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".

putting on the pounds

Lucy now weighs a whopping 22 pounds. She was a little self-conscience about it so she shedded some extra clothes to keep the numbers down. The scale is in kilos, by the way.

dirty work

We're heading into our last week in Campinas, which means a whole lot of cleaning. But we've got three little ones (plus Streed) that manage to undo most of what we clean up. A few of the rooms in the houses we rented need painting. The garage definitely does after the guys converted it into an indoor soccer court. We'll be packing up all the furniture and hopefully storing it somewhere. Pray that this week can be meaningful as we reflect on all we've learned from our time here. And that we can solidify our new friendships with the Brazilians here.

10-month-old day

Lucy turned 10 months old today. She's starting pulling up on things this week and today she climbed up into the bottom of our pantry/cupboard thing. She eats more than Simon these days and is a little spoiled (she's already had ice cream and cake and she's not even one yet).

bottlerocket

It's amazing how a single bottlerocket shot out of a two-liter coke bottle in the middle of the street straight up at the moon, can get a bunch of guys hollering.

moment of consolation

France just put Brazil out of the World Cup, 1-0. Henry scored a goal on a cross in the 57th minute. Brazil looked dead most of the match, excluding maybe the last 5 minutes. The announcer just said that life is more than futebol, but it doesn't feel that way for most right now.