Blogging Freedom and a Catch Up

Lately I've been struggling to blog.  After 7 years posting just about every week, I couldn't figure out what had gotten into me that has taken away my blogging inspiration.  Then, I finally figured it out.  I realized that I originally started this blog because way back in 2007, I needed a practical way to update people back home with pictures.  So I started blogging and including a link to our blog in our update emails.  Since then, I've started using MailChimp, which allows me to put pictures right in our email updates and we created a facebook page where we often post pictures of the day to day stuff.  So that leaves me struggling to find something new to write here that I haven't already said and shown elsewhere.  

So, I've decided to take a bit of a blog-cation...a blog vacation that is.  Although maybe I'm better off considering it blogging freedom....freedom from any particular schedule of how often I will blog.  I will likely still post from time to time here when I have something longer to share than I have space for on facebook or in our emails, but it will continue to be random like this, or maybe even more random once our little girl arrives which will take up more of my time.  Basically, I'll blog when I have something to say that will work best in blog format, but I won't feel bound to blogging on any type of time table. 

That being said, while I'm at it blogging, here's a little update on some things I haven't shared about elsewhere.  

- The past few weeks we've been enjoying the cultural experience of watching The World Cup.  It was quite a bummer the way Brazil went out, but fun that for every game that Brazil played in, the whole country shut down and people got together to eat and watch the game.  Here's a shot as we were on the way to our friends' house for a game.  Everyone on the road was also headed to a game and dressed up in yellow jerseys to cheer.  

 - Amazing cake made by a friend for the game.  These two ladies and their families have become great friends of ours over the past year.

 - In other news, Elijah has officially moved out of his bed and into a "big boy" bed that Jeyson made for him.  It came out great!  And Elijah loves it.  Guess our eviction notice worked :)  Now time to get the baby's room ready.

I'm a little over 28 weeks now.  We'll be heading to Goiania at 36 weeks for the birth, leaving us with 7 1/2 weeks to get everything ready for the baby and the trip.  We decided to go with one way tickets.  Don't worry, of course we're returning to Boa Vista!  But this will give us more freedom to come back as soon as possible after the baby is born instead of buying tickets now for the last possible day she could arrive.  Here's to hoping for an early delivery...but what tired and big bellied mom isn't wishing for that?!? :)

 I've been enjoying water aerobics classes that are offered free through our insurance company for pregnant women.  I've met a couple of really nice ladies from the community, and I started giving childbirth education classes to one of the ladies and her husband.  It has been a wonderful time to build a relationship and minister to them as a couple, meanwhile helping me review my own material to get ready for my own birth as a perk!  I wish I could be here in Boa Vista to go along as a doula, but she's due only 2 weeks after me so I will almost definitely be in Goiania or nearly arriving back in Boa Vista when her baby arrives.  Btw, this mom to be is French and has only lived in Brazil for a year.  Both being foreign, we have a lot in common.  And since she doesn't speak English and I don't speak French, it's pretty funny that us two foreign women have to communicate in a third language...Portuguese :)

Elijah is getting so big!  Between sleeping in a big bed, playing creatively on his own, being potty trained...he's definitely turning into a kid rather than still being a baby.  He is starting to say a lot more too, like he will tell us what he wants to play with and remember things that happened and mention them to us.  He is still pretty behind on his speech though so he's going to get a few sessions of speech therapy before we had to Goiania and we will see if that helps.  If so, we will continue when we return.

 At the hangar, both of our planes are now in operation after the long and involved maintenance project, SIDs.  I'm very proud of Jeyson for all of his work leading the team through the project and doing a large part of it himself even though it meant teaching himself some new skills as he went along.  It was a sacrifice to put his flight progress on the back burner for almost a year in order to do this project, but that's what SERVING is all about and Jeyson always does that without complaining.  I really look up to that husband of mine!

And now the projects are complete just in time for July, which is our busiest flight month of the year.  There are several conferences and projects that take place in July, so two planes are definitely needed to make it all happen.  Jeyson is beginning is flight training again, beginning with some "book" style lessons with our chief pilot, and will now begin the hands on flights too to get proficiency flying in this difficult region.  Next week him and the chief pilot will head out on an overnight flight to bring missionaries to a village.  It's great to see that area of our ministry coming along in God's timing.

Lastly, this evening some ladies from our mission and partner mission are throwing me a baby shower.  It's such a blessing to see the friends God has brought into my life over the last year and will be a joy to celebrate our little girl's life with them.