Lucy's bodyguard

Good luck to any guy thinking of dating Lucy about 16 years from now! Simon's making the message pretty clear... don't lay a hand on my sister!

thumb-sucker

Lucy is now 16 days old! One of my favorite things is when she's just falling asleep in your lap and is still kind of active. She stiffens up and flings her arms out as if she's going to fall. She grunts and squints up her face. But the best is when she curls up one side of her mouth in a smile and shows off her dimples. It's impossible to catch on camera though.

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Please check out some of the recent events with our community as told by my teammate Chico Rodrigues. We met together for a spaghetti dinner and some worship this past Friday and it was awesome. My faith was really renewed that God is with us and that He is going to continue the work to completion that He has started among us.

praying for a "pousada"

Last week Jimmy and Chico flew out to the coast and drove from Rio de Janeiro all the way to Vitória, Espírito Santo, almost 1000 kilometers, looking for a "pousada" (inn/hotel) for us to use this coming January for our annual summer training camp.

This week we'll be receiving several suggested contracts from the hotels they visited. Please pray for a miracle. The first offer we received was for R$120,000 ($50,000) and we hoped to pay less than R$40,000 (R$17,000). Pray that we could find something and move forward with the negociation this week.

3 in pj's

My mom and Amy enjoyed a moment of respite despite a rough day while they were putting the boys down for the night (I was at church). All 3 of the kids were in the same bed with Sue Sue, listening to a nighttime story (until Simon jumped up and got in his bed when Lucy started crying).

saturday "churrasco"

Yesterday the boys and I got together with several friends for a churrasco (a Brazilian barbecue). Jimmy did the grilling honors. We played volleyball and sat around and caught up on each others lives. The boys got to play pool and on the playground at Jimmy and Maggie's house. We let the girls have a rest from us loud boys. Everyone was really nice to play with the boys. Here's a picture of Rafael reading a little to Simon.

grands

Granddaddy Poppy and granddaughter Lucy took some time out together on the couch before Poppy got back on the plane. My dad is already back in the States finishing up a deadline at work.

Out of the Woods

I'm finally easing my "book" out on the table for people to read. But I'm only listening to a little of the feedback. If your interested in reading a completely fictional, and totally unedited novel written in 30 days, check out chapter 1.

simon's jungle

One of Simon's favorite books is about a little boy who takes a walk through the jungle and meets all kinds of animals. He loves stomping, creeping, swinging... Make sure to look for Poppy on the video listening in. And if you hear a swat on Braden's head, it sounded louder than it was. Check it out.

Braden and Lucy

Both the boys have been really sweet with Lucy on both visits to the hospital. They stayed with Lutzes while we got all checked in at the hospital and then with the Dempseys during the birth and then came to visit later with the Baileys. It was a little scary though to see Simon rubbing her head with his dirty fingernails. It's just the start to having two big brothers, I guess. Go see more pictures of delivery day.

on the phone

Here's a picture of Amy talking to her mom, Betty Jo. We tried calling as many people as we could to announce Lucy's arrival. We thought it was so cute. The hospital put a little green bow in her hair!

Lucy is here!

Yesterday at 11:10 or thereabouts Amy gave birth to Lucy Alison Dowdy. She weighed 7 lbs and 14 ozs and measured 50 cms. Amy is recovering fine. She got out of bed around lunchtime this afternoon for a shower and lunch. Lucy has dark blue eyes and blondish hair.

planning for saturday

Larissa came over today and helped me convince Amy to show off her belly. At Amy's doctor's appointment yesterday Dr. Virginia asked if Amy wanted to go ahead and have the baby today! All along we've been thinking Saturday so the doctor is going to let us try and hold out until then. My parents arrive tomorrow and then one of our friends gets married on Friday. We are an inch away from deciding the name... we will send word when it's official.

hail storm!

Braden, Simon and I were looking out their window tonight at a storm that was blowing in over the mountain. We had the windows open but then it started to rain. Just as we closed them I started hearing this "ting" noise against the metal grates that cover our windows. It got heavier and then I started noticing these little white things bouncing off the road... it was a hail storm! We don't get too many of those here in Brazil. I picked up one piece and it was the size of a gum ball. The boys were slow in going to bed... they didn't know what to think about it. Braden even put a sticker on his calendar - his first hail storm.

more bees

I'm not talking about just a few bees... maybe hundreds. We have a porch-like area above our garage, which serves as our yard for barbecues, hanging up clothes to dry, and playing basketball (I'll attach a picture later). The porch is covered in bees!

natural phenomenon

It's raining bees! This past week the strangest thing has been happening around our apartment. Bees have been falling from the sky and dying everywhere. Simon stepped on one and got stung... he didn't have an allergic reaction or anything. The boys think it's neat and go out and clean them all up with a broom and a dustpan.