We invite you to join us in our adventures with our little one: watching her grow and discover.

Friday, January 23, 2009

The Last Post From Brazil

Well, it has been fun here on the "Adventures of the Little Missy" blog. This will officially be the last post I write on this blog. As our family makes our transition out of the work in Porto Alegre to the United States I am making a transition in websites.

I will begin a new site for our family and friends (in the U.S. and in Brazil) to follow. I prefer to limit access to the new site to the folks that we know. So, if you would like to find our new site please leave me a comment below with your email address and I will send you an invitation.

We hope to see you around! Tchau tchau!

Sunday, January 18, 2009

Saying "Good-bye"

Although saying "good-bye" is one of the toughest things to do (in my opinion) it is necessary sometimes. I am learning from others and from our experience that if you must say "good-bye" you should do it right. Don't leave anything unsaid. Don't regret later that you didn't make an effort to be with someone or say something important even if it would have been difficult.

We have been saying our "good-byes" over the last couple of weeks. It has been our first priority to meet with as many people as possible to express how much we love them and appreciate them. We have had meals with families and couples; Jennifer has had time with a couple of her close friends; and I had the chance to go camping with my good friend, Tiago. We are trying to take advantage of what time we have left in Porto Alegre. As of now, the countdown is at 9 days. We leave on Tuesday, January 27th at 6am.

Last night we had our big good-bye. Our teammates, church family and friends threw a going away party for us. It was very special for us to receive this blessing. We were presented with a framed verse, a photo album of our church family and friends with messages, and Elisa was given a present of 2 great books. In addition, they put together an amazing slide show of our time here that definitely made the tears flow! The whole experience was very moving.

I would like to share some pictures of our party in the slide show below. Hopefully, you will feel the love that we felt in the smiling faces you will see.

Thursday, January 08, 2009

Farewell to Gramado and Canela

If you follow our blog then you might know that our favorite little get away spot is just an hour and a half away from Porto Alegre. The sister towns of Gramado and Canela are wonderful places to go and enjoy culture and food. The German influence makes it just that much more fun!

We have gone to Gramado and Canela with every visitor we have had in our 5 years here, plus several trips on our own and the Missionary Conferences in 2007 and 2008. It really is a great place.

Around this time of year there are a couple of great Christmas shows and parades for the family to take in. In addition, you can always drop by Santa's South American home on the road between Gramado and Canela.

We tried to check out the parade and a show, but the fireworks frightened Elisa and it was raining. We decided to turn in and try to see Santa at his house the next day. That was a lot of fun. We still had to battle the rain, but that isn't out of the ordinary for that area in the Brazilian mountains. Besides the rain, we also delt with cooler tempteratures. We have been seeing temperatures around 100 the last week or two. When we left these mountains towns last Saturday it was 51 degrees and raining. Much cooler!

In our farewell tour to Gramado and Canela we also visited our favorite German restuarant 3 times and saw some of our good friends (Fabio, Thais and baby Natalia) at the house.

Here are some pictures of our last Gramado/Canela trip: