Snow Day

Monday morning we woke up with about 4 or so inches covering everything. It was the most beautiful surprise that God could have given us that morning. It was beautiful. We had a great time playing in the snow and building my biggest snowman ever and the kids first real one. It was wonderful to see everyone out and playing in the snow: sledding, building snowmen, building igloos, and competing to make the largest snowball. It was just a great day that brought out the joy in people. Preston and Kati even got a snow day with the schools and Preston said he was glad he saved his snow day for the "good" snow!

New family picture

I added our latest family picture just so you could see how the kids are growing. I would like to say just Peyton and Pierce are growing, but it is all of them! Kati is now two inches taller than me and Preston is fast approaching my height. If you notice the blue cast on the arm of one of the little guys, that is Peyton. The Saturday before Christmas we were in Aberdeen at Paul's parent's house and Peyton fell off of a bar stool. When he started to fall he reached up to try and catch himself and grabbed a casserole dish that came down with him and broke. It cut his pinky finger severely and severed the two tendons on the back of the hand that work that finger. That night they just sewed him up but we had an appointment at Campbell Clinic on Monday morning. Tuesday morning we had outpatient surgery to reattach at least one of the two tendons. Everything went off without a hitch, but mom was a little nervous about her little guy being put to sleep. Lots of prayer got me through that two hours! He had to wear the cast for three weeks and it never seemed to bother him. We never even had to give him any pain medication. He was a real trooper. The doctor says that he will do his own physical therapy so for us not to worry. He is using it some, but not as much as he should. I guess time will tell. We go back to the doctor on February 10 so hopefully by then, he will have fully recovered and nothing else will need to be done. We thought it was going to leave a nasty scar, but even that is not too bad. We now have a fail proof way to tell them apart!

Settling in nicely

Well, we have been "home" for 7 months now and FINALLY it is feeling "normal". We have all felt like fish out of water for so long now, that to finally be into somewhat of a normal routing we are starting to settle into life here. It has been the strangest feeling to not be able to do the simplest tasks when I had no problems doing them in my pre-Brazil days. Even ordering pizza on the phone, I just don't want to do and that has only been since we have gotten back. I don't know what the problem is but I do remember having to speak in Portuguese over the phone and it was hard not being able to read the body language and motions that go along with speaking it. So, I guess that was so traumatic for me that it has carried over.

We are all different since our time in Brazil that is for sure. We view the world differently. We view people differently. We view ourselves differently. We miss it! I wish I could have a do over and go back now with two almost three year olds instead of two almost one year olds. Having two babies held me back, well held all of us back, from doing things that we would normally just do. Anyway, my prayer is that the Lord will use the change in my family for His Kingdom and that we will not waste the opportunity that was given to us.

Tenho saudades para Brasil!

Being "home"

We have been "home" or at least this side of the equator for the past few months and things are finally starting to feel ok. I can only say ok, not normal, but one of our prayers is that we will not go back to normal. It has taken time to get used to life here, and that seems very weird to say since this is basically where we grew up. We were not completely prepared for the readjustment that would be required to fit in. We were completely prepared for the fact that people can't always relate to us. For most people, there is no real point of reference for them to be able to understand where we are coming from when we say that we aren't sure that we are glad to be back. Also, most people don't won't to hear all the stories that we have to tell. So, these things were no surprise to us. The things that did surprise us was the simple things being so overwhelming. What I mean by this is having so many choices when going to the grocery store for example. We got used to the fact that we only had about 5 different choices of potato chips and certainly didn't have two flavors in one bag. Seems like a not big deal, just pick one, but it wasn't. It was overwhelming! There are too many choices in almost every category in the grocery store from diapers and wipes to lunch meat and everything in between. It was 9 weeks before I was able to go to the grocery store without crying! Sounds ridiculous to even admit that.

Last week, we had the opportunity to go to Virginia for a debriefing conference and it really helped us understand the readjustment issues that we are going through. Also, we had the chance to talk to many others going through the same exact thing. We came home yesterday with refreshed spirits and a more clear understanding of what to expect. We still don't know exactly what our future holds, but for now....Paul is finishing his degree and has recently bought a lawn care company. We are praying that the Lord will open doors and once he has finished his schooling that the Lord will show where we are to go. We do not feel that we will be staying in the Memphis area, but don't know where we will be going either. Paul purchased the lawn care business in hopes that wherever we go, that can go with us and he will have the ability to earn some quick money even if he doesn't have a traditional job.

The Lord has been gracious to us and more merciful than we will ever deserve. He has proven himself trustworthy over and over again in our lives, so moving forward we have decided that we are going to begin this journey and new chapter of life just trusting Him. We may not know much else, but we know that our God is a good God and all things work together for good for those who love Him. So, we are going to keep on loving and trusting the One who is worthy. Please be in prayer for us as we continue to seek His direction and guidance for our lives. We are asking for wisdom and need as much as we can get.

New Food Finds

Ok, so it isn't really NEW food, but we continue to amaze ourselves at the things that we have been able to make ourselves. By make, I mean, from scratch, no boxed meals or mixes that you just add soup to. This is no big deal to a lot of people, but it has taken some getting use to for us. We didn't think that we used as much Campbell's soup and Hamburger Helper as we did, but we quickly found out that we not only used it, but we didn't know how to cook without it. So, I just want to share some of our recent successes that have been like a little slice of home. We made our very own flour tortillas and when tortillas actually became available in the grocery store here, the kids didn't like the store bought ones....they wanted moms! It did my heart good. Of course it is more trouble, but not that much more and it was fun making them. I think I have mentioned it before, but we have been making our own barbecue sauce and maple syrup. These have been favorites too. I made some drop biscuits that I added a type of cheese to (since we don't have cheddar in Brazil) and garlic. They tasted just like the garlic cheese biscuits from Red Lobster, which Paul and I have always loved. But the latest creation was Rotel chicken spaghetti without the Rotel. I got a taste for it and wanted it, but there is no Rotel or Velveeta in Brazil. I found a processed cheese spread that I thought I could make work and boy did it work. As far as Rotel, well, I got tomatoes and jalapenos and made my own. We haven't had chicken spaghetti in probably a year and a half and this was mouth-watering good. We are not only getting used to cooking in Brazil, we are actually liking cooking in Brazil.

Botanical Gardens

We had a wonderful day at the botanical gardens here in PoA. We took a picnic lunch, spread out our blanket under the trees, and had a great day. This was the first picnic for the little boys and they did great. They sat on the blanket and ate their lunch and once they were done, they did get up, but they stayed right with us and came back when we called. It was a nice change being in the open spaces. There are days when the bars on the windows and the gate around the property seem to close in on us, so to be able to roam free and have plenty of space to walk was just a nice change. We even walked through their natural science museum and all the kids enjoyed that. We ended the day with some ice cream to cool off with. This is the day that the Lord has made! And we rejoiced and were glad in it!

Coming to an end!

We are wrapping up our two month long family visit from Pawpaw and Nana. I can honestly say that it has been a great time just having family close again. It has been a lot of fun showing them the town, taking them to some of our favorite restaurants and my personal favorite...showing them the mountains and the beautiful city of Gramado. It was neat for us to see them experience all the firsts of a new culture. There have been many things that we have gotten used to in our year in Brazil, and they have reminded us that they are not what we experience from where we are from. I think one of the biggest things has been the overwhelming size of the city we live in. Coming from Olive Branch, Mississippi, which is growing by leaps and bounds but only has a population of about 35,000 to PoA with its surrounding area it is somewhere around 3 to 4 million. So this has been overwhelming for them to say the least. They never got used to the driving or just riding in their case. Nana was constantly gasping for breath as another motorist cut us off in traffic or a motorcyclist buzzed in between cars with barely enough room to fit. We have gotten used to, but they never did.

The babies have especially gotten used to them being here. They wake up in the mornings or from their naps and at least one of them starts looking for Pawpaw. Every night before they go to bed, they have to give Pawpaw and Nana kisses. I'm sure that the babies will notice their absence, and I am even more sure that the grandparents will feel some separation anxiety.

So, as our time comes to an end with them here with us, I would like to ask for you all to pray for us, we will miss them terribly, but also pray for traveling mercies for them. It is a long trip traveling from here to there. They will leave PoA at 7:30 Monday evening and not arrive in Memphis until 12:40 Tuesday afternoon. Please keep them in your prayers!

Thank you for your partnership in prayer with us. We cherish you all!