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!