Festa Junina

Last night our family went to our annual June festival. We had cotton candy, popcorn, bean soup with pork rinds, meat on a stick, hoe downs, dosey does, bonfires, pony tails, missing teeth... Simon confessed to 8 portions of cotton candy all by himself. The kids had a great time. They're sacked out as we speak.

new members

Last night was our first night to meet at the theater as a church. The theater where we'll meet for the next two months is on the 18th floor of a downtown building, quite a different environment than what we are used to. The children all met together with Amy and I and some helpers in a single room with ceiling-to-floor solid glass walls. Don't interpret that as fancy glass walls, but rather as simple windows that go down to the floor and give you the hibbie-gibbies if you get too close.

Meanwhile the church met in the auditorium part of the theater. We had a worship service and several new people joined the church after visiting for some time now and going through our new member's class. The CCPs are also visiting, putting us 40 Americans over our normal number.

50 years

Last night together with the Lanes we met with all the graduates and young adults from our church to watch a training session from Jim Petersen. The main theme Petersen touched on was how important the transformation stage of life is, the stage right after college. I felt like it was a good shot in the arm for the students to dedicate themselves to seeing transformation happen in their work, with their families, their finances, relationships, etc... And also to take the pressure off, understanding that the transformation stage isn't like the student stage of life. What they may have been capable of then they aren't necessarily capable of now.

funny girls

pretty in the dirt

Dirt doesn't make her cheeks less rosy
and mud just accents her bent little knees
the flowers stand tall and sing in her company
and the birds gather 'round, perched in trees

we don't get out much

We spent this past Saturday at Cassiano and Patrícia's (friends from church) land about an hour outside of town. It's a beautiful area, surrounded by jungle that Cassiano uses to train anyone from pilots to businessmen in survival tactics and leadership principles. The boys and I walked through the course he has set up while Cassiano explained everything… of course the boys liked the traps he built the best.

birthday video

We started out at the "club" where Braden has soccer class. Simon played in the sandbox with some friends (fighting off the cold). Then later Brian and I took Simon, Braden, Ethan, Andrew, Duncan and Emmi to the movies. Then we met all the families back at our place for cake. Whew!

Simon is 5

We celebrated Simon's fifth birthday yesterday. Brian and I took Simon and 5 little friends to the movies and then afterwards the families got together for some cake. Simon got the forest he was asking for (made out of a cardboard box) but it wasn't what he imagined. It was funny; all throughout the day Simon said things like that - it's not how I thought. I think he built up some great idea in his head for what yesterday would be like and we had no chance of matching it. But he had fun and was glad to see his friends. Happy Birthday Simon!

bee-beep

With Simon as your chauffeur you're sure to have a great ride.

birthdays and mirrors

We love birthdays. It seems like almost every week we are celebrating at our graduate/young adult get together on Thursdays. This past week it was Caique's birthday. Next week we are planning on having some cake at the beginning to celebrate Simon's.

We have been discussing an oldie but goody lately - The Man in the Mirror. The first section has got some really pertinent stuff if you want to take a deeper look at what you are basing your identity in, which is a huge deal for these guys and girls that are new at their jobs, thinking about marriage, etc...