My Wonderful Husband

This week was Jeyson's birthday, and we had a great time celebrating, first as a couple on the actual day, then with our couple's group on Wednesday.

We had a surprise cake and celebrated Jeyson's birthday, and also Andres's birthday, since they were born only a few days apart.

We have made some great friends here, so it was really meaningful to have them be part of the special occasion.

Jeyson is just the most wonderful husband. He is kind, fun, giving, compassionate, thoughtful, and so patient and supportive as I adjust to Brazil. He is intelligent, forgiving, optimistic, calm, and always speaks positively of others. When I look around my house I see notes and flowers from him, which I love! However, I also see all kinds of creative things Jeyson has made or fixed around the house to make things a little easier for me. These things not only show how thoughtful Jeyson is to think of these 'inventions' for me, but they also show just how talented he is, especially considering how limited materials and tools are here! So, if you haven't noticed, today's post is going to be quite different from normal. Today it's all about me sharing a little about how wonderful Jeyson is...and specifically (below) how talented he is. Stay tuned next week for tons of photos of new indigenous friends we made, but in the meantime this week we're celebrating my wonderful, talented husband :)

One of the areas that Jeyson is especially talented in, is electricity. You might remember the story of our new house's outlets.....basically to recap....there are almost none. Specifically, our kitchen had 1 outlet at the entrance of the room...far from where everything needed to be plugged in. Somehow, in a matter of 2 hours, our microwave, toaster, fridge, lights, and more were plugged in and there were outlets to spare...and the original one wasn't even used! I'm still trying to figure out how this happened.

Also I found this homemade lamp installed over the sink, where it is quite dark. (Please excuse the overflowing drying rack :)

I also found this wonderful, hidden-away transformer ready to go. Here in Anapolis, our voltage is 220, but most of our appliances are 110, so we have to use a transformer to plug anything in. However, transformers are bulky, hot, and take up counter space. To make using the transformer in the kitchen so much easier, Jeyson created this little system to hide the transformer in the cabinet. Then, the wire leads out of the cabinet and has a switch for when we want to turn it on, and we plug the appliance in to the outlet he set up on the right.

When we moved in, there was no outside lighting, or even a place to put a light bulb. Before I even noticed the problem, Jeyson had already installed these lights for our back porch and plenty of line to hang our clothes on. It make it so much nicer to have an evening bbq in our backyard when we can see our plates :)

Speaking of grills, another specialty area of Jeyson's is welding. Jeyson never had a formal course, but has spent tons of time studying and researching on his own and has taught himself the basics and has made TONS of projects. My favorite is the grill that he made from an old metal drum, which he cut in half and doubled up for thickness. He welded the whole frame, etc. It even has several great features, including that the grill can be raised and lowered to bring the meat closer to the fire, and on the right there is a wooden cutting board that can pop out to be washed in the kitchen.



Jeyson has also put his welding skills into practice at Asas, where he has (from scrap material) made these handy rolling chairs designed to sit on while working under the planes. The trays on the bottom are to hold tools.

This next invention will probably seem strange, unless you understand how badly I wanted one of those Chinese paper floor lamps available in the States. Since they're not available here, Jeyson made one for me by welding a frame together and covering it with material.

Since counter space and cabinets are about as limited in our kitchen as outlets, Jeyson made this wonderful rolling cart for my mixer and baking supplies. I simply roll it over to the outlet, plug it in, and I am ready to go with all of my ingredients.

Jeyson welded and painted the frame and varnished the shelves. Not only is it sturdier and nicer than any cart I have seen here, it constantly reminds me how caring Jeyson is!

Although I've already posted a picture of this screen door that Jeyson made, I couldn't leave it out on this post of Jeyson's 'inventions'.

Every time I turn around, there are new hooks,

or shelves on the wall,

or wheels under the coffee table. They all remind me how caring Jeyson is and what a wonderful support he has been as I learn to live life in this country that has a lot less conveniences. I get the feeling though, that he'd still be busy with his projects if we lived in the States :) I'm so glad God brought Jeyson into my life. The last year and a half married to Jeyson has been such a blessing, and I can't wait to spend the rest of my life with him!