Catching Up

It is hard to believe that it has been one year since we were waving goodbye to our family and friends and eating cake with the Brazil flag on it.

With the Lord's mighty help, your prayers and love, we are surviving and often thriving here in northern Brazil.

Unfortunately, many of our household appliances have not been so fortunate. We have many manuals for appliances we no longer own. They have just simply stopped working, or beeped incessantly, or went up in smoke (literally); we blame the irregular power surges, frequent lightening storms, and the random 220 outlets in the house. You don't believe it? Check out this casualty list:

• 2 blenders
• 1 flat iron
• 1 blow dryer
• 1 microwave
• 3 fans
• 2 coffee makers
• 1 CD player
• 1 lamp
• 1 washing machine
  

Thankfully, our computer is still computing. Our camera had a Lazarusish experience: it sat broken for 6 months and then came forth, in perfect working order. A mystery wrapped in humidity.

Other recent events that have nothing to do with failure of electrical appliances include a trip as Tim, the only male chaperon on the junior high retreat to the beach side town of Salinas. Important details of the trip include: little sleep, lots of puffer fish caught by hand, crazy games, incessant rain, sand-boarding, swimming in the Lake of Coca Cola, and studying the book of Daniel. He was the driver of AVA's brand-new VW bus there and back...many hours of driving!

At any time of the day, we get a phone call or a holler across the campus for Stew to come quick! It usually involves rescuing an iguana from the neighbor's dogs, a tarantula caught, a toad the size of your head hopping on the side walk, or some other creature in need of our camera and Mr. Stewart's admiration and expertise. There is no shortage of critters in the Amazon.

Happy Easter! We brought a few dye kits with us last year so we could dye eggs Paas style. The only thing we didn't count on was how much water would condense on the eggs when we took them out of the fridge and hid them in the hot living room. The boys both had dripping dye all over their hands and clothes--beautiful rainbows everywhere.

Jill got a chance to be the speaker at the elementary chapel. She and Handboy spoke on 2 Samuel 9, regarding Mephibosheth and King David. All those years of Children's Church and Sunday school teaching came in handy! Just another Friday Night, kicking back to watch a movie, and out of the corner of our eye, we spotted a not-so-little visitor. Never a dull moment.


George turns six years old! Here we are getting the water bombs ready..click here to check out Jill's blog for a complete summary of the swimming event; including Woody the Woodpecker, a flying Finn, and his entire Kindergarten class!

During spring break, we took off for a few days to the city of Fortaleza. It was great to get away from the noise and rush of the big city and trade it for the noise and shops of a big ocean city.

Finn's chosen souvenir. He has written many songs already about our journey and adventures there. Maybe those Phil Keaggy concerts while he was in the womb are paying off?



We visited the mini-Grand Canyon of Brazil, called Morro Branco. The canyons boast 20 distinct colors of sand--from light pink to black. Very cool to see the creativity of God and his color wheel all in one area.

If you made it this far, thanks for sticking with us through this desultory entry, and thanks for your prayers!