36 Weeks - Let the Countdown Begin!

36 weeks! I seriously can't believe it is time to really start getting ready for our little man's arrival! It's so surreal and lots of emotions as we check things off our to-do list. Up until this weekend we still had A LOT of things to do - including buying a carseat, crib sheets, a bathtub and other such important things. We worked hard this weekend and got a lot done and I'm feeling much more ready. The nest is almost ready and momma bird is much happier! One big project has been washing all of the baby clothes we have gotten (hand-me-downs and new too). This has been especially tricky in rainy season since the clothes have literally taken 4 days to dry! So cute though, hanging up....I can't believe we're really going to have someone this tiny around here!

Jeyson made a screen for the nursery window (they don't sell them around here and we didn't bother having one before since it was just our storage room.)

And here are a few pregnancy shots. I am seriously huge these days! I have to say though, all things considered, I'm feeling great! I get up 3 or so times at night to use the bathroom, but 3 out of 4 nights I sleep really well and don't even bother with extra pillows, etc. I have had some pretty uncomfortable leg/feet swelling, but it has gone down a lot in the past few days, which I'm super happy about. Of course that doesn't mean I fit in normal shoes or anything, it just means that I can fit the strap of my flip-flop over my foot again...I"ll take what I can get!

We're just about finishing up our Bradley birth course too and I'm feeling as prepared as one can feel. It sort of feels like when you have a final exam and you study, study study, to the point that there is no point in looking at your book anymore. It's time to just bring it on :) But not too soon! At our 36 week appointment, we found out that our doctor is getting married and traveling from this coming Saturday through Nov 5th on his honeymoon! That will put me at 38 weeks! I confess it makes me a bit nervous, but we have a backup doctor's info, and are just trusting the Lord for His timing. I am not dilated at all so the doctor feels there is a good chance our guy will stay put until after the honeymoon. Who knows though!

At 36 weeks, here's a list of some things we still have to do:

Put up shelf in nursery

Build bookshelf for nursery

Sew curtains and a crib skirt

Make freezer meals

Pack for hospital

We're also just soaking up the last moments as just the two of us before life changes forever. We're SO excited, but not wanting to wish away the phase we're in. Last night we had some friends over for games. Of course we still plan to have friends over in the future, but this was one of the last times to do this with no little guy to take care of. It was lots of fun! I have a few other things like that on my list, so we're not wishing away the coming weeks....just enjoying every moment God has us in. But the suspense is killing me...what will he look like? how will the birth go? what will it be like being a mom? And so much more....there's an adventure ahead!!!

Here's Some Advice....

When you're 8 months pregnant and wake up at 2am because you can't sleep...read a book, pray, count sheep, and do whatever else you can think of. But DON'T do what I did last night....I checked my email....
And found out the most exciting news! My parents bought their tickets to come visit us in Brazil in February! I know it's a long way off still....

But it got me SO SO SOOOO SUPER excited that I couldn't fall asleep until 5 am!!!

We CAN'T wait to have our first official visitors here and for it to be Dad and Mom!!! YAY! SO FUN! But next time I'll wait till the morning to find out :)

Baby Tea

A baby tea, that's what it's called in Portuguese. In English? A baby shower...that's what some ladies threw for me last week. And it wasn't just any baby shower. It was the sweetest, most thoughtful, and fun shower ever...but I might be a little biased :) Here's some pictures of the fun evening.

Me with my popping belly
My mother-in-law came and made the most perfect chocolates and sweets

My super talented friend (and the host of the party) made this adorable onesie cake

And this diaper cake too. These diaper cakes are the cutest invention - getting one really made me feel like a mom-to-be! I LOVED it!

There was a great turn out of women from the mission, as well as some other friends from the community.

My friend, Joy, was nice enough to play along with this goofy fun game/drama part

And one of the most fun parts was a game where I had to answer questions about our baby/being a parent and predict how Jeyson would answer the question. Then, they played Jeyson's actual response that had been videoed. We did pretty well...though there were a few surprise answers as you can see from my shocked expression!

And the BEST surprise of all was my family coming to the shower via video clips that they had made and sent to one of my friends.

And although my family couldn't be there, I was so happy to have my mother-in-law and sister-in-law there in person.

My friend Michawn, who is a mom of 4 and is going to be our doula for the birth, shared an encouraging word on being a mom.

Thank you so much to these sweet friends, Vanessa and Kris, for planning and working so hard to make this shower so wonderful and memorable. It meant so much to me to feel loved and encouraged by these friends God as brought into my life!

"One Room" School House

I've had quite a fun and different experience over the past two months helping out at a missionary kid's school. The teacher has not been able to get a visa to come to Brazil, so the parents of these kids set up a little school in a church and are sharing the job. I have been helping out two mornings a week teaching reading and social studies. It's my first time teaching without the subject being English as a foreign language!
The kids are really fun and I'm glad to be a small part of allowing their parents to serve in their ministry with the Brazilian branch of Wycliffe. When I was telling one of my sisters about this one room school house type setup, she said "So it's sort of like Christie (the old t.v. show you might remember) without the horses". I guess it is! ...although there is more than one room for us to use :)

As you can see, the belly is growing by the day! The other day, the kids were all doing an independent reading assignment and Baby Braun was VERY active, kicking and squirming all around. I looked up to see one of the boys with his eyes FIXED on my moving belly in confusion and amazement. So cute!

Quick Pics of Jeyson

Here's a few pictures of what Jeyson has been up to lately at work since it's been a while since posting just day to day pictures of Jeyson working.

It's no secret that Jeyson LOVES welding. Here he was recently working on repairing a tool that is used around the hangar.
Very intense....

Successfully repaired.

And working on an engine. Here Jeyson and Christian (right) were getting some instructions on how to work on the engine from Valmir (middle) a very experienced mechanic.

All in a day's work...

News from a Nearby Field

Yesterday we heard the sad news that a Pilatas PC-6 missionary plane crashed in Indonesia. It was a plane flown by missionary pilot, Paul Westlund, and he along with two Indonesian passengers passed away. Paul had been flying for nearly 25 years. The cause of the accident, which happened in a remote mountainous region, is still unknown.

While the plane was not an Asas plane, or even an MAF plane, (it was one of JAAR's partner missions) we can't help but feel connected as this man was serving in a very similar ministry as we do. Please be praying for his wife and two children which he left behind.

But don't stop there, click over to here to see a moving video that had been put together long before the accident about the ministry in Indonesia. It is definitely worth a watch and quite a challenge to live sold out for Him. Apparently, one of the planes in the video is the actual one that crashed.

Mechanics, English, and Two Awesome Opportunities

Technical English came to a close last week. This was the class I was teaching (along with Jeyson when I needed help with specific mechanics knowledge) to the incoming mechanic missionaries and quite a few from the community. It was a great group and an awesome opportunity to share our faith.
It was a very casual classroom setting, as you can see from the pictures. In these pictures they were working in groups on translating part of an article for airplane mechanics.

One of my favorite parts of teaching was having the young man on the right in this picture (Jonatas) as part of the class. He is a new missionary that just arrived in Brazil from Venezuela to be trained by our mission to return back to Venezuela in a few years. Why? A few years ago all foreigners in Venezuela were kicked out of the country by the government (Hugo Chavez), causing an active and very needed missionary flight program to be shut down because all of the pilots and mechanics were foreigners. Their plane and all of the ministries that depended on the flights were stopped suddenly. So, recently, many local Venezuelan pastors and ministries have rallied together to get it started....which means getting Venezuelan pilots and mechanics trained. The first one to start is Jonatas and he came to us in Brazil to do it since there wasn't a good training place available in Venezuela. We were so excited to have the privilege to have a tiny part in getting this ministry in Venezuela off the ground again literally, but teaching Jonatas this course that he is required to have.

Jonatas and Andres (left, who just arrived from Colombia and is gong to be serving in Brazil with Asas) did a great job translating, considering they had to go from English to Portuguese - neither of which languages do they speak fluently!

The other awesome opportunity was getting to pray and share a verse with the class each day before beginning. Since it was English class, each day I shared a verse in English and we translated it together into Portuguese. The classes were held at Asas de Socorro, so I had the freedom to be as open about the Gospel as I wanted to be (which of course I was!). One of the neatest things happened on a day that my co-teacher Grace was teaching class. She came into the class in a huge rush and frazzled from a crazy day. She began class right away without praying or a verse. Then, one of the students in the back who is not a believer raised his hand. "Aren't you going to begin with a verse and prayer?" he asked, "That has been my favorite part!" Of course Grace backtracked and began the class again with Him as the start. It is so exciting to see how God is working! Although the English requirement for the mechanics class is over, they will spend the next year+ learning at Asas and, Lord willing, will have many opportunities to hear the Gospel through the other missionaries who are teaching.