Santa's letter

Merry Christmas!

new video

I added a video of the raccoon below.

substitutionary marsupial

We caught a nasty opposum during the night in our trap. Still no raccoon though. I know he's just too big for the trap, but I think with the new set up Braden and I worked out we have a chance. I'll include some pictures and video later. I know you are all just dying for me to catch him.

empty trap

I set the raccoon trap the last two nights and struck out now both with my attempt at placing it right behind the pet door, and arming it outside and blocking the pet door. Blocking should be read deterrent because there is no stopping this raccoon.

coon invasion

This morning Simon let Furlow in from the porch. Amy told him to take him back outside, so he set off but came running back in our bedroom. "Raccoon, raccoon!" he said. We walked to the back door to find the raccoon giving our back porch the once over. He gnawed on our dirty clothes bag. He looked for an opening in our kitty litter box. A few times he stopped and stared at us, but was impervious to our presence and went ahead with business. Eventually he gave up and headed back out the cat's door and the boys and I followed him to the neighbors yard. We watched him scamper up an old oak and dig his hands in the knot holes up to his shoulders looking for some grub. I guess Furlow's food wasn't enough. After hitting up the knot holes he climbed back down and came back in our yard. He tried to walk around us to get back to our porch--Furlow met up with him in the flower bed--but we ran him off. He is a brave one.

kidlets and overtime

The last several days have been marked by loads of kidlets--kids with turkey hanging out their mouths, kids wrestling each other, kids prowling in azaleas, kids with plates full of banana pudding--and two disappointing overtimes. Altogether Thanksgiving--our first one in the States since 1998--was too incredible, spoken from two chubby cheeks packing at least five extra pounds. I did minimize my weight gain due to the stress of the LSU-Arkansas game and the Tenn-Kentucky game. Two very disappointing outcomes. But Georgia remains in the race, somewhat.

rounds 1 & 2

The Bainbridge High Bearcats play Fayette County tonight in round 2 of the AAAA playoffs. Last week at Centennial Field the Bearcats beat Statesboro. Amy almost froze... in Bainbridge! Braden said that Simon has thicker skin than he and Amy.

rocket chair

The other day during her playtime Lucy invited some friends to watch a Barney video with her in her "rocket" chair.

The Murdurers

Chapter 5 The War

The three men were surounded by aliens. Suddenly a phone appeared beside them. They called the police, the navy, the army, and the air force. When they got to the space ship they surrounded the space ship and some navy people went to get the men out. When they returned they had the three men with them. The Veterans closed the door to the space ship and got their dinamites ready and befor anyone knew it Kabooooooooooom. The whole space ship exploded.

The end

The Murdurers

Chapter 4 The rezerection

The three men made their way into the space ship and entered. Inside there were tons and tons of things. There were spiders, macanical claws, lazers, ect ect ect. back at the explosion the build ruins started to move and up from the bottom of that stff came the aliens. Meanwhile the three men had found a bunch of blue peach like things that had five eyes, five legs, and two arms. suddenly the ship started to shake, the floor came apart and dozens of aliens came up.

The Murdurers

Chapter 3 The explosion

Those three men bougt one million dinamites. Then they brought those dinamites back to their house and they got the traps ready and waited. Just then the space ship landed. The aliens came into their house and KABOOM. The house exploded, but the three men got away just in time. The aliens were dead.

The Murdurers

Chapter 2 The Return

The next day nothing was unusuall three men went to the store to buy a teliscope. When they bought the teliscope they looked through it they saw a space ship coming twards their village! It was huge how could they stop it? They thought and thought but they couldn't figure out how to stop it. Just then one of them had an idea, "Lets go to the store and buy some dinamites." "Good idea," said another. So they went to the store and bought some dinamites.

The Murdurers

Chapter 1 The Shadow

It was a peacefull day in Sunnyville. Everyone was happy... but then a big shadow cast over the little village. Everyone was scared. They ran into their houses, and then the shadow was gone and everyone was very, very suprised. Everyone wondered what it was.

Girls' Getaway

This past week my sister Laurie and I had a chance to get away for a little retreat to Ellijay in the North Georgia mountains. We had such a great relaxing time pampering ourselves. We stayed in a nice bed & breakfast called The Poindexter House, had a river rock massage, and ate at the cute little cafes the town had to offer. It was a trip ten years in the making and we loved being able to catch up with each other. We even watched a Beth Moore DVD called a Retreat in a Box. It was perfect and we are so thankful to our men and moms for keeping the kids and letting us go. We were so spoiled!

trick or treat

Yesterday for Halloween we walked around the square trick-er-treatin' at all the stores. The kids had a big time and even saw a few friends from school. I loved this particular picture of Simon with Hallie, his classmate. I said y'all stand together for a picture, but she and Simon were afraid to stand too close.

Happy 32nd!

We celebrated Amy's 32nd birthday this past Monday. We had a great time. Laura (her sister) came down for the occasion with her son Trey, staying Saturday through Tuesday morning. We went out to MacDaddy's and then had ice cream cake at home. Thanks to everyone who sent cards and presents. It was really special for her!

more vegas

I see Paris, I see France... One of the many casino/hotels along the strip was Paris. We saw the Broadway production The Producers (my least favorite of the 3 shows we saw) there and my father and I ate lunch one afternoon on the patio. Everything is fake in Las Vegas, but it was still impressive to see the reproductions of the Eiffel Tower and the Arc de Triomphe.

wynfield plantation

We met up with friends Brian and Christy Gilbert yesterday at the Wynfield Plantation near Albany, GA. The kids had a wonderful time being outside and playing together. The six of them stair-step down in age from 7 to 8 months. Thanks y'all for the great time!

hoover dam

Built between the years 1931 to 35 Hoover Dam is really big and made a big lake out of the Colorado River. Lake Mead is over 500 miles around and 115 miles across, and at least 300 (in some places 600) feet deep. This is a smile/squint on my face. I wasn't actually this happy to be there.

vegas

If anybody calls tell them that my dad and I have rendezvous(ed) in Vegas with my brother who flew in for a conference for those of the certified, public and of-account type.

ribeye A.K.A. contra filet

Definitely what they call the ribeye was the best cut of meat, which in my opinion is the best of the Fogo do Chão in Belo Horizonte. Those two slices were worth the entire check but it would have been a shame to pass on the salad bar and the other meats. There were a few differences though: mashed potatoes versus rice, the bananas weren't breaded, the cheese taste in the pão de queijo* wasn't as distinct, the slices off the skewer came thicker. Amy and I probably ate too much though and walked home to our hotel with over-satisfied bellies. But who can pass up such fine beef (I have not so much trouble with the poultry or pork)?
*Click on any word on my blog to get a definition/explanation.

pet adventures

A kitten showed up two days ago outside our kitchen window. She (or he) has shown up periodically since then. Simon is frustrated that we haven't brought it inside yet because we have a pet door and therefore must have a pet. We haven't seen it yet today.

old friends... old school

We're are back from our mad dash to Birmingham. On Wednesday we stopped over in Auburn, Alabama (recent victors over a mean Gator team) to see our friend Diego who is getting his masters in poultry science. We had a great time visiting Diego and seeing the campus. I also got quite a kick out of seeing Diego at the frat house. Diego is vice-president of his pledge class. We are so proud of him.

Once in B'ham we went out with friends Chris and Susan Blazer. Johnny Ray's is always a treat. I had the Wednesday night special, barbecue chicken. And then on the way out we stopped off at Milo's. Two classic B'ham restaurants.

digital newsletter

Our periodic newsletter is online for your perusal. You can also find the back issues, but be sure to check out September.

BikeFest

This week was BikeFest for Bainbridge, GA, so we spent Saturday at the park feeling the biker vibe. Braden counted some 300+ motorcycles. Here's a picture of Simon in front of what we called the I Spy Bike.

green hair and ham

Wednesday night was crazy hair night at Awana. After we got done painting the boys' hair green, Lucy repeatedly pointed to her head saying, heya... heya (hair... hair). So Lucy went with green hair to the nursery.

Lucy's 2nd

Tomorrow is Lucy's second birthday. We celebrated on Saturday with a few friends and family. Lucy had a big time and ate lots of sweets. I thought it was funny how "unsurprised" she was. She acted as if she knew exactly what was going on the whole time and everything came off just as she planned it. Also towards the end of the party after opening a stuffed animal pony from her Grandpa, when no one was looking she sat on top of it and started saying, neigh, neigh. Classic. Here are a few pictures from the party.

Go Bearcats!

The boys and I went to the ballgame on Friday night with Poppy to see the Bearcats' opener. After leading 6-0 at the half we went home. It was raining some and I think we were too far away for the boys to see enough to be interested. But it was getting late. After we left there was quite a downpour and the Bearcats went down with it, losing 20-13.

back and forth

Amy and I got back yesterday from our second honeymoon of sorts at Mexico Beach. My aunt offered her beach house to us this week so we took her up on it, leaving the little ones with my mom (my dad openly confessed he wasn't much help). We had so much fun we are going back tomorrow for the holiday with the kids.

One oddity from the trip... we were never quite sure what time zone we were in. We stayed in a beach house at St. Joe Beach or something like that right next to Mexico Beach. I think we crossed the division of central and eastern time zones everyday.

ladybug's

We spent last weekend with Ladybug (Amy's mom) and Amy's grandmother in Warner Robins. One of the highlights of the trip for me was watching the Warner Robins team in the Little League World Series. We didn't get to watch the final game until returning to Bainbridge but it was fun watching them win... especially when they consoled the Japan team after the game. That showed a lot of heart and character.

Amy's sister, Laura, and her son Trey were also there. He and Lucy got into a few messes in the kitchen over the weekend.

Amy's family loves games, so Braden crawled up in Ladybug's lazyboy and worked some Sudoku puzzles, giving the play-by-play as he went. Amy whooped all of us in Boggle, which was no fun. There will be revenge.

grass and gnats

I asked Braden the other day what the difference was between soccer in the US and Brazil. He said the grass and the gnats. The boys are playing in a league through the local YMCA. Braden was taking classes in Brazil but it was futsal on a hard cement court.

settled-ing

Here's a picture of the back of our house where we'll be living for the next several months. We are sleeping and eating here but still have boxes laying around and need a table here and there. The home is like 80-something years old. Not quite sure. Which is unique and all but does cause some problems. Hopefully by week's end we'll have it livable.

k-5

Simon started school yesterday. He goes at 8 a.m. and stays until 12:30. He did great. No complaints. Afterwards we went out for lunch and he told us he made one friend but that he didn't remember his name.

We still haven't moved into the house we'll be renting (from my brother). We just drove by and there was a moving truck out front, so we are hoping that by this afternoon we can start settling. Our room is a wreck with 7 suitcases flooding the room with clothes. Needless to say we are anxious to move in.

tarmac heat

We've arrived in Bainbridge. Everything was smooth sailing until Atlanta. We met some nice people (one a professor at Auburn... if you are reading this Diego). The trip from Hotlanta to Tallahassee was pretty miserable. We had to walk out onto the hot tarmac to an older, smaller propeller plane run by Korean Air. We braved the heat out to the plane which took longer than it should have because Simon dropped something or fail, I don't remember. Once on the plane I had to switch seats with someone to sit by Simon; they had us separated. All this was o.k. I mean, it's only an hour flight. But the air conditioning wasn't working! Most of you know about me and heat, so I wasn't coping. But 5 minutes in Simon fell asleep and I followed soon after. The best part of the trip was seeing Amy waiting for us at the airport. Everyone being back together makes me feel at home.

signing out

In one hour Simon and I leave for the airport. We fly through Rio and Atlanta on our way to Tallahassee. We said our good-byes last night at church which was sad but also good to remember all the good friends we have here. We hope to see many of you soon.

right now news (furlough)

Amy, Braden and Lucy are waiting for their flight in Rio to Atlanta as I blog this. Over the past month Amy and I talked quite a bit about taking a furlough this year. We really felt it was the right timing for us to step away from the ministry here and rebuild and learn from the past 8 and 1/2 years. We couldn't go together today because I have some meetings this week and plus Simon's passport is still being processed. We are going to live in Bainbridge for the next 6 months. We would love to share with you all the details but for now just wanted to ask for prayer that not only the travel would go well (things have been crazy at the airports here lately) but that the transition would be as smooth as possible for the family as well. Thank you!

all is well that ends well

We flew back in from Rio last night, arriving home shortly after 8 p.m. We managed to apply for Simon's passport. The consulate notified us that it will be approximately one week before it is processed and delivered. So, in the end, everything worked out.
But there were quite a few bumps along the way. When we arrived at the hotel (Hotéis O.K.) the receptionist told us that our appointment wasn't until the next day. And that instead of a one-night reservation, we had the room booked until the 5th... When we arrived at the consulate the next day, the guard out front told us that Simon's name wasn't on the list, but that his appointment had been the day before... When we looked at our printout of our e-ticket after leaving the consulate, it was a one-way ticket from São Paulo to Rio, for one adult, at noon, for some guy named José...
Despite the kinks, everything worked out. Our reservations we're corrected. We got to see the consulate. Our tickets were faxed to the hotel. We even got to take Simon to the zoo. Amy's favorite part of the trip was the linguado we had for lunch yesterday, at a restaurant overlooking the house of Dom Pedro I.
We just missed the PanAmerican games. Pictured above: me and Simon in front of the mascot for the games out front of the Maracanã.

to rio we will go

We leave for Rio in the next hour or so. Hopefully with no surprises at the airport. We have to travel to the consulate in order to apply for a passport for Simon. If all goes well, we'll fly back tomorrow. Our friends Jon and Tathi are coming over to stay with Lucy and Braden.

Last night we had a meeting with our children's ministry workers. Amy and I plan on traveling to the States next month, so we met last night to put everything in order for the time we are gone (more on that later). We've been so encouraged about the growth of our children's ministry at church. The number of volunteers is going up and people are finding the best fit for them.

all wii from here

The Thursday night the Southside group was here we (read they) put on a big event at the theater where the church is meeting. I say they just because I did minimum work for the event, other than have a good time. There was a sportsy theme for the night and the graduates involved in our community invited friends from work for a night of virtual sports. Southside brought in 5 Wiis which were set up with different sports games running. I first lost in baseball. Then tennis. Then boxing. Then I lost in baseball again. Then tennis again. Noticing any themes? I've since made a comeback. We played again last night at our graduate event (thanks to Southside leaving two Wiis behind). Amy and I were unstoppable in tennis. Last night we talked as a group, evaluating the event together with the Brazilians. We talked around ideas about the attractiveness of the event... whether it was a safe place for newcomers. I was most encouraged about the depth of engagement in our small group around the overall vision for our church here. How can it be clearer? What structures and processes need to be put in place?

southside + kids

The Southside group flew out this past Saturday after a solid week of 18-hour days. On Wednesday of last week, part of the group came over for dinner and shared with our children's program workers about the vision and structure their church has put together. I was really encouraged about their heart for kids which really came through during the night. I think all our volunteers came away energized to keep pushing forward with our program and to keep trusting God to work on the kids' hearts.

southside

A 19-member, short-term team from Southside Church (Peachtree City, Georgia) arrived this past Saturday to work alongside our church. Together with the team we are planning three major events. The first was this past Sunday with the kids at the church. Southside put together the program and we helped with the translation. It was a great opportunity for us to be exposed to their children's ministry and the kids had a blast. Today we are doing an American football clinic for neighborhood kids. Our hope is that it can be a great contact with the families around us. And tomorrow night our graduate ministry will host alongside Southside a virtual sports (Wii) night to invite their friends and coworkers. Please pray for the remainder of our time and praise God for this new partnership and friendship. Team-member Brian Mount shared this morning,

"Love the people, love the food, love our hosts. We are glad to be here to serve."

capitão montão

spidermon

Simon got to pose with Spiderman after the Festa Junina this past Saturday. We didn't have our camera with us but this one showed up on the sports club's site (where the party was).

Make Magazine Messenger Bag

Make Magazine Messenger Bag
Originally uploaded by Jeff Dowdy

Lucy is posing with the messenger bag Amy and I made a couple of weeks ago. It's made entirely out of plastic bags. We learned about the project from the Make Magazine video podcast. You iron the bags together to form a more durable plastic and then stitch them together. Click on the picture to read our notes from our work of art.

Simon's Circus Box

Simon's Circus Box
Originally uploaded by Jeff Dowdy

After Simon did the cutting and coloring, I helped him add in these circus characters from a mobile we were going to do a while back. He later added in the lion, which we figured looked best busting through the wall. Be sure to click on the picture to see Simon's notes from each item.

Braden's Mad Scientist Box

Braden's Mad Scientist Box
Originally uploaded by Jeff Dowdy

Braden has been working on this box for a while now. Just today he got the foam and made space for the scientist. Click on the picture to read Braden's description for each item.

sou deus

tea party

Lucy and Kayla share a happy, tea-party moment.

soccer fest

[pictured: (back row l-r) Ethan, Simon and Duncan; (front row l-r) Pedro, Andrew and Braden.
Saturday, Braden got to invite two friends to come play with his soccer class (usually 8 a.m. on Tuesday and Thursday). He invited Duncan and a new friend, João Gabriel. It was fun watching Simon play (invited by Ethan), clueless to the rules but going after it. João Gabriel didn't make it in time, but Braden and Simon went to his English class yesterday. Braden even read a story to the class.

worldwide blog

Pretty cool that my blog received visitors this past week from all over the world. Even though they didn't actually mean to visit my blog.

aúdio da palestra

Para quem se interessar, o site com o aúdio, etc... está atualizado.

what we don't see

The fundamental fact of existence is that this trust in God, this faith, is the firm foundation under everything that makes life worth living. It's our handle on what we can't see. The act of faith is what distinguished our ancestors, set them above the crowd. By faith, we see the world called into existence by God's word, what we see created by what we don't see.

b'day pics

Click on the image to see it full size.

birthday hangover

For Braden's seventh we watched Shrek the Third at Diamond Mall with a few friends. I was immensely disappointed with the movie theater. The sound was off and it wasn't one of the renovated rooms. But the kids enjoyed it. One funny thing was that we went to see the English version, which no Brazilian kids go to because they... don't speak English. But many of the adults prefer the original language and they just read the subtitles. So they always do a double-take when they see small kids. Afterwards we had cake here at the house. Amy made a Shrek head out of red velvet cake (or cornbread... but I'll let her tell that story). Thank you for the messages you left over the phone and by email. He loved them.

Happy Birthday Braden!

Braden turns 7 today. Simon colored this picture for him yesterday. Our plan is to go see Shrek the Third this afternoon with some friends and then have cake (giant Shrek head) here at the house afterwards. It's amazing how fast the time has gone by. You can email Braden a birthday wish if you like.

say 'uncle'

Congratulations to my brother Jad and his wife Lena on the birth of their daughter Elizabeth Anastasia! Can't wait to meet her.

I'm powerful

investigative retreat

This past weekend the campus ministry held it's annual investigative retreat to encourage students to think in a deeper, more inquisitive way about a relationship with God. From here several discussion groups will start to help the students dialogue about their doubts and preconceived ideas about faith. Pray that new, pure thoughts about God would come from this time and that these new "investigators" would be embraced by the community here.

sou bom

stacked high

Saturday we met with pastor Tom Irby and talked about relationships, our gifts and the message of Christ. After consuming 10 large pizzas in record time we sat back down to talk more specifically about the importance of our gifts and talents in the body. The graduates that make up the group are a young bunch (myself and Amy somewhat included) and I felt like Tom's words pointed to a distant future that sounded good yet out of reach. We are at the beginning of a learning curve in the journey and I feel God is giving us little glimpses of what lies ahead.

community of carnivores

We had a churrasco tonight over at Brian's. The meat was excellent as was the company. The original intent was for Candace's dad to meet everyone but his flight didn't make it in on time after some problems in Miami. But boy, the meat was good.

picture pages

For pictures from our trip, click here.

For pictures from the festa, click here.

amazonic fireplaces

Monday the family and I took some time off and went to one of our favorite spots two hours or so from here and 14 km of dirt road off the highway. We had a great time hiking, riding horses, hot tubbing (Lucy even learned how to say 'hot tub'), and sitting around the fire. It was really cold both nights, so cold you could feel the fire go out at night while we slept. The farm hotel isn't exactly in the Amazon but it is located within a patch of Atlantic rainforest (but still doesn't explain the cold... some one help me on that one). I'll post a link later of some of our adventures.