Jeyson & Stephanie Braun

Holy Cow!

2012-01-31T19:09:00.005-02:00

So this might be the most random and unpleasant post yet, but it's part of the culture here so I just have to include our experience from the weekend. Don't get me wrong, this isn't something that all Brazilians do or do every day, but it's certainly common and normal here What is it? Stock up your freezer with a grass-fed cow. In the States people are always talking about the importance of being more organic, natural, etc. Well here in Brazil it's not hard at all to get as close as you want to be to all-natural food. This weekend we got REALLY close when Jeyson's parents had one of their cows slaughtered. (Warning...pictures of mass amounts of meat ahead!)

The Brauns hired someone to come slaughter the cow (which I did NOT see!), but we then spent 4 hours the next day putting pieces in bags for the freezer.

Here is the hired help cutting up the larger sections into small ones. If this seems unpleasant to you, this is what we see all the time at the butcher anyway when you buy meat! I guess we get desensitized!

Jeyson's mom and brother-in-law bagged

Jeyson's sister labeled

And though there is no picture, Jeyson and I used my Kichenaid mixer grinder attachment to make ground beef. To me, this was the best station since the meat already looked like good, dead meat :) We ground about 45lb of beef! The mixer didn't skip a beat. I seriously think a kitchenaid mixer is a basic, necessary tool for missionaries with all of the from scratch kitchen work we do!

Later the freezer was loaded up...with about 175lb of beef (not even including ribs, etc)! The picture below is not even a fraction of the total!

After the umm...interesting?? day, I realized just how far I've come in life to adapt to my new reality. Maybe in some farm parts in the States this is common, but up until I moved to Brazil, I had always been a city mouse :) God really did a work in my heart for me to adjust to all of the new things we do here! It was quite an experience and the reward for making it through...we now have about 20 lb of good quality beef in our freezer here at home and I'm sure Jeyson's parents will load us up again when we run out. Totally worth the work!

His Perspective

2012-01-24T15:29:00.004-02:00

I love when Jeyson takes the camera with him so I get the chance to see what his day looks like from his perspective. It's wet season here, meaning it rains almost every day. Flights are much harder to fit in between storms so it's the perfect time for some serious maintenance work. Here's a glance around the hangar these days:

Lots of projects and inspections underway...

One of the newest mechanics, Andres, who is from Columbia lost behind an engine

Dan and Bruno -

I'm sure Jeyson could tell you just what they're working on in the engine, but all I can say is it looks intense!

Everyone busy at work...

Including the best looking mechanic at the mission...

But I'm a little biased :) Thanks, Jeyson, for letting us tag along today!

It Happened!

2012-01-15T18:36:00.004-02:00

I can't believe this little guy is going to be 2 months old tomorrow. The time is going SO fast! It's been incredible and incredibly tiring at the same time :) But Wednesday night it happened...Elijah slept through the night! Pretty impressive for an 8 week, nursed baby! Thursday night he woke up once, and again Friday and Saturday night he made it through the whole night again. We're 3 out of 4!

I'm not sure if it's me (mostly) following a babywise routine, if it's his new Woombie swaddle, or if what his shirt says really is true...
(hard to read but it says "Mom's Little Man") But either way, I'm LOVING it! The first morning I woke up and looked at the clock and saw that it was 6:30, I wasn't sure if something was wrong or if maybe I had fed Elijah in my sleep and couldn't remember it :) When I realize it had finally happened...the first real solid night had finally come, I couldn't contain my excitement. Poor Jeyson, I woke him up to share the news! I'm so excited to be feeling a little less exhausted!

Mission Retreat

2012-01-09T16:34:00.003-02:00

To start this year off, our mission had it's big retreat. It only happens every 2-3 years and this year it was a huge deal because all of the missionaries from all of the bases in Brazil got together. It was tons of fun to see some people again after several years and meet others for the first time. We had a great speaker who really hit the nail on the head with the topics we needed to hear about. It was a great time! This is about half of the mission's missionaries in the picture.

Free time included this zipline that dropped into the lake

And lots of time hanging out with friends.

One of the highlights for us was seeing our good friends Andres and Camila who moved to another base a year and a half ago. We've missed them a ton and it was so fun being together again. We both had our first babies (both boys!) only 5 weeks apart so it was a blast being in this new phase of life together. Tiago and Elijah have no choice but to be best friends.

Me and Camila

Drinking some Brazilian style Mate tea.

The camp was fun, and so was Christmas and New Years (when we were also away from home for 3 days to be with Jeyson's family)...but now we are MORE than ready to get into our routine again and be home without plans to be away for a good while!

Christmas 2011

2011-12-31T12:54:00.005-02:00

The past few weeks have been busy to say the least! End of the year activities, Christmas, and a newborn have been a lot, but a lot of fun too!
Since I've been extra tired lately, I had resigned to the fact that I probably wouldn't get around to making Christmas cookies this year. Then, my good Brazilian friend, Vanessa, said she wanted to learn how to make them. Well you know how Christmas cookies go...I was going to make only 2 -3 kinds, but the list just kept expanding and we wound up making 7! It was a really fun day and we had enough cookies for Vanessa to take about 1/3 home, 7 boxes to bring to neighbors, and an overflowing cookie tray to bring to the Braun's for Christmas. (And quite a few that disappeared during the baking processs!)
Then, Saturday the 24th, we headed over the Jeyson's parents' home.

Everything was all ready for Christmas and we had the best gift of all this year :)

Jeyson's sister, her husband, and son came over too. Lucas is super active these days! He will be one on Jan 2nd and is always moving around.

Lots of hanging out on the 24th,

And Elijah had his first nap on an Ecuadorian llama pillow since there was "no crib for a bed" haha!

Sweet newly hatched humming birds in one of the trees
Elijah with his Aunt Lika

And my mother-in-law getting the turkey ready for the oven. Little did we know that a few hours later, the power would go out. We wound up cooking the rest of the meal by candle/flashlight! Poor Jeyson's mom who had to carve this bird with a head flashlight! Following Brazilian traditions, late at night we had our meal and opened presents.

The next morning, three couples from our mission joined us at the Braun's farm for the day. I made a big Christmas breakfast to share a little from American culture. Everyone enjoyed it but were moaning from having eaten too much since Brazilians normally just drink coffee and eat bread for breakfast.

Vanessa and her husband Fabio were among those who come over

It was super fun just spending time with family and friends away from the city.

The guys did some rip boarding

And were in charge of grilling the Brazilian style barbecue of meat, meat, and more meat.

The ladies...

And hours and hours of chatting, relaxing, etc.

At night we went to a cantata at Jeyson's parents' church, which was the prefect ending to a nice, relaxing Christmas.

Cookie Making is Back

2011-12-15T09:18:00.004-02:00

I'm so excited that our twin neighbors who moved away are back in town for summer break (it's summer here anyway!). They will be here until Feb and came by our house the first day they arrived to come see us. They are staying only a block away from us and have already come by 3 times! It's so neat to know that my relationship with them was meaningful and that I have two months now to continue pouring into their lives. They also brought along their brother and cousin (who lives in the house they are staying at over the break).

It's such great timing because there isn't much extra I can do ministry-wise that requires living the house these days. The girls coming over to spend time together can easily fit in around feeding, naps, and diaper changes.

The girls loved holding Elijah

And making more cookies! We already are planning to make some cut out ones in the next few days and Jeyson and I are planning to have them over also for dinner and to watch The Nativity Story since it's perfect around Christmas time.

I'm so excited to see what God has planned for the next few weeks!

Expat Thanksgiving

2011-12-01T09:46:00.002-02:00

While Thanksgiving is not a holiday here, that didn't stop the Americans that live here in Anapolis from getting together. The Saturday before Thanksgiving we all had a big potluck at the Wycliffe missions headquarters. There were missionaries from Asas, Wycliffe, New Tribes, and other Americans who live in the city. Since turkey is very pricey here, we had chickens and all the traditional side dishes. All you can eat American food...yum!!! Some of the most prized items were "delicacies" from the States that families had brought down and saved for a special moment. Canned cranberry sauce and blueberry pie filling (made into a pie) might not sound special to you, but bringing them to share on Thanksgiving rather than hoarding them for your family is a huge act of sacrifice around here :) It really fit the Thanksgiving spirit of sharing. You should have seen how many slivers the blueberry pie was divided into so as many people as possible could have a taste of home!

We had so much to be thankful for this year, especially for Elijah. We brought him along even though we was only 4 days old. Are we crazy for bringing him? Perhaps a little, but we just couldn't bare to miss out on one of the best days of the year!
Me with some of the other American missionaries in town that I'm good friends with. We also get together once a week for Bible study in English. Such a treat!

Then, this past Sunday Jeyson's family came over for another Thanksgiving celebration. Even though they are Brazilian and don't normally celebrate Thanksgiving here, we all agreed we had so much to be thankful for that we decided to have a special meal. It was so nice to celebrate also with family at home, just the way Thanksgivings are normally celebrated.
Everything was so wonderful I forgot to take a picture of the meal! It was a wonderful time...and now on to Christmas!

Elijah's Birth Story

2011-11-22T16:30:00.003-02:00

So this post is quite different from what I normally write about, but I just wanted to share Elijah's birth story. I wrote this out just for myself/Elijah some day so I could remember everything that happened and I thought I would share it for those of you who are interested in birth details. I really felt called to do have this birth for God's glory in a country that is almost not at all interested at all in His design (you'll understand in a minute). I thank God for being faithful to give me the strength to do what he called me to do. I'm not sharing the story to say this is the way it HAS to be or that others are wrong for choosing medication or having a medically necessary c-section. I truly believe God has a different story for everyone, but this is just His story for me that I thought I would share. I hope you enjoy....but be warned, it is rather long and has lots of details. Read only if you're ok with birth details!

Where do I even begin telling this story? It starts far before Elijah was ever even inside me. Since I arrived here in Brazil, I was shocked to find that there is an 85% c-section rate. Here, this is not just a number, but a reality. I hardly know anyone who has had a normal birth. This is either due to the woman actually choosing a c-section from the moment she discovers she is pregnant (even on the first baby!) or the doctor coming up with a reason it is necessary…most of which are ridiculously bogus! I can count on one hand the number of Brazilian women I know who have had a vaginal birth. Honestly. We also know of one doctor in our city who has a 94% c-section rate and personally know others who will ONLY do c-sections. And the crazy part is no one seems to think this is crazy! One generation passes on to the next that modern woman cannot do this…it is only for indigenous women anymore. Doctors purposefully intimidate their patients with haunting stories of pain rather than encourage them towards the safest and most natural option of birth. The system is a corrupt mess.

Prior to this I had never been passionate about natural (or even vaginal) birth. I had always just assumed I would have at least a vaginal birth unless there was a true medical emergency. But it wasn’t something I thought much about…just an assumption in my life. When I woke up to the reality here, even before I got pregnant, I started to become passionate about the subject. The more I read, the more I realized that God had planned out every single detail of a vaginal birth and that c-section rates should be much, much lower than they are here. They should be for rare, true emergencies. I was impressed how God designed even crowning to cut off circulation/feeling for the moment the baby arrives…incredible! I also started to realize just how much lack of knowledge about how the process works leads to fear. Then, from what I read, fear leads to tension, which leads to more pain – making the situation worse. I truly began to know and believe that God designed me to be able to do this, just like every other natural body function He gave me that I don’t question. Throughout this whole discovery process, Jeyson was incredibly supportive and the more sold-out I became, the more sold-out he became. We truly grew together.

So, when I found out in Feb 2011 that I was pregnant, one of the first people we told was a friend who has had 4 vaginal births (3 natural, home-births) and is a doula. She kept giving me resources to dig into…books, videos, articles and later we officially asked her to be our doula for the birth. Just a few months into the pregnancy I can truly say I felt God calling me to a natural birth to glorify Him through showing His design for women. This scared me a bit because I believed He was calling me not only to a vaginal birth, but an unmediated, totally natural birth. Could I really do this? Could I put my money where my mouth was? Was this all head knowledge, or did I truly believe God thought of everything and could give me this strength to birth without medication?

We did feel like we should give birth in a hospital and worked with an incredible Christian doctor throughout the pregnancy. Dr. Luis Carlos is Brazilian, but has family in the States and understands us foreigners well. He is also passionate about natural birth and is willing to stand against the pressure of the other doctors in Brazil who are not just FOR c-sections, but AGAINST natural births.

Dr. Luis Carlos was a complete blessing at each appointment, often spending 45 minutes or more chatting with us. He had previously done a home water birth for our doula, Michawn, and was fine with her coming along and coaching us for the birth. At 7 months, Jeyson and I began meeting together with Michawn weekly for classes to learn the Bradley Method of childbirth. I did lots of exercises, worked on eating well, and trained how to relax both the body and mind. By the end of the course, I felt as ready as you could be….practiced and most importantly, armed with information and trust in the Lord.

Although I felt ready, I truly was afraid something would happen and I would not be able to have a normal birth. It was so hard to trust when every day (literally) women around me would tell me their birth story and why they could not do what I believed God calling me to do. People would always assume I was planning a c-section (like everyone else) and when I said no, they would ask “So you’re going to TRY a natural birth”. In faith, I would say that I believed God was going to allow me to HAVE one, not just TRY.

Fast forward to the actual birth.

November 15th (Tuesday) was a holiday here in Brazil. Jeyson and I enjoyed the day working on projects around the house. Looking back, Jeyson was super nesty. He got up early and fixed the car, got motorcycle parts, cleaned/washed the garage, finished projects for the nursery, removed and repaired our toilet, and even set up our Christmas tree! I put together a few meals for when the baby was going to arrive, but truly didn’t believe he would come before his due date (Nov 19th). In fact, I kept a count down to the due date counting from 42 weeks (Dec 3rd) instead of the real due date because I didn’t want to be discouraged if he arrived late. In the evening we had friends over and I made homemade pizza and we watched movies. It was very relaxing and I truly did not think anything was going to happen for at least 7-10 days. We didn’t even have a bag packed for Jeyson.

November 16th I woke up at 2:30am to use the bathroom. I laid back in bed and thought I had had a little accident because I felt wet. I went back to the bathroom and realized a tiny bit of fluid had come out. I knew I could have a small leak and go on for days without actually going into labor, so I told Jeyson and laid back in bed to go back to sleep. I didn’t think anything would start that night. About 15 minutes later I felt another small gush of liquid, more than the first time, but still not a ton. I told Jeyson I thought was losing part of the water, but I felt no contractions so again we went back to sleep, this time with plastic and a towel under me…just in case. I knew it was common to have your water break and for birth to only begin with 24 hours so I figured I should get sleep. I thought I would call the doctor in the morning and see if we should come in earlier than our 1:30 appointment that day or just come in at the normal time. In my head, I thought we’d get there at 1:30 and still not have labor underway.

When I laid back down, I couldn’t sleep because I was getting excited. I was so happy to think that labor was going to be coming somewhat soon. It was still early in Arizona so I thought I’d call my mom just for some company and to share the news. Throughout the 20 minutes or so talking to her nothing happened labor-wise so again I thought it would take a while. However, when I stood up, from the computer, I had a much bigger leak. My water had definitely broken at that point…but still no cramps so again we laid down to rest up thinking labor would be hours away. (We had already planned with the doctor call him once I actually felt consistent contractions and to leave for the hospital when they were 3-4 minutes apart. This helps make the labor smoother because it doesn’t stall from the excitement of the car ride and avoids going to the hospital with a false alarm).

Around 4:00 am the contractions finally started. They were quite easy at first and I took a shower and then laid on my bed in the Bradley position to relax. Jeyson also was laying down trying to get some rest. At about 4:30 they began to pick up intensity and we decided to call Michawn. We caught her up on the details and said we would call when the contractions were intense enough to need her support get though them. Around this point I found (through trail and error) that the most comfortable position was sitting on the toilet. This way I could rock back and forth easily and I didn’t need to keep getting up and down to use the bathroom. So, even though I didn’t need to use the bathroom, I just stayed sitting and relaxing on the toilet, rocking and vocalizing moans to get through them.

I started to ask Jeyson to time the contractions, thinking they would still be about 10 minutes apart. However, we quickly realized they were only about 3 minutes apart. I was so surprised! I was worried that I might be tensing up, causing them to come closer together and stronger, so I worked even harder to relax. Jeyson worked on getting things ready to leave…bags packed, pets fed, etc. I found it quite easy to talk in between the contractions and I was only serious during the actual contraction itself.

Around 5:00 I felt like I could use Michawn’s direction and presence also, so Jeyson called her and asked her to come over. (Later she told us that she was so excited that she couldn’t go back to sleep after the first call anyway. J ) She arrived around 5:30 and she stayed with me helping me relax through the contractions and timing them for me. I was surprised to find that they were lasting about 45 seconds and were only about 2 minutes apart. I started to really need all of my concentration to relax and make it through each one. Since I thought I might still be only about 3 cm I worried that I would never be able to survive the really tough contractions when I got a bit more dilated. (Later we realized I was probably already a 5-6…these already were the tough contractions and I didn’t even know it!) I threw up a little and we decided to get on the road to avoid traffic, although I definitely would have waited longer at home otherwise. Jeyson called the doctor to tell him today would be the day.

We got in the car for the 1 hr 15 minute drive. As we drove off, Michawn prayed for us. Looking back, the drive felt fast – I just focused on one contraction at a time. Now I was MUCH more uncomfortable than I had been at home, but I thought this was just because I was in the car. Later we realized I went through transition in the car (7 cm and more). Again, between contractions I felt perfectly fine and could talk, but during them I needed to hold Michawn’s hand and moan in a low tone. They lasted about 1 minute each and I had about 1 minute in between (though it’s hard to remember the exact details). The worst part was the speed bumps. Each one would set off a VERY intense contraction, some lasting 2 ½ minutes! Jeyson drove carefully and calmly, but there was no way to avoid the bumps. It was only really during those contractions caused by bumps that I felt I lost control, all of the rest I could focus inwardly and make it through. It was definitely do-able, but being in the car was far from ideal at this point. If I had been at home or in the hospital, I really don’t think it would have been too hard with all of the techniques and support.

At a certain point, Jeyson made a comment that he had taken the wrong turn. I assumed he had gone back and gotten us on track. After 10 minutes or so of focusing on contractions, I asked him if we were still lost. Just at that moment he found a familiar landmark at last and pointed it out to me, never letting on that he had been really lost and almost stopped the car to look at the map! I have a great, calm husband and I’m thankful for his pilot’s sense of direction!

About 5 minutes from the hospital, I started to feel like the baby was really low and started to feel pushy. I assumed this was just in my head, since I was probably only 4 cm or so. I remember thinking, that if I discovered I was 5 cm it would be a HUGE victory! I also started to feel a bit lightheaded at this point, but thought it was just from not drinking water in the car (this is actually common during the transition stage).

When we arrived at the hospital, Jeyson went in and asked for a wheelchair because I knew I couldn’t walk all the way to the room. I thought I was being a wimp, because again I thought I was still early on. I got in the wheelchair and boy do they need to fix the rough brick walkway and tile floor with a million bumps! Not great for laboring women! I told the man to push me really fast between contractions and we arrived in the room. Michawn came in with me, which was great because Jeyson had to go park the car and took a while. It was awesome to have her support or I would have been completely abandoned with strangers!

Later we found out that Jeyson went to start the engine, but couldn’t because the battery had died. He got help push starting the car from another guy on the street and then looked for a parking spot on the street (no parking lot!). There was a police car on a downhill taking up two spots. Jeyson explained that his wife was in labor and his car needed a hill to start again. He asked if he could have one of the spots and the police officer responded by saying that he could fine Jeyson for having a car in disrepair! Crazy!!!

Back in the room, I was sitting on the toilet working through contractions like I had done at home. Dr. Luis Carlos arrived and checked my dilation right there. To all of our shock, he said I was almost 9 cm!!! I was in disbelief! I guess I hadn’t been exaggerating, I had actually been coping really well! I was so thankful for the preparation I had done. Someone ran to get Jeyson who was filling out paperwork…it was almost time! After another few contractions I was complete, and Jeyson and the doctor moved me to a birthing stool in our room. There wasn’t even time to fill up the birthing pool, as we had planned on a water birth. The doctor sat crossed-legged in front of the stool and Jeyson sat on a chair behind me with me in between his legs. Michawn moved all around helping, encouraging, massaging, bringing water, and reminding me of everything we had studied.

Between 10cm and pushing, I felt nothing. I had a little time to breathe and relax. The change of sensations of dilation to pushing was night and day. It was much easier at first. I had a long break in between each push (I only pushed when I felt the urge) and I could actually DO something. It didn’t hurt (except for crowning later) but I grunted to give me more power. After about 45 minutes of pushing, I began to crown, which was really the only really rough part of the day. It only lasted about 10 minutes and was only during contractions, but WOW! I thought I had torn in two. It was hard to trust the doctor who said I hadn’t! When the head started to come out a little at a time, the doctor encouraged me to look in a mirror to see it and to touch it to give me motivation to go on. It really helped!

I leaned back on Jeyson and he was told to push down on the top of the uterus to help the baby move down and out. In a crazy way, it was romantic…Jeyson, me, and our new son working together to bring him into the world. Also, I will never forget Jeyson’s encouraging words and I love you’s he whispered in my ear. When things got overwhelming, I called out to God for strength out loud and He was near. Between pushing urges, I was really relaxed. I remember even telling a few dumb jokes and the atmosphere was so light and friendly and encouraging. During the contractions everyone guided and supported me. I felt so cared for. There were moments when I felt like the baby would never really get out of me…I would be pregnant forever.

But then at 9:33 am it happened. After a very stingy and intense crowning, his head came out. The doctor paused as soon as it did because the cord was wrapped around his neck twice. Later he commented that he was glad that we didn’t know because people would have tried to make us nervous about it, even though it really wasn’t a real risk. He just carefully unwrapped it. I gave one more push and out came the body…and the pain was gone instantly!

The doctor gave me the baby, still attached to the placenta inside of me. He went right up onto my chest and I couldn’t stop exclaiming “I can’t believe it!” “He’s beautiful!” “Happy birthday!” “Welcome to the family!” “We love you!” etc. Covered in “cheese” and blood and all, holding him directly and instantly in my arms was the most beautiful thing I have ever done. I cannot even imagine having had him taken from me to be cleaned and later given to me. I would have lost the most incredible moment I have ever had. He opened his eyes almost instantly and looked right at me and Jeyson. He was so alert! It was overwhelming and I ran on the endorphins and adrenaline rush for days.

It was just such an incredible feeling to have pushed your son out of your body – to go through every moment of work and pain and in the end bring a new life into the world. Instantly every pain was over and I felt like I could climb a mountain or lift a car. I never felt so female and so powerful at the same time. It was indescribable.

Elijah’s birth did involve moments of very strong pain (especially at crowning) but the sense of
achievement was 500 times stronger than any pain I felt, and throughout it all I felt completely in control. To have done it 100% the way God designed, to have done it without an iv, monitor, drugs, or any intervention (other than the dr listening to the heartbeat), to have done it with my husband’s arms wrapped around me from behind, to have done it with the support of a believing doctor and doula…there are literally no words to express the most beautiful and deepest sense of awe and satisfaction of it all. In the end it was the most incredible, spiritual experience a woman can ever choose to face.

After waiting for the cord to stop pulsing, I moved to the bed to hold and nurse Elijah while we waiting for the placenta to detach. It took about an hour, but even before it came out, I instantly felt great…seriously almost 100% normal! I needed 2 stitches which wasn’t a big deal, thanks to being allowed to only push when I felt the urge. Although crowning had been painful, I was able to control my force and tore very little. The 10 minutes or so of crowning saved me much more pain later as recovery. The placenta came out with a small pull which caused one more contraction, and it was all over.

After about 1 ½ hours, Jeyson carried Elijah to the nursery to be weighed and measured. 3.35 kg (7 lb 5 oz) and 50 cm (19 in). Be brought him back about 5 minutes later. Everything else for him was done right in the room, in my arms. The first moment we were alone with Elijah, Jeyson prayed thanking God for him and the blessing of a wonderful birth and healthy son.

We chose to give Elijah a bath in our room ourselves. It was a wonderful start for him to never be taken away from his parents and it was so fun to clean him all up and be the firsts to get a good look at him. Jeyson’s parents and sister and nephew came to visit in the late afternoon. Elijah slept with us the in our hospital room, in between our beds. The next morning we left the hospital feeling GREAT! We were a bit tired from not sleeping well for 2 nights in a row, but we were so ready to bring our little son to our home. It was the best feeling in the world.

Elijah Wesley Braun

2011-11-19T21:25:00.003-02:00

Most likely you've heard by now, but here is the official blog announcement....Elijah Wesley Braun is here! He arrived Wednesday morning November 16th at 9:33am and weighs 7 lb 5oz and is 19 cm. I will post about his birth story soon, but for now I just wanted to share some pictures.

Minutes after birth...not even cleaned up yet
Just arrived at home

And a little home photoshoot

We love this guy!

Nursery Complete!

2011-11-11T10:55:00.006-02:00

I can't believe our nursery is ready! About a month ago, I seriously did not think we'd actually have it ready in time, but it all came together. I wish I could show you a before picture to see just how far it came...from a storage room to a cozy spot for our little guy. We're are feeling as ready as we can be for his arrival....even Sam likes the room. Our cat seems to think that we have finally put together a room for HIM! Ever since we put up the crib, this has been his new favorite spot. (Maybe he thinks the crib is bunk beds??)

The above picture was taken when things weren't quite ready, but now they are. So, here are some pictures of our little (and I am not exaggerating when I say little!) nursery. First I'm putting a few shots to give you an idea of how the room fits together, and then I"ll zoom in on the details.

View 1

Looking a little to the left, view 2

And a little to the left of that, view 3....I told you it was tiny! We had to be creative to make it all work.

So now, the details. The crib: My mother-in-law came over and sewed the skirt for the crib and a mosquito net (no malaria for our baby!) which we'll close up around the crib when he's in there.

Labor is super cheap here, so I had someone put together these bumpers for us, since the Brazilian style ones are BIG puffy pillows, which I didn't like. Later on I was reading that now no bumpers are recommended, but I put them on anyway until he can start moving around. You can also see our Brazilian style bobby in the crib for safekeeping. I loved the way the bumpers turned out. It makes me want to have another boy in the future just to reuse them :)

And probably my favorite feature of all (which I already showed on the blog but can't resist putting up again) is this adorable tree my sister-in-law painted for us. Talk about some serious talent!

And a special rocking chair which was a special present from my parents. They don't make wooden rocking chairs here, but we knew a store which can order them from the southern part of Brazil. It is handmade from beautiful wood and will last a lifetime! The monkey was the very first present Baby Braun got and the camel pillow was actually made by Jeyson in 4th grade! Jeyson's mom saved it (Jeyson didn't know) and I stuffed/finished it and I love having it in the room.

Jeyson's mom also helped us make these curtains. I couldn't find anything I liked in the stores here (probably because I already had in mind exactly what I wanted....don't you hate when that happens???) so I bought the material and Jeyson's mom patiently put it together exactly as I had imagined.

Here's the bottom

And the top.

I also wanted blackout curtains but couldn't find any, so again I bought the material and made my own. I bought these rings that you put on shower curtains and put it together. Super easy and will hopefully buy me hours of our baby napping :) One can dream right?? The blackout curtain hides behind the real curtain easily too.

Here's our dresser/changing area. The baskets on top have extra supplies

After MUCH hunting I found out they don't sell the type of changing pads that have raised edges like in the States....they are completely flat. Since we don't want our guy rolling onto the floor, the same lady who sewed our bumpers put this together for us. I love the plastic around it too...so much easier to wipe down!

A cute little giraffe diaper holder

And our rug made from jean type material.

And I know I showed it before, but once again here is our bunch of lamps hanging from the ceiling.

I was inspired from a blog I saw and Jeyson put it all together for me - I found the lamps at the dollar store!

Now the only thing I still want to change about this nursery is this:

Yes, I would like for this view to change! I can't wait to have this guy out of my belly and in our arms! Come on Mr. Braun....we are waiting for you! 39 weeks on Saturday!

Song Confusion

2011-11-04T13:52:00.003-02:00

Yesterday was my last day teaching at the missionary kid's school. The threw me a little surprise going away party, which was so sweet!
The funny part was that when I came into the room the kids got all confused about what we were celebrating and started singing Happy Birthday :) In a way though, it was appropriate because we are celebrating the upcoming birth day of our little one.

I really enjoyed teaching these guys and will miss seeing them so often, but I'm 38 weeks now and it's time to start winding down with some of my weekly responsibilities. The coolest part though is seeing God's timing. Unknown to me when I told the parents that this would be my last week, God had JUST provided a visa for the long term teacher and she is coming down today! Perfect! I'm so glad God works in the details.

36 Weeks - Let the Countdown Begin!

2011-10-23T19:45:00.002-02:00

36 weeks! I seriously can't believe it is time to really start getting ready for our little man's arrival! It's so surreal and lots of emotions as we check things off our to-do list. Up until this weekend we still had A LOT of things to do - including buying a carseat, crib sheets, a bathtub and other such important things. We worked hard this weekend and got a lot done and I'm feeling much more ready. The nest is almost ready and momma bird is much happier! One big project has been washing all of the baby clothes we have gotten (hand-me-downs and new too). This has been especially tricky in rainy season since the clothes have literally taken 4 days to dry! So cute though, hanging up....I can't believe we're really going to have someone this tiny around here!

Jeyson made a screen for the nursery window (they don't sell them around here and we didn't bother having one before since it was just our storage room.)

And here are a few pregnancy shots. I am seriously huge these days! I have to say though, all things considered, I'm feeling great! I get up 3 or so times at night to use the bathroom, but 3 out of 4 nights I sleep really well and don't even bother with extra pillows, etc. I have had some pretty uncomfortable leg/feet swelling, but it has gone down a lot in the past few days, which I'm super happy about. Of course that doesn't mean I fit in normal shoes or anything, it just means that I can fit the strap of my flip-flop over my foot again...I"ll take what I can get!

We're just about finishing up our Bradley birth course too and I'm feeling as prepared as one can feel. It sort of feels like when you have a final exam and you study, study study, to the point that there is no point in looking at your book anymore. It's time to just bring it on :) But not too soon! At our 36 week appointment, we found out that our doctor is getting married and traveling from this coming Saturday through Nov 5th on his honeymoon! That will put me at 38 weeks! I confess it makes me a bit nervous, but we have a backup doctor's info, and are just trusting the Lord for His timing. I am not dilated at all so the doctor feels there is a good chance our guy will stay put until after the honeymoon. Who knows though!

At 36 weeks, here's a list of some things we still have to do:

Put up shelf in nursery

Build bookshelf for nursery

Sew curtains and a crib skirt

Make freezer meals

Pack for hospital

We're also just soaking up the last moments as just the two of us before life changes forever. We're SO excited, but not wanting to wish away the phase we're in. Last night we had some friends over for games. Of course we still plan to have friends over in the future, but this was one of the last times to do this with no little guy to take care of. It was lots of fun! I have a few other things like that on my list, so we're not wishing away the coming weeks....just enjoying every moment God has us in. But the suspense is killing me...what will he look like? how will the birth go? what will it be like being a mom? And so much more....there's an adventure ahead!!!

Here's Some Advice....

2011-10-17T17:14:00.002-02:00

When you're 8 months pregnant and wake up at 2am because you can't sleep...read a book, pray, count sheep, and do whatever else you can think of. But DON'T do what I did last night....I checked my email....
And found out the most exciting news! My parents bought their tickets to come visit us in Brazil in February! I know it's a long way off still....

But it got me SO SO SOOOO SUPER excited that I couldn't fall asleep until 5 am!!!

We CAN'T wait to have our first official visitors here and for it to be Dad and Mom!!! YAY! SO FUN! But next time I'll wait till the morning to find out :)

Baby Tea

2011-10-16T19:23:00.000-02:00

A baby tea, that's what it's called in Portuguese. In English? A baby shower...that's what some ladies threw for me last week. And it wasn't just any baby shower. It was the sweetest, most thoughtful, and fun shower ever...but I might be a little biased :) Here's some pictures of the fun evening.

Me with my popping belly
My mother-in-law came and made the most perfect chocolates and sweets

My super talented friend (and the host of the party) made this adorable onesie cake

And this diaper cake too. These diaper cakes are the cutest invention - getting one really made me feel like a mom-to-be! I LOVED it!

There was a great turn out of women from the mission, as well as some other friends from the community.

My friend, Joy, was nice enough to play along with this goofy fun game/drama part

And one of the most fun parts was a game where I had to answer questions about our baby/being a parent and predict how Jeyson would answer the question. Then, they played Jeyson's actual response that had been videoed. We did pretty well...though there were a few surprise answers as you can see from my shocked expression!

And the BEST surprise of all was my family coming to the shower via video clips that they had made and sent to one of my friends.

And although my family couldn't be there, I was so happy to have my mother-in-law and sister-in-law there in person.

My friend Michawn, who is a mom of 4 and is going to be our doula for the birth, shared an encouraging word on being a mom.

Thank you so much to these sweet friends, Vanessa and Kris, for planning and working so hard to make this shower so wonderful and memorable. It meant so much to me to feel loved and encouraged by these friends God as brought into my life!

"One Room" School House

2011-10-07T13:36:00.000-02:00

I've had quite a fun and different experience over the past two months helping out at a missionary kid's school. The teacher has not been able to get a visa to come to Brazil, so the parents of these kids set up a little school in a church and are sharing the job. I have been helping out two mornings a week teaching reading and social studies. It's my first time teaching without the subject being English as a foreign language!
The kids are really fun and I'm glad to be a small part of allowing their parents to serve in their ministry with the Brazilian branch of Wycliffe. When I was telling one of my sisters about this one room school house type setup, she said "So it's sort of like Christie (the old t.v. show you might remember) without the horses". I guess it is! ...although there is more than one room for us to use :)

As you can see, the belly is growing by the day! The other day, the kids were all doing an independent reading assignment and Baby Braun was VERY active, kicking and squirming all around. I looked up to see one of the boys with his eyes FIXED on my moving belly in confusion and amazement. So cute!

Quick Pics of Jeyson

2011-10-06T15:22:00.002-02:00

Here's a few pictures of what Jeyson has been up to lately at work since it's been a while since posting just day to day pictures of Jeyson working.

It's no secret that Jeyson LOVES welding. Here he was recently working on repairing a tool that is used around the hangar.
Very intense....

Successfully repaired.

And working on an engine. Here Jeyson and Christian (right) were getting some instructions on how to work on the engine from Valmir (middle) a very experienced mechanic.

All in a day's work...

News from a Nearby Field

2011-09-24T19:25:00.003-02:00

Yesterday we heard the sad news that a Pilatas PC-6 missionary plane crashed in Indonesia. It was a plane flown by missionary pilot, Paul Westlund, and he along with two Indonesian passengers passed away. Paul had been flying for nearly 25 years. The cause of the accident, which happened in a remote mountainous region, is still unknown.

While the plane was not an Asas plane, or even an MAF plane, (it was one of JAAR's partner missions) we can't help but feel connected as this man was serving in a very similar ministry as we do. Please be praying for his wife and two children which he left behind.

But don't stop there, click over to here to see a moving video that had been put together long before the accident about the ministry in Indonesia. It is definitely worth a watch and quite a challenge to live sold out for Him. Apparently, one of the planes in the video is the actual one that crashed.

Mechanics, English, and Two Awesome Opportunities

2011-09-19T17:44:00.003-02:00

Technical English came to a close last week. This was the class I was teaching (along with Jeyson when I needed help with specific mechanics knowledge) to the incoming mechanic missionaries and quite a few from the community. It was a great group and an awesome opportunity to share our faith.
It was a very casual classroom setting, as you can see from the pictures. In these pictures they were working in groups on translating part of an article for airplane mechanics.

One of my favorite parts of teaching was having the young man on the right in this picture (Jonatas) as part of the class. He is a new missionary that just arrived in Brazil from Venezuela to be trained by our mission to return back to Venezuela in a few years. Why? A few years ago all foreigners in Venezuela were kicked out of the country by the government (Hugo Chavez), causing an active and very needed missionary flight program to be shut down because all of the pilots and mechanics were foreigners. Their plane and all of the ministries that depended on the flights were stopped suddenly. So, recently, many local Venezuelan pastors and ministries have rallied together to get it started....which means getting Venezuelan pilots and mechanics trained. The first one to start is Jonatas and he came to us in Brazil to do it since there wasn't a good training place available in Venezuela. We were so excited to have the privilege to have a tiny part in getting this ministry in Venezuela off the ground again literally, but teaching Jonatas this course that he is required to have.

Jonatas and Andres (left, who just arrived from Colombia and is gong to be serving in Brazil with Asas) did a great job translating, considering they had to go from English to Portuguese - neither of which languages do they speak fluently!

The other awesome opportunity was getting to pray and share a verse with the class each day before beginning. Since it was English class, each day I shared a verse in English and we translated it together into Portuguese. The classes were held at Asas de Socorro, so I had the freedom to be as open about the Gospel as I wanted to be (which of course I was!). One of the neatest things happened on a day that my co-teacher Grace was teaching class. She came into the class in a huge rush and frazzled from a crazy day. She began class right away without praying or a verse. Then, one of the students in the back who is not a believer raised his hand. "Aren't you going to begin with a verse and prayer?" he asked, "That has been my favorite part!" Of course Grace backtracked and began the class again with Him as the start. It is so exciting to see how God is working! Although the English requirement for the mechanics class is over, they will spend the next year+ learning at Asas and, Lord willing, will have many opportunities to hear the Gospel through the other missionaries who are teaching.

Baby Room Progress

2011-09-08T14:29:00.002-02:00

So it's been requested/required that I post some pictures of the baby room progress. It's really too bad that I didn't take a before picture for you to see that the hardest part has been trying to figure out what to do with all of the stuff we used to keep in here. Here in Brazil almost no houses (including ours) have closets or basements or garages, and our house is just a little over 700 sq ft!! So, this little 9X7.5 foot room has been our storage room for everything from umbrellas and backpacks to Jeyson's tools. After getting that all cleared out (and finding some VERY interesting places to hide these items :) we were on to the decorating. We painted one wall green and Jeyson's SUPER talented sister came and painted a tree in the room on one wall. It came out WAY better than I had ever imagined. Isn't she incredible??? I found my inspiration here

Next, I found some paper lanterns at the dollar store (actually the 1 real store since that's our currency!) and Jeyson put together this little cluster that I saw here ...however much toned down for a boy and for the size room we have!

So this is what we have so far. We still need curtains (my mother-in-law is going to help me make those), bumpers and other bed stuff (in the works) and our rocking chair is coming in from southern Brazil. (They don't have the wooden ones here in central Brazil, but I found a store that can get us one from a southern state) Our carpet is a jeans type material, which is kind of fun...oh yeah and Jeyson is going to make us a cute bookshelf and there is one more much smaller art project I'm requesting Jeyson's sister paint us. Things are coming along!

We bought this little dresser which will double as a changing table surface. (This is on the wall that you can't see in the above picture) We didn't LOVE the dresser, but after LOTS of hunting this was the best we could find and it will do the job. The small baskets will go on a shelf above the dresser and one of the large ones will stay on the dresser with changing supplies. The last big one will probably hold toys somewhere.
Oh, and about the changing pad...I couldn't believe that here they don't have ones with wedge/raised sides. All of them here are just a totally flat cushion! I really wanted the American style for safety, so my mother-in-law had a great idea. She stopped by a store that sells that hard, sponge filling, and had the guy cut us one. It turned out great! Now her friend is covering with with cute fabric and then a layer of plastic/washable clear material for easy washing. Much easier to register for one at Target if we had it! But here you have to be a little more creative and make do. It's been quite a fun adventure dealing with each detail. Now, if only they had bouncy seats here....any ideas on how to make one??? (Just kidding...I think! :)

1 Hour (Semi-Freezer) Cooking

2011-09-05T19:07:00.002-02:00

I've been so inspired by all of the blogs talking about 1 hour freezer cooking sessions lately. The idea is you take 1 hour and cook a bunch of little things to throw in your freezer. I thought I'd try it out, Brazilian style. Some items weren't actually for the freezer...instead they were for eating throughout the week - is that allowed? It was in my book anyway. Here's what I got done yesterday afternoon:

I had a big bunch of cashew fruit from my mother-in-law. I pulled off the end (that's the nut) and made the fruit into a concentrated pulp that I froze in cups. Then, we can pull them out and make them into juices whenever! I made 9 pulps - good for 9 pitchers of cashew juice!
I cooked chickpeas/garbanzo beans in the pressure cooker. I froze some in ziplock bags for salads and made some into humus. I froze half and kept half in the fridge.

I made a batch of homemade yogurt (it took all night, but I got it set up in the hour of cooking)

I hard boiled eggs and made deviled eggs (I'm doing the Bradley birth eating plan and you have to eat 2 eggs every day!)

Jeyson made us some strawberry/banana smoothies to eat on the spot.

Not a bad start! I think I'll try this more often! Thanks for the inspiration all you who do this!

Something to Chew On

2011-08-10T16:45:00.004-02:00

I LOVE that as missionaries part of our "job description" is focusing on people and reaching out and making an impact. And of course naturally, spending time with people and food go so well together.

I LOVE bringing people food as a way to show we care and build a bridge. The other day our next door neighbor suddenly and unexpectedly passed away (he was only in his 50's too). We had the chance to reach out to the wife by stopping by with some apple cake a few days later. She insisted we come in and even allowed us to pray with her.

I also LOVE having people over: neighbors, people we know in the community, other missionaries or people from church, small groups, etc. But since we've been expecting, I've noticed that I have been dragging my feet a bit about having people over. It just seemed like so much work to entertain. But then, one day I was on Amazon.com and glanced through a book by one of my favorite cooks named Pam Anderson. I read one of her books (How to Cook Without a Book) before coming to Brazil and it completely changed my perspectives on cooking and allowed me be flexible to cook in a place where you never know what you're going to find or not find at the grocery store!

Anyway, I saw a book of hers that I had never seen before called Perfect Recipes for Having People Over. Although I knew I wasn't going to buy it (I would love to but shipping to Brazil is way too high!), I skimmed the first few pages of the book on Amazon.com

And it completely refreshed my thinking about cooking for others. The premise? Stop entertaining and start having people over to share a meal. I really can't do it justice though, so if you're needing some encouragement in this area of life, click here and read the intro from pages x-xii

Since then, I've had so much more fun and we've had so many more people over - neighbors for chili, groups of friends for blts and oven fries, and much more. This weekend we're planning to get together with some people for some very casual made-at-home fondue and a pile of things to dip in it. It should be fun!

Embassy Shock

2011-08-05T13:26:00.000-02:00

The impression you get from movies of the US embassy being a welcoming place of refuge for US citizens is quite far from what I experienced last week. I'm sure that in times of crisis the embassy IS that place of refuge for it's citizens, but on a normal peaceful Saturday, I was left out in the cold (actually out in the heat!). Here's a picture of my view on Saturday. We headed over to the embassy in Brasilia for Jeyson to renew his visa to the US. Thankfully he was able to get it renewed for 10 years! But I was shocked that the embassy would not even allow me to come into the building. Now I understand that the embassy can't have tons of extra people in at the time of the visa interview etc...but I am a US citizen and his wife! And, in addition, I had a question about how to register our child overseas. But stuck out in the parking lot I was! Crazy! And the craziest part is that when I needed a document on another occasion from the embassy, they allowed Jeyson to come in with me! Meanwhile, Saturday I sat outside for almost 2 hours waiting for Jeyson and there wasn't even a bathroom to use! I wound up walking down the road and found a random closed building (on Saturdays in Brazil everything is closed pretty much) and begged the guard to allow me in to use the restroom. So crazy!

Oh well! I LOVE my country and all it represents as far as freedom and possibility. I am grateful that Jeyson got his visa so he can continue to visit along with me. And I really wasn't too inconvenienced by waiting outside. However, after the appointment we decided to stop at Pizza Hut (which they don't have near us) to at least get a little taste of the US for me. I'm so glad THEY let me in the door! ha!

Sourdough Failure

2011-08-02T16:13:00.000-02:00

I have a love-hate relationship with sourdough bread. I LOVE everything about the taste and texture of a good loaf of sourdough. I HATE the fact that they don't have it here in Brazil and I am apparently completely incapable to making it!

Last week I gave it another shot and followed a youtube series called "follow the sourdough". Each day the chef preformed one step of the sourdough process, beginning with making the starter all the way through baking the dough. I studied each video and did the action precisely. Things were going along so well! I even prepared a post about my success and was just waiting to publish when I had a picture of the finished product. Note this scrumptious looking loaf below is from google images....because mine once again FLOPPED! When it came time to make the dough, it simply did not rise...bummer!

Grrr...what's a pregnant expatriate to do! Please go to your local grocery store and pick up a loaf of beautiful sourdough bread, slather it with butter, and enjoy it in my honor!

It's a...

2011-07-28T17:04:00.003-02:00

Well if you haven't heard...It's a BOY! I'm now 24 weeks and getting bigger by the day.
I had mixed feelings about finding out the gender as part of me liked the suspense, but I'm liking even more knowing and mentally, emotionally, and logistically preparing for our baby boy. It's been a blast to officially be able to daydream in blue! I think there is no way we could NOT have known from such an obvious ultrasound, anyway!

Also, it's been super fun getting tons of boy hand-me-downs from my sister-in-law. Lucas is just 6 months, so someday they are going to be great friends too.

As far as a name goes, we still haven't 100% decided. We have a top runner but aren't closed off to others yet. Good thing we have 16 weeks left! One of the tribes that our mission serves has a cultural norm of never reusing a name...ever! This means the parents have to be VERY creative and each name is completely unique. Some of the people from the tribes have gone into the city and found interesting inspiration for names leading to children named things like "Pepsi" and "Colgate". I'm glad we're allowed to select from known names at least!

IS THIS NORMAL?!?!?

2011-07-13T14:38:00.003-02:00

Next weekend we'll be taking a trip to Brasilia to renew Jeyson's US visa at the embassy. The process involves a huge application (which took about 2 hours to complete online!) and then Jeyson will be interviewed. And this is just for a tourist visa! I can't even begin to imagine what it is like to do an immigrant visa! Anyway, that's not the point. The point is that while we were filling out the application, we had to get out all of our documents for needed info....including all of our passports. Which leads me to my question....IS THIS NORMAL!?!? Is it normal for a couple to have 7 passports between the two of them???

Now before you start thinking we have false identities, each one has a logical reason that we need it on hand still. Only 2 are mine - one showing my maiden name and one as a Braun (not necessary to travel with the Ciotta one but good to have here in Brazil to prove when I've been in and out of the US and Brazil). Jeyson is a dual citizen with Brazil and Ecuador and has 3 Brazilian passports (2 expired are but needed to show past trips in and out of the country at visa interviews and such) and 2 Ecuadorian passports...which are actually both needed in travel since one is expired but has his current US Visa in it and the other is needed to show it has been renewed.

CONFUSED??? Us too at times! It's hard to keep track of it all! Just wait till Baby Braun gets here and adds another 2 passports (1 Brazil 1 US) to the mix. We will need a suitcase just for our passports soon.

Please be praying that Jeyson is able to renew is Visa on July 23rd so we don't have any trouble with future travels.

Baby Braun - 20 Weeks!

2011-07-04T15:12:00.003-02:00

I can't believe we're already halfway done with this pregnancy and that Baby Braun will be here in just another 20 weeks or so!
Here are some yeas and nays I've had so far....

YEAS -
- Feeling the baby move quite a few times a day now
- A very smooth and uneventful past few weeks with the pregnancy
- Feeling a bit less tired and no more morning sickness
- Really no strange or annoying symptoms (so far)
- Starting to clear out and organize the stuff that's currently in the room that will become our baby's room
- Great hand-me-downs from other missionaries including clothes, a crib, baby bjorn, kids books in English, and much more
- Unexpected gifts on random days. They've been in the form of care packages from the States as well as from friends and family here. It's so fun to get one on a random day...each one gets us more and more excited about our baby
- An AWESOME doctor
- A missionary friend who is a doula who will be training us in the Bradley Method of childbirth and coming with us for the birth

Nays -
- Maternity clothes in Brazil are hard to find! I searched all over the city for some maternity jeans (with the comfy waist that comes way up) with no luck. I am so glad to have a friend who is now coming down from the States and is bringing a pair I blindly ordered online. I hope they fit!
- Migraines! I've had quite a few very bad ones (so bad I can't even sleep) and I can't take the medicine that usually helps me.
- Acne....there are no words!
- Gaining weight - a necessity but not fun. By the end I will likely weigh more than Jeyson. I just can't get over that!
- Pregnancy advice in another culture that has included everything from - Don't wear jeans while pregnant to Don't scratch ANY part of your body while pregnant for fear of stretch marks (even an arm!) .

The other evening I was sorting through some hand-me-down baby clothes we got. Sam wasn't quite sure to make of it all. I'm not sure if he decided to lay in the box because he is afraid of being replaced or if he likes the idea of the little one on the way. At the very least it's a good confirmation that the clothes are soft!

As of Late...

2011-06-29T15:22:00.006-02:00

As of late...

- Jeyson has been supervising the maintenance on one of Asas's training planes. It has been keeping him quite busy! (picture is of Jeyson in the parts room)

I have been working more at my administrative job at Asas. My supervisor is about to head to southern Brazil for two months of furlough and I will be taking over her job as well as doing my own! It's a bit intimidating as I will be in charge of processing the support for all of the 40 or so families of missionaries as well as continuing to work with the donations that come from the States (what I already d0) but I've had lots of good training and feel ready for the challenge. I've discovered that I love working with numbers and I'll definitely have my fill of it over the next months.

I am also glad that I have a great co-worker, Franci, who will be carefully double checking everything so I don't make any mistakes.

- Also, we decided to join a new small group ministry through our local church. It is an evangelistic Bible study that actually takes place at an unbeliever's house. The hostess is really interested in the Bible and wanted to study it together with her grown children and their families. A few couples from our church go to her house once a week and we all study the book of Acts together. On Sunday we will be taking a day trip together...it really is a life-on-life ministry, not just book-on-book.

Let's see...what else...

- We are having some work done on our house since in this past rainy season one whole entire side of our house was badly damaged with water infiltration. Now, during dry season, is the time work on it so we have to act fast. We got an incredible deal (even for here!) with a Christian man from the community and he is going to work on it Thurs and Friday. Unfortunately, water infiltration is just a reality here in this area that rains every day for over half the year! But we're taking some more extreme steps than last year to try to prevent it. We'll only know in Dec or Jan if it holds up!

- Jeyson has been going mountain biking with some other guys from the mission and community on the weekends and has been loving it.

- I am starting to feel the baby move. I have seriously never felt something SO thrilling in my life before! You still can't feel it from the outside yet, but I can from the inside- and there are seriously no words to describe the joy. I will be 20 weeks on Sat and will give a more thorough update then.

Home Grown Goodies

2011-06-23T16:55:00.000-02:00

One of my favorite parts of living in Brazil, is how easy it is to get natural food right from the food sources. Here's a few things we have around our house right now...

Popcorn from Jeyson's uncle's farm (How fun is that! Home grown popcorn!)
Another one of Jeyson's uncles showed me how to make a homemade yogurt type food called Kefir. It's so easy! You just keep these little cloud-like grains in a container, throw milk on top and let it sit for a day or so. You strain out the grains to use them again and again and eat the yogurt. The grains grow and multiply so you can even pass them on to people. Here's a link to it on wikipedia.

Bananas from Jeyson's parent's farm. This kind turns red when it's ripe...very fun and tastes great!

Milk and cheese also from Jeyson's parent's farm.

Banana jam that Jeyson's mom makes

As well as fresh cream from their farm. So, you're probably getting the idea that when we go for a visit, we come home with our car LOADED with goodies...what can I say...it's true and AWESOME!

But I do make a lot of things on my own too, I promise! Just the other day I was really missing sauerkraut since we don't have it here. I looked up the info and made it myself from a cabbage. It was so easy too!

And the honey we LOVE from a missionary family in Boa Vista. They have tons of bees and harvest it all the time. They sell it for just US$7 per liter! It's great!

Yes...it's true...we're a bit spoiled in this department!

Official!

2011-06-21T16:39:00.003-02:00

Here in Brazil, after passing their written tests (giving them their mechanics permits), mechanics have to get three years of experience and then can take a hands-on test to get their full mechanic licenses. And, that's just what Jeyson did this past week.
Jeyson spent a FULL day being following around a quizzed by an inspector as he worked. And, in the end, he passed with flying colors! The inspector even commented that he is a gifted mechanic (of course I, as his wife, already knew that from all of the things he fixes around the house that I manage to break!)

Congratulations, Jeyson! You are now fully licensed!

A Cup of Coffee...or Not

2011-06-09T18:01:00.005-02:00

Our internet is back up and running, and in the process I learned an important cultural lesson. Here's what happened...A guy from out internet company came out to take a look at our problem. He did some basic checks and then told me we would have to buy a new modem and then configure it and do some other complicated steps. The whole thing sounded pretty overwhelming for people who don't know much about these things. He said though, that the company does not do this for the clients. You have to hire someone to set you up. He then kindly offered to come over after work and do it for us. I asked him how much it costs, and he said I could just give him a cup of coffee. WOW!!! How kind and generous offer, I thought (picturing myself brewing some coffee and the three of us chatting for a while afterwards).

I told Jeyson the great news when he got home and he started cracking up. He said that it costing a cup of coffee means that we have to pay him, but he didn't want to say how much. It would be a small amount, but none the less it would be money, and NOT a literal cup-o-joe! I still didn't believe Jeyson, after all he grew up in Ecuador, maybe things are different there. So, I got a second opinion from my Brazilian friend. She completely agreed with Jeyson and told me this (in her mind) totally ridiculous story of a lady who had once actually served one of her relatives a cup of coffee when he said that would be the cost. Opps....that would have been me!! This man would have told a story about me forever! Thank goodness I have a husband who grew up in South America to keep me in check! And, Brazil, please be more direct with this American girl next time!

PS - In the end the whole process turned out to be quite easy! I got the internet working again a few minutes after buying the new modem. WOHOO!! Now, I should go brew myself some coffee as a reward.

Happy Birthday, Jeyson!

2011-06-08T17:06:00.002-02:00

Happy birthday to my kind, thoughtful, fun, handy, patient, adventurous, and servant-hearted husband! We are having an uneventful day celebrating - though I was able to bring some homemade cinnamon rolls over to the hangar to celebrate. Jeyson hadn't even told anyone it was his birthday, so the warm treats fixed that!! Tonight we'll go out for dinner. Happy Birthday, Jeyson! Enjoy your last year before the big 3-0!

PS - We're having some problems with internet at home, so if take a little longer to get back to you than ususal you know why. Hopefully we`ll resolve the problem soon!

Some Fun Pictures

2011-05-31T21:18:00.003-02:00

Here are a couple quick recent pictures of us and some fun things we've been up to.

This first one isn't actually for fun, but Jeyson has been getting training on how to legally document the maintenance done on the planes. This isn't part of his regular routine, but he has to be proficient at it for his government maintenance check (where he'll get a practical test as a mechanic to qualify for his full license rather than just his permit which he had to have for the first three years). Jeyson has been working on this every morning for the past few weeks and has learned a lot .... including that he much prefers working on the planes than reporting what was done :) Thankfully there is a guy who does this full-time, so after the test Jeyson will get back to normal life as a mechanic.
A few weekends ago we took a day trip with some friends to a beautiful, quaint city an hour away.

We dropped the guys off about 10 miles from the city with their bikes so they could enjoy a day of mountain biking while we window shopped in the city and had a relaxing day - a win-win situation for everyone. We all met up again at night for ice cream - SO much fun!

Also, a few days ago one of my closest friends, Camila, came in town for a visit. She moved to the mission's base in Manaus with her husband in August and we have missed them a ton! She is also expecting and we had some fun taking pictures together. I'm looking forward to spending lots of catch up time with her over the next two weeks.

And while we were at it taking pictures, Jeyson and I had to grab one too since we never seem to have pictures together. The baby bump is coming along!

See You Both Later

2011-05-30T16:51:00.003-02:00

Last week I was so sad to see the twin neighbor girls I've become friends with move out of town :( It has been such a treat to have them over the house regularly and a privilege to share Christ with them. A few nights before they left, Jeyson and I took them and their little brother out for ice cream. It was a great way to say goodbye, but just as I was feeling down, they shared some good news!

They are planning to come back to town for all of July to spend their summer vacation here! Since they don't have any friends yet in their new town, (2 hours away) their mom agreed to let them return for some fun. They will be staying with our across the street neighbor and we'll get to see them a lot. We're hoping it will be a great opportunity to have them over in the evenings for dinner, etc - maybe even more than before since they'll be on vacation. I can't wait to seem them again! Please be praying with us about this!

Work before the Welding

2011-05-18T15:44:00.000-02:00

Jeyson loves welding and is constantly looking for opportunities to serve and improve his welding skills at the same time. He has received some incredible gifts of welding equipment and has been putting them to use, both around the hangar and in other ministry opportunities that have come up. Last weekend he even had the chance to take this portable welder to the director of Asas's house to weld his metal gate door which had fallen off....which had made it impossible to go out the normal door of the house! Now it's all back to normal.

And in between working on the latest plane that arrived in Anapolis from the Boa Vista, his trip to the north, and taking care of his exhausted pregnant wife :) he has been gearing up to begin TIG welding. Jeyson never ceases to amaze me on how thorough and careful he is. I tend to be impulsive, but Jeyson always makes sure he does a good job preparing for a project before digging in so he can do it better. Beginning TIG welding has been no different - even here in Brazil where everything takes a lot longer to begin with since we can't use the internet to shop around like in the States. The first step was buying an argon tank. After LOTS of in person shopping around the mom and pop shops here for the lowest possible price, (then some saving up for it ;) we made the purchase.

Then, he modified this little cart to hold it on, and that part of the equipment is in business.

Jeyson also welded himself a little metal table which he'll use for practicing TIG welding, and ordered from the States a special plug that they don't have here that he could use to make his own extension cord so the machine could be plugged in. (the outlets are different here, and the only one that fits the welder is far away)

In the meantime, Jeyson is constantly reading the manual, watching instructional videos, and joined a welding forum where he can get more feedback on some things. Then, we made a special trip to a store an hour away from us to try to pick up some special electrodes. We went to the biggest, specialty welding store around (it even said they had EVERYTHING on the sign out front :) Sadly, they didn't have the one item we came for in stock, and even crazier, no on the in the store had even heard of it before! They had Jeyson get on the phone with the distributor and they are trying to order some into the store. Talk about some serious, thorough prep-work!

On a funny side note, when we were at the welding store in Goiania, (this is a store that ONLY sells welding equipment) there were a couple of guys on a ladder welding part of the storefront that had broken. Ironically, even though the store was filled with safety gear, the men were using none of it! And even though there were helmets all over, they were just using little cardboard visors to block their eyes. hahaha! All you can say is WELCOME TO BRAZIL! Obviously these guys didn't put as much thought and care into their welding prep as Jeyson :)

Mother's Day - What a Wonderful Day to....

2011-05-08T16:46:00.002-02:00

...introduce you to Baby Braun! We can't tell you how thrilled we are to be expecting this little blessing in November!
We are so thankful to the Lord for all of His care and provision for us. We have a wonderful doctor in Goiania who is a Christian and who we feel really understands our values. He even has family living in the States so he gets where we're coming from with some of our "non-Brazilian" ways of thinking. The hour+ drive to see him is well worth it!

Overall I have been feeling great! I have had some nausea, but really nothing too severe. We are now at the 12 week mark and at 10 1/2 weeks had a terrific ultrasound. Our baby is very active, and big too! At 10 1/2 weeks he measured a little over 12 weeks in length! It has been fun following some of the baby sites that tell you about the baby's growth, etc. It's hard to believe he/she is already the size of a peach and that we're already beginning the fourth month!

We definitely plan to find out if we're having a girl or boy, but don't have our next ultrasound scheduled yet. We can't wait to tell you as soon as we find out!

Fuel Frustrations

2011-05-03T17:48:00.005-02:00

Think gas is expensive in the States? The prices are THROUGH the ROOF here in Brazil!!!

In one weekend it went from about $R2.59/liter to $R3.33 - that's from USD $6.25 a gallon to $8.07!!!

I saw this comic and it made me laugh...it is practically coming to this for us :)

On the other extreme though, when Jeyson was in Boa Vista he made a day trip over to Venezuela with another missionary family to run some errands. Boa Vista is only 3 hours from Venezuela, and a lot of household things are cheaper there, so Brazilians cross over to shop. The missionary family bought everything form huge containers of powdered milk to dog food!

(Jeyson and the son from the missionary family at the boarder)

But the most incredible part is how CHEAP gas is! I can't remember the exact amount, but it was just a few CENTS per liter! It is said that a liter of gas in Venezuela is cheaper than a liter of water. Cars traveled all the way from Brazil just to fill up their tanks....look how long the lines were! It's worth it though for the incredible savings!

What are we doing to cope with the insane prices here in Brazil? Jeyson is riding his bike a lot to the hangar (it's good to burn this kind of fuel....calories :) and we are keeping our errands concise and cutting our budget in other areas. Other than that, we're hoping Brazil will learn from our neighbor, Venezuela, sometime soon!

Easter Cookie Day

2011-04-25T18:21:00.005-02:00

Happy Easter! We had a very uneventful Easter day, which was just what we needed! A few days before Easter though, I had the most wonderful afternoon with a few teenage girls from the neighborhood. These twins live a few houses down from us and come from a very broken home. It is such a joy to have them over the house, spend time with them, and pour into their lives. And...the best part...
Another teenage girl moved in across the street from them! I invited her over too and the twins brought their little brother.

We've baked lots of different things together, but not cut out cookies (mostly because now I didn't have a good recipe until now! :) Since cookies aren't part of Brazilian culture, they had never done this before but I knew they would love it! We mostly used Easter shapes...but why not gingerbread men and women too? They kept thinking of Shrek, since that was the only context they had ever seen a cut out cookie man before!

Lots of fun...and LOTS of mess! Focusing on being with the girls and ignoring the tidal wave of icing around the kitchen :)

It has been so much fun to build a friendship with these girls

and my favorite part of the day was getting to very clearly share the Easter story with them. I asked them if they knew what Easter was really about, and since they didn't know, I told them using a little wooden Easter story telling set that Jeyson's uncle makes. At the end you put Jesus in the tomb and cover the hole. Then, there are magnets on the back of the "rock" piece and magnets of Jesus's nails so when you pick up the lid to the tomb, Jesus seems to disappear! So creative and the story really held their attention. The best part was talking about WHY Jesus had to die and the opportunity it give us.

I was so thankful for the opportunity and pray I'll have many more!

PS - Everything is much smaller around here...notice the size of our stove behind us. What you see is the whole width of it!

Jeyson Tales

2011-04-15T15:33:00.003-02:00

In case you haven't heard the word....Jeyson is home! It has been SO wonderful having him back - 3 weeks apart was way too long! We've been having lots of fun together again, though it does mean I have to get back to actually preparing meals again instead of just snacking :) Here's a quick two funny stories that have happened since Jeyson's been back home. Persimmons. If you don't know what they are, don't feel bad, I had never had one before coming to Brazil. They're a fruit here in Brazil we call "caqui" and in English they are persimmons. We both love persimmons, especially Jeyson, so I picked some up from the store the other day. Here's what they look like.... Very similar to.... A tomato - right? In looks anyway, but the insides, taste, and texture are totally different. Well anyway, here's our little dialog as Jeyson headed out to the hangar this morning:

Me: There are some caquis in the fridge if you want to bring one as a snack. I think there are 2 in there.

Jeyson: Wow, actually there's a whole bunch in here (grabbing one, throwing it in his backpack and heading out the door)

Me: What?? I know I only bought 3 and we ate one already, so there should only be 2

Jeyson: (opening his backpack to check) Ooops I packed a tomato!

Then, at the end of the morning, I stopped by the hangar to pick Jeyson up for lunch. As I walked into the hangar I noticed everyone in the building huddled around the plane Jeyson was working on. What was going on?? Turns out....there was a SNAKE in the engine! Jeyson and another mechanic were working on some part right were the snake was hiding, and he decided to crawl out of his spot! As everyone looked on, a head came out....followed by an over 3 foot (I could honestly guess 4 foot) body! (internet picture b/c I didn't have my camera...but you get the idea...BIG) The guys all started hopping around and backing up except for my husband and one other guy. The snake was then slithering all over the hangar floor in circles...and the people were dancing out the way! Jeyson grabbed a stick and started trying to grab it, followed by someone grabbing a broom, and at some point Jeyson touched it (I'm not really sure when...the scene was a whirlwind...I just know that later Jeyson reported it was very smooth :). Eventually, the other guy grabbed him by the tale and carried him outside and dumped him on the sand out on the runway. All in a day's work!!! Welcome home Jeyson!

The things you have to do....

2011-04-05T10:52:00.004-02:00

It's been an eventful few weeks here on my own in Anapolis. Fortunately, it looks like Jeyson and I will be back together again soon as Jeyson wraps up things in Boa Vista. Meanwhile, I've had the chance to grow in some new ways culturally as I've had to do quite a few tasks that normally Jeyson does. Here's a few of the highlights: Here our stoves are connected to propane tanks. When the gas runs out (about every 4 months or so for us) Jeyson calls up and has a new one delivered. Since I've never been alone when this has happened, I've never really paid attention before. But, this morning as I was flipping some french toast - poof! Out went the gas. After calling up the number we leave on the fridge, a man arrived on a motorcycle with two (full) tanks of propane attached to the back. He asked me if I prefer a blue or silver colored tank (I never knew I could choose! I went with silver) and he hauled it in the door. Usually Jeyon meets him outside with the old tank (you have to trade in your old one for the new one since you're only buying the gas inside, not the tank) and will bring in the new one himself and hook it up. However, since the tank is SUPER heavy (the guy was grunting like crazy as he carried it) and I have NO clue how to hook it up, I played the damsel in distress and he came in the gate and set me up. Pathetic? Yes! But did I get to cook the other side of my french toast? Yes!

Next - Cell phone credit. Believe it or not, we didn't have cell phones until recently. When Jeyson was going on his trip, one of our friends lent him his cell phone so Jeyson and I could talk. Here there are only prepaid cell phones, so you have to keep loading credit on as you use it. Since Jeyson has been busy going to tribes I told him I would load the credit on from here. So off I went to the lottery ticket store.

Yes, that's where you can pay bills (if you don't do it online like we do) and apparently where you can get cell phone credit - and of course buy lottery tickets. These lottery stores are all over the place here and I have rarely been in one to pay a bill never mind get credit for a cell phone. The process turned out to be really, really easy, but the line was terrible. It took about 30-40 minutes since any time a person over 60 came into the store, they have the right to go to the front of the line! It's crazy to think there is no automatic way to recharge your cell phone. When I finally got to the front I put quite a bit of credit to avoid a return trip, if possible.

Lastly....the lizard. This is actually a picture I found online, but this is exactly what I found one afternoon. A very large, very dead lizard in our yard.

And you thought a dead mouse in a mouse trap was bad! I'm quite suspicious that this was the cat as one of his favorite hobbies is watching lizards in the yard, but he didn't offer to help clean it up. I grabbed the dust pan and broom, held my breath, and hauled away the corpse :)

Oh - and the lizard was so big it seriously filled the dust pan - no exaggeration!

What an interesting few weeks it's been. I hope Jeyson gets back before I have to learn too much more!

Teaching Faces

2011-03-25T16:55:00.001-02:00

I love teaching. Seriously....I just think it is so fun! Here's a picture of me with my YWAM English class
I love to keep class informal with lots of interactive activities and a light spirited atmosphere so the students feel like they can make mistakes. I can't believe we're almost done with level one! This coming week will be the last week of the course. The other day as I was teaching, my sister-in-law took some pictures of me. It so funny to look at the pictures and see all of the funny expressions I make as I teach because I'm so into it.

For example....

and...

and....

On Saturday I went to Goiania and had all of the students over my sister-in-law's house for breakfast. I will try to post some pictures soon, but it was a huge success! They were only allowed to speak English and it was incredible how well they carried on conversation even though they've only studied for about 2 months!

Off On Another Adventure

2011-03-24T17:54:00.002-02:00

A week ago, I thought we were going to have a normal next few days. By "normal", I mean Jeyson going to the hangar, me teaching, helping in the office, etc. Instead, in a moment, our next few weeks got completely turned upside down.

Do you remember how Jeyson has been working on a plane that flies in Boa Vista? Jeyson was supposed watch it take off for Boa Vista, but instead he took of with it. The base there has one main pilot who recently had surgery. Although he is recovering well, he isn't allowed to carry any weight. So, the mission asked Jeyson to go to Boa Vista with Rodrigo to fly as a co-pilot for the next few weeks. He will load and unload the plane and get great hands-on experience as they fly to tribes throughout the next weeks. So, off he went with the plane, on a cross-country trip to get to Boa Vista, and bring back the newly fixed plane at the same time.

The plan was for it to take about 12 hours of flying to arrive, but right now it's rainy season and the trip wound up taking 3 days (doing hops whenever they could). Jeyson posted this pictures on facebook with the following captions which I'll copy and paste, so you can see the trip from his perspective:

"Mutum" at a Wai Wai village where we had to land unexpectedly due to bad weather. It was apparently wounded in a hunt and allowed to live as a pet, though i was told it is delicious!

Spent the night at a missionary's house in a Wai Wai village...
Crossing part of the Amazon river....

Goods have to be trucked (often through those highways in the other picture) then shipped for several days to the larger cities in the Amazon region. No wonder living here is so much more expensive than in other parts of Brazil.

I wonder who possibly picked that spot to build his house!

Hours and hours of this....where would you land in an emergency?

Typical "highway" in the Amazon. Muddy road and barge to cross the river.

I'm missing Jeyson a lot already, though I'm keeping busy here and we're able to talk every day. If Jeyson winds up staying long enough (it's possible he could stay until late April) I hope to go and join him for part of the time. In the meantime, I'm enjoying seeing things virtually along with you.

Muddy Tales

2011-03-11T11:36:00.003-02:00

Recently Jeyson went on another trip to the Pantanal area with Joy to pick up a different missionary family in a different tribe. I love the areal shots, like this one where you can see the immense flooded marshlands that make the road system impassible. If you look closely you can see that the white spots are cows that are retreating to the circles of land not covered in water. Their pasture turned into a system of islands!
But what I was really anxious to see are pictures of where the missionaries live and I was so happy to unload the camera at home and see just that! Note: a stray random dog from the village hanging out as the plane was loaded.
Jeyson with the father of the missionary family they were picking up. It was SO muddy where they landed, you can see Jeyson even rolled up his pants. At the end of the post there's a quick video of the plane trying to maneuver in the mud.

After landing, Joy took off again with some of the people and Jeyson stayed behind with the missionary to close up their house while they're away and they went on the next flight out. To get to their house, they had to cross this river. (Funny side note: Jeyson said the dog crossed back over with them swimming through the muddy water)

Here's where the missionary family stays during their time in the village

The outhouse

And bedroom (though the mattresses had been packed up and stored already for the time they will be away.)

Kitchen . The sink basins are big buckets that are turned over when they're away.

And they also have an office. You can't see well in the pictures, but all the rooms have dirt floors. I'm so glad we're part of serving people who are willing to sacrifice so much to do their work!

Now, for the video. This is my first time uploading a video and I'm so happy to find it wasn't as hard (or slow!) as I had imagined. Here's Joy trying to control the plane in the mud. Next to the camera you can hear people speaking in the tribe's language and laughing about the sliding and muddy plane. It's so funny how we can't understand what words they're using, but humor is international and we can know what they're saying since we're laughing at the same thing!

Avocados Galore!

2011-03-07T18:40:00.002-02:00

It's avocado season here and we have more than we can handle! We recently went to Jeyson's parents' house and came home with at least seven avocados.
And these are no small avocados either! Look at the size compared with my hand!

The question is what do we do with so many avocados? The answer: What DON'T we do?!? We make guacamole, put slices in our salads, put them in our sandwiches, and make smoothies with avocados, bananas and milk (and a little honey or sugar). Then, when we can't handle them anymore, Bobby loves to finish them off! Too bad I can't send them to you via email to enjoy along with us!

All in a Day's Work

2011-02-28T14:51:00.006-02:00

This week Jeyson had an awesome opportunity to get back up in the air and be part of an exciting trip....

He went along on a two day trip with Joy, a Wycliffe pilot.

Here are Jeyson and I just before take off in Anapolis

They flew to a tribe in a neighboring state (about a 5 hour flight) to pick up a missionary woman in her 70s who has been lives among the people and has been translating the New Testament into their language for the first time ever. From what I understood, she just finished her translation and has been revising it with the tribe. It is set to come out in print next year or so. This missionary is a single woman who lives alone in the tribe, but Jeyson said she seemed to feel so at home there and blended in so well with the people (except for physically :)

Villages they flew over...

The landing strip that the plane usually lands on was too muddy, so they landed in a nearby village of people from the same tribe. The missionary was able to get a ride with someone to this village, but she had to supply the gas....but there in the middle of nowhere that doesn't mean giving some money for the gas...it literally means bringing the gas! Joy and Jeyson brought gas from here in Anapolis to fill up the truck again after she was brought to the landing strip.

The people from the tribe gathering around...

The missionary was dropped off in the city and Jeyson stayed with a missionary couple for the night and Joy stayed with a friend. The next day Joy and Jeyson started the 5 hour trip home, but it turned into about a 7 hour trip. Because of bad weather, they had to stay about 2 hours at an airport in route...and my goodness was this a small airport! A family lives at the airport and are the caretakers of it. This picture will give you an idea of the feel of it...the family's laundry hanging out to dry by the runway.

And chickens hanging out :)

What a neat and meaningful adventure! We are so privileged to be part of what God is doing here - and how exciting to be a tiny part of getting the Gospel in to the hands of these people!

A Penny for Your Thoughts

2011-02-21T14:25:00.002-02:00

It seems like frugal living is a popular topic to blog about. I love reading tips and ideas that others post about how they cut costs to live within their means, and I thought it would be fun to blog about some things we do to keep our living expenses low. I'd love to hear your thoughts if you do some of these too or have some other ideas.

1. Budget - The most important thing we do is keep a written budget. This allows us to plan exactly what we will do with each month's support and to know our limits.

2. Drive one car - This may be a bit extreme for the US, but the cost of gas here is over double the costs in the States! We drive our car together when we're going to Asas, and when we're headed in different directions I drive the car and Jeyson takes his bicycle or motorcycle.

3. Eat at home - A big way we save money is by eating almost all of our meals at home. Of course we do enjoy meals out as well, but always within the limits of money budgeted for fun in our budget. One thing that is a major help with this is meal planning. If I know what I'm planning to make, we're much less likely to grab something out.

4. Avoid the grocery store - This may sound a little crazy, but here's what works for us. At the beginning of each month I make a list of all of the meal ideas I have for the month. I go out on one huge grocery shopping trip for everything to make the meals except for the very basic fresh stuff like fruit/veggies. (I even buy meat and freeze it in potions for the two of us). Then every week I decide which of those meals I'm going to make and buy just the fresh food to go with it. I try to avoid going to the grocery store more than once a week because I know I'll always come home with way more than I had planned on! If I need something before the week is up, I try to be creative and use something from the pantry/freezer unless I'm really stuck!

5. Lights - We invested in economic light bulbs a few years ago and it has REALLY paid off! Our light bills are SO much lower as a result!

6. Clothes - We don't often go clothes shopping. The clothes here are no where near as nice as they are in the States, so we bought back new stuff with us. Now, we'll only go out to the store to buy something if we are looking for something we actually need.

7. Gifts - In general, we try to keep gifts meaningful, yet simple. After all, it truly is the thought that counts!

8. Homemade stuff - We both love creating things, so this one comes naturally to us. I make lots of food from scratch - bread, granola, croutons, pizza, and even now yogurt....just to name a few! They turn out so tasty and healthier. We've also made gifts (Jeyson recently made an adorable puzzle to give to a baby as a birthday gift), curtains, lamps, bookshelves, and pillows.

9. Contentment - I guess the biggest thing we do is choose to be content with and grateful for what God has given us. This helps us to keep our life simpler, less expensive, and happier!

YWAM English Class is Off the Ground

2011-02-18T16:40:00.003-02:00

So much to blog about and so little time! I am hoping to catch up on blogging a little in the coming days (we'll see if it really happens :) but in the meantime here are some pictures of the class I'm teaching at YWAM. This has been an absolute blast! The students seem to be picking up on the material very quickly and are anxious for more. On the second week of the level one class, one students said to me "It is my goal to be having conversations by the end of the week". I tried to help me see that it will take a little longer than 2 weeks to be fluent :) but also tried to encourage him that he could already have a very simple conversations telling about himself, his classmates, etc. He's on his way! But it's fun to see how seriously they're taking this and how much that is helping them pick up on the material! These are some pictures of some activities we've done as a class.
The stuents are pretty young, the above girl is only 18 and so sweet and open. She came from across the country to be part of the course.

I love to keep the class moving - working in groups, standing up to mingle and ask each other questions related to the topic.

Tonight Jeyson and I are headed over to Goiania for an activity night that the English class and the YWAM discipleship training school are having...crazy hair night! The students will be presenting some skits in English, which I'm anxious to see what they're prepared. Then we'll spend Saturday with them and with Jeyson's family. It should be fun!

The Rule of Three

2011-02-07T15:06:00.003-02:00

One wonderful part of Brazilian culture is that people here tend to be extremely optimistic. Whenever you're facing a problem, a common saying that you hear is "Don't worry, it will all work out". Generally speaking, Brazilians like to imagine that the best case scenario is always going to happen. It's wonderful to be around such positive thinking....except for when you're trying to buy something or get a service done. In these cases, I've learned to apply what I like to call The Rule of Three.
What is the rule of three? It's very simple. Whenever you are told the amount of time that a service will take to be done or an item to come into stock, just multiply that by three and you'll have a much better idea on when to REALLY expect that it will happen. But even then, it is only the beginning of the window of when it might happen. It very well might take longer, but after multiplying by three you can start to check in and follow up on it. For examply, you're told your car will take 2 days to fix...it's best to only call your mechanic to follow up on it after 6 days to save yourself a headache. Your friend says she'll stop over in 10 minutes....she probably won't make it over for at least 30 or more so feel free to write that quick email or whatever as you wait. Your visa will take 6 months to process....mine took over 1 1/2 years! No reason to sweat about it as you wait!

The rule of three helps me to feel less frustrated by no longer expecting things to happen in the mentioned time. I simply calculate in mind when it really have a chance of happening and it usually does - this way it seems right on time!

So the other day I stopped by the one store in town that had started selling tortilla chips when we were leaving for furlough. Sadly, they were out of stock :( "Don't worry" the manager told me "They'll be back in next week". After a week I was dying to stop by again, but I had to control myself as it would 99% likely be a waste of gas! Now it's been 2 weeks and I'm still putting it off. Next week I'll give it a try, and maybe, just maybe they'll be in! Though I'm not counting on it. I'll make my salsa to go with the chips only after they're in my kitchen.

Finding your way in another culture is always an adventure! But as they say here, "Don't worry, it all works out!"

Sweet Relationships

2011-01-31T10:47:00.004-02:00

Food is an important part of building relationships here in Brazil. When you want to communicate that you want to start a relationship with someone or that you're enjoying the relationship you have, just bring over whatever you have on hand from your kitchen! I suppose it's like that in a lot of cultures, but I feel like we notice it more here Brazil because our houses are so close together and because building relationships is what missions is all about! So, when yesterday our neighbor stopped over with these:....we knew how much they had enjoyed coming our house for dinner the other night. What's in those packages above? They're call pamonha....very similar to Mexican tamales. The outside wrapper is corn husks and inside is a corn mush. They can either be sweet, savory, or have cheese inside. They're delicious! But what's even more delicious is knowing that our relationship with our neighbors is growing.

On a side note, one of the most fulfilling moments in ministry happened right after we got back from furlough. After we organized ourselves a little, we took our dog on a walk around the neighborhood to get some exercise. As we walked down the street, person after person called out to us from their house saying "You're back!", "We missed you!", "It wasn't the same here without you" I can't tell you how satisfying it was to know that we have made an impact here among our neighbors and to know that they are anxious to continue to build relationships with us.

And a day or so after that, a different neighbor stopped by tow bring us this homemade bread. As I've mentioned before, here in Brazil, the custom is that you then have to bring back the person's dish full. So, I whipped up some brownies and stopped by the neighbor's house. She invited me in and we sat for a while chatting about some tough things she is going through. Her husband recently left her and she is considering moving out of town with her twin 12 year old daughters and young son. While we chatted the kids finished off the whole bowl of brownies and said they wanted to learn how to make them and how to make cookies.
So, a few days later, they came over and we made chocolate chip cookies. I told them about cut out cookies and showed them the cookie cutters I have and they said the want to come back over to make those too. We had an absolutely terrific afternoon together, and I got to share just the beginnings of the Gospel with them. I'm looking forward to continuing to share more with them as we make more goodies!

But the icing on the cake (haha) came when the next day Jeyson and I were coming home and a totally different neighbor who just moved in said that the girls had shared their cookies with her and now she wants a lesson too. Who knows, maybe soon the whole neighborhood will come through our kitchen and hear the Gospel too! That's my pan...I mean plan, anyway!

Lettuce Show You

2011-01-27T18:47:00.000-02:00

When I was in the States, I got feedback that you enjoyed reading posts about how life is different here in Brazil. So, the other day as I was getting ready to wash lettuce, I thought I'd take some pictures and show you how this little task is done.

Here, there are no washed, cut, ready-to-go bags of salad, that's for sure! The lettuce here is straight from the ground, dirt still visible on it often. The women here wash their lettuce with great care since bacteria contamination is a real potential problem. I confess that at first I was very intimidated and mostly only served cooked vegetables to avoid the process and not worry about contaminating us with bacteria. After a while though, my friend who is a doctor showed me how she does this and I gave it a try and discovered it wasn't so hard! In fact, after a while you forget that in the States you can even buy prepared salads :) Here goes the how-to:

Step 1: By a stick of lettuce. Here, for some reason, lettuce is usually sold like this - several heads strung together. Lettuce-kebabs as I like to call them :)
Step 2: Fill a big bowl with water

Step 3: Pour in about a Tb of bleach

Step 4: Add in a small squirt of dish soap....not everyone does this but I like to

Step 5: Swish around until bubbly. While this swishing step is not required, it just makes me feel good like I really got the job done :)

Step 6: Chop off the bottom of the lettuce and dump the leaves in the bowl and let sit for 10 minutes or so

Step 7: Take each leaf and rinse if off...make sure you get anything weird looking like this brown twig off, as well as the bleach!

Step 8: Look at your bowl and notice how much brown dirt and the occasional bug is in the bottom. Feel good about keeping yourself and your husband safe from bacteria and good about feeding yourselves with fresh, fresh straight-from-the-garden produce!

Step 9: Let lettuce dry on a towel. You could use a salad spinner but I don't have one.

Step 10: The next steps are all about keeping your lettuce as fresh as possible for as long as possible so you don't have to wash lettuce too often! Line the bottom of a tupperware bowl with a few paper towels. This way, if the lettuce is still at all wet (which is always will be at least a little) the water wont make the leaves in the bottom of the bowl get nasty and mushy.

Step 11: Dump in your lettuce and stick a few more paper towels on top for extra security and seal well. Now, your lettuce is just like the bag kind! When you're ready to eat some, just open up and it's ready!

And...Action!

2011-01-18T16:32:00.002-02:00

I can't tell you how good it feels to be back in a routine again! Our meeting with the leadership was pushed back until Friday, so I don't have anything to report on that, but in the meantime we have both thoroughly loved diving back into our ministries. Jeyson was put on a team that is working on a major maintenance project for a plane that flies out to tribes from Boa Vista. You may remember that we visited that base in the Spring and Jeyson actually was flown up there to work on this very plane when a tribe was facing an emergency. Now, this is a very in-depth engine overhaul so it was flown down to Anapolis where we have a bigger shop and more man-power.

The guys were working all over the plane, each on a different spot in order to get the work done as quickly as possible. Here is Jeyson with a new missionary, Rodrigo, who is just getting his hands dirty with maintenance for the first time now that he has finished his first basic theoretical course.

This project is so involved that even the windows were removed while they were at it. As soon as it's up and running again, the backseat will be filled with supplies and missionaries who are going to bring the Good News to people living in otherwise unreachable places. Crazy to think that this plane will ultimately bring people into God's kingdom!

This project came with great timing too as one of Asas's missionary couples from the past was in town. Neil and Meredith are with Mission Aviation Fellowship Canada and served with Asas since the 70's! Now they're down for a visit, and of course Neil got put to work.

I just stopped by to pick Jeyson up at the end of the day.

Meanwhile, this week I have been catching back up with my students and neighbors....just forgot to take pictures. Hopefully I'll be able to post some soon, but, I just have to say it again! It feels SO good to be back and in action!

There's No Place Like Home

2011-01-10T18:29:00.004-02:00

It's official...we are back home in Brazil! Since I updated the blog last, we wrapped up our time in AZ...

Soaked up every last minute with family....

Then we headed to NJ for one last hurrah (a holiday party with family) before catching our flight to Brazil. We are SO going to miss family and friends that live all over the States.

Then, Tuesday at 11am we left our place in NJ to head to the airport. We arrived at our home in Brazil at 8pm on Wednesday. It was exhausting! To be fair, there is a three hour time difference, but still we arrived home wiped out! At home we found just about everything perfect. We are still getting our stuff in order....we wound up coming home with 6 full suitcases (7o lbs each since that is allowed to Brazil) plus two busting-at-the-seams-full carry ons and two outrageously heavy backpacks. Of course as we went through the airport we had to act like the carry-ons were light so we didn't have to check them....but I could barely put on my backpack on - Jeyson had to put it and take it off for me! Anyway we are working on getting organized. We also had to do a huge grocery store trip since there was literally nothing in the house food, cleaning, or hygiene related. There wasn't even any flour, laundry soap, or toothpaste so we had a HUGE trip to the store to do. We are all stocked up now and I'm back in the routine of cooking and everything already. Today (Monday) was our first day back at Asas where there is much to do. Right now we're scheduled for a preliminary meeting with one person from the leadership next Monday to begin discussing what our next plans are. He will then meet with the other leaders and we'll probably all meet again. At this point he's just seeing where we're at with everything. We have also been busy reconnecting with neighbors, students, and our church. It's been WONDERFUL to be back!

One of the highlights of being back has been meeting our very first nephew, Lucas. Jeyson's sister (who lives an hour away from us ) had her baby only a few days after we arrived. He was so precious.

Then, just few days later our first niece, Charlotte was born across the world in VA.

Too much excitement for one week!

The End is Near

2010-12-29T00:07:00.004-02:00

Well here's a quick picture-less post to update you on what's going on. We thoroughly enjoyed the rest of our time in AZ with our immediate family. Christa came in town to celebrate Christmas and we enjoyed our traditional Christmas Eve dinner of appetizers after a wonderful service at church. We exchanged some presents - including some we opened on Skype so my sisters could be there virtually. Over the week we also made Christmas cookies, hiked, saw Narnia, and much more. Christmas day Joesph came home and we later went out to dinner at a fun Italian restaurant, which we've never done for Christmas before, but it was fun and easy.

Sunday we drove up to CA and stopped by to visit with one of our supporters on the way and in the evening arrived and Johnny and Krista's house. We had a fun day with them yesterday and in a few hours we're headed to the airport to catch our flight to NJ. We'll arrive there around noon and probably be exhausted from the red-eye! Good thing we don't have plans for tomorrow except enjoying our three year anniversary! We're so excited to be celebrating three married years together. It feels like a big accomplishment considering how many changes and new challenges we've faced together. I also feel like three years is a good landmark where we cross over from being newlyweds to being semi experienced and established as a married couple. Do you know what I mean? We're excited and so happy and blessed to spend this life together.

Anyway, we'll have time in NJ through Monday, and on Tuesday we'll leave for Brazil! We have a lot of last minute things to accomplish while we're in NJ - picking up last minute things from people and from stores, saying goodbye to relatives, packing and more. We have a lot to accomplish which will be extra challenging over the holiday weekend and only a part-time car (my Grandma plans to lend us hers when she doesn't need it which will be good) but one way or the other I know it will all get done and we'll be on our way before we know it.

So are we feeling ready? Absolutely! I feel like we've done, visited, purchased, and eaten everything we wanted to and more. We feel relaxed, revved up, encouraged, and ready to hit the ground running. Of course we'll miss things, places, and people, but we feel called to Brazil so we can't wait to get back. I also can't wait to have the most blissful sleep in 4 1/2 months....in our own bed at last!! I also can't wait to get back to a bit of a routine and some healthy eating again. It's been absolutely stellar here....I mean completely awesomely terrific...but it is SO time to go home. But in the meantime, we have one more week of fun and tasks ahead.

One week left in Arizona

2010-12-16T23:01:00.006-02:00

I can't believe we only have about a week left here in AZ with family! It has been so much fun to be here with Mom and Dad and Joe. The events of the past days have included hiking, a visit to the Grand Canyon, shopping for some last minute things and gifts we want to bring to Brazil, spending time with 3 of our friends from Moody who live out here, moving Joe to a group home instead of the facility he was at (great new place!), and much more. It's been going by so fast and every day I am feeling a strange mix of emotions. I'm feeling sad about leaving family and friends behind, saying goodbye to the many conveniences and foods I love, but at the same time I feel made to do what we do in Brazil and I feel anxious to get back! I feel like a big part of me is missing while I'm away from our new home and ministry. I think that's a good sign! Mostly I feel like we timed our return perfectly. I feel like I have a little more soaking up to do here with family, but Jan 4th I will be excited to jump on our plane. It's just perfect!

On other news, we're making progress with our goal of monthly support. We now only have $335 of monthly committments to go to be at 100% of our goal. It's been awesome to see how and who God chooses to add to our team and excited to see how He provides the rest.

Ok now time for a few pictures of our trip to the Grand Canyon:

We met some guys from Argentina who have been making their way around North and South America...by motorcycle! They left home in Argentina December 2009 and have been biking around, stopping anywhere interesting, sleeping wherever is offered, and just having fun. They plan to be back home by March 2011. Can you imagine? And I thought WE'D been traveling for a long time being gone 4 months! We had fun chatting with them. Jeyson spoke with them in Spanish and I spoke in Portuguese, which they could understand really well since they had just been biking through Brazil on their way up this summer.

We stayed overnight in Flagstaff on the way home, where surprisingly the weather was much colder! We actually had to scrap our windshield. Jeyson was really excited to experience at least a tiny bit of cold weather.

Our next plans are to enjoy Christmas with my parents, Joe, and my sister Christa who is coming in town. Then, Dec 26th well drive back up to CA to drop off our car with Johnny and Krista, spend a few days with them, and Dec 28th we're heading back to NJ to get our flight to Brazil. Crazy how fast time is going!

Fantastic Family

2010-12-06T18:29:00.004-02:00

Our time here in the States is winding down. We've had an incredibly wonderful (and sometimes incredibly exhausting) time. We're starting to feel ready to go home, but the part that makes us saddest to leave is it means we'll have to say goodbye to family for likely a few years. So in these last weeks we have and will continue to soak in every bit of family time possible. (hence the lack of blogging :) Right now we're in Arizona, where my parents now live.

Over Thanksgiving, all of my sisters and their husbands/boyfriend came in town and we had a few days just PACKED with fun! It even included a trip to Sedona. Here's me with my mom and oldest sister, Danielle. Dad and Mom as we did some fun window shopping

Some of the best times though were just hanging out at my parents' new home with the whole gang. Also with my sisters, Jamie and Christa. We enjoyed a lovely evening having shrimp cocktail and broccoli soup as a tribute to Grandma Longo...since those were two of her specialties.

There was no shortage of hanging out time!

The three son-in-laws (so far!) with Dad....I'm pretty sure they were brainstorming for their upcoming day shooting in the desert.

The mini Ciotta family minus Mom (since she was sick) on Thanksgiving day

Well what can I say? Family...it's the best! Being far away from them is the hardest part of doing what we do! We'll miss you a ton over the next few years. But it's not over yet....still ahead we have a few more weeks with Mom, Dad, and Joe. And we're so glad Christa will be back in town for Christmas!

California Roadtrip

2010-11-24T16:13:00.002-02:00

Oh my...where to start on our incredible trip to northern CA with Johnny and Krista (Jeyson's brother and his wife). I can't even tell you how wonderful it was to have a real, several day vacation. We've taken over night trips in Brazil before, but it's been 2 years since doing a several day, just for fun trip. And this was our first time since our honeymoon taking a trip that didn't mean staying with family. This was so fun and so appreciated!

Johnny and Krista live in the L.A. area but we drove up to see Sequoia, Yosemite, and San Francisco.

The first stop was Sequoia....

Among the towering trees...

We felt like ants. Below is General Sherman...the biggest tree in the world in terms of volume.

There was so much to discover and see as we hiked around.

Look at the size of the base...and this wasn't even a "special" tree in the forest.

Probably the peak of the trip (pun intended :) was Moro's Rock. It was a pretty intense hike up but totally worth it!

Just breathtaking! I can't tell you how many times we said that!

Next stop: Yosemite There was so much to say here too but no words would do it justice. This is one of the most beautiful places I've ever seen!

We hiked for hours...I was so sore the next day but it was worth it!

The next day we explored San Francisco which was a whole different kind of fun. Clam chowder in sourdough bread bowls. You can't go to San Francisco without trying one!

Followed by sundaes at the original Ghirardelli's where the make their own hot fudge sauce in the store. The only thing better than this:

Was this:

Yum!

We toured the docks and saw the Golden Gate Bridge at sunset

And of course, we followed the old song's advice....that when you're going to San Francisco be sure to wear some flowers in your hair :)

Ahh...what a wonderful day!

Driving home we went along the famous Highway 1. The best part was seeing the elephant seals that have a natural, undisturbed habitat along a certain point on the beach.

They were so adorable and each one with a different personality. This little baby wanted to come to Brazil with us....not sure how it would get through customs though :)

What a wonderful, refreshing trip. Thank you Johnny and Krista for showing us around your beautiful state!!

Goal Update

2010-11-22T17:10:00.004-02:00

So we've been mentioning how we're busy raising our level of monthly support. You may be wondering how it's going...so it's time for a quick update.

When we started out raising support this Fall, we were at just about 83% of our total goal of $3,600 monthly.

It's a little tricky to know exactly where we're at now since there is a bit of a delay until gifts are processed and we can know the committments that have been made. However, to the best of our ability to assess, we know that now we're at about 88% of our goal.

We're excited about this progress towards our goal and are so thankful for God's provision even during difficult economical times. We still have about $410 to raise, but we're excited to see how God is going to work! We have so much to be thankful for at Thanksgiving time!

Furlough Funny

2010-11-10T23:11:00.003-02:00

We've had a lot of different opportunities to share about our ministry in the past weeks. We've shared at crowded churches and one-on-one. We've shared with senior citizens and young families. One of the most memorable moments of all though, was sharing with a group of children at a camp that I grew up at.

We began sharing with the kids how our goal is to reach people that live in the middle of the Amazon with the Good News of Jesus. We told them about the dense forest and how there are no roads. We told them how the main way to get around in the Amazon is by small boat....generally canoe type boats. Just then, one kid raised his hand though and completely seriously suggested, "Maybe the people in the Amazon could get around by jetski" I could barely hold in my laughter at the idea of imagining simple, simple people like these.... Whipping to and from the poor, isolated villages of the Amazon on one of these!

Such a cute and memorable moment of furlough! But it would so neat to see the kid was thinking! After all, it was just around that age that I first felt lead by God into missions...he could be a future missionary!

A Family Post

2010-11-03T13:53:00.003-02:00

Lately our families have been on our minds and hearts, so I can't help but include this post in our blog. Recent family changes and news have been both sad and happy lately.

First, the sad part is that just yesterday my grandmother passed away. We haven't seen my grandparents in a few years (since we've been in Brazil) but while we were in NJ we were able to visit with them twice. Since grandma passed away very quickly and unexpectedly, a few weeks ago when we visited she was in good health and herself. We had a great time catching up with them, talking about how she would make homemade ravioli and hearing my grandpa's war stories....just like a visit to your grandparents should be. I'm so thankful to have this wonderful last memory of her. I'm also SO thankful that we happened to pack our camera with us when we visited, and impulsively I asked Jeyson to take a picture of the three of us. This is possibly the last picture that anyone has of grandma, and I'm so glad to be in it with her. Grandma, you will be missed!

At the same time that we're struggling to process this sadness, we have other joyful family news. We are so excited to be welcoming not one, not two, but THREE little nieces and nephews into the world very shortly. This is especially a joy since up until now we don't have any little ones on either side of the family. So we will get to be aunts and uncles for the first times, three times over.

We are expectantly waiting for news of the births of Lucas (Jeyson's sister's little one), Charlotte (Stephanie's oldest sister's little one), and Baby Schuld (Stephanie's second oldest sister's little one).

Furlough Faithfulness

2010-10-26T14:14:00.005-02:00

Support raising and furlough are mostly a lot of fun, but there are also moments we're tempted to feel discouraged. In these moments we have to keep looking back and remembering how God has shown Himself to be our faithful provider in the past and how He's not going to let us down now! Here's one story we keep going back to that reminds us how He has provided for us the in past.

Three years ago, when we were just setting out to begin our fund raising for our first term, we were just overwhelmed! We had a seemingly impossible monthly goal to raise and we were starting with almost 0 commitments and only a few months to do it (since Jeyson was in the country on a tourist visa). On one of the first stops, I met another missionary couple who was headed overseas and also needing to raise about the same amount that we did. We spent some time chatting about the challenges, etc.

Over the next few months were were able to raise all of the support we needed at the time, and headed to Brazil. Now 3 years later we are back support raising again. We are working to raise our goal by about 20% because of our move to the Amazon where everything is a lot more expensive and because of the sad situation of the deflating value of the dollar. As we've been traveling around, we ran into the same couple again! In conversation we found out that they have spent the past three years raising support to make it to their goal and hadn't yet been able to go overseas.

We know God's timing is different for everyone and will bring this couple overseas when He has planned, but this story just blew us away, allowing us to realize just how quickly He provided just what we needed! It is so unusual that we were able to raise our first goal in just a few months - we know it was all Him working in these hearts so we could quickly get to do this:

And this:

We are so thankful for the way He provided in the past and we just keep going back to this story whenever we get overwhelmed with our current, higher goal. We have personally seen Him do great things in our life story and we're looking forward to what He's going to do next!

This Week's Happenigs and Delightful Downtown

2010-10-19T23:10:00.008-02:00

It's so much fun to be back in the Chicago area! We've been having a blast and so far have fit so much into the past week.

We've:

- Visited with our pastor from Brazil who is temporarily in the States

- Met with the Winnetka Bible church missions council (one of our supporting churches)

- Spoken at WBC in Sunday school and the church service

- Spent the day with our friends who moved from NJ to IL while we've been in Brazil

- Gotten together with a bunch of our "Moody" friends

- Gone to Harvest Bible Chapel to the weekend service and toured around Walk in the Word.

Getting to HBC was especially meaningful to us because we really enjoy the head pastor, James McDonald's preaching ministry from Brazil. Every week that we're not traveling, we participate in our local church in Brazil, but we feel like James is also our pastor in a way since we listen to him all of the time via podcasts. It is just so meaningful to hear the Word in your heart language so we listen to him all the time. It was great to get to attend the church he pastors and see the place where the podcasts are recorded. Very cool!

Also this week we had a chance to tour around downtown Chicago, which was a blast! We stopped by Moody during the annual missions conference and got to see some of our professors and old friends, which was also fun. We just LOVE downtown Chi-town and spend the whole day just walking around and enjoying...especially before the weather gets brutal! Here's a few of our favorite moments of the day.

The John Hancock....only a few blocks from Moody.

Walking down the street...JH in the background

Chicago Sun-Times building and tours on the river

The Sears tower is now the Willis tower! We couldn't believe it! I think we'll always call it the Sears though :) You got to love being back on American soil and all of the freedoms and blessings it brings!

How cool is this? The Trump Tower! They were just starting to build it while we were in college so it was so fun to see it finished.

We just LOVE this city! Have I mentioned that already?

Yes it is great to be back! It is so sentimental as walking up and down these streets was how we spent so many cheap dates back in college. This is a view overseeing millennium park where there are tons of fun free activities going on throughout the warm months.

And who can pass up some pictures at "the bean"? It's this huge mirror sculpture in the middle of the city park where you can take all kinds of fun pictures.

Here's a picture of us reflected in the bean with the city in the background. Such a creative and interactive piece of art!
And a shot from inside the bean. There were so many people swarming around also taking pictures.

This was such a perfect day....we loved every moment!

Gorgeous view from Michigan Ave.

And the Water Tower...one of the few buildings that survived The Great Chicago Fire

And the best part of the day - deep dish pizza at Pizzano's. Great food and great memories as this is one of the places we had one of our first dates almost 7 years ago.

What a great week it has been!

But no matter where we go, our precious home in Brazil is not far from our mind! This statue in from the Sears Tower was one of the 483 times our lives, friends, and ministry came to mind this week!

Goodbye NJ, Hello IL

2010-10-09T20:35:00.003-02:00

In between getting together with supporters and speaking at churches, we've also really enjoyed spending time with family here in NJ. One day we headed down to the shore area to visit my Aunt Diane...

Although it was raining you can still tell she has the most beautiful view from her window. Just past the pavilion is the ocean. How I miss the ocean living in central Brazil....can't wait to live on the Amazon river!

We also saw my grandparents (mom's parents)

And the highlight was getting to see dad again! Since my parents moved to Arizona we haven't had the chance to see them yet. We'll get to spend time with Mom and Dad later in the trip, but Dad came in down for a business trip and we got a sneak preview spending time with the Ciotta's again. We had scrumptious NJ pizza and then the next night had dinner with him, Grammy, Christa and some friends.

Meanwhile, it's getting to be quite cold around here for us who live in tropical Brazil! Ok it really hasn't been below 60 or so but for us? brrrr! Just wait till we're in Chicago!

Speaking of which, tomorrow we're leaving NJ for our next stop...Chi-town! We'll be staying with friends in Western Springs, IL and traveling all over the area sharing about our ministry. We're very excited to be back in our old college stomping ground :) We can't wait!

Extract Excitement!

2010-10-03T23:32:00.003-02:00

For those of you who know me well, you know I'm a bit of a foodie. I LOVE to cook, eat, and read/watch anything about cooking or eating. I love to try out new recipes and experiment in the kitchen. I'm so thankful that I like to experiment because I have to do a lot of that to try to adapt my favorite recipes to use what we have available in Brazil. While in Brazil, I've learned to make my own version of pancake syrup - a bottle of maple extract from the States makes bottles of syrup...my recipe only uses 1 tea to make 2 cups of syrup. Naturally, I wanted to bring back more maple extract, so I was so excited to run into this very large bottle of it for cheap at an Amish market in Lancaster, PA.

I picked up the maple and also saw this bottle of pecan extract/favor. Immediately I could picture myself adapting my maple syrup recipe to making pecan flavored syrup as well! YUM! I can also use it for making muffins, cinnamon roll icing, and so much more. I could taste the possibilities and couldn't resist the great price.

As I was at the counter I began chatting with the woman running the stand, telling her how I live in Brazil and wanted to bring back some flavors that would allow me to satisfy my cravings for my favorite foods. Then....she introduced me to the real treasure!! She showed me these tiny bottles of about 30 different flavors of extract! The bottles are only 1 fl dram (.125 oz) but are super concentrated. Each DROP in the bottle is equal to a teaspoon of the more watered down, normal extracts. Each bottle has about 25 drops according to her and only cost about $1! My mind started spinning and mouth watering at the idea of easily fitting these bottles in our suitcases and whipping up tons of recipes in Brazil. I CRAVE blueberries in Brazil and this would allow me to put the flavor in muffins, crumb toppings, and much more...

I bought 3 blueberries but I thought I would expand my horizons and try out raspberry, blackberry and cherry. I can even add a drop to a pitcher of iced tea or put it in cakes!!

But wait...there's more foodie excitement/possibilities for an ex-patriot chef! Jeyson and I love flavored creamer in our coffee but it's not available in Brazil. Over time I started experimenting with a homemade version. Just throw in a blender: 1 can sweetened condensed milk, 1 1/2 cups of whole milk and blend. This is the basic recipe but then you can add any flavor to it you can dream of. 1 tea of van, 1 tea of cinnamon, 1 Tb hot chocolate mix, a big squirt of caramel syrup for ice cream, 1 tea peppermint, or even spices for pumpkin pie to make a pumpkin spice. But when I saw these:

I knew I couldn't pass them up! Yay for many bottles of homemade butterscotch, English toffee, Bavarian creme, and Eggnog flavored creamer. And why not use the fruit flavors for creamer too? A cherry + almond flavor (we have that in Brazil) = amaretto ....blueberry flavored creamer? yum!

See?? I told you I'm a foodie and I'll be one happy coffee drinker/baker/syrup maker in Brazil! I can't wait to try them out! Thank you Amish country for understanding what's necessary to cook from scratch!!

Friends, Food, Fun: Furlough

2010-09-29T12:44:00.004-02:00

This is what it's all about - getting together with friends...

Making new ones...

Telling our stories, sharing our vision...

Reporting back to those who have been partners with us....

We're loving it! We've been staying in an apartment above my grandma's house and almost every day we drive an hour in a different direction to share with friends. It's been a little tiring but we feel so excited about what we do that we're so enthusiastic about sharing our story every chance we get. Here's Jeyson doing a little yard work at Grammy's house.
It's hard to believe our time in NJ is coming to a close in 1 1/2 weeks! We'll be going from here to the Chicago area, to Los Angelos, to Phoenix, and back to NJ for 5 days just to catch our flights home to Brazil. So...that means doing the majority of our packing up now since we'll be back here to pack up just for a few days. Packing to bring what you need for a whole term in Brazil is quite different than packing for a vacation. We're bringing a lot of strange things you wouldn't bring for a short term missions trip or vacation...including some things my parents left for us when they moved to Arizona - a sewing machine and printer/scanner. Jeyson's also bringing quite an interesting collection of tools for his mechanic work and I can't wait to get my birthday pots/pans and my new crock pot to Brazil. We will be going on 3 different flights so Jeyson is always very careful in packing our more fragile stuff....here's some pans getting ready to go in a bag (complete with shirts packed in between so they don't dent by banging together!!)

You should see the rest of the bags...it's pretty crazy! :)

The City of Sisterly Love

2010-09-20T22:15:00.000-02:00

This weekend we enjoyed a day in downtown Philadelphia with my sister, Christa, and her boyfriend, Andy. We had a wonderful day exploring the city and spending time together! In the evening we visited one of our supporters in the city and had an incredible time together. Here's some quick pictures of our downtown fun.

Visiting the liberty bell...

Stopping in a park...

This weekend was Christa's birthday and after lunch we surprised her by pulling out some little cakes to celebrate. We even blew up some balloons and insisted that she wear a birthday hat :)

Happy birthday, Christa!! It was so fun celebrating with you!

We especially enjoyed exploring Chinatown. There was even a festival going on which really made seeing the neighborhood chaotic/super fun!

I confess that I"m posting this without Jeyson knowing :)

Cute!

Jeyson and I used to enjoy bubble teas when we were in Chinatown in Chicago. We like them so much we've even made them homemade in Brazil. We loved introducing Christa and Andy to them too...though they

didn't like them as much as we did. We were really hoping to tour the mint, but it was closed. We did get to make this little penny though!

Fun views around the city...

And this fun plaza called "Your move" It features giant pieces from all different games

Monopoly hat

Domino's

Standing on bingo pieces...

In Brazil we don't have dryers, so everyone has to iron their clothes to get the basic "line wrinkles" out of them. This monopoly iron would come in handy to get the job down quickly!!

Pictures at the famous Love sign...

It's such a cute spot that 2 wedding parties were taking pictures while we were there!

Thanks Christa and Andy for the fun day! We LOVEd....

spending time with you and seeing the city of brotherly (and sisterly!) love!

Birthday Fun!

2010-09-19T22:18:00.004-02:00

It's official...I'm 26! Where is the time going?? I can't believe I can no longer say I'm in my early 20's! I had a wonderful day and here's a glimpse.

I woke up to breakfast in bed....well actually cake in bed! Why not? It's was my birthday after all! Still waking up...
Looking a little more awake it was time to check out my birthday gift. Jeyson got me an awesome set of cookware! Although this might sound strange to some people, you have to understand that not only do I cook a ton in Brazil, but I LOVE to cook...it's probably my favorite hobby in fact. The few pots and pans I have in Brazil are truly sad looking mismatched hand-me-downs from other missionaries and only 1 was nonstick (actually, most of the nonstick is now chipped off...can we say health hazard?!?) We were always planning to get a set when we got settled in Brazil but we just never took time to do it until now. Anyway, I am just TRHILLED with this awesome, good quality set that I can take back and enjoy years and years of good use! In fact, they come with a lifetime warranty. How will we get them back to Brazil? I'll have to post another time on all the crazy, strange stuff we're cramming into our 4 70lb bags! I also got this really cute apron from my good friend, Katie. I guess my love for cooking is getting to be well known :)

After lunch out at a Thai restaurant, we went for a hike/walk at a revenue in Raritan, NJ. It was a beautiful spot we ran into as we were trying to find another place. I think this path less traveled was even better!

The trail started out with this old railroad bridge..

And continued down this beautiful revenue.

In the evening we went over a family's house for dinner and then we got to share with our sending church's missions committee. I was extremely surprised that the family that hosted us for dinner knew that it was my birthday and surprised me with cake complete with candles. All in all it was an outstanding day...a perfect kick off for what I hope will be an even more wonderful year! Thanks to all who made my day special in so many ways!

America the Beautiful!

2010-09-14T20:40:00.007-02:00

There is SO much to fill you in on about our time in the States so far! We arrived here 3 weeks ago and so far are having a great time being back. We've been based out of NJ and, since my parents moved to AZ, we've been staying in an apartment above my grandma's house in Edison. It's such a blessing to have a place to consider home for a little while and the kitchen and living room give us a little more privacy. It's been going great so far.

About how it feels to be back: Target, Chinese food, the ocean, automatic cars, speaking English - they're all so terrific! We still can't get over just how many options there are of EVERYTHING in the stores. Something that we might have 2 or 3 options of in Brazil (let's say cheese or mustard or notebooks for example) there seem to be 862 options here! Not even to mention how many things they have here that don't even exist in Brazil. Going to the store is overwhelming! We just look around and stare in amazement unable to process it all...it's been fun!

As soon as we got here, we drove down to Virginia to see my sister and brother-in-law. We don't pump on our gas in NJ or in Brazil so it was fun for us to have to figure it out on the way. Gas is about 1/2 the price here as compared with Brazil so that's a huge relief since since we've already driven 1,300 miles!

In Virginia we went over to Williamsburg one evening. Here's me and my sister, Danielle, who is pregnant with our very first niece! We have our first nephew "in the oven" on the other side of the family. We can't wait to meet them both!

Williamsburg was a lot of fun since the whole town is a big reenactment of civil war times.

We even saw them lighting off some canons.

We got ourselves into a little trouble while we were there :)

We also went to the beach in the outerbanks of North Carolina and went to the Wright Brothers museum/historical site. It was really fun to see the actual place where aviation was "born"....especially since now that has so much to do with our lives! Below: the different places the plane landed during it's first flights.

Heading to the top of the hill where the plane first took off with Adam and Danielle

While we were in VA we also had the chance to share about our ministry with their church, which was an awesome opportunity. We also shared with them before we left for our first term, so it was great to be able to go back and report in about our experiences. After church we went out with the pastor and his wife as well as some other friends.

The day after we returned from VA, we went straight down to America's Keswick where we were the missionary speakers for the week at the Christian conference camp. This was really special for me since I spent so much time at Keswick growing up and this was really the place where I first felt "called" into ministry.

We met TONS of wonderful folks at Keswick and were able to share with so many people about our ministry and reconnect with many old friends. This is the gym where one of the meetings was held.

Although there was a lot of time that we were busy sharing about our ministry, we also felt like it was a wonderful time of relaxation and we got to enjoy their pool and other wonderful features!

Since we've been back from Keswick, we've settled back in at my grandma's house. Almost every day we've been getting together with friends and sharing about our ministry. Many people we are visiting with are already our partners in ministry, but we've also been able to share with some friends for the first time. Lots of exciting opportunities! I'll share more on an upcoming blog, but while we're in the States we have the goal to raise our monthly support level to meet our needs for our next term. We know all we have to do is share in every opportunity we have and that God will bring the partners He has in mind. It's a little scary but mostly exciting to see what He's going to do. In the picture below, we got a chance to go with my good childhood friend, Katie to a beautiful place in NJ for a hike.

Well, for Katie and I it was more like a walk, but Jeyson was up for a challenging hike up a very steep slope (up the hill behind him)

It's been wonderful to be back for family days, as we've missed out on all of those over the past years. It was Grammy's birthday this weekend and it was so fun to be there for once!

Ok, time for 2 confessions. Confession 1: Day to day we're feeling more tired than these pictures let on. We both recharge with alone time so until today we were really lacking alone time! Today we went down to the NJ shore where Jeyson had to bring a tool to get repaired, but it turned into a lovely day! We walked along the pier and enjoyed a relaxing lunch together at a place on this cute street. Now we're feeling revved up and ready for another full week.

Confession number 2....although we're having a blast here, we miss Brazil a little already! We're not ready to go back just yet, but our life and ministry that we love so much in Brazil is always on our minds. We're enjoying being here and a wonderful change of pace, visiting with wonderful friends, etc but we will definitely be ready to go back to Brazil by Jan 4th! We think that's a good sign though since it means we love serving there.

PS - We also had a chance to share at our sending church Calvary Bible Church this Sunday. We shared for the whole Sunday school hour and the church put it on their website. If you're interested in hearing part or all, here's a link: http://cbcaudio.homeip.net/cbc/school/ and click the second link that says our names.

Base Basics

2010-09-06T20:29:00.000-02:00

Here's some quick shots of our mission's base in Manaus. It's located right on the edge of an inlet of the Amazon river. Since our mission works with missionary aviation, I'm not sure if I ever mentioned on the blog before that our mission also has a boat. This boat is taken to some of the thousands of communities along the river to do clinics. The doctors, dentists, and others who go on the trip sleep in hammocks as they float down the river.

The "campus" of the base is a few acres....

and the biggest structure is the hangar/offices.

And right from the hangar, you can look back and see these 2 houses. While we were in Manaus we helped our friends Andres and Camila get settled into their new home - the blue house. There's still a lot of decisions pending, but if we DO wind in Manaus as our next base, we MAY get to live in the green house if the mission doesn't have any other plans for it.

The base is such a peaceful place. It's hot and humid like the rest of the city, but it's calm and quiet there, in great contrast to the hectic downtown! For a Jersey girl like me, I LOVED being on the edge of the water! You can see it in the background behind the planes.

Here's a simple little house where one of the caretakers and his family live. They were very nice and passionate about reaching the others in the area with the Gospel.

Jeyson really enjoyed the days that he was able to work in the hangar.

The hangar is right on the water, which is especially great considering that we have float planes - the runway runs all throughout the Amazon :) Speaking of the Amazon, it's incredible to know that they're an estimated 17,000 communities in the Amazon without the presence of the Gospel!

This plane is being worked on in Manaus and is going to be sent to one of our mission's other bases, Santaran. There, some really exciting things are going on with church planting ministries. According to a missionary serving there, a mission called "Missao Paz" (a Brazilian mission) has planted churches in over 500 isolated communities in the region!!

These are some of the cuties that live at the base - I fell in love with all 4 of them and the base! Who knows, maybe soon we'll be updating our blog with photos of our new lives and ministry there.

A look around Manaus

2010-08-27T12:00:00.000-02:00

We're in the States now and soaking it all in! However, we didn't want to skip over posting about our incredible trip to Manaus. The 10 days we spent there were some of the most adventurous and challenging (yet very exciting and inspiring) that we've had since we arrived in Brazil. In this post I'm going to show some pictures from around the city, and then I'm going to do another post on the ministry at our mission's base there.

A view of the Amazon river from a port
A meat market

A view from the market. Although there are cars and roads in the city, many river people get to the market places by boat on the river. Manaus is a huge, busy (and not so clean) city with TONS going on! There's a ton of variety (for Brazil) and every nook and cranny is packed with shops, restaurants, houses....it's really an overwhelming place!

A man sleeping under the bridge

Crowded, busy streets

Local vegetables brought downtown in wheelbarrows and sold all around

You have to watch your wallet carefully as it's such a busy city....and apparently your toilet paper too! This was a funny thing we saw in a store bathroom :)

Men gather around to watch a game of checkers in the park. If you look closely, you'll see that the checkers pieces are actually soda bottle tops.

At your local supermarket, you can pick up fresh piranhas for dinner

What a different world! More pictures and posts to come soon!

Hello from Manaus!

2010-08-11T20:19:00.004-02:00

We got here yesterday safe and sound. We're doing well and happy to be here, but we're still trying to adjust to the overpowering heat and humidity.....it feels just like the bathroom after a hot shower!!! You can see where we are on the map below - towards the top left of the map. Our city, Anapolis, is near Brasilia, so you can see how far we are!

Manaus is a huge city in the middle of the Amazon (1.7 million) and you can see from the satellite shot that we're literally in the middle of nowhere! There are 2 rivers that form the Amazon river - the dark colored one you see is the "Black River" and the yellow colored one is the "Solimoes River". They meet together right where Manaus is located - you can see that Manaus is that big white blob where the rivers meet. From there, the mixed rivers are called the Amazon.

Today we explored around a little and here are two quick shots. Jeyson at the market checking out what's available from the local farmers.

Stopping for a quick local specialty - an"acai" smoothie. Acai is a food you may have now heard about in the States as it is gaining popularity because of it's health benefits. It is a nut that comes from Brazil and has a very unique taste. We think it tastes a tiny bit like really delicious dirt....I know....we're weird, but we love it!!

We have lots more pictures that we can't wait to show you, but that's all for today.

Baking Blurb

2010-08-01T16:58:00.001-02:00

I LOVE fresh Italian bread with my pasta....really with any meal, or even by itself. What Italian doesn't?
Sadly, here in Brazil, Italian bread as I know and love it doesn't exist. The bread here is crusty on the outside and empty on the inside. It's yummy, but not the same to me! So, about a year ago I put bread on my list of things that I wanted to learn to make myself....right next to a NY style pizza, tortillas, bagels, and English muffins. Are you noticing a carb trend? There are other items too though, including homemade cookie dough ice cream, which I haven't gotten to yet! So about a year ago set out to learn to make the best Italian loaf out there, and it's been a lot of fun and really a lot easier than I thought! I never thought I'd get into this, but desperate cravings call for desperate cooking! Many-a-loaf later I got it down! This first one is the classic Italian loaf, with a hint of a taste of olive oil.

And I've played around with my faithful recipe and made great variations! Rye, whole wheat, 3 seeds, cinnamon raisin,

I was even asked to make a bunch of loaves and spreads for our friends' wedding! It was a lot of work, but a lot of fun!

If you've never given baking a loaf of bread a try, you really should! It's easy, fun, yummy, and impressive....it also makes a great item to bring when you're invited for a meal. Here's my favorite recipe and a few tips:

Rustic Italian Bread (I found this on Food.com and it has never failed me!)

1 Put in your bread machine: 3 cps flour, 2 tb oil, 3/4 tea salt, 2 tea sugar, 2 tea yeast and 1 cp warm water (for mine, I put the wet ingredients in first)
2 Set on dough setting.
3 Always follow your machines instructions, when mixing open it and keep check on the dough. Dough should be in a nice round soft sticky to the touch ball. If it is not add more water, or add flour which ever is needed.
4 Remove when signal beeps and cycle is done.
5 Preheat oven to 375
6 Grease and sprinkle cornflour or cornmeal onto a baking sheet.
7 Punch dough down and form into a long or oval loaf.
8 Cover and let rise for 25 more minutes.
9 It should be doubled again by this time.
10 Uncover and slash the top with a sharp knife or razor.
11 Brush all over with the beaten egg white.
12 Bake 25 minutes to 35 minutes, until hollow sounding when tapped on bottom.
13 Cool.

Tips:

Use a pizza pan with holes in it

Put lots of egg white - don't skimp!!

Put on LOTS of seeds - way more than I put on that first sesame loaf. LOAD it up to make it look more professional like the picture where I'm holding the loaf on a pan. Rosemary, thyme, basil, and parm. cheese all together make a great topping too!

Make sure the oven's the right temp before putting in the bread

Don't under bake the bread, wait for it to be golden and very hollow sounding.

If the bread is cooking too fast underneath, put an empty cookie sheet on the rack below the bread so the heat hits the bottom a little more indirectly - or maybe that's just for my strange Brazilian oven.

To change the recipe up, switch the olive oil for vegetable oil and put on different kinds of seeds.

Have fun!

A Milestone on the Journey

2010-07-29T15:10:00.005-02:00

This Sunday we were so excited that four of the teens from our Life Group ministry got baptized! This was our first time being at a baptism here in Brazil, but the best part was being part of the teens growing in their faith to get to this point.

This is Kellen, her dad is praying for her.

And Marielle

Jessica....

And Josue - this was especially touching and we have been able to see him especially develop and grow.

Picking a star fruit from the tree in the church yard afterwards.

It has been such a privilege to be part of the these teen's lives and walk! Our co-leader will now be the main leader and we are praying that God will continue to work in their hearts!

The countdown continues: 1 1/2 weeks until we leave for Manaus, 3 1/2 weeks until we're in New Jersey!!

SO much going on!

2010-07-19T11:54:00.008-02:00

Wow! There is SO much to do to get ready to go to the States! My to-do list is literally 5 pages long and it is a celebration each time we cross something off. I LOVE crossing things off!

We'll be going to the States Aug 22nd, but we won't be leaving from Anapolis. We really wanted to spend a few days getting to know Asas's biggest northern base, Manaus, before we went to the States, so we bought our tickets to the States from Manaus. Finally this past week, we were able to meet with Asas's leadership to decide when we could leave Anapolis to go to Manuas and they said we could go in the beginning of August. However, with so much to do before going to the States, we decided that Aug 10th is the earliest we can go and are in the process of booking our tickets. So, we have exactly 3 weeks between now and saying goodbye to Anapolis until Jan 5th. Although there will be lots of unknowns and stresses from traveling over the next months, we're really excited and can't wait to see you all again!!

Meanwhile, this week we had Bobby become sick.....sick as a dog in fact! I was actually pretty sure he was arriving at his end for a few hours, but I was able to put of my Moody classed into practical use. In college I took a class on tropical diseases where we had to learn how to give a shot, so I gave my first ones ever on Bobby and he's feeling much better now!

Also, this week our car decided it would be fun to take a get-away at the spa.....aka mechanic shop :( A hose broke and the car's in Goiania getting fixed....meanwhile we're a biker couple, getting around only on Jeyson's motorcycle! You should see us getting home with the groceries! We also have some house repairs going on. Our house had some issues that the builder had to fix. Of course everything here in Brazil takes longer, so finally his guy is out working on somethings. This involved taking ALL of our stuff out of each room at a time to get the walls worked on. Today is the last day and everything is getting wrapped up.

Our cat hid under the bed the WHOLE time the workers were here, but when the left his curiosity got the best of him!

Lastly, for fun we had our friends Andres, Camila, Lauro, and Rose over for dinner since soon Andres and Camila will move to Manaus! I made some easy fruit-kabobs for dessert with a cream cheese dipping sauce and everyone was so impressed! A fun evening to top off a busy week.

Recent Happenings

2010-07-09T11:08:00.004-02:00

These past days have been jam packed and I haven't had the chance to blog until now. Here's a little catch up on what we've been up to.

On the Fourth of July we decided it would be fun to have a little celebration, expatriate style. We love the States and all that July 4th stands for, not to mention that American bbqs are a lot of fun. So, we invited over a few of our Brazilian (and Argentine) friends and lit the grill.
We made all typical American stuff - burgers, corn on the cob, mac n cheese, etc. My friend Camila was so funny about the mac n cheese. When I brought it out to the table and told everyone what it was, Camila said, "Oh! The famous American macaroni and cheese!!" She went on to explain that she had seen an American sitcom episode where a guy needed to by a box of man and cheese for his fourth of July party but all of the stores were sold out. Camila was very excited to see that it really is a real food in the American kitchen and that I also served it on July 4th!
Part of the group is above. We had a lot of fun to share a little of my culture and I hope to do this every year we're in Brazil!

For the past week we've been especially busy since it's Asas's yearly week for new candidates. The candidates spend 10 days here doing everything from flights to interviews. Several of the candidates are from Columbia and Venezuela so they don't speak Portuguese. Jeyson was asked to help by going on flights with these men as they were evaluated. Jeyson sat in the back and translated for the flight instructors/evaluators. Jeyson enjoyed using his language skills in this way. Also, by going back on these very first flights, Jeyson realized just how much he himself has grown in his skills since 2003 when he was a candidate! He's a shot that Jeyson took from the back of the plane.

Meanwhile, I was able to help with an area that I love, cooking! Along with a few other ladies, we have been preparing breakfast every day for everyone involved in the week. It's been tiring to get up at 5:30 to have everything prepared and served by 7 am, but also very rewarding to be able to do something practical that can be part of bringing new missionaries to the field. These are some of the Venezuelans. The man next to me is their pastor, who came along to support the men in their church who are considering this calling.

Jeyson has also been busy this week with something he loves, maintenance projects. He has been repairing the wing of this plane

And also repainting it, which I will have to post "after" pictures later.

The Results Are In....

2010-06-26T18:01:00.002-02:00

Exciting news! Jeyson passed his commercial pilot's test yesterday!
I'm so proud of you, Jeyson, for faithfully pressing on even when the going got rough - even when it took a few tries to pass the written test, even when we weren't sure where the funds for the hours were coming from. God provided in amazing ways on every step of the journey and you did a great job!

Now we're one step closer to our move to the north of Brazil. We still don't know when or where, but it's exciting to be that much closer! Congratulations, Captain Braun, on your accomplishment! :)

Checkride Date At Last!

2010-06-23T17:33:00.003-02:00

Good news! Jeyson was just able to get his checkride scheduled! His evaluation will on Friday at 3 EST. Thank you so much for praying that he would finally get news that he is scheduled! It took a long, long time for the government agency to process everything and give him a date, but it's here! Please pray for Jeyson to do well on everything he has been training for so long!

The World Cup: Brazil at the Peak of Excitement

2010-06-22T11:25:00.003-02:00

It would be impossible to post right now without filling you in the main thing on most Brazilians mind this month: The World Cup. That's right, every four years one soccer team from each country has the chance to prove that they're the best in the world and every Brazilian is obsessed with making sure that happens in this year's competition. The world cup is a month long series of games and each team plays at least three times. If they win in their group, they advance to the next level and so on until only 1 team remains.

Every time the Brazilian team play,s Brazil literally stops. Everything closes: supermarkets, banks, government buildings, school, EVERYTHING! There is not a car on the streets as everyone gathers around their t.v. and cheers like there's no tomorrow. Every time a goal is made, fireworks go off and every time Brazil wins there's a party and/or bbq. It's crazy, but a lot of fun to be part of the cultural excitement!

Right now there's Brazilian flags everywhere! Many people even have special flags that fit onto the hood of their cars! On game days, even before the game starts people honk and shout and cheer in the streets.

We watched a game with our friends Andres and Camila and Camila's family. It was Brazil vs North Korea. Although Brazil won, people were only semi happy because North Korea scored one goal on Brazil, making the score 2 to 1 instead of the 483 to 0 hoped for :)

Brazilians go all out with decorations for the World Cup games. Here, Camila's family had green and yellow plates to represent Brazil's colors.

Concentrating on the game....no talking allowed unless there's a goal!

Enjoying popcorn during the game with Camila and Livia.

It's been a lot of crazy excitement lately - can you imagine what 2014 will be like then the World Cup will actually take place in Brazil?!? It's hard to even picture Brazil any more excited than it is right now with the World Cup in South Africa. It will be fun though!

Birthday Welding and Meal

2010-06-11T17:17:00.003-02:00

Tuesday was Jeyson's 28th birthday. Happy Birthday Jeyson! You are a wonderful husband! Although it was a special day, we didn't have time to do anything too special other than breakfast in bed (which actually wound up in the living room) - Jeyson's still waking up in this picture :) We're going out to celebrate tonight instead of during the middle of the week.
Jeyson went to Asas and got to do one of his favorite activities in the world - welding! For the past few weeks Jeyson has been teaching the group of new pilot/mechanic missionaries and some external students a few different areas of mechanics. This is part of the process every new technical missionary has to go through in order to work on the planes and here at Asas the mechanics are taught by missionaries that are further along in the process, like Jeyson

Welding is Jeyson's favorite course to teach and he loves how the guys really get into it. Erik (on the right) is training with Asas for the next few years to serve as a pilot/mechanic in Africa once he gets all of his licenses.

Here's the external students. Having them as part of the course is not only an opportunity for outreach to non-Christians, but also their payments for the course makes it cheaper for the missionaries....a win-win situation.

Christian, Rodrigo, and Ricardo are three of the Asas missionaries who just arrived this year. Rodrigo is especially creative and makes all kinds of projects - including bicycles from bamboo!!!

Here's one of Jeyson's all time favorite recipes, which I made for dinner - It's so completely different than the normal tastes and I definitely recommend giving it a try, it's VERY easy!

"Thai Peanut Beef and Pea Pods over Noodles"

-Cook and drain 8 oz of thin spaghetti - set aside

-Cook 1 lb of ground beef in a skillet and drain.

-Add to the beef: 4 green onions (I use 1 regular chopped), 3 cups of fresh pea pods halved diagonally (I substituted green beans) and 1 red bell pepper cut in strips. Cook until veggies are crisp-tender

- In a bowl mix 1 1/2 cp chicken broth, 1/4 tea ground red pepper (cayenne), 1/4 tea salt, 2 tea cornstarch and stir into the pan

- Add 1/3 cp peanut butter and stir

- Cook a few minutes, stirring until thick and bubbly. Add a little water and continue cooking if it gets too thick

- Serve over spaghetti and sprinkle chopped, salted peanuts over

Garden Goodies

2010-06-01T14:26:00.003-02:00

One of my favorite things about living in Brazil is that fruit and vegetables are very abundant and the friendly culture means people are happy to share whatever is popping up in their backyard at the time. Just this week, we received a bag full of clementines, lemons, a giant avocado, a container full of polenta (ok not from the garden, but from a student's kitchen), and a box full of tomatoes....

There's even more here, outside, ripening in the sun a little....

After making salsa and still having tons left, I found a recipe for homemade marinara sauce that I'm going to give a try one evening.

Another really fun thing we received (that actually cost a small price since this family does it as a way to make a little extra cash) is this 2 liter bottle of honey! One of Asas's more adventurous missionary couple has boxes for bees to make honey and harvests it by the bottle full! Talk about an interesting activity to do as a couple to keep your marriage SWEET :)

I've already made some muffins where I substituted honey for the sugar and they were terrific. What else would you do with 2 liters of honey?

Meanwhile, here's our garden situation...

While we were in Boa Vista ants came and took away almost every leaf from every plant in our yard! It was difficult to imagine how many ants this could have been, until the night after we were home we caught them in the act of taking the remains of the loot! I kid you not....there were probably over 10,000 ants swarming our yard leading a THICK parade of ants from a hole in the ground 3 houses away! Some ants were cutting leaves and creating a pile in the driveway, and another group was carrying off the leaves! We sprayed the hole and they left the next day, but it took 2 weeks for our garden to show signs of life again.

Finally, this pretty, yellow bush is growing some leaves back! We hope the rest of the yard will come back to life with a little TLC!

Meet the Mechanical Side of Boa Vista

2010-05-28T11:37:00.006-02:00

Well, it's finally time to wrap up Boa Vista with some pictures of the maintenance project Jeyson was working on. I wanted to post this sooner but I've been knocked over by a serious cold! I am finally starting to feel better though and it's time to blog.

Here's the Asas hangar in Boa Vista where Jeyson spent most of the week.

He worked together with Vitor, a Brazilian mechanic (also of German descent) who serves at the base in Manaus. He also came over for the project and Jeyson really enjoyed working with him and learned a lot from him.

After my previous post saying that the project was not to fix the landing gear, Jeyson cleared me up and explained that I had understood exactly backwards...the project was all about fixing the landing gear. I"m not sure how I got that totally inverted....what can I say? I'm definitely not a mechanic :)

Since Asas's planes are always landing on really rough landing strips, after awhile the landing gear was starting to show wear from all of the stress on it.

And on a routine inspection, a crack was discovered inside one of the cavities that you can see on the floor of the plane above.

Here's the part that they took out that had the crack.....can you see it? (Jeyson's pointing to it)

REALLY tiny, huh? It is just to the right of my finger....super small and light.

However, when dealing with airplane mechanics, everything on the plane needs to be in PERFECT condition - this little crack could cause a serious problem and unlike a car, you can't pull over to take a look!

Jeyson really enjoyed his work in Boa Vista. He is very creative and mechanically inclined, so he really enjoyed the opportunity to improve his skills and knowledge.

But the part we enjoyed most about this trip was being able to be even closer to the "action" of our ministry. What a joy to know that when the plane is fixed it will be used to reach isolated people groups.

It is just such a joy to be part of that!

While Jeyson and Vitor worked on the plane, one of the pilots, Rodrigo, was getting ready to take off to one of the villages in the other plane. The first step is loading up the supplies.

The missionary on the left works with New Tribes Mission and he lives in Boa Vista. His ministry is shopping! Wouldn't that be a great full-time job and calling in ministry?!? The many villages where missionaries live receive a plane-load of supplies every two weeks. The missionaries send a list of everything they will need to this man and he shops all over the city for everything on their lists and sends it on the plane to them.

What's in the boxes? EVERYTHING you can imagine! Eggs, flour, medicine, diapers, nails, soap, meat, vegetables....

Every nook and cranny is packed...

And the back seats are taken out for more room. Things has to be packed very carefully though in order to distribute the weight evenly. The boxes are all organized by weight.

And off he goes! We met several missionaries who normally live in the villages but right now were in Boa Vista for various reasons. We had wonderful chats about their ministry, life in the villages, the tribe they serve, what God is doing, etc. They all say that without the ministry of Asas de Socorro their work would be impossible, all of the missionaries would have to leave the villages.

We are so excited and passionate about this ministry....thank you for being part of it!

You Know You Live in Brazil When....

2010-05-20T15:28:00.004-02:00

These are two true little stories that happened to me on my way to Boa Vista.....Ahhh Brazil :)

As I was waiting for my flight at the airport, an elderly woman sat next to me. After chatting about where we were headed and why, the woman's plane was called for boarding. "Well that's my plane" she said, "It was great chatting with you!" Up to this point would be normal in the States, but I knew I lived in Brazil when she then reached over to me, gave me a long, tight hug and a kiss on not one, but TWO cheeks! If someone had taken a picture, it would have looked like this....

Then, a little while later I was on my plane to Boa Vista. Similarly, the gentleman next to me made a few minutes of small talk with me. He asked me where I would be staying and I said that my husband would pick me up from the airport and we were staying somewhere in the city, but I wasn't sure exactly where. (To me obviously meaning that even though I didn't know where we would stay that Jeyson did). However, this is Brazil! When the man heard that I didn't know where I was staying, without skipping a beat, he (as casually as offering a piece of gum) suggested "Well if you want you can stay with my family!"

Yes, at moments like these I know I live in Brazil....truly a warm, inviting country! And I love it!

City Sights

2010-05-18T19:50:00.007-02:00

My first day in Boa Vista we went for a nice walk around the city to take in the sights and feel of the city. Here are some glimpses of what we saw.....

A street vendor with his bike cart....

A glimpse of the river that the city through the trees... (we found the official way to get to the river later :)

One thing that we noticed right away was the many nice parks and plazas around the city.

This is a big contrast to Anapolis and the other bases where we could be sent

Colorful, bright buildings, shops by the river....

There was a little scenic overlook for the river, here we're coming up to it....

Looking out on the river. If you look closely you'll see a sunken boat

This river is called "Rio Branco" meaning White River

It was so hot that at this point we had to restrain ourselves from jumping into the river to cool off!!! We fell in love with Boa Vista's quaint town feel, a rare feeling for cities here in Brazil. There's no mall in the town, but the river and nature more than make up for it!

While strawberries and apples are pricey here, star fruit is literally falling off the trees! I had never eaten more than a few slivers at a fancy restaurant, but I ate tons this past week. They are so sweet and juicy straight from one of the missionary's backyard.

They are called star fruit in English because when you cut them short-ways you it looks like a star. I didn't do any cutting though.....we just ate them like this!

Now for some sights of Asas in Boa Vista. The base is much smaller than the Anapolis base....in fact there are only 5 families serving at this base since the need is smaller than at the headquarters. Here is the office, which is a room in the hangar.

Here I am with Suzi, a missionary who recently moved to Boa Vista with her husband Heber. Heber and Suzi used to live in Anapolis with us as Heber was going through training (like Jeyson is now) and when they finished they were sent to Boa Vista. It was wonderful to see these great friends again and spend lots of time together. Who knows, maybe we will work together again at the same base in the future?!? Only time will tell!

Now for a quick glimpse of the hangar. I will share more pictures again soon when I post about Jeyson's maintenance project.

Here's the Boa Vista Anapolis hangar. As you can see it is pretty tiny, but just the right size for Asas's needs right now at this base.

One interesting thing about this base is that it's hangar is located right at the major airport in the city. Asas's tiny planes take off alongside this major Latin American airline plane....

And the military's cargo plane....this view is right from Asas's hangar door!!!

Of course though, when I say major airport, you have to keep in mind that Boa Vista is a small city! There are only 3 flights in and 3 flights out per day....and I was glad to be on one of them to visit this city! Our time there was incredible....more stories and pictures to come.

First Thoughts on Boa Vista

2010-05-11T10:39:00.005-02:00

Hello from Boa Vista! As you can see from the map I found, we are very far from our home in Anapolis....in fact we are now in the northern hemisphere! Point A on the map is our home in Anapolis, and B is where we are now - Boa Vista. We're near the borders of Venezuela and Guyana.

If you were to ask us how the time has been so far, the first word that would pop out of my mouth would be HOT!!! I have never in my life experienced such heat and humidity! It feels like the most humid day in the dead heat of August when you literally run from your air conditioned house to the air conditioned car....except there's no air conditioning during the day :) The first night we stayed at a guest house where we actually didn't even have any air at night, but fortunately we were asked to housesit for a traveling missionary family who has an air conditioning unit in their bedroom and we have been able to sleep much better! Here, air is really a basic need, not a frill! Most people have a unit in the bedrooms that they turn on at night. Central air is unheard of, but we are grateful to at least be sleeping well. During the day a "sweat mustache" is constantly creeping onto your upper lip and there have been moments that my hand gets wet when I run my fingers through my hair! Yesterday I took 3 showers....all with completely cold water. It's been wild! Thankfully today has been much cooler since it is raining...it's been a welcome relief!

Well before you think we want to run back to Anapolis and never move to north Brazil because of the heat, let me just tell you - we are having a WONDERFUL time! Despite the heat, we are loving every moment of being here and very much hope that soon we will be here long term!

Since I just described how the heat can be rough, to balance things off, I'm going to tell how great it's been here in Boa Vista using the letters of HOT :)

First of all H is for Helping in the Hangar. Every day since Jeyson has been here, he's been hard at work with maintenance to get a plane back on it's feet/landing gear :) Actually the project doesn't have anything to do with the landing gear, but I'll tell you more about what he is actually doing with pictures once we're back in Anapolis. The high point is that Jeyson has been loving his work and feeling very fulfilled by being part of a challenging project that will directly allow isolated tribes and people groups to be reached.

O is for Open....we are completely sold out on the ministry that is done here in Boa Vista and very open and willing to come here and to give our lives to this ministry. It would take many many posts to share all of the stories and pictures of tribes and villages being reached with the ministry here in Boa Vista....but to put it simply we are very open to living here and being part of it every day.

T is for Taking it all in. Since this is a place where we very possibly could end up, we've been taking in very detail of information possible.

Here's some things we've noticed:

- Nice, medium sized city
- Right on the edge of a river (where you can rent small boats for fun)
- Lots of trees, plazas, parks,
- Very neat and organized and pretty (for Brazil)
- Produce market
- Downtown seems drivable for me (in comparison to the insane downtown of Anapolis where I still don't have courage to venture into and try to find parking on my own!)
- Lots of mom/pop shops

- The hangar is in the middle of the city so we could live nearby and not need a longer commute (like in the Manaus base where the hangar is 30 minutes from the city)

- Fruits and Vegetables - there are lots of them here but some things that we are used to eating cheaply are outrageously expensive. Some examples are broccoli, peaches, plums, strawberries. On a positive note, there are tons of new and different fruits here to try that I've never even heard of before. It's all about adapting to what grows in the area....but that might be hard in some ways.

- Bread is very expensive here! I was shocked to find that simple whole wheat sliced bread is 3 times the prices that it is in Anapolis! I think I will be even more thankful for our breadmaker if we live here!

- No malls or large/chain stores like Walmart or McDonalds

- Very few imported items

- Only a few hours from Venezuela and Guyana....easily drivable for a fun weekend.

Off to soak in the rest of our stay