Thanksgiving Retreat

At our annual mission retreat, we had a pleasant time each day going to the beach. The kids enjoyed playing in the sand and Joshua loved getting wet in the ocean. Eliana also enjoyed the ocean, but we had to be extra careful with her so she wouldn't run into the ocean.

The cart in the background here is a common sight here in Brazil on the beach. Vendors walk by selling food and clothing for the beach. We really got a kick out of the way Joshua enjoyed the water this time. The last time we visited the beach we had a hard time even getting him out onto the beach, let alone near the water. This time it was much different!

We were only able to handle a couple of hours on the beach in the morning, and then we headed back to the Pousada (like a bed and breakfast) at lunchtime to complete naps. The word Pousada has a fun little meaning. It literally means "little pause." I thought this so fit this little hotel. We really enjoyed the breakfast they served and the way it was decorated was so quaint.

On our trip down to Ubatuba, we stopped at a Fazenda (farm) along the highway for lunch. It was quaint with a bunch of animals that the kids can get close to and see and they had a great buffet of Brazilian fare. Each of the boys held a chick for the first time.

We traveled through the jungle on the way down the mountain and some of the sights outside our windows of the car were quite beautiful. We tried not to stop along the way so that the kids could get a good nap in. As soon as we reached the bottom of the mountains we could feel the salty air. We were all getting over a bad chest cold at that time and the feel of the salt against our skin and in our lungs was quite refreshing.

Nathaniel and I were able to spend a good chunk of our time (during naps) talking and praying and it was really nice to have that time together. A couple of times we took a good long walk and saw the middle of the city (away from the beach tourist area) and it was neat to see the normal city life.

On the last day we were there, we took a long walk with the kids towards the fishing side of the beach. It was neat to see all of the little fishing boats out in the bay. We came across a boy gathering crabs and we found his bucket on the end of the pier. As you can see Ubatuba is a beautiful oceanside village.