More Catching up

After our time in California, we flew over to Chicago where we picked up a car that we are borrowing for our time in Ohio.  It was perfect that we got to borrow a car from the Chicago area, because that meant that we got to stay with my college roommate Katie and her husband Dan for a few days.  Katie was 9 months pregnant when we arrived and she had her baby while we were there!  The day after they came home from the hospital we drove out to Ohio, so things worked out perfectly!  

Here is a picture of us visiting Katie and the beautiful Miss Clara Mattix in the hospital

While in Ohio, we also got to visit our supporting church, Winnetka Bible Church, meet up with another college room mate of mine, Melinda, who is also due with a baby soon, and make some new friends while we were in town too.  

Another highlight for me was getting to celebrate the 4th of July with some awesome fireworks.  I haven't been in the US for the 4th for 7 years!  It was such a sentimental and emotional moment to celebrate the fourth in all it's traditional glory and fun in my homeland.  Elijah loved the fireworks too...he wasn't even a tiny bit afraid and loved watching.  

Last Friday we drove over to Ohio.  It was an 8 hour trip and Elijah did pretty well.  

I sat in the back with Elijah to entertain him for a lot of the trip.  He also nibbled off a good part of this pool noodle while I wasn't watching...oops!

Our town here, Coshocton, Ohio, is quite in the middle of nowhere, to say the least!  The is like a little island of land in the middle of a sea of corn and fields :)  I've never lived in a small town before so it's a new kind of adapting for me.  We do have a Walmart though, which is more than we have in our town in Brazil, so we're good to go :)

We are renting the mission's furnished guest house, above.  Here is Jeyson getting home from his first day at the mission in the car we are borrowing.

Elijah is settling in nicely.  We have done a few things with some of the other families form the mission, including visiting an Amish farm.  We haven't quite found our new rhythm and routine yet, but we're in process.

The last month has been crazy between backing and traveling, so I didn't realize how much Elijah had developed in his abilities to eat right under my nose!  His new favorite thing is sweet corn...he gnawed on this ear for about 30 minutes very happily!  I love the US sweet corn too...yum!

Here are a few pictures from around the hangar at MMS that Jeyson took the other day.  Jeyson is LOVING it so far and really feels like he's going to learn a ton.  I'm so glad since the whole temporary life upheavel wasn't the easiest thing with a little baby.  But it seems like it's really going to be worthwhile for Jeyson, which is awesome!

Here's one of the hangars

Ryan, who is the head mechanic at Asas, is also here with us helping to train/supervise Jeyson over the next month while he is on furlough

The paint room in the hangar

An MAF airplane that is being worked on that has served in several countries.

The MMS slogan is "Preparing People and Planes for Worldwide Mission Service" and that's just what goes on here day to do.  The experienced mechanics are missionaries who train incoming mechanic missionaries as they work on planes that are sent to out missions all around the world.  The mechanics are currently working on a plane for the 100th different mission since it's existence.  So neat to see how many lives have been touched as the missionaries train.

Catching Up

We made it to the US!

It was an exhausting series of flights that lasted over 24 hours (Goiania to Sao Paulo to Mexico City to Los Angeles).  Elijah did really well all things considered, really very little crying!  But it was just exhausting on us to not really be able to sleep deeply since we had to keep an eye on him.

In Mexico City we all crashed for a while in the morning between flights.

We came in the country through the west coast so we could spend a few days in California with Jeyson's brother before going to Ohio (where we are now).  Jeyson and Johnny always have a great time together.  Both Krista (his wife) and I were happy hey had each other to go to a local airplane museum with so we didn't have to go along this time :)

The six days we had in CA were tons of fun and just a relaxing time.  One of the most fun parts for me was getting to introduce Elijah to so many American things he hasn't enjoyed before...like taking a bath in a real bathtub!

Going on beautiful walks

And he even got to see his grandparents!  My parents came up from Arizona to visit us for 2 days at the Brauns' house.

We are ALL in awe of the amazing technology that has come out in the past years :)

One of the most fun days was getting to go to a beach nearby where Johnny and Krista live

Elijah LOVED eating the sand :)

But wasn't a huge fan of the water (it was really cold!)

Krista was such a trooper for taking us even though she was due any day!

Another highlight was meeting up with one of Jeyson's high school friends (from his school in Ecuador) who lives in California.  Both have gotten married and have boys around the same age...though they have twice the fun we do!

We went to a park with them and had a great time catching up

Next, we flew out to Chicago where we picked up our car and drove out to Ohio....pictures of all of that coming soon!

Jeyson's 30th Birthday

Last week was Jeyson's 30th birthday.  What made the day extra perfect was that it was a holiday here in Brazil, so we and all of our friends were off!  To strart the day, Jeyson and Elijah went out to breakfast at the bakery and ran a few errands together. 

Ready to head out for "men's breakfast" as we called :)

 Then, in the afternoon we had a picnic party in the park.  We normally don't have birthday parties, but being Jeyson's 30th, I couldn't let it slip by.  I made sloppy joes, mac n cheese, dip, cookies, and fruit kebabs.  It was easy and turned out to be tons of food for the 25 or so people who came. 

 One of the best parts is as we were having lunch under this tree, 3 monkeys showed up!  They hung out for the whole afternoon and even ate from people's hands.  They liked the desserts best...who doesn't :)

 Jeyson is well known for his love of hot sauce, so I had everyone surprise Jeyson by bringing him a bottle of a different kind.  He wound up with a whole collection that will be waiting for him when we return.

Jeyson also loves random trivia, so I organized a surprise game of trivia for the guests...about Jeyson.  Our friends did great and know my husband well.  I also gave some of Jeyson's guy friends a slip of paper that started off a sentence, such as "Jeyson is..." "My favorite memory of Jeyson is..." "Jeyson always..." and they had to complete the sentence.  It was so nice to have a little time of fun and encouragement for Jeyson as people shared how much they thought of him.

 Happy 30th Birthday to my wonderful, hard working, kind hubby!



Going Down a New Road

It's been six months since Elijah arrived.  You may remember I posted his birth story which included much more than just the actual story of Elijah's birth.  The whole thing really started before I was even pregnant, when I became aware of the challenges of birth in Brazil for women who wanted to have a normal birth.  In the States, this is pretty much all women who don't have a medical emergency, but in Brazil, almost all women choose c-sections or are lied to by their doctors about reasons they "need" one.  Maybe that sounds like an exaggeration, but when you look at the facts, that the rate of c-sections in private hospitals is as high as 90% ?!?!?! you know something has to be wrong with this system.     



Seconds after Elijah arrived

 Anyway, long story short, I wound up hooking up with a very rare doctor and having a beautiful, completely natural birth.  It wasn't easy though!  I was seriously like a fish swimming up water to not have a c-section, even though both Elijah and I were totally healthy.  The doctor never put any pressure on me (he is a 1 in a million doctor here who prefers normal birth), but pretty much every woman and medical professional I met didn't think it was possible.  (BTW, I'm not even talking about an all natural birth...which I did have...but everyone doubted I could even have a vaginal birth at all!).  Anyway, the experience of everyone telling me how impossible it was going to be was actually much harder than the birth even was! 

I wound up having an incredibly beautiful and easy birth from beginning to end and didn't need even the slightest medical intervention.  I truly wanted to have a normal birth in order to show just how incredibly God had designed the whole process and He showed that off clearly through my experience.  I LOVE telling women, especially in Brazil, just how God thought of everything and built us to do it. I LOVE being able to encourage women who are at all open to a normal birth because it truly was one of the best experiences of my life. 

This is our hospital room...basic to say the least!!!  We even had to bring our own blankets and it was a hand crank bed!

But it probably wouldn't have been such a great experience without my friend, Michawn. 

Michawn is also a missionary with Asas de Socorro and is a birth instructor/doula.  What??  Basically she is certified to teach courses to couples about birth.  She got together with me and Jeyson about 8 times during the pregnancy and taught us all about what to expect and trained Jeyson to coach me.  There are absolutely no hospital classes here, like you have in the States, so other than what we read she was our only real source of information.  I can't even tell you how valuable it was to have Michawn by our side during the pregnancy and then during the birth (she came along).  It would have been such a lonely, discouraging experience to try to have a natural birth in Brazil without her friendship and support!

Michawn with us in the hospital

Anyway, after the birth I assumed I was pretty much done with birth until our next baby.  However, it wasn't over.  I just kept running across women who knew I had had a natural birth and wanted to hear all about it.  I've gotten to share with many women, both Christians and non-Christians about how God designed every part of the birth process and really give Him the glory.  Many women have really opened up and wanted to know more so they could also avoid a c-section if they didn't have a medical reason.  They have asked me to help them in the same way that Michawn helped me...teach them about what to expect and be with them throughout the pregnancy when really few others are encouraging in this way. 

I would LOVE to help them!  To have this as a tool to connect with and support women in a unique way.  To have this as a little unofficial ministry on the side when God brings the right woman along.  To build relationships.  To show God's love.  To get together a bunch of times with a couple in need.  To share Christ's message of salvation with them. 

First famiy picture - in the hospital still

The problem?  I'm not officially qualified! 

Then this trip to the States came up and the door opened up to get training to become a birth instructor through Informed Beginnings.  It's really incredible to see how it worked out.  There will only be two training courses this year, one in Boston and one in Chicago.  And guess when the one in Chicago is?  The exact few days that we will be going to Chicago to pick up our car and driving out to Ohio!  Only 30 minutes from where we will be staying.  Seriously...what are the chances of that? 

Another cool thing is the women leading the course was a missionary in the Philippines.  And she also got started in this area in almost the same way! 

I was able to get a discount through the organization since I will be using my skills as a ministry, but the course is still pretty expensive.  If you are interested in being part of this journey in some way and want to help with the costs, please let me know! 

The course itself is only 3 days of training, but then I will have a lot of requirements to fulfill.  Hospital tours, attending a birth, a mentoring relationship, a bunch of books to read and reports, planning a course, and more.  I am excited to have this as a little side project while Jeyson is getting trained in Ohio.  I will keep you updated as things unfold!

Farm Fresh Goodness

I LOVE going to the farmer's market here in town.  There's one close to our house and lately I've been taking Elijah on Thursday mornings when it's open.  Sometime I'll post pictures of the market itself, but it's too hard to juggle buying veggies, pushing a stroller, and taking pictures in the very, very crowded market!  For now, here's a picture our our haul.  Not a lot is cheap in Brazil compared with the States, but produce certainly is a good deal! 

For about $11 I got:

1 bunch of bananas

2 melons

2 cucumbers

2 peppers

6 potatoes

2 sweet potatoes

1 large zucchini

5 carrots

2 heads of garlic

2 big heads of broccoli

2 huge heads of lettuce

1 papaya

30 small apples

9 tomatoes

2 tangerines

I fed Elijah his breakfast as I sorted through the produce.  I roasted the sweet potatoes, potatoes, and zucchini in the oven and them made them into puree/froze for Elijah.  Chopped up the melons to eat and made some into puree.  Pureed the papaya (Elijah loves it for breakfast!), blanched the broccoli for two different dishes I"m going to make this week, threw together some homemade applesauce with some of the apples, and washed the lettuce.  All in about 45 minutes.  I was highly efficient...probably all of the extra energy from the high of getting such a great deal :)

I'm definitely going to miss all of the farm fresh cheap goodies from the market while we're gone!