The Living' Is Easy

Here in Brazil we "party hardy". Carnaval (perhaps better known as Mardi Gras to you) is actually only one day (Tuesday), followed by Ash Wednesday. But we manage to stretch it out to 5 or 6 days! João and I took off on Thursday, to head to Espírito Santo (state) where his parent's live. Along the way, we stopped in Campos to pick up Sissy and her boyfriend Junior. Even though it was a full day before most people would be travelling, the traffic was not good. That was compounded by a detour due to a fallen bridge. An 8 hour trip lasted 10 or 11 hours. So our first night at his parent's house we slept like logs - even without air conditioning!
The next day we headed out to the beach. Of course getting Sissy going is never an easy proposition, so it was almost noon when we hit a scaldingly hot beach. The sand was literally boiling hot - it blistered your feet! Since we hadn't been to the beach in years (I mean 7 years!), we had no equipment. We rented a beach umbrella and chair. I did have sunscreen. So I spent lots of time slathering on sunscreen and under the umbrella. Still, I did venture down to the water to cool off. Cool off I did, as the water was really cold. The waves were really rough, so as you can see by our photos, we often ran from the waves!
One of the beautiful sites were all the hang gliders (kite sailing) around us. A couple of them landed right beside us. Also we thoroughly enjoyed our lunch of "muqueca cabixaba"- which is fish stew made in Espírito Santo. Oh my that was good. By around 4:30 or so we were roasted enough (but not burned!) to head home for a shower. The sand and salt do tend to wear on you.
The next day we followed basically the same format. Only on this day Junior brought along a very large tent-like shelter and we rented two chairs. In addition we chose a spot with no waves. I spent most of the day in the water. Sissy and Junior rented a kayak and had a great time. It was REALLY hot and we all got just a little pink after 5 hours, but not really burned. I think it was from the reflection of the sun off the sand. It was so relaxing hearing the waves roar. I especially enjoy all the vendors that come around with various offerings. We bought coconut water, grilled cheese (they have little portable charcoal burners where they grill cheese on a stick), freshly roasted cashews (divine) and sunglasses ( I thought I was going to go blind with the glare). What a wonderful, wonderful day.
Sunday came and went, with two worship services and lunch at João's brother's house. We enjoyed the family time.
Monday we scheduled a family barbeque (churrasco) in his brother's garage. We had a total of 28 people present. I never was able to gather everyone for a good photo. On the trip up to Espírito Santo, I kept saying I wished we could all get together and so João made it happen. He bought all the meat, a cousin grilled it and everyone else chipped in with side dishes and drinks. We ate until we popped. On the right is the photo of the sausage grilling and to the left is João's mom serving his dad and his uncle (who is 96 years old!). One of the relatives (his brother's brother-in-law) turned 38 so we celebrated his birthday too. He is profoundly deaf, but João had two cousins who are also hearing impaired (one only slightly), so they translated for us and we all "sang" Happy Birthday in sign language. I hate myself for not photographing that! Afterwards the kids played UNO, some of the "old folks" napped, but João and his brothers (minus one brother who was on vacation) sat around and sang. As I was swinging in the hammock I listened and chimed in when I could (my repertoire of folk songs in Portuguese is limited), I was moved. The three of them sing so beautifully! I felt so satisfied to see the family having such a good time. I love to see people "in union" as we say in Portuguese! It was a very happy day for me.
All good things do come to an end, so on Tuesday morning we got up early and headed for home (minus Sissy and Junior who were going to stay until Friday) to avoid the Wednesday traffic jams. We had the road to ourselves enabling us to make a leisurely trip, stopping as we wished. We bought a stalk of bananas along the road and ate tiny little bananas for almost 8 hours. I am sure the car reeks of banana oil! We stopped and bought a special earthenware pot for cooking fish, as well as buying a footstool at another place. One of the landmarks on the way home is a mountain that is called the "Monk and the Nun". It has a legend accompanying it about an illicit affair and being turned into stone, etc. If you look carefully, you can see the monk (left) and with some imagination you can see the nun bowed to him. I have never gotten a shot of the rock formation and I was finally able to snap it, even at 60 miles an hour!
We arrived home by 4:30 or so, two tired puppies by the time we unloaded and unpacked. It was great to get away and it is good to be back. I know this was a long entry, but I thought you might enjoy our living easy adventures of Carnaval 2007. Did it make you want to come visit us????

My first visit to Maracanã

Saturday night a member of our church graciously ceded tickets for us to go to a soccer match at the largest soccer stadium in the world - Maracanã. Believe it or not after all these years in Brazil, I had never been to a game. That is really a crime, but I don't do well in the midst of tumult and huge crowds. Our friend knew this would be a calm night to go, and so made us the inrefusable (is that a word??) offer. We had a great time! It was a fun game, as we didn't care who won (in the sense that neither team was one of our favorites)and there was a very small crowd (11,000 as opposed to 100,000).
The stadium has just been remodeled, preparing for the pan-american games. It was a little on the hot side, so I got some water and just sprinkled it on me throughout the game. Also enjoyed a wonderful coconut popsicle. I felt just like a kid again. João remember to take radios so we could follow the commentary and know what was happening. We especially enjoyed seeing the father of one of the players (Sebatião Lazaroni, who had been the coach of the Brazilian soccer team) watch his son make one of the goals. I took my "cheapo" camera, but even so, you can watch a small snatch of the game and appreciate what a great time we had!

It's good to get out of the house once in a while, isn't it? Enjoy life and have fun.

Flowers in Floripa

You may not understand the title, but the reason for it is that the name of the city where we were for the last week or so is, Florianópolis, which loosely translated means Flower Capital... and Floripa is an abbreviation for the city. It is a totally beautiful city (the cleanest city I think I have ever visited) with great beaches. We travelled there, together with 1800 Baptists from Brazil, for the annual Brazilian Baptist Convention.
The photo to the left is a nice shot of João and I with Fausto and Dionne, our immediate predecessors at First Baptist in Rio. On our one day with some free time, we were able to do some sight seeing with them, as well as have a great visit with one of our church members who was on vacation there. They prepared a great meal for us and I actually learned to love oysters, which I had never eaten in my life. That together with the shrimp was yum-yum good. I especially enjoyed the seafood pilaf - squid and oysters and muscles and shrimp with rice. Don't you envy us? I ate till I nearly popped.
Most of the time, of course, was spent in meetings. Better than the meetings, for me, was the reunion with old friends after five years away from Brazil. At times it seemed impossible to even find our way to a seat as we were stopped every few feet to greet someone else. It was so rewarding - especially a long lunch with a pastor who had been a part of my adolescent group in Vitória back in 1984! I also had a long conversation with a single missionary friend here in Brazil. I was inspired by her work and reminded me how far God can lead us if we but follow his call.
I was very edified by two great messages during the convention - two out of five... I guess those aren't bad odds. Those two messages will stay with me a long time because I found them to be embued with the Word of God. I was, however, very discouraged with the format of worship and the quality of some of the messages. Made me feel like I don't belong in this midst anymore- or maybe I was born in the wrong century or something. I don't like street dancing in a worship service. I don't like musicians who talk for 10 minutes between songs. I don't like 90 minutes of singing before a one hour long message that is read. That's just me. I was discouraged by some of the politics and people who feel their face must be seen and their voice heard. I was discouraged by the HUGE financial debt of many of our institutions... and in many ways my feeling that denominational structure is a white elephant were confirmed. My heart was sick with some of what I saw and heard and I am still processing what I should do with this. I know with increased surity that denominational work is NOT the place for me and that feels surprisingly liberating after 21 years of such work. I am tired of institutions and fights over money. I just want to love God's people and help others discover how to serve God in their lives.
I am still on the journey to discover exactly what this really means. I received a number of invitations to teach or do leadership in children's work, but I responded by saying that this is no longer my area of ministry. That seems funny because I am so identified with children's ministry, but that was then, NOT now. It felt good to know I was being obedient in speaking the truth. (Those who know me well, know I struggle to say no to anything). God has confirmed this is where He wants me now. Being quiet. Taking a back seat. Contemplating. Praying. Watching and observing. I am a little anxious to discover what is going to happen, but he keeps telling me to wait. So wait I will. In time I know His dreams will become my dreams and they will be granted. For now, however, this is my circle of quiet.

My day in Santa Cruz

I had one of the rare days that feels like a holiday, but isn't! Today, on our day off, we were invited out to a church member's country home (about 60 km from our house). It turned out to be one of those bright, perfectly blue sky, hot summer days that only Brazil can produce. After a week of rain, we were glad to see a little sunshine. And in our little car that scoots down the road and has freezing cold air conditioning, with a great stereo system, we had a nice little trip!
Our lunch was something right out of a magazine. Our hostess made one of my most favourite brazilian dishes (now hang on to your hat, because it sounds nasty to your ears, but it is wonderful): pumpkin with salted beef (like beef jerky that's been re-hydrated)! She cooked it in a beautiful pumpkin and it was accompanied with stroganoff and a couple of wonderful desserts!
It was, however, so very hot as the day went on, despite the scalding sun, I jumped into the pool. I am always hesitant to do so even with high factor sun screen because of my sickeningly white skin. But since it was well over 100 degrees I gave in. I had a great time and didn't burn. Hip, hip, hooray for sunscreen.
We had a great visit. The funniest part of the day was their poodle bouncing a beach ball off of his nose into the water. I laughed so much. I just had to share the moment with you all. If you click on the arrow in the screen below, you should be able to view the small video I took with my camera. Then you can laugh together with us. Hope this adds a little sunshine to a dreary day.
Cheers!

Can't beat this

I know you all up north are having a warm winter, but I still don't think you can beat this! Isn't it beautiful? And this is the place where João and I dated back in 1991... nice place to go back to as we celebrated our 14th wedding anniversary. Cool, huh?
We enjoyed such a fun day as we went to the Tijuca National Forest - it is the largest urban rain forest in the world. I couldn't get over the beautiful flowers on the banana trees.
We also had the fun of seeing our favourite cutie-pie dip her toes in the ocean for the first time. As it's a long drive over to the beach, she kept saying "Beach, I want the beach", which just cracked us up considering she had never even seen the beach! Aren't you jealous? You are in the cold gray rain, and we are visiting waterfalls and beaches. Everything has it's price, doesn't it? Here she is at the shopping center, still decorated for Christmas. our precious family is leaving us today to be with their family here in Brazil, but we have so enjoyed the time together.
Now it's time to get ready for the end of the year festivities! While you north americans don't much celebrate (at least in churches) the New Year, it's a big deal here. Our worship service will begin at 10PM and end some time after midnight. Then we will have a midnight supper at church. Not too much sleep to be had for us on Sunday. But it should prove to be fun, as I hear the church is full for this service. What a switch! Empty for Christmas and full for New Years. Glad to know everyone is excited to start out the New Year at church. Mom always joked that whatever you are doing as 12:01 on the first day of the new year you will be doing the rest of the year. That's a good sign, as we will all be at church! Hope you will be in communion with God that day too.
(Couldn't resist one last image to show you what you are missing by not being in Brazil to celebrate Christmas and New Years!)

Look who's here!

Today was a red letter day as our friends from Canada arrived at the airport. It made for a very happy day to have this wonderful family here with us in Rio. I am especially happy to have my favourite three year old here! She's grown so much since I saw her in March.
Our building is a great place for kids, as there is a nice playground. I don't know which she liked the most... the playhouse or the swimming pool! She doesn't really know about beaches, so today she preferred to go back down to the playground than go to the beach. What does someone who has grown up in Canada know about Rio beaches, I ask?
I've always complained our pool is too small, but you know, it was just perfect for her! She's a little fish and had a great time in the water. Cooled us all off, as it was quite breezy. The adults were all ready to get out of the water and all shivery, but she wanted to stay. Kids are that way. She fell asleep during supper. I think the pool and fresh air wore her out. Come to think of it, I didn't have much trouble sleeping either.

A Very Merry

I suppose things got really going for me, in terms of the Christmas celebrations, two weeks ago when all the workers from our church came over to our building for a Christmas party. We had a great time. This photo is on our playground, but doesn't include everyone at the party! Things sort of picked up speed from there on out, but it was all fun. I loved having December 24th (the really big day of celebration here in Brazil), except for one thing - so many people opted not to come to church at all since they had to get ready for the Christmas dinner. I guess I wish there was a way for people to figure out how to get around this, but I don't know the answer. Maybe there is no solution. The worship services were so meaningful to me. But then I think I enjoy a good worship service more than a party anyway! That was not always the case, though.
After the Christmas eve service, we went to a friend's house and had a great time celebrating with their large extended family. Lots of fun and food. They ate early (before the traditional midnight supper), so we were able to make it home by midnight.
On Christmas day persay, we had a lot of fun as well, although everyone was tired. Marilene made a bang up punch that was so tasty and refreshing. She shared her left-overs and then I made other food. There were seven of us to eat and talk and then talk and eat! There were lots of left-overs, so didn't have to cook today. Gave me time to do other things - like get ready for Gus and Louise and Christina from Canada. I can hardly wait to see them tomorrow. It will be the first time we see people from our church in Eastview since we left in March. I made a concession and left up the Christmas tree (that I like to take down on the 26th).
Today I took João to the church (I can't remember if I mentioned that he has been in a long process of renewing his driver's license. I, however, opted for a six month temporary license that was based on my Canadian license, so I have been the chauffeur this whole month of December) and we stopped at the license bureau. Miracles of miracles - his license was ready! I am thrilled and he is too. I don't think he enjoyed my driving and I can't say as I blame him, since I hated my driving. If I never had to turn on the ignition again (here in Rio) I would be very content. I can't think of anything more stressful than dodging holes, bicycles, taxis, pedestrians and buses, all while driving 90 to nothing and hoping against hope you won't be robbed, kidnapped or shot at! Well that sounds a little dramatic and I will drive when I have to, but when I can avoid it, I will! I think I will live longer that way and maybe the people in Rio will appreciate it as well.

Sisters, sisters

Do you remember that wonderful "number" in White Christmas when the singers do the song about "sisters"? I always loved that song and would die laughing when Danny Kaye and Bing Crosby did it in drag.

Sisters, sisters
There were never such devoted sisters,
Never had to have a chaperone, no sir,
I’m there to keep my eye on her
Caring, sharing
Every little thing that we are wearing
When a certain gentleman arrived from rome
She wore the dress, and I stayed home
All kinds of weather, we stick together
The same in the rain and sun
Two different faces, but in tight places
We think and we act as one
Those who’ve seen us
Know that not a thing could come between us
Many men have tried to split us up, but no one can
Lord help the mister who comes between me and my sister
And lord help the sister, who comes between me and my man

Well here I am with my real live sisters. We are so much alike in so many ways. This photo was at our "Peggy holiday", that felt like Christmas in November. (When I was home in November). Now that it's really Christmas time and I know they will be together tomorrow I miss them and our funny family traditions. I will miss doing a jigsaw puzzle together. I will miss playing games. I will miss the vast quanities of fun Christmas food (that we actually have all been unable to consume for years with our diabetes). I will miss the heaps of wrapping paper and ribbons on the floor (that are all carefully folded to be saved for reuse) and everyone getting in the way of everyone else's cameras. I'll miss being comatose from overeating (can't do that anymore either). I'll miss the laughter and fun of being with people who have known me since I was born and love me even though they had to change my diapers and hang around with a baby sister when they'd rather be with their friends. There is definitely something to be said for that sister bond.
Our last "real" Christmas altogether was at my house in Canada in 2003. I have so many wonderful memories of that time together. And the baby sister actually got to cook Christmas dinner and no one starved to death or got sick! Time marches on and here I am far away again. And although I will not be spending Christmas with any family, I am so grateful for the memory of so many Christmas' together and happy that I have a family to miss! Most of all I am grateful that my real celebration will be in my heart as I say "Thank you, God for Jesus, who fills up all the holes in my heart".

Why me?

Very often when we face a crisis, we ask, why me? Well I sort of want to turn that around and ask, upon facing very good news, why me?
Some weeks ago I was facing a biopsy for a small lump in my right breast. Although I and my many doctors (referring physician, mastologist, and two radiologists) all believed it to be benign, there is always that tiny doubt that leads you to think, what if??? So as I waited the week for the results, I played out every possibility. I never lost a minute of sleep or really worried... I just tried to figure out what I would do if...
As I prayed, I never asked God for a negative biopsy. Not for lack of faith. I do believe in the sovereignity of God, so I asked that within his will, that all that would happen would be for his glory. I asked for joy and victory, "come what may". God honoured that prayer. When the doctor handed my pathology report that said all was well (negative for cancer), I breathed a sigh of relief, a prayer of thanksgiving and cry of joy!
Yet I had to ask why me? Why did my sister among thousands of other women receive a positive for cancer? I don't know. And in the long run, you know, it doesn't matter, does it? On this side of eternity we will not know the answer to a lot of our whys. What does matter, however, is what we do with the news and how we deal with it. We have to ask the right questions. The why "mes" don't really get us anywhere at all.
I chose not to share with anyone, except João and God, this journey. Basically I am a private person about things that are near and dear. And I would still chose to be silent about this, except that I think it will be more God honouring to publically give thanks and give him the glory for this. If the news had been "bad", I would have shared that, and I believe I would have chosen to do so by giving God the glory for that as well. God is too wise to be mistaken and God is too good to be unkind.
I am so grateful to have gone through this experience to be reminded and relearn total reliance on God in any situation. I am glad to be able to repeat the truth of Paul's words "My God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus." (Philippians 4.19)
I have also learned to stop asking so many questions and begin to submit to God's timing and action in my life. At least about the big things. Now if I can learn to deal with the small things! I do think the smaller things are often harder for me because I turn over the big stuff and kind keep the little things for me to worry about. I don't do nearly as well as God does.
Yesterday I had a very simple procedure, a video endoscope, and yet I am totally traumatized by the whole event. I was calm, cool and unworried about the thing, expecting it to be a piece of cake. I confess I never even talked to God about it. I figured it would be nothing. Maybe my doctor doesn't believe in patient education or information, but I was totally unprepared for what happened - including absolutely excruciating pain as the IV was injected (especially since he didn't even tell me he was going to do that or what he was injecting) and being totally awake and alert throughout the procedure.
You see a procedure that should have been nothing turned out to be a big bugaboo for me. Why me? Don't know and don't care. I am reminded to give over the small AND big stuff. And so I can give thanks for this as well. I learned a lot. Don't care to repeat the dose, but even as I pray for God to help me to forget the trauma, I ask him to help me to remember the lesson. It really is "all good" when we are together with God in all things. Works out nicely, don't you think? And that's the real answer to "why me?"- because it will all work out perfectly in end when we leave it in God's hands.

Top Ten Reasons You Know It is Summer in Rio

You know how David Letterman has his "Top Ten" lists? Well now Peggy has hers. These are the top ten reasons you know summer is arriving in Rio

10. You put ice cream in your coffee (who wants anything hot?).
9. You get up at 3AM to take a shower (just to cool down).
8. You do three loads of laundry a day (because you take 3 showers a day and change your clothes).
7. You stock up on extra strength antipersperant/deoderant (no explanation needed).
6. You take rides in your car because it's the only place you can get really cool (small car, air conditioning full blast!)
5. You can flush the toilets with the buckets of water you collect underneath the window air conditioners (no exageration - it's quite humid).
4. Not just menopausal women carry small hand towels to mop their brows (everyone does)
3. You are constantly hoarse from trying to carry on conversations over the roar of fans.
2. The main topic of conversation of all the cariocas (natives of the city) is: "Gee it's hot, isn't it?"(like that isn't obvious when it is 116 degrees?)
1. Breathing makes you break out in a sweat.

OK, I don't think Dave's writing team is in any danger of losing their jobs to me. But thought you would enjoy my feeble attempt at laughing at the heat here. I do complain about the heat, but usually when everyone else is complaining as well. And sometimes João gets hotter before I do! I am praying about my attitude and working on trying to enjoy the heat. If this is my "Father's World" and he made everything, then who am I to doubt that it is his hand that warms the earth where I live? So pray with me that I won't be transformed into a "heat grump" and will learn to not only "live with" the hot weather, but live in JOY in the hot weather.
HOHOHOHOHO

Mountain top experience

Saturday we had another fine adventure. We left around noon with the Fins family to head to Teresópolis, which is a mountain region about 90 minutes or so from Rio. It was a miserably hot day (to me at least). When we left home, the heat index was 116, although it was only about 88 on the thermometers. It was just plain old muggy. As we climbed the mountain (via car, of course) you could feel the temperature dropping, even with the air conditioning going. It is a beautiful drive. We stopped near the top and took a photo of us with the "Finger of God" mountain in the background. There was also an interesting Christmas tree made entirely of the two litre plastic coke bottles.
The real treat, however, awaited us at the home where we went. It was lovely, as were all the surroundings(see the natural fountain to the right - no pump, just run by the force of the mountain stream), but what we went for was to celebrate the 5th anniversary of the chapel they have built. I could just kick myself for not getting a good photo of it, as it was the cutest chapel I have ever seen. It is built on his property and they have worship services every Tuesday night. They have 60 people. He has also built a church (just like the chapel) in the village nearby. It will soon be a church, as it is still a congregation at this point.
The chapel was just packed out on Saturday (especially since about 50 people came from our church here in Rio). After the services, Klaus set off fireworks, as we does at every anniversary of the chapel. The kids (me included) ran to see and it was quite visual, I can tell you. It was a great deal of fun. I was so impressed to see someone so committed to evangelism and willing to invest so much time and energy to share the gospel. It's been a long time since I've been to a service where so many people had to stand up for lack of room. We returned home quite late and very tired (after midnight), but felt the experience was worth the sacrifice. We should always shoot of fireworks, if only in our hearts, when sharing the good news of Jesus Christ!

Come Ye Thankful People, Come

Since it was Thanksgiving in the US, yesterday I decided to celebrate here in Rio. The weather cooperated as it was windy and a nice temperature all day - helps with the stove and oven going full blast. I invited friends over who had lived in the US or had US links. You can see we had a nice group over - although João was prominently missing - he had a deacon's meeting!
But what fun we all had preparing the food, decorating and eating, of course. There were enough people that I pulled in my kitchen table for alternative seating and then added in another table to serve the food (not my idea, but a great one). As you can see, we made our best effort to make the meal as traditional as possible - turkey (although we had a roaster), green beans, sweet potatoes, cranberries, dressing, mashed potatoes, salad and pumpkin pie, not to mention chocolate cake and a fruit pudding and expresso coffee. Wow! We were all stuffed. But you know, the best part of the evening was not the food. It was sharing how God has blessed us this past year. We all shared and thanked God for our many blessings. I even made us sing "We Gather Together" in English. I sort of explained why Thanksgiving is celebrated in the US (I realized I myself had forgotten a lot of the details). It was a wonderful night. A good time was had by all (at least I hope it was). And I have the wonderful bonus of not having to cook for a very long time now (lots of left-overs).
This morning I was able, with João's very able help, to put the house back together and organize the left-overs. I sent food home with lots of people, but still needed to freeze some. I kind of like the clean up, because it gives me a chance to re-think and remember what went on - this year and in the past as well. Isn't it great to have such a good life that it is worth remembering the past? Another of God's blessings.

Not zoom, zoom, zoom, but close

I left off, on purpose, some significant news, from my blog entry yesterday. I waited until today. In this morning's worship service, João was presented with the keys to a 2007 Corsa Chevrolet. It belongs to the church, but is designated for the pastor's use. The delivery of the car was on Friday and João ran around getting the license plate on Friday. They put the big sign on it that says it's the car of the pastoral office, so that everyone could see it in the parking lot.
Everyone says it is such a cute little car, that it just matches João's personality. It's a metallic steel blue colour, with four doors. We are excited that it has air conditioning, as well as a radio and CD player (very NOT-standard for cars here), as well as electric locks and windows (which are pretty standard).
Now get this... who drove it home tonight? I did!!!! Believe it or not I was so nervous and excited, I was almost shaking. It drives like a dream. I just had a little problem making a smooth shift from second to third gear... and then finding reverse. As you know, every car is different and we didn't bother to check before needing it. But it was an easy reverse, once you figured out you had to push up a ring (and not shove down and over like our Opala!). A church member followed us home just to make sure we did okay. So take another look at the new "baby". Any suggestions for a name???

She's Back!!!!

After my fine holidays, I am home again. I had a wonderful time with my family. We managed to ALL get together on one day at Mom's house to celebrate sort of Christmas and Thanksgiving. My sister called it "Peggy's Holiday". We ate a big dinner and, of couse, opened some early Christmas presents. We were all confused what was the real holiday, as it was Veteran's Day after all.
Somehow you would think after all these years of living so far away, it would get easier. It doesn't. My family plays a funny game of saying "Now, this may be the last time you see me", when we leave, in honour of my Great-Grandmother, who always said that after we left (I think she did so for about 20 some odd years or more). And of course she was right, because the last time we saw her, was the last time we saw her. Still, I think at our ages we sort of begin to take that message a little more to heart.
My plane ride home, was only slightly eventful, as the weather was dreadful and so all the planes were delayed (including due to lightening). I think you can see the type of day it was by looking at the reflection in the window at the photo on the left - my mom and sis at the airport waiting for me to go through security. It made for a very bumpy ride on a very full plane. Somehow, with all my neurosis - will the plane be on time, will I miss my connection, will my luggage arrive, will I have problems in immigration, will my luggage clear customs - one thing that never scares me is the actual flying! I am an anxious traveller because of the small stuff (I usually can't sleep and manage to arrive with a stomach and/or headache), but I don't sweat the big stuff. Other than a very wet suitcase and contents, everything actually went quite well.
When I got home, I sort of felt like the heat and humidity hit me in the face. Nevertheless, I decided to just keep going. I got all unpacked and even had a really nice visit with my friend Marilene. Friday I went downtown to buy a Christmas tree. After my years in Canada, it felt more than strange to be sweating buckets while chosing my tree. I thought I was going to have a sunstroke hauling the 18lb. tree out to a main street to catch a taxi. Obviously I survived. I worked a long time getting it set up (alas, they do not have the kind of trees you just unfold...) and decorating it on Friday and Saturday. I know it seems early, but I just am in the mood, especially since I brought back some of my Christmas ornaments. I still need some more things, but for this year it will just have to do. Gotta love the irony of my snowman collection (thanks to my sister) and João sitting out on the porch eating his supper in 90 degree weather! I know I am back in Rio, that's for sure.

Toto, I don't think we are in Rio anymore

Well here I am! I have had quite an October. After all my birthday celebrations, João's parents came to visit us. We were able to buy them plane tickets and they flew for the first time in their lives. We enjoyed having them with us so much!
While they were still with us, we also had a happy/sad visit from missionary friends who are permanently leaving Brazil (in fact have now left). They drove up to Rio from São Paulo to say good-bye to friends in Rio. In a way it was an end to an era... all the missionaries that João taught Portuguese to are now gone. I feel much sadness because of the changes in the SBC and International Mission Board. Enough said on that subject. I will miss my friends... many of them!
On the last day of the month I left Brazil to fly to the US and have a short visit with my family. I had a great flight and am enjoying my visit immensely. It's always good to see family. The weather is nice and the shopping fun as well. I have been able to enjoy a little bit of fall here, as you can see from the coloured trees. This weekend the whole family is getting together this weekend for a Thanksgiving/Christmas early celebration while I am home. It's all good!

It's Just Amazing

Isn't just amazing how a new outfit can raise your spirits? And how much fun it is to shop? (I don't think I have any male readers, so I don't think I even need to explain that to my women friends!) Today I went shopping with a friend who bought me a new outfit for my birthday. It is also lots of fun to stretch out your birthday over the whole month. It was so much fun trying on clothes and actually finding something that fits! She led me to stores I would never have entered and I was amazed that they actually had something I can wear. I know I constantly struggle with the fact that I am fat and the trauma of being told in a store that they don't carry my size, so it was a pleasant surprise to discover I use 4 sizes less than I thought (sizing is very different here in Brazil - I wear a size 34 shoe, for instance and size 46 skirt). Anyway I ended up with a new skirt and blouse and shoes to boot. Great way to spend the morning.
And yes I continue to be faithful in my walking. João is even walking with me in the mornings. Finally after 3 weeks (I'm into the 4th week), I am beginning to reap some benefits. No, I am not thinner! But I finally have more energy and I don't dread walking in the mornings. In fact I wake up looking forward to it. Today I didn't want to stop after 40 minutes and 2 miles, but I had other things to do. (Like going shopping.)
Life is good. In just two weeks I will be going to the US to visit my family. And on Thursday João's parents fly in from Espírito Santo to spend 5 days with us. Lots to look forward to, that's for sure. Hope you are having as much fun as I am.