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.