Lettuce Show You

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!

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

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

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

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

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

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!!