Riley Adventures

365 Day Challenge

2012-01-01T18:47:00.010-02:00

So I took on a bit of challenge for this new year. I hope to snap a photo of each of my lovely children each day this year in a pose that I want to save. I will highlight by month here, but will begin with the first photo of the year posted here today. Happy New Year!

Christmas 2011 Happenings

2011-12-21T18:20:00.013-02:00

Merry Christmas!

This year brings much joy to our family! It has been so long that I have written anything and I felt quite guilty for not getting more published on here sooner! As I reflected more on this, I have realized that the adjustment to America and life here really does take an adjustment period. We returned 3 1/2 years ago, purchased our home 3 years ago. Life this year has begun to slow down more and more. Maybe this is just what it seems, but it seems like it has slowed much more than the fast paced decade and 2 years that Nathaniel and I have faced in our marriage. Yes, we recently celebrated our twelfth anniversary!

As I reflect on this past year, I can think of one of the significant changes has been in a shift of focus to the kid's and their desires to be more involved in extra curricular activities. Life seems more settled, but it definately has not fully halted in activity level. If anything we seem to be going much more now than in the past.

This summer we began lessons in swimming, gymnastics (for Eliana) and soccer teams for all. They played, Nathaniel coached the boys team and fun was had by all. We went out to Colorado to participate in my brother's ceremony of marriage. We then also travelled to the Black Hills in August with a Brazilian friend. I discovered a love for my garden and watching plants grow than any other years before.

The school year began in full tilt at the end of August. All of the children are now at the same school much to their mother's relief! No more daycare! Yea!

Eliana began full day kindergarten this year and was SO excited. Who knew that picture day and the first recess in the snow could be so anticipated! She loves school and learning. She turned 6 at the beginning of September and part of her gift from the family is ballet lessons. She has been a little ballerina all year so far and loves going to her ballet class.

Gabriel began 2nd grade this fall. He loves science, math and social studies the best and is our construction genius at home! He started cub scouts at the end of last year, and he has been involved all this year completing several badges. He loves to build with Legos and this fall took a lego class after school. Another favorite is strategy games (which he can beat his dad at - a feat that is quite difficult to do). He recently took up oragami and his top Christmas wish list item was more paper for oragami!

Joshua started 5th grade this year!!! It's hard to believe that he is nearing his teen years! He too began cub scouts last year and really love it. He will be earning his arrow of light badge coming up in February and desires to pursue becoming an eagle scout. He began soccer at school this year and is quite good at it. He also took up trumpet lessons with his uncle Wade and has done phenomenally well. He will begin playing in the school band in January.

I continue to work at Chapel Hill Academy. I love what I do and how I can share about God's love and His revelation through the academics. I completed Orton Gillingham courses two summers ago and have been using this in the classroom last year and this year. I love first grade and their love for learning!

Nathaniel continues to work at Securian in St. Paul. He hopes to move into a different role within the company at some point. His piano instruction has just blossomed this year. He added an extra night of lessons to accomodate all of his new students! Nathaniel continues to create new music. This year the Securian sound choir performed two of Nathaniel's pieces.

Memories of Brazil

2010-08-18T00:03:00.005-03:00

The following albums were made as memories of our time in Brazil. We visited several places and want to be able to share those memories with you.

This is a city outside of Sao Paulo:

The school where we taught for four years:

The big park in Sao Paulo:

There is a large Botanical Garden on the southeastern edge of Sao Paulo. It is simply beautiful!

Nearby the garden is a gigantic zoo!

Happy Birthday!

2010-05-14T02:49:00.000-03:00

Make your own scrapbook design

2009-12-22T02:13:00.003-02:00

Make a Smilebox greeting

Merry Christmas! We hope you have a wonderful Christmas with family and friends!

Summer Vacation Highlights

2009-07-22T17:19:00.021-03:00

Our July and August months flew past. We spent a lot of time outside in the Twin Cities. We travelled up north for a week in July to visit several locations. We started out on the Iron Range. Here is a rest stop where we pulled off to take a look at an old mine pit. The water area is where a mine pit has been in filled in with water. This is a mining vehicle. The kids are standing in front of the wheel. It's amazing to see it in real life as it's gigantic! They would use these vehicles to haul ore out from the mines.

Little cabin in the woods.... this was the cabin we stayed at on a beautiful lake. The kids enjoyed their time roaming out on a big rock that was next to the lake and scaring us silly. They played a "war" game with sticks and were chasing each other until we put a stop to that when they were dangerously near the water! They didn't seem to even notice the near death drops as they would run out on the rock, but we sure did!

We went on a LONG hike while we stayed at the cabin. It was a six mile hike that these troopers made! Towards the end we were all pushing to get back to the car! They made it and slept real well that night!

Here's all of us posing on the trail. I think Gabriel was the most enthusiastic of all the kids!

Following our stay in a cabin, we headed down towards Lake Superior and visited a mine on the way. We went deep underground sporting these fancy helmets. It was mighty cold in the mine, but we got to experience it the way the true miners did way back in the day! If you ever are up that way, it's a really neat ride! It's the Soudan mine- a state park.

Following our stay here, we headed to Tettegouche State Park on Lake Superior. We stayed there for two nights. One of the nights we had a mighty bad rain fall. The kids enjoyed going on hikes, visiting the lake and on the rainy day travelling all the way up north to the Canadian border. We had to stop in Grand Marais and visit the donut shop and Artist's Point! Despite the rainy cold, it was a lovely drive!

Pictures out on Artist's Point in Grand Marais:
World's Best Donut Shop:

Gooseberry Falls:

Finally, we stayed one night in a hotel in Duluth, Minnesota to recover from our camping experience! This was the most fun end to a trip as we all got clean and were able to have a blast at the water park in the hotel.
The kids loved this the most as a bell would ring and then a sudden tidal wave would pour over them as the bucket at the top of the play area would dump a ton of water out!

35 Years...

2009-06-16T23:41:00.016-03:00

David and Nancy (Nathaniel's parents) celebrated their 35th wedding anniversary with the family in June. Here are some photos of the family. We went to Bennihanas to celebrate. There we saw quite a show with knives and spatulas as they cooked our meal on a hot flat surface in front of us. The kids were enthralled with it all, and Eliana learned to use chopsticks. Following the dinner, we went back to Auntie Lauren's to have cake and open presents with the rest of the family. The cake was in the color of the original bridemaids dresses! What a neat touch!

They were surprised with a trip from the kids and it was packaged in ones in a jar that they had to count up!

David and Nancy have raised a wonderful family and are great examples of what a Christ-centered marriage looks like. Thanks for being such a blessing!

Happy 35th!

First Camping Trip

2009-06-16T23:01:00.016-03:00

Our very first camping trip was to the bluff area of Minnesota. We stayed at Frontenac State Park mid June. The first night we ate in Lake City, Minnesota at a little family resturant where they were having all you can eat fish. This was recorded as Joshua's all time favorite part of going camping! In addition, Joshua loved seeing record numbers of deer. In his deer tally account he has now counted ten in his life that he has seen thus far.The kids had fun and a kind gentleman offered to take our family's picture then. The boys were goof balls and had a blast walking back to the car goofing around together as only brothers can! The weather was magnificent and the kids loved sleeping in a tent. Eliana especially loved sleeping in the tent and even taking a nap in the tent. Gabriel wrote about his favorite part of camping and it was the fire! The kids loved watching, helping and best of all making smores with the fire. For those friends in Brazil that have no idea what smores are. They are basically a squishy sticky glob of sugar (marshmellow) that you melt over a campfire on a stick or metal prong. Then when they either light on fire (as most do) or are a scrumptious golden brown hue you take two pieces of graham crackers (much like a cookie) with some chocolate and slide it off between the layers of cookie and chocolate. You then have a smore sandwich and the name S'more comes from wanting "some" s' "more" more....smore.

The first night in the camp ground there seemed to be some animal trying to get into the trash recepticals and put up a mighty racket all evening long. I hardly slept, but our dear ones and Nathaniel all got a lovely night of sleep. The next morning the kids arose at 5am to the sounds of the birdies in the trees! Our solar powered children were up and at em! We decided to leave the campsite and go out onto the bluff to enjoy breakfast and not disturb fellow campers with our children's voices of exuberant joy. We discovered at that time that our milk we had frozen the day before had still not thawed and so cereal with milk was not an option. We visited Wabasha then and over the course of the morning travelled to Wisconsin to taste the cheese and visited another bluff where there is a great view of the Mississippi river valley. Overall it was a successful camping experience and the kids woud love if we could do it again.

Summer Vacation!

2009-06-10T12:29:00.022-03:00

It has been so long since I updated the blog! We have recently gotten internet in our home, and so this process of getting photos and info onto our family's blog should come more often.

School was out June 2nd for the children and June 3rd for me. The children are happily on summer vacation. The transition to being off a schedule though does come with an adjustment period!

Here are some of the events since we last updated the blog:

Easter

We colored eggs over our week break from school. We also attended the Riley Easter gathering at Nathaniel's parent's house. There they had an Easter egg hunt. May 2009

Joshua's 8th birthday was May 14th. We celebrated with small events and then took a family break to Duluth, Minnesota. We had a blast although it was mighty cold up there! The car ride to Duluth takes about 3 hours. During that time the children had a lot of extra time in the car. Creative Gabe created some new eye glasses!At the end of May Gabriel graduated from kindergarten. We also picked out our family's dog, Lacy. She's a little toy poodle. Very precious and a great addition to our family!

And Recently...

We have been traversing local parks and getting to know our area. We are close by a huge indoor park that we discovered on a rainy day. The kids went in and I wished I had brought a book as once they were in the climbing (four story) tree, I didn't see them for a LONG time!

Spring is on its way?!

2009-03-09T18:12:00.011-03:00

Well, we have now been home for an official 9 months of the year. The perpetual snow (so it seems) is beginning to wear on us and the hope for spring is strong in the air. There is a saying that March comes in like a Lion and out like a Lamb. I think this is especially true in the northern United States. We witnessed a huge snow storm ending February. In this storm, we left school early while the snow came down up to 2 inches or so an hour. By the mid afternoon it was looking awful in the city. Lanes piled high with snow so that passing was near impossible. The children and I made it home early from school after an early release day was called. Nathaniel was not so fortunate and discovered the bus he normally takes after work was rerouted onto the snow routes. Routes that would not take him home. We began our rescue mission. (It sounds so much more fancy than it really was.) As long as we were on side roads we were fine. We made it successfully halfway to meet him. He hiked 8 miles in 2 hours and we ended up meeting at Baker's Square Resturant to have a meal together and then head home on side streets. The children and I got stuck in the parking lot of Baker's Square and a kind gentleman towed our car into a parking lot with his truck. I was thankful for God's protection in that storm and we had many laughs following that.

The kids are adjusting well and part of our plan to ease adjustment was to add two new additions to our family. "Lucy and Alice" (named especially by Joshua). They are Guinea pigs. The kids have enjoyed having them and they are the most docile animals you could imagine. Everytime I shake a plastic bag they whistle for food. They love the hand that feeds them and food is the way in for these creatures! I think they could eat and eat if we kept feeding them. They are also just so cuddly to hold and so adorable. So we have enjoyed having these pets in our family.

Here's a picture of Alice:

Here's a picture of Lucy: We have been so blessed in God's awesome provision in both our work situations and provision in our home, neighborhood, school...and the list goes on! Just last weekend I was thinking about how the Lord has just blessed so many things as I was driving around the circle roads in Richfield and remembering Brazil. Even down to the smallest little things the Lord just orchestrated it all and I am so thankful! We have happily settled and are so thankful for our family, church family, friends, home, and the littlest things that seem to be just perfect in this all! Thank you to all who have continued to pray for us as you think of us.

The boys are standing on the snow fort they built with Nathaniel:

Eliana being silly:

Christmas Tidings!

2008-12-12T18:08:00.014-02:00

Merry Christmas!

It has been longer than normal for me to be updating our blog. I have to apologize as life has been extremely busy with all of the events in our lives. In August, I was hired as a new teacher for Chapel Hill Academy. It's a Christian private school in Chanhassen. Following this, we got the boys enrolled for school in the fall. All the while, Nathaniel was looking for work and not having much success. After a month of waiting, the staffing agency called on his references and contacted a previous employer from before we left for Brazil. His previous boss found out that he was in town needing work and specifically requested him.

With the economy the way it has been, finding work and such a good job is a huge answer to prayer. Nathaniel later found out after the official hire (he started as a temp) that they would honor his years of service in the company before and he has a great vacation benefit for the 2009 year. We were so amazed at God's provision and his ordering the events of our transition.

We were looking at homes as the housing market was an opitmal time to purchase with the prices being so low. We looked and looked in the range that we were willing to pay and homes were just not very good. Finally we found a home, and on October 30th we closed on our new home! We moved into the home November 1st. Below are some pictures of our new home.

Part of my favorite part of our new home is the large kitchen! It's so big that we hosted my whole family in the kitchen over Thanksgiving and it was quite comfortable!

The greatest joy this season has been seeing the kids realize that we are home to stay and the way they are bonding with the family. In addition, it has been fun to see each time it snows their reaction to the snow. Eliana literally giggles with joy and cries out "SNOW!"

Recently we had our Christmas program at the school. I hope to post some updates here of the video feeds of both the kindergarten and second grade classes so you all can enjoy hearing the boys sing! It was a fun event that I hope you may be able to attend next year! Blessings to all and hope you have a Merry Christmas!

Here are some photos of the boys in the Christmas concert:

Family Photos

2008-08-16T02:13:00.009-03:00

Over the summer months we took some shots as a gift from Nathaniel's sister. Here are a couple of the photos that we had taken.

The Amazing Tree House

2008-07-27T01:01:00.007-03:00

Grandpa came up with a brilliant idea of creating a tree house in a tree down in Howabunga land. You may be thinking, Howa who land? Howabunga land is also known as the land directly behind Grandpa David's house. The name came from when Grandpa David was little and his mom thought when they were watching Peter Pan the saying "Cowabunga" was actually "Howabunga." The kids love playing down there for obvious reasons!

Here is the tree house from another angle. As you can see it is currently under-construction. Completion time is yet undetermined.

I have also taken a couple of photos of the kids that several of you might enjoy seeing. Here are the three kiddos.

Homes and Dream Homes

2008-07-25T00:42:00.005-03:00

Our previous homes before moving to Brazil this video/slideshow is pictures of our old homes.

The home is a beautiful rambler that is nestled in a forest. Shown below is the front of the home. Behind the home is a winding path that goes down the a private lake. Nearby there are several parks besides the lovely yard for the kids to play in.

We are very thankful and blessed to call this home for the interim. We are still dreaming of our own home. Last, we went in to complete the boys' entrance evaluations. I was able to get them to pose in front of the school sign.

We later did purchase a home. Here is an album of our home in Minnesota now!

Successful Transition

2008-07-15T00:11:00.001-03:00

Arrival back into the United States happened on June 19th with our family. We were greeted with our whole family as we left the airport secure area to the baggage claim. It was a fun hello and welcome back. We have been kept busy as we’ve spent time with family upon our arrival and looked for jobs.

Shortly before leaving Brazil, I had been browsing online job listings for a potential position for Nathaniel in a Christian school in Minnesota. At other times, I had not encountered any Christian ACSI schools listed for the Minnesota area. A school in Chanhassen, Minnesota came up, Chapel-Hill Academy, and on a whim I decided I would send out my resume and cover letter. I had not received a prompt response and thought that the school was not interested, but then they requested to complete further gathering of information and then before I even left Brazil they scheduled an interview for when I arrived back. The first interview was very good, and then I went in for a second interview. After the formal board interview, I was formally asked to join the staff at the school. This enables us to send our children to a Christian school which is a real blessing and answer to our personal prayers for our children.

Nathaniel has also been busy looking for work. He interviewed once at North Heights Lutheran church for a part-time worship leader position. This went very well and he was asked to lead a service as a potential candidate for the position this upcoming Sunday at the Roseville location. Since this is a part-time position, Nathaniel is also looking for work in the business arena. Please be praying that he finds a position that fits his ability and giftings. Thank you for all your prayers and support over the many years and in this time of transition. We couldn’t have been strong in the Lord without the support of so many in prayer as we lived abroad and even now. We are glad to be back and hope to catch up with many of you as we are able in the upcoming weeks and months.

May News

2008-05-01T22:27:00.004-03:00

Gabriel and his buddies at preschool! Gabriel LOVES school!

Senor Riley...budding seven year old, and brilliant individual! He's learning to read and write Portuguese before speaking it! Odd eh!?

Little Lily...the princess! She is one original cookie! Her personality has emerged oh so greatly and she is a very independent little lady. She also is very sweet!

Okay so many of you are probably wondering…Where are those Riley updates, and why have they been so few and far between! Well to put it in a nutshell there’s a song from my childhood that goes:

“He’s still working on me, to make me what I ought to be.”

Basically this can really be our motto right now. There are so many ways that we think we’ve reached our masterpiece and then the Lord goes and challenges us to see things in a new way and to again let go of those things that we like to hold dear in our lives that we’d rather not give up to him, and then it’s like the prodding starts and settles in until the Lord causes anguish to overcome and then finally….we give it up to him and feel at peace! Why the struggle!? Why are we so much like the Israelites at times when they were wandering through the desert and God was caring for them in such awesome ways, but yet they had to grumble and complain?

We are finishing our year well. The gathering of our things are coming together. We priced everything and will be having a sale in a week at our home.

We recently had someone ask us, so what are your plans when you return. We honestly do not have anything yet. The Lord is preparing us for what he has. My heart was set on working in a specific district, and when the Lord closed that door firmly, it was like He was saying, “You need to wait on me.” That’s where we are at. The Lord made it very clear to us this year that the time is right to return. We are praying for the right places to come along for Nathaniel.

Recently, the Lord really prodded me to be willing to home school the children. This was something that I had always thought I would never want to do, but as I’ve considered it more I am willing and actually quite excited about it if the Lord makes it a possible opportunity!

So the news here is we are beginning to live in a shell of a home. We said good-bye to our dog (a very hard thing for the kids), and now we are gradually separating from all of our things and living with just the bare essentials. The Lord has answered many prayers in providing people to purchase things that we need right until we leave, and we will be able to continue to use them until it’s time to go.

Please continue to pray for us. We are definitely very excited, but there are moments of insanity as well!

Transitions

2008-04-02T20:12:00.003-03:00

As we are looking forward to our permanent return to Minnesota in June, we are beginning to feel the strain of the getting ready for the big move. We have already began to decide what will be kept and what will be sold. I think this is often the hardest part to transitioning and moving. The kids are starting to talk about saying good bye to their friends and to PACA. Eliana doesn’t really have a clue, but Joshua is the most concerned about having a new school and new friends for the next school year. I have told several people that this move for us is more of a step of faith than our move down here. Partially because we are still looking for work. Nathaniel has had the opportunity to enter a competition with a Minnesota choir. He is hoping this comeption will be fruitful and bring an opportunity to have some input as he is beginning his pursuit towards publication. A goal before we leave that he has is to make a demo of all of the contemporary Christian songs that he has written so that he is ready to submit these to various recording companies. I have his songs often going through my mind encouraging me in this time of transition. Eliana is a handful. She has been enjoying the terrible twos and definitely giving us more of a work out that the two boys ever have given us. Whenever we hear silence even for a small amount of time we run to go check on her to make sure she is not up to any mischief. One such time we ended up having to give a haircut as we found her snipping away her locks. Sadly her hair looks more like a boy cut than a girl cut!

Gabriel is really blossoming as an almost kindergartener! He has really grown this year in the preschool program. Since his birthday he continues to ask when he will be turning six. He seems to want to outgrow Joshua, but we have reassured him that this won’t happen since Joshua is older. Gabriel is a bit confused about us moving back to Minnesota. He understands that we will be moving and has been sad as he relates this news to his teachers, but then in the next breath he says he will be back in Brazil shortly after he goes to Minnesota.

Joshua has really matured this year. He is reading much more fluently now. He has become a regular scientist as his teacher – the Marvelous Miss Mecham has amazed her 1st graders with science tricks and fun! Joshua has come home each day from school this semester sharing all that he has learned in science. It has been an obvious fascination and love as he has learned science vocabulary and shared with us (going all through the kitchen to show us the difference between a solid and a liquid).

We are doing well, a bit sad as we contemplate leaving yet another home after being in this home only a year, but we are very excited to be returning to Minnesota. Please be praying for us as we are making this transition. We especially would like prayer as we will try to sell the remainder of the items here. The proceeds on many items will go towards some important purchases that we will need to make in our return to Minnesota. Also, please pray that the kids make this transition well. Especially Joshua, he is at a more difficult age to be moving back and starting new friendships. Last please pray for the job search process. This has been tedious as I have applied to several districts.

We haven't taken a lot of photos recently, but here is a photo from February of Eliana and I one day before school (Before she cut her hair):

Merry Christmas!

2007-12-23T21:44:00.000-02:00

The last several months have been very busy. We finished first semester classes December 14th, and we have been having a nice vacation to rest and refresh as we remember the reason for this time of year – JESUS!

Ministry Review…
The school year started with much excitement in August. Pan American Christian Academy (PACA) opened the doors of a new preschool in the property that was purchased. Elisabeth’s class is a smaller class this year. With only 21 students, it almost seems like they are not there during quiet working time. This years’ class is more unique in needs. There are several students that are learning English as their second or third language. Unlike other years, the English speakers are now the minority. Nathaniel had his first ever PACA Follies Fundraiser in September. It was a huge hit. The high school performing arts group combined drama and music to perform famous Broadway songs. They raised support to put towards the purpose of a permanent LCD projector in the music room. The atmosphere was one of romance with tables decked with roses. A chocolate desert and punch were served.

In October each class participated in the reading contest. The kick-off day had several events, but the main event was the first grade assembly. They shared a story about the Grouchy Ladybug. Each time the ladybug would challenge larger and larger animals until finding no one wants to fight, she returns to the original leaf where she started and fights the aphids. The plant (Joshua) in a gratefully loud voice says, “Thank You!” to the ladybug for eating the aphids of his leaves. The first graders shared some great songs, one of which was “Nobody likes me...everybody hates me...guess I’ll go eat worms.” If you want to see how they sang it, Joshua was so kind as to sing it for us into our webcam so we could post it for all to see on our family blog. As a cumulative event, children earned a banana split for reading everyday for four weeks. The classes that had 100% participation were able to join in watching A Bug’s Life together with popcorn. It was a huge blast!

The theme for this year’s Christmas program was “Special Delivery.” Students and Mr. Lima (the Art teacher) participated in communicating the message of Christmas to a large audience. In the midst of a busy holiday season, a delivery man keeps coming into contact with this message of a special delivery. Through this message he hears about Christ and his special delivery to us.

In the midst of all of the recent events for Christmas and the high school drama, we were asked to participate in the Christmas program at Calvary International Church. We sang and participated in the musical program to carry the message about Christ’s birth to those visiting the church for this service. Nathaniel had fun preparing an instrumental trio (piano, flute, and violin) of the carol Angels We Have Heard on High. He plans on putting it together into a final arrangement to send out to publishers next year.

Kid’s Korner…
The kids have been growing by leaps and bounds. Joshua is successfully moving forward in 1st grade. He is reading fluently and loving classes. Joshua began studying Portuguese this year as well. Gabriel began studying in the PACA preschool in August. He is really thriving there and learning how to have more self control in a school setting. Eliana recently made a big jump to no longer using diapers. We never realized how much easier it is to train a third child! Maybe it’s us that are being trained! She is a bubbling, bouncing two year old. She speaks fluently both Portuguese and English.

Upcoming Events and changes…
As the first semester came to a close, we are excited at what the New Year will bring. Elisabeth will be welcoming for the first time ever a student teacher into her classroom. This will be a new and exciting role to be a mentor. As mentioned above, we have had some recent changes in our vision for the upcoming year. We have made the decision to not extend our contract with PACA. This means that we will be remaining in Minnesota after this upcoming summer. This was not an easy decision, but one that was made with careful thought and prayer. To summarize the reason for this shift, we have realized that our vision and ministry is not connecting with a future at PACA. It has become clear to us that it is time to return to Minnesota in June 2008. Our future plans are to work towards degree completion for both Nathaniel’s master’s program at the University of Minnesota in Composition, and for Elisabeth’s master’s degree in Special Education. Nathaniel will be focusing on pursuing performances and publication of his music. Please be in prayer as we make this transition with our family.

The Riley's

Buggy for Books!

2007-10-06T19:05:00.000-03:00

Last week Joshua participated in the "Buggy for Books" kick-off day for our annual reading contest. For the assembly they performed the skit of the Grouchy ladybug, and sang a few songs.

If you can't spy Joshua, he's the leaf that is sticking it's head out. The aphids are eating his leaves.

After the grouchy ladybug tries to fight with all the animals in the world, including a whale, she returns at the end of the story to Joshua's leaf. She decides aphids are big enough to fight after all rather than being hungry because no one wants to fight her. She finally fights the aphids and eats them. Joshua's loud response with his head plunged through the leaves at the end of the program was "Thank you!"

Joshua wanted to share one of the songs that he sang with his class during the assembly. Try not to laugh too hard! It's a funny song!

Following the assembly, the classes went to varying stations where they were able to participate in fun buggy activities. My class below is having a relay race as caterpillar teams. They look like gigantic caterpillars don't they?

Here's a picture of the do-not-disturb signs that the children made. They said "Don't bug me I'm reading!" The kids really did have a blast. It was a great kick-0ff activity to start the reading contest. What a great way to engage children in making a habit of reading every day.

God is Good! All the Time!

2007-09-29T20:25:00.001-03:00

This November, we are up to renew our contract with the school. There were several concerns that plagued us with a continued contract to work at PACA. All of these concerns were very legitimate and pragmatic in reality, but at the same time concerns sometimes can cloud judgement and cause our focus to move off of God for a time. This summarizes the last couple weeks for us as we've struggled to make our decision.

Jesus said in Matthew 6:25-34:

"Therefore I tell you; do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?
And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' For the pagans run after all of these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own."

My word to describe my actions the last several weeks was worry. I was ignoring this verse and focusing on all of the things that were realistic concerns. As we sorted through these concerns, I was reading in Judges and came to the story of Gideon and the story of how he hesitated in his obedience to God. After several times of questioning the Lord and laying out his fleece, Gideon does follow through.

This story was my heart. I was asking the Lord to give me a sign to clearly show us the direction we should go. We are not to test God, but as I read about Gideon's experience was he testing God? He obviously lacked faith, and God recognized this. God chose Gideon to carry out his will. God does not become angry with Gideon, nor does he tell him he is lacking faith. Instead God encourages Gideon before he charges against his enemy. Although Gideon's example was not ideal, I found encouragement as I asked the Lord for direction to clearly lead us as we make this decision.

The first step in letting go and letting God work in your life is trusting in Him and being in a right relationship with God. Wherever your faith is at right now, we pray you are encouraged to continue to step forward to Him in trusting all areas of your life over to Him.

Eliana Turns Two!

2007-09-14T21:59:00.002-03:00

Our little two year old posing for a picture.

She's a lot of fun, but a lot of work. One day she was scolding the boys at the dinner table for being too loud. Her way of scolding them was loud as well. We asked the boys to be quiet and then we told Eliana that she was not the mommy. Boy did that make her upset! She burst into tears. Not realizing how we had offended her we tried to console her, but she continued to cry. Finally we said to her, "Eliana you are a mommy to your dolls, but not to your brothers." She right away gathered herself together and then was fine. So different from the boys!

We had a small fun celebration for Eliana's birthday. She turned two on September 9th. Here are some pictures of the event. I love this one of Eliana gazing at the presents. I think I especially like her hair in pigtails!

Here she is trying to blow the candles out on the cake. Mommy and the boys had to help as she didn't blow strong enough.

Then last we had to have some daddy and mommy pictures with Eliana. I'm sure several of you wonder what we look like as it seems most of the pictures that we post are of the kids.

Here's an album of our celebrations!

Sao Paulo Variety

2007-09-01T21:38:00.000-03:00

This is one of the largest cities in the world - Sao Paulo in Brazil. The view here is from the large downtown park, Ibirapuera.
At the park there are many activities. People jog, bike and play sports. Below are a couple of photos of times we have visited the park. Notice the red dirt. A very common sight here in Brazil. Another place to visit is the Botanical Gardens. It is very close to the Sao Paulo Zoo and there are giant clumps of Bamboo in the reserve there.

On the further ends of the city you reach our neighborhood. The differing neighborhoods in Sao Paulo can feel like you are visiting a new town. This is the scene we see as we drive to our neck of the woods. Sometimes we see animals walking in the neighborhood. Just the other day there was a group of three horses eating from the garbages outside our house.Each week this scene greets me as I visit the local fiera to purchase our family's vegetables and fruits for the week. I have not been bold enough to purchase the meat that is out at these markets yet. During the summer months, the rains come almost every day around 3-4 pm. Usually the rain is a quick downpour that cools off the city and hopefully washes away the pollution and dirt. Sometimes people are caught in parts of the city and have flash floods. This results in abadoning cars and braving the rising waters. One missionary family with our mission had to do this resulting in a totaled car.

The most familiar sights to us are below. Although Sao Paulo has many miriade of sights, the most precious to us is the grassy green of our ministry. PACA is a plesant environment and haven of green in the midst of concrete drab grey.

Josh's Graduation Video

2007-08-29T00:00:00.000-03:00

I found this new option...we can post videos! Now we have videos with no sound, but it makes it great for all of you to see a little more of the kids. Here is Joshua's graduation day from Kindergarten.

Back to School

2007-08-06T20:35:00.000-03:00

Pencils are sharpened, feet are running, the chatter of children's voices are present again at PACA. The school year started on August 2 for the entire elementary. The third grade class this year seemed to start with a mild calmness. Mrs. Riley was concerned at first anticipation of meeting all of the new 3rd graders, but the morning came and the anticipation turned into excitement and upon entry of the first group of kids on the campus, I realized that this is now beginning my fourth year of full time teaching at PACA. What was the nervous excitement began to become a even calm. The class of only twenty this year (comprised mainly of girls) has been a very different class for me. They are much more peaceful. Of course it is only the first week of classes, so we can see how much children can change within a first month, but I am very happy with the start of the year.

Each year I ask my class If they could ask God anything, what three questions would they ask. Here is a smattering of answers that I received. It moves my heart to think of the impact that can be made in one year by being a teacher and not just an -er.

Why did God create us?

How will I know that God loves me?

How can God be in three places at the same time?

How can we made of the image of God?

Are you at our side?

Whan are you coming here?

Why didn't Jesus stay on earth?

As Jesus' words say "Let the little children come to me." Jesus knew that the ministry to children was one of the most important ministries that anyone can have. I recently read a book by the CEO of Compassion International. In the book, he mentioned that most believers (polled) come to know the Lord at a young age. Think of the amazing impact that as a parent, teacher, auntie, uncle, or friend you can have on the little children around you.

We are happy to be back in our ministries at PACA. As many of you know our ministry does not start there, it starts with our own children at home. Gabriel began preschool this year in the new preschool that recently opened on the new property at PACA. He has excitedly left the house everyday to bound off to school.

Joshua began his first grade year and tonight was the first night of having "homework." We practiced reading for a little bit tonight. He loves his class and is excited to learn about pyramids, poetry, and coloring.

Eliana continues at the daycare near our home. She is speaking both Portuguese and English ( I think more Portuguese). She is very social and loves to spend the day at her "school." She doesn't seem to miss the boys that much during the day and we've noticed no real change since she went back full time at her school. She really loves her teacher and friends there. It's been a blessing to have fellow believers running this school and so close to our new home.

We moved recently over the break. Many of you heard of our move, but we really didn't have much opportunity to post photos and such since the move. We had family visit from the states and with that and the move, our lives were pretty consumed. Below I've posted a couple of photos of the house. We are very grateful that the Lord blessed us with this home. It sure beats the old five total room home. We are happy to come home every day. It is peaceful, clean and much healthier than the other home was. We are now praying for the Lord's continued provision to help meet the rent need that came with having a larger home.

In addition to the blessing of having a larger home, we have been blessed to be able to have a place to view the sunset. There is an amazing view on a patio that overlooks the represa near our home.

In addition, we have a neat view of part of the city. We are no where near the center of the city, but we have a view of the many high rises in the area.

Paraty

2007-07-20T19:18:00.000-03:00

These pictures were taken on a trip to Paraty. Paraty is a quaint village that is located along the coast in the state of Rio de Janeiro. It is historically preserved. The design of the city was for the tide to come into the streets to act as a natural street cleaner. The homes and businesses are all Colonial in appearance and only foot traffic is allowed in the original historical center. The village is about a four hour drive north from Sao Paulo. Paraty is situated near a large reserve of the Atlantic Rainforest. It was an amazing trip. My mother and two aunts were here visiting and this was one of the areas we visited together. Below are some of the photos that were taken.

On Life and Godlessness

2007-07-20T19:12:00.000-03:00

Last night, Nathaniel and I sat down to watch a rented video. We turned on the video and the automatic mechanism to run the trailers of upcoming films clicked into gear. One of the trailers struck a cord in my memory of something I learned back in college. The trailer was promoting a new film about an action packed survival show about people who kill off other people on a remote island. The point of the movie was survival of these real life people while others watch the “show” on their television sets. Now I’m sure the idea of this film was rendered from the real-life T.V. series Survivor, but the film struck such a deep root at the real issue surrounding all of those reality TV shows. The thought that crossed my mind though was isn’t this much like back in the ancient Roman civilization? Isn’t that what the coliseum was built for? To watch gladiators as they battle the ills for the mere pleasure of entertainment. It is definately something to think about with regard to entertainment.

Lost Tooth

2007-07-05T19:24:00.000-03:00

Joshua also recently lost his first tooth. Here is his toothless grin!!

Graduation

2007-07-05T19:10:00.000-03:00

As our school year closed, we had a young man graduate from kindergarten. Joshua is now a proud 1st grader! He was very happy to graduate and below are a couple examples from graduation. The boy in the green robe was his senior buddy. This senior was very influential in being a positive role model for Joshua.

Growing in Love...

2007-02-27T13:17:00.000-03:00

Here are some photos of our dear ones as they grow and change. Feel free to check out this site and see the new photos periodically. I will post new photos each month of the kiddos.

April 2007

Growing soooo big! This picture is uniquely Eliana. She's can be reserved at times, but most often she has a lot of spirit. As you can see with the boys she is a character in and of herself and she voices herself with her brothers.

Mommy time is very important, and so are pictures with mommy. Usually mommy is the one taking the pictures, and so it's rare to see me in pictures. Below Eliana and I were posing as "hoodlims". My favorite toddler is a sweat suited one that you can squeeze and hug! They are so cuddly in sweats!

March 2007

Eliana trying out the potty. She's only 1 and 1/2 and beginning to be interested. Mommy and daddy would love to get rid of diapers!

Joshua has started reading and writing. He has many sight words that he already knows well and writes simple sentences. He is getting ready to graduate soon from kindergarten in June!

We've recently signed Gabriel up for preschool. He's ready to start at PACA next year! Gabriel has been growing by leaps and bounds. He's gained 6 pounds since his fall surgery on his tonsils. He is a big kid almost as tall as his brother with quite an appetite.

February 2007 Photos:

This buzz lightyear shirt is Gabriel's favorite.

Eliana's new dress from her auntie.

Eliana's sweet grin. She knows how to turn on the charm!

Sao Paulo Zoo

2007-01-21T18:46:00.000-02:00

We discovered these sleeping hippos and were quite amused.
The zoo is pretty marvelous. It is situated in the south of the city and when they planned the zoo grounds they kept many of the original plants and trees. It's like going into the jungle, or into the "thick of it" as Joshua and Gabriel say from their Backyardigans video they love to watch. Below are many animals that we saw.

Southern Brazil

2007-01-19T20:13:00.000-02:00

We ventured to the southern areas of Brazil in the state of Santa Catarina. This is one of the most beautiful areas we have seen living in Brazil. I'm posting some of the photos here. There were numerous beaches, historical cities, huge sand dunes, and other numerous activities. Where we went was the areas surrounding Imbituba, about a 10 hour drive from Sao Paulo. This is a little off the beaten path as the people that normally travel to this area are Brazilians. It's less likely you will encouter any tourists besides the occasional Argentinian coming up from the south.
The city shown here is the city of Laguna. It is known for dolphin viewing, whale watching, and of course its beaches. We didn't realize that whales are sited in this region quite often during their stop in November.

We visited a fresh water lake that is on the other side of the highway from the city. Not only is there salt water fishing, but there is also fresh water as you can see the docks below (left). The children posed for us in front of a tree pretending to be little tarzans.

We saw the beach house (below left) and thought this was the true ecotourist hideout or it is simply the ultimate beach bum dwelling! The other photo is the sunset over the freshwater lake.

The scenes here are of a hike we took in Imbituba. From the side we starte on it appeared to be a walk in the woods, but once we reached the ocean side it became quite dangerous. There were times on the trail where Nathaniel sent me ahead of the kids and he followed behind carry them over the dangerous spots. They did really well and we were super careful (grandparents don't worry).

Here is one of the trail blazers who was carried the whole time. She seemed to really enjoy the views!

The boys loved the beaches. Gabriel played in the sand with daddy while Joshua jumped waves with mommy. We even made a gigantic sandcastle while Eliana was sleeping. Later, when she woke, we had to keep her away from it so she wouldn't destroy it.

So their's no doubt Brazil is a beautiful country. How could any of you stay away with so many amazing sites to see!? Hope you come visit. Our door is always open to hearld the hungry traveller and offer a comfy place to sleep!

Thanksgiving Retreat

2006-12-28T19:56:00.000-02:00

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.

Trip to Embu das Artes

2006-11-05T16:26:00.000-02:00

This weekend (November 4, 2006) we travelled to Embu. This is a city that is about 1 hour away from our home in Sao Paulo. It's a nice little art village where we can get many handmade items. We love to go there away from the city life. This was the first time we went on a Saturday and it was so refreshing as there were very few crowds. The following are some pictures that we took: