Well we are long overdue for an update. We have been
traveling extensively and only with the kids a few weeks out of the last month.
We went back to the US what turned out to be a rapid two-week
flurry of activity. Our itinerary was
jam-packed with activities and we tried to see as many people and do as much as
we could. After the whirlwind of
visiting our friends and family and collecting things for the mission we came
back to even more kids than when we left.
We collected two large suitcases of toys and games and
activities thanks to the generous support of you guys. So many of you donated
Legos, Duplos, Perler Beads, Shrinky-Dinks, stuff to make slime,
blankets/bibs/bandannas for babies, toy cars, etc. These are all things that
the kinds here have never experienced and would be entirely too expensive to
procure here. We doubled our supply of activities and came with some money to
finish organizing the activity closet.
Since we’ve been back we have been spacing these activities
out so we can do some with them each week. Can’t spring all of this excitement
on them at once, they would explode. Their energy and enthusiasm is already
hard to contain. They have been bringing their friends and we have seen
countless new faces. Mothers are even lying about their children’s age to get
them into our classes – hahaha.
One of the major accomplishments from this trip to the US
was that we started the long and arduous process of finding out why we are
having recurring miscarriages. We were blessed to be able to talk with a
pro-life fertility doctor in San Diego. There are many reasons ranging from
hormonal problems to uterine problems and even chromosomal abnormalities.
We had our blood drawn while we were in San Diego and we are
having it analyzed for chromosomal abnormalities – this is the worst result
because it usually cannot be fixed. If this is negative for abnormalities then
that is good news with regards to us having a family in the near future.
We went to a baptism/chrismation for our new Goddaughter in
Canada. Suffice it to say that she is a complete miracle and we are totally
blessed by having a little saint to look after spiritually.
We had a party in Vegas so we could see all our friends and
it was outstandingly hosted (as usual) by Jaime, Ryan, and Dr. Frank. It was an
awesome time to have carne-asada and update our friends on what we’ve been
doing. Then we had an amazing beach bonfire with our friends in Huntington
Beach graciously sponsored by Aunt Kathy, Uncle Bill, and Aunt Mary. Finally, we had a get together with the
Deatons in Escondido so we were able to say hello to everyone we possibly
could.
We got back to rainy weather, which is starting to clear for
the season. We bought out first churasco so we can barbecue Brazilian style. We are now officially Our English classes resumed and the students want to learn how to
pronounce lyrics to popular songs so we did that with them for the classes most
recently. We brought back ingredients for American Chocolate Chip Cookies that
they only see in the movies and they were totally into them.
The news from Alto is that there was a fire in a home near
us. Fortunately it doesn’t seem anyone was hurt. There was no response (or at
least timely) from the fire department so we helplessly watched as the
community came together to put it out. We are hoping to do something to help
the family, as it appears they lost mostly everything to smoke or fire damage.
And finally, the most popular part of our blog… the
Pictures! Here is what we have been doing here in Salvador, Brazil:
