Some Fun Pictures

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

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

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....

...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

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!