Lockhart Life In Brazil

Pictures

2012-01-28T06:28:00.000-08:00

Last month we had some family pictures taken. I shared them on Facebook, but hadn't put them all up here yet. Our missionary friend, Omar, took them, and of course we were pleased with the results!

Bethany-age 4

Allie-age 6

Judah-age 2

Missionary Monday--Worms

2012-01-16T17:25:00.002-08:00

Real life missions...

Do you want to a deep, dark secret about the Lockhart household? ☺

I'm only telling you this because I know you'll understand that things are different where we live in Brazil and be sympathetic... remember it's not America. ☺

Ready...

We have Worms *just pretend I whispered that*

I know, I know it's embarrassing, but I read on the internet that one in four kids in the whole world have worms. That's a lot! So we're not so uncommon, right.

Don't ask me how I found out. You don't want to know. I'm not certain that *I* have them, but everyone else does. I'd rather not know if I do or not.

We're all taking some medicine to get rid of them, and we only have five more days left. We are also working on extreme sanitation in the Lockhart household.

1. Never put your fingers in your mouth.
2. ...or your nose.
3. Hand washing at EVERY opportunity.
4. Always wear shoes outside. (I wear flip flops from the time I get out of bed in the morning until I go to bed at night. I just can't get the floors quite clean enough!)
5. ...and you can just imagine the other rules (not quite appropriate for this blog ☺) we have had to lay down with our semi-brazilian two year old, four year old, and six year old...

How did we get them?

That's tough to tell. Since they are probably so rampant amongst children they could have simply come from shaking a little girl or boys hand and not washing our hands right away. It also could have come from something we ate that was contaminated... you never know.

The pharmacist labeled it as a vicious cycle. You can get rid of the worms, but the eggs are more difficult to get rid of. You must keep everything clean, keep hands washed after using the bathroom, etc. in order to keep the cycle from continuing and keep those eggs from getting in places they do not belong.

If you are just curious you can Google "pinworms" and find out more than you probably wanted to know. ☺

So I know it's been a long time since I've blogged, and I'll try to catch everyone up more on Lockhart news soon!

(The original idea for Missionary Monday {along with the cute button} came from this blog which I enjoy reading and recommend.)

Merry Christmas!

2011-12-24T12:25:00.000-08:00

"Mommy, Look it's Christmas!"

2011-12-04T10:33:00.000-08:00

"Mommy, why does Christmas just take sooo long to get here?" -Allie, age 5

"But when it gets here, it's gonna be fuuun!" {giggle, giggle} -Bethany, age 4

While pointing at the Christmas tree, "Mommy, look it's Christmas!" -Judah, age 2

I put on the lights and the ribbon, and then I just let the kids have full reign of decorating! They put stuff wherever they wanted. After they went to bed that night, I had fun rearranging! ☺

We sent the grandparents early Christmas kisses the other day!

Such little sillies! All we talk about these days is Christmas!

The day after Thanksgiving the tree went up and decorations started appearing here and there. I think I was a little late by Brazilian standards. My neighbor had already had her tree up for a couple of weeks! But of course, Brazilians don't have to wait until after Thanksgiving since it is an American holiday.

I had such fun decorating for Christmas this year. Last year the tree was my Christmas present, but all I had were a few balls to put on it. This year I got to add lights, snowflakes, berries, pinecones, and a tree skirt--thanks to my sweet mom that likes to send me packages full of goodies! ☺

I am just so happy with my pretty tree. Someday I'll have to show you the rest of my décor, but that is still a work in progress...probably until Christmas day! ☺

Our Advent Bowl

2011-12-02T17:17:00.000-08:00

In the mail a few weeks ago came this beautiful trifle bowl. It makes the regular 'ole desserts look beautiful, and when it isn't busy fulfilling it's dessert duties, I am repurposing it!

It held a beautiful little pumpkin during Thanksgiving, but now, it holds something better. At least that's what my kids think! It's our "advent bowl".

For a few years I have been wanting to do something to count down the days until Christmas. This year I found a perfect idea for us. I made teeny cardboard boxes, put the "prize" inside {which is generally a piece of paper telling about the activity they get to do} and wrapped them up!

Yesterday, being the first day of December... was the first day!

Can't you just feel the excitement!?

They unwrapped a baby Jesus and a manger. Grandma sent a Nativity set for the kids to play with, and I have been saving it for a couple of months for this day. They love it!

Allie loves telling the story. Mary and baby Jesus are the favorite pieces!

Judah just thinks it's the best thing in the world. Especially the camel and the palm tree!

I have different activities written down for each day. I'll tell them to you as long as you don't tell my kids, they are just dying to know. They want to unwrap them all TODAY!

Some of these will be repeats just in case your wondering why I don't have 25 things on here. ☺

1. Nativity set
2. Make hot (or cold) chocolate with whipped cream and Christmas sprinkles.
3. A special candy from America.
4. Make paper snowflakes with mommy.
5. Color a Christmas picture.
6. Do a random act of kindness.
7. Sing Christmas carols together.
8. Write Christmas cards to other missionaries.
9. Make a gingerbread house.
10. Skype grandparents.
11. Write Christmas cards to family.
12. Make special homemade ornaments.
13. Read a new Christmas story.
14. Have a picnic by the Christmas tree.
15. Decorate Christmas cookies.
16. Eat a candy cane.
17. Go out for ice cream.
18. Draw Christmas trees on our outside walls with sidewalk chalk.
19. Have a game night.
20. Make a special Christmas craft (or homemade play dough).
21. Watch a Christmas video.
22. Open one present early.

Well, Christmas is on it's way! The kids are ready. This advent thing works pretty well. For now, they have forgotten about the presents they'll get on Christmas, and they're just excited about finding out what they get to do each day. I think it will help pass the time!

Thanksgiving Nightfall Fun

2011-11-25T19:24:00.000-08:00

This is the video we sent to the grandparents last night. The kids were having fun playing on Thanksgiving night.

I'm pretty sure their rhyme in Portuguese is not exactly right, but you get the idea. :)

Also, if you want to see another family's version of our Thanksgiving, the Schrocks have posted pictures on their blog. I didn't take any pictures all day. I think I'll just have to steal theirs. :)

Although, I can't promise a Thanksgiving blog post anytime before December, this blog is definitely on my "to do" list during my vacation from language school!

And, just because I want to ramble for one minute. ALL of the fall décor came down tonight, and the Christmas tree is up with lights. Tomorrow, we decorate! :)

A Great Post

2011-11-09T18:24:00.000-08:00

Jolene Sloan is a missionary wife in Ukraine, and she wrote a great article entitled Surviving the New Adventure on her blog With Love From Ukraine. It is about what the first few years on the mission field are like for a missionary wife. Definitely well written and a must read!

Rats and other happenings...

2011-11-09T12:51:00.000-08:00

We've had an interesting couple of weeks with lots of activity! Each of these almost merit a post of their own, but since I'm always behind on what I want to post on my blog, I thought I'd just sum it all up in one long post. ☺

So, in no logical order here is a synopsis of the past two weeks.

~A family day at the park... too many pictures. ☺

Allie

Bethany

Judah

Such sweet kids.

Except for a couple of us being disheveled, this turned out to be a really good family picture--not to mention we used the timer and said 'hurry, hurry, look at the flashing red light and smile'!

~Tracy and I took a bus to central Cuiabá ALL BY OURSELVES for some shopping. We even got off at the right place the first time and didn't get lost! ☺

~We skyped with Ambassador Baptist College for their mission's conference, the college from which Jeremy and I graduated just a 'few' years ago.

~On Sunday afternoon Judah got his first stitches--it was a little bit shocking how much blood came out, but in the end it wasn't too bad. He's a tough little guy.

~Threw out FIVE DOZEN eggs on Sunday because they were molded! That was definitely a first!

~30+ mangoes from our tree cut up and put in the freezer for smoothies.

~We found a rat's nest in our 'shed' in the back yard with four newborn baby rats. Bethany kept looking at them and saying, "aww! there so cute!" she even held one by the tail after she saw William (the boy in the picture below) holding them. She cried when we let William have them. I guess she wanted some pets. ☺

~Bethany started K-4 ~ better late than never, right? More about her in a couple of weeks--her birthday is coming quickly!

And there you have it! The excitement never stops! Well, at least I think it's excitement, for some reason when you write it all out it doesn't seem to have quite the effect! ☺

We just had to get our picture taken...

2011-11-04T15:41:00.000-07:00

because we were both wearing purple. Bethany's favorite color!

Study Time

2011-10-26T18:46:00.000-07:00

I've seen a whole lot of this lately.

Portuguese study.

October was "my month" to learn Portuguese. Since I was so sick for the first year, we decided that it would be a good idea to go "all out" and for me to do double duty in school for a month to help me catch up a little. Jeremy did lots of cooking and cleaning, and I did lots of studying!

The month is coming to an end. Do I feel like I know Portuguese any better? Yes. But at the same time the more I learn the more I find out that I don't know!

Reality really hits when I look at my Portuguese/English dictionary, and on the English side of each page, I know, use, and can define about 42 out of the 45 words listed, but when I flip to the Portuguese side, I only know a handful of the words out of the list of about 45!

Learning a new language definitely is more difficult than I thought it would be, but I'm so thankful that with God's help it's coming! Finally!

I've learned that everything that I think to say in my head is always perfect, but the road from my head to my mouth is very long. It never seems to come out the same as it was thought in my head.

I've also learned that there is more than one definition of "knowing" another language. I can get around and communicate okay now. So, in that sense, I already "know" Portuguese. However, I'm not satisfied to speak with the grammar of a child, and if I want to be an effective help to my husband, I need to keep studying!

Happiness is a cup of coffee...

2011-10-17T10:49:00.000-07:00

Doesn't this pretty coffee mug just make you wish you liked coffee?

I think I would like to just fill it up and carry it around just to pretend!

Maybe one day I can pretend it's cold here and fill it up with some hot chocolate instead. :)

...and the notebook... doesn't it just make you want to write something in it?

Every year, about a month after my birthday, I receive a birthday present in the mail from one of our supporting churches in Virginia. Isn't that such a sweet idea!? I just thought you'd like to see this year's present. I think the mission's coordinator sends out the package on the date (or maybe during the week) of the recipient's birthday.

The present itself is simple, sweet and pretty. It didn't cost an arm and a leg. Shipping was a little bit costly, but the time and sentiments involved are priceless!

So, if you are from that church in Virginia, thank you so much for the present! I LOVE it! ☺

The Rain Begins...

2011-10-13T14:42:00.000-07:00

spring brings showers, out of the blue

startled legs scamper for cover
a good excuse for lovers to share umbrellas, embrace each other

finely sprinkles,fresh green shoots
caresses splendid,golden shows
leaves behind a parting gift
glorious rainbows.

summers cruel heat, stifling
leaves parched, cracked the ground
flowers hang their needy heads

fallen are scattered around

thunder rolls, sky darkens

clouds burst, rain dances beneath

nature drinks in greedily

breathes a sigh of relief

autumn rain chills the bones

swells the streams and rivers
clears the way, sows the seeds
of lofty life givers
muddy puddles appear,tempting
to booted children,lure them in
splish and splash! about laughing
mothers “tut!” but slyly grin

winter rain is ruthless

stinging cold wet faces
drives people to seek out warmth
dream of exotic places
dripping red noses,sniffle

icy blasts turn rain to stone
bouncing, the hail whitens
shivering, legs hurry home

Poem by Lynne Cannon

Mango Season Has Arrived!

2011-10-04T17:00:00.000-07:00

Everyone was excited to taste the first ripe mango of the season yesterday!

If we could just keep every kid in the neighborhood out of our tree (they like to eat them with salt before they are ripe), we MIGHT just have some more over the next few weeks. I LOVE having fresh fruit in our very own yard!

Grandma is with Jesus

2011-09-15T19:18:00.000-07:00

About seven months ago I asked you to pray for my grandma when we found out she had lung cancer. She had contracted pneumonia a couple of weeks ago and everyone thought she was recovering, but today she is looking into the face of Jesus.

Please pray for my grandpa, my parents, and the rest of the family.

Ever since I heard of her passing this song has been running through my head:

Heaven seems a little sweeter when I think of whom I'll meet,
What a glorious reunion that will be.
But far more than this reunion is the precious, blessed truth
Jesus Christ, my Lord and Savior I shall see.

I'm so thankful that although I am far away I do not have to mourn as others that have no hope, but I know that one day we can worship at the feet of Jesus together.

Our family sings in Portuguese!

2011-09-14T14:21:00.000-07:00

Jeremy and I have sung on different occasions in Portuguese at church, but the other night our whole family sang for the first time in Portuguese. All of the kids knew all of the words, but they didn't sing the whole way though. I was pretty proud of them though this being their first time.

Just thought you'd enjoy seeing it!

all about allie

2011-09-09T20:19:00.000-07:00

Allie loves...

crafting, helping, laughing, playing mommy, dress-up, tent-making, reading, lip stick, umbrellas, perfume, frilly dresses, tomatoes, raw carrots, gum drops, lollipops, popsicles, singing, kisses, swinging, teaching, tickles, Bible time...

Most commonly used phrase...

"For real?!?"

Allie is enjoying first grade although sometimes she'd "rather just play".

She is doing excellent in reading. She has started reading her Bible every morning by herself before school this week and is surprising me with the words she can read without help.

She is doing the Abeka video school again this year. It has been a huge blessing since Jeremy and I are still in language school. I feel like she is getting a quality education that I wouldn't be able to give her at this point in our lives.

{Photo credit: Omar Schrock}

Random conversations with Allie...

Allie said, "Mommy, I would like to see what "dog" tastes like. Just a little bite like the size of a brownie. But we don't really know how to kill a dog to eat it, do we?

Mommy said, "Yeah, maybe one day when we go to Korea we can see what dog tastes like, they eat it a lot there."

Allie, "Hey, that would be a good idea!"

*******************************

Allie loves to dress up and play princess. The other day she was all dressed up in her princess garb and with her "scepter" (really just a stick) tapped me on the head and said,

"I now crown you princess mommy".

Mommy exclaimed, "Wow, I'm a princess now?"

Allie questioned, "Would you like to be a princess?"

Mommy sighed, "Only if I can still be your mommy."

Allie decided, "Nah, you don't need to be a princess, you're prettier than a princess."

So sweet.

It made me smile. ☺

I love her. ♥

Judah Is Two Years Old!

2011-08-16T17:38:00.000-07:00

Sunday was Judah's birthday. I can't believe he's already two! I know, I know that's very cliché, but still... I can't believe he's two!

We kept things simple. We invited the Schrocks for Sunday lunch and afterwards ate cake. I'm not a cake decorator. I do the best I can. I really like to use candy and stuff to try and cover for my terrible decorating skills.

As I was frosting this cake at midnight on Saturday night {really--that's what mommies do sometimes} the frosting was just kind of sliding off. It was really still that hot in my house! That's okay though. I crushed some {pseudo} oreo cookies to cover the sides, and thought the top had some 'character'. ☺ At least Judah liked it!

He looks like a pretty happy two year old...don't you think?

I thought it would be great fun to have some sparkle candles, but of course they didn't light right away, and I didn't think about him not being able to blow them out. {I guess that's where the blonde in me shows though. ☺}

Judah liked the sparks at first, but then decided they were a little bit too much for him.

Bethany was mesmerized...

And then we all sang "Happy Birthday" to him. And since he mostly hears it in Portuguese he thinks everyone should clap as they sing.

He was also showing off his shirt all morning in Sunday School. He was very proud of it!

And I bet you can't guess what he has been doing nonstop since he received his birthday present...

He absolutely LOVES it. For the past few months he has been "riding" anything he can find. We 'had' a little toy ironing board for the girls, and he would flip it over and "ride" it {until he broke it--and no we didn't 'let' him do that, but not all children are perfectly obedient all the time just in case you weren't sure ☺}.

Pawpaw and Grandma heard about the ironing board dilemma, and wanted to give him a tricycle... and we are all very thankful! ☺

He had a fun day and thoroughly enjoyed being "Birthday Boy" for the day!

I am thoroughly enjoying my sweet little boy. I realized the other day that he is the first two year old I've had without having a newborn.

I realize that I promised to tell you what we all have been up to, and I only have written about Jeremy and me. I know you are all waiting with bated breath to hear about the kids. Some day. Maybe this week. We'll see. ☺

Escola Bíblica de Férias (VBS)

2011-08-08T13:20:00.000-07:00

Last week we were busy helping out everyday with Vacation Bible School here at the church. I'm going to do a pretty quick run-down of it all. If you want more details I'll give a list of others that have blogged about it at the end of this post.

The week was great! The last day there were 95 kids in attendance and 10 were saved. Lawanda Duarte did an excellent job with the Bible story each day, and she was able to lead these kids to Christ on Friday after VBS was over.

Jeremy was in charge of the singing.

"Bible Vacation School" was all Allie and Bethany talked about all week. {Allie kept getting "Vacation" and "Bible" mixed up.} They memorized the Bible verses each day to win a prize that "Mr. Daniel" {the intern from Ambassador Baptist College} brought from America. I was a proud mommy...they even said the verses in Portuguese!

Allie and Bethany generally sat with the girls on the front row. I was one of the helpers on their team.

Jeremy and I in our matching t-shirts.

One day we got all of the kids to get a picture outside of the church gate. {10 points to anyone that can find Allie and Bethany in this picture--I only can because I knew where they were standing. :)}

Lawanda teaching the Bible story on the last day. Ha! I just now noticed that you can see Bethany in this picture too!

It just so happened that my birthday fell on the last day of VBS. Since my 'sweet' husband was in charge of singing he made a special sign for me to come and hold. It says, "Today is my birthday. Sing "Happy Birthday" for me, please."

Listening to them sing to me.

Each day after VBS was over we would have a special treat. On my birthday a lady in the church made a huge birthday cake for the kids for my birthday.

And there were lots of kids...

It was a great week, and we enjoyed seeing all of the kids come to be involved in VBS and we were so thankful to be a small part.

If you want to see more pictures and read more about it:

Lawanda Duarte's blog

Jessica Lima's blog

Schrock's blog

Daniel Bishop's blog

*A special thanks to Omar Schrock for the pictures in the post. My camera card reader is having technical difficulties at the moment. ☺

It's My Turn

2011-07-19T20:03:00.000-07:00

I went to the doctor last Monday, and my last and largest ulcer (which was also the first to appear) has finally completely closed up. It took a LONG time. The appointment on Monday made 129 days since I had first gone to my doctor for the ulcer. My next appointment isn't for two whole months! What am I going to do with all that extra time!?!

We took pictures of the progress all along the way. They are rather gruesome, but I thought I would let you see them if you REALLY want to. Be forewarned though, I didn't look at my leg until it had healed up quite a bit. The doctor had me keep it wrapped up when I was at home for fear of infection, and I couldn't handle looking at it in the doctor's office when it was about to be cleaned...oh, the pain!

Here's the link for all of you brave souls! ☺

The Lord has answered many prayers in our lives concerning this. When the doctor looked at my leg last Monday he said almost under his breath, "Who would have ever thought that it would close without a skin graft?"

I am so thankful for this very specific and positive answer to prayer.

Also, another answer to a prayer concerning my health is the status of my colitis. I say this cautiously as ulcerative colitis is know to flare up without warning, BUT I am better now than I have been in over 2 years! I still am not in complete remission, but I am well on my way. Please continue to pray that I won't have anymore set backs.

I am hoping that I am seeing the light at the end of a tunnel (hopefully it's not a train! ☺). The Lord has blessed so much in our lives here, and although I wouldn't trade what I have learned from it all, I also wouldn't mind if everything were smooth sailing for a while so that I can concentrate better on learning Portuguese.

When I first came to Brazil I determined that my theme verse was going to be Psalm 100:2a "Serve the LORD with gladness..." I had no doubt there would be struggles here waiting for us. I knew that life would be totally different and not as easy, but I was determined to face the struggles with joy and gladness and to be thankful for what I might need to learn through all that was sent my way.

I was prepared in my mind for some of the things that we have had to face--language struggles, cultural struggles, being nervous about the safety of my children, the prospect of being robbed at any time, and many other things, but I think health struggles were probably not on that list.

To be honest...not every moment during this past year and four months have been spent in gladness for all of our struggles. At times, I've been discouraged and frustrated, but I think this past problem with the ulcers has changed me much more than anything.

When we realized that the ulcer on my leg was more than just a "little sore" and more were appearing, I realized then that God was going to use this in my life to change me.

I was reminded recently of Philippians 1:6 "Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ." I am so thankful that I can rest assured of God's hand in my life. When we don't understand what is going on or why, we can look to God and know that his hand is guiding us and loving us the whole way. We can be sure that He means it for our good and His glory! He desires for us to be more like Him.

Have you ever read the book "Hinds Feet On High Places" by Hannah Hurnard? It's definitely worth the read!

For years I had kept this poem in my Bible. It's such a good reminder.

My life is but a weaving between my God and me,
I do not choose the colors, He worketh steadily.
Oftimes He weaveth sorrow, and I in foolish pride,
Forget He sees the upper, and I the underside.

Not till the loom is silent, and shuttles cease to fly,
Will God unroll the canvas and explain the reason why.
The dark threads are as needful in the skillful Weaver's hand
As the threads of gold and silver in the pattern He has planned.
~Author unknown~

Well, I usually don't write like this on my blog, and this has become rather lengthy. But the Lord has done many things in my life over the past year to draw me closer to Him, and I figured since "it's my turn" to tell you what has been going on in my life recently, I thought I'd just elaborate on it a little.

I know the things that I've struggled with here are nothing in comparison to what others of you have faced and are facing, but I just wanted to tell you a little bit about how God has used these circumstances in my life. I still have so much to learn, and each day I see so many more areas in which I need to grow. I am so thankful that God cares for me and desires to use me in spite of my weaknesses!

All About Jeremy

2011-07-13T18:22:00.000-07:00

I thought one by one I'd catch everyone up on our lives here in Brazil. Since I went so long without blogging I know some of you are on the edge of your seats wanting to know what all we have been doing. Right?

I figured the best place to start was with Jeremy, since he's the best looking. ☺

Before the Schrocks arrived in Brazil, Jeremy worked several days getting their house as ready as possible for them, and then for the first few weeks he took them shopping to buy all of the things that they needed to get their home set up.

He also has had several opportunities to translate for Daniel Bishop (an intern from Ambassador Baptist College that has been spending the summer with the Duartes) and Omar. Jeremy has done amazingly well with this. But I'm not surprised. Everything he does turns out well. ☺

Daniel {preaching} and Jeremy {translating}

He also was asked to teach a class at the church kids camp about an hour away. The camp is run by Peter Doolittle. Jeremy taught the junior boy's class. If you want to see more pictures of the camp, Omar and Tracy posted some on their blog.

We spent three days there, and had a great time getting to know several people and helping out where ever we were needed.

We left most of our books back in America, but the ones that we did bring didn't have a 'place'. This was about to drive both Jeremy and I crazy, so Jeremy "made" some free time to build a pretty bookshelf to house our books.

See what I mean by not bringing many books. What you see is what we have. But that's okay - we're supposed to be studying Portuguese, not reading English books all the time, right?

Didn't Jeremy do such a nice job. He's such a sweetheart. ♥

When Omar and Tracy came to Brazil we took a few weeks off of language school to help them get settled. Then, when it was time to start school again, our language school teacher was sick for a couple of weeks. I think the break from intense school was good for both of us. Now we are back in language school full swing, and much of our day is consumed with study.

Because Jeremy's Portuguese is improving so well, he has had several opportunities to witness to people when we have been out and about. Our pretty, little white kids attract much attention while we are out, and several times recently they have caused good opportunities for sharing the gospel.

Jeremy was also given a nice compliment on Monday when we were at my doctor for a checkup on the ulcer on my leg. We were sitting in the waiting area, and sitting in front of us was a wealthy couple that worked with exporting meat from Brazil to other countries.

After talking with them for a few minutes they asked where we were from. They, of course, figured out pretty quickly that I was an American, but they were surprised that Jeremy was an American too. This was a compliment because they couldn't tell where he was from right away from his accent and speech. I'm so proud of him! ☺

Stay tuned for more family updates...

My Favorite Person

2011-07-12T19:52:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was our wedding anniversary. Yes, I know...it's hard to believe that it's been 8 years! I know it's so cliché and everyone says it, but where has the time gone? It goes so quickly!

This has been the best 8 years of my life, and I've enjoyed every minute that I've spent with my wonderful husband. It just gets sweeter as the years go by. He's the best. Really. ☺

We celebrated simply this year. He took me out to a fancy Churrascaria (Brazilian BBQ restaurant), and we spent a quiet time there enjoying each other's company sans children (thank you Omar and Tracy ☺).

We intentionally had our picture taken on this bench at this restaurant because last year for our anniversary we came here as well. I just wanted to compare the pictures.

July, 2011

July, 2010

Someone has gained a little bit of weight...ahem... ☺ (It also looks like that alligator is about to eat me in that second picture. Ha!) I think I've probably gained about twenty pounds since that picture was taken last year!

I'm actually very happy about this and have some good news about my ulcers that maybe I'll post about in the next day or two.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

♥ Happy Anniversary to my favorite person in all the world! ♥

Chocolate Rolls

2011-07-08T09:08:00.000-07:00

I don't pretend to be a wonderful cook. I wish I were, and I try my best, but in the end I think I'm just average! BUT, every once in a while I find a good recipe which makes everyone else 'think' I'm a good cook.

Well, around our house we love cinnamon rolls. My favorite recipe is from the Money Saving Mom website. I usually end up making them about once a week.

Well, I've had it in my had it in my head for quite some time to make some "Chocolate Rolls" with the same recipe, and they turned out delicious!

I made the bread dough the same way (I don't have a bread machine, so I just kneaded them by hand and rolled them out), then when I rolled the dough out I put a chocolate concoction on it instead of the brown sugar, cinnamon and butter.

Here's the recipe for the chocolate concoction that I made up.
1 cup chocolate
3 T. butter
1/3 cup sugar
2 t. cinnamon

Melt and mix together and spread on dough. Roll it up and cut it into rolls just like normal.

We tried them once with the icing on top and once without. The icing made them veeery sweet, so if you have quite the sweet tooth you would prefer them this way. They were also very good without the icing. You really can't go wrong with chocolate, right!?!

Let me know if you try this and what you think.

Dispensable Workers?

2011-07-07T18:22:00.000-07:00

Oh, I can't look! I just want to cover my eyes!

Almost every time we go out I see this--men on ladders, up against power lines, with a couple of little cones sitting at the bottom of their ladder, with hundreds of cars driving by at full speed within feet of their ladders.

Wouldn't you like to work for the city of Cuiabá? Yikes! Not me! Pretty scary!

Our Independence Day

2011-07-07T14:47:00.000-07:00

I promise I'm trying to get back into blogging. We had gotten ourselves out of our regular routine for quite a few months for several reason, but now I 'think' things are getting back to normal around here (whatever that is! ☺) So, please don't abandon me. I really don't mean to let a month pass between posts...really!

Anyway, we had a great Independence Day, and I thought you'd like to see some pictures. We usually go out to Peter and Zirlene Doolittle's house for a celebration with all of the missionaries in the Cuiabá area. This year we ate at the camp that they are in charge of, which is on the same property as their house.

Everyone pulled their resources and creativity, and decorated a beautiful table.

Uncle Peter (so-called by my children) manned the grill along with some help from Pastor Raehl.

Bethany sat in the kitchen with the ladies hoping for a slice or two of cheese to snack on before the meal.

All of the ladies stood around in the kitchen preparing the food.

The men sat around the fire trying to keep warm (it was freezing!)...and obviously they were enjoying some story that Jeremy was telling.

Time to eat! Pastor and Mrs. Raehl waiting to pray and eat.

Most of the kids knew the Star Spangled Banner, so we gathered them all together to sing for us after we ate.

Omar and Tracy, Johnathan and Mahalia were there...

The kids all enjoyed some sparklers.

Allie kept hers as far away as possible.

Bethany was intrigued by hers.

Such fun!

After the sparklers were gone, we all enjoyed fireworks.

It was such fun to spend the evening with friends and just relax (although it's kind of hard to 'relax' when you're shivering ☺). We are so thankful for our home country of America and grateful for those who sacrificed to give us the religious freedom that we have there so we can come here and share the gospel to Brazilians that have never heard.

Hopefully soon I'll have another update on our lives...stay tuned...I'm trying. ☺

The Maternity Ward

2011-06-11T19:19:00.001-07:00

This business of having babies in the Lockhart household is serious...especially when Dr. Bethany is on duty! I'm sure if you wanted her to deliver your baby she could make an appointment with you. ☺

In the midst of it all...

2011-06-05T07:14:00.000-07:00

Some people have been asking where I've been. Well...

I've been dating my husband on the Coxipó bridge. ☺

Picking up our friends from the airport...

Getting our picture taken with them... ☺

Meeting their newest family addition...

Eating supper with them...

Thoroughly enjoying a special treat from the America...

Playing in the water to keep cool...

Fighting off strange looking caterpillars...

Swinging in the hammock...

Babysitting...with a little helper or two...

Being awestruck by a cute little boy....

That I think will always melt my heart...

And laughing with a couple of little girls...

And in the midst of it all, I still get a few hours of sleep at night...sometimes.☺

So, I just thought I'd let you know that sometime in the near future regular blogging will commence once again. We hope. ☺

It's a "Fish" Thing

2011-05-07T19:16:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago when I was in the "heat of the battle" of this leg ulcer problem, several of the ladies of the church volunteered to bring our family lunch each day. This happened for THREE WEEKS! It was such a huge blessing to know that I really could get some extra rest and know that my family was being fed well at the same time {Jeremy will be the first to admit that he doesn't do too well in the kitchen. :-)}

One of the ladies that volunteered was Arjemira. She volunteered for Sunday lunches because she always makes a big meal for her family on that day. The first meal she brought for us was fish. Where we are in Brazil fish is "it". Everyone here loves fish, but for no real reason I had not had any real "Brazilian Fish" here yet.

Maybe we were just extra hungry that Sunday, maybe we were just excited about getting fish, but without a doubt that was the best fish I had ever tasted. That day Jeremy said, "You have got to get her to teach you how to make fish like that!"

So, Thursday was the day. Jeremy had asked her where she bought her fish and what kind she got. He went to the store and bought two large fish {which, just for your information, is a lot cheaper per kilo than the price of beef is right now :-)} One day I'll take a picture of the place where he bought it. I didn't go, but from the road it looks like a thatched roof shack on the side of the road...very interesting.

Anyway, he bought the fish and asked Arjemira if she could come and spend a couple of hours teaching me how to prepare and cook it.

I wish I would have taken more pictures of the process, but I'm afraid my camera is on it's last leg. It is literally falling into "pieces." These pictures took a few tries to get a decent one. Please forgive... We already have a new camera that should arrive soon, so hopefully this one will not completely die before the new one gets here.

Arjemira...love her sweet, giggly personality. Her laugh makes me laugh. She's always so sweet, and she is definitely at home in the kitchen.

It was interesting trying to figure out exactly what things she needed. She would ask for a certain type of bowl or pan, and I know general names of things, but when it comes to more specific type bowls...I've not yet learned them. I guess I need to take my language school teacher through my kitchen and ask her to tell me the name of everything.

{Here is Arjemira breading the fish getting it ready for frying.}

{The fried fish...again, sorry for the blurry picture}

{We also made stewed fish. I think this type is our favorite.}

She made it all look so simple. She chopped the fish's head off and went down it's body. When she cooked it, she threw in the head and all. There's a saying here that if you eat the fish's head you'll always return... so, of course, we HAD to eat the head too.

{the head... :-)}

I know what you're thinking... Did you really eat the head? Well, Jeremy ate the head. I took a bite. Jeremy ate an eyeball. I didn't.

Interesting. I'm sure it's all in my head {ha!}.

I'm sure everyone here probably cooks their fish differently, and I know I'll want to have more people to show me how they make theirs, but I just can't imagine anything better than this!

Just as with every Brazilian meal, we made beans and rice to go with it and also made some manioc, (which is almost like a fibrous potato...very Brazilian) which I've had often, but had never actually made it myself.

So, the whole day went well. I learned how to make fish {hopefully :-)}, I practiced my Portuguese {which I hadn't been able to do much because of not being able to go out of my house much}, my house was clean shortly after lunch was over, AND I even took a short nap.

{Our delicious Brazilian meal-plus the fish head on Jeremy's plate.}

We enjoyed our meal so much that yesterday when Jeremy went out to town to pick a few things he picked up another fish. He really wants me to make sure I get plenty of practice at this "fish" thing. This time he didn't get it scaled and cleaned. He asked Pastor Antonio (who is a pro) to come over and show him how to clean and gut this particular fish.

So...you can only guess what we had for lunch again today. :-)

Recent Happenings

2011-05-07T11:45:00.000-07:00

Just thought I'd share a few updates about some of the things that have been going on around here.

Remember when I blogged a few weeks ago about the Schrock family and their visas? Well, they were approved shortly after I posted that, and now we only have TWELVE more days until they arrive! We are counting down the days! We are all so excited!

My ulcers on my legs are all healing very well. The smaller ones are basically better and the largest one is healing better than the doctor expected. He said at the last appointment that it looks like a skin graft will not be necessary.

I had started out with 120mg of prednisone and am now down to 40mg. I have gained a little bit of weight from it and my face is still swollen, but I am feeling really well. It's okay, I've always wondered what I'd look like with a little bit of weight on me, and plus everyone here tells me how "beautiful" I look--they all thought I was waaay too skinny before. :-)

I also am able to get out of the house again since I am on a "normal" dosage of prednisone! Last Sunday was my first time in church for almost two months, and I was able to go grocery shopping last week. I don't think I've ever enjoyed the grocery store so much! :-)

Jeremy has been spoiling me a little bit by taking me shopping just to get out of the house some. It's so much fun to be getting back to normal...whatever that is. :-)

I made some brownies last night and put a cookie sheet underneath the pan while they baked, and guess what, they turned out perfect! Yay!!! Thanks for the tips! Hopefully, it will work just as well every time!

I spotted some little girls sleeping like this the other night and thought it was so sweet. I love to watch my kids sleep...so peaceful.

I also spotted Judah walking around in daddy's shoes last night. Doesn't everyone have to get a picture like this sometime?
These kids were peeking in our gate this morning at Allie and Bethany playing in the yard. We invited them in to play too. We had such fun!
This little girl is growing up way too fast! I think she's beautiful...don't you?

The Popsicle Man

2011-04-29T20:22:00.000-07:00

Easter Sunday after church and lunch found the whole family outside playing and enjoying each other's company.
One of the kid's favorite place to relax lately is in our hammock on the porch.
And wouldn't you know that right in the middle of all of the fun we heard the Popsicle Man's car driving up our street!

We hadn't yet revealed this "secret" to the kids because...well, you know how smart kids are! They will always recognize the sound of his car and beg for a popsicle from here on out. He usually drives by in the middle of the kids nap time, and if we want to get them a treat we can buy some popsicles, and when the kids get up from their naps they have these popsicles that appeared out of "nowhere"!

I guess sooner or later, though, all parents want their kids to have the opportunity to join the fun, and so when the Popsicle Man's car was coming up our street on Easter Sunday, we decided that today was the day!

Jeremy gave each girl a coin, and they ran up to his car and asked for one package of popsicles. His popsicles are really cheap only $1 Real(which is about $.60) for a pack of 5. Allie and Bethany each bought a pack of popsicles and the dripping fun began--it was a very hot day!

This isn't the best video in the world. It was one of those "Hurry, grab the camera and get this on video!" type things, but I thought it was cute when Bethany discovered what she had just bought. {Jeremy had told them how to ask for the popsicles in Portuguese, and they didn't understand what they were asking for.}

And some pictures of the sweetness...

Notice the dripping down Judah's arm...such a sticky mess. :)

Bethany didn't get in the popsicle pictures for some reason, but rest assured she enjoyed hers as well!

Calling All Culinarians

2011-04-27T16:25:00.000-07:00

So Missionary Monday didn't happen this week. I had a nice, long post on a super, interesting topic planned (at least that's what I thought about it), but I lacked time! Mondays are a little difficult, and I'm kind of embarrassed about it too because I'm using someone else's idea. Do yo think that's tacky? I think I might try to be a little more original. {I guess I shouldn't ask you for help if I want to be "original", but I am. ☺}

I need some help with another idea- it doesn't have to be a "day" of the week, necessarily...how about just a catchy title that I could use. I thought about "Missionary Moments", but I don't know, it's a little too close to "Missionary Monday". I know some of you have great imaginations and can do a great job thinking up interesting titles. I'd love to hear your thoughts on this. Please help me brainstorm.

Also, I need your help in another area. Before I came to Brazil I always had an electric stove/oven. Here in Brazil, it is gas. I can't seem to "get" it. If I bake chicken or potatoes or something like that everything turns out fine, but when I bake cakes, pies, brownies, etc. half of it usually comes out a little on the burnt side on the bottom.

No matter how many times I rotate it, move it to the top rack, put it in the back of the oven, etc., etc., etc., almost without fail half of the bottom generally turns out more "done" than I like. It's still edible, just not as good as the other half...and kind of embarrassing. ☺ Any suggestions??? Anyone else ever had this problem? I'm counting on some of you culinarians to strengthen my cooking abilities!

This is kind of a random post on things I usually don't blog about, {especially when I'm supposed to be cleaning my house and studying Portuguese} but I figured my blog has been on the desolate side for a while now and needed a little bit of endearment. ☺

Easter Sunday At Our House

2011-04-25T14:35:00.000-07:00

We had a fun Easter Sunday at our house.

It all started with a special request for some Brown Sugar Biscuit Twists for breakfast from Allie.

The girls got dressed up in their new Easter outfits.

Judah had to wear a yellow shirt to match for pictures. :)
Bethany is so silly here, and I love that I had told Judah to smile for the picture...and he did!!!
Easter hats from Paw-paw and grandma in America.
posing...
more posing with the hats...
The girls at church.

Judah and his friend Joshua matched for Easter Sunday...so cute. It worked nicely for a picture.
I still had not been cleared to be around crowds of people for fear of possible secondary infections from the high doses of steroids, so I didn't get to go to church on Easter. But I did get all dressed up for a picture with the family. :)
And just in case you did a double-take when you looked at this picture (like I did :). Yes, I have gained some weight from the prednisone and that's okay!

We had a special lunch of pork loin and mashed potatoes (I tried to find a ham, but couldn't. It doesn't seem to be very a popular food item here in Brazil). For dessert, I made a chocolate cheesecake. The kids were more interested in the candy that grandma sent them with their Easter baskets from the States, that's okay...I don't have to share. :)

So thankful that I serve a living Savior and that He lives within my heart!

Missionary Monday

2011-04-18T13:45:00.000-07:00

If I belittle those whom I am called to serve, talk of their weak points in contrast, perhaps, with what I think of as my strong points; if I adopt a superior attitude, forgetting "Who made thee to differ? And what hast thou that thou hast not received?" then I know nothing of Calvary love.

~Amy Carmichael~

On an African Safari...With My Horse

2011-04-17T11:12:00.000-07:00

Love his look...
Victorious over the giraffe!

Play Dough with a Side of Chocolate

2011-04-16T06:44:00.000-07:00

A while back we made homemade play dough. The kids loved it! It was a huge batch. The only problem was that it was a little on the doughy side. Every time the kids would play with it we would have to scrape up the remains from the table and floor just because it was so sticky!

Then I had a bright idea one day when I was making some homemade bread and the girls wanted to knead some dough along with me to give them some play dough with flour and let them "knead" the play dough.

{sorry that all of the pictures are crooked}

They all enjoyed it so much and mommy got lots done in the kitchen in the meantime!
I guess, though, in the end clean-up time with or without the flour was about the same. The flour just kept them occupied longer, so THIS time clean-up time with the flour was well worth it, AND the play dough didn't stick to everything it touched!
And here's the picture that needs a little more explanation. This little girl has gotten into the habit of coming in the house and shedding her clothes...everyday! I can't keep her dressed. She always say, "Mommy, I'm too hot, can I take my clothes off?" What do I say to that? The poor child is hot...I know, 'cause I am too. Who can blame her? :) So, this is her "in the house" attire {smile}.

Guess who got a 'sweet' surprise today! I received an email this afternoon from my friend Jessica Duarte {also my neighbor} telling me that at our little grocery store in our little bairro {neighborhood} was selling imported chocolate...not just ANY chocolate, but REESE'S! I promptly sent Jeremy to check it out and this is what he returned with...
It's not even a big grocery store! It's just a plain Jane place that just happened to have some delicious yummies! I don't think this will be a regular occurrence around here, but for today I will {have already :)} enjoy. Jessica said maybe it's an Easter thing...maybe so...we'll just enjoy Easter! :)

Missionary Monday--The Schrock Family

2011-04-11T17:22:00.000-07:00

I haven't really mentioned much about this on my blog, but when the LORD called us to Brazil there was also another family that the LORD called to work in Brazil around the same time. The LORD has definitely led us to work together as a team to reach Brazil for Christ.

The Schrock family has completed deputation, their visa paperwork, and much of their packing. Now they are only waiting to hear back from the Brazilian consulate in the States on the approval of their visas. It has been 12 weeks since they applied!

Please pray that they will be approved very soon as they had actually hoped they would be here by now and settled in. We are as ready as can be on this side. They have a pretty little rented house waiting for them. The approval of the visas could take up to six months according to the consulate, but we are all holding on to hope that it will take less. We received ours after three months of our initial application. Of course, we all know that God's timing is perfect...but we are all excited about having our friends and coworkers here!

Above the Bright Blue Sky

2011-04-06T19:47:00.000-07:00

There's a Friend for little children,
Above the bright blue sky,

A Friend who never changes

Whose love will never die;

Our earthly friends may fail us,

And change with changing years,

This friend is always worthy

Of that dear name he bears.

-Albert Midlane

Health Update

2011-04-05T07:46:00.000-07:00

Another update on the condition of my ulcers/health. Thank you so much for your prayers through this time. God has been so good to us!

Dear Friends and Family,

Today we went for another doctor's appointment to clean the ulcers on Esther's legs and check on their improvement. They all are healing very well, and as of today the doctor told Esther to begin to lower her dosage of prednisone a little bit. Please pray that healing will continue just as before and not decrease because of the lower dosage of steroids. Although there have been minimal side effects from the steroids, we are thankful that Esther has been getting plenty of sleep whether it be at night or nap time and that she has been able to keep from getting any secondary infections. She is in good spirits and looks forward to getting back to full strength. The pain from the ulcers is minimal to none now which is a big change from a few weeks ago! Thank you for your words of encouragement and continued prayers for our family. The LORD has been so good to us through all of this, and we just can't thank Him enough! I Thessalonians 5:24 "Brethren, pray for us." We have without doubt felt upheld by the prayers of so many of you around the world! Thank you for giving of your time to pray!

With Grateful Hearts,
Jeremy and Esther Lockhart

Missionary Monday--Water

2011-04-04T19:30:00.001-07:00

One of the things that we have to face where we live in Brazil is keeping up with our water supply. I've written a little bit on this before, but thought I'd just talk about it again since this past weekend we had a little bit of water problems.

To start off...let me explain a little bit about how we get our water. We have a water tank behind our house that stands on a very high pedestal. This tank fills every other morning from the city water lines. The water to our house is gravity fed from this tank.

We also have a larger water tank on the ground that has a pump connected to the large water tank on the pedestal. If we happen to run out of water in the tank on top all we have to do is plug in the pump, and we have water again.

The city gives water where we live every other morning. The city turns on the water for a few hours then, and our tanks usually fill to overflowing. We generally get by pretty easily with just the water tank on the pedestal even though every once in a while we end up needing to pump water at the end of the second night.

Well, OUR water problem began a couple of months ago when Jeremy had some boys come and help with some yard work around the house and cleaning of our front porch. Our bottom water tank ended up getting some filthy buckets dipped into it and was unusable for "pumping" purposes. We haven't really missed it at all. I've just made sure that I was careful about how much water I use/waste, and we only have had a problem one other time.

We have been 'meaning' to clean it out, but if you've been following our life lately, circumstances just haven't been 'conducive' to cleaning out a water tank that we really haven't missed that much anyway...until this past weekend.

I guess the city is having water problems. I don't know the reason, but on Sunday morning when we were supposed to get our tank nice and full of water, it didn't happen. We ran out of water that morning and went most of the day without it. Finally, around 6:30 that evening the city gave water. I'm still not very smart when it comes to things around here and the first thing I did was start the washing machine...not smart! I was thinking our tank would fill up (usually they overflow with water when filling up so it's smart to start the washing machine--or USE water while the city is GIVING water so that I can get that much more in my tank on top...does that make sense?) Well, this time that WAS NOT a good idea. Obviously, we just got enough water to have some until the next available opportunity because we ran out again pretty quickly.

Today we thought we would take advantage of the inconvenience and just get the bottom tank cleaned out. So that is what Jeremy did all evening. Sooo, now we have a very clean bottom tank waiting for tomorrow morning when we are ALL praying the city is back on track with the water.

In the morning, Jeremy may even climb up to the top tank and clean that one out as well. After that we can just pump our clean water from our clean bottom tank to the clean top tank and be back in business once again!

Please don't think I'm complaining, because I'm not. On the contrary it only makes me that much MORE thankful for the things that God has given. This is NOT the 'norm' for us. We usually have no struggles with this at all! Just as in my Candle Light Family Night post, I know that other missionaries on other fields have much harder struggles than we do. I just wanted to let you know some of the things that we occasionally face and have 'watch out' for here. And actually what fun would the mission field be if everything were always comfy-cozy. :)

This also makes me thankful for the LIVING water that John speaks of to the Samaritan woman. We may run out of water in our home occasionally making things a little uncomfortable, but our discomfort should serve as a reminder that there are souls all around us that need the LIVING water of God's Word.

John 4:14 "But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up unto everlasting life."

FYI--we DO have some water that we have reserved for toilet flushing from our dirty water in our bottom tank. Just in case your wondering about the state of the bathroom through all of this. :)

...and just because this post needs more pictures...

Here are my pretty girls...

Judah

2011-04-03T08:53:00.000-07:00

This little boy melts my heart... Look at how big he's getting!
His first lesson in sit ups...taught to him by the best.

Candle Light Family Night

2011-03-28T18:40:00.000-07:00

It doesn't happen too often where we live in Brazil, but every once in a while we lose power for a few hours for one reason or another. Tonight was one such night. Sitting at the table... contemplating what to make for supper...the lights flicker...no, no, please, nooo...dark. :) It gets dark pretty early here now. We are going into the "fall" months.

I really am a spoiled missionary. I'm not complaining at all! I know some lose electricity for days at a time or will not have power at certain times of the day everyday and so on. But... spoiled or not it's never fun to be without the conveniences of electricity, and as we sat out on our porch before it got really dark I just had to thank the Lord for the "change of plans" for the evening. I'm thankful that we can sit as a family, sing, tell stories, and just enjoy each other!

I made supper by candle light, lighting our gas stove and oven with a match. After supper Jeremy took the van and went looking for a cold Coke to go with some popcorn for a little treat for a family night. It was only dark for about three and half hours, and when the power came on again around nine o' clock Allie deemed it the "best family night ever!"

I was going to take some pictures of the candlelit evening, but alas my camera battery was dead! No picture memories, but an evening of fun family times that I'm sure will be begged to be repeated (at least by our sentimental Allie).

Health Update

2011-03-27T09:42:00.000-07:00

Just another update on my health that Jeremy emailed out last night. Thank you all so much for your prayers and encouragement!

Dear Friends and Family,

We had another doctor visit yesterday, and Esther's ulcers are continuing to heal. We praise the Lord that no new ones have appeared and that the others are slowly healing. Esther continues to take an extremely high dosage of prednisone, but for the most part the side effects have not been too bad This is an answer to prayer! She still continues to stay at home away from opportunities to pick up secondary infections, and is doing well. Our language teacher started coming to our house to teach Esther this week as well. Jeremy is staying out of school for a while to take care of the home and the kids schooling, and to give Esther rest and time to heal. She is much need of this time being able to relax, heal, and study Portuguese without all the cares of cooking, cleaning, and the kid's schooling. Some of the ladies at the church here have been a blessing by bringing us lunch everyday! Good Brazilian cooking beats Jeremy making hot dogs and ramen noodles any day!

Please continue in your prayers for Esther that the her body will continue to heal. Here are some specific prayers you can continue to pray with us:

1. Pray for Esther to sleep well as prednisone tends to make one sleepless.
2. Pray that the ulcers will heal quickly with the prednisone as it is very dangerous to use long term at such high dosages.
3. Pray that she will not catch a secondary infection.
4. Pray that God will exercise his power over the medicine and all of the secondary problems that it can bring.
5. Pray for complete healing and physical strength as this past year and its physical struggles has left Esther quite weak.
6. Pray for wisdom in each decision that must be made over these next days and weeks.
7. Pray for opportunities to witness for Christ as we meet many people with our weekly hospital visits.

With Grateful Heart,

Jeremy and Esther Lockhart

Missionary Monday...Postponed

2011-03-21T19:09:00.000-07:00

Missionary Monday will have to be put off at least for one more week. We are finally getting back into somewhat of a normal life again around here...with a little bit more resting on my part!

I went to the doctor again today to check on the ulcers on my legs and get them cleaned. (I still have not seen the biggest one...if you want to see it just ask Jeremy he took pictures {yuck} I'm sure he'd send them to you. :) I told him I have to deal with the pain each week as my doctor cleans them. I don't think I could "stomach" knowing what they look like while feeling the doctor clean them. I don't want to see them until there is no more pain to be felt. :) Anyways... the doctor and Jeremy were very pleased with the way the ulcers were healing. Last week the doctor seemed very sure I would have to get a skin graft over the largest ulcer, but this week he seemed to think it may not end up being that bad.

I'm still on a very high dosage of steroids to keep my immune system low which means I am confined to the house for now. Any secondary infections would be very bad at this point!

On a lighter note...I became a "specimen" of some kind when my doctor discovered I had this "pyoderma gangrenosum". My first appointment after his discovery he invited a Radiology professor in to "view" my ulcers and also had his brand new IPhone 4 out snappin' a bunch of pictures of them. How embarrassing! :) That's okay though, as nice as he's been to me, he could pretty much do whatever he pleased at this point! I can't even begin to tell you all of the details of his kindness...one just includes him going into work on a Saturday just to check up on the biopsy results for me and also spending much time on a Friday evening Skyping Jeremy about the problem.

Here is my doctor with his IPhone 4 I was laughing and told Jeremy he HAD to get a picture of him doing this so I could put it on my blog!

I am starting language school back in the morning. I figure I've got to sit here with my leg propped up most of the time anyway, I might as well get back to learning as long as my teacher doesn't get sick.

Please continue to pray for these ulcers to get better! They definitely are doing better than we hoped, and I can only give thanks to God for the outcome!

Health Update

2011-03-17T11:03:00.000-07:00

Thank you so much for your continued prayers. God is good.

Dear Friends and Family,

We just arrived at home from seeing the doctor, and we are encouraged. The ulcers are beginning to heal, and the doctor was glad not to have to prescribe a stronger drug. For now, Esther has to continue staying away from possible sources of infection as she continues the extra high dosage of steroid treatment. The doctor said if the ulcers continue to heal well, it should take 6 weeks or so. Then he said that after most of the healing has taken place, we may need to consider a skin graft for complete healing on the largest ulcer, as all the layers of skin have been destroyed. The Lord has answered our prayers of giving Esther good sleep even though taking so much prednisone. Good rest always brings more strength! We are very thankful to all of you for your prayers and ask you to continue.

1. Pray for Esther to sleep well as prednisone tends to make one sleepless.
2. Pray that the ulcers will heal quickly with the prednisone as it is very dangerous to use long term at such high dosages.
3. Pray that she will not catch a secondary infection.
4. Pray that God will exercise his power over the medicine and all of the secondary problems that it can bring.
5. Pray for complete healing and physical strength as this past year and its physical struggles has left Esther quite weak.
6. Pray for wisdom in each decision that must be made over these next days and weeks.

With Grateful Hearts,
Jeremy and Esther Lockhart

Health Update

2011-03-15T09:49:00.000-07:00

Jeremy sent out another update this morning on the most recent happenings. Most importantly please pray that the medicine that the doctor is having me take helps to quickly heal the problem. Although we don't enjoy taking any medicines this one of the choices is the easiest on the body. The others could have even worse side effects.

I have been truly overwhelmed by the hundreds, possibly even thousands of people who have prayed for me over these past few days.

As one of our friends emailed us today--"Prayer is working, but we can't stop now!" Wouldn't it be wonderful if when we went back to the doctor on Thursday, the healing would be only explainable by God!

Dear Friends and Family,

We had a good visit with the doctor yesterday. He says the problem is pyoderma gangrenosum, and he has upped her prednisone dosage even more to try to suppress her immune system and keep it from over reacting. She had to go through the painful process of having her ulcers cleaned again, but on a positive note, they seem to have stopped growing and it looks as if the healing process might be starting. Esther has to continue staying away from any possible source of infection since her immune system has been taken so low with the drugs. These ulcers can take weeks and sometimes months to heal, and the doctor has a list of possible drugs to use if the prednisone doesn't pull it off. Our part of Brazil is quite dirty and laden with infections and diseases, and we ask you to pray that God would protect Esther from any secondary infection. I plan to take care of things around the house so that Esther can just relax and take time to heal and strengthen her weak body. We are asking God to not only heal the ulcers, but also to heal her ulcerative colitis and give her physical strength. We plan to return to the doctor again on Thursday morning and will give another update after that appointment. God is good and has given much strength and peace of mind through all of this. We are so blessed to have so many praying for us!

So here are some specific requests you can pray:

1. Pray for Esther to sleep well as prednisone tends to make one sleepless.
2. Pray that the ulcers will heal quickly with the prednisone as it is very dangerous to use long term at such high dosages.
3. Pray that she will not catch a secondary infection.
4. Pray that God will exercise his power over the medicine and all of the secondary problems that it can bring.
5. Pray for complete healing and physical strength as this past year and its physical struggles has left Esther quite weak.
6. Pray for wisdom in each decision that must be made over these next days and weeks.

We are grateful to each of you for your emails of encouragement and for your many prayers! Please continue on!

-Jeremy and Esther Lockhart

Health Update

2011-03-12T14:31:00.000-08:00

Thank you so much for your prayers. The Lord is definitely intervening, and we no doubt can see His mighty hand at work. Please continue to pray. Our God is Faithful! Jeremy sent out this update a few minute ago to our email contacts.

Dear Friends and Family,

Yesterday morning we sent out a request for Esther's condition with the ulcer's on her leg. Since the request was sent we have received countless emails of people praying and holding up before our Great Physician. We are humbled by the many who have given their time to pray! During the afternoon while everyone was napping, I decided to go down to the lab at the hospital because the ulcer's on Esther's leg had already grown more. The lab told me that the results would not be ready until this coming Tuesday, so I went around the corner to our doctor's office, and he graciously gave me more time to consider what we could do for Esther. He looked very concerned and said that he had already been in communication with the lab doctor and that the scrape he took from Esther's ulcer had not shown any sign of bacteria. He said that this finding concerned him because it no longer meant that it was a bacterial infection as he had first thought, but that it very possibly was associated with an auto immune disease.

In the meantime, the Lord saw to it that our email was passed along to a doctor who had served here in Brazil as a medical missionary for many years. This doctor passed our information along to an infectious disease specialist in Florida. We were able to share information back and forth with these doctors, and they both said that if there was no bacteria, then it would be a condition called "pyoderma gangrenosum" which is often associated with auto immune disease such as ulcerative colitis -- which Esther already has.

Well, our doctor here in Brazil has been trying to learn English and had previously given me his "skype" user name so that he could practice his English with me through the internet. I was able to send a message to him telling him what the doctors from the States had said. We communicated until about 10:00 last night. By then, our doctor in Brazil, as well as the doctor's in the States were at a consensus that it is "pyoderma gangrenosum." The doctor here though, wanted to continue to wait until Monday to make for sure that no bacteria would grow in the culture -- this is because the treatment would be different if the ulcers were bacterial. We were praying that he would come to a treatment decision sooner than Monday because the ulcer's were continuing to grow. Also, her other leg has several ulcers in the beginning stages. Well, this morning we received a message from our doctor who had decided to go on in to the hospital on Saturday to see if any bacteria had grown in the culture. He said in his message that there is still no bacteria showing up and that it would be good to start her treatment immediately. Basically at this point, he put her on an extremely high dosage of prednisone to try to suppress her immune system to keep it from attacking itself. He said that while she is taking these high dosages she has to take great caution to keep from crowds, stores, groups of people, and any other source of possible infection as her immune system will be very low from the medicine.

On Monday he will do a biopsy and send it to two different labs to help make his decision more concrete. We have never had a doctor that has worked with us so much, and I believe it was your prayers that kept Esther on his mind to be working on his day off to help us. He has left the door open for me to call any time if things should get worse or if I should have a question. It would be a blessing to one day see this physician be saved by the Great Physician.

Also, we are very grateful to the doctors in the States who have given of their time to be a great help and source of advice!

Esther is still in much pain from the growing ulcers but has started the high prednisone dosage. We are praying that God would heal up her legs and keep the ulcers from spreading any further. We now also need to pray that God would keep her from getting any type of secondary infection as her immune system will be very low.

Although as of yet the ulcers are still growing, we are encouraged that there at least seems to be a consensus as to the condition and how to best treat it.

Please know we are grateful for your many prayers and emails. If you do not receive a personal reply to your email it is because there were so many that I could spend a full day just saying thank you to all of you! Please keep up your prayers as we still have a long way to go! If you passed the first email along to your list, could you please do the same again, as we have received many emails from people that have heard about us through your emails to them.

Gratefully,

Jeremy Lockhart

Please Pray

2011-03-11T12:43:00.000-08:00

I really don't enjoy being the center of attention on my blog. I'd much rather post something cute that my kids have done or something spectacular that my husband has done, but I'd really, REALLY appreciate your prayers for me. Jeremy sent out this note to those on our email list this morning, and just in case you don't receive our updates by email I thought I'd post it here.

Dear Friends and Family,

Please pray for Esther as she deals with a new health problem. About a week and a half ago we noticed a mosquito bite (there are many of these as we are still in the rainy season) on her calf that had turned into a sore. Over several days it continued to grow and turned into quite a large ulcer. We went to the doctor last Friday, and he gave her several local anesthesia shots before beginning to cut out the ulcer. When it was done he has cut about 3/4 inch deep and probably a little more than an inch in diameter. He bandaged it up, put her on an antibiotic, and said to come back on Thursday. Well, we went back yesterday morning thinking that it had been healing through the week. When the doctor unwrapped the bandage, we all looked concerned as the ulcer had grown almost five times the size. And then, there was another one that had grown quite large and needed cleaning out. Besides these, there are several others on her legs that are beginning to do the same thing. The doctor gave her more local anesthesia and cleaned out the largest ulcer and then the next largest one as well. As he broke the skin on the new one, he showed me how deep it had gone. I could see down into the tendons and such on her leg. Another doctor was called in to take some bacteria specimens, and we were told that the results would be ready on Monday morning. They need to find out what type of bacteria this is so that they can know what to do to treat it. Meanwhile, Esther is having to take pain killer for the excruciating pain, and is also having trouble with her ulcerative colitis as the antibiotic she is taking is causing the colitis to flare up. The other sores look to be growing as well, and we are asking the Lord that they do not progress through the weekend. The largest one grew from about the size of a quarter to the size of a baseball in just 6 days. Please pray that the others do not do the same! We are praying for wisdom for the doctors and for accurate lab results so as to find the proper cure. The two doctors were concernedly talking back and forth about different things it could be, but it seems to be some type of tropical ulcer. Please pray for God's grace to be abundant to Esther and to all of us through this. And please pray that it will heal instead of continuing to eat away at her leg!

Many thanks for your prayers,

Jeremy Lockhart

One Year Ago Today

2011-03-01T14:59:00.000-08:00

This week is quite the memorable week for us. We were reminded today of what we were doing exactly one year ago. If you'd like to take a peek, I blogged a little bit about it here. I had (still am hoping to have ☺) some extra blogging planned for this week--just some one year memories and stuff, nothing grandiose...we'll see. Don't be too disappointed if it doesn't get done until after camp, though. ☺

Missionary Monday

2011-02-28T09:48:00.000-08:00

When I started Missionary Mondays I didn't promise I'd do them every Monday, right?☺ I had every intention of doing one yesterday, and basically had this completed when my husband wanted to make a phone call (meaning I had to disconnect my internet), and when I got back on I lost all I had written. I just decided to go to bed and be a day late.

Today, I will let you come along with us on one of our first experiences here in Brazil. Friday night we decided to take a fun family date out to a pizza restaurant. We have been told that a restaurant named Serra was probably one of the best places to eat pizza in town. So we loaded up our van and headed to the mall where the restaurant is.

Here are the munchkins all loaded up and ready to hit the road! ☺
Yep, we're ready too.
We arrived at the mall quite a bit before the restaurant opened. They don't start serving until 7:30pm. So, we did a little shopping. One day I'll show you more of the mall. I had originally meant to do this today, but didn't get the pictures of the mall that I wanted. Something about having a few kids in tow hinders that. ☺

Here is Serra. It really is kind of a fancy restaurant.
Many pizza restaurants here will serve Rodizio style, where they bring different types of pizza to your table until you turn a card over that says you are done. It's kind of like a buffet, but they just bring it to you instead of going up to a buffet to serve yourself. We've also been told that you can request for them to make a certain type of pizza.

So, what did we think of brazilian pizza? Well, it was very good, but it was definitely missing a main ingredient--tomato sauce. Next time we go out for pizza I am thinking of bringing some with with me and just dipping it. Then, I think it would definitely be delicious! ☺

We find it interesting that Brazilians like to put ketchup, mustard, and mayonnaise on their pizza. What do you think? Maybe we should have tried it. It may have made up for the missing tomato sauce. ☺
Allie thought it was delicious.
Bethany ate more than Allie.
Judah just stuck with the crust. I guess it was too much cheese for him.
Now, remember when I said something earlier in this post about a card that you turn over to tell them when you're done. Well, at this restaurant they had a card that you turn over if you're ready for dessert pizza. When we turned over that card, this is what they brought to us. Brigadeiro pizza. If I would have known this existed I think I would have opted out of the meal and just went on to dessert. It was by far the best dessert pizza I've ever had. DEElicious!
Bethany was a little bit excited about the chocolate pizza.
YOU! Give me more chocolate pizza!
Allie loved hers too!
Satisfied.
Leaving the restaurant we had to get a picture of Allie and Bethany with the Serra girl to help us remember our memorable occasion.
With the exception of a couple of homemade pizzas this was the first time we have had pizza since we came to Brazil. Yes, almost one year without pizza. This is quite startling. Oh, how I miss Little Ceasar's, Papa John's, Pizza Hut, and even Dominoes... if you ever come to visit me maybe you could try bringing one of those restaurants with you. ☺

I just thought you should be forewarned. Next week in Brazil is Carnival (kind of a Mardi Gras for the whole country--not just New Orleans ☺). During the week of Carnival many churches in Brazil go to a week of Family camp. We will be going to camp on Friday evening and only coming home to sleep at nights until Wednesday. Therefore, please don't be looking for a Missionary Monday post. I don't think I'll have time. ☺

Missionary Monday

2011-02-20T17:51:00.001-08:00

For today's Missionary Monday I thought I'd show you our most frequented store in Brazil--the bread store. We usually end up going there several times a week to get bread, breakfast, coffee, coke, or something... It's about a one minute walk from our door to theirs.
We have made several friends here. This picture was taken back at Christmas. One girl that works here is about thirteen years old, and every time she is working when we go she gives the kids a piece of candy. They love her!
They sell a variety of sweets--
Brigadeiros
Pudim and other deliciousness...
A very popular snack in Brazil is called a salgado {literally means salty}. There are all different types. Someday I'll do a post on different types of Brazilian foods. These salgados can be bought fried or baked and filled with beef, chicken, pork, hotdog, etc. Many people enjoy eating these for breakfast.
There is a tiny place to pick up a few grocery items.
A drink cooler and another view of the grocery items.
This was yesterday {Sunday} morning when I took these pictures. Since our time changed we were supposed to be able to sleep in an extra hour that morning, but we gave up on that idea a few years ago. For some reason the kids don't seem to get the message. ☺ So we were up bright and early and Jeremy decided to take the kids to the bread store for a special treat for breakfast. Here they all are ready for church.
I think this is probably the most popular item at the bread store--the Pão Frances {or French Bread}. It is quite a bit different than the French bread we are used to in the States. More often than I care to admit, the kids eat this for breakfast. Especially on those days when I am running a little late for language school. ☺
This is the favorite section of the store. We can trade in a 1 liter glass coke bottle for a little less than a dollar. They sure do taste better in a glass bottle for some reason... Sorry the picture is so 'brilliant'. It must be the pure deliciousness exuberating forth. ☺
Another picture of some different types of bread they sell. These sometimes vary from day to day. Sometimes they sell regular packaged loaf bread like they sell in the States. They usually sell some kind of sweet bread. Sometimes they have small cakes {similar to a pound cake}. You just never know what you might find in this section.
I hope you enjoyed our little tour of the bread store. When I first moved here I never was embarrassed about taking pictures of whatever, whenever, but now that I'm learning the language more and getting to know people, sometimes it's a little embarrassing to take pictures of food in a bread store with five brazilians looking at you like you're a strange American tourist. But that's okay, I'm willing to go through a little bit of embarrassment for the sake of a blog. ☺

Jeremy's First Portuguese Sermon

2011-02-19T18:33:00.000-08:00

Saturday night Jeremy preached for the first time in Portuguese. He did excellent! Hope you can take a minute to listen. It is about a two minute clip taken from the middle of the sermon.

Sorry that it is a little difficult to understand. The building echos quite a bit, and we run fans because of the heat.

Behind the Scenes

2011-02-18T13:14:00.000-08:00

As I have been getting a few minutes here and there I have been doing some "behind the scenes" tweaking of the blog. I've been organizing posts into different labels--which I had never even given thought to before. So just for your information {because I know some of you return just to watch some of the videos of the kids...☺} I have put all of the blogs with videos under one label called Videos. I think I got them all, but if you see one missing just let me know so that I can remedy the situation!

Treasures

2011-02-16T11:06:00.000-08:00

One by one He took them from me

All the things I valued most,

Until I was empty handed;

Every glittering toy was lost.

And I walked earth's highways, grieving,

In my rags of poverty,

Till I heard His voice inviting

"Lift your empty hands to me!"

So I held my hands toward heaven,

And He filled them with a store

Of His own transcendent riches

Till my hands could hold no more.

And at last I comprehended

With my stupid mind and dull,

That God could not pour His riches

Into hands already full.

-M.S. Nicholson

Sing-Along With Judah

2011-02-15T10:02:00.001-08:00

Have I mentioned lately how much Judah likes to sing? ☺

Missionary Monday

2011-02-14T05:09:00.000-08:00

We started language school about 3 weeks after we arrived in Brazil. We decided to start early in the mornings—7:00 am. I think that goes back to the college days of old…We’ve since “backslidden” and enjoy a little bit more sleep. We now start at 8:00 am, and everyone is a little more alert during class.

Our teacher, Mara, is excellent. She has been teaching foreigners for many years. She has taught missionaries that have already spent their lives in Brazil and retired back to the States. We really enjoy getting her insight on culture as well as language.

Mara and Jeremy during class last Tuesday.

Jeremy has class Monday through Friday, and I go Tuesday through Friday. We cross our little dirt road and have class in a Sunday School classroom at the church. Mara very generously comes to where we live (instead of us going to her house or somewhere in between) and teaches us. It helps so much with the kids and the ability to keep them on a good schedule.

Jeremy goes to school from 8:00 to 9:30. When we get to class Mara has some exercises written out from problems that she has noticed we are having in particular areas or things that need improving on. We have both finished the first book we were studying. Jeremy finished a few months ago, and since I was sick and out of school so much I just finished two weeks ago and have felt a nice, huge relief--of course, when I finished the book she proceeded to remind me {very kindly, of course} of the title of the book "Português para Principiantes" in other words "Portuguese for Beginners"--she really didn't have to remind me of this. If you were to just listen to me you would know that there is much, MUCH improvement to be made. ☺

While Jeremy is at school I get ready, get the kids fed, dressed, and started on school/play. When Jeremy comes back across the street I give him quick instructions and scurry out the door for my turn in class. He, in turn, presides over Allie's schooling, and reads and plays with Bethany and Judah.

We have a daily schedule that works quite well. After school is over, I watch the kids and make lunch while Jeremy studies, corresponds, or works on finances...whichever is most pressing. We all eat lunch together, and right after lunch I study for about two hours while he watches the kids again (such a good husband!). He puts them down for their naps and studies for the rest of the day...usually on into the evenings. I clean up from lunch and straighten the house, (which usually takes me all of nap time) get started on supper, craft/play with the kiddos...and so on into the evenings. It's really a very simple schedule, but because of language school it's difficult to get anything else done if we are going to really learn!

Jeremy has had school for a little less than nine months, and I have for a little less than seven months. As I type this I am listening to Jeremy practice his preaching in Portuguese. He has just finished writing his first sermon in Portuguese. He is scheduled to preach at family camp for the first time in a little less than two weeks. If he will let me I will post at least part of the message on here if we can get it recorded well.

I just read a missionary story to the kids at our Monday night prayer meeting last week and am starting to be able to do more things like this...the best part about it is they actually understood me and followed the story! It's really amazing how much exercise it takes to actually talk for that long nonstop in another language. After a while your mouth feels a little bit like mush...

It's been a long road and it's far from over. Day by day I feel like the fog is lifting. Jeremy is "light years" ahead of me, and he is doing so well. He converses like an old pro...almost.

If you need something to pray about for us you can pray that we really get the language down. It will be impossible for us to be really effective as missionaries if there is always a communication barrier. I have prayed and prayed for supernatural understanding and speaking, but I don't think that it is possible without just good ole', plain, hard work. ☺

Learning Our Colors

2011-02-11T13:35:00.000-08:00

We've been working on the names of colors in Portuguese for a few days, and things are progressing well. Allie has them learned, and Bethany is sort of hit and miss. Allie shocked me when I started teaching them to her...she had most of the basic ones down within five minutes. I just thought I'd show you a little video of the progress we're making.

Peter, Andrew, James, and John in a Sailboat

2011-02-11T10:38:00.000-08:00

It seems like each week there is a new favorite song . This week the kids have been singing "Peter, Andrew, James, and John in a Sailboat". Just thought you'd like to hear what I've been listening to all week! They are singing some of the words wrong so if some parts don't make sense please excuse them!

What Can I Give HIm?

2011-02-11T10:18:00.000-08:00

Allie learned this poem in school around Christmas time, and I wanted to get her to say it then, but time slipped away from me. So, here it is a couple of months late.

Frilly Girls

2011-02-11T10:10:00.000-08:00

Mommy's Three Little Helpers

2011-02-11T09:56:00.000-08:00

Judah has just recently discovered the fun of helping mommy cook. Now I have to bring three chairs up to the counter at cooking time.
Such fun!

Judah--The Knot-Head

2011-02-11T09:37:00.000-08:00

Judah received his first knot on his head yesterday. I think the shirt explains it all (it says "daddy's speedster"). And I'm so glad I had a popsicle to put on it to "ice" it down. Although, obviously, it didn't stay on his forehead long. ☺

Thoughts On Prayer

2011-02-08T03:30:00.000-08:00

In light of Valentine's Day and thinking on marriage and relationships, I thought I would share something that I have copied into my devotional notebook. I have made this a guide when praying for my husband. As a wife I have the responsibility to uphold my husband daily in prayer. A wife who stands behind her husband in prayer can make a big difference in his spiritual well being.

Pure in life

Joyful in heart

Mighty in Spirit

Strong in conviction

Honest in motive

Prevailing in prayer

Powerful in preaching

Effective in witnessing

Abundant in wisdom

Selfless in service

Patient in trouble

Victorious in battle

-by David Yearick

By the way, just as an addendum...it wouldn't hurt to pray this through for your missionaries as well. A new life, new home, new country, new culture, and new language in itself poses many difficulties that are hard to overcome. Then you put Satan's desire to destroy the servant of God in the mix, and it is obvious that prayer is needed.

How often has it been that missionaries return from the field defeated by sickness, sin, or discouragement? I just wonder how things may have turned out differently if we would have upheld that one in prayer like we should have.

Just because...I thought I'd include a recent picture of us. ☺

Missionary Monday

2011-02-07T11:10:00.000-08:00

Well, I tried to write about language school today, but the words were not coming. I also didn't get a picture of our language school teacher like I had hoped, so maybe next week we'll talk about language school.

My back up plan for today was to show you a little more of the neighborhood in which we live. Below is a picture (from the internet of course :) of the main square of our bairro (last week I wrote "bairro", and then I realized later that it's a Portuguese word and not an English word--if you didn't figure out what it is-it actually means "neighborhood" or "district"). This is within a 10 minute walk from our house. You can see the main road that goes through the town. Our house is several blocks from here.

Every Sunday morning there is a feira (open-air market) at the praça (square) where different vendors come and sell their goods. They sell mainly fruits and vegetables, but there are also several other items that can be bought as well. This picture of our bairro from Google looks much prettier than our town actually is. In fact, it looks so nice, I did a double take to see if it really was our town!

You can come along with us on part of a ride to our house. Below is the road right before you get to the main road of our neighborhood.
These signs are everywhere. They love to put speed bumps in the roads. The bad part is when they DON'T mark them and you're not paying close attention. It could be fatal to your vehicle. :)
This is the same road a little further down. We are in the rainy season here, and it rains just about everyday-- sometimes all day. Consequently, this road gets VERY bad. They have repaired it several times, but they don't do a good job and it just keeps getting washed out by the rain. They finally repaired it again just last week as it was almost impassable.
Everyone has to drive on the wrong side of the road to avoid the potholes. It can get a little crazy when there are lots of cars around.
Below we are turning onto the main street into Pedra 90. It was funny when I was taking these pictures on the way home. I didn't even really notice the white car in front of me, and that it was in every picture. When we arrived at home Jeremy got out to open our gate, and that car pulled up beside us. He was upset that I kept taking pictures of his car and wanted to know why.

Jeremy had to explain to the man that his wife was just a crazy tourist that likes to take lots of pictures of everything. He then asked how long we have been here. That was rather embarrassing because it had been over eight months (I took these pictures a couple of months ago and am just now getting around to posting them:)This is the main street to the left is the praça and to the right is a supermarket that we stop in sometimes. One of our friends works as a guard here several times during the week.
More of the main street.
Another supermarket that we frequent. This one is a little closer to our house than the other one. Jeremy often walks here with one of the kids to buy vegetables or bread.
You see cars everywhere that have their trunks open with big sound systems advertising for some store or church. They are rather loud. Because of noise and the heat we always run fans in the kids room during nap times. Otherwise, I think they would not get much of a nap.

And there you have a little bit more of our town. It's amazing to look back and think of everything we thought when we first arrived. How little we knew and understood. How crazy we thought it was that cars would go around blaring their sound systems up and down our little dirt road. How horrible we thought all of the speed bumps were. But now we have just gotten accustomed to it all, and it just seems more like home everyday.

I feel like these posts seem very technical and mundane. What do you think? I have lots of ideas for future posts, but was just wondering if anyone has something that they are specifically interested in. Feel free to let me know. Until then, I'm just going to do what I've been doing.

AND...the second Missionary Monday actually has made it out...on time...even though I have a new piano that I want to play around on all day...and more dishes to wash before bed. ;)

Saturday Morning Surprise!

2011-02-05T05:12:00.000-08:00

Saturday morning about 9:00 Jeremy sent the kids and I into the back room to read books. Someone was bringing a surprise to our house for us. What could it be??? As we read books we didn't hear a thing that was going on inside the house. Which is quite unusual since our house is so tiny and echos quite well. :)

We waited patiently reading and playing, and then Jeremy said we could come out. And what, to our surprise, was awaiting us? This wonderful, beautiful digital piano!

I was so excited! I still get butterflies in my tummy when I think about it. I knew we were going to get one..eventually, but I had no idea it would be now. I thought the soonest would be two or three months from now.

So, you can only guess what my day was like yesterday. I sat at the piano every free moment I had. I have missed it so much! My kids are loving it too. I can't wait to start teaching them how to play. The girls want to learn so badly!

Since yesterday was consumed with playing the piano at every opportunity, you can only guess what today will consist of... dishes! :) Just don't tell anyone that I didn't wash any yesterday...it will be our little secret. :)

Of course, I am convinced that the best by far would be to have a traditional piano, but it seemed a little unreasonable here in our part of Brazil. Just for your information here are some of our reasons for this:

1.There is no central heating and air and the piano would need tuning several times a year. From what we have heard it is very expensive to get a piano tuned here. I think that it is important for my children to learn to play and sing from a tuned piano.

2. Our house is tiny...very tiny. :) It also doesn't have carpet, the walls are concrete and the floors are tile. Noise bounces and echos. It can get VERY loud in our tiny little house. It is nice to be able to turn the volume down on the piano or put headphones on...especially when little ones are practicing. :)

3. Our neighbors all live very close to us--we can hear them talking at times since we share a wall. And we want to stay on friendly terms with them. :)

4. I 'think' in the future I would like to do some music arranging for choirs and such, and think that a digital piano can be a great aid in this.

I am so thankful for my wonderful husband who has sacrificed much to give this to our family! I also thank the LORD who provides our every need! I am so blessed!

Psalm 28:7 The LORD is my strength and my shield; my heart trusted in him, and I am helped: therefore my heart greatly rejoiceth; AND WITH MY SONG will I praise him.

Happy Weekend!

2011-02-04T08:25:00.000-08:00

Some sweet little kids wanted to sing a song for you in Portuguese to wish you happy weekend!

Just in case you didn't understand what they were saying...

In Portuguese:

Com meu martelo eu vou pregar.

Com minha espada eu vou lutar.

Eu tenho muito que trabalhar.

Há muitas almas a ganhar.

In English:

With my hammer I will preach.

With my sword I will fight.

I have much work to do.

There are many souls to win.

Thoughts on Missionary Wives

2011-02-01T18:20:00.000-08:00

I know this isn't Monday, but since I was on the subject...I thought I'd share this article that I found on someone else's blog. It is by a lady that was a missionary in Venezuela before she and her family were expelled by Hugo Chavez. The title of the article is "Thoughts for Missionary Wives" by Rita Vernoy. I cannot count how many times I have said these very things, and when I read this article I thought this lady worded it just right. Instead of writing out my thoughts I decided to just show you hers. I thought it was well written and will give you a peek in some things that I'd like to write about in my Missionary Monday posts. Hope you enjoy!

{Just as a disclaimer, I don't know anything about the lady that wrote this article. I just enjoyed reading it.--And if the lady whose blog I borrowed this from ever reads this...thank you for letting me borrow it. :)}

I am often asked what a typical day is like living on the mission field. It is a very hard question to answer. You must understand that every circumstance is different. The missionary's schedule will be dictated by the culture in which he works, the level of his language skills, the ministry role in which he has been placed, and even the missionary's personality. Our days in the jungle were completely different than our days in Paraguay. Both were full of ministry, but ministering to our flock was different in each country. For instance, we do not do any medical work in Paraguay, nor do we need to do translation work. Right now we are still discovering where we might serve best and where our particular skills are most needed.

A common misconception some people hold is in regard to what the role of the missionary wife should be. Wives on the mission field do indeed serve in various capacities, but their ministries will be different, depending on several factors including, but not limited to:

* How many chldren are in the home?

* Are there small children in the home?

* Do the children need to be homeschooled?

* What are the living conditions? Does she need to carry water, cook with firewood, or wash the laundry by hand? These tasks all require extra time.

* What help does her husband require of her?

A wife's ministry will be ever changing as the dynamics of her home change. My job is to be the wife my husband needs, finish rearing our children yet at home (including homeschooling them), and if my husband needs me to serve in a ministry capacity, I do that as well.

In my case, I am a woman married to a missionary. Being a missionary is not my real job! I do not get paid to be a missionary, nor do I punch a time clock. I am a stay-at-home wife and mother, and I happen to live on the mission field. As a child of God, I do feel required to take part in Christian service as is every other Christian wherever they may live. I have the privilege of enjoying my life as the wife of a missionary, and I also feel fulfilled in my role as wife and mother. Serving my Lord on the mission field is just the icing on the cake!

I would like to be able to instruct younger missionary wives as to the role which they play on the field. Every woman is different and married to a different man. Every ministry will ask different things of different people, but the missionary wife must never feel guilty for putting her time and energy first into her family. Some families are able to find adequate education for their children on the field, and I am not assuming to know what may be best for another family. Even if your children are enrolled in a school, your job as a wife and mother will still require much time. Some women even need to have outside interests, and ministry may fulfill this need, but in balance. This time away from the home duties may allow her to come back refreshed.

The work of a homemaker seems to always be more time-consuming in third-world countries. We do not have the option of packaged foods or fast foods. We do not have central air and heat to keep the dust out of our homes. We sometimes lack time-saving appliances commonly found in the American home. Our electricity and water go out often, which requires more work. Buying groceries and other supplies takes much more time as we do not have the convenience of one-stop shopping. Even paying bills takes a long time. We cannot do it online or even mail in a check; we have to go stand in several lines to pay each one. Of course, that is after standing in line at the bank to change our money in order to pay the bills - all the while watching our backs to make sure we will not be robbed as we leave the bank.

How many times have I seen women on the mission field break under the pressure they feel to perform more than they are capable of! This often leads to depression and even leaving the mission field. Perhaps, if the missionary wife would relax a bit and give herself the opportunity to be "just another woman," this would not happen so often. Remember, dear wife, you are under extra stress just dealing with life in a new culture and language. To the younger wives, I would remind you that your children will grow up, and you will have more time available for ministry then. Never forget your people are observing you, and the best testimony is for you to show them a Christian woman who is at peace and content.

Missionary Monday

2011-01-31T15:11:00.000-08:00

Ok, so here I am. I'm going to take a deep breath and say I'm "planning" on starting a new feature on my blog called Missionary Monday. I learned the idea from another missionaries' blog and thought I would try it too. I have lots of things I want to post about that are specifically missions oriented, and I want to tell you more about the place we live and minister. Hence, I will be "trying" to do something every Monday. Please do not castigate me if this is the only one that ever gets done though. :)

I figured for the first "Missionary Monday" on my blog, I would do something simple just to make sure we are all thinking about the same place. I want to show you where I live just as a "jumping off" place. Most of you probably know this already or at least have a good idea about where we live. I know I've written here and there about it.

Just in case you are reading here and don't know where Brazil is... :) it is in South America. Brazil is made up of 26 states, and it borders 10 of the 12 other countries in South America. We live basically right in the center of South America. Our state is called Mato Grosso {which literally means "thick woods"...in other words we live in the jungle, just kidding, we really don't. :)}. Our city is named Cuiabá. You can see it in the center of the map below.

This photo is our family sitting on a stone representing the center of South America --about an hour drive from our house.

Cuiabá is a very populated city, along with the neighboring city of Várzea Grande makes up a population of about 856,000 people. Below is a google map overview of the two cities. We live in a bairro of these cities that is actually pretty far away from the center of town. If you have good eyes you can see it to the right of the picture it is called Pedra 90.

I'm pretty sure Pedra 90 has a population of somewhere around 40,000 people. If anyone knows for sure please let me know. :) The houses are pretty tightly squeezed in, and it seems as if this one bairro has a culture all it's own. Below is a little bit more of a close up of Pedra 90. Our street is the one that says R. Vinte E Dois {Road 22} closer to the top of the picture. Again for those with good eyes. :)

Our house is the white square right in the middle of the picture above the R.

Below is a picture of our street from a ground view. Our house is on the left with the tree.

This is a very common sight. The kids usually play in the street since most of them don't have yards.
Well, here is my first rendition of Missionary Monday. Now that you know where our house is we expect a visit soon!

Some Good Reads

2011-01-29T07:48:00.000-08:00

When Jeremy and I first were married Jeremy worked nights at UPS. He would go in at mid afternoon and return home around 10:00 or 11:00 pm. Even though the job was very stressful for him as he was a supervisor, the hours were great!

The LORD gave us Allie a couple years after we were married, and since I had only one child, and my responsibilities were few, I had much time to devote to her. We would spend time cleaning and eating supper, but then we had the whole evening to spare. We would read books!

Allie and I would literally spend hours a day reading when she was only one year old. It was then that I realized how important reading good books were. If I was going to spend THAT long reading to my child each day, why in the world would I want to read Dr. Suess a million times? I'm not saying that there's anything wrong with Dr. Suess or any of the other "nonsense" books out there, but if I'm going to spend all that time reading to my child, how much better would it be to read to her something about the God whom I love.

It was then that I went in search of good books. I was hoping to find something just for toddler aged children. I did find that there is much out there. But what I really want to talk about in this post is the treasure that I found.

It took a little bit of work to actually get them, but when I did I was very please with them. I love how the author uses things that children love to do everyday and incorporates God in them. She show them how to thank God for things, how doing kind things for others is pleasing to God and how God provides good things for us because He loves us. These books are written by author Ruth M. Hinds. There are a few different series...

First, The Tiny Questions Books, these are labeled as for 2 and 3 year olds.
These are for younger toddlers. The kids just love that the boys and girls in the books have names. It has always been fun to talk about what the children in the book are doing. All of the books have been well thought out and author has obviously observed children often and what they do and some questions they may ask.
Next, are the Tiny Doings Books. These are fast becoming the favorites. They love reading about how other little boys and girls are helping, obeying, sharing, and being kind and how it pleases Jesus. These books are labeled as for 2-5 year olds.

This is one of Bethany's favorite pages to read. We quote it often while I comb her "curly hair". And she often looks like this while I am combing it. :)

Lastly, there are the Tiny Thoughts Books that are about various topics. God gives us sunlight, water, night time, and Jesus.

Just another sample...
Oh, and I almost forgot...Judah's favorite...Puppy and I. He LOVES this book and always laughs as I read it to him.

Well, if you're still with me...I know this wasn't very mission field related, except that my family is my greatest mission field, and if we try to "win the world", but let our children grow up not knowing and loving our God, we have undermined the very Gospel we are trying to share.

Come and visit us sometime and you can join us on the couch with my girls and little boy reading about some of these books about our great God!

Just in case you are interested you can order them directly from the publisher:

Amy Poster

P.O. Box 442

Superior, WI 54880

218-391-3202

email: posteramy@aol.com

She's a Hoot!

2011-01-24T23:39:00.000-08:00

A few years from now she's going to hate me for this, but I've just got to say...she keeps us ALL laughing!

Allie's Birthday

2011-01-18T17:03:00.000-08:00

It has been over three weeks since our little Allie turned five. We didn't really have a birthday party for her, but we did have cupcakes the night before with the kids from the church since they all come over then anyway.

I didn't do anything fancy, and couldn't even find a table cloth to put on the table to at least make the table look pretty, but Allie didn't care, she just wanted to blow out her candles and eat her cupcake.

I'm learning quickly that when they get this old birthdays are all about presents and cake. Allie informed me the night before that she would like her present under the Christmas tree so she could open it when she woke up in the morning.
Later that day I decided to teach her how to REALLY have a good birthday...shoe shopping. :) She loves shoes, and several times she has asked for shoes with heels on them. Well, we weren't going to get her "high" heels, but we did go looking for a little bit of a fun-heeled shoe.
Since we didn't have a big party for her we asked her something special that she wanted to do that day. We ended up at the monkey restaurant and played on the playground, and when we came home to have her cake she asked if she could Skype both grandparents so they could sing "Happy Birthday" to her and watch her blow out the candles.
She blew out the candle once, then we called the other grandparents and did it all over again. Then to the delicious store-bought cake! She had a great birthday, and I still am in shock of having a five-year-old in the house!

It's ALIVE!

2011-01-18T16:53:00.000-08:00

Bethany's screaming! Daddy says "It's just a fly!" Bethany responds "No, it's not! It's a live! Mommy told me it was!"

Request

2011-01-18T16:46:00.000-08:00

Please pray for my grandparents. We found out yesterday that my grandma has lung cancer, and she will be starting treatments for it tomorrow.

Pe

Out and About

2011-01-09T09:55:00.000-08:00

Here is a very typical site around town... Dad, Mom, 2-year old, newborn heading on to a dangerous road... not sure I could ever do it.

Christmas Morning!

2011-01-08T16:38:00.000-08:00

I know these Christmas posts are little late in coming. Every one else has already blogged about their New Years resolutions and getting back to normal life, while I'm still stuck back at Christmas. You forgive me, right?

We woke late Christmas morning :), ate breakfast, got ready, and delivered a bag of goodies to our friends that had to work at the bread store around the corner. Here is the family when we came home.
Next, open the presents.
A few friends and family members sent us packages, and we were all excited to see what was in them!
Puzzles...
Gummy bears for my little sweet-toothed girl.
Some blocks for Judah.
Porcelain dolls for the girls.
And some Doodle Balls for Jeremy...ahem, I mean Allie. :)
We have learned that the post office is a little slower at Christmas time (obviously...), and since Christmas day we have received a box from Pawpaw and Grandma, which they were hoping would get to us before Christmas, but it was only a few days late.

Of course, what would Christmas be like without a video or two, right? I thought you would like to see a rendition of Joy to the World--Sung by Allie and Bethany. Music by Jeremy and Judah. :)

Christmas Baking

2011-01-02T19:36:00.000-08:00

This Christmas we spent lots and lots of time baking and making! We really had a good time. I just wanted to show a few pictures of all of the festivities.

First and foremost....peanut butter balls! What is Christmas without peanut butter balls? I took my first taste of these (during the blistery hot, summery, Christmasy day :) and thought, yep, it's Christmas!

Disclaimer: Please excuse Allie's hairdo, I think she was hot and wet it down in the sink. :)
Allie and I rolled the peanut butter balls, I think Bethany ate almost as much as we rolled...
All done...almost. (Just in case you don't understand the picture...she was licking the bowl.)
This is becoming quite the Christmas tradition. Here are a couple of pictures of the three of us rolling peanut butter balls in the States last year. (I think Bethany ate a bunch then too.)
I just love this picture of Allie, I think she looks beautiful!
Alright, back to the present... we made cookies for all of the families in the church. We were going to make peanut butter balls :), but we couldn't find enough peanut butter in Cuiaba. Because of the humidity here I think they ended up being a little stale when we handed them out. A little embarrassing, but it's the thought that counts, right?
The girls and I also made Oreo Truffles for a church Christmas fellowship after the cantata...
Twix bars were also made for the church fellowship.
The oreo truffles dipped in chocolate and sprinkled with green sugar.
We also made cardboard "gingerbread" houses. I had envisioned them a little differently, but I let the girls decorate them how they wanted. I probably should have let them paint them white... they thought it was great fun either way.

We also made a couple of batches of simple fudge and some cookie dough truffles. Without a doubt I did more baking this Christmas than ever before, but we had lots of fun in the process. Keep watching for at least one more Christmas post. Hopefully, you aren't bored yet!

Merry Christmas!

2010-12-25T10:06:00.001-08:00

We hope you had a wonderful Christmas!

Christmas At Our House

2010-12-24T18:21:00.000-08:00

I must say that Christmas this year has definitely been different than any other that I've ever experienced! As I sit here typing this at 11:30 pm there are firework going off all around our house (they have been for a good part of the day). {The "grand finale" was at midnight, and lasted more than 20 minutes. :)} People are walking up and down the street in front of our house as if it were the middle of the day. Our dog is crouched in a corner of our laundry room probably shaking with fright, and every time I open the back door she tries to get in to hide somewhere in our house (which is NOT going to happen...). She is very afraid of fireworks. Some one is walking up and down the street blowing a horn (it sounds like one of the ones they blow at the World Cup...we got to know that sound pretty well earlier this year). I have a fan blowing on me from about a foot away to keep from dripping with sweat (it seems very humid today).

Despite the noise and heat...the kids are sound asleep. The presents are under the tree waiting to be opened. Allie woke up this morning, and made sure that I remembered that today was Christmas Eve and tomorrow is Christmas day! They are super excited about opening their presents. We let them open one present tonight, which was always a tradition in my family growing up.

We had a new store open up in town a couple of weeks ago, and I was so very excited to learn that they had real ham there...AND I was even more excited to see that the price was actually reasonable. (Until now I've only seen sandwich meat ham.) I don't know about you, but "Christmas" and "Ham" just seem to go together.

Our Christmas tree... this is my Christmas present from Jeremy. I was really pleased with the fullness of the tree. We decided to buy very few ornaments this year. We will add to our collection next year. We also decided to wait until next year to get lights (which is why they aren't on in the picture:). I was just excited to have a tree!
Another of my Christmas presents (I have been saving up for this one.) was the fruit picture. Someday we'll get it hung, but for now it sits on my newly painted cabinet (thanks to my sweet Jeremy who really doesn't enjoy painting :)

The girls helped me make a cute popcorn wreath one night a couple of weeks ago...it took lots of hot glue and lots of popcorn, but I thought it was pretty cute. I had to spray it with hairspray to keep the ants from trying to eat it. :)
Allie and Bethany made these little "advent trees". They didn't exactly put all of the numbers on them, but it was the thought that counts...right? Allie also made the "JOY" for a craft in school one day a couple of weeks ago. They adorn my window nicely.
I found red berries and candles to adorn my candle holder.
I made this felt Christmas tree just for fun, because I thought it would be cute.
We stuck Christmasy stickers on the windows.
These two were spotted on the couch earlier today...so sweet!
And of course how can we get away without drawing on our huge wall space outside. We decided to draw some Christmas trees...with sidewalk chalk that a kind friend sent. :)
"Decorating" the Christmas tree.
I'm a little embarrassed about my drawing talents and my handwriting in the below picture, but I HAD to put it on the blog. I think our house is getting some stares as people walk by...

Merry Christmas!

Christmas Cantata

2010-12-24T01:37:00.000-08:00

Last Sunday our church had a small Christmas cantata. It took lots of practice and it was really a lot of fun.

Also the children sang a song and dressed up for the cantata. That morning in Sunday School they were all trying on their costumes...Bethany looks like she's thinking "What in the world is she putting on my head?!"

They are all dressed up as angels.
Aren't they so pretty and sparkly!
Allie was VERY excited about this business of "acting out" Mary and Joseph and the angels. Just the day before she was trying to figure out how we could all do it at home. When she found out they were going to get to do it for church, she asked if she could be Mary and the other little girl who was going to be Mary very kindly agreed to be an angel and let Allie be Mary. She couldn't stop talking about it all afternoon! All she wanted to do was practice!

The kids choir...the older kids sang and the younger kid dressed up.
Joseph and Mary
Sweet little Mary.
Our beautiful angel.
The choir of angels.
Choir practice.
The girls like to sit on a bench beside me during practice. By the way, their dresses are the same ones they had last Christmas (you can see them in a couple of pictures in this post)...we were all very excited that they still fit!
The choir...several of them had memorized passages of Scriptures and poems to go with the songs. They all did so well!
Jeremy video taped the cantata, and some day we'll get around to posting it on the internet for you all to see.

A Boy and His Cookie

2010-12-21T18:57:00.001-08:00

Judah has recently discovered chocolate chip cookies. He takes after his father. Need I say more?

A Long Trip

2010-12-19T08:59:00.000-08:00

This afternoon Bethany dragged her's and Allie's car seats inside the house and said,

"Buckle up, Bigger-bogger, we're going to Bethlehem!"

A Meager Attempt

2010-12-17T17:45:00.001-08:00

Last night we went to Sinuelo (aka "the monkey restaurant") to let the kids play. Before we let them play we took a few pictures of them in the grass. They all haven't been around grass much since we were in the States, so they were complaining about how itchy it was. Judah wasn't too keen on having his picture taken, but I think in spite of these things, we got some pretty good ones.

Sweet sisters
We were in a race against time trying to get the pictures taken before it got dark. This one was about the last.
As you can tell, he didn't want his picture taken!
I thought this one was pretty--with the sunset and the tuiuiu bird behind her. A good "brazilian moment" in my estimation.
Allie is looking like a big girl more and more...
My three sweeties...

It's Beginning To Look A Little Bit Like Christmas

2010-12-16T10:39:00.000-08:00

Just a little preview of our Christmas here in Brazil. I just couldn't forget to get a picture of the girls with their new best friend "Bigger-Bogger", affectionately named by Jeremy. Everyone loves him and we are thankful to our friends from the States who so kindly sent us a Christmas package "chock full" of fun Christmas things like "bigger-bogger".

I thought this picture was a pretty good characterization of Brazil. I'm decorating the Christmas tree, putting on the finishing touches, wiping the sweat that is literally dripping from my face (thinking of all you freezing Americans :)... and I see a lovely friend climbing up the wall behind the tree. We literally kill hundreds (or maybe not 'quite' that many) of these spiders every week.
It did get cold for a couple of days this past week. The temperatures dropped down to the upper 60's. I told Jeremy that I felt right at home. It really felt like a Georgia Christmas! Today it's back up in the 90's!

We are starting to do some Christmas baking. I've got lots planned, and I'm so thankful that I finally have some peanut butter to make my beloved peanut butter balls. YUM! I'm sure we'll be sharing more about our Christmas here in Brazil in the next few days.

Thanksgiving Songs and Verses

2010-12-06T17:50:00.000-08:00

Here is a video of Allie and Bethany singing their Thanksgiving songs and quoting Psalm 100. I was going to post the video that I took of them doing this on Thanksgiving day with the other kids, but you could only hear Shari and I...not the kids. :)

Thanksgiving

2010-12-06T09:49:00.000-08:00

Lately, I have started a post, and week or two...or three later it actually gets finished!

I wanted to share some Thanksgiving pictures with you. I know it has long since passed, and I think this will be short and sweet!

We had a Thanksgiving meal with some American missionaries around the city at our friends Chico and Shari's house.

Judah enjoyed their toys...
Jeremy and Judah ready to eat!
Allie is ready!
Bethany is too!

After the meal the kids did a short program for us. Matthew Pinto (the boy in the indian hat) is doing the same video school as Allie, so they are learning the same things. They sang The Turkey Song, Come, Ye Thankful People Come, and quoted Psalm 100...well, they kind of did. At least we knew they had them memorized. Maybe next year we will be able to hear them. :)

Here is our little pilgrim. :)
Our hostess for the day, Shari.
Mrs. Duarte cutting the yummy pies.
Mrs. Raehl cleaning up the dishes.
Jeremy, Judah, and Allie enjoying their desserts!
We had a wonderful time of fellowship with everyone. The Pintos have a nice swimming pool that the kids all enjoyed, and we were all ready for bed when we got back home! We are thankful for all the blessings that the LORD has given us throughout this past year.