As I write this, I’m eating a yummy bowl of Kraft Macaroni and Cheese. This is the super healthy dinner that was preceded by a lunch of peanut butter sandwiches and peanut butter spread on cookies. Yes, it is as unhealthy as you imagine, but it is also better than you could imagine. Why, you ask? Its just mac and cheese and peanut butter! But for us, it is a taste of familiarity. Skippy and Kraft never tasted so good!!! As you have probably gathered, we finally got to access our container contents today. It has been a long and tedious process, but better than its been for some!! We did not bring everything back to our language school home because this house is already furnished, so some stuff is in storage. But, we thought since we are constanly surrounded with so many things that are foreign to us, it would be a relief to come home at the end of the day to a place that feels familiar. We ended up bringing a little more than we thought we would, but the Kombi proved its worth!! It functioned like a truck as we packed stuff into it. All in all, it only took 4 trips! Now we are unpacking and trying to find a home for everything. It may seem crazy to go through all this to live here for another 10 months, but we think it will be worth it!!

Today marked the end of 9 weeks of language school. We are now on summer break, or in portuguese, férias. We will not have any school for 7 weeks. That has its pluses(no studying) and its minuses (no formal learning). We are looking forward to having some time off to explore our city and surrounding areas. We have definitely learned a ton in 9 weeks with even more yet to learn!! The last 2 days, we have been reading a short story about these silly, slow moving turtles. We read the story at home, then today we discussed it and had to answer some questions to check comprehension. We were able to comprehend quite a bit of it, but there were still alot of words and verb tenses we didn’t know. I asked our teacher, Pri, where she got the story…it is from a 3rd grade reading textbook!!! Slightly humbling, yet at least it wasn’t a kindergarten textbook!!!

Bom fim de semana!!!

I just ventured out, by myself, to a grocery store about 15 minutes away. It was a great 15 minutes. I decided to put on a little Chris Tomlin “Arriving”. As I was singing along with my buddy Chris, it was as though God said to me, “this is what you have been missing”. In all the hustle and bustle of new city life, new language, new culture, new people(pretty much new everything), taking care of the kids, school, house, etc., I had forgotten about the way God uses music in my life. I have been reading His Word, but something has been missing-until my ride to the grocery store. As I cranked “God of this city” and sang at the top of my lungs, tears flowed down my cheeks. I ended up sitting in the Kombi in the parking garage because I didn’t want the music to end! How could I forget the connection I get with God when I worship Him in music??!?

Its amazing how when we lose just one portion of the means God has given us to grow in our relationship with Him, we can completely lose the ability to function in a God glorifying manner. The last couple of weeks have been filled with some difficulties that have, at times, pushed me over the edge. The shouldn’t have pushed me over the edge, but it was as if I had no ability to think rationally. I know now it was because of a lack of worship in my life. I think God uses different modes of worship to speak differently to each of us. For some, it is the study of His Word, for some it is sermons, for some it is a good book. For me, it is music. Having the opportunity to be alone with God, not cleaning, not getting a snack, not studying-just me, some music, and God.

God spoke to me today. It wasn’t through the specific words of Chris Tomlin, but through my act of worshipping Him through “Arriving”. I am so thankful for that 15 minute drive to Bourbon Shopping Country where the Creator of the Universe, Who was with me in Iowa, reminded me that He is right here with me when I feel so far away from everything familiar. I guess I’ll have to ride around by myself in the Kombi more often…

Today we complete our 7th week of language school. I can’t believe its been 7 weeks already! Each week we are able to converse a little more, which is great. However, there are time we’ll want to say something that we don’t know how to say, and our teacher will tell us how to say it. Then she will say, “that’s in lesson 24” or something like that. I look at my book and we are in lesson 4!!!! Those times remind us that there is sooooo much we still have to learn. 2 more weeks and we get 7 weeks off for summer break!!! We are really looking forward to those 7 weeks!

We had to ride the bus yesterday. We are getting the windows tinted on the Kombi so it is in the shop for a couple of days (I know what you’re thinking-its gonna be super sweet!). It was not the best bus experience we’ve had, nor was it the worst We made it home but not without some harassment for from some young boys for being “americanos”. (I want to clarify, it is not the norm to be harassed like that) We get little reminders now and then though that we are the “enstrangeiros” (foreigners) here. It can be discouraging at times, but there are lessons to be learned in everything–more compassion towards “estrangeiros” in the U.S., extra graciousness to those who welcome us, more love towards those who don’t…we are, after all, here to tell people about Christ!!! Aren’t we all estrangeiros in this world anyway??

We are really praying that our container is released from customs soon. We are so thankful for the furnished house we moved into, but it will be nice to have some of our own things around. The boys are getting bored with the few toys we brought on the plane and have started getting more creative which usually means more trouble Check out Lucas’s facebook or Twitter to see a video of yesterday’s all day long toy. All of our Christmas decor is in the container, plus it’s summer here, so it is NOT beginning to feel a lot or even a little like Christmas! So, by the advice of some friends, we are going to do some paper decorations this weekend! Lucas is thrilled, seriously thrilled.

We met the Gecko last night. I suppose we should name him or something. Anyway, Nathaniel went upstairs to go to be and yelled, “The Gecko!! I see the gecko!!” So of course, we all ran upstairs. It darted behind Nathaniel’s bed so he pulled it out and it started running towards the stairs, where I was standing. Yes, I screamed about a little, tiny, harmless gecko. Brave Lucas got a piece of wood and tried to get the gecko to climb on it. Instead, it got on his hand!! Again, I screamed, just a little. It somehow got on the wall and climbed up to the ceiling where it camped out for a while. That was an exciting 5 minutes, let me tell you. Needless to say, Nathaniel slept downstairs with his brothers.

Until next time…