It's a...

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?!?!?

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!

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...

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

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!

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

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.