in all we have ended up with about 2 1/2 weeks of lessons. On the whole it has been what I expected as far as "not an easy thing for me" but I am encouraged by the fact that I can read a little Portuguese now, (see Jake, I'm learning to read too!) remember more words all the time, and once in a while can understand the ideas of what someone is saying. The more I learn the more I see that it will not be a quick process for me to have the language down. Warren finds that discouraging for himself but then he had higher expectations of himself than I did! After many nights in a row of being around people that speak a different language you find yourself doing one of two things: either going home with a headache because you have strained so hard to understand and listen or totally zoning out. Just depends on the day and your mood.

Before you get the wrong idea, the people have been very gracious with us here. Sometimes it's just impossible to translate continually and beside, we are told we will understand alot faster if we persevere with the listening....

The food: We have tasted very little that we dislike! Actually have to be very careful that we are not continually eating as they are always wanting us to try new things! We do like the rice and beans but we are not into having it at every meal like they do! (they say it just doesn't feel like they have eaten without it!) Their food is not like Mexican food. It is more bland then even American food (not in a bad way though) They eat a lot of bread. I mean a lot! Most everything that you get here in Brazil has just a little bit of a different taste to it than what we would have in the U.S. even if it suppose to be the same thing.

Not bad, just different. (that's become my phrase about everything!)

At home I cook American like. It's just more comfortable to me since I've been doing it for so long and we get plenty of chances to try the Brazilian foods when we are out and about. I have also been able to make quite a bit of American things for guests at our home or to take places.
Cookies are especially well loved here. I have made choc. chip many times and last Thurs. tried Snickerdoodles. They loved those as well and there were mixed reviews on which is the best. (I would have voted the Snickerdoodles only because they tasted pretty much like the ones I make in the US while the Choc. chip taste somewhat different because of the ingredients here)

Now, join us for a church service in pictures as I continue on:

Warren, getting ready to teach, with KaKa (the translator)

Activies: We weren't here but a day or so when Warren took on the driving lessons. He's done well considering that some of the rules of driving are different here, most cars are standard transmission, and he didn't know where he was going. Put that together with the fact that the vehicle isn't ours and it could be a disaster! But God has been good. We were given much help in the beginning and now feel like Warren, at least, has a pretty good grip on the layout of the city and the traffic laws. I have not driven. I would if it were our car but decided to hold off chancing it with the Roger's vehicle. Cars are expensive here!!!! Sometimes it's a choice between that or a house for many people. The Rogers included. Besides I have no directional sense of North, East, South or West here. I can't understand that since I have always had a built in direction sensor! But here - no. I now sympathize with all of you that are directionally challenged!

Warren has been able to play Fotebol (which is soccer in the states). The young guys (in their 20's) get together on Tues. nights (at 10:30) and play together. From the beginning they invited Warren. He has enjoyed it and even was able to make a few goals. However, he came home last week with a torn muscle and limping. We'll see what this next week brings!

We have tried to do some painting in the Rogers home. Paint supplies, as well as the techniques, are very different here. We have not gotten far as we haven't had the weather to proceed. We are told that you can't paint (not even inside) when it's raining and that you have to have at least one day of sunshine to dry everything out before you do it. It also has to be so warm but not too warm.....you get the idea! We were hoping to paint tomorrow but now it has rained again today so we will see what our instructor has to say!!!!

I was just telling Warren yesterday how "unable" I feel most of the time. Even the things we feel most experienced in and able to do have now become "a learning experience". It's bad for a person's pride. Or good for it, depending on how you look at it!

We love the church body here. That alone could make it hard to hear the Lord if He desires for us to move from this place. We have made good friends. Before coming to Iguassu I had been disappointed to be going to a place where the missionaries themselves would not be. I felt needy of them to help us in the first few months. Warren and I were talking this past week about how, once again, we see God's hand in this direction. The church people have stepped up to the plate and we have formed relationships with them because of it, relationships that might not have been possible had we not been dependant upon them but rather Tim and TaLisa. Once again, God knew what He was doing. Imagine that!

Warren has been teaching the Sunday night church service. (they have church in the evening rather than the mornings) and I have been doing a Bible study for the ladies of the church on Fri. nights. We both have found ourselves to be really weak in this area of teaching and probably have felt the most needy of prayers. However, we have been blessed. Again, it has probably been more of a blessing for us than for the body here! They have a strong church leadership here with several able to teach and lead but once again God knew what Warren and I needed most. And this place has been a great training ground for us.

Our thoughts: we realize, seriously, more and more all time what a priviledge it is that the Lord would let us be here in Brazil. We are not feeling any regret in what we gave up. Sometimes we look at each other and say "can you believe we are actually here?!" The time proceeding us coming was definely harder than the first month here. We have not missed our things or even our home in Corvallis, which came as a surprise to me. Maybe that will come later. I don't know. I do look forward to the time, however, when we have our own place to call home. It has only affirmed the fact that I am a "nester".

We are not deceiving ourselves into thinking we have the adjustment made but rather just rejoicing in the fact that we have made it through the initial shock.

It was no surprise to us that we miss our family. What can I say about that except that you truly leave a part of yourself behind and nothing makes up for that. But I have determined that I will not be one that lives in continual unhappiness because of a longing to be with them. I will enjoy life here and look forward to some great vacation time! (I sometimes tell myself this out loud - stearnly!) Skype sure does help!!!!

And friends. We knew we would miss them but I guess we had no idea how much they are a part of our lives. From the very closest to the casual friendships in church - we miss you! I miss the deep conversations that can't happen with a language barrier. And I miss those that love me in spite of really knowing me. You know who you are! We miss having our small group and being real with each other. Praying for each other and seeing God work. We miss the familiar faces at church and work. We miss feeling connected. It feels far away to our other life.
That is hard.
It's no ones fault. It's just how it is.

Our dreams: [I don't say this lightly] we just don't want to miss out on God's best for us and whenever we begin to have ideas on what we would like it always comes back to that. We have come too far, done too much, to miss it now. Please pray for us in the next week as we ask God to reveal the next step. The time is getting closer to the Rogers family return and we still have no clue as to what we are to do. I must admit in the flesh I get panicy over this but then I am reminded of God's past faithfulness. What have I to fear?!


And for a final note. One of most importance. We haven't plugged the toilet up so we must be doing good to remember that the paper goes in the little garbage can beside it and not down the drain! It doesn't even gross us out anymore!!!

We must be adjusting.

Seven Good Years (with more to follow)!

all pictures by Jodi because my computer isn't working right and I can't access any of mine..... oh well, these are better anyway!

Josh,

Seven years ago you made the 2nd best
(2nd only to choosing Christ!) decision of your life.

You chose Jodi.

Our family has never been the same. And we are grateful!

We are overjoyed to watch the two of you together,
to see the love for one another displayed so openly.

And then we are continued to be blessed to see
that love expanded to include
the 4 grandchildren you've given us.
You guys are the best parents ever!

We prayed for you as a child.

We prayed for the woman you were to one day marry.

God has answered our prayers and we couldn't be happier!

Happy 7th Anniversary!

We love you both so much.

Wish we were there to babysit!