Thanksgiving 2010

As most of you did, we gathered around a table with LOTS of food on Thursday to celebrate Thanksgiving Day. We are grateful for so many blessings that the Lord has given us. We have a comfortable home, three healthy children, a car to drive, a loving family, precious friends, and SO much more.

I was feeling a little homesick on Wednesday as I baked rolls (lots of them!) and pies, wishing that I was making them to take to my parents' house, but I am very thankful that we were able to spend this Thanksgiving with Jeremy's parents, as well as a large adopted family of friends. The Lord is good to us!

Here are all the "aunts and uncles" around the dinner table

We hope you had a great Thanksgiving!

Picture This

Jeremy is traveling, and has our camera with him, so unfortunately I just missed a great "Kodak moment." You'll have to use your imagination. We got home from church this morning, and as is the custom in our household, the boys changed into their play clothes and headed outside. It's quite warm, so Judson and Jonathan insisted on shorts. I haven't gotten out all the summer clothes yet (I'm putting that on my agenda for this week) so Judson had little to choose from. He insisted on wearing his Brazil t-shirt, since the other boys had their jerseys on and were planning to play soccer We found some light gray shorts that are really a little too short for him, but since we're just playing here at home I said that was fine.

A little while later, Judson appeared at my doorway with a very pleased smile and proud look on his face. "Look at me, Mommy. Don't I look like a Brazil soccer player!?" I looked, and tried not to laugh. There he was with his Brazil t-shirt, his too short shorts, his tan dress sock pulled up to his knees, and brown sandals. "Yes, honey, you do look like a Brazil player," I replied.

Sweet Moments

Most of the time little boys are all rough and tumble. Many times a hug turns into a tackle. But this morning I got a dose of sweetness from my three favorite boys. I was on my knees on their bedroom floor helping Judson change his clothes when he said out of the blue, "Mommy, you're so pretty!"  Then Jonathan walked over and gave me an unsolicited hug, which instigated two more hugs from the other two.

It's definitely not always easy, but I love being a mom, and I love being a mom of three amazing little boys. I wouldn't have it any other way!

A Sun Halo

Last week we had some beautiful, sunny, warm days...perfect for hanging clothes on the line. As I was hanging up the clothes, I looked up and noticed a rainbow in the sky. I thought it was strange, because it was sunny and clear. Then I realized the rainbow made a complete circle around the sun. I had never seen anything like it before. I called for Jeremy, who had the great idea to try to take a picture of it. Unfortunately, from our angle and with our house and wall in the way, we couldn't get a picture of the whole circle.

This is the best picture we were able to get.

I did a little searching on the internet, (what did we ever do without the internet?!) and I found that this is called a sun halo, and is "the result of ice crystals trapped in cirrus clouds, in the lowest layer of earth's atmosphere.The crystals act as prisms, reflecting light that mimics bands of color found in a rainbow"

Whatever the case, it was really neat, and I'm glad we got to see it! If nothing else, it made hanging up the laundry a little more interesting that day!

Our Day at the Park

Beautiful spring weather has arrived here in the southern hemisphere, and we have been itching to get out and enjoy it. So this week we loaded up the boy's bikes in the trunk and headed to Parque Villa Lobos. We had passed by this park many times and from the highway and had seen people riding their bikes and jogging around the track. On Sundays, you can usually see lots of kites flying. It was one of those places that we had always said, "I want to go there sometime...," but never did. Until this week! We chose a weekday to avoid a crowd, and there weren't many people there at all.

We had been wanting to give Josiah the opportunity to practice riding his bike again without training wheels, so this was the perfect place. The space around our house is just too small for that. He was hesitant to try, but picked it up in no time and took off.

Then we found these great "family bikes" to rent! Judson hitched a ride with us and we all rode around the 3.5 kilometer track that circles the park. (That's just over two miles for you metrically-challenged people...like me!)

Josiah got pretty good! That's him waaaaaaay in front of us.

It was so much fun. Of course we had to stop several times to let the boys rest. The farther we went along, the more people joined us on our bike! By the very end, we were towing a bike on the back, and Jeremy was walking the other while the boys and I rode.

We played on the playground, kicked the ball around, got sunburned, and just enjoyed being together. It was a good day, and here's the proof...

Dirty hands and clothes

Sun-kissed cheeks

and three tired boys!

Judson took a turn on Jonathan's bike for a little while. Here's a little video of him riding.

And Josiah wants everyone to see how well he can ride!

Election Follow Up

I wanted to post something to keep those of you who were praying informed about the results of the presidential election here in Brazil. I suppose the fact that I didn't write about it right away gives away the fact that the candidate we were hoping to win...didn't. However, we know that God is in control, and He has a plan!

Continue to pray for Brazil. Maybe Dilma won't be able to achieve all the changes and restrictions that she wants when she takes office in January. But if she does, we could begin to see some serious changes in our freedoms, especially in churches. We will just have to wait and see...and pray and trust the Lord.