Oh Christmas Tree, oh Christmas Tree!

We hauled all of our crew out to the Christmas Tree Farm this afternoon and picked out a 12 foot tree for the back porch. We are going to let the kids decorate it in theory and have it all lit up outside the kitchen window. So far it's still standing and so are we, but the festivities have just begun.

animal day

We took the boys to the Tallahassee Museum today. The boys particularly enjoyed the animal exhibit. There were black bears and Florida panthers, and otters and wolves (or wolfeses, as Simon said). There was also an exhibit of old pioneer-type living with a commisary and a potato house.

We may have overdone it a bit though. Braden passed out on the way home. The boys were particularly tired considering last night we went downtown to watch the Bainbridge Christmas parade. It was really neat to stand so close to the Bainbridge High School marching band.

number 9

Amy and I celebrated our 9th anniversary last night. We went to a seafood restaurant in Tallahassee called the Wharf. We would like to thank all of you who have been there for us, supporting us, helping shape our marriage into what God would have it. This has been an incredibly intense year, filled with transitions and new joys (like Lucy). We had fun on our way home thinking back to our favorite moments from our ninth year. Amy is truly a saint for what she gives day in, day out to me and our three (I heard a few amens out there).

free refill

My dad took us to the movies tonight... me and the boys, to see Happy Feet. Happy Feet was kind of a sad movie, but that's not what this blog is about. Look at the size of this cup! It's not just a Brazilian exageration... the cups really are enormous here. I drank and drank and drank and didn't reach the bottom. I went to the bathroom twice while at the theatre and then on the way out I noticed it was free refill. I thought about filling up so our family of five could sip on it for dinner but decided against it.

depart tomorrow

Amy is in the den packing up our last few bags. We fly out of Confins International Airport tomorrow around 5 p.m. Then we make a stop over in Rio for a few hours before flying on to Atlanta. We'll arrive around dawn on Friday and then fly on to Tallahassee. Few of you may have known about the trip or at least that we finally put dates to it. Our first stop will be in Bainbridge. We saw today that it was like 25º there this morning. Pray that our trip would be restful and renewing after a long, arduous year.

Jim Downing interview

Here's part 1 of 12 of an interview I did with Jim Downing last month.

say and do

Two funny stories about the boys from this week: I was teaching Simon to use a mouse to play a game on the computer. He quickly started to slide it around on the top of the table moving the cursor on the screen. Then I said, okay, Simon try and move it up. Simon then, eyes fixed on the screen, slowly lifted up the mouse off the table... hahaha!

Then the whole family was buying a few items at a grocery store in our neighborhood that had been converted from a gymnasium not long ago. I turned and mentioned to Amy, it would have been great if our church could have moved to this building. Braden was walking close by and he turned and responded, what would we have put on the shelves?

visitor's week

This week we welcomed 4 couples from the States who were down to visit for an assortment of reasons. Two of the couples were here visiting from Augusta, Georgia. They work with Medical Campus Outreach and are considering starting an international version here in Belo Horizonte of the ministry with medical students.

The other 2 couples are from Graystone Church in Atlanta. Our team goes way back with Jonathan and Jennifer Howes. Jonathan was at West Georgia when Amy and I were students there. He is now the head pastor at Graystone. The Moffitts came down with the Howes and Mike (CPA) shared at our graduates groups about personal finance.

Money is our theme this month with our graduate groups. The questions that the group have come up with have been quite challenging. Despite having a CPA brother and father this theme is a difficult one for me. I guess there just weren't any of those genes left after my brother.

overwhirled

On Monday this past week me and 6 friends from Belo traveled down to Campinas to see some of the students we met during the Cross Cultural project at Unicamp. A few things stood out to me from the trip: 14 hours in the car is a long time... 14 hours in the car with 7 people is a really long time... 14 hours in the car with 7 people playing "name that country in alphabetical order" is probably too long. But I couldn't imagine doing it with a better group of people. We had a blast.

Our time in Campinas was complicated by all the approaching final exams, but we had a really good time with a few people. We got to spend some good time with Débora, João, our friend Ricardo who used to live in Belo and Vinícius. We even convinced Vinícius to come home with us and stay until Sunday [that's Vinícius to my right in the picture, and Alan to my left].

Some of the students are deciding whether or not to participate in the project. Please pray for their decisions and that they would be sensitive to what bigger plans might be out their for them.

The title comes from playing in the pool the other day with the kids. It's actually more of a wading pool rather than a real pool. We run around in circles and make a "whirl" pool. Mix that with the feeling of being overwhelmed and there you have it.

noted mine pic

Check out this "noted pic" out in front of the mine. Scroll over the picture for the notes to appear.

black gold

We took Melissa today to Ouro Preto, a city just over an hour from here where so much of Brazil's history began (or at least the part after Portugal got here). I won't bore you with a history lesson but we learned so many interesting things today about the history of the slaves in Brazil and about the group of men who plotted Brazil's separation from Portugal. We even climbed down into a gold mine (tons of gold was mined from Ouro Preto). The mine was worked by an African tribe from the Congo which was captured and enslaved, including their king - nicknamed Chico Rei. He later purchased his freedom and later freed 43 other slaves. We visited the church they built themselves and saw the basins were they brought back the gold powder in their hair and teeth. [the humor in the picture is because Melissa slipped a little as she was taking our picture... Amy, Simon and Lucy had to turn back because the path got too tight... one more interesting fact, back in the day the population of Ouro Preto doubled that of New York and rivaled many other booming towns]

back from the woods

After a lot of rain, a lot of kids, a lot of information, a lot of miles, and a lot of food, we are back home. We got back Saturday night but jumped right back into things here. I had to finalize the series on change on Sunday so I pretty much spent all day Saturday and Sunday editing an interview with Jim Downing I did at the retreat. And then tonight we met with the graduates... just finished and it's after 1 a.m. They insisted on playing dominoes since it was Melissa's last night with the group. Good night.

pearl harbor

Yesterday I had the privilege of spending the day with Jim Downing. Mr. Downing was an essential part in the makings of the Navigator ministry. He is 93 years old but was willing to make the 30 hour trip from his home in Colorado to spend a week with our team. As a career sailor in the Navy he saw the great earthquake of 1933 from his ship off the coast of California. Later his ship was bombed in the raid on Pearl Harbor. Mr. Downing shared a wealth of knowledge and heart with our graduate group last night. We are thankful for his willingness to come and do whatever it takes to see the kingdom advance.

Later today we make a two hour trip out to a retreat facility to spend the next 4 days with Mr. Downing and also Ken Curry from Campus Outreach Minneapolis. Ken is coming down with his wife and kids.

wild at heart

This picture was particularly encouraging for me to see. One because of the men I know in the picture and seeing what God has been doing in their lives. Two, because it captures a significant moment in their lives... the retreat that happened just days ago. The time was important for these men as they opened their hearts and hurts to one another and trusted Christ together to be their one and only Savior... trusted Christ to be the only one that can give them life. Pray for these men. Pray that God would raise up Brazilian fathers, politicians, bosses, husbands, missionaries, and friends from this group.

turning 31

We celebrated Amy's 31st birthday yesterday at Rancho do Boi. It's one of our favorite spots considering it has an extra large outside playground to just let the kids run wild. Just between our four couples there yesterday we had 13 kids (granted some are teens now). Happy Birthday Amy!

bring in a ringer

Thankfully I had Dr. Lonas here last Tuesday to field all the hard questions from the graduates. I'm planning to make a habit of this...

lonas visitors

Our friends Dr. Bobby Lonas and his daughter Melissa arrived in Belo on Monday for a visit. I'll share more later about what we've been up to... but for now it's bedtime. We just got finished with a great discussion group with the graduates (they were able to ask all the hard questions for the doctor!) and then several rounds of dominoes.

thursday group

Amy and I started another new group for graduates this past Thursday. We had 7 friends come over for a snack and some ice cream. While we ate we talked mostly about God at work or maintaining morality at work. It was interesting to hear about the different trials they've already faced and the victories and defeats. It became real clear that it's a reality for all their lives and that we need serious help not only in our thinking but also in what we desire.

backed in blue

You can see that Lucy has little curls in the back just like Simon did. We hope she can keep them for a while unlike Simon. The weather has been teetering into the "hot, rainy season", but still the high is around 85º.

spinach leaves

Lucy helped Amy fix supper the other day. She joined right in pulling off the spinach leaves. She's babbling a lot and walking holding on to tables and chairs but she hasn't let loose yet.

organic change

Last night was the second "sermon" I've given in a five-week series we are going through as a church. The theme is Organic Change and it's based on the book How People Change by Timothy Lane and Paul Tripp. Last night we focused in on the HEAT in our lives... what are the situations in our lives that are revealing our true hearts, just like the desert many times is used as a testing ground in the Bible. Too bad many of you don't speak Portuguese or you could listen to the sermons online. The poll that is posted here on the blog is related to the series. Here is a question for everyone to ponder and to comment on: if the Christian life isn't exempt from doubts and fear, how do we continue in fellowship with the body during our darker moments?

kicked off

Last night we kicked off a new series of dinner meetings with the graduates. Two happened simultaneously last night; one at Brian and Candace's and the other here. Our hope for the time is that this group (which is more oriented to the city versus the campus) could connect with one another and that the dinner would provide for some significant interaction on some of the issues they are facing on the other side of their diploma. We would love to hear of any ideas you might have for our time or any resources.

formados...

Queria que todo mundo soubesse que eu e Brian não estamos esquecendo de vocês. Passamos bastante tempo recentemente tentando entender melhor qual seria o melhor próximo passo. Mas o que ficou mais claro é que queremos muito que vocês fazem parte desse processo. Então eu e Wandson criamos uma outra pesquisa simples para ouvir de vocês e para vocês poderem ouvir dos outros.

summitted?

Our team attended the Leadership Summit from Willow Creek this past weekend (not live as you can tell by the dates in the picture). It was held by video at one of the churches here in town and proved to be truly encouraging and stimulating for our staff. Tonight I preach, kicking off the series on change that I'll take the church through. Please pray for authentic change among us.

my vere hapy day

it was a day like no other day it was my birthday. Did any of you know that? And anyway my birthday party was in the after-noon and so I had time to decorate the whole house. And so that after-noon non of my friends came. And so I wated and wated. And did you know that I had a mail man friend. And so he wallket in-side aand he sayed that he had brought me a preasent and what do you know it whas a pirate set whith the ship and the men and it also had two bad guys. And so wen he wallct out I didint even know it because I was to busy playing pirates. Aand then all of my friends marcht in and they had a lode of preaseants. And that was the end of my vere vere hapy birthday. The end

not a true story

by braden dowdy
6 years old

lucy and bingo

Lucy got some walking lessons yesterday from her little friend, Bingo. She took a few spills but took it like a big girl. I think she was just so confused by such a fall that she didn't know how to react.

who me?

Lucy was helping in the "garden" today. We've been pulling up all the old plants... mostly weeds. There's a big plant and flower sale going on, so we are going to try and put some new stuff in our flower box upstairs... maybe.

attack of the caterpillars

Does anyone know why all these crazy caterpillars have descended on our apartment and taken over our outside area?

copa davis

On Saturday I went to watch the Davis Cup where Brazil faced off with Sweden in tennis. I went with Matt and Kent Bailey, Russell Long and Ryan Morgan. Alan also got in but he had to sit on the other side of the make-shift stadium. Today there are more matches since several have been rained out. Brazil needs to win its final two matches to get past Sweden. For you tennis fans out there, Mats Wilander is now the coach of the Swedish team. We were probably there at the match for close to 4 hours or so and I got FRIED! I put on some sunscreen on my face and arms but I missed the insides of my forearms so you can see the line where the sunscreen stops and my legs are toast... probably the worse I can remember in a long time.

chico's blog

My teammate Chico Rodrigues recently shared on his blog about some friends of ours that recently joined the church. It's always amazing for some reason... that moment when they are up front and being baptized and talking about their decision to follow Christ. It's like their whole spiritual life just flashes before your eyes. We need that constant reminder, a reminder to make things new every day.

pete and repete

Yesterday after Braden's friends' day at school the teachers invited them to come back again and this time to bring their little brothers. So today Simon got up early with brother, put on some nice clothes and packed a snack for school. Ethan, Brian and Candace's oldest, also invited his little brother Andrew to go. So all of them went to school today.

Braden really enjoyed his visit yesterday. He told us all about the playground, art class, and storytime. He mentioned that he had music class and that he sang the same song over and over, but didn't want to talk too much about that. It clearly wasn't the highlight for him. We'll see how things go for Simon today. Amy said he was in a fight over a ball already within the first few minutes of arriving. But so far no calls from the school, so that has to be good.

school visit

After a late night partying at our friend Gisele's birthday, Braden visited a school here in Belo with his friend Duncan this morning bright and early. He was so excited last night. Before he went to sleep he kept double- checking to make sure we knew what to pack for his snack. He gets home in just a few minutes. We can't wait to hear what he thought of the experience.

lottery coincidences

As many of you may remember last year I wrote my first novel. I didn't have a plan going into the book just a main character in mind, a young man working at a small town newspaper (obviously based on my experience at the Post-Searchlight). In the novel a man named Chason Hemmings "wins" the lottery... a man from White Purchase, GA (based heavily on Bainbridge). The story unfolds as the main character looks into the winnings of the small town city manager.

On September 16th a man named Ben Chason from Bainbridge, GA actually won the lottery. I couldn't believe it win I first heard someone from Bainbridge actually won the lottery and then I about flipped out when I found out his name was Chason. I just hope that the similarities stop there. I can't say why... you'll have to read the book to find out.

graduate again

This past Friday we got all the graduates together again. The setting although common place here would be considered pretty different for someone in the States. We met on the veranda of Brian and Candace's new apartment. Even though it's only on the fourth floor it looks out over our neighborhood (they live fairly close to us). It's amazing to see all the lit windows scattered across the black sky.

We had around 40 attend Friday. Our focus was to get them thinking more about what fellowship will mean for them now that they are out of school. We did a little speed dating type set up, where the girls all sat in a straight line and the guys rotated from chair to chair staying one minute with each "date". But instead of the purposing being to find a new girlfriend, the purpose was for discussion. I made up about 20 questions or so about real fellowship and gave them to the girls to ask each guy. Afterwards Brian shared some encouragement for them from the word and we had some cake.

Pray that our time spent with the graduates could help them to continue towards maturity and could connect them with one another to provide the needed support for growth during this phase.

Lucy's 1st

Yesterday we had some fifty friends over to celebrate Lucy's first birthday! Amy made a huge cake with paper dolls on it (the middle one even had on a dress to match Lucy's). We decorated with pink balloons and streamers. And all the girls at the party wore pink and the boys wore red. Amy made some sugar cookies with L's on them and a pasta dish with chicken, spinach and white sauce. It was quite a treat. Happy Birthday Lucy! I must be hungry... all I talked about was the food.

Thanks everyone for coming by and for the presents. Lucy loved her new dresses, toys and bath bubbles.

Too see the pictures: follow this link. And follow this link to see a special page made up just for her.

chops on china

Several of our friends came over on Thursday for some barbecue pork chops (my new specialty). We decided to serve it on our fine china since we never get to use it. So there we were with our silver forks and greasy lips. It was quite a site because Brazilians are very neat. They even eat their Big Macs wrapped in a napkin.

Happy Birthday!

Our friend Aninha had a birthday this past week (Sept. 4th). Amy and Aninha have been studying the Bible together for the past year with some other friends. After their study they all got together for cake! Happy Birthday Aninha!

rain on the grill

Last Saturday (a week ago) we invited over all 55 graduates that have been involved with our campus ministry to talk about the future. It rained but it all turned out great. We had a good moment of thinking forward and trying to understand better our situation... this is pioneering-ground for us, a campus ministry trying to directly think and influence our graduates. All 55 are at varying stages in this transition phase. Some are in their last semester, many are unemployed and the rest are settling into their new jobs. This could be huge for the future of our ministry... as these few get their gospel feet up under them and go out into their multiple fields as transforming agents.

rough draft finished

Just before the clock struck 12 on Thursday night I typed in the final lines of my 2nd novel... rough draft of a novel. I haven't put in chapters yet, but after some time off I'll go back and do that. It's about basketball, kind of a typical underdog story. The final total of words was 55,576, which came out to 118 pages in Word.

someone's got a birthday...

Our little Lucy is turning one in just over a week. It's amazing how fast the year has gone by. She's such a sweet little (big) baby, and so funny. Her latest thing is puckering up to give kisses. She's got those chubby little cheeks and even makes the mmmmmm sound. You all need one of those kisses! We are planning a small party for a few friends next Sunday. I just know that Lucy is going to devour her cake. She's already got a taste for those things even before turning one! Oh no!

unknown family author

Bradens first books
Age 6, august 2006
Name: I am not a baby

Lucy said momy may I suk on my blankit that I had when I was a baby
no you are not a baby anemore.
Lucy said momy may I have my buny rabbit
no you are not a baby anemore.
Lucy said momy may I take a nap like I yoost to
yes lucy yes.

The end

[I didn't change anything except breaking it up into separate lines]

family movie stars

Click on the picture to see my mom and dad in a recent video promoting their church's small groups. My dad welcomes the young couple and my mom is the one on the couch sharing about her inner child.

day 23

word count: 33,714

The trip to Campinas set me back significantly.I'm almost exactly 5,000 words behind. With one week left it will take some major inspiration to finish the book with the time I have available.

bowling with the dowdys

The fam went bowling last weekend. Check out the skills!

croissants + butecos + bibles

Thursday morning, me, Alan and Wandson (who both we part of the project in Campinas), Leo, Thiaguinho and Diego (all friends and graduates or soon-to-be graduates from UFMG) left out of our garage at 7'ish in the morning to head back to Campinas. We drove down in part for the road trip benefits... to have the time together and two, to visit and reconnect with the friends we made at Unicamp. We just got back last night at almost midnight after three very full days. It's hard to pick a highlight from such an intense trip (we were out and about by 9 a.m. on Friday and didn't go back to our houses and sleep until almost 3 a.m.) but here's some of my favorite moments: croissants at the German bakery, conversation at the Star Clean about truth, discussion about our major questions in life on campus, hamburgers and world travel stories with João at Ponto Final, hearing André sing samba music at Fernando's bar in front of the dorms, and the moment that the band came up to accompany Andred singing the song he wrote about always wanting to write a song. Hearing Vinícius' story about how he began following Christ last year, and playing the cuzo at the ice cream store were also highlights.

Thanks to all of you who made the trip so special: Débora, Juliana, Ju, Carol, Gustavo, Vinícius, João, André, Paulo, Andred, Ricardo, Tucker, Gui, Chuck and many more.

not open for interpretation

I had a crazy, vivid, classic dream last night. I was at a church (that doesn't exist) here in Belo Horizonte. It was connected with Tim Keller in New York. I think he might have even been the pastor here. Anyway, me and some of our team were there and I was supposed to preach. The church was really big and opened up to our central park here. You could see all the trees in the windows around the sanctuary. There was a problem and some of the guys were running around trying to figure out who to talk to and trying to nail down the final order and stuff. But there was another problem. For some reason I didn't have any clothes but underwear. But the guys kept telling me that there was no time to change things and that I was the only one prepared. Awful feeling. I kept wondering if I stood behind the podium if people would notice. Again I remind you, this dream is not open for interpretation.

in the comics

Since returning from Campinas I've thought about how I could best share some of the happenings with you all. I put together some pictures from our time there (sorry, for some reason the camera automatically points at the kids!), and I included a few words about why we were there and what our plans are now that we are back in Belo. And no, I didn't spend hours and hours putting it together. I did it with this program called Comic Life that pretty much does it for you. Click on the picture to see it full size... there are two pages. I plan on doing a Part 2 whenever I receive a copy of the pictures from the project.

day 7

This was my first week for this year's writing marathon. It was pretty interesting. I felt like it flew by for one. Also the word count came easy (I guess I'm wordy) but the flow was jerky. I just couldn't get a good rhythm. I switched back and forth between first person and third. Ah, I doubt anybody's interested in the details.

Day 7 word count: 11,855 out of 50,000

23 days to go.

tip #141

Tip: you can't re-fill a beanbag with shredded paper... no matter how much you stuff in there. You can however have a really good time taking it all back out!

shades of pink

Here's a hug from Lucy in her new glasses.

stooges

Either I was wrong to think there were only 3 stooges or I'm just not sure which three they are. Bernardo, Francival, Emerson, Wandson, and I were together in the same place (at Chico's wedding) for the first time in a long time. Wandson and I were so happy to be back from Campinas and to have Francival in town on break from his studies in São Paulo.

what?

I'm going to let all you faithful readers write your own story for this one. Go ahead, fire away in the comment section. I didn't know Amy had it in her.

day 2

Current word count: 4,708

word count

Last year I wrote my first novel... my first rough draft at least. It's August again and I'm going to give it another try. Last year was more of a detective, mystery style. This year I'm writing about basketball. Current word count after Day 1 - 2,648.

soccer ambassadors

Two of my teammates put together an incredible event this past week that ended yesterday. Fernando Rodrigues and Chris Blazer invited down a group of men from Briarwood Presbiterian Church in Birmingham for a week of ministry to the youth at a poor neighborhood (favela) where Fernando disciples several young men. They kicked off the week with a three-day retreat where they played soccer and studied the Bible. The next day they took the kids for a day at a carnival, and then the Brazilians took the visiting Americans to see Galo play in the Mineirão. And yesterday they finalized the activities by visiting our church, IPSion. Pray that this ministry would continue to bear fruit in a place with such great needs and that the group from Briarwood could have a smooth trip home despite Varig's bankruptcy. (So for any of you planning a visit to Brazil, don't buy your tickets with Varig!)

more shiver news

Happy Belated Birthday Aunt Joan!

Ransom Foster Shiver

Ransom Foster Shiver was born on June 28th, welcomed home by his siblings Jackson and Riley. Congratulations Jason and Amy!

unicamp reflections

Tomorrow marks one week that we've been back in Belo Horizonte. As many of you know, Amy and I spent the last two+ months in Campinas, São Paulo with a team of students from Southeastern Louisiana and South Alabama. God really used the time there to develop some significant friendships between the visiting Americans and the Brazilians from Unicamp and to increase our understanding of what He is doing in the world. I wanted to thank you for praying for our time there. To have been the first group in a new city, on a new campus things went pretty smoothly and I am thankful for that. I continue to pray for the students that came on the project that their worldview would continue to expand and that their discipleship with Jesus would be intimate. And I pray for the students at Unicamp that those that are beginning to consider Christ could really see Him for who He really is.

need for speed

Just wanted to confess our latest addiction... since watching the movie Cars we have been collecting stickers for our Cars sticker album, we've been buying cookies with stickers of our favorite characters, we've been buying cereal with free miniature Cars included, and we've been scarfing down Happy Meals with more miniature (yet not quite so miniature) replicas of our new friends McQueen, Mater and Ramon.

So if anyone happens to go buy a magazine stand and happens to have some extra change and wants to make two little boys happy (and their dad), then ask for stickers for the sticker album for Cars the Movie.

wedding toes

two late nights

Last night was our second late night in a row. We arrived on Friday at almost 11 p.m. It just took us a while to leave from Campinas since we had to close everything out... the houses we rented, etc... Then just traveling with kids, most of you know how that is. It was an uneventful drive, which I was thankful for. No rain, no flat tires, no screaming babies.

The boys had a great time at the wedding last night. Both were real excited about wearing daddy's ties. The ties were tucked in their pants and went down almost to their knees. Simon wanted it to show so he left it hanging out from under his sweater for part of the night. Braden danced at the reception which was a pretty funny site. I was kind of surprised. He had a great time. Be sure to check out his moves.

Pray that we can readjust to Belo Horizonte and the lifestyle here. Where we lived in Campinas was tiny and there's just nothing tiny about Belo. Pray too that we can reunite with the team after being apart for these last three months. And especially that we could understand exactly what God did there in Campinas.

tying the knot

Last night our friends Chico and Cristina said their vows. It was special to see two people that have been a big part of our lives unite like that. They've not only been an important part of our lives but a big part of our ministry here... a picture of what God is doing in Brazil. And having the sparks start while we were with them in South Africa was neat as well.

ain't worth chip

You know when it comes down to crunch time and you really have to get things done, it's great to have someone you can really count on. Thanks Chip for all your hard work. Chip's response: "I'm just tired of having to carry you all project".