Wednesday, April 15, 2009
Thursday, March 19, 2009
Team Banquet - Fourth Year
Our team had our yearly banquet to celebrate four years on the field. The theme this year was St. Patrick's Day, yes that is why we were all dressed in green. It was a great time to get together to remember the past and to dream of the future. Please pray for our team and the work that we will do in the next year here in Salvador.
Tia Leah and Tio Craig Come to Visit
Tia Leah and Tio Craig have been waiting a long time to come and visit us in Brazil. They have finally made it to the south and are enjoying the time that they get to be with our family. But most of all the time that they get to spend with our kids. We look forward to showing them the sites of Salvador and getting to spend some quality time with them.
Six Months and Ready to Walk
Well our boy is six months old. It is hard to believe that six months have gone by so quickly and how much our boy has grown. Calen has surprised us a lot these past few months with how quickly he is developing. In December he learned to sit alone and by January he was crawling. Then just before he turned 6 months old he discovered how to pull up on furniture, this is one of the first times he pulled up, he even knows how to crawl up that step on his own. Now he is walking along the furniture and walks with help. In fact last night he took two steps alone with Leandro's and Travis' help. We imagine that it won't be too long from now when he decides to walk alone. Just as fast, maybe even faster then Ceara when she was his age. God has blessed us so much with this little boy and we look forward to the next six months with him.
Jackson's 1st Birthday Party and Samuel's 1st Birthday!
Jackson turned one! It's hard to believe but it's true, Jackson is one. Russ and Val threw a great party for him, a farm party, with animal tattoos, farm scenes, great food and so much more. Happy Birthday Jackson.
As well, Samuel turned one on March 12th so a great happy birthday to him too. We know that there will be a party later this month so we look forward to going to that as well. Happy Birthday Samuel.
As well, Samuel turned one on March 12th so a great happy birthday to him too. We know that there will be a party later this month so we look forward to going to that as well. Happy Birthday Samuel.
Painting Children's Classroom
For the past two months we have been painting the children's classroom. We have painted a jail, a temple, a house and a market scene. (We had a friend, Diana paint the country side awhile back) We plan to use all of these scenes to help us tell the stories of the Bible and make them come alive for the kids. It has been fun creating and painting these scenes and watching the kids each new Sunday look at them with pride that it is their room. Please be praying for the times that we spend in this classroom and for the things that they will learn using these scenes.
Festival de Iemanja
February is the month in Brazil where people worship the Goddess of the sea, Iemanja. Travis decided to take Mikaela to see the festival and to see what people do. It was a great opportunity for Mikaela to see what type of people we work with in this city and the types of religions that we have to deal with as we bring people to Christ. Unfortunately during this trip, Travis' wallet was stolen as he passed through the crowds. So we ended up spending a bit of cash to replace lost cards, ID's and just money that was inside. Just another eye opening experience that Mikaela got to see while she was here and a reminder for us to be careful of what we take with us and where. It is sad to think that people are out there who like to steal but those are the people that we need to continue to reach out to; to show them God's love so that one day they will see that they do not need to resort to stealing. Please pray for people like this in our city and that God can show them the way, through us or other people that influence their lives.
Missionary Conference
At the end of December and the beginning of January our family took a trip to the south of Brazil to a city named Itu. It is a smaller city outside of Sao Paulo. Our fmaily spent a week with the Goncalves family just hanging out and getting away from the big city life of Salvador. Travis spent the New Year in the city of Sao Paulo enjoying being a bachelor for the night while I stayed in Itu with the kids and talking to family over the internet. After our week with the Goncalves family we spent a week at the missionary conference which is held in different cities around Brazil every year. It was a good time to meet other missionary families and get fed. It was the first time that Ceara spent a lot of time without us as they had babysitters so that was nice to get that break, and of course she loved being with other kids. She loved it so much that she never cried and was one of the youngest kids there while the others had a little harder time leaving mom and dad. The unfortunate part is that Travis suffered a hurt calf after a rough game of basketball and returned to the hotel needing to use crutches for the rest of the week. Overall it was a great time of refreshing and some fun.
Auntie Mikaela and Lencois
We were glad to have Auntie Mikaela come in January to meet Calen and to stay with us until the beginning of March. She loved her niece and nephew and it was great to have some extra hands around. We were able to show Mikaela many more places this time around as she was here longer and the kids were older then last time when she arrived for Ceara's birth. One of the special things we got to do was make a trip into the interior of Bahia to a little town named Lencois. We got to enjoy a town festival, hiking around the area, seeing the Coke river, and touring a cave. It was great to get out of town for a few days and to see more of the state that we live in. It was a great time to spend with Mikaela and we won't soon forget the huge grasshopper the size of my hand, the monkeys that ate our goldfish crackers or the guy named sydney who carved some stone frames that Mikaela took home with her and so much more. Thank you Mikaela for coming and sharing your time with us. Many great times to remember and hopefully some more in the near future. We love you!
Saying Goodbye
Unfortunately we have had to say goodbye to one of our family members, Chilli the cat. After moving to our new apartment we have had trouble with Chilli who decided it was okay to poop and pee by our front door. After trying all sorts of way to prevent him from doing this, including buying a product that was guaranteed to stop him, nothing worked. With knowing that Calen would soon be crawling we knew that keeping Chilli was not going to happen, and we didn't want to find Calen chewing on something that he shouldn't. So we asked around and finally found a place for him, a home with other cats and where we was more free to roam, something that he wasn't getting in our new place. So we sad our tearful goodbyes to our fun orange cat and gave someone else the chance to love him. Goodbye Chilli!
Cestas Basicas 2008
Many people from back home, the Hillmans, Johnson's, Grocott's, Sass' and their small group helped this Christmas to supply cesta's basicas (Hamper's). We were able to hand out more than 12 cestas, with money leftover for times during the year when we hear that people are in need again. Here is one of the families with Ceara, Carmen and her daughter, Juliana. They were so thankful to receive something more this Christmas season. Thank you to all the people who gave this year to provide some of the necessary and basic things to help sustain a family here in Brazil. I know that many of those people were so thankful for your help and love. May God be glorified through your giving. Thank You!
Sleepover
One of the things we did this year to reach out more to the children in our church was to have a sleepover. We invited Estefane, Joice and Vanessa to spend the night with us. We watched movies, played games, colored, and ate popcorn. It was a great time to spend with the girls and show them a little different part of our life besides what they see at church or our small group. Ceara really enjoyed having the girls over to play with but in the end couldn't spend the night with them as she is still a little young. The girls had lots of fun and of course the boys want to have a sleepover as well. We hope to do that in the near future.
Xmas Picnic 2008
Every year we have a church Christmas picnic and this year was no exception. We invited all our friends and families to the Porter's house where we had a bbq, swam and played games. This year we gave out candy canes that told the story of Christ. Everyone enjoyed the little treat as well as the reason that the candy cane was made. If you have never heard the story look it up on the internet, it is a great illustration. We enjoyed the time that we got to spend with our church family and their friends. We missed the year before as we were on furlough so it was great to enjoy the tradition again. Please pray for all the new people that we met that day and for their interest in our church family and the reason why we celebrate Christmas in the beginning.
Christmas Pageant
This past Christmas we did a Christmas pageant for the kids of our church. We spend many Sunday's practicing songs and learning lines for the pageant that we would preform for our church family. We also practiced twice on a Saturday before the day. The kids loved learning the songs and were proud to dress up and act out the story of Jesus' birth. When we finally presented it to the church you could see how much the children learned and how much the families really loved watching their children perform and sing. I am so proud of the kids and all that they accomplished this past year and to watch them share the story of Christ's birth to their friends and family. Please keep these children in your prayers as they continue to grow and learn more about God's love.
English Christmas Party 2008
As a year end activity for our English classes we have a Christmas party for all our students. Here are some of Travis' class with Santa Clause (Gisele) at the end of our party. This new year the English classes will be done a little different. The beginner class will be 10 weeks long and then there will be a break then they will do the class again. Travis will follow along with the time frame but will continue to work with his class like normal. We hope that this year will be a good way to reach more of the community and help more people with learning English which in turn may give them more opportunities with jobs.
Travis' Parents Surprise HIm
Just before Calen was born, Carol emailed me to see if it was alright if her and Len made a surprise visit. It was a tentative plan but as soon as Calen was born it became official. Carol wanted to see her grandson but to also surprise Travis. So the plan was set in motion for them to arrive in November just in time for Ceara's second birthday party (a joint party with Vanessa, 8 from our small group). The trick was to keep the surprise going for as long as possible. After a few messages on facebook and through email were erased or deleted quickly, November appeared without Travis thinking anything. Then there was the dilemma of how to get Travis to the airport without thinking we were picking someone up...after much thought, our intern Heather had headed to a conference in the south of Brazil, so I used her as the excuse to get Travis to the airport. I told Travis that Heather's bag had been misplaced when she arrived to the south and that she was waiting to hear what had happened. A few days later I told him that Heather had called and asked me to pick up her bag that made it back to the airport in Salvador. I told him that the airline wouldn't let anyone come get it without ID so Heather told them about me. So my excuse was to I had to go get her bag and show my ID. So the plan was set, go pick up a bag (or two) with a few added people...hahaha. Once we got to the airport I told Travis that I would take Calen and for him to take Ceara upstairs to watch the airplanes land. Then I waited for his parents to show up. They were a little late so I got worried that I couldn't keep a secret for much longer. Luckily they arrived and we called Travis to come downstairs to help with the bag (as I had Calen). He came down the stairs to find his parents waiting for him. He was so shocked and couldn't believe we had surprised him with the greatest surprise by far. We really enjoyed the time that we got to spend with Len and Carol and the time they got to spend with the grand kids. So thanks for the great surprise.
Tuesday, December 23, 2008
Year in Review
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.
Enjoy this video of the year in review here in Salvador
Enjoy this video of the year in review here in Salvador
Saturday, November 29, 2008
Halloween
Randy and Jenn had a Halloween party at their place and we were invited to go. We had no idea what to go as so Travis' sister Leah had the idea to go as something to do with Travis' favorite football team, The Saskatchewan Rough Riders. So Travis went as a fan, I was a cheerleader and Calen was the football. Ceara couldn't decide what to go as, so she was a butterfly, then she used her other outfit from Leah and Craig (a Korean celebration outfit) to go to the Halloween party that was at our apartment building the next day. It was great fun.
Ceara's 2nd Birthday
Ceara celebrated two years of life this October. It has been a great two years and we are so lucky to have a smart and beautiful little girl. She is so full of energy and so willing to love. Ceara is fluent in both Portuguese and English and amazes us every time she says something new, especially things that we have never taught her. She always is making new friends wherever we go and makes people smile with her spirit. We love our precious girl, thank you God for your blessing on our lives, for our little two year old.
Futebol Americano
A while back the guys decided that they needed to teach some of our guys from church how to play American football so one Saturday they all come over to our apartment to play as Travis had a football here. It was great and they even had some of the younger guys from our apartment building come and join in. So now every Saturday around 4 to 5 at night our church boys and people from our apartment play a game of football. We hope that through the relationship that they are building with the people from our apartment that hopefully in the future some of those guys will decide to check us out and see who this God is that we always talk about. Another way Travis is reaching out to the community is through a rollerblading hockey league that has been meeting regularly since we moved to the city. This past month Travis parents came down and brought him a hockey stick so he has been able to go play now. So please be in prayer over these two sport activities that may bring others to know God.
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