I am fully aware of my neglect of this blog. My dear sister-in-law solidified it for me today in an email when talking about my blog she said, “Um, it’s time to update it.” So Christi, here I am updating it!
There are soooo many things that have happened since I last wrote on this space. Lucas’s parents came to visit…AWESOME, we went to Florianopolis, aka the Hawaii of South America…AWESOME, Julia got her gall bladder out, and we have continued to rob our minds of any space left in them by filling them with more and more and more portuguese…oh so awesome. 
No, really though, we seemed to hit a wall, which we were told we would, around the 6 month mark of being here. I have caught myself thinking now and then, “Ok, this missions trip has been a blast. It is time to go home yet?” There have been points along this 6 month journey when it has felt like we are on the missions trip that never ends, and its not always a fun missions trip! But, God is still good in the midst of our doubt. He always reminds us that He brought us here. He tends to remind us on the weekends when we are with our small group or at church in the Rincão. We have a purpose in being here, we just need to learn the language to do it!!
The highlight of the last couple of weeks was this past weekend. Our small group wanted to meet at our house. Seeing as how most of them don’t have cars, the Kombi served as a bus! I made homemade american style pizza and Lucas shared the devotional(which went great!). It was definitely a great reminder that we aren’t just here to be students again, but we are here to serve the brazilians! It was an awesome night.
Julia had her gall bladder out last week. We had a bit of a scare building up to it, though. She was very sick and in a lot of pain and we didn’t know why! After a 9 hour day at the hospital, it was confirmed she had 30 or more gall stones. So, a week and a half later, out the gall bladder came! Everything went super smooth and she is recovering great!
The same day as Julia’s surgery, Nathaniel and Jackson’s teacher, Carol, had surgery in her esophagus. Her surgery also went great and she is recovering well. As a result, last week I got a taste of what it will be like to homeschool the boys (although Carol had the lesson plans laid out for me). It was a little crazy with my own schoolwork and classes in the midst of it, but, all in all, I really enjoyed it! I’m not sure the boys did though…:-) What really matters is that we survived and the boys resume class at school with Carol today!
It was such a blessing to have Lucas’s parents visit a few weeks ago! We had a great time just hanging out and touring things around here. It was hard to see them go. But, another blessing is right around the corner, my mom comes next week! We are really looking forward to having grandma here!
There is a quick recap of the happenings around here in the last month. I know I’ve said this before, but I’m going to try harder to write on this thing, Christi, I promise!!!
Thank you! So glad that Julia is feeling better! Your Mom (our Mom) is very excited to see you too! I’m sure you already know that though. As always…sending my love and prayers!