The Adventures of the Little Missy

The Last Post From Brazil

2009-01-23T20:35:00.002-04:00

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!

Saying "Good-bye"

2009-01-18T08:01:00.004-04:00

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.

Farewell to Gramado and Canela

2009-01-08T06:01:00.007-04:00

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:

Tipity-Tapity

2008-12-31T13:54:00.002-04:00

Some kids need expensive toys to be entertained. They may require game systems and all kinds of craziness to keep them from being bored. Not our girl! No way! All she requires is some leftover packing material. To be specific... bubble wrap! Once she has it, there is no one stopping the tipity-tapity tap dancing! Enjoy the video!

Future Star

2008-12-30T07:26:00.008-04:00

Sometimes it is fun to watch Elisa and guess what she will do in the future. Her interests and vocabulary at 2 and a half years blows me away. She is especially interested in animals and music. Maybe she will be a veterinarian who plays multiple instruments in an orchestra or rock band! Hard to say, but I wouldn't be surprised.

Just to give you an idea of some of the things she knows she can name off probably 30 different kinds of animals. As far as musical instruments go... she knows the sounds, shapes, sizes and positions of the saxophone, flute, bassoon, violin, cello, bass, guitar, piano, trumpet, french horn, trombone, tympani and the drums (courtesy of Baby Einstein's First Orchestra).

Check out this video to see our future star in action...

A Month Away

2008-12-27T12:38:00.003-04:00

You've all heard the saying "time flies". After our time in Porto Alegre, Brazil and being the daddy of a 2 and a half year old I really believe it! One month from today (January 27th) we will board a plan and leave the place we have called home since March 9, 2004.

Jennifer's parents were here for a visit last month. They left on November 27th to return to the States. We marked in our minds the date of December 27th (today) as a half-way point between then and when we leave Porto Alegre. It is hard to comprehend that we are at the half-way point.

Today, Jennifer and I were talking about how we only have a few more weekends left to spend with a particular couple that we are close to here. Some of those weekends are already spoken for, so there really isn't that much time. It made me have the thought "we are running out of time and I don't feel like I have had enough". I know it is time to "move on", but saying all the good-byes is tough. Especially when you want to do it right and make an effort for it to be meaningful and not just a one-armed hug and a "tchau".

Well, those are my thoughts for today. I'm sure that I will have many more to share as January 27th grows nearer. Until then...

Fresh Garlic

2008-12-26T18:49:00.003-04:00

Since living in another place for the last 2 weeks Elisa has picked up a few new things. I had never realized this before, but she had never been introduced to garlic until this last week. In our house we had a little pot where we kept garlic and onions. Due to a completely different kitchen set-up now we just have a bowl of garlic and onions on the kitchen table. We use garlic and onions to cook a lot, so they are always out.

Last week Elisa started asking about the garlic. Every meal that she is eating at the kitchen table she talks about the garlic. Today she picked up a little clove and was playing with it at lunch. She pretended to eat it while she was playing. She would give a little nibble like a rabbit eating a carrot as quick as possible. Elisa is an extremely picky eater. So, the though of her actually taking a bite out of a raw garlic clove just didn't enter our minds. BUT SHE DID! I seriously wish I had the camera out! The look on her face was priceless. Jennifer and I did the best we could not to laugh as she exclaimed that the garlic was yucky and attempted to pull her tongue out of her mouth! She scraped and clawed at her tongue trying to get the garlic taste out. It was something to see. She finally took a drink of milk upon my urging and felt better about it. After a couple of minutes it was forgotten about. Of course, tomorrow when we are sitting at the table eating I'm sure she will have second thoughts about experimenting with the garlic. I will let you all know if she decides to take a chomp out of the onions.

(just to make sure we are understood - she didn't eat the garlic, just bit into it and that was enough!)

Christmas in Brazil

2008-12-25T18:26:00.011-04:00

Christmas in Brazil is quite different than Christmas in the U.S. It isn't too difficult to stick to our typical American traditions because Brazilians do a lot of the same things. We went to see Santa at the mall (several times), we made Christmas cookies, we had a tree and hung our stockings and we played a lot of Christmas music. However, there are several things that they do differently.

Some observations:

Brazilians have a Christmas feast at mid-night on Christmas Eve. After they eat they open all their presents. Sometime Santa Claus appears to hand out presents. Depending on where you are in the city you can actually observe this happening through apartment windows. It is neat to see.

Santa is at the mall just like in the U.S. However, besides taking requests for presents he collects the pacifiers of children who are ready to be rid of them. Some times the children giving up the pacifier can be 8 or 9 years old. This isn't as neat to see as it is strange.

The Mall is decorated so extravagantly. It is a true wonderland. This year they had a Christmas tree that was several stories tall inside the mall. It had a path with a tunnel going right through it! Elisa asked to go there and check it out about 50 times over last last several weeks.

Brazilians do Christmas trees (fake - I've never heard of a real one here). They do a lot of the decorations we are used to. However, they don't do stockings. This is something that is just starting to take off here.

I think that is enough of the observations. Let's get on with the Christmas pictures...

Santa Claus & the Mall

Christmas decorations (we are currently living in Matt & Waleska's apartment, so we did what we could). Notice that the presents surround the Christmas tree! They can't really rest under it!

Christmas Cookies (making and decorating)

Christmas Day! (opening and enjoying presents)

We hope that you had a very Merry Christmas and that the rest of your year be blessed!

Bronwyn's Graduation

2008-12-24T14:57:00.003-04:00

Monday night Bronwyn Blume graduated from high school. She has been one of Elisa's babysitters for the last couple of years. We are very proud of Bronwyn. We know that she will go on to do great things. She plans on attending ACU's nursing program starting in the fall of 2010 after some time with family and exploring the world. God bless you, Bronwyn. Congratulations!

Above: Bronwyn accepting her diploma. Below: the proud parents, Kevin and Benay.

The Poor Child Update

2008-12-23T20:35:00.003-04:00

In yesterday's post I eluded to the fact that Elisa has struggled with the move. I think most of the difficulties were because of the lack of constant attention she wasn't receiving. One of us is with her most of the time (if not all), but that is practically impossible while preparing for and executing an international move. Before giving some details on Elisa's struggles I will say that she is doing so much better now that we are back to a somewhat normal schedule.

Children are pretty perceptive. When things start to disappear or get carried out the door (garage sale) or get boxed up they sense something is up. Elisa got this load and clear. Our whole family felt the weight and stress of this move - including little Elisa.

Although the people that we had watch her while we were working on things are some of her best friends the situation kind of freaked her out. We followed some advice and did the best we could to explain that we were "going to live in another house soon" and that she would see "Grandmommie and Granddaddy soon". It was good that we had her say "good-bye" to the different rooms of the house, to the moving truck and to the house. We will also take her to say "good-bye" to the mall, to the parks she knows and to other frequented spots. It should help her cope. I don't think she really got it though, until she went into the house when it was completely empty. Then it was like a light bulb going off - we don't live here anymore.

To add to the stress she has been hitting a real accident prone stage. Five times in just a couple of days she smashed her head really good. Once she rolled out of the new bed she is sleeping in at Matt and Waleska's house (we learned how to keep that from happening the hard way - sorry, Elisa), twice she walked straight into the sliding glass doors at the old house while they were closed, once she feel face first into the sidewalk while trying to run down a slight slope (really, really bad) and once she feel backward off of a chair at a store - slamming the back of her head against the tile. The poor thing was really beat up. I think that the new surroundings made it hard for her to sleep well which caused her to be tired whick in turn caused her to not be as coordinated.

There have been some fun things though. As noted above, Elisa is sleeping in a different bed now. She is in a queen bed! We had to line both sides of the bed with chairs so that she would roll off onto the floor. She has discovered, though, that she can get out on her own when she wants. This hasn't been to troublesome, but we have caught her sneaking around the apartment when she is supposed to be taking a nap. I thought I heard her quietly walking down the hall the other day. I found her in a back room, squating on the floor, messing with something unimportant. I just watched. After a couple of minutes of playing she looked up and saw me. She smiled great big and said, "Hi! I woked up!" We get that a lot these days. She gets herself up in the morning now, comes to our room and announces "I woked up!"

She is enjoying the Christmas season and is looking forward to Santa coming tomorrow night. We thanked God for Santa in our prayers this evening. After we said "Amen!" Elisa said, "I love Santa Clause." She really does. I'm sure that he is going to reward her well for all that she has suffered through the past few weeks; the poor child.

Overdue Update

2008-12-22T12:16:00.005-04:00

Sorry we have been out of touch for so long. It has been pretty crazy around here with the move and all. Hopefully, this update will bring you up to speed on what is currently happening in our crazy world.

The Move:

The moving company showed up at our door step on Monday the 15th to start packing our goods. We had 2 guys (Alex and Ricardo) working with us all Monday and Tuesday. The driver of the truck (Solomão) showed up on Tuesday to lend a hand. All in all, things went well. We had a couple of minor hiccups like most moves do (but nothing that couldn't be handled).

We worked pretty hard trying to get it all done in a timely manner. By the end of the week we were dead tired. Here are a couple of moving pictures:

The moving truck out in front of the house.

Packing away!

Sascha taking it all in.

Santa is getting the feeling that he will spend this Christmas in a box!

The moving truck pulling away from our house.

Elisa had a difficult time understanding what all was going on during these days. She hung out at the house some on Tuesday and had a chance to say "good-bye" to...

her bedroom...

her bathroom...

the view from the loft...

the moving truck...

and our house.

The hard part of the move is behind us now. On Tuesday evening (the 16th), 1 day ahead of schedule, the moving truck pulled away and headed off to São Paulo. Our goods will stay in storage there until we head to the States at the beginning of February. We are currently staying in the apartment of the Rehbeins while they are on furlough. Thanks Matt and Waleska!

Summer Colors:

One of the many things that we will miss about Porto Alegre is the beautiful flowers and trees. Every season has an incredible array of colors. Here are some pictures of the red and orange flowers of the Flamboya tree. Enjoy!

I think this is enough for one post. I will be back for more tomorrow. You can be looking for updates on just Elisa, Christmas in Brazil and Bronwyn Blume's graduation. See you then...

Relocation Update

2008-12-04T12:53:00.003-04:00

It is getting difficult to find time to blog. There is a lot going on, but almost too much to sift through and mention in a post. I do have the time now to share some details with our faithful readers a "relocation update".

In preparing for a move of this magnitude there are certain things that really set things in motion. You can talk about the move all you want for as long as you want, but before you do certain things all it is is talk. So, here are 4 huge things that we have done recently that puts this beast on the road of no return.

1. We turned in our 30 day notice to the real estate office and owner of the house we are renting that we will be moving. Once this is done there is no turning back. We, at the very least, will be moving out of our house.

2. Last Saturday (and continuing until we don't have anything left) we had a garage sale. We made the decision to sell a lot of things that we either don't need or could easily replace in the U.S. This will make the move much easier. It is hard though, because in many ways we feel like we are already in the camping stage (no dining room table = lots of picnics on the living room floor; dismantled bed = sleeping on a mattress on the floor).

3. This week (on Monday) we bought our one-way airline tickets from Porto Alegre, Brazil to the United States of America. Again, this is huge and makes everything that is happening so much more real.

4. Today (only an hour ago) we hired a moving company. They will be here on the 15th of this month to pack our belongs and load our container. They will store our belongings until our departure date on January 27th, then they will put them on a freighter and send them to the States.

We can tell that Elisa is a little troubled by all this and doesn't really know what to make of it. Please keep us and especially Elisa in your prayers as we continue moving through this transition. We need wisdom, peace and unity as a family. Thanks in advance for remembering us.

Over the next several weeks I will do my best to keep you all up to speed on what is happening. Don't read to much into a lack of blog activity. We are just really busy.

Peace.

Grandparent Visit: Week 2

2008-11-28T08:37:00.002-04:00

Week 2 of the Grandparent's visit was pretty eventful. We had an opportunity to go check out some of the city, walk around the new mall, have a churrasco (Brazilian bbq) with some good friends, eat incredible Brazilian pizza, visit the Chácara, go to a birthday party, visit the Salgado family again and celebrate Thanksgiving.

It has been a fun two weeks with the Grandparents. We were sad to see them go yesterday, but we know that we will get plenty of time with them soon enough. We have a little less than 2 months before we leave Porto Alegre.

Here are some pictures of the last week of the Grandparent's visit... if you would like to see the pictures in a little larger format, just click the "view all images" button at the bottom of the slide show.

Grandparent Visit: Week 1

2008-11-22T19:20:00.003-04:00

Elisa's grandparents arrived here a week ago and we have been having quite the time! We have played and read books and been to the mall several times (to look at the Christmas scene). We have celebrated Mommy's birthday and gone on an overnight trip. All this has been in just the first week. Below is a slide show of the fun we have had so far. Enjoy! (to see the captions just put the mouse on each picture)

Daddy's Little Girl

2008-11-21T20:41:00.006-04:00

Elisa is definitely a Momma's girl, but I have to post these pictures of her showing affection for her Daddy. I love it when she takes my hat off my head and puts it on her own. There's nothing much cuter than this...

The Drama Queen

2008-11-11T14:50:00.003-04:00

I wouldn't say that Elisa overreacts to everything, but she does have a streak of drama. She has a way of letting you know that she doesn't agree with something. It can be anything, but her response is the same... "I don't want ______ anymore!"

Things we have heard lately include:

"I don't want juice anymore!"
"I don't want milk anymore!"
"I don't want to go pee pee on the potty anymore!"
"I don't want to wear clothes anymore!"
"I don't want to take a bath anymore!"
"I don't want to go for a walk anymore!"
"I don't want to eat anymore!"
"I don't want to wear sandals anymore!"
"I don't want to sleep in the bed anymore!"
"I don't want to go bye-bye in the car anymore!"
"I don't want to (be) tickled anymore!"
"I don't want to see _______ anymore!"

I think you get the picture! If she doesn't want something; she doesn't want it for infinity! Sometimes she throws out some funny ones that really make me laugh, but most of them just make me roll my eyes. What a little drama queen.

MOMMY IS BACK!

2008-11-08T07:33:00.003-04:00

Jennifer finally made it in early this morning. What I can remember her telling me (I was still mostly asleep) was that the airline put her and 3 other women who were with her in a hotel and paid for their dinner. They went to bed around midnight and received a phone call around 1:00am telling them to check-out of the hotel and take a bus to the airport at 2am. Their flight to Porto Alegre left at 4am and Jennifer walked in our front door at approximately 6:55am. I think she was in her pajamas and in bed by 7am. I expect her to sleep for most of the day.

I am sorry that she went through all she did to get back to us. But, I'm so glad that she did. Especially for Elisa's sake. I know that little girl really missed her mommy and had high expectations that she would see her this morning.

Mommy, we love you and we are glad you're back!

Without Mommy: Day 5

2008-11-07T17:18:00.002-04:00

Praise the Lord we are finishing up the last day!!!

After we woke up and got rolling this morning we hit the grocery store. I had to buy all the ingredients for this really awesome cajun chicken pasta dish. We plan to have some friends over for lunch tomorrow so everything needs to be buy and ready by the time Jennifer gets home.

The store went well. We swung by the pet store on the way to the car (again!) to take a look at all the sleeping puppies and kitty cats. Then we went home and I got to figure out how to watch Elisa and run up and down the stairs trying to get all the groceries to the kitchen from the car. It wasn't too bad.

Lunch came around and Elisa ate nearly every morsel of her grilled cheese, pretzel sticks and apple slices. Then she went down for a nap.

My friend Spencer dropped by for a short visit and some prayer time. That was really good for me. I needed the encouragement. I really haven't had much contact with anyone in person (except for Elisa) this week.

Shortly after Spencer left I heard Elisa upstairs. I wasn't too thrilled, because she had only been down for about an hour and a half. For many parents this amount of time would be great, but I'm spoiled. She has taken a minimum of a 3 hour nap every day this week! I let her hang out in her room (she wasn't complaining) for another 30 minutes before I got her.

As soon as I got her up we called Jennifer to see how things were going. They had just arrived in São Paulo after the 3 hour bus ride. She was expecting to depart São Paulo sometime around 7:30 and arrive in Porto Alegre around 9:30. Cool! That was earlier than expected!

After talking to Mommy we decided to hang out at the mall again and check out Santa Claus, the Christmas tree and all the toys. Elisa was particularly interested in checking out the goofy elf guy (real live person) doing his swaying dance! Every time I think of that guys swaying back and forth trying to make kids smile in such a ridiculous way I laugh out loud. I will be sure to take Elisa and Jennifer back to look at the display next week with camera in hand so I can post this guy's dance. You will lose it!

So, I get Elisa loaded up in the car to go to the mall. When I hit the button to open the garage doors (one for the house and a gate out at the street) one of them fails to open. I tried again and it moved only about 3 feet. Our doors our solid. They don't roll up to the ceiling like most do in the U.S. of A. The one that is connected to the house is solid wood and very heavy. It was simply broke. I get out of the car and hit it here and there, trying to jar it loose. Of course, the 2 year old in the car is yelling at me, "Are you hittin', Daddy? Are you hittin'?" I think she asked/yelled about 20 times! Despite what you might think, it didn't help the frustration level or the situation.

I decided to leave it. I grabed the stroller and ran it upstairs. Then I went down and got Elisa and got her settled in the stroller. Before too long we were out the front door and on our way to the mall (it is 3/4 of a kilometer away from our house).

We spent about 2 hours walking to the mall, hanging out at the mall and then walking home. It was a good time. I think Elisa had a blast. Especially when we split a soft-serve icecream cone from McDonald's. She loves icecream cones!

After we got home we played and watched some Discovery Kids before supper. Due to her skipping a much needed nap earlier I was determined to have her in bed by 7pm and I succeeded.

Once she was down I decided to check out the partically open garage door. There is no way you can work on something like that with a small child around. It is hard enough to do the dishes when she is around! So, I thought I spotted the problem. I grabbed a screwdriver and did some messing around and "POP" a piece that had gotten caught fell back into the place. The garage door is down and fixed at no expense! I have to say that I am relieved. I had a dream earlier this week that I got my hand stuck in this very door when it was closing and it lopted off all the fingers on one of my hands. Nice, I know. Sorry for the details, but aren't you glad I am currently typing with 2 functional hands! I am.

So, Elisa is down, cleaning is done and Jennifer is on her way home....

Oh, wait! I forgot to mention the bad news! Jennifer called right before I was going to take Elisa upstairs and get her ready for the night. The first thing she said was, "Bad news." I knew what it was immediately. Nothing runs according to plan when it deals with airplanes in Brazil! Her flight had been canceled! The next available thing isn't leaving São Paulo until 1am! And it isn't even confirmed! So, at the earliest she won't get here until around 3am - TOMORROW! I have already changed our lunch plans for supper on Sunday early evening. Hopefully, Jennifer will get here sooner than expected and she will have time to rest before Elisa demands to see her. When Jennifer called she wanted to talk to Elisa real quick. As they were finishing Elisa yelled out, "BYE BYE, MOMMY! SEE YOU IN THE MORNING!" Well, if I can't get my wife back yet at least I have an adorable 2 year old to keep me company.

Without Mommy: Day 4

2008-11-06T21:29:00.002-04:00

We are officially tired of not having Mommy around!

Elisa and I (mainly me) were pretty bored this morning so we took off for a little walk around the mall action. It was raining this morning, leaving our options of things to do limited. Going to the mall turned out being a pretty good move. They had just gotten all the Christmas decorations out! They don't celebrate Thanksgiving in Brazil, so usually around November 1st all the Christmas stuff comes out. I love this time of year here. It doesn't feel like the States because it is disgustingly hot, but Brazilian shops and malls do it up right with the decorations.

Elisa and I walked around admiring all there was to see. We walked from one end of the mall to the other and back. At the far end they had the Santa set-up. Elisa looked at him and gasped "Wanna say 'hi' to Santa Claus, Daddy?!" It was so cute. She crept up to about 10 feet from him, positioned herself behind one of my legs and yelled out "Oi!" through a pacifier and clinched teeth! I told Santa that we would come back at another time to take a picture since Mommy wasn't with us.

Santa was at the base of a large Christmas tree that was 3 stories in height! There was a little walk way that actually went through the tree. There were all kinds of fun things to see that had her little eyes practically popping out of the sockets! We will probably go back tomorrow morning!

Lunch was pretty uneventful. Elisa took nearly a 4 hour nap, which allowed me to get more cleaning done. That was really helpful. Thanks, Elisa!

In the afternoon we played for a bit and read a couple of books. We watched a couple of little shows on Discovery Kids and had a chance to talk to Mommy on the phone for a few minutes.

After Elisa went down this evening I watched "Speed Racer" then finished up what cleaning I didn't get down earlier in the day. I had planned on cleaning the garage real good tomorrow, but frankly, I'm a little worn out. Actually, I'm a lot worn out. I will probably make cleaning the garage and cutting the grass my two major projects for next week. The house is already immaculate and that is all that matters!

Jennifer gets home tomorrow and we just couldn't be more ready. Unfortunately, she won't get here until sometime around 10:30 or 11pm. By then Elisa will have been asleep for a while. She won't get to see her mommy until Saturday morning. Oh well.

Here is a great conversation that Elisa and I had early this morning:

Daddy: "What would you like for breakfast, Elisa? Would you like oatmeal with sprinkles or toast?"

Elisa: "Elisa wants yogurt!"

Daddy: "You can have yogurt, but you need something else with it."

Elisa: "Elisa wants yogurt with sprinkles! That's a good idea!"

Without Mommy: Day 3

2008-11-05T17:25:00.003-04:00

Today was a pretty decent day for us. We played, got some things done and we got out of the house a couple of times.

We started off a little slow because I was expecting a guy to come a repair part of the ceiling that decided to come falling down last week. Our back sliding glass door has drywall around the frame that started to crack and come loose. I made a call to get it fixed about a month ago. We didn't get anything set up until last Thursday. The same day that I talked to the repair guy the dry wall gave way and came crashing down. Thankfully, injuries were avoided. It happened to fall when Jennifer and I were out on a date. Elisa was asleep upstairs. The crash of the drywall falling woke her up and scared the babysitter half to death!

Here you can see where the drywall just decided to fall and crash to the ground.

Anyway, the guy who was going to come didn't make it. We rescheduled for next week. So, Elisa and I hung out around the house until 11 or so. Before lunch we made a break to the store to get some essentials and check out the pet store. She loves looking at the puppies and kitty cats. Once we are settled in the States we might need to look into getting her a furry buddy.

After a hearty pbj sandwhich Elisa took another awesome 3 hour nap while I hit the cleaning duties. On thing I wanted to get done was final preparations for our backyard swimming pool. I don't do too much during the winter to keep it clean. So, for the last month or so I have been trying to get it ready so we can swim. As hot as it has been this week we might get some pool action in on Friday. I had seen some debris in the pool from the upstairs window. When I went down to fish it out I saw that it wasn't what you would call debris. It was what you would call a dead baby bird! I don't know what it is with the birds around our house, but I have picked up a lot of their dead bodies since we have lived here. This was the 2nd dead bird since Sunday (the first one wasn't in the pool).

After cleaning duties I decided to do some blogging. I wrote some of my thoughts about the U.S. Presidency on our other blog. If you care at all you can check it out here. Yesterday I felt moved to write about the things that I will miss about Brazil. You can read about that here if you would like.

Elisa woke up from her nap around 4 o'clock. We played for about an hour and then decided to go on a walk. We walked around the track at a nearby park for about 30 minutes. While we were walking I noticed a lot of dandelions. We had a fun moment of me trying to teach Elisa how to blow the seeds. She is so cute. Her soft breath didn't even phase the dandelion seeds.

We got home around quarter til 6 and started watching a Baby Einstein movie. She ate, played and then got ready for bed. Like clockwork she was down at 7. Now I'm blogging and will give Jennifer a call in about 2 minutes.

We had a pretty good day - no accidents. We are making it, but really missing Mommy. Countdown to her walking in the door: Approximately 50 hours.

Without Mommy: Day 2

2008-11-04T17:15:00.002-04:00

We had an uneventful day for the most part. There were events, but it doesn't feel like much happened mainly because we didn't leave the house due to the heatwave today. That makes the day go by a lot slower.

I got some major cleaning done (as I have planned each day of the week). Today's task was dusting the main floor and downstairs. I hate to dust, so this was big! I was also able to sweep and mop the downstairs floor. Having a child that takes 3 hour naps can be helpful.

Today's high point: I ordered Domino's Pizza for lunch today. Today is 2 for 1 Tuesday and my wife is out of town - what do you expect? The high point isn't that I ordered the pizza, but that Elisa ate it! She had a whole slice of cheese for lunch and another whole slice for supper!!! If you don't already know, this child is a very picky eater. I am pumped that she had 2 slices today!

A second high point was that Mommy called! We love talking to Mommy even if she can only speak for 4 minutes and 52 seconds!

Today's low point: We took some major steps backward in the going to the big potty deal. She had a few accidents. Hopefully, tomorrow will be a better day. We actually prayed about it before she went down this evening.

That is all there is to report today. I plan on spending the evening switching back and forth between the BBC for election results and a movie. Speaking of movie: I watched "D Wars" last night. Absolutely the worst movie I have ever seen. I don't think they should let that cast, the director or even the dragons be involved in movies again. It was pretty dumb. Okay, I'm done. See you tomorrow.

Without Mommy: Day 1, Part 2

2008-11-03T17:41:00.003-04:00

So, everything went according to plan. We actually ended things a little early. I just put Elisa down for the night and it is just now 7:45. Good deal!

I really wanted to put another post out there for today because of some great Elisa quotes and funny things she did. I will do my best to recap, but they pretty much went like this:

Quote/funny thing 1:
As I was drying Elisa's pull-ups after she peed on them a little while sitting on the potty she said, "my panties are all wet." I said, "just on the outside. You can still wear them." Elisa: "My britches are all wet." Me: "No, they're dry." Elisa: "That's cool!"

Quote/funny thing 2:
As we pulled up to our house from taking Claudio home (7pm) Elisa shouts "we're home!" Then she said, "I sleepin' in the car." I looked in the rear view mirror to see her lay her head to the side and close her eyes, pretending to be asleep. I laughed out loud which made her laugh too. It was really cute and funny.

Quote/funny thing 3:
We always say a prayer before bedtime. Most times when I put Elisa down she wants me to pray. Tonight she prayed. This is her prayer almost word for word:

Me: "Dear God..."

Elisa: "Thank you for this day. Thank you Mommy went on airplane. Thank you for Aunt Benay and Garrett and Giovanni. Thank you Garrett has clothes and teeth. And thank you for Benay and Garrett and Giovanni and Carys."

Me: "In Jesus' Name"

Elisa: "AAAAAAAMEN!"

I wish I could record everything she says. There was one thing today that she said that made me laugh and I can't remember what it was. All I remember was that her reaction to my laugh was "I silly!" She is indeed... one precious, silly, little girl.

Without Mommy: Day 1

2008-11-03T10:25:00.002-04:00

Jennifer and I woke up around 5:40am to get her ready and out the door to catch a 8am flight. She went to a beach resort in São Paulo state for a missionary women's conference. We expect her back late Friday night.

I have to admit that I have been dreading this week a little. I love spending time with Elisa, but not having my the other half of the tag-team is hard. I really do think that people who are single and want to adopt (I know a couple) have a little crazy in them. They deserve extra blessings from the Lord for willingly taking on the responsibility of child rearing alone. I have done this thing a couple of times for a couple of nights, but we are doing a Monday through Friday stretch this time. It will be all good though. I have a plan: a schedule of meals and activities.

I must warn you now that this week I will be rambling about each day's events/activities. Jennifer took the camera, so no pictures. Sorry.

Today hasn't been too off the wall. Elisa woke up at 8am. We ate breakfast together and then watch a little Baby Einstein movie. I realized that we ran out of gas (to heat the water and work the stove/oven). So, I ordered more and we waited about 25 minutes for it to arrive. The gas was delivered and off the "guys" went in their big green truck. Then Elisa took a bath and we got her all dressed.

Around 10am we were out the door to pay our monthly bills. We got to the bank and paid the bills and were on our way to Blockbuster to rent a couple of movies by 11. After Blockbuster we picked Benay Blume up. She dropped us off at home and borrowed our car for the afternoon because her's is in the shop (again... sigh). Elisa played for about 30 minutes while I made us lunch.

Today's menu: 4 Cheese Ravioli w/ Red Mushroom Sauce and Green Beans.

After about 10 minutes of sitting at the table Elisa was begging to take a nap! I started using her desire to "need to rest" as leverage. "Take 2 more bites of noodles with cheese and one more green bean and you can go up and sleep in your bed." It worked. She was in bed taking what I hope will be a nice 3 hour nap by 12:15.

I plan on picking up around the house for the next couple of hours (iPod attached to my person of course). Around 4:30 (or whenever the car returns) we will be out the door to pick up Claudio (every Monday I give our dear friend Claudio a ride home from work. It is about a 3 hour excursion). Elisa loves to play with his daughters, so that will be a good way to end the day. We should make it home between 7 and 8 tonight. She will eat and go to bed by 8:30.

Hopefully tonight I will plop down on the couch (if my chores are done) and watch what will probably be a bad popcorn movie. I rented "the Incredible Hulk" and "D-Wars". We'll see. The main thing is that they are flicks that will probably keep me somewhat entertained until I want to go to bed - which with luck will be around 11. The other thing I have dreaded about Jenn being gone is that I can't sleep when she isn't here. It is the worst.

Well, that is Monday (even though in reality it is only 12:45pm right now). Stay tuned for walking at the mall, painting and if we are lucky... breaking in the pool for the first time this season.

Halloween in Canela

2008-11-02T15:37:00.015-04:00

This year for Halloween we went to the little town of Canela (about 1 and a half hours away from Porto Alegre). We love this little town. The food is amazing and we have a hotel that we love to stay at. We went with our good friends and teammates the Blume family which made things even more fun.

Our main reason for Halloween in Canela this year had to do with the food. There is a pizzeria there that is awesome - if you like that kind of thing! It is called "Toca de Bruxa" or the Witch's Hat. All the staff dress up in costumes like it is Halloween and the place is decked out like a non-creepy dungeon. It is a lot of fun. Plus, there are something like 100 different flavors of pizza that they bring to your table - all you can eat!

We enjoyed the hotel grounds and got caught up with old friends...

Jennifer & Giovanni on the hotel grounds.

Anderson working on a pile of sticks.

We got dressed up in our costumes for Halloween at the pizzeria...

Elisa the Frog & Sascha ready to eat some pizza!

Elisa the Frog and Steve (Anderson) from "Blue's Clues".

Carys and Elisa waiting for the ride to the restaurant.

We had fun at the pizzeria...

We ate until we wanted to puke...

We hung out in the hotel room...

We experienced bad bug bites...

It looks broken, but it is just a little bug bite gone crazy!

and we played with our friends...

Even with the outrageous bug bites that Jennifer experienced it was a great get-away to celebrate Halloween with our good friends.

A Birthday Party Fan

2008-10-26T20:24:00.003-04:00

Elisa loves birthday parties. Yesterday I took her to the birthday party of 2 little girls we know. Bia (4) and Luiza (5) are sisters that have birthdays one week apart. Before the party we had to go and pick up a present. Up until that point it still hadn't sunk it what exactly we were going to do. Then I explained, "we are going to a party! We are going to sing 'happy birthday' and play with friends and eat cake!" When I said those magic words "eat cake" her little eyes just lit up!

We were the seconds guests to arrive (and we were 30 minutes late). It was raining and traffic was horrible. It was good that we were some of the first ones there. Elisa needs a few minutes to get warmed up to new people. It really didn't take her that long this time though.

Bia and Luiza's party was a Princess theme. They had Snow White, Sleeping Beauty and Cinderella cut outs all over the place. Bia and Luiza were even dressed up like princesses! Elisa loved that!

She played and played with the other kids for a couple of hours before we had to catch a cab and head home. I know she loved every minute of the party - especially that one bite of cake she had!

After we got home I got Elisa ready for bed. As we were saying our prayer she thanked God that "we sing happy birthday and thank you for the princesses". What a sweety.

These are our friends Milton and Julianna and their children: Luiza, Bia and Marcelo (this photo was taken in March of 2008).

The Date Is Set

2008-10-23T18:33:00.005-04:00

Well, there is still an incredible amount to do as far as our move back to the States is concerned. We are planning to have a massive garage sell (which is not a typical thing in Brazil) on November 29th and will spend the month of December packing the rest of our stuff.

We still don't know what city will be our final destination. We do know that we will have a period of up to 6 months with our sponsoring congregation in Colorado Springs while I look for a job. Most likely, we will end up in Texas.

One important bit of information that we do know is our departure date. We will board a plane and leave Porto Alegre, Brazil on January 27, 2009. If ever there was a "bitter-sweet" this is it. We are happy to have the date, but leaving what we now know as home will be difficult.

We won't actually land on U.S. soil until February 4th. From January 27th until February 3rd we will be on a "transition/debrief" vacation. Continent of Great Cities and Mission Resource Network highly recommend a time for missionaries to go on a vacation before they get back into the American life. This will be a good time for our family to relax and reflect upon our time as missionaries to Brazil.

Like I said, we still have an incredible amount to do. We will do our best to keep you updated as things progress. Until then, tchau!

Boogey Check

2008-10-20T20:57:00.001-04:00

Today, Elisa asked me, "Daddy, do you have a boogey in your nose?"

I didn't. But, it is good to know that she is looking out for me.

"Elisa Sing It!"

2008-10-17T21:21:00.001-04:00

Thoughts on Potty Training

2008-10-16T18:11:00.004-04:00

It is hard. Simply put: it is a difficult psychological warfare that you MUST win. It doesn't matter what the child wants, but what he/she needs - to be out of diapers.

We started potty training Elisa on Monday of this week and it did not start off on the right foot. Jennifer had read a book that was passed down from her mom to give some pointers and techniques. I am grateful that Jennifer read it because it gave us a lot of good practices to implement. However, I will say that in my opinion we almost gave up after just one day because the book is so stinking misleading. In the book, the example child is completely potty trained in approximately 4 hours. That can get a reader's expectations up. When Elisa was having accidents Monday afternoon the white flag was about to start waving.

Fortunately, we had a couple of "people who care" that gave us great encouragement. Tuesday continued and ended up being about the same as Monday. The only difference was that I was the trainer instead of Jennifer. Wednesday improved with more successes than accidents. Today has been awesome! Elisa has had 6 successful deposits (if you will) with only one accident that happened in her bed during nap time. She is getting better as we continue to stick to the training process.

It has taken quite a bit of endurance and a lot more time than we anticipated. I realize that all children are different, some may take longer than Elisa while others may take only a few hours like the cheater example kid in the book (punk!). I seriously don't know how most parents pull this off. I don't know how we would have pulled this week off if we weren't already not doing full-time work here. We went on a walk a little while ago for 30 minutes and it was the first time that I had left the house since Monday! How do 2 full-time working parents do this? Do they take time off work or just wait until the kid says, "I'm sick of diapers! Can I have the keys to the car so I can pick some underwear at Target?" Seriously!

Anyway, as the successes come we all get encouraged. Elisa just needs to stop holding her pee as long as possible. "Just relax and let it go" is what we tell her. Hopefully, we will be completely in the clear by the weekend.

Last thought: I am so pumped about not purchasing or changing diapers that I can't even explain it!

The Beast Within

2008-10-11T17:46:00.012-04:00

You might be asking yourself, "'The beast within'? What is this post about?" Well, as a parent I feel that it is my duty to use this blog to document the ups and downs of Elisa.

I mainly talk about the ups: how cute she is; the funny things that she says and does. This post, however, is about one of the downs.

Now, I will say that this cute little girl to the left has Jennifer and me saying daily how much fun she is and how lucky we are to have her. Truthfully, 95% of the time she is great!

But, there are those moments that make you say "what is happening here? Where did the cute and precious little Elisa go?"

The purpose of this post isn't to embarrass Elisa later on down the road. I love her and would never want to do that. It is to show that all children are capable of "the breakdown". Today was one of those days.

Let me begin by saying that she has struggled to sleep during nap time lately. For one reason or another she will just lay in her bed talking, singing or kicking the wall for a couple of hours. Sometimes we go in and try to get her to go to sleep and sometimes we decide to ignore it, hoping she will give up and wind down into "Sleepyland".

So, because she hasn't been sleeping we decided that we would take advantage today and go to the mall for the afternoon. Our thought was, "if she isn't going to sleep, then we should just go out and do what we want. Why should we let her manipulate our schedule if she won't even do what she is supposed to?" This line of thinking may have been a ticking bomb we detonated without knowing it.

We left for the mall around noon today. Today was rainy and there were a lot of other people that wanted to go out too. Luckily, the mall is about 30 seconds away by car. We went to a restaurant to grab some lunch, did a little light shopping for Children's Day tomorrow, walked around a bit and ended our time with a nice coffee/expresso.

By the time we were having coffee it was getting close to 4pm. Elisa was showing that she was on her last leg. I thought that she would get that 2nd wind any minute. It is usually pretty consistent if she misses her nap. We left the mall for home soon after and decided to let her play a little before trying to feed her an early supper. Due to skipping a nap and the fact that her 2nd wind never arrived we also decided to put her down for the night around 6 (bedtime is usually around 7).

Jennifer, Elisa and I started playing with blocks and her dollhouse and anything else she was interested in. However, when she is super tired like she was at this point, nothing holds her attention for too long - maybe 15 to 20 seconds at a time. Then, at around 5 pm it happened. That ticking bomb that we had set, you know "the beast within", decided to make an entrance!

Elisa transformed just as fast as Bruce Banner changing into the Hulk. It happened when I simply put her sippy cup upright after noticing that it had fallen over. Elisa came over and said, "No. I don't." Then she knocked it down. I put it upright again. Then, she slammed it down! Very calmly I said, "No mam. Let's not do that." Suddenly, Elisa's lower lip dropped. She began to get teary-eyed. Then.... "WWAAAAAAAAAAAA!" It was just like Bruce Banner warning the bad guy "Don't make me angry. You won't like me when I'm angry." Knowing how tired and fragile she was I should have listened to the "No. I don't." line. But, honestly, it would have happened if I set the red block on the pile instead of the green block. She was at the breaking point.

Now you need to understand. Just like the Hulk destroying buildings and cars and anything else in the way, Elisa can do damage too. When she gets really worked up her super power leaves a mark that only the washing machine can redeem. She vomits. Big time. We know when it is coming because of the preemptive burp. I know it is gross, but that is what happens. I heard the burp, picked her up and got her off the rug and on the tile just in time. She let loose too. This was the worse vomiting episode so far (and we have had a few!). The poor child threw up all the way to the bathroom and then got so upset that she was throwing up that she threw up even more. It was bad. Really bad.

It took about an hour, but we finally got her calmed down, fed and in bed. It was lights out for Bruce, the Hulk, Elisa and the Vomiting Beast by 6:15pm. There wasn't a lot of damage - you know, nothing that a roll of paper towels and some Lysol can't cure.

I know this makes Elisa sound like a terror. She really isn't. She is the funniest, smartest and most precious child ever. However, like I said earlier, all children are capable of a "breakdown". Children aren't perfect and neither are parents. This is real life with real child rearing challenges. Hopefully, no one reading this post has a child who vomits uncontrollably when they are upset. Maybe this post was even encouraging to someone. I really just wanted to paint a more accurate picture for our faithful readers of what life can be like on the "off" days. Everybody has them - even the perfect "Little Missy".

The Question Phase

2008-10-09T18:45:00.003-04:00

Elisa is officially in the "question phase" of her young life. She doesn't do the "why?" thing yet, but I'm sure it is just around the corner. No, she is into knowing more about particular words. She is really trying to understand what it is to love and to have. Of course, she asks many other types of questions too, but these are the ones that stick out to me. The simplicity and preciousness of her questions make being patient really easy. Let me give you some lines of questions we have heard over the last few days.

Elisa: "Do you have toes, Daddy?"
Daddy: "Yes. I have toes, Elisa."

Elisa: "Do you love Raquel, Mommy?
Mommy: "Yes, Elisa. Mommy loves Raquel."

Elisa: "Do you love bananas, Daddy? MMMMMM!"
Daddy: "Yes. Daddy does love bananas."

Elisa: "Do you love buses, Mommy?"
Mommy: "No. Mommy doesn't really love buses."

Elisa: "Do you have shoes, Daddy?" (as she points to the shoes I am wearing)
Daddy: "Yes, I have shoes. Does Elisa have shoes?" (no reply)

Elisa: "Mommy, do you love boots?"
Mommy: "Yes! Mommy loves boots!"

Elisa: "Daddy, do you have a beard, Daddy?"
Daddy: "Yes. Daddy has a beard."

These are just a few of the many examples I could give. I think that she knows the answers to these questions (or most of them at least), but really wants to work some things out. She keeps showing us how smart she is by retaining a lot of what we tell her. Being 2 years old is tough, I'm sure, but she is doing a great job!

"A Banjo on My Knee"

2008-10-08T22:08:00.005-04:00

Just look at this little girl! Cuteness! The other day the Blumes loaned Elisa a little keyboard. She plays and plays with it. One of the features is to turn on the "demo" songs. When you do this you can hear a different song each time you strike a key. For instance, you may hear "Mary had a little lamb", "Happy Birthday to you", "Oh, Susanna", etc.

Jennifer and I started singing the songs along with the tune the keyboard was playing. When we got to "Oh, Susanna" Elisa went to the kitchen and got this Leap Frog toy (you can see a video of this toy here) off the refrigerator. At first we couldn't figure out what she was doing. Then it hit us...

"Oh, Susanna! Oh, don't you cry for me. Cause I come from Alabama with a banjo on my knee." When you hit the little frog on this toy he says, "Hi, I'm Farmer Tad! Listen to my banjo!" Elisa was walking around holding her banjo on her knee! Hilarious!

Cell Phone Pictures

2008-10-06T13:07:00.003-04:00

We don't have the right cord to get pictures off our cell phone, but one of our friends does. We were recently able to get the following pictures off our cell phone to share with you. Enjoy!

5 at 5

2008-10-03T15:20:00.003-04:00

For the last 2 and a half weeks our family has been going on a 5k walk at 5pm. It has been a great time for us to get out of the house and enjoy the Porto Alegre Spring weather. Lately it has been really nice. We walk from our house to the mall that is nearby, around the mall twice and then back home. It is a pretty good walk, lasting around an hour. Elisa just hangs out in her stroller eating whatever snack we brought along and requesting for us to pick her the occasional flower.

There is a nice path around the mall that is marked every 100 meters. We see a lot of the same people walking or running nearly everyday.

Interesting thing happened yesterday: As we were walking along the main street across from the mall we suddenly heard a police siren. A car stopped right in front of us and then a Brigada Militar (like the Military Police) truck stopped suddenly. The officers jumped out of their vehicle with guns drawn (sidearm and shotgun) and yelled to the car "slowly step away from the car with your hands up!" It took me a second to register what was happening, but not Jennifer. She was pushing Elisa in the stroller at warp speed! We got out of there as quickly as possible. In a situation like that you never know what will happen and we didn't want to find out.

Anyway, family walks are fun and typically uneventful. They have become part of the routine and are a great way for me and Jennifer to bounce ideas off each other about our upcoming move to the states.

First Haircut

2008-09-28T12:46:00.004-04:00

Yesterday Jennifer cut Elisa's hair for the first time. No huge changes took place, but it was an event. We mainly just wanted to even things up a little bit. Elisa did a great job of sitting still (most of the time) while Jennifer hacked away! There were a couple of close calls when Elisa started twisting her body while saying, "Look Momma! I twistin'!"

Elisa was pretty interested in the whole process. We will be sure to hide the scissors really well now! I held a mirror up for her so she could see what was going on. I was also able to get a few good photos too. Here are some "before", "during" and "after" pictures... and a video of some of the action.

A "before" profile picture.

Elisa is showing what she looked like from behind before the cut.

During the cut: "What are you doing back there, Momma!"

Elisa began to get a little restless about half-way through the process.

Here is the "after" shot of Elisa. I think her Momma did a great job!

VOTE for CHASE!

2008-09-18T21:00:00.003-04:00

We have a 14 year old relative (I won't go into how far removed - but not far) that is up for the Sports Illustrated Sports Kid of the Year Award! He is an exceptional athlete, excelling in golf and basketball. He has one tournament after tournament and competition after competition while maintaining a 4.0 GPA.

I think it would be really fun for him to win this thing. All you need to do to help is click here and vote for Chase Hanna. I encourage you (as does SI) to vote multiple times. Not to brag, but I just averaged 4 votes a minute for about 32 minutes - that's around 130 votes! Just imagine what you can do!

Get out there and vote people! VOTE for CHASE!

By the way, we only have something like 2 more days to vote.

Elisa-isms

2008-09-13T09:31:00.003-04:00

Elisa's personality has really blossomed! She is really funny and quite serious at times. She is communicating a lot these days. Here is a list of some things she is saying...

"I need it!" She says "I need to eat", "I need a diaper", "I need juice", etc. Last week I went into her bedroom to get her up from a nap. The stench in the room told me that she needed to be changed. She looked at me and immediately said, "I need a wipe!"
"NO! I don't!" For example: We might say, "Elisa come sit in your chair." And she will reply, "No... I don't!"
"No. All better!" If we ask her, "Elisa, do you have a dirty diaper?" she will say, "No. All better!" meaning - sure there is something in there! but, I feel better about it now!
"Wanna color!?" She always wants to color and is asking us to join in the fun.
"Wanna play!?" This typically involves the word "dollhouse" attached to the end of the sentence. "Wanna play dollhouse, Mamma!?"
"Oh! I choked!" If she coughs or sneezes she let's you know that she has "choked".
"I wanna call Granddaddy for a minute." You can insert any of her grandparents' names in there.
"There's a ____ right there!" Whatever Elisa sees she will point out and make sure that you know it is RIGHT THERE! For example: She recently told us that "there is a fly right there, on the other side of the street!"
"I'm looking at pictures!" We have a lot of family pictures near the dining room table. Elisa likes to study them and point out who is in each picture - she knows everyone by name even though she has only seen them a couple of times!
"Wanna see pictures of..." She loves looking at pictures of family and friends on the computer and will ask to see random people occasionally. Just now she asked to see pictures of Tiago and Garrett.
"No way, dude!" I taught her this several months ago and now she uses it at just the right time - when it is appropriate and you don't expect it.
"Yes!" She was into "NO!" for about 2 months after her 2nd birthday, but then "yes" kicked in and she uses it a lot.
She tells us what she will dream about and what her dreams have been about - they normally have to do with "kiki cats and balloons and puppy doggies!"
"Hi!" Of course, this isn't new, but she uses it a lot when she is nervous or doesn't know what else to say. it is her fallback phrase.
"Wanna ponytail." She loves having her hair fixed.
"Elisa's hair... so beautiful!" I don't have a comment for this one!
"Wanna listen to music/songs! We love to listen to music in our house. Elisa joins in and listens to all our favorites with us - usually dancing!
"Wanna sing A,B,Cs?" She sings the entire song - missing a couple of letters like "L, M, N & O" and she puts "I" after "V", but other than that she has it down - even the "Now I know my A,B,Cs. Next time won't you sing with me?" We are trying to film her singing, but she wants to look at the pictures on the camera every time we get it out. We will get it done and post it.
"Amen!" We say our prayers each night and in the last couple of days Elisa has been doing the majority of the praying. Our prayer time sounds something like this: Daddy or Mommy- "Dear God.." Elisa- "thank you for this day... and play and eat." Then Mommy or Daddy will add something that is relevant to the day's events and say "in Jesus name..." and Elisa will close with "Amen!" It is great! I love our prayer time.

It is cool to see how she is learning and developing. She is a lot of fun and certainly keeps us entertained!

Family Picnic

2008-09-11T17:15:00.005-04:00

Yesterday we had lunch out on the balcony that is off of our living room. Elisa was really excited about eating outside. We fixed our food and put a table cloth down on the ground. Elisa ate peanut butter and strawberry heart cookies (one peanut butter-jelly sandwich cut into the shape of a heart and another cut into the shape of a strawberry with cookie cutters) and apples. She loved it!

Within an hour of our picnic the scene changed dramatically. Dark clouds set in and we had an incredible amount of rain (it is still raining 30+ hours later!), strong winds and a little bit of hail! Hopefully, if the rain ever stops we can have another fun picnic.

This within an hour of us sitting out in the bright sunshine having our little picnic.

The New Blume!

2008-09-04T20:23:00.003-04:00

Our teammates, Kevin and Benay Blume, had a baby boy yesterday morning. He is their 6th child! Everyone is doing great!

For more pictures and information you can visit their blog here.

Giovanni Müller Blume

Little Gardener

2008-09-04T13:19:00.003-04:00

We planted some little flowers, trees and other plants about 2 months ago in our backyard. Elisa loves to water them. We fill up the large cup of water and she carries it to the plants and gives them a drink. It is really precious. I took some good photos (at least I think they are good) of Jennifer and Elisa watering the plants the other day that I thought I would share them with you. Enjoy!

Recent Little Missy Pictures

2008-08-30T09:09:00.005-04:00

Being happy!

Playing intently.

Goofing off.

With Daddy.

With Mommy.

Being a "silly goose".

Ready to go!

Running!

New Passport

2008-08-29T19:49:00.002-04:00

Today we went to the Federal Police to pick up Elisa's new Brazilian passport. It is pretty cool that she has duel citizenship. She has both an American and Brazilian passports and birth certificates. After 2 years the Brazilian passport expired, which makes sense. Her infant picture is so cute in the first passport, but you can't really recognize her in the picture today. The new passport has her in her little pigtails. Really cute, but it was a challenge to get the picture just right.

It is neat to me that our little girl has already needed a passport and will have been on 5 international flights (Brazil to US to Brazil) before her 3rd birthday. We already have a world traveler on our hands!

First Dentist Visit

2008-08-28T20:27:00.007-04:00

Today was a big day for little Elisa. She went to the dentist for the first time!

We prepped her for about two weeks with questions like, "Elisa, did you know that Mommy is going to go see a lady who will clean her teeth? This lady is really nice and is our friend. She will clean your teeth too!" We talked it up mainly while brushing her teeth in the evening before bed time.

So, this morning we all got up and got ready for our 10am appointment. Dr. Claudia was great with Elisa! She is a pediatric dentist, but happens to be the best we could find. Jennifer and I have been going to her to get our teeth taken care of for most of our time in Brazil. Her office is full of toys, coloring books and stuffed animals and puppets that have huge teeth. While we (the parents) visited with Dr. Claudia, Elisa checked out the office and got acquainted with the toys and such.

Waiting for our turn.

Elisa is playing dentist with a pig that has huge teeth!

Around 11 o'clock Jennifer got in the chair to have her teeth cleaned. This gave Elisa the opportunity to check things out and see that there wasn't anything to be afraid of. When Jennifer finished it was Elisa's turn.

Jennifer laid down in the chair with her, but she still started freaking out. She cooperated for the entire cleaning, but cried a lot. We did end up having a break in the crying that lasted about 2 minutes. She really got the hang of letting the sucker deal get all the water and spit out of her mouth.

By the time it was all over she was a real pro! She has been practicing opening her mouth and showing her teeth. The picture below is a great one of her doing this while sporting her new toothbrush!

Check out my clean teeth and my new Barbie toothbrush!

Although it was a little rough, she had a great first dentist visit and we are really proud. Later on in the day Elisa said about Dr. Claudia, "Nice lady!" To end the day we took her to the store and bought Tutti Frutti flavored Sponge Bob Square Pants toothpaste. What can I say - it was her choice!

Play-Time

2008-08-15T14:41:00.003-04:00

Elisa loves to play! She has quite the imagination when it comes to her toys. For her birthday this year she was given a Little People doll house. She loves to play with it. When the doll house is out we hear a lot of "MOMMY! DADDY! DOLL HOUSE PLAY!!"

Just today she had the little family that comes with the doll house sitting in chairs at a little table having a meal together. She calls the mommy doll "mommy" the daddy doll "daddy" and the baby "baby Elisa". It is a lot of fun to watch her pretend at this age. I am confident that the fun will continue!

Playing with her doll house...

Play-time with her box of rice...

Dodói (Ouchy)

2008-08-11T21:20:00.003-04:00

Elisa hurt her little toe on her right foot pretty good today. Fact is... she dropped a brick on it! We have a decorated brick that we use as a doorstop for Elisa's room. While Jennifer was preparing Elisa's bath Elisa was up to no good (she is two, ya know!). Anyway, Jenn saw that Elisa was walking around with the brick and she went after her to intercept it. Before Jennifer could catch up to Elisa there was a thud and a loud scream/cry. The brick hit the little toe and the area between it and the toe next to it. Jennifer called me and I raced home to possibly take Elisa to the Emergency Room.

Before I got home Elisa was done crying. She was able to tell me all about the brick "jumping" and her "dodói" ("ouchy" in Portuguese) on her little toe "right there". We ended up taking her to a really good clinic and had x-rays taken. There is no break, but she did get her little foot wrapped. She screamed a lot during the x-ray and while she was with the doc. She isn't a big fan of medical staff.

I have to say that Elisa was a trooper through the whole thing. She doesn't really cry due to pain, just when she gets scared, so it is hard to know how much it hurts. She is getting around and acting like the only thing slowing her down is the bandage. Anyway, it made the day a little out of the ordinary. Here are a couple of pictures of the banged up Elisa and the culprit.

I think that it is interesting how it is her toe that is hurt, but her foot is wrapped. I don't know...

The infamous brick.

Father's Day in Brazil

2008-08-10T20:00:00.004-04:00

Today was Father's Day in Brazil. This was by far the best of the 3 Father's Days that I have celebrated as a daddy. As Elisa gets a little older her ability to interact becomes deeper and a lot more fun. She knew that it was a special day for me. She made me some sugar cookies and put them in a tin can that she had decorated for a present. It was really sweet (no pun intended). We went out to the Salgado's for house church this morning a celebrated Father's Day with home-made cinnamon rolls that Jennifer whipped up last night. They were awesome. Then my sweet girls took me out to lunch at the Outback Steakhouse (Father's Day tradition). After lunch I went out to the Chácara for a graduation celebration that was an amazing experience. I really enjoyed my time with my family and friends today. It was a Father's Day I won't soon forget.

Here are some pictures of me and Elisa enjoying our time at the Outback Steakhouse today:

What a silly little girl!

Giving Daddy sugars.

Watching US Men's Basketball destroy China!

Lhaumar's Birthday

2008-08-01T19:00:00.003-04:00

One of the many things that we love about Brazil is the birthday parties. Brazilians know how to celebrate! In fact, you could say that 9 out of 10 parties are so overboard you would expect a dignitary to be present!

However, it isn't always possible for people to have outlandish or even simple parties. Our really good friends, Claudio (Claude) and Rute (Ruth), have never been in a position to have a party for their youngest daughter, Lhaumar (Lau-Mar). This year, however, in their fairly new house, Claudio and Rute threw a party for their little girl!

On Wednesday of this week Lhaumar turned 9 years old. She was so excited to be having a party. We picked Claudio up from work and headed over to their house for the festivities. We have been able to go to several birthday parties over the last few years, but this one really ranks up there as being extra special.

Elisa loves this family and really had a great time playing and eating goodies. Our family is really blessed to have friends like Claudio and Rute and their girls. We hope they are able to have many more reasons to celebrate in the years to come and that they are able to throw many more shindigs like they did earlier this week.

Rute and Claudio welcoming their guests!

Sascha, Elisa, Jennifer & Lhaumar at the party.

Lhaumar with our friend Jenny.

Elisa eating some of Rute's chocolate cake. Good stuff!

The Jennifer Road Trip

2008-07-30T12:07:00.006-04:00

Our friend Jenny Rich has been hanging out with us for a few weeks. It has been really great to have her around. We have all had a lot of fun with her.

I posted a couple of weeks ago that Elisa and I had some "daddy-daughter time" while Jenny and Jennifer went on a road trip together. This post is an account of their adventure together - taken from Jenny's point of view.

Oi!

After a day and a half of rest, I've finally downloaded my pictures from the trip to Gramado, Aparado da Serra (aka awesome canyon with waterfall), and Canela. We've shopped, survived a horrible rocky road (not the ice cream...), made friends with a chef, enjoyed nature, and met some really nice store owners. Overall, it was a terrific trip, and I think Jenn and I are both really thankful that we shortened and redirected the trip a bit.

Gramado: think Fredericksburg or Boerne. This really cute little town is home to many German immigrants. It's in the hills, and many Brazilians come to Gramado for vacation in the winter to experience "cold". So, even though it was 80 degrees when we were there, we still saw people dressed for winter in coats and scarves. Strange. Gramado is also home to an incredible fondue restaurant that Jenn and Sascha bring all of their guests to. We took 3 hours to eat lunch... and then they had to roll us out of the restaurant. We even outlasted 2 other tables of people that arrived after us. The picture shows the meat course. After lunch we strolled around town in the various little shops, ate a light dinner, and checked into a hotel where all of the staff knew Jenn by name and where we got a discount (she had planned a few conferences and retreats there). There are benefits to being a creature of habit.

Aparado da Serra: The next morning we leisurely ate b'fast at the hotel (lots of pao de quiejo--think cheese bread meets susie souffle meets yummy crispiness...mmmmm). Then we headed to the canyon, which was a 2 hour drive through the hills. We stopped in a tiny town with a visitor center before tackling the incredibly rough and bumpy 40 min drive to the canyons on a rocky road. When we finally got to the national park, we thanked God that we made it safely, paid our entrance fees, and were rewarded with the nicest paved road in the country of Brazil, I'm convinced. What a treat! I think Jenn's still recovering from that road.

The canyon was incredible. We walked around the canyon for most of the afternoon, and the weather couldn't have been better (see pics of canyon). On the walk, we decided to change our plans once again, and instead of driving to another canyon the next day, we decided to head back towards Gramado and stay in Canela, which is very similar. And what a good decision that was!

Pictures of the canyon

Canela: oh, Canela. How I loved Canela. Oh boy, here we go. We ate dinner at this fabulous German restaurant that is run out of a house. The family that own it was hanging out in the front yard when we got there, and said they opened in about 15 more minutes. They let us come in anyway and for a long time, we were their only customers. So that meant extra special service! The chef (his name is Norbert, yes it is) came out and talked to us on multiple occasions, and when we were stuffed with German goodness, he asked if we wanted dessert. But both of us were so full that we couldn't have fit any more in, so we said we'd come back the next day after lunch. He said they'd close around 2 or 2:30, so come before then, and we planned on around 1:30pm. Then we headed back to the hotel and I crashed by 9pm. What a good day!

Fast forward to another lovely b'fast at the hotel, then shopping around town where we met lots of nice store owners that waved bye to us as we left. We found a cute flower shop that had all sorts of dried flower arrangements, including dried lilies, hydrangeas, leaves, etc, etc, etc. We spent lots of time in there, and even went back later that day....

Fast forward again to the German restaurant after a snacky lunch. We didn't get there until 2pm b/c of some ATM difficulties and we only had 17 reais between us... which was not quite enough money for 2 apple strudels and 2 coffees.... and Norbert said that he had a stack of dishes that needed cleaning... and I just assumed that we would SPLIT one apple strudel and have water, but both Jenn and Norbert said that would not be possible at all, whatsoever, how could I even suggest such a thing! So he ended up giving us free coffee. Later on as Jenn and Norbert were swapping recipes for American chili, he asked if we had tried his brownie...why no we hadn't.... and he brought us out a sample to try. He had even drizzled the plate with chocolate and added powdered sugar (see pic of Norbert with brownie). :)

Oh what a good day. We left Canela full and happy and planned on stopping in Gramado at the ATM, but on the way we were stopped by a blitz--which is the military police in the middle of the road randomly stopping cars and checking for registration and licenses. It almost ruined the day and our car was close to being impounded... but after praying for mercy, we were able to be on our way about 30 min later...

"The Blitz"

We got home, cooked a quick dinner, and headed to a Bible study across town. We've been recovering at home ever since.

Transition Is Upon Us

2008-07-25T13:43:00.001-04:00

Whether you keep up with our family or our work (or perhaps both) we want to make you aware of a big transition that our family is preparing for in the not-so-distant future.

It is hard to believe that our 5-year commitment to working in Brazil is almost up. We spent most of 2007 thinking and praying about where God might want us after this initial commitment. After a lot of discussion and prayer we came to feel peace in returning to the US in the second quarter of 2009. Of course, we expect that it will not be easy to leave Porto Alegre. Just imagining saying “até mais” to our many brothers and sisters of this church family makes me tear up already. We have invested a lot to be where we are and to do what we do, but we know in our hearts it is time for our family to move on.

Word travels fast, so I imagine that many who read our blogs already know of our plans. We shared with all the house churches in our church family last month. We were really blessed by the way each house church accepted our plans to leave Brazil. With less American presence there will be more shift toward Brazilian responsibility and leadership in the house churches – something we are all excited about.

One thing that I will say about our future plans is that we haven’t worked all the kinks out yet. There is still a lot of time (approximately between 8 and 10 months) for us in Brazil, so I will wait to share some of the more specific details for other posts. However, we are very excited about where we see the Lord taking us!

I wanted to express our gratitude for all the love and support that you have shown us. We shouldn’t start our transition out of some responsibilities here until sometime around November and will remain in Porto Alegre working with house churches in some capacity until March or May of next year. Once we land on US soil I expect we will spend a little bit of time with our sponsoring congregation in Colorado Springs before the next stage of our lives begins.

In the meantime, stay tuned…. we are still working hard and enjoying our time in Brazil, and will keep you posted as always on the many happenings in Porto Alegre.

Much love,

The Terrys

God's What?!

2008-07-19T14:35:00.004-04:00

Yesterday Jennifer was reading "My Little Golden Book About God" to Elisa. There is a page that says

"God makes up grow, too, with minds and eyes to look about our wonderful world, to see its beauty, to feel its might."

A little complicated for a 2-year old, but good nonetheless. I added italics to show that Elisa picks up a lot - sometimes, though, she is a little off. After this sentence she started saying over and over "God's booty! God's booty!"

I am sure that God has a wonderful sense of humor and that He enjoyed that even more than I did!

Daddy-Daughter Time

2008-07-18T11:05:00.005-04:00

Tuesday until Thursday of this week was Daddy-Daughter time in our house. Jennifer and our friend Jenny Rich went on a road-trip and left me and Elisa behind.

We had a lot of fun playing dolls and doing our hair! Reading "Fancy Nancy" for the umpteenth time had me putting sprinkles in a lot of Elisa's food - to accessorize of course!

Above: sprinkles in the scrambled eggs!

Below: sprinkles in the oatmeal!

We went on long walks each day - mainly to the park or to the mall (which is pretty close to our house). Thursday we were out for a 3 hour excursion in the stroller to the local Block Buster, the mall (which included a lengthly play time running around the entire place looking at the flower displays and having a little date - I ordered a little coffee and she had the cheese bread) and then to the park.

Elisa with the flower display at the mall.

She had a lot of fun swinging and running crazy at the park!

We spent a lot of time playing with Elisa's blocks. I would build and she would destroy. I can't wait to reverse the rolls on this little activity!

We watched Baby Einstein movies together. Actually, she would get a little bored after about 2 minutes and the movie would run the next 23 minutes with no one paying attention.

this is the first 2 minutes of a movie!

We played with her new Little People doll house and we finger painted (just once!). Below is a picture of Elisa playing with her Little People doll house. You may as well forget about getting any pictures of the finger painting! Check out this post for pictures of a past experience!

And we read an unbelievable amount of books. I knew that she has a lot of books, but we really got reacquainted with all of them! Lately, she has especially been a fan of the new books she received for her birthday: Fancy Nancy, Dogs, the Napping House, Ten in the Bed, Chicka Chicka Boom Boom, etc. Loads of fun!

Although Elisa really missed her Momma, she had a good time with her Daddy. I think it goes without saying that her Daddy had a blast with her! Daddy looks forward to their week together in a couple of months!

Jenny!

2008-07-15T13:09:00.002-04:00

If you have been reading our blogs over the last several weeks you know that our family has been blessed by several visitors (Jeff & Lindsey; Sheryl; Granny & Gramps). Last week our friend, Jenny Rich, made the trip to Porto Alegre, Brazil.

Jenny will be hanging out with our family until August 1st. We are so glad that she has come to spend time with us. Elisa especially is enjoying all the playtime with new friends!

Jenny has already been a great help by putting herself to work. She has spent a couple of days organizing all the materials that our church family has for the children's ministry. We are so glad for her willingness to help out.

Jennifer has enjoyed her friend's visit too. Earlier today the two Jennifer's left for a road-trip that should last 3 days and 2 nights! That means that Daddy and Elisa are left holding down the fort! Good times all around.

Stay tuned for updates on our visit with our friend, Jenny....

"My Kid Could Paint That"

2008-07-11T12:11:00.005-04:00

Among the many wonderful gifts that Elisa received for her 2nd birthday were paints. She has really taken to it! I believe that we are starting to get the process down - and thank goodness the paints are washable! Here are some pictures of today's painting experience...

Elisa is sporting one of her daddy's shirts while she waits to get started...

Let the artistic fun begin!

Elisa is a little genius, but she had help spelling her name this time!

This is so much fun!

Clean-up time!

Granny & Gramps' Visit

2008-07-08T12:35:00.001-04:00

Elisa's Granny and Gramps came for a visit just in time for her 2nd birthday! She had a lot of fun while they where visiting us in Porto Alegre. We ate a lot of birthday cake, played with new toys, read new books, went on an overnight road trip and played at the park! It was a very eventful visit. We will really miss Granny and Gramps, but we have some great pictures to remind us of our fun time together.

Elisa's 2nd Birthday!

2008-06-28T21:45:00.002-04:00

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

2008-06-25T11:51:00.002-04:00

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

2008-06-21T13:15:00.002-05:00

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

2008-06-18T11:58:00.005-05:00

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

2008-06-16T12:28:00.005-05:00

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!

2008-06-07T10:28:00.005-05:00

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...

2008-06-05T13:27:00.003-05:00

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

2008-06-02T13:24:00.007-05:00

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!

Wind-blown

2008-05-30T12:08:00.004-05:00

Foz do Iguaçu Vacation: Part VII

2008-05-22T22:30:00.004-05:00

We headed back to Porto Alegre on Friday and made it back Saturday. It took us only 15 hours to get home as opposed to the 17 it took to get to Foz do Iguaçu. It was such a great getaway. We really enjoyed sharing it with you.

It took me a few days to figure out how to get a good slide show going. I finally figured it out. These are all photos that I haven't yet posted. Enjoy!

Foz do Iguaçu Vacation - Part VI

2008-05-21T11:12:00.008-05:00

This was our last full day at Foz do Iguaçu. We made the best of it by getting the most amazing views of the waterfalls that we possibly could... from Argentina. I think the only way we could have had a better seat would have been in a helicopter hovering over the falls!

Foz do Iguazu - ARGENTINA! (Day 8):

Since we were right on the border and we had heard that it was worth the day trip to Argentina we decided to spend our last full day in Foz do Iguazu (spelling in Spanish). It was really easy to get across the border since the Brazilian border patrol didn't event look at us! The Argentina customs was pretty easy and now we can all say that we have one more cool stamp in our passports.

Once we entered the Argentina National Park we had a short hike to the little train that takes you to a trail head leading to Devil's Throat. This trail (as you will see from the pictures) was primarily on a metal catwalk that went over rivers and through trees until it reached the final point - almost directly on top of Devil's Throat. It was a little over a mile to walk the trail and come back to the train. I must say that the awesome power of Devil's Throat floored me. It was absolutely incredible! Here are some pictures of what we saw on the Argentina side...

The metal catwalk trail through the trees and over the rivers.

I am sure that when these waterfalls were discovered people may have thought that they were seeing smoke at first. IT AIN'T NO SMOKE!

I thought this view of Devil's Throat looked like a hole in the Earth. I've been watching too many movies I guess!

Elisa and her daddy check out the giant waterfall from a bird's point of view.

Devil's Throat (part of it anyway - it is too huge to fit into one frame from this catwalk). The video below gives a much better show!

The pictures above and below are from Devil's Throat looking back down the river. On the right is Brazil and on the left is Argentina.

After taking in this awesome wonder we headed back to the beginning of the trail to grab some lunch. Then, we hit the upper trail that showed us some of the waterfalls a little further down the river. It was quite a site. We saw most of these falls on our boat ride the day before and from across the river when we were on the Brazilian side. Being up close to these waterfalls on the Argentina side, though, was spectacular. Everywhere you looked there was a waterfall. It was truly one of the most beautiful places I have ever been to.

We didn't see a ton of wildlife outside of the exotic bird park that we went to on day 3 of our trip. However, we saw plenty of quati (kwa-chee) around the waterfalls. Every time Elisa saw one she would say "kee-kee (kitty) aawww!" These little guys look so cuddly and sweet, but are ready to kill and destroy whatever has food. One of them attacked a backpack that we left on the ground because it had a couple of bananas in an outside pocket. I managed to get the backpack and throw the bananas away so that they would leave. There are plenty of signs that warn against feeding the animals. There is good reason. Here are a couple of pictures of quati...

And just for good measure, here is a picture of a tarantula...

Foz do Iguaçu Vacation - Part V

2008-05-19T20:46:00.010-05:00

Today was an absolute blast! Hands down it was one of the funnest days I have ever had!

Macuco Safari (Day 7):

This afternoon we set out to check out the waterfalls from a whole new angle. A couple of days ago we bought tickets to go on a 4X4 "safari" tour through the jungle that would eventually lead us to a boat that would then take us up the river against the rapid current for a close encounter with the waterfalls of Foz do Iguaçu. We have been waiting for this day in great anticipation since the purchase of our tickets.

We started out entering the National Park on the Brazilian side like we did on day 4 of our vacation. We took the bus to the 2nd stop - the Macuco Safari! We eventually got on this heavy duty trailer that is pulled by a jeep. The trailer was situated with several rows of seats so that approximately 20 people could enjoy the trek through the jungle at one time. As we went along our guide told us interesting facts about some of the plant life.

Here is a picture of the trailer that we rode on. The jeep pulling it is heading into the trees on the left.

"Welcome to the jungle, baby!"

Finally, we made it to a trail head. Once at the trail head everyone exited the trailer and started to walk along a nicely laid path (wood planks and stone set in concrete). I was expecting to really hike - not stroll! The "hike" was about a half a mile long through some trees and brush. Elisa had a good time walking when we permitted.

Jennifer and Elisa are leading the way down the trail.

Soon the trees started to thin out and we began to see glimpses of the river below us. As we descended we could see some of the boats that are used to go up and down the river for the meet and greet with the waterfalls.

We made it to the boat house on the river where we began to get ourselves ready for the ride. First, we put on our completely useless plastic ponchos. They were free with our tickets, so we thought that we should give them a try. Second, we strapped on our life jackets. No one is permitted on a boat without a life jacket!

Next, we got settled into our seats on the boat. We sat on the very back row next to the 2 big engines. I thought they looked like speedboat engines.

Finally, we braced ourselves for an incredible ride! They may have actually been speedboat engines...

Once things calmed down a little bit this is what we experienced up close...

The pilot of the boat made sure to actually put the front end of the boat under one of the smaller falls (that wasn't so small) to completely drench the people sitting there! When he got us going back down the river we put our side of the boat under a huge wave from the rapids - completely soaking us! It was better than any amusement park ride!

Our family really had a great time on this adventure - especially Elisa! She was actually yelling "PLEASE" with her arms extended wanting more water from the waterfalls! There were a few people that were concerned that the crazy Americans were taking their toddler on this boat ride, but she loved it!

"Hooray for the waterfalls!"

The pilot of the boat took this family picture for us. Don't we look great in unless plastic!?

These are most of the friends that Elisa made on the "safari". She was a hit - really stealing the show!

We might need a helicopter ride to beat the Macuco Safari. It was quite the rush!

Foz do Iguaçu Vacation - Part IV

2008-05-18T20:44:00.009-05:00

Tuesday was a rainy day. Fortunately, there are plenty of cool things to see and do in Foz do Iguaçu regardless of the weather conditions. Dani and Alexandre wanted to check out the Itaipu Hydroelectric plant (as did we) before they returned to Porto Alegre, so we made it the priority for the morning's sight-seeing venture.

Itaipu and the Departure of our Traveling Buddies (Day 6):

Itaipu is the largest hydroelectric plant in the world. It is considered one of the seven wonders of the modern world! We had already seen some pretty impressive sights with what God had done in nature, but this was quite different. In a different form of respect I really admired what man had done with this plant. In a video that we watched at the beginning of our tour they did a good job of explaining how they have worked hard at being environmentally safe and how they have used the plant's resources to teach many students.

There were a few things that I caught in the video that stuck with me. It was hard to pay attention to every detail with Elisa not being so interested and wanting to play. One thing they said was that they believed that they had a little help from the Lord in getting the plant going. Once the construction was completed they had expected to wait approximately 90 days for the lake to fill up to the dam's capacity. It just so happens that they got the worse flood in over 40 years and it took only 2 weeks to reach capacity! Normally, flooding would be a problem, but this time it was helpful.

A couple of interesting statistics they shared in the video and on the bus tour were that this plant, which borders Paraguay and Brazil, is 90% of Paraguay's energy source and 20% of Brazil's energy source. I thought that was pretty impressive. Also, the huge white tubes that you can see in the pictures and in the video I have posted can produce enough energy for 2.5 million homes - each! Whoa!

As we went along on the bus tour we made a couple of stops. As you can see from a couple of the photos the dam's spillway is open on one side. The tour guide said that we had really good timing because the spillways are closed 90% of the year. That was really cool to see. When the spillway is 100% open it is 40X the force of the Iguaçu waterfalls. We also went through a tunnel that I understood to be in the dam itself. This tunnel led to the Paraguay side of the dam. I thought that it was interesting and a little strange that this tunnel is the only one in the entire country of Paraguay.

The dam's spillway.The dam (with the white tubes I mentioned above).

Another angle of the spillway.

Through the rain on the window of the bus you can see the white tubes that produce so much energy. They really are impressive... and huge!

Here is a video clip that lasts about a minute of the spillway and dam in action. The voice you hear is a lady giving some additional information about Itaipu (in Portuguese).

I thought that I would go ahead and add this picture for you. This was taken at the bird park that we went to on the 3rd day of our trip (Part I). In the picture you can see that I am standing in front of a caged anaconda snake. This snake's name is Lady Monica. Lady Monica is approximately 10 meters in length (a little over 30 feet)! She was found just 120 km (approx. 75 miles) from the bird park. The reason that I am posting Lady Monica's picture here is because the location of her discovery was actually in the mouth of the river that flows into the lake that is on the other side of the Itaipu dam. It is pretty crazy that there are animals like her just out there where people are farming and fishing. Anyway, I thought that the picture of Lady Monica would be interesting for some of you.

After we spent a couple of hours on this tour Jennifer and I headed to lunch while Dani and Alexandre went to check out of their hotel. They met us at the restaurant later (Pizza Hut if you must know) and then hit the road. Alexandre had to be at work on Thursday and it takes 2 full days of driving to make it all the way back to Porto Alegre. We really enjoyed spending so much time with our good friends, getting to know a different part of the country together. We are blessed to have such wonderful people in our lives here in Brazil.

Foz do Iguaçu Vacation - Part III

2008-05-18T17:01:00.004-05:00

Dani and Alexandre go to Paraguay; the Girls play with ducks and geese; and the 3 Borders (Day 5):

On Monday, Dani and Alexandre took advantage of our free babysitting services and went across the border into Paraguay to do some shopping. From what I understand the little town that they went to is the 3rd largest trade center in the world and the crowds are like being in Tokyo! That is crazy! Anyway, I pictured it like going over to Mexico to get some bargain purchases.

While they were gone Jennifer and I played with Elisa and Ana Luisa. We played peacefully in the hotel room for a little while...

... and then we ventured outside to play with the ducks and geese on the hotel grounds. The girls had a great time feeding the birds pieces of bread! We call Elisa a "silly goose" on occasion, so she has that word (and "duck") down pretty well. Both Ana Luisa and Elisa have good arms. They did a great job of giving the ducks and geese exactly what they wanted!

Ana Luisa with a little "Southpaw" action.

The goose spreading his wings was really dominate. I didn't like his attitude much. Check out Ana Luisa's face in this picture!

Videos always are so much fun. When it comes to little kids and animals you can't pass up sharing them...

Later in the day we went to see a landmark in the area. This is where the 3 borders of Brazil, Paraguay and Argentina come together. It was pretty interesting to be at a place like that. Being from the U.S. this kind of experience is rare!

The daddies with their little girls.

In this video Jennifer shows you the monuments of each country...

Foz do Iguaçu Vacation - Part II

2008-05-18T14:01:00.008-05:00

Sorry it has taken a few days for me to get back into the updates of our vacation to Foz do Iguaçu. Although there is internet access at the hotel we have had full days and are pretty exhausted by the time they are over. That is my simple explanation for those of you who have been waiting for an update - sorry.

Let me start off by saying that I was taking note as to how I would like to post about our adventure and I think that this will actually end up being a 7-PART POST!!! Dun-dun-dunnnnn! If you are entertained just a little by my ramblings and the pictures then it is well worth it. Here we go for "Foz do Iguaçu Vacation - Part II"...

Seeing the Waterfalls - the Brazilian Side (Day 4):

This is the event that we have been waiting for! Mother's Day is here... and we are spending it checking out the largest chain of waterfalls in the entire world! There are 275 waterfalls at this spot and I have read that there can be up to 350 in the rainy season. The falls descend about 250 feet off the cliffs to the rocky bottom below.

On this tour we entered the Brazilian side of the National Park which is only a few kilometers away from our hotel. Once we went inside we had to catch a bus that stopped at different trail heads where you could hike a well-paved path or do some other exciting activity (more to come on that). We wanted to get a good look at the falls on this day so we elected to do a popular hike to get the best view we could. Let me say that we were not disappointed! This was a day that will forever be imprinted on my mind. I was absolutely amazed at the wonder and power of these waterfalls. There is nothing like them on the planet.

Here are a few pictures and a video clip from our day touring the Brazilian side of the waterfalls. Keep in mind that as you view these pictures and the video you are looking from Brazil over to Argentina. Those waterfalls are on Argentina soil! Pretty cool!

Here we are at the entrance to the "National Park of Iguaçu".

This is the first glimpse that we got of the waterfalls at the beginning of the trail.

This is a pretty good shot of "Devil's Throat" off in the distance. The rainbows (bottom right) were pretty easy to spot, as I'm sure you can imagine.

Alexandre, Ana Luisa, Dani and me (with Elisa on my back) walking down the path.

What a spectacular view! I think you can see another rainbow in this shot on the far right.

Jennifer & Dani at the base of the waterfalls on the Brazilian side.

This is such an amazing scene. The center of this picture is "Devil's Throat" or "Garganta do Diabo". It is breath-taking in person!

All the photos in this post (with the exception of the ones that have Jennifer in them) were taken by Jennifer. She did an awesome job of capturing these amazing waterfalls!

Foz do Iguaçu Vacation - Part I

2008-05-13T15:16:00.004-05:00

Last Thursday we headed off to the city of Foz do Iguaçu, Brazil for a week of vacation. We were given a week at a time share in this marvelous spot from some wonderful folks at our sponsoring church. Foz do Iguaçu is a town that is located on the border of Brazil, Paraguay and Argentina. There are many things to see and do there, but the main attraction is the magnificent waterfalls that explode out of the Paraná river. The great part about this vacation is that we aren't taking it alone. Our good friends Dani, Alexandre and Ana Luisa came with us. They found a hotel across the street from ours and plan to see the sights with us.

This will be a 4-part post on our vacation since there is so much to do and see. I feel that one post would be a little overwhelming with stories and pictures. So, without further ramblings here is the first part...

The Trip (Days 1 and 2):

We left Porto Alegre on Thursday the 8th. We drove 8 hours on Thursday before we came to a little town in the middle of nowhere to stop and rest of the night. The drive was pretty pleasant. We really enjoyed the Brazilian countryside. We had never been this far in our car before, so we were entering new territory.

The second day of travel took 9 hours. This part of the travel was a little different. If you have ever seen off-road cross country racing on TV you might be able to picture in your heads how the roads were! The closer we got to Argentina the worse the roads got! It was quite interesting. We made it into Foz do Iguaçu around 6:30 or 7pm and found our hotel promptly. We turned in so that we would be fresh for the following day's events.

The Exotic Bird Park (Day 3):

Saturday we went to the exotic bird park near the entrance to the waterfall park. One of Elisa's favorite things in all the world (so far) is looking at birds. Let's just say that she wore herself out at this park! It was a lot of fun and really interesting for all of us. Some of the birds at this park were absolutely amazing!

And so it begins... "Look it! Look it!"

Toucan Sam!

Elisa and Sam get acquainted.

The family pets Lauro the Macaw. Elisa has gotten really good at the "one finger" approach.

We had a great time at the bird park!

The Little Escape Artist

2008-04-28T12:06:00.005-05:00

This is the little escape artist!

Yesterday morning I heard Elisa playing in her bed as she usually does after waking up. I went in her room to find a curious situation. She had somehow undone one side of her diaper through her sleeper and reattached it between her legs. Her diaper then proceeded to slide down one leg until it was around one ankle. It looked like she was wearing a boot! We were all fortunate that I found her like that before she decided to use her diaper again. She was bare-bottomed in there! It was really funny.

As I was getting her out of her bed I also noticed that a band-aid that had been on her knee was on the floor in her room. I guess it is possible that she unzipped her sleeper, messed with her diaper, took off her band-aid, threw it on the ground and zipped herself back up again. I wouldn't put it past her.

Here are a couple of more recent photos for you...

Elisa makes eating lunch look so cool!

Our most recent family photo - taken last week.

By the way, this is the 100th post on this Blog!

Return of the Sleepy Head

2008-04-23T12:25:00.002-05:00

I posted a few weeks ago about our little sleepy head going through a major growth spurt. She was sleeping approximately 19 hours a day a couple of weeks ago. Last week she had a check up and the doctor said that she is doing great - really growing! Recently she backed off the long night time hours and was doing just the regular 12 hour nights and 2-3 hour naps.

However, just when we thought that Elisa was coming out of her hibernation state, she hit us with a big one! Yesterday I put her down for a nap at 2:30pm and she didn't wake up until 7:30... this morning! She slept 17 hours straight! I even tried to wake her at one point (at 10pm last night) but she insisted on getting some big time beauty rest. What can we say - we are a family that enjoys sleeping.

Family Time

2008-04-11T18:56:00.007-05:00

We realized a couple weeks ago that we haven't had some good family time without other people around for about a year. It is easy to get so tied up in work and activities that you forget to step away and rest. So, last week we went to an EcoResort in a little town about 2 hours away from Porto Alegre. It was exactly what we needed to get reconnected as a family and to rest. Here are some pictures of our time together playing, hiking and resting.

Fun on the playground!

Elisa having a blast in the ball pit!

Relaxation brings nothing but smiles!

Going on our little hike!

Elisa and Mommy in their own hammocks!

Just what the doctor ordered - room service!

I haven't seen my daughter - the Sleepy Head

2008-04-10T06:37:00.003-05:00

I think it is safe to say that Elisa is going through a major growth spurt. Over the last 3 days she is averaging about 19 hours of sleep a day!!! We put her down around 7 o'clock in the evening and she sleeps until 8:30 or 9am (without interruption). Then she goes down for a nap around noon. I know it sounds crazy, but she hasn't been waking up from her nap until between 5 and 6pm! Then she eats like a horse! It's crazy!

The Cup

2008-04-07T10:15:00.003-05:00

Elisa has recently learned to drink from a cup without a lid. She started off sticking her tongue as far into the cup as possible to lap her drink up. As you might imagine, this made quite a mess. However, after a little practice she is now holding and drinking a cup of water on her own. Oh, and yes, it must be water. Of course she pronounces it "whag-were".

Easter

2008-03-25T18:18:00.007-05:00

This year we spent our Easter holiday on a retreat with our church family. Elisa had a great time playing with some of her little friends. There were great facilities for children were we stayed. She had a ball playing on the playground equipment and running in the open space.

I think that Elisa especially enjoyed making her Easter nest this year. She is at the age where she can grasp putting stuff like an Easter nest together. We had a great Easter and hope you did too! Here are some great pictures of Elisa throughout the weekend.

Elisa loves playing with her best friend, Ana Luisa.

Elisa mastered the big-wheel in no time over the weekend! I think I know what she wants for her birthday...

Hanging out in the hammock is a favorite past time of this sweet little girl.

Elisa worked hard on putting together her Easter nest...

...with just a little help from Mommy.

The finished product.

Elisa discovers her Easter nest is full of goodies! (a Pez dispenser and a couple of bunny books)

Elisa and Mommy read a new bunny book.

Elisa checking out the loot!

Awareness Test!

2008-03-20T20:04:00.001-05:00

This is the first time I think that I have put something on this blog that doesn't relate to Elisa in some way. Of course, I could say that if she saw this video she would yell out "BAULLL!" or even "BABY!"

By the way, "baby" is Elisa's word for bear.

Cute Video

2008-03-18T10:21:00.003-05:00

This is a video of Elisa reading "Brown Bear, Brown Bear" with me. You can really see how much she is learning by the names and sounds of the animals!

Rice, Waterfalls & a Pretty Dress

2008-03-14T17:30:00.010-05:00

I think that it is necessary for me to start this particular post off by saying - don't skip anything! There are a lot of pictures (16) that you don't want to miss! I thought that it would be fun to show some recent fun activities with Elisa. Here we go...

Rice: Jennifer got the idea from our teammate, Benay, to have a rice box for Elisa to play in. It is kind of like a little sand box. Let me tell you folks - it has been a hit! One of Elisa's newest words is: RICE! She loves getting in there and digging around.

Monopolizing the rice!

"You know the rules Daddy. Keep it in the box and no throwing!"

Waterfalls: If you read our "work" blog then you know that we spent this last Sunday out at some waterfalls nearby with some house church folks. Elisa had such a blast. She wants to be in the middle of anything that involves water. Here are some really fun pictures of her splashing about and getting soaked.

We did take the time between splashes to enjoy God's creation. Check out these three Monarch butterflies!

Pretty Dress: Elisa, being the little girl that she is, has lots of cute clothes. We put this dress on her for the first time this week and thought she just looked darling. Her fun personality really comes out when she is dressed cute. It is hilarious to see how she reacts when she likes an outfit and knows that she is the prettiest thing around. I know you will enjoy these!

Giving Daddy sugars!

New Words, Sounds and Such...

2008-03-09T17:42:00.010-05:00

Well, our little ball of fire is not only into everything constantly, she is also learning new words on a daily basis. It is so cool to watch and hear her language develop. Jennifer like to sing the song "Head, Shoulders, Knees & Toes" with Elisa while they do the movements together. It is pretty cute to watch (unfortunately, Elisa won't let us film it yet). Anyway, doing this song has really got Elisa going on some of her body parts. So, to start off Elisa's new list of learned words we will start with:

feet & toes
paws (she calls her hands "paws". She got this from the "That's Not My Puppy" book.)
montey (monkey)
bo-bo (belly button)
mo-mo (movie or video)
nA-no (Noah)
bass (as in the instrument - from Baby Einstein's 1st instruments)
amen (she got into praying big time today. I think we prayed for lunch 3 or 4 separate times!)
up! (she likes to say UP! UP! UP! while climbing the stairs)
doan (down)
no!no!no! (she says this when in the act of doing something she knows she shouldn't be doing!)
HI! (this one is usually repeated several times, and happens a lot when she is holding a real or make-believe phone)
bye-bye, car?
koo-kee (cookie)
rice
ouchie
tootuh (turtle)
tar (star)
sun
moom (moon)
heart
circle
pees (please - usually in a sentence "more pees")
pizza
cuh-cuh (color)
fo-fo (flower)
pool
poon (for spoon and for shovel)
fork
cacáca (this is actually Portuguese and it means "yucky")
xixi (this is Portuguese too - pronounced "she-she" it means "pee-pee")

She has been doing the sounds for a doggy (dog-dee) for quite a while, but just recently added the sound for a kitty (key-key) with "meeooow" and for a lion "rrrrear". Let's not forget the sound for monkey "e-e-a-a". That good "Old McDonald" song has really been paying off.

Elisa riding her turtle doorstop!

Two things to know about Elisa and eating: she loves bananas and you can't keep her feet off the table!

She loves playing with her toy laptop, despite the headache that it gives Mommy and Daddy.

Coloring with Mommy!

Talking on the calculator! "It has buttons, so it must work like a cell phone - right?"

Watching a "mo-mo" after a long day. Notice our first major ouchy on our knee. :(

Elisa loves to swim - especially with Mommy!

The Beach

2008-02-24T18:54:00.005-05:00

Over this last weekend we took a little family trip to a beach about 2 hours away from our house and the city. It was a welcomed short break from the hustle and bustle of our missionary lives. We left on Friday around noon and returned to Porto Alegre to make it to most of our church family's once a month get together (the monthly Celebration).

Going to the beach is what 99% of Brazilians do from the months of November to March or so (if you don't already live on or by the beach - which most people do). We don't go to the beach that often, but when we do it is fun. We have had a good time before, but that was before Elisa was walking and destroying sand castles with such ease.

This little girl absolutely loves the beach (really anything that has to do with water)! We spent the first half of Saturday playing in a little pool under an umbrella at the beach and every now and then running out into the ocean (Atlantic - for those of you who didn't major in Geography). She was really funny about the waves. She would run toward them screaming with glee and when they would recede she would yell "AGAIN!" and "MORE!" with no patience. It was pretty funny. We had to watch her really close though because she has no fear. She would run straight out into the water if she could. Anyway, it was a lot of fun.

Our good friends, Dani and Alexandre, went with their little girl, Ana Luisa, too. Elisa and Ana Luisa had a great time playing together. We hope for more great times at the beach with our friends this summer season while we can. Before you know it we will be complaining about the cold weather of South Brazil.

Here are some pictures of Elisa having a good old time at the beach. Enjoy!

This is a view of the mountains outside of our door at the little hotel we stayed at (toward the NW).

What a Mess!!

2008-02-08T09:46:00.000-05:00

Our little Elisa is quite the mess. She is non-stop from the moment she wakes up until she is asleep again. She is constantly getting into something or getting on someone! Here is a picture of her sitting on Jennifer while she reads a book!

I love stories from this vantage point!

I forgot to mention that in the "what's the word" post that one of her favorite words is "WHOA!!" She says it all the time and uses it really well. If she almost falls - "WHOA!" If she hears a crash or drops something - "WHOA!" It is hilarious! I am trying to get it on video.

Another new word is bumblebee. Her version is "bubblebee". Ever since I post about her learning new words she has picked up about one a day on average. She likes to say "monkey" now too. She often has long sentences of jibberish - but really knows how to ask for the "keees" or for some "cheeeese" when she wants a snack.

I hope you enjoy these recent picture of our cutie.

Check out my fancy backpack!

I love swinging! Weeeeee!

Can you pass the bon-bons, please.

I Made Waffles for You Tonight

2008-01-31T17:12:00.000-05:00

I got a phone call at 2:30 this morning. It was my dad telling me that my grandmother had passed away. She was diagnosed with leukemia last month and had a weak heart, so it was very expected. Base on what I had been told over the last couple of weeks she was prepared and at peace. I praise and thank the Lord for that.

Although I am sad about my grandmother's passing I have tried to reflect on some of my memories of my her today. What do I remember about you, Grandma Wanda?

I remember that you were a great lady who had the sweetest, little girl giggle. I remember how when you were frustrated with my grandfather you would say "Oh, Hilton!" is such a way I always laughed a little inside. I remember when cousin Sarah and I stayed with you and Grandpa Hilton for a week one summer. We went to the mall a lot so that you could walk (rehab for a hip replacement) and you would buy us a bunch of junk that we didn't need. I will always remember hearing stories about the way you blessed so many people's lives with your warm, servant heart - no matter where in the world you may have been. I remember that you were the first person to make me a home-made waffle - Eggo has nothin' on Grandma Wanda's waffles! I remember how you took care of my great grandfather (your father) when he was ill. I remember hearing the story of how you and Grandpa Hilton raced your motorized carts at Wal-Mart when you came to Colorado Springs for our wedding! I remember the way you looked at Elisa the first time you saw her. I remember all the times you told me you were proud of me and that you loved me. I remember the love and respect I have always felt for such a wonderful, compassionate servant of the Kingdom; for such a respectful daughter; for such a loyal and loving wife; for such a tender mother; and for such a caring and proud grandmother and great grandmother. I will remember you always. I love you, Grandma.

Wanda Louise Terry
May 31, 1927 - January 30, 2008

P.S. - I made waffles for you tonight.

What's the Word!?

2008-01-30T15:58:00.000-05:00

Elisa is full of new vocabulary and I thought that I would take a minute to share what she has learned recently. Before I do I will say that all of these words are new since returning to Brazil almost a month ago. We saw her pick up several new words while in the states too. Here is a sample of what is new in the last couple of weeks.

More!? (usually meaning "hey Jack! give me more of that." unfortunately, she hasn't learned "please" yet).

Again! (or "gain" which she picked up from the song "the itsy bitsy spider" - it is the last word in the song).

Peas (she loves peas - thank goodness. we can't get this child to eat anything!)

Hi! (this is new as of 45 minutes ago - with a waving hand I might add!)

All done. (a sentence!!! to signify that she has completed a meal. she usually is rubbing her hands together as if cleaning them while saying this).

There may be a couple of more words that I am forgetting. However, the granddaddy isn't even a word. Just a couple of days ago she started giving kisses! We can say "give Mama a kiss" and she will lean in and kiss Jenn right on the smacker! It is the sweetest thing I have ever seen! I just got her to give me my first kiss goodnight a few minutes ago. What a lucky dad I am. Anyway, this is our update for now. Stay tuned for more...

"little missy": the swimmer

2008-01-26T08:32:00.000-05:00

It is the dead of summer here in Porto Alegre. The last week or so we have seen nice weather with temperatures in the upper 80s and lower 90s. A couple of weeks ago up until last week the temperatures were outrageous. One day our outside thermometer read 105F!

Fortunately, we have been blessed with a swimming pool in our backyard. It is something that we really haven't been able to take advantage of recreationally. So far it has basically been used for baptisms.

Well, a couple of weeks ago we had some friends (Randy, Jennifer and Kelton Porter) visit us from Salvador, Brazil. Randy and Kelton were more than happy to help me and Elisa break in the pool. Here are some fun swimming pictures along with a couple of pictures of Elisa swinging at the park (another one of her favorite past times) and playing with some flowers.

I also attached a swimming video at the bottom of this post.

We are on our way to go swimming at the Missionary Conference earlier in the month.

Swimming in our pool with Randy and Kelton.

Elisa loves to jump in from the side of the pool. She usually doesn't wait for me to count to 3. She is so ready that I usually only count to 2!

Swimmin' is what "little missies" do best!

Elisa loves to swing. She often asks to "weee". It is a good thing that her daddy set up her "weee" at the house.

Elisa loves flowers. Check out this beautiful flower!

Below is a failed attempt to jump into the pool. I promise that she usually jumps with glee.

Ready for bed

2008-01-01T22:13:00.000-05:00

Well, our furlough is winding up. I am looking at 3 bags that weight approximately 70lbs each. In the other room Jennifer is working on the last 2 bags of the same status. We are pushing the limits. Tomorrow we will leave Colorado Springs for Denver and catch the first leg of our 24+ hour journey home to Porto Alegre, Brazil.

We have been all over the place. We have visited 7 churches (3 in Colorado, 1 in Missouri and 3 in Texas) and a lot of family. Furlough has been a blessing because of all the love and encouragement our supporters have given us. We were taken care of above what we could have expected. We have a wonderful network of supporters and we thank the Lord for them.

Furlough has also been difficult because we are never settled in one place for too long. We have seen several different beds. I decided to count up the miles that we will have traveled by the time we arrive in Porto Alegre on Thursday afternoon. The total is over 16,800 miles!!! Needless to say we are a little road weary and are ready for our own beds.

We have a long journey ahead of us to get back home. Please keep us in your prayers as we travel and get back into the swing of things in Brazil. Thank you and God bless your 2008.

Elisa in the States

2007-11-12T22:21:00.000-05:00

We have been back in the states on our furlough for a couple of weeks now. Elisa started off having a little bit of a difficult time. I mentioned in the last post that I had a dream that she had a mouth full of teeth - well, it is starting to actually happen! It looks like she might have 4 or 5 teeth coming in at about the same time. Two new teeth (they look to be molars - which is a little strange for a 16 month old) broke through the gum yesterday. Needless to say she has been in a lot of pain which makes her very fussy. To top it off she has had a little bit of a cold (possibly due to teething) and we took her to get some vaccines (4 shots). Poor little thing can't catch a break.

Jennifer's mom was able to take off work one day so that we could all take Elisa to the zoo. She had a great time hanging out with all the animals. The giraffes were the best! She had a lot of fun feeding them. She also enjoyed the hippos, the gorillas and the bears (who were especially active). Here is a great clip of Elisa feeding the lovable giraffes at the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo:

Elisa is getting a lot more exposure to children her own age while in the states. That is a very good thing since she doesn't really play with any kids her age in Brazil. Our friends, James and Jolie, have a little girl, Paige, who is just a few months older than Elisa. Elisa and Paige got together for a play date last week and had a great time. We heard later that Paige cried the whole way home after dropping Jennifer and Elisa off at home. When Jolie (her mommy) asked her who she missed she said, "Elisa". Isn't that sweet!

Elisa and Paige get ready for playtime!

Even though it seems like she has been having a difficult start to her visit to the US, she has been doing pretty well in other areas. Her English is getting a good jump start as she isn't hearing much Portuguese. She has picked up a few new words and has actually started singing! The songs "Baa-baa Black Sheep", "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" and the "A,B,C song" have the same tune. She just started singing this tune using one of the following words: Dada, Mama or Baba. It is hilarious! We were lucky enough to get it on film, but unfortunately it is too big of a file for me to get uploaded on this post. I will try to get her singing again soon.

We will try to keep you updated on the rest of our travels while in the states, but it may be difficult. You may just take a break and come back and see us at the New Year.

It's been a while

2007-10-31T12:05:00.000-05:00

I started the most recent post of my other blog with an apology, so I guess I should do that here too. Actually, this blog gets a lot more attention so I will give a more heart-felt apology to all you frequenters out there.

I am truly sorry for having failed you by not posting more regularly. No excuse I have is good enough for my keeping you from Elisa updates. Again, I apologize.

Okay, now that I have confessed and repented of being a slacker in my blogging let me try to update you a little on the world of Elisa.

She is talking a lot more these days. Actually, her talking starts when she wakes up in the morning and only stops when she falls asleep at night. There is a pause for the occasional daytime nap. Words she uses most these days are: shoe, baby, ball, BALL, bye-bye, dadda, mama, MAMA and the infamous NO! Most of the time, though, she speaks "Elisa" and just babbles. We encourage her to speak freely (whatever the language may be).

She runs non-stop with arms flailing! It is quite the site to see her take off with her hands and arms flapping about like she is preparing to take flight. I love to imitate her on occasion (of course, this is not in front of other people).

We are grateful that all of the stairs in our home have baby gates because Elisa can climb stairs just about as fast as we can. We are still perfecting going down.

She has just 4 teeth still. We expect her to wake up some morning with a mouth full of chompers. I had a dream the other night that she had a mouth FULL of molars! It was really weird.

She loves all sorts of things: birds (she calls them "beee"), being outside in the grass, apple juice, cheese, doggies (she isn't old enough for a pet yet, but we will probably have to get her a dog sometime in the next couple of years), dancing to any kind of music, jumping onto piles of pillows, being tickled, being tossed in the air, reading her books, hugging her stuffed animals and playing with other children.

She is about to take her 2nd international journey. We will leave tomorrow for a 2 month furlough to the states where I expect Elisa will be spoiled rotten by grandparents and uncles and aunts. I think it will be a lot of fun for her to play in the snow of Colorado and to open Christmas presents with her grandparents in Texas. This should be a good trip for her. It is going to take us a little over 24 hours to get from here to there, so please keep us (especially Elisa) in your prayers. I will do my best to keep you up to speed on how she is doing during the trip, but there may be times when we don't have good internet access. Non the less, as I said, I will do my best!

Here are a couple of recent pictures of Elisa for you to enjoy. Thanks for stopping by.

The Itsy Bitsy Spider

2007-09-30T18:16:00.000-05:00

For quite a while now Elisa has been singing songs. She kind of hums with an open mouth, not really forming words. However, it is pretty obvious that she is singing. It is one of the really cute and funny things that she does (for her biased parents the list is long).

A couple of weeks ago Jennifer started singing the Itsy Bitsy Spider to Elisa. After just the 2nd or 3rd time of singing it Elisa picked it up... somewhat. She does her version when Jennifer finishes (with the hand choreography too!) You will definitely enjoy this video!

Farroupilhia

2007-09-19T19:27:00.000-05:00

Tomorrow is a holiday in our state known as Farroupilhia (fa-hoe-peel-ya). The only real way I know how to explain Farroupilhia is to say that it is a celebration of the Gaúcho spirit. Every year at this time the gaúchos of the area have a large camp out near downtown for almost the entire month of September. If you were to go to the gaúcho camp you would see a lot of people walking around in traditional gaúcho attire, lots of horses, good food and some traditional gaúcho products for sell.

Today we took Elisa down to the Farroiupilhia/gaúcho camp. We had a great time walking around and checking out all the cool stuff. I will share with you one really close call that I witnessed. Elisa's favorite song is "Baa, baa black sheep". I looked over as we were walking down a path to see "Baa, baa black sheep" hanging upside down with a crowd gathering around to see him get slaughtered! Yikes! Now that is Farroupilhia! Thankfully, Elisa wasn't exposed to that part of Farroupilhia.

Here are some photos and a video of our family at Farroupilhia. We really think that Elisa had a great time. Check out the video to see her taking her first horse ride!

Daddy and Elisa in traditional Gaúcho clothing.

BEEF!

Mommy helping Elisa on her first horsey ride!

A Gaúcho walking down a path at Farroupilhia.

Mommy and Elisa with the state (Rio Grande do Sul) and Brazilian flags.

A miniature horse ready to pull a buggy.

Yikes! What!? Did she...?

2007-09-19T19:10:00.000-05:00

Somehow I think we are in for it. Elisa has turned on a whole new attitude that we aren't quite ready for. I've heard of the "terrible 2s" and maybe even the "terrible 3s", but do the "terrible 15 months" exist? It could be that she isn't feeling well due to teething, but it is hard to say. All I know is that lately, although she is still sweet, she is a little stinker too!

An example: the other day I was feeding her lunch or dinner and she decided to throw some of her food on the floor (this isn't altogether uncommon - happens at every meal). This time, however, when I told her "No, Elisa!" she furrowed her brow, looked at me and said "Na, dada!" with her pudgy finger pointing at me! What!? Did she really just do that!? Oh, man, we are in big trouble!

My mom likes to think that us kids will get the trouble that we caused through our own children. The problem is, I really don't think I was this ornery!

Smarty pants!

2007-09-10T19:18:00.000-05:00

Elisa has really gotten good at pointing out whatever we ask her to. She is a pro at pointing out eyes and saying "eyes" (although it isn't perfect pronunciation it is close enough for me to not change it phonetically). She has some t-shirts that have animals on them like chicks, puppies, turtles, etc. If you ask her where her chick, puppy or turtle is she will point it out on her shirt. She has gotten exceptionally good at doing this with the puppies because, as an added bonus, she will point the puppy out and give a little bark. It is too cute. I hope you enjoy this little video of her demonstrating how much of a smarty pants she is.

Out and about

2007-09-08T11:36:00.000-05:00

This week we have seen huge temperature changes. The south part of Brazil has experienced its coldest winter in something like 45 years (give or take). Finally, after consistent temperatures in the 40s and low 50s (with rain) we have had some nice days in the 70s and 80s [note the difference in temperature change by viewing the picture of Elisa helping me make a fire in the previous post]. We are able to get out and take walks more comfortably now (wearing shorts and sun dresses). We open up the back doors of our main floor to allow Elisa to play in and out of the house as she pleases. And let me tell you, she pleases! She loves playing in the grass of our little back yard. And she loves looking over the fence to see the neighbor's dog - which she yells at and makes an attempt to bark at! We love seeing her eat up the outdoors. It is a lot of fun now that she is so mobile and able to get herself "out and about" so well. Our family invites Spring to stay in Porto Alegre as long as it likes!

Elisa yelling/barking at the neighbor's dog!

Running wild in the back yard...

Elisa loves to play with her ball!

Elisa and Daddy kicking the ball.

Great tackle Elisa!

Elisa loves her Mommy!

Funny Little Girl

2007-09-03T19:56:00.001-05:00

Cuddling with Daddy

NNNOOOOOSSSE!

Elisa is helping Daddy make a fire on a cold and blustery night.

Elisa is entertaining a few members of our house church (she is dancing to "Row, row, row your boat"!)

What is going on?

2007-08-31T19:29:00.000-05:00

It is always fun to post pictures and videos of Elisa. But, this time I will just let you all in on recent happenings - all the stuff that is going on.

Elisa is having a great time being able to go where she wants, when she wants. She is into everything! I am so thankful that the stairs in our house have baby gates installed already. They have really come in handy!

In addition to her feet being non-stop, so is her cute little mouth. She can talk it up! Most of the time her speech is just baby jabber, but she has really been working on a few words. Some examples of her favorites include: bai, bai - bye, bye; mmmike - milk; eeears - ears; da da - daddy (although I think she calls several things "da da"). I am pretty sure there are a few others, I just can't recall them at the moment.

We have been practicing the parts of the face with her this week. She is getting pretty good at identifying where her ears, nose, tongue and eyes are... well, she really has the ears down good. All the other parts of the face are where the ears are too ;).

She has always been real playful and cuddly, but I think that she is becoming more so. It is a lot of fun when I am laying on the floor and she tries to tackle me - she raises her hands in the air and then falls on me. I love that. Speaking of raising her hands: she started raising both hands in the air this week just playing around. When she did Jennifer and I started to shout out "touchdown". She loved it. Now, every time she wants us to yell out "touchdown" she lifts her hands into the air. She's a natural football fan - I'm so proud!

She now has 4 teeth - 2 on the bottom and 2 on top. She loves to crunch on Cheerios and she LOVES to brush her teeth. Her facial expressions are priceless when we are brushing her teeth. She just thinks it is the greatest thing. I am going to have to get some pictures of that on here pretty soon. It is good stuff.

She loves dogs. We know that sometime in the text couple of years we are going to have to get her one. When we go to the mall we take her by the pet shop so she can check out the doggies and the fish. Jennifer suggested that we buy a couple of fish when we get back to Brazil from furlough at the beginning of January (we leave for the states on November 1st and return to Brazil on January 3rd). I think that Elisa will enjoy have fish to look at - if she can sit still long enough!

She has started this singing thing (look out American Idol). She will ramble on in this high pitched voice for a couple of minutes. It is unmistakable that she is singing - again, unbelievably cute and something to post on this blog.

I know that there are a ton more things that I could write. Elisa is such a great child. We love being her mommy and daddy. I don't think either one of us could be prouder. She brings us joy each and every day... and a little bit of craziness.

Elisa on the go!

2007-08-26T08:22:00.000-05:00

Sorry it has taken so long for me to post on this blog. It could be that I have needed a little break from blogging or that I have been too busy trying to keep up with Elisa. She took off walking a couple of weeks ago and there has been no slowing her down. She is all over the place! All she wants to do is walk, run and dance. She is a little ball of fun! Seriously, she is so funny to watch and play with - all we do is laugh (I assure you that we are laughing with her, not at her).

This video is of Elisa playing with a balloon that a woman gave her. We were at the mall a couple of days ago and she got her hands on this balloon and just had a great time. You would have thought it was pure gold! I love how easily entertained she is at this age. Enjoy!

This next video is of Elisa dancing to the nursery rhyme "Baa, Baa Black Sheep". I don't know what it is about that song, but she loves it (and the little book we have too). The funny thing about this video to me is how bad the singing is. It is horrible, but Elisa thinks it is the greatest!