Elisa's 2nd Birthday!

Elisa turned 2 years old this week! It is hard to believe that we witnessed her enter this world a whole two years ago. Time sure does fly, doesn't it?

She started the week off with a runny nose and a cough. It was kind of a lousy start, but it did get better. Elisa's Granny and Gramps (Sascha's parents) traveled to Porto Alegre to see her on her birthday this year! They made it here the day before the big day. On her special day we had family time - opening presents, eating cupcakes and doing other fun things that Elisa enjoys.

We spent Friday getting ready for her party on Saturday. When the party rolled around we were all geared up and ready to go. We don't have the big blowouts that most Brazilians have. Our party for Elisa was at home with several of her little friends and their parents. We had some fun activities that Jennifer worked really hard on (bean bag toss, decorating sugar cookies, coloring, playing with homemade playdough, etc). Elisa had a great time playing with all her friends. She opened a couple of really fun presents too! It was a huge success!

We brought the party to a close with the Brazilian style of the "Happy Birthday" song and then we ate some cake. I must say that Jennifer did the most amazing job on that Strawberry Shortcake cake. Simply fabulous!

I encourage you to sit through this slide show of Elisa's 2nd birthday party. It was a birthday to remember!

Geography & Music Lessons

Elisa is a little too young to go to school, but we have fun teaching her little things at home. She has gotten good at her A,B,Cs (up to G) and can count to 10. She is also very interested in animals and reading books.

Recently we have had several friends leave us to travel to different parts of the world. Our friends, Tiago and Lili went to Australia earlier this month and Ansley Blume headed to the states for a visit. Elisa has learned where on the map Tiago, Lili and Ansley are! So, right now her geography lessons include Australia and North America. Here are a couple of little videos of her pointing out Sydney, Australia and Tennessee, USA on a world map.






This is a video of Elisa in her unofficial music class. This is a good one!

Ponytail

Elisa loves brushing and combing her hair. Over the last few months her hair has gotten long enough for us to put it up in different styles. This week we were able to put it in a ponytail for the first time. Here are some cute pictures of our little ponytail wearing girl!

Bye-bye Ansley

Today we went to the airport to say good-bye to another friend, Ansley Blume. The Blume family are some of our teammates here in Porto Alegre and we have a close relationship with them. Their two oldest daughters (Bronwyn and Ansley) are our regular babysitters.

Ansley had been a weekly fixture at our house, watching Elisa, as she was earning money to go to the states for a visit. Ansley turned 15 back in April. If you are unaware, the 15th birthday is huge in Latin American countries. Instead of having a party that was the equivalent of a wedding Ansley decided she wanted to go the the U.S. to visit her grandparents and go to church camp to renew the relationships that she started last year when their family was on furlough.

Ansley had some help from her parents and grandparents and other relatives to cover some of the expenses, but she worked really hard too. She made and sold cookies at school and, like I already stated, she babysat Elisa regularly. We are very proud of this young woman and pray the Lord's blessings upon her and her travels.

Elisa and Garrett (Ansley's younger brother) watch the airplanes.

Playing on the "circle" in the airport!

Saying Good-bye

The gang from left to right top: Alexandre (friend), Ansley Blume, Bronwyn Blume & Garrett Blume. Left to right on bottom: Carys Blume, Anderson Blume & Elisa (running away!).

Bye-bye kiss

Everyone watched as Ansley went through security and walked to her gate.

Baby Dolls and Animals

Elisa has started to really care for her baby dolls. She has a couple of new ones and really loves to carry them around. Sometimes she will take them with her when we go out. As we walk around a store or in the mall she holds the baby doll around the neck with one arm. She really puts a hard strangle hold on the poor baby. We have shown her how to hold the baby correctly, but when you are walking from point "A" to point "B" who has time to pay attention to detail - especially plastic!

There have been a few times lately when we have needed to get the baby doll's involvement in Elisa's breakfast, lunch or dinner. Sometimes the child just refuses to eat. However, if she can feed the baby it really helps her gain an appetite!

"Open up, Baby."

"Just kidding!"

This picture of Elisa and her baby doll was taken just a couple of hours ago.

Elisa has always shown interest in animals. She loves dogs and cats and birds. Recently she received a book that has a lot of animals that she wasn't familiar with. It took only a couple of days and she was saying "gwana" (iguana), "camel", "pee-pock" (peacock), "hippo", "penguin", "seal", "walrus", "kwala bear", etc. It is so cool to see her learn new things and retain what she has learned. Below is a new video of her going through her book with my prompting.

Counting... 1 to 10!

Elisa is moving up in the world! Yesterday she started counting from 1 to 10! She has been saying all the numbers (1 through 10) for a while, but not in order. In fact, she has been counting everything by 2s for a while (birds, cheerios, etc. I think because of Noah's Ark). When she finally decided to count from 1 to 10 she did it in style - singing! Oh yea!



Here are some other fun pictures to give you a more realistic view of how funny Elisa is and how busy she stays...

"What's up, dude!?"

"Container? No, this is a hat!"

"Why is everything so blurry?"

Train time!

Lindsey made an impact...

on our sweet little girl. Today Elisa said, "Bye-bye car. Pairplane. Insey!"

Translation: "Let's take a ride in the car to the airport so that we can catch a plane to go see our dear friend, Lindsey!"

Good Times with Jeff & Lindsey

This is the season of visitors for us. We have planned on receiving several friends and my parents over the next couple of months. The first of the wave of visitors was Jeff and Lindsey.

Jennifer and Lindsey were roommates at ACU for 3 and a half years and they were in each other's weddings. In fact, Jennifer went back to the U.S. for Lindsey's wedding after we had been living here for just 6 weeks.

Anyway, Lindsey and her husband Jeff came down for a couple of weeks and really blessed and encouraged us. Our family had a lot of fun showing them our city and introducing them to our friends. It means so much to us to have friends and family here. The experience that we hope they have is one that helps them relate to where we have been and what we have been doing. When we tell stories or mention someone from Brazil they will understand a little better what it is we are talking about. Unfortunately, Jeff had to head back to Denver after just a few days. However, Lindsey was able to hang out for an additional week!

Here are some fun pictures of our time with Jeff and Lindsey...

...at the artesian market.

...eating at one of our favorite restaurants.

...playing with Elisa.

...drinking Chimarrão!