Our Family Grew!

Sorry for the delay in posting a blog; my excuse is valid. Starting last Tuesday we had two students from Erval de Cima living with us. Gabriel, 13 and Ana Paula, 9 lived with us through the weekend because of a fight between their mom and another woman over water payments that resulted in their mother first trying to kill the other woman, then herself later in the day. It was quite an eventful day but by the afternoon we decided it was a good idea to take the kids out of the house for a little bit and the mom readily agreed. The first night their 15 year old brother, also our student, came along too but by the second night he wanted to be home; we think it had more to do with a young girl that he has a crush on that lives nearby :)

Matt playing monkey in the middle with the kids!

It was a week full of playing soccer, visiting the temporary movie theater that was set up near our home, Mass to celebrate the Assumption of Mary, black and white birthday parties, and playing with our neighbors. We kept the kids busy with lots of fun activities but also made them do their share of housework too- they learned to cook rice, always helped with dishes, and had to also make their beds every morning. We took the chance to teach them some English with 'thank you' frequently being said and each night ending with 'I love you'. There were several times that I had to smile to myself thinking I was acting exactly like my mom! It was tough work but thinking about the alternative for them made it worth it. Sunday night after Mass we sat them down to talk about why they had to go back home to their mom but also the importance of constantly keeping us up to date if they ever feel in danger in their home. Luckily it is evident their mom loves them, she is just severely depressed and sometimes causes harm to herself. Hopeful this time apart from her kids will strengthen their relationship and she will realize just how much they rely on her and need her to be strong for them. 

Black and white birthday party- all decked out!

Last Monday we spend all day in a school in a nearby town called Jose La Cerda; this is where our older students at the new PETI in Erval study as their town does not have a school and this is the closest town. We had a great time going into each classroom and talking about what we are doing here in Brazil and answering some questions about our culture and country. We also played a fun winking game with the kids that led to many laughs. The day ended with some capoeira taught by Megan for everyone to learn the basics. It was amazing the behavioral differences between the kids here as opposed to the kids in Imbau. We have heard that those who live in rural areas are better behaved than those in a 'city' (not that Imbau is much of a city, but more so than Erval), and we saw this first hand on Monday. The students were so respectful and polite- it was a very noticeable difference and one that made me so proud of the work the school is doing to keep these kids on the right track. We really enjoyed the day! 

Playing at the local school!

Since we had those siblings living with us, other students have said their parents now are requesting we take them to our house for a night.. imagine that, parents looking for a chance to get a break from their kids! :) Our plan is to sell this 'sleepover' as an option in our upcoming store that we will have the last Friday of the month so that it is open to all the kids without us having to pick. Our house might always have kids coming and going; I wouldn't want it any other way!

Our Imbau students studying English extensively at PBF are doing excellent. Unfortunately we had to lose one student who had missed a large amount of classes and was too far behind to try and catch up. However, two other students have since passed the test to complete the first book and they are moving on to the second of four!! I am so proud of them and their dedication to the language and their studies. The others who are still on the first book are close behind. I would like to take this chance to once again thank those who are sponsoring these kids and making a huge difference in their lives- they too always make a point to thank you for your help in making their future have greater possibilities! 

Praying for everyone in the States as school starts back up again! Hope the adjustment goes well and that the school year starts off well! 

MOVING DAY!

The big news for us here is that we have moved houses! Our old home was giving us all kinds of problems with mold growing on our clothes, pillows, sinks- basically everywhere. With Megan's allergy it was crucial for us to get out of there so when the house next door opened up for the same price, we quickly accepted the offer. Monday we spent a good 4 hours moving everything over to the bigger, cleaner house. Our first night there was a success! We are still in need of doing a few home decor things around the house but soon it will feel like home and we will forget we ever lived in the presence of mold! We had a fun house warming party on Friday night with some friends both from Telemaco and Imbau; it was a great time!

Tuesday in Imbau we spent a good while trying to figure things out for a previous student who stopped studying several years back because of laziness. We were under the impression that last year he had started up again only to find out this year that that was not the case. He claimed that the director refused to let him back into the school, as he was probably a troublemaker in the classroom and missed a lot of days but when we found out that there is a new principle, we decided to give it a shot. We took him there to talk directly with them but unfortunately he is unable to start until the new school year starts in January. We are worried that having already missed 3 years of school, it will be tough for him to jump right back in and play catch up so we stopped by the library and got him several books for the 7th grade, the year he will enter into, so that he can start to study a little bit and refresh his memory before he starts up again. Even though he is no longer a part of PETI we arranged for him to stop by once a week so we can sit down with him only for a half hour to practice some math or english. It is nice to see that he once again shows an interest in studying again and we want to encourage that the best we can and support him in this mature decision!

In Erval this week we had several eventful days. On Monday we had a full day of English, breaking into groups to teach the basics and then numbers. For now we are saying that it is a required class as the teachers want the kids to think of PETI as a school in which there are going to be subjects you don't like but you have to still participate in them. On Wednesday we had our capoeira class again which becomes just more of a PE class for the younger kids with tag and cartwheels. I then continued with photography as well. On Friday we scheduled to have a woman come to speak with our kids about the importance of avoiding drugs and alcohol but she never showed up unfortunately so we resorted so a day full of capture the flag- the kids loved it!! We also had a friend come in the afternoon to teach some of the older girls crochet; I myself took part in the class and am learning the basic knot for now, hoping in time I will have the skills to make some Christmas presents! 

Here is our friend teaching crochet

A lot of time on the weekends is spent doing laundry as it is quite a process. Although I am so grateful that we bought a washing machine, it is 100% different than doing laundry back at home. I am used to tossing in a load and letting it run its cycle until it is time to put it in the dryer. Here the wash is 15 minutes, then I have to drain the water into a bucket then refill the machine to let it rinse for another 6 minutes before draining again. Then we have a small machine that we borrowed from a friend that spinning your clothes for a few minutes to get rid of the excess water as clothes come out of the machine soaking wet. This machine holds only maybe 2 articles of clothing at a time then the clothes are hung up to finish drying. Overall it is quite the process! On Saturday night though we were able to go to the wedding of a student's sister. It was actually a double wedding with her cousin who had had a child literally the night before, how crazy is that! It was in a really small church and there were a ton of people. It was a very informal ceremony but it was so special to be there for the big day and witness the beautiful exchange of love. This was my first wedding to go to in Brazil and there were several similarities that I saw with weddings in the States; the bride threw her bouquet, the couple cut the first piece of cake together, and they said similar things when putting the rings on each other. It made me think about how all my family will be gathering together in a few weeks for my cousin Erin's wedding. I will be bummed to miss another family wedding but I pray that it is a great time for everyone who goes and I wish all the best to Erin and C Jay!! 

With the bride and our student (holding the baby)!

This weekend was a beautiful example of the results of the effort we have put into really having and maintaining relationships with people in the community. Megan has been learning crochet from a woman who lives nearby and I am looking to start some fun, simple things as well so Friday we spent all night there with her and her family and then again on Sunday we went back for lunch and stayed all the way until we went to church on Sunday night. After Mass and the youth group we help with, we visited our neighbor's house and enjoyed some cake that they had made for us! Saturday we had English lessons with our selected students in Telemaco Borba and then we participated in another youth group of a smaller chapel in town. They had a special group come from out of town to sing and speak with them. Everything was more aimed at high schoolers but it was nice to show our support of the work they do. From there we headed to a festajulhinho at APAE, the local school for special needs kids. It was a costume party with traditional country attire and Matt was able to dance the quadrilla for the first time! In general, our whole weekend was focused on the community we live in and the people who we have grown so close to in a few short weeks. I am so grateful for the relationships we are continuing to build here!

The new kids at PETI have their own band- impressive!

Some other exciting news- on Sunday in church the priest mentioned that they had 5 spots available still for a group traveling to Aparecida de Norte, another city in Brazil near Rio de Janiero in which Our Lady appeared many years ago. It is a city with a lot of cultural and religious background and is a big tourist spot for many people, somewhere I have been wanting to travel to. They were struggling to fill those spots so they agreed that if someone could fill 3 spots, they would give that person the other 2 spots for free.. we were so quick to jump on that one! After mass we talked to padre and the 3 of us are officially traveling with them at the end of September, the best part being that we have decided to take two of our students to fill those free spots since they would never be able to travel on their own! Padre is happy to have the spots filled and we are thrilled to have the opportunity and the chance to take along kids who will truly appreciate the city and would otherwise probably not be able to go.. everyone wins! 

Our old PETI kids still studying English on Saturdays

Once a week now Matt and I have found a new form of exercise to keep us moving! Our friend from the gym, Bubbles, teaches poor kids how to play basketball during the week and then on Wednesday nights they have open court in which anyone is welcome to come for some pick up games. Originally it was just going to be Matt but I decided to join in as the only female player. We have a lot of fun as the games are not super competitive and all the people are very friendly and welcoming! I have continued with Muay Thai at the gym twice a week and still find it to be really enjoyable. Megan has been doing capoeira the other 2 nights a week and starting this week we chose two boys from the PETI in Erval to train with her and the others at the gym in Telemaco! Our teacher is so nice and has offered to let them participate in the class once a week for free.. he has a real passion for letting sports be an outlet for kids that are dealing with tough situations at home. The two boys, Rifael and Fernando, will take a bus together from Erval every Thursday and arrive in Imbau to meet us at 6PM then we will all take the 6:30 bus to Telemaco. They then have class from 7 until 8. They will be able to shower at the gym and grab something to eat and get some homework done before we leave to go home at 10:45. They will then spend the night at our house and will take the bus back with us in the morning- it works out perfectly!! We chose Rifael specially because he recently moved here and the documents that allow him to go to school did not come along so he missed the opportunity to start school this year, he has to wait until next year unfortunately. Right now he comes to PETI in the morning and then stays in the streets all afternoon with nothing to do and no one in his house so this is a chance for him to get away and do something! 

The two boys doing capoeira for the first time