Riddlelicious

Time

2009-08-31T13:11:00.000-07:00

It passes too quickly. We have had so many adventures over the past several months and I haven't stopped to share them with you. I'm sorry! Here are a few updates...

In June, a short-term team from our home church, Intown Community Church, came to serve alongside us for one week. We were so thankful to have them come. They really moved along our ministry with these kids here and it was so encouraging to have some friends from our home church come down.

In July we went home to the States for a wonderful, 6 week visit. We arrived in Atlanta and were there for 4 days before we headed out to South Dakota for my family's reunion on our farm. Lil'J had a blast riding on tractors and seeing all the amazing farm equipment. After the reunion, we went straight to visit Jason's sister and family who just moved up to St. Joseph, Michigan. They have a beautiful home with a peaceful backyard and the kids (and adults) thoroughly enjoyed playing in it. We picked cherries and Jason made the best cherry pie we have ever eaten.

When we returned to Atlanta, Jason spent 2 of our last 4 weeks in the States in seminary classes. It was a good chance for him to get some of his classes out of the way. We had our best visit home ever this summer. I think part of it was that it was summertime and everyone was in laid back mode. We didn't get to see a lot of friends, but we did have a relaxing, enjoyable time. Next time we'll hopefully get to see all of you that we missed this trip!

Lil'J and cousin W

With Gramma and Granddad at the Zoo in South Dakota

Investigating a worm with Daddy

Pillows!

swingin' naked on Nana's back porch

more pictures to come....

My Little Sea Captain

2009-05-09T04:18:00.000-07:00

Jason's mom just came for a visit and we had a wonderful time together. I was so good to spend uninterrupted time with her. We took a short trip to Ilha Grande (the Big Island). There are no cars or roads on the island, so to get anywhere you hike or go by boat. Here are a few pictures...

Thanks for the visit, Robin (a.k.a Nana). We miss you already, but look forward to seeing you this summer in Atlanta!

The Good Shepherd

2009-04-02T17:17:00.000-07:00

At the rustle of keys or the packing of a bag, Jacob gets wind of the fact that we are going out and his first reaction is to gather as many balls as possible by the front door. Not one can be left behind.
My son has several passions which include birds, dogs, tractors and trucks, but none quite compare to his love for balls. His favorite word is "baa". He screams it at the sight of every round object, ball or not. Our teammate, Jeremy, has a plethora of balls, so at his house Jacob spends his time searching out and herding balls. For this reason, I call him the Shepherd of Balls (interestingly enough the Portuguese word for shepherd is pastor, so I actually have a tendency to call him the Pastor of Balls because the words pastor and shepherd have become synonymous to me). Like any good shepherd he does not worry about the ones that are accounted for; his true concern is for those that are astray.

Shadows

2009-03-19T11:16:00.000-07:00

Our little one is almost 17 months old and today he discovered one of life's little joys...his shadow. He spent some time watching his shadow clap and trying to step on it. Oh, I wish I had my camera with me!

My how the time passes!

2008-12-11T15:22:00.001-08:00

I'm so sorry that I've been a horrible blogger. I would have way too much to write about, so I'll try to just hit the highlights of these past 3 months since I last posted...October 22nd we flew to Atlanta! Yeah! We had a great reunion with family (the grandparents) at the airport.

On October 26th, we celebrated lil'j's very first birthday. We had a great time, great weather and great food. Thanks to all who came. Unfortunately we pooped lil'j out before cake time and he wanted no part in the eating of it.

The rest of our trip was a time of relaxing, eating, shopping, spending time with friends and family and enjoying the US (grass, cars, space, etc)! Here are some photos...

More to come...I promise!

Penguins in Rio

2008-10-04T05:36:00.001-07:00

That's right...apparently penguins get sick of the Antarctic and come to Rio to lounge on the tropical beaches. Here's a link to an article about it http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27004165/from/ET/

I personally haven't seen them...bummer. We don't get to the beach all that much, especially since it's been winter here (75F). We've been wearing our mittens, toboggans and heavy winter coats instead. :)

We are looking forward to more beach time as it warms up a little more and the water is not so cold. Lil' j hasn't had the opportunity to get in water except for his bath in a tiny tub. We are looking forward to some time in a pool and the ocean this summer (summer down here...winter in the States).

Anyone want to come play on the tropical beaches of Rio with the penguins? Come on down! We'd love to have you.

A Visit from Gramma

2008-10-02T12:11:00.000-07:00

In September, my mom came to visit for 2 weeks. The last time she came was when lil'j was born, so we weren't able to get out and do a lot of stuff in Rio. This visit we got to do much more and, of course, spent a lot of time playing with lil'j. We had a great time with her and really miss her. We are thrilled to be going to the States for a visit the end of October, so we will be seeing all the grandparents, etc soon. Here are some pictures from Gramma's visit...

happy tears at the airport

playing with lil'j's many girlfriends

lots of reading time

seeing the beauty of Rio

We'll see you again soon, Gramma!

Friends

2008-08-25T08:45:00.000-07:00

Here are some of our dear friends and fellow missionaries here in Rio...

lil j's precious friend A Rebecca with A and lil' j and I

Richard and Jason with the kids

lil' j and a coconut (he obviously had a drool problem this day)

It is so nice to have American friends down here. We enjoy swapping recipes and things we've discovered down here like where to buy tortillas or how to make good feijao (black beans). Not much else to say here, just thankful for friends overseas with us.

Novo Friborgo

2008-07-25T05:56:00.000-07:00

Last weekend we went with some friends (Jose and Heckel) to Novo Friburgo, a city colonized by the Swiss located in the nearby mountain range. We stayed with Jose's aunt and uncle in a beautiful yellow house. The weather was great. Sunny days in the 70's, but cold at night getting down to freezing with no heater! Jose's aunt had our trip all planned out. The first day we rode in a jeep up a very steep road to a set of never-ending stairs leading us to one of the highest peaks in the range.

Here is Jose and her aunt's friend that owned the jeep we rode up in.

Jason with Jacob in tow ascending the stairs (all 700+ of them!)

The three of us at the top.

Heckel being silly, Jose's aunt, Vania, and her friend.

Jose and Jacob

The trip also included a visit to a honey farm, a Swiss cheese making school and a beautiful pousada (Bed and Breakfast) for lunch. Here is a picture of Jose and Heckel at the pousada.

We also went bowling on top of a mountain overlooking the city. Jacob had a great time with the guy at the bar there...I think he was just trying to get some free candy.

Day Off; Misc.

2008-06-29T11:58:00.000-07:00

Every week we have one full day off and we try to do something different and fun in the city. Rio has so much to offer. Two weeks ago we went walking along a coastal community, Urca, and then along a path under Sugar Loaf (see last picture). Of course, pictures just don't do it justice.

Our work is going well. Jason stays busy with Bible studies in the different communities. They are studying Romans. We are in the middle of winter here. Of course, today was about 77F and sunny. Just beautiful. However, the beginning of last week was cold and rainy (low 60's/high 50's)...that's the coldest it ever gets here in Rio. It always feels colder than it actually is due to the lack of insulation and plethora of tile. Hot chocolate is a favorite on days like that!

my little boy...

2008-06-15T13:16:00.000-07:00

...is growing up soooo fast! Jacob is 7.5 months old now. He'll be 8 months on the 26th. He is sitting up, crawling and last Friday (the 13th) he STOOD UP on his own...crazy! I was sitting at the table eating breakfast and j was crawling around in a little area we set up for him. He was trying to crawl over the pillow barricade we put up and I was laughing at him and turning on the camera to take a video of him. When I looked up, there he was on his own 2 feet! Of course, before I was able to get the camera on him he toppled over. He is so eager to go! I'm still trying to capture him standing on video. He's done it a couple more times, but I haven't been quick enough with the camera...one day I'll get it!

Today is Jason's first Father's Day. What a joy! Happy Father's Day to all the wonderful men out there!

Cookies...Yum!

2008-06-10T17:59:00.000-07:00

Some of the kids that we do a Bible study with wanted to learn how to make "American" cookies. So, one afternoon we had a baking class. We made oatmeal raisin cookies...they were a huge hit!

In fact, we often make brownies, cookies, etc. and people here love it! They think we should open a shop...oh, if it were that simple! :) It's fun to make good ole US of A sweets for our friends...and of course, for ourselves.

Random Goodness

2008-06-10T13:40:00.000-07:00

Here are some fun pictures from the past couple of weeks. Here is Jacob with our dear friend, Anna. Her parents are also missionaries down here. Anna calls us Baby Kristin and Baby Jacob. All her dollies are also called Baby Kristin. She is just precious! After the Passion Conference, a friend who came down from Atlanta to work at the conference came back to Rio to spend the week. We had the opportunity to take him to a couple of places...the beach...

...the Botanical Gardens (Tom is pictured here with C...one of the boys in the SR house)...

...and up at Sugar Loaf (Pao de Acucar), a tourist spot here in Rio...

a little friend up at the top...

All this in one day! Jacob was a little trooper! Rio is a beautiful city...anyone want to come visit?! We'd love to have you!

Passion ~ Sao Paulo

2008-05-30T12:29:00.000-07:00

We are extremely grateful to some very generous friends who gave all of us the opportunity to go to the Passion conference in Sao Paulo, Brazil. We had a wonderful time of worship and fellowship. Sao Paulo was the third stop on Passion's world tour this year. Music was lead by Chris Tomlin and David Crowder Band. The speakers were Louie Giglio and Frances Chan. To find out more about the Passion World Tour conferences, visit: http://www.268generation.com/ or 268blog.com. Here are some pictures...the 2 boys are C and P...they live in our Sombra Road House.

David Crowder*Band

Jeremy, P, Kristin, lil' j, Jason and C

Enjoying Starbucks in Sao Paulo...it hasn't arrived in Rio yet....

We also enjoyed Whoppers at BK...gotta love the American influence down here :)

Hotlanta

2008-05-19T07:38:00.000-07:00

Jacob and I had a GREAT visit to the States. The grandparents, etc. thoroughly enjoyed their time with him (and me too, I guess). We were there a little under 3 weeks and the time passed so quickly. It is always like that. I know for Jason those weeks passed slowly and we are glad to be home again with him. Here are some pictures...(somehow I didn't get pictures of a lot of people...particularly Jason's side of the family). Ooops!

Manginhos

2008-05-18T17:57:00.000-07:00

Jason teaches an English class in Manginhos, one of the poorest favelas in Rio. His main objective is not to teach English but to recruit one of the youth in the community to live in the Sombra Road home. He teaches his English class in a house that is owned by a ministry called Timones (refering to I Timothy). The director, who invited Jason to work with the youth of the favela, allotted almost US $100 per month to do activities with some of the teenagers. This month they took the money and bought basic necessities (rice, beans, oil, sugar, etc.). They delivered the food products to six deserving families. As you can see in the photo, the families all life in a line of wood shacks. Upon delivery, they prayed with the families and read scripture with them. This was a good opportunity for the youth to give back to their community and the gesture fits well with Sombra Road's desire to disciple youth. The lady pictured above is Oliene, the social worker at Timones. Below are some of the youth Jason works with there.

Beach Fun

2008-05-18T06:34:00.000-07:00

The day before I left for the States, Jason played in a football tournament in Copacabana. Yes...American football, not soccer. They play on the beach and have a lot of fun. It's a great outlet for Jason. Here are some pictures...

Here are some friends who came to watch. They are from the church that we attend.

And here are just a few people from Jason's team (actually this picture is of the flag football team, not the regular tackle team...there are like 30 people on that team, but I don't have a picture yet)

ATL

2008-04-30T15:03:00.000-07:00

Jacob and I (kristin) are in Atlanta for a grandparent visit. J is 6 months old now and super fun...except for the teething part of life. We are having a great time visiting family and hopefully a few friends while we are here. Mothers Day weekend we are going up to VA to visit my brother, Ryan, and his wife, LaNell. I'm super excited as I have not been up there in about 4 years. It's hard to be apart from Jason, but the grandparents are so glad to have their grandson here for a few weeks. We return on May 14th.

I'll post pictures when I get back to Brazil.

A Few of our "teens"

2008-04-05T12:45:00.000-07:00

Here are a few kids that we work with. These youth are a little younger than our normal target group, but we are helping Compassion International start a program with young teens in a community near us. This community has a day care center with about 150 children (80 are Compassion sponsored kids) that come from very needy families. The program is called Meu Plano Para Amanha (My Plan for Tomorrow) and it is designed to teach these kids about themselves, the world around them, and God's purpose for their lives. Our main responsiblity is to teach the Bible Study.

As you can imagine, Jacob is a big hit with these kids.

This community/favela is located, like most, up the side of the mountain. Here is a picture of part of it:

Each favela is controlled by drug gangs. Occasionally, the police will enter the community and their will be a "tiroteo" (shootout) between the police and the drug dealers "banditos". This happened last week during one morning Bible study up there. The police were shooting right outside the walls of the daycare center. It's so sad that these children grow up with this violence right outside their windows. The reaction to these events by the teens is sad. For some of the boys, it elicits excitement mixed with fear. For most of the girls, it's just fear. So we pray and encourage and try to teach the boys that the life of a drug dealer is not "exciting", but that these banditos are prisoners in their own world of violence.

Jacob's First Hike

2008-04-03T11:03:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday we went on our first hike as a family. We hiked to the Tijuca Peak (Pico da Tijuca) with Jeremy, Claudinho and Philipe. Jason carried Jacob in the Baby Bjorn all the way up and Jeremy carried him back down. Jacob slept most of the way back down. It was a beautiful day, but as soon as we got to the top, the clouds rolled over us. Enjoy the pictures and video.

Feliz Pascoa

2008-03-23T08:47:00.000-07:00

Happy Easter! This is the best we could do with a family photo. We couldn't get Jacob to look up at the camera...

... so we tried a different angle and it worked, but now we have wires that are protruding from Jason's head. Oh well! Here are our friends, Daniel, Marana, and Mirena. M and M are sisters and D is Marana's husband. We went to their wedding in December just before we left to spend Christmas in the U.S. We spent Easter with M and M and the rest of their family (immediate and extended). They live in one of the favelas (slums) near us. They are a great family and are part of the church that we attend in their community.

On Good Friday, a Catholic church near us had a mini parade (not sure what to call it) on the street in front of our house. Here is a video of it...

Tastes of Brazil

2008-03-20T09:15:00.001-07:00

This is a caju fruit. The top part contains the nut...the cashew nut. Each fruit has only one nut...that's why cashews are so expensive! Here in Brazil, they make a juice from the fruit. It's pretty good, but its an acquired taste. The first time I had it, I didn't like it. We took this picture at our friends house. They have a cashew tree in their backyard and Jason picked this one.

Below is another fruit that we don't have...the caqui (it has various spellings) fruit. It looks just like a tomato, but has a different taste and texture on the inside. It is delicious!

One of our favorite summertime treats down here is Acai. Acai is a fruit from the Amazon. It is a small berry that grows high in the palm trees of the Amazon. It is extremely high in antioxidents and is considered one of the top 10 wonder fruits of the world (or something like that). The pulp is frozen and it is made into a delicious frozen smoothie (see picture below). You can add bananas, strawberries, granola or whatever you want. We love it and can get it on almost every street corner here. My parents fell in love with it when they came down for Jacob's birth and actually found the frozen acai pulp in the Whole Foods in Atlanta and have been making smoothies with it. But be careful! This berry is very healthy, but it is also full of calories.

Mondays are our family day. We try to do something different around Rio. A couple of weeks ago, we were walking around the Lagoa (I'll have to find a picture and add it later) and we came across these beautiful flowers growing on a tree.

Phone calls, etc

2008-03-20T07:55:00.000-07:00

Jacob has learned how to use the phone...so watch out, you may get a collect call from Brazil. OK, so maybe he doesn't know how to make a call yet, but he sure is trying. Oh yeah...don't you love the mohawk he is sporting in this photo!

He is a week away from his 5 month birthday. He is grabbing for everything. Today as I was trying to fill water bottles from our filter, he managed to knock over all of the bottles I had filled. Our apartment here is completely tiled, so we have a folded comforter on the floor for him to have a soft place to chill out. Unfortunately, since he is more and more "mobile" (as you can see in the video), he often ends up on the tile anyway.

Doesn't he look innocent?...don't let it fool you! :)

Strange Sights

2008-03-09T06:59:00.000-07:00

When we first came to Brazil, we lived in a more rural area and we had a lot of horses, goats, chickens and sometimes cows that roamed the streets. When we moved into the city last year, we thought those days were over, but even here with the busy traffic, we often see random horses trotting down the road like stray dogs (which there are a lot of as well). The other night, though, Jason caught on video different visitors to the neighborhood.

T-R-O-U-B-L-E

2008-03-09T06:28:00.001-07:00

Jacob has started to get more and more mobile. He used to lay contently on his play mat hitting the dangling animals with glee. Now, he is like a steam roller trying to crush everything in his path. I had him on his play mat the other night when he started to fuss. I was making dinner, so it took me a couple minutes to get to him. This is the sight that I found...

He is also starting to grab his feet a lot.

Riddlelicious

2008-03-08T07:26:00.000-08:00

Here we come...into the world of blogging. Live (or not really) from Rio...