Not Again?

You gotta figure when I don't write for a while that I was super busy or maybe not feeling well. Right on both counts. I had another nasty cold last week that knocked me out with a severe migraine and a horrible cough (that I am still fighting). I just don't know what is going on around here, as João too has been battling sore throats and coughs as well and he NEVER got sick before. I guess I need to make a consult to see what is going on with all this wheezing. Since Sissy hasn't shared these illnesses with us, we are sort of suspecting something in our room - maybe our air-conditioner. So I was down last week, although not totally out, as I had a lot to do.
We had and engaged couples encounter weekend at church and I did the group dynamics scattered throughout the weekend (4 different sessions for me). We had a great time and I felt it was especially meaningful this year. The photo shows the couples with their "trophies" they made with newspaper - trophies to award their fiancé for some wonderful characteristic. The sessions were all so interesting, I felt like I learned a lot (especially the sessions on cooking, grocery shopping and budget planning).
Being at the church Friday, all day Saturday and all day Sunday (yep, that's right, no time to come home) was tiring, but still rewarding. Sunday night we had baptisms in the church. Things conspired for that not to happen, but João trudged forward. For instance, the water was too high, so someone pulled the plug to let some out, forgetting to put the plug back in. When they saw it, the water was below João's knees and it was too late to do anything about it. So he practically put out his back to lower people into the water. Then for the first time in 30 years, he had someone have a panic attack as they came down the steps! He had to talk her through it and it took a while. But everyone at church could see her fear, so they waited patiently as he reassured her. What a victory when she was lowered into the water and raised again. She has never been a part of a church, and lives in miserable living conditions. This was something so new for her (we who are raised in the church, have no idea how strange baptism can seem to those who are new to it all). She has been preparing for this for a year, but it was still hard for her. To me this was a wonderful example of someone conquering so much to be a follower of Jesus. Her neighbors and friends came and I was near them and you should have heard their comments. It was almost comical! We take so much for granted. She was told she would die (by a hex or curse) if she decided to follow Jesus. So you see the reason for the fear.
There were 10 people baptized, including four Royal Ambassadors (for those of you are not Southern Baptists, that's a missions organization for boys). One of the boys is so petite (although 10), his head hardly appeared above the baptistry. It's so sweet seeing children who have committed to following Jesus too. So we had young to old - 4 boys, 3 young men and 3 women. Something unique at our church is that the pulpit is on a pulley system so it can be lowered and raised automatically. I am always distracted and never see it being lowered, but this Sunday I watched carefully. I don't know why that is so fascinating to me to see it disappearing into the ground.
Today I am off the embassy to pick up my new passport (these days you have to make an appointment to renew, which I did last week and then the passport is made in the US and returned by express mail). Then I will have to go to the federal police and get a renewal on my "protocol" which says I am STILL waiting on my identity card (it's only been 7 months). Just love bureaucracy. Hope you can avoid the police this week.

Safe New World

Today we had safety netting installed on our verandas. I have had, for years, a recurring bad dream of a child falling out of my window or off my porch. I am not afraid of heights and it doesn't bother me to use my hammock or sit on our porch. When children come over, however, it's another story. Gives me the willies. There are many adults who won't set foot on the veranda. It is a low railing and when you lean or look over it does make you dizzy. It is the 16th floor after all. Consequently, we decided it was the better part of valour to put up safety netting. Most people who have children do just that.
We debated a long time (we have been here almost 18 months), because it does rather spoil the view. Still it's better to be safe than sorry. As an added benefit, Mia is very happy as she can now go out on the porch unsupervised. It will probably be good for her to get some sunshine.
You should see the process for installing it. It is supposed to withstand about 1000 lbs of weight. The installer climbed up the netting (it is nylon cord) with all his weight and shook it. Not me. I'll take his word on the subject! I've heard plenty of stories of mothers finding their child safely caught by the net. And other sadder stories of people who have lost children who fell off balconies. Speaking of which, the installer worked on the ladder, drilling overhead with no safety system whatsoever. João was seriously creeped out! Anyway, you can see the results and how Mia seems to be pleased to have a super duper lookout. Someone even told us she would be safer this way since we have owls and falcons and vultures sweeping the skies. I do know that the former resident had a vulture land on his arm one day! Doesn't seem likely, but I suppose such things could happen. Never hurts to have a safety net (pun intended)! Stay safe.

Feast or Famine

Just resign yourselves. It's the way I work. 10 days with no posts and then a post everyday for a couple of days. It all has to do with my schedule and with interesting things happening in my life. Actually not too much is happening of earth shattering importance, but you see I have this really cute photo of Mia...
Actually today Gabi, a friend, came over to help upholster my chairs. She painted fabric and then stapled it and we attached the chair pads back. The striped chairs, as opposed to the dark beige chair covers gave the room a whole new air. And yes I know I need something for the wall. These things take time. Gotta find just the right thing for just the right price! In addition you just must see the gorgeous amaryllis that the ladies of the church gave me for my birthday. Aren't they just great? I fell in love with the arrangement immediately. They were definitely chosen by someone who had seen my living room. While I was snapping these photos to show to you, guess you just had to get in the act? Mia, of course. She is not camera shy, but she also isn't ever going to be a top model.
She just can't quite seem to get the hang of posing attractively. She yawns, scratches, washes herself, scratches the furniture, meows (what else coming from her?), but pose she does not! So I was grateful to get this shot of her on the couch. I tried to come in for a close up and it actually turned out half-way decent. The real problem may lie with the photographer! One of her more endearing characteristics is her constant desire for loving. Who can resist a cat who purrs out loud everytime you come near her? And the good news is that she hardly sheds. Even on the white couch she leaves hardly a trace. If I brush her a couple of times a week that helps. So far her lovely pink manicure has held up quite nicely. A friend from church (who does therapy with animals), gave her a pink birdy and she loves it. Currently it is on the lost status, as Mia chases it, throws it in the air, bats it around and then somehow hides it under the furniture. She brings a lot of fun to our household. She may be an older cat, but she hasn't lost her zest for living! Since I am roughly the same age she is, I think I can learn from her!

What, no picture?

And that's the truth folks. I haven't put in an entry because I don't have any photos to go with anything interesting to say. Now you will have to read the words. Me, if there aren't any pictures, I don't find a blog very interesting. I must be like 6 years old, right?
I wanted to tell you about our worship on Sunday, which consumed most of my week last week. October 12th is children's day in Brazil, so on Sunday (the 14th) we had a special worship service to remember our children. A young man of 11 led the worship. He did such a good job. Better than most adults. Of course I had written out all the transitions and everything he should say, but having grown up in church and being an excellent speaker, he knew how to add little touches and adlib. He and I both were nervous. It is hard to lead a worship service and make it flow. Especially in front of more than 1000 people live, plus live internet and radio!
The children's choir presented 3 numbers from a cantata they are preparing. It was about being "More than Heroes". What was interesting was how each song was a very different style - from rap to classical.
An 11 year old played the violin for the prelude and a 10 year old did the postlude on the piano. That may seem like no big deal, but remember the size of our church. I was amazed the kids were willing to do so.
The "funniest" moment, was when I usually do the children's message, because João called up people who were over 80 for an "adult's message". They were much more irreverant than the children ever are. They loved being at the front, however. People had to help them, but they came with their canes an all.
I prepared the whole worship service on powerpoint for our new projector. It is not yet what we will use for the auditorium, since our sanctuary is so big we have to have a special set up that costs an absolute fortune, but I used a screen on one side and had the kids sit on that side to be able to watch everything. We had even the little kids present, so it was a challenge to keep things moving for our 3 and 4 years old. I think there were about 80 kids or so. Not bad, considering it was a lo-o-o-ng holiday weekend (Friday and Monday were holidays), and we had 80 families travelling on a missions trip.
I "preached" to the kids (hoping the adults would also apply the lesson to their lives) for about 10 minutes (I don't think anyone minded things ending early). I used animations on the powerpoint, which the kids loved, of course, as well as objects. I talked about God's call to Jeremiah, and the plan that God has for each of our lives. I used the beautiful quilt the ladies at Eastview made for me to show how beautiful our lives can be if we follow God's plan. I threw together a bunch of fabric scraps and asked if that was as nice as the quilt, explaining that we all need a purpose or plan and the best one is God's! Of course quilts aren't all that common here and people were just fascintated. Everyone wanted to take my quilt home.
The congregational music was just great too as we sang some old children's songs (which are timeless, like Praise Him All Ye Little Children and Alelu, alelu, alelu alelujah, Praise Ye the Lord) as well as some more contemporary children's songs (which I liked better actually). It was fun!
When the service ended, I was tired (since the equipment was all new, no one knew how to set it up and so it was all a close call to get it done before the church started. So it was run here and there to get a table, get a cord, set up the screen, hook up the computer, etc.) It was hot and humid and the air conditioning only gets turned on a few minutes before the service (I know that is crazy, but they seem to think that saves money... and it probably does, since they also turn it off about 10 minutes before the service ends. So about the time things get comfortable, it gets hot again).
Heat seems to be a killer proposition for me. When I get hot it seems like every bone, muscle and tendon in my body starts to ache. I seem to be really fighting against this pain, especially in my ankles with the Achilles tendon problem. I know if I just lost weight things would get better. That, however, doesn't seem to be happening. I am being faithful to my water exercise class 3x a week. I am really enjoying my class a lot. I am making friends and having fun. I think my favourite class is on Fridays when we jump on mini-trampolines in the water. I definitely feel better on the pool days.
On the other two days I try to get out and do marketing so I am forced to walk for about 30 minutes or so, but it's hard when it hurts so much - no matter what kind of shoes I wear. It's hard to know what to do. My feet thank me when I don't walk. The rest of my body thanks me when I do!
It's interesting, however, when I have to do something in public, it's like I put aside everything else and go into a "trance". I don't feel the heat or pain or anything. I just do it, as Nike would say. When it's over, then I am tired or thirsty or hot or whatever. I have never quite understood that phenomena, except to say I know the adrenaline works magic.
Today there is no adrenaline, so I need work off of motivation. Yesterday I cleaned house (shock and awe), so today I have time to study and prepare for Sunday when I am speaking at another church for their women's service. Also I have to get ready for the following weekend when I am helping to leading a seminar for engaged couples. As momma would say "It's a great life if you don't weaken".

Ok people, what's the deal?

Have you noticed something on my blog? When I was writing about my cat, Mia, I got lots of hits and lots of comments on my blog. When, however, I write about my little mundane life, no comments. Now what is that people? Am I boring?
Actually, just kidding folks. Don't worry. No stress. I just noticed this the other day when I was reviewing my blog. I found it to be interesting that my "widdle baby kitty" generated so much interest.
She really is a joy for me. She cuddles and loves to sit on my lap. One thing she doesn't do is sit with me on the computer. Guess I should be grateful, but I kinda miss that. If I put her on my lap she sits there, however. When I spend too much time on the computer, she yowls in her rusty hinge meow and then I have to go to her and give her love. It's the classic case of the "tail wagging the dog" or in "cat" language, the cat owning the human.
Today is my birthday and I think she was the best present I got this year. I really am enjoying her.
My day is just beginning, however, and I have already gotten a present from husband, opened a package my mom sent back with me in June and received an absolutely perfect sunflower. Pretty cool beginning of my day, huh? Soon Sissy and João and I are off to Outback for lunch- my fav restaurant.
There have been years when I have found my birthday to be sad and depressing. This year I decided to do what I want (like eat toll house cookies instead of icky birthday cake) and ENJOY. I've been to the pool for aqua class. Had cookies and milk for breakfast. Opened presents, answered the phone (in Brazil everyone calls you for your birthday) and read birthday cards online. Been a good morning so far. And it can only get better, right????
So off I go to put on my birthday togs (and not my birthday suit) and enjoy the rest of my day.

P.S. Here I am at Outback enjoying my ice cream dessert, wearing my new blouse. By the way the ice cream was REALLY good. Sissy took the photo so she is not in it, obviously! Hey tell me now, is this really the face of a 55 year old?? (The correct response is NO!)

Toll House Cookies... Almost

Have you ever had a craving that just drives you up a wall? Me, I wanted toll house cookies. That's a tall order around here. Cookies aren't all that popular here. And chocolate chips??? I have just chopped chocolate in the past. Today I went to my favorite "cooking store" (note the quotation marks. Trust me, this is no Harry and David's) and found chocolate chips. You buy them by the kilo. Yeah. So I picked up some brown sugar, butter, nuts and baking soda as well. Came home, looked up the recipe online and started mixing. The mix seemed soft, so I put it in the fridge a while and that seemed to do the trick.
Now you have to understand, that my stove is not the greatest. Just not too hot. Literally. So I preheated for an hour and it got up to 350 - a great breakthrough. Because it seems to lose heat quickly I put in one tray of cookies at a time and did it quickly. I used my trusty timer and what do you know, in just 11 minutes they were all nice and golden brown.
Since I didn't use the toll house chocolate chips, they didn't melt and get gooey (which is why I said they are almost toll house cookies).
For me, it was a great success story. No burned cookies. No broken cookies. Just nice soft gooey chocolate chip cookies like they are supposed to be. If you know me and the kitchen you will be impressed by the fact that there were no burned fingers, and no other disasters to mention and not only do they look perfect, they taste perfect. You get two guesses who sampled the cookie to the right. Not the same person that finished off the cookies, however. To me a good cookie beats a piece of cake hands down. What's your favourite cookie?
-----------------------------------------The Happy Homemaker

Just a Spot of Tea, Please

Saturday I went somewhere I never visited in Rio. I went with some young women of our church to the Copacabana Fort, where there is, incredibly enough, a tea/coffee house. (Café Colombo) Thus the lovely pot of of tea you see! Although it had been rainy and cool all day, a few of us didn't give up and we had a nice lady's day out! The fort was really quite nice, very clean and very secure! The view of the city was quite spectacular. The chatter was nice and the tea and "crumpets" was fun. It made for a different afternoon/evening. I who live my life doing pretty well what I want when I want, with the full support of my husband, forget how hungry other women can be for the company of like minded women. Not everyone lives as happily content with their life as I do. Even for me, though, it was a lovely outing. We stayed until it was completely dark and then people's husbands started to phone asking "Where are you?". The photo doesn't do justice to the great view of the beach at night.
I decided João and I have another great place to visit on Fridays. Although it is our day off, it's really only about once a month that we really get the whole day for just the two of us to be together (there is usually someone who wants us to go out, a gathering at church, etc. that conspires against a real day off). I suggested that we make a list of things we can do around the city and then kind of work through our "list". The two of us are kind of "stick in the mud", in that we would be happy to just stay home and not see anyone or anything, yet at the same time, we find that going out is much healthier for our "psyches".
By the way, I am sorry for the poor quality of the last few photos in the last two posts. I never remember to carry my camera, so these were snapped with my cell phone. I use my cell phone to listen to the radio, listen to songs, take photos, play games... and when it's really an emergency make a call or two!

See I do have a life

See I told you I had a life outside of my cat. Today was our day off and a beautiful, rare day when it was neither hot, nor cold, nor rainy or too sunny. So we went off to the Lagoon to rent bikes and ride. But since it was a weekday, they didn't have "real" bikes. They only had these bicycles for two. I remembered they were difficult, but I didn't remember clearly enough to nix the idea of renting one. After about 10 minutes we were desperate to stop, take photos, look at the scenery, anything to rest our aching calves. It was fun, but we were plenty tired after 40 minutes. Then we had the bright idea to check out the new Wal-mart near our house (how's that for an exciting project for your day off?). We didn't realize that it had just had it's grand opening yesterday! I think half the population of the city was at the store. They had some great bargains, so we just meandered and looked and had fun "pawing" everything, despite the crowd. We even bought some groceries on sale. Since we had already done our morning exercise, ridden the bike, walked around the lagoon and then spent 2 hours in the store, by the time we got home, we were glad to collapse on the bed and have Mia purr us to sleep. We had a big thunderstorm and she seemed a little frightened.
Time marches on and now I must get a few things done around the house. Hope you have a fun weekend.

Ladies and Gentlemen, She has a Name!

Finally we have made a decision. This is our final answer. I will of course continue to call her, occasionally, "Una Paloma Blanca" just to be humorous and because everyone deserves to have a really good nickname. Her real name, however, will now be MIA. Congratulations to my "anonymous" friend who left the comment that Mia was a good choice. I would give you credit if I knew who you were. It is a great suggestion (as were all of them) and fits her just right. A girly name, as she is a girly kitty. An easily pronounceable name in English or Portuguese. In Italian and Spanish it means "mine" and we do think of her as "ours"! In Portuguese it is the verb for "meow", which is great for her rusty hinge meow (or as João says, her meow sounds like her battery is running down). So "Mia" it is. As they say in Italian "Cara Mia" - My Dear. My dear little cat. If you are sick of the subject, you will be glad to know that in the future I will be devoting less entries to her. I do, after all, have a life outside of my cat (but don't tell her that).

Gotta love their ingenuity

Take a close, close look at her claws. No I am not totally nuts. I did not give her a manicure! I was able to find some hot pink soft claws (silicone claw covers) that I glued on to keep her from scratching the furniture. She is a scratcher (what cat isn't) and although she does use her scratching post, she also loves my white couch. That will not do! Declawing is illegal here. So the solution was to use these claw covers. She was thrilled, as you can imagine. I don't know who got more glue on them...her claws or my fingers. But they were easy to apply, actually, as she is a cooperative cat. She shied away more because of the smell. Of course I gave her lots of kitty treats to encourage her along. Let's hope she is the kind of cat who takes 8 weeks, not 4 to shed her nails! This is a nice photo showing her true color of chocolate black. You can see her nice apple shaped face as well. I love my "Una Paloma Blanca"!

The Cat With No Name

We are working on it, but so far no name has matched our sweet little Motira (her given name, but we hate it). We voted on UNA, but it just isn't her! We loved your suggestions (thanks so much), and via e-mail also received the ideas of Tar Baby, Cinders, Inky or Inkspot, Othello, Rave or Raven. The problem is none of them are "her". She needs a delicate name. She needs a charming name. She needs a name that works in both languages. She is such a little lover. Except when she meows and then she sounds like a tom cat. That is so funny. And she screams when she doesn't know where we are. She loves to be cuddling us. We are all very happy to have her with us. As my sister said we should just call her "I Fell into a Bed of Roses". We definitely plan on spoiling her. Now if she just had a good name.

Sweetie has arrived

Our sweet kitty arrived this afternoon. We were so excited. Sissy was disappointed that she had to go to classes and miss her arrival. When her mommy arrived, she asked if I wanted her to cut her nails and I thought, yeah I wanna see this. She sat still like a little lady, that she is and she let her do it.
She let me pick her up and carry her around the house and show her things like she belonged to me. She meowed a few times and then began to explore. Her meow is like a Siamese - throaty or gutteral. I heard her just a few minutes ago. She found her spot right away - hidden in a corner under the sink in our bathroom asleep on a pile of clean (alas!) towels. I finally coaxed her out and she spent about an hour on the bed with me, kneeding, purring and looking totally smug and content. Since I did have things to do, I finally left her. She immediately jumped off the bed. Where she is now, I don't know. Can't find her. The apartment is so big, even though I have shut off various rooms, she could be anyway. I hear her meow now and then, so she must be exploring!
She appears to be smart and obedient, quiet and really sweet. As for her name, I too like Maura, but Sissy associates the name with someone she doesn't care for, so the name is out. Tonight Elly is coming over, so in our family conference, we'll try to decide if we all like UNA or come up with something else. We've ruled out the common names like Midnight, Blacky, etc. No one liked my suggestion of Noir, since it sounds like In the ar in portuguese! Will keep you all posted.

Today is the day

Today our kitty should be arriving to live with us. I am so excited. So I have things all set up for her and am waiting. João and I are thinking of renaming her to give her "our" name. We are debating between "UNA", which is tupi-guarani (indigenous people of Brazil) for "black" or "Maura" which is Greek for black. We wanted something original and easy. What is your vote?

Pastor's Wives

I just had a great weekend in Belo Horizonte (Beautiful Horizon) in a neighbouring state (Minas Gerais) where I was the main speaker for the pastor's wives retreat. From the time the group invited me, I was excited about this event and was really looking forward to it. I worked a long time on the Bible studies. I spoke about celebrating being a woman (about Eve), celebrating being a woman of God (Deborah) and celebrating being a pastor's wife (Elizabeth). It was hard work, as I did lots of Hebrew and Greek exegesis to really understand the women and their world and then bring the lessons from their lives into our world. I learned so much and reminded me how much I love studying and sharing my applications with others. It was thrilling to see people who I hadn't seen in years and also get to know a new crop of woman. It was particularly gratifying to have contact with people who have "followed" my writings and messages throughout the years. I sensed a real hunger for God's word among the women, just the kind of audience any speaker loves to have. You can see by the photos there was a good crowd and the Baptist camp in Minas is a beautiful place. I spent most of my time speaking and studying, but I did have time for lots of chats and heard many inspiring "stories" from these heroines. Minas is a particularly challenging state for evangelism. Some of these woman live far far away from any other church or other Christians. Their life is hard (physically and spiritually), but they are certain of their calling. I was definitely inspired by their lives. Although I came home tired, I felt like for the first time since I have been back in Brazil that I really did something worthwhile. My heart and soul needed this weekend and I think the group needed to hear what God had me to say to them. What a great way to spend 3 days.
Since the group sent me a plane ticket, I was able to get home in time to attend church on Sunday night and it was terrific to be back in my very own church. I will have to spend today, Monday, recovering my energies, but I would certainly do it all again!

Church Anniversary

Last week João and I took off for Vila Velha, Espírito Santo, about 8 hours north of Rio. We went for him to preach at the 76th anniversary of First Baptist em Vila Velha, where he had been a pastor back in the 1970's. In addition, his parents are still members there. I was still feeling pretty punk when we headed out last Wednesday night, but as the weekend wore on, I grew stronger and was feeling much better by our return on Monday night.
It was nice to stay with his parents and have a good time visiting with all the nieces and nephews, as well as brothers and sister-in-laws. A real highlight for João was seeing so many people he had baptized 25 years ago, still active in churches of the region. There were lots of visitors who came out to see him. I also know another exciting moment was on Sunday night, when he baptized his nephew. Filipe asked his pastor if his uncle could baptize him and of course he accepted. He is 11 years old, but small for his age, like his uncle. These are the special moments in life that you would never like to miss. Since we live far from family, we feel privileged when we do get to share in such times. He is such a sweet little boy... as are all my nieces and nephews. Jessika, the youngest of the crew is just nine, and she came with us to all the meetings. She sat by me and I helped her understand the messages. Everyone thought she was our child! I threatened to just bring her home with me.
On a lighter moment, on Saturday we met up with a friend, Pastor Baltazar, and drove up to the mountains (about an hour away) to see an area where he goes for all his vacations. It was chilly, but fortunately we had some sunshine. We had a nice visit in the little town where folks don't ever lock their doors. I just kept taking pictures of the flowers. Can you imagine, orchids just growing wild? We visited the little Baptist church and there was a coffee plantation in the backyard! Have you ever seen the blossoms on coffee bushes? Look at the photo on the left and you will see them! Everything grows in Brazil... you put a stick on the ground and soon something is popping out of the ground. This flower was growing in our host's front yard. It did make me wish we could retire to some place like this... where I could have a house and a garden. Wouldn't that be "loverly"?
I just wish the gospel would grow like the plants. Some day I will wax eloquent on the ecclesiastical trends and my disappointments. But for now, I just want to enjoy our lovely trip up to Espírito Santo. It's nice to get far away from the "Madding Crowd" for a while!

I Want My Mommy

This refrain that I echo whenever I feel especially sick, is sure to provoke laughter from my husband. It is my pitiful cry when I feel frustrated and helpless against germs! Yesterday as I fought to breath against a lousy cold, I repeated it several times. He was sweet to rub my feet, fix me hot tea, and bring me meals in bed, but I didn't feel better. I mostly just had to sleep off the fever. Today, even though I have a cough, I feel better sans fever and able to breath through my nose! Still felt crummy enough to stay at home from church, the first time I've done that in a long long time (I can't even remember when...) With all the elderly people at our church, I don't figure I needed to spread my germs!
In fact, I probably did that on Friday, at our church's anniversary. We celebrated 123 years. Our church has the tradition of all day prayer meeting, starting at 6AM. And yes there are a lot of people there at that hour - probably the most well attended hour of the day, as people come before work. Anyway, every 30 minutes a new person leads the prayer time, so it is quite varied. And people come and go. João started the day at 6 AM and I ended it at 6PM. Then at 7PM we had the climatic closing worship service with a reasonably full house (Friday is just a horrible traffic day and many people arrived late). Since so much was happening, I lead the worship for João, as having to remember everything and preach is quite difficult. The service was full of many events, like the Lord's Supper, a long choir presentation, a wonderful sermon (by my husband of course) and brief presentations of our church's work through its 9 different departments (missions, education, music, social work, recreation, culture, administration, school (with 270 students) and communications. The highlight, came at the end when the coordinator of each ministry area stood at different points on the auditorium and we asked each every member of the church to go and stand in the area of ministry where they would be involved in the coming year. To see a thousand people making their way to the various ministries was very moving.
After the worship there was a gigantic cake that everyone seemed to enjoy. Me, I went and collapsed as I was feeling the effects of the fever by that time. Funny, when you are in the midst of the event you feel nothing, but by the end you are drained!
People kept joking, funny you don't look 123 years old. But by 10PM, I felt it. Since, however, I am on the road to recovery, guess I'll make it to 123 and not stop at 55!

Motira it is

Yesterday was quite a day. We drove across town to chose a cat. I suppose I could get any old cat from anywhere, but I have grown picky in my old age. I want a cat that is vaccinated, spayed, etc. I had a particularly bad experience with a very sick animal I adopted and don't want to repeat the experience. (She had ringworm, which I caught, my neighbour caught, my neighbour's dog, my friend's children, etc., etc.). Anyway, Motira it is! She is a sweet little tiny black shorthair - british shorthair champion here in Brazil. She's and older cat and very calm and sweet. She stayed in my arms the whole time. The white persian hated me and I wasn't too fond of him either. But with the paper work and all, looks like it will be a couple of weeks til she comes home. That gives me time to prepare the house for her.
From there we went to meet with an old friend of João's, who is a missionary in South Africa. Then we picked up another pastor friend (they were all collegues in seminary) and off we went to lunch. From there we went to a very sad funeral of one of their former teachers from seminary. He died while teaching. I guess that's how we all want to go. But here in Brazil everything happens so fast, it is still shocking to me after all these years. He died in classes on Thursday night and the funeral was Friday afternoon. I hardly had time to digest the news. Since he had been a denominational leader and pastor and seminary teacher the Baptist community was there in mass. Consequently we had a hard time even getting away as we had so many acquaintances. I find such experiences oh so tiring, from the emotion of the day, in addition to the crowds and noise and heat.
From there off I went to the pool to do my aqua fitness. I am at a new place now, that has the most modern of equipment. You are admitted as you punch in your member numer. Your picture flashes up and then you touch the finger print machine (or thingamajig) and voilá - the gates open. My class on Wednesday was on bicycles in the pool. Last night we were jumping on the mini-trampolins in the pool. That was fun. But I sure did drag home at 7PM, in the dark, 10 minutes stretched into 15 minutes as I drug myself up the hill to my house. I could hardly hold my eyes open. I finally gave up went to bed at around 9:30. I hope today is calmer, but more productive. I'm off to the market to get some healthy food. Want any melons, pineapples, papayas or tangerines???
P.S. Her name is pronounced differently in Portuguese. It will be like this, phonetically: Moe-CHEE - da, although spelled Motira. Her father is: Von Wagner Count Basie and her mother is Nashville`s Crazy For a Kiss.

Maybe, just maybe

I just might be getting a cat. In a few minutes we will be visiting a cattery to see the possibility of adopting two retired breeders. The one to the left is a male persian, named Gold. To the right is a female British Shorthair. Both are adults and the breeder feels they need more attention than she can give them. I am keeping my fingers crossed that all is well and healthy and I will like one of them. If I do, then she will have the one I choose, castrated and then in a couple of weeks he or she will come to live with me. Sissy and João already are voting for the Persian. Me, I like the shorthair, for obvious reasons. But their personalities will determine things. I will keep you posted and let you know which one I chose. By the way, I really wanted a ragdoll, but the price was in the thousands! So these being adult cats, I only have to pay for the spaying or neutering, which helps! So let's hope for the best.
P.S. I am writing this some hours later. As we were driving across town to see the cats, Sissy called and had locked herself out. So we drove home to let her in, since she would have had to wait several hours otherwise. Then it was too late to drive back across town. As it turns out, the breeder had a crisis with a kitten and had to rush to the vet anyway, so today was not to be. We will set up for another day really soon.

Puritans, Pirates and Pilgrims

I think this will have to be the title of a book that cries out for me to write. It will have to be a novel about a woman who is researching her family history. Periodically there will be digressions of moving back and forward in time as she moves into the lives of her ancestors (no not new age stuff, but just dreaming of what their life must have been like).
(To the left is my paternal great-great grandfather whose name or image we never knew a thing about - he disappeared one day about 1870 according to a cousin of my father. She had the picture.)
Since May, my newest passion has been putting together my family tree (with lots of help). I am stunned at how much help the ancestry.com site offers. Fortunately I had lots of help from my mom and other relatives and a lot of data several generations back, that all make it possible to keep on digging. Several times when I have been at a standstill, I have just kept on digging and found out a lot of stuff. Of course, being in Brazil, I am limited to what I can find on the internet and I am in a very preliminary stage, needing to verify lots of the data yet.
Still what I have found so far is fabulous. I already have over 1500 names in the tree (like I said, some yet to be totally verified), including an apparent direct link to Charlemagne. Wow!
But we have all gotten the most fun out of a pirate ancestor (Philip Babb) who was hired to bring law and order to the colony (Isles of Shoals) in 1653) and managed to side with the pirates. The legend says he was so bad, even his grave smells of sulphur. How's that for an ancestor?
Ah, but I can go you one better... still on my paternal side - around 1692 Mercy Holbridge was tried as a witch in New Haven, Connecticut. She was found guilty and sentenced to death. Fortunately wiser heads prevailed and because of the extreme travesty of justice, she was pardoned. Seems she was just too upfront as a woman with her opinions for the puritans.
Closing out this trio of illustrious ancestors of the 1600's, is Edward Doty, who had the distinction of being a participant in the first duel ever fought in New England. He was on the Mayflower and a signer of the Mayflower compact. He was, however, no religious man like the others. He was constantly in trouble, the only rogue "pilgrim" aboard the Mayflower. He was actually a servant to one of the real pilgrims! He, I am proud to say, is on my maternal line. So both sides of the family have their fair share of scoundrels.
Because of the relative "fame" of these three ancestors, I have been able to trace a direct line and there is no doubt that some of their blood runs in my veins.
Fortunately there are also preachers who suffered persecutions, Quakers who were exiled, and lots of Methodist and Brethren preachers/pastors/chaplains scattered around. It's definitely not just "genes", but who you chose to give your heart to.

Before, During and After

For the last few weeks, I've been working on redoing the dining room furniture.It's a really nice piece of furniture that I bought sight unseen from the former owner. But, with the brick red walls, the slightly reddish furniture just doesn't do the job. It's like it disappears into the background. People keep telling me I needed to have it antiqued, but I was reluctant. Finally I bit the bullet and decided to have it done. So a friend of Marilene's, who is an artist, agreed to come and do it here at the house. So we took the two pieces apart and she began to sand and sand and sand.
After sanding, she began painting white. Well the painting is quite a job, as the wood just drank it up, so four coats were not much! It was days of work for her.
Next step, sand, sand and sand! Sawdust everywhere. But look at the results. Now you can really see the china cabinet and the wall as well.
Today she finished and I cleaned and cleaned and waxed and now all the stuff is back in it (to my immense relief, as I had dishes scattered all over my kitchen).
As you can see, we took the glass top off the table and she began sanding it. But we will not do antiquing on it. Just sand it down to the wood and then wax it, to give it some shine. The chairs, however, will have to wait, as this is an expensive operation! As well as messy and time consuming. I would like to be able to use my table again and do some entertaining. She suggested that we sand and wax the chairs (a natural finish) like the table, and then recover them. She even said she could paint the cloth (well, paint isn't the right word, but she designs and decorates material professionally) so we could do something interesting with them. We are thinking of stripes in shades of orange and yellow with an ochre or cream background. I think that would jazz up the room. Then, of course, my rug will no longer match. ARGH! IT's a never ending process. And of course, I really need to frame some pictures for the wall... As I said, this is a long process. I guess you never really get your house the way you want it, unless you are rich (let me clear up any doubts you might have. I am not!).
Thought you'd enjoy my decorating journey.
So you who are decorating divas, have any suggestions?