HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

So last Friday the kids were all left in the hands of us girls as the teachers were all at a presentation at a local school. The older students were also invited so that left us with just a hand full of younger kids... easy enough! We played some games, danced, made paper airplanes then decided to take them to the quad to play some soccer and run around. Our clown friend was giving the kids rides on his skateboard and one little 6 year old girl, Tatiane, was so excited to tell us about her adventure! She came running at us but first tripped and fell on a cord causing her to smack her forehead into the cement steps- she got up screaming and crying as blood ran down her face, into her eyes and mouth. Instinct kicked in and Katie scooped her up and we ran back to PETI only to discover everything was closed so we were without a car! While the cook helped clean her up, we found an ambulance to take us to the health center. Katie and I hopped in the back and sang to the poor young girl the whole way there to try and calm her nerves- she just kept repeating that she did not want stiches, something she was clearly going to need! Note: this was my second time in an ambulance this year in Brazil, thank God never for myself or something too serious. It was determined that she needed to go to the hospital in Telemaco to get the stiches so we went and got her mom and sent them on their way... our first time being left in charge of the kids alone and I´m guessing our last! :) She is back and PETI now and doing fine with 3 small stiches on her upper forehead, thank God it was not worse!

After the dramatic morning we headed to Ponta Grossa, a nearby city a little bigger than Telemaco, to have a fun getaway! We were originally supposed to go with a coworker but when he cancelled we decided to make it happen anyways. We found an affordable hotel in the center of the city and spend the night walking around, checking out an outdoor rock concert where Megan took advantage of the free rock climbing wall, then we walked around the mall and got some dinner. The next day we did some cheap shopping in the "Little Paraguay" in the center of town. We thought we gave ourselves plenty of time to catch our bus home but we read the departure time wrong so we missed it and ended up staying in the city an extra couple hours until the next bus- so being 3 girls, we headed back to the mall! It was a fun, one day trip that allowed us to see a city that I have only been to to renew my visa.

A lot of this week has been focused on figuring out details for the beach, more specifically the buses that will be taking our kids to the beach in a week. We were told that they will locked and in place for months now yet somehow Monday when we went to double check, the process had been done wrong and we were without buses! This was something that would cost us $3000, something we absolutely don´t have. Luckily us Americans are not quick to give up and with a little pushing and perserverance, we found a way to make it happen in two days. This was such a blessing as Katie left on Tuesday for Argentina for a capoeira event- she will be gone until next Monday!!

We only have until the end of November in our ´center´that we are renting so we have been trying to take advantage of having children there as much as possible. We had groups doing math, English mock tests, photography posters, drawing with chalk and just playing games. It will be sad to have to give that place up after all the time and effort we put into making it a place for both fun and learning for the kids- it has been one of my favorite aspects of this year!

With less than 3 weeks left, I look back and give thanks for such an amazing experience thus far this year, not only in the Brazil but my time in the States as well. God is so great and from the beginning knew this year would work out just perfectly while I was busy stressing about where my life was headed. I am extremely grateful that I got to skype with my family last night for Thanksgiving... it was such a blessing to see them all gathered together to enjoy each others company. I am really looking forward to being a part of family get togethers again very soon! May we all continue to give thanks everyday to God for everything he has so graciously given us. Happy Black Friday- good luck shopping!!

Results of Boredom!

Well the country full of holidays did it again with a 5 day weekend- we were off work through Tuesday this week for who knows what! Katie had gone to Paraguay with a few other teachers to buy some cheap presents for our kids with money the kids themselves had raised through a raffle we did. They got to list their top 3 options of small presents they wanted and we were able to get them some really great gifts. We handed out the balls, shirts, purses and makeup kits yesterday to some very deserving and excited kids! With Megan spending the long weekend in Curitiba visiting a friend, I was really glad to have Katie home Saturday night. First thing we did Sunday was go rent 4 movies! Not only was it going to be a long 3 days with most of the stores and "attractions" of Telemaco closed, it also started to rain and the storms persisted until yesterday. The weather made it an ideal time to curl up in bed with some hot tea and watch movies, which we did! We also decided to venture outside and get together with several friends, both old and new. A lot of people were doing things with family so it was nice to have some people invite us to invade on that family time. It made me especially excited to get home in less than a month and have that time with my own family :)
Other ways Katie and I found to entertain ourselves- we walked a good 45 minutes to the only flat stretch of road we could find, only to run for 10 minutes before calling it quits in the rain. By the time we made our way home, we were drenched but feeling healthy! We also each created a list of 5 Portuguese words we did not know and switched lists. We then challenged each other to use these new words in conversation at some point throughout the weekend. Let´s just say it was not easy to randomly throw in the words sailor, jiggle, gassy, mouse, etc. into normal conversation but I can say that I will never forget them!! We made ´sugar cookies´with our friend Lucas for his birthday as well. Ingredients and recipes don´t work so well in other countries where things have to be substituted and measurements converted. The first batch was sugarless, 2nd batch was a sugar overload and the 3rd and final batch was burnt! :( It was the effort that counted though!
Today we have a friend from Curitiba here visiting and he works part time as a clown so he is keeping our kids entertained! I love anytime we have something new and different for our kids, it keeps them content and well behaved! They are all wanting to try his tricks, few with success :)
It is crazy to me all the Christmas decorations that are already up and in stores here, one because of the warm weather and two, because Thanksgiving has not passed yet. I hope you are all getting into the seasonal spirit, first to give thanks for all the ways in which we are all so blessed and soon followed by the birth of Jesus. Please continue to keep us and our kids in your prayers as we are now down to less than 4 weeks left with these beautiful children. My prayer request these days has been for God to prepare my heart for the goodbye to Brazil and hello to the USA! Love you all!

Another Birthday in Brazil!

I officially left the teenage years on Saturday and the girls made it extra special! We all met up at the local coffee shop where I opened the birthday package my family had graciously sent me full of lots of creative gifts :) It was very thoughtful and I loved it! Then the girls surprised me with a poster of ´The Top 20 Things We Love About Lee Ann`- they had chosen 20 friends from here to write me a nice message for my birthday. They as well wrote some sweet notes. It was a great surprise and something I will never forget- I loved reading them! Katie was even thoughtful enough to get me some USA colored balloons... from the trash!! At first she claimed she went on a long search for them but later admitted to where they were found, special all the same haha We then spend the whole afternoon into the evening on a farm with our students who study English at PBF, one being Vandir who shares a birthday with me, so we got to celebrate together!! PBF, the school, had a whole day of fun games and activites planned for all the kids (not just ours) who are studying English. We started with a little competition that Katie and I versed off in- we raced to grab a pen and the first person to get it (me) had to answer a question in English. I should probably not admit this but I incorrectly answered a question in passive voice.. yikes. As punishment I had to get my face wet and then, just using my mouth, get a piece of candy out of a pan full of flour- the end result was a hilarious picture! The whole day was so much fun for our kids, they had a slip ´n´ slide, scavenger hunt, sack race... all to practice their English! At the end of the day Vandir was telling us that he ´loved us forever´- it was precious. Then to end my birthday we went to the birthday party of another guy we didn´t know, but it was a lot of fun because we went with a bunch of our friends from the gym. In general, I could not have asked for a more special, blessed birthday and I am so grateful for all those who made it that way, both here and back home.

My previous photo project with the kids having them take 5 pictures of themselves, one each day, did not go as well as I had hoped so this week we started again, this time with me having examples to help them out. I am doing the photo project along with them and I now realize just how difficult it is and ridiculous you feel taking pictures of yourself but so far I have seen improvement so I think this time around we are getting it! We spent all day Monday, while Megan was doing computers, having a meeting discussing the beach trip list. Everyone had opinions and was fighting for certain kids but in the end we rounded off a pretty good list of 50 students that are invited to the beach. It was nice for all the teachers to feel like they had a say in the trip as well!

On Tuesday I treated myself to a massage in Imbau- kind of a birthday present to myself. They are very affordable here and the quality was equal to what I would pay a lot more for in the States, just the culutral difference in that the woman wanted to talk the whole time :) It is a such a small town so of course she is the sister of one of the other teachers at PETI. It was a relaxing hour all the same!

We moved our store up to Thursday this week and started selling things at a cheaper price as we will probably only have one more store and we are trying to get rid of as much as possible before we leave. All the donated clothes the Americans brought down have been a BIG hit, so thank you to all those who were a part of that. It always makes me smile to have a child show up in SLDM jersey! Then Friday we had an extra special afternoon planned for our kids- we cancelled PETI in the morning and invited everyone to come in the afternoon for a presentation from a church here in Telemaco. It is the church of our friend Niza and I have gone with her several times. When the pastor heard about our project he wanted to get involved. This is something we tried to plan a few weeks ago but it unfortunately fell through. This time it was a huge success!! They had about 10 youth from the church come to put on a theatrical skit portraying that true happiness can only be found in Jesus- it was very moving and entertaining. Then they had a young man, 21, come up and give his witness to our kids. He grew up in a home live I´m sure many of them can relate to- mother with drinking problems, siblings with drug addictions and he himself got into the same mess. He told his story about his conversion and how finding Jesus and the entrance of faith in his life changed everything. It was incredibly touching and had some people in tears by the end. Then he invited everyone forward to hold hands in a circle and sing some praise and worship then he led us in a beautiful closing prayer that had even more kids crying. The whole experience was amazing and spiritual.. God was definitely present and at work! It was something I will never forget and hopefully our kids as well!

I have been training Muay Thai even more these last couple weeks as we have a graduation coming up at the end of the month! I am trying to get in 3 classes a week, one being at 10:30 pm.. yikes! But I am really loving the sport and the friendships I am making in the classes! Although I am losing motivation to go to the gym in the unbelievable heat we are having here.. it is incredible! Lots of sunscreen and tank tops are needed to get through this weather. I can not imagine their summer- I actually don´t think I could handle it! :)

All I can think about is the wonderful cold weather that will greet me in a month. I´m sure you are all envious of the sunshine but I am looking forward to some snow! Sorry I am late posting this blog... I am behind on several things but today I have time to catch up as both the girls are gone so I have nothing to distract me :)

Special prayer request for my dad and all the men on CHRP this weekend- thinking and praying for you all that God may work in unthinkable ways in your lives and draw you into a closer relationship with Him!

Happy Halloween!

Last weekend I thought I was going to only have Friday night alone but Katie ended up staying in Curitiba an extra night so I knew I had to do something Saturday or I would go crazy. I decided to go to the Lions of Judea, a group of young people that meet from the church for a type of youth group every Saturday night. I headed out there alone, feeling a little self conscience, but ended up loving every moment. It took me right back to all the youth group stuff I do in the States, singing and dancing praise to God and then ending the night with a beautiful message/reflection on a Bible passage... I was really glad I went! Then on Sunday Katie was already home (Megan stayed in Curitiba training capoeira until this Wednesday) and we headed to spend the night at our friend´s house in Imbau as we were leaving early Monday morning to visit the beach and try and find a place to stay with our kids in December. This gave us a chance to celebrate Mass at our sister parish, Sao Jose, which is always a nice thing. Then Monday we spend all day in the car traveling with the coordinator of PETI and another co-worker to try and find a place that worked for us to take 70 people for our last vacation with the kids right before we leave.. and we were successful!! We found a wonderful place that is afforable, (they gave us a great discount because of the situation of our kids) safe and perfectly located within walking distance to the beach! It was a long day of searching but we all left feeling great about our choice.

Tuesday and Thursday at PETI were spend making all kinds of preparations for the late Halloween party we had today. The kids were hard at work making creative masks and thinking of what costumes they could come up with while we went around to make sure our ´trick or treating´ would work out. It all came together perfectly for the big party today.. the kids showed up in a wide variety of costumes.. most unidentifiable :) They got so creative with the face paint and limited resources we had to offer too! We of course got into costume as well, Katie as Snow White, Megan a pirate and I went as a clown.. pictures will be on facebook soon! The day started with all the kids getting a sack and us walking around Imbau, stopping at 6 pre planned places asking for candy.. we did this last year and it was just as successful this year. The people in the town really love to be a part of it! Then we came back to stuff our faces with sweets and play some games. We had a station of Pin the Nose on the Pumpkin, a cake walk and bobbing for apples, my favorite to watch!! They also had the chance to guess a number of candy corn in a jar, the winner getting the foreign candy.. they loved it! It was such a fun, memorable day for everyone!

Wednesday was a holiday here for everyone and we got to celebrate our good friend Lucas´ birthday with a BBQ here at the house. It was a great chance for us to see some friends we unfortunately don´t get to see too often and celebrate with Lucas.

It is hard to believe that we have enterted another month, and our second to last month in Brazil at that. I have heard on the news that some places in the States have already had snow.. yikes! I am preparing myself to come home to a freezing winter. I hope you are all staying warm and healthy! Until next week!

Traveling with the Kids!

Before we got to travel with our kids on Saturday, we had to say goodbye to a student who many of you have heard about and been praying for, Eva. Her mother is moving her and several of her siblings to a new city in search of work. Unfortunately it had been awhile since we had even seen Eva, at this point she had stopped coming to PETI, school and English lessons. It was sad to see her go but even more sad that things left without much emotion as she has changed so drastically in the month since she left the orphanage and moved back in with her mom. All we can do is pray that this new city brings them happiness and success.

Then on Saturday afternoon we headed to Tibagi, a nearby town, with 23 of our older, well behaved students for a weekend camping trip! The place where we stayed wasn´t necessarily 5 stars but the view that surrounded us was breathtaking and the kids made it such a fun adventure! We took them to a beautiful waterfall and within minutes they were all in the freezing water splashing around and having a great time. Back at our campsite they made the most of the waste deep river nearby and also played soccer and volleyball. Then we cooked up some hotdogs for dinner and as it started to get a little darker we all sat around the campfire while some students played the guitar and everyone else sang along :) We also attempted to make some s´mores but it had a Brazilian twist with the strawberry marshmellows they sell here- they were a big hit with everyone! You would think with a full day in the sun they would all be exhausted and sleep early.. WRONG! They had all kinds of energy to dance the night away and play all kinds of hide and seek games. It took us threatening to take away their spots on the beach trip to get them to finally lay down and keep semi quiet. Needless to say we did not get a lot of sleep as it was freezing and we were sleeping on the floor of a shelter without walls so no protection from the bugs as well as we forgot the bug spray.. yikes! They were all up at the first sign of the sun to do it all again!! We spent Sunday afternoon splashing around and playing until we headed back after lunch. In general it was such an amazing vacation with kids that truely appreciated and loved each moment. It was a great chance to have some one of one time with kids, something we normally don´t get each day at the program with some many kids seeking out attention.

This week we have spent a lot of time starting to plan the upcoming beach trip that we are planning for the first weekend in December. We are trying to keep the number of kids to 50 which is looking quite impossible- my vote is for 60 even if that means a little more work but a chance for more deserving kids to come along! It is going to be a long process selecting kids, finding an affordable place with lots to do and all the other little details that need to be worked out.. but it will be worth it in the end! I got the chance this week to do some advanced English with the PBF students and then with all the students in a few rounds of BINGO with English words and then Thursday I helped out in their music class as they are learning the lyrics to ´Happy Day´- really precious to hear them try to pronounce the words!

Wednesday I discovered that I have lice- two years in a row! Unfortunately here the treatment is a little more complicated and not as advanced as the medication that you can find in the States that kills live ones and gets rid of all the eggs too. Here I have to put a shampoo in that kills the live ones then Katie has had to comb through my hair and take out all the individual eggs that are left- its a complicated process that I have to do for three straight days then hopefully I am clear. Luckily the girls have not caught it and also I caught it early before they really started to take over! Hopefully after this weekend I will be good :)

We do not have the program today as it is a holiday for the government in Imbau so that cancels PETI- this country has more holidays than any other! We spend the morning looking through the clothes Sister Rose has for Halloween costumes we can use with our kids for our upcoming party we are going to have with them next week to celebrate! Then we got to spend some time with the 3 sisters by having lunch at their house before I sent the girls on their way to another city for another capoeira event this weekend. I am looking forward to this time along to get some things done and just relax!

I had the special priviledge to talk with my family but most specifically my dad for his birthday on Wednesday- it is hard to be away from family on special days like that but I am so grateful for things like Skype that make it easier to stay in touch!

Happy Halloween weekend to everyone- enjoy all those sweets! :)

UPS AND DOWNS OF PD

So just after I got done blogging last week, we arrived in Imbau to discover that while we had been at the funeral on Thursday afternoon, they had cancelled PETI for Friday so there were no kids coming for band presentation. We were so frustrated that planned had been changed without us knowing and we had to call the band with only 2 hours notice of our cancelation. Unfortunately this was not the first time we have been left in the dark about a change of plans.. we are working to get the workers better about communication but it takes some time. So we instead spent the afternoon visiting houses to let the kids know about the capoeira events that were taking place Friday night and Saturday afternoon. That night the kids came by bus into Telemaco Borba for a roda with a master of capoeira that came from Curitiba just to do this with our kids! He did all sorts of fun games with them that had them all leaving with big smiles and motivation to return the next day for a course in Imbau. Unfortunately we were still in our week long rainy period so not as many kids as we had hoped showed up but those that were there loved the course! They were all sweaty but happy by the end of a fun relay race that ended the afternoon. Sunday we just relaxed and let the girls rest their tired bodies after a weekend full of capoeira!
This week we had the Project Discovery Center just how we wanted it, with some pillows and all kinds of books, magazines and comics ready to read along with all kinds of games for their use! We even printed several large pictures to show different aspects of the program that decorate the walls. We are so proud of this place :) Since Monday we have been taking several small groups of kids to come and play in one room while the other room is being used to get some extra math help in. Megan has been in charge of that and has really motivated the kids to study a little more and improve their math skills.. it has been awesome to see them get excited about it!
My photography project this week has 4 kids taking self portraits every day this week. The rules are that they have to be the one to take the picture and they are to show five sides of themselves, one each day. It has been challenging for them to think of something creative to display different sides of their personalities. They LOVE to take pictures of themselves so it has also been hard for them to leave only one picture each day after taking about 50! It is exciting for me to really see some of the kids come out of their shells behind the lens of the camera.
This week we have also been frantically getting together our travel plans for camping this weekend with the kids. It was a trip that was originally planned by another teacher who left PETI and now the trip is in our plans. We moved locations to a closer city, Tibagi, to save some money. This week we had to visit houses to get permission from parents as it is an overnight. We will leave Saturday afternoon and return Sunday after lunch. The kids are very excited about the trip and have been full of questions about the plans, what to pack, etc. It should be a lot of fun, just hoping the rain holds out!
With my Thursday morning free for outreach this morning I headed to APAE, the school for children with special needs here in Imbau. I intended to go alone and visit with Dougless, the young boy I met a few months ago when we did the parade with the school, but 2 boys wanted to visit with me so we all headed there together just to see what we could do! We just entered into a classroom and started helping out with there lesson on the sounds of letters. I have never felt such pride in someone as I did in our two students who jumped in and started interacting and helping these other students. I could not stop smiling as we went and played outside with the kids on the playground before being a part of their PE class to end our visit. Before we left, it was one of the boys idea to return and teach the kids how to make some friendship braclets, something I have been teaching them at PETI. I left with my heart full of pride for what these 2 boys had done and I just felt so blessed to witness such a beautiful exchange of love!
I am wishing my family safe travels and a wonderful fall break getaway in NYC! I hope it is a great vacation for all of you.. you deserve it! Keep sending your prayer requests our way and know you are all always in our hearts here in Brazil. God Bless!

SLOW, RAINY WEEK

I do not think the rain has stopped coming down since my last blog, starting with our a rainy weekend in Maringa. Luckily, this just gave us the opportunity to find entertainment in new places like the movie theater inside the mall. We also tried to wait out the rain by praying the rosary in the beautiful cathedral near our hotel. We finally decided we just had to embrace it so we walked around the festival, getting wet but enjoying some delicious churros! It was a wonderful girls weekend and a beautiful tradition that we hope to continue if any or all of us return next year.

It has been a slow week at the program as PETI was cancelled Monday so that the teachers could get together and prepare for the party we were throwing for the kids Tuesday to celebrate Children´s Day. We worked all morning on getting together little goodie bags full of sweets, making some desserts and getting the trampoline we were borrowing. Then Tuesday we had a party in both the morning and afternoon. We tried to have a few games/activities planned but everyone was very excited to wait in line to jump on the tramp! This was something they so rarely get to do, for some it was their first time, and they could not get enough of it. They would end their 2 minute jumping time and run to the back of the line. We also had Bingo, Twister and some other board games too. Naturally, a game of soccer got started as well. We had a special lunch prepared for them as well. We had a BBQ with delicious meat, potatoe salad and rice with cake for dessert.. delicious! The day was very chaotic with 2 teachers missing and a few extras hands always needed in the kitchen, but the kids loved it so it was well worth it!

Then Wednesday again we had the day off as it was the actual holiday of Children´s Day and also the feast day of the country´s patron saint, Our Lady of Aparecida. They had a procession of cars an hour long in the morning and at night we went to a beautiful Mass celebrated in the outdoor sports gym to fit everyone. The devotion and love this country has for Mary is an inspiring thing! We spend the better part of the afternoon cleaning our filthy bedroom, it was about time! Then I had my first driving lesson with a friend.. learning how to drive stick shift proved to be a little harder than I thought it would be! Luckily I did no harm to the car :)

Yesterday we were back at PETI and I spent the morning doing English in our new Project Discovery Center then headed back to make bracelets with the kids with all the colorful yarn my mom sent down! Surprisingly it is the older boys who have really taken to making these bracelets and have figured out the pattern I taught them.. it is cute! Then sadly we spent the whole afternoon at the funeral of our coworker´s grandpa. We stayed a few hours and just visited with the family, distracting the little cousins with talk of Disney princesses and Barbie. Being there, not doing much, just showing support, made me so grateful once again for all those who showed that same support last year when my grandpa passed away. I am glad I was able to repay that to a friend.

Now I am sitting here, listening to the rain coming down still and getting ready to head to Imbau late this afternoon as the morning was cancelled because we have a band from a church here in Telemaco going to talk and sing with our kids this afternoon! I met the pastor when I went to church with a friend here and he heard about our project and immediately wanted to get involved! So today him and his band are going to share a little bit with our kids about the importance of faith and sing some praises to God, I am so excited!!

As of yesterday, we are down to exactly 2 months, wow! As the countdown continues I pray that the 3 of us really open ourselves up and seek out where God is calling us next. That is always the question people ask us and what we constantly ask ourselves :)

Hope everyone is having a wonderful month of October! Know that we think and pray for all of you in the States daily!

Living Out of A Suitcase

It does feel like we have been blessed to be able to travel a lot more this year but this week I have already unpacked my suitcase once and will pack it again tonight! We spent the night in Imbau, where we work, on Tuesday night as after work we went with another teacher from PETI to accompany her with her adult English class later in the night. The bus unfortunately does not run that late so we had to sleep there. The other English teacher at this school happened to be good friends of my parents from when we lived here all those years ago. Dad, do you remember a Paulo Alves? I sure hope so because he remembers walking around Telemaco with you practicing your Portuguese and you helping him with his English. I could tell my dad really left an impact in his life as he was so proud to tell the class all about how we were connected. Supposedly he gets a Christmas card every year so his class had already seen several pictures of me and the family from past years- small world huh?!

I have said lots of good things about how on top of things the new teachers here at PETI are and just another example- one teacher thought one of our morning students was a little hard of hearing as he is constantly screaming even when you are right in front of him, it can be a little scary ha but they immediately set up an appointment for him with the doctor in Imbau who is now sending him to Curitiba, the capital, to have a test done free of charge! It gives me such a sense of peace knowing we will be leaving our kids behind in such great hands in 2 short months. At the same time though, we sadly lost a teacher this past week as he moved jobs to one with a greater salary. He was the one who planned our upcoming camping trip so we are in the process of making sure that can still happend without him, maybe in another location.

This whole week we have dedicated ourselves to our brand new Project Discovery Center!! We decided to rent out two small rooms very close to the building we work in where we plan to take small groups of students to study, whether it be English or math, or to just read or play some games! We also plan to use the space as a meeting room for when we need to talk with parents in a more professional, quiet setting. We were given permission to paint so that we did! The walls are the colors of PD- red, green, yellow and blue. It has left the place with such a bright, cheerful atmosphere! The kids came today to paint their hands and leave their handprints on the wall- it looks really awesome and kid friendly, just what we wanted! Next with the help of Sister Rose we are trying to furnish it a little bit with a couch and some pillows and a rug. One room is more for relaxation and the other will be more of a quiet, study space. It is small and nothing special but we are so proud to call it our own!!

Today with my first Thursday off I went with Katie to pray the rosary with an elderly woman in the community, Dona Rosa. Katie goes there every Thursday and always comes back with stories and a gift and I felt so blessed to tag along today. This woman is an angel if I have ever met one. The gentle way she talked about the suffering of her son and how much she prayed to take his place in the suffering almost brought tears to my eyes. It was a really special experience to pray the rosary in another language and I immediately thought of you Mom and how much you would love that! :)

This weekend we are headed to Maringa, a nearby city that we randomly visited last year and fell in love with. It is a beautiful, bigger city with a small town feel! We are just going to spend the weekend there, finding entertainment who knows where, but ever since last year we have been looking forward to returning!

Especially with this new Project Discovery Center, I want to take the time to again thank all those who have financially donated to our work here. Things like this would not be possible without your generous help, we can´t thank you enough! All the support we receive, spiritually and monetarily, help in ways only God knows!

May God bless you all with a wonderful weekend and upcoming week! Hope your birthday month is starting out great Dad!!

ANOTHER MONTH WRAPPING UP!

Am I the only one that is having a hard time believe that it is almost the start of October? I can only imagine all the beautiful nature changing back in Indiana where as here it just keeps gets hotter and my face just keeps getting more burnt. :) As much as I hate the inconviences of rain it would be really nice to have a little shower to cool things off!

This past weekend the girls traveled to another state, Santa Catarina, for an event of capoeira. I was originally hoping there would be space in the car for me to tag along and see another city but that didn´t work out so I stayed home for a much needed, tranquil weekend. They didn´t head out until late Friday afternoon so they were there to help with our store at PETI and then work with the English students who retook the test of Saturday. Friday night was the birthday party of our host family´s daughter so I got to be a part of the celebration and meet some family and friends. I also got together with another great friend Marcela, who stayed with us in the USA last year and who unfortunately I have not had the chance to see too much this year.

Saturday morning I administered the English test for our students and I was so pleasantly surprised! It was obvious that they had studied on their own as well and if I was to guess I would say they all passed this second time around- we will see! Saturday afternoon was full of household chores, laundry and sweeping etc. then I got to skype briefly with Maria before spending the majority of the afternoon at our new favorite coffee shop. I had my own little Bible study, taking advantage of all kinds of books the girls have with a scripture followed by a little reflection. It left me with such a sense of peace and love for the Lord- could not think of a better way to pass a day alone! Then to top it all off I headed to church with another great friend, Niza. I have gone with her before and really loved the message and Saturday evening I once again was warmly welcomed by everyone and really enjoy the praise and worship music and message delivered by the pastor. He is very energetic and passionate about his work and he made plans to come visit our kids at PETI in a few weeks with the youth band to talk with our kids about the importance of faith in God- I am so excited about this! The girls ended up coming home early Sunday morning as their driver had to attend the funeral of our friend´s mom. Bruno, a young boy from the gym who does capoeira with the girls, had already lost his dad so please keep him and his siblings in your prayers. After Mass we went to a festival of religious music at the culture house- it was really awesome to hear some great music and see a great turnout of people from the city!

Monday I did English with several small groups focusing on the days of the week. We brought down so many worksheets this year and we are just now starting to use them. They came in handy to switch up what we did in English- a little verbal learning and then some extra worksheets to reinforce what we learned. Tuesday was a special treat for everyone as the circus was in town!! We got cut a deal to take our kids there, both the morning and afternoon groups. It was a smaller, amateur circus with only 4 people doing all the stunts but our kids could not get enough of it! Their oohs and awes made it all worth it. Many of them couldn´t stop talking about how cool it was to go to the circus for the first time. That night many of them returned on their own being drawn in by the contest of the ´ugliest man in the city´ competition! The winner got 5 kg of sausage :) Wednesday I spend the whole afternoon with Lucas again trying to figure out his arm. The doctor took off his cast then requested another X-ray but we didn´t have the proper paperwork to get it done for free so he had another cast put on and we scheduled another appointment for next week- quite frustrating the public hospitals here in Brazil!

Today was my last day teaching English Thursday mornings at the other private school in Imbau. I did not expect to arrive to a dark classroom with kids hiding to surprise me with cards, confetti and hugs.. it was very special! My two months with the students there flew by but I really enjoyed having the new experience- it gave me a perspective of what it takes to teach English as a foreign language but I think my favorite part about it was just forming relationships with other kids in the town! This afternoon we got to see the new baby sister of one of our students. Her name is Gabriela and she was born 6 days again- she was too cute!

Now that my teaching ended, I am looking for a new activity to fill my Thursday afternoons. I am open to just about anything- I am going to check with the Social Center to see if they know a family that could use some extra help with things around the house, with young children, anything really. It is exciting to think about all the ways God could use me for the next two months!

Muay Thai is still going great- leaving me with lots of bruises but I love the change up in my workout. I am actually headed to that class now! Rogerio only came that one day to the program so please continue to keep him in your prayers. His was given the blood test as well and now the government is just waiting for space to open up in a treatment center in Curitiba to put Rogerio and his brother Juliano, as long as he doesn´t run away again. Let´s all pray that this happens soon so that they can get the help they desperately need. The young girls in the family seem to be enjoying life in the orphanage. If you ask them if they prefer to live in their house or the orphanage they will tell you the orphanage but if you ask if they prefer to live with or without their mom, they say they prefer their mom- that is just the way it goes, unfortunately they can´t have both.

I just want to wish a happy 25th wedding anniversary to my parents this week! I could not feel more blessed for the example of a loving, faithful relationship that I have. If only more of our kids were exposed to this kind of love in the house. Wishing you 25 + more years of happiness and love!! Happy start of October to everyone!

Second Half!

Katie and I are officially here for the next three months! We went to Ponta Grossa, a nearby city, on Monday to have our visas renewed. If you haven´t heard the story about last year it is probably because we didn´t want to relive it, it was a complicated nightmare but thank God this year was problem free and easy! We got everything done in the morning so we got to spend the afternoon shopping and relaxing in the city before catching the bus back.
We had a relaxing weekend starting with a movie night complete with popcorn and cookies on Friday night. Then Saturday we took advantage of Telemaco Borba´s version of Starbucks, a little cafe with all kinds of delicious coffee drinks. We spent all afternoon there sitting in comfy chairs, sipping on frappuccino´s and reading/writing, it was really enjoyable! This weekend we also got to see the PETI kids a lot as Friday night we bused them in for a houda in the gym to get them ready for a presentation that we had Sunday night. It was culture week and they wanted to demonstrate the martial art for the community. Saturday we had our English lesson and unfortuntely only 2 of our students passed the test they took last week :( Just an indicator of how much more we need to study with them throughout the week. Unfortunately to close the weekend I witnessed a tragic motorcycle accident. The young 17 year old sadly past away at the scene but it was unlike anything I have ever seen before in my life. It was hard to see but it gave me a renewed reality about the gift of each day and how much we need to value the life God has given us. I ask that you keep this young man´s family and friends in your prayers as they suffer and deal with the pain that follows such an event.
Tuesday and Wednesday this week were so productive! Tuesday I got back into photography, the project this week being all about colors. The students were to take pictures of many different things, all the same color. I had it in my mind that this was going to be difficult for them but they did amazing and really let their creativity shine through, I was so proud! It was very rewarding to hear the afternoon kids excitedly talk about how this was the first time they had ever used a camera. Megan got really into math this week too- I now think every kid has done a worksheet to assess where their skill levels are at. The older kids did multiplication and the younger ones worked on basic addition. For the most part they were so proud to hear their scores. Amazingly our 2 students who have stopped studying had some of the higher scores! It was nice to see their confidence lift when they heard how well they did. Hopefully we will continue to work a little bit with them each day to help them with memorizing the basics and maybe we will even see some progress?!
This week for the first time I went to Mass last night, Wednesday, so that it frees up my Thursday nights for Muay Thai. The Mass was harder to follow as the responses and music were not posted on the wall like normal because it is a smaller attendence at this Mass but this instead gave me more time for reflection and prayer. I am still really loving the Muay Thai class- I am going to start training twice a week and today I will buy the gloves so that I can get in there and start fighting!
Today Rogerio came back to the program!!! Sadly he is a completly different person- he would not look me in the eyes and seemed to have no interest in being back. My hope is that this will change with time, for now I am just so happy to have him back in the safe haven of PETI as he was gone for months. Today his brother Juliano is being taken back to the health center to do a blood test for drugs. Hopefully if it comes back positive we can send him to a treatment center to get help.
As I look ahead to the next 3 months, I am so excited to see what is in store for the 2nd half of our trip! God has blessed us abundantly in the last three months so I can only imagine what lies ahead. Thinking about how our time is half up is both exciting and saddening- it is amazing how time can fly by so fast yet it feels like so much has happened! We sincerely thank you for all the support and prayers you have sent our way thus far, keep them up!

FUN FIRSTS!

It is hard to recap the fun, adventurous weekend we had on the farm of a coworker this past weekend but I will try and highlight the best parts! We left Friday after work and drove the 1 1/2 hours to arrive at a point in which we had to leave the comfort of a car and mount a horse- one of my bigger fears... this was something I was not aware of when we agreed to this weekend! Thank goodness I was with a real ´cowboy´ who knew what he was doing which really came in handy when we went to forge a river with what I would conisder raging rapids. We made it across the river only getting wet up to our knees and just when I thought I could let out my breath, the horse in front of us with Katie and our coworker, buckled and threw them off onto the rocks. Thank God they were not hurt and were only shaken up a little bit. By this point it was dark and I was able to let myself relax and enjoy the rest of the ride looking up at the beautiful night sky full of stars- we were in the middle of nowhere and the scenery was breathtaking! The rest of the weekend was full of true hillybilly fun- attempting to lasso poles, shooting beer cans off fence posts with beebee guns and just taking in all the sounds of the farm. We had goats in and out of the house, fish heads were popped off by the men and us girls just took the chance to take it all in. Saturday we spent the day down by the river playing in the water and relaxing before heading back to a town near Imbau for a festajuninha- a hillbilly themed party- for the birthday of a friend to wrap up our weekend!

Monday at the program we were able to do English with all the students which I have missed. It was nice to see how fast some of the new students have picked up on the basics and it never ceases to make me laugh that quite a few of them are unaware of what we are saying to them each morning when we ask ´How are you?´- they will get there! Monday night I got to see Sister Frannie for the first time as she has been in the USA since we got here in June. She is the 3rd sister that lives in the house with Sister Rose. It was good to catch up with her and hear all about her long vacation visiting her family. Tuesday morning was full of all kinds of activities... Katie was running around doing a few errands, Megan was doing computers with a few kids- something that she started last week and has been going really well- and a few of the girls were in the kitchen doing culinary with the other teachers. This is a new aspect of the program that we started a few weeks ago where the older girls, and sometimes guys, help out with lunch by preparing some aspect of it whether it be cooking the meat or preparing the pasta. It is so fun for them and it has given all the other kids a chance to branch out a little bit as they have tried some exotice recipes! So I was left with a few kids that were not doing anything. It was really nice to have some one on one time with a few of the students- I have missed that! I got one boy, Isaac, hooked on sudoku.. he was so proud when I told him he was the first kid I had seen comprehend the game! He took my book home to do more and share with his family. Katie and I left early on Tuesday thinking we had to go the bank to pay early for renewing our visas, something we planned to do today but luckily we called and discovered they were not helping foreigners this Friday for whatever reason so we scheduled an appointment for Monday. Then Tuesday night I had Muay Tai for the first time with a new friend Michelle- I could not have loved it more! It was right up my alley. I found it challenging but not impossible. My plan is to start doing it 1-2 times per week!

Wednesday I spend a large part of the afternoon with our student Lucas in the hospital here in Telemaco Borba as he injured his hand a month ago but did nothing about it so when he hit it again earlier in the week it made his whole hand/arm swell up. In Telemaco he was given an X-RAY then we talked with a doctor who said nothing was fractured or broken but still proceeded to wrap him up in a full arm cast?! We scheduled for him to come back in a couple weeks for an update. Last night we had our second parent meeting in the evening with the theme being ´drugs´. Our guest speaker cancelled the day before but we were fortunate enough to find a police officer who works with a program I would consider similar to DARE in the States. It was a small turnout of our kids and their families but it went really well! Those that were there we have to trust were the ones that needed to hear the message the most. It is always nice for us to feel like we have more of a connection with the parents as well.

I hope everyone is happy and healthy and enjoying the start of fall! Keep those prayers coming for all our kids and us!

Answered Prayers

We spent the whole weekend praying for Eva and her situation in another city, Londrina! We have a friend that we met last year who moved to Londrina, the 2nd largest city in Parana- the state we are living in- and so it was our perfect connection in the city. He speaks English and took such great care of us for our fun, spur of the moment weekend getaway. We went to a large farm party on Saturday night that raised money for a charity as it was a requirement to bring a canned food to enter. It was a lot of fun to dance the night away with our favorite kind of music, sertanejo or country! Then the next day before returning we went to Mass in the beautiful chapel in the center of the city and we went ´swimming´ in some dirty, knee deep water to wrap up our short vacation! I always love how close I feel to the girls after little travels that we take together and it is always nice to get to know other cities in Brazil!
Monday we arrive at the program only to discover that Eva had decided over the weekend that she was not ready for marriage!!! We were told she created the idea to avoid returning to the orphanage but we also heard that her mom was forcing her into it- either way our prayers were answered and she came to her senses! She seemed back to her old self and happier than Katie had seen her on Friday- it was amazing. It never ceases to amaze me how God takes care of everything in His time. We spent a lot of time Monday with what we think is the equivilent of Child Protection Services here in Brazil, and I am wondering how we have gotten anything done without them thus far. They get things done so quickly and seem to be on top of every situation we presented them with! They are working on getting Juliano´s two younger sisters, Rosangela and Daniele, out of their mother´s house and back into the orphanage. Still not a great situation but I think they are much better off there than staying in that house and being exposed to so many things that little girls should never see. Hopefully next they will work on Juliano and Rogerio, who are now both missing both school and PETI- please keep them in your prayers. We also went with these women to the house of one of our new students, Taina. Another heartwrenching story, she is one of five girls and when we arrived the mother was hand washing clothes in a tank full of brown water. Taina´s little sister was wearing pants ripped from the thigh to the toes on one side and all of them had the dirtiest little bodies and faces you could ever imagine- we are looking into what more we can do for them so keep them in your prayers as well!
Tuesday night we went to a BBQ with a lot of people from the gym as Wednesday was Independence Day here in Brazil so everyone was off work. We went thinking the BBQ was to celebrate this holiday only to discover it was both a goodbye party for someone moving the next day and also a belated birthday party for someone else.. oops! But it was a fun night getting to know everyone from the gym a little better. I even met a women who has been wanting to try the martial art Muay Tai, same as me but I was too scared to do it alone, so we are going to give it a whirl on Tuesday.. yikes!!
We spent the holiday catching up on skype sessions, organzing things for the program and just relaxing. In the evening we went to a carnival/concert that reminded me a lot of the state fair. It was very hill billy, with rides and a live band and all kinds of cowboy gear for sale- lots of fun!
I know I mentioned a lot of keep in your prayers in this blog but I want to thank you for your continued prayers as they obviously help tremendously as you can see with the Eva situation. You guys are making a bigger impact in the lives of these kids than you can ever know! I also want to remind you that we do morning prayer each morning here and we would love to include your prayer requests in return. Feel free to email me at lzatkulak@yahoo.com so that we can do that!

Getting Into A Groove

Last week we closed the week of deficiences by returning to APAE on Friday for a parade with our kids and the kids/teachers from there. We walked through the streets of Imbau and each time we passed by a school, the children would join the crowd! I heard some complaining from our kids but once they were reminded about the small sacrifice this was compared to the big sacrifices some of the kids from APAE have to make each day for the rest of their lives, they quickly kept up and stopped with the whining. We all had balloons that we popped together when we made it to our final destination, the bus station. It was a really neat morning and in the afternoon we had a beauty day, full of doing nails and hair with all the girls! I actually couldn´t tell you where all the boys were but it was really enjoyable for all us girls to get dolled up and I could tell they all left that day feeling beautiful and confident!
I had the special opportunity on Saturday to skype with the not only my immediate family, but so many other members of my family as they were gathered for a wedding. I had the priviledge of meeting the groom for the first time over skype and I even was lucky enough to be taken via computer into the bride´s dressing room where I got to see the beautiful, smiling bride getting ready for the special day! It was so amazing to get to be a small part of the family gathering. I can´t wait to see pictures!
Sunday was Megan´s 24th birthday! To celebrate we had a BBQ at Lourival´s family, where Megan is staying, during the afternoon with their whole family. After eating a bunch of food their, we headed to another girl´s birthday party- someone from the gym, where we got to listen to a free band and enjoy some more food! We ended the night with a beautiful Mass and then headed back to Lucas to eat some more cake before calling it quits.
Monday is the day we do English with all the kids and in the afternoon I experienced a really special moment with 2 of our students, Lucas and Isael. I pulled Isael aside to do a little one on one English and I discovered that he had studied at APAE up until this last year which helped me understand more why his Portuguese was so gramatically incorrect and I also discovered that he had a speech impediment where he put an ´s´ sound on the end of each word that he said. Lucas, one of our advanced English students who studies each Saturday at PBF, came over and helped Isael master saying ´hi´and ´bye´then we worked forever on getting him to ask ´What´s your name?´ without putting that ´s´ sound on the end of each thing. It was such a special moment to see Isael smile with pride after successfully learning a little English and I was filled with love for Lucas after seeing all the patience he had with his peer. It was one of those moments that left me smiling the rest of the day!
On Tuesday I had all the photos printed and the ´photographers´got so excited to see if the other kids were able to guess their pictures. It was a lot of fun to have the kids come in and here some of their ideas of what the photos were, but in the end the majority were able to guess at least one so I started marking how many they were getting correct so that the top 3 were given prizes. It was so fun to have a competition to get the kids excited about what we are doing in photography this year!
We continue to do our individual things on Thursday. This Thursday marked the halfway mark on my teaching English at the private school, I now have one more month. So far it has been very enjoyable for me but I think in a month I will be ready to return to PETI. Katie continues to pray the rosary with an elderly woman in the church community and Megan this week started visiting an older student of ours who has been studying English extensively for longer than the others. He unfortunately had to stop coming to PETI because his mom has a disease that is slowly leaving her blind so he has to stay home to take care of his younger siblings and nieces/nephews while his dad works. This means we are not able to spend time working on his English so Megan plans to make the trip to his house Thursday mornings to get some extra practice in and help out around the house where needed. It is so great for us to go our separate ways and reunite in the afternoon with all kinds of stories!
Special prayer request, something recent that we actually just discovered today. One of our students, Eva, whom Katie has known since her first year working with the program, was recently taken out of the orphanage and returned to her mom. Not even a week later, she is now engaged to someone 6 years older than her and she has decided to stop coming to PETI, stop studying and stop with the English course she is doing with us. Katie went to visit her today to see if this was true and she returned saying she didn´t even recognize the girl she talked to- she has lost all interest in life and has resorted to a life of marriage at the tender age of 14. The sad part is that her family is on board and actually encouraging the union between them. It was a rough, heartbreaking day in which us 3 girls had to lock ourselves in a classroom and pray.. pray for Eva, for us that we can accept that this may be out of our hands and just a prayer of trust that something good with come out of this. So we ask that you all keep Eva and this whole situation in your prayers.
May this upcoming month of September be one in which we all stop to appreciate the beauty of God´s nature as the leaves start to turn colors and the weather becomes a little cooler.. there at least. Here it will be heating up! I am bummed to be missing fall once again this year as it is my favorite season. Thank you for your constant prayers and support of the work we doing down here, we gather so much strength knowing we have so much love in the States!

The Arrival of Another

We are now back to the dynamic trio we had last year as Megan arrived on Monday afternoon! She pretty quickly pulled her funds together and got down here just in time for her upcoming birthday this Sunday. We are excited to see just how much more we can do with another Portuguese speaker around. Before she arrived we had our first "lojinha" on a rainy Friday. It must have been enough motivation because our numbers were up and a lot of kids arrived with pants soaked at the bottom! It was a lot of fun to see their faces light up as they walked through the store, received their money and went to make their purchases. The other teachers loved the idea and have even been getting creative about what they can contribute to the store so we don´t have to use as much money buying things.
After English lessons with our kids Saturday morning we had a delicious lunch with the Sisters which gave us a nice chance to catch up with them. Sister Franny, the 3rd nun living with them, also American, will return from her long stay in the States in early September. Then later in the afternoon we had 30 or so kids from PETI bused to Telemaco Borba for a capoeira houda. They all looked so cute playing on all the park equipment before we got started and then all of them in their matching white pants and shirts (the capoeira uniform) playing in front of the church. It is great to see how far so many of them have come since last year and to see some new kids really getting into the sport!
Saturday night we went to the birthday party of our friend/trainer from the gym, Bubbles. It was a lot of fun with all kinds of different bands which led to a lot of dancing but then when it came time to sleep we were all in tents and cars. It was freezing and we awoke the next morning to frost on the ground.. with few blankets I was able to sleep next to none. The next day we stayed for lunch before returning so I could skype with the family. It was so great to talk with them even though I almost fell asleep! Mass that night was beautiful.. there had been a retreat for the youth that weekend and we welcomed them all back at the start of Mass. It was amazing to see them all with big, confident smiles wearing matching tshirts- it reminded me of all the retreats I have attended/led and just how content and close to God I feel at the end of the weekend.
Tuesday I got back into photography with students, this time our project being to take up close photos of objects that later the other students will have to guess what it is. This is something you can find a lot in magazines in the USA but something new to these kids. It was so fun for me to see them getting extremely creative and really thinking about what they could take pictures of to stump the other students. We have made it a little bit of a competition. If no one can guess what their pictures are, they will receive a prize but if someone guesses correctly, that person wins a prize. This made the kids really think before snapping away. I had such a fun time having the kids run around the store and them returning asking me to guess what the picture they took was. If I could guess it they quickly erased it and ran off to take more! I will print the final pictures this weekend and the guessing will begin next week.
This is a week celebrating deficiences so yesterday we took all our kids to APAE, the school for handicapped children here in Imbau. I was so impressed with how well our kids behaved and interacted with the children from this school. Sometimes it can be hard or akward but they did a great job involving them in playing soccer, dancing and just engaging in conversation with them. I met a young boy named Douglass who captured my heart. He is 14 years old but at the age of 6 a disease that I don´t know the name of began to eat at his intestines and at first he walked with his feet turned in and now he is in a wheelchair, unable to walk and has now lost all ability to move his arms too. He is able to barely turn his neck and the day that this disease reaches his heart, he will unfortunately die- this disease has a history of taking people at the young age of 15 and sometimes they make it to 16. He was so intelligent and full of live, always cracking jokes and all our kids loved him! At one point I made a comment about the beautiful girl on the background of his cellphone and when I asked if they were just friends he winked and said "for now at least" and that followed with him saying she was only A LITTLE prettier than me! :) His true passion is singing which he does quite often in his church and he has recorded 2 CDS. He didn´t have time to sing for me but I did buy one of his CDS as a memory of this special kid, a true example of a loving child of God- I will never forget him.
Today is National Banana Split Day in the United States so we are planning to get some ice cream here to celebrate although it is not that warm! Sending out a lot of love to my family as they all gather this weekend to celebrate a wedding in the family- I am so disappointed that I will not be there to enjoy this occassion with you guys. May the tradition of ridiculous Zatkulak weddings continue this Saturday!
Until September...

Serenity Prayer

Well our meeting/gathering with the parents last Thursday was a success! It got a little crazy when the speech started for the parents and we took all the kids back over to the other building. We were all in 3 small rooms, 2 without light and they all were little fireballs, full of energy! Past that though it was a great chance to link some kids to their parents, inform the parents a little better about things that are happening at PETI and just have an evening of fun. PETI then was cancelled for Friday as we were there until 11PM on Thursday. I still went to Imbau and met up with a few of the English students to help them with their homework and any other questions they were having about the lessons they are learning. For the most part I have been impressed with their ability to pick up the material, I was expecting to see them move at a much slower pace.
Katie finally returned home on Sunday, Father´s Day here in Brazil. I was at lunch with the family and got back to find her about to take a nap. We spent a good couple hours filling each other in on everything that had taken place in our 4 days apart! This time apart really made me grateful to have her here with me, it is so nice to always have such a close friend nearby to tell and share everything with!
Monday we did English with all the kids, working on basic questions such as ´Where are you from?´and then working on colors, something most of them have mastered. Then on Tuesday we had the kids write down something materialistic that they were lacking, whether it be a pair of tennis shoes, food for their family or a jacket to keep them warm. We have so many suitcases full of donated clothes that the group brought down and so we thought this would be a good way to see how we could most put them to good use. It was amazing that despite how many times we told the kids it was to be something materialistic, alot of them still continued to write ´security´or ´friendship´and many of them wrote down things for their family memebers too. Now it is just a matter of organzing the suitcases and seeing what we have!
Juliano, a student I have now metioned several times has admitted that he wants help to stop using drugs so Katie and I have been visiting several nearby rehab centers but so far we have had no luck finding any that accept minors, even only for the day. It looks like the closest that he could enter into is in another city and will most likely be pretty expensive but we are still on the look out.
Yesterday we come back from lunch only to discover that 2 girls in the program, whom we thought were friends, had gotten into a fight during lunch. The story is always changing but juice ended up in both each others hair and faces and one girl ended up with a goose egg on her forehead from the other´s knee. It was a sad situation and we had a long talk with both of them individually and then together to try and resolve some of the issues between them but it will take time to heal the wounds that were opened up from their fight. I went and visited Rogerio because he has yet to come to PETI still. I found him just sitting outside his house making a kite. We talked for a good 30 minutes about the sad surrounds he lives in and he had all kinds of information that no 13 year old should know about where his brother and friends smoke, what they do to hide it up, etc. It broke my heart that he is already exposed to such a sad reality. I worked so hard to convince him that he needed to keep himself at a distance from these people and their actions because although right now he may have no problem telling them no when they invite him to smoke, it is going to get harder. As much as I tried to convince him that PETI was a safe haven where he could get away from these problems for a few hours everyday, he didn´t show up again today. :(
This is where the serenity prayer comes into play. I have felt that quite a few things have been thrown at us this week that we can only do so much about. I don´t know if it is because I have better language skills this year or because I am more aware but I feel that I have a lot more on my shoulders this year. Katie and I talked alot about it and I know I need to find a way to do what I can while not letting the situation affect my time with the rest of the kids. They each have sad stories and circumstances but if that is the only thing I focus on, I will go crazy. I have found myself so drained each day this week, feeling helpless and desparate. The serenity prayer has become the prayer of my heart because I can´t keep living each day like this, it is not fair to the kids and it is not fair to myself. I need to make myself more present with the kids and give them all my attention, while not completly forgetting about the problems at hand but being able to step back and realize at what point things are out of my hands. It is going to be a tough balance to find but one that I think is so important!
Along with the struggles that have come our way, I hope I never fail to take notice of all the amazing little miracles that take place right in front of my eyes! Yesterday we got Daniele to take off her hood in school for the first time and now she is going everywhere proudly showing her short, adorable haircut! Today I got to teach English in the new school again and it was another great day. I think it is so important to make these connections with other kids in the community, especially on a day when we would be doing nothing at PETI anyways. The new kids I work with bring so many smiles and laughs into my day as well, and I am really enjoying working with them!
I know school started for my siblings so I am assuming most people are getting ready to get back into the swing of things there. I pray for a productive and fun start to the school year! It is a busy time of year but I hope everyone takes the time to savor the importance of rest and time with family and friends as well. Keep all the kids we work with in your prayers as they sure are in need of them!!
Happy start to the 2011-2012 school year!

"God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can and the wisdom to know the difference."

Moms and Dads

In the last week I have taken on the role of mom for one of our students and we have been preparing to celebrate Father´s Day with our kids and their dad´s, first today at our first annual monthly meeting with the parents and then this Sunday is the actually day here in Brazil. After I blogged last week we were informed that one of our young female students, Daniele, who had been missing PETI alot had had a severe case of lice. It went unnoticed for far too long and got to the point where the lice was eating at her scalp. When they finally took notice, she had to go to the doctor in another city and have all her beautiful, long hair cut off to a very short length. She LOVED that hair and now is so embarassed to leave the house. The sad part is that her mom died a few years ago so she didn´t have a mom to notice that her hair was full of lice and now she doesn´t have a mom to encourage her that she is as beautiful as ever with this short hair. Her poor dad and brothers are clueless. So we went and visited her and convinced her to return first to PETI and then to school. She started back this Monday and we have walked everyday with her to help build her confidance. The first day we walked into the classroom with her to make sure her teachers let her leave the hood of her coat up... we are working on her having the confidence to take it off but it is a struggle. That first day we took her into the bathroom and tried to fix her hair so she felt comfortable but she immediately starting crying and begged us not to make her go into the room with it down. It is a process but yesterday when I walked with her, her response to me asking if she was ready to remove the hood moved from "Absoultely not" to "I don´t know".. baby steps! It has been truely special to play the role of a mother figure in her life this past week, I think it is exactly what God called Katie and I.
One of our other students entered into a musical festival in Telemaco so we went and saw him and his brother perform ´Obrigado Senhor`, if you have been to Brazil in the last two years with the group than you are very familiar with their rendition of this music! It was fun, free entertainment and it meant a lot to them that we came to see them.
Katie and I spent the afternoon on Friday at another rehab center for men. We went with the other teachers to deliver some vegetables and then got a grand tour and met a few people who are working there and others that have overcome addictions. It was another rewarding experience that showed us the harsh reality of how powerful an addiction can be. We planned to have the pastor of the center come and give a speech at our next monthly meeting with parents in September as we have a lot of parents who struggle with addictions, I think it will be very beneficial!
Our singing lessons are going okay.. it has turned more into us just singing songs we like instead of learning how to train our voices to sing better. It is hard not to laugh because the instructor has Katie singing a low part and a part of the music that I have never heard before whereas I sing how I am accustomed to singing. She gives me looks telling me she is just about done with it many times each lesson! Only one more lesson and then I owe her for doing something I love.
We had our first taste of why we dislike Sunday´s so much.. other than church there is next to nothing going on. It is a great day to relax but sometimes it can drag on and the minutes feel like hours.. this gave us motivation to think about where we want to take small, weekend trips this year to nearby cities! We have both been saving money so that we can travel more this year in this manner.
One family that has been breaking my heart since we got here this year is the family of Juliano/Rogerio and their 3 sisters in the program. I mentioned Rogerio in an early blog. They were in the orphanage last year and right before we came back this year that were put back in their mom´s house right beside the orphanage and they have not been the same all year. They have lost their interest in anything and everything about life. Juliano has stopped caring about the advanced English course we have him enrolled in and today I collected his book as we had to take him out since he has yet to go since we arrived here.. we have given him every chance and he refuses to stay motivated or even come to the class. We saw a light with him though when earlier this week we took him to the doctor to see if he would agree to have a drug test done as many people have confided in us that he is using again, something he did before he was originally put in the orphanage but he stopped once there. Instead of agreeing to the test he confessed that he is using drugs and that he hates what is has done to him and now he wants help! I don´t know what our next step is going to be but he has been coming to PETI everyday since then and particpating again, it is exciting! Unfortunately his brother Rogerio who I was really close with last year continues to stay home and not come to PETI. I saw him the other day and when I asked him how he was he replied that he was bad but refused to look at me and explain why.. it was really heartbreaking. I went today to his house to try and talk with him but he was not there.. my plan is to keep going until I find him and talk to him, I think he feels trapped inside the terrible living conditions of his house and doesn´t think there is any hope. :( This family is constantly a topic of conversation amongst the teachers and everyone is brainstorming how they can help get them into a better situation.
We had a little connection with the United States when I skyped with 4 of our students and 3 of the boys who traveled down in the last group, Marcos being one of them. The kids so appreciated the chance to practice their English and see some people that left a big impact in their lives! They are already talking about when we can set up another one.
Katie felt for Rio de Janiero Wednesday morning for a Capoeira event with the instructor from the gym so I am on my own until Sunday.. it is strange without her here but once again it puts me to the test and challenges me to step out and do things that I would otherwise leave in her hands. She has always wanted to travel there so I am happy that she got the chance and I can´t wait to hear her stories and see her pictures!
Today I had my first day teaching English at another school here in Imbau, something I agreed to do every Thursday morning for the next 2 months as the teacher is out on pregnancy leave. I was really nervous this morning but everything went great! I had two classes, 3rd and 4th grade, both small in number. The book they are learning from is very advanced and so I find it difficult because I want to start over with them with the basics but I have to stick to the curriculum of learning about endangered animals. I had to use my dictionary alot to translate some of the words they were learning! In general I really loved it and feel that God is calling me to be here at this point although it will come with some struggles and separate me from the kids of PETI one morning each week. I was leaving to return to PETI with one of my students and just when I thought I was leaving a good impression, after turning to say goodbye I fell really hard on all fours in the middle of the street. I actually really hurt my knee and the student looked really confused! Katie will love that story when she gets back as she is always counting the number of embarassing spills I take!
Now I am headed back to the program to meet another teacher. We are going to visit a few houses of students how have been misbehaving a lot these past few weeks to talk with the parents. Then afterwards we have the meeting with the kid´s parents.
The weather here has been beautiful and from what I have heard it has been the same there! I am sending out another Happy Father´s Day for my dad since the day is celebrated this Sunday. Thank you for all you do, the wonderful example you are to all us kids and for the constant support you show me. Let´s all take the time to celebrate this holiday thinking about our dad´s with love not only this Sunday but always!

Back Into The Swing of Things

Since the last time I blogged I don´t know if I have had any feeling in my hands because of first 3 straight days of nonstop rain and then the last few days have been very cold. In terms of Indiana´s winter it is not all that bad but without heat in building it has left us shivering. Even with sun the wind seems to cut your face. This morning it was around 25 degrees F but now it is early afternoon and the sun is starting to come out- some hope! The peak of all this cold weather was too nights ago when I had just gotten back from the gym and I hopped in the shower to heat up my body. I was just started to feel warm when the lights when out and the water turned freezing- we had lost electricity! That night Katie and I felt like pioneers getting ready for bed by candlelight and cuddling up under piles of blankets.
The program has been going well- we are still struggling to feel that we have a set schedule in place but hopefully with time this will feel more in place. I think we are in a bigger rush than the rest of the teachers because our stay here has a definite end date where as for them this is their extended place of employment. But we have taken some things into our own hands and starting taking attendance each day so that they start earning fake money when they behave and listen to use in our store that we have every couple of weeks. Also, we have started giving out X´s, our form of punishment, for when they choose to be disobedient. When they get an X they take home a paper explaining why they got in trouble and a parent´s signature is required before returing the paper the next day. Each day they are at the program without the paper they receive another X. It has left some kids frustrated but with time I think it will be easier to get a quick turn around and it keeps the parents informed about what is going on at PETI.
Katie and I met a Canadian man who is here workig in Klabin, the big paper factory in Telemaco Borba, and we had dinner with him and his Brazilian translator on Sunday. He does not speak any Portuguese so he enjoyed the chance to speak English.
Oh and I almost forgot maybe the biggest thing that has changed since the last blog. Katie and I are now living together in a new house. Saturday we moved into our friend Lucas´house where we will be staying for the remainder of our trip. It is nice to be closer to Katie as we do a lot of planning for the project at night so this has helped quite a bit. The set up is great as well, we are in a separate building dettached from the house so we have a lot of privacy. I am loving it but I am also missing the family I was with before, they were so great to me!
There was a group of young teens from Sao Paulo here for a week visiting communities and schools to play games and sing with the kids. We were so busy that we unfortunately only got to spend one morning with them during their stay but they were a lot of fun! They all study at a private school that teaches English and they all spoke great. We were with them at APAE, a school for disabled kids and adults, and it was awesome to see their interaction with the students, they brought a lot of energy and smiles!
For now we are just trying to stay warm and get things going at the program. I hope this is the last time my blog says that as it is frustrating to feel that things are moving so slow but we have to trust that we are working on God´s time here. I got to skype with my family for the first time this week too which was great, seeing their faces makes me miss home but also gives me encouragment that everything is good with them! I am especially loving my half hour of prayer before Mass Sunday nights when I pray for my family back home and I know that they are praying for me at that exact time. It was my Aunt Janet´s idea and I am loving it even more than I thought- I feel such a sense of peace knowing someone is thinking and praying for me while I am doing the same!
I hope everyone has a great weekend and upcoming week- keep in your prayers all those here who are without the proper clothing and housing to keep warm during this cold weather. It is hard for me to complain of the cold when I see some of our kids come to the program with only a light jacket when I am bundled up with 4.
Deus Abencoe!
God Bless!

Group Time

I am hoping this is the only time this 6 months that I miss my weekly blog, but with the group here for an extended 15 day stay I was kept quite busy. But first, before the group arrived Katie and I took 10 or so of our English students to Ponta Grossa, a nearby city, for some delicious food court food, bowling and a 3D showing of Kung Fu Panda all in Portuguese! It was so special to see all their faces light up as they knocked down the bowling pins and their confusion about why they were getting headaches from watching things fly off the screen! For most of them it was there first time getting to do these things and their pure enjoyment of it all was inspiring. With vacation time we decided we wanted to spend several days visting the houses of our students with all the teachers to introduce ourselves to the parents and talk all little bit about what our plans were for this year. We also thought this would be a great chance for us to get soem insight into the home lives of our kids and maybe help us be more understanding of why they behaved the way they did or what they were lacking that we could make up for. Unfortunately some live really far away in the country so our day of visitng only got us to maybe 10 homes but it was still very eye opening and I am hoping we get the chance to visit the rest. One afternoon we headed to visit the house of 5 of our students and there we found Rogerio, an afternoon student, really sick laying in bed with a high fever and chills. His mom was nowhere to be seen and he was not taking any medicine. It was the most heart wrenching thing I have experienced thus far this year. I just wanted to curl up in the bed with him and tell him he would get better and comfort him- everything a mom should do. I couldn´t get him out of my head so the next day we headed back there to see how he was and luckily his mom had gotten him some medicine and he was feeling better but I still had a pain in my heart for him and his living situation, probably the worst of our students. I know that most of it is out of my hands but it is very hard to accept that when you have a connection with the kids- that is when the serenity prayer comes in handy. We got all the final preparations for the group ready and headed out early Wednesday morning to get them at the airport with our welcome signs! It was so great to welcome another large group into Brazil, several repeats and several new faces. By the time we made it to the Chale the first night, we quickly turned around for mass in which the homily in a foreign language had almost everyone asleep! The next day, Thursday, as we headed to PETI for capoeria we were informed that the program had been cancelled for the following week for an extended vacation, something we were banking on doing with the group. That was just the first of many curveballs thrown our way this trip. The next day a sickness started that eventually spread to 5 of the Americans, for some it lasted only a day and for others unfortunately it left them bed ridden for 5 days and ended with a hospital visit. Katie and I were luckily able to stay healthy thank God as one of us always had to stay with the sick people and the other had to lead the rest of the group in the days activities. It forced me into a leadership role that I didn´t think I was ready for- I had to speak in Portuguese in the front of large groups twice, something I normally leave up to Katie. At the time I was sweating with nervousness but looking back it was just what I needed to start losing my fear. It was extra special to get to celebrate the birthdays of both my mom and Marcos here!! We got to sing Happy Birthday a lot both in English and Portuguese and ate lots of cake. Besides some make shift days of water games and soccer at the program, we also took the group to visit communities we have helped in the past and one that we are helping with the building of their chapel this year. Just when we were releasing the Americans from the hospital after blood work and IVs, I was riding in the ambulance with Daniel, another American after he dislocated his knee playing soccer in the sand at a community. When we arrived we had everyone at the hospital joking that it was the day of the Americans. Luckily he didn´t need surgery but he did have to stay overnight in the hospital for observation. The next day he was left with severe headaches which prevented him from returning with the majority of the group on his original return date. He was put back in the hospital for another 2 days and it was diagnosed that he sat up too soon after having receiving anesthesia from the previous visit. Fortunately he was able to get his flight changed and leave with the rest of the group on Tuesday. In general it was an insane 10 days of trying to keep everyone healthy, come up with things to do without the program scheduled and make it an experience that made the Americans would remember. They were able to do some very special, unique things too like visit the land less camp and deliver a months worth of food to several families from our program. I was so grateful to have that time with everyone but especially my mom and brother. I know I have their support but to have them here going through my daily life with me is something I will forever cherish. Now that we safely got the group back in the States, Katie and I are really focused on getting this program off the ground. They won´t have vacation for awhile so we are excited to start stuff up that we know we have the time to get going. Another small set back is the quitting of our 2 afternoon teachers so for the time being it is just us and another PE teacher who helps out. Hopefully we get some people to take their places soon as the afternoon is already more chaotic was more kids. I started photography with a few kids on Tuesday taking pictures of items 1-10. It took them awhile but in the end they were really getting creative and it left me smiling! Now we are settling back into the routine of everyday life but missing everyone from the group as well. They were inspiring and brought a fresh energy to everything, thank you to everyone for all that you did for us and the people of Brazil in your short stay. They will be talking about you guys for years to come! Prayer this morning was all about how we are just a pencil in the hand of God, being used in the ways we may never expect or want but in the ways that fit into God´s plan- may we all keep this in mind as we go about our busy lives, asking God to use us each day to fulfill His work.

God´s Love

I prepared prayer one day this week and it was all about the beautiful, flawless love God has for us, where we see it daily and how we can live out that love to others. Looking back on this past week, I experienced God´s love in some of the most amazing ways. I think I could say that last Sunday I took part in one of the most awesome thing I have ever experienced! Katie and I went to Sao Geraldo (St. Gerald) a rehab center for men with Sister Rose and Sister Cecilia. We originally agreed because it would be our Sunday mass and we heard an American priest was there, but it ended up being so much more. I know I will not be able to give it justice with my words but we were there to celebrate the graduation of 4 men from the 9 month program. Mass took place in a small chapel on the center´s beautiful grounds surrounded by trees, flowers and all kinds of nature. It was the first time I was able to understand an entire homily as the American priest had a vocabulary very similar to mine :) Then after Mass, the 4 men came forward, the director said a few words, they were given crosses, rosaries and Bibles. Then they were each given a chance to speak a few words, each giving thanks to God first and foremost. When there eyes started welling up with tears, mine were right there too! THEN, the family members were able to speak.. one sister said a few things, struggling to hold back tears. Then after everyone clapped she stood back up and asked permission to hug her brother. Their embrace had me on the brink of losing it. THEN, all the men that are currently program joined them on the altar to sing a song about the miracles God is working in their lives. Some were holding their small children, others were holding back tears and I just kept marveling at the wonderful witness of God´s love I was experiencing. Katie and I both sat there in awe and felt so humbled to be a part of something so special to these four men and their families. Thinking about it again makes me smile and brings tears to my eyes as it really touched my heart. That night I was supposed to skype with my family but they had a storm and no access to internet so I called and talked to a few people, but I don´t think I was able to fully get across my excitement from what I had experienced earier in the day! We went to the program Monday and made cards for the Americans that are arriving Wednesday but then we left early Tuesday for Sao Paulo, a large city in Brazil about 10 hours away. Sister Rose drove part way and we stopped in a city with a replica of the famous Jesus statue in Rio.. it was smaller but it stood way up on a hill in the town. It was beautiful to look down at the city and I felt a sense of peace thinking of Jesus with his arms opened up, looking down into the town. Once in Sao Paulo we stayed with some other Holy Cross nuns in the heart of the city. Riding the metro in Sao Paulo is something I can check off my list but not something I want to do again, it was insane with people fighting, pushing and I even caught my backpack on the pants of some older man.. oops! But we got Danny, a friend from Indianapolis at the airport Wednesday and spent the day visiting the cathedral and walking around the main center of the city for the remainder of the day until catching up bus back late that night. We were warned many times about the dangers of the city but thank God we were never hasseled or felt threatened! We came back to PETI Thursday ready for Danny to get his first taste of Project Discovery only to discover the program had been cancelled the rest of the week, only a few kids were there for capoeria. So we came back early and had a chance to rest a litle bit before going to Mass where they have Eucharistic exposure.. I can´t think of the proper name for it but it was a normal Mass and after everyone gathered at the front to touch the blessed sacrament.. I went last week and this is the Mass that my host family normally goes to. It is beautiful music and I love incorporating an extra Mass in my weekly schedule. Yesterday we went to Imbau and did a special English lesson with our 10 students where we worked in stations striving to prepare them for a test most of them took today. It was a retake because only a few passed the first time. We gave them a mock test at the end and it seemed that they were kind of getting it but today I stayed in the room while they took the tests and unfortunately I think several students will be taking it again. It is just a testament to the difficulty of learning another language and the dedication and hard work it takes to progress. I was so lucky to talk with Beccas TWICE yesterday for her birthday, it sounded like she had a great day and I loved being able to catch up a little with her. I have made a new friend on the bus from Imbau to Telemaco Borba. He is 12 years old and reminds me of Evan every time we talk. He is such a sweetheart and I have really enjoyed getting to know him. More plans for the group are coming together as their arrival date quickly approaches. I am now headed to Mass as tomorrow we will be traveling with our English students to the town of Ponta Grossa!! Pray for safe travels. Happy late 4th of July as well! I can absolutely feel the affects of all the prayers from everyone back home so thank you. May we all strive to search out ways to spread God´s love is small ways this week!

rain rain go away

Katie and I were just talking and we agreed that it has not stopped raining in the last 3 days.. and something new to get used to here is that when it rains, inside the house becomes damp and soggy too because of no inside circulation. You can look at the walls and see water dripping down at a steady rate, bathroom floors are slippery and I have dried my body with a wet towel for about a week now! I was not thinking when I did not bring an umbrella or an extra pair of tennis shoes but I have been able to borrow from the generous people here. It was a great full week with the kids in which Katie and I were really impressed with the organization and passion of the new teachers. They seem to genuinely care about the kids and want to work with them! We have decided to have weekly teacher meetings just to stay informed on how everything is going with each other and what everyone is up to, I think communication is going to be a big part of keeping up the good things we have going. Last night Katie and I did something for the first time, we partook in a singing lesson! Our teacher was the guitar instructor that teaches our kids music. He and his brother have a studio here in the town we live in so we are going to try this out for one month, once a week. I absolutely loved it, and would have easily stayed another hour! Having never taken a formal lesson, it was difficult at times and a little intimidating to sing alone in another language but because I love to sing so much, it was amazing! Today being Saturday, our 10 students studying English have class today so we will spend the afternoon there helping out. Hopefully we will really start to see improvement! On Tuesday we leave for Sao Paulo to pick up Danny at the airport and we will get to spend all day Wednesday enjoying all that the city has to offer. I am excited as I have never been outside the four walls of the airport in the big city. Soon after we return we will be turning right around to go pick up the group at the airport! Headed now to the gym quickly before the English lesson. I hope everyone is having a relaxing summer, enjoying the warm weather and time with family and friends! Tchao!

CHEGAMOS!

This first week has flown by and the crazy thing is that we have only seen our kids once, today was our first actual day with them! When we arrived Wednesday night, they started vacation that lasted through the weekend. It was hard to be here and not see them right away but Katie and I went to Imbau on Thursday to visit a few houses of our kids that are within walking distance. With this extended weekend holiday for Brazil the gym we normally go to has been closed so Katie and I have taken to running in town and have found that quite a few people find it comical. We aren´t really sure if it is because we wear shorts and it is their winter or if runners are just hard to find here but it felt great to get out while the weather was nice. Oh how quickly that changed, yesterday was rainy and cold but today was freezing! Without heat in houses, I am having a hard time ever warming up my body and I am trying to get rid of the cold I have now developed. Aside from the cold temperatures, things are great with the kids and my host family. I am staying with Leondro´s family, the Brazilian who stayed with us for 3 months last year. He is studying in another city but his mom, dad and 14 year old brother Vitor have been great to me! Both the dad and Vitor studied/are studying English so it makes conversation alot easier. Things actually work out great as I can help them with their English and they are definitly helping with my Portuguese. It has been a huge test to be on my own, without Katie to lean on but it is just what I need to grow confident in my abilities and use what I know. Yesterday was Vitor´s birthday so to celebrate lots of family came over and we had a big barbeque, this made me miss my family back home but also made me feel like I had a family here. This weekend was a great chance for us to meet up with a lot of friends as once things get started with the project we find ourselves really busy and unable to do alot, especially during the week. The first day at the project, today was great! They have really pulled themselves together at PETI and have hired on 5 or so new teachers who teach various things. With so much help, the kids are broken into smaller groups which is much more managable and organized. Today when it was our turn with the kids we just took the time to catch up about anything new in their lives, got to know the large number of new kids we have and played a few games with them! We only have a few weeks to prepare for the group of 15 Americans coming but the kids and us are so excited to have them here! I have already put together a large list of things I need my mom to bring down :) The first week has been nothing short of amazing, we have quickly acustomed to the culture, food and language. It still excites me that this is where God has called me at this time in my life! My hope is to make this a weekly blog to make up for how infrequent it was last year. I will continue praying for all of you in the States and that is the most important thing we can ask from you guys as well. Enjoy the sunshine!!