Guest Posting on Hidden Treasures

My friend Angela invited me to write a guest post on her blog, Hidden Treasures. She has begun a new feature entitled "Missionary Mom Mondays." If you want to check it out, click HERE.  Her blog is very interesting and full of ideas about raising kids, healthy foods, and helpful tips, and more. She is a mom who seems to truly enjoy her life and family, and she is an encouragement to me. Check it out!

Our "Not Ours" House

We could not even begin to express how grateful we are for the Lord providing a beautiful place for us to "hang out" for two months.

Pictures do not adequately show what it is really like, but I'll give you a peek!

The house is large, and the yard even larger! It even has real grass and trees!

This is a lemon tree. Here in Brazil we normally get limes, but this tree has the normal yellow lemons which are very expensive to buy in the grocery store.

There's nothing like having parrots in your yard....

 

...and monkeys in the trees!

 

Oh wait, those are boys! They are loving the space to run and play, climb trees, ride bikes, and get dirty!

We are also babysitting some pets, and the boys are loving the experience of having a dog.

Meet Naki...

and Konig!

There is also a 20-or-so year old turtle that lives in the yard too, but he's a little hard to find. We've seen him on a few occasions, and just put food out for him every now and then!

Yes, it is difficult for me to be in other people's space, with other people's things, arranged in other people's ways. However, I think I better just get used to it, because it will be another six or eight months before we have our own space again. We will just keep following the Lord and see what He has in store for us next!

The Tooth Fairy's New Client

Jonathan lost his first tooth on Friday. He was a brave trooper and didn't even shed a tear. Now he's fervently wiggling the one next to it and trying to get it out.

Landslide

One day not too long ago I heard helicopters flying over the house. I'm used to hearing them often, and didn't think too much about it. Then I realized that they weren't going away, and thought that something must be going on. My mother in law called and said that about a half of a mile from where we are staying there had been a landslide. I got on the internet and read about what was going on. In the midst of working to prevent a landslide, they actually caused one. Unfortunately, an expectant mother and a three year old child were killed.

Several days later we passed by the area took some photos of the destruction.

You can see how the houses are built right on the edge, and they had begun to put concrete on the hills near the top to hold them in place.

Many houses were destroyed. It's amazing that more people weren't seriously injured or killed.

This view from the road without zooming in shows how tall this hill is.

These boys are playing soccer on one of the levels near the top.

I can't help but be reminded of the illustration in the Bible of the foolish man building his house on the sand, and the wise man building on the rock. How many of these people are building their lives on nothing but sand? We must get busy and tell them about THE ROCK.

The Zoo

In the midst of our crazy schedule these last several weeks, we had the opportunity to see my sister-in-law and her three beautiful girls who are visiting from the States. The boys were SO excited to see them again and get to spend a little time with them. Our time was short, but the Lord gave us a beautiful day to go to the zoo together.