after the project

The beach project ended this past weekend and everyone arrived back in Belo on Monday after an 11-hour bus ride, overnight from Rio. Our friend Débora is here staying with us this week. We are trying to convince her to stay as long as she can before heading home to Barão Geraldo. We met Débora during our time at Unicamp with the group of students from the States. It's been great hearing about Débora's experience on the project. She made a lot of new friends there and is now enjoying this extra time together with them. Thanks for praying for the project.

braden's dream

inventing a boat

I feel like I'm standing on the rocky beach of a desert island looking across the choppy, shark-infested waters at a larger land mass complete with hospitals, schools, nice homes, and paved roads. The only problem is that there's no such thing as a boat capable of crossing such a distance surviving the impact of large waves. It hasn't been invented yet.

Yesterday Brian and I spent a few hours just thinking about the future of the graduate ministry, dreaming about what it could and should be. I feel like certain attributes became real clear but the process of possessing those things remained unknown. We are wading out in the water, we've chopped some trees down, we've even sold some tickets for the ride, but the task seems a little overwhelming.

Tonight we meet again with the graduates. Pray that we could continue to develop three clear ideas... now is the time to: grow as a disciple, connect with the body and prepare to engage the world.

re-grouping

This past Wednesday we invited over the graduates. January means summertime for Brazil, time off from school and work. Several graduates are participating in our annual beach project and some are traveling. We had a nice group. Amy prepared some baked potatoes, Michael got to share some of his observations, and we discussed what it means to be a disciple. I pray we can have a strong start of the year.

4 years in a day

Over the last few days we've spent some great time reconnecting with an old friend and coworker, Michael Hart. Michael lived and worked with us in Belo for a year and a half before returning to the States in 2002. He's now finishing up seminary in St. Louis. He and his parents have been visiting with us and it's been great catching up.

mystery revealed

Earlier this week when I came home Simon looked like a country music star with a bad haircut. He'd decided to give himself a haircut. I thought for a second or two about leaving the sides really short and the mullet in the back but decided against it. So Simon has no more of his surfer-like locks.

mystery

Anybody got a guess as to what this means? I'll reveal the mystery maybe tonight or tomorrow.

snaggletooth

Braden lost a front tooth yesterday. He was really proud and anxious to see a picture of the real Snaggletooth since he is in to Star Wars now. He's been talking about Star Wars ever since we were at my mom and dad's for Christmas and he and Simon started playing with my old Star Wars action figures. Those were the days.

to the face

Jimmy takes a water balloon shot to the face.

all in a day's work

sparklers

My favorite line is at the end when Simon says, "I'm out!"

sparklers and stuff

We wanted to wish everyone a happy New Year! We actually made it until past midnight last night... me, Amy and my parents. We let the kids play with some sparklers and I shot off some roman candles earlier. We've so far survived the holidays, creating a lot of great memories with family. We fly out tomorrow, back to Brazil. Including our bags, carry-ons, and our own weight we will be responsible for right at 1,000 pounds on the airplane. Wow!